All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[jetengine]

Man I'm so disappointed in the labour party. They vote in Starmer whos a bit more centrally alligned (fair enough) and all he's done is ignore the Labour Leak (showing several members of the party backstabbed Corbyn, used racially abusive language etc) and promoted one of the guys in it.

[Tami]

A Mayor Accepts a Nightmare: The COVID Tests Won’t Come

Despite the efficiency of operations at Mary McLeod Bethune Life Center, officials in the city, with a population of about 250,000, will only test about 300 people today. The contract the city signed with private labs months ago allows them to test 2,100 people a week.

While that number may sound low, it’s actually on the higher end for daily totals in cities across New Jersey, which average about 7,000 per day. Jersey City plans to ramp up testing this week, loosening restrictions so that any resident who requests one can get it, even those showing no symptoms. The expansion will eventually include antibody testing, local officials say.

Still, Mayor Steven Fulop knows it won’t be nearly enough. And he’s OK with that. He’s moving to slowly reopen the city anyway.

Relaxing the current public safety restrictions in Jersey City seems rather ill-advised on the surface. Academics have said that New Jersey, with the second highest total infections and coronavirus related deaths in the country, would have to increase testing tenfold before it could feel comfortable about returning to economic normalcy. That would mean that Jersey City, one of the most densely populated municipalities in the state, would have to get to a point where it was testing thousands of people a day.

“It’s a crazy number. It’s not going to happen,” Fulop says from behind his desk, which features a photo of him shaking hands with former President Obama and another one with Bill Clinton. “I think that we need to be careful but realistic. Absent a vaccine or treatment, nothing will change with regards to the risk of people being outside. So you’re never going to live in a risk-free world, so you just got to manage it... And you have to trust the residents… to make smart choices.”

[Tami]

A mutant coronavirus has emerged, even more contagious than the original, study says

Scientists have identified a new strain of the coronavirus that has become dominant worldwide and appears to be more contagious than the versions that spread in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study led by scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The new strain appeared in February in Europe, migrated quickly to the East Coast of the United States and has been the dominant strain across the world since mid-March, the scientists wrote.

In addition to spreading faster, it may make people vulnerable to a second infection after a first bout with the disease, the report warned.

The 33-page report was posted Thursday on BioRxiv, a website that researchers use to share their work before it is peer reviewed, an effort to speed up collaborations with scientists working on COVID-19 vaccines or treatments. That research has been largely based on the genetic sequence of earlier strains and might not be effective against the new one.

[Steel Inquisitor]

A mutant coronavirus has emerged, even more contagious than the original, study says

This was inevitable, and predictable. What did the politicians think was going to happen with their bumbling?

[Kirby101]

Why can't it mutate into a strain that makes people better looking?

[SuperiorIronman]

The part that freaks me out is the virus being regional. A regional virus might be all fine and good enabling states to come to some levels of normalcy as we learn what it is and does but this will likely affect how treatments are developed and administered because one treatment might not be effective on the other variant.

Trump is going to have a field day with that when a treatment for one is ready.

[JackDaw]

This was inevitable, and predictable. What did the politicians think was going to happen with their bumbling?

The politicians cop for everything don’t they?

I really doubt if ALL the scientific advice was clear cut, unambiguous, and all reputable scientists were giving exactly the same advice. When it all goes wrong..there is always several scientists (and loads of non scientists) saying “I’d have done something different”.

I actually think course followed in most countries was fairly reasonable..they would all have taken different actions now, if a time machine was available..but in most countries most action did not fall into “obviously wrong” category given state of knowledge at time.

Pandemics..sadly happen from time to time..and will cause great suffering however competent politicians are.

[Starter Set]

Why can't it mutate into a strain that makes people better looking?

The Coronawesome virus.

[Steel Inquisitor]

The politicians cop for everything don’t they?

I really doubt if ALL the scientific advice was clear cut, unambiguous, and all reputable scientists were giving exactly the same advice. When it all goes wrong..there is always several scientists (and loads of non scientists) saying “I’d have done something different”.

I actually think course followed in most countries was fairly reasonable..they would all have taken different actions now, if a time machine was available..but in most countries most action did not fall into “obviously wrong” category given state of knowledge at time.

Pandemics..sadly happen from time to time..and will cause great suffering however competent politicians are.

Politicians are vital in how defences against viruses like this are defended against. We've had dangerous plagues before in the modern age, none of them ground civilisation worldwide to a halt and we know many leaders have been deliberately sabotaging or undermining efforts with stupid decisions for this to occur. This isn't just a failure in leadership by Trump, he's one man among many who have put their countries in danger.

[Tami]

What goes around, comes around

N.J. executive accused of selling fake N95 masks to NYC sues medical weed dispensary for allegedly backing out of a deal

Three businessmen who allege they tried to obtain a percentage of a license to cultivate and sell medical cannabis have filed suit against a politically connected law firm and a multi-state cannabis operator over allegations they were unfairly cut out of the deal.

The law firm — DeCotiis, Fitzpatrick & Cole — shot back that the lawsuit was a baseless shakedown attempting to get $14 million out of the firm and medical cannabis licensee, Verano Holdings. DeCotiis also not so subtly noted two of the plaintiffs are embroiled in lawsuits themselves, one of whom is accused of operating a company that attempted to price gouge New York City weeks ago for $45 million over fraudulent N95 masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

So, what's going on in your states or communities?

[jetengine]

The politicians cop for everything don’t they?

I really doubt if ALL the scientific advice was clear cut, unambiguous, and all reputable scientists were giving exactly the same advice. When it all goes wrong..there is always several scientists (and loads of non scientists) saying “I’d have done something different”.

I actually think course followed in most countries was fairly reasonable..they would all have taken different actions now, if a time machine was available..but in most countries most action did not fall into “obviously wrong” category given state of knowledge at time.

Pandemics..sadly happen from time to time..and will cause great suffering however competent politicians are.

Boris fucked it up so badly I'm surprised your just brushing it off

[WestPhillyPunisher]

What goes around, comes around

N.J. executive accused of selling fake N95 masks to NYC sues medical weed dispensary for allegedly backing out of a deal



So, what's going on in your states or communities?

Pennsylvania is inching towards a staggered (of sorts) reopening of the economy by regions/counties starting May 8th. However, that won't happen here in Philly, because of the dense population, we might still be in lockdown mode by the end of the month, if not into early June. God only knows what might happen if cases spike after the opening as some expects say could happen.

[Tami]

Pennsylvania is inching towards a staggered (of sorts) reopening of the economy by regions/counties starting May 8th. However, that won't happen here in Philly, because of the dense population, we might still be in lockdown mode by the end of the month, if not into early June. God only knows what might happen if cases spike after the opening as some expects say could happen.

Murphy is sticking to his guns, even though some in government are pushing reopening. I agree with Gov Murphy, NJ isn't ready yet. Maybe some areas in the south or North-west that haven't been hard hit, but here in the North and along the beltway/NJ Turnpike corridor between NYC and Philadelphia, those areas are too densely populated and are still at risk.

[Tami]

The Trials of a Never Trump Republican

For four years, Sarah Longwell has been hoping for Donald Trump’s downfall. But nothing has triggered it. Not the Mueller investigation into his dealings with Russia. Not his coverup of hush-money payments to a porn star, or the profiting from his office to benefit his personal businesses. Not even a Ukraine extortion scheme that resulted in just the third impeachment and trial of a President in history. He has proved immune to every scandal. Will the coronavirus pandemic be any different?

I spoke to Longwell on March 13th, barely an hour after Trump declared a “national emergency” to combat a once-in-a-century outbreak that he had spent the previous few weeks claiming to have completely under control. Pundits were already calling Trump’s botched initial handling of the crisis “the end of his Presidency.” Longwell, a forty-year-old conservative Republican who has spent the Trump years in an increasingly isolated fight within her party to end his Presidency, was not yet convinced. “How many times have we seen that headline before?” she asked.

Longwell is a Never Trumper, one of the stubborn tribe of Republicans who have refused to accept the President as their leader. In 2016, virtually the entire Republican Party opposed Trump in the primaries, but since his Inauguration only a shrinking group has persisted in publicly taking him on.

To Donald Trump, the members of this small but highly visible resistance are his real enemy, even more than the opposition party. He often tweets his contempt; one day last fall, he described them as politically weakened and “on respirators,” but nonetheless “worse and more dangerous for our country” than the Democrats. Trump concluded with a furious flourish: “Watch out for them, they are human scum!”

[JackDaw]

Boris fucked it up so badly I'm surprised your just brushing it off

I think key question...the thing that would sink Boris if it was ever established..is whether he ever materially departed from the advice of the governments own top scientific advisers. Nobody has demonstrated that so far.

Imagine..that somehow Jeremy had won last election. The civil service personnel, the chief scientific advisers...all the supporting infrastructure would have all been the same. He would have received the same advice as Boris.

Yes..with benefit of hindsight...”government” has made loads of mistakes. But...honestly..I think the Labour government would have followed the same course....Jeremy would have accepted the scientific advice. If he hadn’t the chances are, we’d have been even worse off.