from famous to regular

@BradC oh that is an omen

last night the Australian Government has stepped ahead of the WHO and declared that the Coronovirus is a pandemic so they have activated their prevention measures. my mum only sees the shutting borders as being the only measure but i warned her that we should be skeptical because this is when a government can take away freedom for the sake of safety and people will welcome it

like i want to trust our government but when you read how Chinese business have been empty since the outbreak starts and people being racist assholes to chinese nations, you can't help but worry if some government out there will use this as an excuse to lock up all chinese nationals in camps to "prevent the spread of the virus"

or god forbid any other minority they wanted to get rid off

This is crazy

> Also relevant: The richest 10 percent of people worldwide are responsible for nearly half of global emissions. Yet the tax rate paid by American billionaires fell below that of the working class in 2018 — and all their philanthropy actually reduces the tax they pay. Amazon, one of the most valuable companies in the world, paid no federal tax in 2018, instead receiving a $129 million tax refund.

@Stormblessed and the other 90

@Memor-X I think this is a reasonable worry, but on the other hand freedom-restricting actions like quarantines are entirely reasonable responses to disease outbreaks

@Memor-X WE need to NOT LET that happen. As an SE mod I am ready to pounce hard on racist crap. As citizens of the world, we need to fight when fighting is warranted. All of us.

Now is not the time for timidity.

Did the US actually stop putting asylum seekers in concentration camps? I'm all for opposing that sort of thing, but I don't know how to actually stop it from happening

@murgatroid99 i don't believe they did

@murgatroid99 It's still happening, but they're not just getting away with it. Trump has overplayed his hand, I think. I hope.

as for how to stop it. spread awareness and get people in other states to contact their congressmen to do something, even if it's a spineless GOP lacky of Trump, and remind them who actually votes them into office

And then do it again, but louder.

@Jolenealaska It depends on what you mean by "getting away with it". It's still happening, and nobody has been punished

yet

@murgatroid99 i recall there was a court case related to hygiene products there that the government lost. can't find the tweet though

It took a while to get out of Vietnam too.

But we were finally loud enough.

We cannot get complacent.

@Jolenealaska i am glad that here at work no one is like that unlike in some hospitals. i have an asian looking co-worker sitting next to me and another one work for the production support team and i never see anyone shy away from them

We've already had some pretty nasty xenophobic questions.

@Jolenealaska i dare not imagine what they are

Well, one on Academia asked how to avoid classes since classmates are Asian.

@murgatroid99 which leads into the other point i made about spreading awareness. if your state is one that's going to vote GOP regardless then maybe reach out to the sing states that presidents always ever visit (countermanding the defence of the electoral college). ofcause i don't know how far you yourself will be able to go

change wont happen right away but hopefully the small steps will lead into it and the best thing current is try to not let the GOP get reelected again

The other thing is that people don't vote for the GOP because they're unaware that these things are happening. They vote for the GOP because they do these things.

Tru that

But this (and I'm calling it) pandemic may have a silver lining in that regard.

The Sharpie on the map was laughable. This is beyond that.

I do hope that the Democrats can consistently push the message that what happens with this virus demonstrates why we need healthcare reform. Hopefully that can mobilize some voters

I hate Trump’s policies, but I love that he’s a huge asshole

Just to let everyone know and have some hope, they announced at the end of January that the University of Washington will be testing a vaccine in three months

@Stormblessed I can't pick a favorite quote from that. I'd have laughed my ass off if I were capable of it right now.

It's in german but meh... : Basel Morgestraich might be cancelled because of the Virus

That'd be the first Morgestraich I'd miss in my life :(

Ooof .... Federal Council prohibits mass-gatherings with more than 1000 participants

@Jutschge you wouldn't miss it because it wouldn't happen :

:p*

@Jutschge was about to say that Trump would hate this but it's not in America is it

Nah, it'd mean that finally his crowds were almost as big as those of the people running against him!

Big media is covering up Trump’s terrifying incoherence in a time of emergency

> It’s still amazing to see how a rambling, semi coherent and contradictory presser from Trump gets repackaged into headlines, stories and tv clips that turn him into a normal President. - tween by Ben Rhodes, quotes in above article

@Stormblessed loved that segment.

twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/523237015329193984

> Obama just appointed an Ebola Czar with zero experience in the medical area and zero experience in infectious disease control. A TOTAL JOKE! - (Oct 17, 2014)

"total joke" is right

Wait Danny DeVito supports Bernie? I had no idea

Inb4 that video gets him just enough votes for a majority

I remember reading something about that a few months ago.

How much money in rice.

Media Covering Coronavirus to ‘Bring Down the President,’ Mulvaney Claims

everything is partisan now

Republicans storm out of coronavirus briefing after Democrat rips Trump's response

> and criticizes the media for not covering Mr. Trump’s son Barron, something Melania Trump has asked it not to do.

Wut

‘Believe Women’ doesn’t mean women never lie. It means accepting that men sometimes do, too.

Inspired by the recent sexist and idiotic questions posed to Elizabeth Warren by Chris Matthews, but addresses the issue on a larger #metoo level as well

> He pressed on. “You believe he’s lying?” he asked twice. “I just want to make sure you’re clear about this.” While earnestly bumbling around in the dark, Matthews accidentally flipped on a light switch. “And why would he lie?” he asked. “Just to protect himself?”

> Ding ding ding ding ding.

> Which scenario was more likely? That an egomaniacal Hollywood producer with unlimited power might abuse his power and then lie about it when the accusations threatened to disrupt his empire? Or that multiple women who had never met one another would concoct similar stories of rape, spanning several decades, and then go public because they were eager to be accused of being promiscuous opportunists who slept their way into their careers?

> Which scenario was more likely? That a man running for president might deny allegations that would make it more difficult for him to run for president? Or that a woman 23 years ago filed a false lawsuit and planted a corroborating witness because some women want nothing more than to suck money from men?

> It’s possible that Chris Matthews’s bumbling was born of horror, at the idea that an influential politician on his beat might have harassed women and discriminated against pregnant employees. But he mostly seemed flabbergasted by the revelation that sometimes men might lie, too.

intrusive thought: Pete's persistent Obama impression x bread prices

uh, let me be clear, I worked for a consulting company that had a client, that may have been involved in fixing, or apparently there was a scandal

if you like your bread prices, you can keep them

A variety of important rulings:

President Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy blocked in federal court

Devastating Court Ruling Allows White House To Block Testimony From Former Counsel Don McGahn

Wisconsin appeals court rules voters targeted for purge will remain on the rolls

Appeals court rejects unfair competition suit against Trump's D.C. hotel

The McGahn ruling is especially concerning: basically the court bought into the whole "the President can do whatever the fuck he wants" defense presented by the President's attorneys

This court has basically kneecapped the Legislative branch's subpoena power

@Unionhawk I'm sorry, but that just won't do. We know you're using the recommendations from our preferred bread company, the White Bread Foundation, but we are still vociferously against your proposed bread prices because you're black.

Fact-checking President Trump’s coronavirus news conference

Even "fact checking" article like this, as well as they might be written, grant a level of coherence to the President's rambling verbal diarrhea that isn't warranted

(not an actual quote) "What the President seems to be saying here is X, but that's not accurate, because Y"

grants Trump too much credit that he was actually attempting to coherently formulate argument or statement X

Daring Fireball's brief take:

> There’s simply no way to square the circle of a president who demands not to hear anything bad with a virus outbreak that is inherently bad. Denial is quite literally the worst response possible.

well, have a good weekend all