Anybody want a Corona?

[doug rr]

[B]

That's a good loop.

[tragabigzanda]

FUCK ICE

[tragabigzanda]

FUCK ICE

[McParadigm]

There are a lot of assumptions and built-in conclusions to all that, trag, most of which I don't agree with. there are also a lot of wildcards not factored in (climate change-influenced migration comes to mind). But this in particular is an incredibly innocent line to drop here, there, or everywhere:

And this says nothing of the inevitable weariness Americans will have of partisan politics.

[Mickey]

Agreed with McP--let's leave aside the bolded part (which has been running pretty steadily for at least the last 26 years and shows no signs of slowing down yet!). I certainly don't disagree with the plausibility of the demographic/geographic predictions laid out here, which seem eminently true in the absence of a robust policy to slow the influx of transnational capital into the housing stock of our major cities (for which I will not hold my breath--though I would also say that if and when middle-class workers flee to places like Bloomington, they eventually will be pursued by finance capital which will replicate the same dynamics in current urban enclaves). My complaint is that "purple states are the future" is both functionally meaningless and naturalizes situated political positions into ontological ones. Because what is a purple state? Does it have to do with variability in national elections (so, Nevada, Florida, Pennsylvania)? Does it have to do with varying control of the statehouse (California and Kansas)? Does it mean varying control of the state legislatures (New York)? In other words, a broad majority of states can be construed as purple states given both that the *current* dynamics of rural conservatism and urban/suburban liberalism are pretty widespread and that power *often* alternates under a two-party system. "Purple states are our future" starts to sound a lot like "states are our future," excepting maybe places like Missouri.

But (and I would say worse!), this also presumes that these current positions are fixed, invariable, and given by geographic location, and that the only thing left to do is to compromise towards some middle way between two essential visions of the world--a kind of technocratic end-of-history argument that has been pretty thoroughly debunked over the last five years world-wide (even Fukuyama has gone back on it). This is at best overly optimistic with regards to presumed stability and completely unable to account for massive shifts in national consciousness (like those which will be driven by climate change). Moreover it also assumes that those party positions are fixed, when we know quite well that they are not given that both parties are currently fractured and will remain so for the foreseeable future (i.e. neither the Sanders left nor the ethno-state right show any signs of going away). So to say that "purple states are our future," meaning that compromise is our future, not only flattens these complexities, but it assumes that the current political beliefs of much of America are deep-seated and ontological rather than situational. People don't choose their political beliefs in a vacuum and then come into the world looking for a party. They make their selection based on the options presented to them and to what extent these options correspond to their felt needs based on lived experience--but this slate of options works reciprocally to shape their expectations of what constitutes the political, which is thus always dynamic and contingent. So yes, purple states are our future in the vaguest possible way, but a model of urban-rural compromise between left and right mapping out the future of America? It's a nice dream, but.

[tragabigzanda]

FUCK ICE

[tragabigzanda]

FUCK ICE

[96583UP]

testing 123 testing

https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronaviru ... opin_pos_1

The U.S. government is investigating whether the Covid-19 virus came from a government laboratory in Wuhan, China. The Chinese Communist Party denies the possibility. “There is no way this virus came from us,” claimed Yuan Zhiming over the weekend. Mr. Yuan is a top researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which studies some of the world’s deadliest pathogens. He is also secretary of the lab’s Communist Party committee. He accuses me of “deliberately trying to mislead people” for suggesting his laboratory as a possible origin for the pandemic.

Beijing has claimed that the virus originated in a Wuhan “wet market,” where wild animals were sold. But evidence to counter this theory emerged in January. Chinese researchers reported in the Lancet Jan. 24 that the first known cases had no contact with the market, and Chinese state media acknowledged the finding. There’s no evidence the market sold bats or pangolins, the animals from which the virus is thought to have jumped to humans. And the bat species that carries it isn’t found within 100 miles of Wuhan.

Wuhan has two labs where we know bats and humans interacted. One is the Institute of Virology, eight miles from the wet market; the other is the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, barely 300 yards from the market.

Both labs collect live animals to study viruses. Their researchers travel to caves across China to capture bats for this purpose. Chinese state media released a minidocumentary in mid-December following a team of Wuhan CDC researchers collecting viruses from bats in caves. The researchers fretted openly about the risk of infection.

These risks were not limited to the field. The Washington Post reported last week that in 2018 U.S. diplomats in China warned of “a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate” the Institute of Virology. The Wuhan CDC operates at even lower biosafety standards.

While the Chinese government denies the possibility of a lab leak, its actions tell a different story. The Chinese military posted its top epidemiologist to the Institute of Virology in January. In February Chairman Xi Jinping urged swift implementation of new biosafety rules to govern pathogens in laboratory settings. Academic papers about the virus’s origins are now subject to prior restraint by the government.

In early January, enforcers threatened doctors who warned their colleagues about the virus. Among them was Li Wenliang, who died of Covid-19 in February. Laboratories working to sequence the virus’s genetic code were ordered to destroy their samples. The laboratory that first published the virus’s genome was shut down, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported in February.

This evidence is circumstantial, to be sure, but it all points toward the Wuhan labs. Thanks to the Chinese coverup, we may never have direct, conclusive evidence—intelligence rarely works that way—but Americans justifiably can use common sense to follow the inherent logic of events to their likely conclusion.

Mr. Cotton, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from Arkansas. (which means he is evil and can't be trusted)

[Bi_3]

Just to clarify, by "purple state" I meant what is typically called a "divided government state," or those states that put one party in power of one/both branches of their legislatures, and another in charge of the veto pen in the governor's office. So:

AK
KS
KY
LA
MA
MD
MI
MN
MT
NH
NC
PN
VT
WI

Wish I could dive in further Mickey -- you make some good arguments that would take me a bit to process. But I'm tied up all afternoon so will have to come back to this later. But just consider that these states are all ripe for non-urban investment and development, have huge populations of working-class folks, and have rural areas that have been largely forgotten by both parties.

Which state is PN?

[tragabigzanda]

FUCK ICE

[Rob]

[Bi_3]

I thought progressives were pro boomer death to weaken the establishment parties. /kidding

[Bi_3]

Maybe we can open the country:

https://www.studyfinds.org/study-rate-o ... med-cases/

[tragabigzanda]

FUCK ICE

[Rob]

CDC director warns second wave of coronavirus this winter will likely be worse
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2 ... cdirector/

This makes sense, and I think most everyone knows it. Wave 1 came as flu season was winding down, wave 2 will be both simultaneously. Enjoy July - September, people.

[B]

[Bi_3]

Maybe we can open the country:

https://www.studyfinds.org/study-rate-o ... med-cases/

Not sure of the math, this implies that over 99% of the infected show no symptoms. This kinda thing could very well move public sentiment in Trumps favor.

[Rob]

Maybe we can open the country:

https://www.studyfinds.org/study-rate-o ... med-cases/

Not sure of the math, this implies that over 99% of the infected show no symptoms. This kinda thing could very well move public sentiment in Trumps favor.

99% showing no symptoms seems like a red flag.

We should wait for more data. (From the article):

While these findings have not yet been peer-reviewed, the study’s authors plan to continue testing more residents in the coming weeks to get a better idea of the coronavirus’ spread throughout Los Angeles.

[Self]

wtf