Five Coronavirus-related observations

#1:
It has been pointed out many times by many people that Trump supporters are akin to a cult. But now we have this, which is about as close as you can get to literally drinking the Kool-Aid.

Fearing coronavirus, Arizona man dies after taking a form of chloroquine used to treat aquariums

By Theresa Waldrop, Dave Alsup and Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN

Man dies after taking chloroquine phosphate in effort to prevent coronavirus

BY JOHN BOWDEN - 03/23/20 05:10 PM EDT

"Trump kept saying it was basically pretty much a cure," the woman whose husband died told NBC.

Yup! Don't listen to your doctor. Don't listen to the CDC or the NIH. Don't listen to any scientists or medical experts. Just listen to the Great Leader who knows all! Oh, listening to the Great Leader got you killed? Well, that's just inexplicable! You must havenot followed his instructions correctly. The Leader is never wrong!~

#2:
Good news, though. If you want to be safe from the Corona virus, there is a very simple way to protect yourself. Just get a job at Hobby Lobby!






Yes, Mrs Hobby Lobby heard a voice say three words.( And they weren't "Empty, Hollow and Thud".)
Those words were "Guide, Guard and Groom" which is pretty much what pedophiles do to their victims, but it may surprise you to learn that the voice she was hearing was God's! I know! What are the odds, right? And you know that when God has an important message to share with one of his favorite corporate entities, he's not gonna just come out and say "I, the Lord thy god, command you to keep your business open, for the people of this nation shall need their gewgaws and knick-knacks in this time of trial. And Lo, I shall extend my hand of protection over thy dumbass business, even though I apparently can't be bothered to do the same for Italian doctors. For verily I say unto thee, I can only be in one place at atime. I can't protect everyone. I have to pick my battles, and clearly a shop specializing in cheap cheezy decor must take priority. I am the Lord."
No, obviously he's not gonna do that. Of course he's going to whisper three alliterative words that could be interpreted to mean pretty much anything you want. That's how the omnipotent omniscient ruler of the universe operates. It's pretty standard procedure for a deity. If you were a god, you'd do the same.
Anyway, apparently Hobby Lobby is going to remain open and oh, by the way, they do not offer paid sick leave to hourly employees. Because Jesus, I guess!

He who believeth in me shall never be sick, but shall have eternal life peddling trinkets and doodads to rubes and rednecks!

#3:
It really is astonishing how quickly the right-wing narrative re: Coronavirus has moved from "Pscht! It's no big deal" to "Yeah, some people are just going to have to die to keep the Dow from falling." With stops along the way at "We, the most incompetent administration in history, have it handled" and "it's all China's fault!"

I think the first person I heard suggesting that senior citizens be sacrificed on the altar or Wall Street was Texas' Lt Governor Dan Patrick.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick suggests he, other seniors willing to die to get economy going again

“No one reached out to me and said, 'As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that America loves for its children and grandchildren?' And if that is the exchange, I'm all in,” Patrick said.

Yeah, weird that. So strange that no one reached out to you to ask whether you'd be willing to die so that the economy can do better. I mean, who would even have the authority to ask that? Is there someone who is the head of the who lives and who dies commission that would be reaching out to septugenearians  asking for voulunteers to throw themselves into the volcano to appease the NASDAQ gods?
Also, no you fucking wouldn't, Dan. It's real easy to say that knowing that you will never be asked to make that sacrifice. It's like me saying "if I had been around during World War II, I totally would have snuck into Germany and killed Hitler." Because obviously, no one is ever going to say "okay, here's a plane ticket to Frankfurt, good luck and Godspeed!"

But since Patrick's appearance, other right-wing ghouls have jumped on the "let the oldies die" bandwagon.

If given the choice between dying and plunging the country I love into a Great Depression, I’d happily die. https://t.co/MznAkp3kwD

— Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) March 24, 2020

Again ,easy to say. Easy to say "I'd happily die" knowing that you won't ever be asked to.

Former Wells Fargo CEO wants

Americans back to work next month:

‘Some may even die, I don’t know’

Some may.

Not me of course.

Or anyone I care about.

But you know, if a few thousand commoners have to die, they have to die!

The important thing is my stock portfolio shouldn't suffer.

Fox's Brit Hume says it’s an “entirely reasonable viewpoint” to expect that grandparents would be willing to die to protect the economy | Media Matters for America https://t.co/DiuKtY22AD

— DL Hughley (@RealDLHughley) March 25, 2020

Daily Wire host doesn't know how many COVID-19 deaths we should accept to "preserve our economy," but "it's got to be way over 35,000" pic.twitter.com/h1sO8A5Jg9

— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) March 26, 2020

#4:
It only took Cheeto Mussolini 3 years to turn the USA into a third-world country.

U.S. Appeals to Aid Recipients for Help in Fighting Coronavirus

The U.S. State Department is instructing its top diplomats to press governments and businesses in Eastern Europe and Eurasia to ramp up exports and production of life-saving medical equipment and protective gear for the United States, part of a desperate diplomatic campaign to fill major shortcomings in the U.S. medical system amid a rising death toll from the new coronavirus.

Alibaba's Jack Ma Sends Boxes of Coronavirus Test Kits and Masks to U.S.

In his first tweet, Ma posted photos of a China Eastern Airlines plane with boxes of coronavirus test kits and face masks slated to be shipped and donated to the U.S. from Shanghai.

That's right. We are a charity case. People are now donating medical supplies TO THE US! Partly because President McCheese invoked the Defense Production Act but doesn't seem to realize that the act gives him the authority to compel US companies to produce needed supplies. He apparently still thinks that he needs to insult companies on Twitter to get them to do what he wants.

General Motors MUST immediately open their stupidly abandoned Lordstown plant in Ohio, or some other plant, and START MAKING VENTILATORS, NOW!!!!!! FORD, GET GOING ON VENTILATORS, FAST!!!!!! @GeneralMotors @Ford

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 27, 2020

Also because, depending on which FOX show he watched most recently, Orange Julius Caesar sometimes doesn't believe that we actually need a bunch of ventilators and my believe that we already have all the necessary tests.

‘I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators’: Trump questions New York’s plea for critical equipment

“I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they’re going to be,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in a phone interview. “I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. You know, you go into major hospitals sometimes they’ll have two ventilators, and now all of a sudden they’re saying, ‘Can we order 30,000 ventilators?’”

Yeah, if you only need two when there is no pandemic, how can you need so many more when there is a pandemic? The only difference is the pandemic!

Anyone Who Wants a Coronavirus Test Can Have One, Trump Says. Not Quite, Says His Administration.

Key officials in recent days have corrected or clarified the president, who has sought to project calm as the coronavirus continues to spread in the United States.

"Anybody that needs a test gets a test; they're there, they have the tests, and the tests are beautiful," Trump told reporters during the visit
"The tests are all perfect, like the letter was perfect, the transcription was perfect, right?" he added later. "This was not as perfect as that, but pretty good."
Azar nodded at one point as the president noted that "they're making millions more [tests] as we speak."

#5:
This virus is causing even the most hidebound organizations to make pretty radical changes.

The Catholic Church has decreed all Catholics dying of CV19 are henceforth forgiven for their sins through a blanket confessional/Indulgences (bc a priest can’t have direct contact). Which is great, v happy for Catholics, but highlights once again these kind of rules are man-made

— Sally Rugg (@sallyrugg) March 25, 2020

I'm not Catholic, but I think if I was, I'd be pretty pissed. You mean to tell me I could have just been forgiven this whole time? No confession, no penance, no attending mass, just forgiven across the board? So I was doing all that shit for nothing?
I would be like Nicole Parker in Mad TV's Wizard of Oz sketch.