Why we can't have nice things

(I started this one around the end of March then forgot about it. Some of this may be a bit dated)

Medicare for All Scares Me More Than Coronavirus

COMMENTARY

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Really? A virus that is probably going to kill hundreds of thousands of people just here in the US doesn't scare you as much as the idea of everybody being able to go to the doctor and get medicine? Really? Like the thought of the US turning into I Am Legend is less frightening to you than the possibility of becoming Canada? Seriously?

The world today is dealing with an unknown -- a virus currently without a treatment or vaccine, and, like most Americans, I’m praying one will be found. But what scares me most in this moment of crisis isn’t the coronavirus; it’s the push for “Medicare for All” as a solution that can harm millions, including my children.

Oh my God, yes. It's a system so potentially harmful to so many that it has only ever been tried in Canada.
And Norway.
And Sweden.
And the Netherlands.
And the UK.
And Taiwan.
And, well, you get the picture. Anyway, yes, a change in the way that Americans pay for medical services is obviously way more frightening than the possibility of The Stand coming true!

 The Democratic debate between former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders earlier this month illustrates the current campaign to capitalize on the COVID-19 crisis to establish government-run health care.

Well, you say that, but. . .
I mean, of the two Democratic candidates, only one is pushing for single-payer healthcare. Biden has (in)famously said that, were Medicare for All come across his desk while he was president, he would veto it. And Bernie Sanders has been advocating for single-payer since time immemorial, he is hardly "capitalizing on the COVID-19 crisis."

Naturally, Sanders weighed in with his favorite talking point: "First of all, the dysfunctionality of the current health care system is obviously apparent,” arguing that we spend too much for what we get.

And does anyone dispute that? Does anyone dispute the fact that we spend more per capita on healthcare than any other country and get worse results?

U.S. infant mortality rate worse than other countries

So, you know, you can sit there and say "oh, there goes Bernie again, saying his favorite old talking point," but whatever you think of Senator Sanders he is 100% God damn right about this. We spend more and get worse results than any other wealthy country. The numbers don't lie.

But saying there will be better coverage doesn’t make it so,

True. But what does make it so is the numerous examples we have all over the world of single-payer systems that provide coverage to everyone at a lower cost than our ridiculous employer-based for-profit system. Have you ever been to any other country? Have you even gone next door to Canada? When it's safe to travel again, go take a little sightseeing trip to Quebec. Maybe go see the Eifel Tower or La Sagrada Familia. Talk to people in countries that have single-payer systems. See if any of them -ANY of them - would prefer to be left to the tender mercies of Aetna.

I know I've told this story before, but several years ago we went to Montreal to visit my wife's Quebecois relatives. They had some complaints about their healthcare system ( I don't remember what). But when I asked them if they would prefer the American "system," they all laughed in my face. (politely). No one who has a single-payer healthcare system wants to change over to a private for-profit insurer. You'd have to be a lunatic.

Right now, patients in China, Iran, Italy, South Korea and the United Kingdom are dealing with rationed care, some being turned away. The “wonders” of government-run health care aren’t being offered to everyone.

Wow. Just imagine living in a country where they don't have enough tests, enough ventilators, enough intensive care unit beds for all their Covid-19 patients! I wonder what that would be like. . .

Thank God we have our private for-profit healthcare "system" to protect us from outcomes like that!

 “Free” and “available” are not the same things, and it’s not truly free, as taxpayers will get the bill,

Oh my God, we know that! We know! I don't know why you people always think that's some great gotcha line. We understand that single-payer isn't free. It is paid for with tax dollars. Same as the highways, the police department, public schools, Yellowstone. . . We understand that things cost money. It's just that single-payer is an exponentially more efficient way of paying for healthcare and ensuring that everyone is covered.

Also, "not free" and "available" are not the same thing. I pay way too much to Aetna every month for my health care plan. And if I got Coronavirus, I would pay more in deductibles and co-pays to be hospitalized. But there is no guarantee that a ventilator would be available to keep me alive. Or that the necessary medications would be available.

MIT team races to fill Covid-19-related ventilator shortage

David L. Chandler | MIT News Office
April 20, 2020

FDA takes another step to ease shortages of drugs for Covid-19 patients on ventilators

By ED SILVERMAN @Pharmalot

APRIL 20, 2020

If the product isn't available, it doesn't matter whether you have private insurance, Medicare or the British NHS. No system is going to conjure up medical equipment that doesn't exist.

But with government-run health care, nations do decide who they won’t bother saving. 

Oh, yeah. Nuch better to leave those kinds of decisions up to corporate bean-counters who are paid to figure out ways to deny claims!

In talking about this crisis with the Washington Post, medical experts said that rationed care was likely here in a piece titled “Spiking U.S. coronavirus cases could force rationing decisions similar to those made in Italy, China.” 

Well, it's a good thing that we didn't switch over to a single-payer system, then because. . . whait, seriously?

You're raising a hue and cry about the possibility that a single-payer system would lead to healthcare rationing, then you say"oh, by the way we're going to have rationing now with our precious private insurance system?" Do you ever go back and read wht you've typed?

“We have very effective means of making that a comfortable, peaceful death,” said Philip M. Rosoff, professor emeritus of at Duke University School of Medicine and chair of its hospital ethics committee from 2005 to 2019.
Well, isn’t that special. And it’s happening now. 

Oh my God.
As Josephine says in HMS Pinafore: "He little thinks how successfully he has pleaded his rival's cause!"

You are arguing against yourself!
You are stating the case that here in the USA, where we do not have a single-payer healthcare system, healthcare is currently being rationed and doctors are easing patients into death and you think that this is an argument for KEEPING the current system? Because if we were to change to a Canadian-style system, it could lead to the rationing of healthcare and doctors allowing patients to die? It boggles the mind! How do you see any tiny sliver of logic in this?

Under government-run health care, all of us may find ourselves at the mercy of an Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) up-or-down vote on whether we should be allowed to live or die. This calculation is already in use by economists who make a financial calculation of whether someone’s life is worth saving. 

Ooh, that sounds awful! I would hate to be at the mercy of . . . wait, ALREADY IN USE? Jesus Christ, this is the most illogical irrational argument I have ever read. This would get a failing grade as a freshman term paper.

In a moment like this, with a virus that causes respiratory distress, my two children who have cystic fibrosis may be determined too costly to save. 

Okay, that would be horrific. Just absolutely appalling and tragic. I can see why you'd never want to switch to a system that would allow such a thing to happen. Oh wait, you weren't done with that paragraph? Oh, please continue!

 Before the virus hit, a recent ICER report determined that the cost of life-extending medication for CF sufferers wasn’t worth it, even if it was a full cure.

I don't. . . I don't know what to even say here. Everything that you want to warn us about you then turn around and say it's already happening. I don't even get what point you think you're making.

That’s why Medicare for All is so scary. The known practices of withholding care in government-run plans has the potential to put all Americans at risk, no matter the illness.

see, this always gets me. Conservative idots are always going on and on about how the government spends too much, spends money they don't have, runs up deficits, etc. But then they think that if there's a government-run healthcare plan, suddenly the government is going to turn into penurious penny-pinchers saying "Gee, we'd like to let you have this surgery, but the money just isn't in the budget. Can't spend money we don't have, you know!"

Also, do you have any examples of this "known practice" of withholding care?

Just this week, the National Council on Disability asked  the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to take proactive steps so that care will not be denied to those with chronic illnesses and disabilities. 

Okayyyy. . . that's rather like me asking you not to murder me and then pointing to that request as evidence of your :known practice" of being a murderer.

In recent days, I’ve been heartened to see so many Americans make sacrifices to ensure those who are most at risk with coronavirus stay safe. My prayer is that more continue to use social distancing precautions and take all safety measures necessary. And we all hope that the testing proceeding now will be successful.
Shouldn’t this mindset continue after the corona pandemic ends? If Medicare for All is allowed to proceed, treatments won’t be for all, but only the few that the government determines have potential value, as they see it. 

You mean like how the government decided that Cystic Fibrosis patients aren't worth saving? Oh wait. . . that wasn't the government! That was you friendly neighborhood private for-profit insurance company's soulless bureaucrats! my mistake!
But. yeah. We certainly wouldn't want medical care to be restricted to those deemed worthy of saving. Far better that it be restricted to those who can afford it.

This kind of idiotic thinking - this is why we can't have nice things.

Awesome Idea of the Day

Posting will continue to be very light for a bit since the Missus is having to use our home laptop for work and apparently SOMEONE thinks that her career is more important than making fun of jerks on the internet!


Anyway. . .

Awesome Idea Of the Day

Couretesy of the U.S. Naval Institute:

Unleash the Privateers!

The United States should issue letters of marque to fight Chinese aggression at sea.

Oh Hell YES!

Sign me up!

Honestly, you had me at privateers, but go on. Let's hear the rationale for it as if we needed one.

Naval strategists are struggling to find ways to counter a rising Chinese Navy. 

Right, right. . . because in the 21st Century, naval battles are a thing that happens all the time. It's not like we engage in warfare by having some dude in Las Vegas press a button to unleash hell from the flying death robots. If one is to continue to be a world power, clearly one needs a swift and stout armada!

The easiest and most comfortable course is to ask for more ships and aircraft, but with a defense budget that may have reached its peak, that may not be a viable strategy. 

Wait, there's a peak to the US defense budget? When did this happen? There has never in my lifetime been any limit on the amount of money that can be shoveled into the Pentagon. Well thanks a lot, Trump!

Privateering, authorized by letters of marque, could offer a low-cost tool to enhance deterrence in peacetime and gain advantage in wartime. 

Now that's what I call deterrence!

Hell yeah! International war crimes could give us a huuuuge advantage in war! I mean, it's not like China has a nuclear arsenal or anything. I'm quite certain they don't have ICBMs or anything. We just need to send some desperate Somalis out there to seize their ships and bing bang boom, war over!

 It would attack an asymmetric vulnerability of China, which has a much larger merchant fleet than the United States. Indeed, an attack on Chinese global trade would undermine China’s entire economy and threaten the regime’s stability. 

Wait. We're talking about attacking commercial vessels?
Commercial as in CIVILIAN vessels?

What could possibly go wrong? I mean, we're already pretty much a pariah nation anyway. Why not be the country that attacks merchant vessels at sea? What are the Chinese gonna do about it? We're doing it in international waters! Their laws don't apply there. There's literally nothing they could do!

Oh, right!

Finally, despite pervasive myths to the contrary, U.S. privateering is not prohibited by U.S. or international law.

Well, of course it's not against US law! Why would us being pirates be against our law? But international law? I certainly don't have the time or the energy to research maritime law, but I'm pretty sure it's acceptable, when confronted by piracy, to send Navy SEALS out to put bullets in the pirates' heads. Also, let's say it isn't against the law. Is that really going to matter to China?

Let's say you're walking down the street and you see this young couple stopped at the light.

And let's say you make the young lady on the back there an indecent proposal. There's no law against that, First Amendment and all that. Do you think it's gonna help to explain to the dude on the front of the bike that your comments were perfectly legal? Like he's gonna say "damn it, I was going to stomp you into a pulp, but I guess you haven't broken any laws, so I will just bid you good day!"

Privateering is not piracy—there are rules and commissions, called letters of marque, that governments issue to civilians, allowing them to capture or destroy enemy ships.1 

Oh, sure. If we were at war with China, which we are not and never will be, then sure. The government could send out civilians in their bass boats with their hunting rifles to take out Chinese destroyers. Absoultely. But when we are not at war with China, sending a bunch of MAGA hat rednecks out to attack commercial shipping vessels would absolutely be seen as a horrendous crime and an act of war and NO ONE would take our side in this dispute.

The U.S. Constitution expressly grants Congress the power to issue them (Article I, section 8, clause 11). Captured vessels and goods are called prizes, and prize law is set out in the U.S. Code. In the United States, prize claims are adjudicated by U.S. district courts, with proceeds traditionally paid to the privateers.

And obviously this is the key factor. What US laws and US courts think of US citizens stealing another nation's property by force of arms. It's like if someone punched you in the face and then said "the rules of my house say I'm allowed to punch you in the face and you're not allowed to call the police on me." That is a solid legal ground on which to be standing and evryone would have to respect that.

Letters of marque could be issued quickly, with privateers on the hunt within weeks of the start of a conflict. By contrast, it would take four years to build a single new combatant for the Navy. 

Yeah, it takes along time to build a battleship. We could just send people down to Bass Pro Shops to buy boats and then hit the high seas! Who the hell has time to wait? I mean, it's not like we could just go into battle with our current tiny little navy!
Wait, what's that?

As of April 2020, there are 44 active aircraft carriers in the world operated by fourteen navies. The United States Navy has 11 large nuclear-powered fleet carriers—carrying around 80 fighter jets each—the largest carriers in the world; the total combined deck space is over twice that of all other nations combined.

Still, though. How cool would it be to go pirating in one of these?

Pew pew pew! Take that, Chinese Navy!

During the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, privateers vastly outnumbered Navy ships, with one U.S. official calling privateers “our cheapest and best navy.”4

And as we all know, military technology has pretty much stayed the same since 1812. Any decent sized yacht should be able to take on a Chinese destroyer!



China has built a powerful defensive network around its homeland, sometimes called an antiaccess/area-denial (A2/AD) envelope. As one element of this strategy, China has expanded its navy from a modest coastal force in the 1980s to an oceangoing force of at least 200 ships,


Uh oh! China has how many navy ships now? 200? Well, shit the US Navy only has. . . let's see. . .

The United States Navy is a powerhouse. The fleet consists of roughly 430 ships in active service or reserve. The vessels run the gamut from the massive Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, which stretches more than 1,000 feet, to the Los Angeles-class submarine that slithers 900 feet below the ocean surface.

Only 430?  Four Hundred Thirty little ships to take on the entire Chinese force of. . . at least 200? God damn it we need to get the pontoon boat brigade armed and ready!






Okay, honestly I feel like you're kinda talking me out of this a bit. You're making it seeem less fun and that is really not cool of you. Don't ruin this for me! I want to be a pirate!
Although now that I think of it, I do get seasick on boats.

Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of Tums!

We lost a legend last night.

Rest in peace, John Prine.


For my money, one of the top American songwriters of all time - right up there with Chuck Berry, Merle Haggard, Townes Van Zandt, Gillian Welch, Steve Earle, Gladys Knight, you name 'em. He could make you laugh, he could break your heart, and make itr seem easy somehow.





















And a lot of times when a singer dies it's sad, but you think "well, it's not like he's done anything in years anyeay," but check out some of the songs that John Prine put out in the last few years of his life:





>br>

It's a very sad day, so let's end with a couple of fun ones. (If you really want tears brought to your eyes, Google "Hello in There" or "Sam Stone." I don't have the heart for either of those at the moment.

People Who Are Helping

These people are helping by thinning the herd.


1. Jonathon Shuttlesworth

Pastor says only “sissies” & “pansies” wash their hands to prevent coronavirus

I got to tell ya, anyone who takes advice from a pastor who uses terms like "sissies" and "pansies" well, I don't really think the world would miss them if they were to die from taking that advice.

“If you’re putting out pamphlets and telling everybody to use Purell before they come into the sanctuary and don’t greet anyone, you should just turn in your ministry credentials and burn your church down — turn it into a casino or something,” he said. “You’re a loser. Bunch of pansies. No balls. Got neutered somewhere along the line and don’t even realize it.”

Yes, only a "pansy" would use hand sanitizer to kill a deadly virus. Real men shoot the virus off od their hands with a .45!

He also said that coronavirus prevention measures are the work of the devil.
“Let me tell you if the devil doesn’t want there to be mass gatherings — it’s time to hold mass gatherings. If I lived in Italy I would call an open-air crusade to pray for the sick. If you have to go to jail, go to jail.”

Wow. Where to begin?
Okay, first of all, the Coronavirus protection measures have been endorsed by his Holiness Pope Francis, so I'm not really sure how you come up with this "work of the devil" nonsense. What are you basing that on? Oh, nothing! Right!

And to take this absurd premise that preventing disease and death is something that the devil came up with, and build on that shabby rickety foundation an argument for defying both the law and common sense, I'm guessing they didn't teach logic or critical thinking at wherever you got your divinity degree. Did they by any chance teach any science at that school?

While he rejects a science-based approach to coronavirus prevention, he did say last week that there is something that will protect America from the disease: Donald Trump’s policy towards Israel.

“They can say whatever they want, he honored Israel. Obama honored the enemies of Israel; Trump honors Israel, and it’s a massive difference,” Shuttlesworth said.

Oh yeah. That makes sense. That explains why there were so many more coronavirus deaths during the Obama administration than under Cheeto Mussolini. It all adds up.

Trump honors Israel, and it’s a massive difference. And because of that, I predict America will be minimally affected by coronavirus,” Shuttlesworth said.

Ah, okay. Well, let's see. This article was published on March 12. It is now March 31. Let's see how that prediction is holding up. . .

Coronavirus live updates: More Americans have now died in pandemic than on 9/11

John Bacon

USA TODAY

Okay, so that's who this Rev. Shuttlecock is. But how is he helping to thin the herd? Glad you asked!

Pastor: Despite COVID-19, I’m Planning a “Woodstock”-Like Easter Gathering

Oh yeah! I'm sure it will be just like Woodstock!

Let's see. Woodstock was "3Days of Peace and Music" with some of the finest musicians of that or any era. A weekend of peace, love, sex, drugs and rock&roll.
Your thing is going to be what, 3 Days of Praying and self-flagellation? A weekend of celibacy, sobriety and Christian Contemporary music?

I’m gonna announce it… We’re gonna hold an outdoor Easter blowout service. Not online. A national gathering. You come from all over, like Woodstock. And we’re gonna gather and lift up Jesus Christ.

Yeah, you're gonna lift up Jesus Christ. Why do these epeople think that Jesus Christ needs them to lift him up? Isn't he already in Heaven? Is there some higher level that he could get to? And it's not like he needs them to be his publicists. He's pretty much the most famous person in history no matter what John Lennon thinks.
But yeah, you're gonna be lifting up Jesus Christ. Anf you're gonna be sending a whole bunch of your gullible rube followers to meet him prematurely. And I gotta say, I have no objection.

Rev. Jonathon Shutter Island is helping to thin the herd with his brain-dead insane mania for defying basic safety procedures.
Tomorrow: More people who are helping to thin the herd.

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.