We may be about to witness an historic, perhaps catastrophic event.

[shockey80]

This may be the first time in our history a so called President and a political party attempt a Kamikaze mission. Trump and the Republicans are risking everything, including the lives of the people to attempt a desperate Kamikaze mission to open up the economy.

They are not following a controlled, planned way to reopen the country. They are trying to force people to reopen, forcing workers back to their jobs. Trump is signing executive orders, Republican governors are threatening to take away unemployment benefits.

Like the Japanese Kamikaze during WWII, they are making a frantic , desperate attempt to stop the inevitable. They are attempting to fully open the economy for political purposes period, the election. Get the economy back to where it was at all cost.

It may end the same way the Japanese Kamikaze missions ended. Many American ships sunk, thousands of Americans killed and the Japanese empire destroyed.

[Squinch]

1. Here's something else: the NY numbers were the vast majority

of cases for a long time. Those are plummeting right now, yet the national percentage increase is only inching down. That means there is an increasing spread in the rest of the country NOW, even before the Russian Roulette game begins.

Yes, this is going to be a horrible disaster with a heartbreaking death toll. And all those people who have no choice but to go back to work are being used as cannon fodder.

My heart breaks for them.

[live love laugh]

4. My heart breaks for us all. I won't go back to work but

my loved ones will. They’ll have to. Even if I survive it will be devastating to lose a loved one—especially because there are so many deniers who are basically political assasins.

[Squinch]

5. I feel for you. It is going to be awful to watch.

[Submariner]

62. I'm fearful of these trump morans practicing attempted negligent homicide on us

by not wearing a mask in the grocery store. At 73 with navy shipyard asbestos exposure, I need to be very very careful.

If they don't take the verbal warning to stay away from me by at least six feet, I'll smash their face in with a can of peaches, or whatever else is easy to grab nearby and throw at them. I fear it's going to some disturbing scenes in public until a vaccine is developed.

[Tipperary]

87. And then you will go to jail.

Where you will be at even more risk.

[jimfields33]

22. Georgia's been open a week

We should know next week the results of this.

[bluestarone]

40. Not sure

They will probably start HIDING numbers like Florida is doing! Is this their plan? we'll see i guess.

[jimfields33]

41. You can hide positives but not deaths

[bluestarone]

45. Well you have more faith than i do!

I would NOT trust their numbers. Gonna be real interesting tho!

[jimfields33]

47. I agree.

[ornotna]

49. Unless you're Florida

They seem to be doing that.

[jimfields33]

50. I live in Florida and don't hear that

I guess a few blogs are saying it but nobody here.

[ornotna]

55. As do I

It's in the Times.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/04/29/florida-medical-examiners-were-releasing-coronavirus-death-data-the-state-made-them-stop/

State officials have stopped releasing the list of coronavirus deaths being compiled by Florida’s medical examiners, which has at times shown a higher death toll than the state’s published count.

[jimfields33]

57. Oh Tampa. Not shocking they'd fudge the numbers.

They are protecting their football team. Same mayor who apologized to Tom Brady for giving a citation for being in an unauthorized place. Yep I guess your right about Tampa fudging numbers.

[ornotna]

59. Are you being obtuse on purpose?

It's a Tampa area paper but the issue is state wide. You did read the part where it said

"state officials said the list needed to be reviewed and possibly redacted."

Keep digging.

[Eyeball_Kid]

54. In Florida, the medical examiner's office can no longer release numbers.

And the numbers have been higher than the government's numbers. So, yes, the deaths can be hidden as statistical data.

[Blue_true]

72. Exactly. Families know who has died. nt

[tiredtoo]

74. Florida is indeed hiding deaths

They are not reporting the deaths of anyone not a resident of Florida, the snowbirds die off the record.

[Blue_true]

71. They can hide numbers, but families know who is sick from this illness or have

died. DeSantis may play that game, but reality will come back to bite him in the ass.

[Totally Tunsie]

76. The Democratic Mayor of Atlanta won't play that game.

Keisha Lance Bottoms was on Rachel's show tonight and completely disagrees with Kemp's order. She's not about to allow the Atlanta souls go uncounted.

[live love laugh]

2. They're continuing to succeed with their media accomplices.

Very little is going to change the imbalance so they’re poised to succeed. Again.

Winning. So much winning.

Sadly at the cost of life itself.

[Maxheader]

3. They've fucked us pretty thoroughly over the last 3 years...

And gotten away with it...Why would they stop now..?

A roll of the dice...Ford was quoted as saying "people die in accidents every day"..or something

to that affect. When responding to the question of why Ford didn't install the design fix so pintos didn't

explode if you tapped the rear bumper..would have averaged out to a few bucks per..

[Squinch]

6. It's Russian Roulette with players who have no choice. Plain and simple.

[Mopar151]

20. Chevettes, and Vegas were, in fact, not a whit safer than the Pinto. The Lordstown Vega plant!

I was a Chevy dealer mechanic then, who did a lot of the recall work. Chevettes got fuel tank "shields", and "bumpers" around the shock mount bolts - which would punch through the fuel tank in a rearend hit.
The fuel system, and the electrics of the Vega/Monza were decent, low end GM stuff. The basic structure of the car sags, bends, and droops. Enough so, that the LH motor mount would sag, and bind the Pitman arm (steering). The engines - the infamous Vega, the wretched "iron Puke" 2.5, the "Buick V-6" - all were well below any modern standard of a "good" engine. When Chevy desperately stuffed the venerable smallblock V8 into the chassis, You got a "mother's worry", right out of the showroom! The front wheel bearings failed on 2bbl 305 automatics, from brake heat! Fix that, and enthusiastic drivers MELT the nylon caliper guides.
The underpinnings of the Chevette were '60's Opel stuff, as redrawn by interns, for a Ridin` F'N Lawnmower! I did "Goodwrench" wheel alignment on these POS. To have to apologize to the customer, because the best you can turn out for them is "probably won't wear tires much, and does'nt pull left"; On a "brand new" car? Ugglllyyyyy.

The Vega plant - Lordstown, OH, had shit quality built into it's design. Line speed cut each "task time" to 60 seconds, maybe 50% of the time of other GM plants. Repetitive Motion Hell, just like a packing house!

[shockey80]

24. Oh, the memories.

My friends and I were teenagers back in the 70s. We spent a lot of our time repairing those death traps in our parents driveways. We drove those old death traps. Some of us did not survive.

I am trying to remember the make of a car a girl friend of mine owned. It was a chevy, I believe it had a 350 4 barrel engine. That car hauled ass.

[Mopar151]

31. I lived in the heart of that beast!

Dad was the "tech man" at the local oval track, and a "hot rodder" since childhood. Those mid-70's 350-4 bbl were fun to drive, from the showroom. 2 paychecks, and a weekend in the driveway, could DOUBLE that horsepower.

[shockey80]

34. Did the chevy chevelle have the 350 engine.

That may be the car I am thinking of. I remember the first time I drove it. It was stock, did not look like a fast car, when you stepped on the gas pedal it pinned you back in your seat. That car had balls.

[PCIntern]

52. I drove a 1965Triumph Herald 1200

Whither it’s Singer Sewing machine engine. A convertible, you could get killed any one of a hundred ways in this car. A story: in 1972 I was in Rochester New York in college and I was having trouble with my steering so I took it to the local mechanic who is a very nice guy. He put it up on the lift and he brought me in and he said to me you are not driving out of here in this car l, watch this. He took his gloved hand reached up and broke the tie rod it was so badly rusted. That was that for that.

[Mopar151]

60. Some of those old Brit cars, are barely cars at all!

As much shopping cart or riding mower. An aincent VW Beetle is a bulletproof tank, in comparison.

[Mopar151]

58. Bolted in to everything!

Chevelle, Camaro, and Nova were the mainstays of Chevy then. Similar weight, identical running gear. It's pretty much down to transmission & rear gear to determine "balls" in that situation, and plenty of Chevies had the stones to put you back in the seat from 0-80!

[shockey80]

64. You did not have to power brake that car to smoke the tires. Lol!

Just floor it and you could send a ton of smoke in the air. It was fun.

[ashredux]

7. Great analogy.....they are welding the cockpits shut on many working Americans

[not fooled]

32. And disconnecting

the monitoring instruments.

That's key to their plot--not testing and not counting the actual number of deaths. Hide the bad news that will inevitably result. I hope they don't get away with it.

[Delphinus]

69. I hope

they don't get away with it too. This saddens me so much. I look at the protesters and our shelter-in-place being lifted tomorrow and at how much people are pushing to get back to "normal" when "normal" wasn't so good for many of us ... and I just want to weep.

[jmg257]

8. Not for nothing, NY has the same unemployment rules as everyone else - you refuse work

they refuse payment - I have not seen the laws changed yet.

If my furlough ends and I get called to go in, I sort of gotta go.

ETA: of course NY is not open yet, so that is good!!

[Blue_true]

73. I believe that NY will open soon if the everyone must wear a mask knocks covid19 infections way down

[beachbumbob]

9. all we can do is hope the american people cast their vote on Nov 3rd as retailiation

for 4 years of complete incompetence AND the countless deaths and unnecessary destruction of our economy and most likely our future and our kid's future. If the people do not reject the gOP and trump, we DESERVE all that has happened and will happen. We will deserve it.

[bucolic_frolic]

10. It may also be a strategy to maximize COVID crisis by election day

They will take or create any opportunity. So beware, events may control them, they may try to harness events.

[lark]

18. Ding, ding, ding!

This is their plan, kill us in vast numbers so people are afraid, make voting be a life risking situation by stopping all early voting and mail in voting and then send in the goons with guns. This is already a far RW plan, go check out gun shops, they are empty. My husband asked a local gun dealer why the shelves were so empty, he said a lot of people are afraid that "libtards" and minorities are going to steal the election so they are gunning up to stop it. This is in purple NE FL. Purple only because we have a lot of AA living here. most of the whites are still rednecks. It's obvious he will not settle unless there are tons of us dying in the fall. He wants the profiteering, yes, that is important to him, but mostly he wants us dead and dying and afraid, so when we riot because our votes are being suppressed/stolen, he can declare martial law and stop the voting. You know SCOTUS would affirm this which would be the death knell for our country. That, I think, is the plan, turn us into a rw fascist nation run for and by oligarchs with no rights and no money for the working class/poor.

[lagomorph777]

25. What he'll have instead is a furious population with nothing left to lose,

voting to save our lives. This scheme will not go well for the Russiapublicans.

[lark]

29. Yep, he is losing everyone but the far right.

My BFF is a repug, from a long line of repug Mayors in GA. However, she is very smart, so not your typical trumper. She's still a repug, but has turned on his government and will not vote for him a 2nd time. She knows he's deliberately trying to kill us and doing it for his own personal profit. If he's lost people like her and our retired Lt. friend (which he has) he's in serious trouble. He knows he can't win, so expect anything and everything rotten to be done to stop us from voting. He knows if we are allowed to vote - he goes down and ends up losing everything and being in jail.

[not fooled]

33. Let us hope

see: Wisconsin recently. People risked death to vote one of them out.

[lagomorph777]

37. WI risked death and were rewarded for their courage.

Unfortunately, some were also rewarded with infection.

[Auggie]

56. That's my belief too. Might not take much ... a few dozen counties

in a handful of purple states. Just close down the polling stations.

[Grasswire2]

67. yes

Seized the narrative. First, with the "guidelines" and now with the "Manhattan project"

All the chits are on the table and he is rolling the dice.

The man whose casinos were driven to bankruptcy.

And Republicans are riding along.

[Lonestarblue]

11. In my state of Texas, most everything will be open soon but infections are still increasing.

I expect to see a spike in infections and deaths in three to four weeks. Fortunately I’m retired and will still be spending most of my time at home. I’m lucky that I can choose not to take risks, but the thousands of people who will go back to work will be forced to take those risks. I understand their need for income, I’m just sad that a state with billions of dollars in its rainy-day fund chose to do so little for its citizens.

[gab13by13]

13. I believe that 25% of Texans don't have health insurance, right?

[Lonestarblue]

16. Not quite that high, but it increases every year.

The last figure I saw was for 2018, and that was 17.7%. We’ve been number 1 in the nation for the number of uninsured for at least two or three years. Texas refused to expand Medicaid under the ACA.

[Horse with no Name]

21. I actually heard rumblings yesterday

Because of the spike in cases, that Abbott is going to back down.
We shall see.

[yellowdogintexas]

53. I am in Tarrant County - our numbers are not that high BUT

insofar as we know, all instances of COVID -19 infection are not being listed as such. However, the Community Spread level stats put out by the county are consistently holding at Substantial.

This of course is based on the # of cases which are identified. I have no doubt that there are in home deaths which do not have COVID 19 listed as COD because we are not testing sufficiently.

This is the daily update on COVID 19 from Tarrant County Public Health. There are 9 different screens with all sorts of detailed information. It's a very detailed report. I find it scary that we are expanding our openings, with this level of community spread potential. Abbott never issued a full statewide lockdown, instead leaving it up to the local entities. Now the local entities can't issue their own rules.

http://access.tarrantcounty.com/en/public-health/disease-control---prevention/coronaviruas.html

[gab13by13]

12. Someone said it here and I stole it,

This is the first Civil War in history where the rebels kill themselves.

[Jarqui]

14. If Trump doesn't win reelection, he's going to jail or

flying Air Force One to a country that doesn't extradite before Jan 20th.

If anyone thinks this narcissist will lose a wink of sleep killing hundreds of thousands of Americans to restart his economy in a desperate reelection bid, think again.

It's all about power. The GOP don't really care about abortion, immigration, guns or deficits, etc beyond they're a means to win elections. Those are just BS wedge issues along with racist whistles to fire up their base to vote for them. The demographics are shifting. They're getting desperate too.

[ooky]

61. Agree with every word.

I do not expect him to be in the country on inauguration day. He's too much of a coward to face the music of the prosecutors forming long lines for him. I think a lot of his cronies will run too.

[crickets]

82. "It's all about power." Couldn't agree more. nt

[McKim]

15. They are Prepared for a Change!

This time they prepared ahead of time by ordering 100,000 body bags, investing in death not life!

[subana]

17. I think it will make things worse for them!

I know they want to reopen to try to reverse a devastating economic trend & to win an election. But I think in about 3 weeks, we will see more infections due to people being closer to each other. Even with governors telling people to continue social distancing, it's easy to forget you're still supposed to be doing that.

I like in Oklahoma & our Gov is trying to open some businesses. He says if there are more infections he will close the state again. But here's the problem with that strategy. It takes 2 or 3 weeks for people to develop symptoms & in that time an infected patient could be spreading it to others.

We've already seen what happened when Wisconsin voters were forced to stand in line to vote & now they're starting to see more infections. As much as republicans fuck everything up, this won't be any different! Let's see how bad they can make the situation worse for themselves in the next 6 months!

[gordianot]

19. I use a different war analogy from the American Civil War.

Both the Union and Confederacy used Napoleonic linear tactics ignoring the accuracy of modern rifled fire arms. The casualties and slaughter were horrible. By the end of the war trench warfare ruled. Opening too early will only kill your supporters. I intend to brave whatever I must do to vote when I come out of my trench.

[True Blue American]

23. I was just watching people

Standing in line at the Food Banks while produce is rotting in the fields, milk being flushed, eggs smashed and now Trump ordering meat plants back to work even though people are dying in them.

Then, every day they see a smirking reality show where the host spends his time bragging on himself, yet can not answer a simple question about whether he has spoken to any of the grieving families.

Wonder how they feel?

[NCjack]

43. I will vote by absentee ballot.

[Javaman]

26. and cases here in Austin and texas as a whole are going up and moron abbott is about to

kick the door open.

[hurple]

27. Economy won't matter

As the death toll ticks upward

[IronLionZion]

28. They're hoping people won't vote after the second wave hits harder

They're counting on screwing us out of mail in ballots to make sure people are afraid to show up to the polls. They know this disproportionately impacts cities.

Japan faced decades of consequences before they were allowed to become a military power again. Will we see the same punishment for the Greed Over People (GOP)?

[liberal N proud]

30. We may all die because of it

[tinrobot]

35. They're trying to set up Democrats to take the blame for the economy.

When election time rolls around and we're in a recession/depression, they'll blame us. They'll say we prevented things from opening, so it is our entirely fault the depression happened.

[Demsrule86]

44. That will never work. The Party that hold the presidency always shoulders the blame. They have

the Senate and the presidency. They ignored the virus for months. It is on them. The polls are very bad for Trump and other Republicans. We are a bit ahead in Texas, Arizona and North Carolina...also in the blue wall states.

[Texin]

36. Well, not ALL will die, but a significant proportion of us will certainly.

They've bet on the working class and the poor of all stripes to be the sacrificial goats to take it in the neck - all to their electoral benefit. But they've neglected to consider the fact that millions of those teed up for sacrificial slaughter are a sizable portion of their own damn electorate. By the time all this is over (if indeed it ever is), we may not need an *election* (snarf!) to take the country back from their greedy grasp. There'll be enough of us and furious enough at their deliberate ineptitude and supine lickspittleness to storm the gates and see that the bastards and bitches are all ridden out of town on actual burning rails.

[dlk]

38. An important question to ask is, what has changed about COVID-19 that makes it safe to reopen states

Also important to ask:

- Is COVID-19 suddenly less contagious?
- Do we fully understand how it is transmitted?
- Has it become a less devastating an illness?
- Is sufficient testing available for anyone who asks for it?
- Is there an adequate supply of ppe available for health care workers and the public?
- Is there a proven treatment, vaccination or cure?

For the states eagerly reopening, these questions must be answered to protect public safety.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

39. Exactly

and almost nobody is asking them.

We don't even have answers about immunity

[dlk]

63. The media could do a better job of asking

They’re falling down on the job here.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

65. That is true

And I feel like there is any hardly an pushback about all of this claptrap about "re-opening the economy"

[dlk]

81. Profits before people...

[crickets]

83. Media frequently falls down on this kind of thing.

When the stakes are this high though, it's just beyond the pale.

[LeftInTX]

80. In Texas, it's hospital bed/icu beds and ventilators available

From what I've seen in our county reports there is enough PPE (Our county head is a Democrat)

The rest of the reasons don't seem to matter to the repukes

[Demsrule86]

42. A million people in Ohio without a job...unbelievable.

Our news said that there are more people out of work in the US than live in Chicago and New York combined. I don't want to live in 'interesting' times. I don't want to witness a catastrophic event...damn it.

[Demsrule86]

46. 30 million people now unemployed...We have lost all jobs created under Pres. Obama. Trump is

Trump is a murderous scumbag job wrecking machine. There have been no good Republican presidents really. But Trump is a disaster like none have ever seen in the history of this country.

[Takket]

48. Pretty much... except the Japanese kamikazi

We’re targeting enemy military vessels and not the nursing home where their elderly family live. Drumpf is turning the virus in our own citizens.

[Mendocino]

51. Ya-HOOO!!!!

[link:

|

[Initech]

66. I called it a couple of weeks ago that Trump was trying to torpedo the lockdowns.

And it looks like he might succeed. We are truly fucked.

[Sloumeau]

68. Hey, hey, Donald J., how many old folks can you kill today? nt

[Politicub]

70. Human sacrifice of the working class to the gods of Wall Street

so the rich get even more wealth transferred to them

It is economic blackmail if someone is denied unemployment benefits because a bunch of stores and bowling alleys open.

[sandensea]

75. Exactly. Cheeto wants "beautiful" 3rd qtr GDP numbers - which, as you know, come out in late October

That's all the Fat Bastard cares about.

[cstanleytech]

77. Its not the workers they need to force its the companies and if its a company

run by a Republican you can bet that they will look to fuck the workers over because that is what Republicans do.
That means they will low ball the workers on pay and they will probably hire them at a glacial rate which means the economy will take years to recover.

[PatrickforO]

78. No, they really don't have any plan but greed and lust for reelection.

Tomorrow's unemployment rate will be what it is, but the actual will be closer to 18% if you look at the number of new claims filed against the March Civilian Labor Force number.

There will be a second wave and it will begin in three or four weeks. Many more people will die, and likely unemployment will climb higher, perhaps even as high as 20-25% in some areas. Maybe higher.

We will begin experiencing massive social unrest, violence and an increasingly unruly, surly populace. There will be riots, and hunger. People will become homeless.

Of course the Republicans will cheat in November, perhaps even try an end run around the law and postpone the election while lengthening Trump's term.

We'll see how it goes, but let's hope Biden surrounds himself with really vigorous, smart people; people who move fast and get things done.

Otherwise...well I don't much like to think about that.

[Harker]

79. Your subject line is the chyron of my life...

and I don't even watch tv.

[vapor2]

84. 100% for re-election (self serving)

and sadly at the expense of 67k human lives. Republicans are complicit

[Initech]

85. It's all so he can get out and do those damn MAGA rallies again.

That's what this is about. Trump knows that his numbers are tanking and the only thing that will save his reelection campaign is to do those rallies. He wants his adoring crowds and admiring public. Without that, he can't win.

[ecstatic]

86. I told my bro we're witnessing history: The collapse of the USA, observed in real time,

by all of us.

In some ways, it might be considered karma based on the horrific crimes against humanity that occured on this soil, but those of us who truly wanted better for our country are stuck on this sinking ship alongside the knuckle draggers. It's really sad and heartbreaking.