More Third Worlding in America

[Kurt]

In NYC every summer there are a bunch of interns that come in for only 2 to 3 months and they get financially raped by landlords specializing in short term leases.

Quite often an intern will pay 6000.00 to 10,000 on rent for their summer in NYC. Not everyone has that kind of money so my wife and I let those who are connected to us in some way, like friend of a friend stay with us and my wife puts them to work with projects that she does not trust me with as an exchange.

During part of the COVID-19 lock down we hosted a young German fashion designer who then had his internship dry up. He wanted to hang out in NYC and then go to Florida in the late summer and early Fall because Europeans like Florida for some reason.

He suddenly realized he had a chance to live in either:

1. Crazy Land, where COVID deniers rule policy
2. Sane Land, where Germany is second only to New Zealand in COVID competence.

So he chose Sane Land.

He left some stuff for us to ship to him, so he was going to pay in advance to ship a small box filled with fashion stuff that he picked up for free. But Germany has banned person to person packages from the USA now, due to potential contamination.

Packages from Nigeria are still permitted.

We are no longer "Western" we are something else.

[sparrow]

Numbers rising big time

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Check out the boat

https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2020/0 ... g-orig.cnn

[Alphabet]

Good on your friend for not coming down here.

The Florida situation isn't so one way or another. The stupid assholes going out to bars and Trump boat parades for sure had an influence in the spike. So did all the assholes from NY, AL, GA and TX.

Cuomo now has armed police in airports enforcing quarantine for people from hotzones. C'mon man. I'm no fan of DeSantis, but if he had actually been smart enough to do this before the Manhattan and Long Island geriatric crowd spiked our numbers, you can't say the media and the left wouldn't have been calling us the 4th Reich.

[ReptilianKittenEater]

Heard from an Aunt in Astoria NY who said there was still a fair bit of Covid going on there. I also heard some stat that ppl that have gotten Covid in greater NY is actually around 3 million - would that be about 15% of the pop?

[Kurt]

Heard from an Aunt in Astoria NY who said there was still a fair bit of Covid going on there. I also heard some stat that ppl that have gotten Covid in greater NY is actually around 3 million - would that be about 15% of the pop?

It still exists but is still dropping.

The only good thing about the massive kill off we had is that death at a rate where you can smell it in the air tends shut up idiots.

There are still idiots though. I met an Albanian friend of mine I had not seen in a while. He bleieved COVID-19 was just a bad flu and everything was overblown.

But he was wearing a mask and was 6 ish feet away from me, so it was good to see him again. As long as dumb ideas dont kill my wife people are free to have them.

Its weird though. when everyone is making money I make shit but when the economy tanks, like it did it 2008, I am always doing well. So I am very fortunate that I can actually take a cab on literally every errand and we can get everything delivered.

Not a Cuomo fan either but you can really see the difference between him and a dumb Governor (Florida, Iowa, Georgia and South Dakota). Even though he fucked up with the whole nursing home thing, the fact he was only a partial idiot rather than a full blown idiot has made quite a difference.

Pretty sure it will rise again though but the second round will be expected and the actions will even be smarter.

[snaark]

Germany has banned person to person packages from the USA now, due to potential contamination.

Really? I just had some stuff sent from Amazon in the USA. Arrived without any drama. Don't know how it is for private packages though.

Actually I think the German competency thing has been a bit overblown. Yes they did a lot better than other countries but there were also plenty of cock ups. A lot of the successes were due to the federal government taking control where the states are supposed to have jurisdiction. State level handling has been a mixed bag - some states have been more competent than others. Generally speaking things here have been easier than say France or Spain - we never had actual "lockdown" and most things have functioned with relative normality. I even went to a public swimming pool yesterday (ask me in a week if that was a good idea). But other countries in the EU have managed better and have been less trumpeted.

[Kurt]

Germany has banned person to person packages from the USA now, due to potential contamination.

Really? I just had some stuff sent from Amazon in the USA. Arrived without any drama. Don't know how it is for private packages though.

Actually I think the German competency thing has been a bit overblown. Yes they did a lot better than other countries but there were also plenty of cock ups. A lot of the successes were due to the federal government taking control where the states are supposed to have jurisdiction. State level handling has been a mixed bag - some states have been more competent than others. Generally speaking things here have been easier than say France or Spain - we never had actual "lockdown" and most things have functioned with relative normality. I even went to a public swimming pool yesterday (ask me in a week if that was a good idea). But other countries in the EU have managed better and have been less trumpeted.

We were considering becoming an Amazon Seller and offer "Young German Man Gift Package" for the cost of shipping via FedEx and have our friend buy it, ship it to him via Amazon.

Or something like that.

Another German friend of mine says what you say "Germans are not that smart" but if you experience colossal stupidity that seems to be "Stupid Takes It's Revenge on Smart" like some states here are enduring, like not even allowing municipalities to enact mask laws, like in Georgia or having a Supreme Court challenge mask and lockdown rules like they did in Wisconsin, you really would see the difference. There is a tipping point where dumb people kill once their insulation by smart people is not effective due to lack of numbers of smart people.

Like vaccination.
90 vaccinated smart people will save 10 non-vaccinated stupid people from the disease that they were vaccinated against. But if that level of dumb people increases then that amount of un-vaccinated people will get sick as well as those vaccinated people who did not have the vaccine work for them.

We can always carry X number of idiots who go around maskless but once that tipping point happens then the idiots rule the day with the consequences.

Germany and New Zealand (and Rwanda) can carry their idiots. Here our idiots have sway. They always have but it never used to be fatal.

[snaark]

Well its all relative I guess. Ignoring Trump for a moment, the USA was supposedly the best prepared place in the world for a pandemic. I realise that's not much help now, but it's something.

[seektravelinfo]

[quote="snaark"]Well its all relative I guess. Ignoring Trump for a moment, the USA was supposedly the best prepared place in the world for a pandemic. I realise that's not much help now, but it's something.[/quote]


America was prepared as best as possible for a pandemic, not withstanding a novel virus. Preparation and deployment are two different things. Response materials languished in the Strategic National Stockpile and Trump played churlish with the states and governors he dislikes, denying aid and belittling those who don’t worship at his altar.

[snaark]

I meant to say that it WAS the best prepared, i.e. before Trump. Apparently a lot of the preparation happened under Dubbya's command. The failures are due to dismantling of those mechanismsand the complete absence of centralised leadership. So yeah, as you said: preparation and deployment are two different things, though I guess part of preparation is preparing automatic mechanisms for deployment.

[sparrow]

And then there's nonsense like this

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... acy-theory

I mean, what the actual fuck people? C'mon already. How is this even fucking real?

[seektravelinfo]

[quote="snaark"]I meant to say that it WAS the best prepared, i.e. before Trump. Apparently a lot of the preparation happened under Dubbya's command. The failures are due to dismantling of those mechanismsand the complete absence of centralised leadership. So yeah, as you said: preparation and deployment are two different things, though I guess part of preparation is preparing automatic mechanisms for deployment.[/quote]



The SNS (Strategic National Stockpile) was established by President Clinton. Under President Bush, the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) was established, with pandemic being one of the categories of catastrophic events as relating to bio-terrorism or agri-terrorism. Also, a cohesive system of addressing catastrophic events was developed: National Incident Management System (NIMS), but the Trump administration moved it over to FEMA, where it languishes. Had NIMS been deployed there would not be the disparities from state to state in managing the pandemic. Now we have Trump rolling out DHS using rent-a-cops to pull people off the streets in certain American cities.

[snaark]

And then there's nonsense like this

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... acy-theory

I mean, what the actual fuck people? C'mon already. How is this even fucking real?

Really, this stuff still surprises you? Honestly I think Fauci deserves some sort of medal for stoicism.

[Bronco]

For some unknown reason it seems that the rapid spread of the virus and the disdain for masks comes from the MAGA crowd. I don't mind their slack, misinformed attitude as concerns their health and safety. That's their choice BUT I do take exception to those who infect innocent bystanders with the virus because they willingly spread it. If they actually knew they were carriers it would be even worse, tantamount to second degree murder. I cannot understand those people who intentionally cough or spit on people who are wearing masks. That's crude and evil.
Aside from the virus, the economy is going to take a huge dive and unrestrained Captialism is going to take a real beating. I think it's a bit humorous that the GOP, bastion of uncontrolled Capitalism is giving away money to the needy, which i pure Karl Marx philosophy. so they can keep their system afloat.

[sparrow]

And these two guys. Purposeful deceitful lying, on air, and they're allowed to do that. Mind boggling. My kid in grade school could see through this.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/202 ... ess-media/

Has anyone taught the students the definition of propaganda? If not, maybe now's the time.