US Health Workers Responding To Coronavirus Lacked Training and Protective Gear, Whistle-Blower Says (nytimes.com) 272
Federal health employees interacted with Americans quarantined for possible exposure to the coronavirus without proper medical training or protective gear then scattered into the general population, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing a government whistle-blower. From the report: In a portion of a complaint filing obtained by The New York Times that has been submitted to the Office of the Special Counsel, the whistle-blower, described as a senior leader at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the team was "improperly deployed" to two military bases in California to assist the processing of Americans who had been evacuated from coronavirus hot zones in China and elsewhere.
The staff members were sent to Travis Air Force Base and March Air Reserve Base and were ordered to enter quarantined areas, including a hangar where coronavirus evacuees were being received. They were not provided training in safety protocols until five days later, the person said. Without proper training or equipment, some of the exposed staff members moved freely around and off the bases, with at least one person staying in a nearby hotel and leaving California on a commercial flight. Many were unaware of the need to test their temperature three times a day.
The staff members were sent to Travis Air Force Base and March Air Reserve Base and were ordered to enter quarantined areas, including a hangar where coronavirus evacuees were being received. They were not provided training in safety protocols until five days later, the person said. Without proper training or equipment, some of the exposed staff members moved freely around and off the bases, with at least one person staying in a nearby hotel and leaving California on a commercial flight. Many were unaware of the need to test their temperature three times a day.
Stock up now (Score:4, Informative)
Warning: Joke (Score:2)
I bought out my local grocery store and set up shop on the sidewalk outside.
First sale doctrine, amirite?
Re:Stock up now (Score:5, Insightful)
Then get a damn clue and buy vinegar ...
Re: Stock up now (Score:2)
Re: Stock up now (Score:5, Insightful)
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I am proud of you. This now has more insightful mods than funny mods.
Well done Slashdot, you never disappoint.
Re: Stock up now (Score:2)
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You got it
But are you getting it [youtube.com]
Re: Stock up now (Score:4, Funny)
I rig up a bucket over my door, so anyone coming in gets a free bleach drench. Then it's on to the Lysol gauntlet in the front hall.
Re: Stock up now (Score:5, Funny)
Well, I took a few cases of Lysol cans, and mounted them along the wall at 16" intervals, 3 to a column, both walls. Then I took some threaded rod and plastic cams and hooked it up to motor and controller driven by a Raspberry Pi 4. The RPi also activates the grill lighter at the end of the hallway in case anyone fails to die of fumigation before the end of the gauntlet.
Re: Stock up now (Score:4, Funny)
This sounds like a trap from Stranger Things.
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I've had a lot less kids on my lawn since I replaced it with an electrified moat.
Re: Stock up now (Score:4, Funny)
Whoa! Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these things!
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Having a good sized well built knife is very useful. I have a nice 6" kbar (love the story where that name came from*) for any time camping or survival (48 hour pack). Sometimes you need to poke something or cut it. Or it's nice to have a lump of steal that you can use against flint for some sparks.
It's a tool. Can you really not think of any use for a sharp edge with a sharp point on a sturdy bar of steal?
* "Years ago an Alaskan hunter had shot a bear who then attacked him and knocked his rifle from his ha
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A jackknife is a tool. A kitchen knife is a tool. A skinning knife is a tool if you're hunting. A Kbar is an penis replacement for the poorly endowed.
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I have never used my knife for survival although I have practiced starting a fire with flint with it. You'd be surprised how finicky starting a fire with flint and steel can be. TV makes it look really easy. First time I attempted it took me about 15-30 minutes.
6" is not a big knife. I have a 48 hour pack where it stays until I use it for camping (which I take the pack with me ). I like to keep a smaller knife on me just because how damn useful knives are. It's annoying not having one when you need one. Eve
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Excluding canteens / dromedary bags for water; matches; etc...
As far as a general, all-purpose tool a good knife is essential. The best type as a general purpose tool (and this is for the OP and others who spend little to no time outdoors) is a fixed blade (that which comes in a sheath). Now this type of knife is not good as an everyday carry and t
Why the bleach... (Score:2)
I see a few others posting along these same lines, but just what exactly do you expect to be doing with that bleach?
You do know viruses wash away pretty well just using normal soaps and detergents right? Or are you going to come out the other side of this with every bit of clothing you wear looking like you left it in the sun for 100 years.
The hand sanitizer is a good idea, you can use it as you go around. But in a pinch, simply avoid touching your face with your hands until you can wash your hands. That
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Bleach cleans and disinfects counters, sinks, toilets, showers, clothing, combs, toothbrushes, etc. etc.
Are you stupid?
Not cleaned much have you (Score:3)
Iâ(TM)m not the one inviting coronavirus infected people to lick my counters, nor am I dumb enough to use what is an improper cleaner for many surfaces... so I guess we can all agree it is you who are the idiot here.
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Who the fuck modded this moron up?
Bleach is the recommended cleaner for biohazard pathogen spreading spills such as blood and other bodily fluids on hard surfaces. Minimum 1 cup bleach per gallon of water.
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Found a person who bought some stock lately.
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Well at the very least he shouldn't have dismantled the U.S. pandemic response team.
Re:Thank you, Ivan (Score:5, Interesting)
Tom Bossert, Trump's Home Security advisor, was fired in April 2018. He had called for a comprehensive biodefense strategy against pandemics and biological attacks.
The next month, Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer was fired, He was the Senior Director for Global Health Security and Biodefense at the National Security Council: in charge of overseeing pandemic response [thehill.com]. He was not replaced, and his team was disbanded.
Links:
https://www.usaid.gov/who-we-are/organization/tim-ziemer
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/05/white-house-loses-global-health-security-lead-as-a-new-ebola-outbreak-hits/560195/
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/tom-bossert-trump-s-homeland-security-adviser-resign-n864321
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/05/10/top-white-house-official-in-charge-of-pandemic-response-exits-abruptly/
Snopes comments here: https://www.snopes.com/fact-ch... [snopes.com]
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How dare you intrude on a Slashdot discussion with FACTS. I can feel my eyes glazing over already!
In Trumpland we are already post-fact. The only important training is how to blame Democrats and never Trumpers. Fallback is to blame Xi. Whoever gets blamed, it will NEVER be Trump.
Trumpghanistan has always been at war with BatLand!
One more weak joke: Maybe Covid-19 will stop the Trumpenberg Rallies? Face masks and red hats look funny together.
Re:Thank you, Ivan (Score:5, Informative)
The article you presented does not refute the fact that President Trump dismantled the pandemic response team. Instead it states that President Trump has tried unsuccessfully to cut funding for the CDC and NIH. "For starters, Trump hasn’t succeeded in cutting the budget. He’s proposed cuts but Congress ignored him and increased financing instead. "
The funding cuts referenced in the article are related to CDC state grants. "Some public health experts say a bigger concern than White House budgets is the steady erosion of a CDC grant program for state and local public health emergency preparedness — the front lines in detecting and battling new disease. But that decline was set in motion by a congressional budget measure that predates Trump." There is no mention of a 2016 bill or when the erosion of CDC grants started.
Although President Trump was unsuccessful in cutting health services budgets, he did successfully reduce the workforce of the CDC. https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]
Re: Thank you, Ivan (Score:3)
Trump made it about himself... just like he does with everything. But if this goes bad is he going to fire Pence?
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My first thought was if the medical professionals were ignoring basic procedures then how bad is the military response? What they're describing is difficult to believe though, a high school biology student would have a clearer idea of what 'quarantine' meant.
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The 2th shall set you free!
Expose them! (Score:3)
The con artist is sure to come out and say this is all fake, that it was a perfect deployment and here's the transcript he wrote himself to prove it.
The Fish Rots From the Head (Score:2, Insightful)
Trump is on TV lying about the fatality rate and number of cases in the US while demonstrating a stunning lack of knowledge about this issue and health care in general.
And that's somehow a press conference about Coronavirus. A bunch of lies and nonsense coupled with a public demonstration of the lack of preparedness of government in general.
I dare you to watch that press conference, and see how Trump clearly is more concerned about the stock market than public health and not sell every stock you own. Go ahe
Re:The Fish Rots From the Head (Score:5, Insightful)
Soon after Trump was elected, some of my first thoughts were, what if there is a serious planetary emergency that requires an effective response from the US while this clown is in office? Some of those I considered were a pandemic, a discovery that global warming had been underestimated, an asteroid threat, and alien contact - not necessarily an invasion, just thinking about how embarrassing it would be, as a human, for the aliens to meet Trump.
Since then it turns out that we've underestimated global warming, and COVID-19 might be the pandemic.
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Why not all of the above? Then it can be like Escape From LA and Escape From NY. :)
Re:The Fish Rots From the Head (Score:4, Insightful)
A panic could conceivably cause more harm than the virus. We just don't know enough yet. It's up to the individual to prepare for themselves. Anyone waiting for the government to save them is already too far gone to be helped. They're about to learn a very valuable lesson.
It is hilarious watching the same people who've been screaming about Trump wanting to close the borders and declare martial law now screaming that he isn't.
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It's up to the individual to prepare for themselves.
And how should they do that without a PhD in medicine or any other high level education or: no government ready to tell/explain it to them?
Re:The Fish Rots From the Head (Score:5, Insightful)
Like I said, if you need a PhD or someone in government to tell you how to wash your hands or to have a couple weeks worth of food in the cupboard then nobody can help you.
Re:The Fish Rots From the Head (Score:4, Funny)
Like I said, if you need a PhD or someone in government to tell you how to wash your hands or to have a couple weeks worth of food in the cupboard then nobody can help you.
No, you did not tell that.
You said: A panic could conceivably cause more harm than the virus. We just don't know enough yet. It's up to the individual to prepare for themselves.
Easy to click: parent, parent till you find your own post. In case you don't remember it.
No, but you do need a PhD & someone in Gov't (Score:3, Insightful)
Go look up the Spanish Flu if you want a good example of what happens when we leave things be. It doesn't turn out well.
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Exactly zero of my friends have said any such thing. I even have one germaphobe coworker, and no such request from them.
Testing and quarantining at the airports was a good move but it's only there to buy a month or so extra response time.
Trump's delusion that we'll keep this thing "contained" is crazy talk. Expect this virus to spread like the flu already
does in a season when the vaccine is ineffective, maybe a bit worse than that. If we're lucky it'll spread less once
the weather warms up. The game chan
First put experts in charge (Score:5, Insightful)
Next commit funds to a response, and don't get those funds from the budget used to pay for heating for poor people in cold states. Yes, this is a real thing he's doing. Normally you'd use the defense budget for this, quietly shuffling some of the $700 billion around, since that is how we do socialism in America; e.g. through the military.
Also you would start preparing for a shortage of goods from China. We offshored the lion's share of our manufacturing to them. We need to start identifying what will be in short supply and finding alternatives as best we can. Things like car parts, steel, heavy machinery.
Lastly start reigning in Wall Street. Raise taxes on the 1% to raise funds for a proper response to the coming economic collapse, pass regulations to control speculating. Listen to Liz Warren & other economists. There are well known solutions to prevent economic collapses that we see every 10 years, we just need to do them.
What you do _not_ do is what we did right before the Great Depression (and what I would argue we are doing now): leave everything in the hands of either God, the Invisible Hand, or Enlightened Self Interest. That never works, and we're all old enough to know that.
Re:First put experts in charge (Score:5, Insightful)
Holy shit. That's gotta be the most sensible, logical response to this issue that I've seen so far.
I guess it's also a blueprint for the exact opposite of what Trump will do. I have no sides on this since I'm not in the US, but he's really the last guy you want in charge during a crisis like this, particularly since once you go past him you have to go several levels down the ladder before you get to someone who's there because of competence rather than loyalty.
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The current, fully constitutional growth is fine (Score:5, Interesting)
And stop strawmanning. I didn't say a damn thing about regulation. I'm talking about disaster response.
68,000 Americans will die of treatable illnesses this year. 500,000 medical bankruptcies. $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. 100% of scientists now agree that Climate Change is an existential threat. And now we've got a pandemic on our hands and we put a thrice bankrupt game show host in charge of the country.
With all due respect, at what point would you declare a huge, unsolved problem? You sound like the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Tis but a flesh wound!
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When you cite lies like "500,000 medical bankruptcies", you have no credibility on anything. You are disguising your classist ranting with the trappings of worry about "disaster response", but it's still the same old bullshit.
Here is a basic fact for you: The "experts" you want to put in charge ARE the ones deciding what to do. They are the ones developing response plans. Pence isn't trying to develop a vaccine, or writing out treatment schedules.
If those experts need more funding, it's a requirement th
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When you cite lies like "500,000 medical bankruptcies", you have no credibility on anything
To have credibility yourself, you should provide a citation demonstrating this is false.
Here is a basic fact for you: The "experts" you want to put in charge ARE the ones deciding what to do.
Here's [nytimes.com]
a story about how experts have been told to stop saying anything without Mike Pence's approval.
If those experts need more funding, it's a requirement that CONGRESS allocate it. It is unconstitutional for the President to just spend money on something without Congressional approval
So close to self-awareness....
If those experts need more funding, it's a requirement that CONGRESS allocate it
Funding is only part of the problem. Trump has fired the people on the NSC responsible for managing pandemic response, and left the positions empty.
Tell them to approve Trump's proposed spending.
Trump's proposed spending, in the form of his budget proposal, is to cut funding for the CDC.
Tell them that opening borders further and ending the travel restrictions is a bad idea
Closed borders are not possible. There's this am
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That never works
Define "works", for, say, a 150 year time frame.
I'll define it for a 1000 year timeframe (Score:2, Insightful)
Here's the question I like to ask, because there is no real answer: When, in your life, has the optimal answer to a complex problem been to ignore it and hope it sorts itself out on it's own?
That's what you're telling me to do when you lean on laissez faire economics.
And that said laissez faire economics is really just a trick the ruling class use to get you to avoid engaging with the economy. The 1% do not rely o
The Lord helps those (Score:3)
Um, no, and this not listening to experts (Score:4)
Separate Wall Street and Main Street banks so you don't mix risky loans with mortgages and other safe investments. Make Stock Buybacks illegal again. Put taxes on trading to put a stop to High Frequency trading. To be fair these are just the most obvious ones.
There are many more complex ones needed to keep Wall Street in check. Wall Street executives go to school for 4-8 years to learn how to rip us off. Ivy League schools with the best teachers. If you want to stop getting ripped off every 10 years when the economy goes *boom* you need equally well educated people. People who spend their lives learning economics and how to build robust systems. Would you hire a 12 year old to run a 1000+ computer Windows Domain with a publicly accessible VPN? That's basically what we've been doing but with the economy.
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Errr...he could start by hiring real scientists and experts instead of pissing on them. He could also tell Pence to go back to his prayer seances and put a real expert in charge. He could recreate the global infection disease operations that he stupidly abandoned. He could act like he gave a flying rat's ass about the people instead of how the falling stock market could effect his re-election. He could also stop accusing everyone who disagrees with him being a traitor.
In short, he could start acting like a
ROTFLMAO (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:ROTFLMAO (Score:4, Insightful)
My meme is: 3rd world country with a 1st world navy ...
Bad combination.
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from the outside you look like fucking morons.
They're working on that as well. Federal Health workers found to be leaking facts to the media will be shown the door.
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Yeah, but nobody takes you or this article seriously. Trump is a giant douchetard, an imbecile on just about every level, but this is just transparent TDS. "Guise, I saw one of Trump's guys leave the bathroom without washing his hands. better get the NYT on it!".
It's fucking noise. It reaffirms the feelings of people who already hate Trump, and those who don't don't believe it or don't care. The rest of us just don't give a shit about pissant stuff like this.
As for a US issue, you must be a fucking dipshit
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In many areas China is possibly ahead of the USA militarily. Its hard to tell because they do not show off and boast as much as the USA. It does look like the Chinese have Hypersonic missiles which the USA does not yet have.
China may outpace the US is space exploration with possible moo
Re:ROTFLMAO (Score:4, Informative)
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It is simply not possible in a few weeks time to adequately prepare for an outbreak of a virus that can be both asymptomatic and contagious for weeks without enacting the most brutal totalitarianism ever imagined. It was always going to infect the US... Newsflash: it's going to infect every country on the planet. The only responsible course of action is to delay and minimize public panic.
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That is why we had a whole team of people preparing for pandemic response for years, until Trump fired them.
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What, right now? I'm not sure if you're aware, but the election isn't until November. Then, even if he loses, the new President doesn't take office until January 2021.
Re:ROTFLMAO (Score:4, Insightful)
Get rid of electoral boundary gerrymandering
Get rid of voter de-registrations
Make sure there are enough places and opportunities for people to vote
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We got all that. Would it be ok with you if we had voter ID now, too?
This is 2020. You could just chip all citizens.
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You mean we have to leave the house and vote? That's what old people do!
Don't Worry... (Score:5, Informative)
Mike Pence is on the case, praying as hard as he can for the virus to pass over the United States.
Re:Don't Worry... (Score:5, Informative)
It's like Trump was trying to pick the worst person for the job:
https://www.theverge.com/2020/... [theverge.com]
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Another idiot peddling his own false dichotomy he then projects, in direct contradiction to obvious reality.
Pence will pray -and- utilize the best scientifically mainstream mitigations of the virus.
There sure are a lot of you parrots.
Re:Riiiight..... (Score:5, Insightful)
Why do Trump haters never believe scientists
Who had the sharpie?
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Nice strawman you have there.
Irrespective of who is advising him, Mike Pence has a history which shows that his decision making regarding disease outbreaks relies more on religious dogma than on facts. Anyone who isn't blinded by their own dogma can easily see this. His response to the HIV crisis in Indiana made things far, far worse than they could have been.
It's a google search away.
Re:Riiiight..... (Score:4, Funny)
'His response to the HIV crisis in Indiana made things far, far worse than they could have been.'
That's just pain incorrect. Rumor has it that he's been painting his door posts with lambs blood as a proactive measure.
Re:Riiiight..... (Score:4, Insightful)
HIV has killed 32 million people. It makes this virus look like child's play.
In roughly 40 years. This virus hasn't even had 40 weeks yet.
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Yes, if by "praying" you mean "getting constant updates from the CDC"
The problem isn't "Hey is Pence informed about what's going on?" Yeah, no shit son, he's getting updates everyday. La-te-fucking-da. The problem is "Hey is Pence taking any of this information and turning it into actionable items for the President?" Or you know actionable items for himself since the President turned tail and abdicated any role in saving this damn country.
The thing is that the President himself indicated that the Vice President has "experience" in this kind of stuff. President's words,
Re:Riiiight..... (Score:4, Insightful)
I believe you are wrong about this. I don't think Trump has really thought about the issue enough to have an opinion.
What Trump does know is that the people who fund his campaign and the campaign of his allies want to deny climate change. It's all about the money. Money is all that Trump is interested in.
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Oh, so he gets the information and then he prays the virus away?
Well, it's good he knows what direction to pray, just imagine what could happen if he prays the wrong way!
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Why do Trump haters never believe scientists and medical professionals? Are you afraid someone will cure you?
Are you out of your mind? Remember, it's the Republicans that 'don't do science', or is up now down?
Complete lack of surprise (Score:2)
U.S. Health Workers Responding to Coronavirus Lacked Training and Protective Gear
Well that was expected... Maybe the President will come and toss us all some paper towels while Pence prays for us? Like what are the odds? Some sort of pandemic happening right when you have the most incompetent person running the show and every competent person has basically left?
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So far despite a few Dems trying to turn a terrible Virus into political meat, the governm
Wouldn't a whisle bower go (Score:2)
Just my 2 cents
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Just to funny (Score:2)
Notice not his team, our team so we have a leader who gave the order to Charge to his troops "From behind"
Then proceeded to put a complaint on record, then leaked to the NYT so they could pick it up for media distribution.
Is this record looping? Are the ideologues in the federal bureaucracy helping the American people?
Just my 2 cents
Re: Which coronavirus? (Score:3)
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Give the guy a break. I don't think he lives up to his /. nym.
The current one in the news is different (Score:5, Insightful)
America has also let it's healthcare system rot, with 27 million completely uninsured and somewhere around 28 million under-insured (possibly more, depending on what you consider "under-insured"). These numbers have doubled since 2003. Meaning there are a _lot_ more people will not seek treatment until symptoms are acute.
All this means the virus has the distinct possibility to spread like wild fire.
One rather disturbing point though, it tends to kill people over 60, who in turn tend to vote for politicians that oppose government action and spending. Meaning it's a problem that will solve itself, after a (particularly horrible, brutal) fashion. It's still incredibly frustrating that we can't reach out to those folk and help them understand the need for a national response to such emergencies. We couldn't do it when the Great Depression hit, either. We've danced this Charleston before, literally.
Re:The current one in the news is different (Score:4, Interesting)
because you can carry it and spread it for 2 weeks before showing symptoms.
Nope. It's at least 24 days. Mandatory quarantine was upped to 24 days in China a while ago.
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Well, obviously the Capitalist utopia isn't.
Anyone know how North Korea is doing?
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"Well, obviously the Capitalist utopia isn't."
The self-reliant among us disagree. I suppose the good news is we'll be left to rebuild should the worse-case come.
Or you'll decend into another 1000 year dark age (Score:2)
No man is an island, and you should never ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee. If you don't know what that means please look it up...
I don't actually, I really don't (Score:2)
And I'm a Social Democrat, TYVM, not a communist.
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Do you know what the slogan of the Communist Party was right before the Soviet Union collapsed?
"Towards a Humane, Democratic Socialism"
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nCoV-19 / SARS-COV-2
But you knew that.
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Does it matter? That's like asking which war party dropped the bomb that just hit me. I don't care, I'm effin' dead.
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No, but at least they're not only experts in wishful thinking.
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Ahem. COVBABE-21
I could do this all day...
Face it on the level, but I take you every time on a one on one [youtube.com]
People that hate on: Whistle blowers are wrong (Score:3)
This guy should get fired by Trump like Vindman
Yes the people who actually do their jobs and report what they are supposed to or required to by regulation should be fired and replaced by people like Mike Pence.
Sigh