Small Business Owners In “Hotspot” ZIP Codes Fear Another Shutdown Will Wipe Them Out

And if customers die from being in your business and it gets out, then what? Or if you or family members die from Covid-19? Pedestrians pass businesses on Lefferts Blvd., in Kew Gardens, Queens on October 5th, 2020.

Pedestrians pass businesses on Lefferts Blvd., in Kew Gardens, Queens on October 5th, 2020.

“I personally have four children and I work. If I’m going to be closed again, what am I supposed to do?” [ more › ]

White House likened to ‘ghost town’ as anxiety over coronavirus cluster grows

Mr. Trump has created a Hunt for Red October moment: – “Captain, you have killed us!”

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US administration faces complaints it failed to trace potential contacts of Donald Trump and his infected aides

The growing coronavirus cluster linked to Donald Trump is sending ripples of intense anxiety among staff, journalists and officials who spend much of their time in the White House and into the wider city of Washington DC itself.

The West Wing has reportedly turned into a “ghost town” amid complaints that the White House has failed to trace potential contacts of Trump and his infected aides, with many now working from home even as the president exhorted Americans “not to be afraid of Covid”.

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The Guardian view on Boris Johnson’s speech: the politics of a pivotal moment | Boris Johnson | The Guardian

Boris Johnson’s coronavirus stewardship has been disastrous. The utter incompetence and abject lack of strategy at the heart of his government has seen his poll ratings drop and has rattled Conservative MPs. Covid has spread, with hospitalisations and death rates rising. In the last few months, Mr Johnson has only provided broken promises and empty hyperbole. His claim that there will be no restrictions on sizes of gatherings and no social distancing by September next year betrays how desperate things have become.

If the situation was allowed to persist, widespread discontent could be mobilised against the government and the prime minister would sink deeper into the mire.

Mr Johnson’s breezy optimism is not enough for a future where a painful Covid recession will determine British politics.

Source: The Guardian view on Boris Johnson’s speech: the politics of a pivotal moment | Boris Johnson | The Guardian

Does It Matter? — In Saner Thought

Well yes it does. Closing Thought–06Oct20 Okay what the Hell am I going on about, right? All the dumbass Repubs that went around without a mask just to keep Trump with a woody…are coming down with the virus…..they are dropping like flies…..and as bad as it could be Donald the Orange still spouts bullshit and […]

Does It Matter? — In Saner Thought

Markey noted that throughout the coronavirus pandemic, in which more than 7.4 million cases have been detected and more than 209,000 people in the U.S. have died, people have attempted to get care at hospitals after testing positive and showing worsening symptoms, only to be turned away and “told only to come back when they could not breathe.”

How progressives could still win the 21st century – The Correspondent — Yanis Varoufakis

Our era will be remembered for the triumphant march of authoritarianism in whose wake the vast majority of humanity have experienced unnecessary hardship and the planet’s ecosystem has suffered avoidable climate destruction. For a brief period – a period the British historian Eric Hobsbawm described as “the short 20th century”  – establishment forces  were united in dealing with challenges…

How progressives could still win the 21st century – The Correspondent — Yanis Varoufakis