@wendy davis

#1

and a a new twist on: Serf's Up!

@ScienceTeacher but you also have this, so I'll call it as I see it

The Trump administration has applied tremendous pressure to force the reopening of Mexican factories as quickly as possible, regardless of the human cost. On April 30, US Ambassador to Mexico Christopher Landau threatened, “You don’t have ‘workers’ if you close all the companies and they move elsewhere,” urging plants to reopen despite the resulting loss of life. “It seems myopic to suggest that economic effects don’t matter,” he said.

The Pentagon has issued similar warnings, explaining that Mexican maquiladora workers produce parts that are necessary for the American imperialist war machine. On April 30, the New York Times said the Pentagon’s “talks with the Mexican government have been successful,” quoting spokeswoman Ellen Lord, who said, “We appreciate Mexico’s ongoing positive response.”

Shortly after his discussions with the Pentagon, López Obrador appeared on national television on May 2 and declared: “We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.” Daily positive tests have doubled since then.

#2 It is difficult to know what is going on in Mexico because they are doing even less testing than the US.

Dr. Hugo Lopez-Gatell, Mexico's top epidemiologist and the public face of its Covid-19 response, sat down with CNN for his first network TV interview two days before the government announced plans on how it would re-open.

Certain industries deemed essential, like car parts manufacturing and construction, will be allowed to re-open starting June 1. Other sections of the economy will follow in phases during the weeks after.

Mexican health officials believe the outbreak will peak in this country no later than May 20, though some studies suggest it could arrive in late June, even as the country has one of the lowest testing rates in the world.

"I don't think testing is a must," Lopez-Gatell said when asked if the country could re-open safely without more tests. "This doesn't mean we're resistant to testing, we will use testing but in a carefully planned manner."

As of May 11, Mexico had only conducted 89 tests per 100,000 people, according to health ministry data. By contrast, the US tested at a rate nearly 32 times higher than that, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

.
(My bold)

The amount of testing has improved slightly in the last week but is still extremely low.

@wendy davis SEE IT (and/or read the graphic novel)!!!

Yes, the sound on that was BAD.

#4

film (and i can barely hear it on my loudest setting), but i don't see the similarity with prince charles. maybe you'd explain why you think so.

@wendy davis While the film doesn't really have anything to do with prince Charles' "let them eat cake" kind of moment. If you haven't see it, V for Vendetta, I highly recommend it. The parallels within the movie and what's transpiring live, in reality, are eerily similar.

Replace England with the US, and the "Chancellor" with president Trump and boom, too fucking similar to real life (kind of...) But in reality, there are more dead now from a real pandemic, possibly man made as some speculate, than the pandemic depicted in the movie.

Here is a better audio version of the clip I posted [video:https://youtu.be/jrfm7y5nL30]

Here's a pretty good review of the "deeper" meaning of the movie (9.5 miuntes), but it does contain spoilers, so if you're gonna watch it, don't watch this review.

From the vid's description:

Artists lie to tell the truth, while politicians lie to hide it. V for Vendetta is a lie, but a pretty good one. It’s a masterful work of fiction that was written to reveal some truth. It may not be an easy or pleasant truth, but truth nevertheless. A film like this isn’t easily categorized. But don’t get the idea that it’s an action flick and it definitely isn’t a superhero movie. V for Vendetta is an idea. A disruptive, relentless idea.

[video:https://youtu.be/GDCntIvwjJ0]

And of course here's the V for Vendetta "V's speech"
[video:https://youtu.be/chqi8m4CEEY]

As an aside, it will be interesting to see which companies (and who is connected to them through campaign contributions / contracts for service) that profit from a Covid-19 "vaccine". A big theme of the movie not discussed in the review above.

#4

film (and i can barely hear it on my loudest setting), but i don't see the similarity with prince charles. maybe you'd explain why you think so.

@wendy davis Is that the Brits have had centuries of Monarchy "rule" and their progeny is often so insulated that they actually believe it is good optics to have black people carry you around like you are totally special or something.

Anyway, this is pretty much the reason why British "settlers" wanted to come to America. These guys really did not believe in the generational Monarchy, where the king's offspring would also rule as soon as the king was no longer able to, no matter the capability of said offspring. They believed that even the "common" man should be able to gain riches. For this purpose, our "founding fathers" wrote into law about rich land owners having special "rights" over others. (only they could vote, etc.) Now, here in America, these common men (not of royal blood) could live as KINGS. (Without all those pesky Monarchy rules regarding protocol) In America, we have KINGS, only they are now called corporations.

Every person is born to a mother and is naked. What makes one person "special" over another? It would be much better is we humans all pulled in one direction and quit trying to outdo the other in the "special" department.

#7

a commenter from the UK just stopped by the café babylon version, and said now she Knows the UK is worse off than the US of A. er...i can't imagine it, but okay, said i.

i'd gone and dug this out again, speaking of Royal Satire: prince william on a throne litter in africa: (should be subtitled: 'If looks could kill')

@Cassiodorus

#10 that the blades don't ask about the nationalities of the heads on the way down. Convenient that!

@wendy davis

Look for the comment that has lots of yellow in it. And silly me for thinking that Marcy would be too embarrassed to be seen in public after that takedown, but good golly there she is today repeating all her talking points that have been debunked. Her fans gave her lots of kudos though. Blehh and where’s my barf bag?

#14

i can manage 14+ min in a couple sessions when sufficiently motivated. ; ) but if i cared what greenwald wrote, i could find it on his twitter account. the many times he, naomi klein, and other of Pierre' "fearless investigative journalists" have tarred, smeared, and lied about julian assange i will Never Forgive. assange may have, as he allowed greenblob into the ecuadorian embassy, but he have thought: any possible port in the storm.

Greenblob on Assange: "no matter what you think of him: Press Freedom!" he can kiss my grits. not to mention, he and snowden have shitty politics as libertarians, imo, of course. ; P

@wendy davis of others conveniently overlooks her own double standards. Her discussion of bias in reporting is just laughable. But she does tell a lot of lefties what they want to hear, and her conservative co-host is too polite to challenge her. Has she ever had on a guest, not for political horse race discussions, who has ever challenged her fundamental thinking on any important issue? She just seems a little too smug in her views, imo. And it appears the format for that show is designed to keep those views and assumptions smug and unchallenged.

As for MTracey and that fraud empty wheel person, here is a sample of his latest on that FBI enabler.

As @emptywheel's fraud is finally exposed to a wider audience, she uses the same smug tactics over and over: insisting that she alone possesses all the bombshell Trump/Russia "facts" and her critics are riddled by "errors." Will her promoters (MSNBC, NYT, etc.) ever feel shame?

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) May 19, 2020

He went after her last year (or so) full-throatedly, calling out a few online progs for relying on her extensively/exclusively for Russiagate coverage. He had an interview on this with gullible Wheeler-backer Sam Seder on his show, and was of course interrupted frequently, shouted at and basically treated rudely by the host, who didn't like anyone challenging his Wheeler source.

#14

and her analysis on double standards was tightly contsructed. kinda thought her partner was a bit of an obomba fan, but then...many are.

i looked, but hadn't seen your own tweets on the evening blues, but here's marcy's response, and holy hell, it's long. did we ever discover the identity of her source she'd leaked to the FBI? she raised shit tons of money at her site based on:

"If I disappear one day...!" and used her fake mea culpa on every diary after that for years. i'd thought i'd noted that bernhard at MoA had raised an ojection to her on the earliest thread on the subject, and i'd gone there and give him an atta boy, but noting he could deleted my comment if it seemed appropriate.

but it looks as tough michael tracy is following it all on twitter, not that i've alway found him estimable, myself.