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President Donald Trump on Saturday spent much of his daily press briefing on the coronavirus raging against perceived enemies, from the media, to the Ukraine whistleblower, to the recently ousted commander of a Navy aircraft carrier. On the same day the U.S. death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic surpassed 8,000, Trump opened the briefing with a slam at the media, which he accused of “spreading false rumors.” “Get this over with, then go back to your fake news,” Trump said. While acknowledging that the nation will likely see “a lot of death” in the coming weeks, the president repeatedly reiterated his calls for the country to “get back to work” and ease up on protective restrictions. And then he let loose on critics. Asked about his Friday night firing of intelligence community inspector general Michael Atkinson, who notified Congress of the whistleblower complaint that ultimately led to his impeachment, Trump slammed both Atkinson and the whistleblower. “Frankly, somebody oughta sue his ass off,” the president said of the anonymous intelligence whistleblower, adding that Atkinson, a Trump appointee, “did a terrible job.” Trump also slammed Captain Brett Crozier, who was relieved of his duty commanding the USS Theodore Roosevelt after writing a letter warning about the spread of the coronavirus on his ship. While Crozier’s warnings were dismissed and his pleas for help to Navy leadership were met with punishment, more men on his ship wound up testing positive for the virus, with 137 cases as of Saturday.

The scary thing for the US is that Trump is taking almost all his information from Fox News and regurgitating it word for word. Apparently commercial distributors in the US are buying up as much of the critical supplies as possible, marking them up substantially and then essentially selling them to the highest state bidders. It is the free enterprise system at its worst.

Contrary to the pronouncements by the Trump Administration, the COVID 19 crisis will not be over in May, not even close. Let´s be realistic It is far more realistic to plan on 5-6 months of very, very restricted public life. That means no open restaurants, no non-essential business, no schools during that time period. And, owing to the incredible gaps in the U.S. health care and health insurance systems, the loss of life may reach approximately two million by September in the United States alone. In the second quarter, the U.S. economy will contract by at least 12% on a quarterly basis. 12%! In the third quarter, that number might reach a collapse of 30%. Unemployment will reach 30-40%. Not even in the 1930s did the United States experience such a situation (it peaked at 25%). We will see massive corporate and personal bankruptcies in June. They will be higher than anything we have ever experienced. No CARES Act will cure this

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Nobody is ready for what is coming. Already there are stories in the newspapers and on TV questioning the White House estimates of 100,000 to 240,000 dead. The White House officials who devised those models won't provide the assumptions that went into them, and none of the models contained an endpoint for when the virus might run its course and the dying will stop. I just saw a public health expert from the University of Minnesota on MSNBC who dismissed the White House models out of hand and said we're looking at more than a million deaths from COVID-19 before the end of the year. More than a million.

The most optimistic estimate about the CORVID19 virus mortality rate puts it about 1.8%- and that is 3X higher than most flu's. That alone is enough to warrant great caution.

He is real familiar with "zero". It represents his IQ and empathy.

Since Trump already asked Alex Rodriguez for advice on how to handle the pandemic, I guess this is the next logical step. Probably hoping to get golf tips, though.

We also do not have an idiot as leader of our country supported by idealogues who are willing to sacrifice anyone to hold onto power, nor do we have as many religious nuts who believe that their clergy can save them from anything so long as they believe real hard and keep those tithes rolling in.

Another principled civil servant who dared to speak the truth.

Hallelujah!!!

Trump doesn't give a damn about how many get ill or die anywhere in the US, let alone Canada. This is an FU gesture to make him look good.

China will be whatever suits their goals, or rather, they will present themselves as such. To me, it seems that they have found out how to harness the power of the ant hill as ruled by an autocracy. They can and have become wealthy and powerful by economic means rather than military, and thus, why would they destroy or cripple their markets? It is in their interests to keep us buying their stuff and borrowing money to do so.

We should all no longer be surprised by Trump and his assortment of neo-nazis and idiots who are governed by nothing except self-interest. They uniformly have no compunction about outright lying or inciting racism and intolerance so long as it serves their purposes. As things deteriorate even further, their actions will become more and more extreme and if/when Trump loses the next election, it could well lead to violence on a large scale, and that will serve Trump's ends.

And in related news, the captain of USS Roosevelt, a US Navy ship, went public a couple of days ago because he had 100 COVID cases on his ship and was getting no help for his people. The Secretary of the the Navy (and Trump toady) leaped into action like a tiger and removed the captain. He left the ship today to a standing salute and applause from his entire complement. He left with his honour intact.

After you.....

Another false assumption that there is only a binary choice. The ways to judge the health of a society are infant mortality, life expectancy, crime rates, and suicide rates, not how many TVs or Audis you have.

Brexit was fueled by Russian and right-wing disinformation and not well though-through by those who voted for it. Boris Johnson appealed to the same racist and xenophobic voters as Trump did in the US. The Labour Party had the poor judgement to elect a leader with the personality of a loofah.

This is a false assumption. In Europe, there is no mania about lowering taxes in a race to the bottom. Taxes are higher for all, individuals and corporations, but the inhabitants (apart from Brits) report themselves as the happiest in the world. And corporations are smart enough to realize that a happy, healthy workforce and consumers are the key to long-term success.

Its called "taxation".

So......we're talking about Saskatchewan?