I just had a morbid thought re the pandemic

[Cary]

Pandemics are morbid of course.

But I am a little perplexed by the sudden shift of Orsnge Hitler and Mitch McChinless and I think back to the pre-cult "thinning of the herd" schtick. 51% of.adults are at serious risk if they are infected with this virus and the cult knows that their only demographic is old white people.

Could they he thinking that this pandemic is a way to wipe out Democrat demographics?

A lot.of holes in that, I know, but I see cultists as being capable of far more atrociousness than displayed thus far.

[JenniferJuniper]

1. He told his fanboys (and girls) that

this was all democrat hoax driven by the media. Some are still not listening. They are more likely to get ill.

[Cary]

6. Yes, that's part of their cognitive dissonance

[marble falls]

2. The main being, of course, Covid-19 doesn't give a poop which party you belong to.

[Act_of_Reparation]

3. COVID-19 doesn't give a shit what party you vote for.

[Cary]

5. I suggested that they were malicious, not intelligent

It is called "crazy" because it doesn't make sense.

[Act_of_Reparation]

7. Occam's razor.

Republicans don't give a shit about anything until it affects them personally. This is no different.

[Cary]

9. Good point

[uponit7771]

16. +1

[bearsfootball516]

4. Trump's main demographic is old, white people

If anything, it's hurting his own demographic.

[C_U_L8R]

8. It's more like Thanos meets Theranos

Arbitrary thin the herd madness meets total incompetence and corruption.

[Cary]

10. Indeed

[gibraltar72]

11. Even more sinister

is the fact he planned it exactly like this to get SNL to close up shop.

[Hortensis]

12. Strong libertarians and sociopathic anti-taxers always

wanted everyone who is or is no longer useful to be completely on their own to live or die.

Paul Ryan's a known libertarian extremist who was too smart to admit die-off was his choice for dealing with the current epidemic illnesses due to fairly sudden new lifestyles that evolution didn't prepare us for. But that would be the inevitable result of carrying out his ideology to its natural end.

Of COURSE McConnell and the kleptocratic powers he fronts for would like very much for COVID to "wash" as many as possible, liberals and conservatives, off the rolls of the entitlements they paid into for decades. How much his delays relate to that I can't guess.

But after years of him, my already-strong suspicion that McConnell is a sociopath without conscience is only strengthened. I believe only intrinsic incompetence, inadequate and/or inapplicable advance planning, and now finally big Republican voter pressure -- and absolutely our house Democrats! -- would keep them from actions designed to reap the most deaths of elderly and disabled people from this. And perhaps younger with increasing automation promising to make unneeded laborers a very expensive "liability." As it is, the house can't keep him from delaying and slashing needed action.

[Cary]

14. Interesting subject that I have studied in great detail

In 1984 I did the equivalent of a graduate thesis on this for my law school jurisprudence class. I wish I still had it.

My professor, the late Gray Dorsey, had a fascinating theory and we were to identify groups and apply his theory to as to how these groups used their respective intellectual underpinning to justify their ascendancy. My group I called "born again Christians." My intellectual underpinning was Milton Friedman.

Several of my classmates got pissed at me while others were impressed. I'd love to rewrite this today, with the advantage of hindsight and knowing how spot on I really was. I would go after Ayn Rand's third rate philosophy with a vengeance, contrasting her rational selfishness thought virus with the true philosophical underpinning of our founders: enlightened self interest.

Alas, the past is prologue.

[Hortensis]

17. That is a shame to have lost that, would still be great to read.

This must be an incredibly fascinating time for such things, with many of our public and private institutions, including the Republican leadership, effectively taken over by types unconstrained by morals or altruism.

I've read George Washington became a revolutionary when he realized King George might award his own holdings, and others he wanted to claim, to groups more in favor. He wanted the king to turn western settlers putting their lives on the line to own their own farms into sharecroppers by awarding his consortium millions of acres but created a nation where that was impossible. Enlightened self interest, all right. He was a man of strong principles and integrity for both his times and these, while today's Republican leaders have about as much of both as a pack of hyenas.

Do you have any names to recommend for current thought (and fairly good reading) on this?

[Cary]

20. It may be in my attic but as I said I could do better now

At the time my thoughts on the application of Professor Dorsey's theory and Milton Friedman were, as best as I can tell, original. I had been an economics major and had some great insights into Monetarism versus the then mainstream economists' debate.

One thing that always bothered me was the sheer inability of Monetarist adherents to engage. The monetarists had no model to show that liquidity traps could exist. Well, they exist. We had the First Great Republican Depression. We had the Second Great Republican Depression in 2008 and now we have the return of negative real interest rates so we are here yet again.

But before Modern Mainstream Neo Classical Synthesis, Salt Water economists can pat ourselves on the back, our models cannot account for stagflation. So we should have more tolerance for each other than I can identify.

I would commend Professor Dorsey's book. They are long and dry but also full of an amazing array of citations. He called it "Jurisculture." And yes, the founding fathers, not just Washington, were incredibly wealthy. According to Professor Dorsey that is a recipe for a successful revolution and being a right winger Professor Dorsey was very pro-America. The elite in the Colonies were far wealthier than the British aristocracy yet they did not hold political power. So they found their philosophical underpinning, being men of The Enlightenment, in John Locke, and they leverage that into their ascendance.

We tracked this kind dialectic throughout history, all the way back from paterfamilias. Professor Dorsey applied Hegel's dialectic. It was an amazing exercise and the only intellectual courses in my 3 years at Washington University at St. Louis School of Law.

[Hortensis]

24. Well, these days my eyes can cross reading a Krugman column,

an awful admission I know. My very few econ classes (neoclassical) were so long ago that last time I tried I used up most an afternoon trying to understand something about what was on a y axis. Aversion therapy.

As for liquidity traps and so on, even if the right's tame economists admitted they existed they'd still have run the interest rate to nothing. So here we are, in coronavirus economy with a broken paddle, not even a surprise.

It's kind of like we're living in an econ lab, where we're finding out what happens if you add a pandemic to the model or kill off all the old people on Social Security to see what that does. Lol, it's about time for Trump to once again insist we should be printing money, lots of it, because...why not when we can?

[Cary]

31. You seem to understand the basics

[Hortensis]

32. :) Nice, but no. I'm always impressed by those who

can read an article without stopping to try to figure out why this would mean that.

One thing's becoming more proven by the day that's more related to psychology: The Republican leadership understood from the beginning that inaction would result in holocaust, the more delay the more deaths.

Yet the Republican leadership lead Americans to believe it wasn't serious and that Democrats were lying for contemptible political reasons, refused to activate standard procedures already in place, refused to put the fear of congress in Trump, and refused to pass critical legislation needed to help stop this in its tracks -- until the reality of what's upon us broke through to the electorate and most of their delaying tactics became politically untenable.

[Cary]

33. They're liars

[Hortensis]

34. All. Their group personality is sociopathic and treasonous.

[crickets]

19. Check with the school library. My college kept a copy of everyone's thesis, at least for a certain

time. With records going digital, there's no question of needing to clear out space. You might be surprised - your law school may have a copy.

[Cary]

22. It wasn't a thesis so no way it was published anywhere.

Typed on an old fashioned typewriter.

[FM123]

13. "but I see cultists as being capable of far more atrociousness than displayed thus far."

It is so horrible that folks would think like that but maybe some really do. According to this article from the other day the logic for this line of thinking says that the elderly are not the economy’s most productive citizens, and the economic impact of them dying earlier might even be positive.
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/some-conservatives-willing-to-sacrifice-the-elderly-to-save-the-economy-from-coronavirus-op-ed/

[Cary]

15. More than some.

As Werner Twertzog said: America is awakening to the realization, as Germany once did, that a third of the population would murder another third while the remaining third sat by and watched.

[HarlanPepper]

18. Might be a good time to get off DU for a few days

[Cary]

21. Why? Because i ponder things?

[Skittles]

27. I agree

yes indeed

[Turin_C3PO]

23. I wouldn't be surprised

if some of the more sociopathic Republicans viewed this virus as a way to get rid of “useless eaters”.

[Bucky]

25. There's not much Darwinism or social Darwinism with this virus

You are more of a risk to the old and health impaired people who live in your community than you are to yourself. Being stupid here will get you sick, but it won't get you dead. This virus is actually pretty specific about who it kills

[RandySF]

26. I had the same thought

They may let this run as long as it mainly hits blue areas.

[Brainfodder]

28. I'd love to know WHAT started this political parties as MORTAL enemies BS?

Meanwhile in this Bestest Shitshow ever:

Itch McCrotchallnight would ofc take too much time to mull it over/hide anything worthy in the pile on his desk?

I find it hard to believe that chin challenged pouch pinata is married, she must be a real beaut, and yeah I know who she is.

I'd like Moscow Mitch to give this new virus a test drive himself since he's so cavalier about the health of others?

[murielm99]

29. Newt Gingrich started the political parties as mortal enemies BS.

[dawg day]

30. Also men are more affected

More men die. No info on why.

[Cary]

35. Probably don't take care of themselves

[marlakay]

37. I heard it said because the old men

In China and Italy were smokers more than the women.

[BayAreaAtLast]

36. I have thought the same thing

I put nothing past these creatures.

[Cary]

38. Agree, they don't have a floor

They will go as low as they can. They feel entitled and empowered and we will have to stop them, hard and fast.