Not being a religious family and not having kids around basically means Easter is just an excuse to get together with everyone and eat way too much good food. And since obviously we can’t get together with everyone right now, we settled for eating a bunch of Indian food and watching TV.
We do need to go forage for perishable supplies today, so maybe we’ll pick up some eggs and do deviled eggs for this week. That’ll make a nice Eastery little treat for the week.
Notes below. Updates through the day.
🐖 Now would be a good time to find your local meat farmers and figure out how to order direct from them, if that’s at all possible for you. One of the biggest pork processing plants in the US just closed down due to a COVID-19 outbreak among employees, and I’m willing to bet that’s not going to be the only one.
🍊 Trump tweets (1, 2), “For the purpose of creating conflict and confusion, some in the Fake News Media are saying that it is the Governors decision to open up the states, not that of the President of the United States & the Federal Government. Let it be fully understood that this is incorrect…. ….It is the decision of the President, and for many good reasons. With that being said, the Administration and I are working closely with the Governors, and this will continue. A decision by me, in conjunction with the Governors and input from others, will be made shortly!” Just a general FYI, this is bullshit, legally. Governors issued the shelter in place orders, and governors are the ones to lift them. Trump can’t do that. Well, let me rephrase that: Trump can only do that if we let him get away with it.
🦠 Quick reminder for y’all, re: last note: Trump would really prefer if we all just quietly fucking died and any survivors meekly went back to making his numbers look good, so he can get re-elected.
📮 If you need something to do today – and let’s face it, you probably do, it’s hella boring out here in the pandemic wastelands – today is a damn good day to call your electeds and tell them to get the lead out and pass some financial relief for the United States Postal Service. The USPS is a Constitutionally mandated institution that is required to be self-funded (IE, it’s not supported by your tax money), and the only reason it needs help right now is because Republicans neutered their ability to self-fund deliberately. The Post Office is a source of excellent jobs, especially for minority workers and veterans, and it elevates employees into the middle class. It’s one of the most efficiently run services the government offers. It is the only service that could knock on every single door in America in one day. It’s been a tent pole of emergency services plans in America nearly since its foundation. It is vital to American life. The GOP would love to shut it down because they want to part it out to private companies (which do not serve rural Americans), and because they’re terrified of vote-by-mail. Call your state and federal congresscritters today, folks. #SaveThePostOffice
🦠 I haven’t done one of these in awhile. As of Monday, April 13, 2020, we have 577,842 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the US, with an appalling 23,232 deaths.
🇺🇸 Oregon, California, and Washington have formed a pact to only “re-open” all three states jointly – IE, they all have to agree to it – and they’ll make their decision based on health information from experts. A bunch of East Coast states have signed on to a similar deal.
💭 I’m really tired of the “If a Democrat did this people would freak out” takes. It was a mildly useful comparison in 2016, but at this point you’re just comparing human beings to sociopaths, so obviously the difference is going to look wild. That’s like if after Hannibal Lecter peeled the guy’s face off and escaped his cell, everyone in the movie said “Well if Clarice did that y’all would lose your minds.” Well, yes, because Clarice is sane, rational, and moral, and Lecter’s a fucking psycho. I don’t expect any better from him, so I’m not surprised when he does that.
🍊 Apparently Trump’s presser was just balls-out insane today. He aired what was basically a campaign commercial chock full of bullshit, which… isn’t that illegal? Didn’t think you were allowed to do that from the White House? Also attacked the press, had a temper tantrum, all the hits. Dude’s losing his damn mind.
🇺🇸 Here’s a fun one to wrap things up: So Wisconsin forced people to vote in person for their primary last week, which is going to result in an explosion of COVID-19 cases next week, which is going to result in deaths. The Wisconsin GOP forced that to happen because they had a state Supreme Court seat up for grabs that was also on the ballot, and they figured if they suppressed the vote by threatening to kill people for voting, then they’d win the seat. This afternoon, we’re finding out that the GOP did not, in fact, win the seat. It appears that Jill Karofsky, the liberal challenger for the seat, has won the race.
Notes & Thoughts 