the mask

The long delay in the U.S. reaction has led to a urgent need for personal protection equipment. The result is a new 'wild west' where stealing and cheating to get PPE is the new norm:

• German army loses 6 million face masks in Kenya - Nation.ke
• Trump Administration Uses Wartime Powers To Be First In Line On Medical Supplies - KHN
• Coronavirus: US 'wants 3M to end mask exports to Canada and Latin America' - BBC
• Trudeau threatens retaliation after Trump keeps shipment of masks intended for Canadian doctors - Independent
• Coronavirus: Turkey seizes hundreds of ventilators paid for by Spain in move ‘bordering on criminality’ - Independent
• US Leads Global Wave of Nations Stealing, Seizing and Diverting Coronavirus Equipment - Orinoco Tribune
• US accused of seizing face mask shipments bound for Europe, Canada - DW
• Million $ checks exchanged on a McDonald's parking lot to get masks:
  Illinois adjusts on the fly to meet medical supply needs in a coronavirus ‘Wild West’ - Sun Times
• The Feds impounded the masks Massachusets had ordered. Twice. So MA they had to use alternative ways to get them:
  A Patriots plane full of 1 million N95 masks from China arrived Thursday. Here’s how the plan came together - Boston Globe

munchkin

I hate him.....

"...the fellow running Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, has been implicated in so many scandals. I wouldn’t want him in the same room with my kid’s piggy bank.....This is the man President Trump wants to hand out billions of dollars to corporations and to Wall Street, a guy up to his neck in various conflicts of interest, self-dealing, and ethics lapses."
    -- Bill Moyers

not happening so far

Beyond defeating the disease, the great test all countries will soon face is whether current feelings of common purpose will shape society after the crisis. As western leaders learnt in the Great Depression, and after the second world war, to demand collective sacrifice you must offer a social contract that benefits everyone. 
    -- the Financial Times editorial

waxahatchee

stuff

“Never die over stuff. Society can collapse in an instant. Accept the truth, pivot and never look back. It’s the difference between life and death. Never risk death over a stupid china cabinet.”
    -- unknown

Deuteronomic Code

Do you want to shampoo
Do you want to sham pee
Do you want to sit six feet
From me
And watch the news of the plague
On the TV
Or do you want to do do do
Do the Deuteronomy

Deutero, do you know what that means?
It’s Greek — meaning second, or next
And nomos, the law — this law’s wrecked
So, what’s the next law?
Wait and see
Housing all will soon be free
Do do do
Do the Deuteronomy
With me

Who will plant the crops
Who will pick the fruit
Who will bring them all to you
And me for free
The army will
You will see
Do do do
Do the Deuteronomy

Wait indoors for nine months time
The length it takes for a baby to arrive
For a new life to form
For a new world to be born
From these old rooms
From these cocoons
These chrysalides
Let’s do do do
Do the Deuteronomy

    -- Elliot Sperber

we're in good hands

"COVID-19 emergency spending bill: $250 billion for direct payments to Americans, $250 billion for expanded unemployment benefits, $4 trillion to bail out corporations" 

at least we got radar love