Commies are beating South Dakota at coronavirus control; so are Muslims. Jordan has a population of 10.2 million. It has suffered 1,131 coronavirus cases and eleven deaths. That’s 11.1 cases and 0.11 deaths per hundred thousand, compared to South Dakota‘s 920.1 cases and 13.7 deaths.
Jordan’s Prime Minister Omar Razzaz beat America’s sloppy Trumpy wishful thinking with strong restrictions and government support:
“From day one, any discussion of herd immunity or survival of the fittest or, you know, ‘Say farewell to the elderly,’ are the things that just did not sound right for us,” Razzaz tells NPR. “So we went for a very different model in Jordan, based on social solidarity, in fact, helping the weakest. We did everything we can to make sure our children, our elderly, our refugees — you know, the haves and the have-nots — are protected.”
In mid-March, Jordan was one of the first countries in the region to shut its airports and borders for all but essential goods. Arriving passengers were sent into compulsory quarantine. All but emergency workers and security forces were confined to their homes, with even grocery stores shut and the army distributing bread to poor neighborhoods.
The government cut public sector salaries and allowed businesses to reduce workers’ wages, but banned them from laying off employees.
Razzaz says in the last four months, almost half of Jordan’s population received some form of government assistance.
This week, the country announced it would reopen its airport to flights from a dozen countries where coronavirus rates are also low. With no cases of local transmission on most days, Jordan has stopped enforcing mask wearing and reopened restaurants and shopping malls [Jane Arraf, “Jordan’s Prime Minister Says His Country Contained Covid-19 by ‘Helping the Weakest’,” NPR, 2020.07.23].
Prime Minister Razzaz went to school at Harvard and MIT, so it’s not like America can’t produce brilliant leaders. At the moment, we’re just really bad at picking them. Our leader keeps bragging about his performance on a doctor’s office cognitive test, but coronavirus appears to be the most potent cognitive test any world leader is facing right now. Prime Minister Razzaz appears to be passing that test.
So … why did Trump take a cognitive test, anyway? Anyone know?
“…so it’s not like America can’t produce brilliant leaders. At the moment, we’re just really bad at picking them.”
Yes, and I suggest this represents a decreasingly educated populace, by which I refer to formal education as well as to an overall decline in the quality of that formal education in the US.
Hey, anyone hear from Dan Ahlers? You know the guy running against EB5 Short Rounds. Kind of quiet with just a few months to go before the election.
Underfunding, ignoring, and degrading education has consequences.
The Covid pandemic has revealed the true purpose of the USA: Profit > People. Settlers arrived in 1607 and tried to get rich quick. They came into conflict with indigenous people and systematically removed (killed) them. This genocide was coupled with the use of indentured servants and African slaves as sources of labor. The US was built on genocide and slavery. Race was used to justify both. Now we are dealing with the consequences of that fact.
Poor, black, brown, and red Americans are suffering from this pandemic. This should come as no surprise. The purpose of America was always profit. And profit stems from exploitation of the poor and minorities justified by racist ideology.
The rest of the modern world paid people to stay home. The US forces people to go to work and school during a pandemic. It is more proof that we live in a sick society.
A friend preached about grief. One of the things she mentioned that many Americans are grieving is the precipitous decline of the USA’s standing in the world.
It is indeed so true and disappointing at best. I so look forward to President Biden’s team restoring us to a place of respect.
Yes, Debbo, our nations’ standing in the world as an upright, standout nation of rugged strong individuals concerned over the well-being of others is no longer the case. Look at the list of countries who won’t allow us to come visit! All our neighbors, except Mexico give us the finger! And there is still a good percentage of Americans wanting to keep the same GOP in charge? Are we as a nation totally losing it?
I would like to believe that electing Joe Biden to lead us will restore our international reputation. But we’ve really affirmed international perceptions of the Ugly American. Can the world trust us again?
Biden’s challenge is comparable to those faced by Lincoln and FDR in rebuilding a wrecked nation, with the added difficulty of having to restore not only domestic tranquility but global leadership and cooperation, on which our fate as a nation depends far more now than we were during the Civil War or the Depression.