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Trump Planless; Kashkari Says Brace for 18 Months of Coronavirus Shutdowns

Lest you think Donald Trump will get us out of the coronavirus recession, please think again: his inherent and obvious characteristics—inability to plan, communicate, or do science—is keeping his loose assemblage of toadies from developing any coherent strategy for reopening the economy post-pandemic:

Like the majority of policy decisions within this White House, the nascent moves to restart the economy have been plagued by different factions of staffers vying for power — or simply not communicating with one another. Some officials are looking at data from states to make their recommendations, while economic officials are weighing moves to change tax policy to boost growth once again.

…Trump has said the White House will move ahead with reopening the economy even without the capacity to test every American for the virus. Roughly 328 million people live in the U.S., with only 2 million coronavirus tests completed as of Friday.

Dr. Tony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said last week that the benchmarks might not be consistent across the country, since each area faces different challenges.

“I would not want to pull back at all in New York until I was clear that that curve really was doing what we’ve seen in other countries — a very steep decline down — and we had the capability, if there was a resurgence, of having everything in place to be able to do the containment, as opposed to struggling with mitigation with what we’ve been doing,” Fauci said at Thursday’s White House briefing. “That’s different than a relatively smaller city, town or what have you in the Midwest or mountain regions, which is generally very well controlled” [Nancy Cook, “White House Still Has No roadmap for Restarting the Economy,” Politico, 2020.04.12].

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. One of the smartest economists in America, Neal Kashkari of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, says he’s planning for eighteen months of rolling shutdowns to prevent the spread of coronavirus until we get a vaccine:

I’m focusing on 18 months because we’re looking around the world. As they relax the economic controls, the virus flares back up again. And that makes intuitive sense because so many people have the disease, but they don’t show any symptoms. So you don’t know who’s spreading the disease and who isn’t. So we could have these waves of flare-ups, controls, flare-ups and controls until we actually get a therapy or a vaccine. I think we should all be focusing on an 18 month strategy for our healthcare system and our economy. If it ends up being shorter than that, that’s great. We should prepare for the worst-case scenario [Neal Kashkari, on Face the Nation, 2020.04.12].

Eighteen months of on-again/off-again markets won’t be easy on anyone… but at least by the end of that long virus battle, we’ll have a real President with a real plan in the White House again, right?

67 Comments

  1. mike from iowa 2020-04-13 08:46

    The only growths that thrive with wingnut tax changes are income disparity and debt/deficits.

  2. Richard Schriever 2020-04-13 10:11

    18 months was the INITIAL scientifically informed estimate of how long it would be before a return to full economic/social activities. EVERY reduced estimate since then has been based on Trump-like wishful anxiety.

  3. mike from iowa 2020-04-13 10:45

    drumpf body count didn’t take a holiday….

    Last updated: April 13, 2020, 15:41 GMT
    United States
    Coronavirus Cases:
    562,976
    Deaths:
    22,843

    America is in serious, serious trouble. drumpf claims reopening America will depend on lots of drumpf’s instincts. Time to say goodbye to your loved ones.

  4. Donald Pay 2020-04-13 11:44

    Fauci and Kashkari are delivering the hard truth. We need to pay attention to them, not to the dolt in the White House. Getting over this first curve is the task at hand, and that’s the proper focus right now. There will be other curves in the future, particularly if there isn’t widespread testing and isolation of positive cases and rapid development of a vaccine that is effective. How we open back up is important, but it needs to be done with the best scientific understanding. If you just open it up without testing, isolation, tracing and a well-thought-out plan, it’s going to fail quickly. Even with that, if and when the virus reemerges there will be places that need to be shut back down. As long as people feel the disease is under control, and they are being told the truth, they will go back to work. Without a good plan and an end to Presidential bullcrap people ain’t going to believe their health is being protected. Failure will assure a depression and vast civil unrest.

  5. mike from iowa 2020-04-13 12:01

    I’m still waiting for wingnut/drumpf beautiful insurance plan to replace Obamacare and cover everyone’s everything at lower prices. Fool that I am.

  6. jerry 2020-04-13 12:42

    Severe storm season is upon us. 18 people die, so where are they gonna shelter in place?
    https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/13/weather/weather-tornadoes-storms-monday/index.html

    No plan Rounds, Thune and their daddy trump have no plan, nothing natta zilch… Just one, get rid of news and experts, so they can go back to blather. What do the two frauds from South Dakota say about all of this….crickets

  7. mike from iowa 2020-04-13 13:48

    Passed 23k deaths.

    Last updated: April 13, 2020, 18:45 GMT
    United States
    Coronavirus Cases:
    577,332
    Deaths:
    23,077

  8. John Kennedy Claussen, Sr., 2020-04-13 14:08

    Kashkari is the one, who in August of 2017, told the Sioux Falls Downtown Rotary Club, that if they want more workers, then they need to raise wages. Although a conservative economist, Kashkari often speaks the truth.

  9. jerry 2020-04-13 14:33

    Democratic governors have a plan. “BREAKING: NJ, NY, CT, PA, DE, and RI have formed a regional advisory council to help guide our re-opening once the #COVID19 emergency has passed.

    We cannot act on our own. We must be smart & tactical in how our region comes out of this, or else we’ll be right back to square one.”

    trump/republicans have no plans, get back to throwing feces but get the hell out of the way and let smart people handle it.

  10. Dave 2020-04-13 16:01

    Perhaps slightly off topic, but why is South Dakota doing a clinical trial on chloroquine as announced today in the Argus Leader? Such trials take years and to use state resources to do one just to be able to say that South Dakota is the first state to do so is totally unnecessary when they are already underway elsewhere. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04303507

  11. jerry 2020-04-13 16:36

    Dave, Probably because Thune had to recommend it to keep his tall spot behind Moscow Mitch. Clearly the drug doesn’t work, everyone except South Dakota trumps that is.

    “Donald Trump’s top coronavirus adviser has warned again that there is no scientific evidence to support the use of an unproven anti-malaria drug the president has been pushing as a possible remedy for Covid-19.

    In White House briefings on Saturday and Sunday, Trump urged Americans worried about the virus to try hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria, arthritis and lupus that has not been extensively tested for other conditions.”https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/05/coronavirus-fauci-trump-anti-malaria-drug

  12. jerry 2020-04-13 16:45

    And still no plan and no tests.

    “Exactly one month ago today, Donald Trump stood in the White House Rose Garden and announced, with a row of beaming corporate CEOs behind him, a new “Google”-built website for COVID-19 tracking and testing and a new “nationwide” partnership with companies like Walmart, Target, and CVS to open COVID-19 testing sites.

    The Google claim turned out to be an invention on Trump’s part, possibly the result of his inability to retain and process any information that is not about himself.”

    Rounds and Thune willingly approved the statements of drive thru testing, and still, today, no drive thru testing with very little testing at all.

  13. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2020-04-13 18:03

    John! Wastewater epidemiology! What a fascinating concept! It’s like taking bodily samples from entire neighborhoods… in a way that perhaps poses less privacy risk than online apps linked to phones drawing traceable personal data.

  14. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2020-04-13 18:06

    Jerry, that regional cooperation is a great idea, a necessary idea. It harkens to what Mayor Paul TenHaken said last month about closing bars in Sioux Falls: it might be a good idea, but if Sioux Falls does it alone, the bars in Tea and Harrisburg see a business boom… which would turn into a virus boom.

    We need to be ready to act together, in collaboration with neighboring states and neighboring nations, to keep the coronavirus in check for as long as it takes to depress the infection rates and hospital admissions.

  15. Buckobear 2020-04-13 18:19

    I see that kristi gave trump a nice wet kiss and approved malaria drug testing. Next, the fireworks!

  16. jerry 2020-04-13 18:24

    Indeed, Washington, Oregon and California have announced the same regional cooperation. Democratic governors always have the right ideas about the social well being and as a bonus, the economy along with ideas and actions to make it function.

    If South Dakota wasn’t in the middle, I think North Dakota and Nebraska could do some regional cooperation, but until we get rid of the bozoheads in the state government, starting with the biggest bozohead, GNOem, we got nothing. Sutton would’ve gotten’r done. Hindsight is always 20/20 to bad for us our 2020 (year) sucks thanks to the no plan republicans. Maybe North Dakota can kibitz with Canada for cooperation.

  17. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2020-04-13 18:30

    Johns Hopkins epidemiologist Jennifer Nuzzo says it’s not just that Trump doesn’t have a plan; it’s almost like he’s shut down the government:

    What is happening now that you didn’t anticipate in your September 2019 report?

    One thing that feels very different is that, here in the United States, I think we’re really suffering from weak national leadership. Somebody read our report and said to me, “You know, it’s almost as if you assumed there would be a functioning government.” Not to say that we don’t have a functioning government! It’s just that when you hear things like, “We’re leaving it up to individual states to acquire ventilators,” that’s not a unified response. That’s not acting on behalf of the union. That’s like The Hunger Games, in which you’re pitting 50 states against each other. So I think that is one unanticipated distinction [Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, interviewed in Yvonne Bang, “Jennifer Nuzzo: ‘We’re Definitely Not Overreacting’ to COVID-19,” JSTOR Daily, 2020.04.06].

    We can live with abnormal global situations, but only if we have a normal, functioning government.

  18. jerry 2020-04-13 19:05

    A big yuuuge reason for universal health care, Life and health insurance companies may not be able to pay off claims. Good luck with your Christian plans as well.

    “A group of associations that represent members of the insurance industry penned a letter to a pair of congressional lawmakers from California noting that its companies are not built to withstand pandemics such as the current coronavirus outbreak.

    “Insurance coverage works by spreading risk, but that model simply cannot account for a situation in which losses are catastrophic and nearly universal,” the collective wrote in a letter dated April 2, Roll Call reported. “Standard business interruption policies do not, and were not designed to, provide coverage against communicable diseases such as COVID-19, and as such, were not actuarially priced to do so.” https://thehill.com/homenews/house/491926-insurers-industry-warns-its-companies

    Not to big of a problem in South Dakota as two of the health companies are also hospitals. But what about the other carriers? What if they are not able to pay claims, yikes!

  19. grudznick 2020-04-13 19:16

    What with the Census shutting down, how will the legislatures redraw the districtings in the most fair way? But if we can’t have elections, then all the elected felllows will carry over, and there is much bad to be said about some of that.

  20. Dave 2020-04-13 19:25

    Jerry It’s a mistake to say that chloroquine and/or hydroxychloroquine “don’t work.” We simply do not know at this point as all we have is anecdotal evidence from very small trials which are not randomized controlled trials. And certainly have not been replicated.

    A randomized controlled trial (RCT) is the most reliable method for assessing any new treatment. Individuals are selected and are randomly allocated to receive the new treatment while a control (or reference group) is selected to receive a placebo.

    In order to reduce experimental bias, the trial may be blinded, in which case participants do not know whether they are receiving the new treatment or the placebo. Participants may include not only subjects, but also extend to researchers, technicians, data analysts, and evaluators.

    Any new treatment must also be judged according to risk/benefit. If used in mild cases of, say coronavirus, the treatment may have a greater risk owing to side effects than it has benefit. On the other hand, if used in a severe case of coronavirus, the same treatment many have a benefit that exceeds its risk.

    There is one controlled trial in China for hydroxychloroquine use for COVID-19. Outside China there are currently 3 controlled trials listed at ClinicalTrials.gov, which will be assessing hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine for acute treatment of COVID-19, excluding trials for prophylaxis and in combination with azithromycin. The largest is a phase 3 placebo-controlled trial with anticipated enrollment of 1300 participants conducted by researchers at the University Hospital, Angers, France.

    My point is that, in light of such trials underway, it’s redundant for SD to conduct a trial–particularly if it’s being done for political reasons (why else).

    Someone needs ask Gov Noem just why this is being done.

  21. Ryan 2020-04-13 19:42

    Not to focus on the last sentence too much, but joe biden being the democratic nominee is terrifying. I can’t believe there has not been more attention on his mental health. He’s obviously struggling with dementia or some form of cognitive impairment, and it’s scary so few people are acknowledging it. I’ve never voted for a republican in my life and I won’t ever vote for trump, but this sucks that the other option is a guy quietly yet publicly going senile…

  22. jerry 2020-04-13 19:44

    True that Dave, someone a whole lot smarter in the healthcare field said that. Dr. Fauci said that.
    “https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/05/coronavirus-fauci-trump-anti-malaria-drug

    With GNOem on one hand saying we don’t have any money and on the other saying that we here are gonna fund it and see if trump will reimburse us, makes no sense other than to stroke the ego of an invested trump. GNOem must’ve put some loot into the pot or expects it. BTW, this is also being tested on a group of dementia patients in Texas. https://www.npr.org/2020/04/10/830348837/covid-19-patients-given-unproven-drug-in-texas-nursing-home-garnering-criticism

    No one has given the ages or mental conditions of those in South Dakota undergoing the lab rat tests, so we don’t know if they are dementia patients like Texas or what their demographics are. Nothing surprises me any more with these crooks and liars.

  23. mike from iowa 2020-04-13 19:51

    Last body count of today…

    Last updated: April 14, 2020, 00:48 GMT
    United States
    Coronavirus Cases:
    586,941
    Deaths:
    23,640

  24. mike from iowa 2020-04-13 19:53

    drumpf is no one’s picture of mental stability or normalcy. It doesn’t seem to bother wingnuts. I’m quite certain they will howl like Banshees about Biden, though. You know- deficits don’t matter until there is a Dem in the White House.

  25. mike from iowa 2020-04-13 20:19

    If you are looking for a macabre up side to Covid-19 in America, last month was the first March since 2002 without a single school shooting.

    Plus, Wisconsin’s supreme court seat went to the Dems by a surprising margin.

  26. John 2020-04-13 20:21

    Rachel Maddow kicked Noem’s @ss tonight for not having a stay at home order and for her ridiculous advocacy of trumpy’s ineffective anti-malarial drug.

    Please primary this quack governor.

  27. John 2020-04-13 20:21

    It may be worthy to recall this governor.

  28. Debbo 2020-04-13 20:58

    I’ve read more than once of a trial of chloroquine that was halted because it was causing heart damage. I don’t have the link and can’t find the article again. Anyone else?

    I haven’t heard of Minnesota joining with other states. Who would we join? Wisconsin is the only semi-sane contiguous state. “Semi-sane” because they’ve got a good Democratic governor, Tony Evers, but the state house is reactionary trumpism in overdrive.

    The good news for the Badger state is that the voters are apparently completely fed up. The underdog Democrat beat the incumbent GOP for their Supreme Court seat. Maybe they can reclaim and rebuild their state after Snot Wanker ruined it. I hope so.

  29. Debbo 2020-04-13 20:59

    There is a ground swell of Minnesotans who favor joining Canada. 😊

  30. Richard Schriever 2020-04-13 21:15

    If Mayor TenHaken would spend dome time communicating with the mayors of Tea, Harrisburg, etc. – the surrounding towns, he would KNOW that they all have had emergency ordinances in place that forbid those bars from being occupied by more to 10 people (including the bartender(s). But instead, he spends his time hob-knobbing with……? People he imagines are his peers and not those who actually ARE his peers.

  31. Moses6 2020-04-13 22:21

    Rich I do not think he is sharp enough to comprehend the message.

  32. Debbo 2020-04-13 23:51

    Here’s the trial I was looking for.

    “A small study in Brazil was halted early for safety reasons after coronavirus patients taking a higher dose of chloroquine developed irregular heart rates that increased their risk of a potentially fatal heart arrhythmia.”
    is.gd/oKiwrT NY Times
    is.gd/EcPcgm Democracy Now!

  33. jerry 2020-04-14 00:26

    Great links Debbo, slip on over to the Dakota Standard where there is a post up about GNOem that may help shed some light on her testing thingy in Sioux Falls or wherever there may be some old folks, preferably with dementia like they are doing in Texas. The gal is teeing up for a job with trump in his cabinet, maybe secretary of the Navy, as she knows so much about the Navy from singing the Village People song “In the Navy” with Aaron Schock. Oh those two, singing and dancing there way along the Great Wall, such a sight I’m told, like a couple of school girls.

  34. Debbo 2020-04-14 00:30

    21 NY school teachers have died from COVID-19. 😢😢😢

  35. bearcreekbat 2020-04-14 01:51

    According to Newsweek,

    In December, Biden released a medical report in which his doctor called him a “healthy, vigorous, 77-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.”

    Newsweek identifies a key source for the claim that Joe Biden is “obviously struggling with dementia or some form of cognitive impairment.”

    . . . The question of alleged Biden “cognitive decline” is a line of attack on Biden frequently visited by President Donald Trump and other critics of the former vice president. . .

    https://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-campaign-denies-involvement-memo-circulating-about-joe-bidens-obvious-mental-1490513

    Politico identifies additional sources for such claims:

    Just listen to Tucker Carlson . . . “As a smart friend said last night, Joe Biden has spent his entire life trying to succeed in presidential politics,” the Fox News host chortled, “and now he has: Too bad he’s not there to enjoy it. Pretty funny.” . . .

    Fox News’ Sean Hannity, who often speaks with Trump, said it is “a legitimate question” whether the former vice president has “the stamina and the strength, the mental acumen and the focus required to serve in what is the most difficult job in the world, period. … Without a doubt, Biden is struggling.” Carlson, who also speaks informally with Trump, said Biden has “clearly lost it” and “is noticeably more confused now than he was even last spring when he entered the race.” Radio host and author Ann Coulter said that “no Republican with that level of senile dementia that Biden has” could run for president because they would be savaged by the media. . . .

    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/03/07/2020-dementia-campaign-123106

    Okay now, can we really look to the likes of Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Ann Coulter for reliable factual information about any Trump opponent?

    It might be worthwhile to consider the sources for these types of claims before repeating them.

  36. Ryan 2020-04-14 07:44

    Bcb, I get no info from the sources you listed. I was unaware of any concerns regarding biden’s brain until just a couple weeks ago and I happened to see a comment on a news article about it. So I just went to YouTube and searched “Biden cognitive issues” and all the evidence is there. There is plenty of video footage of Biden repeatedly talking nonsense…during interviews, at rallies, all over the place. It’s scary. He’s losing it, and blaming conservative mouthpieces for it doesn’t make it better. Go watch a few of these and then tell me he’s fit to run the country.

    And don’t get me wrong, I think trump is an absolute moron and everything he thinks, I hope I think the opposite. But we were so close to having some real challenger like Sanders or mayor pete. But instead creepy and mushy joe. Dang it.

  37. Ryan 2020-04-14 08:31

    Using your theory of fake footage, Richard, is it your idea that we shouldn’t believe anything recorded on video? Or we shouldn’t believe things that are harmful to a democratic candidate, or what? Joe is in mental trouble. Just search for yourself. I take no pleasure in the fact that trump will eat him alive over the coming months. It’s not good for this country or for my family or for my personal sense of right and wrong…but none of those things make it less true.

  38. mike from iowa 2020-04-14 09:56

    Video sources for Ryan’s link Biden Cognitive Issues are suspect to me. TYT is a Bernie backing MSNBC site and Sky6 News Australia is Murdoch’s trash.

    Breaking news, Obama to endorse Biden.

  39. bearcreekbat 2020-04-14 10:44

    I checked Ryan’s sources by plugging “Biden cognitive issues” into Google and looking at the videos that came up. All videos on the first page indicated they were from a source labeled “Sky News Australia.”

    On page 2, ten out of ten listed videos were also attributed to “Sky News Australia.” On page 3, nine out of ten videos were again attributed to “Sky News Australia,” while one video with the line “‘Biden’s cognitive issues can no longer be ignored’ in the description was attributed to Joe Biden. On page 4, eight out of ten were attributed to “Sky News.”

    Next I went directly to You tube and plugged in “Biden cognitive issues.” The first video was from “Sky News” again.

    The Sydney Morning Herald has an interesting observation about “Sky News Australia”

    Since Sky News began stacking its evening schedule with conservative commentators – including Andrew Bolt, Peta Credlin and Alan Jones – some critics have questioned the “Foxification” of the pay TV channel.

    https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/sky-s-jump-to-the-right-has-boosted-ratings-but-at-what-cost-20190527-p51rlx.html

    As I perused the You tube list looking for a credible source for this anti-Biden claim I found none. For example, the 2nd, video was titled “Opinion | Joe Biden’s biggest 2020 competitor may be … Joe Biden” from the Washington Post. I watched the video expecting comments about “cognitive issues” but there were no such comments. There were plenty of comments criticizing some of Biden’s past positions and votes, but none that I heard relating to his cognitive ability.

    I am not sure what Ryan is referring to as “all the evidence is there,” but so far I have not seen anything from credible sources. “Sky News Australia” seems to be the biggest purveyor of this claim, at least on Google referenced videos. Otherwise, the You tube posters seem to fit in with in the Trump, Carlson, Hannity, Coulter crowd previously mentioned.

    As for Richard’s observation, here is an example of a pro-Trump edited video that falsely presents Biden supporting Trump.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9aU6FVPDGM

    I stand by my former statement – “It might be worthwhile to consider the sources for these types of claims before repeating them.” The attack on Biden’s cognitive abilities appears to have no objective medical or psychological supporting evidence, rather, it appears to be a right wing talking point aimed at getting Trump re-elected.

  40. bearcreekbat 2020-04-14 10:58

    Thanks mfi. One concern that I have about these plainly unsupported anti-Biden claims is that they suck people like me into responding. One Trump lesson is that even obviously false or unsupported stories can unduly influence some members of the public if the purveyor of the falsehoods manages to entice enough public discussion and attention about the unsupported claim.

    I think it important to try to correct factual mis-statements, but I plan on exercising caution before getting into any extended pubic discussion about these false or misleading statements about Biden.

  41. mike from iowa 2020-04-14 11:05

    bcb, you are much more diplomatic with people like Ryan, than I am. I see the source and dismiss the content out of hand. Better for my acid reflux that way. Your expert analysis in your reasoning why you may disagree leaves little room for counter arguments. Amazing and thanks.

  42. Dicta 2020-04-14 11:08

    I heard from a guy who talked to a guy who saw a report about Biden that he is slipping. Ryan probably knows him.

  43. mike from iowa 2020-04-14 13:43

    For that one shining moment in a country of despair, Florida guv claimed professional ‘rasslin is essential.

  44. Debbo 2020-04-14 15:12

    NBC has a fairly detailed article on just how plan free the Demented Doofus deministration has been throughout this pandemic.

    Except for grifting. The trump Crime Family is good at one thing, and one thing only – grifting.

    is.gd/AUDl8U

  45. Dave 2020-04-14 16:02

    Two points: (1) Finely dividing the word of truth on chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine is in order, and (2) What is Gov. Noem talking about with regard to the first clinical trial in the nation occurring in SD?

    (1) Cardiac toxicity has long been associated with chloroquine when used for malaria. Here is a 1998 paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9632091

    Under the brand name Plaquenil, hydroxychloroquine has been used for various inflammatory and autoimmune diseases such as lupus and has long been associated with rare cases of cardiotoxicity: http://www.onlinejacc.org/content/71/11_Supplement/A2395

    That a pharmaceutical may be toxic in some cases is meaningless as it may be beneficial in other cases. Risk balanced against benefit is the point. As I previously indicated, if used in mild cases of coronavirus, the treatment may have a greater risk owing to side effects than it has benefit. If used in a severe case of coronavirus, however, the same treatment many have a benefit that exceeds its risk.

    (2) Gov. Noem on Monday is ‘bragging’ that South Dakota is on the defense and is “the first state to conduct a full clinical trial on hydroxychloroquine.”
    https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/492546-south-dakota-launches-clinical-trial-of-hydroxychloroquine

    The point is not the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine for coronavirus, something which has yet to be determined.

    The point is the truth/falsity of Noem’s statement.

    Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis already has clinical trials underway, of which one is currently recruiting: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04341727?
    term=chloroquine&cond=coronavirus&draw=2&rank=5 and the other of which is not yet recruiting: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04333732?term=chloroquine&cond=coronavirus&draw=3&rank=12

    In addition to the above, Columbia University in New York also has a clinical trial: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT04318444

    So, what is Noem talking about and why? This needs be asked.

  46. Debbo 2020-04-14 16:51

    Minnesota is up to 1695 confirmed cases and 79 deaths. My county is up to 5 cases.

    So thankful for Gov. Walz. State GOP and some businesses really pressuring him, but he’s holding firm. People before profits. Gov. Walz says the stay-at-home order will be lifted when our medical experts say so. It’s set to expire on 5/2. He’ll reexamine it before then.

  47. Ryan 2020-04-14 19:30

    I’m not concerned with or giving any credit or attention to the numerous news organizations that are discussing the scary nature of biden’s brain compartment haha I don’t care about sky news or fox news or any other commentators. What’s important is the nonsense spewing directly from biden’s mouth. Did any of you watch the clips that came up? If searching YouTube isn’t enough, plenty of google results also show off his very numerous broken trains of thought. He’s slipping, big time, and his apparent habit of creepy-touching girls just means that we missed our chance for getting rid of stupid trump next year.

  48. Robin Friday 2020-04-14 20:35

    Anyone who’s worried about Joe Biden’s reported “dementia” while ignoring Trump’s reported prescription drug problems is not looking at the story with a clear head. Trump obviously ran out of brain power, plus the power to speak clearly today in the Rose Garden. I mean, some people say that happened with Trump some time ago.

  49. Ryan 2020-04-14 21:51

    I have never heard about trump’s alleged drug problem until right now, but I would be concerned about that if it’s true. I’m not suggesting trump is a better option than biden because biden is losing his faculties. Even a half-there biden is probably a better choice than trump. I’m just disappointed in how the democratic party let biden become the candidate. Several others would have been better than Biden, and all seemed to be at least more coherent.

  50. Ryan 2020-04-14 22:06

    Well how about that. I’m not surprised in the least.

  51. bearcreekbat 2020-04-15 01:53

    Ryan, okay, I take your last comment to mean that you base your comments about Biden’s “obvious” mental state, and your armchair diagnosis of a DSM-IV disorder (note that DSM-5 no longer uses the referenced DSM-IV terminology) solely on your personal opinion from viewing videos, rather than any objective medical diagnosis or personal examination of Biden by a mental health professional.

    Perhaps that mitigates your fear that “its scary so few people are acknowledging it,” since “it” is only your personal opinion rather than an objective fact. The good news is that available objective medical evidence seems to indicate that Biden’s mental state and capacity are just fine.

    https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/12/17/789039741/joe-biden-is-healthy-and-vigorous-according-to-doctor-s-report

  52. mike from iowa 2020-04-15 08:30

    Elizabeth Warren just now endorsed Joe Biden for drumpf’s official orange ass kicker!

  53. Ryan 2020-04-15 08:38

    Bcb, correct I did not undertake an extensive personal physical and psychological examination of joe biden. Yes, I base my opinions on the things I see and hear in my own subjective human experience. No I’m not a licensed physician. No I’ve never met joe biden. You seem awfully defensive about the opinion of some stranger on the internet. People all over the world discuss opinions on the internet. When someone says something you generally agree with, do you grill them for tangible written evidence bolstering their opinions? Nah. We are all subject to confirmation bias. When I watch clips of joe speaking gibberish like my daughter when she’s sleep talking, it gives me the impression that he is obviously struggling. You can disagree, but my observation is still applicable, just like the hilariously scary impression I was left with last night when I went down the rabbit hole looking at stuff about trump being on drugs. I didn’t see any doctor letters saying trump is snorting pills, either, but the impression is there and my opinion was formed. That’s how we all form opinions.

  54. bearcreekbat 2020-04-15 10:44

    Ryan, I admit I am a bit defensive when I read a post that purports to state or imply some unsupported, mistaken or false negative “fact” denigrating the poor, immigrants and like groups, and here, Trump’s opponent. The reason I am sensitive about Trump’s opponent is because, in my opinion, Trump is a classic example of a so-called leader that takes affirmative steps to hurt others to advance his own personal interests. As such, I see only harm in ignoring false or unsupported claims disparaging any current Trump challenger, and I fear that a failure to point out factual reality about such unsupported claims could lose some impressionable voters that might otherwise oppose Trump’s re-election, especially when such claims are from people or organizations like the IRA or other authors that falsely present themselves as Trump opponents.

    I can’t really recall ever challenging anyone’s mere “opinion” about any matter, including Biden’s record, rather than actual unsupported claims of fact that they might use to justify that opinion, but I certainly could be mistaken. Here Biden may have a record of ineloquen public statements, but her certainly does not have any record of mental impairment, deficiency, nor loss that I could find.

    In any event, thank you for your curiosity and inquiries about the reasons for my posts and my attitudes. I am humbled.

  55. David Newquist 2020-04-15 11:10

    I have watched Biden’s recent live appearances on television and saw no evidence of the incoherence claimed by some. Biden has always had a peculiar speech pattern which stems from the fact that he is a stutterer and has to pre-compose in his mind what he wants to say so that he doesn’t stutter when he speaks. He explained this in detail on CNN when he was questioned by Anderson Cooper.

  56. Ryan 2020-04-15 14:38

    For what it’s worth, I’m sure I will vote for sloppy joe as a lesser-of-two-evils, unfortunately. Sanders would have been great. Or Pete. Or even one of those other ones, haha. Stupid trump is going to embarrass joe.

  57. bearcreekbat 2020-04-15 15:47

    Ryan, I appreciate your voting choice although I cannot for the life of me understand why you continue to publicly denigrate the candidate that you apparently want to win this election.

    Is is interesting to speculate about what the Trump election campaign might have done to try to embarrass Bernie or Pete. Wikipedia reports that some of Trump’s names for Bernie so far include:

    Basically Braindead Bernie
    The Nutty Professor
    Crazy Bernie

    As for Mayor Pete, Trump reportedly has called him:

    Boot-Edge-Edge
    Bootedgeedge
    Alfred E. Neuman

    Meanwhile, in February, Mother Jones analyst, David Corn, speculated:

    . . . [Republicans will use] ads [that] raise questions about Sanders’ patriotism and assail his attitude toward free enterprise? Remember, these ads don’t have to be accurate. (They could, for instance, show Sanders praising Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega—years before Ortega, a leftist, went all-out authoritarian.) And while it is true that Trump and the Republicans will claim any Democratic nominee is a “socialist” who despises the American way of life, might such attacks hit harder if a Democrats retorts, “I am a socialist, but I’m a democratic socialist”? (Which to some might sound like Democratic socialist.)

    . . . Sanders is probably not invulnerable in this regard. One recent Yahoo/YouGov poll noted that 62 percent of registered voters know that Sanders is a socialist. (Eighteen percent said he isn’t; a fifth were unsure.) But that poll also found that 47 percent had an unfavorable view of socialism, though only 26 percent had a positive impression. Meanwhile, 38 percent said that “socialism” is the same thing as “democratic socialism”—the label Sanders wears. (A quarter of respondents were uncertain if they are the same.) These margins do appear to give Trump’s ad-makers material to work with. . . . .

    https://www.motherjones.com/2020-elections/2020/02/why-bernie-sanders-should-welcome-negative-ads-against-him/

    And then, of course, we would have seen ads highlighting Bernie’s so-called pro-Castro Cuban comments along with Bernie’s praise of communist China’s policies that reduced poverty.

    And Mayor Pete would have faced additional negative ads. Google lists a link to the Washington Post (I can’t open or double check because I don’t subscribe) with this caption:

    Trump allies target Buttigieg’s sexuality

    https://www.washingtonpost.com › politics › 2020/02/13

    While both Bernie and Pete strike me as excellent potential leaders, in my view, neither has an edge on Biden in avoiding negative Trump and Republican (and Russians for that matter) ads full of insults, stereotyping, slander, innuendo, and outright lies.

  58. Dicta 2020-04-15 16:11

    Biden has no chance of beating Trump like Bernie did. You know this because of Biden getting more votes than Bernie in the primaries.

    Wait… what?

  59. mike from iowa 2020-04-15 17:03

    I don’t get why wingnuts accuse Dems of being socialists when korporate amerika and drumpf himself demand socialism when capitalism fails. Socialism will save capitalist’s arses if they can be saved from drumpf and wingnuts.

  60. o 2020-04-15 17:13

    mike, The GOP’s brilliance is that they get their rank-and-file to spout how much they hate socialism while quietly using them (and us) to fund it to the 1%. Some get it. I have had many farmer friends and family be far less vocal about the evil of government and the welfare state as they cashed THEIR government/socialist/welfare checks this year.

  61. mike from iowa 2020-04-15 17:24

    Thanks, O. I hate to picture brilliance and wingnuts in the same sentence, but, you are likely correct.

  62. o 2020-04-15 17:58

    With the backdrop the devastation on SD’s budget, I had a discussion today with a very bright person who pondered if this is the time finally for SD to move to an income tax and away from property tax. Property taxes don’t care what happened to your wages during the coronavirus; income tax would reflect those lost earnings as lesser tax obligation. Can South Dakotans EVER vote their own best self interest and have the majority choose to shift the tax burden off their shoulders? My reply was that income tax (like socialism) is a curse word in these parts — end of discussion.

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