A set of maps published by the New York Times, showing the Coronavirus effort lagging most in America’s southern states triggered a Daily Kos post highlighting the failures of southern–mostly Republican–Goverrnors.
The list was hair-raising: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp didn’t issue a stay-at-home order for weeks, because–I am not making this up, I checked it– Kemp claimed that he had “just learned” that people with COVID-19 can be asymptomatic, a fact that has been clear and widely publicized since January. (Most recently–despite his belated “education,” Kemp reopened Georgia’s beaches.)
Texas has long supplied the rest of the country with official stupidity, and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has again lowered the bar; he has yet to provide any statewide guidance, and has left all such decisions to cities and counties.
In Alabama, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey pointed out that her state is “not California” (we’ve noticed) and declared that she’s not ready to take any action that might hurt the economy. (I guess lots of people dying doesn’t hurt the economy…)
In South Carolina, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster has been unwilling to do more than issue “recommendations” without any force of law.
And Arkansas now enjoys a position that may be unique in the nation: Not only has Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson refused to set any level of suppression across the state, but there are also no city or county stay-at-home orders. Arkansas is open for business. And virus transmission.
And don’t even mention the idiot Governor of Florida….
Federalism clearly has its downsides.
The maps issued by the New York Times showed the degree to which compliance with social distancing had reduced travel times– reductions that have been greater in urban areas than in rural parts of the country. As Daily Kos pointed out, this disparity is at least partly because rural residents taking necessary trips–to the grocery, for example–require longer distances to get there. (One reason rural trips to the grocery require going a long distance, of course, is Walmart. In rural areas, big box retailers like Walmart long ago bankrupted and displaced local grocers.) In some rural counties, the distances recorded may reflect farming– people moving around their own properties.
But the second map in the Times set paints a blood-red swatch across the South, not in terms of their vote, but in terms of how far people are traveling on a raw miles basis. In much of the nation, even in the most rural portions of the North and West, the average distance traveled is less than two miles a day. In other counties, the distance traveled has fallen below two miles as social distancing has been implemented. But in most of the South—and not just the rural South—the average distance traveled is still above two miles. Americans in the South are getting out, getting in their cars, and traveling miles. Every day….
And that’s just the start of it. As The Atlantic makes clear, COVID-19 may have so far caused the greatest damage in the Northeast, but it’s unlikely to stay that way. Already, about a tenth of all deaths have come from the Gulf Coast states, and those states are still racing up the ramp of infection, even as states that have been under strict social distancing for days or weeks are beginning to bend the curve on local cases. The South, both cities and rural areas, looks set to be the next epicenter of the outbreak in America.
A Kaiser Family Foundation study suggests that the reason Southern states are–and are likely to remain–outliers is that more of their residents have the underlying conditions, such as diabetes and heart issues, that increase risk. Kaiser says the outbreaks currently expanding in the American South are unique— mainly because of how many younger people in their working prime are dying. They have poorer health to begin with thanks to less access to healthcare, less access to fresh produce, and higher consumption of fast foods. As the study also reports,
These differences are not innate to southerners; they are the result of policy. Health disparities tend to track both race and poverty, and the states in the old domain of Jim Crow have pursued policies that ensure those disparities endure.
The cited articles predict that much of the American South will experience “a disaster beyond imagining, and it’s one that won’t be neatly limited to those who partied on the beach or those who nod along when Rush Limbaugh calls COVID-19 ordinary flu.”
What you don’t know can definitely hurt you. What you refuse to know or admit (yes, Southern lawmakers, I’m looking at you) will hurt even worse.
Darwin strikes again!
Louisiana and Chicago have shown terrible tolls among the black community members. Racists will find a way to make it the victims fault (not practicing social distancing, for example) but the real reasons are deeply rooted in persistent poverty, cramped quarters in substandard housing, and very limited access to or trust in medical institutions. In cities, they often work in the public sector and in what have now been identified as essential jobs. Keeping those precious jobs also means exposure to the virus and bringing it home to infect an already at risk population due to the same conditions that are a legacy of decades of Jim Crow and latent racism, now fully exposed, in just about every segment of our culture. Yes. black lives matter, just not to the white power structure in the south and its corrupt partners in northern/western states.
Thank you Sheila and JD; I am wondering about the truth of relatively low numbers of those diagnosed and the deaths listed here in Indiana. It certainly can’t be due to the health care provided here. The sudden publicity regarding infections and deaths being higher among the black community is really no surprise; other than that it is now going public. I watch Fox59 local news channel every morning and for the past three YEARS the murder death toll has steadily risen, primarily in black neighborhoods…until the past few WEEKS. The local crime level is either down due to Holcomb’s lockdown or is it being ignored by the media. Indiana has been Klan Kountry since the beginning of the Klan; Indiana is the northernmost southern state of the contiguous 48.
“What you don’t know can definitely hurt you. What you refuse to know or admit (yes, Southern lawmakers, I’m looking at you) will hurt even worse.”
Have crime rates actually dropped, not only in Indiana; hiding this information does not mean it is not happening and will not make it go away. There is the rising number of weapon purchases in gun stores which cannot possibly protect people from the Covid-19 Pandemic. Who can provide answers to any of our questions as we hunker down in our homes worried about running out of toilet paper.
Please look into this testing study being conducted by Eli Lilly & Co.: info.lillycovid19testing.com/study.
“Lilly is offering one-time drive-through testing for SARS-CoV-2 … to asymptomatic individuals through a research study beginning April 6th … to understand the community prevalence of asymptomatic individuals.”
I grew up in the culture of endowed pride deep in the heart of West Texas. State’s rights enthusiasm prevails. Damn the politicians in Washington D.C. Even if you align with Old Bone Spur Trump, the first draft dodger to become a war time President. State’s rights, they say, was the rallying cry of The Confederacy! Including the right to die a horrible death without interference. Ice down the Corona and let’s go to the beach. Bubba Jack reigns.
How many people have to die to make my neighbors see that 45 doesn’t give two hoots about them or their safety, or to hear about and understand just how badly he and his Republican cohorts have screwed up the response to this pandemic? It seems that number is a lot higher than the current death toll.
Norris,
“Bubba Jack reigns” along with religious BRAINWASHING. They’ve been sold a “bill of goods” that there’s another better world, so they don’t have to worry about this one. So what’s the big deal with the Coronavirus? They don’t give a “shit.”
Let’s not waste any more time trying to convert them. It’s useless. We need to take another ROUTE.
Why not play to win? Let’s pull the rug from UNDERNEATH them. It’s not tied down.
JD,
Black lives don’t even matter to “black lives matter” and yes, the black community is getting hammered by coronavirus in Chicago here because communities were never rebuilt after the riots in the 60s! I never could understand why people would defecate in their own house! I suppose fits of rage thought process is null and void, because, that rage should have been directed not at their own house, but those who were perpetrating the pandemic of drugs and disinformation in the black communities, and those institutions and individuals should have been literally and figuratively burnt to the ground.
Black lives matter goes after the police department, they go after the justice system, but they turn a blind eye to their own shortcomings. An example is The Roseland Community, you have children and babies being shot, uncountable black children just disappear, and “Black Lives Matter” says nothing. They swagger in, pointing fingers, laying blame, instead of trying to make daily life easier. And they are no better for the community than Jim Crow was back in the day, and as a matter of fact, Jim Crow is alive and well “Black Lives Matter” does not help! The cities show no investment in these communities that have never been rebuilt after the riots, but there is no shortage of liquor stores, because “man cannot live on bread alone” the hospitals the which closed down, are in poor Brown or black areas, because those folks are on Medicaid if they have any insurance at all, and the state is so broke, they don’t get reimbursed for services rendered. (One reason why there needs to be universal healthcare)
If folks, poor black and brown, were able to get the medical care they need, if the neighborhoods were rebuilt, if public transportation hubs were put into these communities so folks could get out easily and work, and also lure in private sector development, you wouldn’t see the disparity of infections between the haves and have-nots. And another problem is the black churches all too often ARE political rather than spiritual. Instead of trying to instill conduct that would be beneficial, i.e. turning in ne’er-do-wells who are doing the shooting and drug selling, They Digress. Again, all too often, these churches support the don’t tell or cooperate mentality with the police department and other agencies, and sense that’s the case, you see these agencies turning a blind eye because they don’t want to have to deal with the underlying issues of cooperation.
Black Lives Matter’ claims that black lives matter, but they refused, and still do, to use any of their political capital that they may have or had at one time, because if you have 2 or 3 people shot by the police, you have hundreds “Black Lives ” being gunned down and taken by black men who live in those communities themselves. And Black Lives Matter will not speak out on that subject, because the optics don’t look good, and that’s not where the prestige is, the notoriety, the television snippets, and news conferences!
There are a lot of problems in the black community, there are a lot of problems in the brown community, and a big one is entrepreneurship. The convoluted laws on taxes paid by businesses, make it difficult for minorities to gain a foothold in the business world and therefore make it difficult for those communities to be rebuilt by its residents. The same with scholarships and mentorships in those communities, which continue the cycle of a downward spiral.
Sometimes, folks can be their own worst enemy, anger can be a great motivator, but anger also can make one blind to the larger picture, organizations that claim they are part of the community, i.e. Black Lives Matter, and the Churches, have their own agenda and it doesn’t concern the average community citizen.
So the plagues of mass shootings along with missing children, not to mention this stubborn coronavirus, are left to fester because there is no unified informational construct to help. The communities need to be rebuilt, 60 years is more than enough time to teach someone a lesson, After all, Americans of color are still supposed to be Americans! But, maybe that’s to the chagrin of conservatives and some liberals alike!
And JoAnn, the crime of hatred not only falls upon those outside of the minority communities, it falls directly upon the shoulders of those organizations that claim to be part of the community! Even though those organizations claim they are lifting up all boats as an Oceanic tide it does, In many cases, they are actually a Trojan horse sewing disinformation for their own benefit!
Norris,
As Marv said, just pull the rug out from underneath them, LOL, it’s simplistic, but accurate!
The hive mentality, and the hive thought process that seems to be genetic in the South, probably due to the belief in American Romanticism That was Written about so aptly by Alexis D Tocqueville! And of course American Manifest Destiny which, you can get a snippet of it by reading Rudyard Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden” it just justifies and romanticizes that hive mentality of ignorance and Faux Tribal-superiority. You might as well call the Southern White Bubba Class, the Southern White Atlas Class, because that’s how they see themselves in their own minds, Atlas! Somehow they should be entitled because they feel they are holding it all up on their shoulders, because that’s what they been told by those who manipulate their simple minds! LOL, if it wasn’t so pathetic, well, even then it wouldn’t be funny!
John,
“If folks, poor black and brown, were able to get the medical care they need, if the neighborhoods were rebuilt, if public transportation hubs were put into these communities so folks could get out easily and work, and also lure in private sector development, you wouldn’t see the disparity of infections between the haves and have-nots.”
Well said with one small bit of “implicit bias” (as often shown by others, as well, on this blog). Think a more accurate statement would be:
If folks, poor black, brown, RED and WHITE were able to get the medical care they need, if the neighborhoods were rebuilt, if public transportation hubs were put into these communities so folks could get out easily a nd work, and also lure in private sector development, you wouldn’t see the disparity of infections between the haves and have-nots.
john,
You are right. What do we have to lose, at this point in time, by telling it like it is?
No “sugar coating.” It can also kill you.
Where does it end? The Trump administration is completely helpless because Trump has no idea how to lead. Now it is the states’ problem, and it turns out that a lot of governors have no leadership ability, either. What’s next? Do we leave the problem of Covid-19 response to neighborhood associations?
Lester,
“Well said with one small bit of “implicit bias” (as often shown by others, as well, on this blog).”
I believe you should omit RED and WHITE, I was under the impression that john was discussing the problem of RACE from a very deep and important perspective.
Marv – respectfully disagree – yes, John was talking about “race”, but “you wouldn’t see the disparity of infections between the haves and have-nots.” is the root issue. I have no doubt that down the road we will learn that such disparities will happened in poor, crowded communities of all colors.
It is a horrifying series of events, those pressers present every day. Trump is merely replacing his rallies with set-up dummies in the press corps so he can keep his base slavering about how great he is. He’s a psychopath. Period.
Brian Kemp is one of many of the redneck poppas who will do ANYTHING to cheat and get elected. Remember, this idiot was Georgia’s Sec. State who controlled elections. So, naturally, while running for governor he purged voter rolls in mostly Democratic and black districts. What a guy! So, also naturally, he has to await word from the yellow muskrat, his lord and master before doing anything pro-active.
I mention Kemp specifically, because he so very much personifies the cult mentality that now afflicts the Republican party. THAT is their fatal disease. Republicans are pissing off every aspect of our society except their donor classes. States Rights? That is the default excuse for self-absorbed selfishness in Texas and everywhere else in the old south. The 10th Amendment has been overruled several times by the once sane SCOTUS. We no longer have a non-partisan high court. All these things are adding up to the perfect storm for the demise of – at least – the Republican party (at best) or our entire nation/Constitution (at worst). Well done, non-voters.
Lester,
“I have no doubt that down the road we will learn that such disparities will happen in poor, crowded communities of all colors.”
Agreed. But still respectfully disagree. I see anti-Semitism and race as the root issue, not one of haves and have nots. If the have nots had “all the money in China,” they still would be as bigoted as they are right now and would still be attempting to bring down our democracy.
Lester,
Sure, I absolutely believe that healthcare is a human right! And there should be no color barriers, no ethnic barriers, no gender barriers, no religious barriers, or any other barrier to acquire healthcare! But in this particular context I was, in my mind, putting out a particular train of thought. Maybe it was not all encompassing, but if you read the entirety of my 1st comment, you might get the gist of what I was trying to say.
As far as fairness goes, sometimes folks can be their own worst enemy. One thing I’ve noticed, even though there’s been some derision recently, individuals of the Jewish persuasion seem to be unified in helping others in that persuasion to navigate business, education, health, social status, and religious understandings! I think the black community especially would be able to learn a lot from that i.e. Jewish perspective! African-Americans have been used and abused for centuries, part of my ancestry is African-American, also Native American! The African-American and even the Native Americans societal construct has been decimated by the white overlords so to speak. What does it mean to be a family, well, if your families are pulled apart, murdered, used and abused, for generations, that type of conduct becomes ingrained almost at the genetic level.
I could go into detail about my personal experiences, have probably alluded to them a few times on this blog. Venture to say everyone has their own story. In the inner cities, it’s usually African-Americans that bear the brunt, not only from governmental entities that are supposed to help, but also self-serving organizations based in the community. These community organizations feed off of the conflict, they extract what little wealth is left in the community, in Chicago Jesse Jackson is a prime example! He’s used his platform to enrich his family, and because of their normalization of grift, his sons and daughter-in-law have Done prison time! And, they blame everyone else but themselves. Instead of being a supporter of Barack Obama, he felt his son should’ve been the chosen one, which, fortunately for the African-Americans in this country, didn’t happen because of him being caught in grift and serving prison time.
When Elon musk was talking about Boring subway systems in Chicago, extending those subways from downtown to the airport, why weren’t running some of those tunnels to Southside locations discussed? It not only would attract business, because a direct route to the airport is a big draw, but it would open up educational and societal opportunities that have not really ever been available in those communities!
Even though I might look like a darker skinned white guy, I am always leery of white folks. Just like I’m always leery of people who wear large crosses around her neck, there always seem to be another agenda! Am I a biased person? Probably so, our God sons both work in the community, and they’ve done more for that community than Jesse Jackson ever thought about doing! These young men are excellent examples, one in particular, Jamaal Cole, I couldn’t be prouder!
Living in the South and Cruising the coastal south has been and interesting lesson for a Midwesterner that grew up in England, Alaska, Montana and Washington.
The south seem to be far more very laid back, more care free in their actions of drinking, smoking, and yes drugs and a frankly I don’t give a damm mentality.
Many see themselves as sovereign citizen, don’t tread on my, independent folks that see government as someone telling them what to do, and run by NE Liberal bureaucrats that they see making rules they don’t like.
This is not the case with all people, and because there is more and more people from the north moving here, the born and bred southerners feel put upon by others who don’t know or understand them and the push back and Bibles, Guns and Good Times is their refuge, even if it kills them.
John – thanks for the further notes. In no way was I suggesting that you were insensitive, sorry to have left that impression. It is a simple “fact” (or at least my belief) that there are “bad” Jews, African-Americans, Native Americans, etc. just as there are “good” poor white Southerners. Wish we could get away from boxing folks in groups and calling them names and move forward on improving equal opportunity and equal justice.
Oh this is too good, it fits what my thoughts were when I heard about the booming sales of firearms, along with a run on toilet paper. It is of course the Fear Card that is being played.
Why do Americans need AR-15 rifles during a global pandemic? To shoot “looting hordes from Atlanta”.
That’s the campaign message from a former Republican congressman from Georgia, Paul Broun, who is now running for Congress again.
In a new campaign video, Broun promises to give away an AR-15 rifle “to one lucky person who signs up for email updates” from his campaign website.
“I think you will see looting hordes come out of the cities and go anywhere,” he said.
“We are going to see people that think they’re entitled to TV sets, automobiles or anything else, and they’re going to take them,” he said.
“Whether it’s looting hordes from Atlanta, or a tyrannical government from Washington, there are few better liberty machines than an AR-15.”
Broun, who had a reputation as one of the most conservative members of the GOP during his eight years in Congress, left office in 2015 under the shadow of an ethics investigation into his former chief of staff over taxpayer dollars spent to hire a political consultant known as the “tea party whisperer”.
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At least IMHO as a White Man who was privy to the discussions of other White Men, I knew what the color of those “Looting Hordes” were.
Just to complete the picture of Paul Broun.
A Republican congressman who sits on the science committee of the House of Representatives has dismissed evolution, the Big Bang theory and embryology as “lies straight from the pit of hell”.
In the clip, Broun, who is a doctor, says that “as a scientist” he has found data that shows the earth is no older than 9,000 years and was created in six days. Mainstream scientific thought holds that the earth is 4.5 billion years old, give or take the odd millennia.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/06/republican-congressman-paul-broun-evolution-video
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Fear is the operating emotion of the GOP. The Trumpet is the chief cheerleader of Fear, he also sets himself as the only one who can deliver us from the Evil, of Liberalism, Socialism, the others and the godless.
ML,
As always, I find your in-depth analysis and research entertaining and mostly spot on. This damned fool, Broun is no real doctor. Real doctors do the due-diligence on data and information. The 9,000 year thing is a giveaway that he is intellectually challenged by church dogma. Did he cite his source? Did he define the testing behind the establishment of that number? Of course not. You are correct. Scam artists constantly play the fear card, because that’s all they have.
I remember when, before we got Trumped by Putin, we speculated that if he did get elected instead of Hillary, surely the country would make even more progress towards becoming a third world banana republic while Hillary as President would continue the progress of Obama in disarming Republicans and restoring political order that serves everyone, not just those who can afford to buy Federal influence.
We were right on then and the proof is now.
In addition to elections, Madison threw old Articles of Confederation adherents another bone with the Tenth Amendment in return for their votes for ratification of the Constitution in 1789, and that along with the destruction of the South during the Civil War, Reconstruction days that gave us the Ku Klux Klan by vengeful former Confederate soldiers (few if any who had “owned” slaves), and a Yankee-enforced set of rules that called for paying former slaves for their work during Reconstruction along with other disruptions of the King Cotton economy (prior to Whitney’s cotton gin), a cozy arrangement in which white plantation owners with their cheap labor were able to supply cotton to the English looms in Sheffield and Manchester, an arrangement so important to England that they considered blockading American ports during the Civil War but decided instead to rely on Egypt for their cotton.
Against that thumbnail historical sketch, it’s as though the Kaiser report picked my brain in that (my view – due to wage inequality on steroids, right to work laws, poverty, lack of healthcare coverage, poor educational levels and other resentments baked into succeeding generations) we should not be surprised that, generally speaking, those in the south have the “underlying conditions” that make them prey to the oncoming tide of virus Sheila describes and that, given such a confrontation and the stubborn resistance of some southern governors who, like their governed, it’s likely that the mortality rate in the south will be worse than that of the Northeast.
Of course, we are far from over with this scourge either here or abroad since with lack of testing we are flying blind and where there is good testing there is likelihood of recurrence. We don’t yet know enough about this virus to confidently predict the future, so while we wait on 24-7 feverish research for the vaccine, it seems to me we need to stay home, wash our hands, and perhaps break out the old Monopoly and Chinese Checkers games.
“Federalism clearly has its downsides.”
Yeah, and upsides as well. If we would have had to depend on the federal government for a Covid-19 response under the Trump administration, we’d be all screwed. Instead of focusing on a handful of state governors who have failed to live up to the challenge, think of the overwhelming majority who have provided decisive, thoughtful leadership in a time of crisis. I think the response to this crisis has thoroughly acquitted the idea of federalism.
I object to using the word “cult” to describe the deplorable republican base, because among the sundry meanings of “cult” is the one–often at the top of the list–that says a “cult” is a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward A PARTICULAR PERSON.
Why object to that?
Because it erroneously amplifies the importance of Trump, a mistake that pleases him greatly and puts many of us on our intellectual deathbed.
In my estimation, rather than the base venerating Trump, the actual phenomenon going down is Trump and the deplorable republican base have found mutual kinship in venerating a myth, a myth I call The MYTH OF GLORIOUS IGNORANCE. Nor is Trump the leader of the deplorable base, for “leader” infers that he leads them to their beliefs, biases, and policy objectives when exactly the opposite is happening–THE BASE IS LEADING TRUMP, which is why he is so fearful of upsetting the base.
So, what about this “glorious ignorance” that Trump and base so admire and aspire to?
I think I could write/edit a long, long book entitled “THE MYTH OF GLORIOUS IGNORANCE”, and each of you could write at least one chapter that delves into the peculiar pathology you, in your unique experience and observation, have identified that goes into the making of the “Glory” in “Glorious Ignorance”.
In fact, my publishing company, LEGACY TREE BOOKS, commits here and now to produce such a book, even if I have to write it myself but in high hopes that some of you would submit manuscripts for at least one chapter. I visualize chapters from the point of view of lawyers, social scientists, psychologists, religious scholars, truck drivers, politicians, professors, soldiers, sailors, bakers, spies, etc. Each author would have the option of using footnote references, or not. I also visualize that all chapter authors contribute manuscripts pro bono, and that all profits from the book be donated to some non-profit entity of educational purpose.
Address inquiries to: lakalaka37@gmail. com
(I guess lots of people dying doesn’t hurt the economy…) I read this statement and the instant thought in my head was ‘if the right people die’. I moved from Indiana to Tennessee 4 yrs ago and there are 21 counties out of 95 that have no hospitals in them. TN chose to not expand Medicaid–and to have insurance you have to work for a company that bothers to offer it.
I really think that some of these respresentatives are thinking in a devious manner that not responding is thinning out the herd. Let the less desirables die off–let those of color die off. Did they plan for a pandemic? No. Any more, I really, really think at this point of pure recklessness that these actions are very intentional and if the Covid-19 kills the right sort of people they will be okay with it.
It is going to hit these rural southern regions like a bomb.
Elaine,
“It is going to hit these rural southern regions like a bomb.”
You’re absolutely right. There’s no effective opposition whatsoever. I’m reminded of the pictures of those bombed-out German Cities at the end of W.W. II. The virus of the mind with its HATRED has been out there SPREADING for at least 40 years. Covid-19 is only COMPOUNDING the effects of the EVER PRESENT virus of the mind. That’s why the situation appears to be hopeless and might well be.
Larry,
So, I’ve had plenty of interactions with Southern whites, city and rural. Interestingly, we were taking pictures of an old corner store in the middle of nowhere, this woman came down the road with a 12 gauge shotgun, she asked us if we were Republican or Democrat, we told her we were not part of a political group, and I have no doubt, if we would’ve said Democrat, data been picking up pieces off the street.
Going into South Carolina, another white individual told us about “their colored’s” my aunt was almost run over by a guy wearing the Klan ring. And this guy was a real estate agent. We’ve run across very progressive southern whites, That are very accepting, my wife’s family in Tennessee is associated with many of those type of folks. But they tend to be in the minority Larry, and, as you can’t lump everyone into one group, the majority, or hive mind, is what needs to be addressed!
As there definitely are white racists and bigots, there definitely are Latino racists and bigots, and there definitely are African-American racists and bigots, there definitely are Native American racists and bigots. But, the conduct of whites over the centuries have created a lot of ill will! Put yourself in that position, if somebody was whipping and murdering, raping and selling, buying and abusing your family members, how would you feel about that person’s family or group or church or community? That doesn’t just go away because!?!
So, I would suggest that those in charge of making change, make that change, those who are in the best position to make change, make the change! Because, if that does not happen, there absolutely will be no change. The anger and ill will by minority groups against the society that has been the face of the majority, and therefore the abuse, is not only tangible, it is forcefully apparent. I feel it myself, I can tell you about family members that were murdered in that way I described above, and it makes me mad. I lit into one person sitting in the doctor’s waiting room a couple of years ago because they were talking about that very thing, by time I got finished, I did feel bad, but that person didn’t have anything else to say.
ML,
It’s a fact, Scripture does not say that earth was created in 6-24 hour days! Just like we say back in the old days, or back in the day, that’s not a 24 hour day! Scripture it’s the same way. In Genesis 2:4 it talks about all 6 creative days as being one day, so each day cannot be 24 hours! The apostle Peter talks about one day for God could be 1000 years and the thousand years as one day, 2nd Peter 3:8.
And, many scriptures point to the fact that creative days were not 24 hours, so if you read Hebrews 4:1-11, the apostle Paul refers to King David’s words in Psalms 95:7-11, and also to Genesis 2:2, alluding to the fact that God’s day of rest is still continuing on, so if that’s the case, and it still continuing, you’re talking about many millennia.
The Bible does not contradict science as far as the age of the earth, creative days or creative Epochs were probably as science says, millions of years long! As humans, and being mortal, it would be difficult to comprehend a creative time lasting that long, so it’s much easier for these churches and evangelical organizations to claim 24 hours!
Now, I’ve had disagreements with many religiously minded individuals, but they cannot point out anything that talks about 24 hours in a creative day! The fallback is, you’re a hypocrite or a heretic, which I find hilarious because if you claim to be Christian, and you can’t make your case by Scripture, then you yourself are a hypocrite!
So, I’ll leave it at that!
drive a truck, see the nation,become the king of the road..sounds like a ad for truck driving school…ive spent 41 years driving around our nation..6 million logged miles, never a dui or a chargeable accident,,(but some idiots like to bounce off my truck on occaision) ive gotten sick more often,on that so called great truckstop food.buffets,never,i mean never,at a truck stop.i do however even for decades now, will go to the better buffets,mom and pops,whereas,i wear a plastic mit on my serving hand,and peolple wonder what i have..truckstops, ever sleep in one,i mean the big ones,corprate owned and,er,operated.disgusting filth stacked on one another.where as you will see a street sweeper in your hood, they never,clean the parking areas. imagine umteen drivers everyday,pissin away between the duals. sunshine never lies,the smell will gag a hornet. this shows exactly what we are provided with by big money truckstops,over the health and needs of its customers..(sounds like kushners tennant slums) i prefer out of the way side streets and hiding out besides a truckstop. this virus scared me,from the get go, reading euro news wires, i was seeing news about this in febuary,and started to see domestic issues. being kinda remote in my dealings with the next joe,i seldom get sick. but avoiding the public in whole ,not possible,but,being out of mainstream public, seems to keep me moving..social distancing,yep. ive practice this for decades. even my wife doesnt see me for weeks at a time,(now im home making a mess everyday and her postmeno is showing its results) she gets a flu shot every year,her job as a truckstop waitress/cashier/deli delight worker has her in the publics diseases circle. somehow she has never been down for more than a day or two in 37 years together..i wait patiently at home for her to bring me someones issues..NoDak ,north dakota,we are in a basic shut down,bars,restaurants,movies,schools,and we are making it personal. social distance,check,wasdapaws,check,catch up on needed projects,check, use a box,tote,when shopping,check, latrel gloves,check. seems were personally responsable,but, the masse here will still vote for dr trump,even though they are practicing safeguards, he deplores. fox at the truckstop and buisnesses still working,is still emitting its disease. the reason why i went home,and i have a bonified seasonal job, and now collecting unemployment,until const season starts. seeing the start of Kentuky govenor shut down the mid america truck show,in louisville,in march.convention and show for the industry..his forethought was a wake up, and i was headed to the mis america truck show..,(to spread my conversation about my usual rants i take your time up, nothing like 10000 people who vote trump,and im talking Bernie…).and i took that as a get off the road now. i was mainly running between texas and north dakota. texas as mentioned in this blog, is,and will always be a shithole on thinking beyond its own mind set,along with neighboring class states. sounds bad,but ya gotta live and assoicate with these people in texas,ark,kansass,okla,la,etc.. the working class,as a whole,they have one thinking,texas. and that should scare the hell,out of anyone who has to deal with that kind of ignorance,,that is only pushed by the people they vote for ..texas is probably a crusie ship,waiting to happen..
best wishes,washdapaws..
Sorry, I did it again, I met Lester and not Larry, sorry to both.
Larry 1210pm
cult, thanks, leader,thanks, some times ya just got to be reminded of what a few words
can produce, your words well taken…
Marv,
the words, the reason,and trump. you said,”we need another route, “well the youngers dont go beyond the i phone.. but ive been successful in face to face with the other side. being from a hood,maybe my candor is diffrent,more in line with the kids. shucknjive, i can do that to,and bump the fist.. im informed,maybe in my rhelm,and i produce some facts,easy to digest. look at them,and smile,make it a relaxed issue. passing by, one on one, leave em thinking about the issues they dont remember,and keep it simple. write down a site thats in their capacity to read. make sure,you always,bump the fist,this may seem insignificant,but todays young
people,understand,you understand too. i have amailing list,i send news pieces,opinions,and stories about,what may affect them,now,and later..use the news pieces to remind them,why,and how,it will affect them. stick with just a few issues, wages,inequality,race,corprate greed,are my issues ive been with since reagan… ive come out of these conversations,where most recognise the issue now,and not what they were fed.. bump the fist,smile,and come back for more. ask for thier e mail address, send a few a week, some will ask about more, send a past story that made a move in your life..treat them with abosolute dignity,ask they pass on the news. im printing up cards as we speak, they have news sites that are liberal and make the point,and have bonified journalist,they can background,.. no headline rant,context,and followup stories. journalists who do the work, and get the facts,interviews and foreward search. updates, and past opinions,that shaped the outcomes.
my i pad has 35 files, i refer to these when i need some background. in conversation,ill pick apart anyone of the past stories to make a point,and many enjoy the conversation. our age has the past,and what we have lived through,and why,and when,and how,it has changed. we are the guardians of state. like any citizen should,we have to remind the others,why we need a democracy,and why,some want to distroy it,and why… the word democracy many times isnt in most peoples thinking,but they live it everyday,and everyone knows,someone who died defending it…
I’ll tell you something about “the virus of the mind”: it’s been doing its havoc since way before “40 years ago” (1980). And I don’t think it’s reached its peak yet. Well, maybe we flattened the curve for a while in the 40s and 50s.
Anyway. The virus of the mind killed my father. He and my mother both graduated valedictorian of their high school (1930 and 1932–90 years ago). Neither tried for higher education. But Mom at least respected education and was an avid reader her entire life, and she pushed her five children to pursue as much education as possible. Dad, however, dedicated his ‘life after valedictoria’ to worshiping, adorning, dignifying and elevating ignorance as the ultimate ideal to which one should aspire.
What a perplexing tragedy: Dad, as a true father, ceased to exist in the consciousness of each of my siblings and me, as I recall observing sometime in our preschool years. From then on, Dad became an obstacle, an opponent of our self-realization.
It was so odd that Dad had this aversion to “a person in whole” and such twisted admiration for “the person reduced”–the incomplete…no, the THE MOST INCOMPLETE PERSON to which it was possible that one could become reduced. It was as if he were acting out Reductionist philosophy as some sort of Reality TV experiment.
Dad’s reverence for ignorance also exhibited in his preference for ignorant friends, his choice of TV programs, his understanding of religion, his ever-narrowing interests, stupid jokes, and physical comedy based upon pratfalls and comic violence — smacks in the head, pokes in the eyes, people falling down, etc., including the indecent hilarity of crippled people.
Growing up in that environment was tricky. But somehow it made each of my siblings and me into fairly competent lay psychiatrists. Revolt against parental values rather than conformity, perhaps.
But to pursue even the most mundane intellectual pursuit, we, even as children, first had to “handle” the crazy human obstacle purporting to be our father. I even pursued my masters in psychology. A sister became a Special Education teacher. A sister became a corporate negligence attorney. A brother became a gifted corporate manipulator in the upper echelons of the insurance industry. A brother became a quality control inspector in the jet engine industry, a job requiring utmost skill in dealing with crazed expectations, ignorant performance, and ever-evolving intelligence. I became an artist and writer, professions requiring extreme psycho-managing prowess just to survive.
And before Dad there was his father, who was much similar to Dad but with only a 6th grade education. He came of age in 1910 and was born in 1890, the arbitrary end of the American Frontier.
This business of “Glorious Ignorance” has fascinated me and frustrated me for many years.
I suspect–sadly–that tens of millions of American children are stuck trying to grow up, desperate to self-actuate, in millions of those red state “glorious ignorance” dictated families. What a shame!
As someone who is on the conservative side of the spectrum and deal with Trumpers every day, let me assure you the Trumpers are most definitely part of a personality cult. Whatever Donald Trump says by definition is correct to them. He is infallible in their brainwashed minds.
Larry,
“I’ll tell you something about “the virus of the mind”: it’s been doing its havoc since way before “40 years ago” (1980).”
I’m talking about a specific virus of the mind. The Guardian, a few months ago, ran an article on it for the first time. Just like Covid-19, it is specific and has nothing to do with your family example.
You’re in denial, just like everyone else.
Larry,
I wasn’t including jack or john in my prior comment to you about denial.
I believe some of us are born with a BLINDSPOT when it comes to anti-Semitism and racism.
Larry, and I do mean Larry this time, LOL! Not, I repeat not Lester.
I can relate somewhat, my grandfather who immigrated here from Germany in the early 30s, left his family in Germany and started a new one in the United States. I suppose his morals allowed him to do that. That was my father’s father. He was also a Nazi, and an alcoholic, and a gambler! Very stunted as a human being. My father, was much more progressive though, even though he died fairly young, 50 years old, he really despised his father. My father fought in the Korean conflict, and was a military policeman at Fort Ord California. He also was an honor guard for the general in Germany.
I remember them arguing over Adolf Hitler, my grandfather loved him, my father couldn’t stand him or his father, LOL! Remember my father saying to him, “if you loved him so much why did you come here?” There was never an appropriate or satisfying answer for my father, and he was busy fighting Germans in this country because my mother was the multicultural person. And he saw how those World War II Germans conducted themselves towards my brothers and sisters along with myself. And like I’ve mentioned before, I remember him dangling that one individual out his window before he decided to move out of the neighborhood.
Anti-Semitism was so overt when I was a very young child in the neighborhood of Chicago I lived in, there would actually be Nazi storm troopers standing on the corners handing out literature and spitting on people. Freedom of speech is this country’s own worst enemy. The German Bund which were the German Nazis in the United States just melted back into society like Al Qaeda in the Middle Eastern countries, they might be your neighbors there, just like the Nazis and white nationalists here. That Amazon series, “Hunters” is as realistic as I remember, and I remember some rotten stuff. I also remember my mother’s uncles, who were Native American African-American and Italian, crippling up some of those Nazis in the city.
I’m not naïve, but my father really did not end up like his father, just like you didn’t end up like your father or grandfather, and I’ve divested even farther from that than my father had, and my sons and God sons I am very proud of, because they are in it every single day! I feel bad for them though because they are not religious at all and they don’t have a hope greater than what they can see right at that moment, my hope and faith is quite a bit more expansive. And, I really believe in it! I’ve seen too much on both sides not to have the faith I do possess. And I’m grateful for that. And what amazes me, is my wife, whose mother marched with Martin Luther King and whose father was a minister for 70 years, her faith dwarfs mine, and I’ve seen people spend on her, push her, use derogatory language towards her, and she’s never retaliated. Of course, I have, I’ve retaliated and come to her defense like a demon possessed Tasmanian devil! Sad to say, I even relished my vengeance.
But being older now I’ve reevaluated conduct and actions! It would really take a lot for me to put a hole in somebody, my conscience has grown exponentially stronger sense I’ve decided to work diligently towards expanding faith. I really believe also, time is very short, all this will end because it’s trajectory is unsustainable, and I want to be on the right side of that.!?.!
Ignorance as a concept is almost an abstraction because all humans suffer from it but of different topics. To me it’s basis though is lack of respect for human potential.
To some it takes the form of lack of respect for their own potential and to others it might be lack of respect for the potential of classes of people different than the owner/curator of the ignorance.
The truth is of course that each of us does own our own personal ignorance and the potential to become less so is always right in front of us but largely ignored.
I live on the South Carolina coast and am awaiting the coming “apex” coming around April 25 – 26. I believe “there’s a bad moon on the rise!” And a lot of us will pay for the ignorance of the majority here. Apparently golf courses are considered “essential” businesses. This is a beautiful area of the country, but it is Trump country and hard to deal with quite often. 🙁
Wow Kathy! The South Carolina coast, Myrtle Beach, Little River, then I’ll go across the border in Calabash, and then rolling down to the South, all the way to the islands.
And speaking of moons, did you see the pink moon last night? The clouds parted long enough for me to watch it and photograph it last night, it was beautiful, the biggest full moon of the year!
Elaine, ijust said pretty much the same thing to someone the other day:”I really think that some of these respresentatives are thinking in a devious manner that not responding is thinning out the herd. Let the less desirables die off–let those of color die off. Did they plan for a pandemic? No. Any more, I really, really think at this point of pure recklessness that these actions are very intentional and if the Covid-19 kills the right sort of people they will be okay with it.”
My similar comments were mainly highlighting the elderly but we are saying the same thing. Can you imagine the conversations the movers and shakers are having as they discuss the death toll? And how they can profit from any and all of those drugs being considered for this virus; along with the mysteriously missing shipments of PPE, ventilators, etc. Must be having such fun.
Here are some statistics compared to those which were shown above, which cast a different shadow upon Sheila’s subject matter; these are gathered from google.Sometimes stats are actually interesting, but they need (obviously)to be tempered according to their source, reliability, scope, etc. So here goes: (all #s as of 4/9/20 8 AM)
1. gulf states (FL, AL, MS, LA, TX) population is 64,008.000. Covid-19 cases =50,818 & deaths =1413.
2. northeastern states (NY, NJ, MA, CT, RI) population is 42,480,000. Covid-19 cases = 243,258 & deaths = 9704.
3. midwest states (OH, IN, MI, WI, IL) population is 37,050,000. Covid-19 cases = 51,332 & deaths = 2107.
4. cases of c-19/1m population; Gulf states = .794; NE states = 5.726; midwest = 1.325
5. deaths from c-19/1m population; Gulf states = .022; NE states = .228; midwest = .057
6. TX rates are .380 and .007; AR rates are .368 and .007; FL rates are .744 and .016.
We are , as is well believed, far from through this health crisis, so any and all figures published to date are looking backwards, not forwards. I just have difficulty, based upon these stats, in getting my hands, much less my arms, around the information printed in the above blog.
Please answer these comments only for your own self gratification and ego as my next visit to this blog will probably be sometime after June 1st.