Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

The U.S. was isolationist. Roosevelt knew that the political climate would not allow overt action. Lend-Lease started in early '41 and did a lot to support both Britain and your beloved USSR before the Japs brought us in. $50B in WWII dollars. Once it started our "neutrality" was a sham, but basically it always was anyhow.

 

The leading pressure group on the isolationist side has an oddly familiar ring to it:

 

The U.S. also was not in any position, militarily, to fight anybody in 1939. Hell, we weren't in a much better position in 1941-42 when we finally did get into the war. The British (and even the Russians) weren't much better off. The one country that should have been a match for the Germans was France, and we all know what happened with them.
There was a lot of "learn and adapt as we go" going on, which really defines a lot of American philosophy if you think about it. We might get something wrong or have something bad happen to us, but by and large, as a country, we take a punch and quickly adapt to find solutions.

 

Yes. What was Stalin doing in '39?

I wonder.

 

Good question.

In an effort to preserve his state--- after everything else failed--- his was the LAST (the LAST!) major European country to forge some kind of "agreement" with Hitler. Agreement, appeasement, concession . . . it's all the same thing. Hoped it would buy him three years. Bought him two.

As early as 1934, the Soviets supported the proposal of French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou to sign the Eastern Pact that would bring together all countries of Eastern and Central Europe, including the USSR and Germany. Hitler, of course, refused to enter into such treaty. Guess who supported Germany? Poland. Poor, poor Poland.

Western Europe knew trouble was coming. Somewhere. They were just hoping to nudge Hitler to the east. Better them than us, eh?

I know nobody here actually gives a shit about the official Russian position, but here it is.

There was NO other way (by Sergey Naryshkin)

 

Nobody has any idea if this is true or not. From what I understand, the only thing anybody can say for sure is that the lockdowns didn't hurt. Nobody knows anything about this disease. We Don’t Know What’s Behind the COVID-19 Racial Disparity. And That’s a Problem.

 

We don't know what she would have done, though I'm quite certain she wouldn't have dismantled offices created to design with the pandemic or ignored plans developed for such an emergency during the Obama administration. We would have been better prepared. It isn't just about when we shut down. It is about getting testing in place and making sure medical supplies were where we needed them to be.

We don't know what Clinton would have done and we don't know exactly what Biden would do. We do know that President Trump failed.

 

Don't forget gobbling up half of Poland, and treating the Poles so diplomatically in the process. I'm sure it was nice to start murdering a different nation's military officers for a change. And don't forget there was his fun frolic into Finland. 1939, a year of glory for Stalin, no doubt.

 

Gov. Trumpfluffer in Georgia, a favorite of Trumpist SEC footbawwwl media, finally separates the antibody tests from the tests seeking current presence of the disease. As a result, the state's cumulative positive rate jumps from 8.5% to 10%.
In all, 74,000 tests are stricken from the denominator -- one of every seven in the count they were reporting yesterday. Because they're all removed at once and without identifying them by date of test administration or receipt, we have no way to tell if the state has been making the progress it has claimed since it reopened in late April. Maybe it has. Maybe not.
The same issue exists in Missouri.

 

I wonder who else Ol' Freedom Fighter Joe signed a non-aggression pact with in WW II?

I wonder.

 

Point taken. Better to say, "It's going to open up because there isn't much choice in the short term." I'm all for trying to restart the economy, as much as possible. It still remains to be seen if people are willing to go back to normal yet, even when they can.

It seems like this will go in fits and starts. Areas will have to shutdown for breakouts. Sometimes big areas and sometimes small areas. Which isn't like to help consumer confidence.

The biggest unknown question is how big and bad it returns it the fall, if it does at all. The science seems to say second big wave. But as you said, there's a lot we don't know.