Items

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  2020-04-25

  The Necessities

  I live on Long Island, in New York. I was stopped at a traffic light and happened to see this sign for “The Barn”. The Barn is a drive through grocery store and there are several of them on Long Island. Usually the sign advertises ice cream, milk, eggs. This day, the important items are “masks, Duraflame, White Castle”. I thought that this was an odd combination of necessities, and if I had seen this sign at any other time I would be confused. But it sadly made perfect sense to me. Masks because we can’t go anywhere without them. Duraflame because people are at home and enjoying fires. And White Castle because fast food restaurants are closed or deemed unsafe. This sign made me sad - because of what it said, and because I understood it. Tags from contributor: LongIsland, Dairybarn, Newyork, Merrick, masks, whitecastle, duraflame,
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  2020-04-28

  week of april 27

  Week of April 27, 2020 I am from Myrtle Beach, SC and as most people know South Carolina was one of the first states to open back up after President Trump gave his blessings to each governor to make their own decision regarding how quickly and what to open up and what to restrict. During this entire month, Covid 19 has revealed some uncomfortable truths about America. Every day brings a reminder that we are a country of extreme haves and have nots – and this applies to people have accurate information. We as a country have the most Nobel prizes in science and also the most willfully ignorant people when it comes to understanding science. How else can we explain electing a low information buffoon who pushes bullshit cures and disinformation that will actually kill people. Injecting disinfectant??? Really? Trump knows that there is no disinfectant at stores. But he like many Americans believes that science is just an opinion instead of trying to understand it. These people are far better at dismissing inconvenient science than trying to understand how it will affect their lives. Thinking is hard. Repeating memes is fun. And after all, isn’t not believing in Darwinism really Darwinism? When facts are inconvenient, these folks just scream that “I can’t hear you.” This goes to prove another fact, that America cares more about the corporate health of its companies that the actual health of its citizens. Corporations got most of the bailout cash. And corporations and the politicians corporations pay are behind the “grassroots” push to prematurely open America. Georgia has one of the lowest rates of testing in the country and it is the first to completely reopen. That’s what happens when you make medical decisions for political reasons. Like the mayor of Las Vegas offering to make her city a control group with testing. It would be like a doctor saying they were going to treat cancer with lower taxes. Republican governors believe that sacrifices have to be made for corporate profits. Frankly, I don’t want to be a statistic. And because of trump’s attitude toward this has been that he won’t take any blame, our response to the pandemic has been ad hoc, conflicting, and piecemeal. Some states have had responses founded on research surrounded by states with policies founded on Twitter hashtags. It is amazing to some that viruses don’t respect state lines or how deadly they are. The conflicting responses are like having a no smoking section in my car or a no peeing section in my bathtub. I have to give credit for most of this post to a post I follow on Facebook called Mrs. Betty Bowers. It reflects my feelings and frustrations but says it far better than I could.