Things I Am Mad About Today

There are a lot of them!

These days, my general relationship with the world seems to oscillate between sadness and rage. Sometimes I am mostly sad about what is going on. Then I am mostly angry. Then, back to sad. Then maybe a fun little mixture of the two.

Today, my old friend rage is winning out. Here are some of the things I am mad about:

I am extremely mad that Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio, the two people in charge of my state and my city, have helped turned the place that I live into a sea of death and tragedy thanks to their failure and egomania. I really thought that my resentment of these two had peaked, but then I read an article in the New Yorker that underscored how badly they botched the coronavirus response, and hey, rage spike! Here’s just one example from the story:

By early March, the city’s Department of Health had sent the Mayor numerous proposals on fighting the virus’s spread. Since there weren’t enough diagnostic kits to conduct extensive testing, public-health officials proposed “sentinel surveillance”: asking local hospitals to provide the Department of Health with swabs collected from people who had flulike symptoms and had tested negative for influenza. By testing a selection of those swabs, the department could estimate how rapidly and widely the coronavirus was moving through the city. In previous outbreaks, such studies had been tremendously useful in guiding governmental responses.

[…]

[T]he Mayor’s office refused to authorize testing the swabs. “They didn’t want to have to say, ‘There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of you who are positive for coronavirus, but we don’t know who,’ ” a Department of Health official told me, adding, “It was a real opportunity to communicate to New Yorkers that this is serious—you have to stay home.”

The city didn’t authorize the testing until March 23rd. Which was, to put it mildly, too late. Bill de Blasio, go to hell! Cuomo also comes off very badly in the story, and that’s before you take into account that he is threatening to cut the New York state budget even more than he already has, or that he won’t let enough people out of jail right now, and you know what? I am not going to go on and on, except to say that both of these men have unquestionably made this crisis worse and I hate them.

I am also mad at the Democratic Party in general today, thanks to these two tweets:

Karine Jean-Pierre @K_JeanPierre

"Roughly 95% of Black-owned businesses,91% of Latino-owned businesses,91% of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander-owned businesses,& 75% of Asian-owned businesses stand close to no chance of receiving a PPP loan through a mainstream bank or credit union,..”

cbsnews.comUp to 90% of minority and women owners shut out of Paycheck Protection Program, experts fear“I never thought I’d get anything because I am a minority and a woman,” said one owner after her loan was rejected.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Lakers have returned approximately $4.6 million that they received from a federal government program intended to help small businesses .. the team said in a statement to @espn #ppp

espn.comLakers got money from loan program, returned itThe Lakers received money from a coronavirus loan relief program but then returned it.

The Payroll Protection Program is supposedly the crown jewel in the federal government’s efforts to help prevent the utter collapse of small businesses in America. What it really appears to be is a racist, patriarchal monstrosity that’s being eagerly exploited by big businesses who can’t be shamed into returning the money they’re taking. And Democrats are just as responsible for Republicans for making it happen this way. Instead of using the actual power at their disposal, congressional Democrats have insisted on negotiating with Republicans behind closed doors, sidelining their members, and then ramming through the nightmares they produce together with virtually no debate or accountability. Not that there’s much protest from the sheep who make up the Democratic caucus: just a single House Democrat, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, voted against the second coronavirus package last week.

I am also mad at the federal government for deciding that what New York City needs right now is a flyover from the Blue Angels.

CNN @CNN

A formation of US Navy Blue Angels and US Air Force Thunderbirds will honor first responders on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic by flying over New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

cnn.itBlue Angels and Thunderbirds will fly over New York and other cities to salute first respondersA formation of US Navy Blue Angels and US Air Force Thunderbirds are honoring first responders on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic by flying over New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Wow, an ear-shattering drone from above while I’m trapped inside my house, thanks a million. No! Nobody needs this! What if instead of spending money on this idiotic propaganda, you helped first responders by canceling their rent or giving them, I don’t know, masks? Too bad this country will literally sink into the ground before we tell the Pentagon to ease up on the brakes.

Someday I will write “Things I Am Happy About Today.” Someday!

Screenshot: Washington Post/YouTube