covid politics

[Winston OBoogie]

I am not a fan of government getting too involved in private industry but the administration is using a COVID emergency authority to set up Kodak (the obsolete film company) to make supplies for manufacture of generic drugs.

Kodak stock is up EXPONENTIALLY since TUESDAY, when Trump announced that it was providing $750 million loan to help the company get into generic drugs

But there was a massive increase in trading volume on MONDAY


$1.648 million shares traded on Monday, up from $80K the previous Friday.

 

[crazydoc]

Kodak stock is up EXPONENTIALLY since TUESDAY, when Trump announced that it was providing $750 million loan to help the company get into generic drugs

But there was a massive increase in trading volume on MONDAY


$1.648 million shares traded on Monday, up from $80K the previous Friday.

I don't suppose your suggesting insider trading? 

Satire
KODK Insider Trading Actually Just Coincidental Interest In Film Photography - Report

PALM BEACH – Acknowledging that “he knows how bad this looks,” a good friend of the Trump family said today that his purchase of $20 million in Kodak shares just prior to the government’s announcement of funding was a coincidence related to his sudden, absorbing passion for classic film photography. Gene Salazar, a Mar-a-Lago member and regular golfing partner of the president, said that the mood to buy millions worth of Kodak stock shortly before it shot up 300% “just struck him early this morning” while he was out walking and definitely not receiving a private call from Donald Trump Jr. regarding the administration’s planned move. “I mean honestly,” he said, “If you told me that Donnie would, completely out of nowhere, throw three-quarters of a billion dollars at Kodak to produce drugs, I wouldn’t have believed you anyway.”

Salazar, like a number of others who suddenly felt very confident in Kodak’s future in the hours prior to any news being released, saw his initial $20 million investment triple in a matte­­r of minutes. “I guess they say invest in what you know and love, and we all know I love photography, even though Kodak doesn’t make film anymore. It just felt right, and I was rewarded.” When pressed on whether he would hold on to the shares as a show of trust in Kodak’s pivot from film manufacturer to government-owned medical enterprise, Salazar was not so sure. “Perhaps tomorrow I develop a passion for disease eradication and invest in a small biotechnology company in Utah that is about to announce a vaccine trial,” he said.

The SEC, operating out of the abandoned husk of a Blockbuster in suburban New ­Jersey, was not available for comment on a potential investigation.

https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/i045gc/kodk_insider_trading_actually_just_coincidental/

 

[Winston OBoogie]

Haha  ;D  Yep. 

Why is Trump still tweeting links to videos with quack Covid info?

They did remove one of his tweets and also suspend Trump Jnr. for posting the same thing, but WTF? 

"Trump walked out of Tuesday’s press briefing after a CNN reporter asked him about his retweeting of a video featuring Stella Immanuel, an evangelical Christian doctor who has urged people not to wear masks and embraced the drug hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 — despite studies showing it offers no benefit and can cause deadly side effects. Immanuel has previously suggested alien DNA was used in pharmaceuticals and that gynecological problems are caused by sexual visitations by demons."

 

[Winston OBoogie]

Maybe today's announcement of a  GDP drop of 32.9% has Trump thinking he can't win in November?  He's' just  ended a tweet with the suggestion to delay the election:

"With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???"

 

[living sounds]

It was just announced that Herman Cain died of Covid-19. He had attended Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma in June, where he did not wear a mask.

 

[Winston OBoogie]

It was just announced that Herman Cain died of Covid-19. He had attended Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma in June, where he did not wear a mask.

Sadly, 98% of US media today will undoubtedly be about Trump's 'delay the election' tweet.

And only 2% about Herman Cain's  unnecessary death from Covid-19.   
Like millions of Trumpers, he listened and believed what Trump said about masks. 

This is  Cain's tweet.  It has now been deleted from Twitter:

 

[crazydoc]

Ignorance can kill.

 

[crazydoc]

Maybe today's announcement of a  GDP drop of 32.9% has Trump thinking he can't win in November?  He's' just  ended a tweet with the suggestion to delay the election:

"With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???"

Biden has previously raised the possibility of Trump attempting to delay the election.

"Mark my words: I think he is gonna try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can't be held," Biden said at a virtual fundraiser in April, according to a pool report.
At the time, a spokesman for Trump said the claim amounted to "incoherent, conspiracy theory ramblings of a lost candidate who is out of touch with reality."

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/30/politics/trump-delay-election-no-authority/index.html

"incoherent, conspiracy theory ramblings of a lost candidate who is out of touch with reality."

Correct thought, wrong candidate.

 

[living sounds]

I don't think there is much of a question if it would constitute a constitutional crisis. The question would be wether McConnell and his fellow GOP senators would go ahead with that.

 

[JohnRoberts]

It was just announced that Herman Cain died of Covid-19. He had attended Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma in June, where he did not wear a mask.

RIP.. He was 74 years old and a cancer survivor so at elevated risk for COVID 19 complications.

He was hospitalized 10 days after the Tulsa event so it is within the window of possibility that he contracted it there (but not a sure thing).  Exposure to symptoms incubation period is a pretty wide range of 2 days to 14 days, for those showing symptoms. Some never show symptoms but can still pass it along.

Mask or no mask why risk exposure from a large public gathering..? I sure wouldn't.

=======
Kodak shares jumped over 1400% since being announced as strategic generic drug component manufacturer. Perhaps some funny business insider trading before the formal news, but why would anybody think they can get away with that these days?

JR

PS: President Trump sure knows how to control the news cycles... like kittens chasing a laser pointer. I could live with less such drama. He is like the "troll in chief"... We could all live with less of that. 

 

[crazydoc]

We could all live with less of that.

Yeah, less of "incoherent, conspiracy theory ramblings of a lost candidate who is out of touch with reality" for sure.

But I guess a lot of the populace is in the same place.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Yeah, less of "incoherent, conspiracy theory ramblings of a lost candidate who is out of touch with reality" for sure.

if he is actually losing, you guys should be doing a happy dance, not so angry.

But I guess a lot of the populace is in the same place.

dazed and confused...( them not me.)  8)

JR

PS: I still can't predict the future, or read minds. Barely know what I think.

 

[Winston OBoogie]

He is like the "troll in chief"... We could all live with less of that.

Hey, we agree on something regarding your president! 

There's no question that, by law, he has no authority to delay the election.  And Mike Pompeo  testifying under oath that it would be a D.O.J. decision on if could be cancelled, of course that's wrong too.  It would require an Act ofCongress. 

Or ---OR!-----  Maybe he's actually just given his support for Nancy Pelosi? 
Come the end of his term, at noon on Jan. 20, 2021, if there's no elected President...  She's it! 

He's probably just trying to bury bad news by distracting everyone    :

 

[hodad]

So, watching Obama today speaking at John Lewis's funeral made me keenly aware of what a horrible leader and horrible speaker Trump is.  Obama was uplifting, engaging, personal, heartfelt, compassionate, articulate....and did I mention articulate? 

Yeah.  Let me mention articulate again.  And compassionate.  Let me know when you see either of those from Trump.

 

[living sounds]

So, watching Obama today speaking at John Lewis's funeral made me keenly aware of what a horrible leader and horrible speaker Trump is.  Obama was uplifting, engaging, personal, heartfelt, compassionate, articulate....and did I mention articulate? 

Yeah.  Let me mention articulate again.  And compassionate.  Let me know when you see either of those from Trump.

I was never a fan of Bush, but he too delivered a speech at the funeral and did very well and served as a reminder again what a horrible abbaration this Trump presidency is.

Now regarding that "delay-the-election" tweet, a founder of the Federalist Society (a right-wing think tank / influency group) named Trump a "fascist" and argued for his impeachment:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2020/07/30/cofounder-of-conservative-federalist-society-calls-for-president-trump-to-be-impeached/

 

[living sounds]

Not sure how I feel about talking about all the divisive politics like mail in voting at a funeral. But maybe Mr. Lewis would've wanted the fight to continue.

"Divisive"? There's a concerted effort from the right to prevent the other side from voting, especially if they're African American (= overwhelmingly supporting Democrats). This has been going on for ages (literally) and has picked up  speed again with the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act by the right-wing majority of the SCOTUS a few years ago.

Take a hard look at what is actually going on: People are robbed of their existential democratic rights.

And you can bet this is exactly the fight John Lewis wanted to continue:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/opinion/john-lewis-civil-rights-america.html

 

[JohnRoberts]

Kodak shares jumped over 1400% since being announced as strategic generic drug component manufacturer. Perhaps some funny business insider trading before the formal news, but why would anybody think they can get away with that these days?

JR

It turns out that Kodak stock trading activity before the announcement was not insider trading but the company released a PR document a day early to news outlets in the Rochester area (Kodak is based in upstate NY)...

They later asked to have the articles removed,  but too late.

JR

 

[hodad]

Nothing to see here, folks.  No-bid contract for COVID data collection awarded  to company whose CEO just happens to have ties to the NY real estate market--and specifically to Trump projects: 
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/29/896645314/irregularities-in-covid-reporting-contract-award-process-raises-new-questions?utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social

Oh, and the company behind the company?  Palantir, cofounded by Republican megadonor Peter Thiel. 

But they're going to misreport data on purpose or anything--right?  That can't be why there was this sudden and largely unnecessary switch to a very particular private  contractor--right? 

 

[JohnRoberts]

So, watching Obama today speaking at John Lewis's funeral made me keenly aware of what a horrible leader and horrible speaker Trump is.  Obama was uplifting, engaging, personal, heartfelt, compassionate, articulate....and did I mention articulate? 

Yeah.  Let me mention articulate again.  And compassionate.  Let me know when you see either of those from Trump.

  :  You forgot to mention partisan and divisive. (I didn't actually watch the eulogy but the sound bites are successfully being circulated.)

In fact I suspect John Lewis would be looking down and smiling , because it was right from his script. John Lewis was an advocate for voting rights, long time civil rights activist, and senior member of the congressional black caucus, serving since 1968. I'm sure the audience loved it.

It makes me uncomfortable when ex-presidents inject themselves into politics after they leave office.  ex-president Bush generally avoided criticism of his successor administrations, and I expect his message at the service was more unifying than divisive. (I didn't watch him either). It always made me angry in years past to hear about Ex-President Bill Clinton criticizing sitting administrations while giving his talks overseas. He is less verbose these days since winding down his charity, but his wife has picked up the mantle. 

I will give ex-president Obama a one-time pass for this obviously divisive speech because of the circumstance and audience. I doubt this will be the last time we hear his silver tongue wagging in domestic politics. 

JR

PS: Not sure what this has to do with COVID, but you did get the politics part correct.  8)

 

[hodad]

  :  (I didn't actually watch the eulogy but the sound bites are successfully being circulated.)

Of course you didn't.  I'll wager tha 90+% of the folks criticizing the speech didn't watch any more than 30 seconds of the speech. 

You obviously are incapable of comprehending the world around you if you think Obama's speech was divisive and yet you choose to support Trump.  Obama's message is of inclusion--he didn't say a word about keeping people from voting as Trump has.  He didn't demonize a group of people the way Trump has with brown-skinned immigrants. 

"I didn't watch it but I know it was awful."  Thank you for sharing your entirely uninformed opinion.