The Goat Pen

Think if we had spent $50 billion a year on pandemic response. Far less than 10% of what we spend on "national defense" every single goddamn year. But we don't even spend a fraction of that on pandemic response. What could be more a matter of true national defense than that?? But hey, as long as we have billions of bullets that there's no way would ever get used, and a bunch of shiny jets that are mostly used to fly over college football games, who cares if we have adequate stockpiles of masks and protection for doctors and nurses, or if we have more than enough medical devices that may or may not ever be needed? As long as "the military" has 100 times what they could possibly ever need (including bullshit "pastors" like Prof), that's all that matters...

One goddamn N95 mask is worth way more than Prof has ever provided to this nation, worth more than his entire existence...

From the CEO of Lysol this a.m.: disregard what you heard from the president - our product taken internally can kill you. Dead. Deader than a hammer. Don't do it. Escucha mi consejo, no lo hagas. Seriously. Permanently dead. Gone, and never coming back dead.

Jesus christ, Kentucky takes $148 billion more than they contribute, and it's still one of the shittiest shithole states in the country. WTF are you grits doing with $148 billion every year?

Trump is like a DJ that has been on the air for 16 hours straight - he's run out of things to talk about so he is just riffing.

He's the Scatman Crothers of Presidents..

We all know he didn't mean lysol or bleach, but when you're the president, you say something like that and the internet is going to go wild.

Politicians in general just need to stay behind the camera at this point, just give statistics and where we are in simple terms as it relates to re-opening. Terms like still on target, 1 week delay, etc.,

Damn, Scatman Crothers died in '86. Talk about out of touch references

"We all know he didn't mean lysol or bleach"

Speak for yourself. I think he absolutely meant it. He's that fucking stupid..

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hedge wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2020 9:56 am .

what is this guy implying in the tweet

secession?

in fairness, New York is going to pay more because they have by far, many, many more people with greater incomes. Even the most entry level job in New York that pays a living wage is going to be at least 25% higher than a state like Kentucky.

Should it be balanced? Kentucky nor New York makes the rules about Social Security tax, federal and defense workers, federal taxes on goods/services produced/consumed and the various safety nets supported.

I'm not defending what McConnell said, I don't think any state in this situation should be punished based on their virus situation

But Florida is another state that takes more than it gives. One of the reasons is because its full of former New Yorkers who now draw social security.

You really can't blame the state for its demographics and its consumption of federal funds when it has little to no say in how those funds are determined to be spent.

Does Kentucky have a large military base?

Fort Campbell is pretty big I think

sardis wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2020 10:25 am Does Kentucky have a large military base?

Fort Campbell and Fort Knox

Trump's new theme song for his future rallies....hopefully soon

New York and California account for almost 25% of national GDP. Add Texas, Florida and Illinois and it's over 40%. Kentucky accounts for 1%. At some point you'd think the states that contribute so much more, for whatever reasons, would get together and say "fuck this shit being told what we can and can't do by these parasite, non-producing states." Poor people (and states) shouldn't have the same rights as rich people (and states). They are second class citizens and should be treated as such...

White House Tries to Walk Back Trump Statement on Injecting Disinfectant: He's Repeatedly Said People Should Consult With Doctors
By Rudy Takala Apr 24th

There you have it. Consult with your doctor before you huff a household cleaner. Good advice, actually.

Your tax dollars at work:

The Trump administration awarded a $55 million contract to a bankrupt company with zero employees for N95 masks, which it's never manufactured

(as if this isn't bad enough - but it is, it is bad enough - they paid nearly 10x the usual price):

The Post reported that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was paying Panthera about $5.50 per mask, decidedly more than what the government pays companies with an established background in producing medical supplies such as 3M, which charges about $0.63 per mask.

https://www.businessinsider.com/fema-pa ... sks-2020-4

Maybe a kickback from a non-existent mask-maker could go a long way towards squaring debts.


Trump owes tens of millions to the Bank of China — and the loan is due soon

By Marc Caputo, Meridith McGraw and Anita Kumar
,Politico•April 24, 2020

Donald Trump is warning “China will own the United States” if Joe Biden is elected president.

But Trump himself is tens of millions of dollars in debt to China: In 2012, his real estate partner refinanced one of Trump’s most prized New York buildings for almost $1 billion. The debt includes $211 million from the state-owned Bank of China — its first loan of this kind in the U.S. — which matures in the middle of what could be Trump’s second term, financial records show.

Steps away from Trump Tower in Manhattan, the 43-story 1290 Avenue of the Americas skyscraper spans an entire city block. Trump owns a 30 percent stake in the property valued at more than $1 billion, making it one of the priciest addresses in his portfolio, according to his financial disclosures.

Trump’s ownership of the building received a smattering of attention before and after his 2016 campaign. But the arrangement with the Bank of China — and its impending due date in 2022 — has gone largely unnoticed.