Murder with malice aforethought, by COVID-19

Pandemic

COVID-19 is the new Russian Roulette! You win money for catching it first! You can even spread it to vulnerable people you know![1] Old people will die![2] Win! Win! Win! Yay!

Now, tell me again, explain it like you’re explaining to a six-year old, how these assholes aren’t psychopaths. Explain to me why you aren’t locking them away and throwing away the key.

I’ll accept that the parents might be guilty of negligence. But not their kids, not their grown children. Because for these kids, this isn’t anything like mere negligence. It is a conscious choice, a moral preference for evil. It’s murder with malice aforethought.

And yes, I have complete confidence in this report.[3] Because a funny thing happens whenever I give a passenger a low rating and tag them for not wearing a mask: Uber notifies me that I have been reported for not wearing a mask (figure 1). I wear it faithfully. Because I’m not a psychopath.
Screenshot_20200704-094637
Fig. 1. Notification from Uber on July 3, 2020, screenshot taken July 4 by author.

But the psychopaths are retaliating on the very same day, putting the only job I can get[4] at risk.

Maria Simbra, “‘It’s Negligence’: Young People Hosting Coronavirus Parties, Betting On Who Gets Infected First,” KDKA, July 3, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/07/03/coronavirus-parties-young-people/


Donald Trump

If you hate the electoral college—I don’t but it’s certainly true that rural states are over-represented in both the Senate and the Electoral College—you’ll hate it even more after you read this op-ed in Newsweek. Apparently the plan is two-fold: First, massive voter suppression. If that fails, then second, have the Department of Justice launch an investigation into an allegedly “rigged” vote causing swing states to defer appointing electors, swinging the result to Donald Trump.[5]

Timothy Wirth and Tom Rogers are over-optimistic that the Democrats can be persuaded to launch an investigation to attempt to foil this scenario.[6] This is an election the Democrats have been working to lose[7] so they can blame progressives, whom they hate much more than Trump, for the loss;[8] they may not overtly support the plan, but as with the utterly bogus impeachment,[9] you can count on them to oppose it more weakly than they should.

Timothy E. Wirth and Tom Rogers, “How Trump Could Lose the Election—And Still Remain President,” Newsweek, July 3, 2020, https://www.newsweek.com/how-trump-could-lose-election-still-remain-president-opinion-1513975


  1. [1]Maria Simbra, “‘It’s Negligence’: Young People Hosting Coronavirus Parties, Betting On Who Gets Infected First,” KDKA, July 3, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/07/03/coronavirus-parties-young-people/
  2. [2]Gloria Jackson, as told to Eli Saslow, “‘I apologize to God for feeling this way,’” Washington Post, May 2, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/02/elderly-woman-coronavirus-lonely-expendable/; Laura Newberry, “The pandemic has amplified ageism. ‘It’s open season for discrimination’ against older adults,” Los Angeles Times, May 1, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-01/coronavirus-pandemic-has-amplified-ageism
  3. [3]Maria Simbra, “‘It’s Negligence’: Young People Hosting Coronavirus Parties, Betting On Who Gets Infected First,” KDKA, July 3, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/07/03/coronavirus-parties-young-people/
  4. [4]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/
  5. [5]Timothy E. Wirth and Tom Rogers, “How Trump Could Lose the Election—And Still Remain President,” Newsweek, July 3, 2020, https://www.newsweek.com/how-trump-could-lose-election-still-remain-president-opinion-1513975
  6. [6]Timothy E. Wirth and Tom Rogers, “How Trump Could Lose the Election—And Still Remain President,” Newsweek, July 3, 2020, https://www.newsweek.com/how-trump-could-lose-election-still-remain-president-opinion-1513975
  7. [7]David Benfell, “How the neoliberal (usually known as Democratic) party may well lose in 2020,” Not Housebroken, December 7, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/07/how-the-neoliberal-usually-known-as-democratic-party-may-well-lose-in-2020/; David Benfell, “The Democrats don’t need ‘election interference,’” Not Housebroken, February 9, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/02/09/the-democrats-dont-need-election-interference/
  8. [8]Rachael Bade and Mike DeBonis, “‘Outright disrespectful’: Four House women struggle as Pelosi isolates them,” Washington Post, July 10, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/outright-disrespectful-four-house-women-struggle-as-pelosi-isolates-them/2019/07/10/a33c63a8-a33f-11e9-b7b4-95e30869bd15_story.html; Blue Texan [pseud.], “Ed Rendell Tells Democratic Base to “Get Over It” on Rachel Maddow,” Firedoglake, September 23, 2010, http://firedoglake.com/2010/09/23/early-morning-swim-ed-rendell-tells-democratic-base-to-get-over-it-on-rachel-maddow/; Blue Texan [pseud.], “Stop Whining, Liberals!” Firedoglake, September 27, 2010, http://firedoglake.com/2010/09/27/late-night-stop-whining-liberals/; Heather Caygle and Sarah Ferris, “‘Do not tweet’: Pelosi scolds progressives in closed-door meeting,” Politico, July 10, 2019, https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/10/pelosi-progressives-twitter-1405763; Michael Falcone, “Opposite Day On The Campaign Trail?” ABC News, September 21, 2010, http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2010/09/election-2010-opposite-day-on-the-campaign-trail/; Glenn Greenwald, “Obama’s view of liberal criticisms,” Salon, September 17, 2010, http://www.salon.com/2010/09/17/obama_139/; David Neiwert, “President Obama lashes out at his liberal critics: Choice is to ‘get things done’ or feel ‘sanctimonious’,” Crooks and Liars, December 7, 2010, http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/president-obama-lashes-out-his-liber; Heather Digby Parton, “‘It’s always the hippies’ fault’: Why the left treats its idealists all wrong,” Salon, February 5, 2015, http://www.salon.com/2015/02/05/its_always_the_hippies_fault_why_the_left_treats_its_idealists_all_wrong/; Amber Phillips, “Nancy Pelosi’s clumsy rebuke of the liberals in her party,” Washington Post, July 8, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/08/nancy-pelosis-clumsy-rebuke-liberals-her-party/; Greg Sargent, “Liberal blogger directly confronts David Axelrod, accuses White House of ‘hippie punching’,” Washington Post, September 23, 2010, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/09/liberal_blogger_directly_confr.html; Stephen Stromberg, “Joe Biden scolds progressives — and he’s right,” Washington Post, September 16, 2010, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/09/joe_biden_scolds_progressives.html; Sam Youngman, “White House unloads anger over criticism from ‘professional left’,” Hill, August 10, 2010, http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/113431-white-house-unloads-on-professional-left
  9. [9]David Benfell, “It’s still a smoke-filled room,” Not Housebroken, December 6, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/06/its-still-a-smoke-filled-room/; David Benfell, “The whiteness of impeachment,” Not Housebroken, December 15, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/15/the-whiteness-of-impeachment/; David Benfell, “The sham (pick your partisan flavor) is on,” Not Housebroken, December 19, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/19/the-sham-pick-your-partisan-flavor-is-on/; David Benfell, “The asterisk,” Not Housebroken, December 21, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/21/the-asterisk/; Democracy Now, “Law Professor: Trump Could Also Have Been Impeached for War Crimes, Assassinations and Corruption,” January 24, 2020, https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/24/donald_trump_senate_impeachment_trial