by William Skink

Yesterday shit got real as the scope of our national un-preparedness sank in.

I started the day at work with events planned for the elderly still happening. By the end of the work day it was all cancelled. I think the University system shutting down after Spring Break was what finally did it.

The reality of our healthcare infrastructure is that there are a finite number of beds. The people running this infrastructure–doctors, nurses–will become a decreasing resource as a lack of supplies for medical professionals results in more of them becoming ill themselves.

The scale of what China accomplished with its built infrastructure in a matter of days and weeks is a feat this country cannot duplicate.

But an emergency that cancels elections and unleashes the police state in a forced national quarantine? For the barely restrained fascism that emerged after 9/11, the Corona-crises is like a mainline shot of meth sure to jolt the incremental steps taken over the years into action.

Speaking of Fascism, the piece of shit centrists who have rendered the Democratic party an enemy of the people are coalescing around dementia Joe.

I knew there were a lot of policy reasons to despise this gropey swamp creature, but I didn’t know Biden has claimed original authorship of the Patriot Act in an effort to exploit the Oklahoma terrorist attack. Here is Biden himself from a time when his mind wasn’t disintegrating in real time:

“I drafted a terrorism bill after the Oklahoma City bombing,” Biden was quoted as saying by the New Republic in 2001.

“And the bill John Ashcroft sent up was my bill,” Biden continued, referring to the Patriot Act. The act broadened the surveillance capabilities of U.S. law enforcement agencies as it relates to identifying potential terrorists, and many of its provisions have been opposed by liberal Democrats and civil libertarians.

It wasn’t the first time Biden took credit for the Patriot Act . On Meet the Press that same year, he made similar comments referring to the Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995.

“I introduced the terrorism bill in ’94 that had a lot of these things in it,” Biden again said.

Since America is incapable of deploying an efficient testing regime to actually understand what’s already spreading, there is a good chance the political field could change because politicians start dying.

This is not hyperbole.

Donald Trump has been exposed through a Brazilian official he dined with and took selfies with. Trudeau’s wife has tested positive for Coronavirus. And countless other politicians and the slime that accompanies them have been exposed at at AIPAC and CPAC:

The state of Maryland announced Wednesday that it has diagnosed three new cases on the deadly novel coronavirus, including one man who worked at the recent AIPAC conference.

At least six people have now tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, after returning from last week’s America Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference, including attendees from Cleveland and Toronto.

If Biden catches this thing he’ll probably die. Same goes for Trump. Same goes for Bernie.

Mike Pence, on the other hand, I’m not so sure about. I think he could be either a time-traveling cyborg or inter-dimensional demon sent by dark forces to trigger the apocalypse.

Too soon?

In the days and weeks to come this rapidly evolving crisis will dominate the headlines. But other stories will keep happening and evolving as well.

I plan on continuing to follow the local stories I’ve been covering, hopefully in more depth as my work situation changes.

How will social distancing and possible mobility restrictions impact things like concerts? Only a few shows promoted by Lord Checota’s Logjam Presents have been postponed. Will our benevolent Lord do the right thing and indefinitely postpone ALL shows?

What are the risks facing our homeless population in Missoula? In another post I discussed how the seasonal transient population coming through town could be a problem. I am not saying this to unfairly stigmatize people without homes. I’m saying this to describe a real phenomenon that occurs that now has a new risk associated with it.

The same risk, I explained, that very wealthy people pose because they are less tethered to geographical locations for a paycheck and they have the resources (like vacation homes in Montana) to pick up and leave, if they can.

I will not deny that some degree of fear is coloring my perception. An unseen virus that anyone could have and that spreads for days before a person shows symptoms is going to make people afraid, anxious, and much quicker to see another human as a possible threat.

Amidst this “other-izing” that will occur, another story I will continue following is the death of Sean Stevenson at Missoula’s homeless shelter, the Poverello Center.

When I first started covering this tragic incident I noted how Sean Stevenson was depicted in a quote from the Sheriff’s Department as being not from our community. Here is the quote:

Missoula County Sheriff TJ McDermott reports that Sean Stevenson, 45, who is from out of state, died after being involved in an altercation on Friday night at the Poverello Center.

And here is my initial reaction to this odd depiction:

What constitutes “out-of-state” to the Sheriff’s Department? And why include this piece of information in the article? Is it relevant to the fact he’s dead?

There continues to be more questions than answers with this story, and not everything I know about it can be shared publicly yet.

Everything I’m hoping to do could change by the end of the day with how things are developing. My own family is the number one priority, obviously, and my overall confidence in our federal, state and local governments to do what’s needed is very, very low.

The big conversation in my household is what to do with the kids once school is cancelled.

Now excuse me while I go panic-purchase some box wine at Costco.