Category: The Current Situation
Want to see the worst kind of American exceptionalism, espoused by an exceptionally terrible American, say, Ted Cruz? Look no further than this recent response to Rex Chapman’s tweet that Canada is providing the new COVID-19 vaccine to every Canadian who wants it for free.
Ted, who plays Trumpism’s pathological zero-sum game of “I need to win and everyone else needs to lose”, and who apparently hasn’t quite gotten over being born in Canada, decided that he needed to take a dump on something good that would benefit millions of people and likely save lives, since it had nothing to do with the U.S.:
That’s great. Just out of curiosity, which country was it that developed the vaccine? Wonder why.
What he didn’t know is that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that Canada would make use of, was…
- developed in Germany,
- funded by Germany and took no money from the U.S.’ “Operation Warp Speed” project for its development, and
- was developed by two Turkish immigrants (again, I remind you: Immigrants — we get the job done).
Today in the Tampa Bay Times: Coronavirus cases are up in Tampa Bay care centers since Thanksgiving.
If only someone had warned us that treating Thanksgiving as a “business as usual” affair would have serious consequences!
Oh, wait…
At the time of writing:
| Taiwan | Florida | |
|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 cases | 716 | 1,058,074 |
| Deaths | 7 | 19,177 |
| Recovered | 574 | 672,375 |
Here’s the source for the Taiwan data, and here’s the source for Florida’s.
Recommended reading
Why are Florida’s numbers so bad compared to those of Taiwan, despite their having a similar population (and much greater density)? One of the big reasons is pictured below:
Some recent articles on the Governor’s deliberately ignorant response:
- The Independent: Florida governor suppressed Covid information before 2020 election to help Trump, report says. As former Republican operative and current member of the Lincoln Project Rick Wilson puts it, “Everything Trump touches dies.”
- CBS Miami: Sun Sentinel Investigation: Gov. Ron DeSantis ‘Ordered Public Health Officials Not To Discuss The COVID-19 Virus With The Public’
- Esquire: Ron DeSantis Is the Yammiest of the Vulgar Talking Yam’s Lackeys. “In perfect imitation of his idol in the White House, the Florida governor sidelined any real experts that he had on hand in Florida.”
- WTSP 10: Governor DeSantis does not respond to Florida mayors urging him to change COVID-19 approach
- The Palm Beach Post: Opinion: DeSantis must follow the data for an effective COVID-19 pandemic response in Florida
When Ted Cruz tweeted that today’s Dems are the party of the rich, he was hoping that you wouldn’t look too deeply into his household’s sources of income:
Heidi Cruz did her masters in Europe and got her MBA at Harvard, and since 2011 has been the primary breadwinner of the family. This is in line with 40% of U.S. households, but might be concerning to social conservatives and other people who still live in the Bronze Age — in other words, Ted’s base.
Ted probably doesn’t think of his family as rich, since Heidi says she has to put in long hours to support her family, according to a 2018 article in Quartz. That’s because “rich” is a matter of perspective. Their guesstimated just-shy-of-half-a-million pre-tax a year doesn’t put him in the top 1%, so that means middle class, right?
As a managing director at Goldman Sachs, Heidi Cruz likely earns over $300,000 a year—without factoring in an additional bonus. As a senator, Ted Cruz earns an annual salary of $174,000 for his work as a public servant, placing him in the top 3% of American earners.
I will remind you that the U.S. median household income in 2019 was $68,703. I will also remind you that “U.S. median household income” means that if you lined up all the U.S. households in order, from poorest to richest, it’s the household in the dead center of the line.