Bye Bye Bernie, corona quarantine, date night, welfare expansions & a non-controversial food take (I hope)
A week of hot-and-cold political news passes under day ??? of coronavirus quarantine.
Hey everybody,
I hope you’re all staying well amid the pandemic.
I must lead with the disclaimer that I’m undoubtedly in the top 5% most privileged, lucky Americans when it comes to this whole affair, from having a consistent salary and being able to work from home as a journalist to being young and at (relatively) low risk from the virus.
That said, though, I’ve been rather bummed out by life during the shutdown. I’m fairly introverted, so it’s not the lack of constant socialization that’s a big issue for me (Although I’m have a “Netflix party” session via Zoom with friends Friday) as much as the collapse of the things that make my life, outside of work, fun. Whether it’s exercise classes, going out to brunch, playing sports or watching professional sports on TV… it’s all just kind of gone, for the foreseeable future. I fully acknowledge how relatively lucky I am, but it’s all still a serious bummer.
The upside is I’ve had more time to read, play video games, and work on my apartment. (I built a home office!) I am also working on finding some new (preferably un-plugged) hobbies. Any suggestions?
In political news, you’ve probably seen that Bernie Sanders dropped out today. I’ll say this about the guy: I’ve always appreciated his intellectual consistency and commitment to principles, and he seems like a decent person. However, politically-speaking, I’m very happy to see his campaign collapse. Both Sanders’s socialist ideology and penchant for communist dictators are the very opposite of what I believe in.
Now, for the much-coveted boyfriend update, tonight we are doing a “date night,” where we dress up and order expensive food… all without leaving home. He’s back studying for his huge med school test that’s been pushed back to June, and I’m working hard as ever keeping up with the news, so it will be nice to play pretend for awhile and maybe forget about this whole global pandemic for a few hours.
Meanwhile, stay safe!
Meme:
Food Take: These things are my new favorite pandemic snack. I could eat them all day… if I wouldn’t get fat. I wonder how many at-home exercise videos I’d have to do to burn off an entire jar?
P.S. If you’re reading this email and you aren’t yet a subscriber (Yes, I’m talking to you, Twitter friends) please sign up below:
Articles:
Bernie Sanders should have dropped out BEFORE Wisconsin election debacle
The socialist senator finally did the right thing and ended his campaign on Wednesday. Yet he should have done it before Tuesday’s election came and went, forcing some of his supporters to go to the polls during a pandemic.
How the massive coronavirus expansion of unemployment benefits could backfire
I’m not an anarchist, and I don’t think the government should have just sat by and done nothing while the coronavirus caused economic chaos. But the broken welfare expansion Congress just pushed through will literally pay people to stay on welfare more than if they work — potentially, even when the crisis has passed.
New poll shows coronavirus hitting home for more people
At first it seemed like an abstract threat. But I report on the new data that show a shockingly high percentage of people now know someone with the coronavirus.
Scare stories aside, releasing prisoners to stop coronavirus is still a good idea
Right-wing media has melted down over a few isolated instances of rapists and pedophiles getting freed as part of mass prisoner release coronavirus measures. It’s true those releases never should have happened, but don’t let isolated examples discredit the underlying sound policy of mass compassionate non-violent prisoner release.
Bonus Brad: Presented without comment (lol)