” In more shocking news, I now have it on good authority that the Pope is Catholic…”
Kemp should resign over this.
“Those individuals could have been infecting people before they ever felt bad, but we didn’t know that until the last 24 hours,” he said.
He added that the state’s top doctor told him that “this is a game-changer.”
He should resign too.
Game-changer? I knew that asymptomatic people could spread the disease after Dr. Fauci explained that in a press conference in late January. It was being openly discussed on television and in the news reports in early February. When I did my last live ethics seminar on March 5—in Atlanta!—the lawyers were all discussing the fact that they couldn’t be sure if they were infected, or if I was.
And this idiot goes to a podium and says; ‘Stop the presses! I just found out that people who feel fine might still spread the virus!’
This is an unacceptable level of inattention and incompetence, even for politics. An official like this not only cannot be trusted, but must not. His staff and advisors are similarly not qualified to have involved in public policy, not just during a health emergency, but ever, not even if everyone could safely frolic in the sun.
Even ignoring the fact that he somehow managed to not pick up on crucial information that was available everywhere, he really proved his stupidity by announcing his “game-changer” as if it really was news. How many Georgians were blinded because they rolled their eyes so hard they fell out of their sockets? What else do you want to tell us. Governor? That we finally put a man on the moon? That Paul isn’t really dead? That Truman beat Dewey? That Lindbergh landed in Paris?
He’s not even smart enough to know how stupid he sounds.
Tell Stacy Abrams the job is open. Heck, tell anyone. It’s impossible to be less fit for office than this.
Now, one might argue that it is honest and admirable for Kemp to admit his failing. No. He was, whether he realized it or not admitting that he is incompetente and an idiot.
He should have realized that long ago too.
Ethics Alarms 
Well, Facebook wouldn’t let me post this one, even though Kemp is a Republican.
Maybe %#$!@ is considered hate speech…
Wait…there’s a virus?
And it can’t be a Jumbo if you really don’t see the elephant.
But we just embarked on a cruise…I’m posting this as the wifi is slipping away.
What elephant? There’s an elephant?
🙂
What virus? WHOse viruse?
jvb
CHOse virus.
I’m curious what you think, from an ethical standpoint, of Kemp’s decision while Georgia’s Secretary of State responsible for overseeing the state’s elections not to recuse himself from active oversight of the gubernatorial race in which he was a candidate?
1. Stupid 2. unethical: conflict of interest. 3. Appearance of impropriety.
Perhaps there should be an ethics category for those who are idiots about essential parts of their jobs.
I don’t expect a brain surgeon to know anything about three-phase electrical wiring, or the ethics blog guy to be an expert in music theory, but it does seem unethical for a State Governor to be unaware of the basic facts about a pandemic, when his job is centered on public health and safety.
He sounds like a college freshman that just learned some fact that is common knowledge to every adult.
Hey there Jack-that’s my governor you’re talking about there!
/sarcasm
But seriously he’s either an idiot, being willfully ignorant, lying, or a combo of all three.
Lying? You mean he could be lying that he just found this information out? If so, he’s definitely an idiot. No leader should deliberately lie about himself not knowing something this important to the well-being of his constituents. That’s just not smart.
Of course, yesterday was April Fool’s Day. I suppose one could argue he was making a joke, even though we haven’t heard an “April Fool’s!” guffaw coming from him. If so, he should resign for being an tactless idiot.
Willfully ignorant? Maybe. If so, he’s an idiot for blinding his eyes regarding a pandemic that affects the people of Georgia.
I’m just going to go with idiot. Your state deserves better. I’m not sure if it deserves Stacey Abrams, but maybe you’ve got a nice responsible court clerk somewhere in Atlanta who can step in.
Isn’t that Occam’s Razor? Or was it Hanlon’s? Hmmm . . . . Bic?
jvb
“I’m not sure if it deserves Stacey Abrams, but maybe you’ve got a nice responsible court clerk somewhere in Atlanta who can step in.”
Somebody, anybody (not Abrams)-hell, I’ll even throw my name into the ring.
I’m mean, how hard can governing a state be? (He said jokingly)
If Kemp has to resign, the many others for being idiots must too. Let this be the first in attempting to unseat idiots wherever they may be found in public life and service. (We will busy for decades with that charge.)
How does this differ from cancel culture?
Isn’t that what elections are meant to be?
Because cancel culture involves past conduct, often unproven, usually unrelated to the main activity of the individual being cancelled. At some level, a point is reached where an honorable official realizes he or she has irredeemably forfeited the trust of the public, and should no longer seek to inflict himself on the office. You can’t force anyone to resign.But officials have resigned over accusation or proof of unethical conduct, sex scandals, proof or corruption. This is as bad or worse. A certain level of incompetence should compel resignation, and whatever that level is, this beyond it.
You think this is bad? Really. How about this: So, the mayor of Houston, the most eloquent and effective Sylvester Turner has told criminals that they should not criminalize during this pandemic. In fact, he told them to “chill.” Got that? Criminals should chill until the CoronaVirus pandemic is over. There will be plenty of time for them to engage in the felonious and misdemeanoring ways after we get through this. Yes, he did. What? You don’t believe me? Well, check it out, then:
Frankly, with intellects like that governing the 3rd largest city in the nation*, I long for the Brian Kemps of this world. You can deal with the Kemps; the Turners, on the other hand, are simply too far gone and should be put out to pasture.
jvb
*Ed. Note: And don’t even ask me about the Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo (the county judge isn’t really a judge – the position is really the mayor of the county but way back when “judge” sounded cooler than mayor because Houston already had a mayor, so . . .). She was elected in 2018 by straight ticket Democrat voting when Beto was skateboarding around the state telling people that he was gonna come for your AR-15s and other firearms. She beat the incumbent Ed Emmett, who held the position from March 6, 2007 – January 1, 2019 and had a resume three yards long of competence and effective leadership – floods, hurricanes, natural disasters, cheating Astros World Series teams, etc. Holy mackerel is she a disaster. We might need a relief package from the relief packages she has implemented over the last 2 weeks. She, along with the idiots on the Harris County Commissioners’ Court, has decided to apportion a ton of money for indigent illegals in Immigration Court removal proceedings. Got that? She is conferring a constitutional right to counsel on illegal immigrants in removal proceedings, even though they are not entitled to court-appointed lawyers under federal immigration law, effectively turning Harris County into the nation’s largest sanctuary county. Oh, and get this: she wants to abolish the bond system for indigent accused, favoring a personal recognizance bond instead of actual hard money bonds, regardless of the offense. Oh, and get this, too: She wants to release inmates from the Harris County Jail/Detention Center over CoronaVirus fears. Yep. And she wants to incarcerate those recalcitrant souls who disobey her “stay-at-home” orders.
This thing is turning into a stress test for local government officials. Some of them are not doing very well. Pretty scary.
As someone leery of political officials having anything to do with business other than policing and paving streets, this governor’s prodigious ignorance of matters not in his purview fills me with hope. I pray that every politician, from now to the end of my natural life, should show complete unawareness of all matters not necessary for their function – like a vacuum cleaner which remains in the closet until it’s time to clean the rug again.
Contrarian suggestion: Ethics hero?
I looked at his picture again. He looks mildly annoyed, like he wishes he’d been turned away from the back wall so he could see people’s feet through the wooden slats as they walk by.
No, governor. That’s too great a risk. We don’t want to end up like Vermont, do we?
That’s frickin’ awesome. Love it.
jvb
“Maybe %#$!@ is considered hate speech”
Try “#*&^*(.” That might work.
To his very limited credit, I heard a ton of news this morning that asymptomatic people can be carriers of the damned virus and will most likely infect the entire human race. And, it wasn’t just whack jobs or Glenn Beck (though, I repeat myself). It came from Reuters and CNN (even though Don Lemons is still whinging that Trump hasn’t personally landed medical ships in NYC or Los Angeles, and for some reason has not single-handedly stitched 10 million new face masks).
On another note, did you see the story about the train engineer who tried to slam a locomotive into the medical ship that (according to Rachel Maddow) wasn’t docked in the LA harbor? Crazy story, indeed. Methinks our intrepid train aficionado cracked under the Great COVID-19 Shutdown of 2020. I’d say trying to slam a diesel train engine into a medical ship is, by definition, unethical. The story didn’t address the ethics angle but the reporter was worried about diesel fuel dripping on the pavement. California, and all. Check it out:
https://abc7.com/officials-engineer-tried-to-run-train-into-usns-mercy/6069395/?fbclid=IwAR1mWDPt14yEzxLO9J_wEaiOLfNrumSUfRyEJFifUaD_SQXD6XPM1bbuygA
jvb
Paranoid schizophrenic suffering a psychotic break. Why is he running a locomotive?
Oh, there you go again. You always want to concentrate on irrelevant details, do you? This is why we can’t have nice things. People wonder why a paranoid schizophrenic is driving a train. Why? Well, because, that’s why.
jvb
Yea, verily. My lack of compassion knows no bounds, John.
“Tracks? Tracks? We don’t need no stinkin’ tracks!”
“Birds fly over the rainbow, why, oh why, can’t I?” Because you’re not a bird?
Strong union representation.
Kemp is an absolute idiot. I was driving back home after a bad hurricane and the dipshit closed all main arterial roads in SE Georgia. The GA national guard was out there blocking highways days after the hurricane for everyone, including residents of the areas they were blocking. We drove up to three different check points and asked why the roads were closed. We were told “the roads are closed due to hazardous conditions” when behind each and every blockage you could see clean, dry, and empty road for miles. The shoulders were littered with people sleeping in their cars. We said ‘to hell with this’ and took some unmarked dirt roads around the blockades (we even got stuck once and a local good ol boy with a tractor pulled us out) only to find that the hardball roads behind the blockade were completely fine. Instead of doing the competent thing and opening roads as they were cleared and fixed, Kemp issued an overly broad order that stopped already hard-hit GA citizens from returning home – to this day I am flabbergasted at the objective idiocy of this man.
This is what you get when you lack the courage to stand up for prior decisions or acknowledge earlier decisions were wrong. The incompetence lies with the fact that he does not seem to be able to come up with a more plausible reason for this change of direction and not specifically from not knowing that we have thought (not known) about the transmission mechanism of the virus.
I have been one that questions the governmental decrees as a result of this pandemic. I too question whether or not some of the draconian edicts are needed.
This entire statement sounds to me as if he is unwilling to say that up to now he has been hesitant to impose strict rules of behavior but mounting pressure in states around the country as well as a better understanding of the risks involves from this virus has caused him to change his mind about stay at home orders. That is what a leader would say.
The fact is we do not know everything about this virus but are learning more every day. Asymptomatic is a relative term. The experts told us that you had to have all three: cough, fever, and short of breath to be subject to testing because without those three it was unlikely that you were infected with Covid -19 . Now they have added a panoply of symptoms. If you are asthmatic you might experience gastrointestinal distress and shortness of breath or fever alone is not indicative.
We seem to operate in a world of extremes today. Our politics are so polarized that we cannot even consider that the world is not just black or white. Should we practice social distancing and wear protective garments if we are concerned or think we may be ill? Damn straight. Should every county in every state be quarantined because we need such measures to stamp out the virus? Not without more data that establishes triggers for when such measures are to be undertaken.
One other thing that bothers me. We are hearing about this deep recession or depression that will come with the 10 million out of work. Let me explain, this is a lockout not an economic slowdown because demand falls off. A lockout occurs when the employer locks the doors and prevents employees from working. In this case the government closed the businesses – not consumer demand. Demand still exists but it is tethered to the home by government.
We have a 24 trillion dollar economy that has much of its capacity currently idled by decree If the government injects 2.2 trillion into this economy that represents roughly 60 days of GDP. Unless the funds are leaked from the economy I don’t see aggregate demand falling if the shut down orders last beyond mid May.
When the businesses reopen the pent up demand will probably create an inflationary pressure. In addition, the economy must have 2 consecutive quarters of negative growth to be considered a recession. There is no technical difference between a recession and a depression other than a recession is when your neighbor is laid off and a depression is when you are laid off.
Comment of the Pandemic. There’s so much “DO Something!” going on. And “If it saves one life!” And a new one, “Think of the elderly!” Too much poking around in the dark for my money. Again, if you’re elderly and sick or just sick, HIDE THE HELL OUT!
OB
The media is getting confused with their own rhetoric. On one hand they are complaining that states are bidding against each other for masks and other supplies and on the other they wonder if the task force would recommend everyone wearing a mask or other protective gear. Don’t they realize how demand works?
When the reporter pressed Trump about states competing for supplies and bidding up prices Trump should have told her to ask the president of the Governors association Larry Hogan (R) MD on how the states could coordinate bidding. He did say if a state was bidding against the Feds he would drop out of the bidding.
Watching the press conf. Peter Navarro explains the real world.
I find it interesting that all those people that could be called globalists and have pooh poohed Trump’s America first attitude and who have called it xenophobic and racist are now bitchin that 3M production around the world is not being prioritized to be shipped to the US supply chain.
I dunno Jack. I was doing some research on the internet a couple days ago about how contagious this thing is. What I concluded is that …. some say this, some say that, they aren’t totally sure.
What I was reading from back in January and February was that they didn’t think transmission before people were symptomatic was a major factor in the spread of the disease. They didn’t think that contracting it from touching surfaces was a major factor. I.e. those things happen but they are not the main way this disease was being spread.
All that is likely changing — as evidenced by the current waffling over healthy people wearing masks. I will admit that I am more likely to credit what Fauci and then CDC are saying than WHO. Call me prejudiced. I also believe that politicians are wildly overreacting to this crisis. Color me skeptical.
All that said, it doesn’t mean that the Georgia governor isn’t an idiot. But let’s not get carried away and ask for him to be replaced by Stacy Adams. That would be cruel and unusual punishment for Georgians.
Maybe we need to have Skeptics Anonymous meetings, Diego. “My name’s OB and I’m a skeptic.” “Welcome, OB!”