How COVID-19 is affecting society

[Ailsa Muliaina]

But then, this guy:

If I went to an Airbnb and that guy was the host I'd fucking cancel and run too, and it has nothing to do with the pandemic

 

[Anya Ristow]

 

[Salome]

I’m not even sure where to put this. It adds a whole other level to this fuckery:

WASHINGTON — White supremacists discussed plans to weaponize coronavirus via “saliva,” a “spray bottle” or “laced items,” according to a weekly intelligence brief distributed by a federal law enforcement division on Feb. 17.

Federal law enforcement document reveals white supremacists discussed using coronavirus as a bioweapon

White supremacists discussed plans to weaponize coronavirus via “saliva,” a “spray bottle” or “laced items,” according to a weekly intelligence brief distributed by a federal law enforcement division on Feb. 17.

news.yahoo.com

 

[Sredni Eel]

If I went to an Airbnb and that guy was the host I'd fucking cancel and run too, and it has nothing to do with the pandemic

I wonder if he has a special display in his basement...

 

[Free]

New Jersey Homeowner Arrested For Allegedly Hosting Pop-Up Wedding

A Lakewood, New Jersey homeowner was arrested Friday by police for violating the state's recently enacted ban on gatherings of 50 or more people.

dailycaller.com

 

[Free]

And of course the alt-ridiculous have to force their way into the story.

White Supremacists Discussed Using Coronavirus As A Bioweapon

Federal investigators appeared to be monitoring the white nationalists’ communications on Telegram, an encrypted messaging app.

www.huffpost.com

 

[Isabeau]

 

[Pamela]

Now that I have over the last 3.5 years gone from being a non crier to become a profuse crier over kindness, this is the kind of thing that does it.

And I saw it just as I was trying to grasp that the people in charge of our country don’t have any feelings about causing ppl to die.

So thank you.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

I’m sure renters who’ve seen rents skyrocket and who have been evicted for bogus reasons because their buildings were taken over to be then made into rbnb’s are crying for him.

THANK YOU

In some ways this is very much a duplicate of the YouTube situation. YouTube started their monetization program and billed it as a way for people who make videos to make a little money on the side, and their poor administration of it led to a situation where loads of people were able to create an entire living purely on YouTube ad money, so now Google can't make even the simplest common-sense changes and regulatory corrections to its platform - even for the sake of something like protecting children from pedophiles and data-miners - without literally disrupting peoples' livelihoods and attracting condemnation.

Same with AirBNB. Originally advertised as a way for situationally-secure people with an extra unused room or a vacation apartment/house to make a some extra cash, now people have made being an AirBNB host their whole career. Not only did it lead to skyrocketing rents like you mention, and whole apartment buildings being turned into illegal hotels; but when the time came where AirBNB has to do this very simple, no-brainer humanitarian gesture in the middle of a freaking worldwide pandemic like letting people cancel their reservations without penalty, they've got their "hosts" like this screeching because "this is going to rob me of bajillions of dollars, you can't do that!"

AirBNB is partly responsible for creating this situation. All of the problems it caused could've been headed off with some very simple rules at the outset, like limiting the number of properties any individual is allowed to host.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

Remember when Uber used to claim it was for people to share rides?

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Same with AirBNB. Originally advertised as a way for situationally-secure people with an extra unused room or a vacation apartment/house to make a some extra cash, now people have made being an AirBNB host their whole career. Not only did it lead to skyrocketing rents like you mention, and whole apartment buildings being turned into illegal hotels; but when the time came where AirBNB has to do this very simple, no-brainer humanitarian gesture in the middle of a freaking worldwide pandemic like letting people cancel their reservations without penalty, they've got their "hosts" like this screeching because "this is going to rob me of bajillions of dollars, you can't do that!"

I do agree that in many cities AirBNB really contributed a large part to skyrocketing rents, but it is by far means not the main reason for that. There come other factors to into the game, which have absolutely nothing to do with AirBNB.

Let's just say that if you leave housing deregulated to capitalism the logical result is high rents because this means high profits. And if there are not much council let flats then you've got a problem.

In America 2015 there were on every homeless at least six vacant buildings somewhere in the country (Empty Homes Outnumber The Homeless 6 To 1, So Why Not Give Them Homes?), the number differs a little bit from source to source, but it's a lot. So in theory there was more living space in America available than necessary to get rid of the homeless people.

Most cities are also not fighting homelessness, but instead transporting them away with a one way ticket and criminalising those people.

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

Most cities are also not fighting homelessness, but instead transporting them away with a one way ticket and criminalising those people.

I have little doubt that the red state attitude of 'not our problem, don't waste my tax dollars on them. Ignore them until they go away' has the contingency of 'and if they don't, put them on a bus to a blue state and make it their problem."

San Diego had gotten a little more draconian about moving unsheltered people into shelters prior to the pandemic. Most return to the street after their compulsory 30 day stay ends (they're given the choice between fines/jail and checking into a shelter for a month when they're cited by police for a variety of infractions, many choose the shelter option). And there's some success stories of people who were able use assistance programs in shelters to improve their situation.

The last decade has been a steady worsening perpetual camps through my neighborhood, drug use/selling, disturbing the peace/fighting, spreading unsanitary conditions (human waste on sidewalks ffs), and a pretty serious hepatitis outbreak. Neighboring townships were going through the same problems.

But the last 8 months or so have been a complete turn-around. Camps are gone, streets are clean again. There's still a number of homeless around, but no where near in the same numbers as before. And, as far as I've heard, the transition from shelters to more 'socially distance' appropriate housing (unused hotels) has been effective so far.

It makes me shudder to think that if my city -hadn't- taken effective action before the pandemic, how much worse off we'd probably be now.

 

[Kara Spengler]

God help this country if the casinos go bust.

Well, donnie does not have a problem with it.

 

[Isabeau]

Lordy.

 

[Isabeau]

'Just absolutely amazing': Thank-a-trucker starting to roll during pandemic | CBC News

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

'Just absolutely amazing': Thank-a-trucker starting to roll during pandemic | CBC News

Yeah, got a friend who just became a trucker in the states and some states have just closed the rest areas, and I'm gathering truck stops are as hard hit.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

But then, this guy:


Background: AirBNB has let anyone with a reservation cancel without penalty due to the global pandemic health crisis we are currently facing. AirBNB "hosts" are furious about that because they usually get to keep some or all of the money when a customer cancels, and they don't particularly care that there's a worldwide plague disrupting peoples' plans.

He's auditioning for Basil's role in a contemporary remake of Fawlty Towers.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

And most fast food places have closed walk up access. Ever try to take a semi through a drive through window? When I worked for Taco Hell, we had one idiot try to get a tour bus around and had to clear everyone behind so they could back out and come inside to order. Just saying, they are not able to use the food that is open on the road in many places.

 

[Fionalein]

He's auditioning for Basil's role in a contemporary remake of Fawlty Towers.

They have to ruin everything, don't they? What's next on the remake list? Dad's Army?

 

[Cristiano]

I don't know if this has been posted already - if it has, I apologize:

Coronavirus Will Change the World Permanently. Here’s How.

A crisis on this scale can reorder society in dramatic ways, for better or worse. Here are 34 big thinkers’ predictions for what’s to come.

www.politico.com