White House downplays COVID-19 messaging to open business faster

Administration's efforts to minimize talk of COVID-19 don't minimize its effects.

Read the whole story

 

[Ozy]

It's rich, coming from a group who are trying to blame China for not doing enough and not being open enough with its information, to be consistently over months trying to underplay the epidemic.

You'd almost think they are just accusing people of what they're doing.

GOP SOP

 

[Ozy]

I must come across as a real idiot, everyone here seems to think I'm talking about my own vote instead of talking about the difference at the margins of who chooses to vote and what motivates them to even vote at all.

No, you come off as a real idiot because you don't seem to realize that if the dumpster fire that is Trump doesn't motivate people to vote for Biden, then it doesn't really matter what sort of person you put up to run against him. They can't be counted, period. So trying to use a crystal ball or diving rod to figure out what is going to get their lazy as fuck asses off their couch to vote is an exercise in futility.

 

[Ozy]

Serious questions to anyone that supports the current administration, and Trump in particular - HOW? WHY?

Seriously. How can you support someone so callously willing to sacrifice lives for the sake of the economy? The economy is basically an artificial construct that can be resurrected/restructured/repaired - death is pretty permanent.

Why do you support him?

The US system seems so callous and inhumane compared to any other developed nation.

For example, in Australia, the government is providing a wage subsidy of $1,500 every two weeks to businesses for 6 months to keep their employees employed, amongst many other initiatives and assistance available.

The US has provided, what, a single $1,200 (has that started flowing yet, or are they still waiting for Trump to hand-sign each cheque as they come off the printer?).

Well, to be fair they did push out money for small businesses to help with their payroll during the pandemic, though I guess it did get co-opted by large businesses due to lack of oversight.

But hey, it's the thought that counts, right?

 

[Ozy]

What is being ignored is Trump's legendary history as a con-man, a grifter, and that has allowed an historic amount of coordinated theft to occur that, once fully quantified, will prove to be the largest con to ever happen in human history.

EDIT: added two commas,,

It's not just Trump. Republican leadership in general sees this as a unique opportunity to get away with a whole bunch of shit, masked by the clown show that is the Trump administration.

 

[Ozy]

This is like a poorly written science fiction movie. The fallout from the likely wave of infections to come from opening up prematurely (and from people not taking it seriously) is going to make what's happened already look tame.
The only positive I can think of is that the worse things go, the less likely Trump will get reelected.

Could not agree more. If someone had told me when Trump got elected that he would lead this country into financial ruin and thousands dead because of self interest and incompetence I would have totally believed them

Yeah, occasionally I see posts like "Nobody could have predicted Trump would have been THIS bad." And I'm like, Dude, yeah, people were saying this for weeks and months leading up to the election. But for some people, that was a feature, not a flaw of electing him in the first place. Fucking 8chan 'burn it all down' nihilists.

The only hope for our country was 4 years of no off-normal events, because ANY 3 am call was going to turn into a shitshow of incompetence.

 

[Ozy]

I give even odds that Biden doesn’t make it to Election Day, either health, sex allegations, or a rising candidate. Maybe Cuomo or somebody else.

I'll take those odds. How do you suggest we set up the bet? What's your stake?

 

[Ozy]

We still haven’t really seen a 3am call. Maybe the Iran strike against the US base in Iraq?

Coronavirus wasn’t a 3am call. It was months of briefings.

His phone has been ringing at 3am for months, just nobody has been picking up.

 

[Ozy]

Rural areas are invulnerable! MAGA!!!

Ask rural counties in Iowa how well things have been going. Cases are rapidly spiking outside of the populated areas in places that have fuck all for medical care. So much for all the elderly Republicans out there.

Nice way of quoting something to me I didn't say.

OK, I get the audience that reads these comments. So then tell me what are you looking for to start to come out of lock down. You can't say flatten the curve or just give up and say when I feel like it.
BTW you do know just because an order gets lifted YOU don't have to run out to a crowded bar to celebrate. I was canceling plans BEFORE the order and I most likely won't make any for quite some time after it gets lifted.
So, let me hear your benchmark for when you will feel safe to come out of your bubble.

A scientific prediction that the changes necessary to re-open will maintain R0 < 1.

 

[Ozy]

I'm 61 and have been somewhat politically aware for a bit more than three decades.

Can someone older than me speak to how our current White House leadership compares to others in years past. Has it EVER been this feckless?

No snark intended.

Here's a list of the US Presidents. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... ted_States
Every Republican President from Grant to Coolidge was damn close to useless. Hoover was a good guy and a hell of an engineer, but way out of his depth as President. More recently of course, we have W. It's saying a lot when someone can make W look smart.

Edit: oops, forgot Teddy was Republican.

Teddy would be an exteme left wing Democratic today. National Parks? You're taking away "my" land!!!!

The parties were very different 100+ years ago. Lincoln was basically a social justice crusader who believed in a strong federal government and was so hated by racist slave owning southerners that they seceded and one of them assassinated him when they lost. Teddy Roosevelt was big on things like environmental protection, food safety, and checking the power of big companies. Neither of them fit with the current Republican Party.

Somebody told me once that Republican party started changing when disgruntled (read racists on the losing end) whites deserted the Democratic Party (the erstwhile 'Solid South') and went over to the GOP. So lately, it's been a ying yang switcheroo thing: Democrats are now social justice crusaders while Republicans are the reactionary remnant still hanging on to 1950.

Southern Strategy. Yeah, it's a thing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy

 

[Ozy]

I can't even believe people are engaging with someone who obviously has no clue about history, economics, monetary policy, or really anything that he speaks so authoritatively about.