COVID-19/Coronavirus thread

[caulfield12]

4 hours ago, Dick Allen said:

Trump now demanding all churches be open. Says if Governors don't oblige, he will override them. Truly a man of God. 

 

 

 

Chances of this happening if they didn’t vote 85-90% Republican?

Probably about the same level of probability as Trump doing PSA’s for the US Postal Service hyping “mail it in” voting during September and October.

 

All the Dem governors should collectively respond...sure, we’ll open every church in the country as long as you provide waivers allowing them to sue the Trumps or Federal government instead of state/local governments if/when they invariably start to get sick now or in the fall/winter.

After all, Washington, D.C., has the printing presses.   They can keep cutting taxes and juice the stock and lending markets, whereas states and cities are the ones looking at massive layoffs and/or the inevitability of raising taxes.

[caulfield12]

20 minutes ago, greg775 said:

We have a limit of 70 max people. Last week there were 14. Way more dangerous to be in a liquor store IMO. People are committing suicide. People are freaking out and depressed. We need church. As trump said it's an essential service. He even mentioned the liquor store fiasco. It's pretty obvious with the NCAA allowing kids on campus for volunteer workouts and the openings of movie theatres in conservative states like Kansas, that like it or not, the plan has begun to open everything up and pretty much allow us all to get the virus. Let's pray (or hope if you are not religious) we have bodies strong enough to prevail over the virus. The economy simply has to open no matter what the exotic ice cream eating governors think. Only other option is socialism and start sending us all 10,000 a crack not 1,200 bucks. Peace.

Why would a tyrannical, unreasonable governor allow movie theatres?

Now KS is suddenly conservative again?  Guess that governor and Board of Commissioners wasn’t so all-powerful, after all.

Trump was perfectly happy to send out those checks...and wanted MORE.  Still does.  Thought it was just a great idea. And sent out letters with his ridiculous signature (just imagine the ink/printing costs) claiming credit for personally delivering the money, even it it was already there in the account via Direct Deposit.  You can dream on about the $10,000.  It’s going to be perfectly calibrated to potentially elicit your vote, and that alone.

So we can honestly debate the societal benefits (versus disincentives) of massive non tax-payers like Amazon and Facebook largely funding $1000-1500 per month to the 10-12 million Americans who will never get their jobs back (Yang Gang talked about this plan for month after month), but that’s too nuanced an argument.  For now, Trump will be a socialist if it helps him.  He simply doesn’t have any guiding principles beyond holding onto power.

Edited May 22, 2020 by caulfield12

[bmags]

 

[Middle Buffalo]

1 hour ago, caulfield12 said:

Probably about the same level of probability as Trump doing PSA’s for the US Postal Service hyping “mail it in” voting during September and October.

I’m sure our Commander in Chief is well aware that approximately 20% of the USPS workforce are his fellow veterans - some of whom I’m sure are similarly proud of their Purple Hearts. A little hard to believe he’s going to dismantle it and leave them jobless despite them being tagged essential workers who kept working during the coronavirus and work for an entity established by his beloved Constitution. Surely, he’ll come around, stop badmouthing the USPS, and start doing the PSAs the closer we get to the election.

[caulfield12]

52 minutes ago, Middle Buffalo said:

I’m sure our Commander in Chief is well aware that approximately 20% of the USPS workforce are his fellow veterans - some of whom I’m sure are similarly proud of their Purple Hearts. A little hard to believe he’s going to dismantle it and leave them jobless despite them being tagged essential workers who kept working during the coronavirus and work for an entity established by his beloved Constitution. Surely, he’ll come around, stop badmouthing the USPS, and start doing the PSAs the closer we get to the election.

There’s not much hope for either side.

Trump already knows that the USPS will largely vote against him, not unlike the UAW or American Federation of Teachers, so they become a convenient target, especially when bundled with his anti-Bezos campaign (subsidizing Amazon shipping.)

Biden is so tone deaf that he simply assumes he’s entitled to the African American vote because, well, Obamas and Rep. Clyburn.  He’s falling into the same bad habits that nearly cost him the nomination in the first place.  Coasting along and letting Trump gaffe himself to death while sheltering in your basement isn’t exactly an inspirational campaign strategy, either.

Meanwhile, Washington is losing “hundreds of millions” in unemployment funds to Nigerian hackers/scammers because these outdated/antiquated state computer systems haven't been upgraded since Windows 97.   I could understand if this happened in one of the poorest states in the country, but Washington is the home of Microsoft and Amazon.   And let’s not get started on dams, bridges, highways, broadband/5G, Amtrak, subways, airports.   There are  numerous problems here in China, but infrastructure certainly isn’t one of them.

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/economy/washington-adds-more-than-145000-weekly-jobless-claims-as-coronavirus-crisis-lingers/

Edited May 23, 2020 by caulfield12

[The Beast]

38 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

There’s not much hope for either side.

Trump already knows that the USPS will largely vote against him, not unlike the UAW or American Federation of Teachers, so they become a convenient target, especially when bundled with his anti-Bezos campaign (subsidizing Amazon shipping.)

Biden is so tone deaf that he simply assumes he’s entitled to the African American vote because, well, Obamas and Rep. Clyburn.  He’s falling into the same bad habits that nearly cost him the nomination in the first place.  Coasting along and letting Trump gaffe himself to death while sheltering in your basement isn’t exactly an inspirational campaign strategy, either.

Meanwhile, Washington is losing “hundreds of millions” in unemployment funds to Nigerian hackers/scammers because these outdated/antiquated state computer systems haven't been upgraded since Windows 97.   I could understand if this happened in one of the poorest states in the country, but Washington is the home of Microsoft and Amazon.   And let’s not get started on dams, bridges, highways, broadband/5G, Amtrak, subways, airports.   There are  numerous problems here in China, but infrastructure certainly isn’t one of them.

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/economy/washington-adds-more-than-145000-weekly-jobless-claims-as-coronavirus-crisis-lingers/

I’m still debating if what Biden said was that wrong. I see it more of turning off voters in his tone, but I don’t think the message is necessarily wrong, especially when you have a president saying there are very fine people in both sides and call countries shithole countries.

[caulfield12]

16 minutes ago, The Beast said:

I’m still debating if what Biden said was that wrong. I see it more of turning off voters in his tone, but I don’t think the message is necessarily wrong, especially when you have a president saying there are very fine people in both sides and call countries shithole countries.

Life has to be more nuanced.   And falling into the “what about what Trump said?” standard didn’t work out well in 2016.

Imagine if the conversation was with a Hispanic DJ, well, it’s not so cut-and-dried.  Bernie Sanders was successfully mobilizing both Latinos and young people, but Biden still can’t seem to break through (it’s why Cortez Masto and Lujan Grisham are on all the VP short lists.)   If he simply assumed all those voters were going to come to him instead of Trump, he would be mistaken, since many Hispanics vote on social issues like abortion, school prayer, education, morals/values/ethics.  This conflicts with the peace and justice side of Catholicism, which would put them more firmly in the Dem camp.  But let’s not conveniently forget that the Obama/Biden administration also deported roughly 3 million illegal immigrants.  It’s not as obvious as it looks at first glance.

Or Asian American voters, that’s even more complicated.

I just don’t believe in the times that we currently live that any group in the country can be treated as a monolithic bloc.

In my lifetime, making such assumptions about the “African American base” has come back to bite Gore (2000) and HRC, in particular.  They couldn’t transfer the popularity of Bill Clinton and the Obamas to their own campaigns.

And it still might not matter, because the coronavirus response and economic malaise has arguably undone any inroads Trump was making heading into 2020. 
 

 

And back to Covid-land...

Edited May 23, 2020 by caulfield12

[Balta1701]

Mr. Ewing, after those years of rooting against you but still respecting your game, and respecting your coaching...do this to that Virus. 

[Iwritecode]

2 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

Meanwhile, Washington is losing “hundreds of millions” in unemployment funds to Nigerian hackers/scammers because these outdated/antiquated state computer systems haven't been upgraded since Windows 97.   I could understand if this happened in one of the poorest states in the country, but Washington is the home of Microsoft and Amazon. 

You'll be closer if you subtract about 20 years from that. They are still running on COBOL, which has been around longer than I have.

Edited May 23, 2020 by Iwritecode

[southsider2k5]

 

 

[Jose Abreu]

2 hours ago, The Beast said:

I’m still debating if what Biden said was that wrong. I see it more of turning off voters in his tone, but I don’t think the message is necessarily wrong, especially when you have a president saying there are very fine people in both sides and call countries shithole countries.

Not disagreeing with the end of your sentence, but there's definitely something wrong with a white guy telling black people what does or doesn't make them black, especially when the guy was a segregationist

[greg775]

1 hour ago, Jose Abreu said:

Not disagreeing with the end of your sentence, but there's definitely something wrong with a white guy telling black people what does or doesn't make them black, especially when the guy was a segregationist

I watched the whole interview. Biden was very sharp, not showing any signs of losing anything upstairs. Man, his tone is so confrontational. And his answers were so long. No wonder he doesn't do well in debates. He needs time to spit out his long long answers. I'm worried though. He's assuredly going to win the presidency but he's very old and frankly I don't want Kamala Harris or Stacey Abrams to be president. So Abrams is the likely choice for Veep I'm reading. To my liberal friends on here ... calm my fears about Abrams. What the hell makes her qualified to be president?? I'd rather have Biden pick somebody who I KNOW will be a good president. How bout one of the candidates in the primaries? Some of them seemed OK. So he must have a woman he has said. Why not the Hawaiian patriot? Tulsi? Seriously do you all want Abrams as president?? I'm serious when I say I'd rather have Michelle Obama since he said he must have an African American woman as Veep. Barack will be right there with her and certainly she'll run some ideas by him and he knows what he's doing. Why not Mrs. Obama over Stacey Abrams for gosh sakes??

Edited May 23, 2020 by greg775

[SoxAce]

 

 

[caulfield12]

2 hours ago, greg775 said:

I watched the whole interview. Biden was very sharp, not showing any signs of losing anything upstairs. Man, his tone is so confrontational. And his answers were so long. No wonder he doesn't do well in debates. He needs time to spit out his long long answers. I'm worried though. He's assuredly going to win the presidency but he's very old and frankly I don't want Kamala Harris or Stacey Abrams to be president. So Abrams is the likely choice for Veep I'm reading. To my liberal friends on here ... calm my fears about Abrams. What the hell makes her qualified to be president?? I'd rather have Biden pick somebody who I KNOW will be a good president. How bout one of the candidates in the primaries? Some of them seemed OK. So he must have a woman he has said. Why not the Hawaiian patriot? Tulsi? Seriously do you all want Abrams as president?? I'm serious when I say I'd rather have Michelle Obama since he said he must have an African American woman as Veep. Barack will be right there with her and certainly she'll run some ideas by him and he knows what he's doing. Why not Mrs. Obama over Stacey Abrams for gosh sakes??

Harris, Klobuchar, Warren, Whitmer and even Cortez-Masto or Lujan Grisham are all more likely.  And he never said anything about a black woman, Greg...just a woman.

Michelle Obama is undeniably more popular than her husband but definitely not interested.   And we saw how well that theory worked out for the Clintons...during the campaign, the way he was utilized, he didn’t turn out to be an asset, and the fact that nearly everyone liked her husband (at least the 1993-2001 and not 2008 Obama feuding version) more than her, it simply magnified her own shortcomings.

I think the only way she would consider it would be if she thought there was no other way for the Dems to win, preserve ObamaCare and safeguard her husband’s legacy.  (Which, in a way, is the same dangerous level of complacency that crept in the last 2-3 months of the Clinton campaign in 2016.  Picking Klobuchar would almost be another Tim Kaine-level unforced error.)

Edited May 23, 2020 by caulfield12

[The Beast]

11 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

Life has to be more nuanced.   And falling into the “what about what Trump said?” standard didn’t work out well in 2016.

Imagine if the conversation was with a Hispanic DJ, well, it’s not so cut-and-dried.  Bernie Sanders was successfully mobilizing both Latinos and young people, but Biden still can’t seem to break through (it’s why Cortez Masto and Lujan Grisham are on all the VP short lists.)   If he simply assumed all those voters were going to come to him instead of Trump, he would be mistaken, since many Hispanics vote on social issues like abortion, school prayer, education, morals/values/ethics.  This conflicts with the peace and justice side of Catholicism, which would put them more firmly in the Dem camp.  But let’s not conveniently forget that the Obama/Biden administration also deported roughly 3 million illegal immigrants.  It’s not as obvious as it looks at first glance.

Or Asian American voters, that’s even more complicated.

I just don’t believe in the times that we currently live that any group in the country can be treated as a monolithic bloc.

In my lifetime, making such assumptions about the “African American base” has come back to bite Gore (2000) and HRC, in particular.  They couldn’t transfer the popularity of Bill Clinton and the Obamas to their own campaigns.

And it still might not matter, because the coronavirus response and economic malaise has arguably undone any inroads Trump was making heading into 2020. 
 

 

And back to Covid-land...

I watched the whole interview. It wasn’t Biden’s best performance, but there were a few issues with the interview:

- Biden needed to tailor his responses towards what he will do now, since young voters and older voters alike want to know about now and not the record. So he needs to spell out plans for now that will help black Americans and not just the ones in prison.

- His staffer needed to schedule out more time, interrupting for Biden’s wife to use the video didn’t help matters.

- Biden needed to finish differently, even though I think he was being lightheaded with the host at the end of the interview and I don’t think Biden made the last comment come out the way it did, even though it will be taken that way. He needs to clean things up when interviewing and consider how his remarks will be used in attack ads.

You’re right, one block of voters should not be taken for granted.

[pcq]

9 hours ago, Jose Abreu said:

Not disagreeing with the end of your sentence, but there's definitely something wrong with a white guy telling black people what does or doesn't make them black, especially when the guy was a segregationist

Don't forget he was a 'warmonger' because he fell for Cheney's lies. Forced busing was a non-starter for most pols before long. Now we have public ed being shredded. I would consider Joe a friend of the people. 

[The Beast]

9 hours ago, Jose Abreu said:

Not disagreeing with the end of your sentence, but there's definitely something wrong with a white guy telling black people what does or doesn't make them black, especially when the guy was a segregationist

Was a segregationist or worked with senators who were? I know what Harris mentioned with busing but if there is more I am not aware of, let me know. He has such a long political history that I haven’t focused on his record way back when.
 

7 hours ago, greg775 said:

I watched the whole interview. Biden was very sharp, not showing any signs of losing anything upstairs. Man, his tone is so confrontational. And his answers were so long. No wonder he doesn't do well in debates. He needs time to spit out his long long answers. I'm worried though. He's assuredly going to win the presidency but he's very old and frankly I don't want Kamala Harris or Stacey Abrams to be president. So Abrams is the likely choice for Veep I'm reading. To my liberal friends on here ... calm my fears about Abrams. What the hell makes her qualified to be president?? I'd rather have Biden pick somebody who I KNOW will be a good president. How bout one of the candidates in the primaries? Some of them seemed OK. So he must have a woman he has said. Why not the Hawaiian patriot? Tulsi? Seriously do you all want Abrams as president?? I'm serious when I say I'd rather have Michelle Obama since he said he must have an African American woman as Veep. Barack will be right there with her and certainly she'll run some ideas by him and he knows what he's doing. Why not Mrs. Obama over Stacey Abrams for gosh sakes??

Biden’s tone is exactly how it had been in the debates and is consistent with how he had been as VP. His answers were long and needed to be directed towards what he will do now. They need to have a longer interview next time and he needs to talk about policies moving forward, since I am guessing the Breakfast Club is for a younger audience.

I wouldn’t worry about Abrams, I don’t think she’s getting it. I’m not sure why you have an issue with Harris, but she is qualified. Klobuchar is a moderate but I just don’t see her as VP. There’s not a chance in hell that Gabbard is VP, I don’t know why some gravitate towards her. Michelle Obama is not going to be the VP either, she has no interest in it.

[NWINFan]

9 hours ago, Jose Abreu said:

Not disagreeing with the end of your sentence, but there's definitely something wrong with a white guy telling black people what does or doesn't make them black, especially when the guy was a segregationist

In seeing how he said this, I didn't think it sounded as bad as some thought. However, it was still a dumb ass thing to say, and he never should have went there. One pundit said that this was another indication that Biden still doesn't know how to reach out to African-Americans. Regardless, more Biden gaffes are on the way.

[soxfan49]

Holcomb just pushed stage 3- for some IN counties- from 5/24 to 6/1

[Quin]

15 hours ago, NWINFan said:

yi

Why does he want to override them on this issue when he has been deferring to governors for so long? Does he even have the authority to do this? 

This is so phony, it reeks. At my wife's church, no one wants to return yet. So many of the congregation is over 60. I guess they don't feel like dying when the service is already streamed.  

Campaign issue.

[soxfan49]

17 hours ago, greg775 said:

Thank goodness. Liquor stores have been open. My pastor has safety regulations totally in place. I would love to see a list of states Trump is overriding. We sit three to a row eight feet apart. Every fourth row. Masks mandatory. Hand cleaner at door. if I get it I get it. Shoulda done this weeks ago regarding churches compared to liquor stores. Anybody know if Illinois churches have been open? They are now.

p.s. Like I said about last Sunday. Our Mass had 14 people. Across the street. Graduation party with at least 50. No masks. Gimme a break at the discrepancy. Pastors are taking precautions. If we get it we get it just like if we go to the store for some booze.

Clearly not

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.axios.com/cdc-arkansas-church-coronavirus-outbreak-fb265e5a-5db7-4ace-9bc4-098e0d09e7fd.html

This is 2 examples you've been presented with and I'm sure there have been and will be many more. I don't get why you're consistently the ultimate contrarion when it comes to, well, everything. Do you not get attention anywhere else so you come here to disagree and receive it?

Edited May 23, 2020 by soxfan49

[Kyyle23]

17 minutes ago, soxfan49 said:

Clearly not

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.axios.com/cdc-arkansas-church-coronavirus-outbreak-fb265e5a-5db7-4ace-9bc4-098e0d09e7fd.html

This is 2 examples you've been presented with and I'm sure there have been and will be many more. I don't get why you're consistently the ultimate contrarion when it comes to, well, everything. Do you not get attention anywhere else so you come here to disagree and receive it?

 

[Dick Allen]

I think one pastor had it right when he said the church is not closed, the building is.

Why can’t you worship virtually?  For a bunch of people who think they are so decent, they certainly aren’t will to sacrifice much to actually prove it. 
 

Why won’t some even wear masks? Why is that an assault on your rights and the requirement that you must have insurance and wear a seat belt to drive a car not?

 

[Texsox]

16 hours ago, greg775 said:

We have a limit of 70 max people. Last week there were 14. Way more dangerous to be in a liquor store IMO. People are committing suicide. People are freaking out and depressed. We need church. As trump said it's an essential service. He even mentioned the liquor store fiasco. It's pretty obvious with the NCAA allowing kids on campus for volunteer workouts and the openings of movie theatres in conservative states like Kansas, that like it or not, the plan has begun to open everything up and pretty much allow us all to get the virus. Let's pray (or hope if you are not religious) we have bodies strong enough to prevail over the virus. The economy simply has to open no matter what the exotic ice cream eating governors think. Only other option is socialism and start sending us all 10,000 a crack not 1,200 bucks. Peace.

Pards allow Tex to offer a little assistance

Taurus G2C at about $250, it won't break the bank and is available anywhere handguns are sold. Reliable, lightweight and small it can be concealed easily enough. If you want to splurge and impress your friends in church the Glock 19 has charisma and easy to find 9mm ammo in a 15+1 config that will make you feel safer.  Both are considered beginner guns with low maintenance and easy to pull triggers. Enjoy your time on the range. Nothing helps social distancing than a shooter.

Keep your rounds downrange. Life is like that. You'll be happier. 

[NWINFan]

1 hour ago, Dick Allen said:

I think one pastor had it right when he said the church is not closed, the building is.

Why can’t you worship virtually?  For a bunch of people who think they are so decent, they certainly aren’t will to sacrifice much to actually prove it. 
 

Why won’t some even wear masks? Why is that an assault on your rights and the requirement that you must have insurance and wear a seat belt to drive a car not?

 

This is so true. If people are so god-fearing, you'd think they would be concerned about the welfare of others.

The congregation in my wife's church want to return, but not under these circumstances. A group of them also had a meeting online to talk over church matters, and they accomplished somethings. They are more than willing to give things a little more time.  They just don't think the risk is worth it right now. Makes sense to me.