Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)

[Old Man]

And METAL!!! 

[Zeropoint]

Knives, vodka, metal, and the homeland of Simo Hayha? Eh, I'm in.

[Cygnia]

Food for thought

 

https://www.stonekettle.com/2020/03/happy-kittens-fart-sunshine.html

[Pariah]

So I heard on the way home that the president is going to address the nation tonight about the coronavirus situation.

 

Any bets on whether he'll suggest building a wall to keep it out?

[Cygnia]

17 minutes ago, Pariah said:

So I heard on the way home that the president is going to address the nation tonight about the coronavirus situation.

 

Any bets on whether he'll suggest building a wall to keep it out?

I'm getting "Masque of the Red Death" flashbacks here.

[Lord Liaden]

1 hour ago, Cygnia said:

Food for thought

 

https://www.stonekettle.com/2020/03/happy-kittens-fart-sunshine.html

 

The blogger makes some good points, but ranting doesn't impress me.

[megaplayboy]

I'm getting ever closer to the "shake them and slap them" stage of "dealing" with people who aren't the least bit concerned about the pandemic.  

[Badger]

I'm finding quite the opposite problem, people are panicking way over the top.  I'm half expecting the medieval Flagellant movement to turn up in town.

[Lord Liaden]

Coronavirus needs to be taken seriously, but not panicked over. For most of us it's an inconvenience, and only dangerous to a small percentage of us. All that everyone here can do is take reasonable precautions, and cooperate with the authorities when necessary. We may do more if and when the opportunity presents itself.

[Pariah]

11 hours ago, Pariah said:

So I heard on the way home that the president is going to address the nation tonight about the coronavirus situation.

 

Any bets on whether he'll suggest building a wall to keep it out?

 

So the big policy decision from the president's speech? Stop travel to and from Europe for the next month.

 

Translation: Build wall between America and Europe to keep coronavirus out.

 

Man, sometimes I hate it when I'm right.

[Pariah]

In any other regime, I can't help but think that a health crisis like this would make the President start thinking, "Maybe we should restore funding to places like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation and let them do their jobs."

 

I have precisely zero confidence that this Present will do that.

[Hermit]

Just now, Pariah said:

In any other regime, I can't help but think that a health crisis like this would make the President start thinking, "Maybe we should restore funding to places like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation and let them do their jobs."

 

I have precisely zero confidence that this Present will do that.

 

I wouldn't just blame the President.

 

I also blame his advisers and those in the GOP who are deathly afraid that public health services might work or at least help and thus  makes folks realize some aspects of free health care aren't the end of the republic but rather part of the rescue of it.

Why then, the public might insist it stick around or at least be more seriously considered.

 

[Starlord]

12 hours ago, Cygnia said:

Food for thought

 

https://www.stonekettle.com/2020/03/happy-kittens-fart-sunshine.html

 

I agree with nearly all of the points he makes...I've even said some here in this thread.  However, near the end he gets 'holier than thou'.  If you want to really convince someone, 'holier than thou' is the last direction you want to take.  Everyone will turn you off at that point.

[Starlord]

10 minutes ago, Pariah said:

In any other regime, I can't help but think that a health crisis like this would make the President start thinking, "Maybe we should restore funding to places like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation and let them do their jobs."

 

I have precisely zero confidence that this Present will do that.

 

Trump's only care is that 'the Precious' is currently down thousands of points and unlikely to rebound anytime soon.

[Hermit]

17 hours ago, Old Man said:

 

I read somewhere that when the Soviet Union collapsed, historians expected the rest of the world to band together in opposition to the one remaining superpower.  That didn't happen, because the rest of the world was actually pretty okay with America as the dominant presence on the world stage.

 

 

 

Pardon me using only the partial quote here... but see this? THIS, was something I was proud about for my country. I know it probably sounds hollow, but given a world history of corrupt global powers, empires, and tyrannies, being considered the least bad option is something I could be patriotic about

 

Heck, even some foreign politicians who screamed and ranted about us as the source of all evil in the world kind of needed us as a scape goat and didn't really want us to vanish from the face of the Earth because that would take a way a lot of excuses for the problems in the countries that they were leading. 

 

I guess I'm old, I'm nostalgic for the days of "What have the Americans ever done for us... " Insert Monty Python skit. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hugh Neilson]

1 hour ago, Pariah said:

 

So the big policy decision from the president's speech? Stop travel to and from Europe for the next month.

 

Translation: Build wall between America and Europe to keep coronavirus out.

 

Man, sometimes I hate it when I'm right.

 

It feels like he may have found his excuse to close the borders.  The US has been a vocal opponent of European tax proposals to address the allocation of taxation rights on income earned through the digital economy.

 

While some of the precautions and reactions make sense, others feel like security theatre.  My son's school cancelled an annual charity event yesterday, a bike-a-thon where the kids stay overnight at school.  I am sure that not letting them stay at the school for 16 or so hours from 4 PM Friday to 8 AM Saturday, in the same place where, and with the same people with whom,  they attend classes all day, five days a week, will markedly reduce any risk of further spreading COVID-19.  🙄

[pinecone]

18 hours ago, Pariah said:

But aren't the sins all knife-wielding maniacs?

 

L. Marcus, help me out here.

You say that like it's a Bad thing....

[L. Marcus]

It's a niche. 

[TrickstaPriest]

9 hours ago, Badger said:

I'm finding quite the opposite problem, people are panicking way over the top.  I'm half expecting the medieval Flagellant movement to turn up in town.

 

I think the problem that people aren't quite grasping yet is that this could take a half-year or more to clear up.  The people who are ignoring or panicking over that aren't quite grasping that, because containment has failed, this thing is going to at least go through everyone.  You aren't likely to die from it.  You can lose friends (I know at least four very elderly people directly I am in close contact with and several other friends that, statistically speaking, one will probably lose their lives over this).  You could be in traction or isolated for one or two weeks, or unable to work.  You could lose hundreds in medical expenses.  So I'm not saying panic, but you will know someone who will be struggling from this.

 

You could get a host of other health issues too.   I have a reflexive breathing problem where my vocal chords close spontaneously and without warning.  It may be related to my (very minor) asthma, but it didn't exist until after I had a relatively minor chest cold for the first time in decades.  Barely a couple weeks afterwords my throat closed at work and I couldn't breathe except through a straw. 

 

Since then I've had it happen almost half a dozen times.  Each time felt like I was going to die.  It certainly wasn't there before I got sick, I think I'd have noticed.  But I can't imagine what Covid would do to that reflex if I were to get it and then have it go off during the covid symptoms...

[Badger]

7 hours ago, Starlord said:

 

Trump's only care is that 'the Precious' is currently down thousands of points and unlikely to rebound anytime soon.

 

To be fair, I'm not sure if the DNC isn't thinking beyond "its down thousands of points, we got a shot in November".  Such is the bane of politics.

 

The one thing I've learned on politics, is very few politicians really actually care about the constituents.

[Badger]

54 minutes ago, TrickstaPriest said:

 

I think the problem that people aren't quite grasping yet is that this could take a half-year or more to clear up.  The people who are ignoring or panicking over that aren't quite grasping that, because containment has failed, this thing is going to at least go through everyone.  You aren't likely to die from it.  You can lose friends (I know at least four very elderly people directly I am in close contact with and several other friends that, statistically speaking, one will probably lose their lives over this).  You could be in traction or isolated for one or two weeks, or unable to work.  You could lose hundreds in medical expenses.  So I'm not saying panic, but you will know someone who will be struggling from this.

 

You could get a host of other health issues too.   I have a reflexive breathing problem where my vocal chords close spontaneously and without warning.  It may be related to my (very minor) asthma, but it didn't exist until after I had a relatively minor chest cold for the first time in decades.  Barely a couple weeks afterwords my throat closed at work and I couldn't breathe except through a straw. 

 

Since then I've had it happen almost half a dozen times.  Each time felt like I was going to die.  It certainly wasn't there before I got sick, I think I'd have noticed.  But I can't imagine what Covid would do to that reflex if I were to get it and then have it go off during the covid symptoms...

 

Yeah, it should be between the 2.  It is one reason I am limiting myself in keeping up with to an extent.  Watching the news, the narrative is clear: To panic.

[Old Man]

In a vain effort to prop up the economy, the Fed pumped $1.5T into the financial sector today.  For scale, that's what a year of M4A would cost.

 

No word yet on any bailouts or assistance for regular Americans.

[Sociotard]

Trump says that travel restrictions is a possibility (if some areas get "too hot"). I'm not entirely certain he can do that.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-restricting-travel-in-us-a-possibility-if-coronavirus-pandemic-gets-too-hot/ar-BB116CeZ

 

If I may suggest a book, I finished reading A Song for a New Day last month, and it felt so prescient. In the crapsack future, a plague and terror attack happen at the same time, and thereafter people stay home or avoid contact. Shopping gets droned to your door, etc.

[Old Man]

17 minutes ago, Sociotard said:

Trump says that travel restrictions is a possibility (if some areas get "too hot"). I'm not entirely certain he can do that.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-restricting-travel-in-us-a-possibility-if-coronavirus-pandemic-gets-too-hot/ar-BB116CeZ

 

It doesn't matter because it's too late.  The virus is in at least 47 states now.  The focus needs to be on widespread testing (which is impossible due to earlier mistakes by the administration) and preparing hospitals to deal with the influx of pneumonia patients.  Even nebulizers and CPAP machines may be useful if we run out of ventilators and oxygen.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

5 hours ago, Old Man said:

In a vain effort to prop up the economy, the Fed pumped $1.5T into the financial sector today.  For scale, that's what a year of M4A would cost.

 

No word yet on any bailouts or assistance for regular Americans.

The money has to go to those who truly matter...the ones with the money.