TrickstaPriest

I got my test back. Negative. I was on the downside of symptoms by the time I took it, and it's not an approved test, so there's a chance I had a mild case. Then again, there's a chance I didn't.
 
On the down side, I threw my back out Tuesday morning and can barely move. So, I'm missing a second week of work regardless. Going to have to burn that vacation time to make it up.

So, what you're saying is you'd rather be hanging with your gnomies?

The Rapture as a doctrine only dates back to the early 19th century.
 
And a cynical person would say, "Maybe, it's already happened."

Sorry everyone, but I'm out of this thread and I will be asking the moderators to lock it.
 
I can no longer tolerate the repeated insults and abuse of the Three Stooges.  

Doesn't surprise me at all. The Trump administration has been getting away with literally anything they want for years. Is it any surprise that they think they're untouchable now? We've allowed it and they're going to take full advantage of that.

Assassin disguised as FedEx driver guns down family of federal judge assigned to Epstein case
 
Guess they couldn't be bothered to make it look like a suicide this time?

Pincer? I hardly knew her! 
So. Had a discussion with some handy young people (Niece1 and Nephew4), who are the ones who would have to do the invading. They clarified their position on going to America in any capacity  right now. It is: "Nope nope nope they have guns there." So you're going to have to take care of this on your own. All your problems: Coronavirus, guns, Aquaman, all of them. (What? I'm not the one that brought up Hermit's nemeses!) 
 
On the other hand, I wouldn't be a Canadian if I didn't have some smug and condescending advice for my American cousins! Have you thought about going back on your meds?

And that it's happening in Portland seems to reduce what should be the national shock of seeing a group of quasi-legal soldiers personally loyal to Donald Trump ruining around doing what they do. And some people seem to actually approve, though few at best are in Portland proper.

Right now Portland appears to be in a sort of martial law. Federal officers in combat gear with no identification appear to be taking protesters off the street at random. They're not talking to city government or even Portland police, and nobody seems to be sure quite where the "suspects" are taken.
 
This scares the Hell out of me.

My brother-in-law and wife have both worked in law enforcement for quite awhile while my father was a judge and defense attorney at different parts of his career.
 
I could NOT agree with this man more.  Don't say a MF'ing thing, ever, for any reason.  Hand them the card to your lawyer and get out of there.  The only direction the situation can go is worse.

Incidentally, I am amused by Trump's outrage that Gorsuch and Kavanaugh have not shown consistent and obedient fealty. His own world-view should have told him this: He gave them something that he can't take back, and he has nothing else that they want. Therefore he has no leverage. They don't need him anymore. So why should they give a rat's ass what he wants?
 
Dean Shomshak

I've seen a distinction made between democratic politics and despotic politics. Either way, the fundamental question is, "Who gets their way?" In democratic politics, factions seek victories on particular issues but don't try to win completely on everything and forever. In despotic politics, factions seek permanent supremacy and the destruction of rivals. (Their political destruction, at least -- a permanent irrelevance.)
 
Thing is, it looks to me like Republicans/conservatives already chose despotic politics. Completely. Voter suppression, ultra-gerrymandering, refusing even to take a vote on Merrick Garland -- those aren't tactics to persuade or to gather a stronger coalition, those are tactics to lock out the other side.
 
Perhaps many conservatives genuinely believe this is all righteous defense against liberals flouting the law. That doesn't make it true. And if they can't come up with any Democratic offenses worse than Hillary's emails, I am not inclined to believe their claim. OTOH, conservatives have clearly lost on various cultural issues dear to their heart, such as opposition to same-sex marriage, where the Left won by impeccably lawful means. So it looks to me like the Left can get what it wants democratically or judicially, and the Right knows it must go despotic or lose completely.
 
So, should liberals accept the new reality and embrace despotic politics as the alternative to being crushed? That depends on how far Trump goes this fall, and how far other Republicans are willing to go along. I don't think we are at the point of supreme emergency yet, though I can see it on the horizon. If Trump loses fairly and goes -- screaming, no doubt, but goes -- I'd prefer to let most investigations drop or at least be done quietly, with the aim of preventing future mischief.
 
Still, I hope someone points out to Trump -- and forces him to listen, as best they can -- that if he can get away with a criminal presidency and then pardon himself, a Biden presidency could say, "Screw the pardon: We're nailing Trump to the wall." Break whatever laws are necessary, then pardon itself for doing so.
 
Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
 
Dean Shomshak

See, those kinds of sweeping generalizations are what lead to fatalism and despair that's self-defeating and paralyzing. If life is nothing but conflict, how are we ever supposed to achieve peace? If life is only pain, what's the point of ever trying to be happy? All of those things exist in life, and in their contrast they serve a purpose. Conflict makes us cherish peace. Happiness gives us the hope and motivation to overcome pain.
 
Those generalizations can also lead us to treat life as though it was the "reality show" Survivor, an artificial construct in which participants are rewarded for deceit and treachery. In real survival situations everyone has to work together, or no one survives. Our current pandemic has made that clearer than ever.

COVID-19 immunity lasts about 90 days depending on how severe your symptoms were

Well, I've been feeling run down, and have muscle aches and a headache that won't go away all week. Called out of work today and found out my manager just tested positive for COVID. I'll be going in Monday for a test.

Please be careful, there are plenty of instances of people crashing very quickly if it gets severe. Don’t wait around if you start to feel worse. 
 
 

Well, apparently you can test positive and have a fever of 101.3 and not be sick enough for inpatient care. i got sent home from the hospital after a couple 4-5 hours of tests and since my bloodwork was good, oxygen was normal and lungs are clear, I just have to hydrate,  double up on vitamins and swallow Tylenol like candy. They did say come back if I developed any breathing issues.Apparently this is the least sick you can be without being totally asymptomatic.

The Cherokee reporter who discussed the decision on ATC was simply gobsmacked that a US court had said, "The treaty says what it says, and that makes it the law, so follow it," instead of, "Meh, the treaty has become inconvenient, so ignore it."
 
Dean Shomshak

For what it's worth, self-proclaimed SCOTUS experts I've heard say Roberts is motivated to protect the Supreme Court by keeping it out of fights between parties and branches of government. The Trump tax rulings are typical: Don't give presidents unlimited immunity from investigation, but punt the disputes back to lower levels where they won't be resolved before the election, thus seeking to avoid any perception the Court is affecting the election with its rulings.
 
From this POV, I can imagine Roberts pulling Gorsuch and Kavanaugh aside and telling them they have got to side with the four liberals on some rulings that poke Trump in the eye, even if they don't really harm him. Because there's a chance that Dems take the House, Senate and Oval Office in November, and if the Court seems to be Trump's lackey there will be extremely strong pressure for Dems to pack the Court and abandon any pretense that it is anything but a political tool. For the moment, they must at least pretend to have judicial principles, which might operate in Dems' favor.
 
Of course, I am no mind reader. It's just what Dinesh D'Souza calls "an ideological hypothesis" (fancy talk for "a story without evidence, but it explains things the way I want.")
 
Dean Shomshak

https://www.npr.org/2020/07/08/888906337/unholy-examines-the-alliance-between-white-evangelicals-and-trump
 
Heard July 8 on Fresh Air: Interview with journalist Sarah Posner on her new book, Unholy: Why White Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Donald Trump.
 
Short answer: He doesn't speak Evangelical Christian, but boy howdy, he sure knows how to speak White Grievance. And White Evangelicals have cultural and political grievances oceans deep.
 
And Posner insists her calling their attitude 'worship' is not hyperbolic: Her subjects believe, as a new tenet of faith, that Donald Trump is the anointed servant of God, no matter how unlikely he appears.
 
(Personal additon: I have seen The Trump Gospel, whose author claims Jesus appeared to him and revealed Trump's divine role in returning America to Christian purity. I cannot guess whether the author is a true believer, a cynical grifter exploiting of the faithful and gullible, or a sincere grifter who thinks he's telling a noble lie to further the cause. All three are horrible in their way.)
 
Dean Shomshak

The 25 June...perhaps.
But not yesterday and today.  They DO make sense.  Case numbers started to rise just after the solstice...and now the death counts are rising.  Over 750 today with a few hours left.  And it's gone up by 6 in just a few minutes while I was looking at some different things...
 
At this point you can't look at the longer-term trendline for daily deaths;  it's now meaningless, with the massive upswing in cases.  It would be interesting and possibly informative to take the daily case counts and daily death counts, do some normalization on both (say, divide daily cases by 60,000, daily deaths by 2000, so they'd be on similar scales) then offset the daily deaths by 2 weeks, and perhaps another offset by 3 weeks, and see how well they overlap.  

This, I feel, is one of the most legitimate complaints against police.  When they find a bad apple in their midst the blue wall goes up and nobody will admit anyone did anything wrong.  Going so far as to throw away fellow officers who break rank and point out the bad actors in the bunch.

That is a counsel of despair Badger, and not likely to get something better in 2024.  If folk don't like either option and wait for something better, nothing is likely to turn up.  If people counsel despair, nothing is likely to change.
 
Democracy, like a vegetable garden, takes work to make it flourish.  Voting at every election is like seeding the plot and ignoring it until harvest time.  It is unlikely you will go back and find any tomatoes, potatoes or carrots, just a bunch of nettles and weeds.
 
We have gotten lazy, expecting the system to throw up good, principled candidates when experience is telling them that is not the way to get elected.
 
What is needed is not new systems or rules but a deeper engagement by the electorate.  of course, it might take a new system to garner that engagement.
 
We get the politicians we deserve.
 
Doc

New York, as mentioned, in NYC. Washington, around Seattle. California, IIRC, in Los Angeles. Coastal states with big cities that recieve lots of international travelers. Of course the virus appears there first.And since the liberal/conservative divide is also largely an urban/rural divide, Clinton won those states. Which then means the lockdowns necessary to slow the spread instantly get associated with liberal statism, and conservatives feel obliged to trumpet that they will never accept such limits on their freedom. And here we are.
 
Dean Shomshak

In the politics of OTHER Countries...
 
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/hong-kong-boris-johnson-pmqs-citizenship-uk-china-law-a4485601.html
 
40% of Hong Kong could get UK Citizenship? Wow. Is it okay to actually approve of something Boris is doing? I mean, I'm probably missing some ramifications, and I know there would be challenges (And the CCP will rattle sabers is not the least of them) but I have to admire the sheer testicular fortitude of the UK here esp if they pull it off. Mind you, if there ends up being a mass exodus from Hong Kong, I have to wonder where the HKers will end up living exactly. I suppose most would be comfy in urban areas like London.
 
Also, it's a big brain and wealth drain off China, or perhaps I'm wrong on that?
 
Oh And Australia is looking to protect Hong Kongers as well
 
https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-02/australia-considering-offering-safe-haven-to-hong-kong-residents/12415482