Danny Dravot

It’s a complicated answer and the mods probably don’t want the thread derailed so much. Honestly, what I truly want probably isn’t coming, ever, but I think Trump gone and split legis/exec is what will probably get me closest to my goals. Feel free to DM if you want to discuss more.

Probably. I don’t at all buy into the right-wing talk that he is super progressive. I think his cabinet picks so far back me up on that (and I really like Blinken and Flournoy (likely SecDef)). I also think Manchin will protect the center in the Senate. That being said, I still don’t see a reason for a red state to go blue. I think Warnock and Ossoff would be negative influences in Congress as well so I’ll take the two Republicans instead, even if I have disagreements and dislikes with both.

I don't know the neighborhood at all, but Michigan City, IN, has a casino?

You want a perfect answer. There is no perfect answer. Restaurants? Outdoor dining and/or takeout only. Some staff are going to get let go. Bars? Have a patio? Lucky you. If not, close it. Layoffs will occur here too. For those who are laid off, continue the expanded unemployment benefits. Let people apply for extra stimulus packages as needed. I appreciate receiving check number one because I have a very small business that took it on the chin when things first closed in March, and that helped make up for lost revenue, but I don't want, need, or deserve anything further. So let it happen on a case-by-case basis (where people have to prove lost income that's not already recomped by the aforementioned UI).

Correct. So wear masks properly, wash your hands, don't touch your face, keep your distance, and get back to work.

I agree with this entirely (although if I'm reading the tone right, I do believe those ideas never SHOULD have survived conservative court challenges, either). Trump should have encouraged people to do their duty, and while, yeah, some immature people would have continued being reckless idiots, it would have been much better if half the country didn't believe this to be fake.

I've been working on COVID response for months. In a task force of 2,000 people or so, we've had about 50 confirmed diagnoses. No hospitalizations. We wear masks, we have rearranged our offices deliberately to allow for social distancing, and we are out dealing with this every day. I don't want another stimulus check- I want to continue doing what I'm doing. If some idiot in his college town wants to go to a kegger, I disapprove, but I'm not downloading a GPS app on my phone because he happens to be a moron. I'll take care of my family, you do the same with yours, and let the imbeciles take their risks and pay their price. You still haven't told me when you'd stop. Zero deaths? Zero cases? COVID goes the way of small pox? I will continue to protect me and mine, but I am opposed to giving over control to the Andrew Cuomos of the world. I have no faith that such people will only take measures to stop the virus and not to further their own world view.

You still didn't answer part of my question, which is- when would you stop? Do COVID deaths need to be zero before I can go to Mass again? Conservatives have responded to this whole thing like idiots, and it pisses me off, but I'm still very wary of going whole-hog in your desired direction. There is a middle path.

Dude, I get it. It's a pandemic and it's bad. But I'm not going to welcome full-blown authoritarianism just so people can freely pack into wedding halls again. It's on us to do the right things as individuals and continue to do so until the vaccine is here.

No way. Wear your mask, stay six feet apart, refrain from going to dine-in restaurants and bars, but no way am I going to demand that police imprison us in our homes and neighborhoods.

Genuine question, @StrangeSox, is this what you would want? That's a bridge too far for me. It's a vast violation of privacy. Who determines if I'm essential or not? Who monitors all of these phones? What happens if I just want to drive around on dark country roads to get the kids to sleep, which I often do? I've been doing the right thing and I'm ready to get back to normal, but I also don't find this that restrictive. I'm looking forward to going back to the airport more than anything else, but that time will come. No way am I going to step this up to government officials tracking my phone.

Because I'm a right-leaning moderate? I do not want a Democrat-controlled Senate (my main desire on ED was Biden victory with Republican Senate). Also, I thought the stock market gamers were Loeffler, Burr (NC) and Feinstein. I don't recall Perdue having a hand in that. Edit: just looked it up and he did. So, scratch that.

Where's the line, then? How far would you go and when would you stop? When it comes to fixing a domestic problem, the Chinese government has it easy. For a pandemic, people are going to stay in their homes and they're going to be steadfast about it, because it's not like the CCP is going to hit them with a measly fine that can be endlessly disputed in court. I'm pro-mask, pro-social distancing, pro-staying at home, but anti-lockdown. Do you want police checkpoints making sure every driver is an essential worker or a doordash driver? We need to be responsible, we need leaders to promote responsibility and duty, and we even need some law enforcement responses for certain types (huge parties, people who won't wear a mask yet refuse to GTFO the store, etc). But we've objectively got more to grapple with than Beijing.

Eh, I'd question the numbers out of China, honestly, and moreover, it's not surprising that an authoritarian government would have better pandemic outcomes than a democratic one. Just like I'd be less worried about street crime in Pyongyang than I would in Chicago. People should take this seriously. People should wear masks, socially distance, and stay home if possible. At the same time, I support the Constitution and individual freedom, and in this country, we have to maneuver between the two sides in a way that China does not.

I saw an interesting analogy the other day about “belling the cat”. It’s in the collective interest of all mice to bell the cat, but in the individual interest of no particular mouse to be the one to do it. No Republican wanted to off themselves in 2016 to stand up to a much less lethal Trump, and now they have to deal with one who is much more politically dangerous.

I agree. Personally, I find Loeffler pretty gross (wouldn’t vote for Warnock though) but would prefer Perdue to Ossoff, but I don’t live in Georgia. I figure some will split for whatever reason but not enough to make a difference. As goes one, so shall the other.

https://mobile.twitter.com/EWErickson/status/1334246698802159617 I think people should vote. I think Democrats should vote. I think Republicans should vote. I think MAGAists should vote. I think communist party members should vote. I think conspiracy theorists should vote. I think people who only care about securing their own welfare benefits should vote. I think a lot of them are dead wrong, but I think all of them should vote. I think electoral turnout is one of our greatest metrics as a country. I get the feeling, however, that a lot of the “don’t forget to vote” Twitter crowd really only wants you to vote if you agree with them. Disclosure: this is uncouth but not illegal. Also, if you fall for it as a Georgian, you are really, really stupid.

I really want to read this but have a personal policy to never pay any amount for subscription journalism.

The tantrum is sort of amusing in how insane and sophomoric it is, like the hilarious errors in Powell’s Kraken and the non-existent Edison County in Michigan and so on. But I haven’t taken it as a serious thing in weeks. This was all officially over four days after the election. I am much more interested in talking about Biden’s picks, some of whom I like (Blinken and Flournoy), some of whom I’m ambivalent on (Yellen and Tanden), and some of whom piss me off (Psaki- but she’s only press sec, so, whatever).

I think everybody is at least somewhat inconsistent. Sometimes I drink my soda at my desk and leave my mask off between sips. I’ve dined IN a restaurant twice since March, and one other time I ate on the patio). My office is in a hotel and I often grab dinner at the bar, but I only order at the bar. I sit in the dark empty restaurant and eat totally alone. If I pull up to the drive through window or the grocery store online pickup area, I’m masked. When I drop off the kid at daycare, I’m masked (they don’t let us inside- a worker scans my daughter’s temp and takes her while I sign her in). I’ve gotten relatively consistent haircuts but that’s because it’s required for me- I hold the mask over my face while they go around the ears and then I reattach while they do the rest. This new normal is weird. I don’t expect anyone to be perfect. We all slip up sometimes, but many of us try. I believe in this but I’m not a nag about it either. Saw two rednecks at Kroger today who weren’t wearing masks at all- did I confront them? Nope, I stayed way the fuck away. I’m not harping about it on FB. Didn’t post anything after I caught the bug back in July. My SIL just takes it a new level with the amount of online preachiness (this is far from her only COVID post) in combination with everything else on her feed, which show behavior totally adverse to her other soliloquys.

So my sister-in-law is positive. They haven't tested her, but they assume my young niece to be as well. I genuinely hope they get better ASAP. That said, her FB post announcing this situation goes on to talk all about how we need to wear masks, and do our parts, and how she did everything right and STILL got it, you guys. The next post on her feed is her gloating about the professional family photos they had done (all of five days ago), where her parents and her siblings and their spouses and children are all present, unmasked, standing nut-to-butt. My family Thanksgiving was prepared entirely by my wife and served to the two of us and our children in our dining room. No one else came over at all. We had a brief pizza night with her folks the day before where we all wore masks properly and constantly (try keeping a mask on a three year old), sitting in different parts of the house to safely eat. My children scream and sob when visits to the grandparents are so abbreviated, but it is what it is. Other than school and two total visits with the grandparents, my children haven't been in another building other than our house since March. By all means, take this pandemic seriously. My family has been. But don't be a FaceBook harpy about how we all have to do our duty while you are clearly not doing yours.

Parlertakes on Twitter: "⚠️Lin Wood, a member of Trump’s legal team, stating we are headed for civil war and calling for martial law.⚠️ This man is a legitimate threat to our country. https://t.co/Cbv3cu4Miv" / Twitter Ten word gap between "nefarious efforts to take away our freedom" and "declare martial law".

It's similar to the "build the wall" crowdfunding scam that now seems destined to land Steve Bannon in prison. Less criminal than either of these grifts, as well, is a tweet thread I saw months ago after Bernie dropped out, where donors were wondering if they could get refunds because they gave significant amounts that they could not afford in the hopes of having their student loan debts vaporized. As if their donations were investments! Honestly, if you're stupid enough to fall for any of this, you deserve to lose your money.

This reminds me of Marion Barry's, "Well, except for the murders, the crime rate has gone way down under my tenure!"

Rick Wilson is a great reminder that you can be nominally on the right, despise Trump, and be an absolute horrible creep of a human being all at once.