Danny Dravot
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Posts posted by Danny Dravot
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16 minutes ago, Quin said:
- Annie Karni didn't write the article. While she is a contributor to MSNBC, she's a White House reporter for The New York Times.
- The quote marks are pointless. She's busted her ass for years to get to where she is as a legitimate journalist.
- The point of the article is that Operation Warp Speed is an unmitigated disaster.
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Key portions of the article:
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74 million Americans just voted for the party that has been promising those 20 million doses and has been at the front of the line receiving them. They are also a party that has been consistently gaslighting them about every single issue. This isn't something like Eloy's home run rate, where he can go on a tear in one week due to randomness, but where government needs to be held accountable for their laughably depressing rollout that they've had months to prepare for (remember how they passed on the chance to secure more doses?). So how do Americans understand that? With simple, frank numbers.
Never heard of Annie Karni before. Don't really care who she is. Her input here is moronic.
That "unmitigated disaster" produced multiple vaccines to a major pandemic in nine months. Slower rollout in the first two weeks of distribution is disappointing but hardly destroys the value of the entire enterprise.
Are you suggesting Republicans are hoarding the vaccines for themselves? I saw news of Kamala getting the vaccine the other day (as she should). I'm in the National Guard- some of us are on full-time orders for COVID and we are prioritized to get the vaccine over those who are not on active orders. Makes sense to prioritize people who are working in shared spaces rather than people who are at home wanting extended UI and stimulus checks.
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45 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:
No but that’s a simple and straightforward way to demonstrate how weak and poorly planned the start of this has been. That is exactly how you communicate the number in a way to be useful to people - if I told you that it was 2 million in 15 days would you be able to figure out if that is fast or slow? This is far more easily readable and has the benefit of being true based on the current pace. Turning it into that clock is good communication of a more complex number.
25 minutes ago, StrangeSox said:Yeah, it's a clear way of demonstrating that the current pace is exceedingly slow.
You guys are hilarious. Panic to your heart's content, then.
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24 minutes ago, Middle Buffalo said:
They were saying there would be 20 million people vaccinated by EOY. As of yesterday, we were at 2.1 million. Criticizing the rollout of the vaccination is perfectly fair. They've had months to put a plan in place and be ready to coordinate who gets it and when. Instead, they've spent the last two months focused on trying to stay in power and denying the election results.
Then she should point that out. We are underperforming the estimates, which, knowing how bombastic Trump is, isn't surprising. But we're not going to take ten years.
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6 hours ago, caulfield12 said:
If we didn't have journalists to put politicians' feet to the fire, what would do it, other than fear of defeat at the ballot box?
The fact of the matter is that the initial rollout has been going much more slowly than predicted. Not unlike the original rollout of ObamaCare, perception becomes 90% of reality.
This isn't holding anyone's feet to the fire. This is just fodder for people who think journalists are the dumbest creatures on the planet.
If Eloy hits one home run in the first ten games of next season, the poster who panics about how he's only gonna hit 16 bombs all year, his power is gone, and the Cubs won the Quintana deal, is gonna get laughed at.
It's the same with this lady. There's a TON to criticize Trump about, especially this year. The speed of vaccinations in the first few weeks of their existence isn't one of them. I've read elsewhere that by June, everyone who wants the COVID vaccine will have had it. If that doesn't happen, criticize away. But don't run around believing the current pace is the pace forever.
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5 hours ago, Balta1701 said:
Dude, I disagree with you on a lot of things, but you're smart enough to understand why this tweet is absolutely idiotic fucking dogshit. That "journalist" ought to be ashamed to have even thought of it.
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2 hours ago, Balta1701 said:
He was a contract employee who also works at one of the local university teaching hospitals, so he's not a serviceperson.
That makes no difference regarding his employment status at Walter Reed.
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15 hours ago, Balta1701 said:
You take a job at a military hospital, you ought to know the stakes. The commander-in-chief can be shredded on the pages of the New York Times, but he's not going to be shredded by the likes of you.
There was a video a while back of a uniformed sailor getting out of her car next to a small Trump-y gathering and screaming "fuck Trump" in their faces. I agree with the sentiment, if not the hysterical foaming-at-the-mouth expression of it, but to say so publicly is a career ender for a military member or DOD civilian and should be.
I never liked Obama but I didn't run my mouth about what an awful president I thought he was.
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29 minutes ago, ron883 said:
Madrigal and Rutherford. Get er done!
Musgrove sucks and you want to give up Madrigal+? Glad you don’t run the team.
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7 hours ago, Stinky Stanky said:
Just in the interest of a good discussion, Prokofiev fled to the USA, but he eventually went back and subjected himself to the whims of the commissars. And miracle of miracles, wrote some of his best music after they told him to knock off the "bourgeois" atonality and write stuff that was easier to understand. Shostakovich stayed and did battle with the commissars. They both loved Mother Russia more than they hated the commies.
That’s fair, and thanks for providing those examples. Like everything, it isn’t absolute. But in general, Russia had a long history of producing great artists and seven decades of communism really quenched that flow.
And to the original argument, it’s really dumb to think that culture would flourish if profit motive wasn’t a thing- for one, the Renaissance was fueled by rich people who longed for great art. It’s sort of ridiculous that Karl Marx thought rich people would just hoard their money and sit in bland rooms with gray walls and no sound. No, that’s what tended to happen under communism where life turned into a miserable rat race to survive. Wealthy societies commission artists to bring color to the world. Not surprising that Marx was wrong, though.
5 hours ago, ron883 said:Andrew Yang filed to run for mayor of NYC. Bill de Blasio is terrible. I will be pulling for Yang.
I think Max Rose is going to run. We held the same rank and deployed with the same brigade (4,000ish people). I remember a Rose and his face looks really familiar, but I can’t really remember if we interacted. I don’t have a dog in the fight but I hope he wins.
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3 hours ago, Stinky Stanky said:
Karl Marx notwithstanding, most art, music, theater and literature is kept alive by the largesse of people and governments who appreciate it and support the organizations and individuals that keep it going. This is as old as civilization itself. So Karl wasn't as smart as he thought he was.
Is this a bad thing? Don't ask me, I only work here. 😊
If I more than anything wanted art, music, and literature, I’d want to be anywhere but the USSR, China, or North Korea.
And Russia has some great cultural icons too. Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, all dead before the Revolution. Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Nabokov fled from it. Who came out of revolutionary Russia? Gorky? Alright then.
I’ve said it many times- I am a conservative who voted for Biden to stop Trump. I do not think Democrats in the main are socialists. I acknowledge that some of them are declared democratic socialists- I think they are idiots but they also wouldn’t ship me off to a GULAG and Democrats have rejected them anyway (for now).
All that being said, my point works a lot better if the “I’m totes not a socialist, guyz” crowd didn’t go around favorably quoting Karl fucking Marx. Not a great look.
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31 minutes ago, Texsox said:
Isn't that what they did with the $1,200 earlier in the year or any of the tax cuts?
Except the $1,200 capped out at certain levels so it was dedicated primarily to those of lesser means, and while you might disagree with tax cuts, it’s returning to people their own money.
Student loan forgiveness looks at debt that people took, ignores that they got what they paid for, and then frees them from it.
Now, for people who got ripped off by stupid things like Phoenix or ITT or Trump U, they should be reimbursed and the courts can handle that.
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2 hours ago, WhiteSoxFan1993 said:
Student loan forgiveness favors people who recently went to college. If you're 10+ years out of college you had to pay yours off 100% but someone gets out of paying theirs because they happen to be a few years younger?
Let's use that money to make K-12 schools better in the areas of greatest need.
I know some people will argue, “you’re saying that your life sucked so other people’s lives should suck too”? If that’s how they want to read it, they’re free to do so.
I objectively have less money because I did the right thing and paid my loans off. If I had known this was coming, I should have been a schmuck and not paid anything. In fact, I still owe on one loan and make payments monthly- should I just stop doing that because I get the sense that’s the way the wind is shifting?
Don’t worry though. I think that is a super fucked up course of action.
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1 hour ago, tray said:
Student loans are stifling the careers of young people which negatively impacts the economy. That is the crux of Senator Warren's argument concerning the impact of student loans.
Maybe lower the interest rates on student loans to zero to allow young people to pay them off and put a cap on interest rates for credit cards....an interest rate that is not usurious, like 10% max. Lower the cap on borrowing if the credit card companies are worried about risk..
IMHO, wayy too much wealth is concentrated on the upper 5-10% in this country. I am not advocating Socialism but instead, some fundamental fairness. There are those who have no stocks , no health insurance, yet work like dogs to make ends meet. They are not our enemies, they are people we need to embrace rather than demonize and trample upon.
Who took out those student loans? And credit cards? Are you responsible for the fact that 24 y/o me decided he needed a touchscreen desktop all-in-one computer that he couldn’t afford and lived with the resulting debt and interest for five years or so?
I don’t believe you’re advocating for socialism and that is not my accusation at all. I’ve said many times that I’m in favor of a limited welfare state that prevents actual suffering. So public option for healthcare with some sort of phased out subsidies for lower income levels, unemployment insurance and food stamp programs that are available but push recipients towards independence, federal support for homeless shelters, etc. I’d advocate for all of that.
However, forgiving student loan debt is wealth redistribution from the poor to the rich. My aunt and uncle didn’t go to college and live a Hillbilly Elegy life in podunk, but her sibling, my mother, has a graduate degree and the money that eventually comes with it. Should the former have helped the latter with a debt they didn’t incur so she could have benefits they never would? No way. My mom took out the loans and reaped the benefits- that wasn’t anyone else’s responsibility.
College grads can’t fully participate in the economy? Bummer. Neither did I for several years while I paid off silly credit card debt and the most onerous student loans. Society would have had a responsibility to make sure that even in my foolishness I didn’t starve to death, sure, but whether I could vacation in Europe and eat at fancy restaurants wasn’t its concern. Are our college grads housed, fed, and medically covered? Yes? Then we’re good.
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7 hours ago, pcq said:
The military oath includes a provision to obey orders of the president.
I know you’ve blocked me so you won’t see this, but that’s the enlisted oath. “To the president and the officers appointed over me”. Officers only swear to uphold the Constitution.
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@Soxbadger @southsider2k5 @Balta1701 I am still a free speech absolutist- I see Balta’s comment about pulling a BLM banner off a church and burning it and that’s more of a property crime to me than anything else (people can freely burn their own BLM and American flags etc). IMO, the concept of hate crimes punishes ideas rather than actions (or exacerbates punishment based on the idea driving the action) and is anathema to a society that respects free expression.
HOWEVER, I have been out of the loop and did not know Flynn was involved in briefings at the White House. I don’t know why he would be, but POTUS being who he is, I am not surprised. I saw him tweeting some lunacies the other day and figured his current ramblings were more of the same and that he was no more than a released prisoner. I took my defense of him far longer than I should have and have no interest in continuing it further.
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1 minute ago, southsider2k5 said:
The military does NOT need to carry out the orders for a crime to have been committed.
I’m genuinely curious how you’ve established your line here.
Can I rant about our need for a military coup on Twitter? Or am I safe? Why? You don’t care that some protesters want the downfall of the USA. Fine, but why? Because we’re all nobodies? Is that the difference maker?
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7 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:
The fact that Michael Flynn was at the WH speaking with Trump yesterday and Trump floated using the military with his advisors should scare the shit out of everybody. Allegedly, he was told the military wouldn’t carry out his orders. It is time to use the 25th amendment. It is not worth seeing this last month through. He almost hired Sidney Powell yesterday as a special counsel to look at voter fraud.
Not all speech is free. He has crossed the line. He should already be in jail for his admitted crimes. This is another.
Correct. The military would not carry out those orders.
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10 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:
Absolutely Michael Flynn should be jailed and charged with every single crime he has committed here. Dangerous speech is NOT free speech. That is quite literally the dividing line as what is free and what is not.
Ok, agree to disagree.
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54 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:
So it is your contention that former NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR, LT GENERAL Michael Flynn, calling for the military to rise up against a Biden Presidency carries the same weight as some "protest"? And that because no one has seemingly taken him seriously as of yet, that it should be OK? You reallze that just talking about harming the President is a crime. That talking about overthrowing the American government, and trying to organize plans to do so is a crime, and that former member of our military and national security apparatus is trying to get people to do so. But that is somehow the same thing as a protest? My god.
So what do you want to do? You still haven’t said. Should Michael Flynn be jailed? Should the people of TX-2 be disenfranchised and their representative jailed because he espouses viewpoints that you dislike? If you just want to label it a coup so you can panic about it on here and Twitter, then fine, go ahead and we can just end this debate now. But if you want to call this a coup so that we can dispose of it as the entire world disposes of coups, and bring the force of the US government down on those responsible (including the most awful of Flynn’s suggestions- deploying the military), then no, I disagree.
I maintain my position. This is idiotic and even dangerous speech. But even dangerous speech is still free.
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1 minute ago, southsider2k5 said:
Why are you protecting the only one was has access to power and providing a direct plan to do so?
I’m protecting both.
Anyways, fine, let’s call it a coup. What do YOU want done?
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1 minute ago, southsider2k5 said:
It doesn't matter. Freedom of speech is not an absolute right. You don't need to be in the military to lead a coup attempt, or attempt to lead a coup.
Don't believe me? Read the first word of the qualifiers.
The words of that code also apply then to the protesters I mentioned. They are willfully advocating the desirability of overthrowing and destroying the US government. Are they not?
I would argue on behalf of both Flynn and the protesters that, no matter what the statute says, speech should not be restricted. There is no harm until there is an action.
You would only argue as much for one of the groups. Why?
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11 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:
Lol.
Michael Flynn holds no official position or authority and he lives in disgrace. He's not much different than those protesters in Denver. I'm not personally concerned that those protesters are going to get their way (I've repeatedly told greg to calm down about it) and I feel the same way about Flynn.
You desperately want to call certain things a coup. Well, what would you like to do about it? When a coup happens elsewhere, the plotters get crushed. Do you want Michael Flynn thrown in jail because of his words? Do you want idiotic Republican congressmen to be removed from the House and their voters to be disregarded in an undemocratic fashion?
You don't like it? Fine. I don't like it either. But I'm not going to turn into an authoritarian because of speech.
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Just now, southsider2k5 said:
One is trying to organize the military to overthrow the government. The other is a fake whataboutism.
I'm sorry- what military rank does Michael Flynn hold?
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58 minutes ago, Texsox said:
So who is hoping for a student loan forgiveness program? I've been reading many of the arguments for and against and my gut tells me it would be helpful to a lot of people.
No. My wife took out a loan to study abroad and she got that benefit. We still owe a little bit of money on it and it is our obligation to pay it back.
COVID-19/Coronavirus thread
in SLaM
Posted
Hmm. Wanna hear my thoughts about stimulus checks?