caulfield12

“At least it seems that way in the complicated articles I've read.” Point rebutted. Greg, you know we’re just messing with you...especially if you’re going to talk like Bobby Boucher in The Waterboy. (Adam Sandler) "Ben Franklin." (Young Bobby Boucher) "Mama, when did Ben Franklin invent electricity?" (Kathy Bates) "That's nonsense, I invented electricity. Ben Franklin is the Devil."

1) Equating measures put in place to keep you and your loved ones from dying=tyranny on an equal scale with the British and French monarchs from 1776-1792, check. 2) Plays conservatives are being unfairly persecuted card when less than five US newspapers have called for Trump to resign over the impeachment issues or pandemic response. Check. Hundreds did in the cases of Clinton and Nixon. 3) Blames governors for not giving more explicit instructions (after detailed CDC guidelines to assist them, as well as salons and barber shops, with reopening are withdrawn), which conveniently takes Trump off the hook for every government action we don’t like. If governors did provide county by county or district by district information, it would amount to more tyranny or policies that were too prescriptive. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t? 4) Equates getting a haircut in the face of such tyranny as a patriotic action similar to dumping tea in Boston Harbor...when men all around the world have somehow figured out how to buy and even use their own electric Wahl hair clippers. 5) Shoutout to President Trump for the low gas prices (which also fails to acknowledge all the US energy companies hemorrhaging jobs in order for us to enjoy $1/gallon gasoline.)

And the Astros had a similar record in the first half of 2005...16-31 on May 27th.

The 85-86 Bulls at 30-52 making the playoffs? Think of what fans ended up seeing...and we’ve had a .500ish or even lower Padres team make it in the modern era.

Awful Administration Official of the Week Award goes to: HHS HEAD ALEX AZAR BLAMES ‘HOME AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS’ FOR MEATPACKING CRISIS: The country’s top health official suggested to lawmakers at the end of April that meatpacking employees were more likely to catch the coronavirus based on their social interactions and group living situations than from exposure on the job, POLITICO’s Adam Cancryn and Laura Barrón-López reported Thursday. Azar’s comments, made April 28 on a phone call with a bipartisan group of members, sparked outrage from labor unions that have been fighting for safer working conditions as thousands of meatpacking employees have tested positive and at least 20 have died from the virus. Many employees at closed plants will head back to work soon under Trump’s recent order to keep operations running to avoid a meat shortage at grocery stores. The secretary proposed sending law enforcement to communities where many meatpacking workers live in congregate housing to better enforce social distancing rules, according to two of the lawmakers on the call. politico.com 65% of the new infections in NYC this week were individuals already under quarantine 60 members of the Secret Service are under quarantine, with 31 already having tested positive for Covid

Well, by cutting off small business/PPP funding, no second set of support checks, no money for states/cities, taking away conditions where workers can qualify for UNE claims, they’re certainly attempting to do so. That argument will be even stronger when school distance learning programs are phased out for whatever summer vacation evolves into. So far, people are clearly voting with their behaviors. Flights are down 95%. Of course, that also means the distinction between home and work risk being permanently distorted as business travel is cut across the board and 24 hour work availability via teleconferencing becomes closer to the norm. Of course, that still leaves 60-70% of the country’s workers behind...those who simply can’t function from home, not without some form of customer facing interaction.

It’s also important to know when to give up. “If they don’t engage openly and in a way that suggests a willingness to compromise, then I would walk away and wish them well,” Uscinski said of people with a strong belief in a conspiracy. “I would like all of the people I care about to believe the most authoritative information, but I don’t control other people’s minds, and attempting to do so might not work out in my favor.” If that feels like a defeat, Uscinski suggested some other places to channel your energy: “Support science and universities,” “don’t support politicians who lie all the time,” and “push back hard” if a media outlet spreads a conspiracy theory. You might also try, when having conversations with other friends and family members, to preempt any curiosity they may have about Plandemic (conspiracy video) or its ilk by warning them about the existence of COVID-19 conspiracy theories. “People need to be prepared to resist harmful persuasion,” Banas said, “just like our bodies need to be prepared to resist harmful viruses.” https://apple.news/AKzDbQZpCRf--9IYVVjFc3Q

H. Right now, you’re outnumbered by more than 2 to 1 in that viewpoint. While it’s certainly possible the administration will do everything in its power to force as many back to work and off unemployment rolls, there’s simply no path back to profitability for some or even many of the major industries noted in your “treatise.” Part of the problem was signing off on a compensation system that provides many workers significantly more than they were making previously...for at least four months. Why would you realistically expect them to feel incentivized to go back to work after reading stories like the South Korean nightclub or about 1/3rd the Tyson Foods plant in Waterloo contracting the virus. When we burn through our essential workers and burn out most of our doctors and nurses, what happens then? But this is precisely what the administration wants...for everyone just to collectively throw their hands up in the air and agree with your point H. Why the hell not? What do we really know, after all this time? What’s to lose? How much worse can things actually get? They’ve pretty much given up on testing...and actually following guidelines that THEY created. To quote Reagan, “Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." Hmmm... The truly sad aspect is that hundreds of thousands will die when 90% of all this could have been prevented with a serious, coordinated and timely response (see Germany) in February or even early March. It should be noted, perhaps unsurprisingly, that Angela Merkel’s background is in science, not branding. So let’s just put it this way. Imagine it’s December 7th, 1941...can anyone imagine FDR informing 48 state governors that they were each responsible individually for coordinating the response with their respective state militias? We keep hearing this is a war...we’re on wartime footing, but it’s morphed into a political, economic and cultural war more-so than a health care battle. We can’t wish or hope it away, we have to science the hell out of it. Which is precisely when any chance at “winning” was lost to the virus, which doesn't discriminate and takes no side, besides looking for hosts to either kill or incubate inside of before multiplying/reproducing. Greg, I guess you are in your 30’s or more likely 40’s. They talk about the kids from the 80’s being the ME Generation. Remember that? There was a point in American history where more people were willing to put the good of the American people ahead of their own self-interests. “To ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,” a quaint notion now seemingly dead and buried. Maybe the greatest, most enduring lesson from this whole situation will be the tremendous cost of refusing to work together, whether it’s with our neighbors, neighboring states or even our neighbors in the global community. If we continue to see every situation as “us vs. them,” we will never overcome the problem...because too many will look around, see others not following the rules and decide the risk is worth it. It’s a classic economics concept called opportunity cost. China and authoritarian states take that choice away from the people...believing they know best how to keep people safe. There’s certainly a consequence when people don’t or aren’t allowed to think for themselves. We saw it here in Wuhan with the poor initial response from local leaders. But how can we argue that our freedom-oriented system is any better when we’re constantly presented with these choices...yet we keep choosing to hurt others due to our wants outweighing the obvious needs of others? And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me.”

Allies despair as Trump abandons America's leadership role at a time of global crisis https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/09/politics/us-leadership-coronavirus-intl/index.html GOP senator on second coronavirus stimulus checks: 'People in hell want ice water too' https://www.yahoo.com/money/gop-on-second-coronavirus-stimulus-checks-people-in-hell-want-ice-water-too-212055600.html “Well people in hell want ice water, too,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) when asked about more rounds of stimulus payments, according to The Hill. “I mean, everybody has an idea and a bill, usually to spend more money. It’s like a Labor Day mattress sale around here.” (A spokesperson for Kennedy later said that the senator’s comments were in reference to potential bills that would further increase state and local government funding.)

Weird, was watching MSNBC Saturday morning show and they were still featuring it...I guess as part of the broader concerns about reliability of antibody tests. https://www.freightwaves.com/news/deluge-of-medical-cargo-cripples-shanghai-pudong-airport Deluge of medical cargo cripples Shanghai Pudong airport Lengthy inspection delays cause PPE shipments to miss flights, forcing consolidators to look for alternate routes. Pretty incredible image there. AP Exclusive: Docs show top WH officials buried CDC report As early as April 10, Redfield, who is also a member of the White House coronavirus task force, shared via email the guidance and decision trees with President Donald Trump's inner circle, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, top adviser Kellyanne Conway and Joseph Grogan, assistant to the president for domestic policy. Also included were Dr. Deborah Birx, Dr. Anthony Fauci and other task force members. Three days later, CDC’s upper management sent the more than 60-page report with attached flow charts to the White House Office of Management and Budget, a step usually taken only when agencies are seeking final White House approval for documents they have already cleared. The 17-page version later released by The AP and other news outlets was only part of the actual document submitted by the CDC, and targeted specific facilities like bars and restaurants. The AP obtained a copy Friday of the full document. That version is a more universal series of phased guidelines, “Steps for All Americans in Every Community,” geared to advise communities as a whole on testing, contact tracing and other fundamental infection control measures. On April 24, Redfield again emailed the guidance documents to Birx and Grogan, according to a copy viewed by The AP. Redfield asked Birx and Grogan for their review so that the CDC could post the guidance publicly. Attached to Redfield’s email were the guidance documents and the corresponding decision trees — including one for meat packing plants. “We plan to post these to CDC’s website once approved. Peace, God bless r3,” the director wrote. (Redfield's initials are R.R.R.) Redfield’s emailed comments contradict the White House assertion Thursday that it had not yet approved the guidelines because the CDC’s own leadership had not yet given them the green light. https://www.yahoo.com/news/ap-exclusive-top-white-house-221739591.html

Uh oh. Cleveland Clinic alleging the Abbott tests are seeing inaccurate results 15-25% of the time.

Thanks. The weirdest part of this all...surreal perhaps the best word...is that something which started out 3-4 km from where I live is now impacting or close to impacting my 91 year old mother, 92 year old uncle (Covid positive for three days but still no symptoms) and another 94 year old uncle, all living in assisted living centers. Mom in Iowa, both uncles in same facility in Plano, TX, two states offering at best “controversial“ or unconventional reopening strategies. Would be totally helpless to leave if something were to happen, because I wouldn’t be able to return to China for many months, potentially. All I can do is send flowers for Mother’s Day. Following this story through all its twists and turns...and yet simultaneously so far removed from it, since we were under lockdown for months and months. My h.s. friend who’s now an orthodontist in Portland closed and reopened his practice before I went back to work even. At any rate, finally going back to school next week, having passed Covid test on Thurs. We had to do the blood test (arm) and throat or pharyngeal swab. That part sucked, makes you gag a bit, but nothing compared to the nose swabs that seemingly penetrate the brain and made majority of wife’s co-workers cry. Just learned yesterday all graduating seniors are cleared (of course, they still have to decide between US, UK, Canada and Australia/HK/Singapore for fall, yikes!) and teachers were okay as well. Really feel sorry for seniors (see Texsox comments earlier) though...they only are being allowed one week of In-school exams and then mid-June graduation is up in the air as well. Grade 9 returns on May 20th (Chinese national high school entrance group.) Grade 10/11 back on June 1st. Lots of elementary and KG (son has one more year before entering 1st) programs missed the entire semester...no classes at all from mid January through mid August. Most schools will go until at least July 3rd, so normal 8-9 weeks summer vacation now cut down to six (plus had to quickly adjust and plan online classes last week of Spring Festival.) For now, at least, still have jobs (with no salary cuts) but 9/30 colleagues remain stranded outside of China waiting to re-enter after late March flight ban on all foreigners is lifted. All of them are attempting to scramble for new teaching jobs should the ban continue into late summer.

Well, the corollary to that is there’s no reason to trust anything either “side” says, thus, there’s really no point to any discussion as pretty much nobody in this day and age will suddenly “see the light” and admit to changing their view/s. And you still use “apparently,” right? You are agreeing to move on, but still not thoroughly or wholly convinced that you’re not being tricked somehow. It was multiple signs in MI and IL, btw. Living in Communist China for a decade, you would have to be incredibly naive or foolish to believe the propaganda...but, most critically, you still have to train your mind to sort out reality from conspiracy theory.

And they’re all generously donating their salaries, just like President Trump! Have also heard rumors this season is being cancelled largely to suppress Fathom from accumulating more “likes” in game threads, thus allowing CWS and Bmags to pass him up.

You Can’t Grab an Economy by the P#$&y, sorry! “When you see a virus like this one that does not respect county boundaries, this started out predominantly in Madison and Milwaukee; then we just had this outbreak in Brown County very recently in the meatpacking plants,” Roth explained. “The cases in Brown County in a span of two weeks surged over tenfold, from 60 to almost 800—” “Due to the meatpacking, though, that’s where Brown County got the flare,” WI Chief Justice Patience Roggensack interrupted to clarify. “It wasn’t just the regular folks in Brown County.” Perhaps Roggensack did not mean that the largely Latino workers in Brown County’s meatpacking plants—who have told reporters that they have been forced to work in proximity with one another, often without masks or hand sanitizer, and without being notified that their colleagues are infected—are not “regular folks” like the other residents of the state. Perhaps she merely meant that their line of work puts them at greater risk, and so the outbreaks in the meatpacking plants, seen as essential to the nation’s food supply, are not rationally related to the governor’s stay-at-home order, from which they would be exempt. Yet either way, Roggensack was drawing a line between “regular folks” and the workers who keep them fed, mobile, safe, and connected. And America’s leaders have treated those workers as largely expendable, praising their valor while disregarding their safety. ..... Although the full picture remains unclear, researchers have found that majority-black counties “account for more than half of coronavirus cases and nearly 60 percent of deaths.” The disproportionate burden that black and Latino Americans are bearing is in part a direct result of their overrepresentation in professions where they risk exposure, and of a racial gap in wealth and income that has left them more vulnerable to being laid off. Black and Latino workers are overrepresented among the essential, the unemployed, and the dead. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/americas-racial-contract-showing/611389/ The Coronavirus Was an Emergency Until Trump Found Out Who Was Dying The pandemic has exposed the bitter terms of our racial contract, which deems certain lives of greater value than others.

It would actually be a good thing for another reason...at least for those who are religious in the US, Pence is able to project some modicum of warmth and human empathy completely lacking in Trump. We can talk about separation of church and state issues, but now is as good a time as any to push the boundaries a bit (public speaking, not limiting abortion access) if it brings comfort and a sense of unity and shared sacrifice/purpose to the American people. I’ve come to believe Pence at least has a consistent belief system and moral code, despite the fact that watching him have to kiss up to Trump is totally uncomfortable. On his own, he certainly fits that central casting idea of what a President would look like...and projects confidence and stability if not charisma. Watching thousands of deaths being ignored or not even acknowledged by our government on a daily basis is almost incomprehensible. And late May, early June promises even more horrific numbers.

Basically, in the rush to get respirators/masks to healthcare professionals (not the general public) from Chinese suppliers...it turns out only 23.3% actually worked the way it was supposed to. Well, that’s yet another argument for bringing back our PPE and pharmaceutical supply chains back to the US. One can’t help but wonder how many doctors and nurses around the world got sick or died as a result...? According to press reports, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has withdrawn its authorization for dozens of China-made respirators, “after government testing found many didn’t work properly.” This is reflected in the FDA’s own thinning list of China-made respirators covered by the relevant Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), the current iteration of which lists only 14 manufacturers, down from a peak of around 60. The EUA was originally issued on April 3, 2020, but was reissued yesterday, May 7, 2020: https://www.chinalawblog.com

Was just wondering if Trump actually contracted Covid if they would even publicly admit it...? He has been known to disappear for weeks at a time with only twitter blasts.

What are we doing this for?': Doctors are fed up with conspiracies ravaging ERs https://www.yahoo.com/news/doing-doctors-fed-conspiracies-ravaging-214800418.html Halazun has since stopped engaging with the trolls on Facebook, some of whom claimed that "the hospitals are empty" and that the virus was part of a plot to vaccinate or microchip U.S. citizens — just two of the many conspiracy theories that have swirled around the coronavirus. But he was still left with big questions: How can people believe this stuff? And do they understand the algorithms and opportunistic extremists that led them to believe it? "It scares me more than anything that there are people who are basically controlled — and in the same way they feel they're fighting against that control," he said. "They go to YouTube, where they're really being controlled, and they don't realize it. That's what's scary."

When this inevitably fails and the stock market zips back up to 30,000, he can quickly adjust on the fly to consult with the Financially Independent, Retire Early crowd... And maybe “Death Star” is an accidentally appropriate image, since we’re leading the known universe in Covid-19 deaths...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/07/opinions/the-future-normal-hinge-event-bergen-rothenberg/index.html How the Hinge Event of Covid Will Change the World https://www.yahoo.com/news/armed-activists-escort-black-lawmaker-to-michigans-capitol-after-coronavirus-protest-attended-by-white-supremacists-184000180.html Greg, we’re getting closer and closer to Civil War. With that flowing hair, be careful you don’t get confused with Quantrill’s Raiders. Go Kansas!

https://www.thebalance.com/job-creation-by-president-by-number-and-percent-3863218 Six of the seven largest Presidential job creators are Dems (yes, there are NUMEROUS factors involved...fwiw, Reagan was the lone trend exception, coming out of a brutal 1981-82.) I also saw a stat quoted that claimed in their lifetime, Democratic presidents had created 32 million jobs while Republican presidents had seen 34 million in net job losses. Not sure how far off that is, but just wow. Would need to do some more thorough research to verify.

77,000 WI (no HRC event), MI (Bill Clinton told them it was going against them but was ignored) and PA (brought in Obamas, but too late with Comey letter also turning momentum last two weeks)

Breaking news: Robert Stewart just named Georgia state director of “Black Voices for Trump”

No, this isn’t Red Dawn. Too much distance to cover the entire Pacific against our Navy, Air Force and defense systems. What good does having a huge conventional army (they’ve been cutting back dramatically the last decade in size, but much more nimble and fast strike, high tech missile systems) with tactical nukes? Their planes are mostly hybrid copies of American and Soviet fighter jets. They have 1 1/2 aircraft carriers. Nobody wants to capture or torture you. Whiteman AFB for stealth bombers the closest obvious target to you. Their only real ally is Russia, and that’s a practical, pragmatic relationship versus genuine trust and respect. Otoh, the US attacking China could go either way. What would we do as “winners,” anyway? Our nation building record since Korea and Vietnam is pretty miserable across the board.