Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[THE_WIZARD_]

EFZ

[Jeff Buchanan]

I couldn't find a link to this so cut and pasted ........

The mayor of Livermore, California explains Trump’s popularity and
success. This is perhaps the best explanation for Trump's popularity


Marshall Kamena is a registered Democrat and was elected mayor of
Livermore, CA. He ran on the democratic ticket as he knew a Bay Area
city would never vote for a Republican. He is as conservative as they
come. He wrote the following:

Trump’s 'lack of decorum, dignity, and statesmanship' By Marshall
Kamena, Mayor of Livermore, CA.

My Leftist friends (as well as many ardent #NeverTrumpers) constantly
ask me if I’m not bothered by Donald Trump’s lack of decorum. They
ask if I don’t think his tweets are “beneath the dignity of the
office.”

Here’s my answer: We Right-thinking people have tried dignity. There
could not have been a man of more quiet dignity than George W. Bush
as he suffered the outrageous lies and politically motivated hatreds
that undermined his presidency.

We tried statesmanship.

Could there be another human being on this earth who so desperately
prized “collegiality” as John McCain?

We tried propriety – like Mitt Romney?

And the results were always the same. This is because, while we were
playing by the rules of dignity, collegiality and propriety, the Left
has been, for the past 60 years, engaged in a knife fight where the
only rules are those of Saul Alinsky and the Chicago mob.

I don’t find anything “dignified,” “collegial” or “proper” about
Barack Obama’s lying about what went down on the streets of Ferguson
in order to ramp up racial hatreds because racial hatreds serve the
Democratic Party.

I don’t see anything “dignified” in lying about the deaths of four
Americans in Benghazi and imprisoning an innocent filmmaker to cover
your tracks.

I don’t see anything “statesman-like” in weaponizing the IRS to be
used to destroy your political opponents and any dissent.

Yes, Obama was “articulate” and “polished” but in no way was he in the
least bit “dignified,” “collegial” or “proper.”

The Left has been engaged in a war against America since the rise of
the Children of the ‘60s. To them, it has been an all-out war where
nothing is held sacred and nothing is seen as beyond the pale.. It has
been a war they’ve fought with violence, the threat of violence,
demagoguery and lies from day one – the violent take-over of the
universities – till today .

The problem is that, through these years, the Left has been the only
side fighting this war. While the Left has been taking a knife to
anyone who stands in their way, the Right has continued to act with
dignity, collegiality and propriety.

With Donald Trump, this all has come to an end. Donald Trump is
America ’s first wartime president in the Culture War

During wartime, things like “dignity” and “collegiality” simply
aren’t the most essential qualities one looks for in their warriors.
Ulysses Grant was a drunk whose behavior in peacetime might well have
seen him drummed out of the Army for conduct unbecoming.

Had Abraham Lincoln applied the peacetime rules of propriety and
booted Grant, the Democrats might well still be holding their slaves
today .

Lincoln rightly recognized that, “I cannot spare this man. He fights.”

General George Patton was vulgar-talking.. In peacetime, this might
have seen him stripped of rank. But, had Franklin Roosevelt applied
the normal rules of decorum then, Hitler and the Socialists would
barely be five decades into their thousand-year Reich.

Trump is fighting. And what’s particularly delicious is that, like
Patton standing over the battlefield as his tanks obliterated
Rommel’s, he’s shouting, “You magnificent bastards, I read your
book!”

That is just the icing on the cake, but it’s wonderful to see that
not only is Trump fighting, he’s defeating the Left using their own
tactics. That book is Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals – a book so
essential to the Liberals’ war against America that it is and was the
playbook for the entire Obama administration and the subject of
Hillary Clinton’s senior thesis.

It is a book of such pure evil, that, just as the rest of us would
dedicate our book to those we most love or those to whom we are most
indebted, Alinsky dedicated his book to Lucifer.

Trump’s tweets may seem rash and unconsidered but, in reality, he is
doing exactly what Alinsky suggested his followers do. First, instead
of going after “the fake media” — and they are so fake that they have
literally gotten every single significant story of the past 60 years
not just wrong, but diametrically opposed to the truth, from the Tet
Offensive to Benghazi, to what really happened on the streets of
Ferguson, Missouri — Trump isolated CNN. He made it personal.

Then, just as Alinsky suggests, he employs ridicule which Alinsky
described as “the most powerful weapon of all.”... Most importantly,
Trump’s tweets have put CNN in an untenable and unwinnable position
... They need to respond.

This leaves them with only two choices. They can either “go high” (as
Hillary would disingenuously declare of herself and the fake news
would disingenuously report as the truth) and begin to honestly and
accurately report the news or they can double-down on their usual
tactics and hope to defeat Trump with twice their usual hysteria and
demagoguery. The problem for CNN (et al.) with the former is that, if
they were to start honestly reporting the news, that would be the end
of the Democratic Party they serve. It is nothing but the incessant
use of fake news (read: propaganda) that keeps the Left alive.

Imagine, for example, if CNN had honestly and accurately reported
then-candidate Barack Obama’s close ties to foreign terrorists (Rashid
Khalidi), domestic terrorists (William Ayers & Bernardine Dohrn),
the mafia (Tony Rezko) or the true evils of his spiritual mentor,
Jeremiah Wright’s church.

Imagine if they had honestly and accurately conveyed the evils of the
Obama administration’s weaponizing of the IRS to be used against
their political opponents or his running of guns to the Mexican
cartels or the truth about the murder of Ambassador Christopher
Stevens and the Obama administration’s cover-up.

So, to my friends on the Left — and the #NeverTrumpers as well — do I
wish we lived in a time when our president could be “collegial” and
“dignified” and “proper”? Of course I do.

These aren’t those times. This is war. And it’s a war that the Left
has been fighting without opposition for the past 50 years.

So, say anything you want about this president - I get it - he can be
vulgar, he can be crude, he can be undignified at times. I don’t
care. I can’t spare this man. He fights for America!

[Ghengis Jon]

Biden will serve his full term and not run for re-election. If the GOP cleanses itself and puts forth a functional adult, they could recapture the WH in '24. Germany was deNazified after WWII. Iraq de Baathified after Saddam's exit, will the Republicans de-Trumpify after November?

[lineygoblue]

To clarify ... for what its worth.

My doubts about Joe serving a full term has more to do with his mental state, than his physical state. I believe the man could live to be 100, but will he have the mental capacity to run a nation for the next 4 years?

Will Kamala lead the effort to remove Joe from office (she can do that as VP under the 25th Amendment) due to Joe's diminished mental issues?

Also ... fwiw ... I've lost my mom to Alzheimers and dementia 3 years ago, and my sister in law (age 68) was just placed in a nursing home 2 weeks ago for the same thing. This is why I never make fun of Joe's condition. I feel sorry for the man. He shows a lot of symptoms that I am very familiar with.

[Jeff Buchanan]

There's a lot right about that commentary on Trump. The one fault I find in it is that it gives too much credit to Donald Trump specifically and the Republican party in general.

First, the person described in the commentary by Marshall Kamena is the leader of the conservative movement that R's would like to fantasize they have. References to Grant, Lincoln and Patton are absurd. Those guys were politically skilled and very good at what they did. More practical conservatives know who Trump is .... an inept politician and failed business man.

But I've liked Hanni's comments about how the R's have fucked away opportunities to harness what I believe are core values held by more than 1/2 of US citizens, natural born and otherwise. Instead they lie down, take a knee and otherwise bring knives - dull ones at that - to the gun fight liberals have waged not with six shooters but with AKs.

One thing I liked about the Kamena's commentary was that nice doesn't work against the liberal machine. George H. W. Bush was the quintessential nice guy and he failed to stem the liberal tide during his two terms. In the Legislature, there was John McCain. I named my reason for not worrying about the Biden/Harris ticket elevating Biden's character as a "genuinely nice guy" as being the right person for the presidency at the right time. Maybe I should rethink that. I think a take that he's going to get rolled by the Libs with more radical agendas has legs.

[Whitley]

Biden will serve a full four year term. He will only do one term though. RR likely had early onset start of his second term so there is precedent there.

The party of Trump will put forward someone in the Trump vein but a lot smarter and more savvy. That person will get the 2024 Republican nomination. The party establishment is not respected in the least little bit by the grassroots.


If what those close to Biden are saying that there is not going to be much that they are going to do (because of the debt) and what they are not willing to do (roll back Trump tax cuts, Green New Deal, M4A, college affordability). There is going to be a lot of unrest with the rank and file, and Harris will not be a slam dunk to get nominated. However, Harris is going to have the media on her side and anyone that critiques here is going to be labeled a racist and a mysoginst (spelling?). However, Harris ran an awful campaign and she would have to level up there a few dozen times to secure the nomination.

[Whitley]

One thing I liked about the Kamena's commentary was that nice doesn't work against the liberal machine. George H. W. Bush was the quintessential nice guy and he failed to stem the liberal tide during his two terms. In the Legislature, there was John McCain. I named my reason for not worrying about the Biden/Harris ticket elevating Biden's character as a "genuinely nice guy" as being the right person for the presidency at the right time. Maybe I should rethink that. I think a take that he's going to get rolled by the Libs with more radical agendas has legs.

The Democrats might pull their punches against Republicans and get rolled by them a ton, but they pull no punches against the progressive wing. I will be shocked if there is an actual progressive in power in a Biden administration.

Biden has already said that he is not for the following: Medicare for All, Green New Deal, has told Wall Street that nothing is going to change for them. The only way that progressives will get anything in Congress is if 1) Republicans do what they did during Obama presidency (no to everything ever said by a Democrat) and 2) if they need the progressive votes to pass things. There might be around 20-25 legit progressives in the next House. That might be enough to get some concessions.

[Dr. Strangelove]

States with the most covid deaths per thousands people

1. New Jersey (1.821)
2. New York (1.711)
3. Massachusetts (1.391)
4. Connecticut (1.271)
5. Louisiana (1.212)
6. Rhode Island (1.067)
7. Mississippi (1.040)
8. Arizona (0.791)
9. Michigan (0.730)
10. Illinois (0.728)

The top of this list hasn't change much over the past few months. Those were the states hit the hardest in Round 1 and treatment/knowledge has gotten a lot better since. Arizona has managed to bring its death rate down significantly. Only Mississippi and Illinois continue to creep upwards among this group (Illinois will jump Michigan this week most likely)

11. Florida (0.707)
12. Georgia (0.696)
13. South Carolina (0.690)
14. Delaware (0.671)
15. Maryland (0.661)
16. Pennsylvania (0.650)
17. Texas (0.584)
18. Indiana (0.562)
19. Alabama (0.543)
20. Nevada (0.539)

Two states that have been rising the fastest through this list aren't in the top 20 yet but probably soon will be: North Dakota & Arkansas

[Mike]

The Democrats might pull their punches against Republicans and get rolled by them a ton, but they pull no punches against the progressive wing. I will be shocked if there is an actual progressive in power in a Biden administration.

Biden has already said that he is not for the following: Medicare for All, Green New Deal, has told Wall Street that nothing is going to change for them. The only way that progressives will get anything in Congress is if 1) Republicans do what they did during Obama presidency (no to everything ever said by a Democrat) and 2) if they need the progressive votes to pass things. There might be around 20-25 legit progressives in the next House. That might be enough to get some concessions.

I hope to hell you’re right. In fact, I’m counting on it.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Whitley, Biden saying he's not for Medicare for all or the Green New Deal isn't particularly meaningful. A little over a decade ago, Tom Daschal penned a book that laid out an incremental plan for implementing a national health care plan. Obama followed it. Biden will too. His "public Option" concept will essentially create the next step for Medicare for All.

I'm not opposed to some from of federal safety net coverage but incrementalism is the only way to get there and it could take another decade. The reason for that is an entrenched commercial healthcare system, entwined with the pharmaceutical industry. Very hard to unwind it. That's because there's a shit ton of money to be made in this system by an increasingly smaller number of people with a lot of political clout. There are no significant benefits to Americans in the current system that involve lower costs of care. None. The exorbitant cost of it is scandalous and profits are lining the pockets of a few.

The health care policy a Biden administration will probably pursue is one form of socialized medicine that I can get behind.

[Jeff Buchanan]

DSL, no beef with the number of deaths by state that you posted - pretty awful and, IMO, a lot of those could have been prevented by means that I've made clear here and don't need repeating.

I do think, however, that a more instructive number is the declining daily or, if you like to smooth the trend lines out, weekly CFR. While deaths aren't a perfect indicator of disease burden, it's a decent proxy acknowledging the view that there is a wide range of disease burden from no symptoms to death.

My Sunday news feed from the NYT was rife with headlines bemoaning "exploding new case numbers." In the face of declining CFRs headlines like this are manipulative and misleading. News of how out breaks are being managed regionally throughout the world are rare. They're out there but are buried in the news feeds I follow and I follow a lot of them. Unless one digs, the other COVID related health metrics, all downward trending, are rarely reported.

The means by which a degree of control is being achieved vary. Some mitigation measures are too severe for my taste but, at a regional level, I can't argue with the need for them although I might dispute degree. FL is a good example. State wide mandates are a bad idea as they may not be appropriate for counties that have virtually no spread; OTH, counties that do may need tougher measures. We're seeing that and I'm fine with it although I will dispute degree in some cases and those involve ones where the the economic or social costs exceed the PH benefit. That sort of analysis is becoming much more common with citizens demanding it from officials making mitigation measure decisions.

The facts indicate that globally, COVID fatigue is real and is probably behind rising case numbers. We'll be fine but it's hard to feel that way with the stream of awful COVID news raining down on us in torrents.

[lineygoblue]

We'll be fine but it's hard to feel that way with the stream of awful COVID news raining down on us in torrents.

That will change after the election.

[iam416]

There's absolutely zero question about that, Liney.

[iam416]

Apparently the NYT actually ran what is about as close to a mea culpa as they ever run. After predicting dire circles of hell when Disney reopened, the NYT was even forced to acknowledge that after 3 months not one single Disney union employee (over 8000) got Covid. Zero.

This article is a rarity. By and large it falls to be people like Buchanan to hold the Media and Ds to account for their fear-mongering predictions. You have to beat these people over the head their own bullshit.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Apparently the NYT actually ran what is about as close to a mea culpa as they ever run. After predicting dire circles of hell when Disney reopened, the NYT was even forced to acknowledge that after 3 months not one single Disney union employee (over 8000) got Covid. Zero.

This article is a rarity. By and large it falls to be people like Buchanan to hold the Media and Ds to account for their fear-mongering predictions. You have to beat these people over the head their own bullshit.

.

It's like Redfield's false claims about the "dire circles of hell" if cruise operations restart. Redfield's wish to extend a no-sail-order (NSO) from US ports through February of 2021 is shutting down a business that creates billions of dollars in wages globally for not only the cruise industry but the hard hit travel and leisure sector that is intertwined with it. Here are some facts:

• In March, cruise lines were pilloried for "spreading COVID." The actual contribution to new COVID cases before they completely and voluntarily shut down was .0025%. There were 9 deaths that occurred that were attributable to cruise ships and COVID .......NINE in over 2m to date.
• No one with a background in hygiene and infection control, will dispute that cruise ship travel is safe. As far as disease spread, safer than airplane travel, safer than attending a concert or large sporting event, among many other examples. That cruise ships are hot-beds of disease spread is a narrative that does not stand up to the facts.
• Redfield bases his wish to keep the cruise industry shuttered on evidence that congregate settings "could" produce the circumstances for rapid COVID spread. It "could" but the layered mitigation measures - and I have seen every one of them in a 77 page Safe-To-Sail (STS) plan submitted to the CDC three weeks ago - reduces the risk of that happening considerably. Enough that any PH benefit derived from the continued shutting down of a this huge industry is dwarfed by the economic costs of continuing them.

Redfield and the CDC appear to have ignored the STS plan in tier wish to extend the NSO into 2021. This should be no surprise for an agency that has been inept in it's pandemic response and messaging latching up to the false narrative embraced by the media in all its forms, seeking refuge in that utter bull-shit. It should also surprise no one that cruising is viewed as an activity enjoyed by the privileged while the proletariat gets screwed. Right out of Karl Marx's and Vladimir Lenin's play-book