Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Whitley]

from 538 going state by state

Bernie sanders 1737
Biden 913
Bloomberg 768
Pete 236
Warren 226
Kloubacher 35
Steyer 6

[Whitley]

Depends on what is allowed to be read.

Castro was all in favor of the people reading the works of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin all they wanted.

But, let them openly read a Bible ... and off to prison you go ...

I guess 'bad' is in the eye of the beholder.

so better to be illiterate?

[Whitley]

Maybe its because Israel is the most reliable US ally in the area, and has a proven track record for peaceful coexistence with neighbors that sign treaties with them.

The others in the area? Not so much.

Not disputing that but should we as nation rubber stamp everything that their government does?

[lineygoblue]

Not disputing that but should we as nation rubber stamp everything that their government does?

I don't think we do. We certainly didn't do so during the Clinton/Bush/Obama years. In fact, Obama/Kerry had some of the harshest words ever spoken by an American administration against Israel, right before they left office. They were so harsh in fact, that even Hillary never endorsed their comments. But, its hard to criticize a country who remains as your most faithful ally in that part of the world, when they've proven to be reliable partners for peace with neighbors who choose to be peaceful. I don't think its wise to alienate them.

so better to be illiterate?

End justifies the means? So if King Trump signed a royal order tomorrow saying that schoolchildren throughout the land will be taught to read from the Bible only, and nothing else, you'd be fine with that because at least the kids are learning to read, and won't be illiterate? After all, the kids would be so cute speaking in Elizabethan English ...

[Hannibal]

Bolshevik Bernie didn't just praise Castro's literacy program, the evidence of which, I should point out, only exists in the words of Fidel Castro and other propagandists. He praised Castro for improving the lives of Cuba's poor people and he praised their health care system. He honeymooned in the USSR and praised them for their low housing costs. He visited Nicaragua in the 1980s and praised them for their bread lines.

As anyone could have predicted, there is a very hard effort afoot right now to erase the history books and tell a dishonestly whitewashed version of Bernie Sanders's anti-American, Commie-loving past. If Bernie loses, look for all of the subsequent OpEd pieces kvetching about how poor Bernie got dishonestly "smeared" by all of those evil Right Wing propagandists.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I've been to Cuba and was lucky enough to go there in January of 2019 for two days before Trump stopped cruise ships from porting there. I saw only Havana and environs but ti was enough. Hired a pretty outspoken guide who was definitely anti-Castro but had learned how to survive in the black-market there for just about everything.

Havana is a shit hole masked by facades on buildings intended for tourists to see - the facades erected by the government. On the sides of the buildings perpendicular to the fronts, decay is omnipresent. Walls collapse in heaps of old bricks, Windows have no glass or shutters. If there are any nice hotels, the government owns them and the Army runs them. Americans are actually not supposed to frequent these but when we were there US authorities didn't seem to care. There are three or four privately owned hotels but they are heavily taxed. Same with restaurants and there are a lot of very good ones. To get in the best ones, bring a wad of cash to get you in the front door and seated at a table. The Army owns the others and they are terrible.

There are two things that left lasting impressions: The first was the ghastly, Soviet style, parade podium out of the dilapidated city center. It was huge, stone cold, gray. The second was an area that had the feel of Miami Beach complete with wide, palm line boulevards, modern schools and beautiful homes. This is where Army officers and high up government officials reside with their families. Incredible. As is typical of every Communist or Leninist/Socialist country I've visited, the apparatchik and military are well off while the common man lives a life of poverty and survival.

Clean medical clinics are everywhere. If you are Cuban and need to see a health care provider the clinics are there. To get that free care that Bernie applauds, you pay a bribe and that is becasue the medical staff in these clinics are paid virtually nothing ..... but it's a job in a country that has no jobs of consequence outside of the government. There is thriving black market in Cuba just like there is in Vietnam - the difference is that the Vietnamese Communists are a lot like the Chinese - they know how to manage capitalism for the benefit of the party. The Cuban government is not nearly as wise and it's membership, no surprise, takes care of itself first and if anything is left over from the massive aid they receive that props up that place, it goes to the food trucks that drive around Havana handing out small paper bags of dried black beans and rice.

Bernie Sanders is a fucking idiot for praising the Castor regime that has brought nothing but hardship to the good Cuban people under it's thumb..

[Dr. Strangelove]

Holy cow...the crowd at this SC debate is suspiciously pro-Bloomberg...and CBS allowed Bloomberg to run his ads DURING the debate...

Saw a report that a ticket to this debate cost $1750. Any one of the candidates who can easily afford to buy a bunch?

[Dr. Strangelove]

ERqq_pSW4AApxIF?format=jpg&name=small.jpg

Bernie, Warren, Bloomberg, and Styer: Angrily shouting over each other

Pete, Amy: Look fucking miserable

Biden: Hey man, wild. This is some wild shit

[Dr. Strangelove]

South Korea's known corona cases rise to over 1,000 and the US military now has its first known case, also stationed in South Korea

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/south-korean-virus-cases-jump-nations-total-now-69216577

[Ghengis Jon]

Retired Adm William McRaven, (Feb 21, 2020), speaking about Very Stable Genius and his overriding need for slaves, er, "loyalty".:

[Ghengis Jon]

The WHO has reported a severity breakdown for known COVID-19 cases. 3% critical, 15% severe, 82% mild. That's a fairly low lethality, which is encouraging.

[AlabamAlum]

Time to rehash the corona and Lyme joke? Let me know. I am waiting with bated breath.

[iam416]

The WHO has reported a severity breakdown for known COVID-19 cases. 3% critical, 15% severe, 82% mild. That's a fairly low lethality, which is encouraging.

What we really need is to see what the data looks like in Western countries. I realize China has "Medicare for All", but I'm not entirely convinced that means it's the best healthcare system.

As is the case with most viruses that spread -- they can't kill too many people. Or they won't spread. They'll infect you, you'll die and there is no more host.

That said, a 2-3% fatality rate is still scary. I can handle 0.1% or 0.01% (I think that's the flu), but 2 or 3% means kids at school will die. So, that's still horrifying.

So, it'd be really nice to get a fuller picture of what the fuck we're dealing with.

[iam416]

But, yeah -- I have read that most people just have mild symptoms -- which is probably why it's going to eventually be a "pandemic" -- right -- you can't really control for a disease that is flu-like in most cases. People just don't know that they have it.

Ebola, god-bless, did us all the favor of pouring blood out of its victims orifices. Pretty easy to tell.

[iam416]

Cash 'n Carry Clay Davis comes to Cincinnati.... https://www.nationalreview.com/news/...ribery-scheme/

I rather doubt she has ol' Clay's silver tongue to get her out of this mess.