Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[iam416]

No, it's not all PDJT's fault. But how about this? He's the fucking President of the United States. He bears more responsibility than any single individual in the entire country. Not just on corona but when it comes to personal conduct, being accurate, whatever personal qualities one might think of as positive. What the President says is far more consequential than what some Newsweek reporter or NYT columnist pens in an op-ed.

And how about this. I'm not comparing PDJT to the assclown Acosta or any other single member of the singularly most self-aggrandizing collection of fucks in the country. However, I am comparing him to the media a whole; the preposterously self-importnat "resistance"; the preposterously self-important "democracy dies in darkness"; the preposterously self-important MEDIA. By their own terms the Media is massively important.

I also wouldn't say PDJT is the same as Pelosi, however I would say PDJT is comparable in importance to Congress as a whole. And I think the same goes for the media.

I fully appreciate, however, that your response is completely designed to ignore the media's response and their bullshit and to simply excuse it as, well, it doesn't really matter. I rather strenuously disagree with you on that. I think the media response matters a great deal. I think media narratives matter a great deal. But, hey, the next time you post some bullshit about some terrible Fox news narrative, I'll just respond -- meh -- they're unimportant.

[Hannibal]

Exactly what is Trump's fault?

Compare the rest of the civilized world with the United States, either with testing, deaths, infection rates, or deaths as a percentage of confirmed cases. On a per capita basis, the US does not stand out in any way. We are about in the middle. Numerous other countries are far worse off than us.

[AlabamAlum]

Well it's like Jonah Goldberg's example of the angry, drunk uncle (Trump) at Thanksgiving from the other day. Maybe you've come to accept that that's who he is, he'll never change, so you tend to get angrier at your shitbird cousin who deliberately provokes him (the media). But that doesn't change the fact that the angry drunk uncle is still a dick. You've just stopped caring and in your apathy absolved him of any misbehavior, all while insisting everyone around him change their own standards to accommodate him.

[iam416]

Those of us who remember the media narrative during Hurricane Katrina know that the media's behavior has nothing whatsoever to do with PDJT's behavior. I only wish that PDJT had the self awareness and self control to call them out in a way that connects better with the average Joe. But I don't wish for a second that we had George W. the Punching Bag back in that seat. That MF'er had the self defense instincts of Ralph Macchio in the first half of the Karate Kid movies.

Well, unfortunately, PDJT has no self-awareness. I will always give him tons of credit for fight off the grotesque Kavanaugh smear. Lesser men -- er, giant pussies -- would have caved to that bullshit and lies.

Still, the media is somehow considerably less popular than even PDJT. So, he has that going for him. He does not have self-awarness or self-control going for him.

[iam416]

To further build on that analogy, we're worrying about two petulant children bickering and ignoring the fucking criminal arsonist that set the thing on fire.

[iam416]

Exactly what is Trump's fault?

Compare the rest of the civilized world with the United States, either with testing, deaths, infection rates, or deaths as a percentage of confirmed cases. On a per capita basis, the US does not stand out in any way. We are about in the middle. Numerous other countries are far worse off than us.

The Federal government is only helping states that PDJT likes. Can you believe it? I mean, Chuck Todd interviews Biden and asks if PDJT has "blood on his hands" (Biden, to his credit, pushed back on that MEDIA NARRATIVE).

[Dr. Strangelove]

And how about this. I'm not comparing PDJT to the assclown Acosta or any other single member of the singularly most self-aggrandizing collection of fucks in the country. However, I am comparing him to the media a whole; the preposterously self-importnat "resistance"; the preposterously self-important "democracy dies in darkness"; the preposterously self-important MEDIA. By their own terms the Media is massively important.

I also wouldn't say PDJT is the same as Pelosi, however I would say PDJT is comparable in importance to Congress as a whole. And I think the same goes for the media.

I fully appreciate, however, that your response is completely designed to ignore the media's response and their bullshit and to simply excuse it as, well, it doesn't really matter. I rather strenuously disagree with you on that. I think the media response matters a great deal. I think media narratives matter a great deal. But, hey, the next time you post some bullshit about some terrible Fox news narrative, I'll just respond -- meh -- they're unimportant.

Heh, you are already dismissive any time I post something about a Fox host so it's pretty amusing to see every time you get worked up into a lather about some rando at Vox or Slate or some other horrid dreck publication. At least the people I choose to get pissed off at have an actual platform.

As far as the "kiss the ring" stuff specifically, to my recollection the media reprinted Whitmer's words. Didn't she say basically accuse Trump of instructing vendors to not give Michigan supplies on live radio? Yeah, she backtracked later. But I don't know how you get angrier at the media for broadcasting what she said than at Whitmer herself for saying it.

"the singularly most self-aggrandizing collection of fucks in the country"

Nah, that's this forum.

[iam416]

The "Big 5" in Europe -- UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy -- have about the same population as the US. That would be a comparison point.

South Korea + Japan would be another comparison point.

I think it's clear you're going to see Western countries doing worse than SK + Japan, and I think most Western countries will be comparable (even though PDJT has blood on his hands!)

[iam416]

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/03/donald-trump-andrew-cuomo-ventilators -- Kiss the Ring

https://www.salon.com/2020/03/27/tru...ative_partner/ -- Kiss the Ring

https://www.deadlinedetroit.com/arti...s_trump_s_ring -- Kiss the Ring

3 minutes of interneting.

Yeah, she backtracked later. But I don't know how you get angrier at the media for broadcasting what she said than at Whitmer herself for saying it.

Whitmer was a little oblique. The stories were not. They were part of the narrative ALREADY DEVELOPED. Her walk back was not news. And she had to walk it back because the MEDIA desperately wanted her to say it explicitly -- but she couldn't because it just wasn't/isn't true.

Heh, you are already dismissive any time I post something about a Fox host so it's pretty amusing to see every time you get worked up into a lather about some rando at Vox or Slate or some other horrid dreck publication. At least the people I choose to get pissed off at have an actual platform.

Fine. Whatever. That's the last line of my post. The only substantive point in my post you addressed was wrong. I take that as a concession that PDJT and the MEDIA are appropriate comparable. Which nixes you're dumbass PDJT > Acosta dodge. I also take it as a concession that the media response DOES matter a great deal.

You want no part of this converstation because you can't deal with it substantively. Whatever your dodge is next post -- kudos in advance.

[Dr. Strangelove]

The "Big 5" in Europe -- UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy -- have about the same population as the US. That would be a comparison point.

South Korea + Japan would be another comparison point.

I think it's clear you're going to see Western countries doing worse than SK + Japan, and I think most Western countries will be comparable (even though PDJT has blood on his hands!)

The UK, Italy, and Germany have had pretty varying policies, responses, and warning time. The Italians, whatever mistakes they may have made, had almost no advance warning. Certainly less than the British got. And the Brits may end up in a worse place than them in the end. And the Germans are good at following orders. Heh

Incidentally, Austria just declared its intentions to relax restrictions beginning in only 10 days and lifting many if not most by May 1. So we're going to have an possible example soon of what happens to new cases when we relax the rules.

[iam416]

The UK, Italy, and Germany have had pretty varying policies, responses, and warning time. The Italians, whatever mistakes they may have made, had almost no advance warning. Certainly less than the British got. And the Brits may end up in a worse place than them in the end. And the Germans are good at following orders. Heh

Incidentally, Austria just declared its intentions to relax restrictions beginning in only 10 days and lifting many if not most by May 1. So we're going to have an possible example soon of what happens to new cases when we relax the rules.

Yeah, but that's also comparable to the United States. Some regions were crushed (Washington). Some regions were early on the curve and densely populated (NYC). So, you look at the whole of the US instead of just NYC. I'm trying to look at the whole of Europe. Germany's infection rate is especially high amoung younger people, so you're getting better outcomes. Italy was hit really hard in the elderly population (and that's who is dying in Italy - and everywhere).

So, yeah, there are differences -- but I think the differences are comparable to the US -- even down to how different regions are handling it differently (Sweden=ALABAMA!, Germany=Ohio!)

[froot loops]

We still need at the minimum random sampling tests to have a clue on what percentage the general population has been infected and has immunity. We are still flying blind on this, we'll need more info on this if they are going to start opening things up.

[iam416]

We still need at the minimum random sampling tests to have a clue on what percentage the general population has been infected and has immunity. We are still flying blind on this, we'll need more info on this if they are going to start opening things up.

Ohio is starting that -- hopefully this week. We'll learn more at 2. But, absolutely. The absence of data is so problematic. You can really only rely on EU data and North American data at this point. And we're still mostly blind. We can't make sound policy decisions with what we know, so we default to better than safe than sorry.

We absolutely need to know way more. Everyone does. The data is coming in. We're starting to learn more and more about it. We're getting a very solid sense of where the real risk lies. Now we need to quantify it with at least some degree of accuracy.

[AlabamAlum]

Sweden is more Arkansas.

[froot loops]

I have heard two different stories on random sampling and it makes it clear as mud. One was out in Colorado , they sampled the general population that hadn't had symptoms and been under quarantine and a whopping zero percent had been infected and were immune. Nate Silver had mentioned this in passing, but I don't see anything online. Another story was out in Italy they did something similar and 40 percent of the subjects had already had been infected and had the antibodies.