Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[iam416]

I want at least partial in-school. We'll have the same options -- go entirely on-line or go with whatever in-school program they offer. Stuffing my kids in their respective corners to play on their devices all day isn't good. We already let my daughter interact socially with modest restrictions and my son is playing baseball. Socially, it's my feeling that kids need to be around kids -- even in middle school where they're mostly dicks.

And Hanni is right re quality of education -- I THINK. I'm not going to judge them on spring because that was throwing band-aid on an amputated leg. We'll see if they're better at it in the fall.

[Hannibal]

Remote quality of education will be very poor for a majority of the kids. Adequate for a small minority. It almost defeats the purpose of public education TBH.

[Hannibal]

Heh.

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[Jeff Buchanan]

This hasn't been receiving a lot of interest here but there have been a series of explosions in Iran mostly involving their nuclear facilities or warehouses and distribution points for supplies to support Iran's nuclear program. No one doubts Israel is behind these and suspicion exists that he US is involved. All of this is covert, deniable stuff.

The question arises: which is better an arms deal or unconventional warfare that weakens the state of Iran and, with each blow, sets their nuclear program back a year or so when an effective blow is delivered. With the US withdrawal from the arms treaty along with increasing pressure on Iran in the form of sanctions, hopes of reviving any kind of nuclear treaty in its current form is about zero. Reports vary on how well the deal was working. There are substantiated reports that Iran cheated; similar reports exist that they were mostly in compliance.

One observer opines that the what is probably a joint US/Israeli collaborative effort to conduct unconventional warfare against Iran's nuke capabilities is driving moderates out of office to be replaced by hard-liners. He argues that dims prospects for stability in the ME. IMO, history is rife with "peace is at hand" BS of negotiations and appeasement. In this case letting Iran continue to try to be the dominant power in the ME, eliminate Israel and support proxy forces that are disruptive to stability in the ME anyway.

Keep up the pressure. I wonder what the Biden position on this is going to be? Haven't seen anything solid but he seems to be in BO's camp of treaty making. Would not surprise me if he opened up avenues for renewed negotiations that would lead to some kind of reinstatement of the previous nuclear accord.

[foxhopper]

First I have heard about any of it.

[Whitley]

President Deals commutes Roger Stone's sentence to 0 days in prison.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I don't know about the rest of you but there is so much conflicting information regarding the pandemic in the US, how it is spreading, what the disease burden is, what venues represent the greatest risks, that all of this has pretty much made me give up on staking out defensible positions on it. For me, supposedly having the medical background to understand the science and medical facts, I'm disappointed that I am essentially baffled. IOW, I have no concrete ideas about where the pandemic is headed. Not having control of that is unnerving.

My gut, informed as it may or may not be, is telling me the pandemic here in the US is entirely manageable, it's disease burden woefully overestimated. Draconian steps being taken to contain it that involve strangling every sector of the economy in some way from killing it off entirely to rendering it severely weakened are not warranted. That the entire spectrum of US education is essentially closed or, severely limited is just as damaging as the economic hara-kiri we are embarking upon.

I admit a bias. I've had it since the start - REOPEN - and have constantly searched for every shred of evidence to support that position and posted it here. But, that stance is not entirely defensible. It's the unknowable about SARS-CoV-2 that makes me fearful of going for it ...... what I think should be done. A much larger version of the Swedish experiment I called it a week ago and I saw that used in article today that I read. In it the author opined that it was happening by default meanwhile alleging that the US response has been so poorly coordinated nationally and even at the state level that it has resulted in increasing new case #s and GRs that are worse than those experienced in the February - March time frame.

I did read an article today that appeared in the WSJ within which the subplot hinted that the US must learn to live with the virus. It's disease burden is much less substantial than originally thought it would be at this stage. The main point of it was that large scale outdoor activities (e.g., protests) and venues (sports arenas, ??? CFB) are not susceptible to high rates of transmission of the virus while indoor venues of any size (e.g., indoor sports arenas and restaurants) are.

Based on that hypothesis, with some facts to back it up, the correct approach is to restrict those kinds of settings (don't close them entirely but apply operating hour restrictions along with strictly enforced masking and distancing protocols) and reopen the rest, especially those sectors of the economy most hard hit - that would be the travel industry and the interconnected service industries that employ low wage earning people. The Fed and Congress has done a good job of propping up the US economy and the unemployed but those programs are a stop-gap effort and are coming to and end. With that end will come the cratering of the US economy and huge numbers of unemployed. I think Congress will step up but that is just kicking the can down the road.

It is a given that people won't travel unless they have jobs, money and, most importantly, feel safe. Quite the opposite is true; too many don't have jobs, money to travel and don't feel safe at all. International travel has risks to the countries who open their ports and airports to US travelers even though such countries are killing local tourism by keeping them shut down and denying entry to US travelers. That has to change and both the Airline Transport Association and the Cruise Line International Association have developed protocols that demonstrate they can operate safely in the COVID environment. They are actively pressuring both US and foreign governments to open airports, ports and tourist trade before all those industries collapse..... we are dangerously close to that happening.

The fear of mobility, all kinds of it, I attribute to the hysteria that has manifested itself because of what I consider an irresponsible press and a gaping lack of leadership to set a courageous course in the face of a crisis. I've said this already. Where are the FDR's proclaiming, "the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself." I'm not confident at all that kind of leadership will emerge in the short term. I'm also no longer confident we are going to get through this before various sectors of the economy begin to start dropping like flies. The solution? I think I know what it is, I've said what it is here, I just don't think we have the leadership to set a courageous course through the minefield of COVID and come out on the other side of it in one piece.

[lineygoblue]

President Deals commutes Roger Stone's sentence to 0 days in prison.

Other presidents have done the same for their pals.

[Whitley]

Other presidents have done the same for their pals.

True enough, but I am not sure any other president would have commuted Stone tonight. Hell, reports are even AG Barr told President Deals that this was an awful idea and would enrage the DOJ.

[foxhopper]

I still believe he is trying his best not to get reelected.

[Tom W]

I still believe he is trying his best not to get reelected.

Perhaps- and who could blame him? He's pretty much had to battle with an organized coup effort from the moment that HRC was too wasted to leave her hotel suite to concede the election. Of course, he doesn't do himself any favors by antagonizing his adversaries and it goes without saying that he's not quite elegant in doing so.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Two COVID observations for today:

(1) Testing? Essential ...... and it's not happening to the extent necessary. If there is one piece of data that I trust among reams of it that I don't, it's testing data. It hasn't been politicized .... yet ......and the means by which testing data is collected isn't likely to be compromised by people with agendas. Some states are doing well with it and their case #s and other metrics that define community spread show it, e.g., MI.

FL is not among that group and, in fact, is only second to AZ in having only a fraction of what experts say is required to control community spread. On a positive note, the tests are being run, they just aren't getting processed in a timely manner because of back-logs due to lack of reagents. A sort of triage is on-going to get testing done for the highest priority settings based on medical need.

Desantis acknowledged the issue on Saturday and has taken steps to address it by having his office of emergency management procure reagents the labs need to process tests. He's also organized a state level effort to increase contract tracers in hard hit S. FL. Also, on another positive note: bed space in S. FL's hospital systems is sufficient with surge capacity, not yet implemented, on standby, if needed. Deaths are up slightly but not as high as experts have been predicting. Still watching this. Desantis has put a lot effort in protecting LTC facility residents and staff. % positives among both staff and residents is below 2.5% and death rates are low. As previously mentioned, case #s are increasing in the under 35 population but not among older groups. That sort of puts a cap on the hand-wringing of Desantis' political opponents, augmented by the press, associated with FL being one of the world's hot-spots. Not as bad as it looks.

(2) Last week, Broward Co. launched a web site where you can see businesses on a map that have been reported by callers to the 311 number for failing to follow COVID mitigation measures. You can also see the status of the complaint - warnings issued, citations issued, resolved, pending. WOW! I was surprised to see the number of blatant violations by proprietors of businesses, some of whom received citations with big fines for failing to comply after warnings issued. I can see why case numbers are increasing in an environment where lots of young folks are partying and don't give a shit. Does not change how I'm behaving but it's disappointing. There are places I simply won't go and all of them are in the restaurant scene in the Los Olas and Fort Lauderdale beach area. Outside that, there are plenty of places I will go and tend to go there during business hours where things are slow.

[Ghengis Jon]

Wow (not photo shopped!). At Walter Reed. Perhaps he was touring the wing where the SEALS/Green Berets/Special Forces recover and realized he'd probably immediately get his lungs torn out if he treated them as he treats the general public.

Notice that the mask Dear Leader wears has the Presidential seal on it. Glad to see the First Asshole is not wasting taxpayer money on frivolous vanity items. Certainly he paid for the mask out of his own pocket as God forbid he be seen wearing what the smelly peasantry wears.




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[AlabamAlum]

I don’t like Trump either, but I have been on Twitter and I think it’s pretty funny that he gets shit for not wearing a mask and then for wearing one.

[Ghengis Jon]

Let me be clear, I'm glad he is. Too bad his lack of leadership, common decency, and basic intelligence made this photo 4 months and several thousand lives too late. As he has done through his entire administration, he has failed to use the power of the office to unite Americans and to provide a positive example for citizens to follow. Particularly from a health crisis POV.

Trump could help correct some of the problems he has caused (divisiveness, partisan extremism, disregard of science) by having the words "I was wrong" embossed on his mask. Might save a few lives, tone down the rhetoric on both sides, be seen as a positive example...... But since there is no tangible, immediate, and visible gain for the First Asshat, fuggetaboutit.