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**AlabamAlum** · December 8, 2020, 09:17 PM

Daler Mehndi is Scott Stapp to Tatlises’ Bob Dylan.

**iam416** · December 8, 2020, 09:39 PM

Correct.

**THE_WIZARD_** · December 8, 2020, 11:17 PM

This thread needs an enema...

**iam416** · December 9, 2020, 08:05 AM

More Ankara Sajak talk; less Wizard.

**Dr. Strangelove** · December 9, 2020, 08:08 AM

I'll split the difference and give you an update on Trump's legal fight in Nevada instead:

He lost

**Jeff Buchanan** · December 9, 2020, 08:32 AM

I read this Bloomberg article a couple of days ago and it appeared yesterday evening in accessible free links. One of them is below. Observers here opined that once Biden was elected president, the media would change it's dire consequences narrative. It hasn't shifted the way I expected but it has shifted. There's still plenty of bad COVID news - that which questions the efficacy of COVID vaccines, side effects, not enough, won't do any good blah, blah, blah. New case and death counts predominate as leading measures of suffering even though out of context they are irrelevant.

This Bloomberg piece correctly questions "useless COVID rules." It focuses in on the uselessness of mask mandates outdoors, those specifically mandated by the governor of Massachusetts. He was roundly criticized for it and when asked, he said, "it sends a message (about the importance of wearing masks)."

The author points out that stupid rules, especially politicized ones like this one is, breakdown the public's trust in public health measures. Well, no shit ...... and we are just starting to talk about this? I guess it's a start for the post pandemic/C-19 vaccine inoculated world that is still going to need mitigation measures to contain spread. We can all list dozens of stupid COVID rules that make no sense at all or are imposed based on the flimsiest of evidence that they are effective and worth the cost. Closing schools to in-person learning is one of the most devastatingly stupid rules to be imposed ...... not that congregate settings are environments that can spread the virus but that there are ways to congregate and, at the same time, mitigate spread. No need to list those, you know what they are.

So, the way I"m looking at the sort of thinking reflected in the Bloomberg piece is that public health officials may be heading toward a more informed and appropriate approach to resuming normalcy. Unfortunately, that's not guaranteed and that is not because some of those public heath officials advising governments won't be giving good advice, it's because of two things: (1) There are still a lot of COVIDKarens in the public health sector, e.g., the WHO. (2) Governments will fuck it up much like they have fucked it up since SARS-CoV-2 first appeared on the scene about one year ago - see CA's governor Newsom and any other Governors reimposing "lock-downs."

The good news is that there are PH officials saying the right stuff and there are government officials acting on that and shutting out the nonsense from COVIDKaren's. See Governor Desantis and Kemp in FL and GA. I watch these two closely, read the local news in both states and experience life in both. Desantis' has steadfastly stood up against assaults by the media and his political opponents of his handling of the pandemic. His most prominent pandemic positions include deferring the decision on implementing mitigation measures to the counties, holding firm on not allowing counties to close businesses and insuring schools have a mix of in-person and remote learning. He's also prohibited county officials from imposing fines for violations of county imposed mitigation measures - you can remind but not fine.

Besides masking, distancing and crowd size limitations, life is pretty normal down here. Most people are complying with reasonable mitigation measures. My take is that this is working to limit the economic and social impact of COVID in FL with acceptable control and containment of it. Naturally, Desantis' opponents are demanding lock-downs and draconian enforcement claiming he's spinning the data and silencing his critics to justify his approach. Enter my FDR and WWII analogy. I say, fine. Move to FL ...... and people tired of their state's stupid rules are moving to FL in droves.

Skip the Useless Covid-19 Rules, Please

https://www.yahoo.com/now/skip-useless-covid-19-rules-130025935.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJw5eO8YfsYCmR6stJXKzTs2mw01Cn4lfFdbVTTjD50_zAcNDKngbr9wbPvmYE0ETqTTjfshYklsdQhXlfksf7gsWmO0QbjvvxUh7OVYKOMOmyfgdJJDIg0ZaPuMYFTZi0hO4EknnCQfNWiWxgoD-OiBxmtqCPADBYo1b0C9I-hC

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- A clutter of unhelpful pandemic rules is wearing people down. One-way systems in stores, outdoor mask mandates, ceaselessly cleaning groceries and packages — should these things be our top priorities for limiting the spread of Covid-19? Harvard’s Joseph Allen is an associate professor of exposure assessment science and one of the world’s experts on why some indoor spaces are worse than others for spreading viruses. Like other experts, he agrees that poorly ventilated indoor sites are the prime spreading ground for SARS-CoV-2. So the longer people spend in any indoor space with other people, the greater the risk they pose to themselves and others.I asked him: Wouldn’t it be better if we did away with the one-way system so that people could dispatch with their grocery shopping quickly, without having to endure long waits behind price-comparers or other slowpokes? The answer is yes. Eliminating those annoying arrows would probably make shopping safer as well as less stressful.Businesses are, of course, free to impose their own rules, but it’s unlikely many would knowingly make shopping less safe. The fault lies with the public health community for being too shy in talking about which rules don’t help, leaving us with a tangle of rules and recommendations — and pandemic fatigue.State rules have an even bigger effect on our lives and are often thrown at people with no transparency. My state of Rhode Island has recently become one of the worst five states for per-capita infections, despite getting praise from Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at the end of the summer for our strict rules and good compliance. With cases already climbing in late November, Governor Gina Raimondo held a press conference where she scolded citizens for not following the rules.Soon afterwards, a talk radio host voiced what I was thinking. Who are these people filling up the hospitals? Where do they live? What kind of work do they do? Do we have any idea how they got the virus? And which rules, exactly, were they breaking?As risk communication consultant Peter Sandman has said early in the pandemic, a public health policy that people don’t follow is a failed policy. That means even a really solid, science-based set of rules can fail if it’s not communicated with a clear rationale.In Massachusetts, governor Charlie Baker has focused his latest round of rules on outdoor mask wearing — something that many experts have said is unlikely to help since the virus is extremely unlikely to be transmitted over distances outside. The British Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies has deemed outdoor mask wearing of negligible benefit.Baker’s ruling prompted Harvard epidemiologist Julia Marcus to suggest in Boston.com that he’s playing pandemic theater. “Arbitrary public health rules are a way to break the public’s trust, which is essential to keeping people engaged in public health efforts,” she told a reporter for the site. “I think a mandate like this — that people know is arbitrary — is going to do more to reduce trust than it will to reduce infections.”Harvard’s William Hanage, who studies infectious disease dynamics, told me that people don’t need more rules. They need more information about how the virus is transmitted so they can take steps to avoid it. “When you phrase things in terms of rules, it leads people to try to come up with ways to get around those rules,” he says.Rules can become a form of misinformation. The rules in many states seem to suggest that walking outside is dangerous and eating in a restaurant is safe, but Hanage says the truth is the other way around.Baker has justified his outdoor mask mandate by saying it sends a message. The message I heard was that that the rules are not chosen for our health and welfare but to make our political leaders look like they are doing something.Rules should only be decreed along with evidence for their benefit, argued statistician and risk communication expert David Spiegelhalter in a piece for The Guardian: “Too often, the message is shaped by communication professionals working to ensure the greatest number of people ‘get the message’ rather than thinking about how to present the evidence so the greatest number of people can understand it, trust it, and then decide for themselves.”I hear from diverse readers who want to do the right thing, but need to know where to focus their efforts. A farmer in Florida recently wrote to me about the pandemic fatigue that’s affecting him and his neighbors. “What happens here is that we get worn out, beaten down and overloaded such that no matter how well-intentioned we are we are prone to latch onto something wrong.”“So I think people here get it that it's serious … they like their neighbors and don't want them dead,” he wrote. But they’re wondering how much effort to put into disinfecting groceries and kitchen counters — something that some media outlets recommended in the spring, as well as wearing gloves at the gas station, disinfecting credit cards and letting packages sit outside for a few days before opening them.Harvard disease expert Hanage says that the science to date points to the primary risk coming from what he calls the three C’s — close contact, closed spaces and crowds. He says in Japan, where they’ve had few Covid-19 deaths, people are advised to avoid these — not just to wear masks in these situations but to limit them or avoid them altogether. One place where the informational clutter can get sorted out is the CDC. In an encouraging trend, the agency is starting to make recommendations by explaining why they’re likely to improve public health. The agency cited good reasons people should avoid traveling for the holidays, including many combinations of those three C’s. They’ve just issued new guidelines recommending masks when people are indoors outside their homes or cannot stay more than six feet away from other people. And they’ve just shortened the quarantine period for people exposed to the virus from 14 days to 10, or seven if you get a test at the end. Again, the rationale was explained — some cases can incubate for two full weeks, but most people develop symptoms sooner. A shorter quarantine period can still cut down on transmission and will get better compliance.It would be wonderful if the CDC could also start telling us which rules and recommendations are unlikely to work, so we can all concentrate on the ones that will. There’s some denial out there, but there’s also enormous curiosity and willingness to help. It’s a resource we can’t afford to keep squandering. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Faye Flam is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. She has written for the Economist, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Psychology Today, Science and other publications. She has a degree in geophysics from the California Institute of Technology.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

**Hannibal** · December 9, 2020, 08:37 AM

BPmo69o1py.jpg

**Jeff Buchanan** · December 9, 2020, 10:37 AM

Face palm ....... as I'm sure you intend, Hanni, this kind of shit is totally expected.

Case in point......in FL, during the summer when county plans were emerging to open schools, via his Secretary of Education, Desantis said, you WILL open schools and in-person learning will be offered for parents that want this for their kids. The state teacher's union went bezerk. Howls of blood of dead teachers and grandmas on your hands. Desantis did not bend. The guidance to county officials stood. If gating criteria involving community spread as measured by percent positivity in a county were met, in person learning could be temporarily suspended. Otherwise open the school's doors. That wasn't enough for the teacher's union.

What got lost in the union's nonsense was the revelation coming out in August that kids don't spread the virus to the extent adults do (refuted once by COVIDKarens then established as a legit position) were unlikely to bring the virus back to grandma and that by-in-large adults in the building with kids were safe as long as THEY THEMSELVES TOOK REASONABLE PRECAUTIONS.

If you have ever tried to engage in a reasonable discussion about this with anyone, it's impossible. The loudest and stupidest voices have forced the closing of a good portion of the nation's schools. There are exceptions but the damage that has been done to too many kids isn't easily reversed in a public school system that compared to those in other countries is failing anyway. Besides the power grab from governments that has already been a part of the pandemic and continues to put personal freedoms at risk, the mostly unnecessary and avoidable damage to our nation's primary and secondary school aged kids is equal to that risk.

**AlabamAlum** · December 9, 2020, 10:44 AM

Originally posted by Hannibal View Post

BPmo69o1py.jpg

They deleted that bit of moronic card playing.

**Mike** · December 9, 2020, 10:47 AM

Originally posted by Hannibal View Post

BPmo69o1py.jpg

So is the appropriate response to only allow white males to go to school?

**AlabamAlum** · December 9, 2020, 10:49 AM

I mean, I think what they meant to say was this:

“The push to allow Ohio State in the CFP is rooted in sexism, racism and misogyny.”

**Mike** · December 9, 2020, 10:49 AM

Well now THAT makes sense.

**Dr. Strangelove** · December 9, 2020, 11:12 AM

Trump:

"No candidate has ever won both Florida and Ohio and lost. I won them both, by a lot! #SupremeCourt"

One, the Supreme Court is likely to be very impressed by this reasoning

Two, it isn't even true. Nixon won Florida/Ohio in 1960 and still lost.

**Hannibal** · December 9, 2020, 11:25 AM

The lawsuit that Texas has filed says in the complaint that Joe only had a one in four quadrillion chance of beating Trump, based on where Trump was at 3 in the morning on November 4.

Trump won. A mathematic model says so.

I hope that Democrats aren't Science Deniers.

**THE_WIZARD_** · December 9, 2020, 12:21 PM

Trust the science.

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