Sonotony

I challenge you to find any even slightly confrontational questions asked of Obama when he was dealing with the Swine Flu Pandemic.  

11 minutes ago, sl1pstream said:

What specific question though? That was the thing I was wondering. If there's one almost daily, a single example can't be that hard to find.

Jim frequently misquotes Trump or takes quotes out of context and expects Trump to justify statements he never made.  For example:

“‘It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away,’” said Mr. Acosta, citing snippets of Mr. Trump’s past comments on the contagion. “What do you say to Americans who believe that you’ve got this wrong?”

7 minutes ago, sl1pstream said:

Which gotcha attempts though? I know Trump's been labeling some questions as gotcha, but they seemed like pretty normal questions to me, especially compared to some of the deeper questions our government has been asked these last few weeks. Do you have any actual examples?

Those aren't examples, those are names of publications. He even attacked AP a few nights ago. 

I see the worst offenders are specific reporters.  Jim Acosta says or asks something terrible almost daily.

I think we will see a change in the political landscape because of this.  It's much easier to push a liberal agenda based on Covid-19 vs. global warming.  The Corona problem is real today and not a future prediction.  Only progressive control over out lives will solve the problem. If we don't give Nancy Pelosi what she wants, the world will end in 10 months, vs. the 10 years global warming will take.

I was just musing how Joe Biden is trying to stay relevant during these times. Did anyone see a few days ago when he was criticizing Trump about the relief package? He said, “He is taking too long! The American people don’t have time for him to sign every stimulus check!”

Biden is such an idiot. He should know that Trump doesn’t sign each and every check. That’s Steve Mnuchin’s job. 😝 

8 minutes ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

Just love watching Trumps press conference. Especially the q and a. You just know something outrageous is going to happen .

 

I love what he has done for the country. But you have to admit he a brash egomaniac 

 

The chloroquine show is hilarious.  Trump will surely double down on it and if it works I think CNN might slit its wrist 

 

The only reason this drug is so controversial is because Trump likes it so much.  The media is desperately wishing it would kill a bunch of people.  Unfortunately for them, it is extremely safe.  I took it years ago for malaria prevention... zero side effects for the 500+ people in my group taking it. I am pretty sure ibuprofen is more dangerous.

The media was so desperate to pin another Death on Trump, that they tried to blame him for that guy who ate aquarium cleaner.

10 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

How could it do better, exactly?  What would you have done in 2018 if you were president or part of the CDC, not knowing a pandemic was looming?  

 

Statistics are nice, I enjoy them.  But you and I both know the data can be used to paint whatever picture we want them to.  1.5 million tests in a nation that was "woefully unprepared and not testing" is a pretty damn good number.

China just ordered 200,000 body bags.  I wonder what THOSE are for?

China claims they only had three deaths in the entire country today. I guess they have it completely under control now. 🙄

1 hour ago, Burnt Reynolds said:

Environmental racism...

 

Inequality is a comorbidity.. 

 

Reparations.. 

 

 

Why do you think the AOC wing does this? Do you think their own people actually believe this stuff? 🤔

The Corona virus is racist. It should be charged with a hate crime.

14 minutes ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

I sell Toyotas and there are some brands I would never consider. Ford is not one of them. I have owned several mustangs. They make a pretty decent truck also. I have sold many a used also.

 

Anything Chrysler would be at the bottom of my list. Anything Fiat would be below that. 

“A Toyotas a Toyota” Is one of my favorite palindromes.

7 hours ago, Lemonslice said:

 

Why cases in Houston and Arizona then?  Oh wait, because one has nothing to do with the other... 

 

https://xkcd.com/1138/

I couldn’t help but remember this Simpson’s episode...

3 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

LA = Florida Panhandle (Lower Alabama)

LA = 6th scale degree, between SOL and TI

LA, a note to follow so...

I just had this random thought. If the government made a law that everyone had to wear a mask all the time for the next month, wouldn’t that significantly slow down the spread?

50 minutes ago, laylalex said:

Agreed. I don't think this is going to encourage people to stay on unemployment. It's a bridge during an unprecedented time, and unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. One way to support or shore up a sagging economy is to get money in pockets where those receiving it can not only meet their bills (landlords should get paid rent, because they rely on it for their income after all; ditto for utilities) but also be able to spend it in their communities and support local businesses. The majority of Americans are good people who will not abuse this, and we need to be more concerned about those people than the likely relatively low number of cretins who will take advantage of it. 

 

Where I am, in another small city surrounded by LA, the Chateau Marmont laid off nearly all of its workers yesterday. https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/03/25/coronavirus-chateau-marmont-fires-employees/ No severance, no promise of a job after this is over, and no continued health insurance after having been told they would stay essentially employed while no one was working and they would keep their insurance. Some of these are people who have worked for the hotel for decades. Now, I understand why the hotel financially needed to do this -- there needs to be a business to return to eventually. But you can't have people not being able to pay their bills or feed their families or get medical care, either. Enhanced benefits in the short term will help.

It will definitely encourage people to stay on unemployment.  I guess you haven’t lived among the section of society I grew up around.

I lived in a Mexican bario in high school. Every night, I used to hang with a bunch of people next door. Out of 8 of us, only two of us had real jobs. The rest were on some sort of welfare, unemployment, disability, or sold drugs for a living. They would swap notes on how to scam the system and work long enough to get injured or get free money some other way.  The owner of the Apartment building was Extra clever... he was collecting long term disability from two different employers. This man was my father.

My ex-wife was making more on disability than going back to work as a school teacher. She did this for years with no intention of going back to work. The only reason she went back to work is because her son will turn 18 and her disability will go down. Then, it makes financial sense to work.

People will act in their own best interests. It is not rational to take a financial hit by going back to work. If I make more money staying at home, I will stay at home. If the Goverment is giving away free money, most people will take it.  We know that a large number of people don’t NEED their $1,200+ stimulus money. How many people do you think will refuse it?

Trust me, there is a very large portion of our society that will milk everything they can from this.

I just finished listening to an interview with Dr. Fauci. Apparently, there isn’t this big war between him and Trump like the media would have you believe. 
 

Perhaps he explained things more eloquently than Trump, but he was very clear that the Easter “deadline” is just an optimistic goal. It isn’t set in stone. The situation and forecasts change daily... sometimes more often than that. 
 

This Corona situation just proves that you can’t please everyone. Some people hear about normalcy by Easter and have hope. Others hear the same message and have visions of people being fed to bears and lions in an arena. 
 

Overall, 60% of Americans think the president is doing a good job. I’m not 100% sold, but there don’t think Trump is as incompetent as MSNBC wants me to believe. Honestly, I don’t know how much this 2 trillion dollar stimulus package is going to help. I doubt it will be the last bill we see.

I just hope the extreme naysayers are wrong. It would really suck to have half of Americans dead, the other half unemployed, and also have another 2 trillion in national debt.

5 minutes ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

Becuse sometimes part of leadership is stoping the panic and restoring hope. Stock market had biggest gain in one day since 1933

Thank you Nature Boy. Your wisdom is always appreciated!

8 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

I posted similar numbers elsewhere on CEHST, a simple search results in about 3,700 deaths EVERY DAY in the world from auto accidents.  Nothing to shut down counties/states/countries over.  Obviously, said deaths won't overwhelm hospitals, but what about all the folks in those same accidents that live?  They need medical care.  Hospitals continue to operate.  Not viral/contagious, obviously.  

 

The fear that accompanies the virus, and is compounded by the media, is the main difference that I am seeing.  And of course, the impact on the economy as people's livelihoods are being decimated.

Well, there are a couple differences going on. First, car accidents, etc are spread more evenly throughout the country, but just in a few hotspots. Plus, we have to deal with this pandemic IN ADDITION TO car accidents, heart attacks, etc.

But yes, the media is a huge part of the problem. They love panic and are trying to use this as ammo to finally take down Trump.  
 

Ukraine is much more vulnerable than the US. They lack money, resources, and hospitals, but they are not in widespread panic. Their media actually tries to inform and educate people instead of causing problems. My fiancé showed me that toilet paper is actually on sale there to get people to buy more. 

3 minutes ago, laylalex said:

It was a metaphor using exaggeration for effect.  I'm okay, still working on those wedding colors.

 

What I'm talking about is that it is not out of the question that doctors and healthcare professionals are going to have to make these kind of decisions: whose life is worth more? Doctors in other countries are already talking about it. We are not so very exceptional that it's beyond the realm of possibility that these decisions will become a reality. Maybe not! I hope not. But without more ventilators, more ICU beds, more PPE, etc. we are positioning ourselves so that it becomes more likely than less. Here in CA, Elon Musk has gone from scoffing at the virus to bringing in a thousand more ventilators from China, and he's transitioning his plant to make more. Good. We need more of this.

Well, I think (and hope) that anyone of importance is taking this very seriously at this point.  From what I hear, Italy had to make such live and die decisions.

I hope people realize that the president does not want millions do die on his watch. If he creates policy that ends up killing millions of people, his re-election odds don’t look so good.

The Easter date is just a target. Think of it as a shining beacon of hope. The government sets goals and deadlines for everything. It’s just part of the planning process.  We need x hospital beds by x date. We need x respirators in NYC by x date. We will pull our troops out of Afganistán by X date.  There are reasons for these dates, goals and numbers, and they aren’t arbitrary.

Yes, I know it’s frustrating when the president doesn’t do what a doctor or economist says. The president is in a room with 50+ people every day and each one of them is an expert in their field. Many times the experts disagree with each other what to do. For better or for worse, Trump is the president and he is tasked with making the final decision. He can’t just look at things from one perspective. We didn’t elect a doctor or economist to be our president. We elected Trump. 
 

Last I checked, 60% of Americans think Trump is doing a good job handling the Corona situation (this is a trend, and not an isolated poll). The governors of New York and California also had very positive things to say about how Trump is handling things.

One of the really great things that came out of 9-11 was how America really came together as a country and put politics aside. I am proud how so many of our leaders on both sides are working together to find solutions.

Unfortunately, there are some in the media and political extremists who would rather spread fear and panic and continue to play political games. I think this is shameless.

3 minutes ago, 90DayFinancier said:

I have no idea where you pulled these numbers from.

NY times did an article a while back. Your chances of dying in a car crash are 1 in 103. 1.25 Million People die in car crashes every year. 3,287 people die EVERY DAY in car crashes. Half of those are young people 15-44. An additional  20-50 million People become disabled in car crashes every year.  
IF you are under 30 and IF you are diagnosed with coronavirus, your chances of dying are less than .2%

1 hour ago, laylalex said:

It's America, so it always comes down to money. I'm in a position to throw as much money as needed at my family to protect them, and we'd probably all weather the storms all right. But it's not right that through a complete fluke I come out on top and on the "resuscitate" list again and again and again when my neighbors might not. 

 

The surreality of this moment in time is overwhelming to me. A few weeks ago I was thinking about wedding colors and now I'm thinking about whether there should be a scoring system as to who gets the thumbs up and who the thumbs down, like some twisted "Roman emperor in the Coliseum" scenario.

 

I should probably just start drinking even though it's daytime, right?

I think you are letting your imagination run wild with you. Things aren’t even close to that point yet. And you were pretty safe in Roman times... as long as you weren’t a Christian... pretty much like now.

45 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

  And people less than 30 who don't stay home? When they come to ER with severe pneumonia, can we just tell them I told you so and send them home? 

What are you talking about? People of any age are free to stay home. That being said, if you are under 30, you have a greater chance of being killed in a car accident on the way to the hospital. Should we make cars illegal too?

8 minutes ago, laylalex said:

I agree that there needs to be nuance, and I agree that there needs to be balance between wrapping everyone in bubble wrap/cotton wool and the economy and society withering away completely. Macron's voice is, on this matter, one I am willing to listen to. 

 

So we end up where we didn't want to be when we were all talking about Obamacare and its supposed death panels -- who gets to live and who should essentially sacrifice themselves in order for the entire world to keep from imploding? It's not nice and it is worrisome. I expect I would fall into the category of "save" -- young and upper middle class and educated (or educated enough). My dad and mom are 65, so in a higher risk group, but they're both professionals, so do they make the cut? How about my grandma in her late 80s -- she's still sharp and goes (or went until recently) to the gym and had an active social life -- but she's not an active component in the economy any longer, and she was "only" a secretary, "only" graduated high school. Maybe she doesn't get the ventilator. 

 

None of it is nice, no, not at all. 

I need a fluffy bunny right now, and that one is pretty cute. ❤️ 

How is this a death panel? This is a free country and your parents and grandparents are free to isolate as long as they want to. Nobody is stopping them. My mother is in her 70’s and has reclused herself for years. Nobody makes her come out.

If your family is afraid of contamination, they can keep their doors shut as long as they want to.

Sooo... I usually donate blood through the Red Cross several times a year.  Lately, I have heard so much on TV about the blood shortage and also received several emails begging me to donate blood.  I live just outside Chicago and went to the website and saw they don’t have a donation time for me until May 5.  The problem seems to be more with the Red Cross than potential donors. I am begging for them to take my blood, but they don’t want it until May.

I am involved with this Data science group that is looking for ideas for helpful apps/analysis related to the Corona virus.

One guy wants help proving his theory that the Russians released the virus in China, knowing it would make its way to the US and suppress votes for Biden in the democratic primary in an effort to secure the nomination for Bernie Sanders.

If you are interested, please send me a private message, along with a picture of your tin foil hat.