snafu

Like Voldemort!

I think there's no real succession plan in place, so to avoid chaos there, the idea seems to be to slow-roll the info. I'd bet that if it will be true that Kim's sister is going to eventually be in charge, she's going to need to start off pretty brutal. She's got no more right to lead that country as anyone else.

You need to make up your mind about whether you think everyone should pay attention to Trump or ignore him because he’s a joke. You can’t have it both ways. Frankly, I don’t pay much attention to what he says, especially about a NOVEL Coronavirus. First he downplayed it, then he said 100,000 — 240,000 would die and that would be a “good” outcome, based on projections. And the only point I’m trying to get you to see is that Trump wasn’t the only one downplaying the seriousness of the virus in February and March. If you can’t acknowledge that, then you’re being dishonest.

I never said deaths from Covid are acceptable, but they were inevitable. I never said Trump is blameless. I did say that there’s blame to go around. If you want to focus solely on Trump, that’s up to you. Don’t make me focus solely on him, because I see that as very myopic. Do you want the incompetent liar to run things or not? And tell Cuomo and Newsom how their states didn’t get aid. Were they unduly forced to publicly and repeatedly thank the President for assisting them? Try not to revise history.

I have said it before, I think they should convert him to wing.

You’re focusing on the WH, whereas each state has run its own show — some have done well and others haven’t. Keeping the focus on things said and done six months ago by any politician isn’t helping anything now. I’m sure examples could easily be found where a public official downplayed the virus in February and in March. It wasn’t just the President. I’m also sure that a lot of politicians have instituted and maintained draconian shutdowns. What of their “flocks” who agree with continuing full shutdowns? How did we get from “flatten the curve” to “nobody is allowed to get sick”? This was the problem from the beginning: it is easy enough to shut down, but who wants to be the politician that opens up and exposes people to illness?

Unfortunately, the only way to stop a virus is to restrict peoples’ choices. The severity of the restriction should the question. Do you think a population of 330 million people are all going to agree about this? The virus was dramatically more deadly in March and April when few jurisdictions were taking precautionary measures to avoid the spread. Then lockdown happened and upon re-opening, the death rate is much lower than it was with no precautions. I don’t know of anyone who thinks that there needs to be zero infections before life can go back to normal. The virus is here and it isn’t going away. As long as people take nominal precautions, life should go on.

Smoking causes strokes, too. Maybe he should know that. You should tell him.

Flu deaths vanished in March and April.

^^^^ this is me.

Remember the year they roasted the greens at Shinnecock for the Open and nobody could hold the greens or putt? I think they had to soak the greens between 3rd and 4th rounds to keep the players from crying.

Yeah, maybe that stuff is a little soft. Thanks for the perspective. ??

Hey bro. If Biden wins can I have all your #resist stuff?

If it was live or not, it puts Joe's handlers in a tough spot -- because now there's really NO explanation for why they won't let him answer questions and speak for himself. And this is why Trump better be right about "early onset". Trump's campaign has managed expectations to the very low side. If Biden comes across with anything coherent, then it makes him look 10x better.

So does Joe's fine performance last night mean that he's able to come out into public and do normal interviews and take questions from all? If he goes back into the basement, then his speech was wasted.

That 1994 Eastern Conference final series was fantastic hockey for all seven games. It did say "live" on the screen on my TV. I don't think it was pre-recorded. But I do believe that's Biden's high-water mark as far as performances go.

First impression: not bad. I’d say that he wavered between soft spoken and very angry.

Didn’t need to click on it. Says “Lockport woman” right in the link.

It’s the new pasta.

Mail it now. You’ve already made up your mind. Or show up in person and make sure it gets counted.

You’re missing the point. His actions are being challenged. If he overreaches, the action is stopped or reversed. If he’s within his rights, the action stands. That’s MORE actual “democracy” — the way our representative system was designed. As for his own party not challenging his maneuver I can only give you an example of a one-party State (NY) allowing its Governor to issue over 100 executive orders since February. Is that “more” or “less” democracy. And that hat leads me to another example — Trump allowed states to deal with Covid locally. Is that “more” or “less” democracy? Would you prefer that Trump run the covid response nationwide?

I agree that voter turnout is always important. And I believe that both parties will look to exploit all-mail voting in states that are not used to handling that volume. This isn’t a post office issue, it is an Election Board issue. There will be complaints coming from both sides. The “wanna-be dictator” has a point that there will be election chaos this year. He just can’t communicate well enough to be understood and it doesn’t really make him a dictator — yet.

Over-use of executive orders didn’t start with Trump. And whenever he’s overreached, there’s been steady opposition from the other two branches. He hasn’t gotten away with anything that is beyond the scope of his power, or the usage of that power by any President before him. These are further proof of my point. Nice try.

I’d say that in the past 4 years the only positive to come out of the overwrought reaction to Trump being in the White House has been more democracy, not less. Congress has started to take back its role after abdicating to the executive branch. The judiciary is using its ability to pare back overreach. More activists have found voices and are actually participating in the system, including running for local office to make a difference. If it wasn’t for hyperbole and protests that have gone too far one could easily see it. I disagree that our democracy needs to be rescued. If Obama was talking about the potential erosion of democracy if Trump gets 4 more years then Obama was simply fear-mongering, and I think that’s irresponsible of him.

According to some, Trump ignored his intelligence in November. Our intelligence community apparently got the info that Wuhan was hiding from Beijing. Pretty impressive.