Two Years of COVID, by state

[PoliTalker]

Hello Mina,

Low population should, in theory, make no difference on its own, since all the data is effectively per-capita data. But the smaller the population, the "noisier" the data is going to be, so maybe. You can see that with Vermont, too, which jumped up and down the list really fast, because when you're small an outbreak can throw your numbers around a lot more rapidly than if you have the ballast of many millions of residents.

I would expect population density to be a factor. Greater density would lead to greater spread.

For instance, NJ has a high population density. And the double whammy of being hit early on.

 

[PoliTalker]

Hello Code1211,

Looks like a lot of work. The graph changes so fast and measures only one metric, it is both hard to follow and difficult to gauge.

The problems with the general "response" to Covid around the country was not what was done to control the Virus. OBVIOUSLY the mitigation measures did NOT mitigate the virus.

The mitigation measures mitigated both the economy and the Trump Presidency while enriching the lying thieves administering them. That is what they were aimed at and that is what they achieved.

Neil Ferguson predicted 2.2 Million US deaths if NOTHING was done. That's what drove the stupidities of the "Covid Response".

If the American people had merely washed their hands more often, THAT ALONE was predicted to reduce the death toll to half of 2.2 million. Do nothing = 2.2 million dead. Do anything = 1.1 million dead.

With EVERYTHING that was done hurting so many and destroying so much, we are now nearing that 1.1 million death mark originally predicted if we only started to wash our hands OR wear masks OR maintain a greater distance more often.

Our leaders are lying thieves and we are idiots to believe ANYTHING they tell us. If Covid taught us nothing else, it taught us this.

Such extremist nonsense. Rife with propaganda.

Europe has fared better than the USA, both in terms of deaths and economic impact. Part of this is due to policy leaning more toward government helping businesses with support payments so that workers could be retained on the books even as they were required by government to stay home. The USA took a completely different route, did not support businesses, allowed workers to be laid off, businesses to fold, and simply paid out general payments to all citizens. This flooded the economy with cash but didn't target it to where it was really needed.

The result was high unemployment and inflation. The unemployment rate has dropped, but that is partially because many simply retired and did not seek more work. Others stopped looking. After a time, they are no longer considered unemployed.

It wasn't the fact that the government acted to stem the pandemic. It was the type of actions taken.

 

[PoliTalker]

Hello Code1211,

This seems like an odd post.

What did Trump do to keep the virus a secret? He established the Corona Virus Task Force, announced the dangers of covid in his State of the Union that Antsy Nancy tore up and initiated operation WARP Speed.

Your view of reality seems to be warped.

Ahh, the old conservative rewriting history trick, blocking out all the dirt on Trump. Let's review a few of the things Trump tried to claim early on in the pandemic. These are all direct quotes from Trump, in early 2020:

"January 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.”
February 2: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
February 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
February 25: “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.”
February 25: “I think that's a problem that’s going to go away… They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”
February 26: “The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”
February 26: “We're going very substantially down, not up.”
February 27: “One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
February 28: “We're ordering a lot of supplies. We're ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn't be ordering unless it was something like this. But we're ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”
February 28: “Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus, you know that, right? Coronavirus, they’re politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs. You say, ‘How’s President Trump doing?’ They go, ‘Oh, not good, not good.’ They have no clue. They don’t have any clue. They can’t even count their votes in Iowa.” “They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything. They tried it over and over. They’d been doing it since you got in. It’s all turning. They lost. It’s all turning. Think of it. Think of it. And this is their new hoax.”

February 29 “So far, we have lost nobody to corona virus in the United States.”
March 2: “You take a solid flu vaccine, you don't think that could have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?”
March 2: “A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.”
March 4: “If we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better.”
March 5: “I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work.”
March 5: “The United States… has, as of now, only 129 cases… and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!”
March 6: “I think we’re doing a really good job in this country at keeping it down… a tremendous job at keeping it down.”
March 6: “Anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. They’re there. And the tests are beautiful…. the tests are all perfect like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that but pretty good.”
March 6: “I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it… Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.”
March 6: “I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault.”
March 8: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus.”

March 9: “This blindsided the world.” (Wrong. Fauci warned of the possibility the previous year. It is his life's work to study contagious diseases.)

March 9: "The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant.”
March 10: "It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away."
March 13: National Emergency Declaration
March 13: “I don't take responsibility at all”
March 15: "TODAY IS A NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER. GOD BLESS EVERYONE!"
March 16: "I give myself a 10 out of 10"
March 19: "Nobody knew there would be a pandemic or epidemic of this proportion.”
March 23: “We’ve never controlled the country before and we’ve had some flus and some viruses. I think it’s absolutely possible. We have to get our country back to work. Our country wants to go back to work.”
March 25: US cases - 61K, deaths – 3400, New cases in 24hrs – 6K, unresolved cases - 59K
March 26: “It’s a lot of jobs. I think we’ll come back very strong. The sooner we get back to work, you know, every day that we stay out it gets harder to bring it back quickly.” "

 

[PoliTalker]

Hello Code1211,

One of the wondrous things about Covid is that it allows those with agenda and preset conclusions to find foundation in anything and for anything.

The mitigation measure most widely accepted to be useful was the wearing o' the mask. We are now told that ONLY the N-95 varieties of masks were effective at all. Surgical masks were measured to provide a mitigation rate down to 2%.

Photos and videos of workers inside virology labs show workers in hermetically sealed suits head to toe. The surgical masks worn by the general public and bandanas are comical in their stupidity.

I noted in June of 2020 that children aged 0 to 19 were almost entirely unaffected by Covid. Less than 0.1% of all covid deaths were among that group. Take away the 70% overweight and the 94% underlying conditions and that leaves almost none.

Not possible. Our society includes all. None can be discounted. We are all in this together. It would be absurd to say that, for instance, children should not be vaccinated, when it is apparent that they can spread the disease to other humans of all ages and vulnerability.

Even at today's total of deaths, that leaves fewer than 20 kids. The elderly, age 60 and older were very threatened. These numbers did not change until the Vaccine was widely distributed.

What did our "experts" do? They closed the schools. This is either outlandish stupidity and gross incompetence or evidence of an ulterior motivation.

The arguments up to this point in the post are somewhat plausible, although easily disputed. But from this point on, the post goes off the rails into completely unsupported emotionally-driven immature conspiracy theory:

I FEEL that it is evidence of ulterior motivation.

It is not at all.

Our leaders are corrupt, self serving, lying thieves, but they don't seem top be outlandishly stupid. In following them, after all of the evidence that following them is stupid, we show ourselves to be stupid.

If their goal in everything they did during the Covid debacle was to steal money, they were successful. If it was to end covid, they failed.

President Biden is doing an excellent job. He is not trying to manage his image; he is doing the job. Whether a tough decision is popular or not is not his criteria. He is using his experience and his team to try to make the best decisions for the United States of America, not for popularity at the moment. When the job involves doing things which are not popular with the emotional, less well informed crowd, the media will sensationalize-for-profit and be glad to sell lots of advertising spreading rumors. Tucker Carlson should be ignored. His lawyers have argued in court that everyone should understand that he does not present facts, that his entire show is nothing but entertainment. He is not a news broadcaster.

 

[PoliTalker]

Hello Code1211,

A non-response, but you are as free to converse as you are to do as you do.

It would be nice if you might employ actual facts and deal in realities from the real world.

And certainly stay away from conspiracy theories such as: "our leaders are lying thieves."

That is far too general a statement.

Some are, some are not.

Government hatred is irrational.

 

[Althea]

A non-response, but you are as free to converse as you are to do as you do.

It would be nice if you might employ actual facts and deal in realities from the real world.

Your delusions don't merit discussion.

By all means, don't let me interrupt your daily SpongBob fix.

 

[Althea]

Hello Code1211,



And certainly stay away from conspiracy theories such as: "our leaders are lying thieves."

That is far too general a statement.

Some are, some are not.

Government hatred is irrational.

This kid offers nothing but talking points. We have enough of them already

 

[Althea]

The arguments up to this point in the post are somewhat plausible, although easily disputed. But from this point on, the post goes off the rails into completely unsupported emotionally-driven immature conspiracy theory:



.

Precisely. Empty calories

 

[Althea]

Hello Code1211,



Ahh, the old conservative rewriting history trick, blocking out all the dirt on Trump. Let's review a few of the things Trump tried to claim early on in the pandemic. These are all direct quotes from Trump, in early 2020:

"January 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.”
February 2: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
February 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
February 25: “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.”
February 25: “I think that's a problem that’s going to go away… They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”
February 26: “The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”
February 26: “We're going very substantially down, not up.”
February 27: “One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
February 28: “We're ordering a lot of supplies. We're ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn't be ordering unless it was something like this. But we're ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”
February 28: “Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus, you know that, right? Coronavirus, they’re politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs. You say, ‘How’s President Trump doing?’ They go, ‘Oh, not good, not good.’ They have no clue. They don’t have any clue. They can’t even count their votes in Iowa.” “They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything. They tried it over and over. They’d been doing it since you got in. It’s all turning. They lost. It’s all turning. Think of it. Think of it. And this is their new hoax.”

February 29 “So far, we have lost nobody to corona virus in the United States.”
March 2: “You take a solid flu vaccine, you don't think that could have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?”
March 2: “A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.”
March 4: “If we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better.”
March 5: “I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work.”
March 5: “The United States… has, as of now, only 129 cases… and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!”
March 6: “I think we’re doing a really good job in this country at keeping it down… a tremendous job at keeping it down.”
March 6: “Anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. They’re there. And the tests are beautiful…. the tests are all perfect like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that but pretty good.”
March 6: “I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it… Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.”
March 6: “I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault.”
March 8: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus.”

March 9: “This blindsided the world.” (Wrong. Fauci warned of the possibility the previous year. It is his life's work to study contagious diseases.)

March 9: "The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant.”
March 10: "It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away."
March 13: National Emergency Declaration
March 13: “I don't take responsibility at all”
March 15: "TODAY IS A NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER. GOD BLESS EVERYONE!"
March 16: "I give myself a 10 out of 10"
March 19: "Nobody knew there would be a pandemic or epidemic of this proportion.”
March 23: “We’ve never controlled the country before and we’ve had some flus and some viruses. I think it’s absolutely possible. We have to get our country back to work. Our country wants to go back to work.”
March 25: US cases - 61K, deaths – 3400, New cases in 24hrs – 6K, unresolved cases - 59K
March 26: “It’s a lot of jobs. I think we’ll come back very strong. The sooner we get back to work, you know, every day that we stay out it gets harder to bring it back quickly.” "

Let's not forget that our intelligence agencies knew about it by late November/early December.

trump was briefed on Jan 2,'20.

Examining your chronology, trump's actions were criminal.

 

[Code1211]

Hello Code1211,



And certainly stay away from conspiracy theories such as: "our leaders are lying thieves."

That is far too general a statement.

Some are, some are not.

Government hatred is irrational.

I don't hate government. I hate dishonesty and I hate inefficiency. As I see those things in government, I hate them. Do you ignore those things as you find them in life?

My thoughts on whether or not our leaders are lying thieves is based on the FACT that they are lying thieves.

Between 1999 and 2021, annual Federal Outlays increased by 400%. Over the same period, if the Feds had increased spending by only the rate of inflation that they have published, Federal outlays would have increased by 150%.

The difference annually, 62+% of all Federal Spending, was outright theft. Without the outrageous growth of spending since 1999 that is mostly theft by the lying thieves, we would have a $7 Trillion surplus instead of a $30 Trillion debt.

The major political parties are lie factories that produce liars, train them to lie and demand that they tell the lies that the zealots of the political parties prefer. They lie to gain office. Once in office, the lying thieves lie and steal.

Who is the particular politician that you believe is not a lying thief? A good piece of evidence is whether or not the lying thief you cite has refused all pay increases or any pay whatever during his time in office.

Another piece of evidence might be whether or not the lying thief you cite is constantly railing against increases of spending, the burden of taxation and complaining of government waste and corruption.

Who do you present?

Aside from that, the sky high prices paid compared to the middle of the pack quality of goods delivered are wildly out of balance. If you are not questioning the effectiveness of government spending, you just aren't watching what's happening.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/26/politics/justice-department-fraud-coronavirus-relief-fund/index.html

https://www.rasmussenreports.com/pu...te_the_government_you_re_not_paying_attention

https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/federal-receipt-and-outlay-summary

 

[Code1211]

Your delusions don't merit discussion.

By all means, don't let me interrupt your daily SpongBob fix.

Another non-response.

 

[Althea]

Another non-response.

To what? I can't answer the voices in your head.

 

[PoliTalker]

Hello Althea,

Let's not forget that our intelligence agencies knew about it by late November/early December.

trump was briefed on Jan 2,'20.

Examining your chronology, trump's actions were criminal.

How easy it is to dispel any claims that Trump didn't try to idiotically deny his way out of the pandemic, pretend it wasn't an issue when clearly it was. He had experts telling him so, but he claims to know more than all experts.

Apparently, in his own mind, Trump is more expert on any subject than those who have actually dedicated their lives to learning everything there is to know about their specialty. Because, you know, Trump has devoted much of his own time to watching lots of stories about himself on TV.

 

[PoliTalker]

Hello Code1211,

I don't hate government. I hate dishonesty and I hate inefficiency. As I see those things in government, I hate them. Do you ignore those things as you find them in life?

Hatred is irrational. I see things I disapprove of. I do not hate.

My thoughts on whether or not our leaders are lying thieves is based on the FACT that they are lying thieves.

There is no such fact. It is a matter of perception. Accurate perception does not entail exaggeration. If there are instances of 'lying thieves' in government, that is to be expected. Government is comprised of millions of people. It is only reality if some of them are crooks. That does not mean they all are.

Between 1999 and 2021, annual Federal Outlays increased by 400%. Over the same period, if the Feds had increased spending by only the rate of inflation that they have published, Federal outlays would have increased by 150%.

The difference annually, 62+% of all Federal Spending, was outright theft.

Just because you characterize something as theft does not make it so. During that period, we were hit by Hurricane Katrina, GWB launched two utterly needless, terribly expensive yet unfunded wars of aggression, our economy melted down to the brink of depression, and a worldwide pandemic strangled the worldwide economy.

Without the outrageous growth of spending since 1999 that is mostly theft by the lying thieves, we would have a $7 Trillion surplus instead of a $30 Trillion debt.

The government does not steal from the people. The government is not a thief. The government spends everything it takes in and more. All of the spending is meant to improve America in some way. Because of our dysfunctional politics (much of that dysfunction due to hatred and bitter polarization,) many of our budgeting decisions are irrational. Such as giving away the surplus Clinton created as free bonus checks at a time when America should have been asked to pay additional taxes to fund the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The major political parties are lie factories that produce liars, train them to lie and demand that they tell the lies that the zealots of the political parties prefer. They lie to gain office. Once in office, the lying thieves lie and steal.

Who is the particular politician that you believe is not a lying thief? A good piece of evidence is whether or not the lying thief you cite has refused all pay increases or any pay whatever during his time in office.

Another piece of evidence might be whether or not the lying thief you cite is constantly railing against increases of spending, the burden of taxation and complaining of government waste and corruption.

Who do you present?

An interesting challenge. I do not accept the conditions. I would like to point out that government is comprised of humans and humans lie. Anyone expecting government to be comprised of 'those imaginary perfect humans who never lie' has placed an impossible condition on judging government, and has likely done so in order to justify irrational hatred of government.

Aside from that, the sky high prices paid compared to the middle of the pack quality of goods delivered are wildly out of balance. If you are not questioning the effectiveness of government spending, you just aren't watching what's happening.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/26/politics/justice-department-fraud-coronavirus-relief-fund/index.html

https://www.rasmussenreports.com/pu...te_the_government_you_re_not_paying_attention

https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/federal-receipt-and-outlay-summary

Everyone should question government spending. Everyone should also understand that it is not possible for government to please everyone. It is expected that whatever government does will have the support of some, and the disapproval of others. That is the reality and everyone would do themselves and the country a great favor if they would understand it.

Nobody is going to get their way all the time.

Not only should everyone question government spending, everyone should do their best to be as well informed as possible, discuss our national issues freely, and vote. Everyone should endeavor to learn to tell the difference between fact and opinion, and between real and fake news.

A self-government that we created ourselves, and one which we have the power to change as needed, depends on the active engagement of a well informed populace.

Government hatred is irrational. It is an oversimplification of a very complex world.

Greed is a sickness, particularly if it gets to the point where a citizen of a great nation resents paying taxes. People should be proud to help pay for America, the land of the free.

It is only logical that our government will continue to grow, and that the rate of growth would exceed the rate of growth of our population. That is because the world is constantly growing more complex, and generating more issues that the government needs to deal with. For instance, when America was formed, and the Constitution was written, there was no need for a Federal Aviation Administration. There were no airplanes, no air crashes, and no need for airports or air traffic controllers.

The proportion of the populace of the nation required in government service grows as technology develops new things, which create new concerns for the public.

I am now wondering if we need a big new agency in our government to control, or perhaps nationalize social media.

One thing is for sure. There is no rational expectation that government can or should remain small, or that arbitrarily limiting the size of government is a logical concept. Our government is how our nation is organized. Without it, we have no nation, no America. A fast paced growing modern world demands a fast-paced growing modern government. There is no 'set it and forget it' about government.

All the old Republican notions about 'limited government' are absurd, old fashioned, illogical, ridiculous and dangerous.

Just as dangerous as immature hatred, including hatred of government. Hatred is like a shut-down of thought. It is an emotion, not a logical nor appropriate response to anything. It is a terrible approach to government, to be avoided.

 

[Lionfish]

Hello Code1211,



Hatred is irrational. I see things I disapprove of. I do not hate.



There is no such fact. It is a matter of perception. Accurate perception does not entail exaggeration. If there are instances of 'lying thieves' in government, that is to be expected. Government is comprised of millions of people. It is only reality if some of them are crooks. That does not mean they all are.



Just because you characterize something as theft does not make it so. During that period, we were hit by Hurricane Katrina, GWB launched two utterly needless, terribly expensive yet unfunded wars of aggression, our economy melted down to the brink of depression, and a worldwide pandemic strangled the worldwide economy.



The government does not steal from the people. The government is not a thief. The government spends everything it takes in and more. All of the spending is meant to improve America in some way. Because of our dysfunctional politics (much of that dysfunction due to hatred and bitter polarization,) many of our budgeting decisions are irrational. Such as giving away the surplus Clinton created as free bonus checks at a time when America should have been asked to pay additional taxes to fund the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.



An interesting challenge. I do not accept the conditions. I would like to point out that government is comprised of humans and humans lie. Anyone expecting government to be comprised of 'those imaginary perfect humans who never lie' has placed an impossible condition on judging government, and has likely done so in order to justify irrational hatred of government.



Everyone should question government spending. Everyone should also understand that it is not possible for government to please everyone. It is expected that whatever government does will have the support of some, and the disapproval of others. That is the reality and everyone would do themselves and the country a great favor if they would understand it.

Nobody is going to get their way all the time.

Not only should everyone question government spending, everyone should do their best to be as well informed as possible, discuss our national issues freely, and vote. Everyone should endeavor to learn to tell the difference between fact and opinion, and between real and fake news.

A self-government that we created ourselves, and one which we have the power to change as needed, depends on the active engagement of a well informed populace.

Government hatred is irrational. It is an oversimplification of a very complex world.

Greed is a sickness, particularly if it gets to the point where a citizen of a great nation resents paying taxes. People should be proud to help pay for America, the land of the free.

It is only logical that our government will continue to grow, and that the rate of growth would exceed the rate of growth of our population. That is because the world is constantly growing more complex, and generating more issues that the government needs to deal with. For instance, when America was formed, and the Constitution was written, there was no need for a Federal Aviation Administration. There were no airplanes, no air crashes, and no need for airports or air traffic controllers.

The proportion of the populace of the nation required in government service grows as technology develops new things, which create new concerns for the public.

I am now wondering if we need a big new agency in our government to control, or perhaps nationalize social media.

One thing is for sure. There is no rational expectation that government can or should remain small, or that arbitrarily limiting the size of government is a logical concept. Our government is how our nation is organized. Without it, we have no nation, no America. A fast paced growing modern world demands a fast-paced growing modern government. There is no 'set it and forget it' about government.

All the old Republican notions about 'limited government' are absurd, old fashioned, illogical, ridiculous and dangerous.

Just as dangerous as immature hatred, including hatred of government. Hatred is like a shut-down of thought. It is an emotion, not a logical nor appropriate response to anything. It is a terrible approach to government, to be avoided.

You sound like a fluu blown communist. If you live in the US, please get your ass out of here and head for Cuba. No China Virus allowed there.

 

[Althea]

Hello Althea,



How easy it is to dispel any claims that Trump didn't try to idiotically deny his way out of the pandemic, pretend it wasn't an issue when clearly it was. He had experts telling him so, but he claims to know more than all experts.

Apparently, in his own mind, Trump is more expert on any subject than those who have actually dedicated their lives to learning everything there is to know about their specialty. Because, you know, Trump has devoted much of his own time to watching lots of stories about himself on TV.

Before politics, trump was always the center of his universe, surrounding himself with yes men/women who feared him.

After he accidentally won the election, he was surrounded by career Republicans who were supposed to keep him in line. Over the years, he got rid of anyone who challenged him, and went right back to running the nation as if it were a reality t.v. show.

As such, he saw every issue, every policy as a means to get re elected. Hiding the trump virus from the nation was his effort to deny that anything negative could possibly happen under his watch.

He was begged by advisers to step up and do the right thing. They didn't last very long.


Ironically, the trump virus was what helped to bring him down.

 

[Mina]

Yes. We were all learning on the fly, while hospitals were stacking dead bodies outside like cord wood. Easy to forget that everything coming out of the White House was downplaying, and denial.

Which is why you see many Red states ignoring the data/danger, and pretending that it was safe to return to 'normal'.

One thing that was fascinating is the speed at which the right-wingers went from echoing the White House's message that COVID would disappear like a miracle (so there was no point taking steps to fight it), to echoing the talking point that COVID was never going to go away (so there's no point taking steps to fight it) and we should just get back to our lives.

It actually reminds me of trying to talk climate change with a right-winger. One moment they're saying climate change isn't real (so there's no point taking any steps to combat it), and then the next they're saying that climate change is already locked in (so there's no point taking any steps to combat it) and we should just get on with our lives.

Basically, they come at these things backwards. Rather than looking at the evidence and deciding on a policy based on that, they decide what policy they support first (government not taking any steps), and then they hop from one assertion to another, to try to support that policy.... even if it leads them from making one point to making nearly the opposite point. The evidence is beside the point, except to the extent they think it can be used as a talking point for the pre-ordained policy prescription.

 

[Mina]

Hello Mina,



Hispanics include higher numbers of people living in large family groups, and working at jobs which require frequent exposure to numerous other humans, such as retail, meat processing, food preparation, and janitorial.

That would explain it if we ended up seeing higher numbers of Hispanics dying of COVID in some states but not others (depending on the kinds of jobs Hispanics tend to be in, in different states.)

 

[PoliTalker]

Hello Althea,

Before politics, trump was always the center of his universe, surrounding himself with yes men/women who feared him.

After he accidentally won the election, he was surrounded by career Republicans who were supposed to keep him in line. Over the years, he got rid of anyone who challenged him, and went right back to running the nation as if it were a reality t.v. show.

As such, he saw every issue, every policy as a means to get re elected. Hiding the trump virus from the nation was his effort to deny that anything negative could possibly happen under his watch.

He was begged by advisers to step up and do the right thing. They didn't last very long.


Ironically, the trump virus was what helped to bring him down.

A completely accurate and appropriately ridiculing assessment.

The problem is that Trump has set the example of how being deplorable can get votes and now we have all these mini-Trumps running around trying to out-Trump Trump. The Republican Party has become deplorable.

 

[PoliTalker]

Hello Mina,

One thing that was fascinating is the speed at which the right-wingers went from echoing the White House's message that COVID would disappear like a miracle (so there was no point taking steps to fight it), to echoing the talking point that COVID was never going to go away (so there's no point taking steps to fight it) and we should just get back to our lives.

It actually reminds me of trying to talk climate change with a right-winger. One moment they're saying climate change isn't real (so there's no point taking any steps to combat it), and then the next they're saying that climate change is already locked in (so there's no point taking any steps to combat it) and we should just get on with our lives.

Basically, they come at these things backwards. Rather than looking at the evidence and deciding on a policy based on that, they decide what policy they support first (government not taking any steps), and then they hop from one assertion to another, to try to support that policy.... even if it leads them from making one point to making nearly the opposite point. The evidence is beside the point, except to the extent they think it can be used as a talking point for the pre-ordained policy prescription.

That's the Republican Party. They begin with the desired conclusion and the story gets molded into whatever needed to support the intended result.

Totally shameless and senseless, but hey, it gives them power by exciting their easily led hateful followers.