They have just called the election for Joe Biden. For some this will be a reason for joy, for others a day of sadness. I understand. Believe me, I do.
For many years, especially the last four, I have watched my country being torn apart by division. Some of this real and some fabricated by those who felt it was to their advantage. And even as I write that sentence I know that it will mean different things to different people.
But I want to remind everyone what has happened in the past, what should be avoided at all costs, and what should be done to heal our wounds. So I tip my hat to those who opposed my candidate, Joe Biden, honorably. For those who have not behaved with integrity and would appeal to the worst of our natures, I would remind them that this is a democratic country and as such everyone has a right to be heard. Listen, closely.
On a lighter note, I send this out to my country, because I now have hope that we might move forward to a better day. And these kids are just so cute!
Congratulations, America!
Congratulations, Joe & Kamala!
282 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 282 of 282And, of course, with the addition of three more Trumpkins, it may suddenly become legal by declaration of the Supreme Trumpkins. Things like that been known to happen before. And she was rushed into that seat for a reason.
We're probably lucky that Trump shows no sign of developing a plan to stay in power.
He appears to be counting on somebody coming to save him, as his father saved him so many times when he needed it. He's just dragging things out, seemingly waiting for those whom he thinks "need" him to succeed to do the actual work of arranging his deus ex machina salvation.
(Note to the residents of Trumplandia: Fred is dead. Donald is waiting.)
I thought more about the seemingly stagnant state of the race a little more. I was wondering what could be the uncertainty holding up the statistician's decisions on calling the races in Arizona and Georgia. I decided to look into it a little deeper--what was the basis of their uncertainty?
Turns out THERE IS NO UNCERTAINTY, nothing mathematical anyway. It's been an administrative delay all along. The networks and newspapers have arbitrarily set a minimum threshold of ½ a percent before the editors and owners will clear their math experts to "call" an election in public. (NewYorkTimes)
The vote counting is Arizona and Georgia is already over. That's why the Secretary of State Georgia can be already talking about a recount. He knows the count is over in Georgia, even if the networks and newspapers haven't bothered to tell the rest of us. The sources I've been following (not including the AP and FoxNews) just haven't mentioned that all counts are essentially finished (perhaps because they'd then have to explain why the haven't let their math guys call the winners; perhaps because the delay gets them returning eyes and clicks--who knows which?). The sole exception is North Carolina, which allows vote to count if received up until today, and which is still, technically, counting votes the first time. But, North Carolina was leaning hard into Trump's tally anyway, and I'd already long discounted it as a possible Biden win.
So, turns out it is over. Biden's already got the three out of the four we needed to dissuade shenanigans by the Republicans and their Trumpkin allies; got all four in fact.
So, "Congratulations America!" as Lynnette put--it's already beyond being stolen by clever machination. They'll have to take to the streets to steal it now, and I ain't really worried 'bout that. (Never was worried 'bout that really; possible Trump's still quietly working that angle in case his looked for public partisan saviors turn out to not exist, but he's delayed it too long and very likely dispirited his liberators; I'm not gonna start to worry 'bout that now)
So, I'm finally with ya Lynnette. "Congratulations, America!" Orange Man history. Deal's done.
(As a post script I can hold some holdout hope for the unlikely event of the Democrats winning both Senate seats in the Georgia runoffs in early January.)
No sooner did I post the above ↑↑ then new returns come in from Arizona and the NewYorkTimes (among multiple others, CBS, NBC, et al, etc. all flipping at once) declares that Biden has won in Arizona. (And without that arbitrary ½ percent it would seem--must be some other trigger they've not yet mentioned--maybe there's been a declaration of some sort by the Arizona Sec. of State)
Anyway, we got at least three outta the four, semi-official this time. Good 'nuff.
How about this?
What I can say for certain is that I’m not yet ready to abandon the possibility of socialism—not just for the sake of future generations of Americans but for all of humankind. I’m convinced that the pandemic we’re currently living through is both a manifestation of and a mere interruption in the relentless march toward an interconnected world, one in which peoples and cultures can’t help but collide...
Wow, it looks like Ayers is still part of the gig economy, and still dreaming of when the Workers of the World Unite.
Maybe he should jsut start a GoFundMe and collect cash for bombs that way.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Marcus,
I don’t doubt you as I’ve seen some of it myself. But one has to wonder, how sustainable is it? And if/when the economy collapse and they have no more means to build anew, how the hell are they gonna upkeep their present construction base?
They won't be able to. But the question of when the bubble bursts is really hard to predict. People have been predicting a collapse for at least fifteen years now.
Here in Zhejiang Province, which is one of the richest, life is humming along at high speed. Chinese love noisy, packed places, which is why you always find those conditions in Chinatowns around the world. The key word in Chinese for noisy and crowded is renao, which literally means hot-brain.
I mean, they’ve been on a boom for decades now and we all know booms inevitably end in a crash.
Yes, we do. Well, even during Mao's reign, Chinese displayed hot-brain, but in a far more dangerous direction. It could return to that if crony capitalism craps out.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Lynnette,
What do you know about Falon Gong? They seem to be behind The Epoch Times, yet there is speculation on that paper's funding. It seems to have deep pockets.
Years ago, the Falun Gong, which began simply as a traditional aerobic exercise group, made a tactical mistake. After some persecution, they secretly agreed to come from all around the country and protest at Tiananmen Square. One morning, suddenly the square was filled with Falun Gong advocates. It caught the CCP by surprise and freaked them out, and ever since the CCP has hounded them down, imprisoned them, and killed them.
By doing this, the CCP was also able to warn others.
The chengyu in Chinese is: shā jī xià hóu.
Literally: Kill Chicken Scare Monkey
You get the idea, right?
I don't know much about the Epoch Times. I'll check them out later.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo,China
*
Lynnette,
Do you have a site meter of some kind that monitors traffic?
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
@ Lynnette:
I recall you being a James Mattis fan. Politico is reporting that Biden's transition team has been approaching Mattis' people (both those who went with Mattis and those still inside) to get a handle on where things stand in the military and national security portfolios. Going around Trump and his team entirely at this point; ain't even botherin' with 'em.
We're probably lucky that Trump shows no sign of developing a plan to stay in power.
People who know Trump say that he usually just reacts and lives more in the moment. Planning isn't really his forte.
Mary Trump, his niece, is sure that he won't run again in 2024. First of all he wouldn't chance losing again and his health isn't the best. Unlike Joe Biden Trump does not eat well or exercise. And in 4 more years he will be wear Joe Biden is now, age wise.
I don't know much about the Epoch Times.
Neither do I. Someone showed it to me and it looks like it is indulging in some propaganda about Hunter Biden which has been peddled by Donald Trump. I did a little research about it online and it appears that it was founded by Falon Gong, but has morphed into something that is a little more political leaning with regard to news in the States.
There was some mention of the Chinese government's antipathy towards them.
Do you have a site meter of some kind that monitors traffic?
Only what is standard for Blogger. I do not have anything like Zeyad had.
CNN has just called Georgia for Biden and North Carolina for Trump.
Georgia has not went Democratic since 1992.
Politico is reporting that Biden's transition team has been approaching Mattis' people (both those who went with Mattis and those still inside) to get a handle on where things stand in the military and national security portfolios. Going around Trump and his team entirely at this point; ain't even botherin' with 'em.
Doesn't surprise me. It would make sense, considering how sensitive a transition is. And it would not surprise me at all if the people that have been approached are quite willing to help. There are still people who put country first over the selfishness of one man.
Okay, let's try that again.
What I can say for certain is that I’m not yet ready to abandon the possibility of socialism—not just for the sake of future generations of Americans but for all of humankind. I’m convinced that the pandemic we’re currently living through is both a manifestation of and a mere interruption in the relentless march toward an interconnected world, one in which peoples and cultures can’t help but collide...
Relentless march toward an interconnected world? Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin approve of this message.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Lynnette,
Only what is standard for Blogger.
Can you tell how many people are visiting your blog right now?
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Lynnette,
Hey, what about protests in Minneapolis? Anything going on? And how about business in general? Are restaurants open? Can you go to a movie?
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
"Mary Trump, his niece, is sure that he won't run again in 2024."
She may not be giving proper consideration to the fact that he'd win the Republican nomination for President overwhelmingly, if the vote were held tomorrow. The roar of the dedicated Trumpkin crowd awaits.
Lynnette,
Now that your Orange Man Bad fever has broken, maybe you could change the direction of your blog. I'd love to see photos from where you live, so I can follow what's going on there.
Or maybe just a feature you'd add a couple times a month. Think of yourself as a local reporter showing people here in China what your city looks like and what's going on.
Kind of like what I did for readers of this piece that shows what's going on in China.
Just a thought, of course. I wouldn't expect you to be as forthcoming and personal as Shaggy or Touta (especially Shaggy), but a more local report would be great.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Lee,
Were there ever any protests where you live?
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Long as the subject of protests has come up…
It appears we have a round of street protests in favor of TRUMP IN POWER set for today, in Washington, D.C., as well as several other cities, all being organized by on our newly popular right-winger "social media". WashingtonPost The usual suspects are slated to appear.
And, now the subject of "right-winger social media" has been broached….
I mentioned earlier (prior page) that I'd been reading about the Trumpkins switching to alternative "social media" platforms late in the last election season.
I ran across another article in Politico on the same phenomena. It further suggests that 4chan and Telegram are making sudden and fairly sizable gains in audience. (I recall that Telegram was heavily used among the staff of the Trump White House up to and especially including Jared Kushner.) So, the American right-wing is now not just going into "alternative social media", they're going full-tilt into an alternate reality into which they seem to hope the real reality does not intrude.
I suppose it was probably inevitable. We had a President who promoted what the White House itself described as "alternative facts" for four years. Alternative Americans were always a good bet to follow.
Welcome to our future.
Lee,
Do you distinguish between conservative and "right-winger"?
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Good Morning Jeffrey:
Yes. Unfortunately lots of right-wingers are ignorant as to the difference.
Good Bye Jeffrey
Lee,
You say you live in the heart of Trumplandia, surrounded by gun-toting, Bible-thumping, un-Woke hicks. Why don't you move to a college town in the South? Move to Athens, Georgia. You can hang out at am All-Woke coffee shop and get a Tarot card reading while sipping your latte.
I've lived in many of the hip neighborhoods in the US, from the Lower East Side in Manhattan to Uptown in New Orleans, from hanging out at Max Fish on Ludlow St. to Tipitina's on Napoleon Ave. You'll never meet a Trumpkin in those bars. You've mentioned owning vehicles, so why not just move. Think of how much better you'll be able to sleep with no Trumpkins under your bed at night.
Why do you live in that hayseed, Trump-loving town anyway?
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Lee,
So what's the difference?
And don't be a child, Lee. Everyone else here is all grown-up. We're just chatting.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Lee,
And it's evening here in Ningbo.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Politico is taking further notice of the battle for the audience of FoxNews, the one-time enforcer of right-winger wingnut orthodoxy. They're viewing it as a fairly traditional "extremist movement" breakdown and public purging of the ranks. (Which traditionally leads to a more rigidly enforced loyalty to the alternate reality, which means we shall probably soon see the Alternate America being preached from at least a few fundie pulpits (maybe more than a few), and perhaps lead to a few mega-churches breaking totally with their supposedly sponsoring denominations.)
Relentless march toward an interconnected world?
We already are interconnected. The spread of the pandemic proves that. That doesn't mean we will end up with similar governments or economic structures.
Can you tell how many people are visiting your blog right now?
Nope. I can't see you, so apparently Blogger can't see people who are using a VPN.
"Relentless march toward an interconnected world?"
You do know that the ‛quote’ he offered is a fake don't you? (Not that ↑↑ part though.)
[Jeffrey] Hey, what about protests in Minneapolis? Anything going on? And how about business in general? Are restaurants open? Can you go to a movie?
We have been pretty quiet lately. No protests. Right now the Covid numbers are rising alarmingly here. The Governor has put a curfew on bars and restaurants asking them to close at 10:00 pm. He has limited gatherings to 10 people or under with a limit of 3 households, so Thanksgiving is off for those who have large groups if they follow his advice. My brother usually has Thanksgiving, but the last I talked to him he had decided not to do anything this year. That was fine with me, I didn't really want to go. My niece's son had Covid, but is now doing well.
The largest school district, Anoka-Hennepin, is now going to distance learning for elementary school too. They had reinstituted distance learning for junior & senior high school already.
Businesses are still open, but with limited capacity. I just had my hair cut a week ago Friday and I was the only one there. My stylist said she had been very slow all week. She usually is around this time of year, but not to that extent. I expect that people are choosing carefully where they want to go.
Some businesses, like my grocery store, are finding a worker shortage because people are out sick.
As far as I know movie theatres are still open. I don't know what kind of business they are doing, though.
[Lee] She may not be giving proper consideration to the fact that he'd win the Republican nomination for President overwhelmingly, if the vote were held tomorrow.
She was looking only at 4 years from now. A lot can happen in 4 years.
I see they did a march for Trump in Washington D.C. today. I suspect that if you compared the crowd today with the Women's March of 2017, which drew around 470,000, you would find they didn't even come close.
Also, some of the participants today included more of the extreme right groups rather than the mainstream crowd. Although they were there to some extent. There were also Biden supporters on hand to counter protest.
[Jeffrey] Now that your Orange Man Bad fever has broken, maybe you could change the direction of your blog. I'd love to see photos from where you live, so I can follow what's going on there.
I have done a couple posts in the past about Minnesota, about some things my reader(s) may find interesting. I have focused on what has been happening with Trump and his administration only because he seemed such a threat to our democracy. I was not alone in that.
I also wanted to comment a little on current events. I don't expect people to agree with me, just to keep an open mind and hear my thoughts. As I would, there's.
I will consider a more local themed post in the future. But for the most part I live in a rather boring local, with little of what I would consider of interest to people who stop by my blog. But if I come across something with a Minnesota flavor that might be of interest, I will consider a post.
For the most part I think any commenters should be free to discuss topics they find of interest in general. It should be a free flowing conversation.
"I suspect that if you compared the crowd today with the Women's March of 2017,
which drew around 470,000, you would find they didn't even come close."
Reuters reported attendance by today's pro-Trump crowd at "several thousand" in its UK edition, which can mean as few as three thousand (roughly) or as many as nine thousand plus (if I understand their reporting criteria correctly), and originally said the same thing about it in their American edition, but they've since upgraded it (American version of the story) to "tens of thousands".
Trump drove by and waved.
And there was some limited violence broke out in restricted locales where they outnumbered the counter-protesters in sufficient number.
Apparently it was Roger Stone who originated the tern "stop the steal' back around 2016. There are people who have decided to resurrect the term.
Extremist groups, white nationalists and conspiracy theorists — some claiming ties to QAnon, which alleges a so-called deep-state plot to undermine Trump —
What these people fail to understand, or not want to believe, is that there are many, many people who simply do not like Trump. If you look at the election in 2020, people voted traditionally. That is they voted split tickets, which is why we got rid of Trump but kept a lot of the Republican Senators and Congressmen(women). It was truly a referendum on Donald Trump. It was also a rejection of the more progressive policies that people like AOC espouse.
But yes I can see where the far right is going to slip into the darker corners of the internet. They will be resurrected by those who are foolish enough to fall for their lies. The challenges we have for democracy are not over.
You do know that the ‛quote’ he offered is a fake don't you? (Not that ↑↑ part though.)
I didn't look up the quote, so no. I don't believe we are on a track towards socialism, at least not in the US. Even if we beefed up our social safety nets.
Hmmm...the sun is going down, so that march in DC is morphing into a little more heated interactions between the pro-Trump and anti-Trump groups.
For the most part police are in control of the situation. Not as many people there now. Most of the Trump supporters have gone to their hotels and the people on the street are more Biden supporters.
Well, take my word for it. That's not how the first sentence went in the original. You have the right guess. Socialism wasn't mentioned.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
"The challenges we have for democracy are not over."
A stable democracy generally requires a robust middle-class. The American middle-class has been consistently getting hammered down since approximately the early 1980s. That's a recipe for a rise in extremism, (left-wing and right-wing; we're getting much more right-winger extremism--I'll ignore why for now--enough to know that's the way it's slanting). Until the extremes of income inequality are effectively dealt with, we're going to continue to face those extremist tendencies.
The proliferation of internet based "news" so everybody gets to pick their own reality to believe in (if that's what they want to do), is another exacerbating factor.
And, of course, it was FoxNews that first offered a wide swath of America an unabashedly partisan version of the news, which they could get away with only by restricting their output to cable, where the federal government's "fairness doctrine" for broadcast licenses did not apply.
It's not limited to FoxNews these day, of course. But like most of the race to the bottom in our politics, the right-wingers were there first and most gleefully and established an insurmountable lead early on.
Without Trump in office — or even in public life — it’s more than likely that these disparate groups fragment back into their own separate zones online.
There is hope they will crawl back under their rocks.
Minnesota's positivity rate is now 16.6%.
NBC nightly news said tonight that Wisconsin has run out of ICU beds. They sent nurses to New York during the early outbreak in New York; they're asking New York to reciprocate now. It's lookin' bad right next door to you.
A stable democracy generally requires a robust middle-class.
Which would support things like the idea of a $15 minimum wage. That sounds like a progressive idea...
NBC nightly news said tonight that Wisconsin has run out of ICU beds.
Wisconsin and the Dakotas are doing worse than us. But we too are getting to capacity in our hospitals. But even if we had beds the problem is staff to care for patients. People are out sick.
The trick will be to get younger people to change their behavior and for people to limit gatherings. The Governor is asking all people 18 to 35 to be tested.
"The trick will be to get younger people to change their behavior…"
Not just younger people; here in high Trump country wearing viral shields is actively frowned on by a substantial portion of the highly politicized classes. (You probably noticed Jeffrey trying to drag me into that argument here.)
Lee,
What's wrong with my quote from Jeremy Ayers? Looks good to me.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Lynnette,
Thanks for the quick view from your locality. Sure, I'd love to see a blog post on life on the ground where you live -- Minneapolis, or a town nearby? -- when you have time in the future (and the inspiration).
As you recall from my days at IBC, I've always been more interested in the personal over the political, which is why the blog was called Iraqi Bloggers Central, not Iraqi Politics Central.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Lee,
A stable democracy generally requires a robust middle-class. The American middle-class has been consistently getting hammered down since approximately the early 1980s. That's a recipe for a rise in extremism, (left-wing and right-wing; we're getting much more right-winger extremism--I'll ignore why for now--enough to know that's the way it's slanting). Until the extremes of income inequality are effectively dealt with, we're going to continue to face those extremist tendencies.
The proliferation of internet based "news" so everybody gets to pick their own reality to believe in (if that's what they want to do), is another exacerbating factor.
This is amazing. I've been waiting FIFTEEN YEARS for you to take a personal stand on an issue.
Okay, now we have something to work with. So you really think after Antifa and Portland and the summer riots that "right-winger extremism" is more dangerous? How do you figure?
Inequality? Well, you do know the Pareto distribution, right?
The proliferation of multiple sources of information is fine. Partisan journalism is more common in the history or American journalism than so-called neutral journalism. If you'd like, I can introduce you to the primary books on this topic. I taught how to read newspaper articles back at universities in New York. Schudson's Discovering the News, Mindich's Just the Facts, and Campbell's Getting It Wrong would be a good start.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Lee,
What is a "viral shield"?
You mean like something a surgeon wears while operating?
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
"What's wrong with my quote from Jeremy Ayers?"
I suppose we can start with fact that it's not a quote from Jeremy Ayers. (And you insisting otherwise ain't sufficient. You're a liar and a fraud and a poseur. You insisting is worthless. Gimme a link.)
Lynnette,
That sounds like a progressive idea.
Um, do you mean that in a favorable or unfavorable light? Progressive good or progressive bad?
For many, you must know, a minimum wage that high is just the state creating a class of serfs. The road to serfdom, to complete the hint.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
"I've been waiting FIFTEEN YEARS for you to take a
personal stand on an issue."
You been spending way too much time and effort on your hating.
And just to make sure we're not takin' our eyes off the ball here…
"What's wrong with my quote from Jeremy Ayers?"
Jeffrey @ Sat Nov 14, 08:58 pm ↑↑
I suppose we can start with fact that it's not a quote from Jeremy Ayers. (And you insisting otherwise ain't sufficient. You're a liar and a fraud and a poseur. You insisting is worthless. Gimme a link.)
Lee,
Of course it wasn't from Jeremy Ayers! Duh! It's from Obama (as you damn well know, to use one of your locutions).
Yes, I changed "America" to "socialism" just to see how long it would take you to cut and paste and search and figure out my ruse.
Obama is a globalist. Are you? One World under Obama? Does that sound good to you?
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Lee,
Hating? No.
Pity? Indeed.
Hey, careful, Lee, your viral shield is slipping a little.
Yep, real men go to the store wearing a viral shield.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Good bye Jeffrey.
Lee,
Hold it, I should say that I'm pretty sure that Jeremy Ayers didn't write that quote. Obama has said that for this new book he's going to try to write it himself. Could be, or maybe Ayers is the ghostwriter again. Don't know.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Note to those who like books:
"What I can say for certain is that I’m not yet ready to
abandon the possibility of America—not just for the sake of
future generations of Americans but for all of humankind. I’m
convinced that the pandemic we’re currently living through
is both a manifestation of and a mere interruption in the
relentless march toward an interconnected world, one in
which peoples and cultures can’t help but collide."
Barack Obama ― "A Promised Land"; excerpt published in TheAtlantic
Lee,
Hey, you really didn't discover that the quote is from the recently published pages of Obama's new book? I thought your search chops were pretty good. Strange.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Lee,
Ah, now you found it.
Obama is the ultimate flim-flam university socialist. Believe me, in my career, I've been surrounded by the empty phrases of empty suits like Obama.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Lee,
HE's not ready to abandon the possibility of America?
Who the F*CK is he?
Son of a bitch. I'd love to give him a kick in the ass. What an arrogant prick.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Jeffrey been spending way too much time and effort on his hating. ↑↑
Lee,
Here's the funny part. You're surrounded by Trumpkins, so you hate Trump. Back in the US, I was surrounded by University Socialists, so I hate Obama.
First the gut reacts, and then we talk.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
Lynnette,
I know you voted for and supported Obama.
I did not, so we differ there.
Jeffrey -- Ningbo, China
*
[Jeffrey] Sure, I'd love to see a blog post on life on the ground where you live -- Minneapolis, or a town nearby? -- when you have time in the future (and the inspiration).
lol! Inspiration and time, two key ingredients to a future blog post on Minnesota.
[Lynnette] That sounds like a progressive idea.
[Jeffrey] Um, do you mean that in a favorable or unfavorable light? Progressive good or progressive bad?
What I really believe is that a robust middle class does keep a country stable. What I believe is that people do need social safety nets to help if they are on their own. But I also believe that people should be encouraged to help themselves if at all possible.
For instance, I believed that people needed support when we went into a mandatory lockdown this past spring. I do not believe that they should have received support that exceeded their normal pay. So I do tend to believe the Republicans had a point about the $600 being too much in benefits.
I am pro-choice when it comes to abortion. I do believe that same sex couples should be allowed to have a civil union.
I do not believe in "defunding" police. But then I suspect that many of the people in Minneapolis who threw out that term do not believe it either. It was a poorly worded statement that had legs politically.
So do I think the term "progressive" is bad? That kind of depends on what you mean by "progressive"? I certainly don't care for the term "regressive".
I agree with Joe Biden when he says everyone deserves a fair shake.
Lynnette, once your comment section hits 200 please start a new thread. It’s too cumbersome to scroll over 200 posts on a phone or on a tablet. I’m on a tablet.
That is a request, do with it as you will, it’s your blog..
I know you voted for and supported Obama.
I did not care for Obama when he first appeared on the scene. I felt he was too far left leaning and I too wondered about his friends from his early days.
What did he really intend to do if he became President?
Plus I liked John McCain, despite the regrettable Sarah Palin choice as VP. So I voted for McCain. I do not regret that vote. I still feel that McCain was a man who really did love his country and lived a life of service to it.
But as I watched Obama grow into the Presidency I realized that he was an intelligent man who did actually care for our country. Someone who understood that the office of the presidency was meant to serve the American people, not himself (or herself). He supported some of the things I did, not all, but enough for me to change my mind. So I voted for him when he ran for a second term.
I fully believe that if the Republicans had made an effort to work with him more things may have been different.
[Marcus] Lynnette, once your comment section hits 200 please start a new thread. It’s too cumbersome to scroll over 200 posts on a phone or on a tablet. I’m on a tablet.
I hear you. I noticed that too. But it's not usually been a problem in the past. lol!
You need a subject to address or to question?
Voters in Georgia ain't gonna be able to escape the campaign ads these next two months.
(Probably be an issue for about two months. There will be headlines on the subject, I'd reckon. And the headlines may wind up being the most contested issue. Money in politics and is there really a point of diminishing returns? I think if I was running in Georgia I'd take a stand on money in politics. The Georgians likely to be sick of it by the time they vote in January.)
Or…
Covid cases are up in 49 of the 50 states this week, and it looks like the general public is getting more resistant to wearing masks and maintaining "social" distances as the case load rises, instead of more accepting of it.
I went with something a little more...er...uplifting. ;)
I see that.
Coronavirus news. My hometown Malmö has a morbidity rate so far this year of -1% compared to last year. Neighboring Lund has a morbidity rate of -8%. Stockholm where Covid hit the hardest has a morbidity rate of +9%.
This is without any serious lockdowns at all and just basically general recommendations (which, it has to be said, Swedes usually follow)
Corona has killed a few thousands but likely most of them would have died if they got the seasonal flu or even the common cold. All in all, with few restrictions, the nation wide morbidity rate will be more or less business as usual. The voluntary restrictions have on the other hand saved some people from say the seasonal flu which is way down.
With that in mind is locking down schools, shutting people up in their homes, and crashing entire industries and all the jobs that go with it really a great plan? We never did that and were not facing anything resembling a catastrophe.
NewYorkTimes says Sweden has been suffering covid deaths at the average rate of 34.1 per day (averaged over seven days). With a population of 10.3 million, that'd translate into a United States' equivalent (population 315 million) of roughly 1,074 dead per day (near'bouts the American average of 1,246 per day). You're not doing so well as you might want to pretend. We're not under "lockdown" either and the death rates are roughly compatible.
If you wanna get good numbers you just have to choose your beginning and ending dates carefully and be flexible about what numbers you're willing to go public with. We know those tricks. We been watching the Republicans denying the existence of global warming for decades now.
There’s still the issue of dying FROM Covid19 or dying WITH Covid 19. Most deaths have been with Covid.
It’s just not really that serious a flu. Just do like China and stop the testing and no one would even know there was a new virus. People might be like: this was a bad flu season. And that’d be it.
Never ever in history did we do these insane lockdowns and we’ve faced more serious viruses before.
I get that you, Lee, is afraid as your old and most likely obese and may have several conditions that puts you in the high risk group. But then by all means stay the fuck away from normal people but don’t aspire to drag them down with you. Let kids be kids, and go to school and play around and let normal healthy folks go about their business as usual, and YOU stay cooped up until the virus disappears.
Ridin around in your pickup truck w a face mask on and a plastic visir if you get outta that truck. Gimme a break! Just stay home whydontcha, and let normal folks go about their lives. Scardycat.
Lee “ . We're not under "lockdown" either and the death rates are roughly compatible.”
And for the record you locked down way harder than we did. NYC locked down for real but across the US you shut schools and we never shut a single school for those under 16. So yes, you did lockdown. Gyms, movie theaters, etc. they were forcibly locked down in the US but not in Sweden. And as you youtself posted we STILL have slightly lower Covid death rates.
Lockdowns do not work. And their cumulative effect on health are just beginning to be seen. What with all the divorce, physical abuse in the home, alcoholism, drug abuse, and the long term effects of kids being deprived of proper schooling for almost a year.
Contact tracing works, as the Asian nations proved. They beat the west hands down in pandemic handling. But lockdowns as practionioned in the west are more likely counter productive.
"And for the record you locked down way harder than we did."
Also for the record: A lockdown last spring has virtually NO effect on the resurgence of the virus in the fall. It was never intended to have an effect lasting into the fall. (Other than that the people who did not die in the spring would not somehow become retroactively dead in the fall.) We were comparing current death rates--with the fall resurgence. And our death rates are somewhat higher across the board for various reasons (more citizens without medical insurance for instance, fewer doctors and hospital beds per capita, etc.) that have nothing to do with the lockdowns or lack thereof. The natural life expectancy in Sweden is almost four years longer than in the United States, even prior to the virus.
eof. The natural life expectancy in Sweden is almost four years longer than in the United States, even prior to the virus.
Prolly bc we don’t do stupid ass lockdowns.
"There’s still the issue of dying FROM Covid19 or dying WITH Covid 19."
You've already failed, and failed spectacularly, to produce any supporting evidence for that argument. We're not going to entertain it again without some credible supporting evidence. (Time, place, name, listing corrupted by the supposedly improper 'cause of death' certification, something traceable.)
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