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Reports of protests are overblown. A few incidents around the country, but nothing major.

5 (45.5%)

A few major incidents in capitals, but nothing much in DC.

5 (45.5%)

A major incident in DC, but nothing much around the country.

0 (0%)

More than 10 capitals have major upheavals, but nothing much in DC.

0 (0%)

A major incident in DC plus more than 10 capitals with significant upheavals.

1 (9.1%)

More than half the capitals around the country have problems with protesters, but DC is quiet.

0 (0%)

DC has major problems, while more than half the capitals around the country also have considerable trouble with protesters.

0 (0%)

Huge disruption to the day.

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 9

Voting closed: January 19, 2021, 10:49:21 PM

[Kam]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/portland-sees-peaceful-night-of-protests-following-withdrawal-of-federal-troops/ar-BB17pr3f?ocid=sf&fbclid=IwAR2GvUaDS8VumfH1hcAF6Y-5b8Rz_4SVpQfIzjBJ1c6jlN5n8oXTpHZ0dEU

What a shocker in Portland!

Let's go!!!!!!

FUCK YOU, CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/02/us/los-angeles-first-responders-covid-party/index.html

Stop shitposting.

[bodiddley]

“He’s  [Trump] been so attentive to the scientific literature and the details and the data,” Birx said. “I think his ability to analyze and integrate data that comes out of his long history in business has really been a real benefit during these discussions about medical issues.”

Dr. Birx interview with a Christian Broadcast Network March 20, 2020

I do recall her praising Trump at times.
But I figured if she needs to blow a little smoke up his ass to get him to attend to the genuine science, that's fine.  But her science seems to have been all wrong.
Perhaps she got too caught up in having the president's ear and having folks discuss her fashion choices.  But all she did was provide cover and bad advice to Trump.

Fauci has been better than Birx, but he initially lied to the American people about the need/utility of face masks.  Inexcusable and deadly.  Never advocated for a national plan, until he mentioned it finally a few days ago, in August.  Has been willing to contradict some extremely dumb Trump ideas, such as recommending an unproven malaria drug.  So another way of putting it is that Fauci was pretty useless and harmful for months and has improved.  He seems to know what needs to be done when it's way too late ...

And even Trump recognized how useless Redfield and Hahn were and sidelined them before they could stumble around too much, though they helped waste a crucial few weeks.

[bodiddley]

Candace Owens and Blexit are the future.
BLEXIT is a beacon that will show African Americans young and old the right path to freedom. Freedom from all the things wrong with their lives today.

Yeah, black people should throw in their lot with the racists, then they'll be accepted  for sure ...

How it will get them freedom from racism, is still being worked out ...

[bodiddley]

Sick.  The lack of tears for this kid and others is just appalling
https://thelistwire.usatoday.com/2020/08/01/new-mexico-lobos-hoops-commit-fedonta-j-b-white-18-fatally-shot/

Yeah, maybe we should rethink our pro-crime and pro-murder stance.

Kid would most probably still be alive if we had a no-gun society, as in China, Japan, Australia, UK, most other peaceful countries.

[Echo4]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/03/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-deborah-birx/index.html

Dr. Birx is singing Trump's tune no longer.

Dr. Deborah Birx delivered a series of stunning warnings on CNN's "State of the Union" five months into a pandemic that the President once said posed no threat to Americans but has now killed more than 150,000 of them.

"What we are seeing today is different from March and April. It is extraordinarily widespread. It's into the rural as equal urban areas," Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, told CNN's Dana Bash.

Birx even suggested that some Americans in multi-generational families should start wearing masks in their home and assume that they already have the disease. She did not reject a warning by former Federal Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb that there could be 300,000 coronavirus deaths by the end of the year, saying, "Anything is possible."

"To everybody who lives in a rural area, you are not immune or protected from this virus," Birx said. Her comments came after her colleague, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told a House committee on Friday it was "unclear" how long the crisis will last. But the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Americans to brace for an average of 1,000 deaths a day for the next 30 days.
And while there are some signs that infections have plateaued in sunbelt states in the last week, albeit at high levels, Birx's words suggest new epicenters are looming, a situation hardly consistent with Trump's description of "embers" of infection. The President speaks optimistically about a coming vaccination -- though experts say it could still be months away -- and boasts about advances in therapeutics and of building thousands of ventilators. But the horrible statistics of the pandemic are relentless with 1,000 Americans dying almost every day. And the administration response appears -- as it has from the start -- short of the scale needed to beat back the worst public health crisis in 100 years.

'Assume you are infected'

With a vaccine still lacking, Birx also warned that too many Americans were not taking the virus sufficiently seriously, in another jarring disconnect from the President's messaging.

"Across America right now, people are on the move ... as I traveled around the country, I saw all of America moving. I think it's our job, as public health officials, to be able to get a message to each American that says, if you have chosen to go on vacation into a hot spot, you really need to come back and protect those with comorbidities and assume you're infected."

[Echo4]

A 26-day-old baby in Pennsylvania tested positive for Covid-19 following an autopsy, Berks County Acting Coroner Jonn Hollenbach told CNN Thursday.

Hollenbach said the baby girl did not necessarily die from Covid-19 and the cause of death remains under investigation. There was no suspicion of foul play and a toxicology screening has been ordered, he said.

We'll keep an eye on the cause of death and hope that it was neither caused by COVID-19 directly or from secondary conditions that would not have resulted in death otherwise.

And with luck, they will be able to tell whether anybody else was infected by her, while they are at it.

[bodiddley]

Well, everyone is abandoning Trump these days.  It's allowed now.
 

[Birx] did not reject a warning by former Federal Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb that there could be 300,000 coronavirus deaths by the end of the year, saying, "Anything is possible."

Anything is possible is not the kind of info/messaging I want from an expert/scientist.  What's her model say?  Maybe 300K is possible, but is it likely?  If anything is possible, how about 500K or 1M?  How does such a figure/possibility affect school reopenings?  What's the correct response, etc?

There's something very hollow about Birx.  Nice scarves though ...

[barton]

Something like 20 topics launched since I last looked in.   Consider this my vote for:

Everyone gets to post two links/day.   No shitposting (Kam noticed the prevalence).  Summarize a couple main points,  with the link.  (for example,  Josh's link to the counselor writing about the psychological effects of remote learning -- she was saying that behavioral sciences have high levels of uncertainty about individual outcomes -- WELL YES. ). 

Finally, regarding posts that boil down to "Trump is a horrible corrupt person who sucks at governing" -- YA THINK???   Could we just stipulate that members either a)  know this,  or b)  will never ever accept this,  at least in any public interaction?    Similarly, posts that boil down to "Trump admin handling of CV outbreak stank."  Again,  got it.   I don't need these realities to rent every single unit inside my head.   I don't need to fire up my outrage machine for every incompetent and often self-serving and often mean-spirited act of a public official.   I already understand that many elected officials are high-functioning sociopaths.   

Vote.   Donate.  Support groups that fight for civil rights, the rule of law,  a clean environment, prison reform, fair labor practices, more bike trails,  less light pollution, whatever you really care about.

Cheers.   

[bodiddley]

Gov Scott Walker and American Legislative Exchange Council think now is a good time to have a constitutional convention and enact a balanced budget amendment.

Jesus is that the dumbest idea at the worst time.  If the feds couldn't borrow money all the state gov'ts would be totally out of luck, and have to cut back on everything.  While the states and feds wouldn't have the money to fight the virus for one thing.
This is a classic case of an emergency where deficit spending makes tons of sense, and one should be questioning the wisdom of the states being constrained by balanced budget laws.  Furthermore, borrowing costs are negligible, with the 30 year Treasury rate at 1.3%.  Great time and great need to borrow large.
A complete economic disaster to limit federal spending now.

A federal balanced budget amendment is always a stupid idea, but doing so now would be criminal.  Maybe we should cut corporate taxes too ...

[kiidcarter8]

(Kid, if you so much as post "but how do we know that's why she died," I will remove you from our misery.)


Was that the teacher - 60ish - with the medical conditions?

Tough choice for these educators, I agree.

[kiidcarter8]

They will carefully step over or around your body, or on it if it's more convenient, or kick it if you annoyed them, then move on.


Heh

Yeah - that's why we are for law and order - and you.... not so much

[NeedsAdjustments]

Finally, regarding posts that boil down to "Trump is a horrible corrupt person who sucks at governing" -- YA THINK???   Could we just stipulate that members either a)  know this,  or b)  will never ever accept this,  at least in any public interaction?    Similarly, posts that boil down to "Trump admin handling of CV outbreak stank."  Again,  got it.   I don't need these realities to rent every single unit inside my head.   I don't need to fire up my outrage machine for every incompetent and often self-serving and often mean-spirited act of a public official.   I already understand that many elected officials are high-functioning sociopaths.   

That kind of fatigue leads to normalization.  And I don't think Trump is unaware of that.  Stacking one outrageous abuse of power on top of another is the plan.  And getting so tired of hearing about it that you no longer care is how he wins.

Just over the last few days we learned that the Trump Administration killed a national testing strategy at the start of the pandemic because it was blue states that were getting hit.  We also learned one of the numerous ways that he is attempting to disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans this November so that he can cheat himself back into power.

These things aren't "ho hum Trump is corrupt."  Its our Democracy under direct attack.  And we should go into that with eyes open.  Particularly because it will go a long way toward explaining the Trump-created chaos we are sure to see come election day.

On a far more local forum scale, when the Trumpists here start making shit up about Biden or Warren and pretending to be outraged about one made-up scandal or another just like they did with Obama, I don't want them to be able to pretend that they didn't know what they were supporting when they supported Trump so that they could get their tax cuts, their judges and their racism.

[NeedsAdjustments]

Yeah - that's why we are for law and order - and you.... not so much

You are for law being applied to those without power, and those (currently) with power being given the green light to ignore it however that serves them.

That's not being for law and order.  You can't possibly support Trump and be for law and order.

[kiidcarter8]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/01/schools-reopening-coronavirus-arizona-superintendent/?arc404=true&fbclid=IwAR1JtrtCOYli0HtojyvfsJJNwtI0sr93r_Q0-1iBoFB-qX-A1t2lUT_R7LY

This is from a superintendent who has already lost a teacher to COVID-19, because she was teaching summer school.


(Kid, if you so much as post "but how do we know that's why she died," I will remove you from our misery.)

Voices from the Pandemic

‘I’m sorry, but it’s a fantasy’
Jeff Gregorich, superintendent, on trying to reopen his schools safely

This is my choice, but I’m starting to wish that it wasn’t. I don’t feel qualified. I’ve been a superintendent for 20 years, so I guess I should be used to making decisions, but I keep getting lost in my head. I’ll be in my office looking at a blank computer screen, and then all of the sudden I realize a whole hour’s gone by. I’m worried. I’m worried about everything. Each possibility I come up with is a bad one.

The governor has told us we have to open our schools to students on August 17th, or else we miss out on five percent of our funding. I run a high-needs district in middle-of-nowhere Arizona. We’re 90 percent Hispanic and more than 90 percent free-and-reduced lunch. These kids need every dollar we can get. But covid is spreading all over this area and hitting my staff, and now it feels like there’s a gun to my head. I already lost one teacher to this virus. Do I risk opening back up even if it’s going to cost us more lives? Or do we run school remotely and end up depriving these kids?

This is your classic one-horse town. Picture John Wayne riding through cactuses and all that. I’m superintendent, high school principal and sometimes the basketball referee during recess. This is a skeleton staff, and we pay an average salary of about 40,000 a year. I’ve got nothing to cut. We’re buying new programs for virtual learning and trying to get hotspots and iPads for all our kids. Five percent of our budget is hundreds of thousands of dollars. Where’s that going to come from? I might lose teaching positions or basic curriculum unless we somehow get up and running.

I’ve been in the building every day, sanitizing doors and measuring out space in classrooms. We still haven’t received our order of Plexiglas barriers, so we’re cutting up shower curtains and trying to make do with that. It’s one obstacle after the next. Just last week I found out we had another staff member who tested positive, so I went through the guidance from OSHA and the CDC and tried to figure out the protocols. I’m not an expert at any of this, but I did my best with the contact tracing. I called 10 people on staff and told them they’d had a possible exposure. I arranged separate cars and got us all to the testing site. Some of my staff members were crying. They’ve seen what can happen, and they’re coming to me with questions I can’t always answer. “Does my whole family need to get tested?” “How long do I have to quarantine?” “What if this virus hits me like it did Mrs. Byrd?”

We got back two of those tests already — both positive. We’re still waiting on eight more. That makes 11 percent of my staff that’s gotten covid, and we haven’t had a single student in our buildings since March. Part of our facility is closed down for decontamination, but we don’t have anyone left to decontaminate it unless I want to put on my hazmat suit and go in there. We’ve seen the impacts of this virus on our maintenance department, on transportation, on food service, on faculty. It’s like this district is shutting down case by case. I don’t understand how anyone could expect us to reopen the building this month in a way that feels safe. It’s like they’re telling us: “Okay. Summer’s over. It’s been long enough. Time to get back to normal.” But since when has this virus operated on our schedule?

I dream about going back to normal. I’d love to be open. These kids are hurting right now. I don’t need a politician to tell me that. We only have 300 students in this district, and they’re like family. My wife is a teacher here, and we had four kids go through these schools. I know whose parents are laid off from the copper mine and who doesn’t have enough to eat. We delivered breakfast and lunches this summer, and we gave out more meals each day than we have students. I get phone calls from families dealing with poverty issues, depression, loneliness, boredom. Some of these kids are out in the wilderness right now, and school is the best place for them. We all agree on that. But every time I start to play out what that looks like on August 17th, I get sick to my stomach. More than a quarter of our students live with grandparents. These kids could very easily catch this virus, spread it and bring it back home. It’s not safe. There’s no way it can be safe.

If you think anything else, I’m sorry, but it’s a fantasy. Kids will get sick, or worse. Family members will die. Teachers will die.

Sounds like Gregoric has made his decision - and a wise one.  A good man, indeed.

He foregoes the 5%.   The governor should reconsider.  Lets see what occurs.

I do have one question - the 10 teachers that were being traced - what were they doing - to be so close to the teacher who was first diagnosed?  Were they distancing, masked, etc?

Not passing any judgment - I am just interested in if they were infected while protecting themselves properly - and thus others could be as well.

(By the way - had the mask on 4 hours straight yesterday - outdoors.  I know you are proud of me)

[REDSTATEWARD]

Something like 20 topics launched since I last looked in.   Consider this my vote for:

Everyone gets to post two links/day.   No shitposting (Kam noticed the prevalence).  Summarize a couple main points,  with the link.  (for example,  Josh's link to the counselor writing about the psychological effects of remote learning -- she was saying that behavioral sciences have high levels of uncertainty about individual outcomes -- WELL YES. ). 

Finally, regarding posts that boil down to "Trump is a horrible corrupt person who sucks at governing" -- YA THINK???   Could we just stipulate that members either a)  know this,  or b)  will never ever accept this,  at least in any public interaction?    Similarly, posts that boil down to "Trump admin handling of CV outbreak stank."  Again,  got it.   I don't need these realities to rent every single unit inside my head.   I don't need to fire up my outrage machine for every incompetent and often self-serving and often mean-spirited act of a public official.   I already understand that many elected officials are high-functioning sociopaths.   

Vote.   Donate.  Support groups that fight for civil rights, the rule of law,  a clean environment, prison reform, fair labor practices, more bike trails,  less light pollution, whatever you really care about.

Cheers.

Nothing like violating your own suggestions.LOL!