Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Hollycakes]

The point is that the Republican Party has no policies and survives purely off reactionary outrage. Hence the need to keep the outrage machine churning.

This is a better way to say what I was trying with MTG is a strategy now.

[cubby]

It's not just an American thing either. In Canada we have the same problem. My brother works at the hospital and my mother is a Union Rep for the Health Sciences Association. Different ends of the spectrum but they both tell me similar stories. My mom's been put in charge of handling the Vaccine Mandate complaints...and she spends her entire day just listening to people whine about how the Government has no right to do this (which it does) and ask what they can do to prevent this (they can quit or get Vaccinated). And I'll say it again....she works for the Health SCIENCE Association. These aren't unskilled grunts doing housekeeping and laundry. These are Lab Technicians, Pharmacists, etc. And they are calling her up and telling her that Covid is a hoax, or the Vaccine has caused more deaths than Covid, and all that shit we've been hearing for the last 18 months or so. And all she can do is sit there and listen to them complain and then tell them that their only options are to get vaccinated or get fired/quit.

Meanwhile my brother actually works in the Covid ward at his Hospital (which also happens to be the Major Hub Hospital for all the surrounding townships and what not)...and he hears the same kind of whining on the ground level. And he has to deal with protestors getting in his way when he goes to work. He even got to see our Step-sister in the crowd protesting against Vaccine Mandates a few times.

I didn't realize it was that bad in other countries. I'm oddly relieved and even more disappointed at the same time.

[Egomaniac]

I didn't realize it was that bad in other countries. I'm oddly relieved and even more disappointed at the same time.

i mean, we don't have the same level problem here as in the states. It hasn't been made into quite the same kind of political issue here. We just had an election here and the only party that campaigned hard on "no vaccine mandates" didn't get a single seat. Things like that make me feel slightly better because, as loud and angry as they are, those people are still very much in the minority here.

[Ivanstone]

I didn't realize it was that bad in other countries. I'm oddly relieved and even more disappointed at the same time.

Not any different than California. Sure they stand no chance of having political power but there's enough of them to keep spreading the disease around.

[Breccia]

McCabe isn't out of the woods yet. The results of Durham's investigation are expected in May/June time frame.

UPDATE: McCabe is out of the woods.

In addition to Trump never pressing charges, and in addition to any deal with Durham apparently being a fever-dream conspiracy theory, Biden re-instated the retirement McCabe would have gotten if Trump hadn't fired him the day before retirement.

Trump, of course, never showed any evidence McCabe lied, or orchestrated a coverup. He simply tiny handwaved something about Clinton and fired McCabe without provable cause.

Biden not only restored McCabe's retirement, but also paid him all missed payments, and also refunded his court costs incurred when McCabe sued Trump for his retirement, which he had earned, and lost when Trump fired him without cause.

The settlement reached with the DoJ does not admit wrongdoing, nor should it -- Biden's DoJ didn't fire McCabe.

[Ursus]

Given how the Maricopa recount went I'd think they'd want to be more cautious about this sort of thing--what if they found out Biden actually won Florida?

It'll play out the exact same way it did in Arizona. Trump supporters will react in one of two ways:
1. Close their eyes and stick their fingers in their ears and pretend it never happened
2. Claim that the audit (which was initiated by, executed by, and funded by Trump supporters) was rigged against Trump.

[Benggaul]

Friday's report:

92,966 new cases; about 16k fewer than last Friday.

Top 10:

Fuck Florida.
California: 6,296 new cases; 146 deaths
Texas: 6,265 new cases; 266 deaths
New York: 5,901 new cases; 31 deaths
Pennsylvania: 5,725 new cases; 81 deaths
Michigan: 4,995 new cases; 53 deaths
Ohio: 4,937 new cases; 102 deaths
Minnesota: 3,341 new cases; 28 deaths
North Carolina: 3,182 new cases; 46 deaths
Colorado: 2,850 new cases; deaths not reported

California passed Texas on the day's total, but I'm not entirely buying Texas' report. Nationally cases continue to fall and we'll probably stay under 100k for the entirety of next week. I'm not happy with how long the tail is on this wave heading into Fall, but at least we're heading in the right direction. Montana and Alaska are now the only two states listed as "Severe" risk with cases per 100k of 82 and 122 respectively. It's Saturday and I'm feeling lazy so I'm not going to go back and check, but I'm pretty sure that's an increase for Alaska. I seem to recall them being down to around 112 last week, so, you know, not good news. Meanwhile California remains at about 14 cases per 100k and Texas is at around 22. South Dakota has both of them beat at around 35 cases per 100k and has a positivity rate of nearly 19%, so Kristi Noem is still not taking this seriously, to the surprise of nobody. Puerto Rico continues to have the best vaccination rate followed closely by most of New England and Hawaii. The South and Trumpland Northwest continue dominating the bottom of the pile.

1,705 deaths is over 300 fewer than last Friday and brings the total to 743,880. Texas, Georgia and California had the top three and who knows where Florida falls anymore? Fuck Florida. Hey, speaking of Florida, they passed New York in total deaths this past week for third overall in the nation. Meanwhile Texas is within 2k of passing California for first despite having 10 million fewer people--well I suppose it's even fewer now as more than a thousand people per week "master" the pandemic there.

Related news:

All 3 COVID vaccines still produce strong immune response 8 months later

The study helps explain on a cellular level an observation that public health experts are seeing in the real world -- protection against severe disease is holding strong, even as protection against mild breakthrough infections fluctuates over time.

CDC Says Vaccinated People Should Still Wear Masks During Holiday Season to Minimize COVID Risk--It's important for all of us to avoid getting complacent, vaccinated or not. Of course if you're anti-vaxx you're likely ignoring masks too anyway, so I hope you're not too attached to your family.

US officials set stage for vaccination campaign for younger children--We're getting closer to it, but it'll still take ages after the rollout begins for enough kids to be vaccinated to make a difference. I'm still nervous about the Winter.

Stay safe, folks.

[unfilteredJW]

We had our last day of a packed full 3 weeks of fall break here in Florida. Expect a bump around Thanksgiving.

[Breccia]

Expect a bump around Thanksgiving.

Hopefully a smaller one than last year. More people are vaccinated, after all. Yes, even in Florida.

[PhaelixWW]

Hopefully a smaller one than last year. More people are vaccinated, after all. Yes, even in Florida.

Hopefully, but delta didn't exist last winter, either. And because a significant number of people are vaccinated, a lot of things are open now that weren't last year.

[unfilteredJW]

Hopefully, but delta didn't exist last winter, either. And because a significant number of people are vaccinated, a lot of things are open now that weren't last year.

We were very open.

[PhaelixWW]

We were very open.

Well, yes. I was thinking more nationally. Florida could hardly get a bigger wave than the current summer wave...

...hopefully.

[Breccia]

Florida could hardly get a bigger wave than the current summer wave

Here's hoping. I also hope that the increase in vaccinations, plus time served (so to speak), means even Delta won't cause a 2020-holiday-like spike.

There is still time to be vaccinated. Remember, "I just don't want to" makes a really horrible famous last words and/or thing epitaph.

[PhaelixWW]

Isn't it weird how they keep getting spikes during tourist season?

I can quite easily picture DeSantis looking at the death curve of this pandemic and his sole thought being to lament on how Florida isn't more of a winter tourist destination.

[Benggaul]

‘They Can’t Stop Everyone’: GOP Congressman Dangerously Encourages Kids to Defy Statewide School Mask Mandate

In the ongoing movie playing in my mind, I see these words coming back to haunt him as his constituents, in a rare moment of clarity, finally realize that he's been fucking them over at every turn and storm his residence with tar, feathers and rusty farming implements.

[Edge-]

‘They Can’t Stop Everyone’: GOP Congressman Dangerously Encourages Kids to Defy Statewide School Mask Mandate

In the ongoing movie playing in my mind, I see these words coming back to haunt him as his constituents, in a rare moment of clarity, finally realize that he's been fucking them over at every turn and storm his residence with tar, feathers and rusty farming implements.

"The party of law and order."

[Hollycakes]

Ugh if anyone saw DeSantis' latest conference he's decided to start doing Tuckerface.
He was telling Biden how divisive his vax mandates are and went straight to that empty distant monkey look Tucks is always pulling.
I'd ss it for you but refuse to have my imgur tainted.
Just think of a confused monkey trying to poop.
In other news, his wife is blind.

Edit: annnnd lol the principle in that article said:
“Being able to expose students to different worldviews is important on both sides,” he told the Rappahannock News. “We don’t endorse one way or the other.”

AFTER this was said:
Good said that no scientific evidence exists to prove that masks prevent the spread of Covid-19, and he claimed President Joe Biden and Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam are “lying to us about the effectiveness of masks.”

AND Finally:
High School Principal Carlos Seward attended the event and felt that Good “reflected his own values"

Edit 2:
Weren't they the same ones freaking out about too much zoom is bad for the kids.
Learning is suffering etc etc
Yet NOW get yourself suspended out of principle and it doesn't matter.
The pretense they even slightly care about education is fucking hilarious.

3:
To put a ribbon on this idiocy, from Breccia's link:

“We now have evidence from a randomized, controlled trial that mask promotion increases the use of face coverings and prevents the spread of COVID-19,” said Stephen Luby, MD, professor of medicine at Stanford.

[Breccia]

Good said that no scientific evidence exists to prove that masks prevent the spread of Covid-19

This is, of course, a blatant, objective lie.

Here are 49 studies.

And here's 50, a joint study from Stanford and Yale. It was done on three-hundred fifty thousand people.

Anyone who says "there is no evidence" is lying. It's not even questionable.

- - - Updated - - -

The State of Arizona announces it will use $36 million in federal funds (most of which were aimed at COVID) to pay low-income heating and utility bills.

"What's wrong with that?"

For me? Nothing. I just want to hear how the Arizona GOP rationalize this, because this sure sounds like welfare to me.

[Dontrike]

‘They Can’t Stop Everyone’: GOP Congressman Dangerously Encourages Kids to Defy Statewide School Mask Mandate

In the ongoing movie playing in my mind, I see these words coming back to haunt him as his constituents, in a rare moment of clarity, finally realize that he's been fucking them over at every turn and storm his residence with tar, feathers and rusty farming implements.

Pretty sure they can stop those kids, hell I'm sure teachers will be more okay with teaching less kids in classes.

[gondrin]

‘They Can’t Stop Everyone’: GOP Congressman Dangerously Encourages Kids to Defy Statewide School Mask Mandate

In the ongoing movie playing in my mind, I see these words coming back to haunt him as his constituents, in a rare moment of clarity, finally realize that he's been fucking them over at every turn and storm his residence with tar, feathers and rusty farming implements.

Eh, I say if any student purposefully decided not to wear a mask, I would put it in policy that they would automatically fail all classes for the day as they are not in uniform. Granted, not sure if it is legal to do so though but it gives them the illusion of choice.