The all-new "US Politics and coronavirus" thread pt. 3

[thaiboxerken]

Originally Posted by Trebuchet

Former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker isn't going to look weak! He boldly went out for pizza, in support of a local restaurant. And posted a picture.

Funny how that pizza is identical to the one he posted about in 2019. But hey, he's a Republican, he wouldn't lie to us!

It's so strange that these idiots believe going out and getting disease is a show of strength. I wonder if these fools feel the same way about STD's.

[dudalb]

Originally Posted by Craig4

I've always assumed blackmail.

I am beginning to wonder about that.
I always though he was just a total sellout, something like Richard Rich in "A Man For All Seasons" who betrayed his close friend for power,,but I really wonder now if something else is not involved. I think he knows that many of his GOP colleagues in the Senate regarw him with contempt,and with Trump out of office he can't be rewarded with high postion, but the ass kissing continues.\
But iMHO Graham has sold his soul, and has not even gotten 30 pieces of silver in return...

[Aridas]

To poke at a post from another thread here...

Originally Posted by marting

I pretty good summary of facts v myths and CTs

https://gidmk.medium.com/20-facts-ab...9-1afbb026bc98

Of particular note for this thread, though, I'll poke at a couple of them -

Quote:

FACT 6: EVIDENCE PUBLISHED THUS FAR SHOWS NO INCREASE IN SUICIDES ASSOCIATED WITH LOCKDOWNS

This is another complex point, but basically people were sure that lockdowns would cause enormous surges in the suicide rate. Thus far, from evidence around the world, we have not seen such increases. There are definitely issues with mental health associated with lockdowns, and it’s likely that the pandemic itself will have an impact on suicides, but so far the published data do not show increases in suicide numbers associated with lockdowns.

FACT 7: THE <ECONOMIC> IMPACT OF GOVERNMENT RESTRICTIONS ON COVID-19 IS COMPLEX

This should come as no surprise to anyone, but the impact of implementing restrictions (such as lockdowns) to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is not a simple calculation. As the International Monetary Fund has shown, in some cases there may be a net benefit from lockdowns. In some cases there may be a net detriment. It is complex, and very hard to pin down to a definite good/bad, no matter how much people may want it to be simple.

<snip>

FACT 13: YOU CANNOT COMPARE GOVERNMENT ACTION ON COVID-19 TO “LIFE AS USUAL”

This is something of an obvious fact, but again a point that is often made by denialists. If we took no action on COVID-19, apparently, life would be back to normal. This is obviously untrue, because having an out-of-control epidemic raging through your population and filling up ICU beds also has consequences for the economy, as the IMF report referenced above shows.

<snip>

FACT 15: COVID-19 WAS THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IN THE UNITED STATES TOWARDS THE END OF 2020

A new scientific paper was recently published looking at public statistics on mortality in the U.S. during 2020. The daily deaths attributable to COVID-19 were the highest of any cause for several months of the year, and overall it was the third leading cause of death behind heart attacks and cancer. Moreover, even though COVID-19 was only officially the cause of death for 40% of the excess deaths in young people during 2020, it is likely that this is due to undercounting and that COVID-19 was the primary cause of excess fatalities even in younger age groups.

<ECONOMIC> was added by me for clarity.

[CapelDodger]

Originally Posted by dudalb

But iMHO Graham has sold his soul, and has not even gotten 30 pieces of silver in return...

Graham's mental state is a mystery to me, but it smacks of something very unhealthy.

[Resume]

From Worldometer:

Quote:

United States
Coronavirus Cases:
19,573,847
Deaths:
341,138

New Cases:
127,740
New Deaths:
1,215

[quadraginta]

Originally Posted by Craig4

Originally Posted by Skeptic Ginger

<snip>

Lindsay Graham is apparently at Mar-a-Lago having a great time kissing Trump's ass. I really wonder what his motives are. Maybe he's one of those people that drank the Koolaid.

I've always assumed blackmail.

Opportunism is just as likely, if not more so.

For that matter, I'm not sure it's even possible to blackmail a Republican anymore.

There would have to be some transgression so egregious that the blackmail target would be desperate not to be exposed.

Not sure how many of those are left. Most of them have already been shrugged off by some GOPer or another like water off a duck's back. "Fake News", "deep state anti-Trumper" or "I did it for the good of the country" seem to excuse just about anything to the GOP core supporters. Even outright convictions on straight-up guilty pleas don't seem to make a dent.

Proof of being a closet Democrat might do it, but so many of them are accusing each other of that already that any accusations with evidence (which isn't a Republican thing anyway) would just get lost in the background noise.

In a weird sort of way Republicans have made themselves almost blackmail-proof simply by being guilty of and having gotten away with so much that the people who would be inclined to vote GOP just don't care anymore.

[quadraginta]

Originally Posted by thaiboxerken

It's so strange that these idiots believe going out and getting disease is a show of strength. I wonder if these fools feel the same way about STD's.

Real Men™ don't use condoms?

[sphenisc]

Was there a forum poll about Covid deaths way back?

Can't seem to find it. Thanks.

[Armitage72]

Originally Posted by Craig4

Have you ever met a Muslim? That's so screwed up it's not even wrong. It's like it's like 2+2 equals fish territory. Spend less time imitating the mating calls of imaginary creatures and do some travel, would you?

Next, you'll be trying to claim that Mecca is a city east of the Red Sea, and not the afterlife it was portrayed as in the original post. Ridiculous!

[Resume]

From Worldometer:

Quote:

United States
Coronavirus Cases:
19,781,624
Deaths:
343,18

New Cases:
186,296
New Deaths:
1,966

[Skeptic Ginger]

Rubio's outrageous hypocrisy is called out by CNN's Ana Navarro. Rubio jumped the line to get his COVID vaccine dose and now he's criticizing Fauci, calling him a liar among other things.

YouTube Video This video is not hosted by the ISF. The ISF can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website.

I AGREE

[Checkmite]

A tale of two tweets.

[Captain_Swoop]

Trump tweets

It is up to the States to distribute the vaccines once brought to the designated areas by the Federal Government. We have not only developed the vaccines, including putting up money to move the process along quickly, but gotten them to the states. Biden failed with Swine Flu!

[Resume]

From Worldometer:

Quote:

United States
Coronavirus Cases:
19,977,704
Deaths:
346,579

New Cases:
194,860
New Deaths:
3,398

[JoeMorgue]

Congressman-elect Luke Letlow, a Republican, has died after being diagnosed with Covid-19, CNN confirmed Tuesday night.

CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/29/polit...vid/index.html

Letlow would have become the Congressional Representative for Louisana's 15th District when the new Congress was sworn in. I'm not 100% certain what happens to his seat now.

[dudalb]

3700 American dies of COvid today.
Which makes this the bloodiest day in US History taking down sep 21st 1862,the battle of Antietam as the US's deadliest day.

[DevilsAdvocate]

Originally Posted by JoeMorgue

Congressman-elect Luke Letlow, a Republican, has died after being diagnosed with Covid-19, CNN confirmed Tuesday night.

CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/29/polit...vid/index.html

Letlow would have become the Congressional Representative for Louisana's 15th District when the new Congress was sworn in. I'm not 100% certain what happens to his seat now.

Only 41 years old with no underlying conditions.

[Regnad Kcin]

Originally Posted by JoeMorgue

Congressman-elect Luke Letlow, a Republican, has died after being diagnosed with Covid-19, CNN confirmed Tuesday night.

CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/29/polit...vid/index.html

Letlow would have become the Congressional Representative for Louisana's 15th District when the new Congress was sworn in. I'm not 100% certain what happens to his seat now.

Disinfected?



Too soon?

[Aridas]

Originally Posted by JoeMorgue

Congressman-elect Luke Letlow, a Republican, has died after being diagnosed with Covid-19, CNN confirmed Tuesday night.

CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/29/polit...vid/index.html

Letlow would have become the Congressional Representative for Louisana's 15th District when the new Congress was sworn in. I'm not 100% certain what happens to his seat now.

To hazard a fairly safe guess based on other states... that will likely trigger a temporary appointment and a special election for a replacement.

[Checkmite]

Originally Posted by DevilsAdvocate

Only 41 years old with no underlying conditions.

He announced a positive test on the 18th and died 11 days later.

It's not a hoax, people.

[Checkmite]

Originally Posted by JoeMorgue

Letlow would have become the Congressional Representative for Louisana's 15th District when the new Congress was sworn in. I'm not 100% certain what happens to his seat now.

Minor correction: 5th District. Louisiana most definitely does not have 15 House seats.

As for his seat; the 2nd District was already planning a special election in March to replace incumbent and 2020 winner Cedric Richmond due to Richmond's accepting a Senior Advisor post in the Biden Administration. I anticipate the 5th will hold theirs at the same time.

[Skeptic Ginger]

Originally Posted by Regnad Kcin

Disinfected?

Too soon?

That's a good one.

This is from the link:

Quote:

Under Louisiana state law, a special election will now take place to elect someone to represent the state's 5th Congressional District, which Letlow had carried in a runoff election earlier this month with 62% of the vote. The district is heavily Republican and encompasses much of eastern Louisiana.

Dead 11 days after diagnosis is pretty scary.

I want to know if he got infected visiting his fellow Republicans in DC, one of those mask-less parties.

[gregthehammer]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Trump tweets

It is up to the States to distribute the vaccines once brought to the designated areas by the Federal Government. We have not only developed the vaccines, including putting up money to move the process along quickly, but gotten them to the states. Biden failed with Swine Flu!

I'll take "Biden's swine flue failure" (how many Americans died? 12 thousand or so?) over Trump's 346 K death (and counting) "winning" any day.

[Aridas]

Looks like US just dropped a spot in the per capita listings.


Russia admits to world's third-worst Covid-19 death toll

More than 186,000 Russians have died due to coronavirus, three times more than previously reported

Well over 3 times, actually, by the look of it.

[Babbylonian]

Originally Posted by Aridas

Looks like US just dropped a spot in the per capita listings.


Russia admits to world's third-worst Covid-19 death toll

More than 186,000 Russians have died due to coronavirus, three times more than previously reported

Well over 3 times, actually, by the look of it.

What a surprise. Did anyone really think that Putin and his fellow criminals were working at all to protect their fellow citizens? You can bet that they look at this as thinning the herd, leaving more for the few while the many get ******.

[newyorkguy]

Originally Posted by gregthehammer

I'll take "Biden's swine flue failure" (how many Americans died? 12 thousand or so?) over Trump's 346 K death (and counting) "winning" any day.

From Politico:

Quote:

Over the course of a year, the H1N1 flu infected 60 million Americans, but claimed only 12,469 lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Klain now says his comments, which were made at a biosecurity summit [their success was due to luck], referred solely to the administration’s difficulties in producing enough of an H1N1 vaccine to meet public demand. The Obama team, he says, quickly adapted to the situation, making choices that were starkly different from those the Trump administration would make 11 years later, such as quickly distributing emergency equipment from the federal stockpile, deferring to public health experts and having them take the lead on messaging. Politico link

[Blue Mountain]

Originally Posted by dudalb

3700 American dies of COvid today.
Which makes this the bloodiest day in US History taking down sep 21st 1862,the battle of Antietam as the US's deadliest day.

This is likely the Thanksgiving surge staring to show up in the mortality count.

[kookbreaker]

Originally Posted by dudalb

3700 American dies of COvid today.
Which makes this the bloodiest day in US History taking down sep 21st 1862,the battle of Antietam as the US's deadliest day.

Uncertain, as some days during the 1918 pandemic had as many as 6000+ dead during its height.

[Captain_Swoop]

Trump Tweets

The Federal Government has distributed the vaccines to the states. Now it is up to the states to administer. Get moving!

[Solitaire]

I know the news mentioned phase one distribution of the vaccine, and I think it goes
through four phases before it the general public gets it, but they didn't mention a timeline.

I read an article that said it will take six months before the general public will get
the vaccine. Surely that's wrong.

[jrhowell]

Originally Posted by Solitaire

I read an article that said it will take six months before the general public will get the vaccine. Surely that's wrong.

It's hard to say how long it will take before it is offered to the last group.

In the county where I live in Florida they are setting up a website to allow the next group in line, those 65 and over, to register to receive the vaccine. From Nextdoor:

Quote:

DOH-Pinellas Prepares to Vaccinate Those 65+. We are pleased to have been selected as part of the pilot program to be among the first two counties in Florida to provide vaccines to those in Skilled Nursing Facilities. We reached the county's 68 Skilled Nursing Facilities within five days of the arrival of the Pfizer vaccine, immunizing 6,700 staff and residents. Additionally, we provided vaccines to EMS / Fire Rescue and other healthcare personnel.

More than 12,300 people have been vaccinated in the county to date.

We will be offering both a first and second dose of the vaccine in the Skilled Nursing Facilities starting next week in a continuation of our pilot.

Our next priority is setting a vaccine plan for those who are 65 years old or older.

We will launch this effort on Tuesday, Jan. 5. Our reservation system is expected to go live at noon on Monday, Jan. 4. We will provide information on how to reserve a time at a designated vaccination location once those details become available.

[Segnosaur]

Originally Posted by Solitaire

I know the news mentioned phase one distribution of the vaccine, and I think it goes
through four phases before it the general public gets it, but they didn't mention a timeline.

I read an article that said it will take six months before the general public will get
the vaccine. Surely that's wrong.

I don't know... seems to fit in with the proposed timeline of the vaccine rollout in Canada.

Here, they are predicting that they won't start vaccinating people in 'Phase 3' (basically the "everyone gets one" phase) until August, so a timeline of 6 months in the U.S. would make sense.

(I guess it depends on how you define 'general public'... since I suspect there will be ever-expanding groups of eligible recipients... )

[Resume]

From Worldometer:

Quote:

United States
Coronavirus Cases:
20,216,991
Deaths:
350,778

New Cases:
234,550
New Deaths:
3,880

[Solitaire]

Originally Posted by Segnosaur

I don't know... seems to fit in with the proposed timeline of the vaccine
rollout in Canada.

Here, they are predicting that they won't start vaccinating people in 'Phase 3'
(basically the "everyone gets one" phase) until August, so a timeline of 6 months
in the U.S. would make sense.

(I guess it depends on how you define 'general public'... since I suspect there
will be ever-expanding groups of eligible recipients... )

I worry that given that the virus grows by a factor of ten in uneven spurts over
periods of six months, we might see two million cases a day.

I found the article again. I really need to write these down on paper.

Quote:

Every American Should Get A COVID Vaccine By The End Of June by Yoni Heisler

Earlier this month, U.S. officials said that 20 million people will have been
vaccinated by the end of January. With only 2 million people vaccinated thus far,
vaccinations will really have to ramp up over the next few weeks in order to meet
that target.

According to Operation Warp Speed advisor Moncef Slaoui, the U.S. is aiming
to vaccinate 100 million people by the end of February. It’s an ambitious goal,
to be sure, but is hopefully one that the U.S. can meet.

Maybe things will get better.


P. S. Oh dear...

Quote:

60% Of Ohio Nursing Home Workers Refuse Vaccine by Marty Schladen

“Our bigger concern is the amount of staff who are not taking it,” DeWine said.
“I don’t have data in front of me, but anecdotally, it looks like somewhere around
40% of staff at nursing homes are taking the vaccines and 60% are not taking it.”

Those figures are disturbing not only because of what they might say about
attitudes toward the vaccines among the larger population. They also mean
that most staffers will be unprotected as they move between the outside
world and nursing homes filled with vulnerable people — some of whom
will not be able to take the vaccine for medical reasons.

[Segnosaur]

Originally Posted by Solitaire

I worry that given that the virus grows by a factor of ten in uneven spurts over periods of six months, we might see two million cases a day.

I am not saying things are going to get better quickly. And the next month or 2 will be a big problem.

But eventually as more people get vaccinated the infection rate should hopefully start to drop. It won't quite be at the level required for herd immunity, but it might keep the virus from running wild.

[tyr_13]

Originally Posted by Segnosaur

I am not saying things are going to get better quickly. And the next month or 2 will be a big problem.

But eventually as more people get vaccinated the infection rate should hopefully start to drop. It won't quite be at the level required for herd immunity, but it might keep the virus from running wild.

It will drop rates low enough that negligent clowns will cite it as yet another reason it was 'really no big deal' and we 'destroyed our economy for nothing'.

Success from safety measures breeds contempt for safety measure in the insecure.

[Armitage72]

Originally Posted by tyr_13

It will drop rates low enough that negligent clowns will cite it as yet another reason it was 'really no big deal' and we 'destroyed our economy for nothing'.

Success from safety measures breeds contempt for safety measure in the insecure.

See, for example, the various people who say "Why do we need the FDA? Our food is safe now."

[dudalb]

In Georgia, GOP Senate candidate Perdue is in Qurantivne because of close exposure to Coivd 19 from a campaign worker. No appreance with Donnie on Monday for him.

[Captain_Swoop]

A former Wisconsin hospital worker was arrested on Thursday afternoon after telling authorities he intentionally removed COViD-19 vaccines from the refrigerator at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton.

The Grafton Police Department announced the arrest in a news release, but did not provide the name of the pharmacist arrested. He is currently being held in the Ozaukee County Jail and faces tentative charges of recklessly endangering safety, altering a prescription drug and criminal damage to property. The pharmacist is a resident of Grafton, according to the release.

Last week, a former employee of Advocate Aurora Health in Grafton deliberately removed 57 vials of the Moderna vaccine from refrigeration spoiling over 500 doses of the vaccine.

On Thursday, the president of the Aurora Health Care Medical Group said 57 people received one of spoiled vaccines. The president also said there is no health harm to getting a spoiled vaccine.

The value of the spoiled vaccines is estimated to be around $8,000 to $11,000, police said.

There is no known motive as to why the pharmacist did this.

https://www.channel3000.com/former-w...virus-vaccine/

[Resume]

From Worldometer:

Quote:

United States
Coronavirus Cases:
20,445,654
Deaths:
354,215

New Cases:
228,413
New Deaths:
3,438