OT: Coronavirus (COVID-19) Part II (READ THE OP)

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

They found the guy with all the answers! Great job CNN.

View attachment 338085

No offense, but the work he has done in Haiti dwarfs anything our current President has done to help anyone in his life.

 

[sbjnyc]

Am completely with you. The question that I have is that are the senators obligated to follow the same nmpi rules that for example asset managers are? If not, then what they did is not illegal but unethical. Providing that it looks exactly what it looks like.

They passed the Stock Act in 2012. Burr was one of only 3 senators to vote against it.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Maybe I'm showing my hand politically here but does anyone else think that the media acting like it's the end of the world over and over resulted in a loss of lives when an actual crisis hit?

Nope. I'd say our federal government doing zilch for 2 months has more to do with our current problems.

 

[wowitsanicecity]

Trump did a shit job with this. He's only finally gotten it. This virus has been spreading inside our country for about 3 months while he was calling it a hoax and after the NBA and NHL shut down he was talking Dana White into keeping UFC events going. And this could turn into a lot of people dead and our economy on its knees. 793 dead in Italy in one day a couple days ago. A couple weeks ago he was telling us it was an ordinary case of the flu.

Italy coronavirus deaths surge by 793 in a day, lifting total death toll to 4,825

It is good that Trump has finally gotten on the right side of this but anyone that would give him a pass for his inaction until very recently--for his tearing apart the office that would have overseen the pandemic response is f***ed up. Some quarters of the Democratic party response has been almost as appalling. Some politicians would rather save the travel industry than make sure we have the hospital equipment we're going to need. Whatever stimulus needs to go to the population and not to f***ing corporations. It sounds to me like Pelosi would rather give us austerity.

I see a lot of common points here that have been peddled by the media but are not true or misleading.

I get very frustrated when I see people say Trump claimed the virus was a hoax. He DID NOT say the virus was a hoax. He said that liberals claiming his mishandling was their next hoax. If he thought it was a hoax why would he ban travel from China on January 31 when WHO was saying that it was an unnecessary measure. This action definitely bought us some time.

He also did not tear apart the office that is responsible for Pandemic response. It was reorganized and combined with others in a reorganiztion that “left the biodefense staff unaffected.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...-didnt-dissolve-its-pandemic-response-office/

Also funding to CDC was never cut although it was recommended, budget cuts were never implemented as it needed to be approved by Congress. I think the big question was why did CDC fail to prepare the tests in time when they were mandated to. The Trump administration turning to the private sector for tests was an important move and we would still be lacking tests if they had not.

I think the media is purposefully trying to make a negative narrative which is despicable in a time like this to cause more confusion and divisiveness.

 

[sbjnyc]

I am not one to blame it all on media and state that they are the enemy of the people, but the fact of the matter is that most of the media is incentivized as they still want to redo the 2016 election and influence the one in November. So while things are tough, there is absolutely no impartiality in reporting. Most of them want things to appear apocalyptic. They believe that will help usher Trump out of office.

And yes, I know someone who works at CNN and another that writes for the Times.

I don't even like Trump but apparently they called him racist when the outbreak happened and he halted Chinese travel. Someone posted that here. If that's not an agenda I don't know what is.

Are these actually facts? You make it sound like the media is this monolithic entity when it very much isn't. Which media outlets called Trump racist? I'm sure there were some.

 

[hi]

I see a lot of common points here that have been peddled by the media but are not true or misleading.

I get very frustrated when I see people say Trump claimed the virus was a hoax. He DID NOT say the virus was a hoax. He said that liberals claiming his mishandling was their next hoax. If he thought it was a hoax why would he ban travel from China on January 31 when WHO was saying that it was an unnecessary measure. This action definitely bought us some time.

He also did not tear apart the office that is responsible for Pandemic response. It was reorganized and combined with others in a reorganiztion that “left the biodefense staff unaffected.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...-didnt-dissolve-its-pandemic-response-office/

Also funding to CDC was never cut although it was recommended, budget cuts were never implemented as it needed to be approved by Congress. I think the big question was why did CDC fail to prepare the tests in time when they were mandated to. The Trump administration turning to the private sector for tests was an important move and we would still be lacking tests if they had not.

I think the media is purposefully trying to make a negative narrative which is despicable in a time like this to cause more confusion and divisiveness.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Trump did a shit job with this. He's only finally gotten it. This virus has been spreading inside our country for about 3 months while he was calling it a hoax and after the NBA and NHL shut down he was talking Dana White into keeping UFC events going. And this could turn into a lot of people dead and our economy on its knees. 793 dead in Italy in one day a couple days ago. A couple weeks ago he was telling us it was an ordinary case of the flu.

Italy coronavirus deaths surge by 793 in a day, lifting total death toll to 4,825

It is good that Trump has finally gotten on the right side of this but anyone that would give him a pass for his inaction until very recently--for his tearing apart the office that would have overseen the pandemic response is f***ed up. Some quarters of the Democratic party response has been almost as appalling. Some politicians would rather save the travel industry than make sure we have the hospital equipment we're going to need. Whatever stimulus needs to go to the population and not to f***ing corporations. It sounds to me like Pelosi would rather give us austerity.

Spot on. All our of politicians are failing us because politics, over the last several decades, has become all about scoring cheap points against opponents and has little to do with helping American citizens at this point.

We're doomed from that aspect in general, but Trump's lack of curiosity regarding the massive bureaucracy at his disposal for the last 3 years, and his incompetence when it comes to mobilizing it, is the biggest driver for why this thing has gotten so out of control

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

I see a lot of common points here that have been peddled by the media but are not true or misleading.

I get very frustrated when I see people say Trump claimed the virus was a hoax. He DID NOT say the virus was a hoax. He said that liberals claiming his mishandling was their next hoax. If he thought it was a hoax why would he ban travel from China on January 31 when WHO was saying that it was an unnecessary measure. This action definitely bought us some time.

He also did not tear apart the office that is responsible for Pandemic response. It was reorganized and combined with others in a reorganiztion that “left the biodefense staff unaffected.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...-didnt-dissolve-its-pandemic-response-office/

Also funding to CDC was never cut although it was recommended, budget cuts were never implemented as it needed to be approved by Congress. I think the big question was why did CDC fail to prepare the tests in time when they were mandated to. The Trump administration turning to the private sector for tests was an important move and we would still be lacking tests if they had not.

I think the media is purposefully trying to make a negative narrative which is despicable in a time like this to cause more confusion and divisiveness.

This is utter trash. Why is this always the deflection when Trump does or say something stupid? Can you honestly say the man is doing a good job? Most people don't need the media to make that determination. He could f*** up a cup of coffee.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Nope. I'd say our federal government doing zilch for 2 months has more to do with our current problems.

Sure, but I'm not saying that this was the biggest problem.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Sure, but I'm not saying that this was the biggest problem.

America thrives on cheap drama these days. The media peddles it. Trump peddles it. And when the shit hits the fan, like it is now, everyone who has a responsibility to do something about it is caught with their pants down.

 

[Machinehead]

Trump did a shit job with this. He's only finally gotten it. This virus has been spreading inside our country for about 3 months while he was calling it a hoax and after the NBA and NHL shut down he was talking Dana White into keeping UFC events going. And this could turn into a lot of people dead and our economy on its knees. 793 dead in Italy in one day a couple days ago. A couple weeks ago he was telling us it was an ordinary case of the flu.

Italy coronavirus deaths surge by 793 in a day, lifting total death toll to 4,825

It is good that Trump has finally gotten on the right side of this but anyone that would give him a pass for his inaction until very recently--for his tearing apart the office that would have overseen the pandemic response is f***ed up. Some quarters of the Democratic party response has been almost as appalling. Some politicians would rather save the travel industry than make sure we have the hospital equipment we're going to need. Whatever stimulus needs to go to the population and not to f***ing corporations. It sounds to me like Pelosi would rather give us austerity.

Don't even get me f***ing started.

 

[wowitsanicecity]

A bunch of very selectively edited clips. If he was not taking it seriously then why did he ban travel from China before anyone recommended it. This definitely slowed the arrival to the US.

Maybe he wanted to not stir up panic but they were definitely not overlooking the virus. Actions were being implemented and a big problem was the failure of the CDC. How is it Trump’s fault that they botched the first round of test kits? If they did not have the foresight to also go to the private sector for test kits we would be even further behind.

 

[wowitsanicecity]

This is utter trash. Why is this always the deflection when Trump does or say something stupid? Can you honestly say the man is doing a good job? Most people don't need the media to make that determination. He could f*** up a cup of coffee.

Right most people do not need the media to try and mislead them into thinking he is doing a bad job

Poll: Majority of Americans now approve of Trump’s coronavirus management

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Friend has it with his fiancé. They were in contact with someone 10 days ago who had it.

Both showing zero symptoms at all. Doctor said about 50% of those who have been testing positive have shown no symptoms. So while the infected numbers are so high, there are a ton of people within those numbers who have been fine.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Right most people do not need the media to try and mislead them into thinking he is doing a bad job

Poll: Majority of Americans now approve of Trump’s coronavirus management

You're out to lunch my friend.

The most amazing part of this whole Trump saga are the zealots he has accumulated that can never, ever admit he's done a single thing wrong.

 

[wowitsanicecity]

You're out to lunch my friend.

The most amazing part of this whole Trump saga are the zealots he has accumulated that can never, ever admit he's done a single thing wrong.

I do think he could have been faster to close travel from Europe and other places than what they did.

I likewise could say it’s amazing all those who can never admit that he’s done anything right and think everything he’s ever done is wrong.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

I do think he could have been faster to close travel from Europe and other places than what they did.

I likewise could say it’s amazing all those who can never admit that he’s done anything right and think everything he’s ever done is wrong.

He's a world-class conman, one of the best of all-time. Ill give him that.

 

[Machinehead]

Friend has it with his fiancé. They were in contact with someone 10 days ago who had it.

Both showing zero symptoms at all. Doctor said about 50% of those who have been testing positive have shown no symptoms. So while the infected numbers are so high, there are a ton of people within those numbers who have been fine.

Healthy carrying seems to be this virus' biggest weapon and why this one in particular has been such a big deal.

It highlights the importance of social distancing. You could spread it without symptoms to people who will react much more violently.

 

[Krams]

I do think he could have been faster to close travel from Europe and other places than what they did.

I likewise could say it’s amazing all those who can never admit that he’s done anything right and think everything he’s ever done is wrong.

I think he could've been quicker to close travel from China, let alone Europe. And it's clear to me he did not take this seriously enough until recently.

That being said, the past couple of weeks he has been much better. Cuomo was careful in his criticism of him knowing he needed the Feds on his side and it has paid off, he's essentially provided everything Cuomo has asked for. And while it's a trivial matter in the grand scheme of things, he did not call the virus a hoax, he was referring to the criticism towards his handling of the crisis.

 

[Khelvan]

I get very frustrated when I see people say Trump claimed the virus was a hoax. He DID NOT say the virus was a hoax. He said that liberals claiming his mishandling was their next hoax. If he thought it was a hoax why would he ban travel from China on January 31 when WHO was saying that it was an unnecessary measure. This action definitely bought us some time.

He also did not tear apart the office that is responsible for Pandemic response. It was reorganized and combined with others in a reorganiztion that “left the biodefense staff unaffected.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...-didnt-dissolve-its-pandemic-response-office/

He absolutely did tear apart the office responsible for pandemic response, but let's call that a semantic problem. Whether you term it "tear apart" or "reorganization," it is clear that the experts in the field tasked with pandemic response were fired and never replaced, gutting the country's ability to respond to a pandemic. This is not media hysteria - experts predicted that this problem would arise in the event of a pandemic because of these actions, and those predictions have come true.

He was also informed very early on by intelligence agencies about the severity of the problem, but could not be convinced to do anything about it.

If you don't believe these reports, listen to Trump in his own words:
View media item 7501
(More of Trump's own words, bragging about gutting the pandemic response team, not wanting thousands of people around "when you don't need them")

 

[Synergy27]

It was only a matter of time until this completely devolved into a Trump thread. Everything devolves into a Trump discussion nowadays, which is honestly my least favorite part about life since 2016.

Trump and the media have created the perfect self licking ice cream cone. I find myself to be outside of the mainstream in most things, and what I see is a never ending game between both sides to increase the outrage and in turn increase the ratings.

That said, I place more blame and responsibility on Trump for it. Cable news networks don’t even pretend to be “fair and balanced” anymore. They exist to do exactly what they are doing, like it or not. They are without a doubt making life worse for everyone, but they exist to serve an audience.

Trump is the POTUS. He has not once in more than three years even attempted to be everyone’s president. He has rallies where he openly degrades half the population on a regular basis. He has shown no interest in leading the country as a whole, even if you think his policies are leading us in the right direction. He takes no blame for failures, and constantly engages in practices that he loudly criticized previous presidents for.

I work in close proximity with high level military leaders. Rank and file military members tend to love Trump. The leaders? Not so much. The guy does not have any leadership qualities at all. Even in the midst of this crisis, he hasn’t put the nonsense behind him. The OAN softball? Degrading that reporter yesterday? The guy has a responsibility to the people of this country to take charge, take responsibility, cut the crap and start helping. Only helping. Everyone.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

I think he could've been quicker to close travel from China, let alone Europe. And it's clear to me he did not take this seriously enough until recently.

That being said, the past couple of weeks he has been much better. Cuomo was careful in his criticism of him knowing he needed the Feds on his side and it has paid off, he's essentially provided everything Cuomo has asked for. And while it's a trivial matter in the grand scheme of things, he did not call the virus a hoax, he was referring to the criticism towards his handling of the crisis.

Fairly said.

I think my biggest issue with him is he's perpetually stuck between being a strongman and a victim. He views issues through the prism of how they will reflect on him, first and foremost. Not a great trait for a President.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Healthy carrying seems to be this virus' biggest weapon and why this one in particular has been such a big deal.

It highlights the importance of social distancing. You could spread it without symptoms to people who will react much more violently.

I felt like I was in the episode of Seinfeld where George plays frogger on the street trying to avoid everybody. I'd walk as far away from people as possible.

 

[wowitsanicecity]

I think he could've been quicker to close travel from China, let alone Europe.

And yet he did stop travel to China sooner than anyone else recommended including WHO.

I think the big problem was China concealing the issue for as a long as they did hindering the rest of the world in their ability to properly react while they had WHO peddling their lies like saying back in the middle of January that there was no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of Coronavirus. If China would have been more transparent with the international community this all could have been contained much more effectively everywhere.

 

[Krams]

And yet he did stop travel to China sooner than anyone else recommended including WHO.

I think the big problem was China concealing the issue for as a long as they did hindering the rest of the world in their ability to properly react while they had WHO peddling their lies like saying back in the middle of January that there was no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of Coronavirus. If China would have been more transparent with the international community this all could have been contained much more effectively everywhere.

He did, but I don't consider that particularly praiseworthy. WHO recommendations shouldn't be the barometer for whether or not it was done quickly enough. I don't expect the President of the United States to defer to the United Nations regarding matters of national security -- and he didn't, but was still not aggressive enough, in my opinion.

Of course China's handling is far more problematic. I have seen praise given to China in this thread which baffles me. The President initially praised China as well, but he has completely soured on that as the picture has become more clear. They absolutely covered it up for at least a month, which means we had unfettered travel to and from China for two months while this was going on. The way China handled Dr. Li Wenliang who blew the whistle early and later died of the virus is evidence enough.