Buffalo_Gal

I think you hit on the plan... Joe wears a mask. There is a recording of his voice with generic answers. When asked a question, one of his handlers plays that recorded message. No one can tell it is recorded because Joe's mouth is hidden behind a dark mask! Joe sounds coherent! As long as Joe doesn't start yapping (hey, no plan is perfect), people don't recognize how far the dementia has progressed. And even better ... Joe can now debate! CNN gives his people the questions, his mask hides his mouth, and the recording with his prerecorded answer (32 takes + splicing!) plays...

RIP IT guy: Jeffrey Epstein’s IT guy claims he saw Bill Clinton on private island (also saw Prince Andrew with Virginia Roberts)

It would be tough to blast anyone (state or federal) for the initial shut down. But from "two weeks to flatten the curve" to "shut down until there is a vaccine" is simply an overplayed hand. Adding to that the Governor dictators (partly because they can, partly for Uncle Sam dollars, partly to hope it hurts Trump) and most people have had enough. (I can definitely see why NYC-area residents would be fearful though.) Will opening up spread COVID-19? Quite possibly. It may also lead to herd immunity, which is desirable. It could come back in the fall after heat and humidity have abated. Unfortunately, no one knows for certain right now. We do have better treatments than what was available in January and February, and hopefully the world will be on the way to a vaccine. I do not think we will see another shut down in the fall, however. And the question of whether or not states with shut down again without a Federal shut down, especially if there is no Federal disaster declaration (aid money), will be interesting. If mail-in-voting can be staved off for this November, the election may tell us whether people will stand for being locked down in the future or not.

I’ve read people within the last week being reminded of this write, “wait, that wasn’t a joke?” It’s amazing how things get “lost” due to the media over the years...

Too many interconnecting threads...

They fear something. Remember it was just last week Mika wanted Jack to pull Trump's twitter account.

(long thread) Oh, better! Here's the file.

He's gone today. Ratcliffe has big shoes to fill.

I would like to be a Pollyanna here and state that hindsight is always 20/20. Leadership at the Federal and State levels knew what they were told by the experts months ago (whether it was medical experts or the state department). That was in the information they had to go on. That was the information they based their decisions on.

He just put this up instead:

Still insisting it did not come from the Wuhan lab.

We had three live strains, but it didn't come from here! And, we messed with nothing! NOTHING I say!!

For a minute this morning there was a tweet from Trump: "Opening a cold case on Joe Scarborough" And then it was deleted (I didn't get a screen capture).

I wonder if the holiday (+ weekend) will delay some reporting?

Don't get me wrong, we loved the area from December until April ... it just is not a full time possibility for us. Too hot. And that is "too hot" while residing by the ocean. I'd melt in Orlando.

Unincorporated St John’s county, a beach condo. The taxes + HOA fees were as much as our NYS house taxes (school, town, county), the condo was assessed at approximately half our NYS house’s value. Hurricane insurance also was not inexpensive compared to our NYS insurance. As far as utilities we only had water, electric, and cable... the cable bill was insane in Florida for junk TV choices and slower internet connection (Comcast in Florida vs FIOS in NYS). I remember when we moved into our house and the lady next door to us told me her Florida taxes were as much as on the NYS house. I was skeptical until we bought our condo.

We've done Florida as snow birds and it isn't for us (too hot 6 months of the year, and it ain't as cheap as everyone proclaims). I'd love to try Virginia, but that seems to be going the way of NYS (one small area of the state influences policies that harm the rest of the state and too bad for the rest of the state). Or possibly North Carolina (a lot of my ex's family went there, and there are some nice areas in NC) but am not quite there yet. And if my son sticks to the Buffalo area and they start producing those grand-babies I so desperately want... I doubt I'll ever leave.

They are unimaginative and/or dumb