WideNine

Na....Biden is one and done. Most everyone that voted for him knew that given his age. My main intrigue out of his whole tenure is whether he makes a move to cede some Presidential powers back to Congress and the States before riding off into the geriatric sunset. Presidential powers have grown to monarchical levels the past few decades and rule by Presidential fiat is rife with polarizing problems and just causes national policy to swing wildly from pole to pole. We will see. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/11/10/biden-could-wind-down-the-imperial-presidency-435640

Often missing elements in many Democrat policies when they throw tax dollars at societal challenges like magic pixie dust. "Is this needed and justified?" "What is the intended result and strategic benefit - what problem does this solve or how does this effort invest in our nation's future?" "Will this action meet that goal (prescriptive)?" "How will successful implementation be measured to ensure fiscal and managerial accountability to U.S. taxpayers?" While Republicans on the other hand give little thought to yanking dollars away from needed social programs in the name of sound fiscal policy. They rarely consider a plan "B" for the downstream issues created and soft dollars lost by the actions. We need better leadership and governance from both sides of the aisle that can provide us with realistic, prescriptive, and strategic solutions to real issues that are measurable and accountable and do not lose sight of being respectful, and humane. Not easy, but probably shouldn't be considering the complexity of running a nation like ours.

Very non-judgy crowd indeed 😁

TE and DE thru HS, enjoyed the sport, but not elite enough to garner scholarships beyond the academic variety. Coached and my son played both ways for a large HS and guard in college. After the last one we had to have some tough concussion discussions and I respected his decision to hang up the cleats. Put a dent in my wallet though over his final years. The kid is doing well now interning in DC. Actually wants to go into politics. 🤢

Be tough to prove direct benefit. That southern aristocracy was fairly decimated by the war, not that their system was sustainable. The advent of machine harvesting was just around the corner making manual labor unprofitable. Interesting alternate history to consider as a thought exercise. It is just my opinion, but history is filled with failed reparation attempts ie: Liberia. I have seen success stories around reparations, but those have had the benefit of smaller scale, and legitimate traceability such as property belonging to Jewish families stolen by Nazi's returned to families. Even such small scale attempts at reparations are not free of controversy or opposition. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/03/heirs-to-jewish-art-dealers-lose-fight-at-supreme-court-465483 https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-holocaust-survivor-who-spent-decades-fighting-for-familys-looted-art-dies/ https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/aug/29/dina-gold-family-property-nazi-berlin-stolen-legacy-krausenstrasse

Not really. I think my response is balanced. To me, I think the cost of lives lost in this nation's civil war has to be weighed in the equation of reparation. I do not see a good reason why it would not be. If you can prove that a check cut by the Government brings final closure to the matter and that I would never again have the historical wrongs foisted upon me and my family's relatively brief history on this planet, then sign me up.

Idealistic, but impractical idea. Where does it begin, where does it stop? Whose ancestry does not have some kind of systemic stolen labor and horror. Chinese on railroads, Irish chained to factory machines, religious and ethnic cleansing in Europe, and of course slave labor too. I think it is important to acknowledge, recognize, learn, and grow from the past, but reparations assume some kind of current day responsible role in a historical tragedy. That is a bridge too far IMO. Picking at the scabs of historical wounds is likely the best way to ensure they will never heal. Perhaps the price paid in blood over the course of a civil war should be sufficient to allow the nation to move forward. Not convinced that such an effort does more good than harm.

Looks like they were going to auction off the rights to virtually "press the button" to set off the explosives to anyone in the world. Proceeds for charity. Funny idea, and probably fairly lucrative, but deemed unsafe by current property owners.

No. What I said is that the argument that politicians are the victims of the free press is weak, AND I said that politicians hate the free press because they catch them doing things they shouldn't be doing, or question their decisions. I also made the point - is it any small wonder that the first thing fascist tyrants do is eliminate the free press. You got DeSantis is a fascist tyrant trying to get rid of the free press out of that.... not going to speculate on how or why you mangled my response so badly.

So your take is that DeSantis' office is not trying or has not tried to manipulate Covid-19 mortality data? Do you think Cuomo's late release or early omissions of nursing home Covid-19 deaths were political and deliberate? Rather than cherry-pick I think both were, but you seem determined to interpret DeSantis actions in a different light. Even the choke hold he put on medical examiner records which up till the pandemic were always readily available public records. https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/04/29/florida-medical-examiners-were-releasing-coronavirus-death-data-the-state-made-them-stop/ I find the media persecution arguments of those poor politicians caught with their policy or ethical pants down to be weak, but I have heard those same excuses steadily echoing the "fake news" mantra of a certain serial liar in chief. If it were not for the media, these clowns in office would do whatever they want, whenever they wanted with none the wiser. They hate accountability. Is it any small wonder that the first thing every fascist tyrant does is attack, censure, and get rid of the free press? They are like cockroaches who shun the light.

You probably should read the whole Sun Sentinel article on the matter. How the state (under DeSantis direction) changed the mortality reporting protocols right before the elections which resulted in a very favorable declining mortality rate, then after the elections published the backlog which had folks wondering why they suddenly had a spike in mortality rates. This is the definition of data manipulation for political purposes. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/fl-ne-ss-prem-covid-deaths-florida-election-20201216-f4kgezjf4rf75ppumt4omxfsxy-story.html

And the career scientist known throughout the world, who is sought for his advice and guidance needs his federal paycheck? He at 80 could easily sit back and rest on his laurels, or just take cushy speaking engagements, or figure out where to spend this latest award: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/16/world/fauci-is-awarded-a-1-million-prize-in-israel-including-for-speaking-truth-to-power.html Expressed thanks whaaat??? Trump is notorious for talking out of both sides of his mouth. Mixing just enough praise to deflect from his efforts to undermine someone who has a high approval rating. This is so obvious. Case in point where Trump blatantly tries to paint Fauci as a nice BUT incompetent old guy. This coming from the 74 year old who was pushing an unproven malaria drug and bleach. "People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots — these people, these people that have gotten it wrong," Trump said. "Fauci’s a nice guy. He’s been here for 500 years. He called every one of them wrong. And he’s like this wonderful guy, a wonderful sage telling us how" to respond to the pandemic. He retweeted #firefauci in April 2020. "If I listened to him, we’d have 500,000 deaths," Trump continued, The above comments which I interpret as Trump NOT listening to Fauci's advice, came during the same interview where he made repeated false statements about the election laying the groundwork for his insurrection followers... Trump added that there's "a lot of cheating going on," claiming without evidence that Democrats will do so in order to defeat him. "You know they'll be cheating like crazy because they always cheat," he said. "The only way we can lose this election is if they cheat. OK, that's the only way." “Tony’s pitching arm is far more accurate than his prognostications. ‘No problem, no masks,’” Mr. Trump tweeted Tuesday morning, This was after Fauci wanted his campaign to remove an ad that used his words out of context to make it appear that he was praising Trump's administration handling of the pandemic.

All over the map is an exaggeration. The guidance changes from Fauci were minimal and in lockstep with best practice protocols as they evolved. Fauci is a world-renowned physician-scientist and immunologist. He is not a politician, he is not running for office, and likely has enough bank to live on. He has served at the behest of Presidential administrations from Reagan up to Trump, democrat and republican with distinction for 50 years. Trump was the first to demonize and politicize the man because he dared to contradict Trump's kindergarten-level medical knowledge and dangerous advice that was politically motivated.

Pretty sure you can do without the political rhetoric about media machines or distortions... As stated, the guidance around preventative measures for Covid-19 evolved as more information about how the virus could and was being transmitted became available. In March what Fauci said was no masks along with the comment that folks should not be walking around during a pandemic in the first place. "Right now, in the United States, people should not be walking around with masks," Fauci said during the interview. "There's no reason to be walking around with a mask." He continued, "When you're in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it's not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is." This was in March when most states and workplaces were trying to enforce the shelter at home guidance and domestic travel restrictions were in place. On April 3rd the CDC changed its guidance requiring facial coverings while in public and social distancing, he mirrored those recommendations. As we said evolving protocols, but even that example you politicized was just a nuanced change of guidance that happened over the course of one month early on in this pandemic.

Thanks for the props. The world as a whole has got to get more prepared to combat pandemics. With global travel and supply chains it is the new norm. These things no longer just wipe out a remote village somewhere, they can travel. We have seen how Chinese politics failed with containment of the virus, and how politics got in the way of combating the virus here at home. We have to do better.

Can't argue with much of the CDC guidance evolving early on as more information about Covid-19 was being discovered. New more transmissible variants may change the game and protocols even more if we do not get a handle on our current rates of exposure and vaccinations. Even now the guidance is evolving about how infectious one can be AFTER getting the vaccines. No one has all the answers to something like this up front, the best a government can do is to be transparent with the information they have and be honest about what they don't know for certain, and that more information will be forthcoming as they learn more. I don't think the CDC or Fauci ever recommended "no masks", but Fauci early on did recommend cloth masks in the face of shortages of N-95 masks for front-line medical workers. The concern was that joe-citizen would hoard N-95 masks needed for medical professionals and the supply just was not there for the demand. As for the 2-mask recommendation it is just that 2 masks offer twice the filtering so they naturally stop more particulates, but I think that the biggest issue is likely just folks improperly wearing N-95 or equivalent masks and leaving gaps or wearing them as chin-diapers which defeat the purpose. Having worked in a medical facility with clean rooms I know 1st hand how difficult it is for someone with no training to wear equipment designed to prevent contamination. I was herded out of a clean room at least twice when I thought I could wing it; Then admonished and banned till I took training (that I figured I could skip) before having a supervised lesson on how to gown up (bunny-up in their white suite), disposable slippers over our shoes, masks, gloves, then disinfect the gloves, and then walk over a sticky mat before getting into the room where that company made equipment that went into the human body. It was a pain, but Americans are just being asked to properly wear masks and the N-95 and better masks are now readily available.

No worries. I was butting in on your debate and starvation comment. Bit of a sore spot with me as my wife stocked my basement and workshop with a bomb shelter's worth of dry goods. I love the woman, but she is one of those folks that would buy out a grocery store every time the news said we were going to have a blizzard.

Sorry bud, you must be thinking of another poster. I was just chiming in on the extreme starvation example.

This is hyperbole again. Starving in your house - puhleese... Sitting in your house with internet, streaming movies, ordering crap from Amazon and occasionally going to a store that offers online or phone-in orders and curbside grocery pickup is hardly that surreal post-apocalyptic scene you are trying to create. I do miss the in person socialization, but think my family is strong enough to persevere till we can more safely do that. The science says that wearing the right masks, and practicing social distancing, and washing or using hand sanitizer after visiting public areas cuts down on transmission. Even so there are always statistical outliers and human error when it comes to safety protocols. Your not going to prevent 100%, you will prevent more than if you ignore the protocols.

The numbers show that the US handled this virus far worse than any other developed nation. We just had a football season that followed strict protocols and limits on crowd sizes. Yet they found a way forward. Rational and responsible guidance and policies can work to limit spread and mortality, but not if you have leadership promoting irrational and irresponsible policies. A good argument does not rely on irrational hyperbole.

Yeeaaah..... The same standard would be Biden going on TV and telling everyone Covid-19 is just like the flu, and will magically go away at the beginning of an airborne-spreading novel corona virus pandemic. That while fully knowing that it was not like a common flu, and would not go away without folks taking serious countermeasures. Then Biden would have to go maskless and say masks are for those sissys on the Right and then encourage states and businesses to reopen and hold maskless super-spreader events. He would then have to promote fringe treatments and drugs whose safety and efficacy is based on the indepth epidemiology knowledge of quacks and a radiologist. You mean that standard of irresponsible leadership right?

So zero culpability for lying and mishandling the federal response to the pandemic (CDC/Fauci guidance, demonizing and politicizing mask-wearing and social distancing to limit the spread), BUT credit for funding vaccine research. The cherry-picking continues unabated. Funding vaccine development was not some kind of genius idea. It was laid out in the prior administration's pandemic playbook. Even then I would not say it was mental quantum leap for the Obama administration to figure out it had to happen. Trump also had a rubber-stamp Senate and re-elections looming so it was not like he had to work hard to loosen the purse strings. So yeah, his administration did the thing that any administration would have done in regards to vaccine funding.

Folks keep missing the point that your Ends get more pressure when the QB has no pocket to step up into. With Suh and Vea able to crush the pocket Mahomes had to escape and slide left and right, where they pressured and hemmed him in well. Suh they also moved outside on plays and he was dominant there too. Mahomes struggles the most against pressure sans blitz. He knows exactly where to go with the ball when teams send the extra rusher. TB was able to pressure with their front 4 and contain the gap runs, their secondary harassed Kelce and bracketed Hill. I do think Barrett had a heck of a game, and it is kind of crappy how the Bucs treated him...trying to franchise him as a linebacker when they were using him as a DE. I think he only signed a 1 year deal.

I think Biden (at least) would have been more honest and transparent and up-front about the virus. He would have had a different approach. So there would have been less damage control and desperation for some political redemption (hail mary efforts I referenced) from the early misrepresentation, and the ridiculous made-up dates and promises by Trump that put the GOP and his revolving door administration in one awkward position after the next. From February to October, Trump declared at least 38 times that Covid-19 is either going to disappear or is currently disappearing. During that period the facts told a different story, the pandemic had steadily become worse. I also think Biden would have followed the science and Fauci's estimates on Pandemic projections and vaccine delivery timeliness rather than make up ridiculous rosey dates. Can't speak for any other hypothetical DEM (or GOP) administrations, just the recent exiting one and the current one. Does any political party NOT jump on the mistakes of the other??

This is true, not going to say that they did not pre-order doses. I think that was a desperate political Hail Mary that also just happened to be the right thing to do. The GOP was hoping for an early breakthru vaccine that they could rush through clinical trials and get out before the general election. An impossible time line really. Unless we ignored rules and testing protocols and tried our US version of a hasty maybe deadly "Sputnik" vaccine.