Coronavirus 2019

@Rothko posted:

My wife threw a girls' party on Friday night at our house - I went out and stayed away.  8 ladies attended; 5 of whom now have Covid, including my wife.  Somehow I appear to have avoided getting it from her (tested today and was negative); I attribute it to the second booster I received in April (she did not get a second booster).  She's sick as a dog, although it's still considered "mild", and quarantining.

Very sorry to hear that.  My son and daughter-in-law both have Covid now.  His symptoms are very mild but she was also sick as a dog for a few days but it getting better now.

Covid ain't over until it's over.  Which may never happen.....

Napa, in short about vaccines, you hate, measles, polio, pneumonia, dpt, mumps, shingles, small pox etc.  These have been mandated for years, and I'd bet that you and the family probably all have had them.  Stop the BS "my body, my choice".

@g-man posted:

you have yet to show me that you aren't any better than a generalization.  Your past postings have done exactly that, you refuse to acutally do the research.  you refuse to actually find real source of information, you refused to actually read the transcripts, and you have yet to formulate any real opinion that shows the nuances to let me know that you're actually thinking for yourself on any of the topics you post about.

But when you do, i'll be more than happy to engage you as such and i'll be happy to open the bottle for the discussion to.

You actually have zero idea of what I read or the research I do.  This is not a forum where people actaully go in depth on anything (even wine).  I typed a thought / question to ask on any of the below topics and would love to have anyone "not on my side of thinking" respond to how these make sense to the US as a whole.  Instead of a defense on any of them...it's easier to just attack the poster.  I'll try again...defend any of the below:

Border policy

Afghan Exit

Build Back Better (stupid name)

Plan to defeat Covid (More Deaths under Biden than Trump After vaccines and theraputicals)

Ending of Keystone and a terrible energy policy

End of Operation Legend

Vaccine Mandates

Additional $1.9 Trillion on "Covid" relief leading to massive inflation

@flwino posted:

Napa, in short about vaccines, you hate, measles, polio, pneumonia, dpt, mumps, shingles, small pox etc.  These have been mandated for years, and I'd bet that you and the family probably all have had them.  Stop the BS "my body, my choice".

Not the same.  Those vaccines were studied for a lot longer prior to be put into use (MRNA was not around at the time) sans Shingles and they actually work at stopping the virus / disease rather than making it more manageable.    J&J vaccine just suspended for people younger than 18 due to blood clotting issues. 

Again, if you are in a high risk group...you should take it.   The decision should be up to you and not a mandate. 

I don't know how VP Harris can stand up and shout...you cannot tell a woman what to do with their bodies, then be for a vaccine mandate.

Some of the above were rushed and not tested very well.  Research Small pox in the Revolution. to start

The Cleveland Guardians (formerly known as the Cleveland Indians) had their baseball game cancelled yesterday due to an outbreak of Covid on the team.  A school in Baltimore has had a lot of cases and returned to virtual learning.  A community college has restored its mask mandate.

Also see that the US has surpassed on MILLION deaths due to this.  Remember when the Orange haired guy poo-pooed this saying only a flu, and 37K die a year.  Will disappear within a few weeks.

@flwino posted:

Also see that the US has surpassed on MILLION deaths due to this.  Remember when the Orange haired guy poo-pooed this saying only a flu, and 37K die a year.  Will disappear within a few weeks.

Someone should write a musical using all the idiotic comments The Orange Menace made about Covid.  In fact, many musicals could be written using just his own hilarious-but-tragic words about sooooo many things!

@bman posted:

Someone should write a musical using all the idiotic comments The Orange Menace made about Covid.  In fact, many musicals could be written using just his own hilarious-but-tragic words about sooooo many things!

Jimmy Kimmel does these regularly. But there is not enough time to include the stupidity, whether through tweets or speeches. It needs a separate wing in the Library of Congress.

"Border policy

Afghan Exit

Build Back Better (stupid name)

Plan to defeat Covid (More Deaths under Biden than Trump After vaccines and theraputicals)

Ending of Keystone and a terrible energy policy

End of Operation Legend

Vaccine Mandates

Additional $1.9 Trillion on "Covid" relief leading to massive inflation"

---------------------

I am not a Democrat nor a fan of many of Biden's fiscal policies, and I do not like big government at any level, but God, I'm so tired of the idiocy wave that has spread over this country the last 5-6 years. So I will "rant" here a bit.

I'll tackle 4 and 7 of these, which I can discuss and debate. I'll touch on 8:

1- Plan to defeat COVID/ Vaccine Mandates- The prime blame rests on: 1- China for denying then minimizing , failing to warn and in fact hiding, and then failing to contain the virus in 2020 as people flew home from Chinese New Year and months after; then, thereafter on their zero COVID policy which has torched their economy, and sunk the supply lines so many companies here use that depend on them, the secondary spillover affecting supply costs and price inflation here; secondary blame here rests on Trump and his cronies for his 2020 denial, diminishment of the virus management, including delay of testing,  decry of masking or vaccination, and disintegration of governmental public health programs forcing the states to haphazardly handle their own affairs; and lastly, the unvaccinated, a 30% large minority group of mostly [but not wholly] uneducated conspiracists, ultraconservative panderers, and narcissistic self righteous loudmouths--homo ignoramus in short, whose persistent placement of themselves over our society in general has led to US having 3rd world results in terms of disease spread, hospitalization, and COVID mortality; and over time to massive health care costs, and resultant health staffing problems, which swings back to further hurt our economy, into the foreseeable future.  The 1M deaths rests on these three groups shoulders, not on Biden, who inherited hell.

2- Massive Inflation: Some of inflation definitely rests on Biden and the current govt policies. Way too many wasteful programs and pork find their way into bills today. Debt from PPP, Credits, Stimulus is definitely part of that and some was necessary but the graft and crime was not controlled. That started with the incompetent disorganized DJT regime but still exists today.  Absolving student or mortgage debt teaches people nothing. Actions have results. Yet, debt is but one component that contributes to inflation. The Debt/GDP ratio has been rising for 8 years.  Failure to collect adequate taxes owed to fill coffers is contributory [DT's Tax Plan].  Excess spending on inane projects like border walls that Mexico "was going to pay for" and poor handling of refugees trying to enter here mostly from Mexico, and even other wasteful programs formulated on both sides of the aisle is another. Less money in, and more out is not necessary, but can be a promoter for inflation, but it is a component in stagflation. Still inflation is complex due to lots of local and international factors, including COVID effects, hot economy demand and low supply, companies willfully overcharging to pay wages, shutdowns in business trade lines from foreign wars or nationalist policies, and years of excessive easy credit eg  Money supply-M2 that have come due.

Instead of reading Facebook MAGA Melanie Health Policy, Theories of F-You Economics by Margorie Taylor Greene,  Vacation Traveling [to Cancun] on someone else's Dime by Ted Cruz,  How to Have Sex and Abortion in Republican States by Matt Gaetz, Putin and me- BFF by DJT, Stacking the Supreme Court with Non Constitutional Cronies by M McConnell, or Reality with JFK Today by QAnon Now, I suggest reading the New England Journal for Medicine and Health Policy, and the Wall Street Journal to improve understanding of World Business and Inflation Macroeconomics.

@napacat posted:

You actually have zero idea of what I read or the research I do.  This is not a forum where people actaully go in depth on anything (even wine).  I typed a thought / question to ask on any of the below topics and would love to have anyone "not on my side of thinking" respond to how these make sense to the US as a whole.  Instead of a defense on any of them...it's easier to just attack the poster.  I'll try again...defend any of the below:

Border policy

Afghan Exit

Build Back Better (stupid name)

Plan to defeat Covid (More Deaths under Biden than Trump After vaccines and theraputicals)

Ending of Keystone and a terrible energy policy

End of Operation Legend

Vaccine Mandates

Additional $1.9 Trillion on "Covid" relief leading to massive inflation

actually folks do go into quite alot of wine depth here.

something you have posted 0 about.  and yes I know exactly what kind of research you do based on that statement alone.

i already posted something on keystone and you didnt seem to have any concrete response against it.  So again.  when you show you yourself can post some decent well thought out and coherent argument for it then I'd respect your drivel a whole lot more.

Texas is back above 10 % positivity rate.

Some prelim reports are that omicron infections dont offer as much protection against the new prevalent strain.

@flwino posted:

Also see that the US has surpassed on MILLION deaths due to this.  Remember when the Orange haired guy poo-pooed this saying only a flu, and 37K die a year.  Will disappear within a few weeks.

I have a good quote:  " I will not shut down the country, I am going to shut down the virus"    Author of that statement Biden.  More deaths under his watch than his predecessor, with three vaccines and therapeuticals.     Way to go Joe.

Really t to add discourse we could have had 2 million without mandates

@drtannin 2 posted:

2- Massive Inflation: Some of inflation definitely rests on Biden and the current govt policies. Way too many wasteful programs and pork find their way into bills today. Debt from PPP, Credits, Stimulus is definitely part of that and some was necessary but the graft and crime was not controlled. That started with the incompetent disorganized DJT regime but still exists today.  Absolving student or mortgage debt teaches people nothing. Actions have results. Yet, debt is but one component that contributes to inflation. The Debt/GDP ratio has been rising for 8 years.  Failure to collect adequate taxes owed to fill coffers is contributory [DT's Tax Plan].  Excess spending on inane projects like border walls that Mexico "was going to pay for" and poor handling of refugees trying to enter here mostly from Mexico, and even other wasteful programs formulated on both sides of the aisle is another. Less money in, and more out is not necessary, but can be a promoter for inflation, but it is a component in stagflation. Still inflation is complex due to lots of local and international factors, including COVID effects, hot economy demand and low supply, companies willfully overcharging to pay wages, shutdowns in business trade lines from foreign wars or nationalist policies, and years of excessive easy credit eg  Money supply-M2 that have come due.

Instead of reading Facebook MAGA Melanie Health Policy, Theories of F-You Economics by Margorie Taylor Greene,  Vacation Traveling [to Cancun] on someone else's Dime by Ted Cruz,  How to Have Sex and Abortion in Republican States by Matt Gaetz, Putin and me- BFF by DJT, Stacking the Supreme Court with Non Constitutional Cronies by M McConnell, or Reality with JFK Today by QAnon Now, I suggest reading the New England Journal for Medicine and Health Policy, and the Wall Street Journal to improve understanding of World Business and Inflation Macroeconomics.

The debt/gdp ratio has always been kind of a fluffy ratio to judge inflationary pressures, simply because direct govt intervention leads to higher GDP.  The ratio changes when businesses need just that extra push to reach critical mass in where they can multiply their earnings.

The wasteful programs though, are very very specific.  The argument is that this inflationary party started with Powell.  No one wants to be the one that ends the party, and Powell certainly had no inclinations for such, keeping rates at  record low levels for so long, quantative easing policy and then not recognizing the inevitability with markets at such lofty levels that we're simply repeating greenspan's "irrational exuberance"  But house prices were rising and income was increasing.  (wasnt that the goal in the f irst place??)

Some of the blame definltely goes into the monetary stimulus programs to the tune of over a trillion.  It's not that "folks dont want to go back to work"  Rather it adds the pressure where folks will have the opportunity to look for higher paying work.  This raises wages, and increases costs for businesses, which will pass their costs onto the consumer.  They will naturally overshoot and charge as much as the market will bear so as to ensure healthy profits to weather the inevitable downturn when their customers are drained dry and they need to lay off and lower costs again.

The keystone pipeline would be one of these pork projects.  billions in govt spending to help a canadian company ship some hard to process oil half way across the continent to be processed down in TX for what?  30 full time jobs?  We're paying for canadian gas and giving them a handout.  Texas is the largest exporter of oil and gas in the country, exporting almost 60% of the US total energy exports, why aren't "true republicans" talking about why texas isnt selling that gas and oil to americans at a cheaper price?

Inflation is good.  It's a tide that rises all boats for folks who have hard assets like homes.  It's a terrible thing for folks renting and living paycheck to paycheck. and it's a slightly bad annoying thing for rich folks sitting on a bunch of cash and not knowing what to do with it.  If you go by that statement, that's the thought process behind maintaininga  3% inflation target.  It forces the rich to buy things, increasing hard asset values so that those who were fortunate enough to pay assets on the cheap will be able to increase their networth.  One of the biggest assets is going to be the home.  Our inflationary policies are really all geared around home values.

My conspiracy theory though, is that these inflationary pressures are strictly manufactured by the retiring boomers in politics and power.  They want to rapidly increase their home values, sell their homes to the rest of us, have the market crash so they can pick up their retirement home somewhere cheaper.  I've met some great boomers in the wine world, but man , "Y'all policies suck shit"

@drtannin 2 posted:

"Border policy

Afghan Exit

Build Back Better (stupid name)

Plan to defeat Covid (More Deaths under Biden than Trump After vaccines and theraputicals)

Ending of Keystone and a terrible energy policy

End of Operation Legend

Vaccine Mandates

Additional $1.9 Trillion on "Covid" relief leading to massive inflation"

---------------------

I am not a Democrat nor a fan of many of Biden's fiscal policies, and I do not like big government at any level, but God, I'm so tired of the idiocy wave that has spread over this country the last 5-6 years. So I will "rant" here a bit.

I'll tackle 4 and 7 of these, which I can discuss and debate. I'll touch on 8:

1- Plan to defeat COVID/ Vaccine Mandates- The prime blame rests on: 1- China for denying then minimizing , failing to warn and in fact hiding, and then failing to contain the virus in 2020 as people flew home from Chinese New Year and months after; then, thereafter on their zero COVID policy which has torched their economy, and sunk the supply lines so many companies here use that depend on them, the secondary spillover affecting supply costs and price inflation here; secondary blame here rests on Trump and his cronies for his 2020 denial, diminishment of the virus management, including delay of testing,  decry of masking or vaccination, and disintegration of governmental public health programs forcing the states to haphazardly handle their own affairs; and lastly, the unvaccinated, a 30% large minority group of mostly [but not wholly] uneducated conspiracists, ultraconservative panderers, and narcissistic self righteous loudmouths--homo ignoramus in short, whose persistent placement of themselves over our society in general has led to US having 3rd world results in terms of disease spread, hospitalization, and COVID mortality; and over time to massive health care costs, and resultant health staffing problems, which swings back to further hurt our economy, into the foreseeable future.  The 1M deaths rests on these three groups shoulders, not on Biden, who inherited hell.

2- Massive Inflation: Some of inflation definitely rests on Biden and the current govt policies. Way too many wasteful programs and pork find their way into bills today. Debt from PPP, Credits, Stimulus is definitely part of that and some was necessary but the graft and crime was not controlled. That started with the incompetent disorganized DJT regime but still exists today.  Absolving student or mortgage debt teaches people nothing. Actions have results. Yet, debt is but one component that contributes to inflation. The Debt/GDP ratio has been rising for 8 years.  Failure to collect adequate taxes owed to fill coffers is contributory [DT's Tax Plan].  Excess spending on inane projects like border walls that Mexico "was going to pay for" and poor handling of refugees trying to enter here mostly from Mexico, and even other wasteful programs formulated on both sides of the aisle is another. Less money in, and more out is not necessary, but can be a promoter for inflation, but it is a component in stagflation. Still inflation is complex due to lots of local and international factors, including COVID effects, hot economy demand and low supply, companies willfully overcharging to pay wages, shutdowns in business trade lines from foreign wars or nationalist policies, and years of excessive easy credit eg  Money supply-M2 that have come due.

Instead of reading Facebook MAGA Melanie Health Policy, Theories of F-You Economics by Margorie Taylor Greene,  Vacation Traveling [to Cancun] on someone else's Dime by Ted Cruz,  How to Have Sex and Abortion in Republican States by Matt Gaetz, Putin and me- BFF by DJT, Stacking the Supreme Court with Non Constitutional Cronies by M McConnell, or Reality with JFK Today by QAnon Now, I suggest reading the New England Journal for Medicine and Health Policy, and the Wall Street Journal to improve understanding of World Business and Inflation Macroeconomics.

Drtannin,

I thank you for the lengthy reply...and will say I agree with some of your assessments.  Stating you are not a democrat, your final paragraph only seems to call out Republican missteps without one mention of a Democratic politician.  Surely this is not as one sided as that.

@g-man posted:

The debt/gdp ratio has always been kind of a fluffy ratio to judge inflationary pressures, simply because direct govt intervention leads to higher GDP.  The ratio changes when businesses need just that extra push to reach critical mass in where they can multiply their earnings.

The wasteful programs though, are very very specific.  The argument is that this inflationary party started with Powell.  No one wants to be the one that ends the party, and Powell certainly had no inclinations for such, keeping rates at  record low levels for so long, quantative easing policy and then not recognizing the inevitability with markets at such lofty levels that we're simply repeating greenspan's "irrational exuberance"  But house prices were rising and income was increasing.  (wasnt that the goal in the f irst place??)

Some of the blame definltely goes into the monetary stimulus programs to the tune of over a trillion.  It's not that "folks dont want to go back to work"  Rather it adds the pressure where folks will have the opportunity to look for higher paying work.  This raises wages, and increases costs for businesses, which will pass their costs onto the consumer.  They will naturally overshoot and charge as much as the market will bear so as to ensure healthy profits to weather the inevitable downturn when their customers are drained dry and they need to lay off and lower costs again.

Inflation is good.  It's a tide that rises all boats for folks who have hard assets like homes.  It's a terrible thing for folks renting and living paycheck to paycheck. and it's a slightly bad annoying thing for rich folks sitting on a bunch of cash and not knowing what to do with it.  If you go by that statement, that's the thought process behind maintaininga  3% inflation target.  It forces the rich to buy things, increasing hard asset values so that those who were fortunate enough to pay assets on the cheap will be able to increase their networth.  One of the biggest assets is going to be the home.  Our inflationary policies are really all geared around home values.

My conspiracy theory though, is that these inflationary pressures are strictly manufactured by the retiring boomers in politics and power.  They want to rapidly increase their home values, sell their homes to the rest of us, have the market crash so they can pick up their retirement home somewhere cheaper.  I've met some great boomers in the wine world, but man , "Y'all policies suck shit"

You touch on some decent points, but far to willingly to gloss over reality...and your conspiracy theory is way off.

@napacat posted:

You touch on some decent points, but far to willingly to gloss over reality...and your conspiracy theory is way off.

yea and this is why I don't value anything to say.  Feel free to copy paste something you found on the internet again for your response.  I make far more money looking at inflationary numbers as a career than you ever look at

dr tannin,

what do you think about the endemic that is now covid?  Seems like it's inevitable that we can never force everyone to not do anything for 2 weeks and with global travel there will inevitably be new dominant strains every year or so.  Do some humans just adapt via evolutionary pressures?  Ie, our kid's kids will make covid like a flu or do you think we're headed for an inevitable, there goes 30% of the world's population with one wrong mutation away?

G-man -   Natural selection evolution for small numbered and slowly reproducing species like ours is in the 10-100,000 years range.  So adaptation by genetics won’t happen to anyone we know. And for those that somehow are genetically immune, science not sex will allow those genes to pass through generations.  Using those genes to fashion therapy or resistance is the only viable course, as we have started  with mRNA and CRISPR technologies.  The problem is being smart enough to accept and incorporate these universally.  If portions of a bat genome would save your life from a killer virus would you accept it?. The scenario of a virus wiping us out is unlikely, because as hosts disappear so will the virus; even in that mass casualty situation, there will still be survivors. Perhaps if the virus becomes a species killer, we will unite with purpose for survival.                                                                                 The most likely result is a small segment of the population will not survive every year, the  % greater than with the flu, but not as bad as smallpox, with some years worse than others depending on virus virulence and persistence, and vaccination coverage or other successful scientific therapies.  That doesn’t bode well for older folks like me.  My best but still limited guess is we adapt by “living with” this and other novel mostly untreatable infectious agents as we have started to now but on a survival level more like 150 years ago,  with higher mortality  and morbidity than we have enjoyed over the most recent 50. What’s not knowable are: the rise of new agents or return of ancient ones as are being discovered in thawing Siberian terrain which may be worse; whether viral remnants in our genome will cause new autoimmune or cancer like diseases or give us protection from other diseases; or the discovery of a scientific cure. It’s a long race, but we are trailing and trying to catch up to a rabbit like vir.  Our science aware brains are unique among species on this planet and could help us survive in some fashion.  But if we act to remain a stubborn discordant species, that fights amongst itself  and rejects our scientific breakthroughs, we won’t do well.  Remember a quarter of humans have died at the hands of another, though far less recently . If there is a killer virus risking the ends of days, we know what to expect

@g-man posted:

yea and this is why I don't value anything to say.  Feel free to copy paste something you found on the internet again for your response.  I make far more money looking at inflationary numbers as a career than you ever look at

I don't need to copy and paste anything...Problem is you try and explain too many things away with a political bent.  You're in the  field and are knowledgeable fine. 

" It's not that "folks don't want to go back to work"  Rather it adds the pressure where folks will have the opportunity to look for higher paying work."

Not true as a whole.  There are far too many people that were given stimulus and have no desire to work at all.  We are not in a good phase of people wanting to work...demanding to stay at home rather than go back to the office.  Strange times. 

I think it only solidifies the a lower economic status pf people who are not willing to participate in traditional norms.  You get a lot more done in an office (especially home office) than working from home.

Your statement that "inflation is good" is flat our wrong. 

@napacat posted:

You get a lot more done in an office (especially home office) than working from home.

Isn't a home office working from home? 

@bman posted:

Isn't a home office working from home? 

It’s the new math, bman.

i fear that you, like me, are just too old to get it. 😁

@seaquam posted:

It’s the new math, bman.

i fear that you, like me, are just too old to get it. 😁

Probably.  Happy I'm not the only one baffled by that one!

@napacat posted:

I don't need to copy and paste anything...Problem is you try and explain too many things away with a political bent.  You're in the  field and are knowledgeable fine.

" It's not that "folks don't want to go back to work"  Rather it adds the pressure where folks will have the opportunity to look for higher paying work."

Not true as a whole.  There are far too many people that were given stimulus and have no desire to work at all.  We are not in a good phase of people wanting to work...demanding to stay at home rather than go back to the office.  Strange times.

I think it only solidifies the a lower economic status pf people who are not willing to participate in traditional norms.  You get a lot more done in an office (especially home office) than working from home.

Your statement that "inflation is good" is flat our wrong.

The only "bent" i have is that I speak from being both studied and having empirical evidence over decades of studying and understanding economics and economic numbers and actuslly making a career of it.  Your 2 minute google and repeat of tucjer Carlson statements is neither true nor is based on facts.   No one who has taken even a baseline econ 101 class would make such baseless statements.

What next. Youre going to tell me you learned from the school of hard knocks and you dont need an elite liberal education to understand economics?

he only has a piggy bank, and works from starbucks

@g-man posted:

The only "bent" i have is that I speak from being both studied and having empirical evidence over decades of studying and understanding economics and economic numbers and actuslly making a career of it.  Your 2 minute google and repeat of tucjer Carlson statements is neither true nor is based on facts.   No one who has taken even a baseline econ 101 class would make such baseless statements.

What next. Youre going to tell me you learned from the school of hard knocks and you dont need an elite liberal education to understand economics?

Doesn't even warrant a reply, since you do not address any point / topic and run off and make insults.  Ok fine.  Maybe as smart as you are you should try and get a job in the current admin, as they have no idea how to maneuver their way out of the mess they created (which is intentional....as no one is this stupid).

@flwino posted:

he only has a piggy bank, and works from starbucks

Just stop typing....your a treasure trove of quality thoughts.

@g-man posted:

What next. Youre going to tell me you learned from the school of hard knocks and you dont need an elite liberal education to understand economics?

We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.

I’m disappointed that you think economics holds any answers, g-man.

Everyone knows that all the answers to all of life’s questions can only be found in music! 😎😋

@napacat posted:

Doesn't even warrant a reply, since you do not address any point / topic and run off and make insults.  Ok fine.  Maybe as smart as you are you should try and get a job in the current admin, as they have no idea how to maneuver their way out of the mess they created (which is intentional....as no one is this stupid).

The only replies you've had is non sourced opinions.  You critique others as if you were some kind of expert in the field, which you sorely are not.

Try actually making a discussion, many of us on the forums are respected subject matter experts in our respective fields, we don't need nor care about whether or not you think about how you feel about the points we make.  What alot of forumites do in actual offlines is to have proper discussions which you don't seem to learn how to do.

@seaquam posted:

We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.

I’m disappointed that you think economics holds any answers, g-man.

Everyone knows that all the answers to all of life’s questions can only be found in music! 😎😋

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWXazVhlyxQ

@napacat posted:

Doesn't even warrant a reply, since you do not address any point / topic and run off and make insults.  Ok fine.  Maybe as smart as you are you should try and get a job in the current admin, as they have no idea how to maneuver their way out of the mess they created (which is intentional....as no one is this stupid).

This is the third time that I have heard from the far right crowd that the Biden administration is intentionally trying to damage our country, as it is the only explanation for his policies.  I wonder if it is Tucker or Laura that is spouting these theories as they seem to be spreading.  Kind of like the Replacement Theory bullshit.

A colleague of mine just returned from Spain. He was visiting the north coast, including San Sebastian, plus trips to Rioja.

Anyway, just before his departure from Spain he took the required covid test.  Tested positive.  Supposed to quarantine, unless he could get a "certificate of recovery."  He went back to the hotel, spoke to the folks there, and a Spanish doctor (credentials unknown) showed up, and for 250 Euros, gave him a "certificate of recovery" and this allowed my positive testing colleague to return to the US on his scheduled flight, risking, of course, the infection of all the other folks in the airport, the airplane, and so forth.

Another reason for my tagline.

@irwin posted:

A colleague of mine just returned from Spain. He was visiting the north coast, including San Sebastian, plus trips to Rioja.

Anyway, just before his departure from Spain he took the required covid test.  Tested positive.  Supposed to quarantine, unless he could get a "certificate of recovery."  He went back to the hotel, spoke to the folks there, and a Spanish doctor (credentials unknown) showed up, and for 250 Euros, gave him a "certificate of recovery" and this allowed my positive testing colleague to return to the US on his scheduled flight, risking, of course, the infection of all the other folks in the airport, the airplane, and so forth.

Another reason for my tagline.

Textbook definition of “jag off”.

And you guys don't think this is happening hundreds of times a day on airlines?  People flying positive?

@wineismylife posted:

And you guys don't think this is happening hundreds of times a day on airlines?  People flying positive?

Would you do what the guy in the scenario above did?

@napacat posted:

Drtannin,

I thank you for the lengthy reply...and will say I agree with some of your assessments.  Stating you are not a democrat, your final paragraph only seems to call out Republican missteps without one mention of a Democratic politician.  Surely this is not as one sided as that.

Napacat-

There are plenty of missteps from both political parties to go around.  But the need to have a public health bureau/ branch in govt,  adequate preparation/ plan, response, and motivation for the coronavirus [which is my main focus of my posts here] was in 2019 and 2020.  Failure of many levels then led to: denial, delay and ineffective testing and contact tracing plans, lack of federal support especially ventilators and PPE to states,  no coherent economic policy for businesses that prolonged the pandemic [ vs success by Korea, Taiwan etc] Continued denial, deflection, and arrogance by some the DJT administration, and too many state govts fed into many of the general population to defy any subsequent reasonable policy [eg masking, vaccination], which continues to this day. The subsequent commander in chiefs childish disappearance from the White House for two months after the 2020 election led to further delay in vaccine distribution. Throw in 2021 deflection of "Election Result Validity", "Insurrection", "Russian Interference" and any rapid coherent plan was invariably stalled by these Congressional issues. In my view, handing over this medical disaster with the continued unwillingness of the radical right states, Congress, and antivax community on social media to help fix this, is where the blame of a 1 M death toll lies. It was inevitable, that given this lead time, the virus continues to impact everything and everyone.

Yes, and I don't want to spend too much time on other issues, but D bone head maneuvers in Afghanistan and at the Mexican border make me unhappy, as does the [imo] egregious dispersion of taxpayer funds to liars, cheats and scoundrels etc--- though trillions distributed wo oversight piss me off, but the latter started in 2020, so both administrations bear the burden there. Now, it's the vitriol and hypocrisy of the radical right wing which has taken over the R party that hurts me; Christian Reveling of 'my' Tribe and Hateful Violent Intolerance of all others; Fighting For Freedoms 'I' Like and Banning All Other Ones; Minimal Hands Off Governance but Electing Dictatorial Politicians and Justices.

As an aside, here in VA, the news is all about banning books, not just in libraries, but in stores and on line too. No, I don't think these books about gender are for kids to read, and think history should be vanilla facts with short comments of the multiple sides in conflicts, but complete lunacy has taken over. Pornography is far more graphic and readily available on internet sites , and critical race theory is not taught at the high school level even though the roots of history are often quite ugly. I read science, sports, and occasionally other missives, but I am looking forward to replacement books like  "Getaways on the Public's Dime" by T"Cancun"Cruz; "Space Lasers and Porno Pizza" by MTG;  "My Life w Teenagers" by M Gaetz;  "I'm the real DJT Jr" by RDeSantis; and "It's my Constitution not Yours" by SAlito, and GinnyThomas.

Returning back to health issues, COVID joins the flu as an endemic lifetime risk with periodic epidemics. If orthopoxviruses [monkeypox, smallpox] return at large, no one will care about COVID. If states ban contraceptives next, encouraging bounty justice, the R party will lose massive numbers of women and young voters. And, if the health cost of inevitable climate variation affects food resources, well then...it's cellar diminishment time. Living thru the late 60's- early 70's seemed like a test. No, we are now in the real test.

Anyway, so yeah Napacat, our govt R and D, has sucked for quite some time, but it's now worse w/r to health care than it's ever been... in my lifetime.

@wineismylife posted:

And you guys don't think this is happening hundreds of times a day on airlines?  People flying positive?

Absolutely. Many people are asymptomatic at the time of their flight.  Others may have mild symptoms, but not test. That's why masks helped.  Now, it's a shi*t show.  Waiting for the next thing.

@drtannin 2 posted:

Absolutely. Many people are asymptomatic at the time of their flight.  Others may have mild symptoms, but not test. That's why masks helped.  Now, it's a shi*t show.  Waiting for the next thing.

Monkey Pox    Cases found in US already

@flwino posted:

Monkey Pox    Cases found in US already

MTG has already handled this one for us.