Coronavirus

jeb wrote: Just floored that folks are watching all this play out and will still pull that lever for the GOP after this. There is absolutely no accountability whatsoever for this colossally failed response.

Noted by others, more countries accept North Korean passports for travel than USA passports. It's a top to bottom embarrassment, and we are just going to keep on plugging away collectively at doing FUCK ALL to stop or slow this virus and hold our leaders accountable for their dismal failures. I am at a loss to understand how the US just gave up to Russian trollbots so we could appoint more Heritage Foundation doofuses to the federal bench.

I think I need to be done with knowing things. It doesn't do me any good and it makes no difference in the world at all. This is some next level nihilism for me.

This was Dr. Birx, last week, on the next stage of the pandemic . It just boggles my mind, like she's talking about a hurricane or something, and not a total fuckup on the Federal government's part. "We've entered a new phase..." blah, blah, blah. Really? How the fuck did that happen.

jeb wrote: Just floored that folks are watching all this play out and will still pull that lever for the GOP after this. There is absolutely no accountability whatsoever for this colossally failed response.

Some people (a staggering number, really) clearly have "I'm racist and want being racist to be socially acceptable" as their number one issue.

Abortion is such a smoke screen. Republicans don't give a shit about children once they are born, I'll never believe they give a shit about them before they are born.

It's not that passports matter. Or college football. Or whatever shit they want us to talk about this week. None of this dross matters. What I can't get my head around is a political party that put this person in power, works day and night to KEEP him and his like in power, and does nothing to deal with the fallout of his administration's absolutely devastating social, economic, scientific, political failings week after month after year. It's not a "bubble" the folks seeing this and thinking it is good are trapped in; it is a grave and they are pulling us in with them.

This conversation could spin out of control pretty quickly at this point.

I'll just mention that you're not powerless. I had a guy come to sell me road repair (the storm washed us out pretty badly) and he's out of his truck and up in front of me wearing no mask while I'm still getting mine on. I told him if he wasn't wearing a mask I wasn't interested. If you can't treat me with a bit of care before you make the sale, what can I expect after? He tried to discount my opinion, but his sales pitch was done.

That small act of defiance made my day. I explained to a guy that his paycheck and his atitude were firmly connected to each other. Here's hoping I wasn't the first.

Act locally. Set an example.

America has fallen. Like I've said before, voting in a few different people wouldn't fix what was broken even before the Trump Confederacy took over. Now the damage done to US institutions by this administration will take decades to fix with Republicans dragging things out every step of the way. That doesn't matter though because both sides want a civil war to get rid of the other side and now we will never really be a United country again. It's over. They won. You've been owned. No if, ands, or buts. It's over.

Read John Meacham's most recent book. This has happened before, more than a few times. We'll get through this. Vote. Make change.

I am hopeful that the Democrats win big this November. Win the presidency, take majority in the Senate, and hold on to the House. And then I hope that Republicans do some serious soul-searching for the next four years, like they did after Nixon, and come back with a better brand in 2024. Due to ongoing demographic changes, the Republicans will not survive much longer if they are only the party of disgruntled white people. They need to appeal to a larger segment of American voters and step away from the current intolerance. I would love it if I someday had a real choice to make between two good presidential candidates in the general election.

boothwah wrote: So whatever "shenanigans" Trump may or may not have done (Mom, he did them all), it would be a moral failing for to cast her ballot for anyone evil enough to favor killing babies for convenience.

I finally got through to a pro-life acquaintance by pointing out that one of the reasons the GOP leadership is pro-life is because it doesn't inconvenience them in the slightest. If their wife, daughter, or mistress gets an unwanted pregnancy, they can easily afford fly to a state where it's legal. Sure, their home state might have one clinic within a thousand miles; not their problem.

And, let's say that you get a million dollars if you guess the number of abortions that Donald Trump has paid for. What are the odds that you'll guess zero?

And now McConnell's Senate is taking a break until Sept 8th.

I went out to Sprouts today. Then to costco. Then to HEB (local grocery store). Then to Lowes for some door weatherstripping. Then to the school to pick up my kid after his one on one evaluation. Just got off a plane about a week and a half ago. Got a MiL flying in tomorrow. Wore a mask and washed my hands, no big deal, virtually everyone else doing the same.

It really seems like some of us have a RADICALLY different experience about this, it is hard to reconcile the "haven't left my house in 4 months" stories with the "just had a beer with the guys" stories. Wild. Kids writing reports on this in 20 years are gonna get such varied tales from their parents/grandparents.

As for Biden, I don't really see how picking a woman who made her career locking up black and brown folks for minor drug offenses, denying prisoners release so they can be slave labor fighting forest fires, or blocking a death row inmate access to DNA evidence is in ANY WAY an appeasement to BLM but whatevs. She would most definitely throw folks in jail for not wearing masks like she would a single working mom that can't keep her kid in school so hooray for that.

hotseatgames wrote:

jeb wrote: Just floored that folks are watching all this play out and will still pull that lever for the GOP after this. There is absolutely no accountability whatsoever for this colossally failed response.

Some people (a staggering number, really) clearly have "I'm racist and want being racist to be socially acceptable" as their number one issue.

Abortion is such a smoke screen. Republicans don't give a shit about children once they are born, I'll never believe they give a shit about them before they are born.

You are correct in saying the Republicans isn't inconvenienced by abortion. If it they ever delivered on their promises, they would lose the primary lever they use to get the evangelical vote -

And for those voters, abortion is THE national and moral sin.

One other segment of voters that worry me - we have lot of them around here - The chunk of rednecks who've been raised with Rush on in the radio, and Hannity on at the dinner table - They have no interest in any discourse, they did all their learning when they passed the high school/trade school, and it's just memes and political teams - They tell me Trump's doing a great job....I ask what has he done...a rough paraphrase : "Well he's finally standing up for us - He told China off. And man is he giving it to Nasty Pelosi, and the libtards." These are the villains Rush's been telling them about for years. Ha, suck it libs!

It's why I worry about the polling. I don't think they poll enough rednecks.

I find it fascinating that "redneck" is still an acceptable racial slur to use in a derogatory fashion.

jason10mm wrote: I find it fascinating that "redneck" is still an acceptable racial slur to use in a derogatory fashion.

Those of us that grew up in redneck households prefer it to hick or hillbilly.

boothwah wrote: Those of us that grew up in redneck households prefer it to hick or hillbilly.

My girlfriend said her late father felt the same way. Call him a redneck all day but hillbilly was crossing the line.