The all-new "US Politics and coronavirus" thread

[Sherkeu]

Ohio GOP lawmaker says he won’t wear a face mask because God doesn’t wear one

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/05/oh...wear-a-face-mask-because-god-doesnt-wear-one/

This guy is in charge of a State district with just 125k people (Ohio 85th). 65 cases, 2 deaths for his voters in 6 weeks of lockdown. He is preaching to his own choir. Why is anyone giving him national attention?
His message is dumb for more populous areas of his state but he isn't exactly the big dog in Ohio.
There are over 5,000 such people across the country. Odds of finding a titillating quote are pretty good!

 

[eerok]

Thanks for my first laugh of the day!

You've gotta laugh or cry.

 

[Emily's Cat]

Did you make the "hmm..." sound while trying to think of a retort before you gave up and posted whataboutisms?

It's a commentary on the selective interpretations. I don't think most people would classify the black panthers as being terrorists, nor suggest that they shouldn't have been allowed to exercise their second amendment rights while exercising their first amendment rights. I don't think most people would suggest that antifa angrily yelling in borderline military dress are tantamount to "one step away from mob rule".

Personally, I think the protesters are kind of dumb, but I also recognize that the media cherry-picks what they report, and that the narrative has focused on the "luxury" complaints of haircuts etc, while selectively ignoring the impact to small business owners and people working low income jobs. And I also acknowledged that these people are engaged in protesting the government which is constitutionally protected. So even if I don't agree with what they have to say, I recognize their right to do so.

Mostly, I recognize that for several people on the internet, their view that this is terrorism and threatening and mob rule is entirely dependent on *who* the protesters are, and is not an objective evaluation.

 

[Dr.Sid]

Maybe the WHO has learned their lesson but they did pretty poorly at the onset of this pandemic. They encouraged to keep trade and travel going into February as China was building their huge pre-fab hospitals and then they refused to even call it a pandemic even as it appeared in 25 countries across 4 continents. The msm like CNN called it that anyway. It was too obvious at that point

I hope they have reshuffled their teams there to be more proactive for purely world health related purposes.

Nonsense. WHO's responsibility isn't to recommend anything. That's up to individual states. WHO monitors the situation, reports on it, and allows for exchange of information on expert level. And they did all that perfectly.
If there is something we can discuss is they praised Chine too much, even when it was clear China is covering up. But it makes sense. They are not here to make China democratic state. They are here to get as much information from China as possible.

 

[Joe Random]

It's a commentary on the selective interpretations. I don't think most people would classify the black panthers as being terrorists, nor suggest that they shouldn't have been allowed to exercise their second amendment rights while exercising their first amendment rights. I don't think most people would suggest that antifa angrily yelling in borderline military dress are tantamount to "one step away from mob rule".

Personally, I think the protesters are kind of dumb, but I also recognize that the media cherry-picks what they report, and that the narrative has focused on the "luxury" complaints of haircuts etc, while selectively ignoring the impact to small business owners and people working low income jobs. And I also acknowledged that these people are engaged in protesting the government which is constitutionally protected. So even if I don't agree with what they have to say, I recognize their right to do so.

Mostly, I recognize that for several people on the internet, their view that this is terrorism and threatening and mob rule is entirely dependent on *who* the protesters are, and is not an objective evaluation.

Someone out of work and not seeing the virus directly affecting them wants to go back to work. I get that, even if I don't agree with it. Protesting because you really REALLY want the economy to open back up, again, I disagree but I understand.

What I DON'T understand : WTF do you need to bring a rifle with you to your protest? I say this as someone who grew up around firearms and have no fear of 'scary black guns'. You (generic) want to get back to normal and start getting a positive income again. And you need a firearm with you to do that ... why again?

 

[TragicMonkey]

What I DON'T understand : WTF do you need to bring a rifle with you to your protest? I say this as someone who grew up around firearms and have no fear of 'scary black guns'. You (generic) want to get back to normal and start getting a positive income again. And you need a firearm with you to do that ... why again?

To have an excuse for getting an erection?

 

[Sherkeu]

Mostly, I recognize that for several people on the internet, their view that this is terrorism and threatening and mob rule is entirely dependent on *who* the protesters are, and is not an objective evaluation.

I think it's been more of a 'rights flexing' thing for a while. Guns is just one method. A visible cringe for your opponents that is protected by law.

Same as women who walked topless in NY or the atheists who put up the goat thrones at Christmas in City Hall. It gets to be an uncomfortable clash, but it's their RIGHT!!

 

[Joe Random]

To have an excuse for getting an erection?

That's the thing for me. In my family and the people I grew up with guns were sort of like chainsaws : seriously dangerous if you don't know what you're doing or are playing around with them, but safe and useful if you just pay attention and took care. They were neither sinister instruments of death which would kill you if you looked at them, nor were they the last best hope to prevent governmental tyranny.

It wasn't until I got older that I started running into people who weren't firearms enthusiasts, they were firearms fetishists. The dickheads protesting aren't protesting some upcoming gun legislation, they're demanding businesses and the economy reopen. Zero reason to do this armed unless their aim is to provoke.

Or, as you say, help their wedding tackle get back to at least half-mast.

 

[Stacyhs]

Someone out of work and not seeing the virus directly affecting them wants to go back to work. I get that, even if I don't agree with it. Protesting because you really REALLY want the economy to open back up, again, I disagree but I understand.

What I DON'T understand : WTF do you need to bring a rifle with you to your protest? I say this as someone who grew up around firearms and have no fear of 'scary black guns'. You (generic) want to get back to normal and start getting a positive income again. And you need a firearm with you to do that ... why again?

I agree. Weapons of any kind were completely irrelevant to what they were there to protest. They brought them as a threat and, frankly, because they get some kind of personal thrill from having them. Especially the assault style rifles. They are what I call 'gun nuts'. I also notice that it's almost exclusively men waving these things around. Unconnected? I don' think so, Lucy.

 

[Andy_Ross]

To have an excuse for getting an erection?

I thought it was a substitute for a lack of an erection.

 

[The Atheist]

You know what i would love to see?

A vaccine developed outside the United States, and distributed by the WHO. Given all of Trump's "America First" rhetoric, it will be fun to see Trump (or at least his supporters, since Trump has such an ego) humbled with the knowledge that other countries more amiable to the WHO get access to a vaccine while the U.S. does not.

The chances of a vaccine being delivered from outside USA are fairly high, just based on the numbers of trials under way, many of which are in Europe and China, so you may well get your wish.

 

[Andy_Ross]

A security guard at a Family Dollar store in Michigan asked a woman to put on a state-mandated mask before she could come in. She spit in his face, then came back later with her father and shot him in the head, killing him. This was 4 days ago. No arrests have been made.

Gofundme for the victim's family

https://www.gofundme.com/f/donations-for-duper?

They were obviously 'very good people'

 

[Shalamar]

A security guard at a Family Dollar store in Michigan asked a woman to put on a state-mandated mask before she could come in. She spit in his face, then came back later with her father and shot him in the head, killing him. This was 4 days ago. No arrests have been made.

Gofundme for the victim's family

https://www.gofundme.com/f/donations-for-duper?

They were obviously 'very good people'

USA! USA!

 

[Stacyhs]

A security guard at a Family Dollar store in Michigan asked a woman to put on a state-mandated mask before she could come in. She spit in his face, then came back later with her father and shot him in the head, killing him. This was 4 days ago. No arrests have been made.

Gofundme for the victim's family

https://www.gofundme.com/f/donations-for-duper?

They were obviously 'very good people'

The woman has been arrested and two men have been charged. They are looking for the men.

https://www.abc12.com/content/news/...y-guard-over-face-mask-dispute-570178991.html

A friend of mine (in her 60's) in upstate NY told a man he should be wearing a mask at a convenience store. He began yelling at her and calling her ugly names. Some of these people are nuts.

 

[bruto]

Historically, bringing guns to a protest was because the protesters had a reasonable expectation of being attacked.

Perhaps, but that expectation is not reasonable here, and even so, bringing a gun implies a readiness to use it - a principle well understood by many nonviolent protestors even when they had good reason to expect being attacked.

 

[TragicMonkey]

I thought it was a substitute for a lack of an erection.

Nah, that's sports cars.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

You know what i would love to see?

A vaccine developed outside the United States, and distributed by the WHO. Given all of Trump's "America First" rhetoric, it will be fun to see Trump (or at least his supporters, since Trump has such an ego) humbled with the knowledge that other countries more amiable to the WHO get access to a vaccine while the U.S. does not.

That is very likely to happen. Trump's ignorant move to buy some German vaccine for exclusive US use (I forget the details and maybe the news was misleading) made this country look [fill in a Trumpism superlative] bad.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I was thinking the same.
It IS actually pretty reasonable to think that a virus that came from over 1000 miles away to be primarily studied in a lab in Wuhan (the largest of its kind in all of Asia) and where the researchers ventured to that remote area of infection to collect samples has a connection to a closely related virus infecting Wuhan where they worked. It would be remarkable if there was NO connection.

Not man made, but man 'caused'. Lots of ways it can happen without being some nefarious conspiracy theory. The most recent infections of SARS-1 was from a lab worker.

Sorry. It's not personal, you are not the only one speculating this social media 'science'. It belongs in the CT sub-forum.

Your conclusion is misinformed.

I said it before, it walks like a duck, it's not going to be a zebra.

These viruses are commonly jumping from animals to humans or coming close to doing so all over the world. Most of the time they turn out not to spread efficiently and rapidly from human to human and the threat dies out.

China's rural areas especially, but elsewhere in China and the world as well are particular hotspots. You don't need a lab accident when the natural world is teeming with potential zoonotic diseases.

I've followed these outbreaks for 30 years. I've seen a dozen or more that got as far as spreading to humans from animals but didn't go anywhere from there. A few have gone further like SARS, ebola, and the 2009 flu. While none have gone this far, I saw someone list a history of really bad pandemics about every century.

Occam's Razor: there is no reason to throw a lab into the sequence of events.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Maybe the WHO has learned their lesson but they did pretty poorly at the onset of this pandemic. They encouraged to keep trade and travel going into February as China was building their huge pre-fab hospitals and then they refused to even call it a pandemic even as it appeared in 25 countries across 4 continents. The msm like CNN called it that anyway. It was too obvious at that point

I hope they have reshuffled their teams there to be more proactive for purely world health related purposes.

Another misunderstood social media 'conclusion'.

The reason the WHO did not recommend stopping international travel is because it's ineffective, not because they missed the boat.And this was correct! But Trump is pushing this lie because he's hiding his own mistakes while pretending his blocking certain travel from China was effective. It wasn't. He's a liar (d'uh). Don't fall for his scapegoating.
And the WHO calling something a pandemic later than the obvious was just a decision like raising the threat level from almost red to red. Certain actions are called for when a pandemic is called. I'll go look up (after lunch) what the WHO hesitated calling for, I saw the list before and their decision made sense.

 

[Dr.Sid]

Occam's Razor: there is no reason to throw a lab into the sequence of events.

There is no reason throwing it out.

There might have been dangerous coronaviruses in the market. But there for sure were dangerous coronaviruses in the lab.

I can also say 'if it looks like it came from the lab, it came from the lab'.

There are animals being eaten everywhere. In every city all over the whole region. Yet by a chance it happened under 1km from only lab in the region which study exactly this kind of viruses ? Pls.