Cont: The all-new "US Politics and coronavirus" thread pt. 2

[alfaniner]

He'll probably be saying he got a new MyPillow and that cured his Covid-19.

 

[JeanTate]

I have had this simple question for a while; I have yet to read answers to it that are, to me, humane and rational. Anybody?

A while ago, Trump said (paraphrasing) that he takes no responsibility whatsoever for how the covid pandemic in the US is contained, controlled, etc.

Why did the entire Republican leadership not immediately say, with one voice, “fair enough, resign immediately, and let someone who will/does take over. If you don’t, we’ll force you to.”

 

[Darat]

Heard alot about "MyPillow" - had a quick look and it just seems to be a brand of pillows? Is there something else to it that I'm missing?

 

[Puppycow]

Now Trump is accusing the FDA "deep state" of delaying testing of therapeutics until after the election.

The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics. Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives! @SteveFDA

 

[Trebuchet]

Heard alot about "MyPillow" - had a quick look and it just seems to be a brand of pillows? Is there something else to it that I'm missing?

The head of the company, whose face is in all their commercials, is a huge fan of Trump, has visited the White House multiple times, and is pushing the oleander scam.

 

[Meadmaker]

Heard alot about "MyPillow" - had a quick look and it just seems to be a brand of pillows? Is there something else to it that I'm missing?

I have no idea if there is anything different about "MyPillow" compared to any other brand of pillow, but it is, indeed, just a brand of pillow.

What I know is that I listen to right wing talk radio a lot when I'm in my car, and the MyPillow company saturates those airwaves with advertising, including paying for lots of personal endorsement ads, so guys like Sean Hannity personally sing the praises of My Pillow. I have never seen or heard an ad for them anyplace except talk radio.

ETA: Since I have only heard the ads, I had never seen the guy's face. Trebuchet has apparently seen some sort of video ad. I don't know where. I don't watch a lot of advertiser-supported television. Most of what I watch is Netflix. I haven't seen a MyPillow ad on youtube.

 

[kookbreaker]

I have no idea if there is anything different about "MyPillow" compared to any other brand of pillow, but it is, indeed, just a brand of pillow.

What I know is that I listen to right wing talk radio a lot when I'm in my car, and the MyPillow company saturates those airwaves with advertising, including paying for lots of personal endorsement ads, so guys like Sean Hannity personally sing the praises of My Pillow. I have never seen or heard an ad for them anyplace except talk radio.

ETA: Since I have only heard the ads, I had never seen the guy's face. Trebuchet has apparently seen some sort of video ad. I don't know where. I don't watch a lot of advertiser-supported television. Most of what I watch is Netflix. I haven't seen a MyPillow ad on youtube.

They had ads all over FB for a while. I finally took the time to block them as they were coming up all too often and got annoying,

Now Trump ads for his silly biased polls are all over. I’m putting up with them since they are wasting money on me.

 

[Craig4]

Heard alot about "MyPillow" - had a quick look and it just seems to be a brand of pillows? Is there something else to it that I'm missing?

Well, most pillow companies aren't fined for making unproven medical claims about their products so in that sense they are different. They also ran a fake two for one scam and ate another fine over fraudulent advertising. Other than that, they seem like normal pillows.

 

[Roger Ramjets]

Experts estimate that in the U.S., 70% of the population — more than 200 million people — would have to recover from COVID-19 to halt the epidemic.

So let's say we get the infection rate down to an 'acceptable' level, eg. 20,000 per day (the numbers we had just before opening up). How long before we reach 70%?

But some say we only need 40% to achieve 'herd immunity'. At 20,000 a day that would take 18 years. So there's nothing to worry about!

 

[Armitage72]

What I know is that I listen to right wing talk radio a lot when I'm in my car, and the MyPillow company saturates those airwaves with advertising, including paying for lots of personal endorsement ads, so guys like Sean Hannity personally sing the praises of My Pillow. I have never seen or heard an ad for them anyplace except talk radio.

I'm not certain, but I think he may be one of the few advertisers that Hannity has left.

 

[alfaniner]

It may just because it's a "Made in this state!" company, but the pillow ads are all over TV around here.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

It may just because it's a "Made in this state!" company, but the pillow ads are all over TV around here.

Here too.

 

[Meadmaker]

They had ads all over FB for a while. I finally took the time to block them as they were coming up all too often and got annoying,

Now Trump ads for his silly biased polls are all over. I’m putting up with them since they are wasting money on me.

Facebook ads are "pay per click", so if the ads get annoying, you can always click them and know that it's costing them money.


I have actually advertised on Facebook before. Several years ago, it was either "pay per click" or "pay per impression". I don't remember the rates exactly, but it was something like 10 cents per thousand impressions (i.e., your ad listed on any loaded page), or 50 cents per click. I always paid per impression because I was literally spending $1,00 per day to advertise a local chess tournament. If one person clicked, I would blow my ad budget.

Last time I looked at doing something similar for another event, the "pay per impression" option was gone. What that means is that every single time you click, that advertiser spent some money.

I see political ads all over youtube now, with Trump pretty prominent. I don't know if their ad model is the same. Maybe I should be clicking a lot.

 

[dann]

Then there’s the fact that an enormous percentage of people who carry the virus have no symptoms. Estimates vary, but one mass-testing report from Iceland found that fully 50% of the population who carried the virus expressed no symptoms whatsoever.

And yet these are the recommendations that Swedes still get from Swedish state TV to this very day:

Coronaviruset sprids genom hostningar och nysningar, det som kallas droppsmitta. Men hur minskar du risken att bli smittad eller smitta andra? Här är fem tips på förebyggande åtgärder.
Enligt Folkhälsomyndigheten handlar det om allmänt förebyggande åtgärder, som till vanliga förkylningar.
• Undvika att röra vid ansiktet.
• Undvika nära kontakt med sjuka människor.
• Tvätta händerna ofta med tvål och varmt vatten.
• Hosta och nys i armvecket eller i en näsduk.
• Stanna hemma när du är sjuk.
Så minskar du risken att smittas av coronaviruset (SVT.se, Feb. 28, 2020)

The coronavirus is transmitted by coughing and sneezing, what is called transmission by droplets. But how do you lower the risk of contracting the virus or infecting others? Here are five tips about preventive measures.
According to the Public Health Agency it is a question of generally preventive measures, like in the case of the common cold.
• Avoid touching your face
• Avoid close contact with sick people• Wash your hands often with soap and hot water
• Cough or sneeze into your elbow or a handkerchief
• Stay at home when you are illHow to lower the risk of infection with the coronavirus

In other words: You have no ******* idea if you are sick or not, but stay at home if you are. And as many as half of the people who can transmit the disease to you aren't sick and don't have any symptoms, but you should only avoid close contact with sick people.
I need to wash my brain with soap and hot water after reading this insane ********.

 

[Meadmaker]

And yet these are the recommendations that Swedes still get from Swedish state TV to this very day:


The coronavirus is transmitted by coughing and sneezing, what is called transmission by droplets. But how do you lower the risk of contracting the virus or infecting others? Here are five tips about preventive measures.
According to the Public Health Agency it is a question of generally preventive measures, like in the case of the common cold.
• Avoid touching your face
• Avoid close contact with sick people• Wash your hands often with soap and hot water
• Cough or sneeze into your elbow or a handkerchief
• Stay at home when you are illHow to lower the risk of infection with the coronavirus

In other words: You have no ******* idea if you are sick or not, but stay at home if you are. And as many as half of the people who can transmit the disease to you aren't sick and don't have any symptoms, but you should only avoid close contact with sick people.
I need to wash my brain with soap and hot water after reading this insane ********.

It's probably no coincidence that Sweden is one of only seven nations that has a higher per capita death rate than the United States. They are number 6 in the world.

 

[dann]

So let's say we get the infection rate down to an 'acceptable' level, eg. 20,000 per day (the numbers we had just before opening up). How long before we reach 70%?

But some say we only need 40% to achieve 'herd immunity'. At 20,000 a day that would take 18 years. So there's nothing to worry about!

 

[dann]

They are number 6 in the world.

Only if you don't count San Marino and Andorra, and they are adamant that you do!
I just posted a Swedish hospital nurse's description of what it was like when it was at its worst. The Bring-out-your-dead video isn't far off!

 

[Armitage72]

The Stupid Bitch in Chief is having a news conference on Sunday to announce a breakthrough on a therapeutic. Any bets? I'm sure it will be a non-event being blown way out of proportion.

The FDA issued an emergency use authorization for the use of convalescent plasma.
There's no randomized clinical trial data yet, and not a lot of available plasma, so ... yay?

 

[kookbreaker]

The FDA issued an emergency use authorization for the use of convalescent plasma.
There's no randomized clinical trial data yet, and not a lot of available plasma, so ... yay?

And while Trump is calling it a “revolutionary treatment” the medical community is going “its good but not great”.

 

[Aridas]

I have had this simple question for a while; I have yet to read answers to it that are, to me, humane and rational. Anybody?

A while ago, Trump said (paraphrasing) that he takes no responsibility whatsoever for how the covid pandemic in the US is contained, controlled, etc.

Why did the entire Republican leadership not immediately say, with one voice, “fair enough, resign immediately, and let someone who will/does take over. If you don’t, we’ll force you to.”

The same reason as ever - political calculations that take into account the nature of how they're holding power in the first place. How are they doing that, despite frequently working to hurt their constituents, tends to be rooted very significantly in the concept of "loyalty." They know that if they actually take a principled stand, they will suffer personally for it - likely up to and including death threats from die-hard Trumpers in their shows of loyalty.

Heard alot about "MyPillow" - had a quick look and it just seems to be a brand of pillows? Is there something else to it that I'm missing?

As has been covered a bit... the guy in charge of MyPillow has been... close with Trump. The kind of close that means that he got a no bid contract to produce masks that he couldn't actually produce and had him as a speaker to openly praise Trump in at least one of Trump's "look at me spout nonsense" showings, among other things. He's a high profile figure who fairly certainly has no business being high profile.