PLAYPEN: Covid-19 Everything Political

[JoeKitchen]

No, it's totally linear and very simple.

- February time frame:
    - I (Trump) have total control on the States and use that total control to ensure that measures against the pandemic that would hurt the economy are not taken by the States/delayed/limited

- April time frame:
    I (Trump) have total control on the States and use that total control to ensure that measures against the pandemic taken by the States that do hurt the economy  are stopped as quickly as possible

Totally consistent.

The facts that he only expressed his total control over the States mid April doesn't change the fact that it was his view all along.

Cheers,
Bernard

If he was able to do so, sure.  But he can not, and we all know he speaks in hyperbole.  As I said by previously, if you truly take everything he says literally, you're an idiot.  If you think you can get me to agree with you by only looking at his hyperbole statements, then you are a bigger idiot. 

So yes, considering what you say cant actually happen, legally, you are not using sound logic.

[JoeKitchen]

No, he didn't say it the way it was used as a click-bait title.

What he did say, sarcastically, is that it is of course true, just like all truisms are true, just like all hindsights are 20/20.

It is the same as saying tackling Hitler earlier would have prevented WWII. Duh!

On top of that, the media knew exactly what it was doing, trying to further so division for nothing more then click bait.  Ask any  media consultant, they all teach their clients to never answer a hypothetical because they are solely designed to sow division, and all journalists are taught this in school. 

During a normal circumstance, I would find this behavior questionable, but during an emergency?  This is why the overall trust in the media has dropped since this began. 

[JoeKitchen]

I used to find it very hard to drink more than three flutes of the stuff; it has an acidic quality that just closed my mouth's abilty to accept any further input. When we first came to live in Spain we went through a stupid - and lengthy - period of overloading on all sorts of things that suddenly became available here at prices that were prohibitive in Britain. Eventually, we settled on Viña Sol at meals and a G&T perhaps now and again if we wanted to celebrate just being young, alive and together. Sunny mornings can do that. Fortunately, I had given up smoking about fifteen years earlier, or else the temptations might have been fatal.

My limit is two glasses of the stuff, but not because of the acidity.  I got drunk off of the stuff at a new years eve party when I was 19 and I still remember the hangover from it.  I vowed never to get drunk off of it again, but broke that vow a couple years later and rediscovered why I made it in the first place.  So two glasses are it for me.  Even if I drink three over a few hours and never get tipsy, I still end up with headache the next day.  The problem though is that I like Champagne, but my wife does not really.  So I almost never have any unless we have guests to share it with. 

The acidity never bothered me, except for a glass of sparkling wine I had recently in Oz.  0 grams of sugar per glass (a measurement they use in wine to denote the sweetness).  I like Brut and Extra Dry Champagne, but that was like sucking on a lemon. 

[Alan Klein]

No, he didn't say it the way it was used as a click-bait title.

What he did say, sarcastically, is that it is of course true, just like all truisms are true, just like all hindsights are 20/20.

It is the same as saying tackling Hitler earlier would have prevented WWII. Duh!

If President Bill Clinton stopped Bin Laden in the 1990's when he should have,  we would not of had 911 and the mess in the Middle East and Afghanistan and Iraq.

[Rob C]

Keep on hoping things dont turn south for your Dems. 

By the way, I think I should let you know, a lot more people will be voting in November then just Democratic Governors, and leader of your party isn't exactly coherent right now.  The man  cant even read off of a teleprompter with out messing up ... multiple times. 

It was a sad day in politics when the person giving the endorsement (Bernie) was more excited then the person receiving it (Biden).

Thinking of teleprompters, I know of a prominent politician orange idiot who believes that he can wing it better than his presumably literate writers can phrase it. Perhaps, one day, his party will find forgiveness and win some gravitas once more.

As it stands, only the sheep hear the whistle, the sheepdogs having rested their chins on their paws and drifted off into dreams of what has been. It's unkown if they dream of the future anymore.

[chez]

If he was able to do so, sure.  But he can not, and we all know he speaks in hyperbole.  As I said by previously, if you truly take everything he says literally, you're an idiot.  If you think you can get me to agree with you by only looking at his hyperbole statements, then you are a bigger idiot. 

So yes, considering what you say cant actually happen, legally, you are not using sound logic.

Well if Bernard is not using sound logic, what about Trump. He's putting on an act for his sheeple at a time when he should be 100% focussed on the crisis.

[chez]

If he was able to do so, sure.  But he can not, and we all know he speaks in hyperbole.  As I said by previously, if you truly take everything he says literally, you're an idiot.  If you think you can get me to agree with you by only looking at his hyperbole statements, then you are a bigger idiot. 

So yes, considering what you say cant actually happen, legally, you are not using sound logic.

Well if Bernard is not using sound logic, what about Trump. He's putting on an act for his sheeple at a time when he should be 100% focussed on the crisis.

[chez]

If President Bill Clinton stopped Bin Laden in the 1990's when he should have,  we would not of had 911 and the mess in the Middle East and Afghanistan and Iraq.

Simplistic thinking.

[Alan Klein]

If he was able to do so, sure.  But he can not, and we all know he speaks in hyperbole.  As I said by previously, if you truly take everything he says literally, you're an idiot.  If you think you can get me to agree with you by only looking at his hyperbole statements, then you are a bigger idiot. 

So yes, considering what you say cant actually happen, legally, you are not using sound logic.

Trump asks for the world and settles for less
 That's how he negotiates.   If you start the negotiation where you want to wind up, you'lll get less.   That's Negotiation 101. For the press to play dumb everytime he does it as if he believes it and not just a tactic,  just shows their bias and maybe their stupidity.

[Rob C]

Well, he does not have total control, which was kind of a head scratching moment. 

But the fact remains, under the circumstances at the time, and what we knew then, I can not fault Trump for what he did or did not do, especially when nearly everyone in the world was criticizing him for what he was doing.  I know many Democrats who will never vote for Trump who tell me the same thing in private.

You spent too much time writing: you said it all in the words "I can not fault Trump..." and had you stopped there, it would all have made perfect sense. Everything else has been the usual smoke, mirrors and refusal to see clearly and analytically lest your beliefs prove misplaced.

But I can't altogether blame you because I, too, have this blind belief that if I continue to spend 5 euros a week on Euromillions, I will be able to leave all my worldly troubles behind me. Such faith is to be cherished, regardless of past experiences and reality. They say shit happens, and it does, but when the winnings come instead, they go elsewhere, which considering my loyalty to the cause, seems a tad unfair.

Oh well, better that than having to fight for a standing spot in the subway!

[JoeKitchen]

Well if Bernard is not using sound logic, what about Trump. He's putting on an act for his sheeple at a time when he should be 100% focussed on the crisis.

The difference between you, and those on the left, is you think we take everything he says as gospel, whereas we know better and don't. 

So the fact that you keep on trying to make us feel daft for taking literal what he says boomerangs back on you.  All of us on the right, and the center btw, look at the left when they make these comments about some Trump hyperbole and think, "are these people idiots?  Have they been living a rock for 4 years?  Have they not yet learned how this guy talks?" 

[Alan Klein]

The other thing he does all the time is play good cop,  bad cop. He'll complement Xi or Kim while imposing sanctions or tariffs.    He doesn't burn bridges.  I noticed this about him 30 years ago.   His anger at people is a ruse. Of course the press falls into it complaining that how can he say nice things about China if they screwed us with the virus? Because that's how he's able to stay on good terms with enemies while hitting them in the head at the same time. It's a strategy he uses over and over.
 Yet the press never learns it.  They rather criticize his position of patting enemies on the back.  Meanwhile he's avoiding war and gainng concessions. This is Negotiations 201.

[Rob C]

What about direct deposits into the account tomorrow morning?

Could be tricky: if Peter Turnley was right about 60% of Americans having less than 600 bucks in their accounts, I would find it easy to believe there must be at least as many without an account at all. The cracks in the flooring get pretty wide at times.

[William Walker]

1.   The feds should bench mark openings based on a regional level. 
2.   Then meet with the governors from each region in the order the feds think they can be opened. 
3.   Governors would input their concerns
4.   Each area would come up with a plan to implement joint agreements.
5.   Both the Feds and the governors of the regional group would sign off the plans
6.   Governors would order opening per the plan in their spheres of control; the Fed would do the same in their spheres.


Discussion: One advantage is that the feds can meet with a smaller group of governors so things can get done expeditiously.  There's no time to waste.  Smaller groups will come to agreements quicker.  Regional concerns take priority; they won't be discussing concerns from other areas of the country that don’t effect the current discussion group.  Cosmopolitan issues of the east are different than farming areas.  Another advantage is that it appears smaller populated and more open areas would come first since they have the least infections.  We'd learn a lot from them that would apply to the more difficult regions that are hot spots.

Alan, I hope you appreciate the fact that, in the above plan, in however many minutes it took you to come up with it - that it is (and although I have no proof, I'm sure I'm right!) more of a plan and no doubt a better effort than anything Donald Trump could/has done?

P.S. I see you like to use the word "if" a lot - as in "If Bill Clinton...". You realise of course that, if your aunty had balls, she'd be your uncle?

[Rob C]

Thanks, Rob

P.S. I am looking forward to the next weekend's 84-hour house arrest. Talk about tyranny.

Don't take it hard: I know you are just playing a rôle out of sheer boredom.

That's a long weekend.

[Rob C]

Milosevic was not just loved by the majority of Serbs, but simply adored, worshipped. His picture was in people's home next to their saint's icon. My late father saw him as a national savior. While visiting me in Moscow, to see his first grandchild, and having planned to stay for a month, threatened to leave on the third day, after I said something mildly negative about Milosevic. Or would slam the phone for the same reason once back home.

You guys who get your news from the media simply have no clue.

I believe my reference was to the statement that Serbs love Trump. Milo is a different person and I hold no views about him one way or the other: he didn't impact my life as the orange creature does.

[Robert Roaldi]

From a request to maintain physical distance and avoid contagion to civil rights violations to communist totalitarian takeover seem like awfully big steps to me.

[Rob C]

Great circular logic here.

Indeed; and it is irrefutably true and mercilessly accurate.

[Alan Klein]

Alan, I hope you appreciate the fact that, in the above plan, in however many minutes it took you to come up with it - that it is (and although I have no proof, I'm sure I'm right!) more of a plan and no doubt a better effort than anything Donald Trump could/has done?

P.S. I see you like to use the word "if" a lot - as in "If Bill Clinton...". You realise of course that, if your aunty had balls, she'd be your uncle?

Thanks for the compliment but I believe Trump is putting together a group of experts to represent business, economics, and medical and will arrive at a plan I'm sure much more evolved than I put together.

In the meanwhile, the Democratic governor of California, the most populated state in the country, came up with a five or six point plan that's not much longer than mine. So apparently Governor's aren't planning that much either. On the other hand,  when you plan stuff you hit the major points first.   Then you get down into the details.

[Rob C]

From a request to maintain physical distance and avoid contagion to civil rights violations to communist totalitarian takeover seem like awfully big steps to me.

Big steps, small steps and the Moon have become part of American folklore. There may be a C&W song about that, but I am not going to consult Dr Google to find if there is. There certainly is a song about voting in a Cajun for the office of President, but I don't know if it gained traction at the polls. Perhaps it was mistaken as a call for a vote for a property developer. Small mistakes can have telling consequences. One such loss was the sound of some nice tunes not playing out across the White House lawns...