Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa

[John Camp]

Holy Cats. I'm watching Trump's press conference, and his hair is white!

[Alan Klein]

You can conclude whatever you want. You often do. Doesn't make it true. Why don't you inquire of the Trump campaign why their law firm withdrew. Perhaps the law firm is prohibited by attorney-client privilege from discussing the reasons it withdrew without permission from its former client.

Like I said, I have no idea what I pay. I looked it up because you are interested. The current seasonal rate is .09298 per kWh. There is also a TVA fuel cost adjustment of .00322 per kWh for November. I guess the seasonal rate changes with the seasons and the TVA fuel cost adjustment adjusts whenever TVA fuel cost changes. It also looks like there is a monthly service charge and a grid access charge, but the costs aren't listed. I have no idea how many kWh I use. I just pay the bill online when it comes in my email.

At those prices, you don't need competitors.  Of course, you have the advantage of TVA government sponsored electricity. Send some up this way.

[Alan Klein]

I am sure this will come as a disappointment to some.

President-elect Joe Biden’s Covid advisors nix idea of U.S. lockdown to curb pandemic

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/13/biden-advisor-dr-gounder-says-covid-advisory-panel-doesnt-support-full-us-lockdown.html

Pretty much what's been going on under Trump.  So they'll do the same thing and suddenly the news will report how well Biden is doing. 

[faberryman]

I only saw the first 15 minutes of the press conference when Trump was talking about the vaccine. I don't know whether any mention was made about the election. I gather not.

[chez]

Trumps words come back to haunt him:
2016: Donald Trump and his campaign manager describing his election victory as a “landslide,” Trump’s margin of victory actually ranks among the closest in the Electoral College.
With the Michigan election results were certified, Trump expanded his Electoral College victory over Hillary Clinton to 306 to 232.
Today all states called: Biden 306 to Trump 232.
Biden election victory a “landslide”? Trump loss a ”Landslide”? Biden wins; that's what counts.

Let's also not forget that Trump lost the popular vote to Clinton in 2016, and he's lost it again by over 5M votes to Biden.

[faberryman]

Holy Cats. I'm watching Trump's press conference, and his hair is white!

I have seen his hair dyed like that before. He has always reverted to bright yellow. You should have seen Sean Hannity's suntan cream the other night. They missed putting it along his hairline. Pretty hilarious.

[BernardLanguillier]

Can you step us through that logic?

The very same logic used by Craig to explain why Democrats possibly did massive electoral fraud.

Cheers,
Bernard

[James Clark]

The very same logic used by Craig to explain why Democrats possibly did massive electoral fraud.

Cheers,
Bernard

The same arguments aren't any better just because they're pro-Biden, y'know?

[faberryman]

At those prices, you don't need competitors.  Of course, you have the advantage of TVA government sponsored electricity. Send some up this way.

About TVA

"The Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power companies serving 10 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation."

[faberryman]

I didn't realize the Dominion voter fraud story originated with QAnon.

QAnon's Dominion voter fraud conspiracy theory reaches the president

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/q-fades-qanon-s-dominion-voter-fraud-conspiracy-theory-reaches-n1247780

[Alan Klein]

About TVA.  A good deal if you can get it. 

"The Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power companies serving 10 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation."

Taxpayers built it.  Also note:

"The TVA’s budget technically is not taxpayer-funded — instead using electricity revenue from Tennessee and neighboring states — but its debt of up to $30 billion is federally owned, as are its assets. Many conservatives want to privatize the TVA, an idea also pushed by the Obama White House, but resisted by many lawmakers from the area.
...Tennessee Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen, a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, said the compensation is “out of line for a public agency” and that the time is right to act.

“Many [TVA executives] make over a million dollars running an agency set up to render energy and aid to a poor region in our country that still suffers economically in many areas,” Cohen told The Post.

“This makes the out-of-line salaries even more distasteful. This has been wrong for decades and those salaries should be considerably reduced, particularly at this time. But even if we weren’t in the midst of a great health and economic crisis, the salaries are way too high and should be reduced greatly.”
https://nypost.com/2020/04/08/fed-official-who-earned-8-million-last-year-faces-big-coronavirus-pay-cut/

[digitaldog]

Trump today said “As a result of Operation Warp Speed, Pfizer announced on Monday that its China virus vaccine was more than 90% effective. ...Pfizer said it wasn’t part of Warp Speed, but that turned out to be an unfortunate misrepresentation.”
No, what Trump said was.
THE FACTS: Pfizer did not accept government money to develop, test or expand manufacturing capacity under Operation Warp Speed to quickly find a vaccine and treatments for Covid-19.
Pfizer partnered with the vaccine’s original developer, Germany’s BioNTech, in March and the following month announced the first human study in Germany. The White House announced Operation Warp Speed in May.

[faberryman]

The delusion continues. Trump's latest tweet:

"700,000 ballots were not allowed to be viewed in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh which means, based on our great Constitution, we win the State of Pennsylvania!"

[BernardLanguillier]

The same arguments aren't any better just because they're pro-Biden, y'know?

Exactly. Not better, not worse.

The demonstration is simply aimed at showing that Republicans have at least as many reasons as Democrats to cheat and the only difference is that Trump proactively embarked on his crusade which probably is only an admission of his camp’s wrong doings.

Cheers,
Bernard

[TechTalk]

An article about the current status with Covid within the healthcare: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/11/third-surge-breaking-healthcare-workers/617091/?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share

I'm attaching a current census from a nearby hospital. The situation is bad; the only reason it's still still running is because we had some time to get ready but that can only do so much. Once the nurses crash, everything goes downhill. If you thought it was bad in the spring, wait for it.
Wear the damn masks, keep the distance and minimize travel if it's not really necessary. Try to behave like adults and not spoiled brats.

I had just logged in this morning and was ready to jump back into the fray of political debate when my phone rang. The call was to let me know that one of my best friends was admitted to the hospital with Covid-19. When I say one of my best friends, I mean this is someone that I love like a brother.

I guess the only relevance this post has to a political thread is that he and I are on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Did we ever care about that? Did it ever affect our friendship? No. We didn't bond as friends over politics. We bonded over music at the beginning. He's a talented musician and knowledgeable about a broader range of music than anyone I've ever known. He has the largest music collection that I've ever seen, across an extremely wide range of genres. He opened my ears to things that I likely never would have heard were it not for him. Music is one of the things that brings people together from every kind of viewpoint and background to enjoy life together for awhile. In addition to the medical care, I'm hoping the healing power of music is in his corner.

https://www.youtube.com/The Weight-Playing For Change-Song Around The World

And just to end on an appropriate political note, the small town where he lives is experiencing a Covid spike that is off the charts. The Governor recently ordered a return to some previous restrictions for that region of the state as cases were growing out of control; but the Mayor, as he had months  previously, announced publicly that the city would not be enforcing them. Residents and businesses openly flaunt the State's rules. Now, the only hospital is at 97% capacity and half of the ICU beds are occupied by Covid patients.

Also, my friend is not in the "at risk age group", but he was diagnosed with cancer late last year. It was detected early and the prognosis has been very good, but it is certainly worrying me how this will effect the course of his illness. He's not a statistic. He's my friend. I don't care right now about arguments over who's "statistically at risk".

I don't need any expressions of sympathy that I have a sick friend. I need people where he lives to wear a f**king mask. I need them to act like adults and have some concern about how their actions effect other people in their community. I'm equal parts worried, sad, and angry right now. I'm stepping away from this debate for awhile as it's a low priority for me at the moment.

Good health and best wishes to all... regardless of who you voted for or what political opinions you may hold.

[faberryman]

182,904 new COVID cases today, including TechTalk's friend. 1394 new deaths today. One projection suggests that we could be at 320,000 dead by the end of the year. Crickets from the President, other than an elaborate press conference in the Rose Garden, flags fluttering, first remarking that it was a beautiful day, and then taking credit for Pfizer's progress on a vaccine. Crickets from my Republican governor. Two days ago, my Republican governor suggested that the unemployed should consider going back to school.

[LesPalenik]

183,000 (yes, the latest report shows 183,527) is almost double the daily count from 2 weeks ago. And about 30% higher than just 2 days ago.

[John Camp]

Remember when we were arguing on this forum about whether it would be worse than a flu season?

[chez]

Remember when we were arguing on this forum about whether it would be worse than a flu season?

I remember someone here that still posts said to wake him up when the deaths reach 60,000.

[James Clark]

Exactly. Not better, not worse.

The demonstration is simply aimed at showing that Republicans have at least as many reasons as Democrats to cheat and the only difference is that Trump proactively embarked on his crusade which probably is only an admission of his camp’s wrong doings.

Cheers,
Bernard

Ah - got it.   Yes, certainly as reasonable a conclusion as the ones Trump rambles on about, and some people seem to think him credible.