All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[aja_christopher]

An ad hominem is a discussion of the individual making a statement rather than the actual, so your statement does seem to be an ad hominem.

Stop trying to talk about "ad hominems" and address the issue raised regarding Republicans intentionally suppressing African-American voters.

All you are doing is proving the "ad hominem" true by constantly trying to attack the messenger ("projection") instead of addressing the message.

You're also being a hypocrite in repeatedly making ad hominem attacks on me instead of just addressing the issue like I asked in previous posts.

You've spent nearly half a dozen pages trying to attack a factual representation of your politics instead of simply addressing the issues raised by your party's intentional suppression of African-American votes.

Because even you know it's so reprehensible that you can't do anything but pretend you don't understand the question at hand.

[Jack Dracula]

New press secretary claims media is to blame for negative 'disinfectant' headlines. trump says he was being sarcastic. Know how incompetent he is, you'd think his administration would hire someone that knows how to do spin control.

They just need to provide an excuse for his base to internalize and echo. Everyone else knows he's an idiot.

[sammy_hansen]

The big question is what defines decent public health insurance.

In order to keep costs down, there would need to be some kind of limits (IE- if a generic medication is available, a brand-name variation won't be covered), and the political will to go against the massive interest group of people who want as much covered as possible.

Well yeah. In Australia, under the public system, if you need a prosthetic arm then the cheapest option is given to you. Now that doesn't mean an option that doesn't work, or someone is given a hook - it has to actually be a functioning prosthetic. And do you mean big pharmaceutical and medical device corporations who only think in terms of their bottom lines rather than, say, keeping people alive?

People have died from his misinformation. People can still die from his misinformation.

STOP. DEFENDING. IT. Because every time you make excuses for that dumbass, you're empowering him to potentially get more people killed.

Unless you like people dying.

Hell, if a poster on this forum started trying to tell people to drink bleach, they'd probably get banned for it.

Not "like," just that people dying might be "distasteful and painful."

There really is no point arguing with the GOP supporters. No amount of facts or evidence or common decency will ever be enough. It says a lot about their humanity. Or lack thereof.



That's not ad hominem. That's judgement.

[numberthirty]

She was a candidate with unique disadvantages and was the second most unpopular presidential candidate in polling history. Biden doesn’t have that drawback. There are just more people who are likely unwilling to engage in political discussions this far out from the general election when there are more pressing concerns right now. Biden has a larger “I don’t know” percentage than Clinton had. That’s usually what people point to.

....

Let's say that is the the case...

How is Biden looking at roughly equivalent numbers to 2016 in that pair of states?

If HRC was some sort of particularly troubled candidate, how is a guy who is not HRC looking at very similar polling numbers when he will be running against a guy who is right in the middle of taking a wrecking ball to his own reelection chances?

I'm just not so sure about the idea that Biden is in a much better position in a General. These numbers look like half of them do not point to that being the case.

[TheDarman]

Let's say that is the the case...

How is Biden looking at roughly equivalent numbers to 2016 in that pair of states?

There is good evidence that polling underrepresented Trump’s support because his supporters were less likely to admit it in a social environment. It isn’t unlike how if one were to order food through a kiosk than with a cashier, they order more food. Now, Trump has been normalized in our political society and more of his supporters feel good about casting a vote for him—and letting people know it too.

There is also good evidence that, again, people are not really focused on the election right now. As of right now, those surveys have anywhere from 8-12% of folks “undecided”. Now, Trump’s approval ratings indicate that there aren’t as many people undecided on him (these folks generally account for between 3-5%) than there are with Biden (undecided or no opinion percentages range for Biden between 7-14%). So, why are there so many more undecided voters if there is clear evidence that Trump is more disliked than Biden?

Well, a key part of Trump’s strategy in 2016 was to prove that, while he may not be your favorite, he was “better than the other person”. He won the votes of those who liked neither candidate by double-digits. Those same voters are probably unsure of what to make of Biden right now and aren’t terribly interested to clear up that question until at least after this situation resolved itself and/or we are closer to November.

Another is the old incumbency advantage. While presidents typically get more unpopular than they were at the initial time of their election, they seem “more presidential”. This is because they have been in office for four years. We know what he will do and we perceive his actions as those of a president, whether we like them or not. Independents might be willing to give them another go because he is the “devil they know”—especially apathetic ones.

In short, there are a variety of reasons why we can account for real variable differences between comparing Clinton’s ultimate performance against Biden’s performance with early surveys where there are a much higher number of “undecided” voters. Heck, those margins for Biden improve significantly if those undecided voters sit out or vote third party. But we know that voters behaviors are likely to close this gap. I was simply making the point that Biden is the more flexible candidate and can boost his favorables easier than Trump can. Why? Because Biden has to merely turn unsure voters over to him. Trump has to turn those who dislike him to those who like him. And that’s a more difficult move.

[BeastieRunner]

Let's say that is the the case...

How is Biden looking at roughly equivalent numbers to 2016 in that pair of states?

If HRC was some sort of particularly troubled candidate, how is a guy who is not HRC looking at very similar polling numbers when he will be running against a guy who is right in the middle of taking a wrecking ball to his own reelection chances?

I'm just not so sure about the idea that Biden is in a much better position in a General. These numbers look like half of them do not point to that being the case.

Biden has a penis and is enjoying higher and wider polling support already. He also turned out more voters in 6 of the 8 purple states he needs to win.

He seems to be in a better situation than HRC.

I think the simple fact that he has a penis is all that mattered, FWIW.

[Steel Inquisitor]

Man, I'm hardly a big Bernie guy at this point, but the fella does deserve better than being associated with Tulsi. On the full-of-s*** meter, she's got Vegeta like:

Sanders did that to himself, he's had numerous opportunities to spurn her clinging to his coat tails, directly and indirectly, and never took them. Having Tulsi's biggest supporter in his inner circle, Nina Turner, speaks loud and clear about where he stands on associating with Tulsi and her ideology.

[Wildling]

It's been a few weeks since I posted one. The transition to tele and remote work has been interesting. = )

Beastie's Cartoons of the Week

This cartoon makes me think of Rocky Balboa hanging in there to beat Clubber Lang while Ivan Drago itches to join for some Satan-regulated extra rounds. With Rocky not only having dead Paulie and Apollo in his mind but also Adrian, Apollo's son and an untold lot more.

And the entire audience being filled with howling Trump and GOP supporters/enablers/apologists from beginning to end.

[TheDarman]

Now, Tara Reade is claiming that an August 1993 clip on Larry King’s show, where an unnamed respondent discussed her daughter leaving as a staffer from an office of a man she admired and had had bad experiences with.

In an interview, she claims that the unnamed woman said that it was about sexual harassment, not assault. Neither of which are actually said in the clip or transcript. Reade claims that she had told her mom about the assault at the time and her mother had told her to file a police report, which she did not do.

[Tendrin]

Now, Tara Reade is claiming that an August 1993 clip on Larry King’s show, where an unnamed respondent discussed her daughter leaving as a staffer from an office of a man she admired and had had bad experiences with.

In an interview, she claims that the unnamed woman said that it was about sexual harassment, not assault. Neither of which are actually said in the clip or transcript. Reade claims that she had told her mom about the assault at the time and her mother had told her to file a police report, which she did not do.

Also, her mom says in the clip that the 'senator' that they didn't want to go to the press 'out of respect'.

This does move the needle, but only a little, and I think the language used by her mom implies a lack of involvement on Biden's part. It's not the 'GOTCHA' that some folks are pretending it is. It sounds to me more like corroboration of her original account rather than her rape allegation.

[PaulBullion]

The big question is what defines decent public health insurance.

In order to keep costs down, there would need to be some kind of limits (IE- if a generic medication is available, a brand-name variation won't be covered), and the political will to go against the massive interest group of people who want as much covered as possible.

Do we know that this isn't the equivalent of the guy in your post on Twitter who was taken seriously when he was mocking Trump?

Did 100 people in one state where Trump had under 34 percent of the vote hear him say some word salad about asking doctors about ultraviolet or disinfectant, and think that this was a serious suggestion they should ask a particular state agency about? Or does it seem more likely that calls are coming from some people having fun on reddit or wherever?

He has a cult like following. Can you deny that?

[PaulBullion]

Drug dealers are working from home, too:

Police catch a pigeon with 200 ecstasy pills hidden in a little backpack

[Starter Set]

The big question is what defines decent public health insurance.

In order to keep costs down, there would need to be some kind of limits

Where i live it's a system mostly based on percentange. Each medical act is covered at a specific rate, the public health insurance tend do cover for most of it and then your private one is supposed to cover for the rest, leaving you in most case with something up to 0% to 10% of the total sum to get from your pocket.

And yes, generic medication is highly recommended. For example, and i am making up numbers here, for the generic it will be 80% covered when if you choose to not take the generic it's only going to be 50% or something.

[PaulBullion]

Some covid-19 news:


Ecuador announced they had severely undercounted infections. The actual number is AT LEAST 3 times higher than previously reported, though some experts think that's only scratching the surface. For now, the graph at worldometer added the newly revealed cases all for yesterday, which makes for a spooky image:




New report: Coronavirus lingers in patient's eyes days after it leaves nose

Much like with other infections, the virus can "hide" in the body, apparently. We've seen this with HIV. A test that is done based on a nose swab may miss lingering infections and give false negatives. This is not good. We need to ramp up testing, and testing just got more complicated.

[TheDarman]

Also, her mom says in the clip that the 'senator' that they didn't want to go to the press 'out of respect'.

This does move the needle, but only a little, and I think the language used by her mom implies a lack of involvement on Biden's part. It's not the 'GOTCHA' that some folks are pretending it is. It sounds to me more like corroboration of her original account rather than her rape allegation.

Tara originally said in interviews last month that her mother went on Larry King to say that her daughter needed help because she had been sexually harassed and where to go. She never said that in that clip. Indeed, she said she could “only go to the press”. This would imply that it was a minor “problem” and not an illicit action.