All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Tami]

Kansas official: Pandemic isn’t a problem here because there are few Chinese people

The chairman of the Riley County Commissioners suggested this week that the global coronavirus pandemic is not a problem locally because unlike in Italy, there are not a lot of Chinese people living in central Kansas, according to two other officials who attended the meeting Wednesday night.

Before we go any further, the scientific term for this kind of xenophobic falsehood is bunkum.

Usha Reddi, the mayor of Manhattan, Kansas, went to the meeting hoping that the commissioners would declare an emergency, which they ultimately did. But what she heard from the chairman, Republican Marvin Rodriguez, was this: “I’m paraphrasing, but he said we don’t have a problem here because Italy has a lot of Chinese people, and we don’t have that problem here.”

[XPac]

I don't think anyone at this point can doubt that China's approach to the virus has been effective, albeit draconian and heavy-handed. Yeah, it's not a great sign that they are ready to do a victory lap over beating the virus when the risk of a second wave of infections is still pretty high, but they've done a far better job of handling this crisis than our government has.

We can wait until this is over and we're done tallying up the death toll and overall effect on each countries economy... but when all is said and done, I'm VERY skeptical history will tell us that China did a far better job of handling this crisis than the US or anyone else for that matter. So I'll hold off my applause for them just a little bit longer.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

News of a thousand dollar check possibly coming in the mail will do that.

Yeah, that was my guess. When all else fails, appeal to a person's greed. Show someone the money, and you're golden in their book.

[kidfresh512]

Yeah, that was my guess. When all else fails, appeal to a person's greed. Show someone the money, and you're golden in their book.

It is extremely sad. I know people who have no savings live paycheck to paycheck. But you give them checks like that they will go buy new Iphones or a flat screen tv rather than pay off their bills and debts.

Most people will probably use it for immediate necessities groceries, rent, bills I would hope.

[XPac]

Yeah, that was my guess. When all else fails, appeal to a person's greed. Show someone the money, and you're golden in their book.

My best friend from college (who doesn't follow policis and probably hasn't voted since the first Clinton election) literally told me the other day that Trump might have bought his vote in November.

[XPac]

It is extremely sad. I know people who have no savings live paycheck to paycheck. But you give them checks like that they will go buy new Iphones or a flat screen tv rather than pay off their bills and debts.

Most people will probably use it for immediate necessities groceries, rent, bills I would hope.

My family owns a couple apartment building for low income people, and it really is sad how poorly some people spend their money. There are family who I know for a fact can barely scrape enough money to pay me rent, yet are walking around with more expensive cell phones and driving better cars than me.

I agree that MOST people will be able to decide how best to use their own money... but there will always be a few who make you second guess initiatives like this. The small handfull of dummies who end up buying themselves new iphones with their checks do make you wonder if the government isn't better off giving the money to business rather than directly to the people.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Yeah, that was my guess. When all else fails, appeal to a person's greed. Show someone the money, and you're golden in their book.

[XPac]

Does anyone else think Joe Biden has been awefully quiet lately?

You'd think as the presumtive Democratic nominee he'd be all over this crisis given it's happening during an election.

[kidfresh512]

Does anyone else think Joe Biden has been awefully quiet lately?

You'd think as the presumtive Democratic nominee he'd be all over this crisis given it's happening during an election.

Right now alot of news is local. Are you banned in your county, where are testing sites etc. I honestly think Trump himself should shut the hell up now and let the doctors and scientists talk in these briefings. You can't believe shit he says anyway.

I think hearing Biden be inspiring, comforting, urging everyone to follow local directives rather than pull a Gamestop and keep open anyway would be effective and helpful though. At this point we don't need regular old "campaigning" Being shown as a capable adult who would make a better leader in these times is what he should do.

[XPac]

Right now alot of news is local. Are you banned in your county, where are testing sites etc. I honestly think Trump himself should shut the hell up now and let the doctors and scientists talk in these briefings. You can't believe shit he says anyway.

I think hearing Biden be inspiring, comforting, urging everyone to follow local directives rather than pull a Gamestop and keep open anyway would be effective and helpful though. At this point we don't need regular old "campaigning" Being shown as a capable adult who would make a better leader in these times is what he should do.

I'm not necessarily saying I want to see him overtly campaigning at this time... but I do think his absense (or at least what I'm perceiving as his absense... maybe I'm just not catching him) in a time of crisis can be interpreted as a sign of weakness or lack of leadership. Far from me to arm chair quarterback him as he's done a pretty dam good job with his campaign so far... but I think it's a pretty bad time to go stealth.

[PaulBullion]

Trumps approval ratings are actually going up. It boggles the mind!

Nah. If you look pool by poll within each pollsters, he's gone down sharply with Rasmussen and Gallup, gone down a little with yougov and politico, has held about steady with Reuters. If there is a slight uptick in the poll of polls, it's just that those pollsters with a more generous house effect for Trump have had the more recent polls. But he is trending down for them, too.

[shooshoomanjoe]

I'm not necessarily saying I want to see him overtly campaigning at this time... but I do think his absense (or at least what I'm perceiving as his absense... maybe I'm just not catching him) in a time of crisis can be interpreted as a sign of weakness or lack of leadership. Far from me to arm chair quarterback him as he's done a pretty dam good job with his campaign so far... but I think it's a pretty bad time to go stealth.

What do you expect him to do, keep campaigning after the government is tell its citizens to stay at home? Biden's been active on Twitter.

[kidfresh512]

I'm not necessarily saying I want to see him overtly campaigning at this time... but I do think his absense (or at least what I'm perceiving as his absense... maybe I'm just not catching him) in a time of crisis can be interpreted as a sign of weakness or lack of leadership. Far from me to arm chair quarterback him as he's done a pretty dam good job with his campaign so far... but I think it's a pretty bad time to go stealth.

Strategically I would like to see him pounding on this Congressional insider trading scandal brewing. Shine a light on that shit. Not only is it necessary to have it all investigated but it can help Dems in Congress and elections show the utter hypocrisy and selfish greed.

They are coming out saying oh its a coincidence, oh I have people do my trades I didnt even know. But, all of them were playing down the crisis at the time. All of them were briefed they knew it was bad and this clearly highlights greed if not outright criminality.

[Mister Mets]

The point is not that the Republicans newfound willingness to provide relief during the virus makes them somehow good, it's that it shows that the GOP never did and never will care about how to pay for social programs if it is politically expedient to do so, and that Democrats could maybe take a lesson or two from that.

The way we should respond in a crisis isn't necessarily the way we should respond at all times.

Trump is just pointing the finger at China, in his usual bigoted fashion, as a way to avoid taking any responsibility himself. Nothing is ever his fault.

There probably are legitimate criticisms about how the government of China handled the situation, but Trumps administration also definitely deserves a lot of blame for their handling of the situation here.

Do you think there's any doubt that there are legitimate criticisms about how the Chinese government handled the situation. The qualifier "probably" seems quite unnecessary.

Looks like Ron Johnson might simply be the victim of ill timing rather than deliberate insider trading.

https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/stat...31718896160769

Anyone who sold stock recently is going to come out ahead, so some people may be under the microscope for completely innocent reasons.

Loeffler's is sketchy as hell because she bought stock in a teleworking company.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/sen-ke...virus-briefing

[XPac]

What do you expect him to do, keep campaigning after the government is tell its citizens to stay at home? Biden's been active on Twitter.

I don't expect him to hold big public rallies or anything... but we're seeing Bernie stay pretty visible and interactive with his supporters under the same restrictions. So yeah, I guess I was expecting a bit more from him.

Admittedly I'm not on twitter though, so I'm probably missing a lot of stuff.