All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Gray Lensman]

Wondering if any of them are trolls or bots.

Probably. I wish just one of the people claiming that suicides are dramatically increasing would mention a number, but then the numbers probably don't back them up.

[JackDaw]

If Italy’s death toll is 100,001 but the UK only has 100,000 deaths then you’re saying Boris hasn’t poorly managed this?

No.

The point I was trying to make was that we often blame party politicians for things that they have no real control over. And seem to assume they bear ill will towards their fellow men just because they represent a political party we dislike.

I think.pretty often in a real crisis the same decisions are made regardless of which party is in power...and success on failure depends on things the politicians themselves have no real control over.

Let me quote a specific UK example. There was a generally acknowledged failure to get PPE equipment to health and care workers (protective gowns, masks, etc).

The ruling conservative government made the same top level decision that Labour would have: “Get PPE equipment where it’s needed”,

The failure then comes about because NHS purchasing managers can’t buy equipment fast enough and/ or logistics managers can’t get it to right place fast enough. But those purchasing and logistics guys are exactly same people, with exactly the same motivation, regardless of who’s in overall charge.

We often seem to want to blame “politicians” and assign ill will to them, regardless of facts.

[Steel Inquisitor]

No.

The point I was trying to make was that we often blame party politicians for things that they have no real control over. And seem to assume they bear ill will towards their fellow men just because they represent a political party we dislike.

I think.pretty often in a real crisis the same decisions are made regardless of which party is in power...and success on failure depends on things the politicians themselves have no real control over.

Let me quote a specific UK example. There was a generally acknowledged failure to get PPE equipment to health and care workers (protective gowns, masks, etc).

The ruling conservative government made the same top level decision that Labour would have: “Get PPE equipment where it’s needed”,

The failure then comes about because NHS purchasing managers can’t buy equipment fast enough and/ or logistics managers can’t get it to right place fast enough. But those purchasing and logistics guys are exactly same people, with exactly the same motivation, regardless of who’s in overall charge.

We often seem to want to blame “politicians” and assign ill will to them, regardless of facts.

You're being awfully lenient given what we know of how various governments have dealt with this crisis, especially Trump. The response to coronavirus is far from competent, it's why the world wasn't shut down like this when SARS struck.

[Wildling]

On a COVID note, I am seriously thinking that I should always refer to the pandemic as the Orange Death from now on.

Donnie's been so far such a COVID-spokesman for it to spread in America, that if you let him ramble sickly on tape for long enough he'd just gargle a giant Coronavirus at reporters.

The world's most unexpected orange xenomorph.

[Tendrin]

US tries to otherthrow foreign government. Film at 11.

Nothing new here, no, but in this case it looks more likely these guys were trying to independently claim the bounty the US government put on Maduro and they... weren't very good at it. I mean, for the love of god, WHO TWEETS OUT THEY'RE DOING A COUP.

[Wildling]

Nothing new here, no, but in this case it looks more likely these guys were trying to independently claim the bounty the US government put on Maduro and they... weren't very good at it. I mean, for the love of god, WHO TWEETS OUT THEY'RE DOING A COUP.

It's like they thought Trump and Twitter were by (white) powers combined the equivalent of Harry Potter invisibility cloaking.

[Gray Lensman]

Nothing new here, no, but in this case it looks more likely these guys were trying to independently claim the bounty the US government put on Maduro and they... weren't very good at it. I mean, for the love of god, WHO TWEETS OUT THEY'RE DOING A COUP.

Especially when anyone concerned with what Trump might do is watching - the guy often announces policy on Twitter, so it's a given that his account is watched by intelligence services and militaries the world over. Don't tweet at Trump if you plan on doing anything that requires the slightest amount of secrecy, even if Trump would love what you are planning. Your tweets get seen too.

[numberthirty]

Nothing new here, no, but in this case it looks more likely these guys were trying to independently claim the bounty the US government put on Maduro and they... weren't very good at it. I mean, for the love of god, WHO TWEETS OUT THEY'RE DOING A COUP.

A ways back, I listened to an Illinois public radio interview with a member of the "Intelligence..." arm of Chicago's police department. He pointed out that the Facebook groups that gang members were involved in where they essentially did the work of "Intelligence..." by going "Loose Lips..." on things that any even remotely sensible criminal would know never to talk about.

In a world that seems like it's heading more an more that way each and every day, I'm not all that shocked(though I can see where someone would be...)

[Tendrin]

A ways back, I listened to an Illinois public radio interview with a member of the "Intelligence..." arm of Chicago's police department. He pointed out that the Facebook groups that gang members were involved in where they essentially did the work of "Intelligence..." by going "Loose Lips..." on things that any even remotely sensible criminal would know never to talk about.

In a world that seems like it's heading more an more that way each and every day, I'm not all that shocked(though I can see where someone would be...)

My eyes. They roll.

[Striderblack01]

Reade allegation hurts Biden's bid to unite Democrats

---

Also...Sanders not urging Biden to pick Warren as running mate...



I just wish there was like, a grown up...just...somewhere!

[numberthirty]

Reade allegation hurts Biden's bid to unite Democrats

But, yeah.

Biden is not a potential nominee with an actual potential problem when it comes to enthusiasm.

Nearly a third of all voters, 32 percent, said the allegations made them less likely to vote for Biden, including 20 percent of Democratic voters. There was a slight gender gap: 22 percent of Democratic women said the allegations made them less likely to vote for Biden, compared with 17 percent of Democratic men.

[JackDaw]

You're being awfully lenient given what we know of how various governments have dealt with this crisis, especially Trump. The response to coronavirus is far from competent, it's why the world wasn't shut down like this when SARS struck.

The world was not “shut down”when SARS struck. A few countries took fairly radical measures...but large majority of countries carried on as normal. It was considerably less infectious than Corvid 19, but far more deadly once caught.

Undoubtedly governments round the world make mistakes all the time...and certainly have in current crisis. I hope most have the humility to learn from that and make substantial changes afterwards.

But imagine you are in one of top level jobs...reasonably competent, well intentioned and motivated... you would still make mistakes that cost lives.

Running countries/ massive government depts is much harder (I am arguing) than we often make out. Is that really a controversial view?

[Malvolio]

But, yeah.

Biden is not a potential nominee with an actual potential problem when it comes to enthusiasm.

Ugh. Again with the "enthusiasm." You're not voting for your favorite rock group to perform in concert. You're voting for President! And if Biden doesn't win, then Trump does. Even if a majority of voters don't vote, we don't get to put "None of the Above" in office. Why is it so important for so many people to get "excited" for a candidate? I just don't get it.

[PwrdOn]

Regardless of who was in charge, our dysfunctional for-profit health care system was always going to struggle to contain a pandemic, because resources are disproportionately allocated toward providing expensive elective procedures to wealthy patients rather than actually treating the general public. And with the sorry state of our economic safety nets, of course people were going to be pressing to restart the economy sooner than was prudent, because they can't put food on the table otherwise. It's tempting to put all the blame onto Trump, but that misses the fact that this is exactly the kind of problem that American society is simply not geared to fix, because the level of cooperation and compliance necessary to solve the issue is just fundamentally at odds with the "**** you I got mine" mentality that defines our national psyche.

Ugh. Again with the "enthusiasm." You're not voting for your favorite rock group to perform in concert. You're voting for President! And if Biden doesn't win, then Trump does. Even if a majority of voters don't vote, we don't get to put "None of the Above" in office. Why is it so important for so many people to get "excited" for a candidate? I just don't get it.

By default, people are disinterested in politics and can't be bothered to go vote. In order to compel them to turn out, you need to give people a good reason and usually this means having a strong, charismatic candidate with a clear, easy to digest message. Joe Biden ticks none of those boxes, and people are especially bitter because so many other candidates that people were much more excited about were essentially pushed out of the race to save his faltering campaign. It is simply unrealistic to expect all Democratic voters to fall in line and cast their ballot for a guy they don't even want to be president just to stop Trump. At the very least Biden needs to have SOME kind of case for why he is uniquely qualified to lead the country at this particular moment, but of course he can't string two coherent sentences together so forget about that.

[numberthirty]

Ugh. Again with the "enthusiasm." You're not voting for your favorite rock group to perform in concert. You're voting for President! And if Biden doesn't win, then Trump does. Even if a majority of voters don't vote, we don't get to put "None of the Above" in office. Why is it so important for so many people to get "excited" for a candidate? I just don't get it.

From the article again with emphasis...

Nearly a third of all voters, 32 percent, said the allegations made them less likely to vote for Biden, including 20 percent of Democratic voters. There was a slight gender gap: 22 percent of Democratic women said the allegations made them less likely to vote for Biden, compared with 17 percent of Democratic men.

That is squarely at "One In Five..." female Democratic voters in the "Less Likely To Vote For..." column(in a year when Trump is doing everything he can to kill any chance he has a being reelected...) and heading up towards "One In Four..." female Democratic voters in the "Less Likely To Vote For..." column.

One can "Not Get It..." all they want.

When it has just played a role in delivering Trump a General Election win, it might be time to set aside how you feel about something and see that how it could hurt Biden might be a more pressing matter than that it is something you have a tough time seeing.