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

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Cumberland Mall..... is trending on Twitter

Because folks have to do Mortal Kombat in the mall.

https://hiphopwired.com/playlist/cum...ter-reactions/

Oh, those wacky humans. Incidents like this almost makes me long for those Murder Hornet overlords that are on the way.

[TriggerWarning]

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.

For some its because they see it as bad choice #1 vs bad choice #2 and thus really don't care who wins. I'm voting for Biden in November but I was this way in 2016. I despise Hilary Clinton (I'll spare the novel as to why) and there was no way in hell she was getting my vote under any circumstance. I also despise Trump so there is no way in hell he is getting my vote. Two evil options is still voting for evil. So I voted for 3rd party for Gary Johnson.

Others though may view Biden the way I viewed Clinton and may not be as outraged against Trump as the vocal left are and thus have zero enthusiasm to vote for either or against either. For instance (let me remind I said I'm voting Biden) the last 4 years have actually been good to me financially up til the pandemic which crushed my 401k (which would have happened regardless of who was president). So if I really was bothered by the allegations by Biden I could see myself maybe voting Trump since even though he's an utter buffoon anytime he opens his mouth, it has been a good 4 economic years for me and it becomes the whole devil you know argument.

I'm not bothered by the allegations against Biden as I think its rather convenient they come up now and never before. I also wasn't bothered by the ones against Kavanaugh for the same reason. The only thing that does bother me is the blatant hypocrisy of both sides trying to argue how one mattered and was true while the other isn't.

[skyvolt2000]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime...D=ansmsnnews11

A Dallas salon owner on Tuesday was sentenced to seven days behind bars for disobeying coronavirus shutdown orders, doing business well ahead of even the aggressive reopening plans in Texas.

A defiant Luther, who faces at least $3,500 in fines, argued with the judge that she was trying to prevent her children and employees from "going hungry," according to NBC Dallas.

"I have to disagree when you say I'm selfish because feeding my kids is not selfish," Luther said. "I have hair stylists going hungry because they'd rather feed their kids. If you think law is more important than kids being fed, go ahead with your decision. But I'm not going to shut the salon."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...s-say-n1201146

Health officials in a county in southern Washington state say a rise in coronavirus cases is linked to so-called coronavirus "parties."

“We don’t know when it is happening. It’s after the fact that we hear from cases," she said. "We ask about contacts, and there are 25 people because: ‘We were at a COVID party.’”

In a Facebook video message, DeBolt said such parties are "not part of the solution" to reopening the community and asked residents to stay diligent.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/04/us/mi...rnd/index.html

Three family members have been charged in the killing of a security guard who told a customer at a Michigan Family Dollar store to wear a state-mandated face mask, officials said on Monday.
Calvin Munerlyn, 43, died at a Flint hospital after he was shot in the head Friday, said Michigan State Police Lt. David Kaiser.
Ramonyea Travon Bishop, 23, Larry Edward Teague, 44, and Sharmel Lashe Teague, 45, have been charged with first-degree premeditated murder, along with other charges, the Genesee County Prosecutor's Office said in a statement on Monday.
Sharmel and Larry Teague are married, and Bishop is Sharmel's son, according to the prosecutor's office.

"From all indications, Mr. Munerlyn was simply doing his job in upholding the Governor's Executive Order related to the COVID-19 pandemic for the safety of store employees and customers," Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said in the statement.

The guard left behind a wife and 8 kids.

[PaulBullion]

But, yeah.

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

Only you and the NYT love "Democrats in Disarray" stories that much.

[InformationGeek]

Pass that buck along!

[Darkspellmaster]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime...D=ansmsnnews11




https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...s-say-n1201146



https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/04/us/mi...rnd/index.html



The guard left behind a wife and 8 kids.

Heard about the last one. Apparently Munerlyn did his job told the daughter to leave the store for no mask. Her mother went in with a mask, spit on Munerlyn who then told a clerk not to serve her give her actions, she and her daughter left, they got the other two and the son shot him while the father was arguing with Munerlyn.

[Malvolio]

For some its because they see it as bad choice #1 vs bad choice #2 and thus really don't care who wins. I'm voting for Biden in November but I was this way in 2016. I despise Hilary Clinton (I'll spare the novel as to why) and there was no way in hell she was getting my vote under any circumstance. I also despise Trump so there is no way in hell he is getting my vote. Two evil options is still voting for evil. So I voted for 3rd party for Gary Johnson.

Others though may view Biden the way I viewed Clinton and may not be as outraged against Trump as the vocal left are and thus have zero enthusiasm to vote for either or against either. For instance (let me remind I said I'm voting Biden) the last 4 years have actually been good to me financially up til the pandemic which crushed my 401k (which would have happened regardless of who was president). So if I really was bothered by the allegations by Biden I could see myself maybe voting Trump since even though he's an utter buffoon anytime he opens his mouth, it has been a good 4 economic years for me and it becomes the whole devil you know argument.

I'm not bothered by the allegations against Biden as I think its rather convenient they come up now and never before. I also wasn't bothered by the ones against Kavanaugh for the same reason. The only thing that does bother me is the blatant hypocrisy of both sides trying to argue how one mattered and was true while the other isn't.

"Two evil options is still voting for evil." There are degrees of evil. That's why the phrase is "the lesser of two evils." That's why we don't sentence thieves as harshly as we sentence murderers. I mean, one response to my post referred to voting for Biden "...just to get rid of Trump," as if getting rid of Trump is some small trivial thing. When I was younger, I would tell people that if just enough of us voted for a third candidate, that candidate could win. Now I realize how unrealistic that notion is. One of two things will happen in November. Either Trump will be re-elected or Biden will be elected. That's it. And it's not like the difference between a knife to the chest or a shot to the head. It's more like the difference between a bullet in the head or a bullet in the arm. The first will likely kill you instantly. The second will be painful, but you will survive.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Pass that buck along!

Sue China. Yeah, right. Gotcha. Marsha, Marsha, Marsha! How about suing Trump who intentionally dragged his feet on the initial response to coronavirus, resulting in thousands of deaths that shouldn't have happened?

[Gray Lensman]

"Two evil options is still voting for evil." There are degrees of evil. That's why the phrase is "the lesser of two evils." That's why we don't sentence thieves as harshly as we sentence murderers. I mean, one response to my post referred to voting for Biden "...just to get rid of Trump," as if getting rid of Trump is some small trivial thing. When I was younger, I would tell people that if just enough of us voted for a third candidate, that candidate could win. Now I realize how unrealistic that notion is. One of two things will happen in November. Either Trump will be re-elected or Biden will be elected. That's it. And it's not like the difference between a knife to the chest or a shot to the head. It's more like the difference between a bullet in the head or a bullet in the arm. The first will likely kill you instantly. The second will be painful, but you will survive.

My take is even if one thinks that both people running are **** sandwiches, remember that the Trump sandwich is sourced from people with cholera.

Third party voting is nice in down-ballot races, states with a history of supporting third parties, and states with ranked choice voting. I can't bring myself to do it anywhere else, and I'm registered to a third party.

[Frobisher]

Maybe they can make the virus legally a person like a corporation so people can sue it?

[PaulBullion]

Maybe they can make the virus legally a person like a corporation so people can sue it?

Then he pro-life crowd would stop us from getting a vaccine.

[GindyPosts]

Pass that buck along!

"China made my crops fail, my wife leave me, and my dongle go limp. Can I sue 'em for $40 million?"

[Tami]

Epidemiologist Slams U.S. Coronavirus Response: ‘Close To Genocide By Default’

A Yale epidemiologist pulled no punches with his searing assessment of the United States’ botched handling of the coronavirus pandemic, suggesting it is now “getting awfully close to genocide by default.”

“How many people will die this summer, before Election Day?” tweeted Gregg Gonsalves, co-director of Yale’s Global Health Justice Partnership, on Wednesday morning, the day after President Donald Trump said the White House’s coronavirus task force would be wound down despite case numbers still rising. (Trump, however, tweeted later Wednesday morning that the group “will continue on indefinitely with its focus on SAFETY & OPENING UP OUR COUNTRY AGAIN.”)

“What proportion of the deaths will be among African-Americans, Latinos, other people of color?” asked Gonsalves. “This is getting awfully close to genocide by default. What else do you call mass death by public policy?”

[Tami]

Does Surging Existential Dread Help Trump?

In a recent column, I expressed the hope that the coronavirus epidemic, by exposing the incompetence and mendacity of the Trump regime, will bring it to an end. Joe Biden will win in a landslide next November and initiate a new progressive era, with bipartisan support for universal health care, climate-change mitigation and economic equality. Internationally, there will be greater cooperation and a shift away from militarism.

Or not. As you’ve probably heard, Trump’s approval ratings have risen lately. According to a recent Gallup poll, 49 percent of Americans approve of Trump, up 5 points from a month ago. A Washington Post/ABC poll shows Trump narrowing the gap between him and Biden. My liberal, anti-Trump friends find this trend alarming, and astonishing, but it is all too easily explained by terror-management theory.

Conceived decades ago by psychologists Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg and Tom Pyszczynski, terror-management theory holds that fear of death, conscious or unconscious, profoundly affects our thoughts and behavior. Events that remind us of our mortality—notably acts of terrorism and epidemics—can make us think and act irrationally as individuals and societies. We become more attached to our belief systems, especially those that give us a sense of belonging to something greater than ourselves.

Then the coronavirus pandemic struck. I recently emailed Solomon to ask for his thoughts on the crisis. Terror-management theory, he replied, helps explain “why Trump’s approval rating continues to climb despite his obvious incompetence and unfitness for office.” Solomon fears that the pandemic will also exacerbate racism and xenophobia in the U.S. and elsewhere, as well as support for Trump and other authoritarian leaders.

Does his research offer any encouragement to those of us looking for positive outcomes of the current crisis? “We know that death reminders increase pro-social behavior towards in-group members (but not outgroups),” Solomon replied, “and that people with liberal worldviews will become more tolerant in the wake of death reminders.”

[Tami]

Native American health center asked for COVID-19 supplies. It got body bags instead.

In mid-March, as the Seattle region grappled with a coronavirus outbreak, a community health center caring for the area's Native American population made an urgent request to county, state and federal health agencies: Please send medical supplies.

What it received almost three weeks later left staff members stunned.

"My team turned ghost white," said Esther Lucero, chief executive officer of the Seattle Indian Health Board. "We asked for tests, and they sent us a box of body bags."

The health board's center — serving about 6,000 people a year in Seattle and King County — still has the package, which is filled with zippered white bags and beige tags that read "attach to toe."

Lucero said the body bags were a mistaken — yet nonetheless macabre — delivery from a distributor via King County's Public Health Department.

Abigail Echo-Hawk, the health board's chief research officer, said she believes that the message it sends, even unintentionally, is resonating in Native American communities across the United States during the pandemic: There is a pressing lack of adequate resources and funding as promised.