The P&R Plague Thread (Covid-19)

[Jason Sitoke]

8 hours ago, commando said:

a superpower is someone who is looked to for leadership.    we abandoned that role 3 1/2 years ago.   and who is going to look at the United States as the leader again when they know we are 1 election away from someone overturning every trade deal and treaty we had with everyone?   our word can't be trusted anymore.   we still have nukes but we are basically a bigger north korea now.   a nuclear power with an kooky dear leader                                                                      .

The Unites States’ foreign policy has been an issue for a long time, not just since the s#!t-gibbon took office. As far as how the rest of the world views Americans...I can only speak for my own experiences traveling abroad, but the average American citizen is viewed (rightly or wrongly) as a gun toting simpleton bully.  Once again, just in my experience talking to people outside of the country. 
 

As far as being a war power...we spend more (by far) on defense than any nation in the world.  That’s ridiculous, but it also doesn’t make us North Korea..watching failed missiles fall into the ocean during early testing events. 
 

Economically will be interesting.  This is so hard on small businesses, and the government has essentially abandoned them through this. Would be hard to come out of this and have the courage or conviction to bet on yourself when something like this can happen and leave you stranded. 
 

Most disappointingly, this pandemic has excacerbated every weakness in our political system.  We have a true sociopath as a president. We have generally weak leadership at every point in the hierarchy (governors, mayors) throughout the country. This is a sophisticated issue, and we’ve been relegated to handling it with piecemeal red-light green-light mandates since March. No one seems to have a vision for what handling this pandemic looks like. No one has the courage to set the path, execute a plan, and compel people to follow them As things get tough. 
 

We are as divided as a country as anytime since I’ve been an adult.  The media’s been relegated to alarmist stories and reporting what our idiot president got wrong on his latest twitter rant. Hard to know where to turn these days. 

[teachercd]

1 hour ago, Jason Sitoke said:

The Unites States’ foreign policy has been an issue for a long time, not just since the s#!t-gibbon took office. As far as how the rest of the world views Americans...I can only speak for my own experiences traveling abroad, but the average American citizen is viewed (rightly or wrongly) as gun toting simpleton bully.  Once again, just in my experience talking to people outside of the country. 
 

As far as being a war power...we spend more (by far) on defense than any nation in the world.  That’s ridiculous, but it also doesn’t make us North Korea..watching failed missiles fall into the ocean during early testing events. 
 

Economically will be interesting.  This is so hard on small businesses, and the government has essentially abandoned them through this. Would be hard to come out of this and have the courage or conviction to bet on yourself when something like this can happen and leave you stranded. 
 

Most disappointingly, this pandemic has excacerbated every weakness in our political system.  We have a true sociopath as a president. We have generally weak leadership at every point in the hierarchy (governors, mayors) throughout the country. This is a sophisticated issue, and we’ve been relegated to handling it with piecemeal red-light green-light mandates since March. No one seems to have a vision for what handling this pandemic looks like. No one has the courage to set the path, execute a plan, and compel people to follow them As things get tough. 
 

We are as divided as a country as anytime since I’ve been an adult.  The media’s been relegated to alarmist stories and reporting what our idiot president got wrong on his latest twitter rant. Hard to know where to turn these days. 

The gun toting thing is so true.  People in other countries always seem shocked at all our guns.

[Cdog923]

 

 

Really looking forward to seeing how our resident immunologists spin this one. 

[FrantzHardySwag]

1 hour ago, Cdog923 said:

 

 

Really looking forward to seeing how our resident immunologists spin this one. 

Trump retweeted something along the lines of, everyone is lying, "Doctors, Media, Democrats, The CDC" - I'm amazed people can't come to the conclusion that everyone isn't lying to them - they're just wrong. It's like failing all your classes, and coming to the conclusion all your teachers are lying to you - not that you need to study more. 

[commando]

did trumps covid caravan leave a mark?

 

https://news.yahoo.com/three-weeks-trumps-tulsa-rally-195131989.html

[schriznoeder]

This could be interesting...

 

 

[Notre Dame Joe]

21 hours ago, 4skers89 said:

Tell your friends to stop watching main stream media.  What I see in the Republican party and Trump are freedom lovers willing to give up their lives to protect their freedoms, not the Republican party.  Democrats on the other hand show some disturbing trends.  Lately Democrats have been hyper critical of America to the point it appears they hate America.  If they hate America do they want to shred the Constitution?  If you listen to the Squad, the answer is clearly yes.  Cancel culture is a creation by the left and now extends to all subjects: race, religion, politic views resulting in a loss of job if the mob deems you not in line with their thinking.  This created a slippery slope where 1A is being infringed on and is frankly totalitarianism behavior.  BLM, an organization founded by Marxist, with a convicted terrorist as a fundraiser directly supports Democrats.  A stated goal is to get rid of Trump.  It doesn't take much imagination to imagine BLM and Antifa on the march as modern day brownshirts.  Perhaps the most disturbing thing is the Russian collusion hoax.  All started with the bogus Steel dossier commissioned by Hillary and the DNC.  Throughout the investigation, despite the belief that there was nothing to the Russian collusion, politically motivated people continued for 3.5 years costing millions of dollars.  Now details are coming out to show how bogus the whole thing was.  This is an abuse of power that makes Watergate looks like a church social.  Remember the government has unlimited funds to prosecute people.  This should be a concern for all citizens but it begs the question, how far will Democrats go for the sake of power?  All but 1 case of mail in voter fraud I've seen is by Democrats.  All people should insist on a in person voting with ID to ensure a fair election.

Thats a very broad indictment of today's left.  Maybe just focus on one topic at a time.  Or several.  Do any of the usual suspects {the squad, BLM, Bernie Bros, Silicon Valley} speak of protecting the rights of the people?  As in the right to speak, worship, own arms, hold private property, and engage in free enterprise?

 

[Jason Sitoke]

2 hours ago, Notre Dame Joe said:

Thats a very broad indictment of today's left.  Maybe just focus on one topic at a time.  Or several.  Do any of the usual suspects {the squad, BLM, Bernie Bros, Silicon Valley} speak of protecting the rights of the people?  As in the right to speak, worship, own arms, hold private property, and engage in free enterprise?

 

Any reason you’re replying to a post that did not originate in this thread?

[Moiraine]

3 hours ago, Notre Dame Joe said:

Do any of the usual suspects {the squad, BLM, Bernie Bros, Silicon Valley} speak of protecting the rights of the people?  As in the right to speak, worship, own arms, hold private property, and engage in free enterprise?

 

 

None of those are under attack.

[ZRod]

12 hours ago, Moiraine said:

 

 

None of those are under attack.

[TGHusker]

It would be nice to have a mature president who leads instead of having to rely on others to lead in his place. 

 

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/u-s-testing-czar-rebuts-trump-warns-of-rising-virus-death-toll

[TGHusker]

My goodness - this president is a textbook on failed leadership.  We could have had a head start on beating the virus if

1. We had not cut the dept that watched for the outbreak of virus - can't remember the name now.  Infectious Disease control???

2. He hadn't dismissed it as a hoax

3.  Delayed taking action

4. Pushed opening up too soon

5. and now this  - the administration reduced fines for nursing homes that placed residents at risk. 

 

https://www.vox.com/2020/7/14/21323279/nursing-home-coronavirus-covid-deaths

 

 

Quote

 

Trump reduced fines for nursing homes that put residents at risk. Then Covid-19 happened.

The Obama administration cracked down on nursing homes with infection control problems. Trump reversed course.

Few places represent the calamity of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the Life Care Center of Kirkland.

Starting in February and escalating into early March, the nursing home in a Seattle suburb became one of the disease’s first hot spots in the United States. By March 9, more than a week before any state had issued a stay-at-home order, the Kirkland facility already had 129 cases (81 among residents; the rest among staff and visitors) and 23 deaths from the novel coronavirus, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.

Before long, it became clear that practices at the Kirkland facility contributed to the spread of the virus there, according to federal inspectors. A Washington Post investigation found that the problems were endemic to the Life Care Center chain of nursing homes: “Dozens of Life Care homes received below-average staffing ratings or were flagged during inspections for not having enough nurses to properly care for patients.”

But for all the problems with the Life Care Center chain, it would soon become clear that its experience would not be unique. While the Kirkland facility may have been the first known US nursing home hit, it would not be the last.

Estimates vary, but analysts Gregg Girvan and Avik Roy found that as of June 29, 50,779 of the 113,135 US deaths from Covid-19 (or 45 percent) were deaths of residents of nursing or long-term care facilities. Their numbers suggest that about 2.5 percent of all nursing home residents have been killed by the disease; in New Jersey, which is particularly hard hit, the share is over 11 percent.

 

 

 

 

 

Quote

 

An important context for these events, however, is federal policy. Since well before the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump administration has been targeting regulations in the nursing home industry, pushing a deregulatory agenda that advocates say has worsened conditions for residents and will make them worse still in the pandemic era.

Covid-19 is a once-in-a-lifetime health crisis that is catching almost all institutions — and politicians, regardless of party — ill-prepared. But there is no question that the administration, at the prodding of industry, has enacted and proposed moves aimed at easing regulations on nursing homes — moves that patient advocates have said were increasing health risks for residents well before Covid-19 came to the US.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid, is in charge of regulating and overseeing the nursing home industry. (The large majority of funding for nursing facilities comes from Medicaid or Medicare, meaning that CMS certification is a key prerequisite for most to function.) The agency outsources the job of conducting inspections to state surveying agencies, operated by state governments. Together, CMS and its surveyors are the main system of accountability for the 15,600-odd nursing homes in the US and their 1.3 million inhabitants.

The Trump CMS moved to curb fining nursing homes that were found violating regulations — in particular, regulations meant to prevent the spread of infectious disease. Infection control deficiencies are by far the most cited regulatory failing in nursing homes, and the Trump administration has acted to reduce the amount of money fined, and to move away from a system of daily fines that experts say is more effective at changing facility behaviors. (In the face of the coronavirus outbreak, the administration last month announced it would increase fines; more on this below.)

If the move to cut fines worries experts, future changes heralded by the Trump administration are even more concerning. Under the Obama administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a rule requiring all facilities to employ a dedicated “infection prevention specialist” at least part time. CMS Administrator Seema Verma has proposed rolling back that rule and only requiring such specialists to serve as consultants, potentially covering many different nursing facilities.

At the time it was proposed, trade publications and some advocates for seniors and people with disabilities took note of the new rule, but it was largely ignored. It wasn’t until March, when the pandemic hit, that the proposed rule change got attention in the mainstream press. The rule still hasn’t taken effect, but will, barring unexpected changes to administration policy, if Trump is reelected.

The administration has also sought cuts to Medicaid’s budget that could negatively impact nursing homes, reduce funding for infection control, and likely worsen protections for residents. These changes, like the Obama rule rollback, have not taken effect yet but could with a second Trump term.

 

 

[knapplc]

Trump is lying to you to win reelection.

 

 

[Moiraine]

19 minutes ago, knapplc said:

Trump is lying to you to win reelection.

 

 

 

 

 

Why. Are. People. f#&%ing. Okay. With. This. Kind. Of. s#!t.

[FrantzHardySwag]

The Lincoln Project just skipped the middle man and started providing these idiots a script to read from.