Coronavirus 2019-nCov: Political Thread

[C0|dB|00ded]

Is Trump more or less authoritarian than Biden/Pelosi/Shumer/Harris?

Does anyone think Trump wants more or less control over your lives than the Democrats?

Do the groups that support Trump yearn for more or less state control over the country?

Is China happy or upset Biden is going to be the President?

Do the people that idolize Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara lean toward Trump or democrats?

Generally speaking, are people fleeing the U.S. as a result of the 'authoritarian' policies Trump has inacted over the past 4 years?

WTF is this authoritarian **** people are talking about with Trump? Citing anomolies in an election is not the same as Kristallnacht, no matter how many lefty journos make the comparison.

Trump has Authoritarian tendencies personally. He is in it for himself. There isn't a serious person alive who thinks Trump is a "public servant". Republicans (including myself) were okay with that as long as he continued to pander to our agenda in return for approval numbers. It was the epitome of a symbiotic relationship and we sold our souls. He was also a very flawed man and that became a fatal flaw with respect to the situation we are currently facing. His ego didn't allow him to accept the fact that he was going to have to suffer a small defeat (economic contraction) in order to avoid a catastrophe. He believed he could manipulate the information flow regarding the virus until he could come up with a better plan. He was warned by the scientists (eggheads) that he is playing with fire. They were right and he was very, very wrong. His fatal flaw not only caused needless hundreds of thousands of lives lost, and millions of lives undue suffering, he lost his job and the Republicans are now stuck with a Democrat president 4 years ahead of schedule.

[C0|dB|00ded]

So......is that sort of like the guy who recently started saying that the election was stolen from him by Hugo Chavez and his magic algorithm? I mean that's what his 'legal team' was saying and he didn't contradict that, in fact he actually amplified that type of thinking. And threatening elected officials in his own party? That wouldn't, no couldn't be using control and fear to manipulate elected officials. And then there were all the people who bought into that bullshit......why there's absolutely NO WAY those people could be sheep.

See what happens when you elect an incompetent moron who has a rather wide authoritarian streak in him and can't accept the fact he lost the election? And then further deny facts and truth because it's inconvenient.....you lose your high ground and become just as bad, if not worse, than the people you criticize.

Nope, the republican party isn't the party of conservatives any more. It's become the party of the Beverly Hillbillies. That stink won't wash off easy.

I'll be honest with you, I never in a million years thought Trump would actually have the balls to contest the election like he has. There have got to be at least half of his 75 million voters who are face-palming right now. I am thankful that our country is apparently weathering the Constitutional test quite well.

But Trump's behavior is setting a precedent. He's lowering the bar in ways we've never seen in our history. Are these the tremors that precipitate the fall of a Republic? They say the historical lifespan of a Republic is 300 years.

[ShockerPrez]

Trump has Authoritarian tendencies personally. He is in it for himself. There isn't a serious person alive who thinks Trump is a "public servant". Republicans (including myself) were okay with that as long as he continued to pander to our agenda in return for approval numbers. It was the epitome of a symbiotic relationship and we sold our souls. He was also a very flawed man and that became a fatal flaw with respect to the situation we are currently facing. His ego didn't allow him to accept the fact that he was going to have to suffer a small defeat (economic contraction) in order to avoid a catastrophe. He believed he could manipulate the information flow regarding the virus until he could come up with a better plan. He was warned by the scientists (eggheads) that he is playing with fire. They were right and he was very, very wrong. His fatal flaw not only caused needless hundreds of thousands of lives lost, and millions of lives undue suffering, he lost his job and the Republicans are now stuck with a Democrat president 4 years ahead of schedule.

What makes him authoritarian? Especially compared to the moderate center of this country. Being selfish isn't authoritarian. Fleecing the government is corruption, but not authoritarian. I mean, he's being compared to Hitler FFS, there should be a list a mile long of his authoritarian exploits. What are they?

[Shockm]

Trump has Authoritarian tendencies personally. He is in it for himself. There isn't a serious person alive who thinks Trump is a "public servant". Republicans (including myself) were okay with that as long as he continued to pander to our agenda in return for approval numbers. It was the epitome of a symbiotic relationship and we sold our souls. He was also a very flawed man and that became a fatal flaw with respect to the situation we are currently facing. His ego didn't allow him to accept the fact that he was going to have to suffer a small defeat (economic contraction) in order to avoid a catastrophe. He believed he could manipulate the information flow regarding the virus until he could come up with a better plan. He was warned by the scientists (eggheads) that he is playing with fire. They were right and he was very, very wrong. His fatal flaw not only caused needless hundreds of thousands of lives lost, and millions of lives undue suffering, he lost his job and the Republicans are now stuck with a Democrat president 4 years ahead of schedule.

Your analyzation is .

This is the SWAMP you are talking about. Trump has no more authoritarian tendencies than anyone else and is no more or less a public servant than Biden or Obama and Trump voters haven't sold their souls anymore than you voting for Biden. Trump doesn't play the game with the finesse that a regular SWAMP RAT does. He answers all questions. He tweets too much. He doesn't hide his flaws, (and ego is one of them) very well from the American public, but he is much more genuine than the SWAMP ANIMALS you like. They have ego flaws too but are good at hiding them and therefore Biden (son, brother and Biden too) benefits financially with millions of dollars from his contacts. I'm more worried in what China thinks they are going to get from Biden. There is a reason, they set up Hunter and James Biden in China and gave them millions of dollars.

The only reason I like Trump at all is that he goes after the CORRUPTION of the SWAMP and the RATS you like so much.

[shoxtop]

I'll be honest with you, I never in a million years thought Trump would actually have the balls to contest the election like he has. There have got to be at least half of his 75 million voters who are face-palming right now. I am thankful that our country is apparently weathering the Constitutional test quite well.

But Trump's behavior is setting a precedent. He's lowering the bar in ways we've never seen in our history. Are these the tremors that precipitate the fall of a Republic? They say the historical lifespan of a Republic is 300 years.

Spare me with the doom and gloom. Nothing today holds a candle to 1876 and the republic survived (and eventually thrived) after that.

[C0|dB|00ded]

Spare me with the doom and gloom. Nothing today holds a candle to 1876 and the republic survived (and eventually thrived) after that.

You're comparing the election aftermath of the Civil War with today? Can you set your standards for chaos any lower?

[C0|dB|00ded]

*moved to Trump thread*

[shoxtop]

You're comparing the election aftermath of the Civil War with today? Can you set your standards for chaos any lower?

Nope. Sure can’t. But you seem to be trying to say today’s bar is somehow lower with all the doom and gloom.

P.S. it’s not even close

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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ty/3828902001/

Deadliest place in America: They shrugged off the pandemic, then their family and friends started dying

QUINTER, Kansas — Sitting in the front seat of a red pickup as wind-whipped sorghum husks fly down Main Street like snowflakes, Ivy Charles fingers the white surgical mask slipped down beneath her chin.

"He was a puzzle piece who can never be replaced," she says, tears welling into her tired eyes. "He was supposed to get better. We weren't expecting him to die."

Just over a month ago, the now-rampaging coronavirus pandemic tore through this rural town of 1,000 and surrounding Gove County, killing 20 residents. Among them was Charles' father, Edward "Mac" McElhaney, 78.

Here, where most everyone knows most everyone else, the pandemic has killed farmers and their wives. The town's unofficial historian. The beloved grandmother whose sour cream chocolate cake with chocolate fudge frosting was always the talk of the party. The mom whose piano-playing still echoes in the heads of her friends.

And it has drained the hearts of the survivors. Those who feel guilty that they recovered. The ambulance workers battling to treat their own relatives. The exhausted doctor who watched nearly half his patients die.

"It was overwhelming and sad and you don't think you have that many tears to shed," says Charles, 46. "And you do."

As of Thursday, coronavirus has killed a higher percentage of Gove County residents than any other county in the United States: One out of every 132 people has died.

Their intertwined stories illuminate the toll the pandemic has taken on communities across the country as emotional debates over how to control the infection have unfolded amid mounting losses.

Even today, mask-wearing remains controversial in Gove County, and friendships are being strained as authorities struggle to persuade their neighbors to follow basic public health guidelines, such as avoiding large gatherings.

President Donald Trump won the county with 88% of the vote in November, and many of the residents, including the farmers who raise up corn and sorghum, are deeply skeptical of government and public health orders, often echoing the language Trump has used about mask-wearing and the pandemic's severity.

In August, just before the wave of positive cases began growing, Gove County leaders mandated everyone wear masks in public. They were forced to remove it two weeks later after a series of angry confrontations with their constituents. Around the same time, someone anonymously reported the county's COVID-19 information Facebook page as spam or fake news, and it was temporarily taken offline just as public officials were trying to warn residents of the danger.

Absolutely breaks my heart.

We could have battled this virus so beautifully. It could have united us all under one flag for one cause.

[SB Shock]

We could have battled this virus so beautifully. It could have united us all under one flag for one cause.

The battle was lost in the Obama administration. They didn't learn their lessons with the H1N1 fiasco and this country path was sealed when CDC screwed up the testing. Even when Trump followed the science the democrats were never going to let him have a win (e.g. when he attempted to close the borders - they cried he was racist, meanwhile the rest of the world was closing their borders, or as Trump mobilize the pharmacy industry to produce a vaccine - the demonized that).

[C0|dB|00ded]

The battle was lost in the Obama administration. They didn't learn their lessons with the H1N1 fiasco and this country path was sealed when CDC screwed up the testing. Even when Trump followed the science the democrats were never going to let him have a win (e.g. when he attempted to close the borders - they cried he was racist, meanwhile the rest of the world was closing their borders, or as Trump mobilize the pharmacy industry to produce a vaccine - the demonized that).

So you believe that Trump did nothing wrong and it was all on the Dems and Obama?

[wufan]

So you believe that Trump did nothing wrong and it was all on the Dems and Obama?

I’m not speaking for SB, but Trump did some things well and some poorly. So did every other leader on earth. The vilification was not justified.

[SB Shock]

So you believe that Trump did nothing wrong and it was all on the Dems and Obama?

Nope not at all. Like Wufan, he did some things well, and some things not so well. But the democrats weaponized Covid, not only against Trump but against the people.

[ShockerFever]

You're threatening to ban me because I disagree with the heading you attached to your data? There's no need for hostilities. This is your site. Just let me know that my opinions are no longer welcome and I will simply walk away.

There isn't an epidemiologist on planet earth that thinks the Covid situation in America is improving. This isn't politics this is reality and is why I addressed your post. I also addressed your own statement that you prefer to look at the sunny side of life and gave my opinion on that as well. My comment about that frame of mind being delusional is far from good manners, but considering some of the vitriol aimed at me 24/7, I thought we had dispensed with decorum a long time ago.

If I offended you I apologize, and I do so because you're the boss. But if my position on the issues (I call them science-based facts), or the way I go about defending my positions (acerbic and punishing) are starting to make your experience unenjoyable, just let me know. I asked you for this guidance from the very start when I rejoined the site. It is your board after all and you have the right to shape its culture any way you see fit.

But as for the warning about getting political, I would appreciate more clarification. I try very hard to follow the rules. I looked back over several pages of posts and saw political comments inserted all over the place from everybody. I have been extremely careful about posting articles that have a political edge to them. Is it the arguing that you don't want in this thread? I'm clearly the flame that draws the moths on debate. Perhaps I should just stop commenting in the Covid thread altogether?

I won’t speak for him, but your constant need to tear down any sort of positivity in this thread is tiresome. You just will not allow it. And that’s a big mental problem. The absurd notion that you think national data out there is more important than local ones is just completely flat out wrong. And in this case, the local level is trending better. But what do you do? Ignore the point and say 5 million are gonna die by February. That had nothing to do with anything but your narcissistic tendencies had to take over.

You keep telling everyone to get real but you’re the one so high above the clouds in the need of severe grounding. I know your ideology doesn’t allow for positivity here because that is an attack on your mentality and automatically triggers you to think somebody “doesn’t think it’s real” or people will now “not take it seriously”. By your own admittance, you’re going over the top to keep people scared so they won’t jump the gun and go back to living normally.

But as you say, it’s ok to think this is real and also to see positive things that are happening too. The sooner you understand this concept, the sooner everybody on here will stop thinking you’re the biggest mental douche in the history of the internet. So, just be real. Stop with the over the top hyperbolic fear-mongering. It actually makes people take you less seriously, which is the opposite of what you want.

[C0|dB|00ded]

I won’t speak for him, but your constant need to tear down any sort of positivity in this thread is tiresome. You just will not allow it. And that’s a big mental problem. The absurd notion that you think national data out there is more important than local ones is just completely flat out wrong. And in this case, the local level is trending better. But what do you do? Ignore the point and say 5 million are gonna die by February. That had nothing to do with anything but your narcissistic tendencies had to take over.

You keep telling everyone to get real but you’re the one so high above the clouds in the need of severe grounding. I know your ideology doesn’t allow for positivity here because that is an attack on your mentality and automatically triggers you to think somebody “doesn’t think it’s real” or people will now “not take it seriously”. By your own admittance, you’re going over the top to keep people scared so they won’t jump the gun and go back to living normally.

But as you say, it’s ok to think this is real and also to see positive things that are happening too. The sooner you understand this concept, the sooner everybody on here will stop thinking you’re the biggest mental douche in the history of the internet. So, just be real. Stop with the over the top hyperbolic fear-mongering. It actually makes people take you less seriously, which is the opposite of what you want.

Oh God, I really don't want to respond to this... but if I don't, like the stray they tell you never to feed (I obviously didn't listen), you will follow me until I do. So here you go, I will give you what you want (which is apparently more pain). And Merry Christmas!

I joined the Coronavirus thread after finding it in a state of utter delusion and hope. I knew that was a recipe for disaster based on my interactions with such mindsets in the past. We were not dealing with pre-game jitters, or an important public speaking event, this was the real deal. A false sense of security was going to cost lives. Maybe not lives in the tiny sample of people we have in here, but why take a chance? And when I joined the discussion last winter, the best fatality rates we had on the virus was 3% - w/ predictions of hospital failures and millions of deaths a legitimate possibility. So I was genuinely concerned for friends, family, Shockernetters, and myself. My goal was to be a source of unfiltered scientific truth, regardless of the discomfort I caused. Since that aligns with my normal way of doing business, it was a natural fit.

I have made hundreds of statements on the situation since and have been challenged by you and other Covid Deniers on each one. I've been called many names. In every single case, I was proven right. If I hadn't have been, you would be the first to throw it in my face. But, as I've said many times before, I'm not some magical know-it-all, I'm merely a guy who's immune to propaganda, has a tremendous data filter, and enjoys great patience. There's no ego involved because this isn't my work. I'm just the messenger. Yes, there are times I make some very nifty projections/interpretations, but that's just slight of hand. The proof is already in the pudding and the pudding was cooked a long time ago. I'm just the pizza delivery guy. Unfortunately, most of you don't eat.

I'm not going to try and explain again why variances in small data samples are meaningless against the overall national trend in the context of dealing w/ a pandemic. You don't try to step in front of freight trains, or catch a falling knife. There are no prizes given for being the first guy to throw his mask in the garbage. ('If it looks like you're overreacting, you're probably doing the right thing' - Fauci) I'm not going to remind you AGAIN that every epidemiologist in the country believes we are in the greatest healthcare emergency in modern history. I'm quite certain you are either missing the emotional or formal educational components to follow their logic. But what I will say is, you'd be best served to trust what I tell you because I (WE) are batting 1.000.

In closing: I find it ironic that you criticize me for being negative when you are likely the most negative poster on the basketball forum in the history of Shockernet w/ a legion of basketball fans having to block your incessant bitching and moaning over the years. And in that case of negativity, you literally are talking out of your ass. The negativity I bring in here comes straight from the top, and it's just reality. The reality is very negative and has been for the last 9 mos. And will continue to be until the summer of 2021. If you need a place for nonstop Covid sunshine, you know how to start a thread. But you're not going to get any sunshine from me than what actually exists. My posts are intended to be a delusion-free zone and will continue to be so.

Have a hopefully very snowy rest of your day. I know I'm a very exciting poster to attack and it's hard for you and some others to separate my trollish past with the Lord's work that I do in here now, but I'm probably not going to respond to many more of these personal exchanges. I truly am spending way too much time on here as it is. Like I've said before, if you have an issue with something I post, come at me sincerely and I will attempt to explain it to you. Otherwise, I'm gonna have to ignore most of the future personal attacks and just "get owned". You know I don't lose the keyboard battles. Never have and never will. I only lose when I get banned and sadly I'm apparently flying too close to the sun again. So I'm going to keep it VERY impersonal from here on out and try to make my posts as bland as possible. I'm also only going to reside in this section of the forum. It should be very easy for you to avoid my "mental douchiness". Hopefully I will just lose the incentive to post entirely as I'm certain I've done enough at this point.

CB OUT!