***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[IATT]

 

[Cashflow]

 

[frink85]

All he had to do was start his daily news conference with “thank you to the president and the White House” and Cali is back in the game

I feel like he prob gets some stomach pain when he says those lines every day.

also I need to know what radical left is attacking him?

 

[whywesteppin]

Posted this in the covid-19 thread but belongs here maybe even more. Twitter thread has 8 email snippets from the NYT story, which itself has a link to an 80-page pdf with all the emails. These are emails exchanged between health experts predicting exactly what we're going through and sounding the alarm weeks in advance:

The ‘Red Dawn’ Emails: 8 Key Exchanges on the Faltering Response to the Coronavirus (Published 2020)

Experts inside and outside the government identified the threat early on and sought to raise alarms even as President Trump was moving slowly. Read some of what they had to say among themselves at critical moments.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Belgium]

rexanglorum , I tagged you because you're evidently one of if not the biggest Bernie supporter in here so I'd like to hear your thoughts.
RustyShackleford , Your posts are often long and you've had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Bernie so I'd like to hear your thoughts as well.

In light of Bernie’s second defeat, I have a theory. I could be completely off the mark of course.

What my theory comes down to is that I believe US progressive voters tend to vastly overstate the electability of their candidates in elections in general.

I underlined those 2 words because I make a vital distinction in this theory. I do believe that progressive idea(l)s generally tend to be popular throughout the country, as seen in polls where the ideas are presented without being attached to a politician or political ideology. The idea of ‘Medicare for all’ is a quite popular for example.

According to my theory however, the popularity of those ideas and ideals are often detached from the electability of a candidate pushing those ideas and policies. There is a gap there, and Bernie is a prime example of it. If you want to win, vote for a progressive, is often said.
Politicians all tend to have low approval ratings but Bernie was amongst the most popular, at some points the most popular.
Yet when the strongest progressive candidate sought the Democratic nomination, Bernie was resoundingly defeated both times. In the first instance by a universally strongly disliked candidate who was perceived as more of a moderate and had decades of baggage on top of that. In the second instance, Bernie's campaign was once again wiped out convincingly. This time by a candidate often perceived as weak and whose campaign's coffin was already prepared before South Carolina. Super Tuesday ended up becoming a complete blowout for Joe Biden.

To summarize, I believe it is clear that the popularity of progressive ideas and the electability of self-described progressive candidates only intersect and boost eachother to a small extent. If anything, it is the progressive candidate that boosts the popularity of those ideas, not the other way around for the most part.
Some progressives tend to ignore that clear gap and thus have a view of a progressive's electability that does not match with reality.

I have not given a whole lot of thought on what explains this clear gap but I presume it mainly has to do with how a progressive candidate is perceived by voters. The stigma of the word 'socialist' is still alive and well, including anything perceived to be related to that term.
For voters, there is a disconnect between the ideas and the candidate, and I presume what lies at the heart of that disconnect is general tribalism, the stigmatization of 'socialism' and trying to conduct effective messaging with that stigma hanging over one's head.

 

[IATT]

 

[cosmiccoffee9]

¨fk no.¨ from a highly respected physician in a completely unfiltered response.

half a lap around the Internet on James V. Lawler:

https://health.usnews.com/doctors/james-lawler-308105

Omaha doctor sent to help potential coronavirus victims debunks misconceptions

Omaha doctor James Lawler explains his travel overseas to Japan. He was sent there to work with a medical team to check 400 cruise ship passengers for potential coronavirus.

www.wowt.com

Omaha doctor James Lawler explains his travel overseas to Japan. He was sent there to work with a medical team to check 400 cruise ship passengers for potential coronavirus.

“I think we share concerns about the current outbreak and what will happen over the coming months and to be honest I don't think we know at this point,” said Lawler.

That can be scary to hear but here are some things to remember, though the outbreak is early, no Americans have died from the virus so far in the country. Most cases have been contained to China with only 15 confirmed cases in the United States.

“But I don't think that necessarily means we can sit back and relax I think we really need to prepare for a potentially large outbreak in the U.S.,” said Lawler.

(article from 18 Feb 2020)

I trust that this gentleman knows wtf he´s talking about.

 

[IATT]

 

[IATT]

 

[gry60]

also I need to know what radical left is attacking him?

radical left = anyone with an ounce of sanity

 

[gry60]

But but but look at the Chinese labor camps!!!

 

[IATT]

But but but look at the Chinese labor camps!!!

I’m sure dwalk31 got a “yikes” coming

 

[IATT]

 

[boris]

During one task force meeting in the Situation Room last month, Trump turned to Fauci and challenged him.

It was the day the administration was adding Ireland and the United Kingdom to its travel restrictions, and Trump wanted to understand why talk of “herd immunity” — allowing the coronavirus to sweep a nation largely unchecked, with the belief that those who survived would then be immune — was such a bad idea.

“Why don’t we let this wash over the country?” Trump asked, according to two people familiar with his comments, a question other administration officials say he has raised repeatedly in the Oval Office.

Fauci initially seemed confused by the term “wash over” but became alarmed once he understood what Trump was asking.

“Mr. President, many people would die,” Fauci said.

The president said he understood but since then has repeatedly made clear he wants to reopen things soon — although significant roadblocks remain.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-task-forces-coronavirus-pandemic/2020/04/11/5cc5a30c-7a77-11ea-a130-df573469f094_story.html

 

[whywesteppin]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-task-forces-coronavirus-pandemic/2020/04/11/5cc5a30c-7a77-11ea-a130-df573469f094_story.html

He has a point. Dead people don't get Corona Virus.

 

[IATT]

 

[deleted]

I’m sure dwalk31 got a “yikes” coming

He can't do that right now because he is in the hyperbolic time chamber training for the next time he has to defend a right wing sex offender

 

[IATT]

 

[kdawg]

cheerio from across The Pond!

Royal Mail fully privatised for first time in 500-year history

The government has sold a 13 per cent stake to institutions, raising £591.1million, and has gifted its remaining 1 per cent stake to eligible Royal Mail staff.

www.thisismoney.co.uk

(article from 2015)

Germany has one too and...maybe Japan?

one of the most interesting realities of designing a society is that there are very very few inherent ¨rules.¨

I’ve said this before - it’s true that the UK has a private mail delivery service now - and surprise surprise the service is worse than it used to be, the price has gone up and the employees are treated worse.

But some people made a profit selling shares and now get dividends so I guess that’s positive?

It would be even worse in the US - huge parts of the country wouldn’t get deliveries at all as it wouldn’t be profitable.

That’s the whole point of a national mail service - it needs to be at that scale to make it possible to deliver a letter for that price.

Same with healthcare...

 

[marikomorose]

Just saw this trending. What's his opposition to helping USPS? The Amazon blame is flawed. Why would try to hinder something as important as mail operations? I lowkey put postal services on par w/ the medical field as far as importance goes. This is some crazy **** Trump is(n't) ******* w/, did they lose his package or something?

 

[$tatus $ymbol]

Republicans want to privatize the postal service. They’ve been trying to destroy it for some time now. Like everything else they do it’s idiotic and ironically hurts their base more than anyone.

 

[cosmiccoffee9]

Just saw this trending. What's his opposition to helping USPS? The Amazon blame is flawed. Why would try to hinder something as important as mail operations? I lowkey put postal services on par w/ the medical field as far as importance goes. This is some crazy **** Trump is(n't) ****ing w/, did they lose his package or something?

as Rusty so astutely noted, this syncs up very conveniently with a necessity for mail-in ballots this year.

I wonder more and more if there will be a legitimate 2020 election.

 

[marikomorose]

Republicans want to privatize the postal service. They’ve been trying to destroy it for some time now. Like everything else they do it’s idiotic and ironically hurts their base more than anyone.

Yeah I saw something about that w/ the Royal Mail & it garnering customer complaints b/c of its ****** service. Are they not aware that pay is arguably becoming more important than ever w/ retail becoming online base by the minute? Despite being in a recession due to it I’m willing to bet da rona has caused an influx of online shipping rendering more postal deliveries.

 

[AEA18]

 

[AEA18]