Politics 2020

[Lorizael]

Well, let's trade Atlantic articles. This is from 2018 and written by a very excellent science writer, Ed Yong. It details all the things we have and haven't done to prepare for pandemics, and what we can do to be ready for the next one.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/07/when-the-next-plague-hits/561734/

And then there's this bit near the end:

And Donald [Sleezebag]? “I haven’t had any interaction with him yet,” Fauci says. “But in fairness, there hasn’t been a situation.”

There surely will be, though. At some point, a new virus will emerge to test [Sleezebag]’s mettle. What happens then? He has no background in science or health, and has surrounded himself with little such expertise. The President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, a group of leading scientists who consult on policy matters, is dormant. The Office of Science and Technology Policy, which has advised presidents on everything from epidemics to nuclear disasters since 1976, is diminished. The head of that office typically acts as the president’s chief scientific consigliere, but to date no one has been appointed.

Other parts of [Sleezebag]’s administration that will prove crucial during an epidemic have operated like an Etch A Sketch. During the nine months I spent working on this story, Tom Price resigned as secretary of health and human services after using taxpayer money to fund charter flights (although his replacement, Alex Azar, is arguably better prepared, having dealt with anthrax, flu, and sars during the Bush years). Brenda Fitzgerald stepped down as CDC director after it became known that she had bought stock in tobacco companies; her replacement, Robert Redfield, has a long track record studying HIV, but relatively little public-health experience.

Rear Admiral Tim Ziemer, a veteran malaria fighter, was appointed to the National Security Council, in part to oversee the development of the White House’s forthcoming biosecurity strategy. When I met Ziemer at the White House in February, he hadn’t spoken with the president, but said pandemic preparedness was a priority for the administration. He left in May.

Organizing a federal response to an emerging pandemic is harder than one might think. The largely successful U.S. response to Ebola in 2014 benefited from the special appointment of an “Ebola czar”—Klain—to help coordinate the many agencies that face unclear responsibilities. In 2016, when Obama asked for $1.9 billion to fight Zika, Congress devolved into partisan squabbling. Republicans wanted to keep the funds away from clinics that worked with Planned Parenthood, and Democrats opposed the restriction. It took more than seven months to appropriate $1.1 billion; by then, the CDC and NIH had been forced to divert funds meant to deal with flu, HIV, and the next Ebola.

How will [Sleezebag] manage such a situation? Back in 2014, he called Obama a “psycho” for not banning flights from Ebola-afflicted countries, even though no direct flights existed, and even though health experts noted that travel restrictions hadn’t helped control sars or H1N1. Counterintuitively, flight bans increase the odds that outbreaks will spread by driving fearful patients underground, forcing them to seek alternative and even illegal transport routes. They also discourage health workers from helping to contain foreign outbreaks, for fear that they’ll be denied reentry into their home country. [Sleezebag] clearly felt that such Americans should be denied reentry. “KEEP THEM OUT OF HERE!” he tweeted, before questioning the evidence that Ebola is not as contagious as is commonly believed.

[Sleezebag] called Obama “dumb” for deploying the military to countries suffering from the Ebola outbreak, and he now commands that same military. His dislike of outsiders and disdain for diplomacy could lead him to spurn the cooperative, outward-facing strategies that work best to contain emergent pandemics.

Perhaps the two most important things a leader can personally provide in the midst of an epidemic are reliable information and a unifying spirit. In the absence of strong countermeasures, severe outbreaks tear communities apart, forcing people to fear their neighbors; the longest-lasting damage can be psychosocial. [Sleezebag]’s tendency to tweet rashly, delegitimize legitimate sources of information, and readily buy into conspiracy theories could be disastrous.

[Elok]

Yes, but--there's always a yes, but--as that quoted block itself suggests, the root problem predates [Sleezebag].  Obama was far more effective as a leader than Biden could be, and he couldn't clear the cash for Zika for half a year.  [Sleezebag] is the culmination (for now) of twenty-plus years of degraded political culture.  We're now in hard zero-sum power politics territory.  It's hard to say whether Biden would be a significant net improvement; it's entirely possible--have I said this here yet, or at Poly?--that he'll be caught helpless between the radical left wing of his own party and diehard GOP opposition.  It's hard to say whether Biden would slow or accelerate the disintegration.

[Dewbacca]

They certainly wouldn't have gone along with anything Hillary said to do, after three years butting heads with her.

Is it a bad thing when idiots kill themselves off? Isn't that at the heart of Darwinian thinking?

[Lorizael]

They certainly wouldn't have gone along with anything Hillary said to do, after three years butting heads with her.

Is it a bad thing when idiots kill themselves off? Isn't that at the heart of Darwinian thinking?

Since you're arguing that idiocy is heritable: is it a bad thing when people with, say, cystic fibrosis die off? Unless you're actually a eugenicist, my guess is you'll say no. The difference is you don't get angry at people who have cystic fibrosis.

[Elok]

Also, leaving aside morality, the disease does seem to strike densely populated urban areas, eg New York, ie Blue Zone.  Red areas are less affected by the disease, but more likely to fret about economic downturn since many of them were marginal already.  I live in Bay County, FL; we've been shaky since the hurricane in 10/18, but there have been all of three coronavirus deaths.  Just for context.

[Dewbacca]

Since you're arguing that idiocy is heritable

Am I? I am just looking for the silver lining to living with idiots. I in no way insinuate it is inherited from your parents. IGNORANCE could be from parents sheltering children or teaching them fairy tales as reality, but idiocy can spawn in an otherwise intelligent lineage.

is it a bad thing when people with, say, cystic fibrosis die off?

I certainly have no desire to draw out there suffering for my ethical solitude. I do not WISH death upon anyone, but in terminal situations, there should be an option for a painless death. Not a forced suffering to salve some societal moral conscious.

But the point here is that "I" am not wishing death upon anyone, rather acknowledging the idiot's rights to die if they choose, and the foolishness of standing in their way.

These folks need their own county or state and we'll finish that wall [Sleezebag] gets so excited about by wrapping it around that state.

The "Red State vs Blue state" is a fabricated issue. Rural vs Urban is genuine, and intensify transmission that will eventually continue into rural areas that will most certainly be less prepared to deal with it than larger population centers with more developed healthcare.

[Lorizael]

Since you're arguing that idiocy is heritable

Am I?

Well, you were talking about Darwinism.

[Dewbacca]

By Darwinism I imply that negative traits they have developed will not be passed on to a new generation, aka "The Darwin Awards".
https://darwinawards.com/

[Lorizael]

That's Lysenkoism, not Darwinism.

[E_T]

Also, leaving aside morality, the disease does seem to strike densely populated urban areas, eg New York, ie Blue Zone.  Red areas are less affected by the disease, but more likely to fret about economic downturn since many of them were marginal already.  I live in Bay County, FL; we've been shaky since the hurricane in 10/18, but there have been all of three coronavirus deaths.  Just for context.

When I was stationed at Eglin AFB, my buddies and I had visited Panama City.  Other than that, I would travel via SR 20 between Eglin and where I grew up in Apopka, FL.  Was just under 400 miles, which was the mandated distance for one day travel via motor vehicle, that the military allowed when on leave.  I could take a week (or less) leave to Apopka without any problem.  One time, I stayed on 98 and could say that I had traveled along the Florida Gulf Coast in my past...
I would take 441 to Ocala, 27 to Alt 27 to Chiefland, US 98 to Newport and the Wildlife area, FL 267 to FL 20 to Niceville and down into Eglin...
[EDIT] Thing is, except for Panama City, which is a big tourist trap, which was more or less shut down fairly early, most of that area is fairly rural, which helps with keeping the spread down...

[Geo]

I would take 441 to Ocala, 27 to Alt 27 to Chiefland, US 98 to Newport and the Wildlife area, FL 267 to FL 20 to Niceville and down into Eglin...

Just cruisin'...

[Elok]

Eh, Amash is out anyway.  Well, I can save the bother of registering, so that's something.  I'm just going to avoid saying who I like from now on, it's clearly cursed.

[Rusty Edge]

Eh, Amash is out anyway.  Well, I can save the bother of registering, so that's something.  I'm just going to avoid saying who I like from now on, it's clearly cursed.

I can relate, last cycle , originally I only asked that Obama's successor not be a Clinton or a Bush, which I feared would lock us into a plutocracy.  This time I prayed for a president who would be less than 70 years old when they were sworn in. Neither really worked out that well.

[E_T]

well, we either get to see how Biden will screw up (especially with [Sleezebag] sniping at him continually) or wait another 4 more years and pray that Pence doesn't get the Nomination (likely) in 2024.  And I'm almost certain that if Biden does win, that [Sleezebag] will run again in 2024 (has happened before).

Thing that I'm afraid of is him not giving up the office, once being voted out.  Or he'll tie up the election results in court to the very last day and then claim that he was railroaded by the (use favorite target of the week here), which will do nothing more than make things that much worse than they already are...

[Unorthodox]

For those that don’t follow aro.