Where's the answer?

[gil]

Most of this post is ignorant slop and libtard propaganda.... when the swine flue emerged Obama waited six months before he even declared a national emergency....One thing Trump does is work, create teams to attack problems, marshall public and private resources.... while the Dems stand back and critize. Well spoke Mathew Arnold in his "essays on criticism" that the critical mind is much lower than the constructive creative mind. Dems are good at slander, smears, and squandering tax money..... they suck at anything that is practical like a constructive solution or a creative solution....That because the are the parasites and predators of society.... while the opposition represents of protectors and providers of society....

I think IStillLoveTheMs makes some excellent points. Just because it doesn't agree with your point of view doesn't make it "libtard propaganda".

I find it amusing that you claim to be a moderate, but most (if not all) of your political posts appear left-leaning.

Feb. 2 - Trump issued travel restrictions from China
Feb. 24 - Pelosi tells people to come by chinatown in San Francisso
March 11 - The WHO did not declare a pandemic until this day
March 13 - The White House declares a national emergency right afterwards

Fauci was telling people not to wear masks. Then one day, he did a complete 180 but Trump gets all the blame. Everything is Trump's fault. Orange Man Bad

I think I am moderate. Maybe I'm left learning compared to several active posters here. Trust me, if you see me talking with "defund the police" or "decriminalize illegal border crossings" people, you will see me accused of being a flaming right-winger.

My views:
1. Travel restrictions were a good idea. Probably too many exceptions, but a good idea. And not racist.
2. "Come to Chinatown" was a bad idea in retrospect, but we were not aware of any California cases at that time are we? (I cancelled 2 trips to California on March 6, and one hotel told me it was the first cancellation they had had because of the virus.)
3. WHO probably was late, They are a very conservative (meaning, slow to change or move) organization.
4. Fauci has said that advice was based on trying to get masks to front line health workers. I hate being treated like I can't handle the truth as much as anyone, but I understand his logic. And Fauci was unconditionally urging mask wearing by early April, wasn't he? That is when Trump turned NOT wearing masks into a political statement and part of culture war. Trump has done good things and bad things, and should be judged on both. In my opinion.

[ddraig]

My views:
1. Travel restrictions were a good idea. Probably too many exceptions, but a good idea. And not racist.
2. "Come to Chinatown" was a bad idea in retrospect, but we were not aware of any California cases at that time are we? (I cancelled 2 trips to California on March 6, and one hotel told me it was the first cancellation they had had because of the virus.)
3. WHO probably was late, They are a very conservative (meaning, slow to change or move) organization.
4. Fauci has said that advice was based on trying to get masks to front line health workers. I hate being treated like I can't handle the truth as much as anyone, but I understand his logic. And Fauci was unconditionally urging mask wearing by early April, wasn't he? That is when Trump turned NOT wearing masks into a political statement and part of culture war. Trump has done good things and bad things, and should be judged on both. In my opinion.

1) Probably too many exceptions but NO ONE knew how much China had spread Covid-19 as they had. You gonna blame Trump for not locking down all borders and flights?
2) Not only did Pelosi tell everyone to come out and party, she was still telling everyone that Trump's response was wrong, racist, and xenophobic through March.
3) WHO wasn't late in their response and definitely not conservative. They were being paid by the CCP to cover things up! That isn't conservative.
4) Fauci couldn't find his watch if he was looking at his wrist. No masks, masks, no masks, masks, and on and on. Then there is HCQ. Thousands of people in many studies have shown that catching covid-19 early and treating it with HCQ and attendant drugs worked in over 80% of the cases. Most who don't survive have had additional co-morbidities.

Finally, as for the thoughts on communication. Did you know that sarcasm is an exceptionally high level of communication? Problem is that those who do not understand sarcasm often take it seriously. Funny how most Trump supporters take what he says as a joke. Those with lower communication skills (MSM) take it literally. Should Trump consider that when he speaks/tweets? Yeah, probably, but its funny to watch that famous dog-whistle of his call up a bunch of barking, yapping, hounds that say they are "The Media."

[gil]

My views:
1. Travel restrictions were a good idea. Probably too many exceptions, but a good idea. And not racist.
2. "Come to Chinatown" was a bad idea in retrospect, but we were not aware of any California cases at that time are we? (I cancelled 2 trips to California on March 6, and one hotel told me it was the first cancellation they had had because of the virus.)
3. WHO probably was late, They are a very conservative (meaning, slow to change or move) organization.
4. Fauci has said that advice was based on trying to get masks to front line health workers. I hate being treated like I can't handle the truth as much as anyone, but I understand his logic. And Fauci was unconditionally urging mask wearing by early April, wasn't he? That is when Trump turned NOT wearing masks into a political statement and part of culture war. Trump has done good things and bad things, and should be judged on both. In my opinion.

1) Probably too many exceptions but NO ONE knew how much China had spread Covid-19 as they had. You gonna blame Trump for not locking down all borders and flights?
2) Not only did Pelosi tell everyone to come out and party, she was still telling everyone that Trump's response was wrong, racist, and xenophobic through March.
3) WHO wasn't late in their response and definitely not conservative. They were being paid by the CCP to cover things up! That isn't conservative.
4) Fauci couldn't find his watch if he was looking at his wrist. No masks, masks, no masks, masks, and on and on. Then there is HCQ. Thousands of people in many studies have shown that catching covid-19 early and treating it with HCQ and attendant drugs worked in over 80% of the cases. Most who don't survive have had additional co-morbidities.

Finally, as for the thoughts on communication. Did you know that sarcasm is an exceptionally high level of communication? Problem is that those who do not understand sarcasm often take it seriously. Funny how most Trump supporters take what he says as a joke. Those with lower communication skills (MSM) take it literally. Should Trump consider that when he speaks/tweets? Yeah, probably, but its funny to watch that famous dog-whistle of his call up a bunch of barking, yapping, hounds that say they are "The Media."

1. No, not assigning blame. Just saying that if we want to stop the virus we need a total lockdown. Cases came in from China after the ban due to exceptions, and meanwhile, the generic analysis of the virus shows that Europe was the source of most of the infections in the East Coast (obviously, starting in China, but coming to the US via Europe). When the Europe travel ban went into place, basically it was "get home in 72 hours," right? No quarantines, no isolation. Just in effect an invitation to bring the virus home. I don't know what was right but I'm just saying the virus would not have spread as much if we had had total lockdowns.
2. I remember that too.
3. Not sure about being paid to coverup. I've read that but I don't see solid evidence, just opinion. I'm saying "conservative" in the original dictionary sense of being slow to change. For example, WHO was VERY late in accepting the importance of spread via aerosols.
4. I disagree with your assessment of Fauci. He obviously changed his advice but not to the extent that you represent. And ... HCQ is still not proven as best I can tell. Yes, people SAY it is proven, but it isn't.

I agree completely. There is an old saying (before the election in 2016, I think) that Trump's supporters took him seriously but not literately, whereas his opponents took him literally but not seriously). The problem with being sarcastic is that not everyone gets it, especially when you are occupying the most powerful office in the world, some people expect non-sarcasm. (And I spent my early years about 2 miles from where Trump grew up, so I think I know a bit about sarcasm.)

[BaseHitDerby]

The CDC estimated that around 60M people in the US got the swine flu back in 2009-2010. So essentially, the Obama administration just let the virus spread across the country. Yet, he didn't face the backlash like Trump. The media is super bias against Trump. If Obama was running the country today, the headlines in the media would be something like "President Obama saves 5 Million Americans from Covid-19 Death!"

[AmericanPig]

Just because I loved the Fountainhead by Ayn Rand doesn't make me one of those hippies, no sir, autonomy is a fantasy, I'm just sick of all these know it alls tryn'a do they own thing, and watch that with the myth of English literacy, you take me for a dumb left wing soft on the underclass who refuse to stand up to duh people, nuf sed. I am a middle of the road, sir, not one of those egg throwing right wingers who gave it to bully extremists like that Wendell Wilkie. We need old fashioned moderates, I say, you know what I'm talking about, this leftism tripe is extremism, can't put butter on the table and raise the kids with extremism, middle of the road, help for the farmlands, none of this gettin' while the gettin's good, you think it's funny having calloused hands from working the pitchfork in the cornfield, you ivory tower UW knowitalls, moderate I say, that's all.

[ddraig]

My views:
1. Travel restrictions were a good idea. Probably too many exceptions, but a good idea. And not racist.
2. "Come to Chinatown" was a bad idea in retrospect, but we were not aware of any California cases at that time are we? (I cancelled 2 trips to California on March 6, and one hotel told me it was the first cancellation they had had because of the virus.)
3. WHO probably was late, They are a very conservative (meaning, slow to change or move) organization.
4. Fauci has said that advice was based on trying to get masks to front line health workers. I hate being treated like I can't handle the truth as much as anyone, but I understand his logic. And Fauci was unconditionally urging mask wearing by early April, wasn't he? That is when Trump turned NOT wearing masks into a political statement and part of culture war. Trump has done good things and bad things, and should be judged on both. In my opinion.

1) Probably too many exceptions but NO ONE knew how much China had spread Covid-19 as they had. You gonna blame Trump for not locking down all borders and flights?
2) Not only did Pelosi tell everyone to come out and party, she was still telling everyone that Trump's response was wrong, racist, and xenophobic through March.
3) WHO wasn't late in their response and definitely not conservative. They were being paid by the CCP to cover things up! That isn't conservative.
4) Fauci couldn't find his watch if he was looking at his wrist. No masks, masks, no masks, masks, and on and on. Then there is HCQ. Thousands of people in many studies have shown that catching covid-19 early and treating it with HCQ and attendant drugs worked in over 80% of the cases. Most who don't survive have had additional co-morbidities.

Finally, as for the thoughts on communication. Did you know that sarcasm is an exceptionally high level of communication? Problem is that those who do not understand sarcasm often take it seriously. Funny how most Trump supporters take what he says as a joke. Those with lower communication skills (MSM) take it literally. Should Trump consider that when he speaks/tweets? Yeah, probably, but its funny to watch that famous dog-whistle of his call up a bunch of barking, yapping, hounds that say they are "The Media."

1. No, not assigning blame. Just saying that if we want to stop the virus we need a total lockdown. Cases came in from China after the ban due to exceptions, and meanwhile, the generic analysis of the virus shows that Europe was the source of most of the infections in the East Coast (obviously, starting in China, but coming to the US via Europe). When the Europe travel ban went into place, basically it was "get home in 72 hours," right? No quarantines, no isolation. Just in effect an invitation to bring the virus home. I don't know what was right but I'm just saying the virus would not have spread as much if we had had total lockdowns.
2. I remember that too.
3. Not sure about being paid to coverup. I've read that but I don't see solid evidence, just opinion. I'm saying "conservative" in the original dictionary sense of being slow to change. For example, WHO was VERY late in accepting the importance of spread via aerosols.
4. I disagree with your assessment of Fauci. He obviously changed his advice but not to the extent that you represent. And ... HCQ is still not proven as best I can tell. Yes, people SAY it is proven, but it isn't.

I agree completely. There is an old saying (before the election in 2016, I think) that Trump's supporters took him seriously but not literately, whereas his opponents took him literally but not seriously). The problem with being sarcastic is that not everyone gets it, especially when you are occupying the most powerful office in the world, some people expect non-sarcasm. (And I spent my early years about 2 miles from where Trump grew up, so I think I know a bit about sarcasm.)

Good call, gil! And I particularly liked your last comment. If you are a New Yorker, or grew up in my family, and didn't understand sarcasm by the time you were five, you ended up being the kid shoved into the locker by the time you started school!