Maybe things would habve been different if this gentleman had VA benefits and could have gotten mental health care. Lord knows many of our vets have problems converting back to civilian life. Why should it be different for an Afghan man used by the CIA?
Yes... Kennedy did make it difficult for millions of Americans to get vaccinated. It is sad when the government limits personal choice and medical research.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/elizabeth-warren-and-rfk-jr-duke-it-out-over-access-to-vaccines-did-you-hold-up-a-big-sign-saying-you-were-lying/ar-AA1LSX5N
How Many Republicans Died Because the GOP Turned Against Vaccines?
This supports what I have shown before... Being anti-vaccine, anti-public health policy, anti-mask and lower income increases the death rates significantly.
A Chinese co-worker is concerned about the consequences of China dropping the COVID restrictions given their less effective and older vaccine. I had a hard explaining why many American's are not keeping up with their boosters. :-O
Oh well, Darwin explained it pretty well many years ago... The weak and stupid die to make a stronger smarter human. :-O
is similar All Over... :-(
"Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn says abortion should be illegal even for a 12-year-old rape victim carrying her father or uncle’s child. He made the remark to reporters in the hours after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, allowing state abortion bans to take effect."
Distributed via Email. A fairly Far Right individual sent this to me thinking it was amusing. Though of course I took it very differently than it was intended. What amazes me after studying it some is how they mix a little truth, with some lies, false equivalencies, total irrational comparisons and confused causalities. The scary thing is that they seem to think this makes sense or is funny. 😱
I do agree with the words in blue though, I mean how did we come to a point where normal rational citizens are passing this along via email?
If you agree with any of these statements, please explain your rationale. I would be happy to discuss them in great detail.
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Critical things to think about in 2022I never dreamed that I would have to face the prospect of not living in the United States of America, at least not the one I have known all my life. I have never wished to live anywhere else. This is my home and I was privileged to be born here.
But today I woke up and as I had my morning coffee, I realized that everything is changing for the worse. No matter how I vote, no matter what I say, no matter how much I pray, something evil has invaded our nation, and our lives are never going to be the same.
I have been confused by the hostility of family and friends. I look at people I have known all my life--so hate-filled that they agree with opinions they would never express as their own. I think that I may well have entered the Twilight Zone. We have become a nation that has lost its collective mind!
You can't justify this insanity:
We are clearly living in an upside-down world where right is wrong and wrong is right, where moral is immoral and immoral is moral, where good is evil and evil is good, where killing murderers is wrong but killing unborn babies is okay!
Wake up America, the great unsinkable ship Titanic America has hit an iceberg, it's taking on water, and is sinking fast. We Americans are drowning. Speak up while you still have breath and a voice for soon you will have neither if you don't.
Is Civil War pending? Well Laurie has been reading opinion pieces that are preaching a very bleak future for the USA. She has posted links in the comments over here.
Now I have to agree with her that Trump questioning the Presidential election results like the immature narcissistic poor loser he is certainly did not help. Then again there are his willing cult followers who seem willing to doubt the results even though Biden won by 7.5 MILLION votes and 4 States. And this has NOT changed no matter how many recounts these idiots stage.
And it is correct that we now score as a FLAWED DEMOCRACY. Though we are the most complicated / diverse / large country near the top of the list. And we only score really low in 2 categories: "II. Functioning Of Government" "IV. Political Culture"
II. Functioning Of Government has some very Un-American Criteria... " Public confidence in political parties", "Public confidence in government", "Popular perceptions of the extent to which citizens have free choice and control over their lives.", "Does the government’s authority extend over the full territory of the country?", etc.
IV. Political Culture is equally at odds with American Culture. "Is there a sufficient degree of societal consensus and cohesion to underpin a stable, functioning democracy?", "Perceptions of leadership; proportion of the population that desires a strong leader who bypasses parliament and elections.", "There is a strong tradition of the separation of Church and State.", "Perceptions of rule by experts or technocratic government; proportion of the population that would prefer rule by experts or technocrats."
From my perception, no wonder we score questionably on this. Given that the FAR Left and FAR Right are sizeable blocks in our polarized country, what in the world would success look like? Since our States intentionally have significant power, what would success look like?
Here was their summary:
The global average score hit an all-time low.
As recorded in the Democracy Index in recent years, democracy has not been in robust health for some time. In 2020 its strength was further tested by the outbreak of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The average global score in the 2020 Democracy Index fell from 5.44 in 2019 to 5.37. This is by far the worst global score since the index was first produced in 2006. The 2020 result represents a significant deterioration and came about largely—but not solely—because of government-imposed restrictions on individual freedoms and civil liberties that occurred across the globe in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The deterioration in the global score in 2020 was driven by a decline in the average regional score everywhere in the world, but by especially large falls in the “authoritarian regime”-dominated regions of Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa. Their scores declined by 0.10 and 0.09, respectively, between 2019 and 2020. Western Europe and eastern Europe both recorded a fall in their average regional scores of 0.06. The score for Asia and Australasia, the region which has made the most democratic progress during the lifetime of the Democracy Index, fell by 0.05. Latin America’s average score declined by 0.04 in 2020, marking the fifth consecutive year of regression for the region. The average score for North America fell by only 0.01, but a bigger decline of 0.04 in the US score was masked by an improvement in Canada’s score.
US democracy under pressure from rising polarisation and declining social
cohesion. The US’s performance across several indicators changed in 2020, both for better and worse. However, the negatives outweighed the positives, and the US retained its “flawed democracy” status (see page 42). Increased political participation was the main positive: Americans have become much more engaged in politics in recent years, and several factors fuelled the continuation of this trend in 2020 including the politicisation of the coronavirus pandemic, movements to address police violence and racial injustice, and elections that attracted record voter turnout. The negatives include extremely low levels of trust in institutions and political parties, deep dysfunction in the functioning of government, increasing threats to freedom of expression, and a degree of societal polarisation that makes consensus almost impossible to achieve. Social cohesion has collapsed, and consensus has evaporated on fundamental issues—even the date of the country’s founding. The new president, Joe Biden, faces a huge challenge in bringing together a country that is deeply divided over core values.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So that's why I'm asking about your state. They have not said yes. So for your state, you have, if you look at starting in July, which was after that spring peak, you have the highest death rate in cumulative COVID deaths per million in the country. The CDC says you have the eighth highest death rate per capita now. I'm not talking about infection rates. I know you're conservative and you care about the sanctity of life. So how can you justify making decisions that put the health of your constituents at risk?
GOV. NOEM: And those are questions that you should be asking every other governor in this country as well.
Oh well, it is only dead South Dakotans... And she has a Presidential run to think about.
A FB Friend posted this and it resonated with me. Here are my random thoughts that it generated:
Thoughts?
A Reminder. After watching FOX on and off for 2 weeks, no wonder these folks are so delusional. The Five Hosts were obsessed with bashing DEM shutdowns, down playing the death rates, etc. It was so sad.
My only thought is that they are working to save Social Security and Medicaid single handedly by killing off their viewers.
For Health Care workers, I am so sorry that so many Americans are so STUPID... :-( Stay safe out there and THANK YOU for your efforts to save people from themselves...
ND and SD are #1 and #3 for Death Rate. There must be a LOT of FOX viewers there. :-(
because he used Executive Orders A LOT. And the GOP / Trump used to complain about Emperor Obama, he wasn't even close to Emperor Trump.
It will be interesting to see how fast Biden can undo Trump's Executive Over Reach
I personally am hoping he jumps on the following ASAP.
VOX Biden can do 3 things on day one to unwind Trump’s war on reproductive health
The quote below is exactly what I have been saying for years... Who knew a "Sister" and me would agree on something... :-) Let's put children first, improve sex education, improve birth control, reduce abortions and ensure children only go home with capable adults.
A Conservative Friend who Loves Trump posted the bolded text below.
It started me wondering who these people are that Hate the USA?
My simplistic answer would be the folks on the Far Left and Far Right. I mean both seem very unhappy with the USA as it is today.
The Far Left folks think Medicaid, welfare, free K-12 public education and a lot of other educational programs for the poor folks is NOT nearly generous enough. And they want to give government even more collection and distribution powers.
The Far Right folks of course think it is terrible that a woman gets to choose, the LGBTQ folks have equal rights / protections, that freedom of religion means freedom of all religions, that they have to pay enough taxes to avoid deficit spending, etc. And they seem to want to turn the USA into some Christian form of Sharia law and keep spending more than they pay.
Another friend pointed me to this wonderful interview with Thomas Friedman. Here is a wonderful portion.
“Only one thing worse, in my view, than one-party autocracy, which China has, is one-party democracy.” That’s because it is unable to produce the compromises that are embedded in America’s constitutional system.
Friedman says we are “undermining truth and trust and destroying our cognitive community— our ability to sort out fact from fiction— and our social community—our ability to come together to do big, hard things.”
“Politics has to be about something other than itself,” he said. “Politics has to have meaning and be productive.”
If Joe Biden is elected, Friedman would like him to form a “national unity government.”
“I hope the current version of the Republican party is crushed. I hope it fractures between the Trump cult and the moderate Republicans, and you get a whole new center.”
“For the health of conservative ideology,” Friedman says, “this Trump version has to be destroyed.”
Of course, this friend is pretty Progressive so he interpreted "Unity Government" to be Left Leaning. So I had to crush his dream by noting that a "Unity Government" would need to be made up of the "Happy People" from both sides. Those of use who think the USA is wonderful the way it is, and that only minor continuing adjustments should be made to make it better.
Unfortunately I fear that we are doomed to continue bouncing between "one-party autocracies" every 4 or eight years. :-(
Actually if deaths are increasing you are taking actions about 5 or 6 weeks too late. 🙁 The graphic above and in my post below shows why they are taking action NOW and not waiting...
Going from a "just reopening" positive test count of ~350/ day to ~550/day in a ~3 week period is NOT good.
Waiting for deaths to start climbing is like waiting until you directional bore into a gas main... Things just blow up and you are screwed. 🙂
So we know that cases are starting to climb rapidly again. What course of action would you recommend?Of course you know that I never did get a better suggestion... But I did decide to use the Texas Health data to put this together. (touch to zoom)
So due to my curiosity, I changed the MN data into more understandable numbers.
With respect to questions above, most working age Teachers should be fine, though early retirement may be a good idea if they have any pre-existing health conditions.
Almost all the kids will be fine, however you may want to keep them away from Grandma and Grandpa during the schools year.
Of course if you are between 70 - 79.... 85 of you will make it but 15 of you will die... Sorry...
Now since I am 54 and healthy... Should I wear my my mask when I can not social distance in an effort to stop the spread and protect you older folks?
Or just say.... They are old anyway.... Maybe if they die earlier I can save the social security and medicare trust funds for me? 🙂
By the way, the lives of you and my 80 year old Parents are worth the minor inconvenience of wearing a mask. 🙂
"There you go again, simply ASSUMING that the shutdown "slowed the transmission." And by the way, I value human life in its entirety-- the freedom to move about, worship, speak, socialize, WORK, and to take reasonable precautions with ones own health and the health of others.
In New York, Cuomo ORDERED nursing homes to take in active COVID patients! And he let the subways continue to run. A shutdown that should have been well-targeted and lasted 2-3 weeks might have been effective, but what was actually done was not, so 1/3 of all US deaths attributed to CV are in New York.
Time for you to admit that these statewide tyrannical edicts have done more harm than good over huge swaths of the country. I'm simply not buying that "if it saves one life" nonsense. People die. Governors are not gods." Jerry
Jerry So based on this. "And by the way, I value human life in its entirety-- the freedom to move about, worship, speak, socialize, WORK, and to take reasonable precautions with ones own health and the health of others."
You are willing to have other people literally die so you can do as you wish?
And of course lock downs work, as Vietnam proved very well. We just did not lock down early enough or hard enough... Remember that Trump was denying the need in the end of February, just before it became real to him and he supported the lock downs.
What do you think the states should have done differently that could have saved more lives? Please be specific. (G2A / John)
States could have locked down just long-term-care facilities, perhaps even quarantining employees in place. They could have /suggested/ stay-at-home, masks, social distancing where possible. NYC could have sanitized the subways frequently. They could have NOT criticized Trump for shutting down travel with China and Europe, and NOT shut down medical facilities unnecessarily, and not picked winners and losers in other businesses. They could have had emergency supplies available or at least on order.
And what makes you think that states "saved more lives" with these drastic measures? Might the opposite be true? JerrySo here is Jerry's list as I understand:
"I support universal and affordable health care. Along with support for public schools, it's basic to why I am a Democrat. When I do that, am I trading in fear? I am sure you can make a strained argument to that effect, but I guess is just don't see it in those terms.
Something I have long complained about, arguably the fear I often trade in, is the linking of health care insurance to employment. It's one of the truly dumb ideas. What always terrified me, what fueled by hysteria on the issue, was the possibility that a pandemic would hit in a time of widespread unemployment. We are seeing that now. The problem with Democrats on this issue is that we just did not monger fear effectively enough."
PRWORA replaced AFDC with TANF and ended entitlement to cash assistance for low-income families, meaning that some families may be denied aid even if they are eligible. Under TANF, states have broad discretion to determine who is eligible for benefits and services. In general, states must use funds to serve families with children, with the only exceptions related to efforts to reduce non-marital childbearing and promote marriage. States cannot use TANF funds to assist most legal immigrants until they have been in the country for at least five years. TANF sets forth the following work requirements in order to qualify for benefits:[19]
While states are given more flexibility in the design and implementation of public assistance, they must do so within various provisions of the law:
- Recipients (with few exceptions) must work as soon as they are job ready or no later than two years after coming on assistance.
- Single parents are required to participate in work activities for at least 30 hours per week. Two-parent families must participate in work activities 35 or 55 hours a week, depending upon circumstance.
- Failure to participate in work requirements can result in a reduction or termination of benefits to the family.
- States, in fiscal year 2004, have to ensure that 50 percent of all families and 90 percent of two-parent families are participating in work activities. If a state meets these goals without restricting eligibility, it can receive a caseload reduction credit. This credit reduces the minimum participation rates the state must achieve to continue receiving federal funding.
- Provide assistance to needy families so that children may be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives;
- end the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage;
- prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies and establish annual numerical goals for preventing and reducing the incidence of these pregnancies;
- and encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.
"When Bolton became Trump’s national security adviser in 2018, he quickly moved to disband the White House National Security Council’s Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, which President Barack Obama set up after the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak to lead federal coordination and preparation for disease outbreaks."
