America - The Official Thread

[Joey D]

The President nominates and the Senate confirms Justices.

In 2016, Obama was on his way out.
In 2016, the Senate was controlled by the opposition party of the President.

In 2020, Trump is not on his way out.
In 2020, the Senate is controlled by the party of the President.

As someone famous once said, "elections have consequences".

Got it, so it's only right when your choice has the greatest chance. While that is Politics 101, it doesn't make it any less sleazy to do. And look, I'd say the same thing if Clinton was president and the Democrats controlled the Senate.

But what I'm having a real issue with is McConnell clearly stated that the American people should have a voice in the next Supreme Court Justice and now that the odds are in the Republican's favour he's basically like "eh, screw the American people's voice."

As for the Justice themselves, only one thing really worries me about the Republicans picking someone. They are hellbent on trying to overturn Roe v. Wade for whatever reason and they're going to keep trying to nominate Justices that want to do that. There is zero reason to overturn it other than it, apparently, offends white Jesus or something. If the Supreme Court had any balls at all, if Roe v. Wade ever came up in a case, they'd rule that it's up to the states to decide how to handle abortion since that's the only Constitutional conclusion anyone can actually draw.

Apparently Judge Amy Coney Barrett is at the top of Trump list. That worries me since she clearly interprets the law through Catholic goggles.

 

[killerjimbag]

Which country would you consider more comparable to the US than Canada?



Dr. Tam said that 6 months ago during a time when there was an acute shortage of masks for healthcare frontline workers (as she explains in the video you linked to). Shortly afterwards she reversed her opinion based in part on a report put out by Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health—and an expert on pandemic preparedness, who commented:

"I think in all of these kinds of epidemics, people learn as they go. There have been many published trials that say, “Public mask use provides no benefit” or, at least, “We can’t find evidence of benefit.” And I think those things are all still true. But I think what we’ve learned over time, first of all, is how transmissible this virus is—and, second, that we’ve been getting more and more evidence of asymptomatic and presymptomatic transmission. So I think the balance has been shifting, in my view, in favor of trying to cover people’s mouths and noses, even those who have no signs of illness."

The bottom line is that Canada, while starting with a similar early infection rate as the US now stands at a rate 1/3 that of the US. A significant reason for that has been the lack of politicization of Covid & the fact that there has been a notable degree of cooperation from all levels of government, Conservative & Liberal.

Couldn't be the fact we're 1 tenth the population size now could it? Come on.

 

[Biggles]

Couldn't be the fact we're 1 tenth the population size now could it? Come on.

Infection rate. Do you not understand how "rates" work?

As of this morning, the figure for total cases per million of population in the US is 21,030. In Canada it is 3,377. So actually it is 6 times higher in the US than in Canada.

 

[sturk0167]

Population density is surely some factor in the spread of a virus. Canada has 4 people per square kilometer, and the US has 36.

 

[mustafur]

Population density is surely some factor in the spread of a virus. Canada has 4 people per square kilometer, and the US has 36.

But to be fair most of Canada lives within a few hundred miles of the border so to add up the whole country which is absolutely massive isn't accurate, atleast 75% of it is empty land.

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/covid-19-death-rate-vs-population-density

Even when compared to over penalised country's that have alot more empty land, USA in general is doing a pretty crappy job of it, similar to Sweden(who wrongly opted for herd immunity atleast at the start of it).

 

[Biggles]

Population density is surely some factor in the spread of a virus. Canada has 4 people per square kilometer, and the US has 36.

Of course. But Canada has a range of population density very similar to the US. Large, densely populated cities, like Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, suburban areas, smaller cities & towns & large rural areas. It also has vast swaths of land with hardly any population.

Canada had an initial surge of cases & mortality, concentrated in the 3 largest cities - very similar to the US - but due to the health measures taken, which were not politicized (not by the federal Liberal government & not by provincial Conservative governments) the infection rates & mortality dropped off sharply at the same time that the US rates climbed back up.

 

[Scaff]

Population density is surely some factor in the spread of a virus. Canada has 4 people per square kilometer, and the US has 36.

Japan says hi this time...

 

[Northstar]

You don't even have to compare to other countries to know the U.S. botched the response big time. The saddest part is it seems by "simply" locking down the whole country early on instead of waiting for each state to do it individually and not waging an idiotic fight against masks we could have had a considerably smaller case count.

 

[Scaff]

You don't even have to compare to other countries to know the U.S. botched the response big time. The saddest part is it seems by "simply" locking down the whole country early on instead of waiting for each state to do it individually and not waging an idiotic fight against masks we could have had a considerably smaller case count.

It’s ok, it’s nearly time for the non-existent ‘war on Christmas’ to distract the neo-cons away from the ‘war on masks’

 

[sturk0167]

Japan says hi this time...

Here's an interesting thing about Japan. When I visited Tokyo in 2011, I noticed a lot of people who were wearing masks.
I thought is some kind of weird paranoia. Maybe they were anticipating this sort of thing.

 

[ryzno]

Here's an interesting thing about Japan. When I visited Tokyo in 2011, I noticed a lot of people who were wearing masks.
I thought is some kind of weird paranoia. Maybe they were anticipating this sort of thing.

The air...

 

[Scaff]

Here's an interesting thing about Japan. When I visited Tokyo in 2011, I noticed a lot of people who were wearing masks.
I thought is some kind of weird paranoia. Maybe they were anticipating this sort of thing.

As has been said, it’s the air quality to a degree, but they also have previous experience with SARS, etc and are sane enough to follow the science.

Hence the reason why with a population density ten times that of the US, they are a long way behind in terms of cases and deaths.

Track and trace, rigorous testing, no mask paranoia and no political lunacy from those in government.

 

[killerjimbag]

As has been said, it’s the air quality to a degree, but they also have previous experience with SARS, etc and are sane enough to follow the science.

Hence the reason why with a population density ten times that of the US, they are a long way behind in terms of cases and deaths.

Track and trace, rigorous testing, no mask paranoia and no political lunacy from those in government.

Yes and Canada had SARS also. So we had a concert to celebrate with half a million unmasked people?
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.ajo...-500000-came-together-for-a-sars-concert/amp/

 

[Scaff]

Yes and Canada had SARS also. So we had a concert to celebrate with half a million unmasked people?
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.ajo...-500000-came-together-for-a-sars-concert/amp/

Slightly different scale of cases and deaths between Japan and Canada in the case of SARS.

That aside, most Asian countries clearly learnt more from past outbreaks than western ones did.

 

[NotThePrez]

Yes and Canada had SARS also. So we had a concert to celebrate with half a million unmasked people?
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.ajo...-500000-came-together-for-a-sars-concert/amp/

And the point of this event dating back to 2003 is...?

 

[Groundfish]

No matter what, the half of the population who hates him would never do what he says, anyway. The media will always say he did the wrong thing, and if you only listen to the MSM, you will believe it, too

I’m not a conspiracy person, but it’s pretty clear from this documentary that whats going on in Seattle is not a situation that can’t be taken care of.


It saddens me that this is ALLOWED to go on by those in charge. With leadership like this in many areas of the country is it any surprise that some people don’t follow lockstep with any reccomendations from govt/media?
To read a lot of what’s said online you’d think Trumps to blame for lightning storms starting fires, coronavirus, and a litany of other things.
It’s hard to watch a city like Seattle fail to enforce the law then blame Trump, when the political party he is in isn’t even in charge.
He locked down borders, outcry.
After time HE DIDNT LOCKDOWN SOON ENOUGH.
Smh at the haters.
The good thing is the hate and vitriol strategy from the left has massively backfired. Americans don’t fall for hate, and rioting as a political strategy.
#walkaway

 

[killerjimbag]

Slightly different scale of cases and deaths between Japan and Canada in the case of SARS.

That aside, most Asian countries clearly learnt more from past outbreaks than western ones did.

You might want to double check that.
Japan had several suspected SARS cases but no fatalities.
Canada had a few more deaths than Japan.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002–2004_SARS_outbreak

 

[GranTurNismo]

I’m not a conspiracy person, but it’s pretty clear from this documentary that whats going on in Seattle is not a situation that can’t be taken care of.


It saddens me that this is ALLOWED to go on by those in charge. With leadership like this in many areas of the country is it any surprise that some people don’t follow lockstep with any reccomendations from govt/media?
To read a lot of what’s said online you’d think Trumps to blame for lightning storms starting fires, coronavirus, and a litany of other things.
It’s hard to watch a city like Seattle fail to enforce the law then blame Trump, when the political party he is in isn’t even in charge.
He locked down borders, outcry.
After time HE DIDNT LOCKDOWN SOON ENOUGH.
Smh at the haters.
The good thing is the hate and vitriol strategy from the left has massively backfired. Americans don’t fall for hate, and rioting as a political strategy.
#walkaway

That video seems to be right-wing gold huh. Must be the third or fourth time I’ve seen it shared on this site. Maybe if Republicans took control of Seattle all the homelessness and addiction and unaffordability and protests/riots in the street would magically go away, right?

 

[Dotini]

That video seems to be right-wing gold huh. Must be the third or fourth time I’ve seen it shared on this site. Maybe if Republicans took control of Seattle all the homelessness and addiction and unaffordability and protests/riots in the street would magically go away, right?

How Seattle got to be the way it is would take some telling. I've been here since '61, and there have been a few Republican administrations in the city, county and state. But not many. If I had to lay blame, it would be commercial overdevelopment combined with a massive increase in population in a confined space. Too many rats in the cage.

 

[McLaren]

That video seems to be right-wing gold huh. Must be the third or fourth time I’ve seen it shared on this site.

It's beyond old, just like the member in the Covid thread.

*Make a claim*
*Get shown otherwise*
*Debate/Ignore it*

Another page:
*Make the same claim*.

After time HE DIDNT LOCKDOWN SOON ENOUGH.

Page 888.

Post Covid left position Trump didn’t close it soon enough he downplayed it

Except he didn't close it; 40,000 still came in from China after the "restriction" was put in place which made it basically, "No Chinese allowed, but Americans are still free to travel". As if the virus would differentiate between the 2. On top of this, it has resulted in increased hostility towards Asians, no doubt helped in part by Donnie repeatedly blaming China for bringing it here.

Does the same thing with protesting. "The protesters are all rioters! They hate America. I like to regurgitate back up the first thing I saw off YouTube". I've seen it as many times as you have this Seattle video, evidence showing 90% of the protests were peaceful from multiple sources from different members, yet it gets conveniently ignored just the same way Joey & Famine's posts get chopped slowly down to a few statements only so the arguments no longer being responded to can be shared once again.

 

[Groundfish]

hat video seems to be right-wing gold huh. Must be the third or fourth time I’ve seen it shared on this site. Maybe if Republicans took control of Seattle all the homelessness and addiction and unaffordability and protests/riots in the street would magically go away, right?

I can tell you have not watched it, since the last few minutes give an example of a city with an effective rehab program for homeless drug addicts.
It was done by a local news station, not much bias in the reporting imo.
It’s hardly a “right wing” what have you.
It simply shows what happens when local leadership doesn’t care about humanity, for whatever reason.
Maybe try watching some of it before commenting on it smh

 

[Scaff]

You might want to double check that.
Japan had several suspected SARS cases but no fatalities.
Canada had a few more deaths than Japan.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002–2004_SARS_outbreak

You are quite right, my bad.

 

[Tornado]

Maybe try watching some of it before commenting on it smh

Maybe people don't want to watch it because you repeatedly post as if its a mic drop moment in a discussions that you're only barely responding to in good faith to begin with. I certainly don't plan on watching an hour long YouTube video because you can't be bothered to argue a point unless it's an image macro.

 

[GranTurNismo]

I can tell you have not watched it, since the last few minutes give an example of a city with an effective rehab program for homeless drug addicts.
It was done by a local news station, not much bias in the reporting imo.
It’s hardly a “right wing” what have you.
It simply shows what happens when local leadership doesn’t care about humanity, for whatever reason.
Maybe try watching some of it before commenting on it smh

I actually have watched it (albeit about 1.5 years ago) and agree with many of the points being made. It's very evident that Seattle, despite being one of the fastest growing cities as well as metro areas in the country, does have a large and growing homelessness, substance abuse, and un-affordability crisis. The problem I have is not with the video itself, but the reactions to it. I've seen the video shared on a few right-wing groups before and the takeaway from it is all wrong; that Democrat leadership/policies is what causes this crisis and that Republican leadership/policies are the solution. I'm not aware of Seattle politics but it's probably reasonable to claim that Democrats in power have not done enough to prevent homelessness/offer services to homeless as well as provide affordable housing. That doesn't make right-wing policy the solution by default. In many metro areas that mostly revolve around a tech-based economy, like Seattle, Portland, Bay Area, etc, cost of living, wealth-inequality, and homelessness is significantly higher than the national average. There is a severe drought of affordable housing in these cities, largely because land is so expensive that it's impossible for a developer to make any profit by building affordable housing units, even with grants. Thus, it becomes the job of the government to do so. It's also worth mentioning, that in Seattle, Portland, and San Fran, a large amount of homeless people actually have jobs and a stable life, without any addictions (I know that in San Fran, 45% of the homeless population is employed). There are many encampments in these cities for working people only and closed off to addicts. These are people that are working menial jobs and are not making enough income to cover even the lowest rent apartments (in places like San Fran, 1700-1800 per month is as low as it's gonna get). Want to actually end homelessness? Building more affordable/public housing, ending the drug war, providing universal healthcare (which would include rehabilitation for addicts as well as mental health services for schizophrenics/mentally ill), and other employment training programs for the homeless seems to me like the way to go.

 

[Groundfish]

. I'm not aware of Seattle politics but it's probably reasonable to claim that Democrats in power have not done enough to prevent homelessness/offer services to homeless as well as provide affordable housing

It’s the implementation of legal drug use and lack of consequences involved for lawbreaking.
Whoever is in charge of anything dem lib Martian I don’t care, the basis of orderly society is law.
I didn’t see any spin on it that one party would do more than another, it just makes me wonder why Seattle wants to have a police stand down and let drugs ravage the humanity there.

 

[mustafur]

I can tell you have not watched it, since the last few minutes give an example of a city with an effective rehab program for homeless drug addicts.

The entire country of Portugal, by Decriminalizing every drug in 2001, I'm sure Republicans would do that.

When pigs fly of course.

 

[killerjimbag]

And the point of this event dating back to 2003 is...?

The point being,clearly the current Canadian government learned nothing from it.

 

[GranTurNismo]

It’s the implementation of legal drug use and lack of consequences involved for lawbreaking.
Whoever is in charge of anything dem lib Martian I don’t care, the basis of orderly society is law.
I didn’t see any spin on it that one party would do more than another, it just makes me wonder why Seattle wants to have a police stand down and let drugs ravage the humanity there.

Legal drug use? The only “drug” legal in Seattle is pot, and it certainly isn’t pot that’s causing the mass homelessness. Maybe police don’t constantly arrest homeless people for drugs because it’s a waste of time and resources? Because as soon as the addict comes out of jail within a few days, they’ll be back to homelessness and drug use, rinse and repeat. Recidivism rates for drug crimes are extremely high and jail doesn’t do a damn thing to get people off drugs, mainly because it doesn’t teach addicts strategies to stay clean, nor does it line them up for employment, unlike a rehab centre. It’s merely unnecessary punishment for a victimless crime.

Like I said, I don’t think that video is in any way partisan. The reactions to it largely are, though. It seems like just another opportunity to say republican= good, Democrat= bad based on the comments and where it’s been shared. What I’m not seeing, though, are constructive and substantive ways to end homelessness from the reactions of that video.

 

[Groundfish]

Legal drug use? The only “drug” legal in Seattle is pot, and it certainly isn’t pot that’s causing the mass homelessness

I suggest you watch the video, you wouldn’t make an ignorant statement like that if you had.
Less than 25 mg heroin is not PROSECUTED, technically illegal but allowed since no prosecution.
You haven’t watched it, I know that for a fact, now.
If you haven’t watched just don’t comment further, it’s almost like you’re just making stuff up, or typing out a scripted narrative...
Smh

 

[mustafur]

I suggest you watch the video, you wouldn’t make an ignorant statement like that if you had.
Less than 25 mg heroin is not PROSECUTED, technically illegal but allowed since no prosecution.
You haven’t watched it, I know that for a fact, now.
If you haven’t watched just don’t comment further, it’s almost like you’re just making stuff up, or typing out a scripted narrative...
Smh

Yet Portugal was mentioned and still exists, it's almost like you ignored my comment because it's a fatal flaw in your argument.

talk about scripted narratives....