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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
So after reading that one Slate article that was linked recently, I noticed another Slate article from a few days back that wasn't brought up in the thread yet.
Slate: White House Completely Misused Rapid COVID-19 Tests to Avoid Face Masks
Essentially, the WH (and the GOP I guess) gave themselves a false sense of security by using rapid COVID-19 tests. The problem is that said tests are not actually very reliable if people aren't showing any symptoms yet.
This is why Biden still wears a mask despite testing negative twice so far.
Edited by M84 on Oct 5th 2020 at 6:28:34 PM
Disgusted, but not surprisedIs anyone else afraid that if Trump makes it out of this in one piece, it'll just confirm in stupid peoples' minds what he's said all along?
Not only will that make it next to impossible to get out of this pandemic, I think it'll embolden his supporters even more and might even contribute to his re-election chances
The hardest thing in this world is to live in it.No, I don't think that'll happen. People who were gonna believe Trump on this were already on his side anyway. And for everyone else, they have lived experience with COVID that won't go away. Like, Trump magically getting better (if such a thing even happened) wouldn't bring back 200,000 dead people? It wouldn't fix the devestation that has visited many people's lives.
IMHO, if anything, Trump downplayed a virus and ignored or mocked all precautions related to it only to get ill himself, is a message that hurts him more than it helps.
And people are already voting. Not much time to change their minds.
Besides, it's not like he's only got a mild case of it. There's a reason he ended up in the hospital. It's "moderate" now apparently, but even "moderate" COVID-19 is a bad thing - especially for someone of Trump's age who already isn't in the best of health.
Heck, "mild" COVID-19 isn't exactly mild - it's like having the worst cold ever.
Edited by M84 on Oct 5th 2020 at 6:48:16 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised![]()
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Well, some people really do only experience mild symptoms or none at all. I'm pretty sure I had it and all I experienced was an eye infection for a couple of days (yes, other people have experienced just that).
You're probably right though. I just worry because Trump has been able to survive just about everything else that's been thrown at him
Edited by MrHellboy on Oct 5th 2020 at 6:04:06 AM
The hardest thing in this world is to live in it.
Except not much has been thrown at Trump. He's only unhealthy in the way any 70+ year old man who avoids exercise and eats fast food is unhealthy.
Also, do not assume that you already caught COVID-19 unless a doctor outright confirms you have antibodies for it.
Edited by M84 on Oct 5th 2020 at 7:06:56 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised![]()
Don't worry. I'm not negligent when it comes to that. I've already accepted that I'll be wearing a mask until at least 2022, if not longer. I've accepted that this is the new normal for a very long time.
And I meant obstacles besides health problems for Trump, scandals and such.
The hardest thing in this world is to live in it.Om a broader note, you know what's weird to me as a non-American? The electoral college giving the win to the candidate that didn't get the popular vote.
Not in itself, but the idea that the USA is "the greatest democracy in the world" when the USA doesn't even follow the most basic democratic rule—give the people the candidate they voted for.
I've heard of dictatorships that don't allow elections, or that arrange clearly rigged elections. But never except in the case of the USA have I heard of countries that have a basically fair and honest vote, and only give the presidency to a candidate once they're certain that the people didn't vote for him to win.
And people still insist that the USA is somehow the great champion of democracy, simply because that's an axiom that's regarded as automatically true regardless of the actual state of things.
Edited by MichaelKatsuro on Oct 5th 2020 at 1:23:43 PM
I did the math on this a month back, and it's actually more doable than you'd expect (still very difficult, though). It's not really something Biden can do, as passing the compact is up to state legislatures and governors.
- The states that have already passed the compact with their 196 EC votes: (WA, OR, CA, NJ, DE, VT, CO, NM, HI, DC, MD, MA, NY, CT, RI)
- 3 Democratic trifecta states that haven't passed the NPVIC with their 23 EC votes (VA, NV, ME)
- Flipping 4 state legislatures (and a governorship) for 52 EC votes (Minnesota, Michigan, Arizona, and North Carolina)
Which is 271 votes for the narrowest possible margin to enact the NPVIC.
Edited by nova92 on Oct 5th 2020 at 4:27:27 AM
That's all the support? Much better than nothing, of course, but for that to be all the support that the World's Greatest Democracy can muster for making elections actually democratic...
It's like the kind of person who says things like "Oh, I just love books!" but she never actually seems to be reading anything, and loves the idea of books more than the idea of actually sitting down with one.
Edited by MichaelKatsuro on Oct 5th 2020 at 1:33:36 PM
Well, there is a fourth institution missing that has to approve the Compact: Congress. The Constitution is quite clear that states cannot make agreements with each other w/o the permission by Congress, in fact, the Compact is named after the term the Constitution uses for such agreements.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanExcept Trump didn't dodge any of those due to being particularly lucky or clever or anything. He's always had people covering his sorry ass, from his rich daddy to the GOP.
In this particular case, he's still got a big advantage of course, since he's the POTUS and thus has access to the best medical care on the planet. But COVID-19 is still very different from the scandals he's dodged due to others protecting him.
Edited by M84 on Oct 5th 2020 at 7:44:08 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised

It's certainly suspicious that he's refusing to release his results, he has nothing to lose from announcing a negative result and several things to gain. Only possible reason I could think of that's not a positive result is that he's trying to bait people into making an issue of it only to throw the negative result out then, but even that sounds like a massive stretch.