The Political Thread

[Carol the Dabbler]

*sigh*  Fortunately I doubt any doctors are taking his advice.

[Van Buren Supernova]

12 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

*sigh*  Fortunately I doubt any doctors are taking his advice.

It's not the doctors I'm worried about taking his advice. It's never the doctor, ... well, unless it's Dr.Phil.

[Carol the Dabbler]

7 hours ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

It's not the doctors I'm worried about taking his advice.

What I meant is this:  Even ignoring the fact that (at least here) it takes a doctor's prescription to obtain a hypodermic needle, I doubt that most people are rash enough to attempt giving themselves injections, and if they ask their doctor to give them a shot of Lysol, they'll be turned down flat and hopefully educated.

Thank goodness Trump did not literally recommend that people should be injected; he merely asked the medical researchers to look into it.  (I do wish he'd realize that sort of comment is not his job, though -- most certainly not in a public speech!)  And since then, there have been a huge number of press releases by various medical authorities, pointing out that disinfectants are for external use only.  Of course some people may ignore the expert advice, but alas there have always been some people like that, and our species has survived so far.  With any luck we'll continue to do so.

[J.P.]

Actually last time I watched, you can get plenty of needles on the internet.
Yes, he didn't directly said about injecting stuff, but the way His Monstrosity presented it to long year professionals reminded me about a 5 year old having a "tremendous idea". He really lost any connection with reality. BTW, have you seen the woman doctor's face during the speech? *facepalm*

[Carol the Dabbler]

3 hours ago, J.P. said:

the way His Monstrosity presented it to long year professionals reminded me about a 5 year old having a "tremendous idea".

No argument there.  Of course 5 year olds do have good ideas once in a while -- but still, he should have told them in private.

3 hours ago, J.P. said:

... you can get plenty of needles on the internet.

Oops -- apparently laws have changed since I last noticed.  (Probably just as well, considering that if it's hard to get needles, people tend to share them with friends, thus transmitting some nasty diseases.)  Thanks for pointing that out!

[besleybean]

Yeah that's why these projects that hand out free needles, are such a good idea.

[T.o.b.y]

Do you guys think he's serious about these "suggestions" though? Seems more like trolling to me; saying something utterly outrageous once more just to get more attention and press coverage (and distract from other, more important issues).

[Carol the Dabbler]

8 hours ago, T.o.b.y said:

Do you guys think he's serious about these "suggestions" though? Seems more like trolling to me; saying something utterly outrageous once more just to get more attention and press coverage (and distract from other, more important issues).

That's a good question.  He does seem to crave attention, and that may well be explanation enough.  As for possible ulterior motives, why would he intentionally make himself look ignorant (especially with an election coming up)?

[J.P.]

He was clearly presenting his brain fart to the lady who spoke before him. Dr Brix? Have you seen her face? (OK, I found a video)
Then, he stated afterwards he was being "sarcastic" to a reporter, who haven't even been at the briefing. To be sarcastic you need 1. an IQ higher than 10, 2. being actually aware of being sarcastic, 3. having a sense of humour. His sense of humour is mocking disabled journalists.

He have heard of UV and disinfectants are killing germs, maybe about the Healight from some dubious "medical" company (if it's not another one he actually owns). And he had that idea, like kids have them and they immediately come up with the weirdest stuff. Sadly he is speaking faster than he can think, obviously and talks every trash that comes to his mind.

 

[J.P.]

There is an article that sums it up nicely:
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/trump-coronavirus-sunlight-disinfectant-brix-sceince.html
 

Quote

“How obeisant and dumb do some people think Trump voters are?” complains Mark Hemingway. Well, they are supporting a president who invents childish ideas and instructs experts to look into them, and who takes scientific advice from people who cannot understand the difference between contagious and noncontagious diseases, and they see these things happen in front of their own eyes. The problem isn’t the (hopefully) tiny number of Americans who will misunderstand Trump’s clumsy musings and ingest something harmful. It’s that a public-health effort is being led by an ignorant crank who thinks he’s a genius.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Fortunately he's not the head of the Centers for Disease Control.  He can blather all he wants, but I believe they have a certain degree of autonomy.

[J.P.]

But I think he can fire them. That's the only reason why Faucci tries to keep a straight face and Birx "kind of" praises him for his response. They should have sent him to his room for so many times…

I wonder why there are any journalists still coming though.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I agree with you, they need to maintain at least a semblance of internal harmony.

As for the journalists, because it's what they do?

 

[kimber8ada]

I saw a reporter interviewed and he said it's their job to cover the briefings. No matter how outlandish Trump behaves he is the president and the briefings are important for the info from the experts about the virus. Even when Trump lashes out as he did with this person recently they have to "keep a straight face" and be professional.

[J.P.]

I understand it. But imagine - noone would come. He would explode.

[kimber8ada]

16 hours ago, J.P. said:

I understand it. But imagine - noone would come. He would explode.

I've often wondered what would happen if no one showed up, but I realized that would leave only his supporting media to be there and that might be even worse!

[Caya]

Few things make me smile in politics these days, but this one got a chuckle out of me:

Our German forum members can probably explain it better, but what she's holding here is a Maß, holding a liter (a bit more than two pints), which is the traditional way to drink beer, especially in Bavaria and/or at the Oktoberfest. 

[Van Buren Supernova]

I didn't understand until I saw the news.

 

Anyway, a rant that is quite political.

I'm appalled of the actual idiocy level of human, this pandemic opens my eyes to confirm that even though I have very low expectation, I'm still surprised.

How hard is it to wear a f*&@(^&*@$& mask when you are out in public?! Do they know how painful it is for the health workers to wear it every hours every day?? 

I mean FFS, if those idiots only harm themselves, by all means, I fully support Darwin's theory and it would be good riddance, the earth is over populated! But when your idiotic actions could harm others, they can regulate you. Just like smoking. How many unnecessary tragic deaths of those being attacked from simply asking you to put a mask in their property/work place needed? I blame the upper idiots who put in those idea, that choosing not to wear mask is f(*^^@**%&%@ right. Argh! DAMN MY LEG!

[Carol the Dabbler]

It took them a while to get the hang of it, but people around here seem to be making pretty good decisions as to when it makes sense to wear a mask.

For example, most people in the (fairly crowded) grocery store are wearing them now, also most people in the little health-food store, and likewise at the counter in a lumber store that we visited recently.  But when we go walking in the nearly-dead mall, we see mostly other mall walkers, and very few of them are wearing masks, because we can easily avoid each other.  (I would kinda like to see the employees in the little sandwich shop wearing them, though!)

 

[Van Buren Supernova]

For me, at least in my place people wear them and don't question the requirement of wearing them, and we don't have stubborn government that justify those idiocy.

But I do see a lot of idiots gathering, sitting side by side without them, just afternoon chitchat in the neighborhood, bring your kids, let them have fun, risk their life, it's all good. Maybe they change their minds about wanting kids and this is a subtle way out, I'm not sure.

[T.o.b.y]

7 hours ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

I didn't understand until I saw the news.

 

Anyway, a rant that is quite political.

I'm appalled of the actual idiocy level of human, this pandemic opens my eyes to confirm that even though I have very low expectation, I'm still surprised.

How hard is it to wear a f*&@(^&*@$& mask when you are out in public?! Do they know how painful it is for the health workers to wear it every hours every day?? 

It's actually not painful at all! I hardly notice my mask any more unless my nose itches or something. 

[Valkyrie123]

3 hours ago, T.o.b.y said:

It's actually not painful at all! I hardly notice my mask any more unless my nose itches or something. 

I agree, people are slightly overreacting about having to wear a mask.

[Valkyrie123]

Have any of you seen the video of Boris Johnson struggling to say 'contact tracing'?

I laughed hysterically at that!

[Valkyrie123]

https://news.sky.com/video/coronavirus-boris-johnson-stumbles-over-his-words-trying-to-say-contact-tracing-12020642

[Carol the Dabbler]

10 hours ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

I do see a lot of idiots gathering, sitting side by side without them, just afternoon chitchat in the neighborhood, bring your kids

Yeah, I see that around here too, usually just two or three people, sometimes a few more.  Small groups are legal now in Indiana, but we're still supposed to wear masks and stay six feet apart, and they're clearly doing neither.  I assume they're extroverts who are going kinda nuts with the isolation.

2 minutes ago, SherLOCKED123 said:

I agree, people are slightly overreacting about having to wear a mask.

It's harder if you wear them only now and then, I think.  If you wear them all day at work, you apparently get used to them.  Even though I need to wear mine only briefly a few times per week, it doesn't bother me as much as it used to -- but I'm still glad to take it off.