One last total distracted fact but relevant all the same: an dozen chicken eggs is about the same quantity as what you get out of an Ostrich or Emu egg. — ArguingWAristotleTiff

Google says two dozen. No Ostriches on the ranch, I take it?

Are you saying that ostriches don't make giant eggs? — frank

No. We should probably verify this with your mom though.

Tens of thousands of American lives is like chicken feed to you?! What a monster. :scream:

I was just being a smart ass. — frank

Bungling a drone strike could cost a handful of lives. Bungling the National response to a pandemic could costs tens of thousands.

I assume wrongly then?

I assume that state governors don’t have access to the intelligence resources that the White House has, for one thing. Also, the criticism isn’t just about not closing things down.

Why would you say such a thing? — NOS4A2

Sanctimoniousness is like chicken soup for his soul.

If I understand you, you might want to use a term like forced austerity or minimalism rather than essentialism.

Or maybe it reacts differently to covid, Dr. Nos4a2.

Speaking of Sweden, hospitals in there have stopped using the malaria drug chloroquine on coronavirus patients after reports it was causing blinding headaches and vision loss.

Another tough break for POTUS.

Americans are trained from birth to be good producers and consumers. Retraining would take a very long time, and it would require a desire to change.

My suggestion is that the primary lesson of this slowed pace of life isn't that we now have been shown that we can reconfigure our world so that remote learning and working, for example, can now become the norm, but it's that we might want to rethink how important the busyness of our lives was to our overall well being in the first place (which I do not describe in simplistic hedonistic terms). — Hanover

But that would destroy the economy. :scream:

In no way or manner does it imply that these are womanly qualities. — Merkwurdichliebe

So you’re a felinist then.

Yeah that’s messed up. Worst possible time to quit and try finding another position also.

Anyway, hope things improve.

Seems like you should be paid for every hour worked, and depending on you situation, perhaps even earning overtime pay.

If they cut your hours doesn’t that mean you’re being paid hourly now? What do they say when you point out the situation to them?

It sounds like you are implying that fear is a womanly quality. Kinda sexist dont'cha think? — Merkwurdichliebe

... pussies and cowards. — Merkwurdichliebe

Kinda hypocritical, me thinks.

"If" you're a carrier? It is a very dangerous thing, to base your life around "ifs". And when the state begins to base its policies around "ifs", then systemic tyranny is very close at hand. — Merkwurdichliebe

It’s not very manly of you to have such fear of uncertainty, Merk.

Face masks cannot stop healthy people getting Covid-19 — Merkwurdichliebe

Like social distancing and the rest, it’s not just about fear of infection but fear of spreading it to others. If I’m a carrier a mask should offer those around me some protection. I understand masks are more effective in containing the virus to the wearer.

I wore a mask for the first time in public at Wholefoods the other day. It wasn’t as embarrassing as I thought because about half the people there were using them and also, with the help of a cap, the chance anyone could recognize me was slim.

overhyped boogey-virus, that is for pussies and cowards. — Merkwurdichliebe

Studly brave dudes don’t practice social distancing or wear masks etc?

:razz: I like the idea of including a dog.

For being a second rate NOS?

It makes me wonder how things would go if Trump were re-elected into a depressed economy in 2020. I understand that Democrats are often elected in bad economies because they employ effective methods like Keynesian economics. This worked out for Obama, for instance. So maybe the Trump administration simply isn’t equipped to deal. Lowering taxes for the wealthy further, if that’s even possible, and slashing away more vigorously at regulations and entitlements won’t work, I understand.

Do you need to be coerced to practice physical distancing? — NOS4A2

Wrong question. Do most Americans need to be coerced? I think they do. In any case, you’re not taking power dynamics into account. For instance, if someone refuses to work in unsafe conditions due to the virus, is it okay to fire them?

I was ‘coerced’ to participate in jury duty this month. What if they didn’t cancel it?

It’s a stupid and bad faith argument because it is not about preferring death to recession. That’s a false dilemma. The argument is that we do not need to tank the economy and suppress basic liberties to teach people wash their hands, to sneeze into their sleeves, to self-quarantine, or to physically distance themselves from others. — NOS4A2

Do you honestly think that the economy won’t tank regardless of what the government does? Or that people would adequately social distance themselves without coercion?

Corona has shown what a house of cards the “entirety man made” economy is.

True, but I will never stop driving the point home that capitalism is ruled by parasites that will fuck workers not just at every opportunity, but especially in times of crisis when things are especially terrible for everyone.
— StreetlightX

As opposed to what? Socialism? — Nobeernolife

We live in a world where Trump is elected POTUS, and this in the midst of things that Streetlight is pointing out. To me that’s a strong indication that socialism would fail miserably in the US.

The coming economic collapse, and the reason many of us will be without work and homeless within a year, is entirely man made. — NOS4A2

The Great Recession a decade ago was entirely man made. You lived through that. If this downturn is similar in severity, would you prefer the death of 1.25 - 2 million Americans in order to avoid it? White House estimates show 100 - 240k deaths with social distancing and 1.5 - 2.2 million without.

This of course assumes that the economy would somehow not be effected by the pandemic if it were somehow ignored, and also that no one would adopt social distancing without direction.

Nothing new, according to the Second Thought video you posted, though accelerated.

Fines for bad haircuts? — Baden

I’d be immune.

But if we acquiesce to such draconian measures who knows what else will slide down the slippery slope. :mask:

Yeah, he had to. What would you and your "mainstream" media say if had held it up because of all the pork?
We`d all need earplugs in that case. — Nobeernolife

Depending on which pork, a lot or nothing, I imagine. The Democrats held it up because they didn’t like parts of it at one point. Your media had something to say about that.

So, who in the Republican Senate and Congress are you ready to Guillotine? — boethius

Probably a whole bunch. For starters, everyone who signed off on those, what, 800 pages of pork that they all squeezed into the Corona emergency fund. Anyone who signed off on that atrocity, no matter what party, deserves your bonfire or the French solution. — Nobeernolife

Your orange hero signed off on it too.

Right, it’s divisive in nature, essentially promoting what it ostensibly condemns.

The government has enormous resources at its disposal. You suggest that it’s an unreasonable expectation that it could effectively deal with both issues?

He's just lobbing back the gratuitous attacks on the president and the GOP in general. — frank

I’m certain there’s a better way of doing that than pointing out the administrations inabilities.

When asked about Cotton's early warnings [about coronavirus], McConnell said: "It came up while we were tied down on the impeachment trial. And I think it diverted the attention of the government, because everything every day was all about impeachment."

Can they walk and chew gum at the same time? Seems to indicate incompetence.

They closed all parks and some beaches yesterday but trails are still open in the county. They’re monitored though, whatever that means.

I guess Pfhorrest is sleeping in. Around where he lives is a great area for plein-air painting, incidentally.