Coronavirus with an R0 of 3 or beyond

[Fred Steeves]

You're really going to defend Trump, Fred? I can understand playing the devil's advocate, but c'mon man.

Defending him by, pointing out some obvious numbers? Look man I don't like Trump any more than any other sleazy fucking politician, but when the new game in town is laying full blame for virus deaths on political leaders of any given persuasion along with their followers, if there is evidence available that shows otherwise, I'm going to point it out. The deaths per million stats does it's job in doing just that.

If Barack Obama were president I'd show the same thing.

"TDS" ─ for us non-Americans, that's "Trump Derangement Syndrome" ─ is acronymese for one of the many, many derogatory labels the alt-right has invented as cloaked expletives for normal people, Fred. You know, like "snowflake", "safety pins", "safe spaces", "libtards", and so on. I don't know them all, but I'm sure bsbray could give you a complete list if you were to ask him nicely.

Are you so sure you want to go there?

The TDS virus affects the Right as well, in that anything the man does or says, no matter how stupid, is a masterful 4D chess move. Whether this particular virus renders visions of sugar plumbs dancing in the heads of supporters just thinking of their man, or uncontrollably seething hatred in the heads of his opposition, it's a mentally debilitating disease either way.

Compared to the United States, most of Europe ─ and especially Western European countries like Belgium ─ is in essence one big metropolitan area, interspersed with a few suburbs and a bit of farmland. The population is a lot more densely packed here in Belgium than in the USA, and the same is true for traffic ─ especially international traffic on the highways, because Europe heavily relies on transport by road.

The Netherlands is a little less densely populated. And yes, for your information, the incumbent government of the Netherlands is a right-wing coalition, as is the one in Belgium ─ especially here in the Flanders, where the far-right won last year's elections by a vast majority.

But anyway, just to give you an example, Belgium is about 31'000 km² in size and has a population of 11'500'000 people. That's only a little bit more than the population of New York City. How many Covid-19 deaths are there again in New York city by now?

New York City population per square mile: 27,000.

Belgium population per square mile: 991.

Adjoining sister states New York and New Jersey are extremely densely populated, and account for nearly 25% of Covid deaths in the entire US.

Bringing the all important political slant back into the mix, both states are run by democrats since time immemorial. Do we lay blame at their feet as well, rather than maybe what strain that region may have had vs. elsewhere, and/or how closely the people are packed in together?

[Dreamtimer]

The Democrats aren't really left. That's why the progressives didn't like Hillary, don't like Biden and supported Bernie. Aragorn has, of course, expressed his opinion that most of the US, Dems and Repubs alike are on the right.

[Fred Steeves]

The Democrats aren't really left. That's why the progressives didn't like Hillary, don't like Biden and supported Bernie. Aragorn has, of course, expressed his opinion that most of the US, Dems and Repubs alike are on the right.

That's why I used the term democrat, and not Left. They're all in that big warm corporate bed together, so why now blame one side or the other for the devastating effects of a global pandemic?

I believe this is where TDS comes into play.

[Aragorn]

That's why I used the term democrat, and not Left. They're all in that big warm corporate bed together, so why now blame one side or the other for the devastating effects of a global pandemic?

I believe this is where TDS comes into play.

I think you've misread me. I'm not blaming any political party, but Donald Trump himself, and those he put in charge of handling the situation. It is a manifestation of gross incompetence on their part, especially since he keeps on winging it. There's not a shred of foresight and threat assessment in their decisions.

Don't forget that this is a president whose science committee doesn't even contain a single scientist. I even posted a thread about that ─ here ─ a few years ago.

[Chester]

If it bleeds, we can kill it.

In all seriousness though, I feel that this is one of those scaremongering campaigns again. Don't believe the hype.

Even if the worst happened, what can we really do about it besides than lose our sleep? It's not worth it.

Yep, what we have been subjected to is an infodemic that has weaponized fear.

[Dreamtimer]

Incompetence coupled with a dose of malice is what's going on.

Years ago my brother told me that 'most people are pennies. You could throw them away and you'd never miss them." On and on he went. I'm quite concerned that there are a large number of folks who feel that way.

Folks who are in leadership, political or financial.

[Chester]

The pressing question right now is…

Whose side are the gods on?

Of course, before that question can be asked in that way, there needs to be asked, are the gods all on one side? I mean… usually the gods are more like, “guns for hire.”

So, consider that there may be gods on both sides… and if so, we can ask, what might be the relative strength of the influence of the gods for side a and side b?

And my bet is on side b. And why side b? Because it is the side that has the most adoring relationship with the gods through so many of the paradigms that flourish within the cultures that permeate side b.

So, do your homework and you’ll figure out who’s side a and who’s side b.

And then make your bet.

[Chester]

Incompetence coupled with a dose of malice is what's going on.

Years ago my brother told me that 'most people are pennies. You could throw them away and you'd never miss them." On and on he went. I'm quite concerned that there are a large number of folks who feel that way.

Folks who are in leadership, political or financial.

Did he get that from Bill Gates?

[Chester]

from the Daily Telegraph (Australia)

Coronavirus NSW: Dossier lays out case against China bat virus program

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/co...1c0e96ad17da60

[Dreamtimer]

My brother did not explain himself. He tends to make statements and then walk away.

My guess is that he was parroting whichever radio talk show host he was listening to. I doubt he even knew that he was paraphrasing the early 20th century industrialist who referred to workers as 'bolts on the warehouse floor'. He said that they are perfectly useful but not worth the time and money to retrieve and re-use so you just 'sweep them away' and get new ones.

So workers were something, according to him, that you could just use and then 'sweep away' and get new ones. This is what the Irish experienced when they came to America during/after the great starvation.

My brother merely used a verbal meme which updated 'bolts' to 'pennies'.



Regarding the gods, I don't personally believe that they take sides. And even if they did, there are certainly way more sides than just a and b. There are myriad sides in America alone, and then there is the rest of the world. There are in fact myriad gods, imo. The Indians of India have known this for a very long time.

If gods want to manipulate folks to take sides they can easily do so. In fact, that is the game of the leaders of industry and politics. So perhaps the gods are on their side. Most likely, imo, the gods are just manipulating those leaders.

We the People need to learn to not play along. However, many folks seem to be anxious to play along which is why people become divided and divisive.

[Wind]

Yep, what we have been subjected to is an infodemic that has weaponized fear.

My opinion has vastly changed since I wrote that. I do still believe that there is some hype to this and it has caused the fact that economy will crash or it already has. However, crony capitalism has been on it's deathbed for a while anyways and this is just the final nail in the coffin. That being said, the virus has been affecting a lot of people too and it's no joke. There are plenty of people who mourn their deceased loved ones because of this virus.

[Emil El Zapato]

Test to determine the gods of side b:

Are they compassionate? If the answer is no, then they are not the good side gods...the term 'gods' is a fitting description BUT, 'demons' is much closer to a correct perspective. The God will straighten things out in the end because it is his/her/its nature and the nature of nature.

Here is an interesting concept:

An entity with capabilities beyond the seeming magical to the seeming godliness is still only an entity. Not fully capable of controlling one's own godlike capabilities. Disaster is the inevitable result, if not the demise of the entity.

[Dreamtimer]

I was at the post office yesterday. It was sad to hear people in there talking about how many folks they know who have died as a result of the virus. Not just a family member here, or a friend there. Numerous people. People who have died.

And not all of the Covid-19 deaths have been counted due to the lack of testing, folks dying at home and more.

[Emil El Zapato]

My opinion has vastly changed since I wrote that.

I was going to point that out for you Wind, but I figured that would just be annoying. I agree with your stance at the moment as I believe it, the reality is pretty obvious. That's the problem with just wanting to be anti everything...it leads one from one conspiracy stance to the next while never getting next to the truth...it's a patently useless way to approach the slaps in the face we get anytime the 'Wind' changes...

[Dreamtimer]

The main reason the Administration has failed epically and, in my opinion, deliberately in terms of testing is because it can then play the denial game, which it has and will continue to do so. That and the blame game.