ewsieg

I want to say I heard via Gary Graff that Jagger/Stones are just tired of defending it as it was written as an anti-slavery song, but the upbeat aspect, combined with some of the lyrics pointed out, doesn't give that feeling. I guess you could think of it sorta like 'Born in the USA' which there are still folks out there jamming it on the 4th of July.

Infrastructure is a must, in fact, it's not big enough IMO. I don't even care about 'paying for it'. It's an investment in the country. The BBB, I'm much more lax on spending than I have been in the past. There are some things, that by themselves, I can understand why they are being called infrastructure. But as a whole, just looks like a giant wish list. Add in the fact that i'm not hearing much about how to pay for it and how some of the programs might only be set for a certain amount of years, with congress needing to take action in the future on those.... that's dangerous territory to me.

Honestly, his first sentence aside, go back and read what he wrote. I don't find it objectionable. In terms of that first sentence, Biden is not 100%. I'm not saying he's senile or anything, but he's clearly not at full power. Still, I do believe he's capable of understanding the issues at hand and putting, even if I disagree with them, competent folks in charge. So when he indicates he isn't allowed to participate, that is concerning. While he doesn't have a defined role in legislation as POTUS, he absolutely has the right (and some would say responsibility) to lead his party. Maybe there has been more stuff behind the scenes. I know Sinema was at the WH a few days in a row a week or two back, but publicly there is nothing coming out of Biden and I do find that troubling.

Credit to some ticket texter on 97.1 just now:

It's all about what have you done for me lately when it comes to politics. Additionally, accomplishments can be defined differently. For instance, if a GOP president touts his 'accomplishment' for cutting taxes, you won't see that as a plus, you'll see more burden on the middle class while the rich evade taxes. When you hear Biden stopped the Keystone Pipeline, I'm guessing you see that as an accomplishment. When a year later we're dealing with high gas prices (even if you and I can understand it's not directly related), some may correlate those two things and second guess what they thought was an accomplishment before.

My daughter is on....IDK, quarantine warning? With a negative PCR any day after Monday, I could return her back to school come next Monday. Instead I chose to test with antigen tests daily and she can go into school. At least I can find them now, but at 25 bucks for 2 tests, it's a costly week. I feel bad for families that can't afford or find these tests. My daughters friend was out of school the week before as they couldn't find the tests.

I think you had a GOP candidate that was able to shy away from Trump and still win the primary. That is not going to be an everyday issue next year. He ran against a guy that from a national standpoint, played the right calls and tried to make it a referendum on Trump, just didn't work as the candidate was able to shy away from Trump publicly. That said, if Biden was able to get his infrastructure bill pushed through, and right now instead of the divide in the dem party, along with the hijacking of the infrasctructure bill, wasn't front and center in the news, but rather a passed bill that McAullife could point to as democrats making a difference and a united communications front on the BBB bill, explaining why each of the things that Sanders wants are good things, but they are being mindful of the costs and working to ensure only best will be put in, you'd have pulled from that center group and won the election.

1 year off of the Biden win, the Dems are fighting each other and Biden doesn't appear to want to get involved from an executive level. Not VA goes GOP, a major scare in NJ, and even the progressive democratic nominee for Mayor in Buffalo, running unopposed, couldn't win the election (albeit against a former democrat, and incumbent, who lost the primary). Do those on the left here just feel it was a communication issue combined with deplorables coming out in force, or if the democrats did something wrong, what are your thoughts? They didn't run progressive enough? They failed to move to the center? All of the above?

The people that believe that were going to vote against 'the socialist' no matter what. The dems appear to be doing with white rural america what republicans have done with black urban america, not even bother to court them. For the more educated voters, that voted Biden a year ago, they were upset about teaching as a whole and issues around CRT, like possibly kids at home for 18 months when many other states seemed to find a way.

I think you can look at every leader, both domestic and foreign, and find some things they screwed up with. I compare to Whitmer on this board as she's viewed as being infallible and conversely, maybe Abbot is the only other Governor that could possibly be more wrong than DeSantis...again, in the view of the majority of this board. So with Whitmer doing all the right things, and DeSantis doing all the wrong things, it just strikes me that the numbers, per capita, are pretty close.

I just don't get how he's the epitomy/cause of every Covid death in Florida and if he would have only done it 'right' apparently there wouldn't have been hardly anyone in Florida that would have died in Florida. Meanwhile, many states that did it 'right' have similar deaths per capita. Now add in the vaccination rates and he compares well (and better in some instances) to those states that did it 'right'.

If his plan was simply natural herd immunity, and his voice carries as much weight as you claim, why does Florida have a better vaccination rate than Michigan? And correct me if i'm wrong, but my understanding is the better the vaccination rate of a population, the better that population will be in regards to Covid. So based on that alone, how is Michigan better off than Florida at this exact moment in time?

fact free comparisons? You guys are the ones that look a the Florida numbers and then shit on DeSantis without even looking at the vaccine rates for that state. You can't look at the vaccine rates because it doesn't support your argument. He's been an absolute idiot on masks, i'll give you that. So obviously you look at these recent covid numbers alone and it allows you to validate your thoughts without diving into the data deeper. He actually was very pro-vaccine, especially early on. I know he's fighting against mandates, but his message has still advocated for vaccines. And don't get me wrong, I disagree with him on his stance. But I'm just not seeing the black/white divide in deaths between Florida and some of these other states that everyone on this board says 'did it right', at least overall. If over the next few months Covid is nothing but a blip on the midwest/northeast states, then I think you'd have the evidence you claim you already have.

Let's not get crazy, the vaccine has proven to be the best option available in terms of limiting Covid. There is nothing else even close to it.

Yup, and still, more than 50% of their kids are wearing masks in school, same as Michigan. Cities in Florida defied orders and demanded mask mandates as well.

I agree that is a good number to look at, but it just seems like you guys move the goal posts whenever it fits. Me: Why isn't Whitmer putting additional restrictions back in place? (Circa 2 months ago) Board: The GOP stripped her powers. Me: Why isn't Whitmer putting additional restrictions back in place? (After getting some folks to admit she has some power still) Board: We got hit so hard early, combined with her great effort to get folks vaccinated, we really don't need anything additional. Whitmer: (after numbers rise again) We did such a great job so early in this pandemic to stop the spread of this disease, it just left us with a very small percentage of the population with antibodies, so this was to be expected. Board: Ya, know, she's right. Florida has better vaccination rates than Michigan. When looking at vax rate alone, Florida is a major outlier in terms of deaths with this last recent surge. This board has assured me, despite my objections, that any precautions Whitmer wants to do, she simply can't. She has absolutely no power, whatsoever, to impose any restrictions since last year. So exactly what is different between Florida and Michigan right now, except that based on the short time frame we know about Covid, seems to hit the southern states in the summer and winter, vs midwest/northeast where it hits fall and spring. Right now, when looking at that alone, is that Michigan is experiencing a smaller surge much earlier than we did last year. I do get, if the entire GOP was behind this vaccine from the beginning, overall we'd all be better off. I'm not trying to play both sides here. I am simply objecting to anyone saying that every death associated with this disease is solely on one governor, one president, etc.

You're just talking March/April of 2020? Florida gets no pass on their first spike which happened in the summer of 2020 because apparently the world knew how to handle this by then? Yet Michigan's biggest spike didn't come until the winter of 2020/2021? Whitmer just decide not to follow the all to well known protocols for some reason?

Fine, I'll concede your point completely. By conceding it though, doesn't that mean FL did a hell of a lot better than Michigan prior though? I'm not trying to take political solace, just pointing out the numbers as they are. Covid made a lot of policy makers look stupid, that's all my point really was. Michigan is up to 50 deaths a day on average, double of what it had this time last year. If you go on historical trends by date/season, Michigan is going to surge this winter. Luckily there is some evidence now suggesting that we may have already gone through our most recent surge, certainly hope that is true.

McAuiliffe has already played the Trump card, pointed to Stacey Abrams as having her election stolen from her and indicating that might happen to him too. Even the 'adults in the room' are idiots now.

I really don't like DeSantis, but he's also the governor of one of the oldest populations on average. It's the same state with less deaths per capita than Ohio, who has a governor that was applauded by the left for making the right decisions, not 'Trumpian' decisions. It's the state with numbers close to Michigan, who even with 20/20 hindsight, never made any mistakes and only followed science. And finally, it's the same state with the lowest Covid numbers per capita today. Politicians usually get measured by what have you done lately, not what have you done.

The above statement doesn't put negligence on the actor per se. We don't know if Baldwin was instructed of this process. Is this an industry standard or just something this group does? Lots of questions still.

Absolutely Absolutely again.

SNL definitely would go after 'the right' person involved with this situation. In the case of Alec Baldwin, I definitely believe his outward anti-Trump stance over the years isn't necessarily giving him a pass on this, but is allowing time for the facts to come out, which so far, appear to show the actor should not be responsible for determining if a weapon is hot and should rely on the experts. He is also the producer, so he still might have some culpability though. Now imagine Don Jr on some set, filming the cheesiest possible ad for his dad's 2024 POTUS run and the same incident happens. The twitterverse would absolutely push the media into a 'how is he to blame' mindset and you'd hear stories of his hunting / gun usage. Because a person died, maybe we don't see SNL jump on it right away, but absolutely they would be tracking it and just waiting to get something in. In thinking further, maybe not, just talking about guns might create an unsafe space for the SNL crew and thus keep it out.

For boosters, are they allowing mix and match yet or you're still going with the one you got originally?

Lab leak theory certainly strengthened this week. https://www.science.org/content/article/nih-says-grantee-failed-report-experiment-wuhan-created-bat-virus-made-mice-sicker