mpreorder
mpreorder's JournalWhy isn't this on the front page of EVERY FUCKING PAPER??
The Trump administration has barred the top US disease expert from speaking freely to the public after he warned the coronavirus may be impossible to containhttps://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-anthony-fauci-trump-admin-stops-discussion-2020-2?utm_source=reddit.com
This motherfucker is going to cost lives!! This virus is serious folks. One epidemiologist is estimating 40-70% of the worlds population will be infected. Current estimates are 2-3% mortality. Some scientists are speculating it may be transmissible not just through respiratory secretions but that it may live off a human for some time - you may get it from a faucet or doorknob for example. We already know it's transmissible when the infected person does NOT have any symptoms. Like many viruses this is likely to cause deaths in those with already weakened immune systems, the elderly, and the very young.
Please, please educate yourselves, because our government isn't going to. You'll know when it gets close, so wash your hands, avoid public places if you can, stock up on food and medicine, etc, etc.
This fucking asshole of a president is only concerned about the markets response and how it will affect his re-election chances. I'm so fucking mad about this I can barely contain myself. THIS is what the next debate should be about - have Elizabeth excoriate dTump and the complicit media. Let the American people realize it's the Dems that have their best interests at heart and base their actions on evidence, not ideology.
I know we are in the very early stages of this, and I hope things don't go as far as some fear. But, like climate change, the cost of inaction is just to high not to prepare.
Take care.....
This explains a lot about our current situation....
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.Isaac Asimov
Should the US pass laws outlawing deepfakes?
I posted this question on another forum, and got some interesting responses. Many thought the media's right to publish anything was sacrosanct. I took the position that if a news organization KNOWS something is a lie, or a deepfake, they probably shouldn't be allowed to publish it as the truth.
I fear, with the way technology is advancing, in 10 years a kid with the right app and a creative mind could create a short video of anyone saying anything and if it went viral in the days before an election could actually sway it.
I asked this question after reading about another country that did just that (sorry, I lost the story and don't remember which country).
What does everyone think?
Great video on taxes all Republicans should take a look at...
I'd assume most here either know this objectively or intuitively. Just a few minutes long.
TLDR: The US, as a percentage of total income, has a mostly flat tax rate, not a progressive one. Except for the wealthy, who naturally pay less. The poor are getting screwed.
[link:https://digg.com/video/which-americans-pay-the-lowest-taxes-visualized|
Looking at the pic on today's homepage I decided to do just a bit of digging and found this:
Highlights by me:
The Persuasive Power of Emotions: Effects of Emotional Expressions on Attitude Formation and Change
Abstract:
Despite a long-standing interest in the intrapersonal role of affect in persuasion, the interpersonal effects of emotions on persuasion remain poorly understood—how do one person’s emotional expressions shape others’ attitudes? Drawing on emotions as social information (EASI) theory (Van Kleef, 2009), we hypothesized that people use the emotional expressions of others to inform their own attitudes, but only when they are sufficiently motivated and able to process those expressions. Five experiments support these ideas. Participants reported more positive attitudes about various topics after seeing a source’s sad (rather than happy) expressions when topics were negatively framed (e.g., abandoning bobsleighing from the Olympics). Conversely, participants reported more positive attitudes after seeing happy (rather than sad) expressions when topics were positively framed (e.g., introducing kitesurfing at the Olympics). This suggests that participants used the source’s emotional expressions as information when forming their own attitudes. Supporting this interpretation, effects were mitigated when participants’ information processing was undermined by cognitive load or was chronically low. Moreover, a source’s anger expressions engendered negative attitude change when directed at the attitude object and positive change when directed at the recipient’s attitude. Effects occurred regardless of whether emotional expressions were manipulated through written words, pictures of facial expressions, film clips containing both facial and vocal emotional expressions, or emoticons. The findings support EASI theory and indicate that emotional expressions are a powerful source of social influence
I have NO doubt whatsoever that Fox news and the GOP slime know all about this and use it to their full advantage.
Under the supposition that the GOP just wants a president who'll sign anything they put
in front of him, why don't they turn against Trump since they'll get that with Pence for the most part anyway? Sure, it'll take a bit of time for the base to get used to things, but they'll have gotten rid of a headache and put a new rubber stamp in place.
A conversation and a question.
So my son has a friend that identifies as Republican and in our discussion something came up that seems to be a bit of a theme in my conversations with other Republicans.
I brought up the subject of compassion and how I believe we, both as individuals and through our elected leaders, should strive to help all people, even if we know resources are limited and we may not be able to do all we want. His response was similar to other Republicans I've talked to in that he said he really didn't care (his words) about people not in his orbit. He would help those he knew, and might even help someone who he didn't know but asked directly for help. But anyone else - nope, not his problem.
(There was also a brief side conversation about religious views about compassion which I had to abandon because I really started to get pissed off.)
Again, it's a theme I've noticed and can even recount a similar historical event. Teddy Roosevelt was all gung-ho during WWI and, political necessities aside, didn't seem to realize the personal toll it took on families who lost loved ones. He was all about how war forges great men, etc, etc. Until, that is, he lost his own son, Quentin. Then grief took over and his health declined rapidly and he was sure to have what would be today called depression.
I know I've read about similar things, where Republicans don't care about anything until it happens to them. It's like they have no imagination or empathy unless they have a direct experience.
And in the words of one person I loathe, that's SAD.
If there are any mental health professionals reading this, is there ANYTHING that could be said to alter this view during a conversation? The current crisis (and yes, I believe it is a crisis), is a symptom and the underlying pathology stems from a very large segment of the population, enabling the elected. (I should state here that I also believe there is a bigger, mostly unspoken fight between the ultra rich and everyone else, and it MAY be that fueling the left/right divide is a way to distract from this. EW knows this.)
Anyway, thanks for reading and letting me rant!
Anyone else beginning to think
that as least some of the current bullshit is actually planned as a way for Trump to drop out of the election? Pence will then pardon and then become the nominee.
I NEVER thought Trump actually wanted to be President and this seems a least plausible. He'll end up saying, ad nauseum, that he would have won had the fake news been against him all along. Heck, he may even sue a few news organizations just for fun.
One thing I'm certain of is that if he is impeached, and then either resigns or is convicted, there will be a pardon to "heal the country". Because America is not actually a Republic anymore.
So my F-I-L says to me you'll never get a job from a poor person...
He says this once in awhile and I usually blow it off and I did this time as well. But I've been thinking about it quite a bit because something about it makes sense on a very simple level, but.....
How did the rich get rich? A myriad of ways no doubt, but in general...
They overcharged for goods and services, using science, statistics, and psychology to determine the absolute most money people would pay.
They underpaid their workers, using careful analysis of the competition to avoid costly turnover all while providing as few benefits as possible, cutting those benefits over the years to fractions of what our parents enjoyed. They also automate as much as possible to increase profits and cut jobs.
They used their wealth to lobby (i.e.buy) politicians for their purposes, from making unions less effective to getting laws passed for increased profits and expanding markets.
They set up shell companies in foreign countries to avoid paying taxes.
Anyone care to add to the list?
I'm going to bring these ideas to him the next time he says this. I doubt it will matter but he was a union guy so one never knows. But most of the wingnuts don't think this way. Unlike Oliver "Please sir may I have another", they'll be grateful for the crumbs they're given. I'm convinced what we're seeing in this country is class warfare, and only the rich know they're fighting it. Warren know this and is shining a light on it. Go Elizabeth!!
All people are NOT created equal.
Let's get that out of the way right now. Some are smarter, some prettier, some with more motivation, skills, and opportunity than others. The list goes on to the limits of human characteristics. (Like it or not we are all snowflakes, as much as I hate that term being used as a label.)
When Obama ran he was labeled as an elitist because of his background. Trump got elected, in part, because he talked like he was one of the masses, even though he wasn't. He remains popular with his base because he still does. We all struggle with how to talk to our more conservative friends. Sometimes I ask them if they would let a person with no education do brain surgery on them. Let's ignore the die-hards who tell me if they were comfortable with them they would, no headway can be made, ever, with those folks. But for those who understand the point I ask:
"So who should lead the free-world, a common joe or the smartest fucking person you can find?"
I hope I've changed some minds about Trump. But I don't know, I honestly don't know.
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Member since: Sun Oct 5, 2014, 12:35 PMNumber of posts: 51
