October 31, 2020

Advance Media New York/Syracuse.com Editorial Board endorses Biden

https://www.syracuse.com/opinion/2020/10/editorial-endorsement-joe-biden-for-president.html

In his inaugural address, President Donald Trump surveyed the nation he was about to lead for the next four years and saw a dystopian landscape of “American carnage.” It was an exaggeration then. It is our reality now.

In one of those defining twists of history presidents never see coming, the global coronavirus pandemic struck in February, sickening Americans and halting the economy. It was the only crisis Trump faced in his four years that was not a crisis of his own making. Now, more than 220,000 here are dead of the virus and nearly 9 million more are infected, thanks in large part to Trump’s incompetent response to it.

When it counted, when the American people needed their government to protect them from the coronavirus, our outsider, anti-government, anti-science president booted the job.

That’s not the only rubble on the Trumpian landscape. It is strewn with Americans distrustful of their government and of each other. Heaps of lies and broken norms of governing and diplomacy. Local manufacturers and farmers hurt by trade wars. Tea party-shaming budget deficits. The president’s own family and businesses enriched by White House connections. An international stage absent a leader. Alliances trashed. Dictators befriended. Muslims banned. Families separated. Dissent crushed. A free press undermined. Charlottesville. Mueller. Impeachment. Covid.

Yes, Trump delivered a tax cut, a slightly above-average stock market and a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. He failed to deliver a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, and in fact, is suing to dismantle it in the midst of the pandemic.

Never has an American president squandered so much American goodwill and economic might in service of so little. After four exhausting years, we’re ready for the Trump show to end.

We’re counting on Joe Biden to restore decency, empathy and normalcy to the White House.

Biden is the anti-Trump: long in legislative and foreign policy experience, rooted in working-class values, still connected to hardscrabble places like Scranton and Syracuse decades after he left them, his youthful arrogance tempered by grief. Biden is not without faults and controversy, not uncommon to anyone who has dedicated decades to public service. Still, given the choice between Trump and Biden, we’ll take Biden’s competence and heart for the job any day.

Biden, who will be 78 in a few weeks, has a long list of tasks ahead should he prevail. He must get the coronavirus pandemic under control, kick-start the economy, fix or replace Obamacare, tackle the climate crisis, restore key environmental protections, address systemic racism, repair international alliances and be prepared to meet the next crisis.

Oh, and one more thing: “We’ll act to restore our faith in democracy and our faith in one another,” Biden promised in a speech at Warm Springs, Georgia. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt “came looking for a cure," Biden continued, "but it was the lessons he learned here that he used to lift a nation. Humility, empathy, courage, optimism.”

It is a high bar Biden has set, given the partisanship, mistrust and rancor of the past four, eight, even 12 years. After four decades in government and politics, Biden is hardly naïve. He simply refuses to believe the heart of this nation has “turned to stone.”

“I know this country. I know our people. And I know that we can unite and heal this nation,” he said.

After four years of alternative facts and constant tumult, Biden is the steady, institutionalist leader America needs.

Why we endorse
The purpose of an editorial endorsement is to provide a thoughtful assessment of the choices voters face in an election. We offer editorial endorsements to stimulate the public conversation and promote civic engagement. Voting is a right and an obligation of citizenship. That part is up to you. Sunday, Nov. 1, is the last day for early voting. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

About Syracuse.com editorials
Editorials represent the collective opinion of the Advance Media New York editorial board.

October 30, 2020

New York State has now made seat belts mandatory for back seat passengers over age 16 because:

https://www.syracuse.com/state/2020/10/new-seat-belt-law-goes-into-effect-in-new-york-this-weekend.html

A new law requiring seat belts for all passengers in the back seats of vehicles in New York goes into effect Sunday.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law in August.

Previously, passengers over age 16 were not required to wear a belt in the back seat.

But the state lagged in requiring belts in back seats, according to AAA. Between 2010 and 2019, 289 unbelted back seat passengers died in New York and over 25,000 were injured.

And yet, look at all the people complaining about having to wear a mask to protect others and themselves from COVID-19 which has killed almost 230,000 in 9 MONTHS (vs 289 in 9 YEARS) and caused chronic health issues for multiples more.

You can't fix lack of common sense in the willfully ignorant.

October 29, 2020

Why long lines to vote early? Onondaga County (NY) GOP pushed for fewer sites to save money

https://www.syracuse.com/news/2020/10/why-long-lines-to-vote-early-onondaga-county-gop-pushed-for-fewer-sites-to-save-money.html

Syracuse, N.Y. – If you’re among the people who have waited up to two hours to vote early in Onondaga County, you may wonder why there are not more than six locations open to reduce the long lines.

Erie County voters, by contrast, can choose from among 37 early voting sites. That’s more than six times the number in this county despite Erie having just twice as many voters.

The Syracuse area has six sites because Republican officials in Onondaga County declined to open more last year out of concern for the cost. Democrats sought at least two additional sites. Republicans held the line.

Because a consensus was required to do more, the GOP position was decisive. Adding extra sites would have required agreement between Onondaga County’s two election commissioners, one Republican and one Democrat. That did not happen.

They "agreed to disagree,'' said Michele Sardo, the GOP commissioner.

[Full article at link.]

Rat f*ckers!

October 5, 2020

I love Bono's intro to U2 song, Pride, from 2015 concert in Chicago

&list=RDGzZWSrr5wFI&index=6

Build America Back Better, Joe and Kamala!

October 1, 2020

How one CNY man with coronavirus failed to quarantine, may have exposed hundreds

https://www.syracuse.com/coronavirus/2020/10/how-one-cny-man-with-coronavirus-failed-to-quarantine-may-have-exposed-hundreds.html

By Geoff Herbert | gherbert@syracuse.com

A Central New York man who tested positive for the coronavirus is being blamed for failing to follow Covid-19 guidelines, leading to a cluster of cases and potentially exposing hundreds to the virus.

WKTV reports at least nine people have contracted Covid-19 in the Oneida County village of Holland Patent, stemming from one symptomatic person who tested positive and did not quarantine.

Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente Jr. said Wednesday it started with a man who showed symptoms and tested positive for Covid-19. His name has not been released but he is a football coach and a church leader who continued to attend practices, youth group meetings and church services, Picente said.

The man’s wife and four of his children — one of whom is an adult and a music teacher — then tested positive, and all of the family members also failed to quarantine. The Oneida County Health Department released a chart of its contact tracing efforts, showing how each infected person exposed others at a birthday party, a school, daycare, music lessons, and a sleepover; there were also low-risk exposures at a soccer practice, the DMV and doctor’s offices.

“Adult one” and his wife also went on a bus trip to New York City while he was sick, Picente said. It’s unclear how many people were on the bus or exposed in NYC.

[Click link above for full article and contact tracing diagram.]

SELFISH PRICK & HIS EQUALLY SELFISH ADULT FAMILY MEMBERS!!!!