POLITICAL THREAD

[KRJ1975]

America will have been bored and past the hysteria for 2 months.

I think it's already too late for that. Sports won't be back in a month. I think it's Julyish before things start becoming truly normal again.

 

[KRJ1975]

Keeneland spring meet canceled.

Derby is next for sure.

 

[Baller Cal]

We can be out of this by.....July or August says Trump?

We'll all go nuts.

 

[Pelosigalore]

I think it's already too late for that. Sports won't be back in a month. I think it's Julyish before things start becoming truly normal again.

At this point, that actually sounds good.

 

[CrittendenWildcat]

I've been saying for 3 years that although most conservatives rag on Canada every chance they get, it's much more of a PITA to get into than the US is. Nobody listens.

Drove to Niagara Falls in July of last year. Took about 10 minutes to get into Canada (Short vehicle lines, review our passports, ask a few questions, pay the fee). Took about 45 minutes due to long vehicle lines to leave Canada and return to the US. So based on my anecdotal experience, it's 4 1/2 times easier to get into Canada than to get into the US.

 

[Brandan Stroud]

The media are absolute disgusting vultures.

"Mr. President, healthcare workers are terrified that they will bring it home and kill their families. What are you personally going to do to insure that they don't get sick?!?"

Awful

 

[KRJ1975]

Drove to Niagara Falls in July of last year. Took about 10 minutes to get into Canada (Short vehicle lines, review our passports, ask a few questions, pay the fee). Took about 45 minutes due to long vehicle lines to leave Canada and return to the US. So based on my anecdotal experience, it's 4 1/2 times easier to get into Canada than to get into the US.

Maybe I should have worded it differently. It's a PITA to stay in Canada. Here, you saunter across the southern border and voila, you're golden.

 

[Brandan Stroud]

Now this broad is talking about HIV. Well, if we could just stop this by not sodomizing each other maybe we wouldn't have to go through all this.

 

[gollumcat]

Meanwhile, down in the Sunshine State. Heh.

“ as everyone in weddings are”..........

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Welcome doomsayer. It sucks over here.

The panic is the problem. Not the cold that everyone will get. In terms of the panic, it was obvious from the initial cancellations this would be catastrophic

 

[anon_l8pbkn96tg3j6]

The panic is the problem. Not the cold that everyone will get. In terms of the panic, it was obvious from the initial cancellations this would be catastrophic

Always agreed with that.

 

[trueblujr2]

Never heard of them. Guess they're big in Nunavut.

Assuming you’re being facetious. Never heard of Mike Myers? SNL legend from back when SNL was good. Austin Powers?

 

[KRJ1975]

I just read the planes from China are packed & Trudeau is happy with that.

I mean, if they are loaded with non citizens or non legal residents, they won't be going far.

 

[SomeDudeCRO]

you know it's bad when the media finally starts printing the truth

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...-didnt-dissolve-its-pandemic-response-office/

Opinion | No, the White House didn’t ‘dissolve’ its pandemic response office. I was there.
By Tim Morrison
5-7 minutes
Tim Morrison is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former senior director for counterproliferation and biodefense on the National Security Council.

President Trump gets his share of criticism — some warranted, much not. But recently the president’s critics have chosen curious ground to question his response to the coronavirus outbreak since it began spreading from Wuhan, China, in December.

It has been alleged by multiple officials of the Obama administration, including in The Post, that the president and his then-national security adviser, John Bolton, “dissolved the office” at the White House in charge of pandemic preparedness. Because I led the very directorate assigned that mission, the counterproliferation and biodefense office, for a year and then handed it off to another official who still holds the post, I know the charge is specious.

Now, I’m not naive. This is Washington. It’s an election year. Officials out of power want back into power after November. But the middle of a worldwide health emergency is not the time to be making tendentious accusations.

It is true that the Trump administration has seen fit to shrink the NSC staff. But the bloat that occurred under the previous administration clearly needed a correction. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, congressional oversight committees and members of the Obama administration itself all agreed the NSC was too large and too operationally focused (a departure from its traditional role coordinating executive branch activity). As The Post reported in 2015, from the Clinton administration to the Obama administration’s second term, the NSC’s staff “had quadrupled in size, to nearly 400 people.” That is why Trump began streamlining the NSC staff in 2017.

One such move at the NSC was to create the counterproliferation and biodefense directorate, which was the result of consolidating three directorates into one, given the obvious overlap between arms control and nonproliferation, weapons of mass destruction terrorism, and global health and biodefense. It is this reorganization that critics have misconstrued or intentionally misrepresented. If anything, the combined directorate was stronger because related expertise could be commingled.

The reduction of force in the NSC has continued since I departed the White House. But it has left the biodefense staff unaffected — perhaps a recognition of the importance of that mission to the president, who, after all, in 2018 issued a presidential memorandum to finally create real accountability in the federal government’s expansive biodefense system.

The NSC is really the only place in government where there is a staff that ensures the commander in chief gets all the options he needs to make a decision, and then makes sure that decision is actually implemented. I worry that further reductions at the NSC could impair its capabilities, but the current staffing level is fully up to the job.

You might ask: Why does all this matter? Won’t it just be a historical footnote?

It matters because when people play politics in the middle of a crisis, we are all less safe.

We are less safe because public servants are distracted when they are dragged into politics.

We’re less safe because the American people have been recklessly scared into doubting the competence of their government to help keep them safe, secure and healthy.

And we’re less safe because when we’re focused on political gamesmanship, we’re not paying enough attention to the real issues. For example, we should be united behind ensuring that, in a future congressional appropriations package, U.S. companies are encouraged to return to our shores from China the production of everything from medical face masks and personal protective equipment to vitamin C and penicillin.

And we should be united in demanding to know why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was aware of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan early in December, maybe even November, and didn’t tell the rest of the world, when stopping the deadly spread might have been possible.

The Opinions section is looking for stories of how the coronavirus has affected people of all walks of life. Write to us.

Just as the United States has fought against fake information aimed at our elections, we should fight back against CCP propagandists. They are not only campaigning against the use of the term “Wuhan virus” (a more geographically accurate description than “Spanish flu” ever was about the 1918 pandemic) but now also promoting the false claim that covid-19 was created by the U.S. Army. Public health officials have pinpointed a wild-animal market in Wuhan as the outbreak’s origin.

There are real threats emanating from this pandemic. We need to focus on getting our response right and save the finger-pointing for what comes after. This is the United States — we will get through this. And for the love of God, wash your hands.

 

[KRJ1975]

Assuming you’re being facetious. Never heard of Mike Myers? SNL legend from back when SNL was good. Austin Powers?

VH is cool, he was joking I'm sure.

 

[UKfan34]

The media are absolute disgusting vultures.

"Mr. President, healthcare workers are terrified that they will bring it home and kill their families. What are you personally going to do to insure that they don't get sick?!?"

Awful

Yes. This is an inappropriate question.

 

[Brandan Stroud]

This neckbeard with the gloves just got shut down by Trump. Smug ass

 

[trueblujr2]

I hope you are correct. My concern is the impact this will have on people who are service workers out there as this could be devastating to them. Shutting things down for this period of time will have a pretty significant impact on their daily lives.

It’s still early with all the closures. I work for a restaurant franchisee. I think fast food drive-thrus will be busy. Delivery services will be inundated. But we will be operating with skeleton crews. I work in design and construction so I’m hoping we can take advantage of the dining room closures to get a head start on some of our remodels since we don’t have to shut them down again during a recovery period. Regardless, the Service workers will definitely feel a blow.

 

[AustinTXCat]

Just realized I'm bringing myself down to your levels. Have a great day 'patriots'

 

[Catman100]

It’s still early with all the closures. I work for a restaurant franchisee. I think fast food drive-thrus will be busy. Delivery services will be inundated. But we will be operating with skeleton crews. I work in design and construction so I’m hoping we can take advantage of the dining room closures to get a head start on some of our remodels since we don’t have to shut them down again during a recovery period. Regardless, the Service workers will definitely feel a blow.

Yea I am pretty sure something has to be done, but not 100% sure it has to be this extreme. And I am not a fan of taking someones paycheck away from them for the betterment of society. Have to have something in place before that happens, and as far as the bar and restaurant industry, I don't believe that is the case. For these workers I bet they could give two shits about the Chinese Corona Virus if they can no longer pay their bills and feed their families.

 

[bushrod1965]

 

[wildcat1973]

They just shut down the entire Bay Area. Only essential businesses can stay open. Effective at midnight.

 

[CrittendenWildcat]

We are in uncharted territory here. And the stock market abhors uncertainty.

If you are going to shut stuff down, do it, get it done and out of the way. Either that or just open everything back up and let people decide for themselves what risks they feel comfortable taking. But this talk about normalizing in July or August is simply unacceptable.

 

[Sawnee Cat]

“ as everyone in weddings are”..........

And of course Gillum checks into a "rehab hospital" LOL. The man got caught in a room with 3 bags of meth, a male prostitute and another pimp and suddenly it is time to check into rehab. I pray his political career is over but he is a Democrat and this is not unusual behavior for them.

 

[screwduke1]

 

[Bill Cosby]

This is ridiculous.

 

[screwduke1]

We can be out of this by.....July or August says Trump?

We'll all go nuts.

Viruses don't do well in heat. So hopefully that will be the case.

 

[screwduke1]

The panic is the problem. Not the cold that everyone will get. In terms of the panic, it was obvious from the initial cancellations this would be catastrophic

What's sad is we are still probably 3-4 weeks away from peak panic. As crazy as it is we probably haven't seen anything yet.

 

[mdlUK.1]

What would have done differently?

 

[KRJ1975]

Does liquor count as an essential? I've been hoarding it for years and don't plan to stop now.

 

[Bill Cosby]

Does liquor count as an essential? I've been hoarding it for years and don't plan to stop now.

Wine is literally the only thing I have a surplus of. Hopefully the Napa Cab to toilet paper and white rice conversion ratio is high.

 

[KRJ1975]

Wine is literally the only thing I have a surplus of. Hopefully the Napa Cab to toilet paper and white rice conversion ratio is high.

I love bourbon but have never been a wine guy, but of the varieties I have tried, Napa Cab is one of the better choices.

 

[Sawnee Cat]

Wine is literally the only thing I have a surplus of. Hopefully the Napa Cab to toilet paper and white rice conversion ratio is high.

Alcohol can be a major asset as a medicine in rough times. My grandma was a teetotaler but she kept a jug around for medicine. I remember grandma was sick a lot.

The ones of us who keep in on hand for times like these will survive. I recommend grain alcohol or moonshine for the best results.

 

[Ed323232]

Trump just gave himself a 10. The man is shameless.

 

[Ed323232]

And of course Gillum checks into a "rehab hospital" LOL. The man got caught in a room with 3 bags of meth, a male prostitute and another pimp and suddenly it is time to check into rehab. I pray his political career is over but he is a Democrat and this is not unusual behavior for them.

That’s a Saturday night for Lindsey Graham.

 

[ukalumni00]

Expected the market to take hit but man it's really bad now. All of us are really in this together.

 

[trueblujr2]

We are in uncharted territory here. And the stock market abhors uncertainty.

If you are going to shut stuff down, do it, get it done and out of the way. Either that or just open everything back up and let people decide for themselves what risks they feel comfortable taking. But this talk about normalizing in July or August is simply unacceptable.

When will they shut down the stock market because of the virus or threat of transmitting it? Wouldn’t the trading floor be considered a public gathering of more than 50 people in close proximity to each other?

 

[Baller Cal]

Trump just gave himself a 10. The man is shameless.

Where was your outrage when Obama gave 2 billion of unmarked cash to Iran, who HATES US? Oh yea, it was their money. Are you sure the shameless one isn't you and people like you?

 

[Ed323232]

Where was your outrage when Obama gave 2 billion of unmarked cash to Iran, who HATES US? Oh yea, it was their money. Are you sure the shameless one isn't you and people like you?

No it’s trump

 

[Baller Cal]

No it’s trump

Oh, ok. So yesterday you said there are shameless people out there that hate Trump and Obama so bad that they go after them every time they speak. You're the only one I see here that's seemingly full of blind hate. Only you.