BobZ

Ok. I accept every politician and public health official privately had the complete knowledge your personal circle possessed.

Now please identify for me which official or scientist had the courage in February to stand up publicly and inform the nation?

I need to know in order to make an informed decision next month.

Duffman

I firmly believe that after 7 months of isolation in quarantine, massive division, and media that's purely unpalatable to anyone who hasn't been indoctrinated (CNN, CNBC, Fox, any alt news site, etc), people's political beliefs have taken on religious devotion, where they're more faith based than anything. Because people are leaving their houses less, it's easier to paint the picture that it's turned into a hell scape where ANTIFA thugs want to beat you up and burn down your house like it's The Warriors or that Trump is a maniacal dictator, hell bent on overthrowing the Constitution and making himself and his family the supreme rulers of the US with white supremacist factions acting as his KGB. They're both so out of reality they're laughable, but people are so scared of the alternative party they refuse to hold their own party accountable because they're afraid it'll give the other party an inch and they'll take a mile.

I firmly believe 90% of Americans are rational adults with rational beliefs and we're fighting each other because we're fighting the worst caricatures of the 'other side,' which the political parties have created because, surprise, we're not holding either side accountable anymore!

Mesabah

Your post is moronic, people in northern Europe don't wear masks.

BobZ

Wow. Okay.

I was just hoping for a name.

Duffman

Beats me, why would I go to CNN for public health advice when I live with an epidemiologist? Why would your wife go to Fox for airplane advice when you're a pilot? My point is that the information that is largely considered 'Monday morning quarter backing' now, was largely available to any politician willing to listen back in March. I'm not going to tell you what to believe, I'll just tell you what I think and do.

Fauci has proven to be largely honest and correct, although he's had to tow the party line a few times in a cabinet where everyone gets fired and he has been highly targeted, misrepresented, and exploited by the media. Going to a ball game without a mask was stupid, even if he was with people who got tested the day before and quarantined. I suspect he learned early that whatever he says will be boiled down to the most sensationalized headline possible.

I would not draft the CDC on my fantasy team. The WHO does appear to be fondling China's balls, although Trump initially made statements that Xi was doing a great job, so it wouldn't surprise me if the WHO was snowed and their inspectors would rather not end up as political prisoners, so they just shut up on their 'guided tour' of the great socialist paradise (sarcasm). Around the time the US withdrew WHO funding they went full CCP lapdog, so not sure which one caused the other, but I don't pay attention to the WHO anymore.

Duffman

I was thinking Giant Meteor with the running mate Chutulu, lord of the dark underworld and the most brutal of the Norsk mythological gods.

BobZ

Your upset is understandable. There is a lot to be upset about in this event. Even more so if one has experienced a personal or family impact/loss from covid.

im just trying to sort through the chaff to target my support for those who made the LEAST number of critical mistakes, responded effectively once we were in crisis, and going forward is most likely to institute structural and sustainable systems to deal with the next bio-pathogen some criminal state releases on the world.

Seneca Pilot

I still want to hear the "Plan" for a country where the federal government has no authority to close businesses, or large gatherings, or to mandate masks, or to stop travel between states, or to prevent a single person from taking actions to protect themselves if they don't want to. What is the master plan for a free society where people can make their own decisions?

The President restricted travel into the country for non citizens/residents, said wash your hands and keep your distance, and hasn't been allowed within six feet of anyone without their being tested first. Didn't help him much.

Duffman

When the POTUS wants something, it's obvious and he'll break rules and do questionable stuff to get it, for better or worse. On the same token, when he doesn't think something is important, it's obvious. He was a day late and a buck short the whole time with COVID and what you're talking about is a complicated "how could've we won Vietnam" play-by-play that I'm not going to rehash. Just Google what Trump did wrong and fact-check the accuracy of the statements.

BobZ

And the alternative has a record of managing thr last pandemic. His decisions resulted in a minimum of 60 million infections. It was pure luck it did not result in the largest mass casualty event in a century.

Imho somebody who is not restrained by bureaucratic turf wars is exactly what has resulted in the effective response once we were in crisis.

Leadership not willing to risk criticism of their actions is what results in a pandemic with 60 million plus infections