Kermit's Luck

Trump seeking that path is an attack on America. If this were a Democrat attempting this, the amount of assault rifles that would come out would be enough to take over Canada. Nice work GOP, thanks!

I have no love for China (or the American capitalists that risked the future of our economy by out-sourcing EVERYTHING there in the name of stock valuation and executive salary/bonuses), and don't trust them any more than Russia or our other global adversaries. They may be behind this virus, intentionally, accidentally, or a combination of the two. That's entirely different than stating there was collaboration between Pro-CCP Democrats (do those exist?) and China to time the release of the virus to coincide with our election.

I had no idea there were Pro-CCP Democrats, and that they had a real President Xi? How did American politicians get under the influence of China? And why would those snowflakes launch a global pandemic to get Trump voted out when he was maybe going to lose anyways? Giving those snowflakes a lot of credit for manipulating the world and schooling the GOP, don't ya think?

Curious - does the "PLAN" part of "PLANdemic" refer to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus being part of a plan to increase the amount of mail-in balloting in order to allow the Democrats to rig the election and remove Trump from office?

If you read the first line of the article you linked, there's a crucial bit of information that seems relevant: Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, is planning to declare victory if news organizations announce him as the winner of the election on Tuesday night, Axios reported.

Ladies and gentlemen - the smartest guy in the thread also is super rich! All of his opinions must be right!

You know you're nailing it when the person doing their best to give actual reports and unbiased discussion about the frontlines of the pandemic quits the thread over the general tone. If you're reading this thread keikla - thanks for all your work, sacrifice, and risk and best of luck to you. Looking forward to all of us getting to watch some Sioux hockey as soon as possible. If you meant you're doing fine ganging up on anyone that doesn't agree with the "party line" and turning the thread into an example of how partisan and effed up by entertainment/political news our country has become - then yes, I would agree that you are doing just fine. Keep up the good work.

I've pretty much bailed on this thread for similar reasons to keikla and the guy a few pages back. No discussion, just the same handful of people knocking back any post that doesn't fall 100% in line with their mindset about the situation. I pop in train wreck style every other day or so, and if anything it's gotten worse from when I stopped posting. Keep it classy NoDak. This thread sure has the possibility of not aging well, that's for darn sure.

Paywall. Snopes says this though: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-team/ Summary: Trump fired or pushed them out, and did not replace them.

I wouldn't have authorized the disbanding (or whatever we're calling it) of the pandemic response team like Trump did. I don't have any names (obviously), but I do have a healthy respect for science and scientists so I bet I could have figured something out. OR I would have allowed some experts in the field to provide some recommendations for qualified individuals, and I would have used that guidance to make an informed decision. Of course, I'll never come within a dogleg par-5 of making these decisions so does it really matter?

I'm glad those flights were stopped. With the right pandemic response team in place, perhaps they would have even been stopped sooner? We'll never know. Red flags were going up inside our intelligence community about this virus long before there was a significant response from the executive branch conveying the seriousness of the situation. I don't think everything Trump has done in response to the pandemic has been wrong. I disagree with a lot of it - in particular his early messaging of "it's just the flu" "15 cases, zero soon", "keep them on the boat, I like the numbers where they are". This also allowed Fox News to spread similar and dangerous messages that misinformed many of the elderly/compromised that needed to hear the truth sooner. If he would take a back seat to medical professionals re: messaging and stay in the back room working on the stimulus package and getting ventilator/mask/Rx/etc production ramped up to "wartime" levels, I'd give him a high five when this is all done and be glad we made it through.

Are you insinuating that over the course of this pandemic, many people that previously got their news from CNN/MSNBC/etc have switched over to Fox News? Do you have a single link or fact to back up the conclusion of your first paragraph, or are you just making things up? Throw crap at the wall and hope it sticks fella, just like the guy in charge. Nice.

I’d guess that most Cabinet appointees have been inclined to more or less agree with the President that appointed them. It is, however, unusual for that alignment in beliefs to be the primary qualification for the position. These are unusual and kinda scary times. I’m starting to get more worried about the second wave of the virus and events surrounding the election than I am about containment of the first wave. People in NYC, Boston, parts of California, and other hotspots may not agree.

I was implying I wasn’t adding anything either, but at least the Grenell talk was actually in reference to Mr. MAGA’s reliance (or lack thereof) on the expertise he has at his disposal. You’re spare parts bud, see ya at the top of the lane way.

Both of those individuals were highly qualified for the positions they held. Not even really a relevant comparison, but my expectations for any kind of standard wrt to discussion are pretty low these days. I will acknowledge that the right-wingers didn't like Holder or Rice very much, but they were absolutely qualified to be appointed to those positions.

I think it's cool that he's the first LGBTQ person to hold a Cabinet position. However, he's completely unqualified for the position. Under previous Democratic administrations, those appointments were taken seriously and weren't just given out to yes-men with no experience. This does follow a pattern of you making declarative "what-if" statements and you forwarding the discussion based on your view of what might happen under a theoretical scenario of mostly bullcrap. Doesn't add much to the actual discussion, but then again - considering this dicscussion, what actually does add to it and why does anyone bother? Mad props to Keikla and a few others for actually providing rational and even-keeled discussion. Cheers.

Yes, this President is well known for utilizing top professionals in the industry and relying heavily on their advice. See his contradictions of medical professionals in the early stages of the pandemic response, or we can look at his selections to lead the EPA, Interior, Education, and my new favorite - Richard Grenell, our Director of National Intelligence with no background in intelligence whatsoever. Grenell is a staunch Trump supporter, which is literally the ONLY pre-requisite for a position of power in this administration. SMH.

Trump compared the coronavirus to a hoax. Is that better than saying he called it a hoax? And by the way, the things he compared it to weren't hoaxes either. They were investigations into his sketchy behavior. The executive branch doesn't get to call any check on their power a hoax - unless everyone is fine with moving closer to a dictatorship. Apparently some of you are - except the tweaker conspiracy theory folks. Definitely my favorite on this site - if I knew how easy it was to find internet wackos, I'd have engaged long ago. Hope you loaded up on tin foil!

What percentage of San Francisco residents do you think leave needles in the street, or defecate in the street? Yet you generalize and call the entire metro area a cesspool? Keep it classy North Dakota.

No !@#$ sherlock. That's exactly what people have been trying to break the partisan barrier about for the last five days or so. SMH

I'm impressed and amazed that some of you intelligent and reasonable posters continue to debate this on this thread. I don't know how you do it. This isn't political. It's also not the time to armchair quarterback everything, or to become an amateur epidemiologist. To those who are calling this an extreme over-reaction - have you made any effort to educate yourselves about what's happening in Italy? Even if there are underlying reasons that the virus MAY spread differently here, these measures are absolutely worth it. To ignore data like a parabolic rate of infection/death occurring in a highly modernized Western country and to proceed as though things will be different here would be reckless. There are many reports of ICUs running out of beds, ventilators, etc. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/italy/ This link is data about the situation. Look at the graphs.The infection/death rate is acting like a quadratic equation, and without taking extreme measures this could be historically bad.

This is the post you flag for "No Politics"?? Wow. This thread has been an eye-opener.

Thank you. This thread is otherwise basically insane. WTF Sioux fans?

There aren't. WTF

Tough luck for the boys in our locker room - every game is a home game for them (this time of year in particular), and I'm sure they'll miss having green and white cheering them on no matter what rink they'll be playing in. However, it is what it is. The decision makers are starting to make hard decisions, and the rest of this pandemic will play out at a micro-level. Most of us aren't going to be the ones closing schools, cancelling flights, and initiating the other societal impacts we're all going to endure. But the way these impacts can be minimized (with respect to severity of the infections/fatalities) is for each of us to follow the advice of the CDC. This requires buy-in, and is the most bi-partisan thing in the world. Infectious disease is not political. Isolate if sick w/ symptoms Call your doctor/clinic/hospital first before flooding the ER Wash hands/clean surfaces regularly Minimize unneeded contact w/ others Avoid large gatherings