Today i changed my party affiliation from Green to Situationist.

However, due to the Spectacle, i voted D.

I think we are all very anxious about this election Econ. You and I don’t agree on the best person to lead us, but we both want what’s best for this great nation.

I get a little more nervous with each passing day.

More votes have been cast so far in TX and HI than those states had in total votes in 2016. The people are trying to say something. We’ll soon know what that is.

Except that Trump sabotaged the two things that would have made reopening schools and businesses possible IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY — namely (1) a national policy requiring mask use indoors, enforced by states and local authorities and (2) a nationwide rapid ( < 1 day return time) testing and contact-tracing program. If a mask policy was impossible, at the very least, he could have requested that good citizens wear masks -- instead, he turned mask use into a partisan political fucktoy of an issue. "Liberal" jurisdictions like NYC that are slowly but steadily reopening have not had to lock down again, whereas places that reopened too quickly have had to reimpose restrictions and even curfews (e.g. El Paso, TX). New York has been able to loosen restrictions on a state level, only reimposing fairly mild restrictions on problem areas. We also just did something great -- we imposed an out-of-area incoming travel ban unless you have a negative COVID test no more than 72 hours prior to arrival. Hopefully, airlines will be bullied into enforcing this and it goes national. Re: the riots -- the riots are occurring nationally under his Presidency. Shouldn't he have to own the riots themselves? He's a vocal supporter of police brutality -- the riots are a reaction to the US's long and sordid history of police brutality. As far as Israel, Fundie Christians in the US have an unhealthy fetish for the country, while often being anti-Semitic as well. Israel shouldn't be an issue in US politics at all -- we should focus on domestic policy and not make the Middle East our problem. Israel vs Iran is more of a fundie/conservative worry than a liberal one ... true liberals are more focused on domestic policy. BTW- Hispanic support for Trump has always existed. There are surprisingly many Latinos who drink the prosperity-gospel evangelical Christian Koolaid. He's somehow managed to convince people that he's a god fearin' baby savin' righteous man of the Lord.

Trump actively fed red meat to the anti-maskers through the summer and did not lead by example, by wearing a mask. He held an event in the Rose Garden a month ago where only a small proportion of people were wearing a mask, and attendees were packed like sardines. If one wanted to design an outdoor superspreader event, this was almost a perfect design:

https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106730479-1601921243575-gettyimages-1276846547-cs024803_2020092650850117.jpeg?v=1602644953&w=678&h=381

Trump blocked implementation of a national testing program. Running PCR in a day was never technically impossible. COVID test results are still taking multiple days to return in many states, unless exigent circumstances (hospital admission) are involved. Rapid, free testing could be implemented on a national level. Slovakia is testing their ENTIRE POPULATION in a weekend:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-slovakia/million-line-up-as-slovakia-launches-unique-nationwide-covid-19-test-idUSKBN27G0GZ

(Yes, I realize that Slovakia has a smaller population, but we could easily do this state by state.)

NY *state* reopening successfully, even in areas that didn’t get hit particularly hard. Yeah, NYC got hit hard initially. Had there been Federal/CDC guidance on mask use and travel quarantine back in February, this would have been less of an issue. It didn’t help that the administration gave people 2-3 days in March to return from hotspots in Europe. The lines for immigration and customs at Kennedy in mid-March were likely a major infection source — many of the worst-hit areas were areas near airports where workers tended to live, not more densely-populated parts of the city like Manhattan:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8098819/Americans-arriving-JFK-Milan-say-SHOCKED-no-screening-coronavirus.html
https://www.adn.com/opinions/national-opinions/2020/03/25/we-were-screened-for-coronavirus-upon-landing-in-pakistan-nobody-checked-when-we-returned-to-jfk/

Israel is not our problem. Nor is Saudi, nor Iraq, nor Kuwait, nor anywhere else in the Middle East. Let them fight to exhaustion, why is it worth our money to save people who don’t want to be saved? There’s really one product that we need from the Middle East, and with local oil production, local natural gas production, nuclear power, and renewables, we really don’t need it as an energy source long term.

I get it … some people may think that Trump did a good job and vote for him, but this perception is not grounded in objective reality or actual science. There’s also more to being a “liberal” than jobs and the economy.

What about environmental policy? Trump doesn’t have a stellar record there. He has a history of denying established scientific knowledge.

What about infrastructure and public transit? Trump’s budget proposals have heavily favored roads and air travel, not over forms of transit.

What about education? Trump is known for his snipes and railing against university-educated elites, and his hiring of people who don’t have the best scientific and intellectual qualifications.

What about healthcare? Trump rails against “Obamacare” without a workable plan to replace it with something better.

Maybe the only point of religion is to either appease or piss off ones parents.

Why did i hate judaism?
To piss off my folks.
Why did i hate christianity?
To appease them.
Why did i become a buddhist?
Because it helped me not want to appease or piss them off.

[quote=Reality]

Being stopped at the intersection a short time today I noticed (not surprisingly) consistent mask wearing from the Biden folks and the opposite from the Trump folks.[/quote]

It’s too bad that mask wearing was made into a political statement, instead of a temporary safety step and common courtesy.