46th President of the United States, Joe Biden

[HM-2]

purplepenguin said:

I don’t need to prove my impartiality either way to comment

I don't recall suggesting you did, but levelling an accusation of bias at another poster rather than engaging with their content is an obvious ad hominem.

purplepenguin said:

Frankly, you are obviously defending bykers position from an obvious and unequivocal biased position yourself.

I'm not defending Byker's position, I'm dissecting your failure to provide a coherent rebuttal that isn't just an attempt to poison the well.

[over_the_hill]

What has happened to Biden (and Harris for that matter).
Since the inauguration there has barely been any mention of either of them in the press.

Previously on a more than daily basis it was Trump signs executive order, Trump goes to play golf, Trump had cottage pie for dinner yesterday .....

[pquinn]

over_the_hill said:

What has happened to Biden (and Harris for that matter).
Since the inauguration there has barely been any mention of either of them in the press.

Previously on a more than daily basis it was Trump signs executive order, Trump goes to play golf, Trump had cottage pie for dinner yesterday .....

Combination of them being dull and mostly concentrating on boring domestic stuff. If you aren't into US politics it mostly isn't newsworthy as either news or entertainment.

[HM-2]

pquinn said:

over_the_hill said:

What has happened to Biden (and Harris for that matter).
Since the inauguration there has barely been any mention of either of them in the press.

Previously on a more than daily basis it was Trump signs executive order, Trump goes to play golf, Trump had cottage pie for dinner yesterday .....

Combination of them being dull and mostly concentrating on boring domestic stuff. If you aren't into US politics it mostly isn't newsworthy as either news or entertainment.

Competence is boring. With the exception of the extreme right, who are still dredging up conspiracy theories, the rest of the press has moved onto other things that are actually engrossing, rather than "career politicians get things done with minimum of fuss and swearing".

[deckster]

pquinn said:

Byker - ever though of posting a single list of links to your favourite stories of the day, instead of flooding the place with massive blocks of copied text usually without acknowledgement?

Links are interesting, copyright infringement much less so.

Byker always acknowledges his sources and always provides a link, so far as I can see. Pasting the linked text is a courtesy that I very much appreciate.

[anonymous-user]

HM-2 said:

purplepenguin said:

I don’t need to prove my impartiality either way to comment

I don't recall suggesting you did, but levelling an accusation of bias at another poster rather than engaging with their content is an obvious ad hominem.

purplepenguin said:

Frankly, you are obviously defending bykers position from an obvious and unequivocal biased position yourself.

I'm not defending Byker's position, I'm dissecting your failure to provide a coherent rebuttal that isn't just an attempt to poison the well.

The content itself has bias QED

[RiseUp]

Byker28i said:

None so blinkered as you.

trump did nothing, downplayed the threat, encouraged non mask wearing and then when it all went wrong claimed it was the states fault.
We have testimony that was his approach, as recommended by Kusher.

Biden has put a series of policies and actions into place, there's no surprise that with an adult in charge that the rates are dropping rapidly.

President Biden announces there will be enough vaccine supply for 300 million Americans by the end of May.
This is an acceleration of 2 months overthe previous projection.



It doesn't help the GOP based states are doing their best to continue trumps work

Texas ends mask mandate after 8 months, becoming largest state to lift order intended to prevent spread of COVID-19.
Greg Abbott
@GregAbbott_TX
I just announced Texas is OPEN 100%.
EVERYTHING.
I also ended the statewide mask mandate.

Edit:
trumps legacy

Edited by Byker28i on Wednesday 3rd March 08:39

Byker, what's your views on why Florida has fared the same, if not better than similar climate Democratic states who imposed harsher restrictions and masks?

Also, an interesting article here comparing Democratic states vs red states. It seems lock downs have little effect long term.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/opinion-colu...

[rscott]

purplepenguin said:

HM-2 said:

purplepenguin said:

It’s quite obvious that you are pro-democrat.

Assuming this were true, it would only matter if you were intending to hold yourself up as impartial or unbiased, which would be utterly laughable. Frankly, nobody really gives a st if someone as obviously and unequivocally biased as yourself questions the impartiality of another poster.

No, it is just a statement of fact and that fact is not altered by whatever you have decided what I am.

I don’t need to prove my impartiality either way to comment - after all you are commenting on what I have said from a non-impartial viewpoint.

Frankly, you are obviously defending bykers position from an obvious and unequivocal biased position yourself.

By attempting to personally shame me does not change the facts and is your usual poor retort.

Are any of the news reports posted by Byker inaccurate ? They may well support his views, but as long as they're truthful and verifiable, what's the problem.
Just as anyone should post negative articles about Biden, if they're accurate. Like the report of Democrats criticising him for the airstrikes.

However, when the likes of Noodle post links to YouTube videos which so obviously make false claims, it's not surprising people might think the poster isn't trying to have a serious discussion.


I notice you seem to spend more time complaining about other posters than you do on the actual subject of the thread.

[anonymous-user]

As far as I'm aware, including a link to content pasted from elsewhere is one of the site rules. Byker is doing nothing wrong that I can see in terms of copyright.

He does seem to post a large amount of matter unrelated to the President, other than it being connected in some way to politics. Finding out an obscure Republican public servant from Hicksville ran over a goat might be good for somewhere, but what relevance does it have here?

We have a long cut and past about a wealth tax, which is an interesting topic and well worthy of conversation, but not a sausage on the President's position over it (apologies if I've missed it Byker).

[HM-2]

RiseUp said:

Also, an interesting article here comparing Democratic states vs red states. It seems lock downs have little effect long term.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/opinion-colu...

WRT "red states" doing better than "blue states", it's important to consider the fact that blue states are typically much more urban, with significantly higher population densities, than red states. Therefore a pathogen spread in the way that Covid-19 is would likely impact blue states to a higher degree, as a greater proportion of their population lives within an environment that's ideal for its transfer between hosts.

The fact that rural red states see lower R numbers isn't evidence that red states have handled the crisis better, it's evidence they're less populated.

[paulguitar]

over_the_hill said:

What has happened to Biden (and Harris for that matter).
Since the inauguration there has barely been any mention of either of them in the press.

Previously on a more than daily basis it was Trump signs executive order, Trump goes to play golf, Trump had cottage pie for dinner yesterday .....

I think the reason it seems like this is because the trump admin started from day one with comedy and scandal. Literally, the first day was mostly taken up with the press secretary lying at trump's instructions about the size of the inauguration crowd.

Moving on from that, in short order we had:

Accusing the Dems of mass voter fraud due to trump being upset at not winning the popular vote
The Muslim ban
Accusing Joe Scarborough of murder
Staring directly at a solar eclipse
Defending Michael Flynn for lying to the FBI
Accusing Obama of 'bugging trump tower'
Repeatedly deriding the very real Russian election interference information
Firing multiple close allies who were not sycophantic enough
Asking James Comey to close down the Flynn investigation
Firing Comey
Revealing classified information to the Russians during WH meeting
Calling Nazis 'very fine people'
Pardoning Joe Arpaio
Calling Kim Jong Un 'Little rocket man'
Calling NFL players taking a knee 'sons of bhes'

I think we should enjoy the dullness now, it's good to have grownups in the WH.

[tangerine_sedge]

HM-2 said:

RiseUp said:

Also, an interesting article here comparing Democratic states vs red states. It seems lock downs have little effect long term.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/opinion-colu...

WRT "red states" doing better than "blue states", it's important to consider the fact that blue states are typically much more urban, with significantly higher population densities, than red states. Therefore a pathogen spread in the way that Covid-19 is would likely impact blue states to a higher degree, as a greater proportion of their population lives within an environment that's ideal for its transfer between hosts.

The fact that rural red states see lower R numbers isn't evidence that red states have handled the crisis better, it's evidence they're less populated.

I think theres more to it than that though? If we compare a lockdown state like California with an open state like Florida, we see a similar outcome - why? I'm aware that these are cherry picked states (California has done badly for a lockdown state, and Florida has done well for an open state), but why similar outcomes for such a different approach?

I can only assume that there are other factors massively affecting outcomes that will become clear when further data analysis is carried out over the next few years...

[5 In a Row]

tangerine_sedge said:

I think theres more to it than that though? If we compare a lockdown state like California with an open state like Florida, we see a similar outcome - why? I'm aware that these are cherry picked states (California has done badly for a lockdown state, and Florida has done well for an open state), but why similar outcomes for such a different approach?

I can only assume that there are other factors massively affecting outcomes that will become clear when further data analysis is carried out over the next few years...

I think the only thing you can take from a lot of virus info is that we don't know much about it.
Why can a very fat, chain smoking, already had a heart attack, doesn't exercise much 46 year old (a friend of the missus) get the virus and suffer from 'some headaches' whereas an ex-Olympic athlete in their mid 30s be completely floored by it for months?

[silentbrown]

5 In a Row said:

tangerine_sedge said:

I think theres more to it than that though? If we compare a lockdown state like California with an open state like Florida, we see a similar outcome - why? I'm aware that these are cherry picked states (California has done badly for a lockdown state, and Florida has done well for an open state), but why similar outcomes for such a different approach?

I can only assume that there are other factors massively affecting outcomes that will become clear when further data analysis is carried out over the next few years...

I think the only thing you can take from a lot of virus info is that we don't know much about it.

There's that, also this...

Prof of epidemiology said:

First, I kind of reject the premise of the California versus Florida comparison. COVID deniers are cherry-picking a restrictive state that’s done worse than other restrictive states and chosen a permissive state that’s fared better than other permissive states.”

“This comparison isn’t an accident. They are stacking the deck by choosing outliers that favor their argument,” she said.

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/why-do-california-and-florida-have-similar-covid-19-case-rates-the-answer-is-complicated

[Byker28i]

RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:

As far as I'm aware, including a link to content pasted from elsewhere is one of the site rules. Byker is doing nothing wrong that I can see in terms of copyright.

He does seem to post a large amount of matter unrelated to the President, other than it being connected in some way to politics. Finding out an obscure Republican public servant from Hicksville ran over a goat might be good for somewhere, but what relevance does it have here?

We have a long cut and past about a wealth tax, which is an interesting topic and well worthy of conversation, but not a sausage on the President's position over it (apologies if I've missed it Byker).

The GOP Attorney General ran over someone whilst looking at conspiracy websites about Biden and killed them, then lied about it and you call it running over a goat

Talk about downplaying it

[Byker28i]

pquinn said:

Byker - ever though of posting a single list of links to your favourite stories of the day, instead of flooding the place with massive blocks of copied text usually without acknowledgement?

Links are interesting, copyright infringement much less so.

Have you read the rules? It's not the whole story but the start to give the overview, links are always provided, which follows exactly PH rules.

[HM-2]

tangerine_sedge said:

HM-2 said:

RiseUp said:

Also, an interesting article here comparing Democratic states vs red states. It seems lock downs have little effect long term.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/opinion-colu...

WRT "red states" doing better than "blue states", it's important to consider the fact that blue states are typically much more urban, with significantly higher population densities, than red states. Therefore a pathogen spread in the way that Covid-19 is would likely impact blue states to a higher degree, as a greater proportion of their population lives within an environment that's ideal for its transfer between hosts.

The fact that rural red states see lower R numbers isn't evidence that red states have handled the crisis better, it's evidence they're less populated.

I think theres more to it than that though? If we compare a lockdown state like California with an open state like Florida, we see a similar outcome - why? I'm aware that these are cherry picked states (California has done badly for a lockdown state, and Florida has done well for an open state), but why similar outcomes for such a different approach?

I can only assume that there are other factors massively affecting outcomes that will become clear when further data analysis is carried out over the next few years...

California does still have a somewhat higher proportion of its population than Florida being urban (IIRC something like 95% to 91%) but you're right, there are a lot of other factors to consider. Chief amongst which is the fact that lockdowns have primarily been a reactive action, in response to high transmission rates, rather than a proactive measure designed to limit spread generally.

Currently California has ~199.5 cases per 100,000 citizens and Florida 253.6- that's a per-capita rate 27% higher in Florida.

[Fundoreen]

HM-2 said:

pquinn said:

over_the_hill said:

What has happened to Biden (and Harris for that matter).
Since the inauguration there has barely been any mention of either of them in the press.

Previously on a more than daily basis it was Trump signs executive order, Trump goes to play golf, Trump had cottage pie for dinner yesterday .....

Combination of them being dull and mostly concentrating on boring domestic stuff. If you aren't into US politics it mostly isn't newsworthy as either news or entertainment.

Competence is boring. With the exception of the extreme right, who are still dredging up conspiracy theories, the rest of the press has moved onto other things that are actually engrossing, rather than "career politicians get things done with minimum of fuss and swearing".

Its because they are busy doing the job. Trump was the laziest bd in the world (apart from boris) Spent all his time doing the equivelent of that bloke/woman that hangs around chatting at work.
Obviously this impresses a great many americans. They must love a good natter to make the day go faster.

[Byker28i]

RiseUp said:

Byker, what's your views on why Florida has fared the same, if not better than similar climate Democratic states who imposed harsher restrictions and masks?

Also, an interesting article here comparing Democratic states vs red states. It seems lock downs have little effect long term.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/opinion-colu...

There's a number of reasons. I have friends in Tampa and at one point Florida was 3rd worse state for cases and deaths, at the same time were covering up the numbers. Rebekah Jones was fired as a whisltblower to that effect, she filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that she had refused demands to falsify data, including an order to present the state’s 18% test positivity rate as being under 10%.

As for other states. NY was heavily hit, but then was a transit hub for the US and was hit early on when everyone was scrambling what to do...
Some of the GOP run states are rural and so were hit quite late on, or not hit as bad, just because there's little movement of people (unless to to trump rally )

Red states have significantly far more cases in relation to population than the blue states. However, for deaths the effect is if anything in the opposite direction, but is very small and statistically very weak and insignificant.

One possible explanation for the discrepancy between the results for cases and deaths is as follows. Deaths in many blue states (NY, NJ, MA, CT, perhaps CA …) were concentrated in the early months. Those states had the major air connections to China and Europe, and therefore were hit at a time when no one knew the best way to treat Covid patients, and there were big bottlenecks of equipment and medicines.
https://www.princeton.edu/~dixitak/home/CovidRedVs...

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/oct/01/...

As ever with Statistics, you can use them to support any argument. It also didn't help that the trump administration stopped reporting them, hid numbers to try to avoid blame
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/...

At the same time, Cuomo is accused of hiding numbers
https://abcnews.go.com/US/cuomos-office-hid-nursin...

So with that - do we really know what the comparisons are? I suspect the rural (favours GOP) vs packed density populations (favours Dems) probably has more to do with the numbers?

Lockdowns as we've seen in the UK, proper ones with restriction of contact, are the only way of controlling this until we get vaccinated. We saw this in lockdown 1 when everyone mostly stayed home, but they've been watered down ever since. It doesn't work if people continue to mix, ignore precautions.
The message from trump was very anti all sensible precautions such as lockdowns, masks etc, so it's not surprising many of his continued supporters have the same opinions.

But it's not my field of speciality, you need MX5-biologist and others for that

Edited by Byker28i on Wednesday 3rd March 13:26

[hidetheelephants]

RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:

Trump was (quite rightly) criticised for his dismissal of covid and false information (bleach, anyone?). However some also blamed him for the actions, or lack of them, on the ground.

Months on, and despite Biden's rhetoric, States are opening up at an accelerating pace. Meanwhile, democrat States that were used as poster boys are now coming under fire for behaviour that may have caused many unnecessary deaths.

Will those who criticised Trump offer the same criticism of Biden? Or will they accept the POTUS does not have the power to control individual States' response to Covid?

We should criticise Biden because of states's rights? This is desperate stuff.

RiseUp said:

Byker, what's your views on why Florida has fared the same, if not better than similar climate Democratic states who imposed harsher restrictions and masks?

Also, an interesting article here comparing Democratic states vs red states. It seems lock downs have little effect long term.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/opinion-colu...

If you look at the death rate chart Florida has shanked it badly; their death rate in the Thanksgiving/Christmas peak is huge, their performance is terrible; NY has held the death rate down. This article is rubbish.