Post inauguration Trump:

[David]

These guys sound like they have the right priorities:

The Temple Institute founded a Raise a Red Heifer in Israel program three years ago.

They have since hoped to breed a perfectly red cow with the imported frozen embryos of red angus cows what are then implanted into domestic cows.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rais ... n-israel#/

(The only question here is how the above video is not from The Onion)

[stui magpie]

Ok, so 2020 is really going to keep giving. First fires, then Coronavirus, and finally end of days. Great.

[pietillidie]

Boris the Brexit Clown's pandemic performance is right up there with Trump's record-breaking number of dead and unemployed:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... -says-oecd

Who'd have thought? Two farcical, vacuous, drooling narcissists perform exactly as their histories, personalities, and mental disorders predict.

Where's the sport when an outcome is so predictable?

[think positive]

[Pies4shaw]

I agree. Let’s blame Trump. He, not China, is estimated to be directly responsible for nearly 70,000 US deaths (and counting) as a result of his delayed response in the face of directly contradictory, urgent advice from his own epidemiologists.

The Trump Death Clock is here: https://trumpdeathclock.com/

[Jezza]

Does the "Trump death clock" include Cuomo's terrible nursing home policies or the idiots who have flouted social distancing rules to protest and riot?

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article ... 284326.php

https://www.politico.com/states/new-yor ... es-1282821

ORANGE MAN BAD!

[Wokko]

I agree. Let’s blame Trump. He, not China, is estimated to be directly responsible for nearly 70,000 US deaths (and counting) as a result of his delayed response in the face of directly contradictory, urgent advice from his own epidemiologists.

The Trump Death Clock is here: https://trumpdeathclock.com/

Is that the 5th time you've posted that? It's obvious propaganda that you've slurped right up.

[Pies4shaw]

Yes he is. He’s an international disaster. In my view, the mishandling in the US has cost many, many more lives than the Trump Death Clock identifies. It is plainly a conservative estimate.

In Australia, we had an agreed Federal/State response for largely unified action. The result, translated to the US, might have been around 1,200 deaths. In fact - as a direct result of his desire to avoid responsibility and look for scapegoats - there was no coordinated response in the US. Hence, there are 115,000 people who have died from this disease, there.

I’m glad you think it’s funny.

[Wokko]

The USA doesn't work the same as here, the Governors have direct control over their States, mayors control over their cities etc. I suggest you do some reading on basic United States civics before you comment again.

[Jezza]

I’m glad you think it’s funny.

No, I don't think it's funny. It's a tragedy.

It's a tragedy that could have been largely avoided if Xi and the CCP had done something constructive to stop the virus spreading overseas. Instead they destroyed evidence, tortured medical practitioners who raised the alarm about the disease and allowed their citizens to fly across the world and infect everyone.

What I find amusing though is how Trump's critics have no hesitation on blaming him for the ills of the world, but stutter and make excuses when it comes to China and the responsibility they've incurred during this pandemic.

If we want to play the "Death Clock" game, then I'm going to start one for Xi Jinping. According to the University of Southampton, 95% of cases could have been avoided across the world if Xi and the CCP acted on containing the virus three weeks earlier than they did.

As it stands, 418,750 people have sadly lost their lives to the virus. Xi is responsible for 95% of those deaths which equates to 397,812 people.

[Pies4shaw]

The USA doesn't work the same as here, the Governors have direct control over their States, mayors control over their cities etc. I suggest you do some reading on basic United States civics before you comment again.

You want to teach me about US constitutional law?

That’s pretty funny. I know you think we’re equally qualified to discuss such matters but we really, really aren’t.

Try not insulting my intelligence.

[David]

If we want to play the "Death Clock" game, then I'm going to start one for Xi Jinping. According to the University of Southampton, 95% of cases could have been avoided across the world if Xi and the CCP acted on containing the virus three weeks earlier than they did.

As it stands, 418,750 people have sadly lost their lives to the virus. Xi is responsible for 95% of those deaths which equates to 397,812 people.

[Wokko]

Try not insulting my intelligence.

You do a good job of that yourself

[Pies4shaw]

I’m glad you think it’s funny.

No, I don't think it's funny. It's a tragedy.

It's a tragedy that could have been largely avoided if Xi and the CCP had done something constructive to stop the virus spreading overseas. Instead they destroyed evidence, tortured medical practitioners who raised the alarm about the disease and allowed their citizens to fly across the world and infect everyone.

What I find amusing though is how Trump's critics have no hesitation on blaming him for the ills of the world, but stutter and make excuses when it comes to China and the responsibility they've incurred during this pandemic.

If we want to play the "Death Clock" game, then I'm going to start one for Xi Jinping. According to the University of Southampton, 95% of cases could have been avoided across the world if Xi and the CCP acted on containing the virus three weeks earlier than they did.

As it stands, 418,750 people have sadly lost their lives to the virus. Xi is responsible for 95% of those deaths which equates to 397,812 people.

By all means. Now, grab your lance and your donkey and tilt at that particular windmill. Report back how far you get trying to bring Xi to heel.

The international powers that might have taken a stand against China have chosen to do nothing - presumably, for economic reasons. In that context, debate about China’s culpability is all a little pointless, don’t you think?

Also, you need to be careful to distinguish what people are actually saying from your straw man position. I do not stutter and defend China. China’s conduct was awful. But China is, for us, like an iceberg - you have to navigate around it or you end up like the Titanic. It wields enormous economic power over us. On the other hand, it presents little ideological pull.

In summary on that aspect, then, let me know when there’s a credible demand for international coercive sanctions and I’ll be pleased to debate what should be done about China. In the meantime, that’s all just so much farting into the wind.

The US is quite different. There is an opposition (or oppositions) of sorts, so that it is meaningful to consider what an alternative administration might have done or achieved. It is also very informative, to assess how Australia responded to the pandemic by reference to the US. These are matters that are worthy of consideration and debate because we can all see how (both there and here) things might have turned out for the better or the worse. Perhaps more importantly, we have traditionally imported a lot of our political stupidity from the UK and the US. It matters what happens there because the ideological responses are frequently imported here. What China does, like what Russia does, is much less relevant in an ideological sense. There are, of course, a small number of people here who quite like Xi or Putin and would like to transplant their respective ideologies here. But, for the most part, the requisite deference to authoritarian leadership doesn’t really resonate with us. So, the other day, three posts in a row about the pandemic picked up a “Chairman Dan” theme. I take that as a slightly laughable view for people to express. I don’t vote for him and I don’t have to defend him but he plainly isn’t Mao or Xi. It is obvious that he is on a reasonably narrow political continuum shared with many moderate conservatives. Plainly, the National Cabinet worked because people were able to identify significant areas of common ground. If there were actual Socialists and/or Nazis in high office, this would have been impossible.

Against that background, Trump’s election, rather than the election of a proper Republican is probably a mathematical accident - but there’s enough people on here that parrot the sort of nonsense that his supporters espouse to warrant responding critically. I don’t see any evidence on Nick’s of anyone trying to impose Chinese political sensibilities or Russian political sensibilities as a genuine ideology. So, in my view, talking about how much worse China is (or Russia, or Italy, or Brazil for that matter) is just a deflection. China might one day absorb Australia - but I don’t think we will ever voluntarily adopt their politics. There is a genuine prospect that Trump’s divisive authoritarianism might appeal to enough idiots here that it could take hold. One Notion is testament to that.

I’m not trying to avoid discussing China for political reasons. China appears to be a very serious threat to international peace and security but, like Russia, the permanent position on the Security Council means that nothing much will actually be done about it. No merit in discussing either.

[Pies4shaw]

Try not insulting my intelligence.

You do a good job of that yourself

One day, you may have an epiphany and realise that this sort of contribution marks your personal ideology as dangerously authoritarian.

In the meantime, I merely look forward to you growing up.