TrueBlue4ever

I could not see Bernie winning against Trump. Not because he is crazy or that his ideas aren’t good for the country. The simple thing is that this is the US. Trump got elected for a number of reasons, but one of the big ones is the simple mindset of the USA that “we are #1” (the only thing Dems and Repubs could truly agree on) And are the best at everything, especially our democracy and economy, from which we derive our strength, even if the outside world knows it’s patently false. They are not #1 in education, health care, standard of living. They are #1 in Incarceration rates and population percentage believing in God, and #2 in per capita gun deaths. They don’t think like the rest of the world does. They have had capitalism drummed into their heads for so long that no matter how much sense saving the planet or universal health care or social safety nets make (and this pandemic is making a pretty good case for this stuff) I don’t think that matters much to a “me first, my personal rights supersede everything else” mentality that feels overwhelming at times in the states. A moderate voice that doesn’t scare people is what will win in the US for Democrats, not a radical shift to the left to counter the hard right shift. JMO.

The proof will be if we immediately drop the social isolation rules and say “back to normal” and then there is a second spike. If the approach of “it is working so keep it up” rather than “it worked so we are done with it now” is maintained, in the long run it should mean less deaths and less of a second wave. I’ll defer to the experts on when the social distancing should be relaxed. And by experts, I don’t mean Mr. “the country will be up and running by Easter”.

There are two members (at least) on this very forum who seem to be advocating for it. And it's amazing what people are in favour of if they are told what to be in favour of given the power of celebrity endorsement or media manipulation.

And the Electric Mayhem (Dr. is on the keyboards, Animal on drums, Zoot on saxophone, Floyd on guitar, and Janice on vocals)

Ah, but this is asking for a straight one person - one vote system. Trump would not be President based on that approach.

"Raising the issue" would be simply asking the question "Should Americans vote on letting COVID-19 run its course?" FULL STOP. This piece uses such inflammatory one-sided language that the author has essentially answered his own question with a resounding "YES!". Most overt example of the bias in this article is the leading question: "As control of our own lives and some of our very freedoms are taken from us “for our own good,” do we have the right to make our voices heard?" A counter-opinion question might be "As we are being handed heavy does of mis-information falsely accusing the media of overhyping the disease and spouting as-yet-unproven doom-and-gloom scenarios about the collapse of Western civilization based on a one week dip in the stock market, should the public just sit back and heed the words of medical experts as opposed to jumping on the bandwagon of financial analysts in the pockets of big business and a corrupt President who has no expertise in the area of pandemics and exposing themselves to unnecessary risk just to serve those who are putting a dollar value on human life for their own greed?" But because a question mark is put at the end of the leading, clearly slanted opinion, it's OK right? I mean, we're not saying America is being held hostage by a Government who have trampled on our civil liberties, we're just asking. Jon Stewart did a piece on this a few years ago on The Daily Show to expose this media trick. Unfortunately Comedy Central won't release the video, but his satire was much more clever than this opinion piece, which doesn't even try to be subtle. And if the simple question was asked without the slant, the answer should still probably be "no". Direct democracy via referendum on everything doesn't work. Case in point, Hal Anderson is the 34th Greatest Canadian simply because he had a platform to get his vote out. Also, Stockwell Day floated this idea back in the day, saying if a plurality of Canadians (350,000 people was his target) petitioned on an issue, it should be forced to go to an automatic vote. "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" then put out a petition saying people should vote on forcing Stockwell Day to legally change his first name to "Doris". The petition got 370,000 votes in no time.

Surprised that Dr. Dre and Dr. Pepper have not been consulted yet. "Trust me, I'm a doctor".

Canada-wide stats for April 5: 1,600 new cases today (Highest daily total to date) and 49 more deaths (second highest daily total to date).

1) I was not JUST arguing that Canada is not doing well. I have NEVER made that argument. I have argued that those who have said that the measures taken are unnecessary because it is media hype are ignoring the seriousness of the threat and not following the raw data on the exponential progression of the spread. You wanted to, in my mind, minimize the risk by saying the fatality rate was only 0.017%, according to your own data, and you were flat out wrong in reading your own stats. The lockdown is working, but where you and I may differ is that you act like the measures can now stop because it has worked and we are out of the woods. I see it getting worse before it gets better, based on where the curve is going now and based on how other countries who started feeling the effects of the virus months ahead of us have turned out. If it is starting to plateau, great, but that means we stay the course until the threat has really passed rather than saying back to work since we are on top of it today. 2) Given your accusation of me flip-flopping on arguments, thought I’d refresh your memory on your time frame for the passing of the virus in your opinion. In the span of one day and 3 posts you went from Easter to start of May to June as the all clear period So you can’t even hold to your own story when it is questioned. 3) Just for the record, I do have a Government job, as does my wife. We are both essential services, me for law enforcement and her in a health care being called to multiple hospitals to care for patients, including testing patients for Covid 19. So neither of us are sitting in our house collecting a cheque, we don’t get that option to work from home and are forced to still go into the community at large and expose ourselves every day to those who may her the virus, certainly her more than me. We’ve even moved out of our house and are living in cottage country so as to separate ourselves from our kids to protect them. She is a nervous wreck every day leaving the house, and because the governing health agency has decided masking is not essential for health care workers, and they won’t employ the use of the filtered masks, and won’t test every person who shows symptoms because they may not qualify (ie did not also travel), she has had to buy her own limited supply of 95 grade masks and filters out of her pocket. Not sure what she’ll do when she runs out.

It's not either-or. We find a compromise between "hide away for 2 years" and "just accept it so go about business as usual". Canada is doing well BECAUSE we have put stringent, extreme measures like stay-at-home orders in place. I'll come out when the medical experts say it is safe to do so, and not follow your guesstimate of "by May Covid will be done". Every person who wants to get back to normal now is simply going to prolong the effects of transmission by ignoring social distancing. And once a vaccine is in place then maybe it can be treated like another flu (and the only hard numbers I have heard are 12-18 months for it to be in place, Trump's grand "gut feeling" pronouncements notwithstanding). But until then, stay put is the best course of action.

Speaking of information distortion.... Don't move the goalposts. You were talking about Canada, not just BC (which was one month ahead of almost every province except Ontario, and which had more cases earlier than all other provinces (here is my source on that): https://globalnews.ca/news/6627505/coronavirus-covid-canada-timeline/ Go back and look at the graphs in the very data you are providing. On a linear projection, both cases and deaths are still showing an upward increase progression - curve is still going up. Using the logarithmic progression, the actual cases are slowing the curve but it hasn't flattened yet, and deaths are tracking on a steady upward line. You are mis-reading the data, that is my argument (which you already acknowledged by quoting a 0.017% death rate as a typo - you were off by a factor of 100 times - or 10,000%). We peaked at 59 daily deaths on April 2, but already have 27 deaths today (April 5) and it's only 11 am, that puts us on track to equal our worst day yet. And we had over 1,550 new cases on April 2 and after a one day dip were back to 1,537 yesterday. on pace today so far for over 1,100. This isn't anywhere near slowing down yet. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/canada/ It seems your overriding concern is about what will happen to your money - it seems to fuel those who dislike measures to slow global warming and have commented in that thread, like it's a sinister plot designed only to be a cash grab. Well, I heard economic doom and gloom in 1987 after Black Monday when the Dow dropped down to 1,800 points, and again in 2008 when the housing market crashed and the Dow was at 6,000 points. It seems to have bounced back nicely both times, even with the recent dip. Long term, prices will rise and stock market numbers historically have always seemed to go up. People aren't expected to bounce back from death in the same way.

You’re not even reading your own data properly. The death rate is 1.7% of cases, not 0.017% (when you use a calculator and divide, the number 0.01 as an answer is the same as 1%, you have to move the decimal place over two places to the left). And if you scroll down and see the graphs below, it shows the curve still spiking, not flattening. We just had our two highest daily new case totals (over 1,500 each day) in the last 3 days. No flattening yet. And if you say 1.7% is still low (Flu is 0.1% fatality rate, so this is 17 times more deadly) it in fact is compared to the global rate of 4.5-5%, but remember that the US fatality rate was at about 1.3% just over a week ago and is now 2.6-2.7%. This will happen as the testing can’t keep up with the number of actual cases out there, lowering the true infection rate, and also because hospitals are getting overloaded and can’t treat everyone properly so more are now dying. In Italy 3 weeks ago they had a cutoff number - if you needed a ventilator they would check your age due to limited supply, and if you were over 65 they just did not put you on one because they had only so many to go around and decided that the younger had a better chance to recover so that was the arbitrary cut off point. And in New York 2 days ago a doctor said they had their first deaths as a result of having to share ventilators between 9 patients and it was not sufficient enough to keep one critically ill patient alive because of the rationing, where they could have survived if they had had their own ventilator full-time.

COVID-19 still around means social distancing. Social distancing means no communal church service. No church service means no collection.

Good catch!

Getting into these spats with Trump at his conferences doesn't help. Even if the question is legit, the pre-amble is set up to rile him "You have said ABC and it is contradicted by DEF, so my question is (irrelevant by then because it is simply masking the intent which is to draw out his hypocriscy/incompetence/goal post moving/failure, etc.). He gets to play the victim which plays to his base and validates his claim that the fake news media is just out to get him. So when his cronies says the Dems want deaths to go up just to spite Trump, his base buys in. The old adage "don't argue with an idiot, they'll only drag you down to their level and beat you with experience" applies here. Unfortunately, the media, even in the guise of wanting the truth out there, still worry about ratings and costs, so they are happy to have panel discussions on the cheap rather than investigative journalism to fill their 24 hour news cycle. And Trump pressers are the new "if it bleeds it leads" car crash. People tune in to see the latest fight and be horrified by the latest Trump "how low can I sink" moment. States are not getting resources, and the trending on Twitter is about Trump's TV ratings and how the Royals may or may not want secret service protection and how dare Americans pay for it. A freeze out would be so much more healthy for the nation, but not for the networks, Trump, or the advertisers.

Another presser, another attack on a reporter, not surprisingly a black female. Kudos to her colleague who handed her the mike after Trump cut her off her so she could ask her remaining question. Nice show of solidarity. Here is what I would love to see. Rather than boycott, show up and DIRECT ALL QUESTIONS to Dr. Fauci. Freeze Trump out. If (when) Trump tries to cut him off and answer the question himself, just re-direct back to Fauci and ask "Do you concur, or do you have a different answer?" Get the stats on back-to-work days, supply needs, and words of comfort to the nation from him, not Trump. I'd bet dollars to donuts Trump would be more flummoxed and bothered by being ignored than Fauci would be cowed or embarrassed by contradicting Trump in public when trying to get useful info out to the general populace. Then the next day when Trump returns, undoubtedly without Fauci in tow (which we already have precedent for), before he even gets started just ask "Will Dr. Fauci be present for questions today?" and when Trump says no, or says he'll take all questions, or floats out Birx, then the reporters should stand up en masse and walk out. Maybe even a parting shot of "Will he be back tomorrow?" as they are leaving. Repeat this walk-out every day as long as Fauci is blackballed, and repeat the questioning tactic every day when he is there. Let's face it, nothing of value will be missed if they walk out on a Trump-only press conference. And his precious ratings will take a dip as well if no one is covering him.

But the President just assured me a few weeks ago that this was another type of flu, and we don't shut down the country for the flu, and it kills 12,000-61,000 Americans every year, so this was overblown hype. Where does this 100,000-200,000 come from now? Was he mistaken? Should I have actually been self-isolating instead of carrying on as normal because it was fake news stuff? Oops, sorry. I guess that was a nasty "gotcha" question.

And Gary Larson is going to sue you for plagiarism.

Well, this was a letdown. Here is the wrap-up of the regular season and playoffs simulation. I can't even...... https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/simulating-the-season-wrapping-up-the-regular-season-and-handing-out-the-stanley-cup

Anyone want to tell those dead people and their relatives that these are just fake exaggerated numbers from the WHO and Johns Hopkins in a scheme to falsely induce panic and jack up pharma costs?

https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/simulating-the-season-capitals-close-in-on-clinching-metropolitan-panthers-maple-leafs-deadlocked-in-atlantic March 26 - Preds win to move into the #2 wild card spot, and the Wild lose to put a dent into their playoff chances. In the East, Washington wins and takes over top spot in the league. And a win over Detroit means the Philadelphia Flyers clinch a playoff spot. Apparently THN is going to finish off the whole sim thing tomorrow rather than drag it out for the next couple of months. Like they are so busy with other things?

https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/simulating-the-season-lightning-take-over-top-spot-in-the-nhl-kuemper-blanks-golden-knights March 25 - Slow night in the Western wild card chase. Canucks lose, Flames get an OT loss, and Oilers win. Coyotes also win to climb back into the hunt. In the East, Tampa has a big night, blanking the Leafs to move into top spot in the Atlantic, #1 overall in the NHL, and that also means the Tampa Bay Lightning have clinched a playoff spot.

I did this already in the CFL thread when you started spouting off words like "hype" and "hyperbole". But here it is again (note that this was written last Saturday night): Here are numbers from Johns Hopkins’ website, which along with the WHO is a reputable site for accurate reporting (according to medical professionals and health experts who are on the front lines of dealing with this - full disclosure, I am married to one of those health professionals in this Province). Remember a couple of weeks back when Trump said they had 5 cases in the USA and would be at zero by April? Well four days ago they had 9,000 cases and 130 deaths. Three days ago it was 12,000 and 155 or so deaths. Two days ago it jumped to 14,250 and 205 deaths. Yesterday it was 19,000 and 260. As of now it is 25,500 cases and 307 deaths. That progression is the problem. Numbers are artificially low as well since there isn’t full testing yet. So cases are climbing at a rate of around 33% daily now and deaths are jumping at a rate of around 25%. Italy was at 3,000 deaths two days ago and are now at 4,800. That’s a 60% jump in two days. They had 41,000 cases yesterday and 58,000 today. So first of all, spare me the “flu has many more deaths than this in a year” BS. We are basically two weeks into the exponential growth stage. Extrapolate over a year without the “hype and overreaction” of locking down cities and guess where we end up? At a 30% progression rate, in one week from today the US has gone from 25,500 cases to 166,000. Fortunately the US death rate is about 1.3% of all cases, not the global rate of around 3.5-4 %, or Italy’s 8.5%, so we are talking “only” 2,150 dead next week, so yeah a 700% increase in one week. Canada is doing slightly better per capita, but the growth is similar. Or we can all quarantine and hope to slow those numbers. The video was posted on March 4, as has been pointed out. Of course the numbers were much lower then. What he was saying wasn't wrong on that day, but he was not factoring in the growth of the virus in his answer. Trump was saying in that week that they had 15 cases, soon to be zero, which seems to be the line of thinking you are following. We can see just how completely wrong he was saying that looking at where we are at today. My point was that the progression, left unchecked by ignoring social distancing recommendations, was going to overwhelm the system. You call it hyperbole to predict this massive influx of cases. Well, let's look at where the numbers have gone since last Saturday night. From Saturday night until last night, we have seen: Cases jump daily from 25,500 to 36,000 to 52,000 to 69,000 as of Wednesday night (all numbers from Johns Hopkins website if you want the source) Deaths jump from 307 to 424 to 700 to 932 as of Wednesday night. So my prediction of a daily 30% increase has held up. These are raw numbers. Not conjecture. Not hyperbole. And this despite people already taking some social distancing measures. The effects of it to flatten the curve won't be seen for a few weeks since the cases are already in the system and you can be symptom-free for a couple of days and have it and spread it. Trump wants to open up the US again in 2 weeks. That will negate any effect to socially distance, and the numbers will keep rising. If the numbers start to taper off from the 30% daily rate, my guess is that it won't solely be due to the virus slowing down but rather that the testing won't keep up. So if we fall short of the 166,000 cases reported by this coming Saturday night, I'd be more confident saying that it is because they just didn't do testing for every person who actually has it rather than the virus is dying off. As a comparison, here is the progression in Canada since March 12 up to yesterday: Are you starting to get the picture now?

Have a ton of them, many memorable moments, was in Halifax when Milt broke the TD record so that one isn’t part of it. My favourite live game may now be last year’s West Final in Regina that I drove out for. But my best memory is October 9, 2005. My dad had turned 77 years old a few weeks earlier, and it was the Bombers’ 75th anniversary commemorative game. He had taken me to games for some two and a half decades, so I was just getting to the stage where I started to pay for the season ticket package to pay him back for all the years he had done it. We always wore our headsets to listen to the radio broadcast (I actually started doing it because I didn’t want to hear all the swearing around me as a young impressionable boy) from our East side seats, and he asked me on a few occasions where Bob and Bob (Irving and Cameron) broadcast from. So I thought a neat birthday present would be to show him. Called up Carol at the club offices, and asked if it would be possible to get a brief tour. She was wonderful as always and told us to get to the stadium an hour early and she would walk us through press row and the broadcast area. So we got a tour of the club offices and escorted up to media row, and down the hallway to where the CJOB booth was. Little did I know that she had made another request for my dad, one that she had hinted at to me but wasn’t sure could be pulled off since the pre-game broadcast was on when we arrived. As we got to the booth, we saw both Bobs and Mitch doing their pre-game thing, when they went to commercial, and Bob Irving came out and chatted up my dad for a few minutes, funnily enough more about family stuff rather than football, but Bob was as gracious as could be and giving of his time right in the middle of what was a broadcast session, and my dad was on cloud 9. My dad would pass away 12 years later to the day, so he never saw the drought end, but that was the best present I could ever give him and was the best memory I could ever have, thanks to the Bomber and CJOB staff. And yeah, everyone else knows that game as the Milt Stegall 4 catch, 4 TD game against BC, so it really put a bow on the day. Most magical memory of all for me.

That was 1984. Lions had minus 50 yards of offence in the first half. Aaron Brown had 4 sacks too that game.