Virus thread, the political one.

[j44ke]

Yes constitutional law is where is generally happens, but it certainly wasn't a big part of study from my recollection of that course.

Voting is compulsory in Australia (well attendance at a polling booth to get your name ticked off the electoral role is compulsory) so voter suppression is not an issue. Gerrymandering has been an issue in the past, but electoral boundaries and any amendments are dealt with by the Australian Electoral Commission and it is not an issue for the courts. Donations are a hot potato, but it never seems to make it past the political sphere. Foreign donations are tricky, but again, this is seemingly an issue that never seems to make it past the political sphere.

By not making it past the political sphere, do you mean their careers in politics are ended without a court trial, or they get a slap on their wrist in their bank lobby and that's it?

[htwoopup]

Hmm, think is a basic difference in the thought process.

Country A..you must vote. Everyone must vote or at least show up. Because this is your country to decide. And your vote means something.

Country U...you have the right to vote if it was granted little by little to folks like you over the 200 and change years since this idea of a country was started. But if I don’t like you or who/what you might vote for I will make it hard for you to vote. I want you to think it matters but then it really doesn’t because I will game the system to win. And I will do anything/ argue anything to win. And eventually you will give up voting because you will feel your vote doesn’t matter and I will get my way. And then you will give up caring about voting. (Why does the US have such a low turnout not even including those who should be registered etc who aren’t for all kinds of reasons some of which is not their doing).

That was a kinda simplistic version of what I am surmising is the difference. Trump/ Today’s Republican Party wasn’t the first ones in this country to think that way. Think of the very fact that the House is « representative » of population and the common man and the term is two years yet the Senate is 2 per state and the term is 6 years. Because those in the Senate would be the more educated/landed gentry. And yet, they are equal bodies of government. Except when they aren’t such as in approving the Executive Branch’s hiring practices. If there is a perceived « smarter » « better than » there is always a « less than » group. And the group that thinks it is smarter/ better/ etc will always be trying to give the « lesser » the appearance of equality and an equal say. And that is how the US was setup in the 1700’s. America was never an equal society and it was never a democracy and it was never one person one equal vote. And that to me is what created this situation of « election law » being more of an important thing in the US as opposed to some other nations.

At least that’s my simplistic take on what I learned in school during my draft card burning era so it is also a tad predisposed leanings on learnings.

[BBB]

There is a real concern about political donations and related to this, a push to have a Federal Anti-Corruption Commission set up (they are set up in most states and work with varying degrees of efficiency). The problem with donations and transparency is that both major political parties in Australia talk the issue up, particularly when the spotlight is on the other party, but both ultimately act in pure self-interest on this issue. At present, the Federal Anti-Corruption Commission is still in the drawing board stage.

But, to specific question, yes that's usually how it happens. A recent case a few years back saw a politician caught up in a cozy relationship with a wealthy Chinese businessman and money changed hands for various things, including the payment of legal fees. In return said politician advised when our intelligence people might have been snooping and was busted doing so. This was, rightly, seen as money being paid to buy influence and the resulting political outcry led to a quick resignation from Parliament.

[j44ke]

There is a real concern about political donations and related to this, a push to have a Federal Anti-Corruption Commission set up (they are set up in most states and work with varying degrees of efficiency). The problem with donations and transparency is that both major political parties in Australia talk the issue up, particularly when the spotlight is on the other party, but both ultimately act in pure self-interest on this issue. At present, the Federal Anti-Corruption Commission is still in the drawing board stage.

But, to specific question, yes that's usually how it happens. A recent case a few years back saw a politician caught up in a cozy relationship with a wealthy Chinese businessman and money changed hands for various things, including the payment of legal fees. In return said politician advised when our intelligence people might have been snooping and was busted doing so. This was, rightly, seen as money being paid to buy influence and the resulting political outcry led to a quick resignation from Parliament.

What happened to the money the politician received?

[BBB]

I can't recall.

Some of it was for political donations and was disclosed. Paying a private legal bill was a different kettle of fish. It was very odd too as it was a small amount of money and for someone earning $200k plus, I'm not sure why he compromised himself.

[Mark Kelly]

What happened to the money the politician received?

The usual drill is that the money is a loan and the repayments are not pursued while it is convenient for the lender to have a politician in their debt.

See Trump, Bank of China for the details.

[Chik]

Now the shithead gets the whole motorcade together for a joyride around the hospital to wave at the goobers. Putting the security and staff at more risk. JFC what the hell is going on? Look at me! Look at meeeeeeee! The new mix of drugs he is on can cause mania and delirium, but how is that different than any other day?

It's amazing how every time I think he can't possibly sink any lower, he does a one up on me.

I'm not envious of the staff at Walter Reed...

"This is insanity," Dr James P Phillips, an attending physician at the hospital, said as he warned the president's trip could put lives at risk.

"Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary presidential 'drive-by' just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die."

He added: "For political theatre. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theatre."

[Chik]

The usual drill is that the money is a loan and the repayments are not pursued while it is convenient for the lender to have a politician in their debt.

See Trump, Bank of China for the details.

Yep.

[vertical_doug]

It's amazing how every time I think he can't possibly sink any lower, he does a one up on me.

I'm not envious of the staff at Walter Reed...

"This is insanity," Dr James P Phillips, an attending physician at the hospital, said as he warned the president's trip could put lives at risk.

"Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary presidential 'drive-by' just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die."

He added: "For political theatre. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theatre."

It's in his nature. A leopard can't change his spots....

How about getting a positive test Thursday morning on the Abbott machine, and while waiting for confirmation on an additional PCR test you go to a fund raiser sans mask? The gift keeps giving.
And the WH is not disclosing total number of staff now who have tested positive....

[Chik]

I feel sorry for the SS agents in that SUV. I have an old friend, an amazing human being, who is an agent but am relieved that he has not been on presidential protection duty for this administration.

[vertical_doug]

Opinion: Only the Trump Team Could Spin This Into Even Riskier Messaging About the Virus
2020-10-04 23:10:53.180 GMT

Trump’s illness has become a teachable moment in exactly the wrong way.

(Washington Post) -- There is never a silver lining to somebody else's
illness, but you might have thought that President Trump's infection at least
could have offered a learning moment for his supporters.

If so, you would have underestimated the cynicism and amorality of the Trump
campaign.

So far, although it wouldn't have seemed possible, the Trump team is using
this occasion to peddle even more dangerous misinformation and advice than
before.

It doesn't have to stay that way, of course. We can still hope that Trump
recovers quickly, acknowledges to the American people that he should have been
more serious about masks and social distancing, and encourages his followers,
finally, to listen to the public health experts.

His irresponsibility in the past days, as in the past weeks and months, is
beyond dispute.

On Sept. 26, at the White House event introducing Trump's Supreme Court
nominee, scores of guests sat cheek by jowl and, mostly, maskless. Some of
them actually took off their masks when they went inside for a reception,
turning public health common sense on its head.

On Tuesday, at the debate in Cleveland, Trump's entourage made a great show of
flouting Cleveland Clinic rules, going so far as to rebuff a clinic staffer
who offered them face coverings. At that same debate, Trump mocked Democratic
nominee Joe Biden for wearing a mask as faithfully as he does.

And then, even after learning that he had been exposed to the illness, Trump
traveled to a fundraiser in New Jersey where he met, maskless as usual, with
supporters at close range.

Now that so many people who attended those events are falling ill, the humane
response would be, first, to apologize for having put people at risk —
particularly people who have no choice about the danger being imposed on them,
such as security officers and servers.

Then you'd hope to hear an apology for having put millions more people
indirectly at risk by discouraging mask-wearing, encouraging reckless opening
and undermining governors who have tried to find the right balance. You'd hope
to hear: It was wrong to underplay the seriousness of this illness from the
start. It was wrong to put concern for the stock market and the campaign above
concern for the nation. It was wrong to turn masks, school openings and all
the rest into a partisan issue.

Incredibly, so far we're hearing the opposite: The campaign spin is, if even
the most powerful man in the world can get covid-19, how could the rest of us
dare to resist?

Listen, for example, to Steve Cortes, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign,
who told Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday" that "tremendous precautions" are
taken to protect Trump.

"Given these precautions and given that he is probably the most protected
person on earth, the fact that he still got infected shows us that
unfortunately this virus has that kind of power, that kind of communicable
ability," Cortes said. "What this shows us for a policy perspective . . . is
that we know that even the most severe of lockdowns cannot completely stop the
virus. Therefore, we should take reasonable precautions, as a society, and we
should not, as Joe Biden threatens, even think about shutting this economy and
this society down again."

National security adviser Robert C. O'Brien offered a variation on the theme
on CBS's "Face the Nation." "I think the president made this very clear, he's
going to continue to run this government. And we have to face this virus. We
have to open up the country," he said. "It's very hard no matter what
precautions you take."

But no one is arguing that Trump should cease running the country (well, not
until Jan. 20, at least). Trump did not get sick because public health
measures are so hard; he did not get sick despite "the most severe of
lockdowns"; he got sick because he arrogantly refused even the simplest of
precautions. The virus is formidable, not omnipotent.

The politics underlying this dishonesty aren't complicated. The Trump
administration has overseen one of the world's least successful responses to
the novel coronavirus. More people have died here than in any other country.
Infection rates remain stubbornly high. This is bad for our health — and for
our economy.

Admit even one fault — yes, the first family should have worn masks at the
debate — and you risk exposing the whole, great failure. Better to stick to
the campaign strategy: Never admit a mistake and, against all evidence, make
Biden seem scary.

Trump's illness becomes a teachable moment in exactly the wrong way.

Wearing a mask should not be a political statement. It can save lives. We can
hope that most Trump supporters will consider those facts, not the latest
spin. We can hope they connect the dots of White House carelessness and White
House illness and resolve to protect themselves and their loved ones.

That would provide, after all, a silver lining of sorts.

fredhiatt@washpost.com

Click Here to see the story as it appeared an the Washington Post website.

Copyright 2020 The Washington Post

-0- Oct/04/2020 23:10 GMT

To view this story in Bloomberg click here:
https://blinks.bloomberg.com/news/stories/QHP9Q53HBS3K

[Sbti]

I'm sure the families of the 210,000+ Americans who have died were comforted to know that there was an ambulance in the motorcade driving around the hospital in case dear leader needed to go to the..............HOSPITAL.

[guido]

Secret Service agents, doctors aghast at Trump’s drive outside hospital | Washington Post

"...
Trump wore a mask as he waved from the back of his vehicle, after announcing that he would “pay a little surprise to some of the great patriots that we have out on the street.” But the face covering was little comfort to doctors, who took to Twitter to criticize the trip as irresponsible. Masks “help, but they are not an impenetrable force field,” tweeted Saad B. Omer, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health.

Among critics was a doctor affiliated with Walter Reed.

“Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days,” tweeted James P. Phillips, who is also a professor at George Washington University. “They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.”
"

[echappist]

Secret Service agents, doctors aghast at Trump’s drive outside hospital | Washington Post

"...
Trump wore a mask as he waved from the back of his vehicle, after announcing that he would “pay a little surprise to some of the great patriots that we have out on the street.” But the face covering was little comfort to doctors, who took to Twitter to criticize the trip as irresponsible. Masks “help, but they are not an impenetrable force field,” tweeted Saad B. Omer, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health.

Among critics was a doctor affiliated with Walter Reed.

“Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days,” tweeted James P. Phillips, who is also a professor at George Washington University. “They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.”
"

I applaud the moral stance of the doctor. Having said that, if i were he, i’d be polishing my resume and looking for a lawyer specializing in federal employment.

The ones in power really are as thin-skinned as run of the mill tinpot dictators. To them, the doctor is but a nuissance whose career could be stamped out the way one smites a fly...

[Chik]

... run of the mill tinpot dictators.

Don't they tend to be clinically obese?

Ticking boxes...

[Sbti]

Do state prisons allow day trips? Asking for a friend.

[echappist]

Don't they tend to be clinically obese?

Ticking boxes...

One tends to be, when one's food pyramid consists of milk, honey, and chocolate ;)

[Scott G.]

Some needs to ask Dr. Conley why he has not treated the President with hydroxychloroquine.
Instead he prescribes experimental treatments, does he not listen to our President ?
Is there a Doctors Plot against the President ?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[Sbti]

Breaking news: Baghdad Barbie(I'll never lie to you) tests positive!! The hits just keep on coming.
Who's got Billy lowBarr (now under quarantine) for Positive Covid Bingo? Wow, Party Of Stupid, or what?

[GrantM]

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/...solipsism.html
By FRED KAPLAN
OCT 05, 2020

Trump’s Narcissism Is As Healthy As Ever
The president is incapable of understanding anything that didn’t happen directly to him.

"President Donald Trump made one of the most unwittingly revealing remarks in his entire term in office. “I’ve learned a lot about COVID,” he told reporters.

Apparently, the deaths of more than 200,000 Americans, the infection of 7 million, the many briefings from the nation’s most prominent health specialists, the profound toll that the virus has taken on every aspect of life worldwide—none of this made much of an impression.* It was only when he caught the bug, sweated with fever, gasped for air, and suffered who knows what other sensations we haven’t been told about, that he realized COVID-19 was “a very interesting thing.”