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How's your life affected by Covid-19?

In terms of the federal government vs states:

As my governor Andrew Cuomo says more than once every day, he is bidding against other governors. He wants to pay $4 for a mask, another bids $5, then another governor bids $6. They are all bidding against the federal government. This is not the way to do things, and it will cost a lot of lives.

All this purchasing of medical supplies should be done by the federal government and then dispersed according to need. My state, New York, has half of the cases, but we got 1% of our request. Other states got 30% - 100% of their requests. This is murder by politics as usual, no way around it.

So I don't think this is Trump-bashing. I think it's reasonable that this point should be made over and over and over until the federal government does step up. And Cuomo is doing exactly that every morning.
An example of this is the two US Navy hospital ships. New York, Washington, and California all requested one but someone was going to be disappointed. What you had was each governor arguing somewhat "that my population is better than your population." The Navy, and I am retired Navy, and the administration was going to draw heat on this question anyway.

I have already seen threads that imply that new hospital ships should have been built starting in January 2017. It can take as long as ten years to build a ship, depending on its mission. The USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort are very advanced in their age. So when do new hospital ships get contracted, AND, ready for service? And, even more to the point, does every state with a seacoast (15) or access to the sea via a river (ca 20), get an individual hospital ship? And, will any Congress, Democrat or Republican, agree to fund such a construction program as well as the necessary annual operating and manning budgets? I think not, it is generally not a "pork barrel" project since it bears no immediate fruit nor does it bode well if the next plague is 25 years out.
 
As I've mentioned my wife and I are full time RVers that stay primarily in the Thousand Trails camping system. As part of that system, we can stay up to 3 weeks at each park, then we are required to move to a different one. We can make reservations up to 6 months in advance so it's pretty great overall.

We are currently outside of Santa Barbara on the edge of the Los Padres Wilderness, a beautiful vast place to be on lockdown. Unfortunately, we had upcoming reservations in Palm Springs and were just informed that Riverside has closed ALL RV parks and displaced 1000's of fulltimers and seniors who live in their RV's.

We shuffled our reservations and will be heading North a bit early, and HOPEFULLY this isn't a sign of things to come. If they tell us to sit still in one park, that's fine but kicking us out would be tough. Stay safe and healthy all, and cheers through a virtual sundowner! :emoji_tropical_drink:
 
Central Planning is not what we do here. That is what Communist and Socialist governments do. it is simply not realistic to think that suddenly in an emergency our country can snap to attention and behave more like a centrally planned one.

Dewd, what planet are you on? That is EXACTLY what the Federal government is supposed to do in a crisis. Trump is on TV every day, then Tweeting about -- his RATINGS!

We have all these Federal employees who are professionals at managing a crisis. Let them lead and referee the resources. That's their mandate.
 
I am not going to argue for what I think the federal gov should or should not do, and have not. I am simply stating the facts of the situation as they are. If you want the country to change to something else then consider that in future elections and voting opportunities.

What I am saying is truth. If you feel you need to hate all over the government for that, that’s your choice. But don’t shoot the messenger.
 
Dewd, what planet are you on? That is EXACTLY what the Federal government is supposed to do in a crisis. Trump is on TV every day, then Tweeting about -- his RATINGS!

We have all these Federal employees who are professionals at managing a crisis. Let them lead and referee the resources. That's their mandate.
What the hell are you, some sort of a commie? :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
 
Dewd -- I don't mean to come down on you but this is exactly the kind of thing FEMA was created to avoid -- bidding wars and misallocation of scarce resources in a crisis.

From their website:

FEMA's mission statement: Helping people before, during, and after disasters.

FEMA's powers:
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, Public Law 100-707, signed into law November 23, 1988; amended the Disaster Relief Act of 1974, Public Law 93-288. It created the system in place today by which a presidential disaster declaration of an emergency triggers financial and physical assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The Act gives FEMA the responsibility for coordinating government-wide relief efforts.
 
Dewd, what planet are you on? That is EXACTLY what the Federal government is supposed to do in a crisis. Trump is on TV every day, then Tweeting about -- his RATINGS!

We have all these Federal employees who are professionals at managing a crisis. Let them lead and referee the resources. That's their mandate.

again my point is not about what they SHOULD do. it is a purley practical reality of what they can do.
 
Sorry. But that is FEMA's mandate. They have a gigantic budget and very broad powers to help, as long as Someone unleashes them.

I realize you think what you think, but people are dying in New York; it has something like half the cases and they've received 1% of what they asked for, while other states get 30% or more. Trump has flat-out said, on national television, that 'you have to be nice to me' to get what you want.

Unbelievable.
 
again, I'm not talking about what they should do. Your insinuation that somehow I don't care about New Yorkers is not accurate

I'm talking about practical realities of things as they are. And to a certain degree I'm trying to explain why they are as they are...not in order to justify them.......just to explain it. This IS the country we live in. We were not prepared for this kind of event. Our lack of preparedness goes back decades.

Do you somehow believe that FEMA has unlimited powers...like S.H.I.E.L.D to stop any negative outcome from happening? They do not have such power. Haven't we watched them pretty much botch the first month of several hurricanes that only affected a single city?

Sure, you can give them that power on paper, but that doesn't mean that when the shit hits the fan they will be ready with resources and systems and plans in place and connections with people and everything else it would take to respond in a timely manner. The reason we are not ready for a situation like this is precisely because we are not a centrally planned society. For better or worse. You are certainly free to have a debate about whether we should or should be more centrally planned then we are right now, particularly for situations like this one, and I would not disagree with you. But still....we are not centrally planned...and that makes it particularly difficult to make things happen in a planned way or to enforce it at the time the shit hits the fan. That is just the nature of the beast we live in.

Plus every day the landscape is changing and people are trying to figure out the best course of action to move forward with very little experience to draw upon. We have never seen a pandemic of this kind of magnitude all at once. Even the Spanish flu happened over a much longer period of time. We have many more people now and its basically happening nearly all at once coast to coast. This is completely unprecedented territory.

it is not accurate, nor helpful to the least degree to sit here arm chair quarterbacking POTUS and the government who are devoting every single day to try to fight this. Many people have such a hatred for current POTUS, they would like to demonize him as the boogey man and blame him for every imperfect thing that happens during this process. That is not the least bit helpful right now. Perhaps later in retrospect. Some of the things being said on this forum are blatant fake news as well. Despite whatever power that has been granted to FEMA or the president....they are not S.H.I.E.L.D, they don't have super powers and there is a limit to what they are practically capable of doing, especially if leading up to it the country has grown lazy and laxidazical in their preparedness.

kind regards.
 
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The power I'm talking about is the power to coordinate and channel resources to where they are most needed. They 100% have that power and are not exercising it.

As far as the President, too bad. People attacked W, Obama, Clinton and they will attack Trump too, if they feel he's not doing a good job. He's not a bogey man, he's a narcissist who wants praise for doing his job. That is what a two-year-old gets.

There are resources and, according to both Republican and Democratic governors, it's a free-for-all bidding war, rather than the organized process is should be. That is at the President's door, since it's his responsibility to direct the Federal government.

Leaders take responsibility. Trump explicitly says it's not his responsibility -- that's not 'fake news,' it's something he specifically said on live television. If you get all your information from Fox, or the NYT, you are going to miss some things.

This also is not fake news:

Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, a Republican, said on Tuesday that his state was “flying blind” in the fight against the coronavirus because officials did not have enough tests. When asked during an NPR interview about President Trump’s comments suggesting that a chronic lack of test kits was no longer a problem in the United States, Mr. Hogan did not mince words: “Yeah, that’s just not true.”
 
The power I'm talking about is the power to coordinate and channel resources to where they are most needed. They 100% have that power and are not exercising it.

not exercising it. Really? Can you elaborate on exactly how they are not exercising it? Because I'm watching the daily briefings and they are doing quite a lot. They sent an entire hospital ship to NY. They sent masks and ventilators to NY. NY, as it turns out, also already had a stash in a warehouse that they had overlooked in addition to what was recently sent to them. They are currently working on finding out of state staff to go help out in NY asap.

So... you say categorically, "they are not exercising it". Please describe the facts to back up that ridiculous assertion.

There are resources and, according to both Republican and Democratic governors, it's a free-for-all bidding war, rather than the organized process is should be.

According to cuomo it is. I watched Trump answer a question today about that. It was explained, that stuff was sent. They have what is available for them. Cuomo is being a bit of a whiner. You can believe him or believe Trump...I think they are both full of shit, but that's your prerogative.

This also is not fake news:

Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, a Republican, said on Tuesday that his state was “flying blind” in the fight against the coronavirus because officials did not have enough tests. When asked during an NPR interview about President Trump’s comments suggesting that a chronic lack of test kits was no longer a problem in the United States, Mr. Hogan did not mince words: “Yeah, that’s just not true.”

That is more fake news. If one frustrated person makes an accusation or insinuation, that is not truth, that is nothing more than accusation. When reported as news, that is fake news. That is the very definition of it.

Here is that actual truth on that situation, previous administrations had inadequate plans in place to facilitate a testing scenario of this magnitude. Also there were problems with the early tests. So yes...we were delayed. Could it have come out earlier? No way to know for sure, but what we do know is that they improved the testing system in such a way that they could handle millions of tests rolling forward in a much more reliable and efficient manner. At this point USA is doing more tests then any other country by a long shot...we are learning more every day. So Larry Hogan was frustrated about a frustrating situation, but there are absolutely no facts whatsoever to back up the notion that the current POTUS covid team somehow failed to deliver the best that was possible under the circumstances. No facts to back that up whatsoever. That is FAKE NEWS to say so.



I will say it again, these assertions you are making are fake, unhelpful and even dangerous.

kind regards
 
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You are misrepresenting left and right. We have been prepared previously. Obama stopped the Ebola problem from coming here, in part by sending people there to help. For which he was eviscerated by Trump in tweets. He disbanded the NSC pandemic unit, for no reason other than it was created during the Obama administration. He has only acted when people started dying in large numbers. And he has absolutely no idea what to do. None. He endangers you and your family ever day.

Dewdman, are you a Trump supporter? Say it ain't so. You are cherry picking facts like a Fox News watcher. If this is true, please let me know right away so I can not need to listen to you and block you. Don't say a word in response to this until you tell me if you are a Trump supporter and/or watch Fox News.




not exercising it. Really? Can you elaborate on exactly how they are not exercising it? Because I'm watching the daily briefings and they are doing quite a lot. They sent an entire hospital ship to NY. They sent masks and ventilators to NY. NY, as it turns out, also already had a stash in a warehouse that they had overlooked in addition to what was recently sent to them. They are currently working on finding out of state staff to go help out in NY asap.

So... you say categorically, "they are not exercising it". Please describe the facts to back up that ridiculous assertion.
According to cuomo it is. I watched Trump answer a question today about that. It was explained, that stuff was sent. They have what is available for them. Cuomo is being a bit of a whiner. You can believe him or believe Trump...I think they are both full of shit, but that's your prerogative.



That is more fake news. If one frustrated person makes an accusation or insinuation, that is not truth, that is nothing more than accusation. When reported as news, that is fake news. That is the very definition of it.

Here is that actual truth on that situation, previous administrations had inadequate plans in place to facilitate a testing scenario of this magnitude. Also there were problems with the early tests. So yes...we were delayed. Could it have come out earlier? No way to know for sure, but what we do know is that they improved the testing system in such a way that they could handle millions of tests rolling forward in a much more reliable and efficient manner. At this point USA is doing more tests then any other country by a long shot...we are learning more every day. So Larry Hogan was frustrated about a frustrating situation, but there are absolutely no facts whatsoever to back up the notion that the current POTUS covid team somehow failed to deliver the best that was possible under the circumstances. No facts to back that up whatsoever. That is FAKE NEWS to say so.



I will say it again, these assertions you are making are fake, unhelpful and even dangerous.

kind regards
 
I don’t know what you’re talking about left or right. I am talking about truth or bs. I’m hearing a lot of hateful histerical bs. Not helpful. I’m not interested in left vs right discussions. They will go nowhere. Particularly unhelpful in the middle of the current crisis.

Previous administrations going back decades,not just Obama; did not have a good system in place to test millions. Not for Ebola and not for anything else. This is not because they were bad administrations, they just weren’t anticipating something that would spread so widely and so quickly.

the good news is that this has been corrected by the current administration and they are rolling out large numbers of tests as we speak.
 
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