American Politics

[PVMonger]

USA is #1 economy in terms of GDP in the world and they #1 military in the world. But here is catch, they are also #1 in healthcare expenditure in the world and their economy is only 2nd behind (Hong Kong <-- Still belongs to China) in terms the service sector (80% of GDP) and #1 in service sector output or productivity. So, you've found the weakness. If you can't beat the army, then attack the service sector industry with something health related. A second wave or spike would pretty much destroy the USA and plummet us into a depression.

The following is a message from an infectious disease physician. I think it expresses the sentiments of all of us physicians at this time:

This has easily been the longest 2 months of my career, and, for that matter, my life. COVID-19 has changed everything. The way we live, the way our kids learn, the way we work. It has trashed the economy, exploded unemployment, and harmed businesses, many of them, sadly, beyond repair. But here's the deal: it's real and it's here and it's still spreading.

As a healthcare worker, I'm exhausted. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. As a manager in the the healthcare industry, it's been one of the longest, most stressful things I've tackled.

First off, the truthers and the conspiracy people and the protesters, you're not helping. The people bitching CONSTANTLY about the governor's or whatever level of government's handling of things, it's not constructive.

Do you want to know why medical people, real medical people, not some crackpot quacks and kooks with a YouTube account or Facebook page, are taking this seriously? Because it's serious. And we're serious people when it comes to people's health and their lives. Yes, it mostly kills at-risk populations (the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions) but it also kills perfectly healthy people with no prior diagnoses and we don't know why. I'm so tired of people acting like there's information that's being cooked up or withheld. You know why there's lots of gaps in the information? Because we're still learning about this virus every day. It's new. It's never been seen. How it acts, how it spreads, why it does the things it does is all new and we're learning on the fly. Stop mistaking genuine lack of information for misinformation or withheld information.

The numbers: this one sticks in my craw like no other. "I heard they didn't die from COVID-19, they died from a heart attack but they were positive so they called it COVID-19 to boost the numbers and scare people. " Stop. It. You know how many people died specifically from AIDS? Zero. AIDS patients die from pneumonia or some other illness normal, healthy people fight off because the AIDS virus destroyed their immune system and they couldn't fight off the infection. But at the heart of it, they died because of AIDS. The coronavirus attacks the respiratory system. The respiratory system is, in case you didn't know, pretty important to sustaining life. It also has a huge impact on how other organ systems, like the heart, work. Guess what, when your lungs don't work because they've basically filled with brick mortar because the virus is attacking them, that puts a bit of a strain on your ticker and very well can cause it to fail. So unless you have a basic understanding of or want to understand how interconnected organ systems are and how the body fundamentally functions: stop.

I think I can speak for a lot of medical professionals when I say, we don't mean to be arrogant, we don't mean to be jerks, but damn it, this bullshit is frustrating and yes, we're going to clap back to ignorance. Ignorance is not something to be flaunted and there is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. Ignorance is being uninformed. Stop being willfully ignorant and even reveling in it because it doesn't fit your preconceived narrative or opinion. Even worse, stop pretending you're not ignorant because you watched some damn YouTube video or read some op-ed piece. That's someone's opinion, normally based on nothing. NOTHING. No research. That's not information. That's not factual. That's not based in science. It's click-bait with the sole intention of riling you up and getting you to let your guard down. And instead of being pissed at the virus that's causing all this, it's to direct your anger at the government or doctors or anywhere else their agenda wants it directed.

Medical people are fired up for a couple reasons. 1 month ago, we were all heroes and putting our lives on the line because this was dangerous stuff. Well, I think I can speak for most of us when I say we aren't heroic, we're just doing our job. But guess what, we're still doing the same damn thing we were doing a month ago and this crap still hasn't gone away but now we're "just trying to scare people" because "it's really no big deal. " We aren't looking for a pat on the back or even a thank you, we just want you to do what we all need to do to stop this thing and avoid the spread. Listen, if you think that my big fat ass enjoys sweating like a working girl in church in an isolation gown, walking around like Mr Magoo because my glasses are fogged up because of my mask, and wearing goggles that dig into the backs of my ears because I'm "just a sheep," you are mistaken. It's because I don't want this virus and I don't want to take it home to my family and I don't want to infect my co-workers and other patients. We're fired up because we've seen and even performed intubations. We don't intubate for funsies. Outside of the surgical setting, an intubation is basically throwing a Hail Mary to save someone's life. And when the mortality rate once that plastic tube slides between your vocal cords with COVID-19 is 85-89%, yeah, that's terrifying. This virus is dangerous.

Lastly, stop being spoiled children about public health advisories. Stop bitching about wearing a mask when you're in public places. Stop pretending that that is somehow infringing on your rights. Get over yourself. I wish all businesses would grow a pair and refuse service to people who refuse to wear a mask "out of principle. " Police aren't inclined to enforce it and that's fine but, spoiler alert, private businesses have and reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. Don't tell me it's OK for a bakery to refuse service to a gay couple for a wedding cake on religious grounds but not OK for a convenience store to refuse service because they don't want the outbreak monkey strolling through their place coughing all over other patrons and their staff. Stay outside the 6 ft bubble, wear a damn mask, and wash your hands. It's that easy. Stop pretending they're asking for a kidney. It's as much to protect yourself as it is everyone else. People wonder why we have things like stay-at-home orders and closing of non-essential businesses. It's because of you, *******, you're the problem. It's your lack of ability to exercise common sense and your refusal to follow simple, insanely simple advice that forces the government to exercise it for you. And even then, you still thumb your nose at it in all your ignorant glory. Sorry that you feel like they're infringing on your right to be an irresponsible child.

Look, all I'm saying is I get that it's frustrating and I get that it's irritating, and inconvenient and all the other bad things that it is, but please, continue to take this seriously, continue to do the little things that make a big difference. Stop denying facts, science, and the advice from people who have spent a lifetime doing what they do in the medical and research fields to ultimately make everyone's lives healthier, safer, and better.

[Run Mann]

Would be best that he didn't since, given past business performance (failures and bankruptcies) it's likely to go belly up. Let me see that thong? No, let me see them taxes! LOL!

The primary purpose would be to give the press he wants but given the large far right following in the USA Coupled with so many people who enjoy drama TV, it could work as a money making venture.

[Golfinho]

This Covid thing in the USA would be playing out just about the same regardless of who was the Figurehead-in-Chief.

[The Cane]

Trump complains about the media all the time so to get the press he wants it may be time for him to start Trump TV.

Would be best that he didn't since, given past business performance (failures and bankruptcies) it's likely to go belly up. Let me see that thong? No, let me see them taxes! LOL!

[Beijing4987]

I think you mean feelings of personal aggrievment.

Liberal contrarians are threatening to off those of the opposing political spectrum. The civil authorities will match their "hunting rifles" with body armor, tanks and drones. Revolutionaries before were burned out (Nazi bank robber on Whidbey Island, Washington state) Simbionese Liberation Army / Patty Hearst's kidnappers. Messiah David Koresh. M. O. V. E. In Philadelphia.

Meanwhile a Fat Nixon and Steve Munchkin and the boy wonder son in law are looting the treasury. Those who choose to crowd together can have Liberty & Death. No need to choose. Poor me. I can't get a tattoo and my wife can't gets her roots done. I wish they could meet someone whose relative was pushed out of a helicopter in Chile by military personnel trained at Fort Benning Georgia. The dominoes surrounding them now are tiny germs that will destroy their lungs. Party on. Mission accomplished.

[Run Mann]

There has never been a louder war cry from conservatives than there currently is against Trump. The conservative Wall Street Journal seems to have had enough and several on Fox News and other conservatives are now openly taking Trump to task on a number of issues. Trump complains about the media all the time so to get the press he wants it may be time for him to start Trump TV.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/wsj-ed...t-transparency

https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/wsj...-even-for-him/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-...gs-11586389028

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/n...q7y-story.html

[John Clayton]

...conservatives when it comes to feelings of righteousness.

I think you mean feelings of personal aggrievment.

[EihTooms]

So, is this the thread where we can point out that (as of today) the Dow has only logged an average annual gain of about 7.9% since Trump became president 3 1/2 years ago and only about a 0.6% average annual gain since he passed his first economic "stimulus" legislation on December 23, 2017?

Cool.

I didn't even notice there was a thread like this here.

[MonkeyPaw]

Opening America now is a clever Trump economic decision. Everybody will get COVID-19, the young working people will do fine, the old retired people will die. Social security quickly becomes solvent because nobody collects retirement. Trump is rushing, he can't let a vaccine save us old farts first!

USA is #1 economy in terms of GDP in the world and they #1 military in the world. But here is catch, they are also #1 in healthcare expenditure in the world and their economy is only 2nd behind (Hong Kong <-- Still belongs to China) in terms the service sector (80% of GDP) and #1 in service sector output or productivity. So, you've found the weakness. If you can't beat the army, then attack the service sector industry with something health related. A second wave or spike would pretty much destroy the USA and plummet us into a depression.

[Banana Boi]

Oh Fuck it, I'll join in the politics stuff and this will become a politics thread. No more Pattaya info.

So why is Trump such a conceited dickhead? Is he right in reopening America? Not sure if he's a left winger or a right winger? Why doesn't he just play Center?

[Turgid]

Unless it's Pattaya specific it should not be in the Pattaya Reports section. At the very least put it in the General Reports or Lounge section. Just looked and there is actually a "Thailand Politics" thread. Maybe we should use that as the political thread. Sorry to sound like Admin but I absolutely hate talking about politics and imo should be discussed on political boards, not a SEX board (unless it's about Bill Clinton).

With the state of my blue balls politics is beginning to sound very sexy.

Remember the show 'Family Ties' in which Michael J. Fox was an ultra Republican Nixon supporter. He subscribed to a politics magazine and in one episode he received an issue of that magazine in the mail which had a centerfold of Nixon, the photo was not shown on the screen but Michael's lustful expression looking at it was shown. Are there some Trumpites who would do the same now?

Now back to sex with those hot Walking Street girls.

[Banana Boi]

I'm not sure if the Pattaya thread is a good place to talk about politics.

Unless it's Pattaya specific it should not be in the Pattaya Reports section. At the very least put it in the General Reports or Lounge section. Just looked and there is actually a "Thailand Politics" thread. Maybe we should use that as the political thread. Sorry to sound like Admin but I absolutely hate talking about politics and imo should be discussed on political boards, not a SEX board (unless it's about Bill Clinton).

[Dan7373]

...As for diversity in the world, don't hold your breath it will never happen in my lifetime or yours! Freedom is just a word some define it with more some with less but truly free it is overrated just a dream. Everybody needs somebody no man is an island? Politic is here to stay it might be just as old as the profession it is the reason we are getting pussy at all? It depends on how you look at it?

I'm not sure why you would say this about diversity in government and politics. Because even now we have enough diversity in the world to have sexual freedom in Thailand and some other places too.

So, I can leave my country where this kind of stuff is prohibited and find my freedom in Thailand, at least temporarily and at least enough to satisfy my need for companionship and sex enough not to feel desperate and depressed about it.

Perhaps the word 'freedom' is too general and too abstract to have much meaning. You need to be more specific what freedom exactly you are talking about. Because even in Thailand, people might have sexual freedoms, but their other freedoms might be restricted.

It all depends on what kind of freedom you need, so that you can go to a place where such freedom exists and experience it.

[LittleBigMan]

I'm not sure if the Pattaya thread is a good place to talk about politics. I always thought this thread was for guys with needy dicks in search of hot chicks, who want to cash in on their good looks and their willingness to do it with guys.

But I suppose, politics plays a role in the kind of sexual freedom Pattaya has. Governments in most places don't allow consenting women and men nearly as much sexual freedom as the Thai government allows.

And this is my problem with so-called leadership by USA or any other country. This leadership usually turns into imperialism and international despotism. The leader country tells everybody and every country what to do, or else. And this often affects the sexual freedom of people as well. Because the leader country imposes its moral standards and hypocrisies on everybody else, under the threat of various sanctions and penalties.

US leadership hasn't yet led to restrictions on sexual freedom in Thailand. But the risk for this is always there, as long as USA remains the leader. Because the US government has been sanctioning various countries for many different issues. It might be only a matter of time before some newly elected US government decides to start sanctioning and punishing Thailand for its sexual freedom.

I'd rather have diversity in the world, where various countries and jurisdictions are free to arrange their laws and freedoms the way they like. Because this way you can leave tyranny and go to a place where you can be free.

Politics usually not but with the Virus not a whole lot of dick and such being talked about reason most likely this has gone on as long as it has. As I noted someone would have noted start a new thread I'm sure you heard that before.

As for diversity in the world, don't hold your breath it will never happen in my lifetime or yours! Freedom is just a word some define it with more some with less but truly free it is overrated just a dream. Everybody needs somebody no man is an island? Politic is here to stay it might be just as old as the profession it is the reason we are getting pussy at all? It depends on how you look at it?

[Dan7373]

....
I have no problem with someone else becoming the leader of the world other than the USA In spite of America not being perfect do their share of nation-building but this has been going on long before there was any America. In today's world I still would like them to lead if any of you want China or Russian I say knock yourself out!
....

I'm not sure if the Pattaya thread is a good place to talk about politics. I always thought this thread was for guys with needy dicks in search of hot chicks, who want to cash in on their good looks and their willingness to do it with guys.

But I suppose, politics plays a role in the kind of sexual freedom Pattaya has. Governments in most places don't allow consenting women and men nearly as much sexual freedom as the Thai government allows.

And this is my problem with so-called leadership by USA or any other country. This leadership usually turns into imperialism and international despotism. The leader country tells everybody and every country what to do, or else. And this often affects the sexual freedom of people as well. Because the leader country imposes its moral standards and hypocrisies on everybody else, under the threat of various sanctions and penalties.

US leadership hasn't yet led to restrictions on sexual freedom in Thailand. But the risk for this is always there, as long as USA remains the leader. Because the US government has been sanctioning various countries for many different issues. It might be only a matter of time before some newly elected US government decides to start sanctioning and punishing Thailand for its sexual freedom.

I'd rather have diversity in the world, where various countries and jurisdictions are free to arrange their laws and freedoms the way they like. Because this way you can leave tyranny and go to a place where you can be free.