Too lazy? Perhaps you haven't heard of the worldwide corona virus pandemic..

@Cutiebeauty it’s the flu with media buzz. We have a .01010713% chance of dying from Covid. Not much higher than the chance of the flu which is .00828205% globally.
If you consider that states have counted automotive deaths, cardiac arrest deaths, flu deaths, etc as Covid deaths, the Covid death rate is definitely lower than .01%.

@CourtJester you can't mix USA covid stats with global stats especially when the leaders of other countries actually did something about it instead of ignoring it like trump did..

Besides, it's irrelevant because we are talking about mail in votes in the USA not worldwide.. What's that tern, false equivalency?

@CourtJester
False equivalence is a logical fallacy in which an equivalence is drawn between two subjects based on flawed or false reasoning. This fallacy is categorized as a fallacy of inconsistency. A colloquial expression of false equivalency is "comparing... Wikipedia

@Cutiebeauty I like how Switzerland did nothing about it. I also got a kick out of Biden and Pelosi accusing Trump of being xenophobic and telling people they were safe to go out when he cut off travel from China in the very beginning.

@CourtJester yeah OK. Changing horses in the middle of a race lmao

Are you aware that it is literally dangerous for some people to vote in person during a pandemic?

Should people have to risk their lives for the right to vote?

Also, remember that discussion we were having about capitalism? You never responded, have you given up? I would if I were in your position.

@CourtJester

I will again correct you on Switzerland. They most definitely did not do nothing about COVID.

[en.wikipedia.org]

@CourtJester

According to your profile, you are a doctor. Which sort of doctor are you? No way you're an MD because if you were, you'd know enough about science and disease prevention to understanding the dangers of a global pandemic.

@CourtJester Trump did not "cut off travel from China in the very beginning".

[apnews.com]

@LovinLarge I've spoken to this guy before. He makes many false claims. I got used to proving him wrong...

@Cutiebeauty your replies are opinion and emotion. I’ve yet to see proof.

@LovinLarge Well would you look at that? The New York Times said he cut travel from China as soon as cases in the US started. I’ll be damned.

[nytimes.com]

@RoboGraham I’m not sure which discussion this was. If it was the one where I said it was effen retarded, I can’t get into that one any more. Assuming I was blocked. But anyone that has an education and has value added work to society embraces capitalism. People on welfare, living in their mother’s basement, and/or looking for free handouts absolutely hate the idea of putting in extra effort to build their skill set to grow financially.

@CourtJester reread my replies to you and point out where I was emotional lol

@CourtJester Every time you get caught lying, you change your claim. First you said he "cut off travel from the very beginning" and I proved that wasn't true with the AP article.

Now you misrepresent the Times article to say that he "cut travel from China as soon as cases in the US started" when the restriction only applied to foreign nationals who had been to China in the last 14 days and not even all of those and it wasn't implemented until February.

You have no credibility here, or probably anywhere else.

@LovinLarge hahaha. You must work for CNN. He was damn early in doing it and the Democrats banged him for doing so. Now they say he hasn’t done enough. Tards.

@LovinLarge

And a shitload of them don’t.. They work. But with a ballot mailed to them six weeks in advance of the election, and free drop-boxes around town ... it works too well for the Republican A-holes wanting voter-suppression - not voter participation.

@CourtJester

Well, that can't be true because it was my post and I haven't blocked you, I never block anyone. And it was your comment on which this thread began and you sure as hell haven't blocked yourself so you are clearly making excuses.

But, just to make things easy on you, I'll put it here as well.

Well, I can certainly understand and identify with the posting of a poor quality comment after doing some drinking. I've been there. In fact, I've been drinking quite a bit tonight, so I don't expect this to be my best response.

I've got a great deal of respect and reverence for the founders and their vision for the country.They have given us some priceless rights and freedoms that have served our people well and will continue to do so. I also highly value the concept of personal responsibility. I don't, however, see personal responsibility to be mutually exclusive to a collectivist mind set. People can be responsible for themselves while also acting in the best interests of their community. For instance, during a global pandemic, people ought to exercise personal responsibility to keep themselves safe and they should take into consideration the vulnerable high risk people around them as well. To do this, they need to stay away from crowds as much as possible and for a very large number of us, this means not going to work. It is personally responsible to not go in to work during a pandemic if your work exposes you to large numbers of people because that can cause you to expose the virus to your vulnerable friends, family and neighbors. But if you don't work, how the hell can you live? And that's where the collectivist aspect comes in. I'm sure you see it as getting something for nothing and therefore it's wrong but when there is such danger, what else can a man do? The responsible thing is to stay home but you still have to make ends meet and that's where it's sensible for society to pool it's resources to keep people afloat during these difficult times. In these circumstances, individuals left on their own are going to end up in crisis and the virus will flourish because desperate people will go back to work in order to pay the bills. That's the opposite of what we want in order to control the virus so it's a good idea to pay non-essential workers to stay home. I don't really care all that much if Jefferson were to disapprove because his mindset is very old fashion and I happen to think that Jefferson was a smart enough guy that if he had been able to live until now, his values and convictions would have evolved with the times and he would probably be able to comprehend the need for closing down large chunks of the economy and he would see that people need some welfare to get them by on in the mean time.

So yes, socialism is expensive and it requires high tax rates to fund. I think most people who have experienced socialism, except for the very wealthy, will agree that the benefits far outweigh the costs. And the tax burden falls heaviest on the high earners so for the regular people, who are the vast majority, it's well worth it. That investment in society, for the common good of all, creates a well educated, healthy, productive, populace which is willing to be cooperative and do what is necessary during a crisis. And best of all, it narrows the wealth inequality gap and creates a more equal and fair society. I don't think freedoms necessarily have to be sacrificed for the government to provide for it's people during a crisis. Socialism isn't always autocratic as the soviet union was, in fact, it was never meant to be.

My understanding of Chile is that it is very much a capitalist nation. I know for sure that it was an extreme free market economy in the 70s when Pinochet took over with American backing. It was brutal and I'm not surprised that it's a shit hole. Have things changed? Is it now highly taxed?

I've visited Amsterdam as well but only briefly. I did see a great deal of bike riding there. It seemed like a good thing to me. In fact, everywhere I went in Europe, there was a great deal of travel by bike and the public transportation was excellent. I mean, I had heard that it was good but I was still surprised at how efficient it was. I'll take your word on it that the Dutch don't want to be biking and they do it because driving is so expensive. I've always heard the opposite but sure. I still think that's a good thing because too many cars causes too much traffic and too much air pollution. I think it's sensible for a government to engineer society to use fewer private vehicles and more public transport. I wish we did that more in the states. I'm near DC, so I take the metro as much as I can but I don't go into the city all that often so I'm still stuck with my car and all the maintenance and gas and bull shit that I have to put in it.

It seems that one area where we are in agreement is the 2nd amendment. I'm a gun owner, always have been. I've been shooting since I was a little kid and I think it's of the utmost importance that the citizenry keep itself armed to keep the government on it's toes.

I'm not sure where you got this idea that Switzerland had a very hands off approach to COVID. They clamped down pretty tightly, closed schools and banned gatherings of more than 5 people. After putting in place those restrictions, case numbers fell. [medicalxpress.com]

I've heard about this idea that hospitals are blaming COVID for deaths that had nothing to do with the virus but I still haven't seen any proof of it.

One more thing, as a former Australian, I'd like to ask you about your opinion on healthcare policy. I've spoken to quite a few Australians and they have all told me that the universal socialized healthcare system in Australia is great. It covers everyone for everything and doesn't have the problem of long wait times like in Canada. Was that your experience? Do you prefer that system to what you have now in Alabama?

@RoboGraham Auh. That one. Nothing worth commenting on. Socialism costs more, gives government more more, and restricts the rights and abilities of free people.

On the Covid part; I intended Sweden. Not Switzerland. Lack of proofreading before hitting reply.

@CourtJester

You meant Sweden but you said Switzerland, twice, on two different threads. That's not a lack of proof reading, that's confusion on your part. That's a weird mistake to make twice for such a well traveled doctor as you claim to be.

I see you aren't willing to have an open discussion on this topic. So I won't bother with you.

@RoboGraham Switzerland, Sweden, potato, patoto.
I don’t see what there is to discuss on the issue. Socialist nations tax the shit out of their citizens. As a result; the ones that have accomplished the most carry those that have accomplished (earned) the least (through their own efforts).
In order to have so many social systems, the number of government employees must grow. It takes more tax dollars to pay them too.
So what do you do when you disagree with what they believe is best for you and society? By the time they get that big, there’s nothing you can do.
There is a really good reason that the socialist nations around the world look to the US for money and military protection. A very good reason.
Personally; I feel bad for the homeless guy on the corner, but there are systems out there to help him if he wants it. I feel bad for the meth head buying batteries at Walmart, but there are systems to help them if they reach out to them. I feel bad for the kids that I see nearly every day who’s parents are on welfare, but there are jobs and better ways for them to live their life if they search for them.
Life’s about choices. It’s damn sure not up to me to pay more taxes to make sure they have more money. I simply don’t care and I don’t have to care. Their inability to make wise choices should not have an impact on my wise choices. Or yours.