OK Julian. Let's put to rest your nonsense about Godstud. As an American you do not have access to a single news source he does not have on the same computer we are both staring at now. Fox, CNN, MSNBC, WSJ, Guardian, PBS, Daily Standard; all are just as accessible to him as they are to you. In fact, he has access to sources you have obviously ignored. The foreign press is not automatically wrong. Sometimes they have the objectivity that can only be acquired by what we called in the military "the 1000 meter view".
He is not, what you would describe as a liberal. In fact, he(or was) is a policeman of sorts. He is a man who has, through his own good offices, created enough wealth to live abroad and build a whole new life for himself. Of all of the folks on POFO he is one of the best informed.
Now. Here is a direct answer to your question.
@Julian658 If you are president---- would you have closed the US border, impose social distancing, command corporations to build ventilators, stop the economy, and test the entire country in early January when there were no Corona cases in the USA?
Very bad question. So let's take it apart.
If you are president
If I was the president of course I would have done FAR more than Trump has done. Far more. Why? Because it is in my education and training to have studied events like this for a very long time. I know what is required and would have acted very quickly. I do not fault President Trump for not knowing what to do. I fault him for ignoring the people who do know what to do.
...would you have closed the US border,
Yes. I would have interdicted traffic from every area with cases. It is not a 100% solution and only works for those who are honest enough to play by the rules but I would have tried. Trump did the right thing when he excluded travel from China.
..impose social distancing,
Yes. Far sooner than Trump did. In fact, he has yet to impose anything. I would have used existing law and imposed social distancing and quarantine where appropriate.
...command corporations to build ventilators
Yes. And I would have taken control of that production and sent the ventilators where my experts said they were most needed. The absolute cluster fuck of Trump's inaction and leaving states to compete (based on price) for ventilators without regard to need is sickening. That alone should have Trump replaced by congress. It is a human tragedy laid at the feet of one man and one man only. THERE SHOULD BE NO FREE MARKET FOR VENTILATORS IN THE US AT ALL! The should all be sent to the feds for distribution by need.
Here is where you get into stupid questions. First you got this backward.
stop the economy, and test the entire country in early January when there were no Corona cases in the USA?
I would have begun massive testing as soon as possible with an wartime emergency rate of production of testing kits. All kinds. By long before now we would also have hundreds of thousands of antibody test kits. They are easy to make and we would not only know how many people have had the disease without knowing but we would also have thousands and perhaps tens of thousands of people with immunity to work with patients and provide plasma treatments.
THEN THEN THEN
...Stop the economy
What caused the disordered crash of the stock market more than anything else was uncertainly based upon the inaction of the federal government and the OBVIOUS disinformation put out by the President and his sycophants. IF the federal government had acted quickly and with authority the certain slowdown of the economy could have been controlled. The stimulus program was far to little and far to late. The president could have used emergency powers to slow the crash of the market. He could have pumped this two trillion into the economy,
through the consumer, which could have slowed the decline much faster. But the fact remains that stock markets crash on uncertainty faster than they do on bad news.
... and test the entire country in early January when there were no Corona cases in the USA?
We don't know that. We did not test anyone. We were not watching. Many people may have died of the "flu" or "viral pneumonia" before the first case was tested. But. IF we had robust surveillance and testing we could have done far more effective contact tracing which could have dramatically slowed the spread of the disease.
Julian658 wrote:
Do you think a man that thinks he is a woman should compete with biological women in sporting events?
You do not know how stupid this question is. Not because it is an invalid question but because, at this moment in history, it is one of the word's all time most important who gives a fuck. I don't care about this right now. I don't want my government even thinking about it. I don't give a fuck about the Second Amendment or the Ten Commandments at the courthouse. I don't care about affirmative action, states rights or the price of hookers on 10th avenue. Wake up son. People are dying in vast numbers. We are about to lose more people in the next few months that we lost in four years of world war. And you want to talk about transgendered athletes? You need to get your head out of your ass.
This country is facing the greatest threat it has ever faced. Bar none. Innocent people are dying a horrible death and we are doing fuck all to save them. Trump should order every textile factory in the country to make PPE. He should have every machine shop, factory and supply company making ventilators and other medical equipment. Every construction company in the country should be building hospital beds in every city town and village. And the government should be paying. We should be rapidly training technicians to staff these hospitals and clinics. We could train 100,000 nursing assistants with specific skills to treat this disease in 8 weeks. The army could EASILY do it. We could even institute the draft if necessary to do it. And every pharmaceutical company that is making boutique and expensive erectile dysfunction and repackaged psoriasis remedies would be making tons of any drug that even showed promise. Even before clinical trials are finished we would have millions of doses and if we have to throw them away, oh well. Shit happens.
And we could stop this disease in its tracks with strict social distancing. We can force the states to do it by withholding all federal aid until they do.
And what if some of this is overreacting? Well. We save a couple of hundred thousand lives and get a big bill for it. But we are left with a robust capacity to handle this when it comes roaring back. And it will.
So drop your childish bullshit about transgendered athletes and cats with PTSD. We are facing a serious situation and we need serious people to handle it. Do you understand that youngster?
And that is what it is like to get your ass handed to you by someone who learned leadership at the tip of a drill sergeants boot.