Post 9tpazjSyJfLboeaBf6 by ssokolow@qoto.org
(DIR) More posts by ssokolow@qoto.org
(DIR) Post #9tYsRNHshq2rIYQRkW by freemo@qoto.org
2020-03-31T09:08:05Z
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Can we please stop spreading the blatant lie that trump cut CDC funding, he did not:https://mises.org/wire/cdcs-budget-larger-now-under-obama#trump #election #election2020 #coronavirus #covid #covid19
(DIR) Post #9tYwN332Ph55BXfv84 by ssokolow@qoto.org
2020-03-31T09:52:01Z
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@freemo True or not (and Snopes more or less agrees: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-cut-cdc-budget/ ), the tone of that article makes me very suspicious of using them as a *reliable* information source....something that seems to be backed up by a quick check of what the Mises Institute is on Wikipedia. By their very nature, think tanks websites seek to promote a specific view of the world... that means that, at best, they'll promote facts that support their views and downplay ones that disagree.
(DIR) Post #9tYwOoIOEX7w0ihDgu by ssokolow@qoto.org
2020-03-31T09:52:21Z
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@freemo True or not (and Snopes more or less agrees: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-cut-cdc-budget/ ), the tone of that article makes me very suspicious of using them as a *reliable* information source....something that seems to be backed up by a quick check of what the Mises Institute is on Wikipedia. By their very nature, think tank websites seek to promote a specific view of the world... that means that, at best, they'll promote facts that support their views and downplay ones that disagree.
(DIR) Post #9tYxCmIrumHsJKkLY0 by freemo@qoto.org
2020-03-31T10:01:22Z
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@ssokolow I agree they are completely biased, I would not recommend them as a general news source. With that said in this particular article I do agree with everything they said so felt it was worth sharing. I also had done the research myself already and knew this to be true (I mostly read the bills as they get passed and avoid all mainstream news). In this case I was looking for an article after the fact to convey information I already knew. I read a few and found this one most closely matched the research I did and the facts I knew to be true.
(DIR) Post #9tpJsVZjrhvdUDiXR2 by ssokolow@qoto.org
2020-04-08T07:30:53Z
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@freemo I remembered what it was that Trump did wrong about the CDC.https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/feb/28/michael-bloomberg/did-donald-trump-fire-pandemic-officials-defund-cd/TL;DR: When top national security officials handling pandemics left in 2018 (supposedly pushed out by Bolton), he either didn't replace them or replaced them with friends and allies rather than properly qualified people.
(DIR) Post #9tpSdXN5nwkWIgjq0u by freemo@qoto.org
2020-04-08T09:09:00Z
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@ssokolowExcept it is not the presidents duty tonhire people internal to the cdc. Why woukd he replace them, thats for the director of the cdc and the people under him to do.
(DIR) Post #9tpT0UHdS4uDNq84ZM by ssokolow@qoto.org
2020-04-08T09:13:02Z
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@freemo Point. Not all of the relevant decisions were direct trump appointments, so I should have been more clear that some of it is decisions made either by or as part of internal politicking for/against people he did appoint.
(DIR) Post #9tpXhBrcD9daWaZnN2 by freemo@qoto.org
2020-04-08T10:05:43Z
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@ssokolow What, can you rephrase this last statement? I didnt understand.
(DIR) Post #9tpXvDMVRBgxE2iEfQ by ssokolow@qoto.org
2020-04-08T10:08:19Z
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@freemo My intent in posting that was to get to the kernel of truth behind the criticism of Trump.That criticism being that, whether it was people he appointed directly or decisions made by them, Trump isn't blameless in this, even if only because he appears to be a very poor judge of how people he brings on will affect the function of the organization as a whole.
(DIR) Post #9tpYpWpyDSYFqMLYlU by freemo@qoto.org
2020-04-08T10:18:19Z
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@ssokolow Except this misses the fact that any restructuring is mostly the result of how the budget is ditributed. Ultimately it is up to congress, not the president, if they want to fund a pandemic team. While the CDC director and those under him would ultimately pick who gets hired for those positions funding determines if the positions exist at all and in what numbers.So any lack of a pandemic team would be on congress, not trump. Except... the funding was there. The team was reorganized not replaced. Jared Kushner lead the new team shortly after the old team was reorganized. The new team however was pulled in on more of an as-needed basis , which could be a valid criticism, but no one at the time saw any fault in that. It was generally accepted the pandemic team would be dynamic and pull in people if and when issues arose and keeping a smaller staff on it otherwise.
(DIR) Post #9tpYzZp7y33M09kBRg by ssokolow@qoto.org
2020-04-08T10:20:02Z
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@freemo I'd rather not get started on how Jared Kushner was given too many jobs and was under-qualified for them.
(DIR) Post #9tpZ5DhR8Yrh7epz3A by freemo@qoto.org
2020-04-08T10:21:16Z
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@ssokolow perhaps, and that could have been a valid criticism. but the original claim has so many layers of blatent lies that it is hard to deny. Also funny how no democrats raised any objections about the pandemic team at the time considering they had say over the budget as well.
(DIR) Post #9tpZEZ9oj8bAHLZKAi by ssokolow@qoto.org
2020-04-08T10:23:02Z
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@freemo You won't see me disagreeing there. Both sides are incompetent in their own ways. The democrats blend theirs with spinelessness.
(DIR) Post #9tpZOgb7uzzoFcAUHw by freemo@qoto.org
2020-04-08T10:24:41Z
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@ssokolow I am more concerned with how over the top dishonest and manipulative the DNC has been in framing this fact, which they had a strong hand in in the first place as part of congress, a majority part.
(DIR) Post #9tpZjRsfpZkEgjHAoq by ssokolow@qoto.org
2020-04-08T10:28:35Z
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@freemo True. Personally, I think the republicans have been more destructive with their dishonesty and incompetence, though. Like Brian Kemp ordering the beaches open under penalty of fines or incarceration or Trump's oddly insistent pushing of hydroxychloroquine when it has not yet been proven effective and can have serious side-effects.
(DIR) Post #9tpaeQDMhMws1i7ZR2 by freemo@qoto.org
2020-04-08T10:38:45Z
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@ssokolow The republicans have been pretty bad int he past, horrific in fact. Lately they arent perfect either. but they are miles ahead of the democrats these days it seems.
(DIR) Post #9tpazjSyJfLboeaBf6 by ssokolow@qoto.org
2020-04-08T10:42:44Z
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@freemo I dunno. From what I've seen so far, democratic misconduct has been primarily focused on character attacks, while the Republicans have been the ones making the mistakes with direct consequences for the nation as a whole.
(DIR) Post #9tpbRkJSlIpuYAUcUq by freemo@qoto.org
2020-04-08T10:47:45Z
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@ssokolow I think thats not entierly accurate and more the consequence of the constant spin, a spin that trump makes easy for them.In my expiernce trump makes a fool of himself every time he opens his mouth, which is usually manipulated as "missteps" where his actions tend to be much more reasonable. don't get me wrong he has plenty of things he did that are uncalled for, the wall being one of them. But overall his choices have been fairly ok.I think the whole coronavirus mess is the prime example. It seems in every hearing where congress is involved every single democrat is a disgrace, focusing their time entirely on attacking Trump or making non-sense attacks that is clear they are just posturing for the election. Meanwhile the republicans, seem to be actually talking about solutions and what to do.Not to mention the complete fiasco and disgrace they executed WRT the stimulus bill going out of their way to derail it just so trump looks bad. the whole thing has been a disgrace and ultimately what pushed me to completely denounce the democrats.
(DIR) Post #9tpbgCaoPn6MJRV7w0 by ssokolow@qoto.org
2020-04-08T10:50:12Z
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@freemo It's clear we have very diffierent perspectives on what has taken place.Unfortunately, it's rooted in perceptions of trends (ie. "But overall") and I don't have time to go dig up a big pile of citations right now to counter that.
(DIR) Post #9tpbnVADlZznw9Xmsa by freemo@qoto.org
2020-04-08T10:51:42Z
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@ssokolow The irony in all this is I have never voted republican a day in my life. I've always voted democrat, or sometimes third party. So it took a lot for me to shift this season.