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I think it fits the US better than most. After all, Churchill DID say we'd do the right thing...eventually. So, it wasn't necessarily a compliment, it just wasn't totally an insult. Not all countries would (or could) get around to doing the right thing. I would assume that it was a quote from relatively early in WW II, where GB really needed US industry. Churchill felt that we'd eventually be there, we'd just take a while to get there. If that's the case, then he was right.
With barely a wimper Putin is changing Russia's constitution to allow him to be president way beyond the constitution. China's XI set himself up for life, Turkey's Eradogan banned and arrested Opposition not related to the coup and is not going anywhere soon. These are recent events.Quote:
Originally Posted by wes4dbt
The republicans have ignored and are complicit in an eroding of checks and balances by Trump. They overlook all his transgressions in fear of retaliation. I'm definitely not a conspiracy kind of guy, I feel weird posting this, and I pin my hopes on our citizenship. But look at what the citizenship is tolerating just today? It makes me fear our democracy is at risk.
Your democracy is always at risk, but I don't feel it's in danger. It requires constant vigilance to defend and Trump has certainly been doing his best to erode it but you're at the top of the slippery slope, not half way down it. It's going to take at least one more Trumpian figure to push you down it I think. Mind you, we should all have learned about exponential progressions recently so... maybe.
I think your democratic structures are way more robust than either China or Turkey - not even in the same league. Russia was approaching a solid democracy through the 90s and 00s so is more comparable to the US but it was still really a fledgling. You have a democracy that has stood for three and a half centuries.
But I do think you should be taking recent experiences into account and taking a long hard look at those structures, considering whether they still function in the way they were intended (pretty sure they don't) and how to fix or replace them. I personally think that Trump has eroded them as never before (and, yes, I think the GOP has been complicit) but I also heard plenty of accusations of presidential overreach under Obama and I suspect there was some substance to them. I've been hearing those calls since I really became aware of US politics under Clinton.
Your politics has been becoming more and more partisan for as long I can remember and it's not healthy anymore. That's where you're current danger comes from because the system is no longer geared towards the good of the people and is increasingly geared solely toward ensuring the other party gets shut out. That's the chink in your democratic armour that bad actors can insert themselves into.
There I think you're probably right. If we separate "since the lockdown" from "before the lockdown" I feel like they've handled the former well, the latter... not so much.Quote:
Now he is doing that and in fact since we have locked down i am happy generally with how the government has acted, it was what they did before lockdown that i feel was lacking.
I'll be honest, I'm a lot less genned up on circumstances before the lockdown and I still feel we took the decision at about the right time (I agree there were calls to lockdown earlier but there were as many to stay open - those felt more credible to me at the time but it's hard to judge). But what I find really troubling is just how far behind the curve we still are in terms of testing, personal equipment and general preparedness. The stand out thing for me is that every time I see a politician challenged on why we're not doing more testing, they never answer - it just defers to "we're prioritising health workers". Nobody's answering the fundamental question of why we're having to prioritise and I suspect that the answer lies in failing to prepare before this hit.
I sort of feel like there may be geo-political elements at play as well - we haven't exactly been making ourselves popular with our international partners over the last few years and I do wonder whether that has put us at the back of some critical queues. That's very hard to verify but it does niggle at me.
During this lockdown, does your government provides some assistance to the affected families especially those who are unable to go to work?
In the UK there are lots of different things, but they don't cover every person/business. eg: Anyone who had a job at the end of February but can't do it now (such as people who work in clothes shops) can be furloughed (temporarily laid off) and the government gives 80% of their pay - no good for people who had a job starting in March. Anyone self employed for more than a year gets nearly 80% of their average pay for the last 3 years - no good for those of us who weren't earning enough a year ago to be in the tax system at the time.
It's not a perfect system, but as an independent finance expert (who advises the public) put it "they've created systems in a matter of days that would normally take 10 years to build, so there will be gaps". As it is likely to be a fairly short-term thing, combined with our usual benefits system it should make sure almost everyone is OK, and that most people who had a job before will still have one.
How are things in your country?
I agree with that. In terms of the testing etc, that is basically down to long-term strategies that we have had different to other countries (eg: Germany has much more of all the relevant equipment on standby, and many more test labs)... we were apparently planning to start catching up next year, but I suspect we'll be accelerating that massively now.Quote:
Originally Posted by FunkyDexter
In the US a lot of things like that are already in place like unemployment insurance. The eligibility for it varies from state to state and in most cases you had to have been working and laid off from no fault of your own. The government augmented how much you get and lowered the restrictions to collect it.Quote:
Originally Posted by dee-u
The government is also throwing vast amounts of money for small business loans and various bailouts across the spectrum. They are also meeting currently to put out another large package to help business. And as is typical with our politics they are fighting about who should get what.
There will be lots of people that slip through the net though.
I'm a contractor who pays themselves through dividends so I've been explicitly excluded from any support by the government. Not a problem at the moment as I've been able to carry on working from home but my main client have furloughed large parts of the business. If that spreads to the part I support I'm royally screwed.
I wouldn't normally mind but the way I usually support myself through troubled times is that I'm a landlord. I have a house in Southampton I rent out as a whole unit and one in Cardiff that I rent out the individual rooms in. Two of my tenants (who are recent graduates) have asked to be let out of their tenancies early as they're back living with their parents. It would seem like a douche move to say no at a time like this so I've let them but there's no chance of finding replacement tenants so that's straight up lost income (probably about £5k). The remaining tenants are covering the mortgage but not much more so my safety net's pretty much gone.
As long as my main client keeps me on I'm absolutely fine but I'm becoming increasingly aware that my situation's fragile.
I spoke to soon about Trump backing off...his surrogates are pushing that WHO is in the back pocket of China and they were colluding to protect them. My guess is they are supporting the moron by saying he is right that WHO funding needs cut. They tend to come out of the woodwork to support his idiocy just to save face for him.Quote:
Originally Posted by FunkyDexter
Dr. Fauci says Americans should never shake hands again due to coronavirus.
https://nypost.com/2020/04/09/dr-fau...e-hands-again/
I could live with that...maybe we could bow like the Japanese. He also mentioned that he thinks that would dramatically reduce the "normal" flu spread. Any suggestions other than bowing? Maybe we could snap both fingers at once. I saw one link where the Vulcan way was mentioned:
Ugh, when this started there was a whole thing about touching elbows or shins. It's bloody stupid in my opinion. OK, you don't want to shake hands with. I can take that and I'm not offended. But don't subject me to some weird masonic ritual. It just makes you look like a tit.
From a purely rational perspective we probably shouldn't shake hands. In that regard he's correct. But there's a thousand stupid things that we do because we're gregarious, tactile creatures. I don't want to live in a world that's so unremittingly rational that I can't hug my mum. The fact that I'm a terrible son should be reason enough.
Mooning!!! That's what we should do: Put your best face forwards!
This has potential...
I wouldn't want to look like an ass though...Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
Well, it would make it easier to butt into conversations, though.
Aside from that, a moratorium on handshakes is pretty much nuts. Sure, handshakes can spread germs, but so can sex, and he's not suggesting a moratorium on that.
Sure, that's an extreme example, but others could be made, such as sports, concerts, and plenty of others. Humans WILL contact other humans, so trying to ban all contact is pretty crazy. After all, you don't randomly shake hands...well, except for politicians, I suppose. Hand shakes are fairly scripted affairs restricted to certain circumstances. We could come up with some alternative greeting for THOSE particular situations, but they are only one of many in which contact is made with other humans, and we can't come up with alternatives for most of those others, nor do we really want to.
If I could I'm sure I would rectify a few disputes...Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
Seems like Illinois is trying to warn their citizens a bit more, via more specifics.
Prior to a few days ago, all you can find about cases in your local area was county numbers, unless you lived in Chicago (which is huge anyway). Well counties can contain dozens of towns and cities. So the numbers were kinda surreal in a sense.
I noticed yesterday that Illinois is now identifying numbers by zip code if that zip code has 6+ cases. Better than nothing for those that want to know more. In my case, I now know my zip code as 17 cases. Does that help me? A bit, if family, friends, or co-workers were in denial about cases within their immediate community, that goes away. Of those 17 cases, obviously the state knows about them, but they don't know 100% for sure of everyone those 17 may have infected in the local community. Within our county and adjacent ones, we are seeing a spike. About two weeks ago, our county had about a dozen cases, now it's over 60.
My county has 761 confirmed and 12 deathsQuote:
Originally Posted by LaVolpe
They did the same here... they publish the numbers by both county and by zip ... I'm not sure how that helps... I guess it's an attempt to fine-tune where the local hot spots are. When I look at our local cases by zip, the "hot zips" ... are no surprise.Quote:
Originally Posted by LaVolpe
I'm pretty sure I couldn't have sex as many times in a day as I could shake hands but I"m willing to help in the clinical trials of your theory. :pQuote:
Aside from that, a moratorium on handshakes is pretty much nuts. Sure, handshakes can spread germs, but so can sex, and he's not suggesting a moratorium on that.
I think Fauci is right that hand shakes do contribute to the spread of the flu. I'd say the hand is the most likely body part to spread the flu, other than the mouth. Personally I'm all for banning hand shakes but not for that reason. My hands don't open wide enough for a proper hand shake so it is always an awkward situation. I love the fist bump, I can do a proper fist bump.
I don't know if the WHO has been doing a good job or not but I do know their performance is not why Trump is saying these thing. He always blames others for his failures. Been doing that long before he became president.
I know which zip code I'm in, but I don't know the bounds of the zip code, so that wouldn't really help much. The best I'd be able to say is that N people in my zip code are sick and I'm not one of them.
Trump is gearing up to shift the blame onto the governors.
looong quarantine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02CjHSsNQi8
Seems to me that the shoe fits. Unlike China, our govt can't just lock down a city or state with a stroke of a pen. Gonna need a lot more than that. So governors make decisions for their states. The people decide to abide by those decisions or not and the governor's administration enforces those decisions.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
I am no Trump lover and I wouldn't care which party resided in the oval office at this point in time. But if blame for spikes in a state are to be made, it should be placed at the head of the state where the buck stops. If blame for not being better prepared is to be placed, place it on decades of administrations in all levels of governments.
Everyone has an opinion and that happens to be mine.
Already has been. Saying how badly prepared they were.Quote:
Trump is gearing up to shift the blame onto the governors.
I agree that each state has a major responsibility. But so does the Federal Government. They will have access to the most current and detailed intelligence on the subject and the greatest access to agencies designed for these situations. This puts them in a leadership role. Many states took action way before our president would even acknowledge the need ("it's a hoax") and way before any national guidelines were recommended. As you say we all have opinions so mine would be that instead of providing leadership our president has mainly been lying ("Anyone who wants a test can get a test"), ducking responsibility and blaming others.Quote:
Originally Posted by LaVolpe
I'm lucky, I live in California and our governor responded quickly. Louisiana and Florida continued with mass gatherings, some states still don't have a restricted movement policy. The strange thing is, I have a sister in La. and she thinks the governor is doing a great job. When I asked about continuing with the Mardi Gras she said it wasn't his fault, he didn't know better. It makes me scratch my head. Maybe it's just dandruff.
Well, that you are buying into the "it's a hoax" line (even though that was not said in the context of corona virus), was all that needed to be said to understand where you place the blame. Sounds alot like the anti-Obama group taking "you didn't build that" out of context.
The actual words are "And this is their new hoax". How you interpret that is subjective. I interpreted it to mean the Dems are blowing the seriousness of the Coronavirus out of proportion, and this is their new hoax. However you want to interpret it, I thought I made it clear what my opinion is.Quote:
Originally Posted by LaVolpe
Don't know why you would need to judge me on a subjective quote. Be better to judge me on my stated opinion.Quote:
As you say we all have opinions so mine would be that instead of providing leadership our president has mainly been lying ("Anyone who wants a test can get a test"), ducking responsibility and blaming others.
Deleted ...
I've been observing a personal moratorium it for ages:(Quote:
Sure, handshakes can spread germs, but so can sex, and he's not suggesting a moratorium on that.
Another piece of the puzzle
How Honest is the COVID Fatality Count ? Dr. Scott Jensen is a Physician & Minnesota State Senator.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsRay1wInBg
Let's provide a few quotations from Dr Scott Jensen's site shall we:-
"We believe in drawing upon the power of natural, wholesome, traditional treatments"
"We also believe that the connection between the mind and the body should be honored when creating wellness protocols."
I reckon Dr Scott Jensen and Barry from Wetherspoons would be great mates.
The most recent edition of The Economist cited some studies now being done that suggest the number of deaths is considerably higher than what is being reported. This comes from a couple different lines of reasoning. One is based on the idea that a death is attributed to the virus if the person was known to have the virus, and it caused the death. That leaves out people who died before being tested. Now that genetic analysis suggests that the virus was prevalent in NY about a month before the first reported case, that's fairly relevant.
The other source of death is a rise due to un-attributed deaths. Some regions in the EU show a considerable increase in the death rate between last March and this March, but the number of COVID deaths is just a small fraction of that. Of the remaining increase, which in some cases is twice the number attributed to COVID, a portion will be undiagnosed COVID fatalities, while some others will be deaths that were not directly caused by COVID, but were caused by the concentration of resources on COVID cases, and away from others.
So, the death rate does appear to be an undercount of some extent. Those studies suggested that the actual death rate might be around twice the reported level, though they do note that if you look at the change in death rates in a small enough area, normal fluctuations will confound the results.
Yeah, that has to be playing a significant role. I have no facts, just a hunch that in some states/countries they are making a effort to under count virus deaths for political reasons. Maybe to minimize the blow back for bad decisions or to tout how great of job they've done.Quote:
One is based on the idea that a death is attributed to the virus if the person was known to have the virus, and it caused the death. That leaves out people who died before being tested
I still don't see how India only has 229 virus deaths. they say they've done 177,000+ tests. Not many for a country of over a billion people but still enough that 229 is an amazing number.
Just in case you missed it, Jensen is asserting that were overcounting deaths... because fear is a means to government control. Draw your own conclusions on that.:rolleyes:
I didn't bother watching it. We have enough loons (not the feathered kind, though some of ours OUGHT to be feathered). We have a sheriff who asked the governor to bring the legislature back to session to debate some story out of a Florida organic general store owner that says that we have been misled and there is no need for the stay at home order. I'm not quite sure why an organic general store owner should be privy to such knowledge, but if you know northern Idaho, there really isn't anything surprising there.
lol, Didn't watch the video. I'd have to agree that fear is a means of government control. Been happening throughout history. Don't think it applies in this situation. You know maybe that would be a fun project, being stuck at home, why not see how many different conspiracy theories you can come up with. It shouldn't be too hard to find some type of justifications.Quote:
Originally Posted by FunkyDexter
Here's a start, Bigfoot is patient zero. Now it time to do the research.
Here's one..Quote:
Originally Posted by wes4dbt
Trump blames WHO for getting coronavirus pandemic wrong, threatens to withhold funding
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/07/trum...d-funding.html
Sheesh, using a vast human tragedy to further cynical political goals? So shameful.
And then there's Trump.
Well, yeah. But Trump is blaming the WHO and is threatening to withhold funding.
And that despite the WHO providing the best data available all the way down the line and sound advice based on that data. As opposed to, ooh, I don't know, leaving a cruise ship full of people stranded at sea because he didn't like what it would do to the data and offering the sage advice that we could all go to church for Easter.
Calling him out on that isn't political point scoring. It's holding to account someone whose own cynical political expediency endangers the lives of thousands.
… so... yeah.
My God...that is what Trump does every night when he should be in charge of the pandemic. He rants on and on about the democrats, lies over and over again about his handling of the crisis, and constantly deflects about his inaction in the beginning.Quote:
Originally Posted by dilettante
Last night's nation wide address was more of a republican campaign stop than anything else. He put together a video timeline, at tax payer expense, detailing how he reacted. Guess what, most of February was missing. When a reporter called him out on that he called her "disgraceful".
I don't know of anyone, including myself, more than Trump, that makes this political.
Trump must be fuming this morning :D
When he was asked during Monday’s news briefing what authority he has to reopen the country, he didn’t hesitate to answer. “I have the ultimate authority,” the president responded, cutting off the reporter who was speaking.
Trump later clarified his position further, telling reporters, “When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total and that’s the way it’s got to be. … It’s total. The governors know that.”
Well this morning the media, including his personal network Fox, are saying "No you don't". I can't wait to see how he walks this back or insists that isn't what he meant.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...n-coronavirus/
More irony...
An evangelical pastor and founder of The New Deliverance Evangelistic Church in Virginia died of the coronavirus after he held a church service in defiance of safety protocols in late March, the church announced Sunday.
Bishop Gerald O. Glenn told his congregation he would hold service “unless I’m in jail or the hospital,” the New York Post reported. His last in-person service was held on March 22, in defiance of official warnings to practice social distancing as schools were closing, the New York Daily News reported.
He should have said “unless I’m in jail or the hospital or my grave,”
This is why no matter how many times he lied, there are always many people who believe him. No matter how bad he did, there are still a lot of supporters.Quote:
Originally Posted by TysonLPriceMy God...that is what Trump does every night when he should be in charge of the pandemic. He rants on and on about the democrats, lies over and over again about his handling of the crisis, and constantly deflects about his inaction in the beginning.Quote:
Originally Posted by dilettante
Last night's nation wide address was more of a republican campaign stop than anything else. He put together a video timeline, at tax payer expense, detailing how he reacted. Guess what, most of February was missing. When a reporter called him out on that he called her "disgraceful".
I don't know of anyone, including myself, more than Trump, that makes this political.
Fourteen pages.
It's as if this is important, or something.
Kind of like the Post Race.
Worst pandemic in over one-hundred years...you are over sixty posts. It as a few people's attention :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
WOW..I was sure wrong about that!!!!!!!!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by TysonLPrice
Full blown attack now...the funding is being cut!
Not without the approval of congress. He can put a hold on it for 45 days. At least according to CNBCQuote:
Originally Posted by TysonLPrice
Classic con man trick, misdirection. Sad thing is it will work. The people that want to believe in Trump will accept that everyone else is to blame. Everyone else made up their mind about him a long time ago so this is just more of the same. Nothing new here.Quote:
It’s unclear exactly what mechanism Trump intends to use to withhold WHO funding, much of which is appropriated by Congress. The president typically does not have the authority to unilaterally redirect congressional funding.
One option might be for Trump to use powers granted to the president under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. Under this statute, the president may propose to withhold congressional funds, but it requires congressional approval within 45 days. Absent this approval, the funds must be returned to their original, congressionally mandated purpose after 45 days.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/14/trum...-outbreak.htmlQuote:
NYC death toll jumps by 3,700 after uncounted fatalities are added
You got to wonder how many Governors, especially the one who waited to shut down their state, are doing things like this.
Don't think it's just US governors, how else could you explain India only has 393 report virus deaths.
The US has tested 9,260/per Mil, Italy 17,758/per Mil, Switzerland 22,000+ /per Mil.
India 177/per Mil, Brazil 296/per Mil
The total of uncounted virus deaths around the world could be staggering.
Trump had his name printed on the memo line of the paper checks that are going of to ease the economic impact. He wanted to sign them but he is not authorized. Now if he was the one that earned the money I can see that. Instead he is taking american tax dollars and taking credit for giving it back :mad:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...2b7_story.html
It certainly could.Quote:
Originally Posted by wes4dbt
Unfortunately the international standard for reporting the numbers is to only count those in hospitals. People at home or in retirement homes etc don't count.
It does make sense for the hospital numbers to be the standard, as they are dramatically easier and faster to get... but it means that we don't get the full picture, at least not immediately.
In the UK the 'full' numbers get published less often and about 10 days late, and from what we've seen so far they are about 15% higher than the hospital numbers. Other countries are rumoured to have a much higher difference in the 'full' numbers.
As one of the main government advisers has said on TV, it is important to count the direct and indirect numbers (ie: the total extra, not just the ones known to be related to COVID), as there are many knock-on effects that mean some people will miss out on treatment they would have had otherwise (eg: scared of going to hospital when having a heart attack, because they don't want to risk catching COVID). The numbers for that have started to be published here (with a long delay like the 'full' COVID numbers), and while it isn't a nice figure it doesn't seem too bad so far... but the numbers are from before our peak, so it could get worse later.
Unfortunately I get the impression that some countries wont be giving that kind of info, and their 'real' numbers could be rather nasty.
^Yeah, that's really important and is often overlooked. If you want to know how many deaths this has caused then you need to acknowledge that direct deaths aren't the full picture. And I suspect you're right that the numbers are likely to rise steeply over the coming weeks. The direct deaths (which are a bit more up to date) have so I imagine the indirect ones will rise similarly.Quote:
it is important to count the direct and indirect numbers
I agree. At this point he's saying he'll withhold the funding because of the WHO "covering up" the corona virus. This is a lie. His position seems to be rooted in their criticism of his travel ban from China but their criticism was that the travel ban was unfocussed and unlikely to be effective (and there is still no evidence that it was). At no point has the WHO claimed that the Corona virus didn't exist or tried to downplay it's severity. They were shouting it from the rooftops from the word go.Quote:
Classic con man trick, misdirection.
Yes, it is clear that many countries conceal the true numbers for political, economic and medical reasons.Quote:
Originally Posted by wes4dbt
In China, the government and people see human-life as more important than freedom and human rights. Therefore, China's COVID-19critical illness and death figures should be very accurate. As for whether the number of infected persons is true, this requires professional institutions to count (In fact, this number is difficult to count accurately).
As a Chinese who has been following the world situation for a long time, it seems to me that the Chinese government has higher credit than any other country on major issues. This may be different from many people's views, but it is a fact. However, the credit of Chinese medical experts is not high, especially those traditional medical experts. This seems to be the exact opposite of the United States.
In addition, with the exception of Hubei Province, where the epidemic is most severe, the situation in other provinces in China is much better than expected. On February 10, many provinces have allowed people to work outside. Our children have received formal notice that their school will resume class at the end of this month. So far, they have been taking online courses at home for more than 2 months. Originally, last month, the government planned to resume school classes, but in order to ensure safety, it was postponed for a month.
I'll stick with freedom and human rights.Quote:
In China, the government and people see human-life as more important than freedom and human rights.
Freedom and human rights are not a given in any country. They must be fought for continually, and occasionally temporarily yielded, to some extent. For that reason, the fight will never end.
That is not even close to what our actual history is but let's keep our fingers crossed :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
Not sure what part of sh statement you disagree with, maybe the whole thing??? Seemed reasonable to me. If you were just joking, it must went over my head. Seems like that's starting to happen more frequently. lolQuote:
Originally Posted by TysonLPrice
Mainly is just because of a lack of tests and testing ability. Test cost money which richer nations can afford and poorer nations can less afford. Also the swabs and reagents needed for testing are in short supply globally many countries dont have a stock pile and have struggled to get the numbers in the middle of a pandemic that they need.Quote:
Yes, it is clear that many countries conceal the true numbers for political, economic and medical reasons.
The numbers of deaths and cases in China are likely under reported, firstly due to the fact initially China was not counting asymptomatic carriers in there numbers and secondly like many other countries China was mainly counting deaths in hospitals.Quote:
In China, the government and people see human-life as more important than freedom and human rights. Therefore, China's COVID-19critical illness and death figures should be very accurate.
China's success was due to the speed and scale of there response which was impressive.
The other countries that acted early such as South Korea & New Zealand and countries such as Germany which just has a much better prepared system in the first place also have responded well.
Most of the big western nations acted late and are now counting the cost of acting late with much higher deaths rates.
The under counting of cases is likely much more in countries such as India and Brazil where they are doing very little testing.
Compared with the United States, China has two biggest differences:Quote:
Originally Posted by wes4dbt
(1) The national leader cannot be selected by voting.
(2) No right to hold a gun
If the above two points are not taken into account, the freedom and human rights of the Chinese people seem to be no less than other countries.
(1) As long as you are rich enough and have no criminal record, then you can immigrate to any country you want. You can also send your children to study abroad. China is the world's largest source of foreign students.
(2) In 2019, 190 million Chinese travel abroad .
(3) In 2019, the number of Chinese netizens was 854 million.
(4) The quality of life of most Chinese who have emigrated in the last 10 years is much lower than their quality of life in China.
Many Chinese emigrate abroad not because of freedom and human rights, but to avoid criminal investigations (usually, these people had serious economic crimes, but they claimed to be politically persecuted). The Chinese sympathize with those who are purely political prisoners, but are extremely disgusted with those who commit serious economic crimes and lie that they have been politically persecuted.
(5) There are about 200-400 million people in China with enough wealth to emigrate abroad, but most people are not willing to do so.
Trump and his sycophants are going full blast on FOX news blaming China for the pandemic. Senator Tom Cotton was just on TV saying they are deliberately trying to hide they made it in a lab. Likewise some other of the senators like Graham and Kennedy. They are getting pretty nasty about what they are saying. All this to deflect any responsibility away from Trump.
They stopped calling China, China also. Now every reference is to "Communist China". Just stirring up hate...
Trump dyed his hair grey taking away one of my favorite sayings about him..."He is an orange stain on the fabric of the United States" :p
What about Freedom of the Press and OPEN internet access? So the government controls the information you receive. To say there are only two big differences is far from true.Quote:
Compared with the United States, China has two biggest differences:
(1) The national leader cannot be selected by voting.
(2) No right to hold a gun
Anyway, I don't want to debate which country is better. You seem happy with how the government runs China so that's good. Enjoy it.