Sorry to interrupt this boring political conversation but on my daily Covid inspired 3.5mile walk, which takes me through our High School, I came across 16U's playing actual baseball. The home side had 25 fans socially distanced, the visitors just 4-5 (which is odd as they are just next door).
@DanJ posted:For anyone who is TRULY concerned about reducing COVID deaths, I’m going to tee it up for you. If you are SINCERELY interested in seeing more people wear masks and take the virus more seriously, remove EVERY ounce of politics and partisanship from ALL your COVID discussions here and everywhere else and THEN try good faith discussions rooted in open-mindedness and a willingness to compromise. If THAT is realistic, you MIGHT have a chance at persuasion.
Here the deal. For the last 4 years, those on the left have been wholly incapable of restraining themselves of attacking trump/conservatives. INCAPABLE. The president can scratch his elbow and many can’t help but find a mountain to let everyone know that he scratches in a racist/privileged/xenophobic/tyrannical manner. Free speech and questioning our leaders is a good and healthy thing. But when abused and incessant, it creates problems. Resentment, for one. It’s been so heavy and unending that we have a situation where some don’t want to wear masks purely out of spite for the other side. You can scold them for being that way, but it won’t help solve the problem and will actually make matters worse.
I’m sorry people, but when Covid became 90% political, we obliterated any REAL chance of truly coming together on it. You can let that bother you or you can start with yourself and heed my advice above.
For someone who didn't want the discussion to go political, you went all out.
I don't wear a mask because I want to spite the other side. I wear a mask to protect myself and others. There shouldn't even be a discussion. If you don't want to wear a mask, just stay out of my lane. And dont try to force yourself into the store and start an argument about your rights when the sign says you cant enter without a mask!
It's become political because our leadership in office has made it political. I think fan2024s post made it clear that from the beginning this was how it was going to be.
First weekend of college baseball at Principal Park last weekend. Honestly, they did a great job of creating safe spaces. Took my 80 year old dad, my friend took her 93 year old mother. Seats were zip tied shut to create clusters for a few people, staff wore masks, you could get a hot dog and a beer.
It was awesome and felt very safe. Best of all, got to see my kid pitch. Very grateful for blessings these days.
@Fan2024 posted:Danj,
I have two links for you (and if I get banned for discussing politics, so be it).
Take a good hard look at the pictures at the tops of these articles. From the very first full day of this presidency, our president has shown little interest in unifying leadership, and much interest in making himself look good at the expense of truth and other peoples' reputations, hard work, and sacrifice. I watched both of these events on TV live that Sunday when I should have been grading because I wanted to see how our President would step up to lead our country now that he no longer needed to run for office. If anyone is responsible for making COVID-19 political it is President Trump! The rest of us are doing the best we can.
January 21 2017: Trump Press Secretary Slams Media Over Inauguration Crowd Size Coverage
January 21 2017: Campaign Trail Trump On Display As He Goes To CIA On First Day As President
Why did all the media sources send their political reporters to the COVID pressers to attack Trump with political questions relating to COVID instead of their health and medical reporters? I blame Trump for going toe to toe with reporters rather than ignoring the political questions, pointing to the next reporter and saying “Next.” But to blame Trump for being political based on what I’ve seen the past four years is absurd.
Trump has been under attack since his nomination. Without getting into all of Trump’s faults the big issue is Washington is pissed off and alarmed he’s not there to play the game the way they believe it’s supposed to be played. It’s what got him elected. Most Washington insiders don’t want him to succeed at any cost. Until attacked themselves a lot of Republicans wouldn’t help Trump. The Republicans ran the show Trump’s first two years. He still couldn’t get much done by legislation.
While more civil because he played by Washington house rules Obama didn’t get much done either except by executive order.
For the past twelve years America has been treading water by executive order. Obama made them. Trump undid them with his executive orders. If BIden wins he will reverse everything. Only the politicians are getting ahead. America isn’t. America is in complete disarray.
Note: I didn't vote for a Trump in ‘16. Voting for Trump due to being a Never Hillary wasn’t enough for me. I didn’t like his style. I wasn’t convinced he had any political conviction foundation given his lifelong flip flopping. But eventually I saw the results and liked what I saw up until March. The candidate I liked the most in ‘16 was James Webb.
But this time around I’m Never Senile and will vote for Trump. I don’t want a sock puppet for the far left because he can’t think for himself. If people like socialism instead of changing America move to Venezuela where they’ve mastered it over the years. Voting for Trump doesn’t mean I’ve stopped cringing over some of what he says.
More political chatter here than the caucuses. Maybe baseball should be removed from the thread title.
@Iowamom23 posted:First weekend of college baseball at Principal Park last weekend. Honestly, they did a great job of creating safe spaces. Took my 80 year old dad, my friend took her 93 year old mother. Seats were zip tied shut to create clusters for a few people, staff wore masks, you could get a hot dog and a beer.
It was awesome and felt very safe. Best of all, got to see my kid pitch. Very grateful for blessings these days.
I agree it's great, but I'd note that the players are standing shoulder-to-shoulder, and my guess is that there was no distancing in the dugouts. FWIW, my son is also playing, and that's what I saw at his game. I think it's probably the right thing to protect those who need protecting (i.e. fans), and let the players do whatever they do. I don't love it. I guess we'll all find out in a few weeks. I have to say, Iowamom23, it goes against what you and I have been saying about masks and young people, though. Maybe that's why we're saying it, because we know it isn't happening.
My son is living isolated in our basement. Of course, he prefers it that way anyway . . . .
Just checking back in to make sure everyone saw this bombshell Friday that got almost zero national attention. https://www.cdc.gov/coronaviru...gSource=articleShare
Possibly up to 26 million have been infected already. Maybe, it's science. Would put the death rate for all ages then at 99.5 if this were to pan out. Keep social distancing at 6 feet, not 5 feet 11 inches though. That one inch scientifically makes a huge difference.
Fan2024 and TPM,
You’re free to waste time blaming trump or anyone else you’d like. But it will be just that - a waste. The goal is to try to come together on a solution. Spoiler Alert! Coming together does not equate to everyone doing exactly what you (or whomever you feel knows best) thinks is best. It’ll take compromise. Some seek to fix the problem while others are content to fix the blame. If anyone here truly thinks that spending any more time calling out trump is productive and forward-moving, I can’t help you.
I’m fine with trump being at fault. Knock yourself out if it makes you happy or fills your bucket. I despise a LOT about trump. I didn’t vote for him in 16 and won’t now. It took me all of about 3 minutes to figure out that I think trump is a POS. I took in the data, made a reasonable conclusion and I did something that few others seem capable of - I moved on. I didn’t need 3+ more years to be really really sure. I won’t let a POS like trump live in my head and allow his behaviors to stress me out and fuel hate. Spoiler alert! You can come to a conclusion on trump and move on as well. Or you can get back to allowing him to consume you. But suffice it to say, your message has been received loud and clear - you hate trump. Trump is the devil. We got it. Hearing it 897,665,992 times is probably good. Counsel is willing to stipulate that you think trump is the devil, so maybe move on and try to find some happiness for yourself. Just my 2 cents.
Since it is now obvious no one wants to actually discuss IOWA baseball. I have renamed the topic as you can see.
I’m not necessarily a fan of masks, but I wear one when required or when I’m around elderly. Doesn’t really bother me and I don’t see the big deal. But I agree it is a constitutional issue. I also believe if a business requires it you can choose to wear it or shop elsewhere.
There has been pretty good distance at the tournaments we’ve been to. I hope the recent spikes don’t ruin youth baseball if there is no evidence of outbreaks from baseball tournaments. If they want to shut down baseball they better shut down Home Depot and Walmart.
Why are the players in the picture standing shoulder to shoulder. Under the circumstances couldn’t the anthem be given a pass for the season? Or couldn’t the players be spaced all the way down the line?
I’ve never understood why the anthem is played at sporting events. It has nothing to do with sports. Save it for holidays, the Super Bowl or the first game of a playoff series. Standing at attention for the anthem is forced nationalism. Outside the Olympics I don’t attend/watch sports for nationalism.
@anotherparent posted:I agree it's great, but I'd note that the players are standing shoulder-to-shoulder, and my guess is that there was no distancing in the dugouts. FWIW, my son is also playing, and that's what I saw at his game. I think it's probably the right thing to protect those who need protecting (i.e. fans), and let the players do whatever they do. I don't love it. I guess we'll all find out in a few weeks. I have to say, Iowamom23, it goes against what you and I have been saying about masks and young people, though. Maybe that's why we're saying it, because we know it isn't happening.
My son is living isolated in our basement. Of course, he prefers it that way anyway . . . .
I agree. I don't love it. I've been surprised — my son went to a Juneteenth celebration, wore a mask without being asked and before leaving for summer ball asked his sister for advice on mask care, when to wear it, etc., but then seems to totally forget everything when he gets on the baseball field. It does concern me.
@baseballmom posted:James G, "And that's another big issue going on right now. Tons of cases, but overall deaths and hospitalizations/ICU beds aren't increasing rapidly.
https://www.khou.com/article/n...ea61?ref=exit-recirc
Correction!: Houston hospital system ICU is at 97%, with 1 in 4 being COVID. Gov Abbot just issued order to suspend elective surgeries. Death rates are a "lagging" statistic....just like happened in New York, NE US...
No cure for stupid!
The hospital came out and said that this was misleading. They were at 95% capacity last year as well without Covid and they are used to managing this. There are so many things going on. Do most of you know that there is a new way to report cases and deaths? "Probable cases and probable deaths". you don't even need a positive test.
You can click on the 6 or start listening at 15:25 to hear that you really just need symptoms and to have been exposed. http://collincountytx.new.swag...gJ5Ecb_kSZg32_REErgc
There are also a lot of false positives. We know of 3. people in TX who were exposed at a wedding. They all tested positive. They quarantined but only had allergy symptoms one day.They went back in this week to be tested and check for antibodies and were told they had absolutely never had Covid.
Then they are coming out saying that protests and riots did not contribute to any spikes. Ridiculous. I cannot believe anyone would believe this.
As someone else stated, there is not one study on masks being effective. There were 14 studies on the cdc website at the end of March. All studies showed that there was no effect on virus spread with the use of a mask. There are lots of opinions and recommendations, but there are no true studies that show this works. (If you find one, please cite it. I have not found one.). Follow the science, is great, but recommendations are not science. Speculation about people saved by masks is not science. I'm not saying they hurt anything, but there isn't data to show they help...they just make people feel safer.
I also know many people think it is crazy to question the government and experts about this but please take a minute to research the case Dark Waters was based on. It took 12 years for the government to stand up to Dupont as they poisoned people. The government experts even sided with Dupont...there are agendas everywhere. Look at Flint Michigan. There are tons of examples of companies driving agendas and the government playing along.
We will all be exposed to this at some point. Work on having a healthy immune system. Eat well, exercise, get the vitamins you need. The cases are going up but deaths are not. This is good news.
Sorry, bad links on that last post, I'm replacing it with this.
Science on masks:
https://health.clevelandclinic...read-of-coronavirus/
Which cites:
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.0c03252
https://www.sciencedirect.com/...219305403?via%3Dihub
https://iopscience.iop.org/art...088/1752-7163/ab433a
Another analytic article:
https://theconversation.com/ma...-mask-wearing-138507
Which cites:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.co...l/10.1111/resp.13834
https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202004.0203/v2
https://www.thestar.com/opinio...ead-by-droplets.html
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0843-2
And now, more recently, this:
A lot of these links go to pages that are no longer there. The ones I read still show major discrepancy based on the type of mask and the fit and still don't have actual data of impact on spread, just which particles can get through . From one of your studies:
Although the aforementioned studies support the potential beneficial effect of masks, the substantial impact of masks on the spread of laboratory-diagnosed respiratory viruses remains controversial [6]
These are from the 14 studies done prior to Covid 19 and all said it did not have any impact on the spread.
I'm not saying don't wear them. We basically have to wear them in any public place, I'm just saying I don't put faith in them. I think it is a lot like what Fauci said early on...it makes people feel better, but really doesn't offer the protection they think it does.
https://twitter.com/tracybeanz.../1261057091814514689
Yep, I read those CDC studies too, back when they were posted on here the first time (I really appreciate everyone's posts, and usually track them down and read them). Baseballhs, all of those studies were about whether wearing a mask AT HOME would prevent the spread of a virus to other people living IN THAT HOME (or dorm). Think about what living and taking care of a sick person in your home is like. It's really not relevant to the question of wearing masks in public. I think the CDC realized that, and that's why their guidance was updated.
I tried to fix the links. Study after study, whether it is of places like Taiwan, or materials sciences studies of cotton's masking abilities, show that masks DO significantly impact the spread of coronavirus in public.
Btw, you can get some really great-looking masks on Etsy. Just ordered baseball for my son, and a really cool-looking Star Trek one for my husband. If we can make them look like fashion statements, instead of like we're wearing diapers on our faces, maybe people will feel better about them. I'm glad that some people are turning them into a business opportunity.
