(04-02-2020 02:46 AM)tanqtonic Wrote: I find that somewhat arrogant, to be blunt.
...
And that is another action on your part that smacks of arrogance.
Yep, that is me. Mr. Arrogant!
(04-02-2020 02:52 AM)tanqtonic Wrote: The issue being presented is that if you have 100,000,000 marbles, you are bitching about the use of 1500 of them.
The number is so relatively low to be utterly inconsequential -- but that is a horrendous Trump mistake. Sounds either really stupid to me, are venality that is beyond measure.
Actually, the issue is that you need 100,000,000 marbles but only have 1,000,000 marbles and now we are giving away 1500 of them. So while it is a bit of a drop in the bucket, some of our people are still going to die without those 1500 marbles. Maybe those people will be in New Orleans or West Texas for all we know.
If you think Trump's use of the DPA was awesome or that he couldn't have reasonably invoked it a couple weeks earlier, good on you. I'm certainly not going to be able to convince you otherwise. Just stop asking me what I would have done differently.
(04-02-2020 09:55 AM)tanqtonic Wrote: And, in the public, the PPE providers are literally racing like lizards on crack to get their part done.
Those very public very important criterion are very adroitly overlooked on your oh-so-stunning race to chastise on the DPA. Amazing that. Color me shocked and surprised.
I find it very telling that here, you are saying in fairly certain terms, that you really do not care about the real issues of the DPA, only those issues that you can call out in coloring book level way. Got it. Thank you for the clarification.
You are extremely focused on 1 part of the DPA. While I think encouraging non-PPE and non-ventilator manufacturers to change their production is an important piece, the DPA can also be used to require manufacturers to fulfill government contracts and orders first. This would allow FEMA to buy the PPE and distribute them where needed. Instead, from what I have read, we have 50 states, FEMA, and foreign countries all bidding for the PPE. That might be efficient for pricing, but not real-world need.
(04-02-2020 11:18 AM)tanqtonic Wrote: Yep, Roarke's Drift as a very appropriate analogy here.
You do an exquisite job of saying things that make zero sense to me, as I have no idea what Roarke's Drift is. I must live a sheltered life.
(04-02-2020 12:56 PM)tanqtonic Wrote: Again, I want to point out a very humorous 'about face'. One particular poster here has continuously noted his amazing concerns about Trump being an authoritarian, and his being scared of that trait to some extent.
But, when Trump has been pressed to engage one of *the* most authoritarian acts that *can* be used, Trump noted that there are times and places to use the act, and has refrained in a great deal to use that amazing power.
But now, *the* most authoritarian argument that 'Trump really really really should have used the DPA with only a scintilla of thought or reason behind it' has been promulgated by --- that same poster.
Again, I want to point out a very humorous thing. It isn't humorous actually, just seemed like a good opening line. Trump exercising power that has been vested in him by Congress and has been vested in all recent presidents is OK, especially to save american lives. Trump engaging in authoritarian-curious acts either against Congressional actions or against long-standing norms is a whole different ball of wax. To summarize: keep your balls of wax straight.
(04-02-2020 03:11 PM)tanqtonic Wrote: As for PPE, well fk me, Obama borrowed the truck and never refilled the gas tank. Trump in his tenure didnt do that either. But Obama had a crapload more time to do it, and considering that he drained it *because* of a pandemic, he *might* have learned its fing value to refill it in his 7 years at that wheel.
The Tea Party controlled the House during the last 6 Obama years. Do you really think the Tea Party had any interest in spending billions to restock the national stockpile of PPE when they were forcing austerity, freezes, debt ceiling crises, and a government shutdown? Because that is truly some magical thinking.