I opened up the webpage and it says:


I drive an Equinox. Spooooooky haha

I can't ask her a question either. The only thing I can do is change my password or have a staring contest with her. *shrug*

'I can has cheezburger?' - fixed that for you. This is the internet, do try to keep up.


There is no such things as coincidences! Madam Elana knows all!!!

Probably should start an Oscar thread so I don't hijack this one, but...

Why?

Anyhoo, we watched the sequel to USS Callister. I love that world and that concept. We were very sad to see it end. They needed a whole season!

I should have seen that coming!

I just mean because the movie gets nominated, Emma Stone gets nominated and they snubbed Plemons, not that the movie didn't deserve a nomination.....but because they ignored him. But I'll be very surprised if it wins. I have read that 'Sinners' is probably going to sweep the whole thing. I haven't seen it.

Plemons very much deserved a nomination.

I can't remember if saw the sequel to 'USS Callister.'

100% agree.


It's a mind bender.


We have. I didn't care for it. We threw in the towel about half way through. Lots of wasted talent. The writing is over the top and over-wrought. The plot meanders and is muddled. It tried to be too many things.

But that's me.

Edited to add: I found this review online and it kind of sums up my experience:

Exposition can be a death knell for me. So maybe it gets good at the end but, for me, it wasn't worth wading through the rest of the film to get to.

I can read music 🎶

Thank you all, I received the needed assistance :)

Well? Did you win?!

-- Ryan

I love a long con!

squeak - me too!
Nonny

Not sure what you mean by that.

I think you are playing cat and mouse with me!

As we get our lives back in order, we listen to this tune...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q9_ZEtuTR8

LB

The flu pandemic of 1918 started on this day. Interesting the WHO, on this day in 2020, declared that COVID-19 was a pandemic.

By the way, approximately 560,000 Americans died of Covid on Trump‘s watch. This being from 1-1-2020 thru 3-11-21.

Facts: the death rates in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan were much lower than the United States. During that time period, Japan’s death rate was 1/8th of the US's. If we followed their practices, one would’ve expected about 70,000 deaths total. At the time, our president was pooh-poohing reasonable medical practices as “ the folly of the democrats.” In my mind, not all, but most of the extra 490,000 death are solely the president's responsibility.

Old Blue
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

500,000 last time. Potentially 7 Billion this time.🍄

Actually, WHO reports that by the end of the Trump administration (January 2021), 356,783 had died. One year later 819,197 had died. By then we had ventilators, masks, and a vaccine and still 462,414 more people died.


Do you happen to know what Japan, South Korea and Taiwan did that prevented so many fatalities? It would be good to know whether USA ever adopted those practices. But maybe we didn't since the death rate escalated.


I don't remember him pooh-poohing MEDICAL practices. I do remember he wasn't keen on all the shutdowns. Shutdowns happened anyway and school children are still trying to catch up.

No... I gave up after 5 minutes.

haha

He did.

Key areas where the administration discarded or undermined medical and public health practices include:

Masking and Social Distancing: President Trump consistently mocked, downplayed, and questioned the effectiveness of wearing masks, which were heavily recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to slow the spread.

Promotion of Unproven Treatments: The administration, particularly through the President's personal advocacy, promoted the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a "cure" or preventative, despite a lack of scientific evidence and warnings from federal health experts. The FDA eventually revoked emergency authorization for the drug after studies showed it was not effective and posed risks of heart problems.

Sidelining Scientific Agencies: The administration frequently interfered with, censored, or bypassed scientists at the CDC and FDA. This included pressuring the CDC to change testing guidelines to recommend against testing asymptomatic individuals, a move that contradicted standard public health practices.

Manipulation of Data and Modeling: Reports indicated that White House officials manipulated public health disease models to justify lifting restrictions earlier than recommended, contributing to surges in cases. The administration also sought to change data reporting procedures, diverting them away from the CDC.

Downplaying the Severity: Despite admitting in private to understanding the deadly nature of the virus, the President publicly compared COVID-19 to the flu and stated it would "disappear" or that cases were "harmless".

Ignoring Scientific Leadership: The White House largely sidelined top government scientists, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, and created a "super spreader" event by hosting a large, unmasked gathering in the Rose Garden to announce a Supreme Court nominee, which resulted in an outbreak.

Further reading:

Scientific American

National Library of Medicine

Brennan Center
Additionally, in August 2020, Trump administration officials from the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) pressured the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to stop recommending coronavirus testing for people without symptoms, despite scientific research showing that asymptomatic people can infect others with the virus. The news broke later that HHS and White House staffers wrote the recommendation, rather than CDC scientists; it bypassed the CDC’s standard scientific review process and was published despite objections from CDC staff. Local health departments and experts condemned the change, and some CDC scientists told health officials to ignore the agency’s official guidance. The CDC ultimately reversed the guidance and again recommended that asymptomatic people who might have come into contact with the coronavirus should seek testing.

Thanks for more information.


Yep, he did. Kinda. And what masks were we wearing then? The homemade kind that probably did no good at all. We were supposed to save the good masks for the medical profession because hospitals and doctors couldn't get PPE. But by April 2020, the Defense Production Act was used to compel U.S. companies to produce more PPE.

How COVID-19 Exposed America's Fragile Medical Supply Chain

Also, thanks for providing these sources for additional reading.

The Scientific American article is an opinion piece. We can skip over that.

The National Library of Medicine's article "Impact of Trump's Promotion of Unproven COVID-19 Treatments and Subsequent Internet Trends: Observational Study" provided an interesting analysis of how many times from March 1 to April 30 Trump made claims about unproven treatments and then how the public reacted. There was a significant increase in internet searches and an increase in purchasing. And that's as far as this study went. No connection to any negative results.

It is worth noting that there is one reported death from chloroquine. One couple took aquarium chloroquine phosphate mistakenly thinking it was the same thing as the chloroquine used to treat malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. But other than that there's no mention of harm done by any unproven treatment.

The third piece is from the Brennan Center. Specifically quoted:

This reminds me so much of the instances where the American Federation of Teachers wrote CDC guidance on school reopening.

Sadly, Neil Sedaka passed away just a couple of weeks ago on February 27.

Yep, you got me on that on. What I meant & should have said was he poop-pooped reasonable CDC recommended practices.

The following is taken from Inside Business, Oct 2, 2020

President Donald Trump and Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, just days after the first lady and members of Trump's family went mask-less at Tuesday's presidential debate.

The presidential debate, held in Cleveland, Ohio, had multiple COVID-19 precautions, including setting seats far apart to adhere to social distancing guidelines, requiring attendees to wear masks, testing attendees, and asking Trump and Biden to refrain from shaking hands prior to starting the debate. In violation of these rules, multiple attendees, including some from Trump's inner circle, removed their masks.

At the debate, Ivanka, Donald Jr., Eric, and Tiffany Trump wore masks while walking into the auditorium, but removed them when they sat down in the front row. In addition, first lady Melania Trump was pictured wearing one while sitting with them. But Tyler Pager, a Bloomberg News political reporter at the event, said she removed her mask after she sat down.

The President's infection has sparked myriad concerns, from economic stability, to a potential spread of COVID-19 among the government's top officials, to impacts on the presidential election, which is just 32 days away. The announcement also caps a long and contentious discourse about mask-wearing, which President Trump has repeatedly derided.

Trump mocked Biden for wearing masks during Tuesday's debate. "I don't wear face masks like him," Trump said. "Every time you see him he's got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away ... and he shows up with the biggest mask I've ever seen."

In turn, Biden used the debate to attack Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. "He's been totally irresponsible the way he's handled social distancing and discouraging people to wear masks," Biden said.

More later, when time permits.
Old Blue

I remember when that happened. Was it supposed to reinforce his view that COVID was like the flu? I don't remember that part. I may be rewriting history. =)

Anyway, this was fun. But let's don't do it again for a while. You wore me out.

The numbers don't lie. Since 2020, seasonal influenza has caused an estimated 1.5 to 2.5 million respiratory deaths worldwide. As of early 2026, during that same time period, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports over 7 million confirmed COVID-19 deaths globally since the start of the pandemic.

In the US alone from 2020 -2026, 65,000 people died of 'regular' flu vs 1.2 million deaths from COVID, making it making it the deadliest disaster in U.S. history.

No matter how it's spun, COVID is not like the flu. Of interest.

My statement was:
You said:

I extended the time period beyond the end of Trumps term for two reasons. First and most importantly, issues, public perceptions & policy set in motion by one administration almost never changes overnight. I my mind, I could logically extend the time period until May or later. So extending the time frame until 3-11-21 arbitrarily connected it to This Day in History.

You sighted 356,783 as the number of covid deaths. These are based on death certificates stating covid as the cause, but it doesn’t account for the number of total deaths above what would be expected if covid never appeared. This “extra” is technically called excess mortality.

Excess mortality is a statistical term that refers to the additional number of deaths, from all causes, during a crisis, above the level we expect to see in “normal” conditions. (Checchi, F., & Roberts, L. 2005, Interpreting and using mortality data in humanitarian emergencies. Humanitarian Practice Network, 52.)

It is estimated that there were 649,411 excess deaths in the U.S. from 3/20–2/21, a 23% increase over baseline, with 82.9% of these attributed directly to COVID-19. (National Library of Medicine)

This results in 649,411 X .829 = 538,361. Extending this 6 more week get very close to the 560,000 I sighted. I actually found this number on another internet site.

Old Blue

By coincidence, I ran across a video of him singing with his grandson yesterday.

https://www.facebook.com/neilsedakamusic/videos/michael-sedaka-singing-one-of-his-favorite-songs-of-mine-home-1972/1719468338965045/

RIP Neil 😪

Thank you DZ

That clip was heartwarming and had me teary eyed. Sincere thanks to you for sharing it.

All brought to you by Anthony Fauci's funding of the Virus in China! We create the Super Virus. Then we created an untested shot that killed my mother-in-law.