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Post by britishtetra on Jan 29, 2021 3:45:17 GMT -5
Just a thought regarding the vaccine, is there anybody here who is trying to get further up the list. I mention this to my fellow brothers and sisters with certain health problems. In the UK I am number six, just like the prisoner… an old series in the 60s. The spinal injuries association sent me a document with all the different ailments regarding spinal injuries, addressed to the doctor. so if anybody wants one, let me know. It’s all getting a bit serious at the moment, 100,000 over here have died so far. Honestly it’s like the plague… I have been out twice since last March, both times to the bloody hospital 😂 even my little trips down the Lane are off. I say this because at the bottom of my road is the county of Stratford-upon-Avon, and on the other side is Worcestershire, so effectively if I went down the Lane I would be crossing into two more counties, and fined £400! Ironic isn’t it.
Pete, 👍
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Post by Corey on Jan 29, 2021 12:05:11 GMT -5
Hey now, don’t underestimate the value of Christmas. Also, what about the stock market? That’s important too. I’ve quoted myself, @corey so you can see what you’re arguing against. That’s what I said about stocks. You might be happier if you just go twirl your mustache and count your money piles somewhere else, because being in here seems pretty triggering for you. Also, there’s nothing wrong with being a Trump supporter. Just lean into it. Whenever we argue it always plays out the same way; 1. I tell you you are wrong 2. You respond ironically with a 5 year old 4chan meme 3. At this point you sometimes make a sarcastic quip. Usually this happens if you can figure out which Trump talking point I’m arguing. Because after all everyone who disagrees with you must be repeating a political talking point from Fox News 4. I respond and tell you you how you are wrong in a second way 5. At this point you get frustrated and say something like “I don’t even know what you’re talking about go away dude!” I know you and myrrh are the “GRR ANGRY!” types and you feel you are defending the country from a supreme evil and must argue to the death everyone who disagrees with you. But even if that were true, this doesn’t have anything to do with politics, and we have the same underlying goal. You can chill
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Post by Corey on Jan 29, 2021 12:09:31 GMT -5
Thats not even remotely true. You mean because they are confirmed? That is a big stretch. I wish it were true. But its not. Or are you talking about the regional banks? Who cares about them, Im talking about the Grand Poobah, the FOMC. Decisions are made, behind close doors, by the Board of Governors. And not even all the members get a vote! So if not even all the members of this elite group of economists get a say, congress certainly doesnt. The Federal Reserve's mandate is set by Congress, as are the regulations governing it. And when was the last change? Bretton Woods? I don’t even know if then would count. If the person you answer to only comes around once every 50 years you are basically autonomous
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Post by myrrh on Jan 29, 2021 13:28:47 GMT -5
You got offended about a complaint about corruption, erected some nice straw men, and wrote a think piece on why big banks are necessary. I'm going to take "you can chill" as acknowledgment you misread the whole preceding page of this thread, and I graciously accept your concession. Let's grab a beer next time I'm in the neighborhood, yeah?
As we were saying, income inequality and corruption are massive problems and we've all seen how the pandemic has exacerbated things.
I'm going to confess, I have no idea dafuq is happening with GameStop right now. The internet seems to be on fire about it, but my week has been totally bonkers and I have barely been following the news.
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Post by darthoso on Jan 29, 2021 14:49:18 GMT -5
The Federal Reserve's mandate is set by Congress, as are the regulations governing it. And when was the last change? Bretton Woods? I don’t even know if then would count. If the person you answer to only comes around once every 50 years you are basically autonomous Congress has passed laws relating to Fed as recent as 2018, I'm sure there are others. fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44848.pdfI'm not sure why you're focusing on the Federal Reserve when it is only one component that goes into regulating/influencing the stock market, you've got the SEC, Treasury Department, etc, all of which are part of a corrupt political system. You may be absolutely correct that the moves made by those organizations were the right ones, but who makes those decisions and where they came from is crazy important. So when the stock market is prioritized in a bad situation, by people with deep ties to Wall Street, it creates an appearance of institutional bias which fuels populist anger and people not viewing the stock market as important.
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Post by Corey on Jan 29, 2021 20:02:21 GMT -5
You got offended about a complaint about corruption, erected some nice straw men, and wrote a think piece on why big banks are necessary. I'm going to take "you can chill" as acknowledgment you misread the whole preceding page of this thread, and I graciously accept your concession. Let's grab a beer next time I'm in the neighborhood, yeah? As we were saying, income inequality and corruption are massive problems and we've all seen how the pandemic has exacerbated things. I'm going to confess, I have no idea dafuq is happening with GameStop right now. The internet seems to be on fire about it, but my week has been totally bonkers and I have barely been following the news. I didnt misread anything. SOR made an ignorant comment, I corrected him. I have no idea why he and Slinxter brought up the stock market and money, respectively, when it wasnt something infinitedreams brought up. You will have to ask them. Seems like they are the ones confused. Whats funny is, after Slinxter posted her interpretation of infinitedreams post, infinitedreams, who is probably the nicest, most polite man on PD, responded with an unenthusiastic "Kinda". Oof. Surely you can figure out what that means. How come everytime SOR says something stupid you rush to defend him? He doesnt need your help. Hes doing fine with his ironic 4chan quips. Based and redpilled!
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Post by Corey on Jan 29, 2021 20:21:42 GMT -5
And when was the last change? Bretton Woods? I don’t even know if then would count. If the person you answer to only comes around once every 50 years you are basically autonomous I'm not sure why you're focusing on the Federal Reserve when it is only one component that goes into regulating/influencing the stock market, you've got the SEC, Treasury Department, etc, all of which are part of a corrupt political system. The impact of those things is a drop in the bucket compared to a rate change. I remember a few years ago right before Yellen started to raise rates, the rumors were circulating. Just the notion of a rise caused bond yields to fall, foreign currencies were reeling, and oil was cut in half. SEC just doesnt have the same punch
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Post by Amee on Jan 30, 2021 5:13:50 GMT -5
Johnson has insisted his government “truly did everything we could” to limit coronavirus deaths. NO HE DIDN'T He didn’t: - Lockdown soon enough - Lockdown 2 soon enough - Lockdown 3 soon enough - Provide frontline staff with adequate PPE - Cancel Christmas - Close borders - Cancel all foreign travel - Make testing easily available early enough - Put a viable track and trace system in place - Close schools soon enough - Have a “firebreak” half term lockdown in October - Sort out exams, last year or this year - Make wearing face masks compulsory early enough - Keep people WFH where they could - Provide IT support/equipment to kids for home schooling - Feed kids - Support self employed - Punish people breaking rules (you know who) - Issue clear rules and guidance - Have a plan - Follow the science You did however: - Instruct hospitals to transfer all elderly and frail patients to care homes withut testing them first for Covid (a 1/3rd of our deaths have been in care homes) - Provide numerous contracts worth millions to Tory donors - Encourage the celebration of VE Day - Encourage the spread of the virus through Eat Out to Help Out - “Save Christmas” in the face of expert advice to the contrary - until only a week beforehand, when everyone’s Christmas arrangements were finalised - Threaten schools in parts of London with legal action if they didn’t stay open - Forced schools to go back for one day - one day - at the beginning of January Apart from that, he truly did do everything possible. I can't really comment on the situation in Britain, because I haven't followed it, so I'm not defending Johnson But I want to add my two cents about lockdown and the closing of schools. In my country we've locked down very early last spring, closing all schools for six weeks and then having a shift system with a couple of days a week at school and a couple of days at home. Lockdown 1 worked very well at reducing infections. In early November we started with Lockdown 2, first sending older kids home, then after two weeks closing all schools again and imposing very harsh rules in all other aspects - all non-essential shops and businesses closed, no meeting people except closest family. With a very short break in December, it has stayed like this until now. The success in terms of reducing infections is mediocre. We still have relatively high infections and relatively high death rates, but our (pretty good) health care system is handling it. Every day in the evening news on the publicly owned broadcasting network, they present us with the daily infections and the daily death rates and the hospital capacities. There is little talk - although slowly increasing - about the collateral damage of lockdown. There's the economic collateral damage of course, which is enormous, despite our welfare state - rightly so imo - spending billions of Euros to try to soften the blow. Still, that is money borrowed from the future. Unfortunately, what's happening with schools isn't borrowing from the future, it's stealing the future - the future of the most vulnerable children. In my city of two million people, 50% of primary school children (and 60% of children in Kindergarten) have a mother tongue other than German (which is what we speak where I live). The only place where they learn to speak (and write and read) German - which is absolutely essential for their future success - is school (and Kindergarten). I know a few of those children and the immense challenges they face, because for a couple of years I spent my Saturday mornings teaching some of them German (and Math and sometimes a little bit of English) with an organization that provides free tutoring to disadvantaged kids. It was lovely work, but it was clear even with schools and organizations like that open that these kids (and with them our entire society) are facing a huge challenge. Closing schools for a week is bad for these kids. Closing them for months is a catastrophe. And you can hand those kids the newest iPad on a silver platter and provide them with all the IT-support you want and they will still not be able to learn what they need to learn at home. Because their parents aren't capable (and sometimes unfortunately not even willing) to do their part. How are you going to reach them, if they just don't turn on that iPad? And even if they did, that is not how six- and seven- and eight-year-olds learn effectively. By closing schools we are stealing the future of those kids and making sure that in a couple of years we will see them in the unemployment and the crime rates. I know not every region and not every country has a problem as drastic as that one, but every country in the world has disadvantaged children, who need school to have a chance. Sure, the kids of University-educated parents will manage to get through this - but even many of those are really struggling (think single working moms). Mental health of children and teenagers is also suffering immensely. A couple of days ago, there was a report about the children and youth psychiatric unit at our major hospital having to do triage, because serious mental health problems (including suicidality) among the young have gone up so high, they can't provide the treatment needed for everyone. And no, I don't think it's fair to say that that would have happened anyway, "because the pandemic". High excess mortality among the elderly does not automatically lead to mental health problems among children. Locking them in for months and telling them every day how many people have died today and that they may be responsible for killing grandma and grandpa (as the German chancellor Merkel has implied) will lead to mental health problems. Is it right to force those sacrifices on children and young people in order to curb excess mortality among the elderly? Honestly, I don't know. But it looks far more like a "Sophie's choice" situation than a "Just follow the science" situation to me.
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Post by infinatedreams on Jan 30, 2021 7:43:25 GMT -5
Amee your post genuinely moved me, I have grandchildren at school age and I have seen the effect this epidemic has had on them, the lost schooling, lost contact with friends, all the news is about death and it is taking its toll. My eldest grandchild has just started 'home schooling', she is 10 and it has taken a year for our government to work out how to do on-line learning. She was here using our spare room last week and it was refreshing and uplifting to hear her interacting with her teacher and schoolfriends on-line, sure it is not as good as face to face learning but it is at least something, albiet 9 months too late (im generously giving the goevernment 3 months in which they should have sorted it out). But her younger brother still has no 'on-line' teaching, his mental health is worsening, he has major anxiety and is having regular meltdowns worrying that his mum and dad, me, his nanna are all going to die of covid, he misses his friends and has lost the spark and hope a 6yr old should have, it is heartbreaking to see. And these are children who are loved, children who are safe and have a stable supportive family the millions and it is millions of chidren who dont have that I fear for them and their future, pre-epidemic they faced immense challenges to succeed, now I fear it may be impossible for many of them. You are right it is 'sophies choice' and I dont know the right answer myself. All I do know is the dithering and indecision by our government hasnt helped and has contributed to making an already challening situation more so. The pandemic has highlighted the effect of 10yrs of cuts to local social services and support that were brought in following the financial crash of 2008.
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Post by myrrh on Jan 30, 2021 13:19:02 GMT -5
Why is it a choice, though? We shouldn't be thinking of this as decreasing child welfare for the sake of the elderly, we should think of children and elderly as both bearing the brunt of covid. And don't forget the many teachers who have died of the virus after their schools reopened. There are a few places, like Taiwan and Japan, where schools have remained open and yet covid has been handled well. I know japan is doing cohorts, but I don't know enough about Taiwan to comment- only that the Taiwanese government had experience with SARS and acted swiftly when covid was first reported in Wuhan. My sister in law is a specialist who works with children, many of whom have learning disabilities too. Because of where we live, most of her kids also come from homes where English isn't spoken. Some have supportive families, others are subject to horrible conditions. Like Amee said, reaching a child in an unsupportive home is nigh impossible. Just getting the kid on the other end of the Zoom call is an accomplishment, never mind meaningful interaction. For all the compound catastrophic failures and crimes against decency that we've seen throughout this pandemic, it is sincerely good to see that teachers are getting prioritized. My SIL has just had her first dose of vaccine, and she was telling me that teachers of the youngest children are top priority along with nurses. There was some chatter about vaccines in my yoga class yesterday, and several people there had gotten jabbed due to being healthcare workers or teachers. It's happening!
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Post by malibu on Jan 30, 2021 15:08:21 GMT -5
Unfortunately, teachers will have to go back now that they are vaccinated, I know at least one teacher who is very pissed (think of those who live with elderly/newborns/PWDs etc.)
But indeed, some children really need all the help they can't get from their own homes.
We had a neighbor in Germany, she speaks German very well although her parents barely speak the language, and it looks like she will be able to go to University after high school. I think that this is an exception (probably because they had money for private teachers and they were very serious about her education).
But for those who don't have these opportunities (probably the vast majority), I agree that they will benefit from having their teachers and classrooms back.
I don't know if there is a way for those teachers who don't want to go back to just say "no" without suffering any consequences, but I'm guessing "no."
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Post by Manda2212 on Jan 30, 2021 20:55:39 GMT -5
I do think there is a way to safely bring teachers back, tbh. If social distancing six feet or further apart, masks, and decent air flow work, they should be there teaching. The CDC has said it is safe. Children need to be learning in person. They are losing so much that they are never going to catch up on.
Before you all rush to judgement, my kindergartener has been in full time school since September 8. We are the ONLY school district around these parts that has had this ability. I fully understand it is because it is a rural area and they have the space, but minimally, most school districts should be able to offer a hybrid model. We are kept up to date with every child and staff member who has been covid positive and there has been exactly ZERO in-school transmission. If all of the safety precautions are taken the risks are very minimal. I honestly do not know how I could have coped with working a demanding job while simultaneously homeschooling my kindergartener. Gotta make that money, so I my daughter's education would have suffered and I feel incredibly bad for all of the kids out there who haven't been able to be in school at all.
I realize I am very, very lucky to have had this opportunity for my child.
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Post by matisse on Jan 31, 2021 13:37:14 GMT -5
I do think there is a way to safely bring teachers back, tbh. If social distancing six feet or further apart, masks, and decent air flow work, they should be there teaching. The CDC has said it is safe. Children need to be learning in person. They are losing so much that they are never going to catch up on. Before you all rush to judgement, my kindergartener has been in full time school since September 8. We are the ONLY school district around these parts that has had this ability. I fully understand it is because it is a rural area and they have the space, but minimally, most school districts should be able to offer a hybrid model. We are kept up to date with every child and staff member who has been covid positive and there has been exactly ZERO in-school transmission. If all of the safety precautions are taken the risks are very minimal. I honestly do not know how I could have coped with working a demanding job while simultaneously homeschooling my kindergartener. Gotta make that money, so I my daughter's education would have suffered and I feel incredibly bad for all of the kids out there who haven't been able to be in school at all. I realize I am very, very lucky to have had this opportunity for my child. I would add in N95s, that would be direct protection for the teachers. There was an N95 manufacturer on TV who said he has 4 million masks in stock. They need to push these out. He says he supplies hospitals so he is unaware of retail availability. We've done ok with distance learning, but that's only because my wife doesn't work. Our youngest is special needs, so dealing with his school is essentially a full time job.
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Post by Amee on Jan 31, 2021 14:23:11 GMT -5
Why is it a choice, though? We shouldn't be thinking of this as decreasing child welfare for the sake of the elderly, we should think of children and elderly as both bearing the brunt of covid. And don't forget the many teachers who have died of the virus after their schools reopened. I'm not sure, if I'm understanding the question, but if, when and for how long to close schools is the decision/choice I was referring to, which we have to make and which I think is a very difficult one. I agree that we should be very careful not to pit different groups against each other, though, if that's what you mean. I think that's another very real danger in the situation we're in - I know that I have to be mindful of that myself. I think Darthoso wrote some very wise words about that a while ago, if I remember correctly (something about how the craziest religions develop in extreme situations like this, when societies are trying to force compliance/obedience). Most people are forced to sacrifice or live with risks in this pandemic, some more than others, but many in very individual ways, which may not be obvious.
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Post by someonerandom on Jan 31, 2021 14:40:17 GMT -5
In my area I remember when they were going back to school you could choose to opt for distance learning, which is what I think is the best option (having the choice). So people who have the luxury of being able to school from home can do that, and others who may have difficulty learning on a computer, or working parents, can do that.
A friend of mine is a single mom and her kids recently got coronavirus at school and gave it to her. Thankfully their symptoms were either mild or non-existent, but it’s still scary to think about if they had grandma living with them or something. I don’t think there is a non-shitty answer to the school situation. It’s going to suck no matter what, and finding the least shittiest solution doesn’t have a clear path.
Sometimes there will be something good that comes out of something tragic, and I think educational technology is going to be improving rapidly, as well as societal embrace of it. Maybe this will help education in the US (assuming it gets more funding as well).
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