CR: COVID-19 --Political Talk

[NameAlreadyInUse 5112]

So wild assed idea, if I’m a hospital doctor, could I sue these people spreading covid misinformation for defamation?  They are impugning my reputation as a care giver and making people less likely to use my services, therefore causing me financial harm. Does that work or do I have to be named directly before I can sue? If that worked, making these people pay would hopefully drastically reduce the misinformation going around at the very least. 

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20400]

I read that Ivermectin won a Nobel prize for its role in treating parasitic diseases in developing countries and thought that, in a way, that's kind of what it's doing right now in the U.S.

 

 

[lemonlime 5503]

I'm starting to root for the virus.

 

[Guest Lobo]

This is gonna sound misogynist, but I don't care.  

You can literally feel the cuntiness oozing out of that woman over his left shoulder in the eyeglasses. 

If you say "cunt" three times in a mirror at midnight, she appears behind you and asks to speak with Satan's Manager.  

I don't who that kid is, but he's got a quiet leadership quality to him that will serve him well in life.  Provided he gets as far away from that fucking town he can. 

[Anastasis 23469]

2 minutes ago, Lobo said:

cuntiness oozing out of that woman over his left shoulder in the eyeglasses. 

well shit, I thought that was mayonnaise. 

Edited September 8, 2021 by Anastasis

[mdmost 43001]

Kids should've turned around and double birded the two sign cunts behind him. 

[Post Oak 20213]

37 minutes ago, lemonlime said:

I'm starting to root for the virus.

 

that cunt needs to fucking go.  painfully, quickly and all alone.

[wildcat09 29354]

9 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

that cunt needs to fucking go.  painfully, quickly and all alone.

No, not quickly.

[Post Oak 20213]

36 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

that cunt needs to fucking go.  painfully, quickly and all alone.

Twitter has found her name and her place of employment.  She's done.

Erica Casher

[GreenspointTexas 9602]

Jesus

[DDD Dad 14339]

20 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

Twitter has found her name and her place of employment.  She's done.

Erica Casher

 

[Bevo14 8311]

1 hour ago, lemonlime said:

I'm starting to root for the virus.

 

[Trey3216 15346]

18 hours ago, Dontshootrude said:

I don't typically frequent the cloak room, even when I was much more active in this community back when it was on the old scat board.

My personal opinion is that in order to get our vaccination rates jacked up while avoiding a lot of violence we need another round of stimulus that is tied to your vaccination status.  If everyone got $500+ for every household member that can prove vaccination I think you'd see a lot of hesitancy disappear overnight.  We've spent so much money, what's another couple hundred billion to fully crush the pandemic and get our economy back on track?   

Because we're never going to crush the pandemic, because it's fucking endemic and just getting going.  

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20400]

No comorbidities here!

 

 

[Homercles 10205]

27 minutes ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

No comorbidities here!

 

 

[WhatTheBuck 28781]

1 hour ago, Post Oak said:

Erica Casher

It’s time for a Casherless society. 

[OneOfTheOutOfFocusGuys 2077]

perusing r/HermanCainAwards and started wondering about the scale of kids being orphaned from this, particularly in SEC country.  so many seem to be 35 year olds with 2 sub 10 year old kids. are the numbers big enough that it is something to be worried about?  are we just assuming the system absorb them as well as any orphan?

[cactusflinthead 27598]

^ I dunno. I haven't seen anything about it. It cannot be good for an already stressed part of the social net. 

I saw a post from a Denton City Council member asking us, for the umpteenth time, get vaxxed and mask up indoors and pointed at her 50somethin friend with health issues. Friendo was having a hard time getting an icu bed back on 9/4. 

They had one adult icu bed available at the time of her posting.

I checked her link earlier this morning and we were up to 12 beds out of 103. That's still a fucked up mess. 663 dead out of 70k+ cases. Imagine it's the body count from a tornado. Or any other catastrophic event. It's the lead story. Here and now that won't make a quiver on the needle.

Horse paste and aquarium cleaner.

These writers are getting crazier.

[Macanudo 12979]

46 minutes ago, OneOfTheOutOfFocusGuys said:

perusing r/HermanCainAwards and started wondering about the scale of kids being orphaned from this, particularly in SEC country.  so many seem to be 35 year olds with 2 sub 10 year old kids. are the numbers big enough that it is something to be worried about?  are we just assuming the system absorb them as well as any orphan?

That sounds like an excellent question for Abbott and his ilk to answer.   After all, they are the Party of "We care about the children", right?

[Horn Dog 9855]

16 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

How about an annual $10,000 tax per person on your income tax return that’s not vaccinated and is eligible to be vaccinated.

 

14 hours ago, cactusflinthead said:

Carrot or stick. Don't care. 

If it takes giving a couple of hundred to everyone like donuts after giving blood. Get it going. 

I've been on record around here that if you don't want your kid to be vaxxed for the same stuff as the rest of us because you have some objection other than medical then you don't get to have a license.

for anything. No plumbing, fishing, driving, hunting, flying, hair cutting, doctor, banker, lawyer ANYTHING that requires a license you are now blacklisted until you relent. Go live in the fucking boonies off the grid. Take the money or don't, but everyone that can medically withstand it gets stuck. 

I give absolutely no fucks about your moral, ethical or any other objections. Get out.

Full on Levitical. Get your ass out of the camp sicko. 

If the Dems had balls, this would be a great time to use the Conservative talking points against them.  Let the free market decide!   Biden needs to sign a executive order allowing insurance companies to immediately price health insurance with respect to COVID risk/vaccination status as the free market allows.  Since anti-vaxxers are many times more likely to be hospitalized and require extremely expensive ICU care, this needs to be priced into their policies immediately.  It would be SOCIALISM to allow those of use that believe in science and modern medical care to subsidize their choices! 

[RDCanecutter 26443]

15 hours ago, cactusflinthead said:

Carrot or stick. Don't care. 

Or a bag full of carrots. You can beat the hell out of somebody with a bag full of carrots.

[Captainant 27669]

28 minutes ago, Macanudo said:

That sounds like an excellent question for Abbott and his ilk to answer.   After all, they are the Party of "We care about the children", right?

None of them give a shit about children. They just want to control women and screeching about fetuses is the most convenient macguffin to leverage

[BrickHorn 18234]

1 minute ago, Captainant said:

None of them give a shit about children. They just want to control women and screeching about fetuses is the most convenient macguffin to leverage

I was talking to my dad the other day and he brought up pro-lifers. Dude voted for Trump in 2016 and was a devoted, team-identity, Fox News-watching GOPer until late last year who would’ve used abortion as a go-to “what-about” argument in any political debate. 

He’s now saying things like “I don’t like abortion, but the new Texas law is crazy” and “Pro-lifers don’t care about life, they only care about birth.” It’s been a hell of a redemption story for my old man. Makes it much more fun to talk politics with him these days, for sure.

[RDCanecutter 26443]

2 hours ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

No comorbidities here!

 

 

Now I am going to have nightmares of being chased through corridors by a large cheerful chipmunk.

[jimmyjazz 45956]

6 minutes ago, BrickHorn said:

It’s been a hell of a redemption story for my old man. 

My Dad was a caring, conservative Christian, a true "love the sinner, hate the sin" kind of guy.  He felt homosexuality was an abomination, although he didn't target gays with any kind of vitriol.  Then my sister founded a summer stock theater, and my parents would house actors every summer.  They became very close with one Broadway actor who would fly in from NYC to take lead roles in a couple of productions, and stay at our house for weeks.  This guy was gay, and eventually he died of AIDS.  It wrecked my Dad.  His entire view of homosexuality changed because of it.  I was so damn proud of him.

[Bama Chick 28596]

I was talking to my dad the other day and he brought up pro-lifers. Dude voted for Trump in 2016 and was a devoted, team-identity, Fox News-watching GOPer until late last year who would’ve used abortion as a go-to “what-about” argument in any political debate. 
He’s now saying things like “I don’t like abortion, but the new Texas law is crazy” and “Pro-lifers don’t care about life, they only care about birth.” It’s been a hell of a redemption story for my old man. Makes it much more fun to talk politics with him these days, for sure.

Can I get your old man to call my old man?

[Trey3216 15346]

1 hour ago, Horn Dog said:

 

If the Dems had balls, this would be a great time to use the Conservative talking points against them.  Let the free market decide!   Biden needs to sign a executive order allowing insurance companies to immediately price health insurance with respect to COVID risk/vaccination status as the free market allows.  Since anti-vaxxers are many times more likely to be hospitalized and require extremely expensive ICU care, this needs to be priced into their policies immediately.  It would be SOCIALISM to allow those of use that believe in science and modern medical care to subsidize their choices! 

I guess we could also create student loans for kids to pay their share of weight on the system when they fail repeatedly in those areas where in person schooling was outlawed... Or make the teachers give up 1-2 years pension benefits, etc.     It's only fair if we make everyone do their part  

[lemonlime 5503]

These assholes need to be stuck homeschooling their spoiled brats.

 

[Longhorn_Fan68 33870]

 

[Longhorn_Fan68 33870]

I'm not sure I've ever read a more "no fucking shit" headline

 

[YChang 3444]

1 hour ago, RDCanecutter said:

Now I am going to have nightmares of being chased through corridors by a large cheerful chipmunk.

I think that would make for a cool character in one of your whimsical drawings. How about a series of Edward Gorey-like characters. So C for cheerful chipmunk etc.. so like trailing after her is the grim reaper.

[ChickenSandwich 9836]

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo fiercely defended a controversial $11 million COVID-19 outreach project awarded to Elevate Strategies - a one-woman company with a very short 19-month track record headquartered in a Montrose Apartment.

Turns out, Elevate Strategies actually lost the competition, coming in second behind the $7 million bid of The University of Texas Health Science Center, a renowned institution with plenty of resources.

But that's when this COVID-19 Communication saga reversed course.

Harris County Purchasing Agent Dewight Dopslauf tells FOX 26 the contract committee later contacted his office to disqualify UT-Health, claiming the winning bidder was behind schedule on an existing project with the County.

And just like that, runner-up Elevate Strategies was back in the game.

With Hidalgo's current chief-of-staff Alex Triantaphyllis as its ranking member, standard "financial fitness" requirements were eventually "waived" and the contract committee voted to recommend Elevate Strategies for an $11-million-dollar contract - a substantial $4 million dollar premium over the bid from UT Health.  

 

 

Serious questions emerge around $11 million Harris County COVID-19 contract (fox26houston.com)

[Anastasis 23469]

31 minutes ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

I'm not sure I've ever read a more "no fucking shit" headline

 

 

Would be nice if they actually showed the data and analysis. Article is nothing but click bait. 

[Biff Tannen 45685]

23 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo fiercely defended a controversial $11 million COVID-19 outreach project awarded to Elevate Strategies - a one-woman company with a very short 19-month track record headquartered in a Montrose Apartment.

Turns out, Elevate Strategies actually lost the competition, coming in second behind the $7 million bid of The University of Texas Health Science Center, a renowned institution with plenty of resources.

But that's when this COVID-19 Communication saga reversed course.

Harris County Purchasing Agent Dewight Dopslauf tells FOX 26 the contract committee later contacted his office to disqualify UT-Health, claiming the winning bidder was behind schedule on an existing project with the County.

And just like that, runner-up Elevate Strategies was back in the game.

With Hidalgo's current chief-of-staff Alex Triantaphyllis as its ranking member, standard "financial fitness" requirements were eventually "waived" and the contract committee voted to recommend Elevate Strategies for an $11-million-dollar contract - a substantial $4 million dollar premium over the bid from UT Health.  

 

 

Serious questions emerge around $11 million Harris County COVID-19 contract (fox26houston.com)

I guess I'm not old enough to remember when you were running to the CR every single day with the latest grift and corruption story from the last admin.

[Js1 85338]

Woah, TIL that Lina's COS' brother and I used to work at the same firm in Houston. 

[Longhorn_Fan68 33870]

fart noises

 

[Beau Vine 54230]

[elfenix 34241]

a murdoch owned media outlet just asking questions!

[ChickenSandwich 9836]

1 hour ago, Biff Tannen said:

I guess I'm not old enough to remember when you were running to the CR every single day with the latest grift and corruption story from the last admin.

Wasn’t aware she is a member of the current administration. The more you know. 

[WBT 20572]

1 hour ago, Biff Tannen said:

I guess I'm not old enough to remember when you were running to the CR every single day with the latest grift and corruption story from the last admin.

Enlighten me about Ed Emmett's biggest corruption scandal.

[Pancho 44804]

5 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

It’s time for a Casherless society. 

[DDD Dad 14339]

6 hours ago, DDD Dad said:

 

Can anyone read the text at the bottom of those pre-printed signs?  Seems like someone was very organized about preparing professional looking signage....

[WBT 20572]

8 minutes ago, WBT said:

Enlighten me about Ed Emmett's biggest corruption scandal.

The contract has been cancelled in any case.

Spoiler

Hidalgo to cancel controversial $11 million vaccine outreach contract, saying it has become politicized

 

Zach Despart, Staff writer

Sep. 8, 2021Updated: Sep. 8, 2021 4:37 p.m.

 

Comments

 

3

 

1of3

County Commissioners Jacl Cagle, left and Tom Ramsey during Harris County Commissioners Court Tuesday, July 20, 2021 in Houston.

Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

 

 

 

 

 

•  
•  
•  

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo on Wednesday said she would cancel a controversial vaccine outreach contract after the Republican commissioners had accused her of steering the work toward a Democratic firm with no public health expertise.

“The way it’s being politicized is getting the way of getting people vaccinated,” Hidalgo said. “It’s really sad, but it’s the truth of the matter. We need to focus on so many other efforts.”

Commissioners Jack Cagle and Tom Ramsey said Tuesday they failed to understand how Elevate Strategies had won the contract, despite submitting a more expensive bid than the University of Texas Health Science Center, which received the most points in a county scoring competition.

Instead of hiring a more qualified medical institution for the work, Cagle said the county used a flawed process to choose a partisan communications firm to build relationships with precisely the voters Democrats hope to turn out come election time.

Elevate Strategies is run by Felicity Pereyra, who also assisted the 2015 Houston mayoral campaign of Democrat Adrian Garcia, the current Precinct 2 commissioner and worked on Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

“You’re going to go knocking on doors, asking people for information, only in some communities and not others,” Cagle said. “It just has a smell to it.”

Hidalgo said her office has done nothing improper and that the county selected the vendor best-equipped to persuade hesitant residents to get inoculated. She accused Cagle of mischaracterizing Elevate Strategies at the last court meeting, which devolved into a shouting match, and suggested her colleagues were acting in service of a Republican smear campaign.

“If we’re asking is this data going to be funneled to a shadow Democratic group — gosh, if they’re going to that level of allegation, seriously, at some point it’s a conspiracy theory,” Hidalgo said Wednesday.

She said privacy rules in the contract would ensure data is not misused. Nonetheless, the county judge said the contract had become so politicized that it risked undermining residents’ trust in Harris County efforts to get them vaccinated.

Through last week, 50 percent of county residents were fully vaccinated, though that figure varies widely by zip code. The vaccination rate per 100,000 residents in 77013, Northshore, is less than half of the rate in 77024, which includes the Memorial Villages in West Houston.

Hidalgo in March proposed hiring an outside firm to plan an outreach campaign targeting areas with low vaccination rates. The county purchasing office published a request for proposals and received four from vendors.

Hidalgo created a five-member reviewing committee consisting of two members of the county health department and three from the county judge’s office, including her chief of staff, Alex Triantaphyllis.

County Purchaser DeWight Dopslauf told the Chronicle including staff from political offices is uncommon; Hidalgo spokesman Rafael Lemaitre countered that the arrangement was proper, given how involved Hidalgo’s team has been in directing the county response to the pandemic.

The committee scored each proposal using a rubric that evaluated factors such as a firm’s experience, management capacity and plans to canvas neighborhoods. UT Health Science Center at Houston bid of $7.5 million placed first, with an average score of 48; Elevate Strategies came in second at 40.8 with a bid of $19.3 million. The two other vendors trailed far behind.

The two health department members, Community Health Project Manager Dixie Sasu and Senior Policy Planner Staci Lofton, gave UT Health an average score of 58 and just 26 to Elevate.

Dopslauf said the competition was a preliminary evaluation, which was followed by presentations by the vendors to the committee. After this stage, he said, the committee selected Elevate as the winner. The county began negotiations with the firm, and settled on a lower fee for services at $11 million.

Dopslauf said in most cases, the winner of RFP scoring competitions is awarded the contract, however sometimes presentations reveal deficiencies in a bidder’s proposal.

Lemaitre, Hidalgo’s spokesman, said the committee was concerned the UT Health proposal was not ambitious enough and relied in part on using medical students for canvassing. He said Elevate, in contrast, had a robust plan to go door-to-door visiting with residents.

“The intent was to use the innovation of campaign-style persuasion,” Lemaitre said. “It didn’t have to be Democrat or Republican, or partisan. Whoever had that expertise is what we were looking for.”

He added that a factor the committee weighed was UT Health’s poor performance on a previous county contract related to COVID-19 research. Spokeswomen for UT Health did not respond to a request for comment. Lemaitre did not provide any records documenting prior poor performance by UT Health.

Ramsey said he was dubious of the committee’s explanation for passing over the medical institution.

“Why would you even accept a proposal from UT Health if, in your mind, you’ve already decided to disqualify them?” Ramsey said.

Republicans have seized on the episode, which they say is evidence of unethical behavior by Hidalgo. Conservative commentator Bill King, who twice ran for mayor of Houston, over the weekend accused Hidalgo of misusing money for political purposes and said she should resign.

Ramsey declined to go that far, saying he wants to remain focused on the vaccine outreach contract. Cagle said the question of Hidalgo’s fate is best left to voters; she is up for re-election next year.

zach.despart@chron.com

 

[Gap03 3307]

6 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

Can anyone read the text at the bottom of those pre-printed signs?  Seems like someone was very organized about preparing professional looking signage....

It's these fuckers:

https://tnrising.org/why-do-we-oppose-mask-requirements-at-schools/

Probably more astroturfing by the Kochs and/or the DeVoses. 

Edited September 8, 2021 by Gap03
Can't forget Betsy, who is probably still intent on finishing off public education.

[Dontshootrude 374]

6 hours ago, Trey3216 said:

Because we're never going to crush the pandemic, because it's fucking endemic and just getting going.  

Crush the pandemic = widespread immunity such that our healthcare system is no longer in danger of being swamped with cases and COVID becomes the next cold virus.  You are right that it will be here forever, but once it isn't able to cause a significant amount of severe disease it is no longer an emergency.

[DDD Dad 14339]

2 minutes ago, Dontshootrude said:

Crush the pandemic = widespread immunity such that our healthcare system is no longer in danger of being swamped with cases and COVID becomes the next cold virus.  You are right that it will be here forever, but once it isn't able to cause a significant amount of severe disease it is no longer an emergency.

[Anastasis 23469]

So Biden gonna drop his plan tomorrow.  IMO, distribution of 15m point of care tests to every household in the United States should be part of that plan. The supplies at retail outlets have dried up.  It's amazing that still at this point in the pandemic we have not pushed out a nationwide distribution of rapid test capacity. If I was Bezos I would have mobilized on this and used my Amazon distribution network.  Might have had to delay my purple penis ride into space but it would be have been a good investment from a number of different angles. 

Edited September 8, 2021 by Anastasis

[Anastasis 23469]

Damn @staboner things kinda fucked up down under?

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/news/nsw-health-limits-residents-of-lockeddown-tower-block-to-six-beers-per-day/news-story/0e387ceccee145a611ddb6e38872d3d5

 

Residents in apartment blocks locked-down by NSW Health are having their alcohol deliveries policed as part of a policy to limit the number of drinks being consumed each day.

NSW Health has imposed rules limiting people in “NSW Health controlled buildings” to a certain amount of alcohol each day in a bid to “ensure the safety of health staff and residents”.

[Post Oak 20213]

11 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

So Biden gonna drop his plan tomorrow.  IMO, distribution of 15m point of care tests to every household in the United States should be part of that plan. The supplies at retail outlets have dried up.  It's amazing that still at this point in the pandemic we have pushed out a nationwide distribution. If I was Bezos I would have mobilized on this and used my Amazon distribution network.  Might have had to delay my purple penis ride into space but it would be have been a good investment from a number of different angles. 

Bezos doesn't care about other people.  But it would've been nice.

[Foosters 17856]

2 hours ago, Js1 said:

Woah, TIL that Lina's COS' brother and I used to work at the same firm in Houston. 

LOL, I know both of them.