What do you think about with current News and Opinions?

[guest1163268]

Something to understand what nurses think about re the Current News and their opinions!

[Beerman, BSN]

1 hour ago, toomuchbaloney said:

‘People’s Convoy’ en route to D.C. Beltway, plans to loop slowly

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-VA/2022/03/05/peoples-convoy-protest-beltway-dc-region/

They are apparently demanding an end to pandemic mitigation mandates and an investigation into how the pandemic was managed by our government.  Given that quite a number of the Trucks are sporting Trump campaign flags and slogans they might be surprised what an investigation might reveal. On a side note, do protesters make demands...I thought demanding things was more in the wheelhouse of bullies, authoritarians and terrorists.

 

From your article:

"Many truckers decorated their vehicles with signs declaring their allegiance to Trump and disdain for Biden. On poster boards and tinted windows, they complained about gas prices and vaccine mandates. Using colorful markers, they proclaimed falsehoods including “Trump won.” Dozens of trucks waved American flags; a few sported Confederate flags."

In the video and pictures, I don't see any evidence of these things.  In other sources, I've seen an occasional Trump flag, but that's it.  I haven't heard protesters talk of these things in interviews.

I wonder if anyone can corroborate WaPo's description of the crowd?

[Beerman, BSN]

3 hours ago, toomuchbaloney said:

 

 

3 hours ago, toomuchbaloney said:

Why do you see reporting that contrasts actual behavior of legislators as an example of trying to portray republicans in a bad light? Heck, republicans are whining about virtual attendance to meetings by democrats while republicans are also not showing up to senate committee meetings so that Biden's nominees to the federal reserve can be approved. How can that be reported without making republicans appear as hypocritical obstructionists engaging in tantrum rather than participating in government.

 

Tweety didn't say any of those things.

Many liberals have a difficult time debating a topic without mischaracterizing statements and arguments of others.

8 minutes ago, Beerman said:

 

Tweety didn't say any of those things.

Many liberals have a difficult time debating a topic without mischaracterizing statements and arguments of others.

As you know, Tweety is fully capable of discussing this with me. I'm certain that he will mention it if he believes that I was trying to put words in his mouth or misrepresent his message.  

It is noticeable that you didn't have a comment about the actual topic of the discussion, preferring to sidetrack the conversation on some silly partisan slight. Is that a conservative strategy for debate? 

19 minutes ago, Beerman said:

From your article:

"Many truckers decorated their vehicles with signs declaring their allegiance to Trump and disdain for Biden. On poster boards and tinted windows, they complained about gas prices and vaccine mandates. Using colorful markers, they proclaimed falsehoods including “Trump won.” Dozens of trucks waved American flags; a few sported Confederate flags."

In the video and pictures, I don't see any evidence of these things.  In other sources, I've seen an occasional Trump flag, but that's it.  I haven't heard protesters talk of these things in interviews.

I wonder if anyone can corroborate WaPo's description of the crowd?

Maybe you aren't looking at credible media outlets if you aren't seeing that evidence.

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/03/1084310601/u-s-truckers-are-protesting-vaccines-even-as-pandemic-restrictions-ease

Quote

A muddy parking lot is crowded with dozens of tractor-trailers, RVs and pickups flying Trump and F Biden flags. The caravan has grown since it left California last week. It now stretches several miles long. Locals pack overpasses along the route to cheer and wave flags; others bring provisions.

Quote

A convoy spokesman says the protest is non-partisan, but it looks and feels like a rolling Trump rally. Two of their financial supporters, The America Project and the American Foundation for Civil Liberties & Freedom, push vaccine falsehoods, along with the lie that the 2020 presidential election was rigged.

The French report that the convoy is inspired or motivated by Trump sycophants and decorated with Trump campaign images. 

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220223-us-truckers-launch-the-people-s-convoy-in-pandemic-protest

Quote

Paul Alexander, a health adviser under Trump who suggested letting the coronavirus spread unchecked in the population to prompt "herd immunity," was among those who revved up the crowd, claiming that vaccines do not work.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/convoy-picks-cars-anti-ukraine-talking-points-ahead-washington-arrival-rcna18716

It seems that if you market your protest convoy on right wing social media outlets and invite Trump administration officials to rev up the crowds that news organizations will connect those things in the reporting.  

This is a worthwhile read.  Most of us know Yavanovitch as the highly regarded and skilled diplomat in Ukraine who was fired because she wasn't willing to ignore the Trump quid pro quo that jeopardized Ukranian defense against russian aggression.   

https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-ambassador-caught-between-ukraine-and-trump

Fortunately, they didn't speak much about Trump but they did ask this obvious question which led to an interesting answer.

Quote

When you look back on it, what was the effect of the Trump Presidency on Putin and his behavior toward the United States?

I can’t say for sure. Nobody’s in Putin’s head. But I think that he found it encouraging when President Trump, at the infamous Helsinki summit [in 2018], chose not to believe his own intelligence agencies [about Russian interference in the 2016 election]. He took Putin at his word publicly. That was a real blow.

If only we could review the transcripts of that one on one meeting between Trump and Putin in the hours before Trump said that he trusted Putin more than he trusted American intelligence analysis. 

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

3 hours ago, toomuchbaloney said:

This is an interesting bit of the American covid experience. 

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/03/06/world/covid-19-tests-cases-vaccine/americans-say-the-pandemic-has-added-to-the-burden-of-health-care-debt

When you couple that with the loss of "normal" hospital revenue streams for the better part of two years, it seems like fighting against mitigation strategies was very expensive in this country. 

I wonder if the majority of the Covid costs were apportioned to the unvaccinated patients who required much more ICU resources than the unvaccinated.  I don't think that kind of rigid mindset allows light to shine on the fact that remaining unvaxxwd by choice can result in catastrophic financial consequences above the physical suffering. Education for so many is so slow.

[MunoRN, RN]

2 hours ago, Beerman said:

From your article:

"Many truckers decorated their vehicles with signs declaring their allegiance to Trump and disdain for Biden. On poster boards and tinted windows, they complained about gas prices and vaccine mandates. Using colorful markers, they proclaimed falsehoods including “Trump won.” Dozens of trucks waved American flags; a few sported Confederate flags."

In the video and pictures, I don't see any evidence of these things.  In other sources, I've seen an occasional Trump flag, but that's it.  I haven't heard protesters talk of these things in interviews.

I wonder if anyone can corroborate WaPo's description of the crowd?

I'm not sure how there's much question at this point as to what the views of the 'convoy' are.  Are you saying that as far as you can tell they are evenly distributed accross the political spectrum?  

1 hour ago, subee said:

I wonder if the majority of the Covid costs were apportioned to the unvaccinated patients who required much more ICU resources than the unvaccinated.  I don't think that kind of rigid mindset allows light to shine on the fact that remaining unvaxxwd by choice can result in catastrophic financial consequences above the physical suffering. Education for so many is so slow.

There's no more grace period on covid illness from health insurers. There's good reason to vaccinate to avoid serious illness or hospitalization. 

[Beerman, BSN]

4 hours ago, toomuchbaloney said:

As you know, Tweety is fully capable of discussing this with me. I'm certain that he will mention it if he believes that I was trying to put words in his mouth or misrepresent his message.  

It is noticeable that you didn't have a comment about the actual topic of the discussion, preferring to sidetrack the conversation on some silly partisan slight. Is that a conservative strategy for debate? 

Maybe you aren't looking at credible media outlets if you aren't seeing that evidence.

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/03/1084310601/u-s-truckers-are-protesting-vaccines-even-as-pandemic-restrictions-ease

The French report that the convoy is inspired or motivated by Trump sycophants and decorated with Trump campaign images. 

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220223-us-truckers-launch-the-people-s-convoy-in-pandemic-protest

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/convoy-picks-cars-anti-ukraine-talking-points-ahead-washington-arrival-rcna18716

It seems that if you market your protest convoy on right wing social media outlets and invite Trump administration officials to rev up the crowds that news organizations will connect those things in the reporting.  

Out of all that, you have one NPR reporter describing it.  

My sources are varied.  Including local live coverage I watched online this morning.  I have a little bit of extra interest as I've been working a lot in area over the last several months, including Hagerstown. 

As I've mentioned, Confederate flags and anti-Biden signs and talk don't seem to be proliferating as some would make it sound.  Probably a few around, but far more American flags and talk of standing up for their rights.

And, yes, Tweety is very capable of speaking for himself.  I'll apologize if need be.  But, I'll speakup for whatever and whenever I wish.  Thanks for your opinion, but it seems that the value you think I have for it has in your head been greatly overinflated.

 

15 minutes ago, Beerman said:

Out of all that, you have one NPR reporter describing it.  

My sources are varied.  Including local live coverage I watched online this morning.  I have a little bit of extra interest as I've been working a lot in area over the last several months, including Hagerstown. 

As I've mentioned, Confederate flags and anti-Biden signs and talk don't seem to be proliferating as some would make it sound.  Probably a few around, but far more American flags and talk of standing up for their rights.

And, yes, Tweety is very capable of speaking for himself.  I'll apologize if need be.  But, I'll speakup for whatever and whenever I wish.  Thanks for your opinion, but it seems that the value you think I have for it has in your head been greatly overinflated.

 

Shrugs

I'm reasonably accustomed to having Trump apologists ignore evidence to maintain a belief.  In fact, the silly "convoy" is evidence of how many people in this country are willing to ignore evidence for a belief...even to take costly action on the part of those beliefs. 

3 hours ago, MunoRN said:

I'm not sure how there's much question at this point as to what the views of the 'convoy' are.  Are you saying that as far as you can tell they are evenly distributed accross the political spectrum?  

That seems to be what he's implying.

[Beerman, BSN]

6 minutes ago, toomuchbaloney said:

Shrugs

I'm reasonably accustomed to having Trump apologists ignore evidence to maintain a belief.  In fact, the silly "convoy" is evidence of how many people in this country are willing to ignore evidence for a belief...even to take costly action on the part of those beliefs. 

That seems to be what he's implying.

They are for the most part simply protesting mandates.  Not even causing any dusturbances.  It might be silly.  In that case, it's kinda funny how much time the likes of NPR and others are spending trying to paint it like a white supremacy rally.

"evidence of how many people in this country are willing to ignore evidence for a belief...even to take costly action on the part of those beliefs."

That actually sounds more like a BLM protest.

58 minutes ago, Beerman said:

They are for the most part simply protesting mandates.  Not even causing any dusturbances.  It might be silly.  In that case, it's kinda funny how much time the likes of NPR and others are spending trying to paint it like a white supremacy rally.

"evidence of how many people in this country are willing to ignore evidence for a belief...even to take costly action on the part of those beliefs."

That actually sounds more like a BLM protest.

I haven't read anything that tries to paint the protest as a white supremacy rally. 

Nah...it sounds like disgruntled white conservatives who get riled up by their media outlets and favorite public figures and then undertake armed protests or occupations of state or federal properties, or breaking into the Capitol building after emotional speeches imploring them to "STOP THE STEAL".  It includes angry conservatives yelling and acting out at school board meetings because they've believed abunch of lies about what is taught in our public schools.  Just like it included angry conservatives who believed that there was a secret liberal/Clinton child sex trafficking ring in the basement of a pizzeria. That kind of "feelings" driven action...you know what I'm talking about. 

Maybe you weren't aware that the BLM protests of 2020 were about raising awareness of police brutality and violence against unarmed black men. Are you one of the people who were offended by the scale and scope of those protests or did you fall for the accelerationism and attribute the violence and property damage to the protesters?

 

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

11 hours ago, toomuchbaloney said:

I would differ that is not what "news organizations" do.  A need to publish material which is exclusively critical of a democratic president after fawning over a Republican president is not in the realm of a "news organization, it's the in the realm of propaganda.  

Why do you see reporting that contrasts actual behavior of legislators as an example of trying to portray republicans in a bad light? Heck, republicans are whining about virtual attendance to meetings by democrats while republicans are also not showing up to senate committee meetings so that Biden's nominees to the federal reserve can be approved. How can that be reported without making republicans appear as hypocritical obstructionists engaging in tantrum rather than participating in government.

 

Fox reports actual behavior as well.  My point was that some new organizations, and I say that loosely when I talk about Fox, pick and choose what they find newsworthy and important based on their underlying agenda.

For example Salon's most popular article is about nut job Pat Robertson and his claims of Putin being called by God.  Where as Fox News is critical of Biden not boycotting Russian oil.  CNN's homepage as this "Prosecutors resigned after New York DA said he wasn't prepared to move forward with indictment of Trump"

None of these stories is presenting false information.