U.S. Politics

[StefanAVFC]

6 minutes ago, Genie said:

versus 1 in the UK.

Two! Come on, you support a team from one!  

[fruitvilla]

24 minutes ago, Genie said:

The US has 14 cities with over 1m in them (plus another 5 >930,000), versus 1 in the UK. . We’ve struggled to constrain the virus in London and the SE all along. Imagine if we had 3,  4 or 5 major cities? 

 

 Two in the UK ...  Brum is just over 1 million. The West Midlands conurbation is not trivial.

[bickster]

24 minutes ago, Genie said:

The US has 14 cities with over 1m in them (plus another 5 >930,000), versus 1 in the UK. . We’ve struggled to constrain the virus in London and the SE all along. Imagine if we had 3,  4 or 5 major cities? 

 

 

17 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said:

Two! Come on, you support a team from one!  

Cities in the US are just that, here we have Urban conglomerations with Multiple cities and towns attached to each other continuously. That puts us on about 5 above a million and a few others just shy of it. London, West Mids, greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and Glasgow are all about 1m or above. Then you have the likes of Merseyside, Southampton / Portsmouth, tyneside hitting the 800k  and above mark

[choffer]

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by choffer
Probably not legit but it made me laugh.

[bickster]

8 hours ago, choffer said:

 

1. The guy filming it is obviously finding it hilarious

2. He's obviously on the inside of the gates

[sidcow]

52 minutes ago, Genie said:

The US has 14 cities with over 1m in them (plus another 5 >930,000), versus 1 in the UK. . We’ve struggled to constrain the virus in London and the SE all along. Imagine if we had 3,  4 or 5 major cities? 

 

Yeah, but that's not (or less) relevant when looking at population density.  Those vast cities are accounted for in the far larger population. 

But if they have say 100m people living in isolated rural communities (1/3) of population compared to us having, I don't know, only 5% of population in isolated rural communities, we're on a sticky wicket stopping the spread through the population. 

My wife grew up in a small village but its a 20 minute drive to Birmingham from there and 20 minutes to Nuneaton, 10 minutes Tamworth.  So whilst a small country village, it's not isolated at all.

You would have thousands of similar sized towns in USA that are probably hours drive away from any population centre. 

I'm not saying this is the reason, it's just odd and there must be some explanation.  I know the general consensus is that we've managed it badly, but at least there has been some management rather than totally ignoring it. 

Edited January 19, 2021 by sidcow

[sharkyvilla]

7 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Yeah, but that's not (or less) relevant when looking at population density.  Those vast cities are accounted for in the far larger population. 

But if they have say 100m people living in isolated rural communities (1/3) of population compared to us having, I don't know, only 5% of population in isolated rural communities, were on a sticky wicket stopping the spread through the population. 

My wife grew up in a small village but its a 20 minute drive to Birmingham from there and 20 minutes to Nuneaton, 10 minutes Tamworth.  So whilst a small country village, it's not isolated at all.

You would have thousands of similar sized towns in USA that are probably hours drive away from any population centre. 

I'm not saying this is the reason, it's just odd and there must be some explanation.  I know the general consensus is that we've managed it badly, but at least there has been some management rather than totally ignoring it. 

I've not actually seen any concrete studies but it always seemed logical to me that population density would have a major impact on the spread of covid and Europe in general would suffer more than the U.S.  I have the impression that while a lot of American cities are big, lots of them are quite insular and don't get a huge amount of tourism for example.

[HanoiVillan]

I think there are several factors behind our higher per-capita death rate, but two that seem particularly likely:

1 - our houses and workplaces are smaller, more badly-ventilated and we have a higher proportion of multi-generation households;

2 - because of our proximity to the outbreaks in Italy and the ski resorts, and complete lack of travel restrictions, the virus 'seeded' in more locations at the start of the pandemic as a proportion of the size of the country

EDIT: I think these are more plausible as explanations than simply 'higher population density' as a raw measure, though of course both these points interact with 'higher population density' as well.

Edited January 19, 2021 by HanoiVillan

[chrisp65]

On a small country level, it was clear very early on that the M4 corridor got hit first and got hit hard. Newport, Cardiff, Swansea recording bad numbers whilst those awkward to get to West wales towns like Cardigan and Aberystwyth were looking really impressive.

It wasn’t that the people of Machynlleth were better at washing their hands than the people of Merthyr. It was that the people of Merthyr were leaving their terraced houses, piling in the three coach trains down to their jobs in Cardiff which was connected bigly to London, Bristol, Birmingham.

Same story then for North East Wales, with Wrexham getting worse figures than Llandrindod Wells.

Elsewhere, Cornwall was doing really well, right up to the point ‘London’ decided to go there for the summer holidays.

I don’t know, but I would expect, Glasgow to have worse stats than Arran would be my guess.

[HanoiVillan]

Just catching up on the affidavits, and the endless haul of the mad and the bad is both funny and depressing at the same time.

In fairness to Pham Tam Dinh, 18-year veteran of the Houston Police Department, how could he have possibly foreseen the advanced detective techniques they would use on him?:

'PHAM initially told The Agents he was in Washington, DC from January 5 – 7, 2021 for business reasons. He stated that he briefly attended President Trump's rally on January 6, 2021 but initially denied going to the Capitol building. The Agents asked PHAM if they could look at the pictures on PHAM's cell phone during the time he was in Washington, DC. PHAM agreed to show them the photos on his phone. As PHAM was showing The Agents the photos, they noticed there were no photos in the album for the dates that PHAM had traveled to Washington, DC. Special Agent Slaughter asked PHAM if she could go to his Deleted photo album. PHAM agreed, and in that album, there were pictures and videos that were readily identifiable as being of the interior of the Capitol building. At this time, Special Agent Slaughter advised PHAM that it was unlawful for him to make false statements to The Agents.'

(from: https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/Tam Dinh Pham Statement of Facts.pdf)

Like Pham, Guy 'Ice Cool Under Pressure' Reffitt was also concerned about his post-riot security, but pursued it with more, uh, vigour:

'20. On January 16, 2021, FBI agents executed a search warrant on REFFITT’s home in Wylie, Texas. Present during the execution of the search warrant were REFFITT, REFFITT’s spouse (Spouse), and REFFITT’s minor daughter (Daughter). REFFITT’s adult son (Son) came to the house during the execution of the search warrant . . .

22. Son provided the following information: On or about Monday, January 11, 2021, while REFFITT was in REFFITT’s home with Son and Daughter, REFFITT stated that REFFITT had to “erase everything” because the FBI was now watching REFFITT. REFFITT further told Son that if Son crossed the line and reported REFFITT to the police, putting the family in jeopardy, REFFITT would have no option but to do REFFITT’s duty for REFFITT’s country, and “do what he had to do.” Son asked REFFIT words to the effect of, “Are you threatening us?” REFFITT responded with words to the effect of, “Don’t put words in my mouth.” Son understood REFFITT’s statements to be a threat to Son’s life . . .

25. Spouse provided the following information: On January 11, 2021, Son and Daughter stated to Spouse that, during an argument at the house earlier that day, when Spouse was not at home, REFFITT stated to Son and Daughter words to the effect of: “If you turn me in, you’re a traitor and you know what happens to traitors...traitors get shot.”'

(from: https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/Guy Reffitt Affidavit and Arrest Warrant.pdf)

What a charmer.

Finally, the former lover of Riley Williams, accused of stealing Nancy Pelosi's laptop, has a fairly eye-catching accusation about what she intend(s/ed) to do with it:

'9. In the days following the January 6, 2021, events, a witness (“W1”) made several phone calls into the FBI’s telephone tip line related to the U.S. Capitol attacks. I have reviewed documentation of several of those calls. In them, the caller stated that he/she was the former romantic partner of RILEY JUNE WILLIAMS (“WILLIAMS”), that he/she saw WILLIAMS depicted in video footage taken on January 6, 2021, from inside the U.S. Capitol Building . . . W1 also claimed to have spoken to friends of WILLIAMS, who showed W1 a video ofWILLIAMS taking a laptop computer or hard drive fro m Speaker Pelosi’s office. W1 stated thatWILLIAMS intended to send the computer device to a friend in Russia, who then planned to sell the device to SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence service. According to W1, the transfer of the computer device to Russia fell through for unknown reasons and WILLIAMS still has the computer device or destroyed it. This matter remains under investigation.'

(from: https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/Riley Williams Statement of Facts.pdf)

EDIT: Very strong energy from the last one:

Edited January 20, 2021 by HanoiVillan

[HanoiVillan]

Meanwhile, the actual institutional Republican party is also interested in making sure elections have a different outcome next time:

 

[TheAuthority]

39 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

Just catching up on the affidavits, and the endless haul of the mad and the bad is both funny and depressing at the same time.

In fairness to Pham Tam Dinh, 18-year veteran of the Houston Police Department, how could he have possibly foreseen the advanced detective techniques they would use on him?:

'PHAM initially told The Agents he was in Washington, DC from January 5 – 7, 2021 for business reasons. He stated that he briefly attended President Trump's rally on January 6, 2021 but initially denied going to the Capitol building. The Agents asked PHAM if they could look at the pictures on PHAM's cell phone during the time he was in Washington, DC. PHAM agreed to show them the photos on his phone. As PHAM was showing The Agents the photos, they noticed there were no photos in the album for the dates that PHAM had traveled to Washington, DC. Special Agent Slaughter asked PHAM if she could go to his Deleted photo album. PHAM agreed, and in that album, there were pictures and videos that were readily identifiable as being of the interior of the Capitol building. At this time, Special Agent Slaughter advised PHAM that it was unlawful for him to make false statements to The Agents.'

(from: https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/Tam Dinh Pham Statement of Facts.pdf)

Like Pham, Guy 'Ice Cool Under Pressure' Reffitt was also concerned about his post-riot security, but pursued it with more, uh, vigour:

'20. On January 16, 2021, FBI agents executed a search warrant on REFFITT’s home in Wylie, Texas. Present during the execution of the search warrant were REFFITT, REFFITT’s spouse (Spouse), and REFFITT’s minor daughter (Daughter). REFFITT’s adult son (Son) came to the house during the execution of the search warrant . . .

22. Son provided the following information: On or about Monday, January 11, 2021, while REFFITT was in REFFITT’s home with Son and Daughter, REFFITT stated that REFFITT had to “erase everything” because the FBI was now watching REFFITT. REFFITT further told Son that if Son crossed the line and reported REFFITT to the police, putting the family in jeopardy, REFFITT would have no option but to do REFFITT’s duty for REFFITT’s country, and “do what he had to do.” Son asked REFFIT words to the effect of, “Are you threatening us?” REFFITT responded with words to the effect of, “Don’t put words in my mouth.” Son understood REFFITT’s statements to be a threat to Son’s life . . .

25. Spouse provided the following information: On January 11, 2021, Son and Daughter stated to Spouse that, during an argument at the house earlier that day, when Spouse was not at home, REFFITT stated to Son and Daughter words to the effect of: “If you turn me in, you’re a traitor and you know what happens to traitors...traitors get shot.”'

(from: https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/Guy Reffitt Affidavit and Arrest Warrant.pdf)

What a charmer.

Finally, the former lover of Riley Williams, accused of stealing Nancy Pelosi's laptop, has a fairly eye-catching accusation about what she intend(s/ed) to do with it:

'9. In the days following the January 6, 2021, events, a witness (“W1”) made several phone calls into the FBI’s telephone tip line related to the U.S. Capitol attacks. I have reviewed documentation of several of those calls. In them, the caller stated that he/she was the former romantic partner of RILEY JUNE WILLIAMS (“WILLIAMS”), that he/she saw WILLIAMS depicted in video footage taken on January 6, 2021, from inside the U.S. Capitol Building . . . W1 also claimed to have spoken to friends of WILLIAMS, who showed W1 a video ofWILLIAMS taking a laptop computer or hard drive fro m Speaker Pelosi’s office. W1 stated thatWILLIAMS intended to send the computer device to a friend in Russia, who then planned to sell the device to SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence service. According to W1, the transfer of the computer device to Russia fell through for unknown reasons and WILLIAMS still has the computer device or destroyed it. This matter remains under investigation.'

(from: https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/Riley Williams Statement of Facts.pdf)

EDIT: Very strong energy from the last one:

wow. Thank goodness we have these smart folks amongst us to expose the secret cabal conspiracy and decode the Q information.

In all seriousness @HanoiVillan thanks for trawling through all that junk for our entertainment!

[TheAuthority]

 

[Genie]

9 hours ago, StefanAVFC said:

Two! Come on, you support a team from one!  

The place I got the data from says 1 

https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/cities/united-kingdom

Edited January 20, 2021 by Genie

[Genie]

8 hours ago, sidcow said:

I know the general consensus is that we've managed it badly, but at least there has been some management rather than totally ignoring it. 

We’ve managed it worse than an absolute madman who made almost no attempt to protect his people and spent most of the time denying there was even a problem. 
All your other points are valid though (thanks). 

[Genie]

8 hours ago, fruitvilla said:

 Two in the UK ...  Brum is just over 1 million. The West Midlands conurbation is not trivial.

I used this site for the UK stats, they have it just under a million for Birmingham. 

Either way, I’m not sure in the UK we’re in a very strong position to point the finger across the pond at how badly Trump managed the pandemic.

Edited January 20, 2021 by Genie

[Genie]

 

 

[sidcow]

46 minutes ago, Genie said:

The place I got the data from says 1 

https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/cities/united-kingdom

Population of Birmingham is about 1.1m.

Birmingham conurbation is about 3 - 4m depending on how you measure it. 

I've not seen any other statistics putting Birmingham population below 1m since the 60's.

Not that it really matters all that much. 

 

https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/

Birmingham population

1,141,400 people live in Birmingham according to the 2018 mid-year population estimates. This is an increase of 4,300 (0.4%) people since 2017.

 

Edited January 20, 2021 by sidcow

[Davkaus]

35 minutes ago, Genie said:

We’ve managed it worse than an absolute madman who made almost no attempt to protect his people and spent most of the time denying there was even a problem. 
All your other points are valid though (thanks). 

A higher deaths per capita than a country whose leader thought injecting bleach might be worth looking into. That man is so **** mental it's hard to keep track  of everything ludicrous he's done.

 

[sidcow]

He's pardoned some Hippity Hop singer for firearms offences. 

Truly the party of law and order.