" Not only are they putting themselves into harm's way, they are also affecting seriously the ability of others to stay well and stay alive."

Am I my brother's keeper?
~Cain (R)

"If someone says Covid victims deserve to die because they chose not to wear a mask, then they must also feel that AIDS victims who engaged in unprotected sex deserve to die because they chose not to wear a condom."

Stupid analogy when Covid can be widely spread without ANY human contact.

As one gay comic put it, "Yeah, it's the same ... provided after a wild evening of random, unprotected sex ... I go home and f^^k my grandma."

Trump fancies himself a kingmaker.

Or, in Lindsay Graham's case ... .

^You forgot-

Me me me me me me me!

"You?"

Wha?!? Why is everyone so obsessed with ME?

"You know what would be even better at preventing COVID?"

Yeah: masking, vaccines, and knowledge of asymptomatic contagion.

Oh ... and The Party of Responsibility taking some responsibility.

"The top 1% of income earners is paying both of our fair shares."

Nonsense. Especially if they pay 8%, and you pay 28%.

"it doesn't matter who "drives" it."

Nonsense; of course it does. It matters who writes it and who champions it. You can't pin any of the Trump giveaway on the party of zero votes.

The scale also matters; if one code raises a few taxes here and there, and another slashes taxes everywhere at three times the cost, the latter incident is much more impactful.

And it matters for the reasons as well: the more societal credits are jammed onto the 1040, the "percentage who don't pay (income) taxes" goes up. Guess which party writes a law excluding more folks from income taxes one day, then complains a higher percentage "don't pay taxes" the next?

"implying that the cuts were driven by the Republicans."

That's only because the cuts were driven by the Republicans.

Authors, and all....

Also, pretending one "tax cut" is like another is ludicrous.

The most lopsided tax code I thought I'd ever see was the GWB second code. Fully 27% went to the top 1%. But that's peanuts: once Trump's code comes to fruition, it's 83% to the top 1%...with 60% going to the top .1%.

And since it's on top of a deficit budget, it's all newly borrowed money. Another 10% of all the debt we've rung up since 1776. We're literally borrowing money to give away to the world's richest 1%.

Where are the deficit hawks, wanting to enforce a debt ceiling now???

"both parties are responsible for the tax laws. "

Republicans have been the authors for the cuts, with a few Dem votes back in 81 and 86 under Reagan. The Clinton increases had D votes, of course, but that's where the "both parties" concept ends.

From there, the GW Bush cuts had almost zero D votes, the "Obama increase" was just the sunset the Republicans wrote, and the Trump code didn't get a single Dem vote.

Ultimately, Dems voted to get America on the path to Surplusville. Rs changed the fiscal sites to Debtsylvania. The "both parties" claim is debunked by the equation.

"schools with mask mandates better at avoiding COVID"

Why, you'd almost think it was passed by water vapor droplets, and symptoms get worse as dosage concentrates or continues.

" No, those are your odds of already being dead."

Exactly; hence the odds always getting worse: the full denominator has been used every time since the start.

" Looks like it's time to killfile another small mind who is obsessed with me."

Looks like Goatman is talking about people ... again. Someone should quote Eleanor Roosevelt to him.

Side note: you'll notice the main barometer of being blocked is not going along with his current lie.

Positively Trumpian.

" Your odds of dying are around 1/55.6k"

Why have those "odds" gone up every time you've reported?

And what are the odds of long-haul symptoms, or passing the deadly disease asymptomatcally to others?

" Is he a drug addict with life long bad life choices?"

He's you; just older.

"I don't want to pay for your medical care"

I understand you "don't want" it.

But there's a dying, destitute man on your doorstep. What do you do?

" all ponzi schemes are "

If you think SS is a Ponzi scheme, you don't understand Ponzi schemes, which are always opaque, and have no ability to reach equilibrium. You also don't don't seem to understand the concept of an equilibrium equation. Try this: one point added to both the worker's side and the hirer's side would put the SS equation into equilibrium into perpetuity (which in actuarial jargon is 75 years).

"(Medicaid) is subsidizing poor life choices."

Are you advocating letting people die in the street?

"None of these programs are authorized under the US constitution"

Depends on your interpretation of "general welfare", doesn't it?

"Income taxes should be eliminated at the same time"

No payroll taxes, and now no income taxes?!? How would we pay for government?

"We need to massively shrink the size of the Federal government"

After GW Bush enlarged it by record proportions, and reset America's fiscal sights from surpluses to deficits...who did you vote for? And when Trump and the Republicans proposed a $2.3 Trillion tax giveaway while running record deficits...who did you vote for?

"One of the most pathetic trolls to date."

It's Ira Schittsburg.
He the one who swore Durham would have Comey, Clapper, and Brennan frog-marched before Donnie's win last November...you know, when Trump got 25% of the black vote.

Most recently he's proven he doesn't know the difference between 7.4 million and 74 million...which really screws up conclusions when it's your numerator.

"SS, Medicare, Medicaid"

SS is an equilibrium equation.

Medicare has been based on premiums paid all one's working life, for a reduced premium in retirement.

Medicaid is caring for the destitute, rather than leaving them in a field to die.

Please explain why we should get rid of each.

"SS, Medicare, Medicaid, any transfer program should be eliminated."

So everyone who has paid in, some for over half a century, should be stiffed? You're joking, right?

And you realize SS is an equilibrium equation...right???

"Death Panels already existed. Insurance companies already have them."

Exactly. And frankly, it only makes sense: there are not unlimited funds for unlimited care.

"They call it the "lifetime maximum.""

They used to, before the ACA. Since maximums aren't allowed anymore, it's simply the executive decision NOT to cover that particular drug/procedure.

"People who are educated about health insurance knew that."

Yep. It's a given. For me, since the mid-late 80s: I was a volunteer national rep for Actor's Equity when the AIDS crisis hit. Victims reached the "lifetime maximum" quickly. Meanwhile, requirements to qualify for coverage jumped 60% overnight.

"get rid of the welfare state..."

Huh?

Do you mean eliminate the Earned Income Tax Credit?

"It should be significantly easier to terminate a conservatorship. At this point, it's nearly impossible to end one."

That's because if things aren't working, that proves the conservatorship is still needed...

...and if things ARE working...it's because of the conservatorship.

" Seriously dude, a huge % of liberals and ultra-left sufferer from mental illness as diagnosed by mental health professionals "

I'd ask for proof, but you've already shown you couldn't find a correct numerator if your life depended on it.

" It presumes that other workers are better suited to handling certain police challenges than the police themselves. "

Yeah, I'm thinking a degreed social worker specializing in de-escalation tactics will, on average, do better than the guy with a few months' training, including a few days on conflict resolution.

Back to the question, please.