I work in the SSA and we're coming back to office and starting in person services again but Masks will be required which is not well thought out. I have a union so they may be pushing them as they have in other places. I'm hoping they change course before we return at the end of the month.
OK, as a moderate republican, I found Biden's speech refreshing. Finally a president talking to the Nation, not his base. While I may not agreed on everything he said, I found the move toward solving bi-partisan issues refreshing. I loved the fact that more than once he said something that got more Republican applause then Democratic applause. The fact that Covid was mentioned, but not the central issue of the speech was a good thing. For me, Covid restrictions are quickly becoming irrelevant. Omicron has finally handled the un-vaxxed population. I expect I'll continue to get the boosters at the same time I get my annual flu shot. Vaccination mandates (on either side, either governments requiring them, or governments restricting businesses from requiring them) are now nothing more than partisan signalling. In another month, unless there's another nasty variant, so will masking.
For me, spending the majority of the speech on Ukraine, fighting inflation, and moving forward on your policy agenda signals 'getting back to normal'. Yes, Covid is there, but it's no longer driving what we plan to do in the future. Looking at tackling issues that Democrats and Republicans can agree on lowers the temperature, which is badly needed.
This year, I did not feel the need to listen to any 'response' as a pallet cleanser, but took great solace in the fact that both the extreme right and extreme left felt threatened by this agenda. This is why I voted for Biden to begin with. I'm glad he's finally working on his values, not those of the left ring of the part.
Our dark-blue county's indoor mask mandate (delta/omicron version) expired at 00:01 yesterday morning, and it's been striking how fast the "mask required" signs have come down. I figured there would be a few "your roof, your rules" holdouts, but I haven't seen a single one.
You're losing political customers. For God's sake, quit it.
Mr. Barro and most other writers are only remarking on the text of Mr. Biden's SOTU speech. What no one is mentioning is how poorly it was delivered. Rushed and garbled. Timing, man! This has nothing to do with a past speech impediment. Biden has delivered speeches very well recently. He can do it.
It seems that only half of the population is actually even impacted by the rhythm and intonation of speech. For these people, who automatically convert the words into text like it was written on a page, delivery might not matter. But for the half who hear the music in spoken phrases, a delivery like Biden's is bound to miss, regardless of textual content.
It is unconscionable that Biden's Chief of Staff, Comms team, and wife let him blow this opportunity so badly. Is he a depot who doesn't tolerate feedback? Block out an afternoon nap, give him wine with dinner, or at least just slow down that damned teleprompter!
Mr. Barro, please consider this factor when gauging the public reaction to the speech.
The problem with this SSA wasn't what was said or not said about COVID. We're all done with it.
With the exception of the 12 minutes or so given to Ukraine, there was nothing that really attempted to bring the country together. There was no attempt to bring the ship of state back towards a more centrist path, the reason so many voted for him in the first place.
And I suspect the polls will continue to reflect that reality.
I'm very favorably inclined towards Josh's view here, as one of the Dems who was fine wearing masks pre-vaccination but frustrated by the mandates continuing as long as they have. I have been surprised how many very online lefties do not seem to feel - or will not acknowledge - that NPIs like masks and distancing have significant negative impacts, even when they are necessary. And I've also been looking for the Biden Admin to project a return to normal. HOWEVER, I've been taken aback by recent polls showing around 52% or so of Americans still believe we should have mask mandates (and presumably other NPIs). Seems like there is still a big constituency for that - I'd be curious what Josh makes of that.
COVID policy and recommendations are strongly influenced by our personal world-views, as we see in this piece. I happen to agree with Josh Barro on the trade-offs regarding COVID, but I can also see a reasonable President not wanting to encourage people to run off and mingle in airports.
Is wait-and-see really the worst policy at this point? Maybe not. Is it reasonable to say that masking on transport is necessary as long as we have COVID hotspots in the country? I think so.
The government needs to publish objective guidelines for politicians to use to create and policy. We must remove COVID policy from the realm of personal hunches and into objective responses to data.
I'm all for going back to office but it will be hard to not be able to see my guinea all day. Might get a camera so I can see them when back in the office.
I work in the SSA and we're coming back to office and starting in person services again but Masks will be required which is not well thought out. I have a union so they may be pushing them as they have in other places. I'm hoping they change course before we return at the end of the month.
OK, as a moderate republican, I found Biden's speech refreshing. Finally a president talking to the Nation, not his base. While I may not agreed on everything he said, I found the move toward solving bi-partisan issues refreshing. I loved the fact that more than once he said something that got more Republican applause then Democratic applause. The fact that Covid was mentioned, but not the central issue of the speech was a good thing. For me, Covid restrictions are quickly becoming irrelevant. Omicron has finally handled the un-vaxxed population. I expect I'll continue to get the boosters at the same time I get my annual flu shot. Vaccination mandates (on either side, either governments requiring them, or governments restricting businesses from requiring them) are now nothing more than partisan signalling. In another month, unless there's another nasty variant, so will masking.
For me, spending the majority of the speech on Ukraine, fighting inflation, and moving forward on your policy agenda signals 'getting back to normal'. Yes, Covid is there, but it's no longer driving what we plan to do in the future. Looking at tackling issues that Democrats and Republicans can agree on lowers the temperature, which is badly needed.
This year, I did not feel the need to listen to any 'response' as a pallet cleanser, but took great solace in the fact that both the extreme right and extreme left felt threatened by this agenda. This is why I voted for Biden to begin with. I'm glad he's finally working on his values, not those of the left ring of the part.
Our dark-blue county's indoor mask mandate (delta/omicron version) expired at 00:01 yesterday morning, and it's been striking how fast the "mask required" signs have come down. I figured there would be a few "your roof, your rules" holdouts, but I haven't seen a single one.
You're losing political customers. For God's sake, quit it.
Mr. Barro and most other writers are only remarking on the text of Mr. Biden's SOTU speech. What no one is mentioning is how poorly it was delivered. Rushed and garbled. Timing, man! This has nothing to do with a past speech impediment. Biden has delivered speeches very well recently. He can do it.
It seems that only half of the population is actually even impacted by the rhythm and intonation of speech. For these people, who automatically convert the words into text like it was written on a page, delivery might not matter. But for the half who hear the music in spoken phrases, a delivery like Biden's is bound to miss, regardless of textual content.
It is unconscionable that Biden's Chief of Staff, Comms team, and wife let him blow this opportunity so badly. Is he a depot who doesn't tolerate feedback? Block out an afternoon nap, give him wine with dinner, or at least just slow down that damned teleprompter!
Mr. Barro, please consider this factor when gauging the public reaction to the speech.
The problem with this SSA wasn't what was said or not said about COVID. We're all done with it.
With the exception of the 12 minutes or so given to Ukraine, there was nothing that really attempted to bring the country together. There was no attempt to bring the ship of state back towards a more centrist path, the reason so many voted for him in the first place.
And I suspect the polls will continue to reflect that reality.
Also not nailing the World Leader message.
I'm very favorably inclined towards Josh's view here, as one of the Dems who was fine wearing masks pre-vaccination but frustrated by the mandates continuing as long as they have. I have been surprised how many very online lefties do not seem to feel - or will not acknowledge - that NPIs like masks and distancing have significant negative impacts, even when they are necessary. And I've also been looking for the Biden Admin to project a return to normal. HOWEVER, I've been taken aback by recent polls showing around 52% or so of Americans still believe we should have mask mandates (and presumably other NPIs). Seems like there is still a big constituency for that - I'd be curious what Josh makes of that.
COVID policy and recommendations are strongly influenced by our personal world-views, as we see in this piece. I happen to agree with Josh Barro on the trade-offs regarding COVID, but I can also see a reasonable President not wanting to encourage people to run off and mingle in airports.
Is wait-and-see really the worst policy at this point? Maybe not. Is it reasonable to say that masking on transport is necessary as long as we have COVID hotspots in the country? I think so.
The government needs to publish objective guidelines for politicians to use to create and policy. We must remove COVID policy from the realm of personal hunches and into objective responses to data.
I'm all for going back to office but it will be hard to not be able to see my guinea all day. Might get a camera so I can see them when back in the office.