UPinCarolina

I don't believe that they've ever intended to give up power.

Based on this afternoon, I think he's committed to it.

He's trying to use the same playbook that Richard Nixon used in 1968. "Law and Order" / Appealing to pearl clutching white America --> 'Southern Strategy' (articulated below by Republican strategist Steve Atwater in a 1981 interview) Atwater: Y'all don't quote me on this. You start out in 1954 by saying, "N*****"" By 1968 you can't say "******"—that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me—because obviously sitting around saying, "We want to cut this," is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "******" https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infamous-1981-interview-southern-strategy/

I would think that any player, as OP stated, who regularly gets abused by the crowd might benefit slightly from the empty stadium. I'd also think that goalies and defenders might gain a slight advantage as communication and focus may improve without the crowd and their ambient noise.

Mostly on the East Coast, true. One would think that their complete closure has helped to limit the mass transmission from the coasts inland, aside from outbreak pockets. That idea will be tested in the coming weeks, as travel numbers have already spiked.

The U.S. quietly slipped over 80,000 deaths sometime in the last 36 hours, at the same time as many states are loosening restrictions. I've been a downer about this for a long time, even as friends and acquaintances accused me of 'fear-mongering' and 'negativity' - but this will easily turn over 200,000 more American lives before this time next year, in my opinion.

Our brains need the stimulation whilst otherwise being battered into mush by the present state of things.

I, for one, love your writing style. It's weirdly poetic.

3,000 dead Americans a day within less than a month. A 11/9/01 or a 5/6/1944 every single day for God knows how long. Lunacy.

Same. I've been largely tuned out since this all went down but this just seems beyond the pale.

US hits 40k dead. A month ago we had about 300 or so. We’re #1! USA! USA! USA!

It's a depressing mix of willful ignorance, scientific birdbrains, Constitutional half-knowledge, and American 'liberty' (gun / Confederate / nationalist) culture.

In the U.S., the Republican far-right (and that's who it is - make no mistake, they only protest against Democratic governors and they do so conspicuously armed) have decided that they are going to try and forcibly 're-open' states by marching on capitol buildings with semi-automatic rifles.

The Gang of Four, who've helped spearhead the Misinformation Revolution that directs the Red, White and Blue Guards.

One look at New York City, along with those numbers, more or less confirms this. I'm far more bearish on the economic outlook globally than many seem to be for this reason. Premature / unexpected deaths are far, far worse economically than what has been done via mandatory shutdowns.

To be honest, if I were the PL I would be looking to renegotiate whatever advertisement or TV contracts I could for the upcoming season. The bounce-back effect in terms of demand for the PL product globally is going to be enormous and audiences should be at an all-time high.

In the United States, it's pretty obvious.

Nearly 2,000 died in the U.S. yesterday alone. And this very telling statistic helps to put how depressed those numbers actually are in perspective: https://gothamist.com/news/surge-number-new-yorkers-dying-home-officials-suspect-undercount-covid-19-related-deaths "The FDNY says it responded to 2,192 cases of deaths at home between March 20th and April 5th, or about 130 a day, an almost 400 percent increase from the same time period last year. (In 2019, there were just 453 cardiac arrest calls where a patient died, according to the FDNY.) That number has been steadily increasing since March 30th, with 241 New Yorkers dying at home Sunday — more than the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths that occurred citywide that day. On Monday night, the city reported 266 new deaths" The ripple-effect and under-counted deaths from COVID-19 are absolutely as bad or worse than the virus itself.

Our president is an absolute ghoul.

731 dead in New York state yesterday, a new high.

France is already well on their way to hitting their projected mark as of today, the worst yet.

Stay safe. We're been sheltering in place down here in Charlotte since the 14th. Things seem to be getting more severe here by the day but one could be forgiven* for thinking that some people just don't seem to care around the city and county. Please keep the thread updated! When all this blows over, we'll have to come up your way for a match. Plenty of places up there we've yet to go to.

What county are you working out of these days, MPH? Meck?

I meant to say Iran and not Japan...dammit. Oh well.

I fully believe that both Japan and China have covered up / artificially lowered their death rates.