Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

letting each state decide their own protocols is like having a peeing area in a public swimming pool. Should Texas be responsible for border control with Mexico?

 

We saw exactly how that played out in Jax. We closed our beaches so the next weekend everyone piled onto the beaches of the next county over and everyone lost their mind.

 

I'm still booked for late June halibut and salmon fishing. Wife is determined to go see her Mom in Wasilla but still remains to be seen if we go or not.

 

Trump has declared a national emergency for all 50 states. This has never been done before. It is a federal situation that deserves a federal response.
Coronavirus: Trump has declared major disaster in all 50 states at once, first time in history

 

Wasilla? Wow. Why's her mom in Wasilla?

 

What's the point of having a federal government if it's not going to coordinate the national response and lead? That's like the head coach opting to delegate the entirety of running the football team to the positional assistants. "Don't worry, guys. You got this. If you need help, I'll be napping in my office."

 

Your logic is flawed, the border is a national border. If you left the border to Texas Democrats wouldn’t win many more races.

 

and your logic that this is a local or state problem is deeply flawed. this is an international problem and the fed gubmnt should be leading the US response

 

Lived up there for 20+ years now. Right out by Hatcher Pass. Moved up to take over hospitals in Palmer and Wasilla when they were still non-profit and retired when they were bought out. It's our annual get out of the heat trip.

 

This is an extraordinarily dumb thing to say, on many levels.

 

Well we def don’t want the borders left to Democrats. That would be a disastrous decision and leave this country with so many more issues to deal with.

 

From your username, it appears you live in South Carolina. What experience do you have with the border? What experience do you have with enforcing our laws at the border?

 

I didn’t say this was solely a local and state problem. I said governors and local leaders should lead and care for their areas or states because that’s what they were elected to do. We don’t want the federal government pushing governors aside and handling their duties as there would be nothing for them to do. Trump also said “the federal government is here to help” and that’s exactly what they should be doing is helping not running it for them. If a governor can’t do his job or refuses because “well this is an international problem” then he or she needs to resign and allow somebody to step in that can. Each state should be free to choose what steps need to be taken that keeps their state safe.

 

I prioritize saving lives over making sure the governors having something to do. The coronavirus is a national problem. The federal government should be coordinating a national response, not leaving it to the governors to solve the problem with piecemeal solutions. There are many things the governors cannot do that the federal government should be doing (and should have done). Do you think Dan Mullen should just step aside and let his coordinators run the show? He's the head coach. He shouldn't be running things for them, right?

 

I chose this name when I was stationed in SC many years ago. Since then I’ve lived abroad, back in Florida and now in San Antonio Texas. I do a lot of work down in the valley and on the border. Seen way to many illegals wandering (I’m talking 75 miles away from the interstate on a ranch in the middle of the night) around as they are making their way past the checkpoints and onto their destination. I actually have a degree in emergency management and homeland security but chose a career in the oilfield as my families quality of life has been better with that choice.

 

Yes there are things the federal govt should be doing that they haven’t. There’s also things governors should be doing that many haven’t. Governors should take the lead in their states and ask for federal assistance when needed, hence the federal govt is here to help. The federal govt isn’t the cure all and we have seen that over and over no matter who is sitting in that chair. There are too many levels of bs with the federal govt and their solution is not what’s needed for each state.

 

Then, you should know that Texas lacks the resources to handle border enforcement for the state, much less the entire Southern border. Just stop with the right-wing propaganda (ex. millions of illegals are voting). Obama was President for eight years. Our border enforcement efforts were just fine. I've been a cog in the machine of border enforcement and lived on the border for years.

It irritates me when Republicans act like they're the only ones who care about the border, especially when many of those Republicans have never been within 100 miles of it. At least you've been there. I'm disappointed that living in San Antonio, you don't have a more realistic perspective.

 

I agree that there needs to be room for each state to assess their own needs and make their own decisions. There is a greater amount of "nimbleness" at each level from local to state to federal (to clarify, I'm saying local is more nimble than state and so on and so forth). And our decision-making should reflect that. But there's a difference between giving states and localities the room to do what's best for their individual situations and delegating leadership to them that should be occurring at the national level.

 

I agree that there should be latitude given to states to handle these issue with support from the federal level. If a state is failing then by all means step in and correct the problems. States should have been planning for this and stockpiling what they need to fit their states. The federal govt should have been doing the same. But blanket stay at home orders or shutting down business didn’t need to come from the feds in the early stages of this, every region was different and needed different reactions.

 

To put it simply, neither were ready for it. Neither had the necessary stockpiles. And that's where the federal government should have stepped up and led (because it was the only one with the tools to do so). IMO, that is one of the biggest failures of this thing. It has put the lives of people fighting the virus on the front lines in danger.