[Stylo]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

I don’t buy this, not for a second. Well before covid struck Connecticut, as much as two months before it became widespread in the state, Democratic politicians in California were speaking out against the President’s travel ban by encouraging their residents to go out and about. Their politicians knew about it. Connecticut’s politicians knew about and were silent. Party loyalty is what killed people - not ignorance.

Huh? Not following. I don’t think anyone knew the extent of community spread in Feb and March. We could’ve done more with international borders but that wasn’t a Lamont decision.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Stylo

Huh? Not following. I don’t think anyone knew the extent of community spread in Feb and March. We could’ve done more with international borders but that wasn’t a Lamont decision.

Exactly. All we had was the messages coming out of the White House. In the past, those would have been the most honest and factual based on expert data and advice. That proved false and the earliest infected states like Connecticut, New York and New Jersey paid the price.

People can try to deny that all they want but the facts don’t lie and we should not let anyone try to tell you otherwise or bend the truth. Now those with a political agenda to push use this fact against our state saying we handled it poorly. Talk about convoluted thinking.

I know this sounds angry but I have a few Facebook friends who try to bend the truth to fit their political agenda and I refuse to let them get away with it. Our state and country has needlessly gone through too much over the past years to add to it. Jay

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Stylo

Huh? Not following. I don’t think anyone knew the extent of community spread in Feb and March. We could’ve done more with international borders but that wasn’t a Lamont decision.

The discussion here was drawn away from Lamont and toward Connecticut’s death/infection rate from COVID. The political point here is while POTUS attempted to restrict international travel, the left wing was so blinded by hatred for the guy that they pushed back against him, calling him xenophobic and racist. Blumenthal himself was on national television lambasting the president on his decision. Fast forward months later, those same politicians cried inaction, blaming the president for COVID’s spread when they, themselves, encouraged life as normal as late as early March. It’s difficult to argue with a straight face that Connecticut’s politicians didn’t know the virus was spreading rampantly, since as early as February, all local schools brought their students back from abroad studies in Europe. This was the top news story at the time, yet “Connecticut didn’t know”? Restrictions just didn’t become common until national parties took a position, then politicians fell in line. It’s all about party loyalty, political ideologies and that’s led to mind blowing hypocrisy.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m not condoning Trump’s inaction and do feel he handled the entire thing as mediocre as those on the other side who politicized it.

Originally Posted by JayCT

Exactly. All we had was the messages coming out of the White House. In the past, those would have been the most honest and factual based on expert data and advice. That proved false and the earliest infected states like Connecticut, New York and New Jersey paid the price.

People can try to deny that all they want but the facts don’t lie and we should not let anyone try to tell you otherwise or bend the truth. Now those with a political agenda to push use this fact against our state saying we handled it poorly. Talk about convoluted thinking.

I know this sounds angry but I have a few Facebook friends who try to bend the truth to fit their political agenda and I refuse to let them get away with it. Our state and country has needlessly gone through too much over the past years to add to it. Jay

Re: all you had were messages coming out of the White House - that’s not accurate, IMO. The WHO began issuing warnings, which became more dire as January went on (see below link) and top disease experts in both Europe and America were sounding the alarms based off that. Lamont wasn’t aware of any of this?

I don’t believe Connecticut handled the pandemic “poorly” but I do think other states handled it much better, as Stylo made reference to above. Many thousands of northeast residents traveled to their homes in Florida during quarantine. Florida and the Northeast are probably the two most connected regions that don’t share a border in the country - yet FL’s infection and death rate was nothing near what was experienced in the Northeast. I do feel FL emerged from this as a model to follow should we ever experience something like this again based on factual data.

https://www.who.int/news/item/27-04-...ine---covid-19

Anyway, getting off topic so that’s all I’ll say on the matter.

[hvexpatinct]

I’m okay with Lamont, but would be much more okay with him if he’d tackle some of the glaring criminal justice issues in the state

Themis Klarides strikes me as a blowhard contrarian so I will be hard pressed to vote for her unless I am proven otherwise

[DigitalMilford]

I think Lamont has done a pretty good job-- so far. Klarides is another in a parade of poor Republican candidates that seem to do better in the primaries but don't make good general election candidates for Connecticut. I'm guessing the Republicans are looking at toppling Lamont as a longshot-- which is why Erin Stewart bowed out.

[SteveM85]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Oh my, what a bunch of biased misinformation. You do not follow our forum very closely, do you? Otherwise you would know how misinformed you are.

As Stylo noted, Connecticut along with New York and New Jersey were the entry point for the virus. It ran rampant for weeks undetected and before shutdowns were implemented. Like it or not that why our death rate was so high. You can dismiss it all you want but that is the fact.

Your knowledge of Connecticut’s financial condition is completely outdated. The state developed a plan to address its pension obligations a couple years back and we should be fully clear of it within the next few years. Our state currently has a $470 million budget surplus this year and our Rainy Day Fund ( the dedicated fund for surpluses that is saved for the future) is currently at $4.5 billion. These are record amounts. So impressive is the turn our state finances that four major credit rating agencies have upgraded the state’s rating.

The contention that residents are fleeing our state is highly exaggerated and basically untrue. The thought that our state is losing population is based upon estimates and the figures of those losses are well within the margin of error for those estimates. The 2020 US Census proved those figure wrong. In 2010 Connecticut’s population was 3,574,147 while in 2020 it was 3,605,944. If people are fleeing, why did our population actually grow?

Also note that Connecticut is No. 1 in the country for personal income and Deposable Income. We are No. 3 in Gross Domestic Product per capita and among the Top 5 for education and health. Yes, we are some messed up state. The hellhole you live in should be so unfortunate. Jay

Great work here but you're talking to walls in an empty room. You know that, right? words just bounce off, there's no absorption. It's a one way street.

[mdovell]

For someone that is supposed to be a moderator why would you take a stance or opinion on an issue? That's an odd stance.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by mdovell

For someone that is supposed to be a moderator why would you take a stance or opinion on an issue? That's an odd stance.

I don’t agree with his opinion, but he’s entitled to it just as anyone else on this forum is. I’m not sure why you think otherwise?

[Reilly1017]

Originally Posted by mdovell

For someone that is supposed to be a moderator why would you take a stance or opinion on an issue? That's an odd stance.

He’s not a moderator of a debate, he’s the eyes and ears ensuring forum posts are on point, not harassing and specific to Connecticut. Everyone has a right to their opinion. Jay is more objective than most and while he is very “pro CT” he typically backs it up with relevant facts.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by mdovell

For someone that is supposed to be a moderator why would you take a stance or opinion on an issue? That's an odd stance.

Exactly what is odd about what I said? They are all facts that have been well documented in the Economic Climate thread. I just didn’t bother providing the links to the back up for it. Please tell me what I said that is incorrect. Jay