Colin Powell, military leader and first Black US secretary of state, dies from COVID-19 complication

Discussion in 'Current Events' started by Egoboy, Oct 18, 2021.

  1. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jul 21, 2020
    Messages:
    9,738
    Likes Received:
    8,378
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    HgbA1C reflects the 90 days that precede the collection of the blood sample, so assuming that you spent just a few days in the hospital, your eating behavior there shouldn't be greatly influencing your number. 8.2 shows a poorly controlled case of Diabetes type 2.
    Maybe with the new medication regimen this number is now lower, hopefully.
     
  2. Robert

    Robert Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2014
    Messages:
    68,085
    Likes Received:
    17,134
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Did you ever study the list of the Trump accomplishments?

    Biden is far worse protecting our border.
    Biden should not have rewarded the Health group who backed up China on the Virus. The World Health Organization ....
    That group should have warned us and not supported China.
    Were you angry when Trump slashed taxes for all of us?
    Nobody knew first Biden would surrender to the Taliban. But now we all know.
     
  3. Robert

    Robert Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2014
    Messages:
    68,085
    Likes Received:
    17,134
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Thank you @CenterField
    I put in a call to my normal doctor and when I get the reply, I will update what I said earlier. In the hospital for a bowel obstruction that cleared up on it's own, I got little information from anybody. I however do recall that they did dose me with something to get the obstruction eliminated and it worked. Not sure what it was.
     
    Last edited: Oct 20, 2021
  4. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jul 21, 2020
    Messages:
    9,738
    Likes Received:
    8,378
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Why? It's precisely because I am a doctor that I dislike Trump so much. I could spend pages and pages here detailing for you in what ways I think he mismanaged the pandemic. At one point I even considered voting for him, but soured on him more and more as the mismanagement became more and more evident, and some of his tirades against doctors turned me off even more, when he say we're "smart" so we fake the diagnosis of Covid-19 to make more money. He finished losing my vote that day. I also profoundly disliked what I consider illegal exercise of Medicine when he kept insisting that people should take hydroxychloroquine - "what do you have to lose? Take it!" His mockery of masks didn't help things either. His constant dismissal of the seriousness of the virus and the pandemic was incredibly irritating (and dangerous). His promotion of the moron Scott Atlas who is a clueless radiologist who thought we should adopt a herd immunity strategy, ended up being one of my main motives to vote against Trump (so that the moron would be removed from any position of influence). His attempts to cancel Obamacare without EVER fulfilling his promise that he'd propose "in two weeks" such a beauuuuuutiful health plan didn't help either. His pressuring of the FDA and CDC for political reasons was also intolerable. His own WH would establish guidelines for safe reopening and less than 24hrs after having endorsed them, Trump was tweeting "Liberate Michigan" and speaking against those very deadlines. His China travel "ban"? Pffft... that wasn't a ban. It had 2 pages of exceptions, which allowed 40,000 Chinese to travel here and seed the disease everywhere, without any provision for mandatory quarantine. Again, don't get me started. There are numerous reasons for a doctor to dislike Trump.

    I will say, I do praise him for the Warp Speed Initiative; I thought that it was a positive. But if you get this piece that was good, together with all the pieces that were bad, the balance is pretty damaging.
     
    Cosmo likes this.
  5. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 24, 2015
    Messages:
    2,720
    Likes Received:
    1,803
    Trophy Points:
    113
    I concur.
     
  6. Robert

    Robert Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2014
    Messages:
    68,085
    Likes Received:
    17,134
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    You bring up a major Flaw of Trump. That he did too much talking and did not let the medical professionals do a lot more of it. Trump should have let the experts take center stage. I agree with your views on all of that. Trump had a way of asking questions that angered people. Such as asking about what you mentioned.
    I saw Obama care for the minimal law it is. It only impacts those who are non workers or low paid workers.
    Obama lied by saying we could keep our doctor or our plans.
    This might shock you. I am not pleased at how Medicare pays Doctors. I sympathize with Doctors over the way Medicare slashes the doctors charges. I believe my doctor in Fremont where I lived for many years got the shaft when he did a colonoscopy on me that I was directed not to pay him for and Medicare also refused to pay for it. I believed he had me cared for with the best of intentions.

    I also praise Trump for Warp speed. It would be wonderful had Biden kept that going. Biden might now have a vaccine that ends our concerns for getting ill.
     
  7. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jul 21, 2020
    Messages:
    9,738
    Likes Received:
    8,378
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Obama's lie is peanuts as compared to the efforts done to strip 30 million Americans from coverage. They would be left with NO doctor. That's worse than having to change doctors. Trump tried to repeal Obamacare simply because it held the name of Obama. With NO replacement. If not for McCain, Trump's wish would have prevailed and millions of Americans would lose coverage.

    Anyway, when I decided to vote for Biden, it's not that I loved him or anything. I just thought that when your team is losing, you change the coach, and having 4% of the world's population and 20% of the world's Covid deaths can't be construed as anything other than losing. I was hoping for a better FDA, a better CDC, a better strategy. I can't say that my hopes have materialized. The CDC continued to commit blunders. I am disappointed.

    I abhor illegal immigration so I'm not happy about the situation at the southern border.

    I also think that too much stimulus is fostering inflation, and I worry about these mega-trillion packages the Dems are trying to pass.

    I was profoundly irritated with the way the Afghanistan withdrawal was handled, with the loss of life of valuable US servicemen/women. At the time, if you look up my posts, I repeatedly asked for Biden's resignation.

    At this time I'm very disappointed in Biden.

    The problem is, just like in 2016, we were left with two horrible candidates. Hillary Clinton, not good. Trump, not good. Biden, not good.

    These days, the good candidates don't survive the primaries. Both parties seem to hold primaries in order to pick the worst possible candidate.

    I'm very disillusioned with politics, these days.
     
    glitch likes this.
  8. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jul 21, 2020
    Messages:
    9,738
    Likes Received:
    8,378
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Border = true
    China and the virus = frankly I think it's way more important to protect the health and life of Americans rather than scoring political points against China. Don't read me wrong, I do think that China is America's worst geopolitical enemy and I support a tough stance against China, and I actually liked Trump in this regard. But even MORE important for me was to protect Americans, which Trump grossly failed to do.
    Look, given that we're a 2-income family (my wife is also a doctor) and we make good money, Trump's tax cuts resulted in very significant savings for me. But frankly, I don't harbor the allergy to taxes that many people in my income bracket do. I think that if taxes are used the right way, it's fair to pay taxes, for those like me who can afford it. So I'd like more done for Americans regarding healthcare, with our tax money. Now, taxes being slashed just so that corporations and the ultra-rich have a windfall, I can't support that, even if the cuts favor me. I'm rightist in many ways, but in virtue of my lifelong vocation for helping the sick and the frail, I have some leftist social views. Having lived in Europe for many years and having experienced the wonders of universal healthcare (both working for the system, and being a patient in the system), I am for using more taxpayer's dollars to support healthcare. Mind you, not Medicare For All like that moron Bernie Sanders wanted. Don't get me started there; there were many problems with that idea. But I do support some Medicare and Medicaid expansion.
    Biden and the Taliban = agreed.
     
  9. spiritgide

    spiritgide Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Mar 25, 2016
    Messages:
    20,132
    Likes Received:
    16,079
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Unfortunate you felt it necessary to say he was "tarnished"
    Our flag here is at half-mast, as are many, in a salute to one of the finest Americans of our lifetimes. If he had decided to run for president (and he was asked many times by many people) I'd have voted for him against anybody without hesitation. He provided a role model for true patriotism, for love of country and for the kind of values and standards we should all live by- and should have learned from, which obviously many have not. What our government is doing today is an insult to the memory of such a man- but the shame is on them.

    RIP Colin Powell.
     
  10. notme

    notme Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 16, 2013
    Messages:
    42,019
    Likes Received:
    5,395
    Trophy Points:
    113
    ???
    I am saying that he probably took certain chemicals that made it possible for covid to kill him.
     
  11. Egoboy

    Egoboy Well-Known Member Donor

    Joined:
    Oct 31, 2017
    Messages:
    44,763
    Likes Received:
    32,094
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Everything you say is true, but what I said is true as well... his time in the public eye was tarnished by his associated with Bush Jr and the whack jobs in that administration. Sorry to have to the be one who reminded you of that. Tarnish doesn't mean ruined, it just means he had a distinct period in his life that .... well..... tarnished his reputation. He certainly successfully broke away and rebuilt most of his reputation, although the fact that it took him until January 11th 2021 to formally break away from the GQP doesn't look good either.

    Here's a key paragraph in an online bio that sums it up briefly

    SNIP
    In 2001 he was appointed secretary of state by Pres. George W. Bush. Powell unsuccessfully sought broader international support for the Iraq War. His controversial speech before the United Nations (February 2003) was later revealed to be based on faulty intelligence. Considered a political moderate in an administration dominated by hard-liners, Powell saw his influence in the White House wane, and he announced his resignation in 2004, shortly after Bush’s reelection
    ENDSNIP
     
  12. spiritgide

    spiritgide Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Mar 25, 2016
    Messages:
    20,132
    Likes Received:
    16,079
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male

    We are suffering today not from a lack of perfection, because that has and will always be a human fault. Instead we suffer from an expectation of perfection in others and a need to point out how they fail to meet that expectation- while we overlook imperfections in ourselves. The best of men still have to live in an imperfect world, and will be- tarnished, just being in that environment. Still, they outshine the rest of us, many of whom are not only tarnished, they are deeply corroded.

    We often celebrate the frauds and denigrate the heroes... clouding the distinction... and in doing so, we fail to learn.
     
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2021
    Polydectes likes this.
  13. Egoboy

    Egoboy Well-Known Member Donor

    Joined:
    Oct 31, 2017
    Messages:
    44,763
    Likes Received:
    32,094
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Well, glad we could come to agreement on that one.. whew!!
     
  14. gfm7175

    gfm7175 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2018
    Messages:
    9,491
    Likes Received:
    4,828
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    These jabs are supposed to be protecting the "immune compromised". They have been first in line for these jabs and now boosters.
     
  15. Ddyad

    Ddyad Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 17, 2015
    Messages:
    53,247
    Likes Received:
    25,255
    Trophy Points:
    113
    i
    That is why recognizing that government "even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one" is so important.
     
  16. Ddyad

    Ddyad Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 17, 2015
    Messages:
    53,247
    Likes Received:
    25,255
    Trophy Points:
    113
    "American intelligence" has become an oxymoron.

    “During my tour as a platoon leader, reconnaissance platoon leader, and rifle company commander with the 199th Light Infantry Brigade, I did not receive a single bit of accurate, useful intelligence. Often we were ordered, on the basis of intelligence, into specific areas where we encountered enemy booby traps that maimed our soldiers rather than the predicted enemy.” Senseless Secrets, The Failures of U.S. Military Intelligence from George Washington to the Present, Lt.. Col. (Retired) Michael Lee Lanning, Barnes and Noble Books, New York 1996. p viii.
     
    Pollycy likes this.
  17. notme

    notme Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 16, 2013
    Messages:
    42,019
    Likes Received:
    5,395
    Trophy Points:
    113
    No vaccination was made to specifically protect the people whose immune system is compromised. No vaccine hit the 100%, but always fell some % short. That % that they fell short is because it never covered the people with faulty immune system vs the original version from Wuhan. The Delta version, and now the newest Delta version plus from the UK protect less and less people. Hence the boosters.
     
  18. spiritgide

    spiritgide Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Mar 25, 2016
    Messages:
    20,132
    Likes Received:
    16,079
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male

    A country that removes statues of Thomas Jefferson and erects statues of George Floyd.... Has value issues. Big ones.
    One painful thing about losing someone like Colin Powell- is that there are no replacements of similar caliber to follow him.

    Sorry for the sensory overload.
     
    Pollycy likes this.
  19. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jul 21, 2020
    Messages:
    9,738
    Likes Received:
    8,378
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Absolutely. I would have voted for Colin Powell for president against anybody, too. He was invited to run multiple times and by both parties; that's how wide the consensus was that he was a great American. I remember rooting for his acceptance any time his name was floated as a possible presidential candidate. Too bad he didn't want it. He'd have been a great president.
     
  20. notme

    notme Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 16, 2013
    Messages:
    42,019
    Likes Received:
    5,395
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Dude still is the face of the US lying to the world about Iraq's WMD program that they did not have, and a main cause why ISIS spawned in Iraq / a main cause millions fled and 100.000's died..... for the sake of Americans nation building project. There is something fundamentally evil about it. And if you can not see it, it does mean you do not value other peoples lives by the 100.000's.
     
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2021
  21. spiritgide

    spiritgide Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Mar 25, 2016
    Messages:
    20,132
    Likes Received:
    16,079
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male

    As i understood it, he declined due to his wife; she feared he might be assassinated. While that's possible for anyone, I thought the appeal of Powells character would have minimized the risk.
     
    CenterField likes this.
  22. spiritgide

    spiritgide Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Mar 25, 2016
    Messages:
    20,132
    Likes Received:
    16,079
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male

    Powell was a soldier, he followed orders. That was duty- and he honored the duty. The fact that all men are not always right, or worse- is a fact of life we deal with everywhere; and often no right decision- just priorities we must arrange and act on. Another fact is that while those in leadership often botch the job, the driving element behind most political moves is the public.We elect them, we complain to them, push for this or that and ignore good advice from wise men most of the time. Sadly the conditions today have both the politicians and the public chasing distractions and emotions, while real problems are ignored.
    No matter how good a president might be, he's going to take more crap than anyone else- and that's just getting worse.

    I can't see where any really good man would want the job.
     
  23. notme

    notme Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 16, 2013
    Messages:
    42,019
    Likes Received:
    5,395
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Powell lied as secretary of state, an appointed political position. Being previously a soldier is of no excuse of his lies and the blood he got on his hands of 100,000's of people.
     
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2021
  24. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jul 21, 2020
    Messages:
    9,738
    Likes Received:
    8,378
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    I think chances are he didn't know that those were lies. No intention of lying. He got faulty intelligence.
     
  25. notme

    notme Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 16, 2013
    Messages:
    42,019
    Likes Received:
    5,395
    Trophy Points:
    113
    He's secretary of state. It's his job to know and be responsible for it all to get that intelligence to be right.
    These are just dumb excuses.
     
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2021

Share This Page