It is really something to see folks in blue areas wearing masks in bright sunshine all by themselves. They have really been propagandized and that is sad.
Not the thread to discuss the merits of denying a caucus to avoid losing a vote. We've got other political threads for argument about that.
However.
After a charter flight & selfie showing a plane full of maskless politicians with a case of lousy beer, who I bet all support YOU wearing a mask on a plane full of people, there are, as of last night, 6 Dems who failed a Covid-19 test, and 2 Dem staffers apparently infected by the self important rules for thee, but not me, Texas Dems. See Note 1
And there's an Important question the Agitprop division of the Party isn't asking.
Six of the “nearly 60” Texas Dems have now tested positive for the virus. Their spokesman claims they are all fully vaccinated. This raises three possibilities: the Democrats are lying about their vaccination status, the vaccines are ineffective, or the positive test results are attributable to the oversensitivity of PCR tests. You’d think some reporter in a position to do so would want to figure it out.
Since we are told daily the vaccines are of unquestionable perfection, and the President announced censorship of misinformation ( dissenting opinions ) that leaves 2 near certainties.
A. A politician would lie about important medical issues to save face and/or fit in.
Examples abound, but the Texas Fleebaggers hit a moral equivalence to telling a girl you had a vasectomy so you don't need a condom, when you didn't have one.
B. The tests have sensitivity issues.
That is forbidden discussion.
But if you have immunity to a virus by vaccine or prior illness, broken viral fragments can be found in your nose. Even active, intact, viruses you recently were exposed to that haven't reached your trained defenses. The same cloud of germs you've just walked through, or marinated in on a multi-hour plane flight with bad ventilation, is temporarily, ( hours to days ) in your nose, Normally.
Example. I've had Chicken Pox. If I have tacos in a restaurant next to a family having their own little epidemic, I might be exposed, and a PCR test might show I have Pox. I might even spike a degree of fever as my immune system kills the intruders. But I'm not sick. I might, a remote possibility, pass Chicken Pox to you if we meet within hours and get really intimate. ( doubtful unless you're female, just my preference )
If CPR is needed, risk goes up. Even using chest compression only technique, you'd have a panting, sweating guy leaning over you, quite unpleasant! Better than the alternative.
the sensitivity settings of a PCR test are important to the accuracy.
Thus, ignoring the POLITICS, the Texas Fleebaggers present actually important questions!
Is the vaccine effective? Are the tests useless? Or misused? Or should policy be changed in their use?
On the POLITICS side, should it be a crime to lie about being vaccinated, or infected?
That's a separate issue from choosing to, or not to, get vaccinated.
Note 1. No matter your opinion on the effectiveness of leaky face covers and the angelic or tyrannical folk who demand you wear one while alone in the woods walking your dog. ( for me, contempt ) There are a few places today where even the small improvement a bandana over the mouth gives in preventing disease spread is worth it.
Medical facilities where sick concentrate.
Pressurized airplanes with recirculation of air. ( generally on commercial planes, they feed fresh air in the front, and exhaust excess air from the rear, so it flows from First Class to steerage )
Knowing airline's policy on fuel saving and pressurized planes AND basic infection control. ( Yes, actual classes you can take and I've taken multiple times to maintain credentials ) I can confidently tell you airline air is a soup of germs and excess CO2, and low enough oxygen partial pressure to produce headaches in healthy people and harm to some ill.
So yeah, wear a mask! On a commercial crowded airplane. A paper towel is better than nothing, but if you can afford it, an oxygen mask is ideal. ( I'm serious. )
There was a previous article claiming Pooh's Breath had gene sequences proving a lab intervention. I was skeptical then too.
We may find out someday. There's a Lot of Power and Money in D.C. involved in "gain of function" research.
Or in layman's language, research to see if they can get an animal virus that doesn't infect humans to change so they will.
It's important research. Also dangerous. Poor lab practices might release a New plague that humans have no defenses against. Millions could die, horribly.
That's why scientists asked Congress to ban that research in the U.S. and they did.
That's why Doctor Bureaucrat Fauci used your taxes to pay for gain of function research in Wuhan China.
On bat coronaviruses.
I remind you that just because some person lied doesn't mean everything they say is a lie. And Washington Bureaucrats don't always lie when the truth is embarrassing or could cost them their jobs or cost them big money from corruption.
Might be a useful factor to use making judgements, though.
Long ago, when Iran was a cool place to live with hot girls in hot girl clothing, I took the "you're going to work in the Third World, so here's the universal shi+ hole plague vaccinations and the special set for Camel Country ( but not Mongolia )".
Some of that stuff has faded from lack of exposure and boosters, some is still good.
No need to rant on PCR test details. It is alleged that the reported numbers are way too high because the sensitivity/repetitions are set too high. Could be. But they can't change it now. If they change, & guess the settings too low, and pass sick people as cleared, lawyers will subpoena the paperwork and sue the Insurance Off Them... Catch random number!
If you swab my nose, I doubt you'd find Ebola. Probably never exposed. Might find Covid-19. I was at the supermarket and it was crowded. I walked & breathed in a sea of germs. None of them will probably multiply in my body, it has immunity to all the common stuff, and a list of exotics.
Or I'd be dead. But I might have passed a Bangladeshi immigrant with the Delta variant, or some disease from back home I'm not safe from, so I certainly could get sick. Happens all the time.
I'm not worried. In my job I was exposed to most of the planet's viruses. Coughing folk from Bangladesh, sneezers from Tampa, Turkish sweat.
But I could get a fever tomorrow from Pooh's Breath. Might not notice. Might end up in the ER. Getting the Weyland-Yutani shot isn't divine intervention. It's just a good shot at prepping my aged hulk for exposure without serious problems.
And tomorrow's hypothetical fever could be from an airborne variant of rabies? Hope those shots don't need repeating. They sucked.
Life is a gamble. As of last month, Pooh's Breath in my area is less dangerous, Statistically! than driving.
But as I need to tell some who don't understand Statistics, you're an individual, and the coin can come up heads or tails for everyone, Individually.
Although we have the bad example of, as Just Joe* tells us, the Tuskegee Airmen, it's not unusual to move illegal activities out of country to avoid the law.
Or dangerous testing in some distant, poor, "third world" country, where NIMBY can be ignored.
At least we moved the natives off the island before we tested the H-bomb.
Testing microscopic death in a major city?
You could make the case that Fauci didn't care how many foreign peasants were at risk. What's a few million dead ( insert ethnic slur here ) ?
I doubt that is fair, but a Nixon era bureaucrat who grandstands against his boss, in partisan favor begging, and tells me to Obey Him, can kiss my shiny metal a$$.
I don't know what factors DEAGEL is considering in it's predictions. The only scenario I can think of that cuts off the lives of 200 million Americans and 50 million Brits, is they get murdered. They sure aren't moving to other countries!
I CAN, however, easily remember the multiple scenarios that can add up to that many murdered people. An EMP strike might kill a hundred million from starvation and freezing to death. A second hotly denied release of a biological weapon might have a 30% fatality rate instead of less than 1/2%. And the CCP has openly threatened to conquer both Taiwan and Australia.
( and the CCP has murdered hundreds of millions before & denied it )
The Biden* Occupied White House might ignore their sponsors invading Taiwan, but you'd think they'd worry about the poll numbers if Australia got invaded. ( the CCP is probably just threatening Australia, knowing the Aussies would never strike at them, bullies don't risk retaliation. Oh, sure, in a decade or so, they'll conquer them, but they would need to take the U.S. out first. )
So, sure. You can get a 200 million murdered scenario with a combination of Wuhan Flu 2, EMP high altitude detonations over each U.S. coast, ( Virginia and San Francisco? ) and a few select h-bomb in a container hits. ( Norfolk, San Diego, Bremerton? )
A buddy has been getting paid ( a few hundred bucks ) for participating in a vaccine trial. For a European vaccine not yet approved.
He also gets one of the approved ones somewhere in the process, so he's had a placebo, the experimental vaccine, and an experimental ( approved by limited trials ) one.
The European one uses moth protein.
No powers yet.
But I do tend to call him with a tiny girl voice... "mothra.....mothra...." .
If the vaccine works, ( and so far, despite Superspreader events like the Texas maskless criminal flight, and their running around D.C. kissing you know... ) then the vaccinated need not fear, and the unvaccinated can take risks as They see fit.
That sounds heartless to some. Too bad, you can't help people who don't want help. You can only annoy or worse, punish them.
If the vaccine doesn't work, then there is every reason to oppose insane rules by dictatorial jerks. Besides sanity and a Libertarian attitude towards tyranny.
It's a binary question, but the answer is the same.
Me, I think they ( vaccines, not Virtue Passports ) work. Afaik none of the Texas Fleebaggers are hospitalized, and none of their intimate contacts, like a crowded office photo-up with no protection with the Occupier of the Naval Observatory have grown sick and died.
It would be quite rude to lament the lack of mass casualties among the Party Elite. But that lack seems good evidence that...
A. The vaccines work. B. The risks now are minimal. ( zero is a fantasy ) C. Vaccine passports don't do any good. ( since the Texas criminals certainly would have proudly bragged about them if they existed )
I still think anti-vaxxers are foolish, generally.
Unfortunately I don't have any reliable information on vaccine side effects. I wonder why?
I don't think I will confirm or deny. Ask a nurse. I'm interested in the informed opinion.
I have serious doubts about any pundit clickbait, like the above video.
I also have serious issues with anything Censored for my own good. It's political and fundamentally Evil.
So I don't know what the actual numbers are, on teen girls and vaccines. I don't know how the testing is progressing, either.
The one I got was fast tracked through a limited test program, and generally, older adults didn't seem to drop dead from it quickly, and if you are 50+ the Coronavirus from the CCP had a higher chance of killing you than the shot. Good enough, roll it out.
But they didn't, last year, test it on Children. That would have been a Bad Thing, morally. You don't lightly test these things, first, on pregnant women and kids, you test on adults. You only test on kids after you get a history with a larger population, unless the disease is a kid killer, and you still have a problem with Informed Consent.
I don't have any 12-17 year old minors that are my responsibility to make the choice for them. And because of the Politics, and some of the people involved, who are dishonest scum, at best, I can't even point you at a good source to make your own decision. Sorry.
But It's Your Decision, and I urge going with multiple sources, and asking your Doctor.
Or, just to be safe, If it's on the Internet, Don't believe it. Good luck.
Where do you think these informed opinions get their information, and do you think that info is COMPLETELY unbiased or that they aren't wearing blinders while trying to understand the shot, that's not how real "SCIENCE" works. I am seeing and hearing both sides, and that is why I'm so skeptical about it, because there are SO many unknowns still!
I have always agreed that those at high risk have totally different factors to consider than those at low risk, and even my 80 yr. old mother got the jab and I'm fine with that. It really does suck that early on they didn't point out how big a risk obesity was with Covid, and I haven't heard a good reason or understand why they didn't.
Where do you think these informed opinions get their information...
To be clear, I was referring to Nurses ( and docs & EMTs ) on the subject of helping people that don't want help. Like Drunk Drivers, or the Uber Obese who simply won't stop eating 3rds and 4ths at the buffet.
And further, I really get that controlling weight is a serious problem for many people, and there's a cascade effect. You get heavy, and it hurts to walk, so you move less, burn less, and your metabolism does weird things to keep the fat reserves for the Famine intact. Your body doesn't know you'll hit the buffet again this afternoon, it assumes the Mammoth hunt was a success and preps you for the 40 mile walk home with a pack full of meat for the village.
I used to joke that I could gain weight just smelling a pizza. There's some truth to that, as the body thinks it's about to get fed, so "packs away" any blood sugar into fat cells by some metabolic mojo that I used to remember the equations for, but that was a century ago. ( and if you don't use it, you lose it )
It really does suck that early on they didn't point out how big a risk obesity was with Covid, and I haven't heard a good reason or understand why they didn't.
My impulse is to say that was political. The "Woke" "Offended" trend in public insanity makes it poll badly to openly say "This kills fat people! Lose some weight you Whales! Or Die!". Youtube will stop paying you, and ban your videos for such Haaaaate Speeeeeeech! A Twat Mob ( or was that Instagrinder? ) will protest at your house for suggesting you own habits might affect your health! You Monster!
Also, the statistics on this didn't exist a year ago. Everything China said was a Lie, and the Politicians didn't want any facts that might contradict their accusations of Ultimate Evil against The Enemy.
So, good reason nobody told you important stuff about living through this? Nope. You can understand all the Bad Reasons, and either get angry and/or more cynical.
I'm already pretty high up on the cynical scale, and I have to be careful not to disbelieve Everything, since that's a rabbit hole with no bottom, and it's possible that the "Flood Warning" might be real, and I should tie the canoe to the porch, and not play video games in the basement during the storm.
And I try not to get more angry, since, blood pressure, strokes, and Addiction to Being Offended are health risks I don't need on top of a plague, coup, onrushing WW4, and the Next Great Depression.
Besides, You know next year there will be something else, even more annoying than being told I didn't earn anything in life it was all the largess of My Civil Masters, & I'm a racist who had privilege hand me success, ( by a rich Harvard or Yale poly sci major ) and my Governor having a book ghost written to brag about what a great job he did. ( while committing 10+ thousand counts of Negligent Homicide )
Can't wait.
Just hope it's not the logical follow up Biological Warfare attack, which a Tom Clancy Novel "predicted" at the Olympics. ( like the 9/11 attack was taken directly from a Clancy Novel )
I’ve lost 35 pounds in the last three months. Cut out all carbs, stopped consuming heat processed oils (canola, soybean, corn, etc.) due to their hydrogenated oil content (don’t let the label fool you) and their bad omega 6:3 ratios. (Canola is an exception, but it’s still a heated and bleached oil.) I’m also doing intermittent fasting in an 18:6 pattern during the week and 20:4 on the weekends.
they didn't point out how big a risk obesity was with Covid
That wouldn't have help un-elect Trump. Can't offend the fatties, gotta put them on the cover of Vogue.
What oils aren't heated? Even my bacon fat comes from frying. Are there pressed-only veg oils to buy? I worked on soybean oil de-bottlenecking projects. The client would spend a couple million on preheating equipment for a 1% yield increase.
Cold pressed oils are not heated. They’re heated when you cook with them, sure, but not for as long as canola and other solvent/heat extracted oils. We’re talking 10-12 hours at high temperatures. This destabilizes the oil and destroys a significant percentage of the omega 3 fatty acids. So I get my fat from other sources. Did it help me lose weight? I don’t know. The oil change was part of an overall change in my eating habits. Might have been a combination of all three. Whatever it was, it worked.
If it says ‘virgin’ it’s not heated, but they do heat what’s left to extract more oil. Pretty sure all seed oils are heated, except virgin flaxseed oil (which is a great omega3 source). You can, I’ve heard, get virgin canola oil. It’s got a great omega 6:3 ratio.
Aesquire, So, are you saying we should trust those informed people, that were more concerned about offending all the obese high risk people rather than telling them they were truly in danger, to base our decisions on?