Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
Here are a few news items to talk about. Please feel free to share any items that you think might interest readers. Make sure to include links.
First news item
Winston Marshall, the banjoist of Mumford & Sons, is “taking time away” from the band after he was criticized for supporting a book written by controversial right-wing writer Andy Ngo.
“Over the past few days, I have come to better understand the pain caused by the book I endorsed,” Marshall said in a statement Wednesday. “I have offended not only a lot of people I don’t know but also those closest to me, including my bandmates and for that, I am truly sorry.”
“As a result of my actions I am taking time away from the band to examine my blindspots. For now, please know that I realize how my endorsements have the potential to be viewed as approvals of hateful, divisive behavior. I apologize, as this was not at all my intention,” he added.
The Catalan translator for the poem that American writer Amanda Gorman read at US president Joe Biden’s inauguration has said he has been removed from the job because he had the wrong “profile”.
It was the second such case in Europe after Dutch writer Marieke Lucas Rijneveld resigned from the job of translating Gorman’s work following criticism that a black writer was not chosen.
‘“They told me that I am not suitable to translate it,” Catalan translator Victor Obiols told AFP on Wednesday. “They did not question my abilities, but they were looking for a different profile, which had to be a woman, young, activist and preferably black.”
“But if I cannot translate a poet because she is a woman, young, black, an American of the 21st century, neither can I translate Homer because I am not a Greek of the eighth century BC. Or could not have translated Shakespeare because I am not a 16th-century Englishman.”
The acclaimed author Marieke Lucas Rijneveld has pulled out of translating Amanda Gorman’s poetry into Dutch, after their publisher was criticised for picking a writer for the role who was not also Black.
Dutch publisher Meulenhoff had announced Rijneveld, winner of the International Booker prize, as the translator of the Joe Biden inaugural poet’s forthcoming collection, The Hill We Climb, last week. But the move quickly drew opprobrium. Journalist and activist Janice Deul led critics with a piece in Volkskrant asking why Meulenhoff had not chosen a translator who was, like Gorman, a “spoken-word artist, young, female and unapologetically Black”.
Note:
Meulenhoff said it was Rijneveld’s decision to resign, and that Gorman, who is 22, had selected the 29-year-old herself, as a fellow young writer who had also come to fame early.
The writer specifically selected said translator! She intentionally wanted Rijneveld to translate her work.
You hired the person that *you* believed to be the best person to translate *your* work. Shut out the noise. Stand tall. Don’t cave in. And be okay with the consequences. People of substance will stand by you. People who want to control you or use you will excoriate you. It’s a jagged edge upon which to find oneself, especially one so young. And the more prominent the individual, the more is at stake. But if you don’t take a stand now, you’ll soon drown in the dark, murky sea of wokeness.
Second news item
“Cuomo never let me forget I was a woman”:
Andrew Cuomo’s hands had been on my body — on my arms, my shoulders, the small of my back, my waist — often enough by late 2014 that I didn’t want to go to the holiday party he was hosting for the Albany press corps at the executive mansion.
…
He took my hand, as if to shake it, then refused to let go. He put his other arm around my back, his hand on my waist, and held me firmly in place while indicating to a photographer he wanted us to pose for a picture…I was wrong to believe this experience would last for just a moment. Keeping his grip on me as I practically squirmed to get away from him, the governor turned my body to face a different direction for yet another picture. He never let go of my hand.
Then he turned to me with a mischievous smile on his face, in front of all of my colleagues, and said: “I’m sorry. Am I making you uncomfortable? I thought we were going steady.”
I stood there in stunned silence, shocked and humiliated. But, of course, that was the point.
I never thought the governor wanted to have sex with me. It wasn’t about sex. It was about power. He wanted me to know that I was powerless, that I was small and weak, that I did not deserve what relative power I had: a platform to hold him accountable for his words and actions. He wanted me to know that he could take my dignity away at any moment with an inappropriate comment or a hand on my waist.
Wolves look for easy prey. And young, inexperienced women are most easily devoured.
“I’m not going to resign,” Cuomo said in an afternoon conference call with reporters. He instead tried to cast doubt on the women who have accused him of harassment.
“I did not do what has been alleged, period,” he said. “I won’t speculate about people’s possible motives, but I can tell you as a former attorney general who has gone through this situation many times, there are often many motivations for making an allegation, and that is why you need to know the facts before you make a decision.”
Cuomo, though, was defiant on Friday, at times beyond reasonable belief. In the Friday call, he compared to the calls for him to resign to “cancel culture.” He suggested he was not “part of the political club,” only minutes before acknowledging he’s been in politics since he was 23 years old and working for his father.
“I never harassed anyone, I never abused anyone, I never assaulted anyone, and I never would,” Cuomo said. “Now, it is possible that I’ve taken a picture with a person who after the fact says they were uncomfortable with the pose in the picture? Yes. And that’s what you’re hearing about.”
Cancel his ass and kick him to the curb. Between the nursing home deaths and groping women, he deserves it. As of now, there has been public testimony from five accusers. New York Attorney General Letitia James is proceeding with an inquiry into the allegations against Cuomo.
Jake Tapper reminds us that “there are 19 House Democrats from New York, and sixteen of them have called on Gov. Cuomo to resign. As have the two Senators, one of whom just so happens to be Senate Majority Leader Schumer.”
Third news item
Cancel this idiot too and kick him to the curb:
Blatant racism from @RonJohnsonWI here. He says he wasn’t worried on 1/6 because the majority-white insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol “love this country,” but says if they were Black Lives Matter protestors he would’ve been concerned for his safety. #WISen pic.twitter.com/V3gm4cLw8v
— American Bridge 21st Century (@American_Bridge) March 12, 2021
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said in an interview aired Friday that he never felt threatened during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot because the mob was made up of “people that loved this country” instead of Black Lives Matter protesters. Speaking on the Joe Pags Show on AM radio, Johnson said, “I knew those were people that loved this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law, so I wasn’t concerned. Had the tables been turned, and President Trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matters and antifa protesters, I might have been a little concerned.”
The Republican Party needs to strongly condemn Johnson for this. But that’s not going to happen, is it?
Reminder: it was reported that nearly 140 police officers were injured in the violent siege at the Capitol. Three police officers died after the rioting (two committed suicide, there is an ongoing investigation into the third officer’s death).
Fourth news item
Maybe actually serve before you mock those who do:
The president noted that some work would be done to retain female recruits, including “designing body armor that fits women properly, tailoring combat uniforms for women, creating maternity flight suits [and] updating requirements for their hairstyles.”
[Tucker] Carlson ridiculed the remarks on his Tuesday night program.
“So, we’ve got new hairstyles and maternity flight suits. Pregnant women are going to fight our wars. It’s a mockery of the U.S. military,” he said. The longtime television journalist also made a comparison between the American military and Chinese military.
“China’s military becomes more masculine … our military needs to become, as Joe Biden says, more feminine.”
A former Navy SEAL would like a word:
If they carry me and my gear back home to my wife after I’ve been shot in combat, I don’t give a damn what gender or sex they are.
— Robert J. O'Neill (@mchooyah) March 11, 2021
Fifth news item
An assault on an Asian woman in San Jose is being investigated as a possible hate crime. The victim of the attack at San Jose’s Diridon train station Wednesday morning is sharing her story on the alleged hate crime and assault.
The victim named Tiffany, a 26-year-old medical worker from San Jose, said she was tossed around and dragged as the suspect shouted expletives calling her out for being Asian.
At 6:30 a.m., Tiffany was her way to work in Palo Alto and poised to board a train. She said she was inside the tunnel when a man approached her from behind, grabbed her neck, pulled her hair and started cursing.
“He was saying f-u, f-u Asian, this is completely bull,” said Tiffany. “All while he was keeping me on the ground with his grip on my hair.
“He made his way to the back of my head and just pulled me back and tossing me from front to back and side to side,” said Tiffany.
A disturbing trend of violence against Asian Americans continued after a grandmother from Westchester was attacked while walking on a sidewalk Tuesday night.
Nancy Toh says her assailant came up to her — nose-to-nose, then cocked his head back and spit in her face.
Toh closed her eyes, and that’s when he punched her right in her nose.
She fell to the ground, hit the back of her head and was knocked unconscious.
Eventually a good Samaritan saw her lying there and came to her aid.
When she opened her eyes, she was covered in her own blood and drenched in her pain.
“Bleeding lots from the brain. Looks like pumping out,” Toh said.
New York City has seen a recent spike in hate crimes against Asian Americans, but Toh’s daughter says she didn’t think it was so close to home.
More:
An Asian woman who was holding a baby in Fresh Meadows Tuesday was allegedly spat at by a man who also shouted out a racist remark, police said.
The hateful act, in what appears to be the latest anti-Asian incident to take place in the city, has been condemned by U.S. Congresswoman Grace Meng.
The 25-year-old woman was approached by the racist in the vicinity of 186th Street and Peck Avenue at around 10.30 a.m. before he allegedly spat in her direction and yelled “Chinese virus.”
The woman was spat at three times but the saliva did not make contact with her, police said.
It’s quite possible that the bigoted followers from which a former president galvanized support by using terms like “Kung-flu” and “Wuhan virus” are acting out on their worst impulses.
Sixth news items
An NPR/PBS/Marist poll released Thursday shows a potentially big problem in getting the country back to normal, with large members of these groups saying they will refuse any vaccine (ranked from highest to lowest percentage).
Republican men: 49%.
Trump supporters: 47%.
Republicans: 41%.
White men without a college degree: 40%.
White evangelicals: 38%.
Nearly 35 million. That’s how many Trump voters wouldn’t get the vaccine if the polling turns out to be correct, representing almost 17% of the adult population.
Former President Donald Trump released a statement this week urging Americans to get the vaccine give him the glory for the vaccine:
“I hope everyone remembers when they’re getting the COVID-19 (often referred to as the China Virus) Vaccine, that if I wasn’t President, you wouldn’t be getting that beautiful ‘shot’ for 5 years, at best, and probably wouldn’t be getting it at all. I hope everyone remembers!”
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is unwilling to do the easiest thing in the world to help persuade Trump supporters to get the vaccine. For godsake, bite the bullet and just say it, Jan. You won’t die if you say it, but others might if you don’t:
Psaki on Biden not crediting Trump in COVID address: "Americans are looking for facts. They're looking for details. They're looking for specifics. I don't think they're worried too much about applause from six months ago when the president has already delivered that publicly." pic.twitter.com/zN34hI7D9y
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 12, 2021
Seventh news item
The word the Biden administration can’t bring themselves to say is “crisis”:
Biden administration officials said Friday they do not have the ability to quickly add thousands of shelter beds to care for the record numbers of migrant teens and children stuck in crowded Border Patrol stations, as the new administration struggles to care for the soaring number of families and unaccompanied minors crossing from Mexico each day.
…
On Thursday night, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement sent an urgent email to senior staff asking for volunteers quickly to deploy to US border stations and tent sites where holding cells are crammed beyond capacity.
“This situation mandates immediate action to protect the life and safety of federal personnel and the aliens in custody,” wrote Michael Meade, ICE’s acting assistant director for field operations, in an email obtained by The Washington Post.
“Start and end dates are TBD, but could begin as soon as this weekend at locations along the SWB, most likely Texas,” Meade wrote, referring to the southwest border. He also told staff the emergency conditions could persist, adding, “It is anticipated that the enforcement actions will continue to grow over the coming months.”
Miscellaneous
So cool:
A drone operator shot a short video in a Minneapolis bowling alley to rally support for the business. It was viewed hundreds of thousands of times on social media and won high praise from Hollywood directors. https://t.co/1hzsXQa7ev pic.twitter.com/1SHY1HDy1d
— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 11, 2021
To Be In Love by Gwendolyn Brooks:
To be in love
Is to touch with a lighter hand.
In yourself you stretch, you are well.
You look at things
Through his eyes.
A cardinal is red.
A sky is blue.
Suddenly you know he knows too.
He is not there but
You know you are tasting together
The winter, or a light spring weather.
His hand to take your hand is overmuch.
Too much to bear.
You cannot look in his eyes
Because your pulse must not say
What must not be said.
When he
Shuts a door-
Is not there_
Your arms are water.
And you are free
With a ghastly freedom.
You are the beautiful half
Of a golden hurt.
You remember and covet his mouth
To touch, to whisper on.
Oh when to declare
Is certain Death!
Oh when to apprize
Is to mesmerize,
To see fall down, the Column of Gold,
Into the commonest ash.
Have a great weekend.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (fd537d) — 3/12/2021 @ 9:25 pmTucker Carlson is an idiot. Military flight crews wear flight suits any time they fly the plane, not just for war. Also, properly shaped body armor increases safety and improves movement and properly tailored uniforms also improve movement.
Nic (896fdf) — 3/12/2021 @ 10:09 pmI really can’t take him seriously. I’m unclear why anyone does, but he’s certainly popular in certain circles.
Dana (fd537d) — 3/12/2021 @ 10:18 pm> The Republican Party needs to strongly condemn Johnson for this. But that’s not going to happen, is it?
of course not. they’re going to either silently ignore it or openly praise and agree with its wisdom.
> At 6:30 a.m., Tiffany was her way to work in Palo Alto and poised to board a train. She said she was inside the tunnel when a man approached her from behind, grabbed her neck, pulled her hair and started cursing.
I’m familiar with that tunnel.
Whatever’s going on here isn’t limited to Trump fans, unfortunately. :{
aphrael (4c4719) — 3/12/2021 @ 11:13 pmThe bowling alley drone footage is pretty awesome. That must be a really small drone, and whoever was controlling it certainly was very adept at quickly steering it into tight spaces. The bowler at the :20 mark who somehow only takes out the 2, 3, and 10 pins? That’s pretty much my speciality, and why I don’t really bowl any more. (Maybe he got the 5 pin too; hard to tell from the video.)
JVW (ee64e4) — 3/12/2021 @ 11:38 pm“But if I cannot translate a poet because she is a woman, young, black, an American of the 21st century, neither can I translate Homer because I am not a Greek of the eighth century BC. Or could not have translated Shakespeare because I am not a 16th-century Englishman.”
In the movie version of “Name of the Rose”, there is a wonderful scene where Sean Connery attempts to use logic in a debate with the Inquisitors. It works about as well. We have entered a modern Inquisition and there is no indication that sense will prevail.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/12/2021 @ 11:42 pmIt’s quite possible that the bigoted followers from which a former president galvanized support by using terms like “Kung-flu” and “Wuhan virus” are acting out on their worst impulses.
To be fair, goons like these didn’t need Trump to remind them they were goons. There are always those who will blame others for their problems. Usually they just hit their women.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/12/2021 @ 11:47 pmAnd the Biden Administration’s handling of the border situation is utterly mind-boggling. Either they knew that kowtowing to hardcore activists and immediately ending the Trump policies would bring a flood of migrants to the border and just didn’t care for a variety of political reasons, or they truly are some of the most stupid and unimaginative people around. I mean, it’s been painfully obvious for some time now that anytime we signal that immigration policy is about to become more lenient, we suddenly have a rush of migrants hoping that this time they will get in. And given the new COVID protocols and how they impact the number of beds available at immigration holding facilities, the administration should have been extra cautious about causing a stampede to the border. That the Biden people either didn’t understand this or didn’t feel the need to prepare for this suggests that competency is in short supply.
JVW (ee64e4) — 3/12/2021 @ 11:51 pmWnile I don’t think vaccines should be mandatory outside of certain jobs, I do think that no one should be forced to cosign their bullsh1t. So, since my “scarlet letter” idea probably won’t fly, I suggest that people be able to obtain vaccination credentials and those they wish to do business with be able to decline such, should they be unable to show an acceptable status.
You have an unalienable right to swing your fist. Just not where my nose is.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/12/2021 @ 11:52 pm“In bowling, there are rules…”
John Goodman, “The Big Lebowski”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/12/2021 @ 11:55 pm@Dana@3 Yeah, I don’t get it either. He’s a trust-fund baby who’s never held a real job other than as a talking head, or had any experience with real life. He doesn’t even look like someone anyone should listen to.
Nic (896fdf) — 3/12/2021 @ 11:58 pmBTW, I am seeing incredible misinformation about how to get the vaccine on social media like Nextdoor. Now maybe people are just that stupid (the extent of which continues to amaze me), but it really seems like some people are just ratfukking the process.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/12/2021 @ 11:59 pmFascist cultists: “GIVE TRUMP CREDIT FOR THE VACCINE!!!”
Also fascist cultists: “THE VACCINE IS FAKE!!!”
Dave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 12:00 am“GIVE TRUMP CREDIT FOR THE VACCINE!!!”
Not incorrect, and not uncommon. If anything, Trump tied to get them to shorten the testing (for all the wrong reasons probably) and I know a molecular biochemist who thinks they could have. mRNA is not the same thing as a live-virus vaccine and should not be subjected to 70 year-old rules.
“THE VACCINE IS FAKE!!!”
Both uncommon and incorrect. In fact, I would like to see you find someone who says that and is not generally regarded as a loon. Robert Kennedy, Jr, perhaps.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 12:07 amIf you want a good laugh. Over at democratic underground (they are actually dnc simps) The all women should be believed crowd is trying to explain why NO women should be believed who accuse cuomo. If they don’t have pictures they are lying and if they have pictures of cuomo groping them then they just misunderstood and were confused!
asset (74131e) — 3/13/2021 @ 12:15 amWell duh, we’re talking about MAGA cultists.
How the Anti-Vaxxers Got Red-Pilled
For instance.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 12:18 amMemo to Tucka:
The next American to set foot on the moon will be a woman.
NASA reveals new spacesuit designs to be worn by women
The new generation of space garments were made for use during the 2024 Artemis lunar mission, which will see the first woman on the moon.
https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/14-20-october-2019/nasa-women-spacesuit/
“Laughter, gentlemen, is the argument of idiots against every new idea!” – Professor Georg Manfeldt [Klau Pohl] ‘Frau Im Mond’ [Woman In the Moon] 1929
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 3/13/2021 @ 12:23 amI have a neighbor who isn’t really a loon, but she’s a steady watcher of Fox and a Trump defender. She said she won’t get the vaccine because this Covid thing is “about hurting Trump,” and because she has “heard things” about the vaccines. And she doesn’t believe that Trump got a vaccination himself.
Radegunda (f4d5c0) — 3/13/2021 @ 12:48 amMy mother’s friend said she won’t get the vaccine because it’s “the mark of the beast”. My mother countered her by saying that it’s not the mark of the beast if it’s voluntary.
I guess there are good reasons to not make it mandatory after all!
norcal (01e272) — 3/13/2021 @ 1:46 amWhen do you people star your own party? Sorry, I forgot you people are the Lincoln Projectiles.
mg (8cbc69) — 3/13/2021 @ 3:08 amHere’s another article describing Trump’s failure to make an effective plan for vaccine distribution, particularly the “last mile” from storage into people’s arms:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-covid-vaccination-distribution-biden
It does credit OWS for speeding development of vaccines but based on other reports that still seems exaggerated to me.
Victor (4959fb) — 3/13/2021 @ 3:25 amasset (74131e) — 3/13/2021 @ 12:15 am
The Democrats invented jamming. Professional trolls and bots to go online and promote their various agendas, defend their rancid jagoffs, and drown out the opposition with noise.
nk (1d9030) — 3/13/2021 @ 4:46 am“But if I cannot translate a poet because she is a woman, young, black, an American of the 21st century, neither can I translate Homer because I am not a Greek of the eighth century BC.
You should be thoroughly knowledgeable in all the contexts — linguistic, social, cultural, historical, and even technological, and for want of a better word “spiritual” — of the material you’re translating.
For example, when you translate ἐυμμελίω Πριάμοιο, eummelio Priamoios, literally the genitive form of “good-ashed Priam”, you should know that ash is a wood of high tensile strength with minimal flex, used in that period for spear shafts and the long oars of galley ships, but you should also know that Priam had many other wives besides Hecuba, fifty sons and not only Hector and Paris, and uncounted daughters. One translator has it as “Priam of the good ashen spear”, but I can think of others.
So, yeah, maybe you do want an early 21st century young black American woman for the best translation of the poetry of an early 21st century young black American woman.
nk (1d9030) — 3/13/2021 @ 5:57 amGood morning, Dana, norcal, Nic, and good others. I will now conclude my story of teaching junior high science in the 1980s; it was by now late in the decade. I wasn’t disappointed that you guys couldn’t recall what was going on then, or guess what could have caused me to become disillusioned with science, but it did surprise me a little, because we are talking about global mass hysteria here. So, let’s get the party started!
The thing you have to keep in mind is that these were my students. Unlike when I started teaching science, with 8th grade earth science, I was a first-year teacher and the kids didn’t know me, yet. So they were bored with rocks and minerals, plate tectonics, mountains, earthquakes, and volcanos, geology in general, because it didn’t seem relevant to their lives. We don’t have anything like that down here in a river delta. These kids just wanted to complete the assignments, study enough to pass the tests, and make good enough grades to graduate. In other words, the main thing on their minds was getting out of junior high and going to high school.
Their interest started to peak in the last six weeks of the semester, when we studied meteorology, because the weather had a direct impact on their lives. Then I gave the thunderstorm lecture, a thunderstorm actually happened right after school, and everything changed. The legend of Mr. C, all seeing, all knowing, all powerful, had been born.
My students, on the other hand, had been with me for two years. They really believed I could control the weather when they walked into class of the first day of 6th grade. We had a lot of fun, performing experiments, going outside, studying and observing nature, learning about plants, animals, birds, and insects. The leaf-cutter ant colony field trip blew their minds.
The end of summer, before sixth grade, I went to the sign company my mother used and a big poster made of the scientific method in large black letters. It read:
The Scientific Method
1. Identify the problem; observe a phenomenon
2. Propose a hypothesis, a solution or an explanation
3. Perform experiments; make further observations
4. Analyze data; interpret observations
5. Form theory.
A theory is a hypothesis that has been confirmed by experimental data and correct interpretation.
If the data and interpretation contradict the hypothesis, start over at the beginning. I used little squares of stick-um to glue this poster on the wall above the chalk board. And every week, I gave my students a pop quiz. Write the scientific method. They would look at each other and smile, because it was right there on the wall behind me. All they had to do was copy the poster for an easy 100. (I did this to keep their grade averages high, so they would pass every semester. My students didn’t fail. But there was method to my madness. If you could find any one of these students today, 33 years later, and ask him or her, what is the scientific method? He or she would tell you right then, right there, off the top of their heads. To me, that’s learning.)
So my students were excited when we got to eighth grade earth science. They weren’t thinking about getting out of junior high and going to high school, although I’m sure that was in the backs of their minds. Maybe they were thinking, when I get to high school, I’m going to tell everyone I studied science with Mr. C. Actually, they were anticipating seeing me make a storm, as they had been for two years.
Attentive and engaged, they were fascinated with studying the Earth and how it influenced Nature. I taught them things about geology they didn’t know and had never thought of before. Since we had spent last year studying life science, I was able to show them how different geological formations and terrains affected what kinds of plays could grow and what kinds of animals would live in each environment. Students, I told them, every species is adapted to the habitat it grows and lives in, thus each species is different because the habitat or niche they occupy is different. That’s how geology affects biology, and why the Earth influences Nature. They would nod their heads in agreement and understanding.
When we got to meteorology, in the final semester (our last together), they got really excited. All these questions about the weather, which I answered in detail, they were into it. Finally, I gave the thunderstorm lecture. Only this time, a thunderstorm didn’t happen right after school.
I walked into class on Monday morning, and they were slumped in their desks with their arms crossed, frowning. Hi, guys, what’s wrong, did something happen? “Sir, you didn’t make a storm.” Okay. Now, I couldn’t very well them them that the last time was just a coincidence, say I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m really not all powerful and I can’t control the weather. No, couldn’t say that, not to these kids. So I shrugged and said, “The clouds weren’t right for a storm, but I’ll tell you what. On the last day of school I’ll make a storm, so you can tell everyone about it when you get to high school.” That seemed to cheer them up a little.
But there something else that had been going on all year that had them preoccupied. I’m surprised you guys don’t remember and can’t guess what that was. Come on, don’t you know? Look, elementary school kids are obsessed with dinosaurs, high school kids are obsessed with the occult, junior high school kids are obsessed with what? Space aliens. So what was going on in the late 1980s that would preoccupy my students? Crop circles.
The first crop circle appeared sometime in the late 1970s in Britain. It was a mystery. Over the next couple of years, another one would appear every now and then around the same area. By the mid-1980s, crop circles started appearing in other parts of Britain and the United Kingdom, in Europe, Australia, and the United States. People started freaking out.
I’m standing outside my door one day, monitoring the hall, and these to boys came up to me, arguing with each other. One of them was a student of mine, the other had another science teacher, but they were best friends. “Sir, are space aliens real?” No. They walked away, arguing. “See, I told you.” “Nuh uh, I read a book.” “You read a book? That’s Mr. C, he knows everything!” I shook my head and laughed to myself.
Over the course of the year, crop circles started appearing with greater frequency, like once or twice a week, all around the world, anywhere there wer fields, in increasingly more intricate designs. And they were all over the news, on every channel, in every newspaper, on the covers of reputable scientific magazines. What could possibly be making these mysterious design? Extraterrestrials, of course. The running story was, crop circles were messages from outer space, left by aliens for humans to decode. They were trying to communicate with us. Breaking News: Another Message from Outer Space. What does it mean? Are we being invaded?
It was insane! Good grief, universities established departments for the study of crop circles, for crying out loud.
(To be continued, as I’m beginning to run out of space.)
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 3/13/2021 @ 6:12 amAphrael at 4 near the top: I think some of it is viral one-upmanship within the twitter- and snap-verse of the Sprite soda crowd, much like carjacking has become in Chicago (cars are stolen for joyrides and transportation to the next stick-up and not for parts or shipping to foreign countries).
urbanleftbehind (2641dd) — 3/13/2021 @ 6:26 amI think a writer should be able to choose whomever they want to translate their work. For better or worse. In the case of Gorman, I suspect she spoke with the translator at length and learned enough about her to satisfy her requirements for someone to translate her work.
Dana (fd537d) — 3/13/2021 @ 6:30 amI think a writer should be able to choose whomever they want to translate their work.
Heh! This ties in with Patterico’s “Constitutional Vanguard: Amazon Bans Book with Wrongthink” post and my comments therein. In the end, it’s the publishers’ and their editors’ decision how a writer is published. And if at all.
There’s a story that Robert A. Heinlein had one of his Young Adult books so heavily edited that he demanded the editor be named a co-author.
If Ms. Gorman has not already spent the advance, I suppose she could put her foot down and demand her way or the highway. [Insert gratuitous reference to “plantation” here.]
nk (1d9030) — 3/13/2021 @ 6:48 amGorman is a rising star. She has more power than I suspect she knows. She’s young and inexperienced and certainly will yield to her rep or publisher. But without her on board, they’ve got nothing.
Also, what if the best person for the job isn’t a black, 21st-century American woman? What if the best person for the job is a young Dutch woman who, although not black, is a young female and spoken-word artist? Does not being black preclude her from being able to translate the book as well as any unapologetically black woman?
This is an interesting look at what goes into the translation of a book:
So, does the translator need to be the same race as the writer to achieve the best outcome?
Here’s some more:
I don’t necessarily disagree with you, nk, but I don’t like seeing a writer who has hand-picked whom she wants to translate her work be overridden. Experience is one thing, but must that experience in translating/spoken word need be from someone of the same race to be successful?
Dana (fd537d) — 3/13/2021 @ 6:58 amI’ve added this to the third news item:
Dana (fd537d) — 3/13/2021 @ 6:59 amEvery other day on the news, on the morning and even the evening shows, they would have some professor from one of these crop circle departments, or the expert author from one the science magazines, to explain why these crop circles could not possibly have been made by humans and why they must have been made by extraterrestrials. “We just haven’t learned how to decode them. But clearly, these are messages from outer space, and extraterrestrials are trying to communicate with us. We need to start sending out radio waves so they will know we’re trying to understand them.”
Of course, my students were all over this phenomenon. Well, mostly the boys, who were absolutely obsessed. The girls, not so much, they just sat back and laughed, while these boys desperately tried to prove Mr. C was wrong, and space aliens were real. They would come running into class with newspapers, magazines and videotapes! “Sir, I have proof.” Every time there was a crop circle, they were on it like a duck on a June bug. I could barely finish my lectures, because I had to leave at least ten minutes to discuss crop circles and space aliens.
Okay, this is a teachable moment. Now, I knew exactly where these boys were coming from, because I was exactly the same when I was their age, maybe a little younger, even though crop circles hadn’t begun to appear in the early 1970s. I was kicking back one Saturday morning, watching TV before I began my chores, when this commercial came on for new movie, now in theaters, that purported to reveal the truth about the gods of ancient myths, Chariots of the Gods. I was heavily into Greek and Norse mythology at the time, so I turned off the TV, rushed through my chores, then hopped on my bicycle and rode to the theater just in time to see this movie. It blew my young mind. Then the next day, Sunday, my parents to us to the library, as they did every weekend, and there was the book, Chariots of the Gods. There’s a book? I just saw the movie! So I checked it out and read it all before I went to bed that night. Oh, the dreams that filled my mind.
The premise of this book and movies is that the ancient gods were really space aliens. There once had been a planet occupied by super intelligent extraterrestrials, who knew a giant meteor was coming to destroy their planet, so they built flying saucers and fled to the Earth for safety. The proof is the asteroid belt, which is the remnant of their destroyed planet. Once they got to Earth, they built landing strips for their flying saucers, the Nazca lines in Peru. As the populated the planet, often living on mountain tops, they interbred with apes and gave birth to humans, whom they taught advanced mathematics and helped them build Stonehenge, the Pyramids and the Parthenon. Ancient humans remembered them as gods and told stories about their interactions with them in myths.
I was so convinced this book and movie were true, I kept talking about them every night at dinner. The ancient gods were space aliens. My father would hear none of it. I saw the movie, I read the book, I have proof. Will you shut up about the space aliens? my father said. I wouldn’t. I kept going on and on every night about how the gods were from outer space. One day, my father came home from work and smacked me on the forehead with a book. “Read!” he said. The book was Crash Go the Chariots. So I read it, and I have never felt more stupid in my life. This book completely destroys every premise of the other, with historical facts and irrefutable evidence. I asked myself, where have I heard the story of a planet about to be destroyed by a meteor and an extraterrestrial fleeing to Earth for safety? Oh, that’s right, DC comics. It’s the story of Kal-El. On Krypton, as a baby, he would have grown into an everyday extraterrestrial. But on Earth, he grew up with super powers and became Superman.
I see it all now. Chariots of the Gods simply takes the story of Kal-El and applies it to the gods of mythology. Space aliens have super powers on Earth, so of course ancient humans would have thought of them as gods. How could I have been so stupid? Why didn’t I see this from the beginning? This is comic book cosmology. That realization transformed my mind.
Armed with this knowledge and experience from my youth, I was fully prepared to refute whatever evidence of space aliens these boys brought to my class, on a daily basis, while the girls giggled.
(To be continued immediately, as I’m about to run out of space.)
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 3/13/2021 @ 7:45 amTwo different quotes?
I wonder why.
BillPasadena (5b0401) — 3/13/2021 @ 7:53 amTwo different quotes?
I wonder why.
Not to mention the “majority white” qualifier they put in after the declarative “blatant racism” assertion.
“American Bridge 21st Century is the largest research, video tracking, and rapid response organization in Democratic and progressive politics.”
Clearly an organization dedicated to Principled Conservatism!
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 8:03 amOh man, that was a cool drone video! Look for similar promotions for other places. I guess every person in the video signed a release. That’s the way to do it. Kudos to the drone operator.
felipe (484255) — 3/13/2021 @ 8:09 amAmerican Bridge 21 Century’s tweet does not have that part in quotes. While it is incomplete, he did say that. I understand the concern, and it was likely intentional, but given the lack of quotations and that it’s a tweet captioning the actual audio recording of Johnson speaking, I’m not too exercised about it.
Dana (fd537d) — 3/13/2021 @ 8:09 amI recall that Ron Johnson wouldn’t even call the insurrection on 1/6 an insurrection. Anyway, I condemn the racist Senator and the racists who judged Ms. Gorman’s translators by skin color.
A couple of NYT pieces covered my neck of the woods here in South Alaska. The first is about how well Seattle has handled CV19.
That 300,000 number holds up statewide, where we’re 45th in deaths per million. If our rate of 681 deaths per million were spread nationally, there would be only–only!–225,000± dead, which is 321,000± fewer than where we’re at now.
I think there are two reasons for why we’ve responded well. First, we got hit early and hard with the virus, especially in nursing homes, so we took it seriously from the onset, unlike our previous president who never did. Second, Inslee stuck to the protocols and told Trump to f*ck off on masking, social distancing, reopening, etc.
The economic result hasn’t been good, but it’s not terrible either. In WA State, we have 188,000 fewer jobs in January 2021 than in January 2020, and our unemployment rate jumped from 4.6% to 6.6%.
The second piece profiles Jaime Herrera Beutler. It’s really good. I didn’t know her first child had Potter’s Syndrome.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 3/13/2021 @ 8:10 amSecond, Inslee stuck to the protocols and told Trump to f*ck off on masking, social distancing, reopening, etc.
Which actually had nothing to do with case rates or mortality levels.
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 8:15 amFalse.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 3/13/2021 @ 8:17 amWhat two different quotes?
Is this like a Trump thing or something? Where an apostrophe is a hyphen, and two sentences, one following the other, in the same breath and paragraph, are two quotes? Covfefe?
nk (1d9030) — 3/13/2021 @ 8:17 amFalse.
True.
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 8:19 amLast month, Tim Miller categorized the GOP caucus into three groups, the Fear Caucus (which I call the Coward Caucus), the Krakens (hardline Trumpsters) and the Milhouse Caucus (which I call traditionalists). The grouping explains the impeachment/conviction vote, as well as the small number of Republicans who went against Trump.
Yesterday, Ms. Haberman categorized the rest of the GOP electorate.
The NeverTrumps and Post-Trumps are enough to ensure that he’ll never get enough electoral votes, IMO, though he could get nominated again, as if the GOP needs to die even more.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 3/13/2021 @ 8:31 amThe science isn’t on your side, FWO. Masking and social distancing worked.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 3/13/2021 @ 8:34 amWell duh, we’re talking about MAGA cultists.
How the Anti-Vaxxers Got Red-Pilled
Yeas, sure. Rolling Stone. People even less objective about Trump’s supporters than you are.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 8:53 amEven Senator Johnson got a vaccine.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 8:56 amThe science isn’t on your side, FWO. Masking and social distancing worked.
Nothing in the real, actual data on case loads and deaths (not the appeal to authority you’re attempting here) proves that.
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 8:56 amThe “Never Trump” Republicans comprised 15 percent of the Republicans surveyed
If they counted people who were no longer Republicans the percentage would be higher.
Only 13 percent of all the voters surveyed believed in QAnon conspiracy theories, the poll showed
If they counted only people who were Republicans before Trump, the percentage would be lower.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:00 amNothing in the real, actual data on case loads and deaths (not the appeal to authority you’re attempting here) proves that.
Or disproves it. It is impossible to construct alternative histories and test them.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:01 amHere’s the thing about masks, social distancing and contagion: People who wore masks at all times, didn’t gather in large groups and avoided situations where contagion was likely (e.g. pickup bars) tended not to get sick. Those that did none of these things got the bug.
Of course, if you ask those who got sick, they might lie about how careful they were. Hard things to prove.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:05 amOr disproves it. It is impossible to construct alternative histories and test them.
Such declarative statements should probably be avoided then.
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:10 amSuch declarative statements should probably be avoided then.
In situations where “proof” is not possible, observations can still be made. I cannot, for example, prove that capitalism usually produces wealth and socialism is likely to fail. But observation and history argue strongly that way.
Social sciences do not lend themselves to the same hard tests that the physical sciences do; many things are not falsifiable. That only means that you need to use other methods. Statistics, for example.
I know of three types of people who got Covid: Those that ignored medical advice, those that were too flighty to follow any advice, and those that obstinately did the opposite of what was advised. People who stayed home, masked up when outdoors and didn’t congregate in close quarters with others generally didn’t get sick.
Statistics aren’t perfect, and neither is observation. But I have yet to see a study that says that people who routinely behaved as if infection couldn’t happen to them, avoided the bug.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:30 amSo what’s your enlightened theory on how Covid spreads and what puts people more or less at risk of getting it? Is it like a big lottery in the sky and no one’s behavior makes any difference?
Radegunda (f4d5c0) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:31 amPeople who wore masks at all times, didn’t gather in large groups and avoided situations where contagion was likely (e.g. pickup bars) tended not to get sick. Those that did none of these things got the bug.
Most of the outbreaks have been in nursing homes and prisons. Not restaurants/bars, not indoor gatherings, not any of the things that the hype-tainment media or Fauci were attributing to the massive fall/winter spike that took place in most places. This is shown in every state where officials bother to show the data–which should be a red flag when the data contradicts the statements of politicians and public health officials.
Colorado COVID site is, by far and away, the best at breaking these out. The NYT dug further into their spreadsheets and found that the spike in “schools” that happened last fall was almost all on college campuses. The data during that spike clearly shows that cases jump amongst populations of cloistered individuals–not people who have casual contact. And it shouldn’t be any surprise that cases and death numbers climbed during the time of year when respiratory illnesses increase. If “masks and social distancing worked,” then the data would show that ALL the states which put in these policies would not have experienced a spike in cases and deaths this fall (that’s the actual measure of whether a policy “worked” or not).
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:35 amIs it like a big lottery in the sky and no one’s behavior makes any difference?
That whole germ-theory thing is wrong, of course. Have you ever seen a virus?! I thought not. It’s a Democrat conspiracy to impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:35 amSo what’s your enlightened theory on how Covid spreads and what puts people more or less at risk of getting it? Is it like a big lottery in the sky and no one’s behavior makes any difference?
The fact that you’re resorting to this kind of deflection and strawmanning shows you don’t really have an argument to make.
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:36 amAnother possibility: use common sense.
It is undisputed, even by the most ignorant Trumpkins, that the disease spreads by healthy people breathing in stuff exhaled by infected people. It is also well-established that the amount of stuff you inhale affects the severity of the infection. More is worse.
Given that, mask-wearing is an obviously effective way to prevent exhaled stuff from traveling as far, and to remove some fraction of stuff from the air people exhale, and inhale.
Even a Q-brained, knuckle-dragging Trump cultist should be able to understand this.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:38 amIf “masks and social distancing worked,” then the data would show that ALL the states which put in these policies would not have experienced a spike in cases and deaths this fall (that’s the actual measure of whether a policy “worked” or not).
Oh, please. It’s not the policies but the behavior. I bought masks in February of last year and was wearing them a month before anyone thought to mandate them. The people I know who got ill, or died, did so before precautions were advised or behaved as though they were immune. That people died in group settings where they were unable to fend for themselves does not mean that fending for oneself was ineffective.
Take stupid chances, win stupid prizes.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:40 amIt is undisputed, even by the most ignorant Trumpkins
You need to get out more.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:41 amIt’s not so much the Sovietization of science and medicine that I mind, it’s that it’s done for the sake of the ego of a corrupt, orange, criminal, New York sewer rat who must never be said to be wrong no matter what nonsense he utters.
Obama did it first, but he didn’t do it for his own ego, he did it to pander to the special interests whose support he wanted, and he was always willing to “evolve”.
This Fifth Avenue crybaby is the opposite. He is not pandering to his marks, they are pandering to him, and it’s ridiculous. They are ridiculous.
nk (1d9030) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:46 amHave they finally found a way to blame it on antifa or BLM?
Dave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:47 amI am curious about the theory that it doesn’t spread in settings outside of nursing homes and prisons.
I assume you also add in meatpacking factories.
But, according to you, not restaurants.
Anyway I remember seeing reports from someplace, Korea?, about spread in restaurants with the infected people located on the charts in their particular seats. Was that just fiction?
Victor (4959fb) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:03 amThat whole germ-theory thing is wrong, of course. Have you ever seen a virus?! I thought not. It’s a Democrat conspiracy to impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
More deflection.
But observation and history argue strongly that way.
Oh, good, I’m glad you brought up history. One micro-example of what happened 100 years ago, during a similar pandemic, is covered in “Robert Speer’s Denver, 1904-1920,” by Phil Goodstein, pages 491-496. This format doesn’t allow for a cut and paste of that information, but suffice to say that, on October 6th 1918, the city’s public health director, William Sharpley, banned ALL indoor gatherings. He ordered hospitals to only admit emergency cases plus flu victims. All schools were closed. A city-cleaning effort was initiated to clear filth and debris. On October 15th, all outdoor gatherings were forbidden; an outdoor gathering was defined as more than two people. Out-of-town visits to local residences were outlawed, leading to people snitching on their neighbors to the local health authorities. Stores could remain open, but merchants and customers ended up doing social distancing on their own, including a form of “no-contact” purchasing and forbidding anyone from entering the place of business. On October 29th, local doctors encouraged everyone to wear masks indoors, and the media provided instructions on how to make them. Public transit was staggered and rider limits imposed. Sharpley limited elevator occupancy and encouraged a “social distancing” practice of three feet. Didn’t matter. Further research showed that most of the flu victims were the city’s poor, who lived indigent housing and were generally malnourished and thus had weak immune systems.
Similarly, most of the victims of COVID have been the elderly, the average age of death being equivalent to our ordinary life expectancy, with an average of 2.5 co-morbidities, mostly related to obesity, such as heart disease and diabetes. That over 500,000 people and counting have died of this, irrespective of the public health measures taken, based on this data it’s clear that our public health officials probably should have focused more on encouraging people to lose weight (if they can force businesses and schools to close, why not force people to exercise for 30 minutes a day?) and change their diets, as our 60% obesity epidemic finally came home to roost.
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:06 amI am curious about the theory that it doesn’t spread in settings outside of nursing homes and prisons.
I am curious about the theory that it doesn’t spread in settings outside of nursing homes and prisons.
I assume you also add in meatpacking factories.
But, according to you, not restaurants.
Try not to resort to strawmanning.
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:06 amOn nursing homes, false. There were around 630,000 cases (2.1% of total cases) and 130,000± deaths (23.9% of the total).
On prisons, false.
When you combine nursing homes and prisons, it’s still under a million out of over 30 million cases confirmed.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:07 amLeaving aside the initial outbreak for which we were nearly completely unprepared, it’s not a coincidence that communities that masked and socially-distanced had lower case and death rates. Correlation tracked with causation.
It is undisputed, even by the most ignorant Trumpkins, that the disease spreads by healthy people breathing in stuff exhaled by infected people. It is also well-established that the amount of stuff you inhale affects the severity of the infection. More is worse.
Where have most of the outbreaks taken place?
Oh, please. It’s not the policies but the behavior.
Policies help drive behavior.
The people I know who got ill, or died, did so before precautions were advised or behaved as though they were immune. That people died in group settings where they were unable to fend for themselves does not mean that fending for oneself was ineffective.
That doesn’t mean that the people you know are representative of the case and death figures nationwide, or even by state. You’re extrapolating your own experience on to others, when the data already provides us plenty of information on who was more likely to both catch the illness, and to die from it.
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:11 amnk’s right. I can’t even be bothered with Trump fnas who are still worried about his reputation. The guy is a joke.
Half a million dead Americans and they just don’t even want to be serious. Trump was a four year long McDonalds commercial (if you want your waist to look less like Trump and more like Biden, that is mostly a matter of diet).
Dustin (4237e0) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:14 amLeaving aside the initial outbreak for which we were nearly completely unprepared, it’s not a coincidence that communities that masked and socially-distanced had lower case and death rates.
You mean like New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island?
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:14 amHalf a million dead Americans and they just don’t even want to be serious. Trump was a four year long McDonalds commercial (if you want your waist to look less like Trump and more like Biden, that is mostly a matter of diet).
Trump doesn’t have anything to do with the nation’s high obesity rate. Nor does it change the fact that most of the deaths are over the age of 65, and that the average mortality had 2.5 co-morbidities related to obesity.
Come back when you actually want to confront that instead of whining about Trump like you love to do.
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:16 amAbout restaurants, which are about as contagious as church choirs and such.
This is really just common sense.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:19 amHence the “leaving aside” part, and WA State is part of that group.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:21 amI half-agree, half-disagree with you Dana. As someone who spent two decades in the publishing industry, I can assure you that the publisher needs to be the ultimate arbiter of who contributes to a publishing project. Authors are notorious for wanting their friends or family members to be contracted to do artwork or copyediting or design on a project, and even though in some cases it turns out they do good work, a competent editor or publisher is at times going to have to tell the author that their contributor’s work isn’t up to snuff and won’t be used.
But that doesn’t seem to be the case at all with the Dutch translator for Ms. Gorman’s book, who presumably had been vetted by the publisher, found to be a worthy contributor, and was axed from the project for no reason other than skin color and racial grievances. So in this case either the translator is a coward if we are to believe that he or she left the project on his or her on volition, or the publisher is a coward if it turns out that the translator was dropped from the project.
JVW (ee64e4) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:23 amHave they finally found a way to blame it on antifa or BLM?
Anything except their own behavior will do.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:24 amMore deflection.
Actually, that’s “mocking.”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:25 amHence the “leaving aside” part, and WA State is part of that group.
If you have to qualify like that, your assertion that places which followed masks and social distancing had better results doesn’t apply.
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:27 amour public health officials probably should have focused more on encouraging people to lose weight
Yeah, because they are so not doing that already. That people who already had health problems were more likely to succumb doesn’t actually mean anything. That’s pretty much the way with any disease ONCE YOU CATCH IT.
It’s like seat belts. If you drive your car into a wall, wearing a seat belt will help. But not hitting the effing wall will help lots more.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:30 amActually, that’s “mocking.”
The easy refuge of someone who doesn’t have an actual argument.
In the United States, counties in states with mask-wearing mandates saw their growth in Covid-19 case and death rates slow last year, but growth rates increased in counties where states allowed on-site restaurant dining, according to a CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) released Friday.
Where were the actual cases linked to? Or is this a “correlation equals causation” assumption, given the attempt to compare apples (mask mandates) to oranges (in-person dining)?
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:30 amThat people who already had health problems were more likely to succumb doesn’t actually mean anything.
It means quite a bit as they were already highly vulnerable to an upper respiratory illness to begin with. And if Americans continue to insist on maintaining that type of lifestyle, in increasing numbers, then the odds that they will remain vulnerable to these types of illnesses will only continue to go up.
Get outside. Exercise. Don’t eat processed garbage. If you don’t confront the root of the actual problem, you’re just putting a bandaid on a sucking chest wound.
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:36 amSo, should vaccination be required for:
persons traveling to the US?
all air travel?
subway and bus travel?
admission to a hospital (other than as a patient)?
attending a public school?
attending an indoor event, such as a play or a movie?
attending a large indoor event, such as a concert or basketball game?
attending an outdoor sporting event, such as a baseball game?
What would one use to show vaccination status?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:37 amBTW, not all the anti-vaxx hysteria is due to QAnon. The mass media deserves some of the blame for hyping stories about bad reactions, as if those reactions were common.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:42 amI’ll add on that the number of COVID deaths over the past year is less than the number of people who die of heart disease in this country EVERY SINGLE YEAR. Cancer is second, but still more–however, while we still don’t know exactly what causes a person to develop cancer (even though some behavioral and/or environmental factors increase the risk), we DO know what the causes of heart disease have been for several decades now–and it’s almost always related to poor diet and lack of exercise.
So taking these statistics into account, why does COVID require a national emergency public health response, to the level that a dramatic overhaul of people’s daily lives and routines via executive declaration is necessary, but the nation’s obesity epidemic doesn’t?
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 10:44 amFalse. Mine was a simple recognition that those states were unprepared and swamped with a situation that hadn’t occurred in over a century.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 3/13/2021 @ 11:05 amMine was a simple recognition that those states were unprepared and swamped with a situation that hadn’t occurred in over a century.
So was every other state. Your assertion was that if every state had followed Washington state’s policies, the number of deaths would have plummeted. Plenty of other states DID follow those policies, and have continued to follow those policies, but did not have correlated results.
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 11:14 am@Gawain@30 I never would’ve guessed crop circles. I wasn’t in the country and while we knew it was happening (England was basically next door), we weren’t obsessed by it.
@FWO@78 Because COVID is contageous and Cancer and Heart Disease aren’t. So, in one case your choice can infect a whole community while in the others it doesn’t.
Nic (896fdf) — 3/13/2021 @ 11:18 amThis, like masks, is common sense. It’s fascinating watching anti-mask Trump fans do cartwheels to find some gotcha to show … the opposite of common sense. Why bother? Masks weren’t perfect. That’s no gotcha. Crowded cities had a hard time in a pandemic, early on. Well duh. People that made this about Trump have had a hard time with… everything. They are miserable here because they are miserable in life. They love Trump as a consequence of being selfish and miserable, not the other way around.
Dustin (4237e0) — 3/13/2021 @ 11:38 amWhat are the chances of catching a heart attack or cancer for merely walking into an unmasked restaurant? By comparison, the chances of catching COVID? But I am glad that you acknowledged that CV19 is this nation’s 3rd largest killer.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 3/13/2021 @ 11:49 amBTW, I’m still grappling with your uncorrected factual wrongness about outbreaks above and last month about the 1968 flu, when you downtalked the virus as just a “highly mutable cold variant”.
Because COVID is contageous and Cancer and Heart Disease aren’t. So, in one case your choice can infect a whole community while in the others it doesn’t.
Given the survival rates of actual reported cases (who knows how many have actually been infected, but didn’t know or didn’t get tested), and the data on who is at the greatest risk of actually dying from this, this is a specious argument. After a year, we know how to treat those who are infected–and if this is a modern Black Plague like the doomers have been claiming, then it ultimately won’t matter what measures are taken, because even these vaccines only have a temporary window of protection. This isn’t like chicken pox, where re-infection is statistically insignificant if you catch it. New variants are going to continue to emerge.
And how does the nation’s obesity rate not affect communities? How much money could have been saved on healthcare costs alone by mitigating the obesity epidemic? How much higher would our life expectancy be, and our overall quality of life in general? What would our agricultural sector look like if it wasn’t devoted to servicing colossal fast-food megacorps? Or the food industry in general if it wasn’t pumping out processed junk?
Families are no less affected when a loved one dies of heart disease, than if they die of COVID. Remember, more people die from this *every single year,* yet it’s not treated with nearly the same sense of urgency despite the fact that we know the primary root causes. Even with cancer, which can’t be directly pinpointed to single causes, public health laws have been enacted in states across the country for those where we do know the cause, like smoking bans and tobacco taxes, or the curbing of asbestos in construction.
Or let’s take the seatbelt example–seatbelt laws, airbag laws, rear window taillight laws, highway speed limit laws, and increasing amounts of safety equipment have been installed in vehicles voluntarily by automakers such as proximity alarms, have been enacted to reduce the fatality rate from the mid-20s/100K population during the late 60s-early 70s, and total deaths from approximately 50,000 a year, to approximately 11/100K and about 35,000 total deaths. Why would we not take similar measures for a public health epidemic that not only empirically kills over 600,000 people a year, but also makes them far more vulnerable to highly contagious respiratory illnesses?
I’m not saying this to be facetious. I’m completely serious about this, because the national reaction to COVID and the data that emerged from it requires us to look at the big picture– especially under the pretense that any mitigation of COVID was solely due to the policies enacted and enforced by Government Almighty. If we’re really going to operate this country on the basis of the Precautionary Principle, and we have a legitimate, decades-long public health epidemic that kills well over half a million people *every year*, where we actually know the primary cause of that epidemic, why should similar draconian measures not be taken to mitigate that? Who cares if McDonald’s and Yum! Brands go in the toilet in the short term, if the nation’s overall health improves over the long-term? How much money will we save on our spiraling healthcare costs alone (including Medicare and Medicaid–nearly $1.8 *trillion* was spent by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last FY), to say nothing of longer lifespans and, therefore, more time spent with loved ones?
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 12:11 pmEven dog rescue charities are transactional situations with #45. With the future of the GOP (according to Lindsey Graham) as “chairwoman”, almost 18% of their revenues have gone to Trump-owned properties.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 3/13/2021 @ 12:12 pmBack before a judge shut down Trump’s corrupt foundation, he was taking money from cancer research to line his pockets, and now he’s orphaning dogs.
People that made this about Trump have had a hard time with… everything. They are miserable here because they are miserable in life. They love Trump as a consequence of being selfish and miserable, not the other way around.
Funny, I never mentioned Trump at all until you specifically brought him up. Your skills at analytical psychology are particularly bad.
What are the chances of catching a heart attack or cancer for merely walking into an unmasked restaurant?
By this logic, we should wear masks forever, and keep restaurants closed permanently, because there might be a chance of catching any kind of illness, much less COVID. But since restaurants haven’t been the main cause of outbreaks, your concern appears to be rather overblown.
But I am glad that you acknowledged that CV19 is this nation’s 3rd largest killer.
You seem to be implying that it will always be that way.
BTW, I’m still grappling with your uncorrected factual wrongness about outbreaks above and last month about the 1968 flu, when you downtalked the virus as just a “highly mutable cold variant”.
You do know that coronaviruses are the cause of the common cold, right?
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 12:20 pmAfter a certain point, what about interning vaccine refuseniks with like-minded individuals, somewhere far away from the rest of us (central Alaska looks promising) until they contract the disease? If they survive and acquire immunity naturally, making them no longer a threat to our lives and our economy, then they could return to society safely.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 12:20 pmAfter a certain point, what about interning vaccine refuseniks with like-minded individuals, somewhere far away from the rest of us (central Alaska looks promising) until they contract the disease?
I’m perfectly fine with this as long as we also deny treatment for obesity-related health problems. And smokers for lung-related issues. And alcoholics for booze-related health problems. Personal responsibility, right?
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 12:42 pmWho cares what silly games you guys play for your debate theater routine? Honestly no one cares except for you guys making yourselves miserable.
Dustin (4237e0) — 3/13/2021 @ 12:59 pm@FWO@84 Not affect, infect. Obesity is not contagious. Even with public smoking bans it’s the same theory where smoking in public transmits your choice to other people. Generally speaking, we tend to regulate private behaviors when they transmit to others and not as much when they are a personal choice that remains a personal choice.
If you want to nanny state the entire country about their own personal choices, that’s on you (I hear that the corn industry might be a place to start). Otherwise, we generally don’t regulate your fist in your space, we regulate your fist in the space around my nose.
Nic (896fdf) — 3/13/2021 @ 1:07 pm@87. Neanderthal thinking. =mike-drop=
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpBu_aXjrEk
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 3/13/2021 @ 1:34 pmHalf a million dead Americans and they just don’t even want to be serious. Trump was a four year long McDonalds commercial (if you want your waist to look less like Trump and more like Biden, that is mostly a matter of diet).
Now, now; don’t slight Burger King; ‘hold his pickle, pay him lettuce, Executive Orders won’t upset us…’ 😉
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 3/13/2021 @ 1:38 pm@67. Super-cold 2 shots, super chilled one shot… then comes the room temperature tablet.
Wait for the pill.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 3/13/2021 @ 1:41 pmNo, just stating a fact. Once we achieve herd immunity through vaccinations, it’s just common sense that the protocols and mortality rates change for the better. The question is, why are not taking seriously a virus that killed over a half million of your fellow Americans?
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 3/13/2021 @ 1:43 pmI note that Covid didn’t start killing large numbers of Americans until March last year, giving heart disease and cancer a head start.
As for straw manning, you did claim that restaurants are not sources of infection. How do you feel about church choirs?
Victor (4959fb) — 3/13/2021 @ 2:18 pm“Sir, I have proof.” Every day, every other day, these boys came in with articles, photos, magazines, videotapes. It was getting to become ridiculous, but they would not stop, because every week there was another crop circle. I couldn’t smack them on the forehead with a book, like my father did to me, so I tried to reason with them.
Students, we are scientists. We need to think like scientists. Pop Quiz! What is the scientific method? (I had to keep their grades up in the midst of this idiocy.)
Everything on Earth originated on Earth. Every species is adapted to its habitat, niche and environment. Geology determines biology. Every living organism requires two things: a territory to occupy and resources to live by, some form of food, water and air. There is nothing like that in outer space!
I have no doubt there is life on other planets out there somewhere, because life exists everywhere it is possible for life to exist. But the vastness of space, the constraints of time, the absence of resources, make interplanetary, certainly intergalactic, space travel an impossibility. Any form of transportation requires fuel and maintenance. Where are you going to get that in outer space? It’s not like there’s some kind of Galactic Stop-and-Go on every other planet or moon, where you can pull over and stop for fuel, maintenance and repairs.
The nearest earth-like planet in another solar system, another galaxy, where life might exist, is millions of light years away. That means the space aliens would have had to have left their planet, traveled at the speed of light, which is impossible, millions of years ago to get to Earth. What resources are they going to live on over all that time? Where are they going to refuel and maintain or repair their space ships?
(I didn’t have this information available at the time, but did you know that there is an astronaut who spent over two years on the space station? Yeah, over two years of living in zero or near-zero gravity. When he returned to Earth, NASA tested his DNA against that of his identical twin brother, who had remained on Earth the entire time. They were supposed to have identical chromosomes, but the tests revealed they didn’t match. Living in space had altered one twin’s DNA. Think about that.)
I kept telling my students, every living organism is adapted to a specific habitat, where it has a territory to occupy and resources on which to live. No living organism has ever adapted to outer space, where there is no territory to occupy and no resources to live on. Where there is no food, water and air, there is no life.
These boys, my students, would not listen; they were obsessed, and every other day there was another crop circle, and they came running into class with articles, magazines and videos. “Sir, I have proof.”
It got to be tiresome, almost wore me down. I could barely sleep. How could I convince these students that I was right and they were wrong. It was almost impossible, given the constant barrage of crop circles and news reports. The students were winning the battle.
One Friday morning, I woke up early, exhausted mentally. I prepared a pot of coffee and cooked breakfast–eggs (sunny side up), bacon, sausage, hash browns, orange juice–all the while thinking it was going to be another day of arguing about crop circles and space aliens. It had become futile and tiresome at this point.
I sat down with my breakfast and turned on the morning news. As I recall, it was Good Morning America. They had on these two guests, who claimed to had started the whole crop circle craze.
Oh yeah, I definitely wanted to here from these guys. I ate and sipped orange juice and coffee (black), while they explained.
These two guys, they were best friends forever. They grew up next door to each other, they played together as children; they went to the same school; they worked at the same factory; when they got married, they bought houses next door to each other, so they could raise their children together. Are you kidding me, these guys were not just best friends forever; they were inseparable.
Every night, they would stop by a pub, drink a pint or two, eat cheese doodles (which are the British version of Cheetos, except a little bit more narly), and draw silly designs on a napkin. Then one night they decided to stop by a field on their way home from the factory, and re-create one of these silly designs on a wheat field, with some rope and a plank of wood. So they did, and it caused global mass hysteria.
Oh my God, we’re being invaded by space aliens! We must decode the messages they are leaving behind. They’re trying to communicate with us!
Uh huh, prove it. Of course, no one could. These two guys, these two ordinary working class guys, with some rope and a plank of wood, created global mass hysteria. Think about that.
It wasn’t their intention. To them it was something to do on their way home from the pub, after beers and cheese doodles.
The show had film of them, drinking a pint or two, eating cheese doodles, and drawing some silly design on a napkin. Then the film crew followed them home; they stopped by a field and made a crop circle, with rope and a plank of wood.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 3/13/2021 @ 2:38 pmThis is wildly incorrect.
If you can travel very close to the speed of light, which is physically possible (although we don’t know how to make objects as large as a person or spaceship do it), you can travel any distance in an arbitrarily short amount of time (for the traveler).
Dave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 2:51 pmSpeaking of Antifa, they were rioting and preventing the federal courthouse in Portland from operating in daylight during the work week this week. According to Democrats, this means that was an act of domestic terrorism. But no Antifa terrorists were arrested. Hmmm.
Even the Europeans are starting to look at American liberals and saying “this might be too much.” Says something, but hey, who are we to judge liberals.
Most of those attacking Asians are black or another minority, but liberals are not calling out their own for racism. I wonder why that is. Joe Biden was too chicken to call a spade a spade and asked “everyone” to stop being racist to Asians. Unless, of course, you are Harvard and Yale. You may continue to be racist to Asians when it comes to admissions.
Hoi Polloi (b28058) — 3/13/2021 @ 3:11 pmThe Supreme Court found they were not.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 3:26 pmQuantum entanglements breaks/bypasses FTL communication limits. But the energy requirements to either hit 99.97c or quantum teleport a moderately sized physical object would be large, really really large*. Realistically, physically travelling interstellar distances without a shortcut is just kind of silly. Assuming that quantum nonlocality is really a thing, you could predict something like quantum facetime to remotely monitor, and once taking a look at us, putting us on the bottom of the list to interact with. Plus, you’d probably need a transceiver on our end too, but again*. You’d be in a better position as a pro, vs me as an enthusiast.
*Clarke’s third law and all that.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 3/13/2021 @ 3:36 pmdoomers
Words Deniers use.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 3:40 pmPlus, reality is just a computer simulation, so whichever compute container we’re in, just build a microservice that communicates with the backup container to monitor that versions universal data model.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 3/13/2021 @ 3:43 pmbecause even these vaccines only have a temporary window of protection. This isn’t like chicken pox, where re-infection is statistically insignificant if you catch it. New variants are going to continue to emerge.
Again, you don’t understand why these vaccines are different than anything made last century. They do not train the body to reject the virus. They train the body to reject a protein that is required for the virus to work. If a mutation doesn’t have that protein, it doesn’t work the same way and maybe not at all. This is why the mRNA and (Moderna, Pfizer) and Adenovirus vector vaccines (J&J, AstraZeneca, Sputnik) still protect against variants.
Older methods – inactivated and attenuated virus mostly, like the annual flu shot or things going back to Salk — that express the entire viral package are much more susceptible to mutations.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_vaccine for a rundown.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 3:51 pmPlus, reality is just a computer simulation, so whichever compute container we’re in, just build a microservice that communicates with the backup container to monitor that versions universal data model.
Or observe the actions in the Many Worlds that parallel ours. All we need to do is understand how they perturb our universe though what we naively call “dark matter” and “dark energy.”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 3:55 pmDave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 2:51 pm
Dave is, if anything, conservative here.
As for where habitable planets are, we still have no idea except that we now know that planets are common. We just cannot look for them very far from their star, which limits the types and usefulness of the ones we can find. We are looking for them under the streetlight, so to speak, when we’d much rather be looking mid-block.
Did you know that the only G2 stars within 20ly are Sol and Alpha Centauri A? It would be one of God’s little jokes if there’s a habitable planet 1.5AU out from A.C. A
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 4:11 pmPeople are doing spectroscopy on the atmospheres of exoplanets already, and new instruments will improve the power of these searches before long.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 4:50 pmRe; First anniversary of when Covid 19 became the most important news story in the United States *
There is one particular point of difference between March 11 of last year and March 11 of this year.
On March 11, 2020 we were on Daylight Savings Time. On March 11, 2021 we were on Standard time.
——————–
*The WHO declared it a pandemic, Trump shut down most travel from Europe, at first exempting the UK.
We also has about then Tom Hanks announcing he had it, the NBA shutting down its season, schools and businesses closing.
It all happened very quickly with new announcements being made before the first ones could take effect.
Sammy Finkelman (e5fb44) — 3/13/2021 @ 5:01 pmI loved your serialized story, Gawain’s Ghost. In retrospect, do you regret leaving the teaching profession?
norcal (01e272) — 3/13/2021 @ 5:09 pmR.I.P Marvelous Marvin Hagler, undisputed middleweight champ, 66
A great round of boxing: https://twitter.com/i/status/1370887698576248836
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 5:10 pmPeople are doing spectroscopy on the atmospheres of exoplanets already
Yeah, oxygen would be fun. But most of these planets are close-in to the star and either hot, huge, or around a red dwarf with the habitable zone of a gnat.
We really need some long-baseline wide-aperture scopes.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 5:15 pmRIP “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler.
urbanleftbehind (38baea) — 3/13/2021 @ 5:18 pmWrong.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 5:35 pmLast I heard, the federal court of appeals found in favor of the Ivy Leagues and the case was headed to SCOTUS.
I know it is hard to keep track of left-wing terrorism, but that was not the same incident. Good to see they arrested a couple of people after they would not have their pictures taken, but none were charged with domestic terrorism.
Can’t imagine why not.
Hoi Polloi (b28058) — 3/13/2021 @ 5:45 pm“Can’t imagine why not.”
Really? You don’t see a difference between vandalizing an empty government office building and invading congress while it’s in session?
Davethulhu (6ba00b) — 3/13/2021 @ 6:02 pmhttps://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/03/biden-fires-eeoc-general-counsel-for-protecting-religious-rights.php
NJRob (eb56c3) — 3/13/2021 @ 6:32 pmUnitary executive suddenly not so unitary, Rob?
Dave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 6:46 pmhttps://legalinsurrection.com/2021/03/southern-poverty-law-center-pushing-biden-to-implement-curriculum-on-structural-racism/
NJRob (eb56c3) — 3/13/2021 @ 6:59 pmhttps://pjmedia.com/instapundit/liberal-support-for-political-violence-is-growing-wait-a-minute-hold-the-phone-isnt-that-barbed/#respond
NJRob (eb56c3) — 3/13/2021 @ 7:01 pmHere’s one example of the quality of Gustafson’s work – harassing an employer with a federal lawsuit based on a ridiculous claim by two homophobic employees.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 7:04 pmhttps://www.city-journal.org/the-miseducation-of-americas-elites
Mao is in our school systems.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 3/13/2021 @ 7:08 pmUnitary executive suddenly not so unitary, Rob?
I think the hypocrisy scores are pretty even of late.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 7:13 pmhttps://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-sovietization-of-the-american
NJRob (eb56c3) — 3/13/2021 @ 7:14 pmharassing an employer with a federal lawsuit based on a ridiculous claim by two homophobic employees.
So many loaded words in such a short phrase.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 7:16 pmhttps://nypost.com/2021/03/12/elderly-asian-man-dies-after-being-punched-by-california-robber/
NJRob (eb56c3) — 3/13/2021 @ 7:20 pmhttps://www.wsmv.com/news/metro-police-officer-in-stable-condition-woman-dies-after-shooting-in-north-nashville/article_a280918e-834c-11eb-a43d-635acacf11be.html
The woman tried to murder a police officer and was killed in return, but look how the media phrases the situation.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 3/13/2021 @ 7:23 pmhttps://redstate.com/shipwreckedcrew/2021/03/13/omaha-police-officer-is-second-to-be-shot-by-uncooperative-suspect-in-the-past-24-hours-defund-the-police-to-blame-n343017
Seems like a systemic problem of targeting police officers and trying to kill them.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 3/13/2021 @ 7:25 pmI think you meant “accurate”. Did you bother to read the article?
Kroger has an embroidered heart (dark blue, yellow, red and light blue) that employees are required to wear, representing specific “company values”. It is not a rainbow shape, or rainbow colored.
Two employees said they refused to wear it because they believe homosexuality is a sin.
And despite the fact that the item has nothing whatsoever to do with homosexuality or gay pride, Gustafson brought the weight of the federal government down on Kroger for enforcing their uniform policy.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 7:28 pmCould you walk us through the grievance here and explain exactly how you think “the media” have wronged you this time?
Is it your position that “the media” should accept unconfirmed police accounts of officer-involved shootings as fact in all cases?
Dave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 7:43 pmSetting fire to the courthouse is arson, not vandalizing. And they were preventing the courthouse from functioning during the day, when it was in session.
This is what Democrats have said is the definition of domestic terrorism. Why is one side allowed to do it freely while the other side is not?
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/rioters-set-fire-federal-courthouse-162333860.html
Hoi Polloi (b28058) — 3/13/2021 @ 7:53 pmIn those kind of stories, the media just parrots the police press release.
nk (1d9030) — 3/13/2021 @ 7:55 pmOn the Kroger story, my guess is that Kroger was not booking (enough of) its company events and company travel at Trump properties. It’s just a guess.
nk (1d9030) — 3/13/2021 @ 8:02 pm@NJRob@120 Your article is about Very Expensive Private Schools. If they don’t like their school, they can afford to send their kids somewhere else.
Nic (896fdf) — 3/13/2021 @ 8:02 pmThey weren’t “allowed to do it freely”. The very article you linked says:
An eyewitness whose Twitter video is embedded with the story said “Crowd control ammunitions including pepper balls and green smoke were used.”
Dave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 8:42 pm“If they don’t like their school, they can afford to send their kids somewhere else”
Yeah I wasn’t quite tracking the complaint about this. This isn’t exactly a government school proselytizing or some common core mischief. Sounds like this school is doing a poor job teaching critical thinking and being able to argue both sides of complex questions. Students should learn how to build and weigh evidence…not parrot propaganda. The parents don’t sound like they’re getting their money’s worth. Anyways, $40k to have your kids learn about the excesses of capitalism is ironic…..I’m tired, maybe it’s a different word….
AJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:05 pm@105. For human life, the path is figuratively and literally clear: follow the water.
OTOH, worlds 70 light years out already may have encountered a tallish life form, strangely gray in pallor w/often wide, saucer-shaped eyes topped by a curiously high-pile of curly fuzz:
Lucille Ball.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:17 pm“Why is one side allowed to do it freely while the other side is not?”
From the article: “City police spent almost $8 million responding to the riots, making over 900 arrests throughout 120 consecutive days of unrest.”
Are the arsonists known, but not arrested? I think that’s unlikely. The article itself is unclear, showing a fire set “in front of” the courthouse.
Davethulhu (6ba00b) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:50 pmHey, Gawain’s Ghost, for extending your teaching adventures. I have to tell you, of all the teachers in the world I think that middle school teachers are the closest to God. This won’t come as a surprise to anyone, but I was a real asshole as a 12-14 year-old (and, to be honest, my assholdom has never really abated) and there were a handful of middle school teachers who really understood how to keep me grounded and keep me from getting my ass kicked constantly when I arrived in high school. Thanks, however overdue that may be.
JVW (ee64e4) — 3/13/2021 @ 9:56 pmAnd despite the fact that the item has nothing whatsoever to do with homosexuality or gay pride, Gustafson brought the weight of the federal government down on Kroger for enforcing their uniform policy.
Have you ever been in one of those incredibly terrible discussions about the word “picnic”? Where logic surrenders and and says “well, if you guys feel so strongly about it…”
Here, these folks felt they were being forced to engage in speech they did not agree with. Now, I would argue they’re SOL since they are employees and the business pays them, even it it was rainbows over Dorothy.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 11:20 pm@138: But the law apparently doesn’t agree with me.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 11:21 pmLucille Ball.
Or, Barack Obama.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/13/2021 @ 11:22 pmAnd they were obviously, provably, unquestionably wrong about that, as any conscientious lawyer not trying to push a cult leader’s culture-war agenda could have determined in about 15 minutes.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 11:28 pmApparently Little Rocket Man’s beautiful letters are only for the Great Leader:
Dave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 11:42 pm@142 It may be time to deploy the weapon of last resort…
Dave (1bb933) — 3/13/2021 @ 11:46 pmIt was hilarious watching these two guys, how they did it.
They had this long rope. Each tied one end to their waist. Then one wound the length of rope around his belly; the other held a plank of wood, with ropes attached to either end, like a swing.
They studied their silly design and began. The one stood in place and slowly turned around, while the other held the swing and walked with one foot on the plank, pushing down wheat. That’s how they made circles. One turn equals about one meter, as the roped extends; this allowed them to make circles of varying diameters. The other also wore a ball cap with a wire that extended out over the visor and had a small circle at the end. That was his sight; he would stare through the circle at some fixed object, like a tree or a pole, and march forward with the plank. This allowed them to make straight lines.
So, they recreated their silly design on wheat field and went home. So simple. With some rope and a plank of wood, and a wire sight. And it’s all on film!
The morning show crew then brought some professor from the nearby university crop circle department to examine this crop circle. “Yes, yes, well, yes. This couldn’t have possibly been made by humans. The wheat shows no signs of burning, so it must have been made by a flying saucer of some sort. Yes.”
Then they showed him the film of these two guys making the crop circle with some rope and a plank of wood. He stared at the film dumbfounded, speechless.
Back to the studio. The host asked, “What made you come up with this? Why did you start making crop circles?”
One said, “Well, what else do you do after beer and cheese doodles?”
The other said, “These scientists. These are supposed to be educated men. It’s just flattened wheat. You go out into a field, and you flatten it.”
I laughed so hard I damn near choked on my coffee. I walked into class that morning, vindicated.
Hey, guys, did any of you watch the morning news? I explained it to them, didn’t have a videotape, so they wouldn’t listen.
Do you know what happened over that weekend? All stories of crop circles disappeared from every newspaper, magazine, and television show for a decade.
A few stories of crop circles as messages from outer space came back on obscure cable channels. But you might as well scroll for sightings of Bigfoot, or Dead Elvis.
The girls laughed at the boys, who had been bringing me articles, magazines and videotapes to prove Mr. C was wrong. I was not. The girls always had my back.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 3/14/2021 @ 12:00 amrip – Marvelous Marvin Hagler – Best middleweight of all time.
mg (8cbc69) — 3/14/2021 @ 4:29 amAnd another reason not to take a shot from the gubmint.
Vaccine your azz not mine.
Okay, Dana, me and you. Let’s have at it.
You like love poems? I like love poems. Me and you, right here, right now. (No aggression, no intimidation, no insults, no violence.) You do know that I love you. You do know that I would never say or do anything to hurt you, harm you, or insult you. Never. Ever. But this is an un-even match. You do know that I have a Master’s degree in Romantic poetry. So if you want to go up against me with love poems, girl, you better know who you’re messing with. I love you, but this is about love poems. So, let’s have at it. Warriors, take your positions.
Shuffling around, getting a feel for the ring, I’ll open with a straight right punch to your face. The best love poem I know.
Wanderlove
Come my love and we shall wander
All of life to see and know
In the Season’s lostward rambling
All things come and all things go
We’ll climb up the snowy mountains
Sail across the rolling sea
We shall live for one another
I for you and you for me
We’ll go down to green grass meadows
Where the cold winds never blow
If we taste the wine of loving
Only you and I shall know
Come my love and we shall wander
Just to see what we can find
If we only find each other
Still the journey’s worth the time
Love is like a star of heaven
Burning in the endless sky
When if falls it bursts asunder
As it lives, so shall it die
The Mason Williams Reading Matter, you should check it out. He used to write comedy Ofor the Smothers Brothers, by the way, and he was a musician on the side. Here’s him performing his top hit “Classical Gas” with a harpist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vXtywOlayc
Okay, we shuffle about, you make some counterpunches. Ow, that one hurt. I respond with a left cross to your face. It’s of my own creation.
The Wedding
With joy we come together
Where lovers fear to tread
As lovers must, with Cosmic lust
We bless the bliss ahead
Through time we find each other
As if by instinct drawn
Beneath the skies to harmonize
The ocean and the dawn
With love we join together
What never was apart
And send adrift with tender kiss
One mind, one soul, one heart
Knock out. You will not believe the story behind about how I came to write that poem.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 3/14/2021 @ 8:06 amNeanderthal thinking.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/14/2021 @ 8:52 amAttacks on Asian Americans are clearly Dr. Seuss inspired.
JF (3efb60) — 3/14/2021 @ 9:18 amhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASe3GTXgC1o
A championship fight between 2 men the likes of which you’ll never see again. The amount of energy exerted in that first round is mind blowing.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 3/14/2021 @ 9:37 amThe link is to Hagler vs Hearns.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 3/14/2021 @ 9:38 amGG,
I like to throw in a few tidbits at the end of the Weekend Open Thread so that we end on a high note rather than some morose news item of the week. It’s frequently what has interested me over the past week, or what I’ve been reading or listening to.
How nice to have a response to the Gwendolyn Brooks poem. It’s elegant in its simplicity, but I think that the more one reads it, the more its layers are peeled back. And it’s a beautiful description of what it’s like to be in love. I appreciate Brooks, who was black and born in 1917 and faced all the pain that blacks faced in that time experienced. And yet for all the racism and division and (for lack of a better term) “otherness,” her description of being in love lends proof that love is universal and we’re all the same at heart – external appearances and experiences aside.
Thanks for sharing your original work. It is a lovely piece. It sounds as if you have been deeply and wholly in love. I hope you remain so.
Thanks for sharing Wanderlve. It’s brilliant.
Dana (fd537d) — 3/14/2021 @ 9:50 amA crisis indeed:
Estimates are more than 3,700 children are in the agency’s custody.
Dana (fd537d) — 3/14/2021 @ 10:13 amThings even Trump did not try:
New York’s vaccine czar called county officials to gauge their loyalty to Cuomo amid sexual harassment investigation
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/14/2021 @ 11:02 amVaccine your azz not mine.
As long as you stay down there in your bunker, I have no problem with that. Come out and mingle with me or mine, and I hope they hold you down and “vaccine” your azz extra.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/14/2021 @ 11:04 amSince we’re talking about poetry and middle school ….
I have posted “Sorrows of Werther” by William Makepeace Thackeray before.
How many of you knew that it was a book report?
On The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe?
nk (1d9030) — 3/14/2021 @ 11:08 amHow not to be humane:
U.S. flies newly arrived migrants across Texas only to immediately expel them in El Paso
Under Trump, migrants claiming asylum were immediately expelled at their point of entry, to wait in Mexico for their hearings. Under Biden, they are flown, at some expense, hundreds of miles from where they came in, then expelled to a place where they have no contacts, leaving them in more danger than when they came in.
Now, maybe this serves as a deterrent, but it is not “more humane.” Maybe not even a bit “humane.”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/14/2021 @ 11:10 amThey don’t have “contacts” at the place they crossed. Unless you mean with coyotes.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/14/2021 @ 11:32 amThe decades long insurrection on the border continues, incited by Biden and friends for political gain.
Biden voters clearly couldn’t have expected this.
JF (3efb60) — 3/14/2021 @ 11:50 am158 . Why wouldn’t they be more familiar with a place they just passed through on the way to the border as opposed to a place hundreds of miles away?
159. Other than attempting to recapture the term insurrection for use by the right in situations where it makes no sense, is there any other point to your post?
Victor (4959fb) — 3/14/2021 @ 11:57 amInteresting graphic – the surge of unaccompanied minors in federal custody began long before Biden took office (although it has continued to accelerate since).
In case graphic is paywalled, it’s also in the second (blue-colored) chart here.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/14/2021 @ 12:06 pmHe said contacts. Most of the people are not from Mexico, and most of those who are are are not from the immediate border region.
By spreading the administrative burden more evenly, the goal is to process them faster.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/14/2021 @ 12:11 pmThe WaPo article with a more legible chart is here.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/14/2021 @ 12:13 pm@140. He hasn’t been on broadcast television that long. OTOH, a squat, furry creature about the size of a fire plug clad in a strangely designed uniform akin to the once popular leisure suit, w/an odd and constantly nodding head emitting a cackling mating call has– and ‘in color’…
HRC.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 3/14/2021 @ 12:38 pmThey don’t have “contacts” at the place they crossed. Unless you mean with coyotes.
You’re tipping over into apologism here, Dave.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/14/2021 @ 12:49 pmThey don’t have “contacts” at the place they crossed. Unless you mean with coyotes.
I mean, really. If Trump had done this would you make the same assertion?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/14/2021 @ 12:51 pmGG, short-circuit students minds; convince them they have a future– ‘where they won’t need roads’:
Genuine UFOs aren’t spaceships from other worlds… but man-made time probes Earth’s tomorrow. 😉
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 3/14/2021 @ 12:51 pm^from Earth’s tomorrow.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 3/14/2021 @ 12:52 pmTelling it like it is.
The vast majority of the present surge come from Guatemala, according to BP statistics. If they had friendly contacts on the Mexican side of the border, they had no need to apply for asylum here.
If they kept them all in the Rio Grande Valley, and it took twice as long to process them as a result, while the El Paso office sat idle, I imagine you’d complain about that instead.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/14/2021 @ 12:59 pmTrump wouldn’t have done anything to accelerate processing into HHS custody. He did everything possible to prevent it from happening.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/14/2021 @ 1:05 pmAs I said, if Trump had made those same arguments, you would have been skeptical.
They GOT to the Rio Grande Valley with a lot of other migrants that went along the same path at the same time. To say they didn’t make contacts isn’t reasonable. Just because they’re desperate enough to try to get into the US doesn’t mean they don’t behave like other humans.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/14/2021 @ 1:07 pm*Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador
Dave (1bb933) — 3/14/2021 @ 1:10 pmTrump wouldn’t have done anything to accelerate processing into HHS custody. He did everything possible to prevent it from happening.
Only about 10% of affirmative asylum claims (claims made upon entry) are approved. Most asylum claims are made defensively (made to avoid deportation after some period of illegal presence) and those have a higher (and varying) success rate, averaging around 30-40%. No data for Biden yet.
What happens at the border are the affirmative claims, made largely after coaching. Trump required people to wait in Mexico, but he had no need to delay things as the admission rate was low. Most affirmative cases were decided in a few months, while the defensive claims could take several years.
https://immigrationforum.org/article/fact-sheet-u-s-asylum-process/
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/14/2021 @ 1:16 pmSo what? Trump is an inveterate liar and bigot who openly embraces white supremacists.
Well, the LAW says they must be out of BP custody within 72 hours.
Under the circumstances, BP seems to be doing the best they can to comply by spreading the workload as evenly as possible.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/14/2021 @ 1:20 pmYou’re confusing two unrelated processes.
The present crisis is the result of MINORS entering and making asylum claims. Those claims take a long time to resolve, but by law, the border patrol has to process them into HHS custody within 72 hours, and HHS has to shelter, feed and care for them until they find a relative or other caregiver takes responsibility.
It is this process of getting them from BP to HHS to a relative that is stressed to the breaking point by the surge. It has nothing to do with the resolution of their asylum claim, which is a much longer process and involves the courts.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/14/2021 @ 1:30 pm152. Dana (fd537d) — 3/14/2021 @ 10:13 am
They’re keeping them long enough to raise the Covid-positive rate higher than the approximately 6% it already is. Then they will let them travel. At least they’re not waiting till it reaches 25% or more. They should just issue them all student visas, provided they have a school to go to – and send them on their way as quickly as possible, and issue them Molnupiravir when appropriate.
This is not an antibody treatment – it’s an antiviral that was developed (but not used) as a treatment for flu and works against SARS, MERS and SARS-CoV-2 – probably all versions. It causes errors in RNA replication (that is it creates mostly disabling mutations) and is given by mouth.
It is being slow walked, like every other treatment for Covid that the human imagination can come up with, and is undergoing clinical trials in Japan. The people who came up with it had to partner with Merck in order to attempt to get it through the drug approval process, (also known as the “valley of death”) which of course, will greatly raise its eventual price. It is said to just about finish off the infection.
President Biden could probably get permission to use it on people who cross the border who can’t be sent back or detained without creating a petri dish for the multiplication of Covid. That is, he could if he didn’t respect “the science” so much.
Sammy Finkelman (e5fb44) — 3/14/2021 @ 2:01 pmDave, I am not the one confusing the issue. No place did I talk about minors. You bring this in, but I did not, nor did the article I linked.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/14/2021 @ 2:06 pmTrump: Returns adult asylum seekers (or families) them to Mexico at the point of entry.
Biden: Returns adult asylum seekers (or families) them to Mexico hundreds of miles from their point of entry. Considering that Ciudad Juarez is particularly dangerous, it is doubly wrong. There’s a reason that crossing point from Mexico is unused by migrants.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/14/2021 @ 2:08 pm*
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/14/2021 @ 2:09 pmthemx2OK, but there are also laws on the handling of families with children (which your article does mention), and limited facilities to accommodate *them* in any one sector, too.
Given the choice between overcrowded or substandard facilities in one place, and more adequate facilities elsewhere, the latter seems like the most defensible choice.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/14/2021 @ 2:32 pmJVW (ee64e4) — 3/12/2021 @ 11:51 pm
It’s the third choice. They thought that it meant something if they said the changes do not mean anyone should come or send their children to the border. That was stupid.
The same thing would apply, say, if a president had planted land mines at the border. At first it would kill and maim people, then people would learn and after that there would be only occasional instances of death or maiming. And then a new president came along and removed the land mines.
Who should not expect the number of border crossers to increase, all other things being equal?
It might have helped to promise a legal and safer way to come but Biden didn’t do that. Biden is afraid of doing anything that runs counter to Trump’s famous policies.
Sammy Finkelman (e5fb44) — 3/14/2021 @ 2:40 pmGiven the choice between overcrowded or substandard facilities in one place, and more adequate facilities elsewhere, the latter seems like the most defensible choice.
But they aren’t putting them in facilities. They are diving them across the border and dumping them in a place they’ve never been.
It’s actually illegal to relocate real coyotes that way.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/14/2021 @ 3:22 pmCool story:
Yo-Yo Ma played a surprise concert for a clinic during his post-vaccination waiting period
Story has video. Sadly, the “whole place” did not go quiet.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/14/2021 @ 3:28 pmIt’s more important that the translator be a person who knows the “secret” of the language being translated into than the language being translated from so they were right to pick a native speaker of Dutch, or Catalan, as the translator.
And being the same race, age and sex etc. as the writer doesn’t mean you come from the same milieu, ad so would know more exactly what she meant.
Sammy Finkelman (e5fb44) — 3/14/2021 @ 6:49 pm177. Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/14/2021 @ 2:08 pm
But the leftists won’t notice that.
People on the far left don’t believe in the concept of a “bad neighborhood.” It contradicts free will, for one thing.
Sammy Finkelman (e5fb44) — 3/14/2021 @ 6:53 pm126.
He can’t get an oil change without paying for it because that’s a service (unless he steals the oil or leaves without paying) but he can steal goods from a store, especially if he gambles that nobody will notice. And if he gets into trouble, he’s got a gun, and a fast car,and, when all else fails, he has support for his lifestyle from politicians. He’s still not a professional criminal – he doesn’t plan his crimes.
Sammy Finkelman (e5fb44) — 3/14/2021 @ 7:07 pmFactory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 3/13/2021 @ 12:11 pm
It’s easy enough to estimate.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/burden.html
You take the percentage of people who have antibodies (before a vaccine) and calculate the absolute number, then take the number of confirmed cases and divide the number of people with antibodies by the number of confirmed cases. Of course, it’s difficult to get a random sample, but the number infected is about 3 to 6 times the number diagnosed.
Yes we do, but we don’t do it routinely. The Regeneron antibodies, (it even works against the South African variant albeit only half as well as against the standard version – the Eli Lilly antibody doesn’t work against the South African variant at all. It;s easy to improve and correct, if the government would let them do it.) or possibly convalescent fluid, or Molnupiravir, except we don’t officially “know” that yet, and Rick Bright, the head of US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) tried to sabotage it.
By the time it is approved, the epidemic will be over.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molnupiravir
One year!
And there are some other treatments or prophylactics, like ivermectin.
There’s no reason to believe that. This is propaganda by the “science uber alles” crowd. Since it was not – by their standards – proven that immunity lasted, they assume the opposite.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/testing/serology-overview.html
Back to FWO:
One reason for this was that the medical establishment promoted a false theory about the causes of obesity for almost fifty years. A best selling book Calories Don’t Count was suppressed.
Sammy Finkelman (e5fb44) — 3/14/2021 @ 7:56 pmSo, 25% of the representatives in the US House are not (maybe will not) get vaccinated. I’d like to see the House vote to restore regular order, but bar all unvaccinated members from entering the building. Eff ’em.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/14/2021 @ 11:45 pmPut them in your lincoln projectile cave, Kevin M.
mg (8cbc69) — 3/15/2021 @ 3:20 am@186
“The essential Government argument was that Dr. Taller knowingly engaged with others in a complex scheme to induce the public to buy pills [safflower oil capsules] formulated by a drug company on the basis of principles espoused in his book [Calories Don’t Count] and mentioned in that book and other literature. Dr. Taller conceded. that, as the Government charged, !he pills were worthless for weight reduction or control. He insisted that he was the innocent dupe of the publisher and promoters and that the book was changed without his knowledge”
It sounds like an early version of the Atkins diet. I don’t think there is a shortcut around cutting calories to sustainably lose weight. Many people on low-carb high-fat diets end up cutting calories because of the monotony of the diet.
AJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 3/15/2021 @ 5:20 amVatican says it will not bless same-sex unions, calling homosexuality a ‘sin’ and a ‘choice’
nk (1d9030) — 3/15/2021 @ 7:08 amI don’t know why this is so funny. Hope you’re well, mg.
Dustin (4237e0) — 3/15/2021 @ 7:23 ammr pope francis is in for a rough senate confirmation hearing
Dave (1bb933) — 3/15/2021 @ 8:17 am187. Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/14/2021 @ 11:45 pm
Can;t do that. In some cases, they may be medically counter-indicated, at least temporarily. It’s not given to anyone with an active respiratory infection, at least in the United States.
Remember the medical questions you were asked?
Sammy Finkelman (e5fb44) — 3/15/2021 @ 10:11 am@187
Just to echo Sammy’s point… not everyone can take the vaccine.
Government mandates, and the likes, are a MASSIVE slippery slopes. This should remain, solely, between the patients and the doctors.
Furthermore, short of expulsion, I don’t think Congress/Pelosi can do anything about it.
whembly (a23745) — 3/15/2021 @ 10:28 amIt seems like they *could* (and should) bar the unvaccinated from the dining halls, gym, swimming pool, and all the other luxury accommodations that congress-critters provide for themselves.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/15/2021 @ 11:33 amIt looks like this was a 1-day story with no legs – I don’t know if this order has even now been revoked:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cuomo-administration-homes-developmentally-disabled-coronavirus
Lots of things about Cuomo and about the virus
And the federal government had a worth than worthless 5-star rating system for nursing homes. Worse than worthless because some people might have confidence in them, but without it they would know they didn’t know and would hae to rank them some other way.
Those with 2 stars did slightly better with the coronavirus than those with 4 stars.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/13/business/nursing-homes-ratings-medicare-covid.html
Sammy Finkelman (ff268d) — 3/16/2021 @ 12:30 pmOne of the variants most probably came from someone who had a persistent Covid-19 infection ( but was not serious;y ill) so the virus acquired 17 different mutations seemingly all at once. (no samples showing them being added one by one)
It usually mutates about once every two weeks and the virus undergoes usually no more than one mutation over person, if that. Usually the contagious period lasts no more than a week.
By the way a persistent mild infection with ebola is also possible and may be resposnsible for a minor outbreak in west Africa (most probably transmitted by a male to a female through intercourse.
Sammy Finkelman (ff268d) — 3/16/2021 @ 1:34 pmWhembly —
I have no problem mandating representatives present either evidence they took the vaccine or a doctor’s note saying they cant’t. Congress needs to function and this gets in the way of that.
Appalled (b0a261) — 3/16/2021 @ 1:53 pm@190.Vatican says it will not bless same-sex unions, calling homosexuality a ‘sin’ and a ‘choice’
So says the Boy Toy Cult; ever the Vatican Rag:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YcGRNmkB00
“First you get down on your knees; fiddle with your rosaries…” – Tom Lehrer
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 3/16/2021 @ 2:34 pm196. Seaan Hannity talked about this on his radio show today – also with the Washington Examiner writer who broke the story. he focused on thee workers who became sick. (because nobody cares about the inmates except possibly in some cases their families, but they don’t have contact with each other and so cannot see a pattern)
All her sources were anonymous because they could lose their jobs. Some work in a Covid positive group home one day and in a negative one 10 miles away the next day.
Sammy Finkelman (ff268d) — 3/16/2021 @ 2:44 pmIn my opinion, anti-vaxxers are mostly shills, “crisis actors” paid by Big Pharma, possibly in collusion with the government when it comes to this vaccine, to provide cover for when a vaccine does not work as promised and people still get sick. Somebody to blame should the number of coronavirus cases not decrease as expected, or even surge, despite the vaccinations.
I say “mostly”, because with more than 330 million people in the United States there is a statistical probability that there will be some genuine loonies who are sincere anti-vaxxers. But I suspect most are fakes who got vaccinations before everybody else for their payment, and a few bucks periodically to keep it up.
Not that I’m naming any names.
nk (1d9030) — 3/16/2021 @ 4:57 pmHas Marvel Comics has lived too long?
Or is Daily Caller fraudulent clickbait? One does not preclude the other. I feel sorry for the kids.
nk (1d9030) — 3/16/2021 @ 5:43 pmThank’ya, Joe: America is back to normal, world!
Mass shooting in Atlanta; targeted Asian spas – 8 dead; multiple injuries, per CNN.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 3/16/2021 @ 6:06 pmDirty white boy. Rampage. Three spas.
nk (1d9030) — 3/16/2021 @ 6:30 pm203. DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 3/16/2021 @ 6:06 pm
But the killer shot anybody in there, or maybe anybody working there, indiscriminately, so his hatred was directed, or more directed, toward the type of business.
Sammy Finkelman (ff268d) — 3/17/2021 @ 10:01 amNew York Governor Cuomo triangulates *everything*
Now sometimes, especially since 2019, he winds up on the very “progressive” end of the political spectrum, but he is still triangulating. He sometimes takes back a little of what he did.
He did it with the plastic bag ban – delayed and still not 100% in effect – and he did it with “bail reform.”
He does that, or did that, also with coronavirus edicts.
Sammy Finkelman (ff268d) — 3/17/2021 @ 10:07 am