covid-19

[Phil1111 910]

16 hours ago, ryoder said:

The Canadian PM gave a speech yesterday and tried to fan the flames of division. Small idiot segments of these protestors defaced a war memorial and vandalized a monument. So the Canadian Prime Minister gave a long winded speech saying that radicals, law breakers, criminals, etc. won't intimidate Canada.

Don't get me wrong, protest away because most mandates are provincial ones. Most Canadians are now triple vaccinated and the protestors get most of their support from Alberta and Sask. Otherwise they are a fringe group. But evidently many Americans including Elon Musk gave them support including to a fundraiser. So they have the money to go on for a while.

The smart truckers like Ken are making money. Those clowns can enjoy the sights of Ottawa. While they rack up traffic offenses from the Ottawa police.

[tonyhays 86]

On 1/31/2022 at 10:21 AM, headoverheels said:

The comments are also interesting.

 

 

" I am a Christian woman of God...."

Timothy 2:12 comes to mind.  "I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet."

FFS be quiet Karen

[gowlerk 1,904]

6 hours ago, Phil1111 said:

The Canadian PM gave a speech yesterday and tried to fan the flames of division. Small idiot segments of these protestors defaced a war memorial and vandalized a monument. So the Canadian Prime Minister gave a long winded speech saying that radicals, law breakers, criminals, etc. won't intimidate Canada.

Maybe he'll try calling a snap election again! Seriously both him and O'Toole are trying to outdo each other at pandering to the base.

Edited February 2, 2022 by gowlerk

[ryoder 1,381]

Rep. Dan Crenshaw says Marjorie Taylor Greene is either 'a Democrat - or just an idiot' amid COVID-19 testing spat

LOL!!!

[headoverheels 291]

It's groundhog day -- another 6 months of covid.

[kallend 1,623]

A long article that puts detail on the one word explanation - stupidity.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/02/01/science/covid-deaths-united-states.html

U.S. Has Far Higher Covid Death Rate Than Other Wealthy Countries

[ryoder 1,381]

[billvon 2,394]

1 hour ago, kallend said:

U.S. Has Far Higher Covid Death Rate Than Other Wealthy Countries

I predict the following from the FMD's:

"Nope!  Northern Macedonia has a rate that's almost twice as high!  Why isn't CNN reporting THAT?"
"I define Gibraltar as a wealthy country."
"That's because in the US everyone lies about having COVID to get money."
"That's because in France they let them use ivermectin, which is a miracle cure."
"Oh of course it's from the New York Times.  It's not from OAN or Joe Rogan or some other reputable source."

[winsor 186]

"Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages." 

     Samuel Johnson, The Idler, 1758

Or, more succinctly:

"The first casualty when war comes is truth" 

     Hiram W Johnson 1917

When we declare war on much of anyone or anything, the torrent of bullshit that ensues is simply awesome.  Whether it be the "War on Poverty," the "War on Terror," or whatever is the issue du jour, the noise to signal ratio is guaranteed to drown out any rational considerations.

This is not to say that poverty isn't bad, but the key is to stop having babies you can't afford.  Period.

The way to fight terror is not to be a pussy (pusillanimous).  "Take not counsel of your fears" and all that.

It was fascinating to watch our battle with AIDS, where 'high risk people' complained about being singled out.  A coworker complained bitterly that Republicans didn't mind AIDS killing "faggots" (he later died of AIDS).

From the standpoint of  Bad Craziness attendant upon fighting a pandemic, the Black Death is rather the gold standard.  Ripples of the insanity spawned during the mid-14th Century are still with us.

I suppose the level of insanity to which we are now subject is proportional to that of the latter 1300s when corrected for virulence.  Your odds of succumbing to Yersinia Pestis were a lot worse than to SARS-CoV-2.

I am sometimes startled by the patriotic/religious zeal with which some people take one stance or another regarding the pandemic.

"The vaccine is absolutely safe!"  (not hardly)

"The vaccine is more dangerous than COVID-19!" (not hardly)

"<the other side> is all a big conspiracy!" (Hanlon's Razor)

and so forth.

I suppose it's like LSD.  By and large, the people who took acid and became unhinged weren't too tightly wrapped to begin with.

Similarly, people who appeared pretty well adjusted but waxed incoherent in the face of the pandemic may have been fundamentally sort of fucked up.

It all tends to reinforce my faith in Nihilism.

 

BSBD,

Winsor

[JoeWeber 2,297]

1 hour ago, winsor said:

"Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages." 

     Samuel Johnson, The Idler, 1758

Or, more succinctly:

"The first casualty when war comes is truth" 

     Hiram W Johnson 1917

When we declare war on much of anyone or anything, the torrent of bullshit that ensues is simply awesome.  Whether it be the "War on Poverty," the "War on Terror," or whatever is the issue du jour, the noise to signal ratio is guaranteed to drown out any rational considerations.

This is not to say that poverty isn't bad, but the key is to stop having babies you can't afford.  Period.

The way to fight terror is not to be a pussy (pusillanimous).  "Take not counsel of your fears" and all that.

It was fascinating to watch our battle with AIDS, where 'high risk people' complained about being singled out.  A coworker complained bitterly that Republicans didn't mind AIDS killing "faggots" (he later died of AIDS).

From the standpoint of  Bad Craziness attendant upon fighting a pandemic, the Black Death is rather the gold standard.  Ripples of the insanity spawned during the mid-14th Century are still with us.

I suppose the level of insanity to which we are now subject is proportional to that of the latter 1300s when corrected for virulence.  Your odds of succumbing to Yersinia Pestis were a lot worse than to SARS-CoV-2.

I am sometimes startled by the patriotic/religious zeal with which some people take one stance or another regarding the pandemic.

"The vaccine is absolutely safe!"  (not hardly)

"The vaccine is more dangerous than COVID-19!" (not hardly)

"<the other side> is all a big conspiracy!" (Hanlon's Razor)

and so forth.

I suppose it's like LSD.  By and large, the people who took acid and became unhinged weren't too tightly wrapped to begin with.

Similarly, people who appeared pretty well adjusted but waxed incoherent in the face of the pandemic may have been fundamentally sort of fucked up.

It all tends to reinforce my faith in Nihilism.

 

BSBD,

Winsor

Then why not be true to your faith and sign off with a simple BD?

[winsor 186]

2 hours ago, JoeWeber said:

Then why not be true to your faith and sign off with a simple BD?

You first.

[JoeWeber 2,297]

46 minutes ago, winsor said:

You first.

I claim no faith in Nihilism. I am persuaded that our 250,000 year run is well beyond the halfway point but just because we seem destined to screw it up completely doesn't make our moments enjoying the blue skies meaningless.

[gowlerk 1,904]

5 hours ago, winsor said:

I suppose it's like LSD.  By and large, the people who took acid and became unhinged weren't too tightly wrapped to begin with.

Everyone I know, several dozen users, came out fine. Most of them would say better. 

[Phil1111 910]

On 2/1/2022 at 9:09 PM, gowlerk said:

Maybe he'll try calling a snap election again! Seriously both him and O'Toole are trying to outdo each other at pandering to the base.

Well the conservatives only hope at a unified mainstream party is gone. But you're right on target. The conservatives are way out to lunch in staying close to the protestors. Only the Alberta and Sask. conservative governments are endorsing the protests. Both want to open everything up at the end of the month.

Trudeau has turned this into a tribe on tribe war. instead of isolating and letting the protestors hang themselves. He should have paraded out some people that have forgone cancer treatments. He should have had the photo ops with worn out nurses and the immune compromised who live in fear.

Instead he beat the drums of the tribes.

[gowlerk 1,904]

1 hour ago, Phil1111 said:

Trudeau has turned this into a tribe on tribe war.

Trudeau is keeping his head down because he has no power to deal with the situation. He does not control the OPP or the Ottawa police. What needs to happen is impounding the vehicles. Once that starts to happen the other owners will remove theirs from danger and the protest will become just like any other protest. It is the allowing of heavy trucks to be used as campers and street blockers that is a new thing that they haven't had to deal with before. Someone who understands trucks and especially towing them needs to consulted. First a show of force and arrests as needed followed by disabling the vehicles and then removing them. 

[SkyDekker 1,121]

20 hours ago, gowlerk said:

Trudeau is keeping his head down because he has no power to deal with the situation. He does not control the OPP or the Ottawa police. What needs to happen is impounding the vehicles. Once that starts to happen the other owners will remove theirs from danger and the protest will become just like any other protest. It is the allowing of heavy trucks to be used as campers and street blockers that is a new thing that they haven't had to deal with before. Someone who understands trucks and especially towing them needs to consulted. First a show of force and arrests as needed followed by disabling the vehicles and then removing them. 

Looks like some of that started last night. Cutting off access to diesel, propane and food.

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

The GoFundMe has been shut down.

There have been some posts that the trucks are running out of fuel, and the people are running out of food.

Disabling a big truck is actually pretty simple. Cut the red air line to the trailer and the brakes are not releasing. The driver could unhook and leave the trailer, but that's not a likely option for many of these folks.

Alternatively, they could take a page from the US response to the Jan 6 insurrection attempt.
Let them leave. Take down all the plate numbers (and other identification) and issue a warrant for them. Next time they roll across a scale or through customs, they get a 'friendly invitation' to pull around back.

[billvon 2,394]

17 minutes ago, SkyDekker said:

Looks like some of that started last night. Cutting off access to diesel, propane and food.

Hey!  Those truckers are entitled to that stuff!

[ryoder 1,381]

5 minutes ago, billvon said:

Hey!  Those truckers are entitled to that stuff!

Is there a mailing address where we can ship supplies to them?

Asking for a friend.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2016/jan/14/oregon-militiaman-loses-his-cool-over-donated-dildos-and-sex-toys-video

[JoeWeber 2,297]

8 minutes ago, billvon said:

Hey!  Those truckers are entitled to that stuff!

Talk about hoisted on your own petard.

[brenthutch 383]

Democrats get up to speed

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/07/new-jersey-school-mask-mandate/

[headoverheels 291]

6 hours ago, brenthutch said:

Democrats get up to speed

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/07/new-jersey-school-mask-mandate/

NJ new case rates are way down, and headed lower, but they are still more than double what they were in November, and 15x what they were last June.

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

4 hours ago, headoverheels said:

NJ new case rates are way down, and headed lower, but they are still more than double what they were in November, and 15x what they were last June.

Same thing all over.

US new case 7 day average is 'down' to around 250k.

About 1/3 the peak in mid-January.

Still as high as the highest point reached last winter.

We're on the 'back side' of this wave, but it's a long way from over.

[JerryBaumchen 1,047]

6 hours ago, wolfriverjoe said:

Same thing all over.

US new case 7 day average is 'down' to around 250k.

About 1/3 the peak in mid-January.

Still as high as the highest point reached last winter.

We're on the 'back side' of this wave, but it's a long way from over.

Hi Joe,

Re:  We're on the 'back side' of this wave, but it's a long way from over.

I agree.  I was somewhat shocked to hear on my local news last nite that the Oregon Health Authority has said that come April they will eliminate all masking req'ments here in Oregon.

I'm sure that they have data to support that position; but, I'm not so sure, just yet.

Jerry Baumchen

PS)  Oregon Health Authority to lift indoor mask mandate by end of March - OPB

 

 

Edited February 8, 2022 by JerryBaumchen

[brenthutch 383]

3 hours ago, JerryBaumchen said:

Hi Joe,

Re:  We're on the 'back side' of this wave, but it's a long way from over.

I agree.  I was somewhat shocked to hear on my local news last nite that the Oregon Health Authority has said that come April they will eliminate all masking req'ments here in Oregon.

I'm sure that they have data to support that position; but, I'm not so sure, just yet.

Jerry Baumchen

PS)  Oregon Health Authority to lift indoor mask mandate by end of March - OPB

 

 

The data is in the shifting poll numbers.  Why stop mask mandates when COVID is much more widespread and the numbers of hospitalizations are greater now, than when the mandate started?  CT, NJ, DE have also come around to the line of thinking of Ron DeSantis.

Now the rest of the Democrat governors are clamoring for updated guidance from the CDC to give them political cover to drop their ridiculous mask mandates.

Edited February 8, 2022 by brenthutch