winsor

Beat Serbia by a long shot.

I lived there.

So's Thalidomide. When taking any medication there is a balance between therapeutic and side effects. Since there is religious zeal associated with COVID-19 and its treatments, it's hard to get a handle on the benefit to detriment ratio. The adverse effect tracking process for the mRNA therapies was truly execrable. I am quite familiar with fatalities that resulted directly from Moderna and Pfizer inoculation, none of which were listed as adverse effects. I guess the thought was that they were going to die eventually anyway, so at least they died vaccinated. Though I take medications when appropriate, working in the industry for a few decades instills a healthy level of skepticism. A redefinition of "vaccine" was necessary to include mRNA therapies, since they fit into the category of 'other' on the basis of the longstanding definition of the term. A paper authored by parties with MD and PhD credentials is not automatically valid; I have seen one dissertation that refuted a previous dissertation line and verse, and both authors are now addressed as 'Doctor.' I have been stunned by how weak is the grasp of Probability and Statistics by some researchers whose profession is the study of Stochastic Processes, and that is more typical than I would have guessed. There are very good medications that never get approved, some are approved and are never marketed, some are remarkably effective but are not profitable enough and cease to be made, and others never should have been approved in the first place. The mRNA therapies induce the production of thrombotic, cytotoxic spike proteins. If these stay localized in the deltoid (which they sometimes do), their effects are reasonably predictable. When they circulate throughout the body, all bets are off. You pays your money and your takes your chances. BSBD, Winsor

Masochist: "Whip me, beat me!" Sadist: "No."

You do realize that the movie was based on the nonexistence of adiabatic lapse rate?

I'd almost say let him skip to the Bahamas or Russia or something if they could invoke the insurrection clause of the 14th amendment. As it stands he could both be convicted and reelected. The only three things that would bar him from office are impeachment, the 14th amendment or death. Him choking on a chicken bone would be the most expeditious but it's bad manners to force the issue, impeachment has been tried, and the 14th amendment is all that's left. Barring him from office, and striking a plea bargain deal where he pleads guilty but sentence is stayed so long as he never again sets foot on US soil. This is a win-win for everyone except for whoever takes him in. One could only hope.

QED

Gee, if that isn't a PA I don't know what is. The people who saw Till as being an animal that needed to be put down were the problem, and Till should have been made acutely aware that he would not be afforded basic human rights. That you attribute such sentiments to me is projection at best.

Not hardly. The people from that area who knew how to stay invisible survived. He unwittingly drew the slightest bit of attention and died. It's like your basic zombie movie plot.

Nope. My point is that the family who sent him to Mississippi and the family members with whom he stayed there were fully aware of just how dangerous were the people who killed him, and they failed to make that clear. He was unaware of how dangerous it was to be friendly with a white woman, and he was murdered as a result. "Perpetuating the evil?". You're projecting.

If you have to use personal attacks instead of addressing issues of concern, you have nothing.

Get specific. The interviews I referenced were on a PBS documentary (NOVA?). The woman who claimed untoward behavior by Till EXAGGERATED, there is nothing to suggest that Till didn't harmlessly flirt. In the same sense that a child playing with an unexploded cluster bomblet likely wouldn't if the gravity of doing so was made clear, Emmett Till likely would have avoided drawing the attention of the woman who later accused him of whatever exaggeration she conveyed. I think this thread is a prime example of saying one thing and hearing something else. BSBD, Winsor

Such as? 'Him' who?

A little trick I picked up in Moscow: when there appears to be no comprehension because we're speaking different languages or something, say it slower and louder. About the closest I can get here is to go to caps, and I'd rather not. It's also tough to follow the drift here with half of it being killfiled. The short form is that if someone is sent into a minefield without being properly warned, it is the responsibility of the people who should have warned said individual, not to mention the people whose mines they are. To characterize that as "victim blaming" is silly. I have been informed that Emmett Till's murder was the result of racism (you figure?). I can't properly respond to that without waxing facetious/sarcastic, which appears to be beyond the grasp of some folks here (though they may feign ignorance as a matter of rhetoric). The bottom line is that Emmett Till was sent into a minefield/viper's den/whatever without being properly warned and came to grief. It was OF COURSE 100% the fault of the evil racist bastards who abducted, tortured and killed him - but it would have improved his odds if the people who sent him there and the people with whom he stayed had made crystal clear to him what dangers lurked, which they knew all too well. If my kid wants to point out that the apostrophe on the colors saying " Pagan's" makes it plural rather than possessive, I let him know that these guys are easily confused and get violent when they're confused, so it's best to let it drop. If he had done so and he and I got maimed or killed it would not be his fault, it would be the Pagan's for being vicious morons and mine for failing to warn him. Anyone who thinks that's victim blaming isn't giving it a lot of thought. BSBD, Winsor

I contend that being in a different environment can have different rules, and one should heed warnings regarding these differences. Going to Alaska, one should understand that the fauna there are not Walt Disney creations and you're not in suburbia. Perhaps it should have been made crystal clear to Emmett Till that the white people that lived near his cousins were vicious, murdering morons, and that they should be treated like the rabid assholes that they were. Unfortunately, the warnings he got didn't convey quite how dangerous these people were. Lara Logan getting gang raped while covering a demonstration in Cairo is an example of how simply being there put her in danger, and failing to make herself look massively unattractive was enough to trigger the attack. Or something like that, I don't understand rapists or murderers - maybe a donkey would have faced the same risks You'd go further in your disagreement with one point or another if you didn't go right to ad hominem. BSBD, Winsor

If someone has something worthy of consideration, great. There are people with whom I disagree, but I appreciate their input. Having said that, dialogue too often is disingenuous from the start Too much of what crops up in this forum is ad hominem or raw abuse, so the killfile is a nice touch. Thus I'll have to take your word for who said what. I apologize for expressing exasperation over being expected to defend positions I don't support. If nothing else, it's pointless. BSBD, Winsor

Since I have been accused of sentiments I neither espouse nor conveyed, I should respond with a "bless your heart" and let it go.

Since the reading comprehension here is abysmal, likely clouded by righteous indignation, let me walk you through this. Let us all agree that the fate that Emmett Till suffered was unjust, undeserved and a very bad thing by any measure. Also, misreading one's audience is hardly justification for being murdered. I watched a documentary some time back, on PBS IIRC, where Emmett Till's family members were interviewed, to include his mother and cousins. His mother had warned him to be very careful what he said and did when he went down South, since things were different there, and he assured her that he'd be fine. His cousins said that while in Mississippi he claimed to have dated a white girl back home (Chicago?), and was cavalier about it. The overall picture that was painted was that of a brash, very naïve and generally typical adolescent, out of his element, who had no idea how dangerous was his environment. I do not suggest for a second that it was his fault, and think his behavior as described was harmless. My point is that he unwittingly triggered the reaction of the people who then murdered him. I don't condone for a second the senseless violence inflicted upon him, but have some idea of why these people targeted him. I have spent time among easily confused people whose response to being confused is to become very violent, and I have gone out of my way not to confuse them. The penchant for violence is theirs, and when they become violent it is almost always unjustified. Doing anything that could be perceived as a threat is bad policy, harmless joking doesn't get a pass. Making a wrong turn in Los Angeles and trying to ask directions can be fatal. This is hardly 'victim blaming' the hapless motorist for turning into a gang dominated cul de sac, and this does not put me on the side of the gang. Emmett Till may or may not have been a saint, but he worked out to be a useful martyr. BSBD, Winsor

I dunno, Ike managed to breach quite handily the seawall that was built to block a storm surge on a par with the1900 hurricane. The only reason you did not have a much greater death toll was that people had ample warning and got to high ground. Reducing any model to Single Input-Single Output form tends to limit its validity. Regardless of the impact of humanity of climate, Climate Change orthodoxy is simply too dumbed - down to merit serious consideration. Unless, of course, one must pay homage to it to receive grant money. BSBD, Winsor

If I went to a Muslim country, whistled at one of the Ninja women and lost my head as a result, my cause of death would be listed as "suicide." Anyone criticizing the process would be labeled an "Islamophobe." By all accounts Emmett Till was told in no uncertain terms that flirting with white women in Mississippi was a Bad Career Move. Emmett, however, made light of it, claimed to have dated white girls back home, and made a point to demonstrate to his cousins that it was no big deal. That did not end well. Though I consider Klan types to be every bit as evil as Muslim fundamentalists, I know better than to goad either when they're in a position to kill me - in the same sense that I don't tell Hells Angels that Harleys suck and that people who ride them are trying to compensate for undersized genitals. If the upshot of Emmett Till's slaying throughout the Black community was a binding commitment to foreswear race based violence, that would be one thing. That has not been the case, and it often seems the response has been more of "two can play at this game!" Back to the simplistic view of things. BSBD, Winsor

Jews are a big, dysfunctional family (quite literally the children of Israel). Those who have adopted our bronze-age family lore/mythology as the basis for their systems of delusion (for reasons that escape me) are not Jews but wannabes.

My point as to who is pulling the triggers was addressed in the Freakonomics movie: They're a lot more polite about the demographics than I am likely to be. BSBD, Winsor

Be advised that referring to "gun violence" is on a par with using "the N word" conversationally. It tells me too much about your perspective on the issue. It is also equally offensive.

Unfortunately, the dumb sonofabitch could kill someone on 5th Avenue, get a life sentence, and STILL get elected. The only shot is to invoke the 14th Amendment. It does not require conviction for insurrection, just participation, and he's disqualified for holding any office. Having said that, it would be nice to see him in the slammer. BSBD, Winsor