wolfriverjoe

10 hours ago, jakee said:

IIRC Eastman has argued that because he committed the same crime in a bunch of different states, only one of the cases should be allowed to go forward or it would be Double Jeopardy.

The judge simply told him no, you don’t get rewarded for being a more ambitious criminal.

Eastman has also argued that his law license shouldn't be revoked  for the crimes he's accused of because he needs it to make money to pay for...

His criminal defense. 

https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/ex-trump-lawyer-eastman-asks-pause-disbarment-ruling-2024-04-04/

2 hours ago, ryoder said:

No, she meant nibling.

It threw me as well, the first time she used the word, until I looked it.

Interesting.

I learned something today.

Nibling: Gender neutral term for a child of a sibling (traditionally niece or nephew).

1 hour ago, gowlerk said:

Not at all unexpected. SCOTUS has shown no inclination at all to get involved with any of the false claims of fraud in any of the recent elections. I suppose that overall fact is a good thing, but not news.

Yup.

They're refusing to take up a case that has ZERO EVIDENCE to support the allegations.

This is what they should do.

It would be 'news' if they DID take up the case.

And not 'good' news.

15 hours ago, Rickendiver said:

You are correct, I am against mandates & lockdowns as they do not ultimately change the trajectory of a pandemic, but have severe unintended consequences. I am NOT against people wearing a mask if they choose to.

I am concerned that people in high risk groups for ANY virus to be fatal thinking that a cloth mask will protect them when they should be taking more effective means. (i.e. sequestration, PAPR). I am retired & have nothing to gain here except for this.

I don’t think you will find any information readily available on the internet that predates COVID. I do remember finding some studies on cloth masks that were conducted in the 1950’s, but that was part of some research that I did back in the 2000’s when my life/health depended on things like that. That info may still be somewhere, but probably buried on page 200 on a search engine.
 

So nobody studied masks before the pandemic?

Seriously?

And as far as 'buried on page 200', this was THIRD on a google search:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8499874/

Admittedly not 'pre-pandemic', but one of the more interesting parts of the abstract is:

 

Quote

all studies we analysed that did not find surgical masks to be effective were under-powered to such an extent that even if masks were 100% effective, the studies in question would still have been unlikely to find a statistically significant effect.

11 hours ago, gowlerk said:

There are places in the world with higher compliance rates and lower death rates than those you witnessed.

That's very true.

For much of the pandemic, the US had higher infection rates and death rates than most of the rest of the world

10 hours ago, gowlerk said:

Truly you have shown yourself to be an opponent of government mandated masking. You have not made or even attempted to make any case that wearing masks does not reduce viral spread. Reducing and slowing the rate of spread was the sole reason for mask mandates. We always knew that we all were going to be infected sooner or later. But one thing is correct. There is no point in continuing the discussion. You are never going to change or give an inch in your opposition to mask mandates no matter their degree of effectiveness. 

To be fair, mask mandates were pretty ineffective.

There was very little difference between infection rates with or without mandates.

The problem was lack of enforcement. Or lack of a mandate in the first place.

The 'adult toddlers' threw shit fits when told to do something that would help other people.
Then all the 'muh freedumbs' idiots combined forces with the MAGA morons and got the courts (the ones the Rs spent the previous 4 year packing with alt-right types) to overturn those mandates that were put in place.

The people who understood why masks were important kept wearing them.
The fools who never wore them in the first place kept not wearing them.

So infection rates never changed much.

7 hours ago, Rickendiver said:

Truly, you have a dizzying intellect. As there is no point in continuing a discussion, I’ll leave you with some technology to consider.

Enjoy

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_detection_system

https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Thomas-R-Metz-39550427

Great, you have an impressive resume. (note: I'm not being sarcastic)

However, I have yet to see you post ANYTHING that supports your 'masks don't work' assertion.

Remember a couple posts back, you asked if I would be able to decide if someone was an 'expert' in their field?

One thing I didn't mention was 'supporting data'.

A true expert in a particular field can and will provide data supporting their position.

This is pretty generic, but it has a fair amount of authority behind it:

https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/prevention/masks.html

1 hour ago, tkhayes said:

felt the need to fix that.....

Well, yeah.

That too.

I've seen suggestions that Greene, Johnson and a few others should be prosecuted under the Logan Act.

4 hours ago, Rickendiver said:

It’s not just me. There are about 70,000 scientific, medical & health care professionals that have signed the Great Barrington Declaration attesting to it. There is an incredibly tiny percent of the population that has hands on experience in a BSL3 or 4 laboratory working with this nasty stuff, so it’s easy to lie about it. There isn’t a “conspiracy” per se. it’s just the way science is controlled in this country.

Honest questions to ask oneself- Do I have the background to recognize what an expert looks like? If so, how would I know if they are lying? Do I have the expertise necessary to parse out a journal publication to separate BS from good science? Is data being accurately represented? The answer for the vast majority of people is NO.

So 70k people signed something (that, as pointed out, has nothing to do with masks).

How many DIDN'T sign it.
Somewhat like the "1000 engineers and architects" that signed the thing about the way the WTC towers collapsed being 'wrong', knowing how large the population is counts.

And yes, I may not know about the subject, but I know how to apply critical thinking.
I can usually do a decent job of sorting out 'real experts' from the frauds. 
Sources also help. 
I'm far more likely to believe an 'expert' on NPR/PBS or BBC vs one on Fox.

Viruses travel within droplets, which are blasted out of the mouth. Masks reduce droplet expulsion.

One of the earliest times I was seriously scared of Covid was when it was discovered there was pre-symptomatic transmission. That people could be contagious before they showed symptoms.

There was a story that came out of the Pacific Northwest (Washington? Oregon?) where a church choir had a practice. 2 people were infected and contagious, but not yet symptomatic. 3/4 of the people present contracted Covid. A few died.
Along a couple reports of that story was a silhouette picture of a singer. Strongly backlit, you could see the quantity of droplets being expelled.

Masks help control that spread.
Not 100%, not perfectly. 

Masking, along with distancing and handwashing, the spread was reduced.

One of the best indicators of the effectiveness was the spread of influenza. 
With the mitigation practices in widespread practice, spread of the flu was sharply reduced. One strain of the flu is now believed to be extinct.

Of course, the idiots refused to comply. 
I've heard the term "Defiant Oppositional Disorder", which is a fancy word for 'acting like a toddler who only says "NO!!!!"'.

This was seen a few times when the idiots were refusing to believe that Covid was serious, that masks were effective and (of course) believing that Covid was a Chinese bio-weapon and that the vaccines were either deadly or contained 'tracking chips. My favorite was a schematic of these 'tracking chips' that went around.
It was an effect pedal for an electric guitar.
https://www.guitarworld.com/news/the-creator-of-the-covid-vaccineboss-metal-zone-pedal-hoax-reveals-all-there-aint-a-lot-of-sane-people-in-this-world
Turns out it was a hoax, from a guy who wanted to make the conspiracy idiots look like...
Idiots.

2 hours ago, gowlerk said:

Horses here don't die. They absorb the blows and come back for another round. Again and again as if no one ever learns.

Oh, no. They die.

Then they get beaten some more. 

And more.
And more.

Brent never admits being wrong. Ever.

Jakee never lets go. Ever.

I'm usually good for a couple smartass comments.

And eventually you have a 'horse smoothie'.

19 minutes ago, airdvr said:

I'm of an opinion that we need to curtail all President's use of these.

"Executive orders are not legislation; they require no approval from Congress, and Congress cannot simply overturn them. Congress may pass legislation that might make it difficult, or even impossible, to carry out the order, such as removing funding. Only a sitting U.S. President may overturn an existing executive order by issuing another executive order to that effect."

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/publications/teaching-legal-docs/what-is-an-executive-order-/

Thoughts?

 

Why?

They're pretty limited as far as what they can do.
They are often necessary for keeping the country operating.

You know, like now when the "Freedumb CooCoos" are actively blocking any legislation that benefits Biden in any way.

Also, it's kind of funny how loudly the conservatives scream about them when a D is in office, yet how silent they are about them while an R holds the position.

4 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

The NSA is both reassuring and frightening. 

Yup. Like so many other powerful things.

Used for my benefit, it's awesome.

Used against me, awesomely frightening.

On 4/12/2024 at 8:59 AM, gowlerk said:

US intelligence has been pretty good at predicting things like this. They don't make public pronouncements lightly. But knowing the exact day seems unlikely. 

Well, they got it pretty damned close.

US intel also got it right when they predicted Putin would invade Ukraine.

Few other folks agreed, but it turned out the US was right.

The interesting thing is how public this (and the Ukraine invasion warnings) have been.

It would have been pretty simple, and pretty standard procedure, for the US to notify Israel quietly. 

Allow Israel to get advance warning, to be ready and waiting, able to fend off the attack (which they did pretty well).

Instead, the US chose to 'go public' with the warning. 

Telling the whole world that we had advance knowledge of what the Iranians (and the Russians back in 2022) were going to do.

Almost as if there's a message in that.

"Dear Bad Guys,

We know what you are going to do.
We know how you are going to do it.
We know when you are going to do it.

Love,
USA."

10 hours ago, Rickendiver said:

In my professional training and experience working with aerosolized pathogens both in both research laboratories & in the field for national bio defense, (DOE, DOD, DHS), cloth masks are ineffective at preventing virus transmission. This has been in the knowledge base for about 100 years. 

Right. That's why doctors wear them.

And dentists.

And tattoo artists.

And cancer patients.

Your 'training and experience' is...

Bullshit.

What's next?

CO2 poisoning from wearing them?

3 hours ago, ryoder said:

It's all about religious freedom; The GOP is sponsoring these bills at the behest of The First Church of Appliantology.

Is Ron Popeil their patron saint?

While he didn't make 'durable goods' type appliances, his stuff was pretty miraculous*

 

*Miraculous in both the claims of what it could do and the fact that it would be a miracle if any of those claims actually came to pass.

1 hour ago, billvon said:

They will, by definition, slow those hundreds of more PPM of CO2 that we are seeing.

Right.

But it's not going to happen instantly.

And even if it did, it won't reverse climate change instantly.

So the same dumbasses that like to pretend that because increasing CO2 hasn't increased the temperature instantly, AGW isn't real, will also pretend that mitigating CO2 doesn't do anything.

21 hours ago, wmw999 said:

Interesting; the accuser in that case (Tara Reade) seems to have considerably less credibility overall than the accuser of Brett Kavanaugh. As in, no, she didn't tell anyone else; the complaint she filed with the Senate office didn't mention anything about assault; she said he made her feel uncomfortable because he complimented her looks, and made her serve drinks to Senators.

To go along with the fact that she has a pretty solid reputation for lying, both in public and under oath, it seems a little shakier than either Trump or Kavanaugh in the sexual assault category.

Wendy P.

There's also a LOT of issues with her accusations.

Her story changed a whole bunch, a bunch of times.

She couldn't pin down a time & date (in part because that would allow Biden to show where he was on that time & date).

6 minutes ago, headoverheels said:

Sure.  And how would electing Trump improve that?  Not at all.

What he fails to acknowledge (or realize) is that the decline in the economy was largely Trump's fault.

Directly or indirectly, much of what the economy went through can be attributed to Trump.

Before anyone says "But Trump wasn't in office for much of the time that the economy tanked", anyone with a bit of understanding knows that the economy responds to any issues very slowly. So shit that Trump did (or didn't do) was affecting the economy for quite a while after he left office.

9 hours ago, ryoder said:

I will argue that the biggest things damping Tesla sales are:

1. Tesla lying about range.

2. Tesla lying about capabilities of "Autopilot", (and Elmo making annual announcement that FSD will be here in "a few months", for ten years running).

3. Elmo being a gigantic all-around asshole.

There is no way in hell I will ever own a Tesla as long as Elmo has any control over it.

 

Number 3 is the big one.

I've seen this story popping up more and more.

One aspect is that with Musk becoming such a jerk, fewer and fewer people want to be seen driving a car associated with him (your last sentence is becoming more and more common).

The other is that investors are hesitant to put money into a company so closely associated with the guy who over paid for Twitter, and then proceeded to utterly destroy it.
Is he going to throw another temper tantrum and destroy Tesla? Is he going to fire all the Tesla engineers the way he did at Twitter?

That sort of erratic behavior makes serious investors (like fund managers at major investment houses) very uncomfortable.

10 hours ago, BIGUN said:

Your googlefu broke? Take each one and put Biden in front of it. Then become an informed reader. 

 

No argument. 

Both of them are pieces of shit that I won't vote for . . . And, be honest; you're just voting for the lesser. That's where we're at. Not who we're "for;" who we're against. 

You make the claim, you provide the proof.

The false equivalence that Biden and Trump are in ANY WAY similar is bullshit.

Complete and total bullshit.

I will agree that it's more 'voting against' than 'voting for'. But I haven't actually voted for a major candidate in a very long time.
I'm not a huge fan of Biden, although I'm a lot closer to being one than I was three or four years ago.

He's shown himself to be a very competent leader, a good political operative, and seems to be a fairly decent human being.

As a comparison, how many of Trump's former cabinet members have endorsed him?

How many have said (publicly) that Trump is dangerous for the country.

How many has Trump threatened to kill, or have arrested if he is elected?

How about how many of Trump's 'team' are in legal trouble?
How many of his lawyers have been disbarred or faced discipline for their actions?
How many of his associates were sent to prison (or should have been, if not for Trump pardoning them)?

How many of Biden's cabinet have faced ANY legal issues?
How many have resigned in disgrace or disgust?

This isn't "apples to oranges".

This is "apples to bunny rabbits".

This sort of argument is one reason why I consider Trump supporters to be idiots.

3 hours ago, kallend said:

Why should we tolerate any politician who is a proven prolific liar, a proven rapist, a proven adulterer, an admitted sexual predator, and a proven fraud?

3 hours ago, BIGUN said:

I thought your team liked Biden. 

Please give specific, provable examples of Biden doing those things.

The list of times Trump has done them is pretty long.

Just now, kallend said:

About 21 percent of guns confiscated by police in Chicago are traced back to gun shops across the border in Indiana.

True. Many are stolen. Many are straw purchases.

I'd love to see the authorities crack down hard on straw purchases.

But, of course, they don't.

The guy who bought Kyle Rittenhouse the rifle he used to murder people in Kenosha was facing significant fines and prison time.
He got a 'slap on the wrist', basically telling the White Supremacist crowd that they could buy guns for minors with impunity.

1 hour ago, jakee said:

So? What’s your point?

”People think it’s bad”

”It’s really not”

”Yeah but they think it is”

… Ok. And? Where do you want to go with that thought?

Trump supporters are idiots?

They care more about their 'feels' than reality?

1 hour ago, kallend said:

Unfortunately you can WALK from Chicago to a gun store in Indiana in 15 minutes,  buy a gun in a state with weak gun laws (ranked 30/50),   then 15 minutes later be back in Chicago with a gun that you couldn't legally buy in Illinois.  With a car you can do it even faster.

Which is why a national solution is the only one that will work.

Not really, Professor.

A gun dealer in Indiana is NOT allowed to sell to a resident from another state.

That doesn't mean an Illinois resident couldn't find an Indiana resident to do a 'straw purchase' for him, but it's not legal.

11 hours ago, ryoder said:

Ukraine has apparently drawn inspiration from Mathias Rust.

Forbes: Ukraine Packed A Cessna-Style Plane With Explosives, Added Remote Controls And Kamikaze’d It Into A Russian Drone Factory 600 Miles Away

They've also done a hell of a job on Russian oil refineries.
 Depending on what stats you trust, upwards of 15% of Russia's refining capability has been damaged.
And they really don't have the ability to repair much of it.

There are reports that Russia is importing gasoline from Belarus.

There are other reports that the US has asked Ukraine to stop the attacks on Russian oil industry. 
Of course, Ukraine has responded (more or less) 'if you won't give us what we need, why should we do as you ask?'