wolfriverjoe

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:

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

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.

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

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

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.

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'.

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.

Yup. Like so many other powerful things. Used for my benefit, it's awesome. Used against me, awesomely frightening.

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."

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?

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.

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.

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).

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.