Does the coronavirus merit investment, or personal, concern or consideration?

Of course, go off on that tangent to distract from the actual point - whether they do or do not is not based on political persuasion.

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If you know a little more about Chi-Com history, this joke is even funnier…

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/fauci-says-entirely-conceivable-covid-came-from-cave-where-miners-fell-ill-in-2012/ar-AAKGTKk?li=BBnb7Kz

So now it’s “entirely conceivable” that patient zero was all the way back in 2012? :zipper_mouth_face:

Although investigations are ongoing and the origins of the virus remain unclear, the lab leak theory has gained traction in recent weeks despite some previously dismissing it as a conspiracy theory.

OK, Newsweek, stop pretending you werent one of those adament about dismissing it…

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Come on Honkinggoose, spit it out… :relaxed:

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I don’t drink or smoke. Is that a trick question? Minor was in quotes. Because you’re either sick or not, there is no such thing as a “minor” cold or flu with respect to spreading to other people. Someone who is sick should not be in public without taking precautions, which might look like wearing a face covering, but that is not the only option… coughing or sneezing in elbow, avoiding common areas, frequently washing hands, are all measures any sensible people will do. But most people are not sensible.
For respiratory infections though, there is significant data on the effectiveness of masks reducing spread.

I’ve written this before as OP and I’ll do so again:

I appreciate everyone’s posts here. Thank you for posting. However:

Please be respectful of others and play fair. In particular, every poster here has the privilege of withdrawing a post . . any post. It has happened to all of us at one time or another. It is unfair to drag another participant’s post out of the trash and respond to it. Withdrawn posts deserve to be treated like sleeping dogs. Just let 'em lie. Ignore them.

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Editing is a feature of the forum. So is viewing edits…

Agreed. But when another poster decides actually to withdraw a post, that transcends mere editing. Please be respectful of that decision when your fellow posters make it. Thanks.

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Yes, and then it is specifically rejected from removal and held for 24hrs. That’s how the forum works. Respecting how things work is not disrespectful.

I do not know why the forum is constructed this way. Certainly the privilege of taking down a post should be immediate and absolute. People change their minds about posting something, or simply make a mistake. It happens to all of us.

But please do not use questionable forum construction as a way, or an excuse, to go after your fellow posters. Even if the forum wrongly refuses to do so, please allow others to withdraw their posts in accord with their obvious intent. Post withdrawal is evidence of change of heart on this or that matter. Please be generous and allow your fellow posters that privilege. Thank you.

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/covid-19-vaccine-tens-of-millions-of-americans-might-not-have-had-an-adequate-response-to-shot/ar-AAKHpF3?li=BBnb7Kz

But but but…it is proven 95% effective!

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Source?

How the US government failed in their investigation into the origins of covid. A long very good, detailed article. Select excerpts below.

In one State Department meeting, officials seeking to demand transparency from the Chinese government say they were explicitly told by colleagues not to explore the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s gain-of-function research, because it would bring unwelcome attention to U.S. government funding of it.

for most of the past year, the lab-leak scenario was treated not simply as unlikely or even inaccurate but as morally out-of-bounds. In late March, former Centers for Disease Control director Robert Redfield received death threats from fellow scientists after telling CNN that he believed COVID-19 had originated in a lab.

many leading [US virology] experts had either received or approved funding for gain-of-function research. Their “conflicted” status, said Pottinger, “played a profound role in muddying the waters and contaminating the shot at having an impartial inquiry.”

one study first submitted in April 2020. Eleven of its 23 coauthors worked for the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, the Chinese army’s medical research institute. Using the gene-editing technology known as CRISPR, the researchers had engineered mice with humanized lungs, then studied their susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2. As the NSC officials worked backward from the date of publication to establish a timeline for the study, it became clear that the mice had been engineered sometime in the summer of 2019, before the pandemic even started. Had the Chinese military been running viruses through humanized mouse models, to see which might be infectious to humans?

Inside the NIH, which funded such [gain of function] research, the P3CO [Potential Pandemic Pathogen Care and Oversight] framework was largely met with shrugs and eye rolls, said a longtime agency official: “If you ban gain-of-function research, you ban all of virology.” He added, “Ever since the moratorium, everyone’s gone wink-wink and just done gain-of-function research anyway.”

Ebright likened Daszak’s model of research—bringing samples from a remote area to an urban one, then sequencing and growing viruses and attempting to genetically modify them to make them more virulent—to “looking for a gas leak with a lighted match.”

inside the WIV, military and civilian researchers are “doing animal research in the same fricking space.” While that, in and of itself, does not prove a lab leak, [Bat Woman] Shi’s alleged lies about it are “absolutely material,” said a former State Department official. “It speaks to the honesty and credibility of the WIV that they kept this secret

In particular, two good scientist blogs covering the origins of covid and evidence around it were cited and both are well worth a read as well.

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I think posters here of all stripes will agree Trump shoots from the lip and has a big mouth. He is typical NYC from his vintage. He can be really annoying to rural people like myself, even though I am supportive of his policy decisions.

All that said, and even with his big fat mouth, I cannot recall Trump while campaigning for the job of POTUS ever telling voters he had medical credentials of any sort. Sure, he bragged about his glorious history as a builder and God only knows what else. But as a doctor or medical professional? No way. I’m pretty sure he never did that.

There was good reason for Trump not making that brag, since everyone is aware he has no medical expertise and never doctored anybody. Fast forward now to the pandemic’s onset:

Trump remains just as dumb about medical stuff as before. He is at the mercy of his advisors, Fauci and Birx being prominent among them. I would be shocked if Trump was aware in those critical early days regarding the relationship and involvement of our own U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases with the Wuhan Institute of Virology. That is just too far below the radar and down into the weeds for Trump to know. In addition, don’t forget the Democrats were impeaching Trump throughout that interval of time. Talk about having your attention diverted!!

OK, you might argue Birx knew and could have mentioned it to either Trump or Pence. I agree that is possible. Birx would have been FAR more likely than either Trump or Pence to know such detailed stuff. And she was a straight shooter. But Birx was also a protégé and ardent admirer of Fauci. So it’s equally possible she just kept her mouth closed about that relationship.

Anyway at the bottom line you end up with Trump’s principal advisor, most likely without Trump’s knowledge, having to watch his own back where COVID-19 was concerned. It changed later I believe. But at the pandemic’s outset Trump (and Pence) trusted Fauci in particular, and Birx as well.

Nobody knows today how compromised back then was Fauci’s actual status or how that might have influenced his counsel to Trump and/or his public statements. Like so much else, it’s all secretive and shrouded with everyone playing CYA and/or trying to score political points. But more and more it’s smelling like Fauci’s hands are not entirely clean. And for sure I’m betting Trump never knew when he picked Fauci as one of his most important COVID-19 advisors.

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/heres-what-employers-are-not-allowed-to-do-to-entice-workers-to-get-covid-19-vaccinations/ar-AAKDFKQ?li=BBnb7Kz

I found most of this to be pointless rambling. The one paragraph that sums up the issue is this:

"The justification for allowing employers to mandate vaccinations is based upon the logical and strong premise that unvaccinated employees present a ‘direct threat’ to others in the workplace, ” according to the National Law Review.

That premise is neither logical nor strong. Hundreds of millions of Americans have gotten out of bed every morning posing zero threat - direct or otherwise - to anyone in their workplace. In fact, a primary premise of lockdowns, shutdowns, quarantines, etc has been the indirect threat to society’s most vulnerable - if we hang out in the park, it might result in killing grandma.

Furthermore, anyone who has recovered from having Covid-19 is no more, and often less, of a threat to anyone than any vaccinated person. The CDC states that the lack of immunity post-infection is “rare”, while 5-30% (and depending on the medication one takes, possibly much higher) vaccinated persons attain zero protection from the virus. Deciding to draw the line at vaccinations is arbitrary and runs counter to any legitimate attempt to mitigate the danger.

I think such legal cases will come down to a workplace requiring a more substantial basis for claiming there is a direct threat that requires vaccination than “covid-19 exists”.

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I am aware of one person who is diligently fighting a mandatory covid-19 vaccincation for current employees. Here is one of many stories about a law firm helping vaccine-aware employees. There are so many stories that I wonder if it’s an ad campaign.

Relevance to price of tea in China?

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You said rather than asking what I was smoking…

anyways… back to the regularly scheduled anti-vax fud

At least you used this term correctly - all the fear of unvaccinated persons is quite irrational.

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Where?
anyways … back to imagining I’m important among a plethora of other dreams.

ETA: Are you also a vegetarian?