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December 28, 2021
The Federal Government’s Covid Failure Becomes Even More Apparent

Today I was busy with medical issues. Nothing bad to report on my side. But I feel somewhat sad for the people in the U.S. who's health get screwed by its 'elite' over and over again.

Seven days ago the CEO of Delta Airlines asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to cut quarantine time for Covid breakthrough cases:

Delta Air Lines Inc's chief executive asked the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday to shrink quarantine guidelines for fully vaccinated individuals who experience breakthrough COVID-19 infections, citing the impact on the carrier's workforce.

CEO Ed Bastian, along with the company's chief health officer and a medical adviser, asked in a letter to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky seen by Reuters that the agency's recommended quarantine period for anyone who tests positive with a breakthrough COVID-19 infection be reduced to five days from the current 10.

The letter suggested that individuals could end isolation with appropriate testing.
…
"With the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, the 10-day isolation for those who are fully vaccinated may significantly impact our workforce and operations," Bastian wrote. "Similar to healthcare, police, fire, and public transportation workforces, the Omicron surge may exacerbate shortages and create significant disruptions."
…
Delta said that "as part of this policy change, we would be interested to partner with CDC and collect empirical data."

The CDC immediately set off to do what the business side of the U.S. told it to do. Yesterday it changed its guidelines for recommended isolation and the quarantine period:

Given what we currently know about COVID-19 and the Omicron variant, CDC is shortening the recommended time for isolation from 10 days for people with COVID-19 to 5 days, if asymptomatic, followed by 5 days of wearing a mask when around others. The change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after. Therefore, people who test positive should isolate for 5 days and, if asymptomatic at that time, they may leave isolation if they can continue to mask for 5 days to minimize the risk of infecting others.

Additionally, CDC is updating the recommended quarantine period for those exposed to COVID-19. For people who are unvaccinated or are more than six months out from their second mRNA dose (or more than 2 months after the J&J vaccine) and not yet boosted, CDC now recommends quarantine for 5 days followed by strict mask use for an additional 5 days. Alternatively, if a 5-day quarantine is not feasible, it is imperative that an exposed person wear a well-fitting mask at all times when around others for 10 days after exposure. Individuals who have received their booster shot do not need to quarantine following an exposure, but should wear a mask for 10 days after the exposure. For all those exposed, best practice would also include a test for SARS-CoV-2 at day 5 after exposure. If symptoms occur, individuals should immediately quarantine until a negative test confirms symptoms are not attributable to COVID-19.

These recommendation are:

  • way too differentiated and thereby confusing. Only the first sentence up to but excluding the word 'asymptomatic' will be followed.
  • not based on science as the infectious period of Covid cases varies over a relative wide range and can be even more than ten days after symptom onset.
  • misses the use of tests after the five day period.
  • does not mention the varying quality of different masks and does not recommend the use of K95/FFP2 masks which are the only ones that should be used by likely infectious persons.

The recommendations give backing to businesses who tell their workers to come to work even when sick.

They go far beyond what the Delta CEO asked for. The three points set in bold in the first quote above get ignored in the CDC recommendations. 

The U.S. doctors and scientist I follow on Twitter all disagree with the CDC.

Jerome Adams @JeromeAdamsMD – 13:50 UTC · Dec 28, 2021
Regardless of what CDC says, you really should try to obtain an antigen test (I know- easier said than done) and confirm it’s negative prior to leaving isolation and quarantine.
There’s not a scientist or doctor I’ve met yet who wouldn’t do this for themselves/ their family.

Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH @ashishkjha – 13:48 UTC · Dec 28, 2021
While new CDC isolation guidelines are reasonable, here's what I would have done differently
1. Required a neg antigen test after 5 days
2. Had different guidelines for vaccinated (contagious for shorter time) versus unvaccinated
3. Specified higher quality masks
Short thread …

Eric Topol @EricTopol – 14:50 UTC · Dec 28, 2021
The data that supports the new @CDCgov 5 day isolation period without a negative test

Topol's tweet has a picture of an empty paper attached to it.

The often quoted Angie Rasmussen is livid:

Dr. Angela Rasmussen @angie_rasmussen – 15:34 UTC · Dec 28, 2021
Once again, @CDCgov outdoes itself by taking what might be a reasonable policy (test to leave isolation) and removing the part that makes it reasonable (the testing part). This is reckless and, frankly, stupid.

Mandatory 10-day isolations could be reduced if a person tests negative sequentially. Example: 2 negative tests 24 hr apart beginning on day 5. But just assuming that people with no symptoms aren’t shedding shitloads of virus? CDC, where have you been this entire pandemic?

SARS-CoV-2 spreads readily from people without symptoms. That’s a key reason why the pandemic has been so hard to contain. @SaskiaPopescu and I reviewed this nearly A YEAR AGO, long before omicron befouled our holidays.
SARS-CoV-2 transmission without symptoms
…
I’m very disappointed with yet another failure to actually use evidence in formulating recommendations. I’m very disappointed in @CDCDirector @RWalensky’s leadership, which has been at best erratic and at worst nonexistent.

Actual public health leadership means not putting business interests first during a public health crisis with policies you just pulled out of your ass. It’s callow, it is devastating to public confidence, and it’s going to blow up when omicron cases continue their meteoric rise.

This isn’t changing policy to reflect the changing evidence. This is caving to business interests with a nakedly evidence-free one-size-fits-all solution that was probably cooked up in lieu of the will to actually increase testing availability to make test-to-release possible.

Angie gets political:

We all had such high hopes for the Biden administration’s pledge to let science lead the way out of this pandemic. Those hopes have been dashed repeatedly by the lack of follow through on any of the promises made regarding the pandemic.

A year later, we still don’t have enough tests, 40% of people are unvaccinated, there’s no national mask mandate or vaccine mandate, and the country is ablaze with omicron. It didn’t have to be this way and wouldn’t be if @POTUS kept his promises.

Well Angie, its the system that is sick and not the man at the top.

In a phone call with governors Biden yesterday rejected all responsibility:

Republicans wasted no time slamming Joe Biden after the flip-flopping president said 'there is no federal solution' to combatting COVID-19 on Monday.

The CDC changes will ease COVID-related flight cancellations as sick flight personal will be able to help spread the virus even when they don't like to do so:

"We said we wanted to hear from medical professionals on the best guidance for quarantine, not from corporate America advocating for a shortened period due to staffing shortages,” said Association of Flight Attendants-CWA International President Sara Nelson following the CDC announcement shortening the recommended quarantine duration from 10 days to five days.

“The CDC gave a medical explanation about why the agency has decided to reduce the quarantine requirements from 10 to five days, but the fact that it aligns with the number of days pushed by corporate America is less than reassuring,” Nelson said.

The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have had so many screw ups during the pandemic that one must doubt their usefulness.

Recently the FDA authorized and even praised Pfizer's Paxlovid anti-Covid drug. But its use is seriously in doubt:

When Paxlovid is paired with other medications that are also metabolized by the CYP3A enzyme, the chief worry is that the ritonavir component may boost the co-administered drugs to toxic levels.

Complicating matters, the drugs that pose interaction risks are widely prescribed to people at the greatest risk from Covid because of other health conditions.

The medications include, but are not limited to: blood thinners; anti-seizure medications; drugs for irregular heart rhythms, high blood pressure and high cholesterol; antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications; immunosuppressants; steroids (including inhalers); HIV treatments; and erectile dysfunction medications.

The half of the U.S. population that is most in danger due to Covid will not be able to take Paxlovid as it already uses incompatible medications.

The CDC is still unable to track the number of Omicron cases. Today it admitted that it (again) screwed up its own statistic:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention significantly revised its model of the breakdown of Covid-19 variants on Tuesday, estimating the Omicron strain accounted for about 58.6 percent of U.S. cases as of Dec. 25.

The public health agency’s previous estimate that the rapidly spreading variant accounted for 73.2 percent of cases nationwide on Dec. 18 is now revised down to 22.5 percent — a significant drop that falls outside the agency's earlier 95 percent prediction interval, or likely range where future analysis will fall, of 34 to 94.9 percent of all cases.
…
The U.S. is now recording more than 206,000 daily Covid-19 infections — a number that is rapidly growing. Americans continue to travel at high levels through the holidays: more than 2 million people flew yesterday, according to Transportation Security Administration data.

Tomorrow the number of new Cocid cases per day in the U.S. will likely exceed the previous record.

Omicron guarantees that the next few month will be a wild ride. But no matter how high the number of cases will be the U.S. the federal government and its institutions will do nothing about it. They have been proven to be incapable for systemic reasons independent of their leadership. It does not have to be that way but I see no one who is trying to change that.

To be clear. I am not worried for myself. I am vaccinated and was boostered today. But I worry about those who for whatever reason are not vaccinated. And about those who will get sick with non-Covid issues and who will have difficulties to find an empty hospital bed while Omicron rushes through. Good luck to them.

—

(Like all Covid threads this one too will get policed to eliminate promotions of drugs that are not useful and arguments not based on science.)

Posted by b on December 28, 2021 at 19:56 UTC | Permalink
Comments

Not an issue.
No evidence was used to verify the pandemic and all the restrictions, so why suddenly do people want evidence to stop the madness and return to normal ?
It’s the economy stupid !

Posted by: Henry Smith | Dec 29 2021 12:47 utc | 101

@56 Black Bread
The problem with masks is that there’s two different types of mask intended for two totally different purposes.
e.g. a surgical mask (the type you see most people wearing) and a respirator.
The surgical mask is intended to help prevent droplet spread *from the wearer*. Basically don’t spit in open wounds during surgery or you’ll kill your patient cos that’s a suboptimal outcome.
And a respirator like an FFP2 or 3 which is designed to prevent you from inhaling stuff that’ll do unpleasant lungs. FFP2+ Respirators actively filter incoming air. They’re technically aerosol/particulate filters. (not gas masks though ~ those are a different type of filter)
At the start of the pandemic there was this crosswise argument going on where no one knew what the hell was going on. To mask or not to mask. Where some people were talking abut surgical masks and others were talking about respirators.
In a hazardous environment a surgical mask will do nothing. (You’ll just die) A good respirator will save your life. The advice “Don’t touch the mask” comes from respirators. Not surgical masks.
e.g. If you are in an environment where there is something very unpleasant like Ebola you DO NOT touch the mask ever. It’s a filter. Touching it is a terrible idea.
You can see the difference in intent quite clearly though the design. A half face respirator is valved in 1 direction where incoming air is filtered and exhaled air is just vented out since you don’t actually care what is exhaled at all.

Posted by: S.O. | Dec 29 2021 12:49 utc | 102

Posted by: Patroklos | Dec 29 2021 12:24 utc | 106
“As an addendum to the above #115…”
It’s obvious that the censor has been active.
A reference to post #115 in post #106(as I write this – and that number is subject to change by more censorship) is example enough.
Please all, reference the date and time as well as the post #. I have no idea what Patroklos is referring to as #115.
And of course if you can’t find the post by the date and time it has been censored.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Dec 29 2021 12:57 utc | 103

@ Posted by: Patroklos | Dec 29 2021 12:15 utc | 105
“ I have never seen covid and know no one who has. ”
Holly shit man! With that you jump the shark having sailed perilously close to it over the weeks.
You don’t believe something if YOU don’t see it YOURSELF!!
Arrogance.
Do you believe in nuclear particles? Seen any?
As for the clamour to reinstate the faux Marxist proselytism being constantly pushed on here (and other btl sites around the world – yup it is organised, sinister and obviously therefore part of the fake left/right propagandists that construct the Narrative towards an exceptance of fascism across the western world and dying Empire, no thanks long may such bs be instantly shot down and starved of its lying oxygen.
I suggest that maybe we are arriving at a point when such absurd denialism is also not needed here to illuminate further the subjects our host analyses – it clearly just lives in a loop of madness that expects what? That history be re-written? That Santa removes his beard and tells his little child not to cry it’s only daddy and not some strange monster who has broken into your room!

Posted by: D.G. | Dec 29 2021 13:01 utc | 104

@all
Took a brush and cleaned out. The comment numbering will have changed.

Posted by: b | Dec 29 2021 13:02 utc | 105

@29
pppp,
Lenny Bruce explains how it’s done @20 minutes time stamp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G1F8m363Uw

Posted by: steve kelly | Dec 29 2021 13:17 utc | 106

Posted by: D.G. | Dec 29 2021 13:01 utc | 104
…and other btl sites around the world…organised, sinister and obviously therefore part of the fake left/right propagandists that construct the Narrative towards an exceptance of fascism across the western world and dying Empire….
Did you just compare b’s blog, here, to a marketing campaign intended to prepare people for a fascist dictatorship?
Or am i reading that wrong?

Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Dec 29 2021 13:17 utc | 107

God damn the pusherman
https://youtu.be/uqz47xTF9N0

Posted by: Steppenwolf | Dec 29 2021 13:33 utc | 108

This is a link to an interview Jimmy Dore did with Dr. Robert Malone, one of the key inventors of the mRNA technology on which the vaccines are built. It was back in September, so many of y’all have probably already seen it, but if you haven’t then i strongly recommend it. Dr. Malone is no anti-vaxxer; he actually builds vaccines, and is a renowned and highly respected epidemiologist and basic science researcher himself.
Dr. Malone contracted a serious case of Covid-19 himself, early in the pandemic, and treated himself using conventional methods. He’s very worried by the call for universal vaccination, and the corporate media’s slander of drugs like Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine–drugs which have been used quite effectively by poorer countries to achieve superior outcomes than have been achieved in the US or parts of Western Europe. As noted in the interview, Ivermectin is listed by the W.H.O. as an “essential medicine” for any health program, anywhere–and the man who invented it received a Nobel Prize for his work (and no, it wasn’t for his outstanding contributions to veterinary medicine).
After a short explanation of what mRNA tech is, how it works, and what it’s good for, Dr. Malone then declares very strongly that the universal blanketing of entire populations with vaccine is terrible policy. He further declares that getting the vaccination is risky, because there are now several dire side-effects that are risked when one takes the shot, including death–thus, nobody should ever be forced to take the vaccination. All who take it must be informed of the risks and give consent.
Dr. Malone then goes on to pick apart how it is clear that the corporate media, W.H.O., CDC, NIH, and basically all of Congress have been “corporately captured” by Big Pharma, and that it is those mega-corporations who are dictating policy, even to the point where they wish to dictate to doctors how to perform medicine while denying ordinary patients access to valuable drugs which are cheaper and far safer than the vaccines. He also touches briefly on how he himself has been slandered in the media.
It’s an excellent interview. From what i’ve seen b posting, here, it is mostly in agreement with b’s own ruminations on the SARS-CoV-2 phenomenon. Perhaps he touches on a few points which b isn’t familiar with, though, so i’d recommend b watch it as well–though i suspect he may already have.
In any event, Dr. Malone doesn’t downplay the severity or associated risks of the disease; but he does deliver a strong dose of evidence-based science that starkly tears the mask away from what we’ve been hearing in the corporate media (or “MSM”, if you will).
At the time, Dr. Malone was about to travel to give lectures and hold seminars at several national governments and other international bodies. So clearly, there are people in power who are taking what he is saying very seriously.
The Dr. Malone interview.

Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Dec 29 2021 13:48 utc | 109

“Is it my imagination or are people disappearing from this blog?”
Posted by: Linda Jean Doucett | Dec 28 2021 20:38 utc | 7
No Linda, it is not your imagination. The magic brush of the censor is disappearing people. Hey, ‘it’s his blog’ it is argued, but there’s no doubt the blog is losing valuable commenters and a lot of vitality that can be attributed to censorship. But hey, ‘it’s his blog’ they keep repeating, as if the censor can do no harm. I’ll take karlof1’s attitude any day of wading thru the troll crap or disinfo before I’ll support censoring comments. Let the people do the policing!
“Since Vitamin D3 is not a drug, I assume I can safely mention that, by taking megadoses of the vitamin…”
Posted by: Lysias | Dec 28 2021 20:43 utc | 10
Skatin’ on thin ice there Lysias. I’d like to know what dose you were taking, but if you answer we may both be brushed. I’m taking 4,800 IU daily but just started 10 days ago so won’t check my blood for a few more weeks. I live way north with no sun at all at this time of year.
“Much better than the first two shots at a central place which each took long rides and hours of wait time.
I would probably not have bothered with a third shot if it would have taken more effort.”
Posted by: b | Dec 29 2021 12:06 utc | 97
A long ride and a couple hours of wait time is too much? I know you’ve just been thru
a med procedure b but wow, what a stunning comment on the efficacy of the booster.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Dec 29 2021 14:02 utc | 110

@ Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Dec 29 2021 13:17 utc | 107
You read it wrong. I didn’t make myself clear.
It is the below the line comments areas which are infested by the 77th battalion/ Atlantic Council promoted Narratives aimed at the Red/Brown bridging of readers towards a fascist government and degradation of actual choice and change through their now defunct election systems.

Posted by: D.G. | Dec 29 2021 14:09 utc | 111

Posted by: D.G. | Dec 29 2021 13:01 utc | 104
…and other btl sites around the world…organised, sinister and obviously therefore part of the fake left/right propagandists that construct the Narrative towards an exceptance of fascism across the western world and dying Empire….
Did you just compare b’s blog, here, to a marketing campaign intended to prepare people for a fascist dictatorship?
Or am i reading that wrong?
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Dec 29 2021 13:17 utc | 107
Yep, that’s the deal here. The obvious thing here for anybody who doesn’t like the way B runs his blog is to go elsewhere, quietly.
Instead we get all these snotty prima donnas; who incidentally look like some sort of conspiracy to shut down this blog or make B conform to their wishes.
To be clear, I do not agree with B’s position on covid, but, yeah, it’s his blog. Deal with it. You would think this is some sort of crude clickfarm like Zero Hedge to hear them talk.

Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 29 2021 14:20 utc | 112

I wanted to post a comment about vitamin-based treatments for COVID. One authority on this topic is Dr. Andrew Saul. Here is his protocol for nutritional treatment of Coronavirus.
https://drlauda.at/images/pdf/omns/Nutritional_Treatment_of_Coronavirus.pdf
Coronavirus treatment in Korea includes 24,000 mg of IV vitamin C and 100,000 mg IV of vitamin D. (So I read from a source on the Internet.)
Please be warned. Add to this the naïveté factor if you are a person who has never used a natural health or nutritional cure for anything.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Dec 29 2021 14:30 utc | 113

Posted by: D.G. | Dec 29 2021 14:09 utc | 111
You read it wrong. I didn’t make myself clear.
Thanks for the clarification.

Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Dec 29 2021 14:39 utc | 114

To be clear, I do not agree with B’s position on covid, but, yeah, it’s his blog. Deal with it. You would think this is some sort of crude clickfarm like Zero Hedge to hear them talk.
To be fair, i did read him wrong.
I agree with you and him both: there are definitely a lot of Atlantic Council and USMI-types on here trying to skew the comment narrative. I have no problem with b taking the axe to those. I do miss a few of the regulars around here, but it’s the holiday season. I reckon most will come back.

Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Dec 29 2021 14:43 utc | 115

Whups! Above comment should be @Bemildred 112

Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Dec 29 2021 14:44 utc | 116

Bolivia
Bolivia’s government is getting more organized and insistent on vaccines.
“The vaccination card will be required for all people over 5 years of age as a measure to prevent the spread of the virus amid the local fourth wave of infections.”
I trust the Bolivian government. I don’t trust the U.S. government. If I was living in Bolivia I would not protest this. In the U.S. I would. I’ll post more on the next open thread but I think this short article adds to the discussion here and supports B’s position, undercuts mine.
By the way, the article mentions that most of the new covid cases are in the Santa Cruz region which is like Texas without Austin: fascists, many descendants of Nazis, control the area.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bolivia-To-Use-Digital-COVID-Vaccination-Card-Starting-in-2022-20211229-0003.html

Posted by: migueljose | Dec 29 2021 15:28 utc | 117

The Fed Is About to Reveal Which Wall Street Banks Needed $4.5 Trillion in Repo Loans in Q4 2019
“The conventional wisdom is that the Fed’s recent emergency lending facilities to Wall Street were caused by the COVID-19 crisis… the conventional wisdom is dangerously wrong.
“In the last quarter of 2019 – before there was any news of COVID-19 in the U.S., and months before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic – the Fed pumped $4.5 trillion in cumulative repo loans to unnamed trading houses on Wall Street – its so-called “primary dealers.”…
“The Fed’s emergency repo loan operations began on September 17, 2019. From September 17, 2019 through the last acknowledged operation on July 2, 2020, the Fed’s repo loans cumulatively totaled $11.23 trillion, made up of the following pledged collateral: $7.137 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities; $4 trillion in agency Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) and $91.525 billion in agency debt.
“Just how fragile were Wall Street’s trading houses at that time that they needed to continuously roll over loans from the Fed – some on an overnight basis, others for weeks at a time?…
“The 2008 financial crisis was the worst in the United States since the Great Depression. Century-old Wall Street financial institutions were collapsing like a house of cards. And yet, the Fed only funneled a total of $3.144 trillion in repo loans to its primary dealers from January 2 through December 30, 2008. Instead, the Fed decided to set up an alphabet soup list of emergency bailout facilities through which it secretly issued $29 trillion in cumulative loans from December 2007 to July 2010.
“The Fed rolled out many of those same 2008 emergency bailout facilities beginning in March of 2020 after the World Health Organization declared a pandemic on March 11…
“…it now appears that the bulk of the emergency repo loans were a stand-in operation until the Fed could roll out its full ensemble of emergency lending programs, which it carefully characterized as “in response to COVID-19.” (My, it’s almost as if they knew?)
“So the question is, if the pandemic was officially declared on March 11, 2020 and the first case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was confirmed by the CDC on January 20, 2020 – what caused the financial emergency on Wall Street in the fall of 2019 that required trillions of dollars in repo loan bailouts from the Fed?
“The Fed has failed to provide any credible answers to that question.”

Posted by: ADKC | Dec 29 2021 15:50 utc | 118

Does this explains the disappearance of Flu cases in the US in 2020?
Does it also inflated the COVID cases?
Were Dr. Fauci, and Pfizer aware? Does the DC elites knew that would happen and could destroy Trump-era?

After December 31, 2021, CDC will withdraw the request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of the CDC 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic
[…]
CDC encourages laboratories to consider adoption of a multiplexed method that can facilitate detection and differentiation of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses.
https://www.cdc.gov/

Posted by: Steppenwolf | Dec 29 2021 15:50 utc | 119

So many have so much invested in “their covid science” that they are too far into their “own accepted beliefs” to reverse course. They have lost their sense of humility and logical questioning of the observable facts.
Thankfully politicians have no problem with their personal sense of credulity to complete change their “beliefs” if it is politically expedient and/or advantageous. SEE – Hypocrisy can be a virtue – at least for a political animal.
Be careful what “science you buy into” and realize that questioning those in power is healthy for all. Logic should trump unquestioning belief in anything.
Humans will never completely control biology. Humans are just one of the millions of biological experiments evolution has created. Humans are NOT gods!
Be humble! Be skeptical!

Posted by: James Cook | Dec 29 2021 15:50 utc | 120

I agree with you and him both: there are definitely a lot of Atlantic Council and USMI-types on here trying to skew the comment narrative. I have no problem with b taking the axe to those. I do miss a few of the regulars around here, but it’s the holiday season. I reckon most will come back.
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Dec 29 2021 14:43 utc | 117
I hope you are right, I just want to defend the integrity of this discussion forum, which requires first and foremost civility, there are plenty of places where you can rant all you want, no end to the clickbait.

Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 29 2021 15:59 utc | 121

Looks like any reference to Kennedy is being deleted. Sad state of affairs.

Posted by: Joe | Dec 29 2021 16:10 utc | 122

A number of “studies” have appeared that challenge whether reinfection of the unvaccinated with Covid-19 can occur. The basis for that seems questionable. See this:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33718968/
” Protection afforded from prior disease among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection is unknown. If infection provides substantial long-lasting immunity, it may be appropriate to reconsider vaccination distribution.”
“Conclusions: Prior infection in patients with COVID-19 was highly protective against reinfection and symptomatic disease. This protection increased over time, suggesting that viral shedding or ongoing immune response may persist beyond 90 days and may not represent true reinfection. As vaccine supply is limited, patients with known history of COVID-19 could delay early vaccination to allow for the most vulnerable to access the vaccine and slow transmission.”
I’ll repeat that : “may not represent true reinfection.”
This study contained 150 325 patients. Others seem to be computer models.

Posted by: richarda | Dec 29 2021 16:14 utc | 123

Five days of quarantine seems like a rotten compromise. Most of quantized people are perhaps merely suspected of infection, they could go back to work instantly (if identified as not infected, which they are not). Most of infected people would show symptoms within 5 days — 51% 80%? In particular, shedding viruses in so-so ventilated airplane cabin, walking through repeatedly may suggest more robust safety standards.
Thus if we agree that the current infection wave is dangerous, one should go for safer quarantine, and the resulting drop in travel is also beneficial. If it is not dangerous, just leave sick leaves to the mercy of employers — free market may punish a Typhoid Mary Airline (perhaps not, who will know).
As a bewildered member of the public, I would be grateful to know how secure I am on a flight with an infected passenger/crew member if I use mask and sanitizer properly (and what THAT means).

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 29 2021 16:22 utc | 124

Looks like any reference to Kennedy is being deleted. Sad state of affairs.
Posted by: Joe | Dec 29 2021 16:10 utc | 125
That would be unfortunate, if true. The Jimmy Dore interview on Rumble is pretty accurate in illustrating Big Pharma crimes over the years. If there was anything obviously untrue, I did not catch it.

Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Dec 29 2021 16:32 utc | 125

Modest proposal that can make air travel more convenient and safe from viruses.
1. Remove all seats from the places.
2. Each passenger will have a pod of appropriate W, H, L (extra charge for the requirement above standard), and will spend the trip in the pod.
3. Toilet needs will be satisfied using space technology (or diapers).
4. Food and drink may be served using special interface that prevents spreading the infection.
Now the pods can be stacked in the cabin free from seats, passengers will be prone with legs fully extended. With a modest extra fee, people could even lie on their sides. Entertainment screens will be available in the pods. Thus the passenger capacity of planes would increase (there is still tonnage limit), convenience would improve, infections would be prevented.
More futuristic is door-to-door shipment of passengers in the pods. Some arrangements would be needed not to exceed 24 h in a pod (6h?).
Another future solution would be pods for several people. Sardine class.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 29 2021 16:33 utc | 126

In Scotland quarantine time if testing positive is ten days, LF testing kits are free, South of the border in England, its PM Boris Johnson has dropped the quarantine time down to seven days. In the UK in general there’s been a bit of kick up from the business community on the restrictions especially in Scotland where restrictions are a wee tighter.
Following the science is really the only way to go, it appears to me that like Trump, Biden doesn’t want upset his voters in a business sense, money in the US comes first and foremost I think, casualties of the virus a distant second, though the UK has had its fair share of them.
Its in times like this in a pandemic and such, that you see your government for what they really are, and not just in the USA

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 29 2021 16:37 utc | 127

Wild and Crazy Woked World – Critical Race Theory/BLM Holiday Happiness???
https://counter-currents.com/2021/12/the-worst-week-yet-62/
Black American Teacher in WDC had her Students “Perform” Actual/Claimed Event Elements of the ‘Holocaust’, because ‘Jews Ruined Christmas’…
Horrible; but I also ROTFLMFAO. Sorry; but this Teacher was so Horrible, Stupid, and the Directed Re-Enactments were something we would see in an ‘Adams Family’ Movie…
Poor Kids are going to need a Year of Therapy – especially the Jewish Kid who was told to ‘Re-Enact’ Hitler – including his ‘Suicide’…
*****
For the Record, I’m an Ex-Protestant Christian who moved on when while I was searching for Gospel Source Documents and studying the Jewish Bible, Hebrew, Judaism, attending Shabbat Services via Jewish Adult Learning+University of Judaism Programs, I learned from other Secular Sources and came to the Conclusion that Christianity was Authored-Sponsored by Constantine at Nicea in the 4thCE.
Constantine had the “Chrestus” (means, Good or Useful) Cult – often explained as “Proto Christians”, often disdained, persecuted, etc. during the 3rdCE as backers. The Chrestus Cult had a Sympathizer in Constantine; and Constantine created a New “Cult” for them – a New Religion protected by a Toleration Edict – that eventually became the Emperor’s State Religion which consumed or destroyed most others beyond the Life of Roman Empires, even to this Present Day via Cult Enclaves such as the Vatican and various Christ-Derived Cults.
At Nicea, Elements and Assets of Dionysus, Mithras, Dagon, Attis (Dec25th Solstice Birth/Death/Rebirth), and JUDAISM (for the Derived Sumerian-Creation-Lore, History, Prophetic Future Apocalyptic Story, Messiah (to replace with their “Chrestus” as “Christos” – Iyesus isn’t a Jewish Name), and God Revealing Existential Endgame.
4thCE. The Gospels had no Source Documents. The First Gospels were Published after Nicea under Constantine’s Sponsorship. They were part of the First Complete New Testament (included Chrestus Cult Pauline Letters), which were parts of the First Christian Bible.
The Cult wasn’t just “Finalized” in Nicea – it was Fabricated there.
Anno Domini – what we secularly refer to as Common Era (CE) – was established by a Dark Ages Monk in the 6thCE. Christians controlled Rome roughly 25 years before their Collapse of Empire and the subsequent Fall into the Dogma-Driven Dark Ages.
*A 500 year reset. This is why THERE ARE NO WRITTEN RECORDS REGARDING JESUS, FOLLOWERS, CHRISTIANITY, OR EVENTS IN THE 1ST+2NDCEs.
*-Josephus’ Entries were Anachronistic in Prose – a Forgery.
*-The Dead Sea Scrolls never contained the Gospels – a 1970s Final Hoax dispelled in the 1990s yet the debunking is still suppressed.
*-The Shroud of Turin had its Process Replicated and Carbon Dated to the 12thCE – where it and other ‘Relics’ Appeared in Written History.
DECEMBER 25th was ALWAYS the Winter Solstice on the Julian Calendar. The Julian Calendar was utilized in Europe up until 1598 – yes, the End of the 16thCenturyCE – until the Christian Cult Monk Gregory installed the Gregorian Calendar still in use Today as a Secular-Western Standard.
Jesusneverexisted-dot-com and the Late DM Murdock Sites are good places to Visit and Study.
Season’s Greetings, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year to All.

Posted by: IronForge | Dec 29 2021 16:41 utc | 128

Wonder if b will ever be repentant over his covid stance?
I am certain the authoritarian/totalitarian/corrupt Democrats, for whom the vaccine is a proxy for party loyality,
will never admit to their crimes. And, with the help of the msm, will not even admit it to themselves.

Posted by: librul | Dec 29 2021 16:50 utc | 129

Stunning article, and a bonus “at what cost” bolded below.
It’s good to know somewhere in the world a country of 1.4 billion people takes this sh&t seriously.
China Recommits to Covid Zero Amid Festering Xi’an Outbreak
Bloomberg News
December 28, 2021, 9:20 PM CST Updated on December 29, 2021, 4:09 AM CST
Lockdown of Xi’an the most stringent since Wuhan in 2020
Officials pledge to curb outbreak quickly, with minimal cost
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-29/china-s-xi-an-sees-covid-infections-moderate-after-record-surge

Posted by: daffyDuct | Dec 29 2021 16:58 utc | 130

@Posted by: daftDuc | Dec 29 2021 16:58 utc | 133
“It’s good to know somewhere in the world a country of 1.4 billion people takes this sh&t seriously.”
The bigger the herd of sheep
the more correct they are.

Posted by: librul | Dec 29 2021 17:06 utc | 131

@ MarkU | Dec 29 2021 3:32 utc
Thank you for your response.
At issue is the mistake of applying teleological reasoning to viral replication.
Is the the view of short-term viral development fungible with the view of long-term development? Of course not. Not all viruses are evolutionary “winners.”
One can hope that viral virulence diminishes but that is a wish and a hope.
The changes in omicron characteristics where it replicates in the bronchial areas more than in the lungs, creating aerosol-sized particles that remain in the air longer upon exhalation, increases it’s transmissibility and simultaneously appears to have less ability to fill lung aveoli with fluids, which can drown the patient. How would you characterize this? Was this rational decision to avoid causing pneumonia on part of virus? Of course not.
It is unknown what other factors are at play in the many organs with ace2 receptors as the virus alters its mode of transmission.

Posted by: suzan | Dec 29 2021 17:06 utc | 132

I am sad about everything that is happening in the world. Please MoA community, let’s stick together and try to figure it all out. Let’s not allow anger and distrust to spread in this wonderful forum our host, b, has provided us. Please.
And now, a little Russian hardbass.
Russian Snow Boys – с новым годом

Posted by: lex talionis | Dec 29 2021 17:22 utc | 133

Biden is just a crash-test-dummy and so it is no surprise that the covid policies
of his administration do not originate from him directly.
The covid virus mutates
and perhaps viral memes do as well.
Let’s go Brandon
Let’s go brain dead!

Posted by: librul | Dec 29 2021 17:52 utc | 134

Russian tradition (since Soviet times, I guess) associates New Year with Ded Moroz (grandpa Frost) and Snegurochka (Snow Maiden), here they dance for preschoolers — starting from a Russian tune, then rock-and-roll etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYoelXsD55o
I wonder why English lacks a word for moroz (mroz in Polish), it describes the weather when the temperature is below freezing. In Russia, and in Poland, moroz/mroz is associated with happy times when people had free time and could visit friends, riding sleds on snow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcqCBQIf66c
The seasons with negative connotation were (a) a period with frozen snowless ground (b) transition to Spring, dreary slow rains, mud and hunger (if winter food stocks were exhausted). But mid-Winter was a happy season.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 29 2021 17:59 utc | 135

@138 Piotr – Спасибо!

Posted by: lex talionis | Dec 29 2021 18:04 utc | 136

The half of the U.S. population that is most in danger due to Covid will not be able to take Paxlovid as it already uses incompatible medications.
Drug-drug interactions are a major cause of morbidity and mortality, and in general the medical community does not pay enough attention to them. However, it appears that most of the contra-indicated drugs are for chronic conditions and could be temporarily reduced or stopped during Paxlovid treatment. If this drug really does block replication of the covid virus as well as claimed, I think it would be a reasonable trade-off.

Posted by: farm ecologist | Dec 29 2021 18:05 utc | 137

meanwhile in China…
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-12-29/Air-inflated-testing-labs-in-Xi-an-able-to-screen-5m-people-daily-16nIEQ8fEZi/index.html

Posted by: ptb | Dec 29 2021 18:10 utc | 138

thank you daffyduct and ptb and others. the only reply to the facts on the ground is to assert that one’s own intelligence outweighs now year 3 of China’s experience, an experience mirrored perfectly by every country that has followed it.
there is no answer. China’s experience is just ignored by the superbrains.
like this retard:
librul | Dec 29 2021 17:06 utc | 134
you are not one of the sheep, are you?
thanks for your thoughts b. 95% of the comments on covid posts are “connecting nothing with nothing” and “fear in a handful of dust” masquerading as deep thought. very easy to see that for many, the virus is a chance to mouth off about how smart one is. and how not getting to Applebee’s whenever is a too big a hassle to bother with.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Dec 29 2021 18:19 utc | 139

the policy of China works whether the vaccines “work” or not.
end of story.
but everyone’s a virologist. a gun-toting virologist against whose “intelligence” there is no mask.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Dec 29 2021 18:27 utc | 140

Love your political posts B, but I am baffled to understand how you think a booster is going to help you in any way. The vaccines never worked very well or for very long, and against the variants they don’t work at all. They are, moreover, dangerous with a wide range of frighteningly common serious and indeed fatal side effects. Why????

Posted by: Tim Glover | Dec 29 2021 18:31 utc | 141

@Posted by: rjb1.5 | Dec 29 2021 18:19 utc | 142
A cheep shot to criticise people for not posting facts that will be promptly deleted.

Posted by: librul | Dec 29 2021 18:33 utc | 142

i talk to a 15 year old student in China, Hangzhou, weekly and have done so since the virus began. now year 2 of back to school, with only minor incidents, resulting in nothing more than routine interruptions. the simplest way to explain to him that Americans don’t give a shit about him or China is that Americans are unbelievably stupid.
not the whole story. they are viciously and malevolently so. they’ve gone their lives having beaten into them their superiority to the rest of the planet and they aren’t backing down on that bullshit now. they get their jobs and everything in life by convincing others of how smart they are. it’s a sick joke.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Dec 29 2021 18:34 utc | 143

time for a hike

Posted by: librul | Dec 29 2021 18:34 utc | 144

b, I do wish you’d put commenters names at the TOP of their posts, rather than at the bottom. Then I could save the time wasted by reading the naive trusting-mooncalf input of people such as Tom Q Collins by skipping over them unread. It would save a lot of wasted time, and irritation.

Posted by: Rhisiart Gwilym | Dec 29 2021 18:44 utc | 145

@ Posted by: richarda | Dec 29 2021 16:14 utc | 126
Well a single datum does not prove anything but I can guarantee you that a previous infection in jan 2020 stopped me getting ill again with all other variants up until Dec 2021, beginning of this month. No vaccines in between. It felt just like the first time for the first 2 weeks and two more weeks later I feel as I am about 90% fit. Last time it was 6 weeks. .
So either that first infection and all these others have suddenly turned off the various antibodies I have been generating none stop or there is a distinct variant which required a whole new set of antibodies to be generated.
I hope that makes some kind of sense but am open to other diagnoses.
Ps looks like b’s clearing of the nest has stirred a bunch of flying blue monkeys.

Posted by: D.G. | Dec 29 2021 18:48 utc | 146

it’s just so curious that the anti-vaxxers are also more adamantine than Wolverine against other public health measures to combat the virus. they can’t chew tobacco and fart at the same time. skepticism about Big Pharma seems a very reasonable and healthy thing. but the anti-vaxxers pretty uniformly seem to think the virus itself is a fake so other measures against the virus are also part of some big NWO, FEMA death camp plot. a plot to inconvenience them by making them go thru the drive thru at Mcdonald’s or not cough and sneeze their diseases all over everyone else at Olive Garden buffet bar. Remove the salad bar sneeze guard! down with Tyranny!

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Dec 29 2021 18:51 utc | 147

@ lex talionis | Dec 29 2021 17:22 utc | 133… ditto your comment!
@ Rhisiart Gwilym | Dec 29 2021 18:44 utc | 145.. i think it is a feature of the program that can’t be altered by the one using it – b.. i could be wrong, but i think that is why b has never changed this… perhaps b can comment…
@ rjb1.5 | Dec 29 2021 18:51 utc | 147… i do find the use of the term ‘anti-vaxxer’ especially unfriendly… perhaps that’s the point for the use of the term… polarizing people doesn’t really lead to more understanding.. it kind of does the opposite… it reminds me of what trump was very good at doing – polarizing people… was it helpful? my response would be – no…

Posted by: james | Dec 29 2021 19:01 utc | 148

what public health issue is there in which the severity of the problem can be measured by the seriousness of the response of a Western government, incl Russia?
AIDS?
diabetes?
cancer?
overdoses?
suicides?
hurricanes?
childhood obesity?
wildfires?
or maybe China and Russia and “terrorism” really are the real problems of the world b/c USG spends so much time and money focusing on them? but doing so requires maintaining a massively divided society, because such militarism is obviously not in the interest of 99% of the populace? so a unified approach to the virus cannot be allowed, because such unity threatens elite rule? elites who are happy to try to use vaccines as a bullet to kill the virus because it’s the cheapest approach. and if that doesn’t work, then screw it.
the goal of the USG has been, is and will always be to do as little as possible about the coronavirus. or any other problem.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Dec 29 2021 19:06 utc | 149

Seems that government insisting on injections causes very intense reactions among many people. Thus they seek any information, and there is no bottom line with a new disease and cloudy science. Statistically, vaccines do more good than harm, but harmful reactions do exist, and can government be trusted with honest assessments? We know about very weird recommendations like:
nothing improves your security better than a few nukes in an airbase, Belgians, Dutch, Italians and Germans should sleep better knowing that, especially that in the even of war, their own airmen will be able to use them without American permission. But if you are influenced by malign foreign bots, that gives you nightmares. Luckily, the alliance to which your country belongs sponsors organizations that post lists of inaccurate information sources and engages in various preventative actions to keep your mind clean.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 29 2021 19:18 utc | 150

Posted by: james | Dec 29 2021 19:01 utc | 148
Members of the so-called anti-vax (or anti-vaxxer) movement use the term to describe their own stance on vaccines. This isn’t the best possible example, but it does pre-date COVID by more than a year.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/23/health/anti-vaccination-movement-us.html

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 29 2021 19:25 utc | 151

DECEMBER 25th was ALWAYS the Winter Solstice on the Julian Calendar. The Julian Calendar was utilized in Europe up until 1598 – yes, the End of the 16thCenturyCE – until the Christian Cult Monk Gregory installed the Gregorian Calendar still in use Today as a Secular-Western Standard. […]
Posted by: IronForge | Dec 29 2021 16:41 utc | 128
Malign anti-gregorian bot detected!
Honestly, the problem with calendars is that the year, the cycle of rotation of Earth around the Sun, divided by the day, the cycle of rotation of Earth around its axis, is not an integer. Thus we need to combine normal years with leap year. In Julian calendar a leap year happens once in every four years, in a more accurate Gregorian calendar, 97 times in 400 years. Thus 1900 was not a leap year, and neither will be 2100, something that some of you will live long enough to experience: at least, this is what I wish to all of you!

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 29 2021 19:26 utc | 152

Apologies and a correction on my last sentence. I’ve lost track of time during the past 2 years for precisely this reason, but in fact that NYT article predates the official announcement of COVID by about half a year, not more than a year.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 29 2021 19:27 utc | 153

Joe Biden’s commitment to “states’ rights” means all the states will be in competition with one another to develop the *least awful* virus policy that they can get away with. no state will be allowed to adopt a strategy of elimination, that’s for damn sure. shuck and jive and con the populace with PR gestures to see how much death and suffering Arkansas can tolerate, vs Alaska or Maine or Texas.
the ruling class cannot allow a unified response to the virus. vaccines are not really the issue.
how easy, lazy, to resolve all this by asserting that the virus is not serious, it’s like the cold, so even small measures against it, like masking, are opening the floodgates to tyranny. childish.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Dec 29 2021 19:27 utc | 154

@Joe, #122:
If the links involving Kennedy amounts to trolling, they should be deleted. There is also the angle of libel to be considered. B is doing, in his judgement, what needs to be done. That you think otherwise is your business. But in my point of view your pointing finger in this respect is being impolite.
What amounts to trolling, or libel, or propaganda, is matter of opinion. B certainly has the right to exercise his view in his own forum.

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Dec 29 2021 19:28 utc | 155

Why You Should Get Vaccinated But Don’t Need A Third Shot
As b. said a few weeks ago, with a fine explanation of that process by Biologist

Q: But the vaccine efficiency is waning over time and they are telling us that we need a third or even a fourth shot.
A: Yes, Pfizer and Co want to sell more vaccines. But for most people a third or fourth shot will not be necessary at all.

Why You Should Get A Third Shot if you don’t need it?
On 12.27.2021, b. finally found a good reason :

While shopping I was personally asked by folks here if I wanted a shot of Moderna to ‘upgrade’. That was Monday. As this was completely effortless I said yet.


You might delete yourself for publicity of
[…] drugs that are not useful and arguments not based on science.)
Follow The Science

MANIPULATION TECHNICALS
Manipulation by repetitions The more we hear, see or read something, the more self-evident it becomes. […] showed the same spots over and over again and suggested to us that we absolutely need this or that productManipulation by scarcityWhen a product that we find attractive is hard to get, it increases our need to want it. A good example of this are sales shipments […] when the timer expires, the supposed peak offer is finished. Maybe we don’t really need the product, but….
https://www.hs-fresenius.de/blog/wissen/manipulationstechniken-manipulation-erkennen-einsetzen-abwehren/
Manipulation durch Wiederholungen
Je öfter wir etwas hören, sehen oder lesen, umso selbstverständlicher wird es. […] immer wieder dieselben Spots gezeigt und uns so suggeriert, dass wir dieses oder jenes Produkt unbedingt brauchen
Manipulation durch Knappheit
Wenn ein Produkt, was wir attraktiv finden, nur noch schwer zu kriegen ist, dann steigert das unser Bedürfnis, es haben zu wollen. Ein gutes Beispiel hierfür sind Verkaufssendungen […] wenn der Timer abläuft, ist das vermeintliche Spitzenangebot beendet. Vielleicht brauchen wir das Produkt eigentlich gar nicht, aber….

Posted by: Steppenwolf | Dec 29 2021 19:29 utc | 156

@Tom_Q_Collins
“Members of the so-called anti-vax (or anti-vaxxer) movement use the term to describe their own stance”
The reference you give refers (pre-covid) to a very small group (<1%). The refuseniks for the covid vax number about 30%.
Why the disparity? Many of them already have had covid and recovered with minimal symptoms. There is no disease in the history of the world, where once you have recovered, they say: ok, now get vaccinated. Others (young people) see that the dangers of the vaccine far outweigh any dangers from the disease. The disease poses very little danger, except for those with pre-existing morbidities (I'm looking at you, fatty).

Posted by: Platero | Dec 29 2021 19:39 utc | 157

Posted by: Joe | Dec 29 2021 16:10 utc | 122
Often left out of the conversation when talking about Kennedy and his cohorts is that they, too, have cashed in big time on the anti-vax materials they’ve been putting out. I’m not saying that there wasn’t corruption involved in the development of the vaccines (and by that I mean they were taxpayer funded but the companies get to keep all the profits and patents) in the US and elsewhere, but – including Kennedy who occasionally speaks/writes truths – an entire cottage industry has arisen, mainly on the “right”, to monetize the anti-vax position like never before. Clicks, views, likes, follows, influencer status, $$$ are just as prevalent if not moreso on the anti-vax side.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 29 2021 19:40 utc | 158

Posted by: D.G. | Dec 29 2021 13:01 utc | 104
Please read my post properly and try to be less eager to remove all doubt. It doesn’t hurt to have a little charity and imagine that people other than you might have something interesting to say.
My point, amongst others, was that 99% of the population have no way of verifying the truth or falsity of the information they receive daily. What reassures them that something is true is not truth but the ‘truth-effect’ of narrative’s style, form and medium. Since the truth of something is a function of the authority and will that underpins the story told about it is up to us to understand the link between truth, truth-effect and power. Nietzsche put it thus: ‘do not ask whether or not a man is telling you the truth but rather ask why he so desperately wants you to believe that the truth is the way he says it is’.
I am just exploring that idea, but beyond that I can’t bothered arguing.

Posted by: Patroklos | Dec 29 2021 19:41 utc | 159

Posted by: Platero | Dec 29 2021 19:39 utc | 157
Where are you getting your numbers? If the NYT article, that’s hardly the end-all be-all of research into vaccine refusal movements. 30% across all countries? In just a few? I’d like to see the sources for that research/statistics.
Historically speaking, there’s never been a vaccine rollout like the one for COVID-19. The political conditions, the prevalence of social media algo-echo-chambers, the more-than-cottage industry of (mostly) right-leaning “influencers” with access to previously unheard of platforms and the ease and speed with which certain narratives, once touted by the corporate MSM, have been proven to be lies or exaggerations – not to mention the corruption of taxpayer funded vaccines being kept as patented profit-making elements of big Rx portfolios – has all combined to give much more sound and fury to this round of the anti-vaccine “movement.”

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 29 2021 19:45 utc | 160

@ rjb1.5
Deaths per Million:
Arkansas. 3,014
Texas. 2,621
Alaska. 1,292
Maine. 1,110
NY. 3,068

Posted by: Platero | Dec 29 2021 19:46 utc | 161

@james | Dec 29 2021 19:01 utc | 148

i do find the use of the term ‘anti-vaxxer’ especially unfriendly… perhaps that’s the point for the use of the term…

“anti-vaxxer” follows the pattern of “climate denier” and “holocaust denier”. And if you point out the oncoming holocaust, you are a “conspiracy theorist”. These people are not honest.

Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 29 2021 19:47 utc | 162

I wonder if this has anything to do with the whole covid thing?
Follow the money

Posted by: lex talionis | Dec 29 2021 19:48 utc | 163

To James and Lex Talonis, FWIW:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anti-vaxxer

First Known Use of anti-vaxxer
2008, in the meaning defined above

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 29 2021 19:52 utc | 164

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 29 2021 19:52 utc | 164
Sorry, my apologies to Lex for mistakenly attributing him in the reference.
It was intended for James and Norwegian.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 29 2021 19:52 utc | 165

@ Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 29 2021 19:25 utc | 151 / 153… thanks tom… it wouldn’t be the first time the msm was complicit in polarizing a conversation / topic…
@ Norwegian | Dec 29 2021 19:47 utc | 162… that does seem to be the case – some, but not all of the time… i guess it’s the difference between telling a friend to fuck off, verses telling someone i don’t like to fuck off.. the same phrase is really dependent on the context… bottom line is others have to live with their positions which would include having to live with being hostile to others who have a different viewpoint… for me – it ain’t worth it.. people do need to have different viewpoints and it is healthy to have different viewpoints and perspectives… the other part of this is how we understand language and how we choose to use it… it is all fairly subjective… some of the implications are more complicated then we might like to admit.. i wish we could all get along!

Posted by: james | Dec 29 2021 19:56 utc | 166

To those who are offended or feel as though the term “anti-vaxxer” is an inaccurate slight, perhaps you should read some of the history of vaccine “hesitancy” and the movements that have sprung up around it, pretty much every time a major vaccine (or in pre-enlightenment history, variolation) has been rolled out. The people described in the following paragraph would certainly be deserving of much more pointed epithets, IMO.

United States
In the US, President Thomas Jefferson took a close interest in vaccination, alongside Benjamin Waterhouse, chief physician at Boston. Jefferson encouraged the development of ways to transport vaccine material through the Southern states, which included measures to avoid damage by heat, a leading cause of ineffective batches. Smallpox outbreaks were contained by the latter half of the 19th century, a development widely attributed to the vaccination of a large portion of the population. Vaccination rates fell after this decline in smallpox cases, and the disease again became epidemic in the late 19th century.[247]
After an 1879 visit to New York by prominent British anti-vaccinationist William Tebb, The Anti-Vaccination Society of America was founded.[248][249] The New England Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League formed in 1882, and the Anti-Vaccination League of New York City in 1885.[249] Tactics in the US largely followed those used in England.[250] Vaccination in the US was regulated by individual states, in which there followed a progression of compulsion, opposition, and repeal similar to that in England.[251] Although generally organized on a state-by-state basis, the vaccination controversy reached the US Supreme Court in 1905. There, in the case of Jacobson v. Massachusetts, the court ruled that states have the authority to require vaccination against smallpox during a smallpox epidemic.[252]
John Pitcairn, the wealthy founder of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company (now PPG Industries), emerged as a major financier and leader of the American anti-vaccination movement. On March 5, 1907, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, he delivered an address to the Committee on Public Health and Sanitation of the Pennsylvania General Assembly criticizing vaccination.[253] He later sponsored the National Anti-Vaccination Conference, which, held in Philadelphia in October 1908, led to the creation of The Anti-Vaccination League of America. When the league organized later that month, members chose Pitcairn as their first president.[254]
On December 1, 1911, Pitcairn was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor John K. Tener to the Pennsylvania State Vaccination Commission and subsequently authored a detailed report strongly opposing the commission’s conclusions.[254] He remained a staunch opponent of vaccination until his death in 1916.

I can think of many more potent insults for people like that than the tepid “anti-vaxxer.” And the history is as ugly or uglier in other countries. These people and groups were true menaces to society.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine_hesitancy#History

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 29 2021 19:57 utc | 167

Posted by: Platero | Dec 29 2021 19:46 utc | 161
Do you have a source for those numbers? I’m genuinely curious; not trying to be rude or facetious.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 29 2021 20:01 utc | 168

“b, I do wish you’d put commenters names at the TOP of their posts, rather than at the bottom. Then I could save the time wasted by reading the naive trusting-mooncalf input of people such as Tom Q Collins by skipping over them unread. It would save a lot of wasted time, and irritation.”
Posted by: Rhisiart Gwilym | Dec 29 2021 18:44 utc | 145
I think that’s a frivolous request and have a different response than @ james | Dec 29 2021 19:01 utc | 148. Just look at the name first before reading the comment. You don’t even have to get out of your chair. Just glance down and see who wrote it and if you want to disregard their post then your eyes are already in position to look at the next post. Think of the time you could save and oh, the irritation too. You may even be able to smile at your cleverness!
What b really needs to do is find a way to keep the post numbers intact so we can follow different mini-threads better when he gets to deleting
because some people just can’t bring themselves to include the whole ‘posted by’ line, including date and time, when referring to another commenter’s post. I guess their time is too valuable to be so considerate.
I was trying to review the very pertinent discussion between suzan and MarkU and was able to track it easily because they put in the date and time which was still accurate after b had swept thru with his brush and the post numbers were incorrect. btw, thanks suzan and MarkU for that interchange. I think what you are talking about is similar to Richard Dawkins’ concept in The Selfish Gene in that “a lineage is expected to maximise its inclusive fitness”. Comment if you will but I read it so long ago I prolly can’t.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Dec 29 2021 20:03 utc | 169

Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 29 2021 19:47 utc | 162
I would be interested in your take on the Jason Moore piece I posted earlier. Here’s the link again:
http://www.abstraktdergi.net/opiates-of-the-environmentalists-anthropocene-illusions-planetary-management-the-capitalocene-alternative/
He is one of the best longue durée historians around. It’s not difficult to plug pandemic ‘good science’ into his overall thesis.

Posted by: Patroklos | Dec 29 2021 20:08 utc | 170

Posted by: Rhisiart Gwilym | Dec 29 2021 18:44 utc | 145
LOL if you read anything I write as “naive” or trusting in the government, big Rx or TPTB it’s a reading comprehension problem, not one of being able to skip over a comment based on knowing who wrote it first. I will be stealing the term “moon calf” for future use though, so thank you.
Posted by: lex talionis | Dec 29 2021 19:48 utc | 163
Interestingly, the vast majority of political contributions from the Rx industry go to Republicans who often get a free pass around these parts unlike the (rightly, but for different reasons) despised Democrats.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 29 2021 20:15 utc | 171

@ Tom_Q_Collins
Data is aggregrated at worldometer.com.
The sources are linked in penultimate column in the innermost table.

Posted by: Platero | Dec 29 2021 20:26 utc | 172

b

(Like all Covid threads this one too will get policed to eliminate promotions of drugs that are not useful and arguments not based on science.)

It seems to me that the CDC, NIH, etc. are all determined to avoid/slag-off all cheap medications (presumably those here unmentionable) which have been shown to boost the immune response or to have a beneficial effect on those that are suffering from CV19. Almost as though they were determined to boost the number of vaccinations and sales of expensive drugs to the maximum possible figure, even where this policy is, apparently, leading to large numbers of easily avoidable deaths and long-term injuries.

Posted by: foolisholdman | Dec 29 2021 20:30 utc | 173

@171 – I found that intersting as well. I detest all politicians. They’re all a bunch of grifters and megalomainiacs in my somewhat humble opinion.
I do like Rand Paul. ( I probably shouldn’t have typed that…) I don’t think Republicans get a free pass here, though. I think the discussions at MoA are pretty balanced.
I have always thought it would be funny if politicians had to wear the logos of their sponsors on their clothing, like a race car driver does.
I live in the USA. It must be a drag for everyone else on the planet to constantly have the pitiful spectacle of USA politics crammed down their orifices. Sad. Life has become increasingly depressing. I don’t see it getting any better.
Russian hardbass helps though.
dlb – partizan
“You are not my enemy if you are not from NATO!”

Posted by: lex talionis | Dec 29 2021 20:33 utc | 174

Cutting too close to bone?

Posted by: ted001 | Dec 29 2021 20:47 utc | 175

There is no disease in the history of the world, where once you have recovered, they say: ok, now get vaccinated.
____________________________________________________________________________
How about the flu vaccine?
And they cvlaim flu vaccine doesn’t prevent infection, also. It just is touted as making the symptoms less severe.

Posted by: jinn | Dec 29 2021 20:53 utc | 176

I can see how “anti-vaxxer” might be inaccurate and thus offensive, so how about “COVID-denier”?
I’m unsure how that would be any better, though. For the pandemic to be a hoax the Chinese, Russians, Iranians, Cubans, Venezuelans and so on would have to be in on the grand deception in addition to the imperial establishment, not to mention millions of healthcare workers worldwide. And then there are those who have been infected and survived, as well as those who have not survived. Most of us should know people in both of those latter two camps by now. It is a curious kind of mental disorder to be able to maintain denial in the face of all that, and that mental disorder cannot be considered much better than whatever disorder the anti-vaxxers have.
Sure, capitalists are taking advantage of the pandemic. After all, it is uncapitalist to let a good crisis go to waste when there are profits to be made. But the fact of capitalist profiteering is not evidence of the absence of a pandemic.
Basically, the pandemic is real and trying to wish it away is crazy.
In general though, I don’t have a problem with anti-vaxxers or COVID-deniers. It has become apparent that the vaccines do little to stop transmission of the virus so not being vaccinated isn’t much of a public health issue. In fact, I think the vaxxed-but-stupid are a bigger problem right now as they seem to eagerly dispense with all precautions against transmitting the disease.
Which brings me to the point of my post: What is so onerous about masking up and giving a little space to people who don’t want your germs? This question goes equally to those who are vaxxed to the max and delusionally think they are now immune as it does to the COVID-deniers. The issue is clearly psychological, so is it because you have some compulsion to have your ugly mug on display? Do you think the world really needs to see your face? Is the herd instinct so strong that you need to huddle up with others, even others who don’t want to be near you and breathing your exhalations?
My suspicion is that the mask phobia is an expression of western narcissism as I never knew anyone in Japan or China who had personal issues with masks to prevent contagion, but I don’t know for sure.

Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 29 2021 20:55 utc | 177

Foolisholdman Dec 29 2021 20:30 utc 173
Useful, though rather long video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LFkWiNP1wQ

Posted by: foolisholdman | Dec 29 2021 20:55 utc | 178

Just to pour gasoline on a burning house…
Yesterday, I learned through a FOIA release that Fauxi’s government salary, the largest government salary in US history, is not a result of tenure. No, the two massive special raises were granted by two different Presidents [Bill-Hill/Dick&Jr] for his work on…wait for it…biological warfare projects.
Sweet, a mass murderer being paid top dollar by DC to work on weapons of mass destruction, what could go wrong…eh?

Posted by: S Brennan | Dec 29 2021 20:59 utc | 179

ahji | Dec 28 2021 22:18 utc | 23

what do you all make of Novavax?

Since it has no genetic material in it I regard it as probably safer than all the others. Since it seems I am going to have to get vaccinated, I am waiting for it to be available. I hope I will be able to get the vaccinator to aspirate the syringe!

Posted by: foolisholdman | Dec 29 2021 21:19 utc | 180

Lysias | Dec 28 2021 22:44 utc | 30

People in Japan are permitted to use ivermectin.

Yes! & it was interesting what happened after: for a few days the cases went on up, fast, and then stopped going up and went down, faster than they had gone up, until they reached almost ZERO and the cases have remained almost at Zero since. The official explanation is that this is nothing to do with IVM but is due to a “peculiar Japanese genetic quirk” which “makes them immune to omicron”. (Really!)

Posted by: foolisholdman | Dec 29 2021 21:33 utc | 181

Manuel | Dec 28 2021 22:47 utc | 33

Because I am ignorant, I have a question. If COVID affects the brain, as I have read, does that mean that the Chinese have now become cleverer than the Americans? Presumably, average IQ in the US has declined somewhat, while that in China will hardly have moved.

I think it was generally considered, before 2020, that the average Chinese’s IQ was bigger than the average US citizen’s IQ . Assuming that CV19 does not discriminate against the stupid, the difference could have grown. However, as it does seem to discriminate against those with the least vitamin D, i.e. the poorest and hence the least educated and mentally developed, it could have gone the other way.

Posted by: foolisholdman | Dec 29 2021 21:47 utc | 182

Black bread | Dec 28 2021 23:24 utc | 40

How otherwise are there no people protesting in the streets becuase of the prices of electricity, gas, and gasoil?

Gillets jaune?

Posted by: foolisholdman | Dec 29 2021 21:54 utc | 183

William Gruff @177
You are wrong about deaths. The use of midozalam, DNRs, neglect and isolation account for most of the excess deaths in the UK.
As regards masks, here are some issues that you disregard:
1. They don’t work and there isn’t any research that proves otherwise.
2. They cause respiratory problems including bronchial pneumonia.
3. They cause dental and skin problems.
4. They are expensive if you use them as they should be, and if you don’t then their misuse will make the problems listed above a lot worse.
5. Circulation (transmission) of those human germs (that so disgust you) are essential for human health and well-being.
6. Front line workers will be wearing masks for 8-10 hours solid 5 to 7 days a week – this will cause long term health problems and an early death.
7. By implication pets (cats and dogs) should also be masked; they can’t be so they would be euthanised.
8. They are intended for the plebs not the elite.
Get off your knees and have some self-respect!

Posted by: ADKC | Dec 29 2021 21:56 utc | 184

A bit of absolutely basic, critically-important information of which you may have lost sight; or – more likely – have never heard, over the constant lying howl of the Permanent Bullshit Blizzard of Western lamestream media:
https://forum.5filters.info/t/for-anyone-who-may-have-lost-sight-of-some-established-basics-in-the-welter-of-the-pbb-a-little-slide-lecture/2536

Posted by: Rhisiart Gwilym | Dec 29 2021 22:03 utc | 185

blues | Dec 28 2021 23:46 utc | 42

I suppose I could be wrong, but I think this entire Covid event has been a coordinated operation of the Western eleet relentless drovers and the government of China, to cull the fat and the sick and the weak among their human livestock.

I think you are wrong about the Government of China as their death toll is so low. Since even 50 million deaths is a drop in the bucket if you really want to depopulate the World, I think it is more likely a financial scam by the manufacturers of vaccines and maybe masks and their shareholders. Still, getting rid of all those elderly will reduce the pensions bill considerably. Also the tyrranogenic aspects look very frightening. What comes next? Clearly public health ain’t got nuthin’ to do wiv it!

Posted by: foolisholdman | Dec 29 2021 22:09 utc | 186

Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 29 2021 0:03 utc | 45
It seems probable that a lot of the really serious effects of vaccination are due to a peculiar instruction given by western governments (though apparently not by Asian governments) to NOT aspirate the syringe before finally injecting the vaccine. The point is that, while this is supposed to be an intramuscular injection, there are both blood vessels and nerves in the area where the injections are done. In the ideal case, the intended case, the serum goes into a muscle and gradually seeps out from there into the rest of the body in a controlled manner. If otoh the needle goes into a vein or artery the vaccine goes almost at once, at full strength to the heart or the lungs or both and causes massive damage or even death. If the injection is into a nerve the result is excruciatingly painful. These are rare events but probably in the order of one person in five thousand. (Difficult to tell because of the cover-up.)The way to avoid this happening is to stick the needle in and before injecting the contents of the syringe, one pulls the plunger out slightly and see if it draws blood into the cylinder. If it does one takes the needle out and tries again with a new syringe in a different place. This “aspiration” was standard practice, all over the world, until this pandemic and still is, in China and Korea and probably other far-eastern countries.

Posted by: foolisholdman | Dec 29 2021 22:39 utc | 187

“If science can’t be questioned, it’s not science anymore; it’s propaganda and that’s the truth,”
-Aaron Rodgers

Posted by: librul | Dec 29 2021 22:40 utc | 188

suzan | Dec 29 2021 0:30 utc | 47

Imagine if a potentially mild Omicron rescues parts of the world denied vaccine access from experiencing serious effects of the aerosolized disease. That would be poetic justice.

It seems that in parts of the world where the sun rises high enough in the sky and the people work in the sun without too many clothes on (I.e. they are not Muslims.) they are being protected from covid by a sufficiency of vitamin D. Most people in the developed countries are chronically deficient of Vitamin D. Not deficient enough to give them rickets, but very deficient compared to what they really need to have a robust immune system. Stories of vitamin D toxicity are greatly exaggerated, and are based on invalid extrapolations from vitamin A. Standard western medical advice leaves most people deficient. You almost cannot get enough from food and supplementary Vit D is dirt cheap. All its side effects are benign, too.

Posted by: foolisholdman | Dec 29 2021 23:01 utc | 189

Supporting the existing Covid regime is never gonna go over well on a blog devoted to
exposing current regimes.
I read b’s Twitter post, where he complained about the blowback on his Indy blog regarding his Covid positions.
Ya can’t have it both ways, b.
If you’re gonna correctly rail against establishment, corporate, crony, capitalist corruption…..
How can you expect people to take you seriously when you’re all about “the science” and getting jabbed?
I think b needs to do a damage control assessment, judging from the amount of posts declaring there won’t be any more donations coming

Posted by: Cadence calls | Dec 29 2021 23:27 utc | 190

And I realize there is much more nuance to b’s arguments re Covid.
It’s the pandering “I worry about the unvaccinated” that is over the top.
I don’t worry about the unvaccinated, even though they are lab rats.
That’s on them. No fake sentiment from me.

Posted by: Cadence Calls | Dec 29 2021 23:33 utc | 191

“vaccinated”
Not “unvaccinated”

Posted by: Cadence calls | Dec 29 2021 23:41 utc | 192

@152,
You’re missing the Point.
Gregory Hijacked Hijacked “Dec25th” from the Solstice, made the Solstice a Date-changing Event, and made Dec25th the Christ Cult Day.

Posted by: IronForge | Dec 29 2021 23:55 utc | 193

Canadian Covid Care Alliance on the Pfizer Inoculations for Covid-19, and video: info on trial results, adverse event reporting, and conflicts of interest.

Posted by: rockstar | Dec 30 2021 0:13 utc | 194

Fair enough. I withdraw the vehemence. It’s the holy days after all.
I’ll admit I am not above a bit of losing it, when vexed. Sorry.
But
I do find the concept of people arguing about vaccines not working on a virus they don’t actually believe exists. A little bit vexing !
Adieu

Posted by: D.G. | Dec 30 2021 0:22 utc | 195

The Federal Government
Moon of Alabama’s Covid Failure Becomes Even More Apparent
Sorry Bernhard
Gute Besserung
Posted by: ViteMaDose! | Dec 28 2021 23:59 utc | 59

Posted by: Kzf | Dec 30 2021 1:18 utc | 196

@ foolisholdman | Dec 29 2021 23:01 utc
I await data from Japan. Some time ago Japanese investigators examined the records of African populations, most of whom reside in central Africa, who had been taking Ivermectin as a preventative against parasite infestation, with a lookout on their vulnerability to infections from SarsCov2.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.26.21254377v1.full.pdf
This fall Japan welcomed private physicians to prescribe ivm for early onset covid patients. So far the stats for Japanese infections are astoundingly low.
I am personally familiar with Japanese cultural modesty and their unwillingness to be obnoxious know-it-alls, so I wonder if Japan will please release its data on the population uptake of ivm during the the past 4 months when covid prevalence has been so low despite ongoing infection threats from outside?

Posted by: suzan | Dec 30 2021 1:20 utc | 197

@Idiocrates | Dec 28 2021 20:37 utc | 6
There is no science in any of this. Bidet’s US is not following science. Merkel’s Germany was not following science and neither is the new government.
Show me a government which is following science. I will consider moving there.
There has been plenty of science. That is how we know that Covid-19 is caused by a virus, SARS-CoV-2, that it’s an RNA virus, and that it’s transmissible over the air. The genomes of many variants have been sequenced. We have vaccines. In spite of some disinformation, we know that the vaccines work: the vaccinated are up to fourteen times less likely to die from Covid-19 than the unvaccinated.
Science is driven by evidence: we know from much experience roughly how many days of quarantine are necessary. To be safe, some countries add a few more days. The US is doing the opposite of following the evidence and being safe, and that is quite insane if it is aiming to defeat the virus. Clearly, the US is no longer aiming to defeat the virus, having totally bungled its response to Covid-19. The American government is a surrender monkey.

Posted by: Cyril | Dec 30 2021 4:28 utc | 198

To Black Bread ( Dec 29 2021 11:24 utc | 87 )
If what you said is true, the 8th dose will not be used. The seventh dose (“Terminator”) will be the last jab. After the Terminator jab (Terminator shot, if you like it that way) the Sinoamerican pandemy will lose its relevance. It will keep going, but european people will not talk about it anymore. Their lives have been terminated.

Posted by: Kim Jong Il | Dec 30 2021 4:35 utc | 199

@cyril 198
“We know that vaccines work”
I argue that they don’t, in the traditional sense of vaccines.
We can’t eradicate the virus.
It’s here to stay.
So, a vaccine doesn’t provide the protection that measles, pox, rubella, vaccines do.
The vast majority of your post makes sense.
But conflating sars Covid with other diseases and vaccine efficacy is where you lose me.
Not that you are conflating, but we are simply laymen and deduce what we will.
And I think it’s where most people get lost on this topic.
The disease ISNT a mortal wound, and the virus is losing its potency through mutation.
So, one can get a jab and feel safer,
Or one can not and feel just how they felt before.
The mind fuckery over this is astounding.
It reminds me of the nuclear war fear from the 50’s and 50’s

Posted by: Cadence Calls | Dec 30 2021 5:06 utc | 200

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