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Formerly DT: COVID-19 - Featuring Lots of Politics, now CR because political talk not going away


InkaUtexas

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We've basically lived a normal life since May. Was in Mexico the first day it re-opened last June, did summer vacation in the states, and Spring Break in Chicago this year. Didn't miss a family holiday. To each his own - that's the great thing about freedom. I still enjoy the look on my Northeastern and California co-workers faces when I tell them about our lives.

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It was hard to type while doing that Jedi wave thing with the other hand.  

Next week we're getting ready to receive our first out-of-town visitors since January of 2020.  Should be a flippin' hoot.  

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50 minutes ago, Kyle said:

We've basically lived a normal life since May. Was in Mexico the first day it re-opened last June, did summer vacation in the states, and Spring Break in Chicago this year. Didn't miss a family holiday. To each his own - that's the great thing about freedom. I still enjoy the look on my Northeastern and California co-workers faces when I tell them about our lives.

Same here.

Been going out to restaurants weekly with the family since June, took vacations to Arizona and Florida last year, visited family for holidays, and kids have been in school in-person full time since Labor Day.

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1 minute ago, bolverk said:

Bully for you. Our Thanksgiving was canceled because my dad caught Covid the week before at a small get-together with friends and subsequently infected my mom. Dad was in the hospital by the Saturday after Thanksgiving and stayed there until the day after Christmas, which is when he died an agonizing death with holes in his lungs.

I'm just glad it wasn't me who was responsible for infecting him, but the man who did ended up dead himself. Because of that reckless behavior, I'll never have a Thanksgiving or Christmas with him again as opposed to just one.

Be glad and, more importantly, grateful you got lucky.

Your dad's death is one of over 500,000 outliers, and is clearly a hoax.

For the 10,000th time, there were a lot of sane "middle paths" through this pandemic.  The only time we were ever on one was as we careened across it, bashing from one extreme guardrail to the opposite extreme guardrail.

We had a spreading viral illness that was unquestionably going to seriously sicken and kill many more people than any viral illness had done, in short order, since the 1918 flu pandemic.  We also had some ability to reduce that effect by taking extreme protective measures with our most vulnerable, and moderate protective measures (varying based on location and outbreak intensity) throughout.....but all we did was fight about it from the extremes.  It was maddening.  It still is.

All I wanted from the get-go was the best understanding we had, and then some clearly articulated policy with clearly articulated goals, with the backstop of "we're learning new stuff about this every day, so we may change our course as the information dictates."  We didn't really have that....from anywhere.  Left, right, middle, we just didn't get it.

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3 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Your dad's death is one of over 500,000 outliers, and is clearly a hoax.

For the 10,000th time, there were a lot of sane "middle paths" through this pandemic.  The only time we were ever on one was as we careened across it, bashing from one extreme guardrail to the opposite extreme guardrail.

We had a spreading viral illness that was unquestionably going to seriously sicken and kill many more people than any viral illness had done, in short order, since the 1918 flu pandemic.  We also had some ability to reduce that effect by taking extreme protective measures with our most vulnerable, and moderate protective measures (varying based on location and outbreak intensity) throughout.....but all we did was fight about it from the extremes.  It was maddening.  It still is.

All I wanted from the get-go was the best understanding we had, and then some clearly articulated policy with clearly articulated goals, with the backstop of "we're learning new stuff about this every day, so we may change our course as the information dictates."  We didn't really have that....from anywhere.  Left, right, middle, we just didn't get it.

Could not have said it better.

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^
That's true.  "We just had to get out there and live our lives man, our best lives bro.  That's what it's all about.  You know, we're travelers, we're foodies, we love to socialize and take it all in.  We're just connected to so much, it was so hard to just let life pass us by.  So we just got back out there and stayed out there, ya' know?"  

Another fucking thing I gotta deal with when we "get back to normal" this summer, listening to stories like this and feigning interest.  "Hey, you remember how I never asked you about your travels before Covid-19?  Right?  Why the fuck would I suddenly be interested now?"  I didn't invite you to some stay with us for three years, why the fuck would we do it now when we're not at herd immunity yet?  My children haven't seen their grandparents in almost a year-and-a-half, but you wanna come to Austin and tell us about the restaurants you were brave enough to frequent back in your own hometown?  Yeah, fuck signing up for the vaccine, I wanna sign up for story time with you and your family!  Oh, and you still went to the gym.  Honey, put on tea!...the you-know-whos have stories! 

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Just now, Lobo said:

^
That's true.  "We just had to get out there and live our lives man, our best lives bro.  That's what it's all about.  You know, we're travelers, we're foodies, we love to socialize and take it all in.  We're just connected to so much, it was so hard to just let life pass us by.  So we just got back out there and stayed out there, ya' know?"  

Another fucking thing I gotta deal with when we "get back to normal" this summer, listening to stories like this and feigning interest.  "Hey, you remember how I never asked you about your travels before Covid-19?  Right?  Why the fuck would I suddenly be interested now?"  I didn't invite you to some stay with us for three years, why the fuck would we do it now when we're not at herd immunity yet?  My children haven't seen their grandparents in almost a year-and-a-half, but you wanna come to Austin and tell us about the restaurants you were brave enough to frequent back in your own hometown?  Yeah, fuck signing up for the vaccine, I wanna sign up for story time with you and your family!  Oh, and you still went to the gym.  Honey, put on tea!...the you-know-whos have stories! 

It's the modern version of the 1970s hell of being invited over to the Grubcheks' place to watch their 400-slide slideshow of their trip to the Grand Canyon.

I mean, I pounded the hell out of those little pigs-in-a-blanket they put out on the snack tray, but still.....like I give a fuck, especially about the first 59 photos that are just of how you packed the family truckster for the trip.

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3 minutes ago, Lobo said:

^
That's true.  "We just had to get out there and live our lives man, our best lives bro.  That's what it's all about.  You know, we're travelers, we're foodies, we love to socialize and take it all in.  We're just connected to so much, it was so hard to just let life pass us by.  So we just got back out there and stayed out there, ya' know?"  

Another fucking thing I gotta deal with when we "get back to normal" this summer, listening to stories like this and feigning interest.  "Hey, you remember how I never asked you about your travels before Covid-19?  Right?  Why the fuck would I suddenly be interested now?"  I didn't invite you to some stay with us for three years, why the fuck would we do it now when we're not at herd immunity yet?  My children haven't seen their grandparents in almost a year-and-a-half, but you wanna come to Austin and tell us about the restaurants you were brave enough to frequent back in your own hometown?  Yeah, fuck signing up for the vaccine, I wanna sign up for story time with you and your family!  Oh, and you still went to the gym.  Honey, put on tea!...the you-know-whos have stories! 

Yet you keyboard diarrhea story after story here everyday... interesting pathology.

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11 minutes ago, Incredulity said:

Yet you keyboard diarrhea story after story here everyday... interesting pathology.

Last time I checked, this doesn't take up any of your time unless you let it, just move the cursor down.  If you've found a way to literally scroll through an in-person or phone conversation or zoom with somebody else talking about their pandemic travel stories...you let me know because I can bring tons of institutional capital your way to scale your technology.  You can only take so many bathroom/bar/call the wife & kids breaks before people catch on.    

If you don't know the difference between message board banter and in-person dialogues, you shouldn't use big words like "pathology", slugger!  

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I mean, I'm sure he's got a decent rack of man-boobs, but I've always been an ass-man anyways.  Still, I find myself coming around in middle-age to a really nice set of curvy natural ones in the ample C-D category.  But yeah, overall breasts on men or women have never been "my thing."  Also, feel free to scroll past this story.  

Actually, i could demonstrate sincere interest in good Covid-19 strip club stories. I wonder what it was like in there this whole time.

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4 minutes ago, Lobo said:

I mean, I'm sure he's got a decent rack of man-boobs, but I've always been an ass-man anyways.  Still, I find myself coming around in middle-age to a really nice set of curvy natural ones in the ample C-D category.  But yeah, overall breasts on men or women have never been "my thing."  Also, feel free to scroll past this story.  

Actually, i could demonstrate sincere interest in good Covid-19 strip club stories. I wonder what it was like in there this whole time.

If COVID was glitter-transferred, we'd all be dead.

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6 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Your dad's death is one of over 500,000 outliers, and is clearly a hoax.

For the 10,000th time, there were a lot of sane "middle paths" through this pandemic.  The only time we were ever on one was as we careened across it, bashing from one extreme guardrail to the opposite extreme guardrail.

We had a spreading viral illness that was unquestionably going to seriously sicken and kill many more people than any viral illness had done, in short order, since the 1918 flu pandemic.  We also had some ability to reduce that effect by taking extreme protective measures with our most vulnerable, and moderate protective measures (varying based on location and outbreak intensity) throughout.....but all we did was fight about it from the extremes.  It was maddening.  It still is.

All I wanted from the get-go was the best understanding we had, and then some clearly articulated policy with clearly articulated goals, with the backstop of "we're learning new stuff about this every day, so we may change our course as the information dictates."  We didn't really have that....from anywhere.  Left, right, middle, we just didn't get it.

It took you until April or May or later to get there. In March you were in the shut it all down In an abundance of caution. And in March maybe that was the correct call as data points were limited I guess. The reason inwas pushing back so hard against the abdication of liberties rose the government was bc I could see coming what happened- that there would always be an “in abundance of caution” crowd way past the time It made sense and in contradiction of data. 
I have to confess, however, that the whole thing didn’t end as badly as I thought it would. Are people ridiculously still out of in person school and pointlessly have their livelihoods taken away in some places?  Sure. But that’s the governance the want so who am I to argue? 
Did texas do what more or less it’s citizenry wanted as far as opening stuff up and being open for business? Yes. Along with Florida, Georgia and many other midwestern/plains states and southern states. 
I’m not going to shed tears over people getting the governance they more or less ask for. 
I’m just happy this thing wasn’t really kicked to the feds to come up with a one size fits all approach (and FTR I’d have supported more power for the counties in Texas- even when I didn’t agree with their use of said power) for the same reasons as more power to the state. It’s a win when we get the government we ask for and desire. 

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7 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

It took you until April or May or later to get there. In March you were in the shut it all down In an abundance of caution. And in March maybe that was the correct call as data points were limited I guess.

Yeah.....I was "there" the whole time.  Overly cautious response to threat with a lot of unknowns in the initial 30 days is pretty much EXACTLY how that sort of thing is supposed to go.  Limited data meant a very wide threat matrix.  Which means a wider response.  The more info you get, the better you tailor your response, balancing all other considerations.  Among those considerations is length of time.  "Shutting things down" for 30 days is a big deal.....but not nearly as big a deal as shutting them down for a year.  So, take steps, and constantly reevaluate and rebalance.  That's why, when I've talked about what the plan should be, we must articulate the goals of that plan -- what are the metrics we're shooting for?  That way, the "abundance of caution, even one death is too many!" folks wouldn't really have a good position.  The absence of a clearly-stated set of metrics allows nutty ones like theirs to get a voice.

A good approach in a federal system would have been to have a fair number of measures and best-practices on a national level, with different metrics for their application in different places (if your transmission rate is X, consider these measures, if it's 5X, consider these measures, that sort of thing).  That thus wouldn't lead to a "one size fits all" approach.  Local communities could and would have the flexibility to respond to their specific conditions.

I certainly don't believe that ANYONE did, or could have, hit the perfect sweet spot in responding to this pandemic.  Here, any other country, anywhere.  But we could have gotten a lot closer to the bullseye than we did.

Edited by Brisketexan
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26 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Yeah.....I was "there" the whole time.  Overly cautious response to threat with a lot of unknowns in the initial 30 days is pretty much EXACTLY how that sort of thing is supposed to go.  Limited data meant a very wide threat matrix.  Which means a wider response.  The more info you get, the better you tailor your response, balancing all other considerations.  Among those considerations is length of time.  "Shutting things down" for 30 days is a big deal.....but not nearly as big a deal as shutting them down for a year.  So, take steps, and constantly reevaluate and rebalance.  That's why, when I've talked about what the plan should be, we must articulate the goals of that plan -- what are the metrics we're shooting for?  That way, the "abundance of caution, even one death is too many!" folks wouldn't really have a good position.  The absence of a clearly-stated set of metrics allows nutty ones like theirs to get a voice.

A good approach in a federal system would have been to have a fair number of measures and best-practices on a national level, with different metrics for their application in different places (if your transmission rate is X, consider these measures, if it's 5X, consider these measures, that sort of thing).  That thus wouldn't lead to a "one size fits all" approach.  Local communities could and would have the flexibility to respond to their specific conditions.

I certainly don't believe that ANYONE did, or could have, hit the perfect sweet spot in responding to this pandemic.  Here, any other country, anywhere.  But we could have gotten a lot closer to the bullseye than we did.

I was asking for metrics in mid March. You know- when we first started giving emergency powers to the government. We never got there. That’s been a problem all throughout. But, like I said- my relatives and friends living in deep blue states and counties dealing with absurdities regarding businesses and school closures are getting what they signed up for. They can, and some will, be moving. Similarly to people in Texas that wish to see everyone masked up forever or compelled to shut down their businesses, those can vote with their feet as well. 
I believe this to be the best virtue we have as Americans. Long live federalism, may it never die and may I always have the opportunity to move to a greater shithole if you and yours ever get control of Texas. 
When traveling around and thinking about places to live it’s affected what I think in a way that never existed prior to Covid.  
it’s one thing to say- would I move to a pro life state or could I handle abortions at 9 months (or gun control, or school vouchers or whatever your pet issue of the day is). It’s another to say- am I comfortable with moving elsewhere to a place where people are willing to take away my right to earn a living or right to worship and assemble or something like that. That’s a completely different and more radical and in your face kind of government take away. 

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29 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Yeah.....I was "there" the whole time.  Overly cautious response to threat with a lot of unknowns in the initial 30 days is pretty much EXACTLY how that sort of thing is supposed to go.  Limited data meant a very wide threat matrix.  Which means a wider response.  The more info you get, the better you tailor your response, balancing all other considerations.  Among those considerations is length of time.  "Shutting things down" for 30 days is a big deal.....but not nearly as big a deal as shutting them down for a year.  So, take steps, and constantly reevaluate and rebalance.  That's why, when I've talked about what the plan should be, we must articulate the goals of that plan -- what are the metrics we're shooting for?  That way, the "abundance of caution, even one death is too many!" folks wouldn't really have a good position.  The absence of a clearly-stated set of metrics allows nutty ones like theirs to get a voice.

A good approach in a federal system would have been to have a fair number of measures and best-practices on a national level, with different metrics for their application in different places (if your transmission rate is X, consider these measures, if it's 5X, consider these measures, that sort of thing).  That thus wouldn't lead to a "one size fits all" approach.  Local communities could and would have the flexibility to respond to their specific conditions.

I certainly don't believe that ANYONE did, or could have, hit the perfect sweet spot in responding to this pandemic.  Here, any other country, anywhere.  But we could have gotten a lot closer to the bullseye than we did.

Definitely should have spent a few more thousand hours gnashing teeth about the horrors of hydroxychloroquine. 

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12 minutes ago, Kyle said:

Definitely should have spent a few more thousand hours gnashing teeth about the horrors of hydroxychloroquine. 

Perhaps you have me mistaken for someone else?  I thought it was a foolish sideline issue that was used as sleight-of-hand to try to get people to buy into a view that COVID was no big deal, as there was a miracle cure.  But I didn't spend a whole lot of energy on it, IIRC.  Others here certainly did, and they stated the issues better than I could have, so no need.

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wasn't the plot of that Will Ferrell and Julie Louis-Dreyfus movie that was somehow the least funny movie of the last few years?  

(except that resort concierge, she was fucking hilarious)

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2 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Perhaps you have me mistaken for someone else?  I thought it was a foolish sideline issue that was used as sleight-of-hand to try to get people to buy into a view that COVID was no big deal, as there was a miracle cure.  But I didn't spend a whole lot of energy on it, IIRC.  Others here certainly did, and they stated the issues better than I could have, so no need.

Apologies as I was not directly talking about you ... just one of the stupid takes in a year of Idiocracy. Maybe the best example of anti-science hysteria during the pandemic.

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29 minutes ago, Lobo said:

wasn't the plot of that Will Ferrell and Julie Louis-Dreyfus movie that was somehow the least funny movie of the last few years?  

(except that resort concierge, she was fucking hilarious)

 

The original is foreign and has the redhead wildling guy from Game of Thrones and it's really good.

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1 hour ago, Anastasis said:

That dude is a total joke on the #epitwitter. 

Dr. Ding is well educated and insightful. I have learned a lot about the pandemic by following him on twitter per chance you would recommend some better follows on the #epitwitter Maybe I could learn more about covid 19 if I followed your twitter account.

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1 hour ago, GRHorn said:

That guy is a fucking douche bag

Dr. Ding is well educated and insightful. I have learned a lot about the pandemic by following him on twitter per chance you would recommend some better follows on the #epitwitter Maybe I could learn more about covid 19 if I followed your twitter account.

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1 minute ago, brakeman said:

Dr. Ding is well educated and insightful. I have learned a lot about the pandemic by following him on twitter per chance you would recommend some better follows on the #epitwitter Maybe I could learn more about covid 19 if I followed your twitter account.

... for a nutritionist.

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This seems good

8ac4643ef4e471ecaa370c99398176d7.png

Sigh...I suppose at least that when everyone else has been vaccinated (and therefore not infected from those that won’t) if the moron MAGA hat types who still stubbornly refuse to get the vaccine because it’s “fake science” and “no worse than the regular flu” get it and if they die from it, they will get their own new chapter in the Darwin’s Natural Selection book.
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3 minutes ago, mdleast said:


Sigh...I suppose at least that when everyone else has been vaccinated (and therefore not infected from those that won’t) if the moron MAGA hat types who still stubbornly refuse to get the vaccine because it’s “fake science” and “no worse than the regular flu” get it and if they die from it, they will get their own new chapter in the Darwin’s Natural Selection book.

It’s not just the moron MAGA, it’s an overlap with them, distrustful blacks and whacked out crazy hippie liberal types. 
same as all the vaccination things. Same as home school type stuff (minus the blacks in that one). 
It’s a strange bedfellows thing with the anti Vax crowd. 

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27 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

It’s not just the moron MAGA, it’s an overlap with them, distrustful blacks and whacked out crazy hippie liberal types. 
same as all the vaccination things. Same as home school type stuff (minus the blacks in that one). 
It’s a strange bedfellows thing with the anti Vax crowd. 

Agreed but at least with those that have been historically distrustful or hippie types against (typically all) vaccinations, there is a consistency in position.  What especially annoys me when I hear/read from any friends, family, Facebook "friends" and people online (including here) who (1) are not medical professionals in any way, shape or form and (2) who I can never recall once before professing any strong opinions or claimed expertise on any prior medical issue and yet they are sudden "experts" on COVD and vaccinations (and in opposition to what the supermajority of true medical professionals/experts are saying).  I mean, isn't it amazing that these people we know who have never professed medical expertise or hot medical opinions previously are suddenly "experts" on this one particular issue?  Isn't that peculiar and amazing that they suddenly gained savant like status on just COVID?  Or, rather, could it be they're just regurgitating the same political hacky bullshit they have heard from others in stupid red hats?

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1 minute ago, mdleast said:

Agreed but at least with those that have been historically distrustful or hippie types against (typically all) vaccinations, there is a consistency in position.  What especially annoys me when I hear/read from any friends, family, Facebook "friends" and people online (including here) who (1) are not medical professionals in any way, shape or form and (2) who I can never recall once before professing any strong opinions or claimed expertise on any prior medical issue and yet they are sudden "experts" on COVD and vaccinations (and in opposition to what the supermajority of true medical professionals/experts are saying).  I mean, isn't it amazing that these people we know who have never professed medical expertise or hot medical opinions previously are suddenly "experts" on this one particular issue?  Isn't that peculiar and amazing that they suddenly gained savant like status on just COVID?  Or, rather, could it be they're just regurgitating the same political hacky bullshit they have heard from others in stupid red hats?

I'm sure there are many different reasons but I think part of it goes to someone's core political beliefs. If your talk radio and buddies are all telling you that the COVID-19 vaccines will alter your DNA to turn you into a <fill-in-the-blank> then agreeing to getting the vaccine brings everything those sources are telling you.

 

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You see, what I think happened is these public health officials, epidemiologists, and virologists have been playing the long game with us.  For over a century, they've been eradicating polio, small pox, chicken pox, measles, diphtheria, rubella, mumps, tetanus, rotavirus, pertussis and hepatitis.  And it's almost always categorically been effective.  

So after over a century of study and public efficacy...the grand scheme has always been to work with the CCP to release a lethal virus into the global population and then concoct a largely ineffective vaccine (saving just enough people to make it through blind trials) in order to make us even sicker while serving the Chinese Government.   The Capitol storming on January 6th was merely staged as a distraction from this awful truth.  Fauci set about, 60 years ago, to study virology and epidemics in a complete ruse to put himself in his current position of power to wage a psychological battle of misinformation with us.  This is all part of the elites plan and we are unwilling pawns.  I am going to have Ivanka Trump suck the vaccine I got last week out of my body.  

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19 minutes ago, mdleast said:

Agreed but at least with those that have been historically distrustful or hippie types against (typically all) vaccinations, there is a consistency in position.  What especially annoys me when I hear/read from any friends, family, Facebook "friends" and people online (including here) who (1) are not medical professionals in any way, shape or form and (2) who I can never recall once before professing any strong opinions or claimed expertise on any prior medical issue and yet they are sudden "experts" on COVD and vaccinations (and in opposition to what the supermajority of true medical professionals/experts are saying).  I mean, isn't it amazing that these people we know who have never professed medical expertise or hot medical opinions previously are suddenly "experts" on this one particular issue?  Isn't that peculiar and amazing that they suddenly gained savant like status on just COVID?  Or, rather, could it be they're just regurgitating the same political hacky bullshit they have heard from others in stupid red hats?

You are white knighting for your team.
 

It’s all stupid behavior refusing the Vax. I don’t care if it’s always stupid behavior (hippie dippy types) if it’s stupid behavior based upon something that happened 2-4 generations ago being a point of contention for a community that’s being disproportionately hit by the virus now (Tuskegee) or stupid behavior based upon misguided political fealty to a Cheeto hued God by nitwits it’s all the same result. 

everyone that’s in that group is eligible for the play stupid games and win stupid prizes for 2021. 


as long as we don’t alter when we open society up bc of the misguided belief that we need to protect those refusing the vaccine IDGAF. 
I guess to be fair you have the right to be especially annoyed by whoever you want and cut a break to others for abject stupidity whenever you want, but I’m gently suggesting perhaps it makes sense to apply the same standard of scorn and contempt to be behavioral based, not mitigated by whether or not that person is lined up with you in other issues. 
if we could call balls and strikes impartially and assign contempt

to behavior instead of belief system we might all get along fractionally better. 

Edited by Wulaw Horn
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  • hayden_horn changed the title to Formerly DT: COVID-19 - Featuring Lots of Politics, now CR because political talk not going away


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