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bolverk

Certifiably Surly
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Posts posted by bolverk

  1. 31 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

    Meanwhile, Cornyn isn’t sure kids can spread it. 

     

    Quick glance at that headline and I thought “That sounds about right. It’s awful but Texas is a big state.” Then, the county part registered. 👀😳😒

    Corpus Christi is really taking the corpus part of its name seriously.

  2. 27 minutes ago, immamac said:

    The type of person who would accept a nomination under these circumstances is not the type of person who has the supreme courts best interests in mind.

    The type of person who would not hold hearings on a potential nominee 8 months prior to an election is not the type of person who has the supreme court’s best interests in mind.

  3. 5 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

    While we are sucking shit thorough a straw no doubt, the Asian countries lived through SARS-1 which was much more deadly. They aren’t fucking around w Covid

    That was kind of rhe point. They masked up and didn't throw a shit fit about it. They also understood early on about the importance of contact tracing and isolating positives. It's almost as if they had a game plan that could be replicated elsewhere but hasn't been followed.

    2 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

    As far as death rates in Texas being low, I’ve been seeing some theories out there by  folks in the medical community hypothesizing that Texas’ high airborne allergen exposure can lend people to better fight off the disease.  No idea, just thought it an interesting idea/hypothesis.   Who the fuck knows anymore why it do what it do 

    As an O+ allergy sufferer, I'll gladly accept the preliminary findings of those theories for very selfish reasons.

    • Like 3
  4. Do y'all remember when the previous incarnation of the CR went absolutely ape shit for a week over Obama moving Churchill's bust onto a bookshelf or some shit?

    I remember but probably won't this scandal. I'll have forgotten it by this time tomorrow night after the motherfucker claims prima nocta over the Virgin Islands.

  5. 43 minutes ago, Bartles said:

    No one ever came clean on who the DC guys were a few weeks back, right? I assumed national guard especially the ones in matching Texas shirts. Or maybe whatever Blackwater is called in 2020.

    And now these pricks pull this right there in the Bundy/Ruby Ridge region. So much insanity going on, but I hope someone can dig up the details on these scumbags. Plenty of video of rental car license plates. Follow the money.

     

    40 minutes ago, Bama Chick said:


    They are Border Patrol.

    It’s insanity.

    Pretty sure the DC guys with the Texas flags on their shirts were determined to be some special forces group or whatever from the Bureau of Prisons.

    These Portland "police" in camo that magically makes it difficult to read their chests are reportedly Border Patrol, operating there due to some obscure 100-mile border zone authority that allows them to operate within that limit along the entire edge of the country including coasts.

    web18-100miborder-map-2400x1000px-v01.jp

     

    • Like 1
  6. 12 minutes ago, achooloco said:

    Fucking shit. My relative in the Austin medical community tested positive today. Day one of symptoms was yesterday and the test results came back today. Isolating at home now and luckily their spouse/kids have enough room to manage the next two weeks but the spouse had life threatening pneumonia a few years ago so they’re worried about that. These next two weeks can’t pass fast enough. 

    I had pneumonia a couple of years ago had to stay in the hospital for a week after an emergency appendectomy (really bad timing for that) when I was still trying to recover from it. Not a pleasant experience and one of the biggest reasons why I'm obsessively following this and other related threads.

    Keeping my fingers crossed for your kin.

     

    • Like 2
  7. 1 hour ago, Superhero said:

    Oregon is pretty far from the border, and these protesters aren't dang ferriners. What legitimate reason does US Customs and Borders have to do there?

    I don't pretend to understand all the details of this, but apparently it's a thing.

    web18-100miborder-map-2400x1000px-v01.jp

    The Problem

    • The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects Americans from random and arbitrary stops and searches.
    • According to the government, however, these basic constitutional principles do not apply fully at our borders. For example, at border crossings (also called "ports of entry"), federal authorities do not need a warrant or even suspicion of wrongdoing to justify conducting what courts have called a "routine search," such as searching luggage or a vehicle.
    • Even in places far removed from the border, deep into the interior of the country, immigration officials enjoy broad—though not limitless—powers. Specifically, federal regulations give U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) authority to operate within 100 miles of any U.S. "external boundary."
    • In this 100-mile zone, Border Patrol agents have certain additional authorities. For instance, Border Patrol can operate immigration checkpoints.
    • Border Patrol, nevertheless, cannot pull anyone over without "reasonable suspicion" of an immigration violation or crime (reasonable suspicion is more than just a "hunch"). Similarly, Border Patrol cannot search vehicles in the 100-mile zone without a warrant or "probable cause" (a reasonable belief, based on the circumstances, that an immigration violation or crime has likely occurred).
    • In practice, Border Patrol agents routinely ignore or misunderstand the limits of their legal authority in the course of individual stops, resulting in violations of the constitutional rights of innocent people. These problems are compounded by inadequate training for Border Patrol agents, a lack of oversight by CBP and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the consistent failure of CBP to hold agents accountable for abuse. No matter what CBP officers and Border Patrol agents think, our Constitution applies throughout the United States, including within this “100-mile border zone.”
    • Like 2
  8. 4 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

    Lots of empty apartments at my complex this month. Are evictions being processed in Austin now?

    Those $600/week checks are coming to an end so people might be readjusting their living situation accordingly. I read somewhere that something like a third of American households didn't pay rent or their mortgages at the beginning of this month. Dunno when evictions are allowed to start kicking back in, but I imagine it's very soon.

    We're going to start being in a world of economic hurt next month.

  9. 3 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

    Also, the longer this goes on we should get better at treating it based on lessons learned if nothing else.

     

    1 hour ago, bolverk said:

    What jumps out me from this table is looking at the deaths per cases or population and seeing how extraordinarily low that rate is in Texas compared to everyone else. What's going on there?

    1. Is it that Texans are that more hardy?
    2. Is the quality of our healthcare that much better?
    3. Has the virus become less lethal?
    4. Is it because it didn't really become widespread in the early months like most of those comparisons (East Asians were never swamped) and therefore doctors have learned to treat it better?
    5. Is it because the segments of our population that have been most infected (i.e. younger) are less at risk?

    I'm guessing that 4 & 5 are the most likely answers but am certainly willing to entertain the notion that 3 is also a possibility. I guess we'll begin to get some more indication as it starts to spread into more at-risk groups like our nursing homes.

     

    Hey, Mr. Day Drinkerman.

    (I'm jealous.)

    • Like 1
  10. 6 minutes ago, justhookit said:

    It’s mostly because the deaths from our spike are just now starting to hit. 

    I understand that our deaths are rising, but the low rate at which they've occurred so far for the number of cases we've had is what's puzzling. You might well be right and are referring to the fact that deaths are a lagging indicator and our case load is so fresh. If so, that's not something I had not considered in my post of wild hypothesizing.

  11. 27 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

    So what their doing is cool, right?

    His only problem with it is the tweeter dude made a typo. Otherwise, Alles ist in Ordnung.

    • Like 4
  12. 59 minutes ago, Paper_jam said:

     

    Jesus, is your friend the Hubble Space Telescope?

     

    Even looking back towards the Austin lights, I managed to see it for about 30 seconds last night (with binocs) before a thin cloud wiped it out. Was about 9:28 pm. Timing is somewhat important because you need to catch it when the light from sunset is mostly gone, but before the comet gets too low in the sky.

    It's just an amazing shot. Check out that white horizontal line in the upper section of the photo to the right. Is that a satellite or the space station also crossing the sky?

  13. 4 minutes ago, Captain Ron said:

    More San Antonio data reshuffling:

    Note the overall statewide total has been updated to include approximately 5,000 cases reported by the San Antonio Metro Health District stemming from a laboratory reporting backlog. More information may be found on the San Antonio website.

    That San Antonio data reshuffling because of the antigen/antibody distinction has given a lot of fodder to my more skeptical Facebook friends that the numbers are being cooked for whatever reason that they're more predisposed to believe. Lots of rampant conspiracy theorizing is going on there.

  14. 1 hour ago, ABSR said:

    I wanted to see what this mean on  a death per case and population standpoint and then also using the 10x asymptomatic/unreported cases per reported cases number (which may be wrong) that the CDC put out a few weeks ago, what that meant on death per "assumed" infected.

    Added a few countries in Europe thinking that they are a better compare and likely have somewhat reasonable numbers (compared to China, Russia, Iran, etc).

    image.png.68a4a67ecf50cc5e4434ea0324c03117.png

    What jumps out me from this table is looking at the deaths per cases or population and seeing how extraordinarily low that rate is in Texas compared to everyone else. What's going on there?

    1. Is it that Texans are that more hardy?
    2. Is the quality of our healthcare that much better?
    3. Has the virus become less lethal?
    4. Is it because it didn't really become widespread in the early months like most of those comparisons (East Asians were never swamped) and therefore doctors have learned to treat it better?
    5. Is it because the segments of our population that have been most infected (i.e. younger) are less at risk?

    I'm guessing that 4 & 5 are the most likely answers but am certainly willing to entertain the notion that 3 is also a possibility. I guess we'll begin to get some more indication as it starts to spread into more at-risk groups like our nursing homes.

     

  15. 22 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

    If people/kids would wash their hands a lot more often and observe a few other practices (wear a fucking mask if you're sick and have to be out like they do in Asia), we could cut down on a helluva lot of things - we could lower percentages on the flu, cold, etc. and save lives.

    The comparison between westernized East Asian democracies and the US/TX is absolutely staggering in contrast. These are yesterday's numbers as posted by Worldometers.

    South Korea
    Population: 51,271,209
    Cases: 13,612 (265 per million)
    Deaths: 291 (6 per million)

    Japan
    Population: 126,457,976
    Cases: 22,890 (181 per million)
    Deaths: 985 (8 per million)

    Taiwan
    Population: 23,818,733
    Cases: 452 (19 per million)
    Deaths: 7 (0.3 per million)

    US
    Population: 331,086,970
    Cases: 3,695,025 (11,160 per million)
    Deaths: 141,118 (426 per million)

    Texas
    Population: 28,995,881
    Cases: 315,924 (10,895 per million)
    Deaths: 2,864 (132 per million)
     

    • Like 1
  16. 1 minute ago, Brisketexan said:

    Well, it does.  Some of the rights are pretty basic and broad -- freedom of assembly, freedom to practice religion how you want, etc.   So, any order that limits gatherings and the like (as just one example) implicates a constitutional right.  

    What so many people do not get is that constitutional rights are NOT completely and totally inviolable. I mean, every knows the "you can't yell fire in a crowded theater" exception to the first amendment.  That rationale applies across the board.  Narrowly tailored government action in an exercise of its police power to protect the public health and safety is not unconstitutional.

    Well, I was thinking more about the mask issue. With that I guess, taken to its broadest interpretation, one could argue that requiring a mask would limit freedom of speech so I get your point.

  17. 1 minute ago, hayden_horn said:

    i never understood leaf blowers. most of the time they are just blowing leaves into the street, it seems. what's the big plan then? the leaves blow away? i don't get it. i always rake and bag.

    Meh, I just mow over the fucking things.

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Like 5
  18. 13 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

    "Makes you feel like?"  Dude.  It's EXACTLY what they are doing - creating an ARMED (read the listing) deputized group of "immigration enforcers."  They're brownshirts.

    Yeah, that came out real wishy-washy like.

  19. 15 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

    Given some of what was reported out of Portland, this gives me pause. ICE is continuing with its proposal to have Citizens Academies in Chicago this fall. It's getting some pushback from local leaders, but I believe two trains are heading toward each other at a great speed.

    Letter:

      Reveal hidden contents

    Enforcement and Removal OperationsChicago Field OfficeU.S. Department of Homeland Security101 W Ida B. Wells Drive, Suite 4000 Chicago, IL 60605www.ice.gov

    To whom it may concern:

    You have been identified as a valued member of the community who may have interest in participating in the inaugural class of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Chicago Citizens Academy. The ERO Citizens Academy (ECA) is an interactive 6-day program, occurring one day a week over 6 weeks. This first of its kind, the Chicago ECA will serve as a pilot for nationwide implementation. During the ECA, participants will gain insight into the many facets and responsibilities of ICE/ERO operations, and hopefully an awareness and appreciation of the issues our officers face every day in the performance of their duties. We also want to learn from you, our key stakeholders, so I look forward to your participation. Your valued participation will build a strong foundation of knowledge for those intrigued by the ERO mission. The curriculum includes an introduction to ERO Chicago staff, mapping the lifecycle of a subject through ERO, including the role of the Office of Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA). Attendees will participate in scenario-based training and exercises conducted in a safe and positive environment, including, but not limited to defensive tactics, firearms familiarization, and targeted arrests. The ECA will be held every Tuesday from 2 – 6 p.m.; it will commence on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, and conclude on Tuesday, October 20, 2020. The ECA will be held at the Chicago Field Office; 101 W Ida B. Wells Parkway, Suite 4000, Chicago, IL., as well as other locations in the area based on the learning objectives. After completion of the ECA, a graduation ceremony will be held on Friday, Oct. 23, 2020; graduates will be awarded a certificate and a commemorative coin. Continuing Education Credits (CEUs) may be available upon request.

    Your personal health and safety are our priority. Participants will be issued Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and we will adhere to social distancing guidelines. ERO is working closely with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and other federal, state, and local agencies to facilitate a speedy, whole-of-government response in confronting Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), keeping everyone safe, and helping detect and slow the spread of the virus.

     

     

     

    This has such a fucking "brown shirts" vibe to it and makes me feel like they're actually trying build some organized movement for the future.

    • Like 1
  20. In related news:

    HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — A 20-year debate over the Confederacy came to an end Thursday. The Hays Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously to retire the Hays High School Rebel mascot.

    It’s part of the district’s efforts to cut ties with connections to the Confederacy, and it comes on the heels of larger changes nationwide. In Mississippi, state leaders voted to remove the Confederate battle emblem from its state flag, and this week, the NFL announced the Washington team would retire the use of its nickname ‘Redskins‘ and logo.

    With Hays CISD Board’s approval, it could take all of the fall semester to come up with a new mascot. At present, Hays CISD leaders said the focus is on back to school safety plans amid the coronavirus pandemic.

    The school will begin to phase out the Rebel through the removal of images on the school’s website and around the school building.

    https://www.kxan.com/news/local/hays/hays-cisd-board-could-vote-to-retire-rebel-mascot-thursday/

    • Like 1
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