Friday morning links

The CDC and the federal government has been all over the map in their advice and 'science' about covid. Mostly they have been wrong because the science long ago gave in to politics. The amount of money printed/borrowed to deal with covid and the consequences of political decisions is astronomical and this seems to be the sole driving force in many decisions. Much of this money is being stolen or simply misappropriated. No one in the gravy train wants it to stop. There will be a fiscal reckoning and it will probably crash the economy. Right now the most important thing for politicians is to divert attention from what is going on. Soon this will change to blaming and denying. Covid didn't 'kill' our economy, our politicians did.

#1 OneGuy on 2021-02-12 09:35 (Reply)

Don't know how it's being handled in the USA, but just about everything handed out here in Canada has tax consequences. As in your company takes advantage of the 10% deduction on federal payroll remittances (the 10% being from your gross payroll, subject to limitations), then that has to be declared as income the next time the company files a tax return. Same with other programs. It's bee rough for companies with fairly early year-ends (say May - Sept) who - while reeling from closures and layoffs, find the government "help" means they owe taxes.

When it comes to individuals, the much touted CERB (Canada Emergency Relief Benefit) is fully taxable, which most recipients don't realize, and there was no tax deduction. so anyone taking that between jobs will be in for an unpleasant shock come April 30 (our tax deadline). A following program, CRB, is even more stringent with a claw-back provision which will catch a lot of Canadians who stayed employed during the summer but who were laid off in the fall.

Ronald Regan was right.

#1.1 Frances on 2021-02-12 22:17 (Reply)

re VDH: The World Goes On While America Sleeps

We are not sleeping. We are committing national suicide.

#2 feeblemind on 2021-02-12 09:36 (Reply)

Dr. Hanson's essay is as usual timely and prescient. Unfortunately, it is written for "Nation Review" whose editors were on the front lines of crippling Trump's "America First" agenda and putting the senile old leftist hack in the White House. Ideas have consequences.

#3 Trangbang68 on 2021-02-12 10:19 (Reply)

>Gina Carano Fired From 'The Mandalorian'

She was my wife's favorite character (over baby Yoda) because she looked like a physically strong/capable women.

#4 OldCurmudgeon on 2021-02-12 10:43 (Reply)

Didn't someone from California come down with the Kung Flu after receiving not one but two vaccinations?

Yeah, I'll just keep washing my hands, thanks.

#5 Maniac on 2021-02-12 10:50 (Reply)

No. They didn't.

#5.1 Assistant Village Idiot on 2021-02-12 13:29 (Reply)

That's weird: NBCnews reports that Minyvonne Burke writes that 4 people in Oregon have now tested positive after getting 2 shots. Yamhill & Lane counties.
You're right. They weren't in California, nor was it 1 person.

#5.1.1 Jerry on 2021-02-14 00:16 (Reply)

The simple fact is that because of the diversity of people, their DNA, their health factors and sometimes just dumb luck, most vaccines have less than 100% efficacy. The good news is that even people who were vaccinated for a disease and subsequently get that disease the vaccine tends to have a positive effect on the symptoms and survival from that disease.

Secondly, all vaccines can have side effects. To some extent all shots, injections, blood tests, etc. can also have side effects. And again this is more about the specific individuals health, chronic conditions, allergies and dumb luck and not specifically about the vaccine. You may acquire one of the known side effects from a covid shot and you may have acquired the same side effect if you were to get an antibiotic shot for a serious infection. It mostly depends on your genetic predisposition and other health issues. It isn't, generally, the fault of the vaccine.

There are some exceptions, historically there have been bad vaccines or vaccines with live virus or even tainted vaccines. Probably most of those problems were solved over the years as it was a learning curve, i.e. we did not know what we did not know.

Probably, when you read about someone who died or suffered serious side effects from this or any vaccine you are not getting the full truth. While one in ten million might actually die from any given shot there will likely be 100 phony stories for each of those cases. While one in a million or even one in a hundred thousand may get a serious side effect almost all of those cases will recover within hours to days and be OK.

In other words most of the negative stuff you hear about vaccines isn't true, while just enough is true to keep the rumors flying.

#5.2 Anon on 2021-02-12 14:27 (Reply)

Back in the day, the only way to the annual 'flu vaccine was via our local public health authority. Had the misfortune to get a woman who insisted in reading a very long list of possible reactions, including Guillain Barre Syndrome, which she insisted was very rare. I pointed out that, should I get that particular reaction, it would be a 100% for me. Woman was not amused.

Since then, I head to my favourite pharmacy; no line-ups and no lectures.

#5.2.1 Frances on 2021-02-12 22:23 (Reply)

Biden Administration Considering Whether to Impose Domestic Travel Restrictions, Including on Florida – Gov. DeSantis Responds HALTEN SIE!! IHRE PAPIERS, BITTE!! (I knew learning German in college would come in useful some day...)

Cuomo coverup? But, of COURSE!

Gina Carano Fired From 'The Mandalorian' For Comparing Cancel Culture To Nazi Germany: Hit too close to home...i.e. BULLSEYE.

The World Goes On While America Sleeps: I wonder why VDH still works with National Review. I gave it up in 2015 when it went NEVER TRUMP.

#6 Sam L. on 2021-02-12 10:51 (Reply)

Der Hund is los, und die katze ist in der keller!

#6.1 Anon on 2021-02-12 14:31 (Reply)

State revenues may still be strong, but certain -cough- blue states -cough- with certain Machine Democrat demographics have a leetle tiny pension problem that still needs fixing. It won't get fixed, y'unnerstan', because the cash infusions will be re-directed to fund new Social Justice Equity Racial Purity programs (pogroms) that are much more important in the Critical Race to achieving our goals of Forward! Progress!

I read yesterday (but have not confirmed) that the Big Guy cancelled the Boeing deal for the new Air Force One, that Trump negotiated saving $1.8 billion for the taxpayers; and has instead reverted to the original sticker price. A new meaning for the word 'sticker' (so sez the stuckee).

#7 Aggie on 2021-02-12 10:57 (Reply)

State revenues may still be strong, but certain -cough- blue states -cough- with certain Machine Democrat demographics have a leetle tiny pension problem that still needs fixing.

State revenues may still be strong? What is that supposed to mean? That the government is stealing plenty of money? My friend, that's not good news. That's bad news. It means that organized theft is out of control.

#7.1 Ron Liebermann on 2021-02-12 11:46 (Reply)

You know how domestic product works - right? There are ways of measuring it, and this is one of the barometers that is commonly used, and in this context it's the appropriate one. But you be you.

#7.1.1 Aggie on 2021-02-12 17:13 (Reply)

What do you mean we're out of money? I still have checks left.
That seems to be how some states work.
When you write fines for 100's & 1,000's to your businesses, they do have to go on the books as income, even if you don't collect them, right?
When you say there will be no noticeable increase in Employment Security tax for a business that has no unemployment claims for 4 + years and then raise it 400%? They're Flush. I heard of one business that had no claims before, that laid everybody off for one week. Their rate went from 0.13% to 3.2%. That's a little more than a 400% increase isn't it>

#7.2 Jerry on 2021-02-13 00:22 (Reply)

We have to learn to live with COVID because it's become endemic? Gosh, you mean like we've been living with seasonal flu and the common cold all this time? How will we cope?

#8 RebeccaH on 2021-02-12 12:54 (Reply)

Covid will become endemic Like the "Front Line Doctors" demonstrated, we already have the treatments. Hydroxychloroquine, Zinc, Z-Pac, Budesonide, Ivermectin. But the government wants the panic to continue forever...

#9 snopercod on 2021-02-12 13:21 (Reply)

Don't post while blind stupid drunk.

#9.1 William Jessup on 2021-02-12 14:43 (Reply)

The preventatives and treatments have a far safer and less expensive outcome than the "vaccine" which is NOT a vaccine but is an experimental injection for which no one wants liability for crappy outcomes. The uniparty pushes the panic porn as a route to more power, control, and of course more pocket money. The CDC, NIH, and FDA are the product of the uniparty...believe them at your own risk.

#9.2 indyjonesouthere on 2021-02-12 19:23 (Reply)

That some people are skeptical of the vaccines doesn't mean they don't work. That parents "think" their child's social skills have been harmed doesn't mean they have been.

Conservatives used to care about facts. Now they are just like liberals, swayed by how people feel about things. When did feelings become such a big part of the conservative movement? Going over my own archives, I am seeing an interesting pattern...

#10 Assistant Village Idiot on 2021-02-12 13:33 (Reply)

I don't see it that way

People have seen Government take their freedom, 'for their own good.'

Government has killed their jobs, 'for their own good'.

Government has ruined businesses and destroyed lives 'for their own good.'

Government's corruption and ambivalence towards the little people has been on display as never before.

Why would taking a vaccine 'for your own good' suddenly and uniquely among all the things Government has done to harm us be perceived as a good thing?

Logic would dictate that in light of all the other things Government has done to us, the vaccine must be suspect.

With the way the Ruling Class enriches itself with Government help at the expense of the little people, whose to say the entire quest and distribution of the vaccine wasn't solely to make a very few people richer, with efficacy and safety being secondary and tertiary objectives?

It's like the neighborhood bully affecting your life for the worse, intimidating and stealing from you, and then suddenly bringing you a precious gift. Isn't it logical to be skeptical?

#10.1 feeblemind on 2021-02-12 15:07 (Reply)

But what if your perception is more than half the problem? No one destroyed the economy "for your own good." It was a side effect of something that was indeed for our own good. Unless you think another half million dead is a good thing.

I have been on this site a long time, and remember how many people were insisting last March, April, May, that this was "just a bad flu season," and predictions of anything more than about 100K deaths were ridiculous fearmongering. Now people pretend they never said anything like that and are finding other things to complain about.

Government is displaying about the same corruption and ambivalence toward the little people I have witnessed my whole life. Conservatives have wanted something other than reality to be true, and so when a disease actually is worse than anything we have faced, they think they make accusations about the people in charge. While those accusations have some merit, they are greatly exaggerated, because people resent inconvenience. People resenting loss of jobs and loss of income I can understand. People resenting being told to wear masks and distance and scouring the net for evidence that it doesn't do any good are just being teenagers.

I have spent decades saying that the problem with liberals is that they will not look at themselves honestly. This year conservatives joined them.

#10.1.1 Assistant Village Idiot on 2021-02-12 19:00 (Reply)

Sheep[group] mentality is alive, growing and evolving.Internet does most their thinkin' for them.
I think maybe,but so it goes.

#10.2 RL on 2021-02-12 23:42 (Reply)

Nikki Haley breaks with Trump. Says we shouldn't have followed him.

She is trying to sail the political winds. Everything she says and does is calculated to make her electable. Nothing she does is about governing for Americans. To her Americans are an inconvenience that most be courted for votes and then ignored.

But what does she mean; "we shouldn't have followed him"? Well Trump is a fighter and Trump knew the election was stolen and not just stolen from him but from his 85 million supporters. Most politicians would have thrown in their hat and played the game so that they could be appointed or elected in the future because after all to most politicians it isn't about what Americans want it is about what THEY want. But Trump fought for us with very little support from the Republicans. Indeed there were some Republicans who supported him and Americans and they should not be forgotten by us. But 100% of the Democrats (including almost everyone in the MSM) turned on Trump and created a false narrative about the election and what he was doing. Because he fought for us the democrats and MSM (but I digress), punished any Republicans who stuck with Trump. Nikki Haley wanted no part of that but she couldn't come out and say it. She had to couch her comments as though Trump was wrong, did something wrong and she was above that. Which of course is exactly what the Democrats want. You can be a Republican, they will allow that, as long as you toe the line. She toed the line, she is a good follower and not a conservative and not a Republican but a whiny ass Rino. Remember this in 2022 and 2024 and beyond because she wants to parley her bowing and curtseying to the Democrats into some public office where she can do their bidding while pretending to be a Republican.

#11 OneGuy on 2021-02-12 15:29 (Reply)

This is 100% true. Nikki Haley is a hyper-aware politician with a finely tuned instinct for the correct path for her political self-aggrandizement. She was happy to follow Trump as soon as it became plain that he had a sizeable and dedicated following. Then she decided to be the chameleon, indistinguishable and seemingly neutral. Now she's calculated that she'll do better by blowing her own horn. She is a profoundly insincere politician.

#11.1 Aggie on 2021-02-12 17:17 (Reply)

You've been to my blog enough to know what I think about claims of 100%. It means you have stopped being able to look at competing POVs. Everyone liked Haley fine, but now that she has something critical to say about Trump people turn on her, like it's her fault he went off the rails and cost us two Senate seats in Georgia.

He blew up at the end. He didn't have to. He claimed to win by millions of votes, which is ludicrous. He could only think of himself, not the rest of the party - and the rest of the country. He didn't have to. You can come to different conclusions, but if you can no longer see that people have at least some reasonable case for criticising Trump, that's on you.

#11.1.1 Assistant Village Idiot on 2021-02-12 19:06 (Reply)

It appears to me that you have made a premise that I am incapable of contextualizing outside of Donald Trump. But my comment was completely about Nikki Haley, who I have concluded some years ago, is an opportunistic, manipulative politician that is focused on her political advancement, no matter what the cost. I've observed her tacks before, and I interpret this as just another one. I started out admiring her greatly as a governor, but the more I watched the less I liked it. She has public moves, and then she has private ones. The private ones are the ones to watch - like checking out the boards she sits on.

#11.1.1.1 Aggie on 2021-02-12 19:22 (Reply)

I didn't see Trump go off the rails in Georgia. What I did see in Georgia was again massive voter fraud by many on the left especially Stacy Abrams. I think that your TDS has seriously affected your cognitive abilities.

#11.1.1.2 Anon on 2021-02-13 10:48 (Reply)

"Doctors warn Covid will become endemic and people need to learn to live with it"

IOW, "get used to the permanent lockdowns, travel restrictions, and curfews, they're the 'new normal' from now on, all hail our communist overlords".

#12 JTW on 2021-02-12 21:47 (Reply)

Its interesting, B.D. how you prefaced all articles about the fraudulent election with comments like "where's the proof" and "show me", and "evidence please" and now there is irrefutable evidence out there in truckloads but you are unexplainably silent. Do you not even care that free and fair elections are extinct now in this the last free Republic on earth?

#13 Robert Readle (Link) on 2021-02-13 14:26 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email	(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)
Homepage
In reply to
Comment	By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications. Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u], [url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here. Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (word), underscore are made via _word_. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications. To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above: BBCode format allowed
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Maggie's Farm

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Friday, February 12. 2021

Friday morning links