Maggie's Farm

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Thursday, April 21. 2022

Thursday morning links

 Weed’s Journey through Conservative Politics


Some Sissies Still Wearing Masks Everywhere…


This guy is still afraid 


WSJ:   Libs of WaPo. If you thought the TikTok story was bizarre, check out the Covid coverage.


BLM WAS ALWAYS A FRAUD


 Here's the Tweet Clinton's Lawyer Doesn't Want Admitted as Evidence in Durham Case


" Now, of course, it is the job of the political class to sell the war to the public, which they have been happy to do. . ."


"  Taleb joins those who are indulging wishful thinking. I think it better not to fight to the last Ukrainian and still, despite it all, to give peace a chance."


One more view:  America’s Interest in Ukrainian Victory. A Russian defeat could reshape the security landscape to U.S. advantage in Europe and beyond.

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 07:00 | Comments (38) | Trackbacks (0)

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If people want to wear masks, let 'em. Thinking it's cool to make fun of them and accusing them of having a mental disorder is a middle-school move.
#1 Assistant Village Idiot on 2022-04-21 09:48 (Reply)
But letting people wear masks isn’t the idea. The idea is to make people wear masks (and get jabbed over and over again, and anything else the government cooks up “for your health”).
#1.1 mudbug on 2022-04-21 10:05 (Reply)
Very true. Reading that article, and a good number of the comments, it is clear that the author is still scared and really, really wants everyone to wear a mask. The reasons given are, per the data on the efficacy of mask for preventing transmission, all emotional and irrational. Demanding that others follow his choice is pretty much a narcissistic, middle-school move.
Personally I will sit this out unless the masked try to pull me in.
#1.2 steve walsh on 2022-04-21 10:46 (Reply)
To be honest, I haven't seen any examples of people trying to publicly shame others for wearing a mask past the end of the mandates. Not saying it doesn't happen because there are imbeciles like that everywhere. I've seen quite a few examples of the opposite though, all of them pretty highly emotional, objecting to proximity and so forth as if a person is entitled to control a fixed perimeter around their person as they move around.

Of course people can wear masks if they want to, and even wear rubber gloves too, whether they have a good reason or not (and many do). Just as men can walk around dressed as women, if they want to. But they don't have the right to demand that we don't think it's odd. When I see someone walking outdoors alone on a nature trail, or driving in their car without passengers, wearing a mask, I think it's odd - even if it doesn't affect me personally.
#1.3 Aggie on 2022-04-21 10:46 (Reply)
Of course it's a middle school move, we shouldn't make fun of peoples weaknesses. And we shouldn't act like them. But darn it, do they have to make it so hard not to? Did you read the Slate piece? Abullah Shihipar and others like him, I actually feel sorry for. They are scared to death for no good reason. Sorry, but the woman I saw walking her dog in a urban neighborhood, with her mask looped around her chin, on a nice sunny day, who upon noticing that I was observing her, quickly pulled the mask above her nose. This happened while I was stopped, across the street, in my car waiting to make a left-hand turn onto a very quite street. I just couldn't help but laugh.
#1.4 B. Hammer on 2022-04-21 11:35 (Reply)
Yet that is not what is happening HERE, where I am commenting. Here we are making fun of people wearing masks. I could also have reminded people of entirely justified reasons for wearing a mask, though those are not general. They are not "all emotional and irrational," though one might think so if one only reads one side of the story. The effect is small, but real, though not worth the candle if you don't do it right. As for proximity, there are degrees. We do not have blanket rights to dictate how much space others give us, but we have some, subject to the usual cultural negotiations of who is infringing on whom. Across the street? Ridiculous. Two feet farther than what we were used to two years ago? Probably fine.

Aggie, I take your experience in live space of not having witnessed others being shamed as true. However, you have witnessed it online right here, in the two articles linked. Those are my objection. That the opposite also occurs I fully agree with.

No one is making us wear a mask, except at medical facilities. Why do people get so worked up about this? And why do they get even more worked up when you challenge them to even ask themselves that?
#1.5 Assistant Village Idiot on 2022-04-21 12:21 (Reply)
The masking authorities MANDATED masks everywhere and brought punishment to those who did not want to mask. It cost those people jobs and it played havoc with children. No one wants to apologize for treating non maskers as they did but they don't want to be shamed for wearing a mask. Only an authoritarian can think like that. And here is a chart of masking vs non masking effectivity.
https://www.city-journal.org/the-failed-covid-policy-of-mask-mandates#.YI7PE17Nv
You might also consider the voluntary approach to mandated vaccines. I don't care how much masking OR vaxxing you wish to do but I would appreciate the same consideration if I don't wish to do either.
#1.5.1 indyjonesouthere on 2022-04-21 13:06 (Reply)
indyjonesouthere: And here is a chart of masking vs non masking effectivity.

Keep in mind that a mask mandate is not the same as mask utilization. This study addresses mask mandates:

Huang et al., The Effectiveness Of Government Masking Mandates On COVID-19 County-Level Case Incidence Across The United States, Health Affairs 2022: "On average, the daily case incidence per 100,000 people in masked counties compared with unmasked counties declined by 23 percent at four weeks, 33 percent at six weeks, and 16 percent across six weeks postintervention. . . The most concentrated effects of masking mandates were seen in urban counties"
#1.5.1.1 Zachriel on 2022-04-21 14:05 (Reply)
I really love observational studies, particularly those that don't list any details concerning the study.

Granted I only looked at PubMed for a couple of hours a day several days a week. I'm also a data driven sort, given my background as a bio-statistician.

I'm sure you can (as the all those with a stake in the ground love to say:) cherry-pick, yet, another 'study'.
#1.5.1.1.1 TheCaptain on 2022-04-21 14:18 (Reply)
Oops, found the data.
#1.5.1.1.1.1 TheCaptain on 2022-04-21 14:20 (Reply)
Oops, found the data. Looking now...
#1.5.1.1.1.2 TheCaptain on 2022-04-21 14:26 (Reply)
Haung can hang...who is paying Haung? I have seen countless government contractors turning out data that the government needs to continue its bullying of the US citizen. And the data is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. You need examples? How about the accuracy of PCR tests at 45 cycles. Or how about the work of 17 intelligence agencies and the hired intelligence contractors. The Steele dossier, anyone.
#1.5.1.1.2 indyjonesouthere on 2022-04-21 14:22 (Reply)
There is truth in what you say. I see a lot of hand waving and, in fact, I'm pretty sure that if someone who wanted to show the opposing view, could garner a bunch of counties on either side of the divide and voila! Hand waving! We're done!

Not going to bother analyzing a garbage 'study'. Even the CDC doesn't have any randomized control studies...
#1.5.1.1.2.1 TheCaptain on 2022-04-21 14:47 (Reply)
TheCaptain: I really love observational studies, particularly those that don't list any details concerning the study.

indyjonesouthere: Haung can hang

TheCaptain: Not going to bother analyzing a garbage 'study'.

Compare the graph in Tierney's article posted by indyjonesouthere to the more stringent study by Huang et al. Huang allows us to look at the data and see how they analyzed the data to reach their conclusion. There's no link to the data in Tierney's article, just an indication of the general direction. The methodology is concerning because of the confounding factor that states had many different types of masking mandates, and sometimes those mandates were on the city or county level, not the state level. How were they considered.
#1.5.1.1.3 Zachriel on 2022-04-21 15:16 (Reply)
Who is paying Huang?
#1.5.1.1.3.1 indyjonesouthere on 2022-04-21 15:22 (Reply)
indyjonesouthere: Who is paying Huang?

The researchers either work for the University of Pennsylvania or the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The lead author is an associate professor of biostatistics. As noted in the study, they received some support from the National Institutes of Health.
#1.5.1.1.3.1.1 Zachriel on 2022-04-21 15:42 (Reply)
Just like the AGW overlords. Academics getting a government paycheck from the state or federal government or a grant from the same.
#1.5.1.1.3.1.1.1 indyjonesouthere on 2022-04-21 16:09 (Reply)
indyjonesouthere: Academics getting a government paycheck from the state or federal government or a grant from the same.

That's modern science. How did you think it worked? Simply dismissing the study out of hand is not much of an argument.
#1.5.1.1.3.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2022-04-21 16:12 (Reply)
That is modern grifting. Saturate academia with liberal ideologs and then reward them for the results you require. The science has been mugged, rapped, and hospitalized.
#1.5.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.1 indyjonesouthere on 2022-04-21 16:22 (Reply)
indyjonesouthere: That is modern grifting.

You commit the genetic fallacy. In fact, much of science can be independently verified, including the study at issue. But that would require you actually reading it.

But sure. The entire scientific community is on the take, and no scientific progress is ever made.
#1.5.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2022-04-21 16:30 (Reply)
Enough is falsified to put all their data into question. Where are the multiple peer reviews. Especially from admin state characters that can be held accountable as it seems none are ever held accountable either financially or employment wise. Do remember that the Vaxx would keep you from getting the virus. And the Vaxx would keep you from passing on the virus. That was the science used to mandate the Vaxx. That was the BS science.
#1.5.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 indyjonesouthere on 2022-04-21 16:40 (Reply)
Hell, Huang et.al even admitted they couldn’t verify their numbers.
It was a computer best "guesstimate".
Again (((Quibble-DickZ))) spread misinformation as truth.
#1.5.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 Zachinoff on 2022-04-21 18:43 (Reply)
indyjonesouthere: Enough is falsified to put all their data into question.

You misrepresent tentative evidence concerning a novel coronavirus to impugn all science. Ignoring the study is not an argument that the study is flawed.
#1.5.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2 Zachriel on 2022-04-21 18:46 (Reply)
That "evidence" wasn't tentative. The Covid nazis represented the data as fact and drove thousands to be dumped from employment and vilified as killers. Your bullshit narratives got thousands needlessly killed from the Vaxx and now you want to call it tentative. It was ALL sold as the "SCIENCE".
#1.5.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1 indyjonesouthere on 2022-04-21 20:00 (Reply)
indyjonesouthere: That "evidence" wasn't tentative.

COVID-19 is caused by a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, so there was and is much to learn. The vaccines provoke a strong immune response with an initial 95% efficacy, but the antibodies wane over a period of a few months. However, the B-cell and T-cell responses remain. What this means is that, in the case of infection, the body’s immune system memory responds rapidly resulting in a significantly milder case.

We know all this because researchers continue to study and publish their findings. That does not mean all studies have equal merit, but it does mean we know more, much more than we did.
#1.5.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1 Zachriel on 2022-04-21 20:34 (Reply)
What it means is that admin state authoritarians, in collaboration with corporatists, ripped off the public for billions, got people fired and killed all in the name of power, control, and money. Yet, in your world, it was tentative. This is why the admin state needs to be replaced with every administration. It is corrupted to its core and UNACCOUNTABLE for its gross failures.
#1.5.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.1 indyjonesouthere on 2022-04-21 20:49 (Reply)
Those were not vaccines; they were gene therapies. Do recall that they confessed to using "vaccine" so as not to scare off those they wished to clot shot. They even redefined "vaccine" among other words such as cause of death. But that was required to satisfy the SCIENCE.
#1.5.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.2 indyjonesouthere on 2022-04-21 20:57 (Reply)
indyjonesouthere: Those were not vaccines

Of course, they are vaccines. They cause an immune response to the virus by exposing the immune system to components of the virus. How did you think it worked?

Your world-view is vacuous. Rejecting everything as fake means you may as well argue the Earth is flat, or that iPhones are run by little animalcules inside.
#1.5.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.3 Zachriel on 2022-04-21 22:41 (Reply)
Your world view is deranged. When you have to change the meaning of words to meet your SCIENCE beliefs then you deserve all the mask trash talk that you are getting. Your SCIENCE narratives are pure bullshit.
#1.5.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.3.1 indyjonesouthere on 2022-04-21 23:28 (Reply)
QUOTE:
(((Quibble-DickZ))): Of course, they are vaccines. They cause an immune response to the virus by exposing the immune system to components of the virus. How did you think it worked?

**
May 4, 2021, the CDC at that time defined vaccination as "The act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce immunity to a specific disease."
The CDC website now defines vaccination as "the act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce protection from a specific disease.

Last spring, CDC defined a vaccine as "a product that stimulates a person's immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease, protecting the person from that disease."
The definition of "vaccine" now reads: "A preparation that is used to stimulate the body’s immune response against diseases."
**

Big difference (((Quibble-DickZ))).
#1.5.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.3.2 Zachinoff on 2022-04-21 23:55 (Reply)
indyjonesouthere: When you have to change the meaning of words to meet your SCIENCE beliefs then you deserve all the mask trash talk that you are getting.

The study we cited is an observational study. Consider these arguments:

Claim: The world is not flat, but round. The evidence includes the fact that as we travel south, the Sun appears higher in the sky. Indeed, we can estimate the Earth's size by noting the angle of change.

indy: Saturate academia with liberal ideologs and then reward them for the results you require. The science has been mugged, rapped, and hospitalized.

Claim: Some diseases are caused by tiny particles, too small to be seen in a conventional microscope. Call them viruses, among them the virus that causes COVID-19. The evidence for viruses includes that filters that stop bacteria still allow contagious agents to pass.

indy: Saturate academia with liberal ideologs and then reward them for the results you require. The science has been mugged, rapped, and hospitalized.

Regardless of the claim, you can say you have argued against it by posting the very same "argument." It's not even a reasonable ad hominem, because it doesn't allow for any exceptions unless they already agree with you. Your "argument" is not attached to any aspect of the claim, so it is vacuous.
#1.5.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.3.3 Zachriel on 2022-04-22 07:47 (Reply)
So? HERE? Why not here? Are we not to talk about maskers? Question their inability to 'follow the science', as we have been told time and again by said maskers?

I've been screamed at by more than a few maskers - even here in Texas when I would shop without one. I always made an attempt when in the grocery store, but not in the Big Box hardware store. Funnily enough the maskers would shriek at me, but not the guy with a muscle shirt and tattoos on his arms, right behind me. I'm just a Texas girl, brought up to say "Ma'am" and 'Sir". I also like to give the benefit of the doubt, and will NOT insult someone who shows signs of mental illness, unless it infringes on me.

disclaimer: I do mask when in the 'shop' working with not nice stuff such as walnut, plywood and other dusty materials.

So for Pete's sake, give folks a break. We've been abused about 'masks' for 2 years. The small amount of payback is hardly a 'thing'.
#1.5.2 TheCaptain on 2022-04-21 14:05 (Reply)
I wish you'd stop linking to the WSJ.
It is always behind a paywall, and they will not get my money.
Why link to something most won't read.
At least quote the most relevant parts.
#2 Thomas A. (Link) on 2022-04-21 10:41 (Reply)
Re the mask dependency disorder that Japanese psychologists have termed, I was reminded of a science fiction short story I read many, many years ago. I can't remember what the title of the story was or who wrote it, but the gist of it was this: A researcher visits a society on another human-settled world where the population wear full-face masks all the time, different masks for whatever mood they might be in, and they use small, hand-held musical instruments to signal their mood in speech. The point is, no one is ever maskless, as to be so is an intolerable breach of etiquette. The researcher is attacked by an enemy who forces him to walk down a street in public view without a mask on, because by that time he has been totally acculturated into the mask requirement. It's a torture for him to be observed without a mask, and eventually the people who are watching this breach violently turn on the enemy who visited this unacceptable humiliation on him. I hope someone here once read this story and can tell me what the title was and who wrote it (possibly in Astounding Stories, or one of the other anthologies?). Kind of rings a bell, though, doesn't it?
#3 RebeccaH on 2022-04-21 16:01 (Reply)
It's too bad Russians will only get the lies and propaganda and distortions of the Russian press on what's going on in Ukraine - if only they could get CNN and MSNBC and the NYT to get the real truth of the matter. I'm sure Brian Stelter and Rachel Maddow and Maggie Haberman could set them straight in a minute.
#4 Jerryskids on 2022-04-21 16:13 (Reply)
What is most important is the money flow to the Ukraine...and then the money flow back. Then the campaign contributions from the defense product providers. Mucho centavos.
#4.1 indyjonesouthere on 2022-04-21 16:29 (Reply)
Huge blaze sweeps through Russia’s biggest chemical plant on same day seven people are killed in fire at weapon research facility

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10740579/Huge-blaze-sweeps-Russias-biggest-chemical-plant-hours-7-killed-weapon-centre-fire.html
#5 feeblemind on 2022-04-21 19:28 (Reply)
Two Russian Oligarchs Die in Mysterious Circumstances 24 Hours Apart

https://www.newsweek.com/oligarchs-murder-suicide-1699766
#6 feeblemind on 2022-04-21 23:21 (Reply)

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