Just don't get why acquired immunity doesn't get a play. Damn, the Native Americans almost got wiped out by the coronavirus (common cold) from the first Europeans setting foot here. Surely the young and healthy acquired an immunity and unfortunately the risk groups took a hit. So vax is beneficial to those risk groups. Healthy with acquired immunity from exposure are in good shape and if they want the vax go for it. Acquired immunity should be on equal footing, don't accuse us all of being anti-vax. In this case most of us, especially in NYC, were exposed during the onset. Especially the "essential workers" - now fire them? Please those castigating these workers are either ill-informed or naive, take your pick. Our immune system is pretty damn good!
Matt, Very, very well done. Live and let live (or maybe "Live and Let Die" unless that's a copyright violation). Sorry, maybe that's harsh.
A point you touched on briefly with your mention of the differing advice you got from two doctors is the constantly changing "wisdom" from the CDC and Fauci. While some of this is understandable (we're all trying to figure this out), some of it does feel like there is some ulterior motive that I and others don't understand and makes people suspicious. There have been dozens of studies/papers supporting natural immunity as being as good or better than the vaccine. No rational person would suggest you should deliberately get Covid but why have the CDC and Fauci ignored natural immunity in their recommendations on vaccination? The CDC finally just published a study showing natural immunity was more effective than the vaccine at preventing an infection from Delta. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2022/01/19/cdc-prior-covid-infection-offered-more-protection-against-delta-than-vaccines---but-both-together-did-best/?sh=2ac249193d04 This is logical since the vaccine was based on Alpha. The strength of natural immunity has been known for over a year by virtue of studies in other countries but ignored here. Why? People have been fired from jobs who already had Covid because of the CDC and Fauci's refusal to acknowledge natural immunity. This is the kind of thing that throws gas on the vaccine hesitancy fire.
There also have been studies for over a year showing that N95 masks are the only masks that are highly effective at stopping the spread of Covid. Why was that ignored for so long and NOW is finally admitted? If the CDC and Fauci had communicated in a forthright and honest way from the beginning, I think the vaccine resistors would have been much more likely to come around. Fauci’s credibility dropped dramatically in my mind when, after saying people shouldn’t go to church, shouldn’t go to indoor or outdoor sporting events and naming many other specific activities people shouldn’t do, he refused to say that people jamming into the streets at a demonstration was a bad idea. It was obvious at that point that he was politicized.
Fauci’s attempts to marginalize the epidemiologists from Stanford, Oxford and Harvard as “fringe epidemiologists” because they dared to suggest that lock downs caused more harm than good is outrageous. See the Great Barrington Declaration which is now, over a year later, gaining more acceptance. His work to convince his associates to stamp out any suggestion of a Wuhan Lab Leak in the letter they published in the Lancet in early 2020 has now been exposed. How could it possibly have been known in early 2020 that it was impossible for Covid to have come from a lab? And NOW we are finally looking into this as a possibility. His lies about NIH funding of gain of function research that has now been exposed, changing the definition of gain of function research to try to cover this up as well as changing the definition of vaccine itself so the Covid shot could be called a vaccine all add to the ability of the vaccine hesitant to feel justified in their position.
I’m vaccinated and boosted. I believe in them but something is wrong with the CDC, Fauci and even the FDA in their processes and communication and, I believe, motives. Either they are supremely incompetent or they are crooked or maybe both. Rather than have open conversations with experienced, informed persons that may have different opinions, Fauci has attacked or bullied others in his field to make sure his is the only opinion that appears credible. And he's had lots of help from the media who have taken the position that any views not in alignment with Fauci and the CDC are misinformation no matter how expert the opposing opinion may be. (See Dr. Robert Malone being recently banned from Twitter. I have no idea whether he is right or wrong but he is certainly qualified to speak on the subject of vaccines and MRNA.) It is extraordinarily dangerous for the scientific community not to have open debate and dialogue on these important matters. People are not stupid. They see this happening and it adds to their suspicions about the information they are receiving. As a result, anti-vaxers have ample ammunition for believing they are right which is sad since they may pay with their life for their views.
Thanks Tom, and I won't litigate all your points, plenty of which I agree with. But where I think we totally agree, and what it all largely boils down to is: they have an extraordinarily difficult job that they've done poorly. Or at the very least, their communication should've been a lot better. (Such as on the natural immunity flip-flop you reference.) Some of that is unavoidable when they acknowledge new information that comes in, as they should. But as my wife always says, "They'd have a lot more credibility if they just admitted what they don't know, instead of having to reverse themselves later." It's not a crime not to know things about something that just arrived on our doorstep yesterday. But, for instance, when they said don't wear masks, then turned around just weeks later and told everyone to wear masks, they've been fighting off their backs ever since. (Personally, I still wear masks in stores - so I'm not poo-pooing masks.) If you're going to be the Voice of Authority, you have to use it wisely and cautiously. Our country is so jacked-up on conspiracy theorizing right now anyway, that it doesn't take much to lose trust. And if you act suspiciously in an environment as contentious as ours, people will be suspicious. They don't need much in the way of excuses. So utter transparency and admitting ignorance is probably a good idea.
Exactly. I agree with your wife 100% and even you mostly. Just finished reading The Splendid and the Vile about Winston Churchill's first year as PM. Should be required reading for anyone in a leadership position. Assume your audience is smart enough to accept the truth and acknowledge that you don't know everything. Biden actually makes a reasonable attempt at the latter of these (no comment on why that might be) but Fauci presents as if he knows everything and his opinions are gospel. Pretty bold for someone who's been proven to be wrong so many times.
There's a certain percentage of people that are naturally contrarian and will never do what they are asked (and certainly not what you try to force them to do) but I think that percentage is far lower than the percentage of people who are unvaccinated. The rest have lost faith that they are hearing the whole truth and for good reason.
Ha! True. Partygate may do him in. At least he got moving from pandemic to endemic right. I hope we follow suit in the not too distant future but I don't think Fauci will ever let go of his pandemic.
Am pretty sure Boris was drinking to the endemic by the first week. Any excuse. And in fairness to Fauci, we are still losing around 2,000 a day, plus logging 650,000 new cases per day. Which come to think of it, is also a pretty good reason to drink.
Yup but I didn't say now. I said in the not too distant future. Omicron (aka the global booster shot everyone gets whether they want it or not) seems to be peaking but my guess is we'll have to rip the pandemic label out of Fauci's cold, dead hands before he'll give it up. I could be wrong. We'll see.
Thank you. This is the greatest and most fulfilling job career I have ever had the pleasure of doing. Just a short list
Paramedic
USCG
Defense Contractor
ATT Wireless #1 Sales Nationally
FEMA ATT Contractor
White House ATT.Contractor
Sprint Wireless #1 Sales Nationally
KBR Private Military Contractor Iraq (too old to reenlist)
I have been blessed by those opportunities and the Mentors that provided me with the best they had to offer. That being said
Currently at the VA I work 80 to 85 hours a week. I make just over 13.00 an hour and 20.00 on OT. My shift(s) run on a double at 1130 PM until 330 PM the next day.
Simple: Would not change it for a winning Mega Millions Lotto ticket. I lied. I would continue to do this for free and donate my paychecks to several Vets orgs.
you ask why?if the covidiots are filling up hospitals ,whom bears the burden?its not just the covidiots,its all of society,the same society that as a free nation says you may not drink and drive,for the chance you may kill,harm ,some one else..the list is all most endless on what the government,society asks of you to protect others,think of the 2nd amendment, and your right to not own a fully automatic weapon.
Look folks As a front liner and as I type this sit bedside with a dying Vet due to C19 complications. He will die God willing with me holding his hand without his wife children or grandchildren able to say good bye. Without seeing him since this SHIT hit the fan. I have and continue to follow protocol from masks to full contamination suit for 16 hours 5 to 6 days a week. I am as is every single Veteran resident triple vaccinated yet I still pack these residents into body bags Please let that sink in. Most have/had other medical issues Type 2 D, HBP, High Cholesterol Heart and or Lung issues and other immune lowering issues. I ask you on both sides that know someone on the other side that has one of the above. Me....I have all of the above yet everyday I willingly expose myself to one of the most deadly pandemics in the history of man. Who doesn't have at least one? You are asking where is all of this going? With everything I know and have been told by truly experts "Bill to be 100% honest vaccines and masks and distancing do not absolutely prevent anything. They only reduce the chances and effects."
Oh BTW after nearly 2 years doing this I got Omicron. Absolutely reduced effects and symptoms with no fever and reduced recovery. Yet I still believe we as individuals have the right to make decisions about our lives. I still believe the unvaxxed have a right to be unvaxxed. I believe the same goes for maaks and distancing. What I do not believe us we have right not to respect the decisions we make that may infect and potentially kill.
My Vets, most have experienced the worst humans can do to humans. They came home and moved on only to end up here with me holding their hand as they take their final breath as I ask God to have mercy on their soul. All because someone vaxxed or unvaxxed made a decision to not take proper precautions. Confused? So am I.
'scuse me. Gotta open a window. Things are gettin' a little close in here. Don't know if it's the dust or the increased temperature engendered by that last paragraph. I'm confused, too.
You do realize many of us unvaxxed (which apparently makes us anti-vaxxers despite the fact we've had all other vaccinations) already had Covid. Y'all are finally waking up to the fact that having Covid is equal to (or better than) being triple jabbed. I had Covid in Oct 2020 and have not had delta, Omicron or any other variant.
Well, you do realize I was essentially taking up for your prerogative not to get vaxxed, seeing as how we all spread it. However, I trust you're also aware that just because you had COVID doesn't mean your natural immunity is bulletproof any more than if you'd been vaxxed:
Yes and thank you for finally acknowledging that fact. I am a little peeved that I'm not able to participate in many areas of society because I haven't had the vaccines. I'm not going to get something I DO NOT NEED that will most likely make me sick for at least a day. Nope, not doing it. Btw, I am married to an ENT physician. When he got Covid (there really was no way for him to evade it considering what he does for a living) I decided to just get it and be done with it so I didn't isolate from him. I did a risk assessment based on all the available data, determined I would be OK (extremely fit and healthy 57 yo) and had a very minor illness (PCR positive and still had measurable antibodies a year out.). It's possible I had Omicron after the holidays, I had a 10 day cold, but I didn't test because it doesn't matter. I would not have changed my behavior, positive or negative test result.
Well BikerChick, everyone has to assess their own risk, and sounds like you did yours. I still think a lot of people end up mis-assessing their risk, and end up with a nasty surprise when contracting COVID (i.e., sucking on a vent). We don't always know how our bodies will respond to illness. I've read of plenty of otherwise healthy people who've died of COVID, even if they're not in the statistical main. Personally, I say to each their own. If someone wants to smoke two packs a day, far be it from me to stop them. It's when their behavior threatens other people collectively that I get cranky. (If they were say, smoking two packs a day in the middle of a cramped flight, that's a different story.) Mandates have always made me uneasy. But last summer, I might have been a lot more sympathetic to a mandate argument - if it would stop the spread of covid. The numbers looked a lot different then, on the people who were getting infected vs. not. But now that it's pretty clear even the vaccinated can catch it and spread it with abandon (I guess we always knew they could spread it), mandates become a lot dicier to justify. So I get why you're peeved.
No I don't get flu vaccines. I also don't get the flu, can't remember the last time I had it (if ever?) I guess I got all other vaccines because my mom made me get them when I was a kid? And I get tetanus every 10 years. And I got a DPT booster maybe like 5 years ago? I won't get this vaccine for the same reason I won't get varicella, had Covid and had chicken pox.
BikerChick: Hi. Great posts and, although I chose to be vaccinated and boosted, your points on mandates, exclusion of the unvaccinated and N95 masks are spot on especially now that we're in the "Omicron Age." Glad others are thinking and researching independently as it appears the vast majority are not.
I assume another element of why you've received other vaccines but not Covid is because the others are actually vaccines in the traditional sense... i.e. they actually produce immunity. The Covid shot is NOT a vaccine. It does not produce immunity, only some level of protection. We never called the flu shot a vaccine because it doesn't provide immunity either, just (in a good year) some modest level of protection. Though the motive is denied, the timing of changing the definition with the Covid "vaccine" certainly looks like it was done for marketing purposes for the Covid shot.
One thing you might want to look at though, having Chicken Pox does not make you immune from Shingles. In fact, it's kind of the opposite. If you've had Chicken Pox, the virus is certainly in your body in a dormant state and can be reactivated as Shingles. The newer Shingles vaccine is nearly 100% effective at preventing Shingles so I think it safely qualifies as an actual vaccine. Obviously, you may still not want to get it (I haven't yet but may when I'm older) but thought you should know that you aren't actually immune from Shingles.
Thanks for the kind words. Yes, I am keenly aware of the shingles threat. My daughter suffered a bout years ago when she was only 16. I'm not quite ready for that vaccine, my doctor husband is reluctant to get it as well so there must be good reason!
I’m with you on the need to get beyond the vax/unvaxx divide with one caveat – The un-vaxxed should have to suffer the financial repercussions of their choice. Insurance companies should be able to absolve themselves of the treatment costs for the unvaccinated. If this was done six months after the vaccine was available, the hospitals would not be nearly as full right now. The only way to get through to some is through their wallet. I don’t care if you are vaccinated or not (your gamble), but I don’t want to be on the hook for the insurance hike that will surely result from this chaos.
There are no easy solutions for getting thru to those who don’t want to listen. We cannot deny care. Vaccine passports are ridiculous. But making antivaxxers pay for their own choices is entirely reasonable. It’s the least they can do for filling hospitals, taxing health care workers, that should be treating cancer and heart attacks.
Smokers should pay for their lung cancer treatment, the obese should pay for their Type 2 diabetes treatment, people who don't wear bike helmets and crack their noggins should pay for their cracked noggin treatment, etc.
Does sound fair, except that as a society we subsidize all kinds of behaviors that resist change. The unvaxxed demand that the cost of their liberty be socialized, as do— the argument goes—smokers, alcoholics, and the obese, among others who indulge in unhealthy behaviors. We’ve medicalized these by calling them addictions or genetic predispositions. But that doesn’t make them any cheaper, nor does it de-stigmatized the conduct, which many suspect should be controlled by free will. Nevertheless, I don’t think there will ever be a constituency for making the unvaxxed pay for their choices.
I love the quote from H.L. Mencken and I especially appreciate your point about convenient (or inconvenient) science.
I've never heard of anyone being invited to, or hosting, a "fetus shower". That's a baby in there.
And the fact that NPR now refers to "pregnant people" rather than pregnant women doesn't change the fact that neither you nor I ever had to deal with becoming pregnant. Even if we decided to "switch teams in the middle of the game" (a la Bruce Jenner), it would still be an impossibility.....Right? Please tell me I'm right.
"Pregnant people" hits my ear wrong, to be sure - but then I stop to think of how "women's problems" are relegated to, well, women's problems, the default as usual being men. It's helpful (as with the pronoun thing) for us to be reminded that we're all human and our problems should receive equal attention.
The best argument for enforcing mask bans in restaurants and on lanes is that it at least partially protects the workers. I have friends in the restaurant industry who can't keep their places open (or are only opening 3 days a week) because of staffing issues. Staff get sick or test positive. They don't have health insurance and don't get paid time off.
I find the attitude of some anti-vaxxers infuriating. They don't want to get vaxxed, don't want to wear masks and yet are the first to complain when their local store isn't fully staffed. My wife does HR for a major retailer and they struggle on a daily basis to have enough healthy staff to man the cash registers. They often end up using the people who should be restocking the shelves . Which leads to complaints about a lack of merchandise.
If this pandemic has show me one thing, it's that there are a lot of Americans who never give the slightest thought to the people who keep this country's infrastructure running smoothly.
A very close friend runs multiple restaurants, and this, absolutely this. In several places bar owner groups imposed their own vaccination requirements before or in lieu of local authorities doing so. Patrons who care about COVID feel safer in places that check cards and staff feel much better when their employer takes it seriously.
You lose some patrons who don't accept the rules, but its a net positive (and maybe patrons you lose are ones who would cause trouble in other areas in the end).
Apples and oranges. The "intent" of vaccine passports was to reduce spread/transmission. Omicron doesn't care if you're vaccinated. Surely you've heard of vaccine-only events where many people ended up with Covid.
I am extremely interested in the difference between usually-okay bout of disease on the one hand and often-severe-and-lethal on the other hand. Also, not everyone is in wonderful condition and ready to fight off the virus - the vulnerable we have with us always. Surely we need to do everything we can to reduce suffering. (I have my passport and am very happy to display it as required - and wish it were required in more places, like grocery stores.)
Near the end of his piece today Matt spoke of compassion and humility. Over at The B recently, JVL wrote of kindness and empathy. Good and noble things, all. Both these pieces flow in the vein of how people on the vaxxed side of the Covid divide should deal with and feel toward those on the other. I'm gonna' take the lazy guy's way out and just retread a comment I left somewhere a few days ago concerning this.
Took me quite a while to get to the point I could even consider those words in relation to how I feel about or behave toward people whom I've considered, for lack of a better word, my enemies. There was no huge moral awakening involved in realizing my lack of those qualities regarding these folks when they became ill and perhaps died was wrong. It simply took the realization that I was myself practicing that which I detested most in the objects of my self-righteous scorn. I didn't give a shit about them, just like they obviously didn't give a shit about me. And I don't give a shit about what anyone says to the contrary, that is wrong on a lot of different levels.
But I won't get into why that is wrong beyond why that is wrong for me personally. Everybody has their own ideas about this, and I'm not going to try to convert anyone here. Anyone decides maybe my words have a little merit, that's great. No? NBD. I wouldn't argue with you. This is a very personal thing for all of us.
I am a Lukewarm Christian, a member of that denomination that doesn't sit in church pews and isn't 100% sure about 100% of everything that's labeled "Christian". Still, what faith I do have demands better of me than total indifference to the suffering of others, even if I believe those others' travails are much of their own making. My faith demands that I at least occasionally recall the fact that "God loves a sinner" and that my life isn't of more value in His eyes because I see myself as doing the right thing and the other guy as doing the wrong thing. It demands that I consider the possibility that I could occasionally be wrong myself, hard as that may be for me to believe.
So, I try to remember this when I learn of some anti-vaxer partisan hack who's ended up biting the dust. Or some nefarious misinformation merchant. Or some guy "who should have just known better, for cripes sake!" Now, I don't feel sorry for them. Wouldn't do 'em any good if I did. But I no longer exult in their having "gotten what's comin' to 'em", because we're all gonna' get what's commin' to us in the end, one way or another. And I do at least consider that those they left behind are feeling real pain, whether "justifiably" or not, since I'm not really qualified to decide what's justifiable in the way of the pain that others feel. I've felt that kind of pain myself a few times over the years, and it was real for me regardless of other's views or opinions of me.
I am, as many of us are, totally worn out by all of this. All of it. Covid itself, the politics of it. Everything. And my supply of kindness, empathy and compassion is running low. As to humility, well, I never had much of that to begin with, I guess. At least not enough. But I've put in a replacement order for the first three, along with a side order of the fourth, if any becomes available. If it all gets hung up in a supply chain disruption somewhere, I'll just have to ration whatever I've got left, I suppose. And there's always plan B if I run completely out. I'll just fake it. Like wearing a mask, it's not that hard to do. And if that's hypocritical, at least it's better than becoming a much, much bigger asshat than the asshats that have so long been the target of my animus for being "people who should know better". Because I realize I do, in fact, know better myself.
No, thank you, Dr. Hall, for such a kind and completely undeserved compliment.
No bravery here, and IRL, not a lot of tenderness. A few soft spots, but mostly hard bark covering a guy who simply loathes hypocrisy, especially when he finds it hiding under that bark. Just another attempt to kick that particular demon in the you-know-whats. Not always successful, but I keep kickin'.
So very nice of you to say that, though. I do appreciate it.
>>And if that's hypocritical, at least it's better than becoming a much, much bigger asshat than the asshats that have so long been the target of my animus for being "people who should know better".<<
I blame the internet. :-)
It's the attention economy. The excitement level has to be high enough to get our attention, and then stay exciting enough to keep it. You can't monetize something where no one's looking.
So it used to be that you could find yourself on the brink of making an asshat of yourself because some view you brain-farted into existence one day, I dunno, maybe after a bender or a round of food poisoning. In your local village there was an idiot. And you could compare your cerebral flatulence to that of the village idiot, and you'd catch yourself, saying, "My God! I sound like the village idiot! I think I'll stop that, and I'll try to find some other idea, or something better to do instead."
Then along comes the internet, and everyone goes online, down to the last village idiot. Now, when you sense a brain fart coming on, you can go online and find not just one village idiot, but one from (say) all 40,000 villages in the country, and many multiples more from around the world. Suddenly, you're not embarrassed by your brain fart--how could those thousands of people be wrong, after all? Not only is your brain fart not a *dumb idea*, it's probably the smartest idea *ever*--everyone in your online community agrees! And it's just being smothered into silence by the elite power brokers! And... and... And!! Don't it just make ya MAD!!!?? So you go down to the Kroger's and yell at the checkout clerk for wearing a mask or not or whatever.
And so on. In conclusion: be suspicious that the newest idea you've fallen for might in actuality be some village idiot's brain fart.
Marque...Speaking of flatulence, I have, through a lot of hard work and no small amount of luck, finally achieved the official rank of Old Fart. [ That's Col. Old Fart to you, Matt ;-) ] I wear my thinning salt-and-pepper-minus-all-the-the-pepper helmet proudly, as I do every wrinkle, sag and less-than-optimally functioning joint, the combat ribbons denoting all the engagements I've survived so far in this conflict we otherwise refer to as life. And speaking from the perspective of an official OF, I have to agree with Matt that what you just wrote about the battlefield AKA the 'net cuts absolutely to the heart of the phenomenon of the world-wide spread of Village Idiot Syndrome.
Man, if we ever needed a vaccine, we need a vaccine against that puppy. Particularly for OF's like me, since we're in a really high-risk category by virtue of the fact that a lot of us figure since we were smart enough to have picked the right foxhole to dive into to avoid getting shredded by all the sundry incoming over lo, these many years, we must be pretty damned smart. Sadly, I don't think modern science is quite up to the job. And it's pretty busy with Covid right now anyway.
Indeed, back in the day when a lot of Village Idiots tended to hang out in bars and bowling alleys, this bug really wasn't so infectious, and if one did come down with it (I suspect I've had a mild case or two over the years, though I can't confirm this due to the fact that the infection often produces selective memory), the effects most likely would be gone with the dissipation of the following day's hangover, thus precluding its further spread and reducing the incidents of asshattery this malady so often engenders.
So, while waiting on science, we need a home remedy. And I think the one you offered up is perhaps one of the best. I've always been a somewhat skeptical sort, but I think a bit more powerful med is needed these days. And suspicion, taken in the right dosage, just might be it. We just have to be careful not to OD on the damned stuff, since it can indeed be kind of powerful and lead to a whole new set of problems, some of which we've seen already.
Anyway, thanks for the Rx, Doc. Don't expect nearly enough folks will actually take a healthy dose. Even though it's absolutely free and widely available, there's that damned "choice" thing standing in the way. But one can always hope.
To hear fetal viability and the reality of biological gender offered as examples of the willful suspension of disbelief by our otherwise science enthusiastic brethren delights me. To quote S.D. O'Connor in '85 re Roe "bad law, but I must support it" she noted that viability due to it's changing nature was not a good standard. This is from memory, I may have botched it.
I don't judge unvaxed fellow citizens. I think they probably fall into the category of certitude identified by Mencken and progress is hardly their agenda. Indeed, retreat to superstition and neurotic fear is the status in which they wish to dwell.
In Sebastian Junger's most recent book, 'Freedom,' he articulated a view that is not acknowledged by those who eschew vaccinations. His premise is freedom is absolutely your right. You may remove yourself from the restrictions that chaff and be completely unrestricted. The Apache tribe eluded the restrictions of the US Cavalry for 30 years in the mountains of Arizona. Completely free. So, go. Be free. You are released.
But if you choose to live in community and enjoy all the benefits that are accorded to you therewith, you may be asked to accede to community requirements that provide for the health and well-being of all members of the community, including those who may be more vulnerable than you.
So, not to put too fine a point on it . . . Wise up. You are being duped and led to your own demise. We can't save you. Only you can save yourself . . . And the weaker members of the tribe, and the economy.
Close of rant. We now return to your originally scheduled program.
I am triple vaxed. But as you correctly noted, I can get and spread the Vid. I’d like to avoid that, so I wear a mask in certain circumstances for myself..a me me me thing. I also wear a mask if I’m around children under 5 or an elderly relative or my friend working through a cancer diagnosis. I guess I am bit jaded at this point, but I don’t believe that many in the anti mandate movement will don a mask under any circumstances unless forced, and it’s less douchy to object to a mandate than to hold up a sign objecting to acting like a considerate adult.
Just don't get why acquired immunity doesn't get a play. Damn, the Native Americans almost got wiped out by the coronavirus (common cold) from the first Europeans setting foot here. Surely the young and healthy acquired an immunity and unfortunately the risk groups took a hit. So vax is beneficial to those risk groups. Healthy with acquired immunity from exposure are in good shape and if they want the vax go for it. Acquired immunity should be on equal footing, don't accuse us all of being anti-vax. In this case most of us, especially in NYC, were exposed during the onset. Especially the "essential workers" - now fire them? Please those castigating these workers are either ill-informed or naive, take your pick. Our immune system is pretty damn good!
Matt, Very, very well done. Live and let live (or maybe "Live and Let Die" unless that's a copyright violation). Sorry, maybe that's harsh.
A point you touched on briefly with your mention of the differing advice you got from two doctors is the constantly changing "wisdom" from the CDC and Fauci. While some of this is understandable (we're all trying to figure this out), some of it does feel like there is some ulterior motive that I and others don't understand and makes people suspicious. There have been dozens of studies/papers supporting natural immunity as being as good or better than the vaccine. No rational person would suggest you should deliberately get Covid but why have the CDC and Fauci ignored natural immunity in their recommendations on vaccination? The CDC finally just published a study showing natural immunity was more effective than the vaccine at preventing an infection from Delta. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2022/01/19/cdc-prior-covid-infection-offered-more-protection-against-delta-than-vaccines---but-both-together-did-best/?sh=2ac249193d04 This is logical since the vaccine was based on Alpha. The strength of natural immunity has been known for over a year by virtue of studies in other countries but ignored here. Why? People have been fired from jobs who already had Covid because of the CDC and Fauci's refusal to acknowledge natural immunity. This is the kind of thing that throws gas on the vaccine hesitancy fire.
There also have been studies for over a year showing that N95 masks are the only masks that are highly effective at stopping the spread of Covid. Why was that ignored for so long and NOW is finally admitted? If the CDC and Fauci had communicated in a forthright and honest way from the beginning, I think the vaccine resistors would have been much more likely to come around. Fauci’s credibility dropped dramatically in my mind when, after saying people shouldn’t go to church, shouldn’t go to indoor or outdoor sporting events and naming many other specific activities people shouldn’t do, he refused to say that people jamming into the streets at a demonstration was a bad idea. It was obvious at that point that he was politicized.
Fauci’s attempts to marginalize the epidemiologists from Stanford, Oxford and Harvard as “fringe epidemiologists” because they dared to suggest that lock downs caused more harm than good is outrageous. See the Great Barrington Declaration which is now, over a year later, gaining more acceptance. His work to convince his associates to stamp out any suggestion of a Wuhan Lab Leak in the letter they published in the Lancet in early 2020 has now been exposed. How could it possibly have been known in early 2020 that it was impossible for Covid to have come from a lab? And NOW we are finally looking into this as a possibility. His lies about NIH funding of gain of function research that has now been exposed, changing the definition of gain of function research to try to cover this up as well as changing the definition of vaccine itself so the Covid shot could be called a vaccine all add to the ability of the vaccine hesitant to feel justified in their position.
I’m vaccinated and boosted. I believe in them but something is wrong with the CDC, Fauci and even the FDA in their processes and communication and, I believe, motives. Either they are supremely incompetent or they are crooked or maybe both. Rather than have open conversations with experienced, informed persons that may have different opinions, Fauci has attacked or bullied others in his field to make sure his is the only opinion that appears credible. And he's had lots of help from the media who have taken the position that any views not in alignment with Fauci and the CDC are misinformation no matter how expert the opposing opinion may be. (See Dr. Robert Malone being recently banned from Twitter. I have no idea whether he is right or wrong but he is certainly qualified to speak on the subject of vaccines and MRNA.) It is extraordinarily dangerous for the scientific community not to have open debate and dialogue on these important matters. People are not stupid. They see this happening and it adds to their suspicions about the information they are receiving. As a result, anti-vaxers have ample ammunition for believing they are right which is sad since they may pay with their life for their views.
Thanks Tom, and I won't litigate all your points, plenty of which I agree with. But where I think we totally agree, and what it all largely boils down to is: they have an extraordinarily difficult job that they've done poorly. Or at the very least, their communication should've been a lot better. (Such as on the natural immunity flip-flop you reference.) Some of that is unavoidable when they acknowledge new information that comes in, as they should. But as my wife always says, "They'd have a lot more credibility if they just admitted what they don't know, instead of having to reverse themselves later." It's not a crime not to know things about something that just arrived on our doorstep yesterday. But, for instance, when they said don't wear masks, then turned around just weeks later and told everyone to wear masks, they've been fighting off their backs ever since. (Personally, I still wear masks in stores - so I'm not poo-pooing masks.) If you're going to be the Voice of Authority, you have to use it wisely and cautiously. Our country is so jacked-up on conspiracy theorizing right now anyway, that it doesn't take much to lose trust. And if you act suspiciously in an environment as contentious as ours, people will be suspicious. They don't need much in the way of excuses. So utter transparency and admitting ignorance is probably a good idea.
Exactly. I agree with your wife 100% and even you mostly. Just finished reading The Splendid and the Vile about Winston Churchill's first year as PM. Should be required reading for anyone in a leadership position. Assume your audience is smart enough to accept the truth and acknowledge that you don't know everything. Biden actually makes a reasonable attempt at the latter of these (no comment on why that might be) but Fauci presents as if he knows everything and his opinions are gospel. Pretty bold for someone who's been proven to be wrong so many times.
There's a certain percentage of people that are naturally contrarian and will never do what they are asked (and certainly not what you try to force them to do) but I think that percentage is far lower than the percentage of people who are unvaccinated. The rest have lost faith that they are hearing the whole truth and for good reason.
You should lend that book to Boris Johnson.
Ha! True. Partygate may do him in. At least he got moving from pandemic to endemic right. I hope we follow suit in the not too distant future but I don't think Fauci will ever let go of his pandemic.
Am pretty sure Boris was drinking to the endemic by the first week. Any excuse. And in fairness to Fauci, we are still losing around 2,000 a day, plus logging 650,000 new cases per day. Which come to think of it, is also a pretty good reason to drink.
Yup but I didn't say now. I said in the not too distant future. Omicron (aka the global booster shot everyone gets whether they want it or not) seems to be peaking but my guess is we'll have to rip the pandemic label out of Fauci's cold, dead hands before he'll give it up. I could be wrong. We'll see.
Thank you. This is the greatest and most fulfilling job career I have ever had the pleasure of doing. Just a short list
Paramedic
USCG
Defense Contractor
ATT Wireless #1 Sales Nationally
FEMA ATT Contractor
White House ATT.Contractor
Sprint Wireless #1 Sales Nationally
KBR Private Military Contractor Iraq (too old to reenlist)
I have been blessed by those opportunities and the Mentors that provided me with the best they had to offer. That being said
Currently at the VA I work 80 to 85 hours a week. I make just over 13.00 an hour and 20.00 on OT. My shift(s) run on a double at 1130 PM until 330 PM the next day.
Simple: Would not change it for a winning Mega Millions Lotto ticket. I lied. I would continue to do this for free and donate my paychecks to several Vets orgs.
Can you have this resume notarized? Just for verification's sake.
Would you like me to have Clinton and Gore or Bush or your fishing buddy Shotgun Cheney sign off as witness to the Notary? Boom!
you ask why?if the covidiots are filling up hospitals ,whom bears the burden?its not just the covidiots,its all of society,the same society that as a free nation says you may not drink and drive,for the chance you may kill,harm ,some one else..the list is all most endless on what the government,society asks of you to protect others,think of the 2nd amendment, and your right to not own a fully automatic weapon.
Look folks As a front liner and as I type this sit bedside with a dying Vet due to C19 complications. He will die God willing with me holding his hand without his wife children or grandchildren able to say good bye. Without seeing him since this SHIT hit the fan. I have and continue to follow protocol from masks to full contamination suit for 16 hours 5 to 6 days a week. I am as is every single Veteran resident triple vaccinated yet I still pack these residents into body bags Please let that sink in. Most have/had other medical issues Type 2 D, HBP, High Cholesterol Heart and or Lung issues and other immune lowering issues. I ask you on both sides that know someone on the other side that has one of the above. Me....I have all of the above yet everyday I willingly expose myself to one of the most deadly pandemics in the history of man. Who doesn't have at least one? You are asking where is all of this going? With everything I know and have been told by truly experts "Bill to be 100% honest vaccines and masks and distancing do not absolutely prevent anything. They only reduce the chances and effects."
Oh BTW after nearly 2 years doing this I got Omicron. Absolutely reduced effects and symptoms with no fever and reduced recovery. Yet I still believe we as individuals have the right to make decisions about our lives. I still believe the unvaxxed have a right to be unvaxxed. I believe the same goes for maaks and distancing. What I do not believe us we have right not to respect the decisions we make that may infect and potentially kill.
My Vets, most have experienced the worst humans can do to humans. They came home and moved on only to end up here with me holding their hand as they take their final breath as I ask God to have mercy on their soul. All because someone vaxxed or unvaxxed made a decision to not take proper precautions. Confused? So am I.
Billy...
#1. Thank you for what you do.
#2. Thank you for what you do.
#3. Thank you for what you do.
'scuse me. Gotta open a window. Things are gettin' a little close in here. Don't know if it's the dust or the increased temperature engendered by that last paragraph. I'm confused, too.
You do realize many of us unvaxxed (which apparently makes us anti-vaxxers despite the fact we've had all other vaccinations) already had Covid. Y'all are finally waking up to the fact that having Covid is equal to (or better than) being triple jabbed. I had Covid in Oct 2020 and have not had delta, Omicron or any other variant.
Well, you do realize I was essentially taking up for your prerogative not to get vaxxed, seeing as how we all spread it. However, I trust you're also aware that just because you had COVID doesn't mean your natural immunity is bulletproof any more than if you'd been vaxxed:
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/232698/omicron-largely-evades-immunity-from-past/
Yes and thank you for finally acknowledging that fact. I am a little peeved that I'm not able to participate in many areas of society because I haven't had the vaccines. I'm not going to get something I DO NOT NEED that will most likely make me sick for at least a day. Nope, not doing it. Btw, I am married to an ENT physician. When he got Covid (there really was no way for him to evade it considering what he does for a living) I decided to just get it and be done with it so I didn't isolate from him. I did a risk assessment based on all the available data, determined I would be OK (extremely fit and healthy 57 yo) and had a very minor illness (PCR positive and still had measurable antibodies a year out.). It's possible I had Omicron after the holidays, I had a 10 day cold, but I didn't test because it doesn't matter. I would not have changed my behavior, positive or negative test result.
Well BikerChick, everyone has to assess their own risk, and sounds like you did yours. I still think a lot of people end up mis-assessing their risk, and end up with a nasty surprise when contracting COVID (i.e., sucking on a vent). We don't always know how our bodies will respond to illness. I've read of plenty of otherwise healthy people who've died of COVID, even if they're not in the statistical main. Personally, I say to each their own. If someone wants to smoke two packs a day, far be it from me to stop them. It's when their behavior threatens other people collectively that I get cranky. (If they were say, smoking two packs a day in the middle of a cramped flight, that's a different story.) Mandates have always made me uneasy. But last summer, I might have been a lot more sympathetic to a mandate argument - if it would stop the spread of covid. The numbers looked a lot different then, on the people who were getting infected vs. not. But now that it's pretty clear even the vaccinated can catch it and spread it with abandon (I guess we always knew they could spread it), mandates become a lot dicier to justify. So I get why you're peeved.
May I ask why, when you state "the fact we've had all other vaccinations." why you would not get this vaccine?
I am not in disagreement with your post just wondering....
Did you get this years flu vaccine?
No I don't get flu vaccines. I also don't get the flu, can't remember the last time I had it (if ever?) I guess I got all other vaccines because my mom made me get them when I was a kid? And I get tetanus every 10 years. And I got a DPT booster maybe like 5 years ago? I won't get this vaccine for the same reason I won't get varicella, had Covid and had chicken pox.
BikerChick: Hi. Great posts and, although I chose to be vaccinated and boosted, your points on mandates, exclusion of the unvaccinated and N95 masks are spot on especially now that we're in the "Omicron Age." Glad others are thinking and researching independently as it appears the vast majority are not.
I assume another element of why you've received other vaccines but not Covid is because the others are actually vaccines in the traditional sense... i.e. they actually produce immunity. The Covid shot is NOT a vaccine. It does not produce immunity, only some level of protection. We never called the flu shot a vaccine because it doesn't provide immunity either, just (in a good year) some modest level of protection. Though the motive is denied, the timing of changing the definition with the Covid "vaccine" certainly looks like it was done for marketing purposes for the Covid shot.
One thing you might want to look at though, having Chicken Pox does not make you immune from Shingles. In fact, it's kind of the opposite. If you've had Chicken Pox, the virus is certainly in your body in a dormant state and can be reactivated as Shingles. The newer Shingles vaccine is nearly 100% effective at preventing Shingles so I think it safely qualifies as an actual vaccine. Obviously, you may still not want to get it (I haven't yet but may when I'm older) but thought you should know that you aren't actually immune from Shingles.
Anyway, great posts. Enjoyed reading them.
Thanks for the kind words. Yes, I am keenly aware of the shingles threat. My daughter suffered a bout years ago when she was only 16. I'm not quite ready for that vaccine, my doctor husband is reluctant to get it as well so there must be good reason!
Fair enough and thank you.
🖖🏻
Taking on a tough topic with humor and humility. Thanks for another great read, Matt.
Faxed & boostered, the way of the iron sharpening iron🗡
I’m with you on the need to get beyond the vax/unvaxx divide with one caveat – The un-vaxxed should have to suffer the financial repercussions of their choice. Insurance companies should be able to absolve themselves of the treatment costs for the unvaccinated. If this was done six months after the vaccine was available, the hospitals would not be nearly as full right now. The only way to get through to some is through their wallet. I don’t care if you are vaccinated or not (your gamble), but I don’t want to be on the hook for the insurance hike that will surely result from this chaos.
There are no easy solutions for getting thru to those who don’t want to listen. We cannot deny care. Vaccine passports are ridiculous. But making antivaxxers pay for their own choices is entirely reasonable. It’s the least they can do for filling hospitals, taxing health care workers, that should be treating cancer and heart attacks.
Smokers should pay for their lung cancer treatment, the obese should pay for their Type 2 diabetes treatment, people who don't wear bike helmets and crack their noggins should pay for their cracked noggin treatment, etc.
Sounds fair, actually.
Does sound fair, except that as a society we subsidize all kinds of behaviors that resist change. The unvaxxed demand that the cost of their liberty be socialized, as do— the argument goes—smokers, alcoholics, and the obese, among others who indulge in unhealthy behaviors. We’ve medicalized these by calling them addictions or genetic predispositions. But that doesn’t make them any cheaper, nor does it de-stigmatized the conduct, which many suspect should be controlled by free will. Nevertheless, I don’t think there will ever be a constituency for making the unvaxxed pay for their choices.
there is a difference between the smokers etc. and the unvaxxed - smoking, booze and fat aren't infectious.
Another great one, Matt.
I love the quote from H.L. Mencken and I especially appreciate your point about convenient (or inconvenient) science.
I've never heard of anyone being invited to, or hosting, a "fetus shower". That's a baby in there.
And the fact that NPR now refers to "pregnant people" rather than pregnant women doesn't change the fact that neither you nor I ever had to deal with becoming pregnant. Even if we decided to "switch teams in the middle of the game" (a la Bruce Jenner), it would still be an impossibility.....Right? Please tell me I'm right.
"Pregnant people" hits my ear wrong, to be sure - but then I stop to think of how "women's problems" are relegated to, well, women's problems, the default as usual being men. It's helpful (as with the pronoun thing) for us to be reminded that we're all human and our problems should receive equal attention.
The best argument for enforcing mask bans in restaurants and on lanes is that it at least partially protects the workers. I have friends in the restaurant industry who can't keep their places open (or are only opening 3 days a week) because of staffing issues. Staff get sick or test positive. They don't have health insurance and don't get paid time off.
I find the attitude of some anti-vaxxers infuriating. They don't want to get vaxxed, don't want to wear masks and yet are the first to complain when their local store isn't fully staffed. My wife does HR for a major retailer and they struggle on a daily basis to have enough healthy staff to man the cash registers. They often end up using the people who should be restocking the shelves . Which leads to complaints about a lack of merchandise.
If this pandemic has show me one thing, it's that there are a lot of Americans who never give the slightest thought to the people who keep this country's infrastructure running smoothly.
You realize the staffing issues are not the fault of the unvaxxed, right? It's the fault of Omicron.
No, it's not. It's Hunter Biden's laptop's fault. (My default position.)
A very close friend runs multiple restaurants, and this, absolutely this. In several places bar owner groups imposed their own vaccination requirements before or in lieu of local authorities doing so. Patrons who care about COVID feel safer in places that check cards and staff feel much better when their employer takes it seriously.
You lose some patrons who don't accept the rules, but its a net positive (and maybe patrons you lose are ones who would cause trouble in other areas in the end).
The narrative for vaccine passports and mandates makes no sense in the era of Omicron. C'mon, please tell me you realize that.
You don't accept the current view that with vaccines the diseases will be less severe and less lethal than without? Let's just not try any more?
Apples and oranges. The "intent" of vaccine passports was to reduce spread/transmission. Omicron doesn't care if you're vaccinated. Surely you've heard of vaccine-only events where many people ended up with Covid.
I am extremely interested in the difference between usually-okay bout of disease on the one hand and often-severe-and-lethal on the other hand. Also, not everyone is in wonderful condition and ready to fight off the virus - the vulnerable we have with us always. Surely we need to do everything we can to reduce suffering. (I have my passport and am very happy to display it as required - and wish it were required in more places, like grocery stores.)
Agreed, Rick, and I basically wrote that about a month ago: https://mattlabash.substack.com/p/masked-avenger
That's kind of a little outdated in the era of Omicron. Nobody is safe unless y'all are donning N95s.
Why do you believe N95s are safe?
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9487666/
Near the end of his piece today Matt spoke of compassion and humility. Over at The B recently, JVL wrote of kindness and empathy. Good and noble things, all. Both these pieces flow in the vein of how people on the vaxxed side of the Covid divide should deal with and feel toward those on the other. I'm gonna' take the lazy guy's way out and just retread a comment I left somewhere a few days ago concerning this.
Took me quite a while to get to the point I could even consider those words in relation to how I feel about or behave toward people whom I've considered, for lack of a better word, my enemies. There was no huge moral awakening involved in realizing my lack of those qualities regarding these folks when they became ill and perhaps died was wrong. It simply took the realization that I was myself practicing that which I detested most in the objects of my self-righteous scorn. I didn't give a shit about them, just like they obviously didn't give a shit about me. And I don't give a shit about what anyone says to the contrary, that is wrong on a lot of different levels.
But I won't get into why that is wrong beyond why that is wrong for me personally. Everybody has their own ideas about this, and I'm not going to try to convert anyone here. Anyone decides maybe my words have a little merit, that's great. No? NBD. I wouldn't argue with you. This is a very personal thing for all of us.
I am a Lukewarm Christian, a member of that denomination that doesn't sit in church pews and isn't 100% sure about 100% of everything that's labeled "Christian". Still, what faith I do have demands better of me than total indifference to the suffering of others, even if I believe those others' travails are much of their own making. My faith demands that I at least occasionally recall the fact that "God loves a sinner" and that my life isn't of more value in His eyes because I see myself as doing the right thing and the other guy as doing the wrong thing. It demands that I consider the possibility that I could occasionally be wrong myself, hard as that may be for me to believe.
So, I try to remember this when I learn of some anti-vaxer partisan hack who's ended up biting the dust. Or some nefarious misinformation merchant. Or some guy "who should have just known better, for cripes sake!" Now, I don't feel sorry for them. Wouldn't do 'em any good if I did. But I no longer exult in their having "gotten what's comin' to 'em", because we're all gonna' get what's commin' to us in the end, one way or another. And I do at least consider that those they left behind are feeling real pain, whether "justifiably" or not, since I'm not really qualified to decide what's justifiable in the way of the pain that others feel. I've felt that kind of pain myself a few times over the years, and it was real for me regardless of other's views or opinions of me.
I am, as many of us are, totally worn out by all of this. All of it. Covid itself, the politics of it. Everything. And my supply of kindness, empathy and compassion is running low. As to humility, well, I never had much of that to begin with, I guess. At least not enough. But I've put in a replacement order for the first three, along with a side order of the fourth, if any becomes available. If it all gets hung up in a supply chain disruption somewhere, I'll just have to ration whatever I've got left, I suppose. And there's always plan B if I run completely out. I'll just fake it. Like wearing a mask, it's not that hard to do. And if that's hypocritical, at least it's better than becoming a much, much bigger asshat than the asshats that have so long been the target of my animus for being "people who should know better". Because I realize I do, in fact, know better myself.
Beautiful. Brought tears. Thank you for your brave and tender words.
No, thank you, Dr. Hall, for such a kind and completely undeserved compliment.
No bravery here, and IRL, not a lot of tenderness. A few soft spots, but mostly hard bark covering a guy who simply loathes hypocrisy, especially when he finds it hiding under that bark. Just another attempt to kick that particular demon in the you-know-whats. Not always successful, but I keep kickin'.
So very nice of you to say that, though. I do appreciate it.
Trosino is a doctor, too. A doctor of love.
Come on now, Matt. Me thinks you and the good Doctor go a bit too far. Is your screen turnin' red? 'Cause I'm seriuosly startin' to blush.
>>And if that's hypocritical, at least it's better than becoming a much, much bigger asshat than the asshats that have so long been the target of my animus for being "people who should know better".<<
I blame the internet. :-)
It's the attention economy. The excitement level has to be high enough to get our attention, and then stay exciting enough to keep it. You can't monetize something where no one's looking.
So it used to be that you could find yourself on the brink of making an asshat of yourself because some view you brain-farted into existence one day, I dunno, maybe after a bender or a round of food poisoning. In your local village there was an idiot. And you could compare your cerebral flatulence to that of the village idiot, and you'd catch yourself, saying, "My God! I sound like the village idiot! I think I'll stop that, and I'll try to find some other idea, or something better to do instead."
Then along comes the internet, and everyone goes online, down to the last village idiot. Now, when you sense a brain fart coming on, you can go online and find not just one village idiot, but one from (say) all 40,000 villages in the country, and many multiples more from around the world. Suddenly, you're not embarrassed by your brain fart--how could those thousands of people be wrong, after all? Not only is your brain fart not a *dumb idea*, it's probably the smartest idea *ever*--everyone in your online community agrees! And it's just being smothered into silence by the elite power brokers! And... and... And!! Don't it just make ya MAD!!!?? So you go down to the Kroger's and yell at the checkout clerk for wearing a mask or not or whatever.
And so on. In conclusion: be suspicious that the newest idea you've fallen for might in actuality be some village idiot's brain fart.
Marque...Speaking of flatulence, I have, through a lot of hard work and no small amount of luck, finally achieved the official rank of Old Fart. [ That's Col. Old Fart to you, Matt ;-) ] I wear my thinning salt-and-pepper-minus-all-the-the-pepper helmet proudly, as I do every wrinkle, sag and less-than-optimally functioning joint, the combat ribbons denoting all the engagements I've survived so far in this conflict we otherwise refer to as life. And speaking from the perspective of an official OF, I have to agree with Matt that what you just wrote about the battlefield AKA the 'net cuts absolutely to the heart of the phenomenon of the world-wide spread of Village Idiot Syndrome.
Man, if we ever needed a vaccine, we need a vaccine against that puppy. Particularly for OF's like me, since we're in a really high-risk category by virtue of the fact that a lot of us figure since we were smart enough to have picked the right foxhole to dive into to avoid getting shredded by all the sundry incoming over lo, these many years, we must be pretty damned smart. Sadly, I don't think modern science is quite up to the job. And it's pretty busy with Covid right now anyway.
Indeed, back in the day when a lot of Village Idiots tended to hang out in bars and bowling alleys, this bug really wasn't so infectious, and if one did come down with it (I suspect I've had a mild case or two over the years, though I can't confirm this due to the fact that the infection often produces selective memory), the effects most likely would be gone with the dissipation of the following day's hangover, thus precluding its further spread and reducing the incidents of asshattery this malady so often engenders.
So, while waiting on science, we need a home remedy. And I think the one you offered up is perhaps one of the best. I've always been a somewhat skeptical sort, but I think a bit more powerful med is needed these days. And suspicion, taken in the right dosage, just might be it. We just have to be careful not to OD on the damned stuff, since it can indeed be kind of powerful and lead to a whole new set of problems, some of which we've seen already.
Anyway, thanks for the Rx, Doc. Don't expect nearly enough folks will actually take a healthy dose. Even though it's absolutely free and widely available, there's that damned "choice" thing standing in the way. But one can always hope.
One of the best descriptions of the internet I've ever read, Marque.
Incredibly well written. Could not have said it better.
Amen and amen.
To hear fetal viability and the reality of biological gender offered as examples of the willful suspension of disbelief by our otherwise science enthusiastic brethren delights me. To quote S.D. O'Connor in '85 re Roe "bad law, but I must support it" she noted that viability due to it's changing nature was not a good standard. This is from memory, I may have botched it.
I don't judge unvaxed fellow citizens. I think they probably fall into the category of certitude identified by Mencken and progress is hardly their agenda. Indeed, retreat to superstition and neurotic fear is the status in which they wish to dwell.
In Sebastian Junger's most recent book, 'Freedom,' he articulated a view that is not acknowledged by those who eschew vaccinations. His premise is freedom is absolutely your right. You may remove yourself from the restrictions that chaff and be completely unrestricted. The Apache tribe eluded the restrictions of the US Cavalry for 30 years in the mountains of Arizona. Completely free. So, go. Be free. You are released.
But if you choose to live in community and enjoy all the benefits that are accorded to you therewith, you may be asked to accede to community requirements that provide for the health and well-being of all members of the community, including those who may be more vulnerable than you.
So, not to put too fine a point on it . . . Wise up. You are being duped and led to your own demise. We can't save you. Only you can save yourself . . . And the weaker members of the tribe, and the economy.
Close of rant. We now return to your originally scheduled program.
What a fine piece of writing, thanks. Back to Ozark with regret.
Don't leave. Stay and keep us company. 🙃😊
I am triple vaxed. But as you correctly noted, I can get and spread the Vid. I’d like to avoid that, so I wear a mask in certain circumstances for myself..a me me me thing. I also wear a mask if I’m around children under 5 or an elderly relative or my friend working through a cancer diagnosis. I guess I am bit jaded at this point, but I don’t believe that many in the anti mandate movement will don a mask under any circumstances unless forced, and it’s less douchy to object to a mandate than to hold up a sign objecting to acting like a considerate adult.