Wow. COVID posts are really getting ugly on here.

@bijouxbroussard 👏👏❤️

@bijouxbroussard Yes I've vowed to myself not to argue about it anymore. That's on the list with talking about Trump or responding to extreme partisan posts on both sides.

@bijouxbroussard Exactly. Covid is the only thing that has affected the whole world in a way no war has ever done and we should all be fighting it and not each other. Most of the (alarmingly increasing) amount of people I've blocked here are bores who preach about politics and/or the Pandemic and vomit out hate and bigotry.

@SubstantialKick If you read the posts on here i think it is pretty clear that we are NOT all in this together LOL

@istillhaveanameitsrick I kinda agree because of my reply but I honestly don’t care what people do anymore. Live or die, that’s their right to choose. I just don’t want to get sick. I’d like to know my chances are reduced is all.

@SomeMichGuy the delta variant is out of control. The R naught factor Is between 5-9 infections. That’s 3 times higher than the previous variants.

@iamonfire696 Wow...

[need to look up [i]R_0[/i] factor]

@SomeMichGuy yah it’s not good

@SW-User Agree. Also I've set my category to "no adult content" yet I still see people posting about a**l s*X and other things that are certainly "adult" 🤢

@SW-User Ditto.

@maturedragon Ah, grasshopper, true wisdom begins with understanding we do [u]not[/u] understand...did you bring any pickles?

@SomeMichGuy I do not like pickles....

@maturedragon Which is why you should TOTALLY be on board with GIVING them away! lol

@CopperCicada You're absolutely correct about the fact that science is a lot messier than the media lets people believe and I think that has done a lot to contribute to the skepticism and conspiracies.

Science does change, this is a new virus, and our understanding is going to adapt. Also there are going to be some in the field who use this to try to get miracle cures promoted because people are so desperate to fix this and are blind to their own bias. (coughivermeectincough)

But deep down, this isn't about science. It's about policy. The policy must informed by science, but as a citizen its the policy that matters. That's what actually affects my life.

The best policy for covid (or any pandemic of a communicable disease like this) is masks, lockdowns, and vaccinations. The only thing that changed is the shift from an emphasis on handwashing and sanitizing surfaces in the first few months to an emphasis on mask use.

Oh! To be born in privileged countries and not even realizing how entitled we are/have become?!

😔@bijouxbroussard

@Vivaci Very true. We don't realize how privileged we are here in the United States.

@Vivaci are the Africans asking for it? Because they have easy access to Ivermectin that they use to treat tropical parasites. And a memory of what Gate’s pushing vaccines onto Africa caused there.

@Azlotto That's awful

@chrisCA I think the problem is that a group who do believe that are uncritical of how they are manipulated through their religious beliefs as well as through their other beliefs, leanings, biases, values.

@SomeMichGuy why it bother, if some people are religious minded..

@Mia123 I don't mind if people are "religious-minded", and did not indicate that I was.

But some people's religious beliefs are being exploited to manipulate them.

The proof of this is that the outcome diverges from where those people would be if they followed the teaching in their sacred texts, rather than following false "teachers" whom they have put above those texts.

@latinbutterfly this IS society!! A microcosm of the world outside. Human beings. Human issues. Human anger. Stupidity, hatefulness,kindness,...the same things that happen on the streets

@TheOneyouwerewarnedabout Hahahahaha! You are a one of a kind!
😂🤣 You are still a good bloke, in the face of adversity! Way to go!

@Oster1 ...can you clarify

@BigGuy2 I could but few would take note. It’s just what the data is showing now.

@Oster1 cheers

@Rose0415 ...oh no, the 4 way discussion with the idiots 'Einsten 1-3' against me, ran to 300+ comments, so a long way to go yet ... 🤭🤭🤭

@Rose0415 ...the basement dweller commonly known as 'SomeMichGuy' has been re-captured and sent back to the basement ... 🤔 by the way, he thought he could outsmart me on the use of grammar ... so your experience stream will not hit 300+ comments

@SomeMichGuy its best to drop.the conversation with strangers. Have the conversation with those that matter. Ie loved ones.

I'm dropping out of this. Bye 👋

@Gangstress Bye...though I was agreeing about the fear.

@SomeMichGuy yeh i just don't want to have this conversation anymore unfortunately. My original post highlighted this. Sorry if i come across aggy

@iamonfire696 put it this way, is a phrase such as "yep, this guy who's disagreeing with me, is right" ... has that phrase ever been uttered by you, or will it ever be ... simple answer is NO isn't it

@BigGuy2
[quote]... i suggest you find it yourself, because if i provide it, it'll be deemed as 'Fake News' by you ... remember your comment about me watching 'conspiracy theory vids'[/quote]

Remember, it is persons FOR Trump who label everything as "fake news"...

I have always welcomed info from the official source. I assumed you had a link to the NHS which would settle this in a very short time.

Your claim was that this is NHS policy. That should be very easy to determine, and such a claim should be easy to prove, because a reasonable person would want a link from the NHS.

Instead, you AGAIN deflect, refuse to provide it, and cite my comment...about just watching conspiracy videos and repeating them.

So it suggests that your claim is simply based upon random videos, NOT any verifiable NHS policy, NOT something supported by a link to the NHS.

Your unwillingness to "put up" speaks far more eloquently than any of your bluster.

You refuse to "put up", so it's time to "shut up".

Go waste someone else's time.

@iamonfire696 You got that right. This has been surprisingly--and sadly--consistent.

@Stereoguy
[quote]Let's face it we are never going to hit 100% vaccination.[/quote]

Again, I didn't say that, and the infectious disease people & epidemiologists never mentioned that. But high local vaccination rates don't protect against groups of largely-unvaccinated people coming through.

With how our nation is connected, and how the world is connected, we probably need to vaccinate most of the world.

Or we could use measures like Taiwan & New Zealand, who have controlled the pandemic with quarantining, etc. But Oz has tried to use what appear to be similar measures--I am not familiar with the specifics--and the people there don't seem to be able to make it work. So I am QUITE sure that the same holdouts against vaccination would be the ones who would screw up such measures.

Maybe the pandemic will be over when [i]herd[/i] immunity is reached by the deaths of enough holdouts that the percentage vaccinated rises to, say, 75% or so.

I don't know. This is a very wily virus, and it has already taken on several different forms which are stronger than the original strain. I think a reasonable person should expect this to continue as long as we have "too many" unvaccinated persons, [u]whatever[/u] that level actually is.

[sep]

But you already know what "needs to happen", so please put out a press release and just tell me and the rest of the world your inside info, so we know a precise timeline.

If you can and do, the world will laud you and you can count on a Nobel Prize in Medicine, I wager.

@Stereoguy
[quote]There is actually a number of things we should be doing that we are not. At the current rate we are going Covid is going to be around for years.[/quote]

YES!

So I ask *you*...how do you motivate the hardcore refuseniks to end up getting the vaccine...? They have been asked to do so, shown why, begged to do so, pleaded with to do so, cajoled to do so, implored to do so, even offered money to do so...

As you say, the progress here in the US us being measured by inches, and we have miles to go before we ALL sleep soundly...

So, besides mandates, what other arrows are left in the quiver, what other colors in the palette of options?

The hardcore refuseniks are like Martin Luther: [i]Hier stehe ich, anderes kann ich nicht[/i] (Without the rhyming, "Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise.")

@SomeMichGuy 'DDonde' has made a common sense suggestion, i suggest you read his comment and abide by it

@BigGuy2 It's the "fool" nonsense that was the point of the OP objection.

Any response other than evidence to back up your claims is set to zero.

@BigGuy2 Stop. Cease.

@jackjjackson The entire country is ok with bullying? Where are you getting those numbers?

@Human1000 Exactly.

@Stopmakingsense McCarthy was a fool.

@SomeMichGuy ...truth hurts doesn't it, 🤪🤪🤪

@BigGuy2 You tell me. You are wrong on the grammar.

Bye bye.

@SomeMichGuy 🤣🤣🤣

🤔

🤣🤣🤣

@BigGuy2 you must be blocked by someone in that thread of conversation

@iamonfire696 No, it seems he had a glitch from the site loading only partially; he then said he could reply, and I always see his comments, and never blocked him.

@BigGuy2 it’s sad this has been so politicized and people aren’t being vaccinated because of it.

@iamonfire696 i agree about the politicized part at least

@iamonfire696 ...isn't that worrying, that 'someone' hasn't allowed you to see my comment, by blocking it or otherwise

@RogueLoner Why does this thing have to be politicized anyway? Since when does a virus care about what political side you are on?

@RogueLoner You would think that this whole thing would finally bring Democrats and Republicans together, but nope. One side wants it handled one way, the other side wants it handled their own way, as usual. Neither side is willing to work together to fight this thing.

@JoyfulSilence

The "deplorables" thing is because of being associated with a low point in HC's diplomatic talk.

So it's a trigger; I understand the sentiment, but the specific wording matters.

If you think my response means I am complacent...no. Just over it. lol

@JoyfulSilence I used to vote more broadly.

I use the League of Women Voters guide to go through all candidates, race by race, and read their backgrounds/preparation, ideas, etc. I choose those whom I believe are the best for the position.

Here in Michigan, we have three state schools & a state Board of Education which often have multiple open seats (just as local school boards often have more than one vacancy). In such positions, I often vote for persons who reflect a fuller spectrum of my concerns than any single party.

We also have some smaller parties left over from long-ago (property?) tax-reform days, and they will sometimes have candidates. So I have voted for Republicans, Democrats, a few Libertarians, a few Green Party candidates, Independents, and these minor parties (but not for Communists, typically).

However, the Libertarians now are running for offices saying that the office shouldn't exist, etc.; so they just want to tear everything down, without any alternative. So they lost me.

And then with Trump, I realize an arc that began with Goldwater, went through Reagan, then Gingrich, then the "Tea Party", found its logical conclusion in the outright Fascism and attempt to throw out and overturn the Constitution expressed by the least prepared, least educated, least experienced, most childlike, most inept, most lying person ever to have held our highest elective office...

And, yes, I am done with the current Republican Party. The inability of its highest leaders to break with the many, well-documented lies of Trump means that I will never vote for a Republican ever again.

I believe the party itself enables, promotes, and harbors traitorous persons who plot to overthrow the government and our Constitution, and White Supremacists, and other racist/bigoted "causes". Truth has no place there.

It is sad.

@WonderGirl1 LOL Great cartoon...but so sad.