Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[CGVT]

There's speculative numbers out there about how many people in the US actually have had COVID-19 and now have ABs to it. There's an equal amount of speculation about how long these ABs developed from exposure to the virus last. My take is that there are probably 2x-3x more people that have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and would have tested positive for the COVID-19 antigen if they had been tested within the time frame for accurate testing (3-5d after exposure and for most, within 14-21d).

How many of those would have developed an IgG AB response is another story entirely. My reading says that i'ts probably 2X what's been reported That means that before a vaccine its not unreasonable to say that 20 -30% of the US population is now immune (has IgG ABs) to SARS-CoV-2. That's a good start towards herd immunity. Virologist say we need >60%, although they disagree, to stop the spread.

Again, FWIW... I intend to give blood every 8 weeks. I am curious to see how long the antibodies will show up.

[Dr. Strangelove]

That Louis Gohmert lawsuit I mentioned earlier today has been tossed out

[Mike]

No way!

[Dr. Strangelove]

Ted Cruz and maybe another 12 spineless or brain-dead Republican Senators willing to back Hawley's cringe-inducing pandering. He cites the commission set up after the Hayes-Tilden election of 1876 as good precedent for a congressional commission to investigate fraud.

Ironically, that commission was regarded in its own time as a huge failure which resulted in the 1887 Electoral Count Act which established the procedure we use today.

As Frant Luntz says, at least 4 of the dozen Republican Senators demanding a 10-day "emergency audit" were elected on the same ballots as Joe Biden. Will any of them agree to not be seated as Senators until this audit can be performed?

[Dr. Strangelove]

[CGVT]

Cruz is joined by these morons

• Republicans involved include Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.), as well as Sens.-elect Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.).
  
  And look at that. Tuberville is already an embarrassment. What a shocker.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Lankford is the most surprising one because he's a more level-headed guy but he may be scared of a primary challenge in 2022. The rest are among some of the dumbest members of the Senate or its biggest panderers like Kennedy.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I'm going with "panderers like Kennedy" ....... this move is right up there with historically stupid grandstanding in the US Congress. Somebody already said this if not here then in the news I've read recently: Ted Cruz has become the model for signing up for shit that he knows isn't going anywhere but rallies his supporters. That says way more about his supporters than about Cruz!

[Jeff Buchanan]

In COVID news, there was a very detailed article in one of my news feeds about SARS-CoV-2 mutations. First, the talked about mutant is more transmissible. That is no longer in question. The impact of the mutation seems to be associated with regional surges. It does appear that places like GB that have been getting all the press on this have done a better job of ID'ing people that are infected with the mutant and isolating them. Generally, countries have also stepped up with various measures to keep the mutant at bay.

I mentioned this late last week: vaccine distribution has been hampered by the federal plan to leave getting shots into arms to the states. The problem, according to observers, is that the state infrastructure thought to be capable of administering the vaccines is understaffed and already over-worked. From my perspective this is a pretty big problem. I had praised the federal logistics effort and it, indeed, was good but the continuing insistence from this administration on state run pandemic programs of all types has produced bad outcomes. It is particularly damaging to the public health in this case.

The latest COVID legislation may help but as with most federal aid, it doesn't reach the organizations it needs to reach getting funneled off to pay for unnecessary often unrelated shit at elevated organizational levels failing to get to the street level agencies that need the help the most. This is what I'll be watching in FL and GA.

[lineygoblue]

Just imagine if the single government provider was in charge of all your health care, and not just a flu shot.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I'm going with "panderers like Kennedy" ....... this move is right up there with historically stupid grandstanding in the US Congress. Somebody already said this if not here then in the news I've read recently: Ted Cruz has become the model for signing up for shit that he knows isn't going anywhere but rallies his supporters. That says way more about his supporters than about Cruz!

Toomey (PA Senator) blasted Josh Hawley and he responded with more detail on why he'll object to PA's electoral votes. You'll notice he makes no specific allegations of fraud. Instead he asserts that PA's entire election violated the state constitution.

Hawley apparently believes Congress has the authority to overrule individual state supreme courts and state legislatures when it comes to interpreting state constitutions.

Of course, ask Hawley if this means that every Republican Congressman from PA was elected under an "illegal" system, and he'll go silent.

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[lineygoblue]

I don't understand what the big deal is.

All of this nonsense is procedural. Nothing more.

None of it will succeed, because its not intended to succeed. Its political posturing. Nothing more.

Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi and her squad would be doing the exact same thing had the election went to Trump. Guaranteed.

The electoral process will be completed, and Kamala Joe will be President.

Much ado about nothing. The media laps it up.

[iam416]

Well, you see, we can't have people questioning whether the President was legitimately elected. Wait a minute, that doesn't seem right. Let me try again.

We can't have people questioning whether the Democrat-President was legitimately elected.

Ok. Better.

[Dr. Strangelove]

When you feel uncomfortable defending the actions being taken by Trump, Cruz, or Hawley, just bash the media or call Dems hypocrites instead. That way you can dodge addressing the substance of the Trump case and still paint the Dems/media as the font of all of society's woes.

[iam416]

I'm more than happy to call this stuff theatrical nonsense. In that way, I consider it far less damaging tham the intentional effort the claim Russia fixed the 2016 election. In fact, I don't consider it damaging.

This will go away in days.

And you still won't ever own up to the Russia collusion bullshit. Ever.