Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[THE_WIZARD_]

Al Franken as candidate "Pete Tagliani" with a negative ad against his opponent on SNL...whodathunk art would be imitating future reality...

[Mike]

Say what you will about Al Franken but he’s not in the same hemisphere as Omar and Tlaib. Their ilk literally hates this country.

I wish the leftists would get their way with a few major states/cities so we’d have some comparisons to make. Eventually we’ll have enough data to see which ideology is most beneficial to the human existence and, more specifically, compatible with American values.

I’m kidding, of course. We already have that information.

[iam416]

This is a very nice OpEd piece in Newsweek that uses statistical polls to demonstrate how the Media Narrative on Race affects perceptions. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opini...4Zz?li=BBnbfcL

This is similar to another poll that asked respondents to answer to quantify (estimate or relative) police shootings in the US by race. A certain, large segment of the population vastly -- I mean VASTLY -- overestimates police shootings as they relate to AAs.

Now, maybe it's good to have a "conversations" based on a utterly false perception of a reality. In that case, thank you The Media. Or, perhaps it's best if policies are based on an accurate assessment of what's going on. In that case, well, you can see why The Media can be so destructive.

[Jeff Buchanan]

......... well, you can see why The Media can be so destructive.

I know you're including social media platforms not just the MSM but the level of "destruction," I'd call it the purposeful distortion of reality to fit a particular agenda - is affecting the formulation of an increasingly wide array of policy issues. How the perceptions of the pandemic are being shaped by the huge amount of information available to do that - some of accurate, some of it not - is another good example of how and why bad policy emerges with its consequent destructive nature.

Mike mentioned yesterday that he would consider "something nefarious" going on relating to the monumentally stupid decisions on vaccine policy this week. Hanni has said or implied on several occasions that the left is using the pandemic to create and sustain fear to soften public attitudes or dispense with opposing views while increasing their power to impose policy that is antithetical to American values. I think the evidence is pretty strong that is happening. A tottering Biden has no clue and Harris is in a position to keep him clueless while what we call the crazies in her party mouth the kinds of idiocy - some of it resonating with deluded mostly black Americans - of RashidTlib's ilk.

This shit being advanced about eliminating police and jails is astoundingly irresponsible. No sane person is buying that but as noted, it's already happening. This along with the fear and distrust of government emerging from that fear seems to me to be purposeful attempts to destabilize civil order and create chaos. At least we should consider that proposition. I have friends that are absolutely convinced, for example, that the Chinese purposefully released the SARS2 virus using it as a bioweapon against the West. It's not beyond belief that foreign and domestic agents are behind this potentially nefarious shaping of perceptions we're speaking of here. The dangers of that kind of activity needs to acknowledged and addressed. There is a distinct possibility that it is purposeful and being implemented by our enemies......not just the Chinese but by Putin, by the Mullahs, by domestic terrorists and anarchists.

[iam416]

Yes. Social media is a significant part of the problem. We really are in a "post-facts" or "Narrative" world.

[iam416]

The dangers of that kind of activity needs to acknowledged and addressed. There is a distinct possibility that it is purposeful and being implemented by our enemies......not just the Chinese but by Putin, by the Mullahs, by domestic terrorists and anarchists.

The "anti-Asian hate" story couldn't have been drawn up any better by the Chinese themselves. It works to both promote the lie of some sort of ongoing white supremacy as well as stifle criticism of China. And the Narrative is always very careful to put the story in relative terms -- a X% increase. Because, e.g., an 800% increase in NYC in reported anti-asian hate crimes is way better than saying from 3 to 24 when, e.g., there are 1000 such reported anti-semitic hate crimes in NYC. It's also important to note that the story never includes the race of the perpetrator -- well, you know, it's about as likely to be a white thug as it is a black thugh -- but that doesn't fit "white supremacy."

[Jeff Buchanan]

The NYT again wrote about the J&J fiasco a little less critical of the FDA but overall the piece was balanced. Takeaways:

• The risk of a blood clot forming after vaccination with the J&J product is so low as to be as close to zero as one cold get with any drug.
• Some experts are praising the FDA's aggressive stand because even though it is rare that people will develop a clot, this isn't a rash. It's deadly.
• Other experts are saying the damage done by the FDA in this decision is far greater than any benefits to be obtained.
• Fauci is now saying, in his typical weaselly way, that the pause is going to last days to weeks rather than weeks to months. Make your fucking mind up Anthony.

The AP has a slightly different slant to its report on the J&J thing. It includes quotes from the Biden presser (held in the Oval Office yesterday) stressing that his administration's first priority for vaccines is their safety and this should bolster Americans confidence in getting vaccinated. Biden is also quoted as reiterating that his goal of getting every adult American vaccinated before the 4th is still easily within reach. He stresses "we made sure we had enough of the Pfizer and Moderna products (on hand or in the pipeline) to vaccinate everyone that is eligible." Overall, I'd call the AP take a bit more positive in tone.

[Jeff Buchanan]

The "anti-Asian hate" story couldn't have been drawn up any better by the Chinese themselves.

The link below should assure everyone that the CCP actually is behind this.

I've had a sense for this stuff but the link from the Freedom House, The Expansion of Chinese Communist Party Media Influence since 2017, nails it:

https://freedomhouse.org/report/special-report/2020/beijings-global-megaphone

[Jeff Buchanan]

On one aspect of the transgender issues that the left is advancing as discriminatory when this class of Americans is denied access in one venue or the other ........

Trey Gowdy , a former South Carolina Congressman, responded to a question from a CNN reporter about the ban of transgenders from joining the U.S. armed forces. As Trey typically does so very well, he nailed it rather succinctly.

Question: How can President Trump claim to represent all U.S citizens, regardless of sexual orientation, when he banned transgenders from joining the military? Isn't that discrimination?

Trey Gowdy's Response: Nobody has a right to serve in the Military. Nobody! What makes you people think the Military is an equal opportunity employer? It is very far from it - and for good reasons - let me cite a few"

The Military uses prejudice regularly and consistently to deny citizens from joining for being too old or too young, too fat or too skinny, too tall or too short. Citizens are denied for having flat feet, or for missing or additional fingers." he went on to explain: "By the way, poor eyesight will disqualify you, as well as bad teeth. Malnourished? Drug addiction? Bad back? Criminal history? Low IQ? Anxiety? Phobias? Hearing damage? Six arms? Hear voices in your head? Self-identification as a Unicorn? Need a special access ramp for your wheelchair?"

"Can't run the required course in the required time? Can't do the required number of push-ups? Not really a morning person? and refuse to get out of bed before noon? All can be legitimate reasons for denial"

"The Military has one job: Winning War. Anything else is a distraction and a liability. Did someone just scream? That isn't Fair? War is VERY unfair, there are no exceptions made for being special or challenged or socially wonderful."

"YOU must change yourself to meet Military standards and not the other way around."

"I say again: You don't change the Military - you must change yourself. The Military is not about being fair, it is about taking advantage of others and about winning.

The Military doesn't need to accommodate anyone with special issues. The Military needs to Win Wars and keep our Country safe - PERIOD!"

[Hannibal]

LMAO


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[THE_WIZARD_]

....

[Jeff Buchanan]

An interesting J&J issue tidbit. Desantis has followed the FDA's lead in suspending the administration of the J&J vaccine at sites that have received it. 43K doses were received for this week and distributed to 24 sites across the state. Apparently, some doctor's offices have the J&J vaccine and if you want it and your doc is one that has some of it, you can get it.

In FL, if you were scheduled for a JJ vaccine this week, you're automatically being rescheduled for a Moderna or Pfizer vaccine and will be notified of the date and time of your appointment. Officials report the delay may only be 1-2w.

To date, 4 M doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine have been administered in FL. Just over 400K - about 9% - of the J&J vaccine have been administered. There are no reported cases of blood clots in that group.

I think the limited impact the pause has in FL is probably being experienced in other states. Compared to Monday's and yesterday's dire consequences hysteria from the media - and probably on all the social media platforms - these are the facts you WON'T here.

[Dr. Strangelove]

On one aspect of the transgender issues that the left is advancing as discriminatory when this class of Americans is denied access in one venue or the other ........

Trey Gowdy , a former South Carolina Congressman, responded to a question from a CNN reporter about the ban of transgenders from joining the U.S. armed forces. As Trey typically does so very well, he nailed it rather succinctly.

Question: How can President Trump claim to represent all U.S citizens, regardless of sexual orientation, when he banned transgenders from joining the military? Isn't that discrimination?

Trey Gowdy's Response: Nobody has a right to serve in the Military. Nobody! What makes you people think the Military is an equal opportunity employer? It is very far from it - and for good reasons - let me cite a few"

The Military uses prejudice regularly and consistently to deny citizens from joining for being too old or too young, too fat or too skinny, too tall or too short. Citizens are denied for having flat feet, or for missing or additional fingers." he went on to explain: "By the way, poor eyesight will disqualify you, as well as bad teeth. Malnourished? Drug addiction? Bad back? Criminal history? Low IQ? Anxiety? Phobias? Hearing damage? Six arms? Hear voices in your head? Self-identification as a Unicorn? Need a special access ramp for your wheelchair?"

"Can't run the required course in the required time? Can't do the required number of push-ups? Not really a morning person? and refuse to get out of bed before noon? All can be legitimate reasons for denial"

"The Military has one job: Winning War. Anything else is a distraction and a liability. Did someone just scream? That isn't Fair? War is VERY unfair, there are no exceptions made for being special or challenged or socially wonderful."

"YOU must change yourself to meet Military standards and not the other way around."

"I say again: You don't change the Military - you must change yourself. The Military is not about being fair, it is about taking advantage of others and about winning.

The Military doesn't need to accommodate anyone with special issues. The Military needs to Win Wars and keep our Country safe - PERIOD!"

No one has an absolute right to be an engineer or a banker either. There are requirements to every profession, in the military's case most are physical. If you have a blanket policy of not allowing transgenders to serve despite meeting all the explicit requirements of the job, the issue is more whether transgenders are a protected class of citizens and not what Gowdy is saying here.

"The troops won't want to serve alongside trannies and they'll be a distraction". Yes the same argument was previously used to justify not allowing gays to be in the military, not allowing women anywhere near the front lines, and going far enough back, not allowing blacks and whites to serve in the same units.

So who should make the determination that transgenders are too distracting to be allowed in the military, even if they're up to the job?

Politicians? The Public? The military and/or troops themselves?

[Hannibal]

Transgenders have a severe mental illness called Gender Dysphoria. There is a potent cocktail of personality disorders that frequently goes with it. They commit suicide at about a 40% rate. Just to give you some perspective, the first wave of troops storming the beaches at Normandy suffered about a 50% casualty rate. If the transgender division suffers 40% casualties before contact with the enemy, I would call that a pretty good reason to not qualify them for military duty.

Fully transitioned transgenders need expensive hormone treatments. Post-op M-2-F have to periodically dilate their wound so that their frankenvag doesn't close up. They are a big time burden to any organization that has to take care of them. To say nothing of having biological men sharing all of their faclities with biological women, who I'm pretty sure have little to no interest in this.

[Dr. Strangelove]

We're literally talking about possibly a couple thousand people out of over 1.3 million active duty soldiers

Just as you're presumably screening out the psychopaths I presume you're screening out suicidal cases when they sign up. Or are given routine checkups.

Why is it too difficult to decide things on an individual basis instead of creating a blanket policy?