• Welcome to the new Internet Infidels Discussion Board, formerly Talk Freethought.

Covid-19 miscellany

Patriotic Millionaires on Twitter: ".@AOC — “We have money for tax loopholes for yachts. We have money to incentivize stock buybacks.”

But suddenly, we “can’t afford” to give struggling families the relief they so desperately need. https://t.co/DTwRuNtWTb" / Twitter

H. Eric Loewe on Twitter: "@PatrioticMills @AOC
@AOC Keep going
#BigPharma
@AOC: “So the public is acting as an early investor, putting tons of money in the development of drugs that then become privatized, and then they receive no return on the investment that they have made.”
@akesselheim: “Right” https://t.co/Yf2TtcyLBP" / Twitter


Zach Purser Brown on Twitter: "AOC rips into Mitch McConnell for sending the Senate home for the holidays ..." / Twitter
AOC rips into Mitch McConnell for sending the Senate home for the holidays:

"He broke the Senate while hospitals no longer have beds to house the sick. He broke the Senate while 30 million Americans are on the brink of evictions."

AOC: "Our country is going hungry, on the week before Thanksgiving. And the Senate broke. I don't care what party you are, it is an abandonment of our responsibilities."

AOC: "The Senate majority leader wasn't concerned about other people's money when he authorized a $4 trillion. leveraged bailout for Wall Street in March... It is only when we are talking about relief working people... that all of a sudden we can't pay for any of these things."

AOC: "So, if there's anything I have left to say – because I want to know if there's anyone out there listening – its that if you are are a working family, if you're struggling to get the food that you need, if you feel like you're on the brink of eviction. We see you."

AOC: "What I ask from the Senate, and what I ask from our Republican colleagues in the Senate; is to act as if you were the one that was going hungry. Act as if you were getting evicted from your house.

Act with that urgency."
Click to expand...
 
America's Racial Contract Is Showing - The Atlantic - back in May 9.

It first discussed the Ahmaud Arbery case, where prosecutor George E. Barnhill was unwilling to prosecute AA's murderers.
But Barnhill’s leniency is selective—as The Appeal’s Josie Duffy Rice notes, Barnhill attempted to prosecute Olivia Pearson, a black woman, for helping another black voter use an electronic voting machine. A crime does not occur when white men stalk and kill a black stranger. A crime does occur when black people vote.

The underlying assumptions of white innocence and black guilt are all part of what the philosopher Charles Mills calls the “racial contract.”

...
The implied terms of the racial contract are visible everywhere for those willing to see them. A 12-year-old with a toy gun is a dangerous threat who must be met with lethal force; armed militias drawing beads on federal agents are heroes of liberty. Struggling white farmers in Iowa taking billions in federal assistance are hardworking Americans down on their luck; struggling single parents in cities using food stamps are welfare queens. Black Americans struggling in the cocaine epidemic are a “bio-underclass” created by a pathological culture; white Americans struggling with opioid addiction are a national tragedy. Poor European immigrants who flocked to an America with virtually no immigration restrictions came “the right way”; poor Central American immigrants evading a baroque and unforgiving system are gang members and terrorists.
Click to expand...
"But solidarity with the rest of the nation among elite Republicans—those whose lives and self-conceptions are intertwined with the success of the Trump presidency—began eroding as soon as the disproportionate impact of the outbreak started to emerge."
 
 
 
What a sick society Switzerland is;

Doctors in Switzerland have called for people who are vulnerable to coronavirus complications to sign 'do not resuscitate orders'. The move is part of efforts to ease pressure on Swiss intensive care units. The measure includes people who are over 60 and those with heart disease or diabetes.
Click to expand...

DailyMail
 
Economists want second $1,200 stimulus checks. Where the relief stands
  • As Washington lawmakers look to restart talks for more coronavirus relief, one group of economists is saying more stimulus checks should be part of the deal.
  • House Democrats have pushed for more one-time payments. But Senate Republicans have cut that money out of their most recent bill.
  • More stimulus checks could help “get families and the economy back on track,” a group of more than 125 economists wrote in an open letter. Here’s what we know about where that aid stands.
Click to expand...


Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "People across the country are going hungry, COVID is set to explode, and Mitch McConnell dismissed the Senate last week.

I don’t know how these people can sleep at night. I really don’t." / Twitter
Shows that AOC has a conscience.
 
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "I know it’s hard, but please consider your loved ones. Stay home if you can.

A negative COVID test does not clear one for safe travel. You can be asymptomatic & test positive shortly after. You can get it en route.

Don’t spread COVID to parents, loved ones, workers. Stay in!🏡" / Twitter


Ted Cruz on Twitter: "Why is your party filibustering $500 billion in COVID relief?

And Joe Biden is cheering them on. Thinking that blocking relief somehow helps Dems win Georgia." / Twitter
Is that all that he can think of? Crude political calculation?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "The House doesn’t have filibusters, @tedcruz.

We also passed several COVID relief packages to the Senate that not only include >$500 billion, but also prioritize helping real people as opposed to Wall St bailouts the GOP tries to pass off as “relief.”

Nice try though 👍🏽" / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "I hope someone else runs Cruz’s Twitter account because it’d be pretty embarrassing if a US Senator didn’t know this.

Almost as embarrassing as when Sen. @JohnCornyn didn’t appear to know that Puerto Ricans don’t get to vote in the Presidential" / Twitter
Politicians' Twitter accounts being run by staffers? I wouldn't be surprised. AOC writes all her tweets, however.
 
TSwizzle said:
What a sick society Switzerland is;

Doctors in Switzerland have called for people who are vulnerable to coronavirus complications to sign 'do not resuscitate orders'. The move is part of efforts to ease pressure on Swiss intensive care units. The measure includes people who are over 60 and those with heart disease or diabetes.
Click to expand...

DailyMail
Click to expand...

That's just the unpleasant reality that you're pretending doesn't exist.

Resuscitation attempts basically buy time for the doctors to address whatever stopped your heart--but if it's not something that can be addressed in a matter of minutes it's an exercise in futility and if the patient is still conscious it just makes their death more painful. (Properly performed CPR breaks ribs and there's obviously no time for any form of pain control.) Even if they bring you back at the time the really sick rarely leave the hospital alive.

If you throw a clot into your heart and are witnessed keeling over your chances with CPR are decent. If your heart stopped because your body couldn't take it anymore it's very unlikely they can save you and a "save" likely means lingering in the ICU for a few days before you die.
 
This will send the authoritarians into meltdown;

A huge Orthodox Jewish wedding appears to have taken place in upstate New York Monday evening, despite officials sending a cease and desist order to stop the ceremony. Pictures taken by DailyMail.com show crowds gathering outside the Yetev Lev Synagogue in Kiryas Joel near Monroe for the marriage of two members of prominent ultra-Orthodox families. The state's Health Department had mandated that the wedding be canceled - unless it could be limited to 50 people in each of two reception buildings and that guests wear masks and socially distance, the Middletown Times Herald-Record reported. But by Monday evening unmasked groups were still seen walking in and out of the large synagogue. White tarps from the top of the stairs to the floor blocked the view inside the venue.
Click to expand...

DailyMail

Mazel tov ! :hysterical:
 
TSwizzle said:
This will send the authoritarians into meltdown;

A huge Orthodox Jewish wedding appears to have taken place in upstate New York Monday evening, despite officials sending a cease and desist order to stop the ceremony. Pictures taken by DailyMail.com show crowds gathering outside the Yetev Lev Synagogue in Kiryas Joel near Monroe for the marriage of two members of prominent ultra-Orthodox families. The state's Health Department had mandated that the wedding be canceled - unless it could be limited to 50 people in each of two reception buildings and that guests wear masks and socially distance, the Middletown Times Herald-Record reported. But by Monday evening unmasked groups were still seen walking in and out of the large synagogue. White tarps from the top of the stairs to the floor blocked the view inside the venue.
Click to expand...

DailyMail

Mazel tov ! :hysterical:
Click to expand...

And in some parts of the world, in their weddings they also have celebratory gunfire. Most shots, of course, don't kill or even hit anyone.
 
repoman said:
Is there any indication of what the dropoff rate of efficacy of this vaccine might be as far as months or years in the future?

Not asking to be negative, just curious.
Click to expand...

Going by the immune response to the virus itself, immunity should last at least months, and perhaps years.

Immunity to the Coronavirus May Last Years, New Data Hint - The New York Times

Immunological memory to SARS-CoV-2 assessed for greater than six months after infection | bioRxiv

They looked at antibodies, b cells, and t cells, and they all persisted. Even if there is not sterilizing immunity from future infections, there should at least be protection from severe disease.
 
Blanket COVID-19 liability shield will cost taxpayers - Roll Call - "Legal immunity won’t heal the economy or prevent harm, but it could end up making ordinary Americans pay"
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made a five-year “liability shield” a key demand in negotiations for the next COVID-19 relief legislation. As the country navigates uncharted waters of the pandemic, many types of businesses — nursing homes, retail and restaurants, and health care providers — could receive legislated protection from civil liability for harms (including deaths) their actions may or may not have caused. This news comes on the heels of a letter from 21 of the 26 Republican governors asking Congress to enact pandemic-related civil liability protections.

As a starting point, it is important to remember who is protected by immunity and who is harmed. Immunity from civil liability for negligence does not prevent harm or injury. It simply shifts the burden and costs to the person or group who has been injured — and all too often, to the taxpayer. The legal standard for negligence requires a plaintiff to prove four separate elements: duty of care, a breach of that duty, harm, and a causal connection between the harm and the breach of duty.

...
The HEALS Act package released by Senate Republicans last month would even make it more difficult to hold businesses responsible for gross negligence, or conduct with reckless disregard for the safety of others. Under the proposal, those reckless companies could defend themselves by saying they tried not to be reckless. Responsible businesses that choose to invest in the safety of their employees and customers may be undercut by competitors who find that going beyond that first effort is too expensive.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom