American Politics: Discuss and Debate (Page 37 of 44)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-admi … uth-texas/

Obviously Biden saw the same poll and had the same concerns.  I don't think there's any harm in doing some highly-visible work at the border.  If it were up to me, I'd send Kamala down to the border with very public events, especially in border towns where Republicans are making serious inroads.  One of Harris' strengths is her toughness on crime, and I think if Biden/Harris even give the appearance of being tougher on the border than they have been (even if it's all for show), then I think it will be much harder for non-MAGA Republicans to vote for Trump. 

I know some of these people, and I promise you they'll think "Well the economy is doing better, Biden seems to be doing things on the border, Harris is doing good work....I can live with four more years of this."

What's nuts is... as an investment instrument...(which it is not touted to be, it's supposed to be a currency used for everyday transactions)... if you held bitcoin before the pandemic and still hold it now, you'd still have a 10x return on the investment. 

The hype period is over but the market still values it as a potential future currency, otherwise the price would still not be so high (even if it's half of the peak).

The idea of giving people power especially in third world countries to not be reliant on the currency of potentially corrupt govts is a powerful one.  But too many people got involved in bitcoin simply as an investor and a lot of those who came in during the hype have exited now.   A lot of big companies exploited retail investors, people lost their shirt.   Even though crypto is supposed to be about removing influence by govt, the flipside of the lack of regulation was wealthy people getting more wealthy from it and consumers being manipulated by pyramid schemes.

For the life of me, trends like nfts, web 3, obscure cryptocoins.... they seem so full of hot air.  I don't know how people get so excited over such crap.  There seems to be more important things to help humanity but we have very bright people who get consumed and apply their talents toward this stuff.  Can't people smell bullshit?

They were not a terrible idea, even Wade would've approved.

Today's laptop is a hybrid netbook any how when you compare percentage of data stored locally vs the cloud.

the simple solution is refurbished laptops.  They tend to have issues, but usually not major ones, and are much cheaper.

I don't celebrate any right wing nutcase.

RFK Jr. doesn't deserve the name Kennedy.

It's been a long time since the Kennedy clan was relevant nationally.  He'll pull less than 100k votes and nobody will remember he ran as anything but a joke.  Kind of like Kanye West last election.

It's a little confusing, because of statements like these that indicate overwhelming support on your side for these candidates...

"I'm intrigued by RFK Jr. going into the race as an independent."

"He's been strongly supported by MAGA as some kind of spoiler to Biden, but that's because he's philosophically a conservative.  He's straight crazy, and he's supported by Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson, Ron DeSantis, and Joe Rogan, among others."

"He made a lot of noise early because he was polling in the teens/20s in certain polls."

"Experts said it was essentially name recognition driving the polling because, again, he doesn't have any of the same ideals that Democrats would ever vote for." <---- derogatory remark against Dems?

I might be misunderstanding. If so, nevermind...

I was just calling it like I saw it. And I owe Slider_Quinn21 an apology. I can admit when I am wrong. I dislike anything positive about the right wing at any point at this point, and his statements just felt like a veiled attempt at spreading positivity about right wingers, without knowing more. Like I said, if I am incorrect, nevermind.

I also apologize for jumping the gun.

It has nothing to do with my stepdad, but everything to do about my dislike of right wingers. The mere mention of Joe Rogan or Steve Bannon makes me physically ill.

I appreciate you, Slider_Quinn21.

I will never make that mistake again.

Jordan doesn't have the votes either, it's absolutely pathetic.  GOP are not interested in governing.

If there's a will, there is usually a way on that R side.

But this R party is beholden to Trump and only Trump, so we will see if anything can be accomplished.

Even if there are any moderates, they're afraid of getting primaried, so they'll still be beholden to Trump just to make their life easier.

Until Trump's hold on the R party is over with in some way, that's how it will always be.

This was a difficult situation for you. Democrat or not, Hillary Clinton's politics, voting record, values, professed intentions and intentions were abhorrent to you. The Clintons were Democrats in name, but their politics and actions were all too often about courting Wall Street, outsourcing labour overseas, gutting welfare, etc. Hillary Clinton expected you to vote for her because she wasn't a registered Republican.

I think you have to consider that Hillary Clinton didn't do anything to earn your support. Even if you look at voting as an exercise in voting for your preferred opponent, your logic at the time was that you would vote against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton simultaneously because your preferred opponent was, I dunno, Joe the Tiger Guy. Clinton didn't do anything to convince you that she would be your preferred opponent either. She seemed to take her victory for granted.

In contrast, I feel Biden put in the work. Biden worked hard to be the president you could grudgingly tolerate, the president you'd prefer to oppose and work around, the president you'd rather be grit your teeth and endure as opposed to the president who would actively try to get you killed in nuclear war and pandemic.

Biden's team called Trump a flailing, losing, messageless campaign of nothing, but he didn't kick back, he campaigned hard like he was losing. He repeatedly declared how he was a proud Democrat who would work hard for Republican and Democrat and independent voters alike. That's just rhetoric, but Clinton didn't even do that.

It goes both ways, Slider_Quinn21. Maybe you wish you voted for Clinton, but candidates have to do something to earn your vote.

(Please note that I still fully support Joe Biden and will do everything I can to get him elected.  My support hasn't wavered, and I think he's done a great job).

I'm starting to get nervous about 2024.

I know polls from this far out are mostly junk, but there's a lot of bad signs that I hope the Democrats and the Biden campaign are taking very seriously.  We know that Trump has overtaken Biden in a lot of national polls, but he's also started taking over in a lot of state polls.  And important battleground state polls.  Biden was down really big with young voters, both white and non-white, even among people that voted overwhelmingly for him in 2020.  I don't know if it's because of his age, because of the economy, because of some of the unrest in the world or what.  But the polls are what the polls are, and if the polls are right and the election was today, Trump wins.

Now the polls may not be right and the election isn't today.  But the election is a year from now, and things don't look good.  A four-time indicted maniac fascist is inching his way back to the White House.  I'm getting very nervous.

Now there could be tons of reasons for this.  Because the Republican primary is happening now (and there's not really a Democratic one), Trump's name is in the news more.  There's maybe more enthusiasm for Trump because he's actively campaigning and Biden really isn't.  There isn't really a blitz in favor of Biden saying all the positive things that have happened in the last three years.  All that will come and all that will help Biden.  Right now, all people are hearing is how bad things are because the only people campaigning are Republicans.

And Trump's trials are (supposedly) coming up.  Trump is taking the stand today in his fraud trial.  There's plenty of time for things to come up, for him to get a lot of bad press, and for people to wake up.

But still.  People that voted for Biden are saying that they're going to switch to Trump.  That's scary.

And it reminds me of 2016.  Everyone in the Democratic Party coalesced around a candidate that was deeply unpopular, with (mostly BS) fraud/criminal connections that rile people up.  In Hillary's case, she tried to go for a knockout instead of a win, focusing on states that would give her a landslide win instead of shoring up states that would just give her any kind of win.  I assume Biden's team will zig where Hillary's team zagged.

That being said, I'm still just surprised that we're here.  Biden talked in 2020 about being a one-term president and passing the baton on to someone else.  The Democrats won both chambers of Congress and the White House.  They had big names in Congress and in the Cabinet that they could've lifted up and popularized.  They could've given Kamala Harris work to make her more popular and likeable.

Instead, they gave Harris the impossible task of dealing with the border.  Mayor Pete has fumbled a couple of the big opportunities he had to make a splash nationally.  No one in Congress stepped up to have a high profile.  No one stepped up, and even if Biden didn't want to run, he might *have* to run because there's no one else.  Biden is unpopular, but Harris is just as unpopular.  If Biden didn't run, who would even be able to run in his place, and would that person have any more of a chance than Biden does?

They had years to build a deep bench, and what do they have to show for it?  Gretchen Whitmer?  Gavin Newsom? 

Scary times.

How will you lose your job?

Ugh, that sucks.  I assume moving out of state isn't an easy or workable thing for you to do?

TF wrote about Governor Tate Reeves:

I'm very sorry to hear this, Temporal Flux. I haven't been posting daily as is my wont because I didn't feel it appropriate to talk about culture and such without conveying my sympathies first. Feel free to email me if you want me to handle the Sliders.tv hosting bill from now on.

I have read Governor Tate Reeves' Wikipedia entry and I had to triple-check to make sure this wasn't the Wiki entry for a fictional supervillain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tate_Reeves

I am angry and upset that Temporal Flux's employment is in danger due to Reeves' re-election. TF has never gone into detail about his job in public, so I won't touch on it here, but his work for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety is vital, critical and lifesaving. I have gone through a training program for TF's job and applied to work that job and I washed out so badly that my respect for TF quadrupled.

Reeves is a nutjob who told people to combat COVID-19 with prayer rather than masks, held mass gatherings during the height of the pandemic, misappropriated welfare funds, supported presidential election fraud, denied the existence of systemic racism, and now he's going after Temporal Flux.

As someone who failed to enter TF's profession (and failed so hard people still laugh about it), I'm not equipped to offer any professional advice.

However, everyone on Sliders.tv knows: Temporal Flux is a dynamic and brilliant mind, a fountain of information, a relentlessly analytical mind that predicts what's coming long before anyone else has noticed it on the horizon. This includes the threat of inflation and cryptocurrency being a scam. (Thanks to Temporal Flux, I never bought any of Felicia Day's crypto coin even though I wanted to support her.)

Everyone who reads TF's posts can tell that he's thoughtful, clever, resourceful, reasonable, and an asset to any friend group, any team, any organization, any endeavour, any enterprise, any mission. Everyone who's ever talked to TF has walked away smarter and better whether they knew it or not.

I hate Tate Reeves more than I ever hated David Peckinpah.

Reeves is also a major player in this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson,_ … ter_crisis

Sadly, too many politicians out their personal agendas ahead of serving their constituents

From the STAR TREK thread:
https://sliders.tv/bboard/viewtopic.php … 901#p14901

Wil Wheaton's blog entry on masking is here:
https://wilwheaton.net/2023/11/mind-you … be-a-dick/

While outdoor transmission risk is negligible, a mask reduces it to non-existent. But even then, I don't see why anyone needs to take issue with anyone else's headwear.

I'm finding some of this baffling. I recognize that Wil Wheaton has offended you due to his behaviour at fan gatherings. You're someone who pays for the chance to meet actors, and I take it that Wheaton has failed to give you a good experience on at least one occasion. I have never met Wheaton and don't know what he's like in person, I've only read his books, and I've recently been informed that the writer is not their writing. I am sorry that you had a bad experience with Wheaton.

However, I don't see why you, someone who regularly declared the supremacy of N95s over all other masks, would take issue with a minor-league celebrity answering a question on his blog, explaining why he wears masks at indoor gatherings, and using his platform and near-non-existent fame to normalize wearing masks at public events to ward off illness. Note that the mask he was wearing, which looks to me like a KF94, is what I myself wear.

The thing about KF94 and KN95 masks: they block particles going in and out, unlike a surgical which only blocks particles going out. When you wear a surgical mask, you need everyone else to wear one too or you might as well not wear it at all. When you wear a KF94 or a KN95, you don't need anyone else around you to wear one; the protection is going both ways. To wear one of these masks is to tell everyone around you that your measures are for you and sufficient for you.

I'll respond to the other stuff in the STAR TREK thread when the Pfizer isn't hitting me as hard, but if you dislike Wil Wheaton, I am absolutely sure he did something to incur your wrath.

Personal note: I have stopped, for the most part, wearing a mask all the time.  I got the new Covid shot (and the flu shot), and I have worn a mask the rare times I've flown on an airplane.  I've gone to sporting events, and I recently saw the Marvels without a mask (which was rare, I've masked up to see every movie I've seen in theaters - as I said in the Disney thread, I saw that movie with almost no notice).  We don't go out to eat a ton or go out in general much, but it's impossible to get my kids to properly mask and I feel like they're more likely to get me sick than a stranger.

I think about it every time I don't mask, though.

What I think is interesting about it from either perspective is that being sick sucks.  Not just Covid or the flu.  Getting any respiratory illness just sucks.  Feeling sick, having a sore throat, having a cough, not being able to breathe out your nose - it's all annoying and debilitating.

And, yeah, during the pandemic lockdown time, none of us got sick.  I don't think I got sick in 2020 or 2021.  Fall, winter, spring, cold and flu season, any of it.  And it was great.

So it's not just Covid virtue signaling.  I think it's a reasonable decision to wear a mask for a couple of hours in exchange for not feeling sick for days/weeks.  It's mildly uncomfortable, but if you're watching a movie or a sporting event or whatever, you'll probably be distracted enough by that not to notice.

MODERATOR NOTE: ireactions here. This post contains misinformation about the efficacy of masks and vaccines. This is not acceptable. This poster is warned not to post further misinformation about masks and vaccines going forward.

This post further declares that only sexual abuse counts as child abuse. This minimization and dismissiveness of other forms of abuse is outrageous and unacceptable. This poster is warned not to minimize the experiences of abuse survivors going forward.

Celebrities are hypocrites, and hilariously bad ones at that.  Wil Wheaton is at the top of this list.  This really has nothing to do with his masking, it's just the person.  He was once a working young actor, and when his career dried up, he pivoted to what he does over the last few decades and good for him.  However, a large part of what he does now, career wise, is playing victim.  He disowned his entire family, which in and of itself is something I personally can't wrap myself around.  They didn't sexually abuse him.  They had him work as an actor and supposedly took advantage of him finally, and for that he relates them all to the Devil, even his siblings who had nothing to do with that.  Again, this is Wil's shtick.  He charges a laughable price at conventions, where again, don't go near him.  He's miserable even when you go to get his autograph. 

MODERATOR FACT CHECK: This poster is falsely claiming that children are only truly abused if they are sexually abused. This is completely false. Children can be abused and exploited in many ways, from labour exploitation, financial exploitation, assault without sexual assault, emotional abuse, neglect, gaslighting, and more, and just because this poster can't wrap their head around it doesn't mean these forms of abuse don't exist. Furthermore, any survivor of abuse has the right to cut off contact from their abuser, and any survivor of abuse has the right to tell their stories, regardless of this poster's approval or disapproval.

Resources on forms of child abuse:

https://www.healthyplace.com/abuse/chil … hild-abuse

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241532

If one wishes to wear a mask everywhere, that's that person's choice, same as getting the vaccine.  I truly have massive regret in how that was handled.  I think the mandates were un-American, and frankly Dr. Fauci should have been fired by Trump but he was too afraid of being blamed for the virus.  The "science" on masking as well as vaccines has progressively been less and less agreeable to the mandates on both.  Even the vaunted N95 masks are not going to protect you over a reasonable period of time from airborne disease.  It's great that QuinnSlidr has not been sick, but there are a multitude of factors beyond masking that may be the reason for that.  Boosters IMO, ehhh, it's like the flu shot, probably worthwhile for the elderly or immune compromised but really of little benefit for the general public.  The fact these CDC doctors continue to pronounce what is or is not advisable with what is still absolute questionable data is ridiculous. 

Again, I am not some crazy Trumper here, but the way the pandemic was handled was an outright disaster.  The damage done to children's schooling, the mentally ill and addicted, not to mention the economic repercussions.  The massive inflation, which is now subsiding but still will cost Joe Biden in 2024, is a direct result of that.  The problem was Trump was too hated and untrustworthy on the subject.  China is still an economic disaster as the result of their policies.  You cannot stop the world over a virus.  There will be more of them.  More and more.  The level of pollution, treatment of animals, global warming, and idiotic garbage like "gain of function" research promoted by the medical elites (such as Fauci) will trigger additional epidemics.  Pandemics happen due to public policy, there's really no actual reason to have them.  Civilization was not at risk. 

Personally, I'll wear a mask in a hospital, because the germs are out of control, nowhere else.  Done with them, I threw them out.  Done with boosters, their efficacy simply isn't proven.

MODERATOR FACT CHECK: Masks with electrostatic filtering and a good seal are effective in filtering viral particles from inhalation. It's a technology that's existed since 1907 and is used in surgical masks, KN95 masks, N95 masks and KF94 masks. Please rely on medically and scientifically verified sources for information on masks.

https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-car … -work-best

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrost … ecipitator

COVID-19 and flu vaccines are effective at mitigating infection, symptoms, and preventiong hospitalization and death. Please rely on medically and scientifically verified sources for information on vaccines.

https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/unders … avaccines/

https://www.nfid.org/news-updates/media … 24-season/

Grizzlor, your post is unacceptable. It's one thing to have a negative opinion about a public figure, although it's beyond me why your own family relationships would have any bearing whatsoever on how Wil Wheaton relates to his. But your misinformation on masks and vaccination will not be tolerated.

Masks with electrostatic filtering and a good seal are effective in filtering viral particles from inhalation. It's a technology that's existed since 1907 and is used in surgical masks, KN95 masks, N95 masks and KF94 masks. To claim otherwise is lying, deceitful, fraudulent misinformation. This will not be allowed here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrost … ecipitator

https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-car … -work-best

mRNA vaccines are effective in mitigating infection, lessening symptoms and preventing hospitalization and death by introducing messenger ribonucleic acid that corresponds to a protein in the outer membrane of a virus, teaching the human immune system to recognize the presence of that virus and create an antibody response. Each new mRNA vaccine has been retailored to more recent mutations of COVID-19.

Flu shots in 2023 use deactivated or weakened versions of circulating flu viruses to train the immune system to develop antibodies as well. They These vaccines are also effective at mitigating severity, hospitalization and death.

Furthermore, to call the 2023 COVID vaccines a "booster" is severely misinformed; a booster is to increase existing immunity. The updated COVID-vaccine for newer variants is effectively a new COVID vaccine, much in the same way a flu shot each year is not a "booster" on the previous year.

https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/unders … avaccines/

https://www.nfid.org/news-updates/media … 24-season/

It's one thing to say the pandemic wasn't well-managed, to disagree with mask mandates and vaccine mandates and lockdowns, to say that viruses are inevitable, to say that you yourself no longer mask and get vaccinations. Those are about your own conduct and your own opinion. But flat out misinformation will not be tolerated. Consider this a moderator warning.

MODERATOR WARNING: This post contains misrepresentations of mRNA vaccines and false claims regarding electrostatic masks. The next time this poster makes false claims regarding public health and safety, they will be banned for a week. The next incident will lead to a one month ban. An incident after that will lead to a permanent ban.

I'm sorry, I didn't realize this forum about a television show was in reality a graduate level discussion board at Johns Hopkins.  But I'll play along because you are putting words in my mouth.

1. I know how flu vaccines work, they are developed based on data from each hemisphere, because it's winter in one, and summer in the other.  The vaccine companies then use this data to HEDGE repeat HEDGE on which flu strains they expect to be most prevalent.  I've gotten plenty of flu shots, and I know that sometimes they guess wrong and you aren't very protected.  Oh well, it is what it is. 

MODERATOR NOTE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: This poster is dismissing the value of flu shots as formulated by guesswork. Flu shots are formulated based on extensive surveillance and forecasting data across 114 countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System. It is not completely accurate forecasting, but it is not random guesswork. Due to numerous strains of influenza, the annual flu shot cannot offer complete protection, and strains not within the annual shot may arise. Statistically, a flu shot still reduces the risk of illness among the overall population by 40 to 60 percent and is worthwhile protection.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/vaccineeffect.htm

2. I never said anything about flu vaccines previoiusly, and those are NOT mRNA vaccines anyway.  Now, when it comes to COVID vaccines, after the first vaccines were passed by FDA, subsequent iterations are tested only in a lab, that's called a PRECLINICAL trial.  They are NOT tested on humans.  Furthermore, they are tested on the "currently circulating" virus, and as we have seen with COVID, it mutates quickly, like any coronovirus does, and so the vaccine being administered are, ironically, like flu vaccines, just targeting what the researchers decide is their best guess.  Again, this is fine, and anyone who wishes to take it is fine by me.  In terms of efficacy of those vaccines, the only clinical trials were conducted on people and released back in December 2020, as I said before.  At the time, the vaccines had tremendous performance against the pre-Delta/Omicron COVID strands.  Once it mutated to those, the vaccines at the time had large drops in effectiveness, so out came the "boosters."  Which by the way, is not my term, that is the term the media and even pharma uses on Covid vaccines!  What you are currently being sold, by pharmaceuticals, is NOT clinically tested, and neither you nor I can actually claim efficacy  because there has not been actual human research.  Lab research IMO is not sufficient, because most things that work in a petri dish do not work in human trial.  Any researcher would admit to this. 

https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/covid … comparison

MODERATOR FACT CHECK: This poster has falsely characterized new mRNA vaccines as not responsive to current versions of COVID-19. This is false.

New mRNA vaccines are reformulated to target the lineage of recent COVID-19 variants, a lineage from which currently circulating variants of COVID-19 would have emerged. The original mRNA vaccine mechanism of spike protein generation for immune system response against the original COVID-19 virus has proven effective over the course of mass distribution beginning in 2021.

The reformulated vaccines, while not a perfect match to currently circulating variants, have sufficient efficiency from lineage targeting to recognize the new variants and create an immune system response.

While the immune response is imperfect, it is sufficient to ward off severe illness, hospitalization, and death.

https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2023/what- … inter-2023

This poster's protest that the specific reformulated vaccine has not received full human trials is unreasonable for a vaccine that must be reformulated every 6 - 12 months and can practically receive only abbreviated clinical trials. The underlying mRNA vaccine technology has been tested since 2013, the underlying COVID-19 vaccine technology has been further reviewed during the urgent roll-out of 2021 and continues to this day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRNA_vaccine

3. You technically agreed with what I said about masks.  If you're not wearing an N95, you are likely unprotected.
Secondly, you completely passed right over what I said about the other mitigating factors in regards to disease prevention and spread.  People who are healthy, mask, vaccine, or not, have been proven to have an extremely lower level of risk from infectious disease.  It's simple biology.  Those who are not, probably should consider things like vaccines and/or masks.  I could just as easily argue that COVID's "decrease" is due to "herd immunity," and the wearing of masks is now unnecessary.  Given that mandates have stopped pretty much everywhere, I'd not be wrong, no?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10446908/

But to be "scientific," here is the NIH study of other studies on the subject of mask efficacy, in terms of wearing, types, and the mandates.  They found that most of the studies were problematic, because they were observational rather than experimental.  Now I HATED reading these kinds of materials in grad school, but the Results section you will find that the studies were flawed and the results were all across the board.  So before you "moderate" me for saying the science is not settled on these things, perhaps you can admit the science is NOT settled?  Which was my point.  Do masks work?  Obviously YES they work to some degree, I'm not an idiot.  The science however, is simply not conclusively proven, because there are again, a multitude of environmental factors.  It's called everyday life, and while anyone is free to wear a mask, I am also free to continue to doubt that choice.  Same as those who shout about the undeniable health benefits of being a vegan, which again, not conclusive that fully eliminating meat products is the way to go.

MODERATOR FACT CHECK: This poster claims that only N95 masks offer protection. This is false.

Masks with electrostatic filtering and a good seal are effective in filtering viral particles from inhalation. Electrostatic filtration is a technology that has existed since 1907 and is used in surgical masks, KN95 masks, N95 masks and KF94 masks. Electrostatic filtration is not limited to N95 masks.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr … espirators

This poster cites "mitigating factors". These factors have no bearing on the proven filtration efficacy of well-sealed electrostatic masks in blocking particles, droplets and aerosols from being inhaled by a mask wearer.

4. We come to Mr. Wheaton, and you know what, yes, you are absolutely correct, I was LAZY, and didn't research his multitude of claims.  I have in fact heard them all, because I heard him on Rosenbaum's podcast recount them all.  Again, it was laziness.  However, I would never discount child abuse and its lasting effects intentionally.  I do apologize if that's how it came across, and that is the ONLY thing I'm apologizing for writing here.

In conclusion, you can "moderate" all you like, but in my opinion, pointing to an article which itself is merely a collection of best recommendations, as if that is scientific law, is acceptable?  How is my questioning the lack of high level scientific consensus "misinformation?"  When as I showed, the scientists themselves can't agree on most any of this.  I really DON'T feel like discussing viruses and masks here regardless, but I also defend the first amendment, there is no more important human right. 

He was once a "hero" during the AIDS era.  Since that point, he's been a bureaucrat, which is fine.  He was in a no-win situation given the President was a complete moron.  He DID preface most of what he advised as simply that, best-guesses.  He tried to be optimistic.

Where Fauci was dead wrong was in directed massive funds to gain of function research, which was going on in Wuhan because you couldn't get that kind of madness passed a regulator in the USA or most of Europe.  Was that the origin of COVID?  Very possibly.  He and even Trump tried to dispel that notion, when in reality there should have been immediate and loud criticism of China.  They couldn't do that, because their hands were "dirty."  Let me say this, I don't know when, but there will come a reckoning to which the "work" of Fauci's NIH gain of function research is placed right alongside garbage like MK Ultra.  No one will ever be brought to justice over that, of course, that's the American way. 

IMO, he failed in his role as chief bureaucrat of NIH.  His ethical compass was compromised, at some point.  He has been dismissive of actual medical criticism over the years, alleged by scores of reputable and unbiased researchers in his own field.  You can call that conspiratorial if you like, but it's based on well-known public information.  He's no hero.  Not a fan of being labeled a propagandist when again, the science is not settled.  Being anti-vaxx would be these people who scream about autism or that microchips are being implanted.  Those have zero basis in fact.

Grizzlor's laughably and willfully poor reading comprehension on masks continues:

Grizzlor, you are lying. Since 2021, I've written post after post about how you are completely wrong to claim only N95 masks work:

https://sliders.tv/bboard/viewtopic.php … 774#p11774
https://sliders.tv/bboard/viewtopic.php … 776#p11776
https://sliders.tv/bboard/viewtopic.php … 778#p11778
https://sliders.tv/bboard/viewtopic.php … 780#p11780
https://sliders.tv/bboard/viewtopic.php … 783#p11783

Posted by me in 2022:

I have never said that N95 masks are the only mask that protect. Lots of non-N95 masks have electrostatic filtration, a proven means of mitigating viral transmission by filtering droplet and aerosol transmission. Electrostatic filters have existed since 1907 and are used in air conditioning, KF94 masks, KN95 masks, surgical masks and N95 masks. Electrostatic filters catch viral particles, that's basic engineering. The filtration is unaffected by rants about individual health conditions or mandates or brand loyalty to N95s.

You're just lying.

Grizzlor, you've been informed repeatedly, by me, of Wil Wheaton's claims against his family in the STAR TREK thread on two separate occasions. You also confess to listening to Wheaton's claims in a podcast, so you were fully aware of his claims.

Yet, you claim you were ignorant of Wheaton's family issues in the same paragraph where you describe listening to them. You are lying. It's like you think I can't scroll up or re-read previous posts or previous sentences.

**

Grizzlor claims that without full human trials, a vaccine should be considered useless. This impossible standard would prevent every annual vaccine from being updated in time to save anyone from illness. Such a standard only serves Grizzlor's anti-vaxxer fervor.

Reformulations for annual and bi-annual vaccines receive abbreviated clinical trials. The underlying technology is under constant review. Full human trials for reformulated vaccines would be like buying a new kettle for each tea bag.

The flu vaccine has 40 - 60 percent efficiency in reducing influenza because it's based on forecasting flu viruses. It's not random guesswork as Grizzlor claims, but based on extensive surveillance data. While strains of influenza exist outside the annual shot, a 40 - 60 percent reduction in chance of illness is worth the dose.

The current 2023 COVID vaccine isn't engineered for the currently dominant variant, but it's targeting its very-recent lineage. Antibodies for variants of lineage, while not able to fully prevent infection in current strains, have sufficient cross-application to ward off severe illness, hospitalization and death.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/vaccineeffect.htm
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2023/what- … inter-2023
https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/updat … gs-to-know

As a seventh dose recipient of a COVID-19 vaccine, I complete regular questionnaires for ongoing study of this vaccine.

Grizzlor is demanding comprehensive clinical results that no annually and bi-annually reformulated vaccine can offer. It's a specious, disingenuous argument, effectively a lie.

In terms of masks, Grizzlor's claims are lies or red herrings: he cites the absence of mask mandates, refers to COVID statistics, none of which have any bearing on a simple fact: electrostatic filters catch viruses.

**

You know, Grizzlor, if you're going to lie to me, at least lie competently.

You are either a liar or you are so disordered and disoriented that you can't keep track of your own writing from sentence to sentence. Personally, I think you're a liar and you have used up any benefit of the doubt.

You are an egotistical fool who thinks it's up to you to tell people they are obligated to maintain relationships with abusive family members because you just "can't wrap" your head around cutting ties with abusers.
https://sliders.tv/bboard/viewtopic.php … 921#p14921

You are an ignorant twit who accused me of "fake news" for mentioning that Allison Mack was being investigated for sex trafficking for her cult, and your accusation was based solely on the fact that Mack posed for a photo with you. (By the way, Mack recently finished her prison sentence after pleading guilty to all charges.)
https://sliders.tv/bboard/viewtopic.php?pid=6988#p6988

You are a hapless oaf who blames FOX executives for SLIDERS' mismanagement during a discussion of its seasons on the Sci-Fi Channel.
https://sliders.tv/bboard/viewtopic.php?pid=8381#p8381

Public health is not a subject for your fumbling incompetence. Public health isn't STAR TREK or JOHN WICK or MORTAL KOMBAT or SLIDERS. If you want to engage in inane rants on popular culture, you go right ahead, but public health actually matters.

Grizzlor, if you continue to falsely claim that vaccines don't work or masks don't work and discourage people from masks or vaccination, you will be banned for a week. A second violation will see you banned for 30 days. A third violation will be your last.

Moderation, like electrostatic filtration and spike protein recognition, doesn't require your respect in order to work.

When you declare that only sexual abuse is really child abuse, you insult me as a survivor of abuse. When you declare masks and vaccines don't work, you insult my profession where I try to make confusing health care information simple and comprehensible.

When you falsely claim I called N95 masks the only ones worth wearing, you insult my honour as a mask enthusiast who has spent a lot of time learning how these filters work.

I'm not flippant about medical information that could, if put into practice, affect someone's health and well-being. I'm not flippant in discussing child abuse and trauma. I'm not flippant about sex trafficking. No one should be.

You once wrote, "I didn't realize this forum about a television show was in reality a graduate level discussion board at Johns Hopkins." If we're going to discuss public health here, then any discussion should absolutely match the integrity and standard found in a Johns Hopkins conference room.

RussianCabbieLotteryFan asked me how long masks stay effective, how to reuse them, and how to store them. I did not answer his questions off the top of my head. I didn't skim studies and come back with barely-understood, half-remembered, cherry-picked data that validated my life's choices. I got in touch with some engineers and aerosol specialists, reached out to nurses and doctors, wrote up an entry-level set of responses, and then I asked them to check my work.

When Slider_Quinn21 asked me what masks I'd recommend, I didn't just throw out a random brand name based on whatever I happened to remember. I looked for a mask model and a specific brand that had actually been reviewed by an aerosol specialist with particle measurement equipment, and the mask I recommended to him was the one protecting my mother.

Brad and Rob deserved my best effort at getting them actionable answers in an understandable format because they had the humility to ask and I had the humility to approach my betters and request their guidance to bring back here. And I went to the effort because this is a subject that can potentially impact human life. Human life matters. Brad and Rob's lives matter. Everyone who reads this board matters to me whether it's 10 or two or one. I would never write words that would steer them into danger or be reckless with their safety.

When you are cavalier and careless in posting about masks and vaccines, you are saying that human life doesn't matter to you and that the lives of the people on this board especially don't matter to you. That's what I find more insulting than any epithet or term of scorn.

This remark is completely wrong. Public health is the matter of health as relating to the general population, a matter that is affected and managed by public policy and public policy is a matter of politics. And anyone who discusses public health in a public setting anywhere should ensure that what they say never steers anyone into risk or danger.

Feel free to take that up with the co-creators of the show if you feel the need to associate your comments with whatever you perceive to be higher authorities.

I am perfectly aware that Tracy Torme shares your personal lifestyle choices on masks and vaccines, but he didn't lie about their efficacy in his podcast appearances, he just said he wasn't committed to using them while noting that his sister was "extreme" about using them.

To truly discuss something is to engage in earnest fashion by offering facts and coherent perspectives for sincere discourse with standards of factuality and reason to genuinely engage with ideas and information. And by that standard, you were done a long time ago.

I find this post reasonable and fair in its skepticism and nuance. Masks protect. But how much do they protect? COVID-19 vaccines reduce the risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death. But how much do they reduce the risk?

Flu shots statistically reduce illness by 40 - 60 percent, but is that reducing infection, severe illness, hospitalization or death?

Given the range of flu strains and the limitations of flu shots and the variability of each recipient of vaccines, what protection can we say is generally received by vaccinations that is an applicable answer to the overall population?

I find these questions appropriate and important. I find these questions deserving of consideration and response.

I am going to note them and bring them to my superiors and betters for review and come back to you with a summary of their responses. I may not have a response until next week.

**

In terms of villifying people who don't mask or vaccinate... in 2021, anyone who didn't vaccinate was endangering people's lives because the vaccine was so effective on the original strain of COVID-19. The situation has changed. In 2023, the updated vaccine no longer stops you or others getting sick; it merely keeps the vaccinated individual from severely ill, keeping them out of the hospital or the grave. The unvaccinated person with COVID poses as much threat to me as the vaccinated person with COVID.

Furthermore, mask technology and availability has improved significantly. In 2020, surgical masks were what was largely available. Surgical masks block outgoing particles but lack the seal to block incoming particles. An unmasked person posed a threat to those who conscientiously masked. But since 2021, KF94 and KN95 masks with a good seal protect in both directions. When I wear a KF94, whether or not anyone around me is wearing a mask is irrelevant; my mask is blocking incoming and outgoing particles.

As a result, an unvaccinated person without a mask is no longer a bioterrorist as much as they are someone walking in a rainstorm and refusing to wear a raincoat or an umbrella, which is not a crime or a threat to anyone. A mask and a vaccination protect the individual who has them, but the unmasked and unvaccinated pose no additional danger to the vaccinated mask-wearer.

I think that has put vaccination in the realm of personal choice rather than public duty. But how much risk is the unvaccinated non-masker incurring? What complications are they facing should they have only long-term T-cell protection in a full-viral load exposure?

I am going to look into this and get back to you.

Commenting on whether or not people wear masks properly or at all is an assessment of human behaviour and societal stigmas and attitudes to personal protective equipment. It is a tangent without bearing on whether or not masks work.

Saying masks don't work because people don't wear them properly or wear them at all is like saying Ford made a bad car because the driver ignored all traffic lights and road signs before crashing it or saying Hewlett-Packard made a bad laptop because the user filled it with spyware and viruses. A mask is not a mask wearer.

The question of QuinnSlidr's immune system is, to me, utterly irrelevant in the discussion of whether or not masks work. QuinnSlidr's BMI, bloodwork, white blood cell count, and daily average temperature for the last year have no relevance to filtration efficacy. QuinnSlidr could be an Olympic athlete or on his deathbed; that still has no effect on electrostatic particle capture.

Do masks work? It's a simple question with an obvious answer: if you wear an electrostatic mask that seals properly, that 95 percent filtration of 0.1 to 0.75 micron particles is obviously going to stop you from inhaling high levels of viral and bacterial particulate.

Raising the subject of people who don't wear masks properly or at all is not an indication of mask efficacy, but human ineptitude. Someone who cares to wear a mask is going to wear it and wear it properly.

What additional protection does a mask grant on a well-functioning immune system? That's a question worth looking into, so I'll return to it once I have some informed answers to share. Anecdotally: I used to get six colds a year. Ever since I started masking, I have had one cold in three years.

**

I'm afraid I don't currently have access to any experts on gain of function research and don't know who to ask about that.

I generally agree with pretty much everything Grizzlor said.  To me, I think the Democrats either need to treat this like a do or die election, or they're going to lose (or make it way too close for comfort).

I listened to a podcast that was talking about non-college-educated workers.  That's the meat of Trump's voting block right now, and they're a ton of people that voted Democrat historically (as recently as Obama).  This is where Biden needs to win people back.  I don't think the majority of them are MAGA or *want* to vote for Trump, but they feel abandoned by the Democratic Party.  If the Democrats get any percentage of those people back, Biden wins in a landslide and the pre-2016 talks of the Republicans never having another president again are back.

The problem is that the Democrats are targeting two different groups with two different agendas.  Democrats appeal to working-class people because they support entitlements and unions and labor and all that.  The problem is, once they started appealing to college educated people, they shifted some / a lot of their focus to social progressive issues and things like climate change.  These are things that are important to me, but working class people can't worry about carbon in 2050 if they can't put food on the table today.

And here's the thing: a Republican strategist on the podcast could not point to a single policy that Republicans face that appeal to the working class.  It's all simply a vibe that Democrats are elitist and care more about transgenderism and electric cars than the economy.

So I think the things Grizzlor said are a good start, but I think it needs to go way further.

Please note: I'm not talking about any of this as a long-term policy shift or anything like that.  This is basically an emergency lever designed to to keep Trump out.  If we need to keep Trump at any cost, we need to mean it.

1. Biden needs to get as many of the non-MAGA working class back as possible.  I don't know if that means passing policies / signing executive orders / passing subsidies / whatever to get prices to come down, they should do that.  Basically anything short of another stimulus bill.  Obviously, further inflation is the opposite of what they want, but they need to be actively doing something.

2. The US is drilling for more oil than we have in a long time.  They need to be blitzing the right wing media with that as much as they can.  Whatever right-friendly people they can get in front of people on Fox and the fringy networks, they need to do it.  We are drilling.  We are not dependent on foreign oil.  We are doing what you want to get gas prices down.  They don't have to do any more on it, but they need to tell the right people that it's happening.

3. Whatever the left's position on the border is, they need to move to the right.  Right now, Ukraine aid is being held up because of border arguments.  Stop it.  Biden needs to be front and center on whatever "border security" means.  And, honestly, the person who needs to be front and center is Kamala Harris.  The Biden administration is legally required to build new stretches of wall on the border - Kamala needs to be there celebrating it.  She needs to put her prosecutor hat on and do press events at the border standing by border agents and talking about how criminals can't be allowed to cross the border.  Even if you don't think criminals are crossing the border, she needs to get out and say it.  It's pandering but we need pandering.

4. Biden and Harris need to stand against extremism on both sides.  I don't know how they walk that line, but there needs to be some sort of stand against social progressiveness.  You can't push too hard, but they need to speak out against whatever "woke" is.  I'm 100% for LGBT freedoms and discussions about race, but it's 100% not the time right now.  Let the next guy push that.  Biden needs to display for the next 10 months that he's focused on the things that are important to blue collar workers, and gender-affirming care shouldn't be on that list.

5. I don't know how he does this one, but he needs to embrace the grandpa look.  He speaks slow and he looks frail.  That isn't going to change in the next year.  But people love their grandpa.  Where Trump is cruel and angry, Joe needs to be kind and loveable.  I'm terrified of a debate between Biden and Trump because Trump is going to appear more pulled together and with it.

Again, this isn't a long-term strategy.  I don't want the Democratic Party to move to the right.  I want Joe Biden to move to the right.  I want Joe Biden to change what the Democratic Party's perception is.  It isn't a party that only cares about climate change and social issues. And I don't want it to stop caring about climate change and social issues, but they will not win the election on climate change and social issues.  They'll win it with the support of blue collar workers that voted Democrat 8 years ago.  And that's going to mean being a little less socially liberal and a lot more traditionally Democrat.

In 2025, go back to whatever you were doing.  Biden has done good work and the college educated people that have joined the left have done some good work.  The bills passed by Biden in his first term have been great.  But no matter how to the right Biden goes, he'll never go as far as Trump will go.  Abandoning social issues will not do the damage to LGBT/POC that a Trump presidency will do.  Devaluing climate change will not do the damage to the climate that a Trump presidency will do.

Make a choice.  Do you want to continue down the path you're on and maybe win?  Or do you want to run a meat and potatoes down-the-center campaign that appeals to a huge part of the country that you've lost and almost certainly win?  Is Trump the greatest danger that we face?  And if so, are you willing to do what it takes to beat him?

SQ21, everything you wrote is excellent and appropriate.  HOWEVER, you are asking the American public to delve into topics and connect dots and understand nuance?  Oh boy, that's going to be a big ask.  That goes back to perception, and Biden loses that battle every time.  His communicative skills don't exist anymore, and Kamala Harris is atrocious and more negatively viewed than he is!  He absolutely BLEW it choosing her over Amy Klobuchar.  Hell, Buttegieg would be more formidable than her, but she "checked" a box (minority female) instead of being evaluated for potential campaign performance.  This is where Biden fails.  He's plenty capable of being President, despite the jerks who make fun of his age, but he is totally incapable of campaigning.  It's going to be an utter train wreck. 

Biden is getting destroyed in polling on pocket book issues, and that is what drives people in national campaigns.  It's "the economy stupid," and it always is, especially for the sliver of independent voters.  The DNC have focused on the women of the suburbs with their messaging.  They still despise Donald Trump, and I do not expect them to start moving en masse to him.  That being said, when you question blue collar outreach, I think Biden has made inroads in the upper Midwest, but that has not helped him in AZ or GA, where he's now behind.  He can win without them if he runs the table with WI, MI, PA, I think (haven't done the math in head).  The perception, as each issue has arisen, is that Biden is feeble and has handled things badly.  When in fact most of these issues were directly caused by TRUMP!!!  It just doesn't take much to swing from the slight Biden state wins in 2020 to losing those states.  Not much at all, and young minority men do not like him.  Whether they vote is another story, of course.  That doesn't even get into how badly Trump's clan will attempt to literally steal the election again, given how many of the barriers in 2020 have been whittled away. 

QuinnSlidr, I will accept your explanation on gain of function.  Tom Cotton is worthless.  I appreciate the response, my anxiety on the subject is a lot less now.  Unfortunately, I am NOT the general public, they are stubborn and lazy, and not as easily swayed by proof, to make the accusations go away. 

I read that Fauci will testify before Congress.  Sadly he will be grilled like he were "Michael Corleone," and is it will be opportunity for grandstanding by the elected officials only.  I never believed Fauci lied to Congress in the first place.  He was employed as a bureaucrat and spokesman, but like the legions of other officials, he stood by and watched Trump lie to the public.  I would put him in with Gen Mattis or John Kelly, men who supposedly took an oath to the Constitution, and they all were in dereliction of duty.  All of them.  They should have each resigned and made such a public stink of it, that the public would have turned on Trump well before November 2020.  Yeah, yeah, they all said staying was more important, to keep Trump in check.  Nonsense, he went haywire regardless, and their silence (well after leaving) was cowardly, not heroic.  I could be too hard on Fauci, not sure, but inject bleach into your veins or UV rays or whatever that nonsense was, he rolled his eyes.  The government officials of yesteryear would have stepped down and berated a corrupt superior.  The number of people who refused vaccines, and were in poor health, because of King MAGA, was unfortunate for them (many died/suffered), not for the rest of us.  I guess he did the best he could, still, he was a spokesman, not a decision maker, and his "resignation" would have spoke volumes about how much of a ass hat Trump was during 2020.  We "lucked out" that Biden won after all.