CR: COVID-19 --Political Talk

[Js1 85,338]

On 6/11/2021 at 2:44 PM, JimmyJames said:

Haven’t read it yet but that lawsuit is in all likelihood frivolous. It’s been filed by a republican personal injury attorney. 

And was dismissed by a Reagan appointee district court judge. 

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/558173-judge-dismisses-staff-lawsuit-against-houston-methodist-vaccine-mandate

And the lawyer was the former Harris County GOP chair 

[washparkhorn 9,939]

33 minutes ago, Js1 said:

And was dismissed by a Reagan appointee district court judge. 

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/558173-judge-dismisses-staff-lawsuit-against-houston-methodist-vaccine-mandate

And the lawyer was the former Harris County GOP chair 

Somehow the New Holocaust meme didn't carry the day in a court of law.

Good for Judge Hughes and our legal system. Nice work. Efficient.

[OneOfTheOutOfFocusGuys 2,078]

6 hours ago, Js1 said:

And was dismissed by a Reagan appointee district court judge. 

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/558173-judge-dismisses-staff-lawsuit-against-houston-methodist-vaccine-mandate

And the lawyer was the former Harris County GOP chair 

Lol Lynn Hughes.  That’s a tough draw for a bs suit.  First time I was before him I was warned “he’s a hangin’ judge.”

[JimmyJames 12,271]

6 hours ago, Js1 said:

And was dismissed by a Reagan appointee district court judge. 

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/558173-judge-dismisses-staff-lawsuit-against-houston-methodist-vaccine-mandate

And the lawyer was the former Harris County GOP chair 

It’s just a bogus publicity stunt and should be sanctioned. 

[JimmyJames 12,271]

3 minutes ago, OneOfTheOutOfFocusGuys said:

Lol Lynn Hughes.  That’s a tough draw for a bs suit.  First time I was before him I was warned “he’s a hangin’ judge.”

Yeah I thought that was pretty funny too. You don’t want him if you have a good case, much less a frivolous one like that one. 

[GRHorn 105]

 

[HenryJames 66,052]

Oh Libertarians.

[Anastasis 23,469]

Cocktails to go are here to stay baby. 

[jimmyjazz 45,957]

If only we had any examples of a national response to covid that showed enormous success, pre-vaccine.  Oh wait, we do.

New Zealand shut down all but essential services on March 24, 2020.  Within 2 months, all bars and restaurants were able to reopen.  All told, 26 people died.

Is New Zealand identical to Texas?  No, of course not, but the idea that vaccines are the only demonstrably effective tool to fight the disease is lunacy.

Edited June 13, 2021 by jimmyjazz

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,512]

10 hours ago, Js1 said:

And was dismissed by a Reagan appointee district court judge. 

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/558173-judge-dismisses-staff-lawsuit-against-houston-methodist-vaccine-mandate

And the lawyer was the former Harris County GOP chair 

I imagine there are a few of the employees in this lawsuit that believed the lawyer when he probably told them that they won't miss a day of pay. He won't miss any pay but they will.

My guess is that every major healthcare systems will enact this same policy soon. I've heard many require the vaccine for new hires but haven't mandated current employees.  Organizations that are tied to the state govt, might face political pressures to not do so.

Tangent: We still have active judges nominated by a President that hasn't been in office in 32 years. SMH. A quick search shows me that LBJ still has 1 nominee in senior judge status and Nixon 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States_by_judicial_appointments

 

[The Dog 44,052]

And was dismissed by a Reagan appointee district court judge. 

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/558173-judge-dismisses-staff-lawsuit-against-houston-methodist-vaccine-mandate
And the lawyer was the former Harris County GOP chair 

The money shot:

“Bridges can freely choose to accept or refuse a Covid-19 vaccine, however if she refuses, she will simply need to work somewhere else,”

[Anastasis 23,469]

1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

Is New Zealand identical to Texas? 

About as relevant as comparing South Korea to the US. 

[jimmyjazz 45,957]

38 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

About as relevant as comparing South Korea to the US. 

Not when showing the relative effectiveness of social policies it isn't.  Just because Texans are too stupid to do the right thing doesn't impugn the concept.

Two months.

[Anastasis 23,469]

6 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Not when showing the relative effectiveness of social policies it isn't.  Just because Texans are too stupid to do the right thing doesn't impugn the concept.

Two months.

Cultural norms are racist. 

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19,101]

Do the people on that lawsuit not understand that the vaccine trial already fucking happened? Are they really that fucking stupid?

I wouldn't want any of those Healthcare workers near me.

[JimmyJames 12,271]

1 minute ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

Do the people on that lawsuit not understand that the vaccine trial already fucking happened? Are they really that fucking stupid?

I wouldn't want any of those Healthcare workers near me.

It’s a frivolous lawsuit filed by a shithead Republican personal injury attorney who doesn’t know jack shit about the area of law he’s wading into. It hilariously got assigned to the most crackpot hanging crazy judge who does whatever he feels like doing and who rightly summarily dismissed it before the hospital even had a chance to answer it. 

[Biff Tannen 45,687]

3 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Tangent: We still have active judges nominated by a President that hasn't been in office in 32 years. SMH. A quick search shows me that LBJ still has 1 nominee in senior judge status and Nixon 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States_by_judicial_appointments

That seems fucking ridiculous. How does one become a judge?  Do we have any other positions in society that once you are elected/appointed it’s for fucking life?

[JimmyJames 12,271]

23 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

That seems fucking ridiculous. How does one become a judge?  Do we have any other positions in society that once you are elected/appointed it’s for fucking life?

All Federal judges are appointed for life and a life term position is probably not a good idea since a lot of them become not only jaded, which is bad but understandable given what they have to deal with every day because of our stupid drug laws, but also imperious which is inevitable but not desirable. 
 

 

[Js1 85,338]

41 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

It’s a frivolous lawsuit filed by a shithead Republican personal injury attorney who doesn’t know jack shit about the area of law he’s wading into. It hilariously got assigned to the most crackpot hanging crazy judge who does whatever he feels like doing and who rightly summarily dismissed it before the hospital even had a chance to answer it. 

It was filed by Woodfill, the former Harris County GOP chair.  It’s a political statement, not anything else. 

[Sawbonz 27,562]

 

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19,101]

 

Is that the nurse who filed it?

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,512]

23 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

 

You’re not magnetic. You’re sticky. Go take a shower.

[Sawbonz 27,562]

People like you are why hair dryers have warning stickers

[Biff Tannen 45,687]

First of all, would magnetism really be such a horrible superpower?  Seems to have worked out fairly well for Magneto. 

[Js1 85,338]

2 hours ago, Sawbonz said:

 

And they all mocked kids for eating tide pods. Pure projection 

[SaucyJack 3,488]

9 hours ago, GRHorn said:

 

Abbott's July 2020 response to the Covid hoax:

 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, by virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the State of Texas, do hereby order the following on a statewide basis effective at 12:0 1 p.m. on July 3, 2020: Every person in Texas shall wear a face covering over the nose and mouth when inside a commercial entity or other building or space open to the public, or when in an outdoor public space, wherever it is not feasible to maintain six feet of social distancing from another person not in the same household....

 

 

https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/EO-GA-29-use-of-face-coverings-during-COVID-19-IMAGE-07-02-2020.pdf

[JimmyJames 12,271]

9 hours ago, GRHorn said:

 

Really going out on a limb there. It’s also “distinctly possible” that much of what was done saved million of lives. It’s also “distinctly possible” that your shit smells just like a rose.

Edited June 13, 2021 by JimmyJames

[JimmyJames 12,271]

Much like winning, science is hard.

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20,400]

 

[JimmyJames 12,271]

1 hour ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

 

Republicans are complete idiots. As this stupid bitch aptly shows.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,512]

16 hours ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

16 hours ago, Sawbonz said:

 

Is that the nurse who filed it?

No, just a random person on the internet that thinks the vaccine makes you magnetic. I don't want to defend the nurse suing Methodist but she didn't make too many public, disparaging remarks about the vaccine other than she thinks it needs a multi-year study. She is not known to have any special knowledge or training on appropriate vaccine studies other than what she sees on facebook.

I would love to know if all of the Methodist plaintiffs knew this was going to be a "long fight" when they signed on? Or did they think the hospital would be afraid of a lawsuit being filed? Their pay ended last week, and this statement doesn't make it sound like their attorney is confident that they will be reinstated this week, before they're fired. 

Quote

This is the first federal court ruling on a coronavirus vaccine mandate. Attorney Jared Woodfill, representing the plaintiffs, told KHOU 11 it's "the first battle in a long fight," as he vowed to file another lawsuit soon.

For the legal eagles here, hypothetically assume that the 100+ employees ultimately win in court. What damages can they expect to receive? Back pay from the point they were fired? In my experience, you can't expect to sue your employer and realistically expect to go back to you job. I'm sure it occurs but employers rarely like seeing that face in the hallway after a case is over. It's also unlikely the 100+ people are going to find a job at the other major Houston healthcare orgs. FYI, my understanding is that most of the employees suing are NOT clinical workers. I suppose they can jump into other industries.

[PsychMike 1,552]

22 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I suppose they can jump into other industries

But seriously, I've been hearing a lot of businesses screaming about not having people come work for them, blaming it all on the stimulus. Maybe these folks can step up and solve the problem?

[JimmyJames 12,271]

41 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

No, just a random person on the internet that thinks the vaccine makes you magnetic. I don't want to defend the nurse suing Methodist but she didn't make too many public, disparaging remarks about the vaccine other than she thinks it needs a multi-year study. She is not known to have any special knowledge or training on appropriate vaccine studies other than what she sees on facebook.

I would love to know if all of the Methodist plaintiffs knew this was going to be a "long fight" when they signed on? Or did they think the hospital would be afraid of a lawsuit being filed? Their pay ended last week, and this statement doesn't make it sound like their attorney is confident that they will be reinstated this week, before they're fired. 

For the legal eagles here, hypothetically assume that the 100+ employees ultimately win in court. What damages can they expect to receive? Back pay from the point they were fired? In my experience, you can't expect to sue your employer and realistically expect to go back to you job. I'm sure it occurs but employers rarely like seeing that face in the hallway after a case is over. It's also unlikely the 100+ people are going to find a job at the other major Houston healthcare orgs. FYI, my understanding is that most of the employees suing are NOT clinical workers. I suppose they can jump into other industries.

I finally got around to reading the lawsuit. It it totally frivolous. It tries to argue that getting a vaccine is an illegal act. Yeah, ok. 
 

The only people who are going to make any money on it are the lawyers defending the hospital. 

[OneOfTheOutOfFocusGuys 2,078]

20 hours ago, JimmyJames said:

It’s a frivolous lawsuit filed by a shithead Republican personal injury attorney who doesn’t know jack shit about the area of law he’s wading into. It hilariously got assigned to the most crackpot hanging crazy judge who does whatever he feels like doing and who rightly summarily dismissed it before the hospital even had a chance to answer it. 

Lulz from Pacer: 

 

06/04/2021

9

ORDER to Move. By 6/8/2021, Houston Methodist Hospital may move dispositively. By 6/10/2021, the plaintiffs may respond. Hearing on the motion set for 6/11/2021 at 01:30 PM in Courtroom 11C before Judge Lynn N Hughes. (Signed by Judge Lynn N Hughes) Parties notified. (ghassan, 4) (Entered: 06/04/2021)

 

Hughes is great when he's on your side, I guess.  Sua sponte he ordered Methodist to move to dismiss the case, plaintiffs have 48 hours to respond.  "We're going to hear it the next day.  This shit is too stupid to be in my courtroom and we will get it out as soon as humanly possible."

[Dahobbs 17,534]

13 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

No, just a random person on the internet that thinks the vaccine makes you magnetic. I don't want to defend the nurse suing Methodist but she didn't make too many public, disparaging remarks about the vaccine other than she thinks it needs a multi-year study. She is not known to have any special knowledge or training on appropriate vaccine studies other than what she sees on facebook.

I would love to know if all of the Methodist plaintiffs knew this was going to be a "long fight" when they signed on? Or did they think the hospital would be afraid of a lawsuit being filed? Their pay ended last week, and this statement doesn't make it sound like their attorney is confident that they will be reinstated this week, before they're fired. 

For the legal eagles here, hypothetically assume that the 100+ employees ultimately win in court. What damages can they expect to receive? Back pay from the point they were fired? In my experience, you can't expect to sue your employer and realistically expect to go back to you job. I'm sure it occurs but employers rarely like seeing that face in the hallway after a case is over. It's also unlikely the 100+ people are going to find a job at the other major Houston healthcare orgs. FYI, my understanding is that most of the employees suing are NOT clinical workers. I suppose they can jump into other industries.

It is impossible to answer your question because the lawsuit has no legal merit. I mean, I could just make up an answer, but since damages have to be tied to a legal theory, I would have no legal support for any number except 0. 

If they had an actual legal basis for a claim, say breach of contract, then they could collect whatever was due under the contract. But even then, you have a duty to mitigate your damages. So, if the nurses could get another job, then the only damages they could collect would be the difference in pay between the new job and the job with Methodist for whatever the term of the contract was. 

[Beau Vine 54,230]

[elfenix 34,241]

cAlIfOnIa SuCkS!

Quote

No one anticipated the latest data readout showing the Golden State has no peers among developed economies for expanding GDP, creating jobs, raising household income, manufacturing growth, investment in innovation, producing clean energy and unprecedented wealth through its stocks and bonds. All of which underlines Governor Gavin Newsom's announcement last month of the biggest state tax rebate in American history. 

By adding 1.3 million people to its non-farm payrolls since April last year -- equal to the entire workforce of Nevada -- California easily surpassed also-rans Texas and New York. At the same time, California household income increased $164 billion, almost as much as Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania combined, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. No wonder California's operating budget surplus, fueled by its surging economy and capital gains taxes, swelled to a record $75 billion.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-06-14/california-defies-doom-with-no-1-u-s-economy

[Anastasis 23,469]

 

3 hours ago, elfenix said:

By adding 1.3 million people to its non-farm payrolls since April last year -- equal to the entire workforce of Nevada -- California easily surpassed also-rans Texas and New York.

Lulz. 

[washparkhorn 9,939]

California's economy is huge - and the workforce is productive/efficient (from the Bloomberg article):

________________

If anything, Covid-19 accelerated California's record productivity. Quarterly revenue per employee of the publicly-traded companies based in the state climbed to an all-time high of $1.5 million in May, 63% greater than its similar milestone a decade ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The rest of the U.S. was nothing special, with productivity among those members of the Russell 3000 Index, which is made up of both large and small companies, little changed during the past 10 years.

_______________

$1.5 million in quarterly revenue per employee is amazing.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

14 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

I'm related by marriage to some dead people who thought hydroxychloroquine was gonna save 'em. Fake news kills.

Meanwhile, our 12 year old son just got his 2nd dose today, so this family of leftists laughs at all the hydrochloroclones and their compromised immune systems. Suck it, losers.

[lmao 178]

We miss you, Jon

*This would have been banned on YouTube not long ago for spreading medical misinformation (saying the virus came from the Wuhan lab).

Edited June 16, 2021 by lmao

[jimmyjazz 45,957]

That was awesome.  

[MoJames 8,244]

Quote

Recently, The Science Suggests a Wuhan Lab Leak by Steven Quay, an opinion piece appeared in The Wall Street Journal and has been spreading on the internet apparently without anyone contesting it. Today, I want at least someone on the internet to know this article is completely wrong!

The main conclusion of the article is COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 is unnatural since there allegedly is a short genetic sequence that appears nowhere in any other known natural coronaviruses while appearing in research and that's yet another Furin Cleavage Site conspiracy theory, which are among the oldest pandemic conspiracy theories.

TLDR; the short genetic sequence which is allegedly unnatural appears in 192 other known natural coronaviruses. There's no evidence anywhere in the article showing the short genetic sequence is used in research.

A FCS is the short protein sequence RXXR where the X's are any amino acids and the R's are arginines encoded by the nucleic acids AGA, AGG, CGA, CGC, CGG, or CGT. The FCS sequence in SARS-CoV-2 is RRAR (CCT-CGG-CGG-GCA), which apparently was created by a recombinationatory insertion of a PRRA (TCT-CGG-CGG) in between an N (AAT) and an R (GCA) creating NPRRAR (AAT-TCT-CCT-CGG-CGG-GCA). You now understand what an FCS is at the level of amino acids and nucleic acids. As for what actually happens at a furin cleavage site that's another story for another day.

Originally, the conspiracy theorists claimed there are no FCS in natural coronaviruses and later claimed there aren't any natural coronaviruses with matching amino acids. These ridiculous claims were quickly shown overwhelmingly wrong. Quay now makes a new claim saying there aren't any natural coronaviruses with matching nucleic acids. He also claims while these nucleic acids never appear in natural coronaviruses they appear in research.

This was reported in news around the world and is the assertion that has spread across the internet as evidence the virus is unnatural. The short genetic sequence which is the subject of Quay's article are the codons CGG-CGG or the nucleic acids CGGCGG, which he alleges appears nowhere in any other known natural coronaviruses, appears in research, and shows the virus is unnatural.

(Quay's article even confusingly mentions a "class of coronaviruses" although there are no "classes" of coronaviruses.)

This is completely wrong! If you use BLAST, the Google of genetics, you will currently get about 4000 matches in other known natural coronaviruses. The short genetic sequence appears in 192 other known natural coronaviruses including 81 alphacoronaviruses, 98 betacoronaviruses, 0 deltacoronaviruses, 10 gammacoronaviruses, and 3 other coronaviruses, which include RaTG13, MERS, many SARS-like viruses and MERS-like viruses, amongst others. It also appears in countless other viruses and countless organisms including human. There's nothing special about the short genetic sequence.

(As a caveat, I'm only searching for CGGCGG and not checking the codon alignment since that's in my opinion irrelevant in light of recombination and there are matches where it aligns anyway.)

I'll make it a fun challenge for anyone who's interested to attempt to verify my numbers. It's straightforward although there are a few quirks in the search algorithm which may confuse you.

There's no evidence anywhere in the article showing the short genetic sequence is used in research!

A few final points regarding various other inaccuracies which appear in the article not addressed above:

Steven Quay is a known conspiracy theorist without relevant qualifications and there's a reason why he writes an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal instead of writing a scientific journal publication. It's clear Quay understands nothing about science and that he never even knew how to check whether he was right in the first place. Worryingly, his older conspiracy theories were snapped up by the Trump administration in January and now he holds apparent influence in the alt-right movement.

Quay's article makes the logical fallacy called argument from ignorance: I don't know, hence it's unnatural. It assumes we've already sequenced all coronaviruses and can say anything about the probability of a certain sequence appearing, which is clearly wrong. In reality, we've only sequenced a few percent.

Quay's article makes the logical fallacy called argument from incrudelity: Do you really believe it's natural? He actually explicitly admits "Yes, it could have happened randomly, through mutations" and yet ignores it.

Quay's article claims the virus was already perfectly adapted to human infectiousness, which is absolutely ridiculous.

Quay's article claims Shi Zhengli never mentions the "special sequence", but there's absolutely no reason why.

China are acting uncooperatively. China always acts uncooperatively. Hence this isn't evidence they're covering anything up.

AFAIK, there's no evidence of the Wuhan Institute of Virology working together with the Chinese military.

AFAIK, there's no evidence of the Wuhan Institute of Virology working to make viruses more virulent.

There's allegedly Trump-era intelligence of unknown origins saying three Wuhan Institute of Virology researchers got ill with symptoms matching SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, the common cold, other coronaviruses, the influenza, other viruses, strep, other bacteria, and other pathogens including fungi and parasites, which allegedly happened when seasonal illnesses are expected, and they allegedly visited hospitals which is what happens when someone is ill in China.

There's absolutely no evidence SARS-CoV-2 is unnatural and there's absolutely no evidence contradicting SARS-CoV-2 is natural.

From Reddit, interesting take.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8,817]

Slavitt out here still making doomsday predictions

[Brisketexan 105,142]

7 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Slavitt out here still making doomsday predictions

 

That's not really doomsday.  There are going to be outbreaks (hopefully small ones) on a going forward basis, even with vaccines.  And that's probably where we'll see them.  Hopefully they are confined to a dozen people at a time.  But from an epidemiology standpoint, that's a very likely scenario, so it makes sense to discuss it.

[elfenix 34,241]

TIL doomsday is just a manageable challenge. 

[Anastasis 23,469]

I have dismissed most of the variant doomsday talk but I think that delta gonna run up in that ass of unvaccinated people. 

[jimmyjazz 45,957]

NSIAP:  interesting feature article on the detective work a few researchers undertook to unravel the "5 micron" mandate.  It's not exactly refereed, so take it with a grain of salt, but it does at least anecdotally lay out the case for the early "not airborne" policy that was ultimately flawed.  As it turns out, there are different hinge points on particle size, depending on what we are addressing (airborne vs not, infectiousness, etc.).  The researchers describe decades-old work in tuberculosis, etc. that should have pointed us to airborne transmission being the primary mode of concern, particularly indoors, as opposed to droplets, contaminated surfaces, etc.

Wired @ 5 micron

[Gatorubet 30,239]

I got the JJ vaccine. If someone doesn't want to get it that's their (stupid imo) decision and risk they want to take. Other than that who gives a fuck.

The person they infect and kill by not wearing a mask?

[lmao 178]

3 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:

The person they infect and kill by not wearing a mask?

You care about people who don't get vaccinated?