CR: COVID-19 --Political Talk

[Longhorn_Fan68 33869]

1 hour ago, 4th&Five said:

this is what I know him for and it was a bad character at that

[Pasken 1309]

2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Prior to his freakout over covid policies at various tour stops, Breuer could tell a pretty good story most of the time, and was never political.  He's completely sold out to the Trump base at this point, though.  Seems an odd hill to die on.

It pays.

[jimmyjazz 45913]

1 minute ago, Pasken said:

It pays.

I'm not sure alienating half his audience "pays", but maybe the remaining half ramped up because 'murica.

[Guest Lobo]

I was gonna say his stoner, oddball, physical comedy would appeal to most Trumpers given they are on the older side and their idea of funny is Carrot Top or Bill Engvall.  But watch that clip, they are literally falling backwards in their chairs laughing so fucking hard.  So gotta give him credit on a decent career pivot.  Those people are never gonna pay $25 to see him at a late-night comedy club or tour.  But he can certainly open for dedicated national socialist rallies and probably rake in a few grand each night.  

But I'm picturing these elderly obese people riding home after that rally and saying, "We should look up that funny man's other comedy bits about the liberals."  and then they do google him and it's just his goatboy schitck and that long bit he does about how your stomach is the bouncer for an international drinking party.  And that's about it.  And oh yeah, he once worked with Dave Chappelle, who doesn't like Donald Trump so maybe we should cancel Jim Breuer?  

[Incredulity 11669]

6 hours ago, Lobo said:

So as an astute observer of standup comedy

Who the fuck qualified you as, “astute”?  
 

ostentatious, verbose, psychotic…100%

[Woland 733]

This could be in several threads.

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/carter-in-the-classroom/richardson-isd-superintendent-expected-to-resign-monday/2836165/?amp

[BrickHorn 18228]

7 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

He peaked with Goat Boy which was arguably the lamest unfunniest bit to ever air on SNL.

SNL’s Goat Boy the first time I ever saw Jim Breuer. I immediately concluded that he was an unfunny fucking idiot. Nothing he has done since then has given me any reason to doubt that first impression.

[Guest Lobo]

1 hour ago, Incredulity said:

Who the fuck qualified you as, “astute”?  
 

ostentatious, verbose, psychotic…100%

Ostentatious and psychotic?  Yessir.  Verbose?  We’ve never spoken in real life so your attempt at that word seems to be incorrect.  You’ve read me, not heard me.  Prefix should be a big clue to you.  You seem like a sharp cat in real life but not a terribly good judge of humor.  But that’s what makes funny, funny I suppose.  Perspective.  Larry the cable guy doesn’t sell out all those arenas because verbose assholes like me Say he isn’t funny.  Get er done bro!

[DDD Dad 14338]

Who the fuck qualified you as, “astute”?  
 
verbose 100%

Finally something we all can agree on.

[DDD Dad 14338]

Ostentatious and psychotic?  Yessir.  Verbose?  We’ve never spoken in real life so your attempt at that word seems to be incorrect.  You’ve read me, not heard me.  Prefix should be a big clue to you.  You seem like a sharp cat in real life but not a terribly good judge of humor.  But that’s what makes funny, funny I suppose.  Perspective.  Larry the cable guy doesn’t sell out all those arenas because verbose assholes like me Say he isn’t funny.  Get er done bro!

TL;DR

[Guest Lobo]

1 minute ago, DDD Dad said:

TL;DR

TL;DL

if only there was such a feature in real life…i coulda spent the last Six years make believing that Corky from “Life Goes On” didn’t get into real estate, Game shows, and then politics

[tchookem 3900]

TL;DL
if only there was such a feature in real life…i coulda spent the last Six years make believing that Corky from “Life Goes On” didn’t get into real estate, Game shows, and then politics

Corky was a decent person that didn't want to hurt anyone. Also, I assume his sister would have been involved in his campaign. That would have been just five with me...

[pyrohornIII 4814]

So my son is headed to Calgary to see his mother for the first time since Covid started.  I understand the day before testing requirements for returning, but I can't find any clear answer to the question of what happens to his ticket if he were to test positive.  He can cancel at least 2 days before the flight with no penalty, but with the new requirements he could be past that cut off date before he finds out he can't fly.   As an exercise in helping him unravel red tape, I let him do the chatting with the American Airline rep online.  The answer is he should get a refund, according to his endorsement?   There was no straight answer like yes, you get a full or partial refund, or can reschedule that flight.  

It's so screwy.    Anybody have any insight into this?  At present, we are on course to just roll the die and see what turns up.   

[babysdaddy 2721]

https://twitter.com/pieterstreicher/status/1469743320092102659?s=21

[Dnaguy 11951]

On 12/10/2021 at 3:07 PM, Lobo said:

So as an astute observer of standup comedy over the decades, you got your observational comics, your political comics, your dirty/blue comics, your social commentary comics, your funny story comics, your gag/hook comics, your impression comics, your one-liner comics, your dark comics, and your clean comics.  

Jim Breuer is none of those.  He has created an entirely new type of standup.  Bird Comedy.  Bold move, not sure it's gonna pay off.  

$50 says if Trump wins in 2024, the 2025 Correspondent's dinner will be hosted by Jim Breuer.  

Did anybody have "Bird Comedy" on their 2021 bingo card?  I had "Bird Law", "Bird Box", and "Bird Flu"....but not "Bird Comedy"

Charlie?

Or maybe as a cat enthusiast he isn’t a fan.

[4th&Five 41527]

 

[Incredulity 11669]

https://www.axios.com/colorado-governor-polis-covid-mask-mandates-d7c62e9e-33a4-41c8-b9f8-5b0345c7a2c1.html

 

• Frankly, people who want to be protected" have gotten vaccinated, he added. "Those who get sick, it's almost entirely their own darn fault."
• "Eighty-four percent of the people in our hospitals are unvaccinated, and they absolutely had every chance to get vaccinated."

all of this.

[Biff Tannen 45678]

Wife got boosted at the Nola airport today before we took off.  They had a whole set up with an easy to use database and it took less than 10 minutes.
 

She’d been trying to get an appt in texas for the past 3 weeks. When Louisiana has their shit together better than Texas does, that says something. 

[Dahobbs 17534]

27 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Wife got boosted at the Nola airport today before we took off.  They had a whole set up with an easy to use database and it took less than 10 minutes.
 

She’d been trying to get an appt in texas for the past 3 weeks. When Louisiana has their shit together better than Texas does, that says something. 

I don't understand. It is easy as hell to get the vaccine at a CVS or other major pharmacy. Was she only looking at doctor's offices or something? 

[Anastasis 23469]

20 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

I don't understand. It is easy as hell to get the vaccine at a CVS or other major pharmacy. Was she only looking at doctor's offices or something? 

My wife had a run trying to get an appt for a booster at CVS and the others.  Got one at Costco walk in eventually, but some of the availability is unreasonably restricted. 

[Anastasis 23469]

Waiting for all the scatterplots. 

 

[workswithseed 2103]

Wheeler is getting fucked up, I wonder Crook gets it next?

[Anastasis 23469]

Anyone with a sub please spoiler the actual article...

 

 

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19101]

35 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Anyone with a sub please spoiler the actual article...

 

 

Matthew Walther seems like he sucks.

[Anastasis 23469]

6 minutes ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

Matthew Walther seems like he sucks.

I’d like to actually read what he wrote in Atlantic before forming an opinion. 

Edited December 14, 2021 by Anastasis
Wrote

[Bookman 4639]

2 hours ago, Anastasis said:

I’d like to actually read what he wrote in Atlantic before forming an opinion. 

Spoiler

December 13, 2021, 6 AM ET

About the author: Matthew Walther is editor of The Lamp, a Catholic literary journal, and a contributing editor at the American Conservative.

 

In November, my wife asked me whether I had seen an article with the remarkable headline “Is It Safe to Go to Thanksgiving Dinner?”

“Is that from last year?” I asked.

“No, it’s a few days old,” she said, her voice sinking to a growling murmur. “These people.”

I am old enough to remember the good old days when holiday-advice pieces were all variations on “How to Talk to Your Tea Party Uncle About Obamacare.” As Christmas approaches, we can look forward to more of this sort of thing, with the meta-ethical speculation advanced to an impossibly baroque stage of development. Is it okay for our 2-year-old son to hug Grandma at a Christmas party if she received her booster only a few days ago? Should the toddler wear a mask except when he is slopping mashed potatoes all over his booster seat? Our oldest finally attended her first (masked) sleepover with other fully vaccinated 10-year-olds, but one of them had a sibling test positive at day care. Should she stay home or wear a face shield? What about Omicron?

I don’t know how to put this in a way that will not make me sound flippant: No one cares. Literally speaking, I know that isn’t true, because if it were, the articles wouldn’t be commissioned. But outside the world inhabited by the professional and managerial classes in a handful of major metropolitan areas, many, if not most, Americans are leading their lives as if COVID is over, and they have been for a long while.

In my part of rural southwest Michigan, and in similar communities throughout the country, this is true not despite but without any noticeable regard for cases; hospitalization statistics, which are always high this time of year without attracting much notice; or death reports. I don’t mean to deny COVID’s continuing presence. (For the purposes of this piece, I looked up the COVID data for my county and found that the seven-day average for positive tests is as high as it has ever been, and that 136 deaths have been attributed to the virus since June 2020.) What I wish to convey is that the virus simply does not factor into my calculations or those of my neighbors, who have been forgoing masks, tests (unless work imposes them, in which case they are shrugged off as the usual BS from human resources), and other tangible markers of COVID-19’s existence for months—perhaps even longer.

Indeed, in my case, when I say for a long while, I mean for nearly two years, from almost the very beginning. In 2020, I took part in two weddings, traveled extensively, took family vacations with my children, spent hundreds of hours in bars and restaurants, all without wearing a mask. This year my wife and I welcomed our fourth child. Over the course of her pregnancy, from the first phone call to the midwife a few months after getting a positive pregnancy test until after delivery, the subject of the virus was never raised by any health-care professional, including her doula, a dear friend from New York. Meanwhile, our children, who have continued to attend their weekly homeschooling co-op since April 2020, have never donned masks, and they are distinctly uncomfortable on the rare occasions when they see them, for reasons that, until recently, child psychologists and other medical experts would have freely acknowledged. They have continued seeing friends and family, including their great-grandparents, on a weekly basis. As far as I can tell, they are dimly aware that “germs” are a remote cause of concern, but only our oldest, who is 6, has any recollection of the brief period last year when public Masses were suspended in our diocese and we spent Sunday mornings praying the rosary at home.

The CDC recommends that all adults get a booster shot; I do not know a single person who has received one. When I read headlines like “Here’s Who May Need a Fourth COVID-19 Vaccine Dose,” I find myself genuinely reeling. Wait, there are four of them now? I would be lying if I said I knew what all the variants were or what differences exist between them. (They all sound like the latest entry in some down-market action franchise: Tom Clancy’s Delta Variant: A Jack Ryan Novel, Transformers 4: Rise of the Omicron.) COVID is invisible to me except when I am reading the news, in which case it strikes me with all the force of reports about distant coups in Myanmar.

Granted, my family’s experience of 2020 was somewhat unusual. But I wager that I am now closer to most of my fellow Americans than the people, almost absurdly overrepresented in media and elite institutions, who are still genuinely concerned about this virus. And in some senses my situation has always been more in line with the typical American’s pandemic experience than that of someone in New York or Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles.

The best example of this fact, apart from the agita about holiday travel, is outdoor masking. Prescinding from the question of whether there was ever any meaningful evidence in favor of outdoor transmission, let me point out that until I found myself in Washington, D.C., on a work trip in March, I had never seen anyone wearing a mask outside. For someone who had never worn one in any situation, it was bizarre to find thousands of people indifferently donning these garments outdoors, including those walking alone or in pairs at night after leaving bars or restaurants where they had presumably taken them off. It was even stranger seeing people recognize one another in the street and pull their masks down casually, sometimes but not always before stopping to engage in conversation, like Edwardian gentlemen doffing their top hats.

I came away from this experience with the impression that, whatever their value, masks long ago transcended public health and became a symbol, not unlike In This House We Believe signs or MAGA hats. This, no doubt, is why in my part of America, the only people one ever sees with masks are brooding teenagers seated alone in coffee shops, who seem to have adopted masks to set themselves apart from the reactionary banality of life in flyover country in the same way that I once scribbled anti-Bush slogans on T-shirts. The survival of such old-fashioned adolescent angst is, at any rate, deeply heartening.

As far as my wife and I are concerned, an atmosphere of parochialism hangs upon relentless adherence to CDC directives. By European standards, hand-wringing about masks in schools is as silly and absurdly risk-averse as the American medical establishment’s insistence that pregnant women not drink coffee or wine. Indeed, there is something small-minded and puritanical and distinctly American about the whole business of obsessing over whether vaccinated teachers remove their face covering during a long school day. (When I read such things, I experience the same secondhand embarrassment I felt upon witnessing an American tourist in Rome ask a waiter at a trattoria to remove the ashtray from the outdoor table at which the employee in question had just been smoking.)

I am always tempted to ask the people who breathlessly quote what various public-health authorities are now saying about masking and boosters whether they know how the National Institutes of Health defines a “problem drinker”? The answer is a woman who has more than one “unit” of alcohol a day, i.e., my wife and nearly all of my female friends. These same authorities, if asked, would probably say that considerable risks are associated with eating crudos or kibbeh nayyeh, or taking Tylenol after a hangover. (This is to say nothing of cannabis, which is of course still banned at the federal level.) My point is that sophisticated adults are generally capable of winking at overly stringent guidelines. In the case of COVID, many are not.

I wish I could convince myself that for once in my life with COVID we were actually experiencing a healthy break from the usual pattern, according to which the latest silly novelties—no-fault divorce, factory-sliced bread, frozen meals, and, of course, infant formula—are adopted enthusiastically by the upper middle classes, who then think better of them by the time the lower orders come around.

But I am afraid that the future, at least in major metropolitan areas, is one in which sooner or later elites will acknowledge their folly while continuing to impose it on others. I, for one, would not be surprised if for years to come it were the expectation in New York and California that even vaccinated workers in the service industry wear masks, the ultimate reification of status in a world in which casual dress has otherwise erased many of what were once our most visible markers of class.

After all, you never know how they spent their Thanksgiving.

Matthew Walther is editor of The Lamp, a Catholic literary journal, and a contributing editor at the American Conservative.

 

[Bookman 4639]

In a nutshell (pun intended), this guy lives in a world where people aren't concerned about the virus. He doesn't argue that this is good or reasonable, but he takes gratuitous shots at the "elites" and concludes without any discussion that most Americans are probably like him.

[Dahobbs 17534]

2 hours ago, Bookman said:

In a nutshell (pun intended), this guy lives in a world where people aren't concerned about the virus. He doesn't argue that this is good or reasonable, but he takes gratuitous shots at the "elites" and concludes without any discussion that most Americans are probably like him.

In conclusion, he does in fact suck. I actually expected it to be a more of a piece about how many Americans were approaching the virus, as opposed to grumblings against the elite. It is unfortunate that is the direction the author took it. 

Edited December 14, 2021 by Dahobbs

[Bookman 4639]

27 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

In conclusion, he does in fact suck. I actually expected it to be a more of a piece about how many Americans were approaching the virus, as opposed to grumblings against the elite. It is unfortunate that is the direction the author took it. 

I'm curious why he even bothered to write it. It appears to be nothing more than catharsis.

[Dahobbs 17534]

Lol, from the same author:

https://catholicherald.co.uk/matthew-walther-my-dream-for-my-kids-celibacy/

Basically, 26-year old father of two wants his kids to never have sex. The dude is fucking crazy. 

Also imagine writing this faux intellectualism at 26! What a fucking douche. 

Edited December 14, 2021 by Dahobbs

[Anastasis 23469]

2 hours ago, Dahobbs said:

In conclusion, he does in fact suck. I actually expected it to be a more of a piece about how many Americans were approaching the virus, as opposed to grumblings against the elite. It is unfortunate that is the direction the author took it. 

He is indeed upon review a complete and total dumbass. 

Wonder why the Atlantic would choose to amplify that. I agree that an interesting story could be written exploring the different approaches people are taking across the spectrum. 

Edited December 14, 2021 by Anastasis

[Biff Tannen 45678]

9 hours ago, Dahobbs said:

I don't understand. It is easy as hell to get the vaccine at a CVS or other major pharmacy. Was she only looking at doctor's offices or something? 

ZERO available appointments at Walgreens or CVS anywhere near us for the upcoming 2-3 weeks, as of yesterday.  I think there was like one tomorrow, but she wasn't going to be able to make it.  Also, 12 pages of information to fill out online.  

NOLA airport, we were in and out in less than 10 min.

[Biff Tannen 45678]

And wow that article.  Could have been written by a DT adherent.  

[GopherRock 1765]

 

 

Considering that bed occupancy in Minnesota has been roughly 90/10 unvaccinated since roughly August, you can lay this mess squarely at their feet. 

[Biff Tannen 45678]

Another thing about that article.  It very much shows the polarization of maga world vs the rest of the world.  The author seems to think that people in urban areas are living in bunkers in fear and have been for 2 years, while the non-woke rurals have been laughing it up and living their lives as normal.  It's just not reality. 

[Dahobbs 17534]

25 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

ZERO available appointments at Walgreens or CVS anywhere near us for the upcoming 2-3 weeks, as of yesterday.  I think there was like one tomorrow, but she wasn't going to be able to make it.  Also, 12 pages of information to fill out online.  

NOLA airport, we were in and out in less than 10 min.

I'm just surprised. We got boosters for myself and my wife, and the first (and as of today, second) shots for my son at CVS in Houston. It was super easy. We looked and about a week later had an appointment. So much variation location to location. 

[SimonBolivar 10958]

26 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Another thing about that article.  It very much shows the polarization of maga world vs the rest of the world.  The author seems to think that people in urban areas are living in bunkers in fear and have been for 2 years, while the non-woke rurals have been laughing it up and living their lives as normal.  It's just not reality. 

Hes a nutter. I automatically tune out all religious homeschoolers on principle.

[InkaUtexas 25918]

On a call with Scotland. Just announced limiting family gathering to three family bubbles during the holidays. Here we go.......

[MC Fresh Breath 4074]

That Atlantic article sounded like a more articulate version of the social media crap you find in the hermancainaward subreddit.

I think these things annoy me more right now because when I tell certain folks I had Covid, they all of a sudden can't wait to tell me how they don't wear masks.  That they party and live it up, e.t.c. and look at them, no Covid!  Irks me, but I don't have much to say to them.

 

Edited December 14, 2021 by MC Fresh Breath

[cactusflinthead 27598]

10 hours ago, Anastasis said:

Anyone with a sub please spoiler the actual article...

 

 

I didn't get very far into it before I pulled the ripcord. He's an idiot.

[Dahobbs 17534]

11 minutes ago, cactusflinthead said:

I didn't get very far into it before I pulled the ripcord. He's an idiot.

You don't even need an article to figure that out. Just a few pictures:

[Mole 4330]

I assume the author bunkers down quite a bit as a usual way of life. Living in small-town Trumpy/anti-vax country, I see masks all the time. If you aren’t seeing masks, you’re either lying or aren’t really going anywhere.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

You don't even need an article to figure that out. Just a few pictures:

"Hello, I write for The Atlantic."

"The South Atlantic, that is."

 

[DigglerontheHoof 21195]

4 minutes ago, Mole said:

I assume the author bunkers down quite a bit as a usual way of life. Living in small-town Trumpy/anti-vax country, I see masks all the time. If you aren’t seeing masks, you’re either lying or aren’t really going anywhere.

Masks are few and far between in the Collin Co./Rockwall Co. area.  You see some retail employees wearing them but that's about it.  I'd say mask usage is at about 10%, tops.  

[Incredulity 11669]

Just now, Mole said:

I assume the author bunkers down quite a bit as a usual way of life. Living in small-town Trumpy/anti-vax country, I see masks all the time. If you aren’t seeing masks, you’re either lying or aren’t really going anywhere.

I disagree.  It obviously varies state by state in accordance with the overall state mandate and then adjusted by the local politics.  The urban vs rural divide on masking is stark.  The difference that can be experienced in a short amount of travel is really amazing

As an example I have been to Wisconsin three times in the last year and beyond airport(fed mandate) there is nearly zero masking, even in Milwaukee.  In Chicago it is obviously required everywhere indoors and enforced fairly vigoursly.  However, this year I have been to 2 tradeshows at McCormick and masks on the show floor were 50/50 with the only enforcement being entrance to show floor.

 

[RDCanecutter 26426]

On 12/11/2021 at 11:46 AM, pyrohornIII said:

So my son is headed to Calgary to see his mother for the first time since Covid started.  I understand the day before testing requirements for returning, but I can't find any clear answer to the question of what happens to his ticket if he were to test positive.  He can cancel at least 2 days before the flight with no penalty, but with the new requirements he could be past that cut off date before he finds out he can't fly.   As an exercise in helping him unravel red tape, I let him do the chatting with the American Airline rep online.  The answer is he should get a refund, according to his endorsement?   There was no straight answer like yes, you get a full or partial refund, or can reschedule that flight.  

It's so screwy.    Anybody have any insight into this?  At present, we are on course to just roll the die and see what turns up.   

Calgary? It's cold as hell in Calgary. I say you round him up a new stepmom he can go hang out with in Acapulco.

[DDD Dad 14338]

"Hello, I write for The Atlantic."


"The South Atlantic, that is."

 

Strong Hitler vibe in that first pic.

[RDCanecutter 26426]

4 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

Strong Hitler vibe in that first pic.

Hitler had a respectable WW1 record and above-average speaking skills. Not that I am a total Hitler fan, mind you, I just don't think we should insult him by saying this dumpling has any Hitler abilities.

[wildcat09 29353]

This dude might suck at art as badly as Hitler did.

[MC Fresh Breath 4074]

Quote

 

New study finds serious COVID-19 infection could be fatal even after recovery

People who have recovered from a serious bout of COVID-19 may still have reason to be concerned for their health within the year of their recovery. 

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine suggests survivors of severe COVID-19 are more than twice as likely to die within a year after infection compared to patients who tested negative for the disease or experienced only mild symptoms. 

Researchers from the University of Florida analyzed electronic health records of 13,638 patients who were tested for the virus using a PCR test in the Florida health system. Among those tested, 178 patients experienced severe symptoms and were hospitalized while 246 had only mild or moderate symptoms. The rest tested negative for the virus. 

The study tracked patients over 12 months after they fully recovered and found those who had severe COVID-19 were 233 percent more likely to die. 

“COVID-19 is even more devastating than we thought when only focusing on the initial episode. The downstream risk for the most severe outcome, death, is definitely high enough to hopefully make everyone rethink the impact of COVID-19,” Arch G. Mainous, a professor at the University of Florida and the study’s lead author, said in a statement. 

Most deaths among severe COVID-19 survivors were not attributed to complications commonly associated with the disease, such as cardiovascular, respiratory and clotting problems. Just 20 percent of deaths were associated with these issues while the majority were the result of a variety of other conditions not typically associated with the coronavirus. 

Surprisingly, the study found the increased risk of dying was greater for severe COVID-19 patients under 65. 

Researchers said the study underscores the importance of vaccinations in reducing severe disease. 

“These findings reinforce that the internal trauma of being sick enough to be hospitalized with COVID-19 has a big consequence for people’s health. This is a huge complication of COVID-19 that has not been shown before,” Mainous said.

 

https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/longevity/583782-new-study-finds-serious-covid-19-infection-could-be