Freedom of speech could disrupt their gravy train - so they censor. Historically speaking, any political party that chooses to censor, has never been on the right side of history (hint: they aren't the good guys).
"Like in this article when I insinuated that Sam Bankman-Fried would NOT be appearing at the NY Times DealBook summit because he would clearly be in jail for stealing billions of dollars from his customers." I was going to say, don't worry about it. You thought you lived in a sane world with some integrity left but . . .
"Yet, real-life events tend to prove I wasn’t quite cynical enough! " Yup, you got there.
The thing with Twitter is that those who are behaving badly are trying to stop you from seeing the forest by constantly pointing at the trees.
And jaguars are incredible creatures. That they actually *hunt* crocodiles (alligators? caimans? Sorry, about my ignorance) is proof that as high as you get on the food chain someone somewhere will come along and knock you down a peg. There's your hope for the day.
Regarding Covid counting - remember, Big Pharma can't use / sell any of their products (the worthless injections or the worthless oral meds) if the Emergency goes away. So it's probably NEVER going away.
Wow, Andrew Sorkin gives a hard-hitting interview there. Now that's journalism. How could watching a reporter apologize profusely for an interview whose primary outcome, most likely-- in the minds of the Times' audience-- is to fully exonerate its subject possibly make anyone more cynical? Honestly, the conversation came off to me as downright bromantic: two modern dudes sharing a set of shibboleths, socially and morally castrated, going through the motions. (Now, can we see the interview where Sorkin pretends he's Lesley Stahl and SBF is Donald Trump?)
Skeptical is good, very skeptical even better. Good post thanks. Those who defend the status quo always say - “what about all those who died of Covid?” . Once I launch into that even my own eyes glaze over. I think - oh boy what delusion do we have here. And these are normally intelligent people. “I only got five boosters” WHAT?
Not much to add to that, sadly (thankfully?). Alliteration is art, so applause for that!
Thanks to my mother having worked in health care all her life (state licensed physiotherapist), I grew up hearing many debates on health care in general and misconceptions and attitudes towards it and what it actually is:
A lot of it is still at the level of "try this and see what happens", which is not a jibe toward the profession, just a fact - using myself as an example, I have a niggling pain in both knees. Nothing on X-ray, MRI, or CT. No tells during physical examination. No oddities in the bloodwork. No visible signs of injury. No osteoarthritis.
Tangential rant follows:
Now, me being a somewhat reasonable fellow, I simply accept that I have to adjust and try to avoid movements that increase or trigger the pain and actually feel happy that nothing was found - it could simply be due to age and normal wear and tear, and until we actually know what's the issue, there's no point in medicating or operating, as it would cause damage on its own; all cures come with a risk of other injuries after all, even stuff like Aspirin.
But consider someone raised to believe that modern medical science is a fix-all cure-all business, where the doctor and The Science just do the tests and gives you a pill or an operation (sorry ,surgery I mean, we call surgery operation, leading to all kinds of fun when people talk about military operations...) and then you're fixed, good as new or even better. And that it is a "right" to be cured of whatever, and a "right" to live pain-free and happy and gay and that any disease or other condition is fixable with a little dose of The Science.
Now, which personality is more likely do you think, to use up more resources, to make outlandish claims and demands and to become an emotionalistic wreck who causes mayhem due to bombarding media and politicians with demands that "Someone in authority fix this soI can go back to normal!"?
Me, who thinks "good thing it wasn't worse, hep hep shoulder the burden and soldier on" or the above flakish stereotype of a modern westerner?
The flakes are the majority, so the flakes have it.
All which leads to a society where disease and injury are no longer seen as natural parts and consequences of life, but as anomalous "wrongs" that must be fixed, the way you clear out a virus or "malicious code". Instrumentalist, levelling (making equal), pain-and-adversity adverse, and in a constant state of fear of losing.
There's probably very little profit and power to be gleaned from lakonik personalities, as opposed to histrionic ones.
back in 2001, i was trying to get a loan to buy a commercial co-op to relocate my theatrical costume business. the banker asked me if i could guarantee that my clients would come back to me, if i could promise that i'd have at least the same amount of business or more in 2001 as i had in 2000. "no, of course i can't," i answered. "clients come back to us because our work is good, not because i've trapped them with a contract. but did you know that enron would be the biggest company in the world on monday and completely insolvent on tuesday? you would have lent them billions and i'm just asking for a measly million and a half. why are you holding me to a higher standard?"
i eventually got my loan and moved in but i always think of that moment when stupid stuff like this happens and all those geniuses are shocked.
"Applicant must have doctorate degree in relevant field and subject, as well as driver's license for virtually everything but the space shuttle, at least ten years practical experience, be single and not planning to have children, and under the age of 30."
Which then leads to HR pulling this trick when downsizing: "Since you were hired despite not fulfilling the demands set forth in the ad, we are allowed to side-step the normal as stipulated by contract law "first in - last out"-regulation without buying you out. You have 15 minutes to clear your desk, have a nice day."
It's a wonder corporations are subjected to school-shooting scenarios, if you'll allow the distasteful comparison: schoolchildren are innocent after all.
I love the "do you have guaranteed income" questions? No, not TECHNICALLY, but because I like to eat and stuff I get up and do the stuff that gets me paid -- THE SAME AS YOU, MISTER BANKER MAN! How "guaranteed" is your income if you don't work?
Yep self employed family here. Always have this complaint about banks! They want more years of taxes when you own your own business and the regulations are more strict on all commercial and business loans. The fact that you have owned your business for 20+ years and never missed a payment on anything never factors in!😡
One of the reasons to keep the testing/dying designations is that deaths have remained about 10-15% elevated all year long since February. Covid can cover the crime of mass vaccination.
The CARES act has a lot to do with why covid has been blown out of proportion. It gives financial incentives to blur the line between dying WITH covid vs dying FROM covid. And the CDC allows this by categorizing covid deaths as deaths "involving covid" If you have a heart attack while driving and you die, your death may have involved a car but it was caused by the heart attack. If you have a heart attack shortly after testing positive for covid, your death may have involved covid but it was caused by the heart attack. This is one of the details that chaps my ass about the whole covid death number. And the hospitals and doctors offices are still wearing masks because they want all that covid money, which Biden is more than happy to pay.
And I thought the political pressure would be enough to restore "normal", but what happened is the media simply stopped covering covid in the way they did when Trump was president. Sure, the deaths and hospitalizations are happening, but now it's all just in the background.
Well, the hospitals screwed themselves over royally, didn't they?
Healthcare is the biggest growth industry we have. Competent nurses/rehab therapists/etc. etc. etc. fired for being unvaxxed can get their pick of jobs in any state that resisted mandates.; become independent contractors to a wealth of facilities in desperate need of such employees. Most of them will never go back to institutions that treated them so horribly.
So the big conglomerate medical centers can only survive on Covid largess. Until all the after-effects of lockdowns kick in with a vengeance. Then they'll really, really, really find themselves short-staffed.
Will they even be able to survive without the steady infusion of government cash, or are they defacto agents of the government because they can't afford to cross thm?
I live a few minutes away from a major medical center/teaching hospital I once thought a sterling example of the kind.
Hoo boy. I'm on their email list and they're vaccinating the tiny tots now, and have an Adolescent Mutilation and Medicalization Dept., and seriously may I drop dead quickly and painlessly before needing their services ever again.
They are the area's major employer. Their incentives, as far as I can see, are entirely malign now.
If we are going with "normal counting rules" let's start with resetting the numbers each year.
We count Covid different than any other upper respiratory disease in a number of ways.
First of all, how many people test for the flu? Yet I guarantee you, if someone hears a sniffle it's time to get tested for Covid. If you are freaking out about Covid, you may get more than one test. Do we even know if the tests count each time they are done, or only counted per person? So if I test positive for Covid three times...does that mean I count it as three cases?
There also needs to be accurate representation of how much Covid played a part. Let's say I went into the hospital for diabetic cellulitis and yet tested positive for Covid, are you SERIOUSLY going to say that I was hospitalized for Covid? I will give you some latitude for clotting related issues as well as upper respiratory issues, but if it's a broken bone, cancer, or other chronic disease, that would be the headline, not Covid.
Finally, let's mark maps correctly. If it's a case map it should be yellow at best...if there are deaths...maybe move to a red fine, but don't make the whole freaking map red signifying Covid cases. Once again...Covid kills roughly .14% of the population. Our reaction was like Will Farrell in Talladega Nights, running around a smoking car taking off his clothes and screaming like he was on fire.
That isn't to say some people's garments are on fire...they are, just they are the officials that pushed these lies.
Remember in the winter of 2020 when the cases of flu went down to nearly zero but covid cases were through the roof. No testing for flu, all testing for covid.
Early on, I was also saying...."And that's only the tip of the actual covid cases." Cases were easily much higher than that since the virus had already been here since at least November, probably October. I distinctly remember it being a cold november evening and we were all hunkered around a table and I thought. We're not seeing anyone passing out and dying here, so this "pandemic" is not nearly as bad as they make it out to be.
I think I did the math of "actual untested positives" plus tested positives, plus deaths...means the death rate is substantially smaller than initially projected. The very methods they were using to freak everyone out either made me suspicious or hopeful.
With all due respect, I think you might be missing a key element here. The number of actual covid cases is somewhat irrelevant. It's the number of actual covid deaths that's critical. When a huge number of people are being tested and ANY, repeat ANY positive test is linked to a subsequent hospitalization or death, the covid scare is going to be overblown. This is what is woefully missing from the conversation about adverse covid outcomes. A ton of the "covid deaths" are actually people that died of heart disease, cancer, pneumonia, renal failure, homicide, car accident, etc that just happened to test positive prior to their death. So when I hear how many people died of covid I just roll my eyes. When people say x # of people died of covid what they really mean is x # of people died after testing positive for covid. There's a huge difference.
You're definitely right about the deaths. Again, the narrative always flows in one direction. They report high cases and death numbers to ratchet the fear as high as possible. And it's usually done as a hierarchy. First, they mention deaths. When deaths aren't happening to a high enough degree they are satisfied with, it becomes all about cases, when cases don't work they talk about hospitals being overrun. when the hospital overrun doesn't occur they wax on about long Covid.
There was the great Cabrera article out of Florida which showed the new unprecedented way that Covid deaths were being determined.
The really vague numbers are the demographics, and what they don't tell you. For most people, Covid was a catalyst type disease. They tried to make it sound like Covid killed everyone equally, but it really killed 70+ people with at least two comorbidities.
I know at least one study concluded that only 6% of people died "of" Covid and the other 94% were fact checked into obscurity.We also know that hospitals were motivated to get Covid related funding. A lot of people were not even tested for Covid early on and simply were diagnosed with "Covid like" symptoms.
But my overall point was that the IFR was very low, even with the miscounted cases of asphalt trauma being reported as a Covid death.
Yes, that is true. Again, I remember doing this same kind of thing as a kid. We would hang out with our friends at night, and make things scarier than they actually were.
I work on the contract that maintains CMS’s entire data warehouse for Medicare and Medicaid. Access is granted to contractors and researchers for a variety of purposes, including COVID. You might notice you haven’t seen any work published using these data. There’s a reason why -- the results they’re obtaining are inconvenient.
I seem to remember a couple other investigations years after the fact that ended with "that's old news". Apparently, if you can drag out the investigation long enough it means you're not guilty.
Freedom of speech could disrupt their gravy train - so they censor. Historically speaking, any political party that chooses to censor, has never been on the right side of history (hint: they aren't the good guys).
I rely on you being too cynical.
Love this comment!
Thanks, Timothy.
You are most welcome, Denise.
"Like in this article when I insinuated that Sam Bankman-Fried would NOT be appearing at the NY Times DealBook summit because he would clearly be in jail for stealing billions of dollars from his customers." I was going to say, don't worry about it. You thought you lived in a sane world with some integrity left but . . .
"Yet, real-life events tend to prove I wasn’t quite cynical enough! " Yup, you got there.
The thing with Twitter is that those who are behaving badly are trying to stop you from seeing the forest by constantly pointing at the trees.
And jaguars are incredible creatures. That they actually *hunt* crocodiles (alligators? caimans? Sorry, about my ignorance) is proof that as high as you get on the food chain someone somewhere will come along and knock you down a peg. There's your hope for the day.
Regarding Covid counting - remember, Big Pharma can't use / sell any of their products (the worthless injections or the worthless oral meds) if the Emergency goes away. So it's probably NEVER going away.
Wow, Andrew Sorkin gives a hard-hitting interview there. Now that's journalism. How could watching a reporter apologize profusely for an interview whose primary outcome, most likely-- in the minds of the Times' audience-- is to fully exonerate its subject possibly make anyone more cynical? Honestly, the conversation came off to me as downright bromantic: two modern dudes sharing a set of shibboleths, socially and morally castrated, going through the motions. (Now, can we see the interview where Sorkin pretends he's Lesley Stahl and SBF is Donald Trump?)
Skeptical is good, very skeptical even better. Good post thanks. Those who defend the status quo always say - “what about all those who died of Covid?” . Once I launch into that even my own eyes glaze over. I think - oh boy what delusion do we have here. And these are normally intelligent people. “I only got five boosters” WHAT?
Not much to add to that, sadly (thankfully?). Alliteration is art, so applause for that!
Thanks to my mother having worked in health care all her life (state licensed physiotherapist), I grew up hearing many debates on health care in general and misconceptions and attitudes towards it and what it actually is:
A lot of it is still at the level of "try this and see what happens", which is not a jibe toward the profession, just a fact - using myself as an example, I have a niggling pain in both knees. Nothing on X-ray, MRI, or CT. No tells during physical examination. No oddities in the bloodwork. No visible signs of injury. No osteoarthritis.
Tangential rant follows:
Now, me being a somewhat reasonable fellow, I simply accept that I have to adjust and try to avoid movements that increase or trigger the pain and actually feel happy that nothing was found - it could simply be due to age and normal wear and tear, and until we actually know what's the issue, there's no point in medicating or operating, as it would cause damage on its own; all cures come with a risk of other injuries after all, even stuff like Aspirin.
But consider someone raised to believe that modern medical science is a fix-all cure-all business, where the doctor and The Science just do the tests and gives you a pill or an operation (sorry ,surgery I mean, we call surgery operation, leading to all kinds of fun when people talk about military operations...) and then you're fixed, good as new or even better. And that it is a "right" to be cured of whatever, and a "right" to live pain-free and happy and gay and that any disease or other condition is fixable with a little dose of The Science.
Now, which personality is more likely do you think, to use up more resources, to make outlandish claims and demands and to become an emotionalistic wreck who causes mayhem due to bombarding media and politicians with demands that "Someone in authority fix this soI can go back to normal!"?
Me, who thinks "good thing it wasn't worse, hep hep shoulder the burden and soldier on" or the above flakish stereotype of a modern westerner?
The flakes are the majority, so the flakes have it.
All which leads to a society where disease and injury are no longer seen as natural parts and consequences of life, but as anomalous "wrongs" that must be fixed, the way you clear out a virus or "malicious code". Instrumentalist, levelling (making equal), pain-and-adversity adverse, and in a constant state of fear of losing.
There's probably very little profit and power to be gleaned from lakonik personalities, as opposed to histrionic ones.
Never forget that Elon really likes and appreciates the power of exposure. No surprise then that he bought the bird. Plus ... he could!
back in 2001, i was trying to get a loan to buy a commercial co-op to relocate my theatrical costume business. the banker asked me if i could guarantee that my clients would come back to me, if i could promise that i'd have at least the same amount of business or more in 2001 as i had in 2000. "no, of course i can't," i answered. "clients come back to us because our work is good, not because i've trapped them with a contract. but did you know that enron would be the biggest company in the world on monday and completely insolvent on tuesday? you would have lent them billions and i'm just asking for a measly million and a half. why are you holding me to a higher standard?"
i eventually got my loan and moved in but i always think of that moment when stupid stuff like this happens and all those geniuses are shocked.
It's like job ads:
"Applicant must have doctorate degree in relevant field and subject, as well as driver's license for virtually everything but the space shuttle, at least ten years practical experience, be single and not planning to have children, and under the age of 30."
Which then leads to HR pulling this trick when downsizing: "Since you were hired despite not fulfilling the demands set forth in the ad, we are allowed to side-step the normal as stipulated by contract law "first in - last out"-regulation without buying you out. You have 15 minutes to clear your desk, have a nice day."
It's a wonder corporations are subjected to school-shooting scenarios, if you'll allow the distasteful comparison: schoolchildren are innocent after all.
I love the "do you have guaranteed income" questions? No, not TECHNICALLY, but because I like to eat and stuff I get up and do the stuff that gets me paid -- THE SAME AS YOU, MISTER BANKER MAN! How "guaranteed" is your income if you don't work?
Yep self employed family here. Always have this complaint about banks! They want more years of taxes when you own your own business and the regulations are more strict on all commercial and business loans. The fact that you have owned your business for 20+ years and never missed a payment on anything never factors in!😡
I meant personal and business loans 😒
One of the reasons to keep the testing/dying designations is that deaths have remained about 10-15% elevated all year long since February. Covid can cover the crime of mass vaccination.
True!
Clever and creative capturings of current contemplations!
And, crikey....crazy killer kitty!
MANGLING MEALS WITH MIGHTY MURDER MITTENS
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
The CARES act has a lot to do with why covid has been blown out of proportion. It gives financial incentives to blur the line between dying WITH covid vs dying FROM covid. And the CDC allows this by categorizing covid deaths as deaths "involving covid" If you have a heart attack while driving and you die, your death may have involved a car but it was caused by the heart attack. If you have a heart attack shortly after testing positive for covid, your death may have involved covid but it was caused by the heart attack. This is one of the details that chaps my ass about the whole covid death number. And the hospitals and doctors offices are still wearing masks because they want all that covid money, which Biden is more than happy to pay.
And I thought the political pressure would be enough to restore "normal", but what happened is the media simply stopped covering covid in the way they did when Trump was president. Sure, the deaths and hospitalizations are happening, but now it's all just in the background.
Well, the hospitals screwed themselves over royally, didn't they?
Healthcare is the biggest growth industry we have. Competent nurses/rehab therapists/etc. etc. etc. fired for being unvaxxed can get their pick of jobs in any state that resisted mandates.; become independent contractors to a wealth of facilities in desperate need of such employees. Most of them will never go back to institutions that treated them so horribly.
So the big conglomerate medical centers can only survive on Covid largess. Until all the after-effects of lockdowns kick in with a vengeance. Then they'll really, really, really find themselves short-staffed.
Get this book and take yer vitamins, kids. https://www.amazon.com/Where-There-No-Doctor-Handbook/dp/0942364155/ref=asc_df_0942364155/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312425492373&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9880729308565307123&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9002430&hvtargid=pla-488339970850&psc=1
Will they even be able to survive without the steady infusion of government cash, or are they defacto agents of the government because they can't afford to cross thm?
I think absolutely the latter.
I live a few minutes away from a major medical center/teaching hospital I once thought a sterling example of the kind.
Hoo boy. I'm on their email list and they're vaccinating the tiny tots now, and have an Adolescent Mutilation and Medicalization Dept., and seriously may I drop dead quickly and painlessly before needing their services ever again.
They are the area's major employer. Their incentives, as far as I can see, are entirely malign now.
Johns Hopkins?
No.
And this is exactly what some of us were saying would happen when Obamacare was still the ACA.
I have been most painfully schooled in many things over the past decade or so.
You are not alone.
If we are going with "normal counting rules" let's start with resetting the numbers each year.
We count Covid different than any other upper respiratory disease in a number of ways.
First of all, how many people test for the flu? Yet I guarantee you, if someone hears a sniffle it's time to get tested for Covid. If you are freaking out about Covid, you may get more than one test. Do we even know if the tests count each time they are done, or only counted per person? So if I test positive for Covid three times...does that mean I count it as three cases?
There also needs to be accurate representation of how much Covid played a part. Let's say I went into the hospital for diabetic cellulitis and yet tested positive for Covid, are you SERIOUSLY going to say that I was hospitalized for Covid? I will give you some latitude for clotting related issues as well as upper respiratory issues, but if it's a broken bone, cancer, or other chronic disease, that would be the headline, not Covid.
Finally, let's mark maps correctly. If it's a case map it should be yellow at best...if there are deaths...maybe move to a red fine, but don't make the whole freaking map red signifying Covid cases. Once again...Covid kills roughly .14% of the population. Our reaction was like Will Farrell in Talladega Nights, running around a smoking car taking off his clothes and screaming like he was on fire.
That isn't to say some people's garments are on fire...they are, just they are the officials that pushed these lies.
Remember in the winter of 2020 when the cases of flu went down to nearly zero but covid cases were through the roof. No testing for flu, all testing for covid.
Early on, I was also saying...."And that's only the tip of the actual covid cases." Cases were easily much higher than that since the virus had already been here since at least November, probably October. I distinctly remember it being a cold november evening and we were all hunkered around a table and I thought. We're not seeing anyone passing out and dying here, so this "pandemic" is not nearly as bad as they make it out to be.
I think I did the math of "actual untested positives" plus tested positives, plus deaths...means the death rate is substantially smaller than initially projected. The very methods they were using to freak everyone out either made me suspicious or hopeful.
With all due respect, I think you might be missing a key element here. The number of actual covid cases is somewhat irrelevant. It's the number of actual covid deaths that's critical. When a huge number of people are being tested and ANY, repeat ANY positive test is linked to a subsequent hospitalization or death, the covid scare is going to be overblown. This is what is woefully missing from the conversation about adverse covid outcomes. A ton of the "covid deaths" are actually people that died of heart disease, cancer, pneumonia, renal failure, homicide, car accident, etc that just happened to test positive prior to their death. So when I hear how many people died of covid I just roll my eyes. When people say x # of people died of covid what they really mean is x # of people died after testing positive for covid. There's a huge difference.
You're definitely right about the deaths. Again, the narrative always flows in one direction. They report high cases and death numbers to ratchet the fear as high as possible. And it's usually done as a hierarchy. First, they mention deaths. When deaths aren't happening to a high enough degree they are satisfied with, it becomes all about cases, when cases don't work they talk about hospitals being overrun. when the hospital overrun doesn't occur they wax on about long Covid.
There was the great Cabrera article out of Florida which showed the new unprecedented way that Covid deaths were being determined.
The really vague numbers are the demographics, and what they don't tell you. For most people, Covid was a catalyst type disease. They tried to make it sound like Covid killed everyone equally, but it really killed 70+ people with at least two comorbidities.
I know at least one study concluded that only 6% of people died "of" Covid and the other 94% were fact checked into obscurity.We also know that hospitals were motivated to get Covid related funding. A lot of people were not even tested for Covid early on and simply were diagnosed with "Covid like" symptoms.
But my overall point was that the IFR was very low, even with the miscounted cases of asphalt trauma being reported as a Covid death.
YES! ALWAYS THE SCARIEST STATISTIC!
Even dumb stuff like "cases are up 50% over the last two weeks", but you dig in and find out they went from 2 to 3.
Yes, that is true. Again, I remember doing this same kind of thing as a kid. We would hang out with our friends at night, and make things scarier than they actually were.
Yep. If we counted flu deaths this way, we'd probably see 300,000 a year before we even get to the people the flu killed.
I work on the contract that maintains CMS’s entire data warehouse for Medicare and Medicaid. Access is granted to contractors and researchers for a variety of purposes, including COVID. You might notice you haven’t seen any work published using these data. There’s a reason why -- the results they’re obtaining are inconvenient.
Wow on the cat!
I seem to remember a couple other investigations years after the fact that ended with "that's old news". Apparently, if you can drag out the investigation long enough it means you're not guilty.