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I want to believe this as much as anybody, but we should be cautious about this study.
Meta-shmeta analysis. They claim they find that lockdowns reduced mortality in Europe and U.S. only by 0.2%. After browsing through their methodology and results though, it's obvious they aren't doing what they claim they're doing and their analyis is deceptive. /1 pic.twitter.com/D0hRS6uJ1f
— Andreas Backhaus (@AndreasShrugged) February 2, 2022
There IS some more academically rigorous evidence that lockdowns didn’t work.
https://ourworldindata.org/excess-mortality-covid
Check the excess mortality comparisons between the US and Sweden. They’ve done much better without lockdowns in terms of total excess deaths. Granted, they have a healthier population, but that’s adjusted for in the excess expected deaths calculation.
Katy Tur of MSNBC apparently read Cuomo spin on the air.
I would add that it wasn’t the drone footage that exonerated Rittenhouse, it was the footage from Drew Hernandez, Richie McGinnis, and others who decided to cover the riots in a non-narrative way. Last summer, in addition to the two described above, Shelby Talcott, Julio Rosas, and Brendan Gutenschwager filmed footage and livestreamed the riots. Without their footage, the media narrative would have buried Rittenhouse.
It’s a parody of Zuckerberg’s Metaverse rollout. It’s very well done. Still should have bought Greenland when we had the chance.
2016 election. Rittenhouse. Covington. Russian collusion. Vaccines. Bounties on US soldiers. Lab-leak theory. Jussie Smollett. The Pulse shooting. The Atlanta shootings. Hunter Biden laptop. Inflation. Steele Dossier.
The MSM got every single one wrong.https://t.co/U5YJUtFQOD
— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) November 12, 2021
Incredibly, these two Washington Post journalists — whose article has now been effectively retracted — received a PULITZER for their Russiagate reporting from exactly the same time period (2017). Kinda makes you wonder what else they got egregiously wrong, doesn't it? pic.twitter.com/tor7tqY9C7
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) November 12, 2021
I have a hard time understanding why the media rushed to judgment on Rittenhouse, and why the usual suspects are doubling down that he’s a murderer.
Last night, Neri and I watched several hours of .#Kylerittenhouse direct testimony and cross examination. We came away believing that #Kyle is telling the truth and that he acted in self defense. We found him to be a civic-minded patriot with a history of
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) November 11, 2021
It’s amazing, as well, how much the media mislead the public about the facts in the case… and how much highly educated, very smart people were willing to just accept the media narrative rather than wait to see what the evidence showed.
Again: look how many people are saying that they feel completely betrayed and misled by a year's worth of media coverage about the Rittenhouse case, now that they're watching the trial.
Maybe this should cause a bit of media self-critique? Yeah, I know.https://t.co/SWTfVcBryN
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 11, 2021
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1458520663506014211 (I also agree that Ana Kasperian is brave for acknowledging her error).
I am highly educated and reasonably perceptive, and it was only today that I learned the Kyle Rittenhouse victims were white.
My progressive bubble made this seem like a very different case than it is.
— Sarah Beth Burwick (@sarahbeth345) November 11, 2021
The only thing I can think of is that the media NEEDS a guilty verdict to stave off some libel suits. This is potentially Nick Sandmann on steroids. And it’s not just the mainstream media, it’s the very online people on Twitter. Earlier in the week, they started attacking the judge for admonishing the prosecutor. A law professor whose Twitter handle is “EvidenceProf” tried saying that the judge was wrong, because a prosecutor is allowed to comment that the defendant that testifies sat through trial and can comment that the defendant tailored his testimony to the evidence and testimony of others. Only the judge was (correctly) yelling at the prosecutor for commenting on the defendant’s Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, which is clear Griffin error, and one of the fundamental no-nos for prosecutors. Now the anti-judge floodgates / media narrative has begun.
We’ll see what the jury does, but in my view, this is a clear case of self-defense. All of it.
We just don’t have the players anymore. I take that back, we don’t have a strength and conditioning coach that can mold young talent into players anymore.
To the extent anecdotal evidence is of value in this discussion, for your consideration:
Aaron Rodgers says he's listening to Joe Rogan's advice on how to battle COVID-19 and he's also taking Ivermectin.
Prepare for media heads to explode. pic.twitter.com/DXjGJrwif6
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) November 5, 2021
Aaron Rodgers is dating Shailene Woodley, about as left a person out there. Again, anecdotal evidence is of limited use, but my guess is that, as an athlete, Aaron Rodgers will be fine (as would Ms. Woodley) based on age, fitness, etc.; and that it’s not going to move the needle (pun intended) one way or the other.
On another note: here’s an article about why the US failed at rapid testing.
BTD,
I’m glad to see a more measured and better supported response.
Do you think that the media reports more on the karmic cases (people who openly resist / refuse preventative measures and get COVID) or report on the reverse (people who take every measure, but end up dying anyway)? My guess is that the media focuses more on the karmic cases than on the reverse, except in high profile cases (such as Jen Psaki, for example, but those stories go away quickly). I suspect that your anecdotal evidence is more evidence of media bias, rather than an accurate assessment of why cases continue to pile up.
Why do you think that advocating for natural immunity (i.e. Dennis Prager) is somehow wrong? Everything we know points to COVID-19 being the fifth endemic coronavirus. This is not a right / left thing.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/11/what-americas-covid-goal-now/620572/
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00396-2
The science supports the idea that, if you are of an age / fitness level that you are likely to get a relatively mild infection and not require hospitalization or die, then if you get infected you are unlikely to create a burden on society. For example, science demonstrates that children’s immune systems respond quickly and efficiently to the virus, therefore they are asymptomatic or have very mild infections. This also means they are less likely to shed virus (and shed fewer viruses) than older people.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(20)30172-5/fulltext
Key part: Pooled mean SARS-CoV-2 shedding duration was positively associated with age (slope 0·304 [95% CI 0·115–0·493]; p=0·0016).
What level of “downplaying the virus” do you feel is a negative? Any downplaying of the risks? There’s the flip side, which is continuing to make policy based on fear / irrational assessments of risk that conservatives are pushing back on (especially re: kids). For example, the risk to children is very small, but Gov. Newsom wants them vaccinated with a vaccine that does not confer immunity. It’s like mandating the flu shot (versus true vaccination versus polio, whooping cough, etc., and even tetanus and other hazards). What about masking kids, closing the schools, etc., which has demonstrated severe psychological effects on children for little to no advantage?
Dear Blue Checks Trying to Figure Out How Parents Became Swing Voters,
Start here.
Kids in US lost more school than any other wealthy nation.
Losses were predominantly in Dem and purple regions.
Is it really any mystery why many see leaders differently?
Source: @unicef pic.twitter.com/Hs3OyqSbJx
— Karen Vaites (@karenvaites) November 2, 2021
A difficult slide from the CDC ACIP meeting today for 5-11 suicides as many -including @LeslieBienen and @JeanneNoble18 – were trying to get statistics on self-harm among children during CDC-supported US school closures. We wrote this piece about it. https://t.co/ljCkhEmfuh pic.twitter.com/KXU7v2t0TE
— Monica Gandhi MD, MPH (@MonicaGandhi9) November 2, 2021
That last tweet and op-ed are devastating re: child suicide. This is from Dr. Gandhi, who is pro-vaccinating children. For the record, I am not for mandating that children get vaccinated, but I am for whatever measures we can take to free them from masking and school closures. That’s also why the masks for thee, but not for me behavior of the political class is so galling to the rest of us. It’s performative, and virtue signaling, rather than effective. It’s also why I think the administration’s inconsistent messaging and constant retractions of guidance is so damaging, and why further efforts to characterize this as a Democrat / Republican issue is to make people feel better about themselves, rather than addressing the real issue. As for other, non-conservative communities that are against the vaccine mandates, bordering on “anti-vaxx,” according to the left’s definitions, please consider the following:
Protest against COVID vaccine mandate led by Inland Empire teachers and parents
That being said, one failing of both administrations has been the failure to develop a cheap, readily accessible rapid test. Rapid testing would be more effective in targeted isolation and effective contact tracing. Instead of locking down everyone, we can identify and isolate people who are likely to be carriers / who are shedding virus. Obviously these tests are available, but why weren’t they approved earlier, and why aren’t they being produced, subsidized and deployed on a mass scale?
We are not. Not that I’m an apologist for anything about how this administration handled this withdrawal, but two withdrawals from history were worse: the Macedonian withdrawal from the Afghan region and the 1842 withdrawal of British troops after the first Anglo-Afghan war.
The 1842 withdrawal is eerily similar: the local warlord was driven out, regrouped, began capturing materiel and then overran the garrison in Kabul. Sir Elphinstone “negotiated” a withdrawal and safe passage to India and set off with 16,000 men, women, and children (about 4,500 troops, and about 12,000 civilians, including the equivalent of translators and their families). One difference: they left in the middle of winter (January). According to some sources, the warlord who took over didn’t control the mountain passes the British were going to take to get to Jalalabad, similar to the whole “ISIS-K” debacle. One British surgeon survived (along with some Indian sepoys).
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article253866873.html
I-TEAM EXCLUSIVE: 3-year-old California boy stranded in Afghanistan https://t.co/0NrHXVrVt2 via @abc7newsbayarea
— Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) August 31, 2021
More and more of these are trickling out. There’s the group from El Cajon, too. Ridiculous messaging throughout. But they’re going to get away with it. Why? Because of this:
The same playbook is being used by Klain and others in the administration to distract from Americans being stranded in Afghanistan. https://t.co/lkZyhCw8UB pic.twitter.com/l85018WOJ2
— Cameron Cawthorne (@Cam_Cawthorne) August 31, 2021
What’s your point? I imagine I could put a similar graph up comparing population density and vaccination rates.
Read the last paragraph. In short, the originally posted “study” is a bunch of political scientists manipulating data to try to make people like BTD feel superior to others.
Notice they didn’t break it down by race. Vaccination rates among minorities (not including Asian-Americans) are low.
You want to talk about vaccines and politics? How about Kamala and the Democrats basically telling people the vaccine wasn’t coming, and wasn’t going to be safe on the campaign trail? What about this:
If you think he’s a politically neutral person without a political agenda, maybe he’s the source of the originally posted study, finding data to fit his internal narrative.
“Dr. Eric Topol, head of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, said the gaps in COVID-19 vaccination can be traced directly to political influences, particularly what he called ‘anti-science’ attitudes among Republican leaders.” https://t.co/OystgBsT2E
— Human Climate Genomics (@HumanClimateGen) May 21, 2021
Reminder: Most Americans got smaller tax refunds in 2019, thanks to Trump pic.twitter.com/qTgezBqzR7
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) October 29, 2020
Well, there’s this. The level of ignorance about basic personal finance is astounding. Of course Now This exploits this for political gain. Ridiculous.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/28/wall-street-spends-74-million-to-support-joe-biden.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/25/us/politics/trump-biden-campaign-donations.html
This is why I yell at the screen when I see ads touting the Park Avenue / Wall Street versus Scranton “line.”
All Donald Trump can see from Park Avenue is Wall Street.
He thinks the economy is doing well if the Dow Jones is doing well.
Believe it or not, Mr. President, most Americans don't live off the stock market.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 23, 2020
Joe Biden is only interested in allowing Wall Street to take advantage of cheap overseas labor. Wall Street knows this. I’m normally a free trade advocate, but I’m on board with making sure China isn’t stealing our intellectual property, stops dumping cheap goods into the markets, trying to get them to stop manipulating their currency, and reducing American dependence on quasi-slave labor.
Biden’s COVID / economic plan is garbage. We’re in for a rough fall / winter because of COVID. BUT, death rates have held relatively steady (they are going up because cases are rising).
Probably the best way to see the declining severity of Covid (CFR) is the global daily case vs deaths graph.
Since April, daily cases have risen 5x while daily deaths have *fallen* pic.twitter.com/e3DxkIEaeH
— Chris Anderson (@chr1sa) October 28, 2020
Lockdowns do not work. Biden deciding to lock down the economy again would be a disaster. We’d lose an entire generation.
Just out: Depression among U.S. teen girls doubled from 2009 to 2019 and was up 74% among teen boys, according to just-released data from the gov't administered National Survey of Drug Use and Health. What does this mean? pic.twitter.com/H09Pmo7Bss
— Jean Twenge (@jean_twenge) October 29, 2020
The sad thing is, the younger generations will believe the media and blame the GOP / Trump. Oh well.
