So sorry. . . I am duly alarmed. And here I am, 10 days traveling and out and about. I encountered a Trumpanzee at the hotel who made a snide remark re: Hunter Biden, and I let him have it in front of the morning buffet crowd. He nastily said, “I bet you got all the covid shots” and I let loose. “You’re damned right I did and I can hear you’ve either got asthma or COPD . . . .yada yada . . . .I literally sent him running with a parting volley: “and You can be sure YOUR MOTHER WAS GRATEFUL TO GET YOU VACCINATED FROM POLIO!”
So here it is again.
And so here they are, too.
But don’t be polite or cowed by the tRump bullies. They even sound delusional to themselves.
They're inane and dangerous with respect to a panoply of issues, but this "anti-vaxx" bunk, and connected gibberish about COVID, might be at the top of the list.
They don't ever seem to even realize at all - those who even attempt some kind of argument behind their "anti-masking" whining at all, mind you - that mask wearing protocols, when an infectious disease can first present as asymptomatic, so the person with COVID may not have a clue they have it, is both for self-protection and to protect OTHER PEOPLE in their proximity, especially the more vulnerable groups, that is, children, those over around age 65, persons with compromised immune systems, the latter of which can range from asthma and severe allergies to AIDS, and front-line workers in all sorts of fields, not just in hospitals and clinics.
The anti-maskers are anti-mask mainly because people they don't like advise wearing masks. There's no way to refute that kind of BS. Unfortunately most MAGA "politics" have similar origins.
Maybe the anti-maskers you have encountered in person, online, or through media descriptions have no bogus arguments to offer, but I have encountered them (1) Personally, more than once (2) Numerous times online and (3) Read journalistic accounts of their endless lies, distortions, statistical fallacies ("Look at the numbers, man! Getting the mRNA vaccines INCREASES your chances of getting COVID!" blah blah blah.
Yes, it really helps motivate them to shriek louder and protest openly, that "people they don't like advise wearing masks," but that itself tracks the anti-vaxxers abysmal comprehension of science, in particular medical science, and within medical sciences, virology and infectious diseases - besides, and very important to take into account: "people they hate" advise all sorts of things which they do follow, more or less as much as anyone: follow the traffic laws, have a job, save money, obey (most) laws, so it can't be simply a matter of 'libs advise masking and vaxxing" so we won't do it," no, they ALREADY don't understand the science involved, they ALREADY ain't gonna work on Fauci's farm no more, etc. It's just icing on the cake - but already baked in! - that progressives - libs advocate a community response to protect the community via vaxxing and all the rest.
Btw I wouldn't even argue the point if I didn't respect your intelligence, I would just ignore your comment, easily done!
Consider the possibility that with this, as with many things, the decision comes first and the explanations and rationalizations come later. Sure, the anti-vaxxers have arguments to support their decisions, but in a large majority of cases (if they're like most of us) they've found crowd-sourced snippets here and there to support their beliefs. Think of those sample ransom notes where all the words and phrases are clipped from newspapers and strung together so they form coherent sentences.
A lawyerly example, since you've got a JD after your name: Consider all the lawyers in Trump's orbit, especially the ones widely identified as Co-conspirators 1 through 5. Do you believe they based their theories and plans strictly on what they learned in law school and in their subsequent law practice? I don't. I believe they wanted to please Trump so they cherry-picked appropriate bits from the Constitution, previous legislation (including the Insurrection Act, facrissake!), and case law and devised theories and plans that would make Trump happy (and presumably polish their own haloes).
Much of what the Republicans are up to these days is about devising means to further their ends, so it's worth paying attention to this.
You've clearly encountered different anti-vaxxers in person that I have, that's for sure. Several of them lived in this building, but moved out last year, others I met in the course of my local travels. Online, I know of one Substack forum where I carried on a lengthy series of replies and counter-replies to those, not so much to even persuade that individual, but others on the blog - don't forget those people are all over the place too, people who sort of buy into anti-vaxx beliefs, or never much thought about it, and are watching as arguments evolve.
As for "the decision" [Note: there are plenty of moving parts already in that term] "coming first, and the explanations and rationalizations come later," fine, you can apply that reduction of logic to psychological states across the board if you like, but notice it lacks any contact with people who were indeed "taken in" by a belief system and managed to evolve.
Your procedure would apply to former Trump supporters, former anti-vaxxers, former dyed-in-the-wool opponents of "abortion rights," and it "proves too much," in that it simply refuses to engage with other persons, who FOR NOW have different beliefs, as conscious rational agents capable of being held responsible for those views, and capable of reconsidering and evolving those commitments. And why does it lead to that conclusion, that seemingly rational dismissal of assembling the best rational, logical arguments one can find, and using them "even on" (some of) the Magats or anti-vaxxers? Because the stance "proves to you," proves to anyone who espouses its view of these people, that they are (for the most part) "hopelessly engaged in merely seeking out justifications for prejudices to which they are first and foremost committed by some decision they made."
I think it gives up on an important component of a political campaign, which is not only to identify supporters, help organize their energy and encourage them to vote, but also to relentlessly publicize the best available arguments for voting one way rather than another.
Including attempts to present that forcefully and with enthusiasm to opponents, even IF it doesn't work 19 times out of 20. That's the way movements for any social change have proceeded, on BOTH TRACKS, as well as others, you recognize that's the case, I think, but just view the persuasion attempts with "Trump's base" or anti-vaxxers as futile, and I don't, so we can agree to disagree!
I had one guy working for me. I knew his politics, but he was a great electrician. I had to fire him for showing up on a job without wearing a mask after he lied, because he was willing to put others at risk. He was asked by the project manager why he wasn't wearing a mask. He said he had been vaccinated, which was a lie because he was an anti-vaxxer. Trumpers, anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists and their followers, the construction industry is loaded with them. They're damaged people.
And your first sentence sums up a lousy aspect of it, "[H}e was a great electrician," so smart enough to use his reasoning skills to learn a trade not everyone can handle safely, but propagandized to the point he would lie and you had to fire him!
Plus, the Democrats really need to do all they can to help, listen to, and mobilize skilled tradespeople and union members, but guys like in your example, really tough sell.
A lot of the people I work with barely got out of high school. They have excellent manual dexterity, but are as dumb as a box of screws. Many trades-people learn by repetition. You give most too much credit. They are not free thinkers. I was fortunate. I went to college at Pratt Institute, Pratt had a engineering program at one time, and New York Polytechnic for a Batchelor of Science in electrical engineering and quantum electronics. I continued doing electrical because I love the work. Higher education opened a whole, new world to me, science and engineering. Most trades-people work construction because a family member works in a trade and, outside of the military, this their only option. Most trades-people are not free thinkers. They're easy prey for conspiracy theorists and quite a few are racist.
I accidentally hit the post button on my last comment. Too bad there's no edit button here on the SubStack app. I'd use the website, but the security links are not arriving via email in a timely manner.
Ok this isn't news to anyone conscious of labor history since the AFL was formed, but it's also connected to my point, you're agreeing that they are (1) being propagandized easily, as "easy prey," which the Democrats need to work much harder to counter and (2) they have backwards ideas about race (again, since the1870s and1880s at least, this was being raised as an issue in the U.S., even earlier (by the revolutionary year 1848) in Europe.
This has characterized millions of workers, not just in the USA but around the world, for over 150 years. And all the relevant parties favoring Social Democracy, or Democratic Socialism (those were the people advocating for rights we take for granted decades before the fights were won -8-hour day, vacations, health benefits, worker's compensation for injuries on the job - it's a long list! - or at the very least, Democratic Capitalism, i.e., capitalism with strict regulations that are routinely enforced and not ignored, for employee's rights to a healthy and safe workplace, right to bargain collectively, and so on -
all those people and the Democrats (there's some overlap) need to get in the fray and fight for their point of view.
Democrats are much too passive, that's all I am getting at. And yes, I mistakenly thought you characterized the guy you had to fire as evidently being more acquainted with really advanced electrical work than he is, but even so: we need to organize the workers to see that it's in their own self-interest to (in a huge majority of cases) vote for the Democrat rather than a GOP opponent. Certainly there's far more power to be gained in organizing WITH ethnic minorities on their side, too.
Yup. The disregard for public health principles irks me most. What utter selfishness. Well, he evidently had some COPD —and I pointed that out, but what ever. I also said I don’t give a damn about Republicans anymore.
I’ve been having pretty severe asthma over the last months…may he and his ilk experience what it’s like not to be able to breathe….
NEVER behind a paywall, I will support them with a regular donation (again) ONLY when they have completely abandoned their tendentiously biased anti-Israel coverage, which routinely goes far far beyond absolutely legit criticism of the State of Israel's policies on this or that issue:
camera-uk.org COMMITTEE FOR ACCURACY IN MIDDLE EAST REPORTING AND ANALYSIS MIDDLE EAST ISSUES NEWS SOURCES MEDIA CORRECTIONS AND COMPLAINTS
^^^^^ That said, you may disagree and want eventually to support, here's their basic pitch
"Support fearless, independent journalism
As a reader-funded news organisation, we rely on your generosity. Please give what you can, so millions can benefit from quality reporting on the events shaping our world." Note: The Guardian is one of the most visited websites in the world, they cover all sorts of topics, some "not for the overly psychosexually repressed," so to speak, but well worth consulting on a regular basis irrespective of how you view "R-rated to NC-17 rated" type articles, to borrow the film code terminology.
The Guardian is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as The Manchester Guardian, and changed its name in 1959.[4] Along with its sister papers, The Observer and The Guardian Weekly, The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust Limited.[5] The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of The Guardian free from commercial or political interference".[6] The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for The Guardian the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in its journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders.[6] It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK.[7][8] *******
They have U.S., U.K., Australia, and International editions, curiously enough to us "chess fanatics" around the USA, the Sport section in those editions follow the official
Olympic Committee lead in 1999, recognizing chess as an Olympic sport (it's far more grueling than non-players realize when contested under tournament or match rules, rivaling other Olympic non-contact sports in its capacity to have contestants literally "lose weight" DURING a match or tournament game as the calories burned in brain sports can be considerable) and running Leonard Barden's column.
Leonard William Barden (born 20 August 1929, in Croydon, London) is an English chess master, writer, broadcaster, journalist, organizer and promoter. The son of a dustman, he was educated at Whitgift School, South Croydon, and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read modern history. He learned to play chess at age 13 while in a school shelter during a World War II German air raid. Within a few years he became one of the country's leading juniors.[1] He represented England in four Chess Olympiads. Barden played a major role in the rise of English chess from the 1970s. He is a chess columnist for various newspapers. His column in London's Evening Standard is the world's longest-running daily chess column by the same author.
OK I just realized what's wrong with the link, it DOES work once you highlight beginning with the "https://www.atlantic.com" etc. etc. but you left that text connected as if part of "Courthttps://" so it didn't work, PLUS I already read the article from Harvard emeritus Prof. Tribe elsewhere (there are ways to locate it on other sites) so thanks for the link anyway, and my advice still stands: appeal is DOA just like Trump's hopes of avoid a PRISON SENTENCE, moreover Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is likely going to halt his candidacy anyway!
Link to The Atlantic doesn't seem to work and its behind a paywall, in any event Trump's hypothetical appeals "case" isn't going to succeed in making the Fani Willis-led prosecution leave Georgia, not even on a Midnight Train FROM Georgia - arguably people should just move on to live controversies in the case, as to cameras in the courtroom and why Steve Bannon hasn't been included, and so on, not this red herring . Even global ecocide, not this trivia.
Bravo to you for taking on that f**king idiot! The reason I hesitate to do the same in those circumstances, is that I'm not sure I could confine myself to just words, and I don't want to be arrested for assault!
I think the administration and public health have let us down terribly by not admitting that Covid is still here, (and will be for the indefinite future) and that we should all still mask up where necessary and stop thinking the pandemic is over.
It is NOT. Covid and RSV are both very contagious and prevalent right now. It's why I hate going to the store, anywhere that I know they've dropped the masking requirements, and that includes my health care providers.
It is not a form of the flu-it is worse than the flu and the latest RSV disease combined with it will make one very sick or dead.
Complacency kills.
Long Covid exists, too. From what I've read of it, that's not what you want-it's a mind destroying syndrome with no cure except perhaps time.
Be prepared to be vaccinated for all three this year-Flu, Covid, and RSV for the remainder of your lives.
It's not getting better because now that climate change has finally started really impacting us there is no 'new normal' for anything-Florida now is home to endemic malaria and plague.
It's all 'daily disaster' time for all of us.
Welcome to the future. It was a good world while it lasted.
Hope you and Tracey get over it soon! Take care and get those shots!
C'mon Mary. Don't blame government administration. One must take charge of her/his own health. You can follow covid simply by performing a search for new covid variants as I do. I live in NYC. As a union electrician, I had to work through the NYC shutdown of 2020 and witnessed a lot of my friends and co-workers die from covid. I never stopped wearing an N-95 mask, it has head loops and is NIOSH rated, when indoors, other than home, while using public transportation and around crowds. I still don't touch my face until I've washed my hands for 20 to 30 seconds with soap and water. I still refrain from eating in restaurants. To date, I haven't caught covid. As learned as Lucian is, I'm somewhat surprised that he contracted the virus.
I didn't read the article in its entirety, but it wasn't necessary. There are no spring chickens when it comes to covid. One can contract the virus by not following precautions given to the general public by Anthony Fauci. There is one possibility where precautions don't work, the virus entering the eyes. It can be mitigated, by up to 15%, if one is a regular user of eyewear. I disagree with his statement about covid-19 becoming similar to a flu virus. No matter how mild the exposure, covid-19 can damage organs of the body including the brain. If the body fights the virus in the pancreas, the outcome could lead to diabetes. Happened to a co-worker who was not genetically disposed to diabetes and was in great shape. It also damaged his heart. Do the research!
I have been posting this info (especially hammering on the potential long term organ damage
beyond any recovery from an infection) since the fall of 2020.
I " did the research" in part not only as a kind of "self-protective civic duty," but at the behest of my girlfriend of over 24 years, who has now worked since May, 2013 in a battered women's shelter here in the Twin Cities West Metro (Sojourner) and herself followed the COVID research diligently, for obvious reasons over and above the usual: she is a "front line worker" serving a sub-set of the population highly prone to having no health insurance, no jobs, kids in tow fleeing abuser, and more!
Richard, your girlfriend is good people. With each other, you're in good company. Stay safe.
In NYC, electricians and other trades are considered essential personnel, so we had to work during the shutdown, March 2020, when NYC was a viral hotspot. We insured the infrastructure didn't fail. I work as a union (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local union 3) electrician for New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). We, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, masons, worked near people that were sick with covid-19 even though we had no masks. The information we received was sketchy. Remain 6 feet from a tenant. If you hear coughing, leave. Ask the tenants, or anyone we're working with, if they have a fever. If yes, leave. Many people opened the doors and said nothing knowing we would leave them without resolving their emergency situation, no power, if they said anything about a fever. My partner and I did dopey things like ask the sick person to go into another room while we remained to solve their problem, at our own risk. I have asthma. People, my friends and co-workers were dropping like flies. Scary! We walked around with alcohol and soap because many developments had no soap. Me and my partner worked all the NYCHA developments in Brooklyn. Everyday, I'd wake-up and take my temperature. Feel fine till I arrived at work. The moment I walked into a NYCHA building, I'd become nauseous, every workday morning. My daughter was a nursing student and worked as a patient care technician at Weill Cornell Medicine on Manhattan. She lives with me. I heard her horror stories everyday. I knew electricians who worked in Health and Hospitals in NYC. They sent me photos of the refrigerated 18 wheelers that were used to store the dead. We worked overtime during the shutdown. Many 16 hour days because we had fewer people, some were taken by covid-19. Scary times!
Holy Guacamole!! and for some reason, maybe because this entire comments thread grew so fast, only now did I see this -Sunday August 20...for various reasons I have kept track of quite a bit of NYC /New Jersey/ Boston (where I have several cousins living, in Brookline) news, not just Manhattan, over the years, so I did read about some of this (refrigeration trucks, that made national news days in a row) but not even close to the day-to-day details you describe, for example where you guys would go in for a daily shift, do the best you could, inevitably make silly mistakes, but understandable mistakes in the sense that "we" as a country really haven't been through a gargantuan epidemic on this scale since the 1919 influenza epidemic. Plus there was so much contradictory, or confusing advice from the CDC, as they were at times scrambling to keep up to, and Trump, jeez.
I guess the "Spanish Flu" bit turns out to be more of a slur than any kind of accurate description, shades of Trump hammering on it as the "Chinese Virus," since even if it originated in China, it's not as if the billion + Chinese were cheering it on.
It's incredible the smears that get lazily accepted. Anyway, David, wow. Denise will appreciate hearing about or reading this, she has her own little booklet of "COVID horror stories" from her job.
I forgot to add David, Good on you for avoiding this by taking proper measures and sorry you have seen a lot of death all around you, from this disease.
I think the relevant "similarity" to the seasonal flu and vaccines rolled out targeting as best they can the strains foreseen as most likely, implied by Lucian's column, was to that routine, not precise symptoms, consequences, etiology, etc.
David, Leaders have to lead on this issue. Biden declared covid was over, and people lowered their guard. It was politically motivated and incorrect.
I agree that people have to take control of their lives now, in the U.S. In many ways, the political structure there is like a corporate duopoly and is self serving.
I agree with you on the all-safe declaration by Biden being premature and politically motivated. I responded to the Biden's announcement in a tweet that it was still necessary for ongoing testing and that masks should still be mandatory indoors. But, the decision was made and, at that point, it became an individual's responsibility to stay informed and continue following all the precautions to insure one remains healthy and covid-19 free.
It's hard for the individual to act responsibly when messaging is confused conflicted and contrary to reality. People don't know what 'being responsible' entails in this atmosphere.
Hi Jess! With the internet and all the information that's available for easy access, one searches for cold remedies, flu remedies, cancer remedies and ways to avoid the aforementioned. Surely, we can take it upon ourselves to delve into the covid-19 information on the WHO website or perform a general search for new covid variant. I think a lot of people are tired of wearing masks and separation from others and want things to return to a pre-covid normal. We refuse to embrace the fact that SARS-CoV-2, Covid-19, and its mutations, changed everything, much like climate change. So, we'll go along with the government declaring it's safe to return to normal. When things go wrong, rather than behave responsibly, we blame others for our misfortune. In this instance, others is the government.
I did everything you suggest on my own, David, including following WHO guidelines. But I had to go further and try to find information on me/cfs that has been so neglected by the medical community, NOTHING was known about how to proceed with vaccines.
Had to sift through lots of material, before concluding, on my own, that I should get it, as my t cells were already depleted, leaving b cells struggling to take up the slack. Had I caught the first wave, it could have killed me.
I also looked at ivermectin upside down and sideways, paid attention to people who turned out to be grifters, but also kept up with all information contrary to their opinions, which I concluded, sucked and were motivated more by religious zeal than scientific rigor.
Thanks for the link and if another vaccine is in the offing that is tailor made for the new variants I will likely take it. But I have to say, the last booster I got really scared me--and not because I give anti-vaccers the time of day anymore. They're operating like a cult.
I'm an asthmatic. When the first vaccine was released, I waited a few months before getting it. I let enough time pass to insure the Pfizer vaccine wouldn't kill me or cause other issues. I chose not to use the other vaccines available because they were iffy. Because of my work, I was exposed to the virus daily. My work made me essential personnel and I had to report to work daily during the NYC shutdown March 2020. So, I had to become vaccinated at some point. I do understand your fear and yes, there are holes in the information available.
Huh? You have not heard of the new variants, the preparation for the updated, fall vaccine and the new RSV vaccine? The information is out there . . . What can they do to enforce common sense? I’d love to know if the older Trumpanzees bother to get their shingles vaccines, too. But, whatever, I have seen the ads and public health announcements for the shots throughout the last month. As for malaria in Florida, yes, that is a climate change issue, and the south was once plagued with Yellow Fever, too, which is returning to higher latitudes as well. The tick-bourne diseases are also scary . . . We will all have to be hyper vigilant.
Well drat! Sounds like you have a mild case; hope you recover quickly.
A friend who's a retired chemist said at the start of the pandemic that eventually _everyone_ would have Covid at least once. I've tested positive twice-- once with very mild, barely noticeable symptoms and once with absolutely NO symptoms whatsoever; I needed a negative test for a trip to Italy -- which of course didn't happen, thanks to that symptomless positive. But how many thousands of people have been, and still are, walking around with symptomless Covid, blithely spreading the infection without even knowing they're sick? And those people who claim they've never had it-- unless they've been tested at least once a week for the past 3 years, they really do NOT know whether or not they've ever contracted it.
That is truth. My wife and I have never yet had the classic symptoms and have had all the vaccines and boosters available, but in this last half year of going about normally, unmasked, could we have contracted a mild case and not been aware? Could be. We do not take testds unless there's cause for suspicion. And there are family members who refuse to get the jabs and claim to have never contracted the disease -- are they lying, or lucky, or magic, or just silent carriers? Impossible to say. And plenty of people who live normal lives and have taken all ordinary precautions still catch the plague. So, what a crapshoot. I look forward to the new boosters coming this fall against the new variants, and I'll be fully eligible now!
I think even Lucian will endorse the fiery spirit of your remark - btw, have you looked into reading his novels? I am now, after going through "contact lens prescription update follies hell," making good progress on Dress Gray, excellent on multiple levels and funny as hell, without for a moment losing touch with the plot's pacing and deadly serious psychological insights.
CAVEAT! I am a bit pressed for time so haven't even read this particular review, but it is by Maureen Corrigan (NPR Fresh Air w/ Terry Gross and Dave Davies regular lit. reviewer) and it's in the NY TIMES, so even if something's arguably off the mark in it, you at least get a slice of the "acceptable establishment view on this kind of controversial novel," so there's that.
What the fork, just you listen to me: you will be glad, overjoyed and exultant beyond your wildest dreams that I urged you to read it, find yourself repeatedly ambushed by laugh out loud dialogue and incisive observations, along with developing some real sympathies, some real "identification" with the protagonists, who are students in May, 1968, confronting a murder coverup at West Point, with various connected mysteries to solve and sinister opponents to overcome and outwit.
That's just a sketch of how good it is, get it and enjoy!
I "reply" instead of edit, as my errand was finished faster than I predicted: having read this, it's a stupid review. Briefly, because I have been up since around 4AM for one thing, here's some reasons why it's stupid, silly, misses the mark, put it how you like.
There are really hyperbolic charges from Corrigan which are, ironically enough, to attribute "melodramatic hyperbole," to the sequel, that is, stylistic failings attributed to what she considers overwrought melodrama in the sequel to Dress Gray (1979), Full Dress Gray (1999).
But that frankly sounds like the response of a literary critic who has become jaded and unable to access the requisite "suspension of disbelief" necessary to enter a world where, from the point of view of the characters confronting a bunch of unavoidable problems - unavoidable because "they're in charge, it's their goddamn job to deal with it, not shirk it or try to cover it up" - with truly serious consequences if they, the protagonist or protagonists, however "heroic" or just really dedicated, competent and professional they might be, fail to win out. These are not war games, not practice runs on the ski slopes or for training commandos ( as Lucian's grandfather helped organize in WW2*, btw), nope, this is deadly, serious. crisis-time.
Besides that (probable, admittedly somewhat speculative attribution, but it's informed by reading thousands of book reviews, sports contest "reviews," film reviews, concert reviews, musical instrument reviews, musical equipment reviews, philosophy journal article reviews, restaurant reviews, scenic spot reviews, household product reviews, stocks and investments and macro-economic theory reviews, chess openings, strategies, tactics, endgames, tournament games, world championship matches reviews, over the last 55 years or so of my life, I have a database!) defect in the reviewer, then projected on the reviewed book .
That is practically an occupational hazard plaguing busy critics, who can be highly intelligent, write all sorts of excellent reviews, but be "burnt out," becoming unmoved by some types of popular fiction, even though the fact is the writing is NOT the problem.
The fictional narrative is indeed heightening aspects of the real world in a dramatic way, but so what? You want a more tepid version, a more sedate stroll through a sexual assault case that might be murder, you know, just typing those words "a sexual assault case that might be murder" leads me to pose the question, how exactly is that situation NOT almost inherently "melodramatic," in a sense, at least to those most intimately connected?
* Read this too, you will definitely learn something worth learning.
Thank you for your kind reply. In my future comments I will refrain from using profanities and will employ euphemisms instead. I have a functioning library card and will avariciously devour everything he has written. As for The NY Times I have for quite some time now been literally on a crusade to get Ross Douthat and the recently hired David French frickin fired. Sometimes I get published in the comment section sometimes not. I do however recognize your name and have consistently checked the like tab on your comments. I use a different name at the times for obvious reasons.
??? I only say "What the fork" because it's an Inside Chess joke, deriving from confronting a killah-dillah Knight move that forks several major pieces (worst being the dreaded "family fork" of King and Queen, Holy Guacamole Senor!) and by no means mean to dissuade anyone from the judicious deployment of profanity, that's for Lucian to do once he is back, not me! But it works either way, so it's cool! And getting rid of Ross D and David F, oh yeah those two are fairly putrid, no doubt.
I keep thinking of canceling my crummy intro rate $4.04 monthly sub but it runs through next March or mid-April, something like that, then it's $24.99 a month so still not exactly onerous...
Anyway yes, read some of his novels at least! I also will be back to the Corrigan review at some point, as far as her "TOO MANY COINCIDENCES" complaint, if ONLY because (1) Doesn't make sense with respect to a novel about a large institution, West Point in this instance, which ALSO is directly hooked up with various almost byzantine connections to the U.S. Army as deployed in May of 1968, and before then, when officers and non-coms and whoever else, knew each other or knew of each other or knew of someone's unit and/or specialty WITHIN a military unit, any of which could lead to someone becoming "THE ENEMY!" - you gotta read the relevant passage in Dress Gray, first novel.
Are later persistent grudges and acts of revenge "coincidences," hell no! Are appointments or banishments to Germany or Korea based on these perceived rivalries years later "coincidences"? What about alliances, sub rosa plots to remove "enemies," calling in favors done, DEMANDING personal loyalty "because" "we" are both against the W.P. grads who are THE ENEMY?
(2) It's not only possibly quite "realistic" in the sense of (1), it's a FREAKIN" NOVEL, not a sociological treatise that eschews relying on adventitious linkages to explain data, and (3) Life churns up meaningful coincidences, synchronicities as Jung termed them and as developed by Arthur Koestler in a fascination book, The Roots of Coincidence, although I make no claim Dress Gray is going in this direction, not my point at all, just that the entire concept is intriguing on multiple levels:
The Roots of Coincidence is a 1972 book by Arthur Koestler. It is an introduction to theories of parapsychology, including extrasensory perception and psychokinesis. Koestler postulates links between modern physics, their interaction with time and paranormal phenomena. It is influenced by Carl Jung's concept of synchronicity and the seriality of Paul Kammerer.[1]
In the book Koestler argues that science needs to take the possibility of the occurrence of phenomena that are outside our common sense view of the world more seriously and study them.[2][3] He concludes that paranormal events are rare, unpredictable and capricious and need a paradoxical combination of skillful scientific experiment with a childlike excitement to be seen and recorded. *****
Of course this book was heavily criticized, it's heretical and I am not "endorsing" any of the ESP ideas myself just by mentioning it, again, not the point.
I've had a mild case some time ago, without fever or cough, etc., and soon went back to normal activities. Hope the same for you. And agree with you that keeping vaccinated is key. Like with Flu.
Two days ago, I took a home test which registered positive, so because the test kit was about three years old, I went down to the nursing station in our senior living community. She administered the second test which came back as positive. This in spite of the fact that I have taken every single shot that came out. That didn't work out so well unless it makes my experience shorter and less difficult. I am now quarantined, for how long no one has said. For two days, since taking the prescribed meds, I have felt very good....doing my regular duties as editor of our community newspaper, planning to do a routine in a community talent show, although I will not be able to do a live performance, I hope to set up a video session that can be shown at the talent show. Energy level is very good. Go figure.
Yep! Just like flu shots. You may still be ambushed by a new flu variant that the vaccine wasn't designed for but at least you will very likely be less sick than without it. Just like the COVID vaccines.
Take care you guys! My 75 year old sister and brother in law in Spokane tested positive last week. They were well vaccinated and got like a mild flu, but are okay now.
And as you know, COVID symptoms have some overlap with severe sinus allergy symptoms, so there might be a kind of a flu-type feeling with less severe body aches and less intestinal upset, familiar to tens of millions just in the USA, around the world, who knows how many. Point being best to stay up-to-date on vaccinations, be ready to mask up and follow all the hand washing and no face touching protocols until well washed after being in crowds or shopping, etc.
Probably younger people are going to adapt to this much more flexibly as time rolls on, than the ultra-dogmatic, stodgy and stubborn MAGAT crowd, that's for sure.
End of December, having been traveling by plane, I woke up one morning with a terribly sore throat and general malaise. Tested negative (carry tests with me traveling) and again that night and the following day so I did fly home. Tested negative again after getting home. Turned out to be a nasty bronchitis probably caused by a virus exposed to while traveling.
That's 100% the kind of experience I am talking about - there are any number of medical problems a person can undergo, which are rather nasty, but certainly survivable, if no damn fun at all , like what you describe. Eating food in a restaurant or at a picnic or through misplaced confidence that "these leftovers are still ok!" when it turns out there's something undercooked, or spoiled in the fridge , is another set of examples.
I’m sorry Lucien. That was my first thought when I read your last post. But like all of us, I get so tired of hearing it and dealing with it. I felt you’re a grown up and don’t need my advice on the subject. Thank you for the reminder. Fall is approaching. School is starting. More exposure to more people. I will resume mask wearing for this season. I have the vaccines and boosters and will get another booster when the new one is available. Sometime in September, I believe. Take care of yourself and Tracy. Thinking of you.
Take care of yourselves. I've been procrastinating on going back to masking, but I too will take the advice. Hope we have a Georgia indictment soon to cheer you.
Sorry to hear it! I'm glad you got tested. I did the same thing while on vacation on Cape Cod, after my husband suggested maybe I was coming down with the same (surprising for the timing) "allergies" bout he thought he was having. Nope--positive! We caught it at a drag show in Provincetown. We were unmasked and the audience was closely packed. It was a "duh!" reminder that being fully vaxed and boosted doesn't mean you won't get Covid, just that it's highly unlikely to send you to the hospital or kill you. It was quite unpleasant for a couple of days--crushing headache, cough, exhaustion--then it began to gradually get better. Oddly, I didn't begin to lose (most but not all) of my sense of smell and taste until around the third day. That's still recovering, although we're long over the Covid.
I love Ruby's expression in the photo. She's like "Wow. This is *very* serious. I had better take *really* good care of Dad, now." Feel better soon!
So sorry. . . I am duly alarmed. And here I am, 10 days traveling and out and about. I encountered a Trumpanzee at the hotel who made a snide remark re: Hunter Biden, and I let him have it in front of the morning buffet crowd. He nastily said, “I bet you got all the covid shots” and I let loose. “You’re damned right I did and I can hear you’ve either got asthma or COPD . . . .yada yada . . . .I literally sent him running with a parting volley: “and You can be sure YOUR MOTHER WAS GRATEFUL TO GET YOU VACCINATED FROM POLIO!”
So here it is again.
And so here they are, too.
But don’t be polite or cowed by the tRump bullies. They even sound delusional to themselves.
They're inane and dangerous with respect to a panoply of issues, but this "anti-vaxx" bunk, and connected gibberish about COVID, might be at the top of the list.
They don't ever seem to even realize at all - those who even attempt some kind of argument behind their "anti-masking" whining at all, mind you - that mask wearing protocols, when an infectious disease can first present as asymptomatic, so the person with COVID may not have a clue they have it, is both for self-protection and to protect OTHER PEOPLE in their proximity, especially the more vulnerable groups, that is, children, those over around age 65, persons with compromised immune systems, the latter of which can range from asthma and severe allergies to AIDS, and front-line workers in all sorts of fields, not just in hospitals and clinics.
The anti-maskers are anti-mask mainly because people they don't like advise wearing masks. There's no way to refute that kind of BS. Unfortunately most MAGA "politics" have similar origins.
Maybe the anti-maskers you have encountered in person, online, or through media descriptions have no bogus arguments to offer, but I have encountered them (1) Personally, more than once (2) Numerous times online and (3) Read journalistic accounts of their endless lies, distortions, statistical fallacies ("Look at the numbers, man! Getting the mRNA vaccines INCREASES your chances of getting COVID!" blah blah blah.
Yes, it really helps motivate them to shriek louder and protest openly, that "people they don't like advise wearing masks," but that itself tracks the anti-vaxxers abysmal comprehension of science, in particular medical science, and within medical sciences, virology and infectious diseases - besides, and very important to take into account: "people they hate" advise all sorts of things which they do follow, more or less as much as anyone: follow the traffic laws, have a job, save money, obey (most) laws, so it can't be simply a matter of 'libs advise masking and vaxxing" so we won't do it," no, they ALREADY don't understand the science involved, they ALREADY ain't gonna work on Fauci's farm no more, etc. It's just icing on the cake - but already baked in! - that progressives - libs advocate a community response to protect the community via vaxxing and all the rest.
Btw I wouldn't even argue the point if I didn't respect your intelligence, I would just ignore your comment, easily done!
Consider the possibility that with this, as with many things, the decision comes first and the explanations and rationalizations come later. Sure, the anti-vaxxers have arguments to support their decisions, but in a large majority of cases (if they're like most of us) they've found crowd-sourced snippets here and there to support their beliefs. Think of those sample ransom notes where all the words and phrases are clipped from newspapers and strung together so they form coherent sentences.
A lawyerly example, since you've got a JD after your name: Consider all the lawyers in Trump's orbit, especially the ones widely identified as Co-conspirators 1 through 5. Do you believe they based their theories and plans strictly on what they learned in law school and in their subsequent law practice? I don't. I believe they wanted to please Trump so they cherry-picked appropriate bits from the Constitution, previous legislation (including the Insurrection Act, facrissake!), and case law and devised theories and plans that would make Trump happy (and presumably polish their own haloes).
Much of what the Republicans are up to these days is about devising means to further their ends, so it's worth paying attention to this.
You've clearly encountered different anti-vaxxers in person that I have, that's for sure. Several of them lived in this building, but moved out last year, others I met in the course of my local travels. Online, I know of one Substack forum where I carried on a lengthy series of replies and counter-replies to those, not so much to even persuade that individual, but others on the blog - don't forget those people are all over the place too, people who sort of buy into anti-vaxx beliefs, or never much thought about it, and are watching as arguments evolve.
As for "the decision" [Note: there are plenty of moving parts already in that term] "coming first, and the explanations and rationalizations come later," fine, you can apply that reduction of logic to psychological states across the board if you like, but notice it lacks any contact with people who were indeed "taken in" by a belief system and managed to evolve.
Your procedure would apply to former Trump supporters, former anti-vaxxers, former dyed-in-the-wool opponents of "abortion rights," and it "proves too much," in that it simply refuses to engage with other persons, who FOR NOW have different beliefs, as conscious rational agents capable of being held responsible for those views, and capable of reconsidering and evolving those commitments. And why does it lead to that conclusion, that seemingly rational dismissal of assembling the best rational, logical arguments one can find, and using them "even on" (some of) the Magats or anti-vaxxers? Because the stance "proves to you," proves to anyone who espouses its view of these people, that they are (for the most part) "hopelessly engaged in merely seeking out justifications for prejudices to which they are first and foremost committed by some decision they made."
I think it gives up on an important component of a political campaign, which is not only to identify supporters, help organize their energy and encourage them to vote, but also to relentlessly publicize the best available arguments for voting one way rather than another.
Including attempts to present that forcefully and with enthusiasm to opponents, even IF it doesn't work 19 times out of 20. That's the way movements for any social change have proceeded, on BOTH TRACKS, as well as others, you recognize that's the case, I think, but just view the persuasion attempts with "Trump's base" or anti-vaxxers as futile, and I don't, so we can agree to disagree!
I had one guy working for me. I knew his politics, but he was a great electrician. I had to fire him for showing up on a job without wearing a mask after he lied, because he was willing to put others at risk. He was asked by the project manager why he wasn't wearing a mask. He said he had been vaccinated, which was a lie because he was an anti-vaxxer. Trumpers, anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists and their followers, the construction industry is loaded with them. They're damaged people.
And your first sentence sums up a lousy aspect of it, "[H}e was a great electrician," so smart enough to use his reasoning skills to learn a trade not everyone can handle safely, but propagandized to the point he would lie and you had to fire him!
Plus, the Democrats really need to do all they can to help, listen to, and mobilize skilled tradespeople and union members, but guys like in your example, really tough sell.
A lot of the people I work with barely got out of high school. They have excellent manual dexterity, but are as dumb as a box of screws. Many trades-people learn by repetition. You give most too much credit. They are not free thinkers. I was fortunate. I went to college at Pratt Institute, Pratt had a engineering program at one time, and New York Polytechnic for a Batchelor of Science in electrical engineering and quantum electronics. I continued doing electrical because I love the work. Higher education opened a whole, new world to me, science and engineering. Most trades-people work construction because a family member works in a trade and, outside of the military, this their only option. Most trades-people are not free thinkers. They're easy prey for conspiracy theorists and quite a few are racist.
I accidentally hit the post button on my last comment. Too bad there's no edit button here on the SubStack app. I'd use the website, but the security links are not arriving via email in a timely manner.
Ok this isn't news to anyone conscious of labor history since the AFL was formed, but it's also connected to my point, you're agreeing that they are (1) being propagandized easily, as "easy prey," which the Democrats need to work much harder to counter and (2) they have backwards ideas about race (again, since the1870s and1880s at least, this was being raised as an issue in the U.S., even earlier (by the revolutionary year 1848) in Europe.
This has characterized millions of workers, not just in the USA but around the world, for over 150 years. And all the relevant parties favoring Social Democracy, or Democratic Socialism (those were the people advocating for rights we take for granted decades before the fights were won -8-hour day, vacations, health benefits, worker's compensation for injuries on the job - it's a long list! - or at the very least, Democratic Capitalism, i.e., capitalism with strict regulations that are routinely enforced and not ignored, for employee's rights to a healthy and safe workplace, right to bargain collectively, and so on -
all those people and the Democrats (there's some overlap) need to get in the fray and fight for their point of view.
Democrats are much too passive, that's all I am getting at. And yes, I mistakenly thought you characterized the guy you had to fire as evidently being more acquainted with really advanced electrical work than he is, but even so: we need to organize the workers to see that it's in their own self-interest to (in a huge majority of cases) vote for the Democrat rather than a GOP opponent. Certainly there's far more power to be gained in organizing WITH ethnic minorities on their side, too.
Yup. The disregard for public health principles irks me most. What utter selfishness. Well, he evidently had some COPD —and I pointed that out, but what ever. I also said I don’t give a damn about Republicans anymore.
I’ve been having pretty severe asthma over the last months…may he and his ilk experience what it’s like not to be able to breathe….
The Atlantic:
Don’t Let Donald Trump Take His Case to Federal
Courthttps://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/08/trump-georgia-indictment-motion-remove/675019/
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/14/trump-has-no-serious-first-amendment-defense-in-a-court-of-law-heres-why
NEVER behind a paywall, I will support them with a regular donation (again) ONLY when they have completely abandoned their tendentiously biased anti-Israel coverage, which routinely goes far far beyond absolutely legit criticism of the State of Israel's policies on this or that issue:
camera-uk.org COMMITTEE FOR ACCURACY IN MIDDLE EAST REPORTING AND ANALYSIS MIDDLE EAST ISSUES NEWS SOURCES MEDIA CORRECTIONS AND COMPLAINTS
^^^^^ That said, you may disagree and want eventually to support, here's their basic pitch
"Support fearless, independent journalism
As a reader-funded news organisation, we rely on your generosity. Please give what you can, so millions can benefit from quality reporting on the events shaping our world." Note: The Guardian is one of the most visited websites in the world, they cover all sorts of topics, some "not for the overly psychosexually repressed," so to speak, but well worth consulting on a regular basis irrespective of how you view "R-rated to NC-17 rated" type articles, to borrow the film code terminology.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian
The Guardian is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as The Manchester Guardian, and changed its name in 1959.[4] Along with its sister papers, The Observer and The Guardian Weekly, The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust Limited.[5] The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of The Guardian free from commercial or political interference".[6] The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for The Guardian the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in its journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders.[6] It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK.[7][8] *******
They have U.S., U.K., Australia, and International editions, curiously enough to us "chess fanatics" around the USA, the Sport section in those editions follow the official
Olympic Committee lead in 1999, recognizing chess as an Olympic sport (it's far more grueling than non-players realize when contested under tournament or match rules, rivaling other Olympic non-contact sports in its capacity to have contestants literally "lose weight" DURING a match or tournament game as the calories burned in brain sports can be considerable) and running Leonard Barden's column.
Leonard William Barden (born 20 August 1929, in Croydon, London) is an English chess master, writer, broadcaster, journalist, organizer and promoter. The son of a dustman, he was educated at Whitgift School, South Croydon, and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read modern history. He learned to play chess at age 13 while in a school shelter during a World War II German air raid. Within a few years he became one of the country's leading juniors.[1] He represented England in four Chess Olympiads. Barden played a major role in the rise of English chess from the 1970s. He is a chess columnist for various newspapers. His column in London's Evening Standard is the world's longest-running daily chess column by the same author.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Barden
OK I just realized what's wrong with the link, it DOES work once you highlight beginning with the "https://www.atlantic.com" etc. etc. but you left that text connected as if part of "Courthttps://" so it didn't work, PLUS I already read the article from Harvard emeritus Prof. Tribe elsewhere (there are ways to locate it on other sites) so thanks for the link anyway, and my advice still stands: appeal is DOA just like Trump's hopes of avoid a PRISON SENTENCE, moreover Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is likely going to halt his candidacy anyway!
Link to The Atlantic doesn't seem to work and its behind a paywall, in any event Trump's hypothetical appeals "case" isn't going to succeed in making the Fani Willis-led prosecution leave Georgia, not even on a Midnight Train FROM Georgia - arguably people should just move on to live controversies in the case, as to cameras in the courtroom and why Steve Bannon hasn't been included, and so on, not this red herring . Even global ecocide, not this trivia.
Bravo to you for taking on that f**king idiot! The reason I hesitate to do the same in those circumstances, is that I'm not sure I could confine myself to just words, and I don't want to be arrested for assault!
My nod to you
I think the administration and public health have let us down terribly by not admitting that Covid is still here, (and will be for the indefinite future) and that we should all still mask up where necessary and stop thinking the pandemic is over.
It is NOT. Covid and RSV are both very contagious and prevalent right now. It's why I hate going to the store, anywhere that I know they've dropped the masking requirements, and that includes my health care providers.
It is not a form of the flu-it is worse than the flu and the latest RSV disease combined with it will make one very sick or dead.
Complacency kills.
Long Covid exists, too. From what I've read of it, that's not what you want-it's a mind destroying syndrome with no cure except perhaps time.
Be prepared to be vaccinated for all three this year-Flu, Covid, and RSV for the remainder of your lives.
It's not getting better because now that climate change has finally started really impacting us there is no 'new normal' for anything-Florida now is home to endemic malaria and plague.
It's all 'daily disaster' time for all of us.
Welcome to the future. It was a good world while it lasted.
Hope you and Tracey get over it soon! Take care and get those shots!
C'mon Mary. Don't blame government administration. One must take charge of her/his own health. You can follow covid simply by performing a search for new covid variants as I do. I live in NYC. As a union electrician, I had to work through the NYC shutdown of 2020 and witnessed a lot of my friends and co-workers die from covid. I never stopped wearing an N-95 mask, it has head loops and is NIOSH rated, when indoors, other than home, while using public transportation and around crowds. I still don't touch my face until I've washed my hands for 20 to 30 seconds with soap and water. I still refrain from eating in restaurants. To date, I haven't caught covid. As learned as Lucian is, I'm somewhat surprised that he contracted the virus.
The probable explanation for Lucian's positive test is explicitly stated in the column, but upvoted for everything else!
Richard,
I didn't read the article in its entirety, but it wasn't necessary. There are no spring chickens when it comes to covid. One can contract the virus by not following precautions given to the general public by Anthony Fauci. There is one possibility where precautions don't work, the virus entering the eyes. It can be mitigated, by up to 15%, if one is a regular user of eyewear. I disagree with his statement about covid-19 becoming similar to a flu virus. No matter how mild the exposure, covid-19 can damage organs of the body including the brain. If the body fights the virus in the pancreas, the outcome could lead to diabetes. Happened to a co-worker who was not genetically disposed to diabetes and was in great shape. It also damaged his heart. Do the research!
I have been posting this info (especially hammering on the potential long term organ damage
beyond any recovery from an infection) since the fall of 2020.
I " did the research" in part not only as a kind of "self-protective civic duty," but at the behest of my girlfriend of over 24 years, who has now worked since May, 2013 in a battered women's shelter here in the Twin Cities West Metro (Sojourner) and herself followed the COVID research diligently, for obvious reasons over and above the usual: she is a "front line worker" serving a sub-set of the population highly prone to having no health insurance, no jobs, kids in tow fleeing abuser, and more!
Richard, your girlfriend is good people. With each other, you're in good company. Stay safe.
In NYC, electricians and other trades are considered essential personnel, so we had to work during the shutdown, March 2020, when NYC was a viral hotspot. We insured the infrastructure didn't fail. I work as a union (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local union 3) electrician for New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). We, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, masons, worked near people that were sick with covid-19 even though we had no masks. The information we received was sketchy. Remain 6 feet from a tenant. If you hear coughing, leave. Ask the tenants, or anyone we're working with, if they have a fever. If yes, leave. Many people opened the doors and said nothing knowing we would leave them without resolving their emergency situation, no power, if they said anything about a fever. My partner and I did dopey things like ask the sick person to go into another room while we remained to solve their problem, at our own risk. I have asthma. People, my friends and co-workers were dropping like flies. Scary! We walked around with alcohol and soap because many developments had no soap. Me and my partner worked all the NYCHA developments in Brooklyn. Everyday, I'd wake-up and take my temperature. Feel fine till I arrived at work. The moment I walked into a NYCHA building, I'd become nauseous, every workday morning. My daughter was a nursing student and worked as a patient care technician at Weill Cornell Medicine on Manhattan. She lives with me. I heard her horror stories everyday. I knew electricians who worked in Health and Hospitals in NYC. They sent me photos of the refrigerated 18 wheelers that were used to store the dead. We worked overtime during the shutdown. Many 16 hour days because we had fewer people, some were taken by covid-19. Scary times!
Holy Guacamole!! and for some reason, maybe because this entire comments thread grew so fast, only now did I see this -Sunday August 20...for various reasons I have kept track of quite a bit of NYC /New Jersey/ Boston (where I have several cousins living, in Brookline) news, not just Manhattan, over the years, so I did read about some of this (refrigeration trucks, that made national news days in a row) but not even close to the day-to-day details you describe, for example where you guys would go in for a daily shift, do the best you could, inevitably make silly mistakes, but understandable mistakes in the sense that "we" as a country really haven't been through a gargantuan epidemic on this scale since the 1919 influenza epidemic. Plus there was so much contradictory, or confusing advice from the CDC, as they were at times scrambling to keep up to, and Trump, jeez.
I guess the "Spanish Flu" bit turns out to be more of a slur than any kind of accurate description, shades of Trump hammering on it as the "Chinese Virus," since even if it originated in China, it's not as if the billion + Chinese were cheering it on.
It's incredible the smears that get lazily accepted. Anyway, David, wow. Denise will appreciate hearing about or reading this, she has her own little booklet of "COVID horror stories" from her job.
I forgot to add David, Good on you for avoiding this by taking proper measures and sorry you have seen a lot of death all around you, from this disease.
I think the relevant "similarity" to the seasonal flu and vaccines rolled out targeting as best they can the strains foreseen as most likely, implied by Lucian's column, was to that routine, not precise symptoms, consequences, etiology, etc.
So I conclude there's no disagreement!
David, Leaders have to lead on this issue. Biden declared covid was over, and people lowered their guard. It was politically motivated and incorrect.
I agree that people have to take control of their lives now, in the U.S. In many ways, the political structure there is like a corporate duopoly and is self serving.
I agree with you on the all-safe declaration by Biden being premature and politically motivated. I responded to the Biden's announcement in a tweet that it was still necessary for ongoing testing and that masks should still be mandatory indoors. But, the decision was made and, at that point, it became an individual's responsibility to stay informed and continue following all the precautions to insure one remains healthy and covid-19 free.
It's hard for the individual to act responsibly when messaging is confused conflicted and contrary to reality. People don't know what 'being responsible' entails in this atmosphere.
Hi Jess! With the internet and all the information that's available for easy access, one searches for cold remedies, flu remedies, cancer remedies and ways to avoid the aforementioned. Surely, we can take it upon ourselves to delve into the covid-19 information on the WHO website or perform a general search for new covid variant. I think a lot of people are tired of wearing masks and separation from others and want things to return to a pre-covid normal. We refuse to embrace the fact that SARS-CoV-2, Covid-19, and its mutations, changed everything, much like climate change. So, we'll go along with the government declaring it's safe to return to normal. When things go wrong, rather than behave responsibly, we blame others for our misfortune. In this instance, others is the government.
Jess, I just posted this as a comment:
CDC tracking new COVID variant BA.2.86 after highly-mutated strain reported in Michigan
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/new-covid-variant-ba286-who-monitoring/
I did everything you suggest on my own, David, including following WHO guidelines. But I had to go further and try to find information on me/cfs that has been so neglected by the medical community, NOTHING was known about how to proceed with vaccines.
Had to sift through lots of material, before concluding, on my own, that I should get it, as my t cells were already depleted, leaving b cells struggling to take up the slack. Had I caught the first wave, it could have killed me.
I also looked at ivermectin upside down and sideways, paid attention to people who turned out to be grifters, but also kept up with all information contrary to their opinions, which I concluded, sucked and were motivated more by religious zeal than scientific rigor.
Thanks for the link and if another vaccine is in the offing that is tailor made for the new variants I will likely take it. But I have to say, the last booster I got really scared me--and not because I give anti-vaccers the time of day anymore. They're operating like a cult.
Hi Jess. Have a good night.
I'm an asthmatic. When the first vaccine was released, I waited a few months before getting it. I let enough time pass to insure the Pfizer vaccine wouldn't kill me or cause other issues. I chose not to use the other vaccines available because they were iffy. Because of my work, I was exposed to the virus daily. My work made me essential personnel and I had to report to work daily during the NYC shutdown March 2020. So, I had to become vaccinated at some point. I do understand your fear and yes, there are holes in the information available.
You are correct. Everyone should read this article (I am sure there are similar ones out there) and take appropriate precautions.
https://thewhig.com/opinion/covid-19-pandemic-is-not-over
Huh? You have not heard of the new variants, the preparation for the updated, fall vaccine and the new RSV vaccine? The information is out there . . . What can they do to enforce common sense? I’d love to know if the older Trumpanzees bother to get their shingles vaccines, too. But, whatever, I have seen the ads and public health announcements for the shots throughout the last month. As for malaria in Florida, yes, that is a climate change issue, and the south was once plagued with Yellow Fever, too, which is returning to higher latitudes as well. The tick-bourne diseases are also scary . . . We will all have to be hyper vigilant.
Agree Mary. The new normal is here and we had best accept it and adapt as best we can!
Thanks for sending out good advice to all. Get well, Lucian.
Well drat! Sounds like you have a mild case; hope you recover quickly.
A friend who's a retired chemist said at the start of the pandemic that eventually _everyone_ would have Covid at least once. I've tested positive twice-- once with very mild, barely noticeable symptoms and once with absolutely NO symptoms whatsoever; I needed a negative test for a trip to Italy -- which of course didn't happen, thanks to that symptomless positive. But how many thousands of people have been, and still are, walking around with symptomless Covid, blithely spreading the infection without even knowing they're sick? And those people who claim they've never had it-- unless they've been tested at least once a week for the past 3 years, they really do NOT know whether or not they've ever contracted it.
That is truth. My wife and I have never yet had the classic symptoms and have had all the vaccines and boosters available, but in this last half year of going about normally, unmasked, could we have contracted a mild case and not been aware? Could be. We do not take testds unless there's cause for suspicion. And there are family members who refuse to get the jabs and claim to have never contracted the disease -- are they lying, or lucky, or magic, or just silent carriers? Impossible to say. And plenty of people who live normal lives and have taken all ordinary precautions still catch the plague. So, what a crapshoot. I look forward to the new boosters coming this fall against the new variants, and I'll be fully eligible now!
Goddammit Truscott you better fucking get well I just subscribed on Saturday
I think even Lucian will endorse the fiery spirit of your remark - btw, have you looked into reading his novels? I am now, after going through "contact lens prescription update follies hell," making good progress on Dress Gray, excellent on multiple levels and funny as hell, without for a moment losing touch with the plot's pacing and deadly serious psychological insights.
archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/08/09/daily/gray-book-review.html?scp=38&sq=100%2520best%2520books&st=cse
CAVEAT! I am a bit pressed for time so haven't even read this particular review, but it is by Maureen Corrigan (NPR Fresh Air w/ Terry Gross and Dave Davies regular lit. reviewer) and it's in the NY TIMES, so even if something's arguably off the mark in it, you at least get a slice of the "acceptable establishment view on this kind of controversial novel," so there's that.
What the fork, just you listen to me: you will be glad, overjoyed and exultant beyond your wildest dreams that I urged you to read it, find yourself repeatedly ambushed by laugh out loud dialogue and incisive observations, along with developing some real sympathies, some real "identification" with the protagonists, who are students in May, 1968, confronting a murder coverup at West Point, with various connected mysteries to solve and sinister opponents to overcome and outwit.
That's just a sketch of how good it is, get it and enjoy!
I "reply" instead of edit, as my errand was finished faster than I predicted: having read this, it's a stupid review. Briefly, because I have been up since around 4AM for one thing, here's some reasons why it's stupid, silly, misses the mark, put it how you like.
There are really hyperbolic charges from Corrigan which are, ironically enough, to attribute "melodramatic hyperbole," to the sequel, that is, stylistic failings attributed to what she considers overwrought melodrama in the sequel to Dress Gray (1979), Full Dress Gray (1999).
But that frankly sounds like the response of a literary critic who has become jaded and unable to access the requisite "suspension of disbelief" necessary to enter a world where, from the point of view of the characters confronting a bunch of unavoidable problems - unavoidable because "they're in charge, it's their goddamn job to deal with it, not shirk it or try to cover it up" - with truly serious consequences if they, the protagonist or protagonists, however "heroic" or just really dedicated, competent and professional they might be, fail to win out. These are not war games, not practice runs on the ski slopes or for training commandos ( as Lucian's grandfather helped organize in WW2*, btw), nope, this is deadly, serious. crisis-time.
Besides that (probable, admittedly somewhat speculative attribution, but it's informed by reading thousands of book reviews, sports contest "reviews," film reviews, concert reviews, musical instrument reviews, musical equipment reviews, philosophy journal article reviews, restaurant reviews, scenic spot reviews, household product reviews, stocks and investments and macro-economic theory reviews, chess openings, strategies, tactics, endgames, tournament games, world championship matches reviews, over the last 55 years or so of my life, I have a database!) defect in the reviewer, then projected on the reviewed book .
That is practically an occupational hazard plaguing busy critics, who can be highly intelligent, write all sorts of excellent reviews, but be "burnt out," becoming unmoved by some types of popular fiction, even though the fact is the writing is NOT the problem.
The fictional narrative is indeed heightening aspects of the real world in a dramatic way, but so what? You want a more tepid version, a more sedate stroll through a sexual assault case that might be murder, you know, just typing those words "a sexual assault case that might be murder" leads me to pose the question, how exactly is that situation NOT almost inherently "melodramatic," in a sense, at least to those most intimately connected?
* Read this too, you will definitely learn something worth learning.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucian_Truscott
Thank you for your kind reply. In my future comments I will refrain from using profanities and will employ euphemisms instead. I have a functioning library card and will avariciously devour everything he has written. As for The NY Times I have for quite some time now been literally on a crusade to get Ross Douthat and the recently hired David French frickin fired. Sometimes I get published in the comment section sometimes not. I do however recognize your name and have consistently checked the like tab on your comments. I use a different name at the times for obvious reasons.
??? I only say "What the fork" because it's an Inside Chess joke, deriving from confronting a killah-dillah Knight move that forks several major pieces (worst being the dreaded "family fork" of King and Queen, Holy Guacamole Senor!) and by no means mean to dissuade anyone from the judicious deployment of profanity, that's for Lucian to do once he is back, not me! But it works either way, so it's cool! And getting rid of Ross D and David F, oh yeah those two are fairly putrid, no doubt.
I keep thinking of canceling my crummy intro rate $4.04 monthly sub but it runs through next March or mid-April, something like that, then it's $24.99 a month so still not exactly onerous...
Anyway yes, read some of his novels at least! I also will be back to the Corrigan review at some point, as far as her "TOO MANY COINCIDENCES" complaint, if ONLY because (1) Doesn't make sense with respect to a novel about a large institution, West Point in this instance, which ALSO is directly hooked up with various almost byzantine connections to the U.S. Army as deployed in May of 1968, and before then, when officers and non-coms and whoever else, knew each other or knew of each other or knew of someone's unit and/or specialty WITHIN a military unit, any of which could lead to someone becoming "THE ENEMY!" - you gotta read the relevant passage in Dress Gray, first novel.
Are later persistent grudges and acts of revenge "coincidences," hell no! Are appointments or banishments to Germany or Korea based on these perceived rivalries years later "coincidences"? What about alliances, sub rosa plots to remove "enemies," calling in favors done, DEMANDING personal loyalty "because" "we" are both against the W.P. grads who are THE ENEMY?
(2) It's not only possibly quite "realistic" in the sense of (1), it's a FREAKIN" NOVEL, not a sociological treatise that eschews relying on adventitious linkages to explain data, and (3) Life churns up meaningful coincidences, synchronicities as Jung termed them and as developed by Arthur Koestler in a fascination book, The Roots of Coincidence, although I make no claim Dress Gray is going in this direction, not my point at all, just that the entire concept is intriguing on multiple levels:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Roots_of_Coincidence
The Roots of Coincidence is a 1972 book by Arthur Koestler. It is an introduction to theories of parapsychology, including extrasensory perception and psychokinesis. Koestler postulates links between modern physics, their interaction with time and paranormal phenomena. It is influenced by Carl Jung's concept of synchronicity and the seriality of Paul Kammerer.[1]
In the book Koestler argues that science needs to take the possibility of the occurrence of phenomena that are outside our common sense view of the world more seriously and study them.[2][3] He concludes that paranormal events are rare, unpredictable and capricious and need a paradoxical combination of skillful scientific experiment with a childlike excitement to be seen and recorded. *****
Of course this book was heavily criticized, it's heretical and I am not "endorsing" any of the ESP ideas myself just by mentioning it, again, not the point.
As soon as I read the first column, I suspected it was Covid. Cases are rising everywhere
A speedy recovery for you both!
I've had a mild case some time ago, without fever or cough, etc., and soon went back to normal activities. Hope the same for you. And agree with you that keeping vaccinated is key. Like with Flu.
Best wishes!
Two days ago, I took a home test which registered positive, so because the test kit was about three years old, I went down to the nursing station in our senior living community. She administered the second test which came back as positive. This in spite of the fact that I have taken every single shot that came out. That didn't work out so well unless it makes my experience shorter and less difficult. I am now quarantined, for how long no one has said. For two days, since taking the prescribed meds, I have felt very good....doing my regular duties as editor of our community newspaper, planning to do a routine in a community talent show, although I will not be able to do a live performance, I hope to set up a video session that can be shown at the talent show. Energy level is very good. Go figure.
According to my doctor, the damn thing still can get us even with all of the vaccines. The benefit is that we live through it.
Yep! Just like flu shots. You may still be ambushed by a new flu variant that the vaccine wasn't designed for but at least you will very likely be less sick than without it. Just like the COVID vaccines.
I think we are all sending you and Tracy every imaginable form of positive healing energy!
I feared this was the case. Really sorry.
Take care you guys! My 75 year old sister and brother in law in Spokane tested positive last week. They were well vaccinated and got like a mild flu, but are okay now.
And as you know, COVID symptoms have some overlap with severe sinus allergy symptoms, so there might be a kind of a flu-type feeling with less severe body aches and less intestinal upset, familiar to tens of millions just in the USA, around the world, who knows how many. Point being best to stay up-to-date on vaccinations, be ready to mask up and follow all the hand washing and no face touching protocols until well washed after being in crowds or shopping, etc.
Probably younger people are going to adapt to this much more flexibly as time rolls on, than the ultra-dogmatic, stodgy and stubborn MAGAT crowd, that's for sure.
End of December, having been traveling by plane, I woke up one morning with a terribly sore throat and general malaise. Tested negative (carry tests with me traveling) and again that night and the following day so I did fly home. Tested negative again after getting home. Turned out to be a nasty bronchitis probably caused by a virus exposed to while traveling.
That's 100% the kind of experience I am talking about - there are any number of medical problems a person can undergo, which are rather nasty, but certainly survivable, if no damn fun at all , like what you describe. Eating food in a restaurant or at a picnic or through misplaced confidence that "these leftovers are still ok!" when it turns out there's something undercooked, or spoiled in the fridge , is another set of examples.
I’m so sorry to see this, and wish you a speedy recovery. Think I’ll go back to mask wearing in public till this latest surge abates. *sigh
I’m sorry Lucien. That was my first thought when I read your last post. But like all of us, I get so tired of hearing it and dealing with it. I felt you’re a grown up and don’t need my advice on the subject. Thank you for the reminder. Fall is approaching. School is starting. More exposure to more people. I will resume mask wearing for this season. I have the vaccines and boosters and will get another booster when the new one is available. Sometime in September, I believe. Take care of yourself and Tracy. Thinking of you.
Take care of yourselves. I've been procrastinating on going back to masking, but I too will take the advice. Hope we have a Georgia indictment soon to cheer you.
Sorry to hear it! I'm glad you got tested. I did the same thing while on vacation on Cape Cod, after my husband suggested maybe I was coming down with the same (surprising for the timing) "allergies" bout he thought he was having. Nope--positive! We caught it at a drag show in Provincetown. We were unmasked and the audience was closely packed. It was a "duh!" reminder that being fully vaxed and boosted doesn't mean you won't get Covid, just that it's highly unlikely to send you to the hospital or kill you. It was quite unpleasant for a couple of days--crushing headache, cough, exhaustion--then it began to gradually get better. Oddly, I didn't begin to lose (most but not all) of my sense of smell and taste until around the third day. That's still recovering, although we're long over the Covid.
I love Ruby's expression in the photo. She's like "Wow. This is *very* serious. I had better take *really* good care of Dad, now." Feel better soon!
Nuts, hang in there, this too, shall pass