Roundup
(1) Merkel’s party has suffered defeat in the German elections, and parties that are more leftist than hers have scored some gains. No party has won enough votes to be able to do anything other than form a coalition government with other parties, however.
I’m wondering – if, as I’ve read, a big factor in Merkel’s downfall was her leftism on illegal immigration, then why has the left gained in strength as a result? Is it that there are no other good ways in Germany to express dissatisfaction with the somewhat-less-left (Merkel and company) than to go even further left?
(2) DHS Secretary Mayorkas admits that most of the Haitians who’ve entered this country illegally in recent weeks have been stealthily released into various communities. He says it’s all under control, though, because they’ve been ordered to appear in court. And maybe some will even do so.
(3) Governor Abbot of Texas says the Biden administration is in dereliction of duty, and promises to hire back any border agents the administration fires for doing their jobs.
(4)AOC has issued a supposed explanation for her “present” vote on Iron Dome, but it’s more of a riff on her crying to mark the occasion:
Yes, I wept. I wept at the complete lack of care for the human beings that are impacted by these decisions, I wept at an institution choosing a path of maximum volatility and minimum consideration for its own political convenience.”…
She continued: “And I wept at the complete lack of regard I often feel our party has to its most vulnerable and endangered members and communities – because the death threats and dangerous vitriol we’d inevitably receive by rushing such a sensitive, charged, and under-considered vote weren’t worth delaying it for even a few hours to help us do the work necessary to open a conversation of understanding.
“To those I have disappointed – I am deeply sorry. To those who believe this reasoning is insufficient or cowardice – I understand.”
This may seem bizarre to you as well as devoid of logic, but I’m pretty sure it is carefully crafted to appeal to her supporters, who value emotion above all and virtue-signaling through the demonstration of emotion. Sympathy for the downtrodden – defined by the left as the Palestinians in any Israel/Palestine issue – is one way to gain virtue. As I said, she doesn’t explain her actual vote – which annoyed those supporters – but she appeals to their feelings.
(5) And somewhat related to #4 directly above we have this gobbledygook from the Biden administration:
In a White House speech promoting his spending plans, Biden said that “the price tag is zero… on the national debt. We’re going to pay for everything we spend. [People say] ‘It started off at six trillion, now it’s 3.5 trillion’… it’s going to be zero.”…
Biden’s allies in the mainstream media are pushing a similar narrative. Appearing on CNN, Washington Post opinion columnist Catherine Rampell argued that “The bill itself will not cost $3.5T in the sense it will be entirely, or at least partly, paid for. So the actual cost, in terms of deficits, will be smaller than that, perhaps zero, although I think that’s unlikely.”
Math is so yesterday. We can change the narrative and it will be fine. What’s more, the administration knows that a lot of people, especially young people, no longer understand math (Biden happens to be one of them, but obviously this isn’t just his doing). So they can spout whatever nonsense they wish, and they also know that for the most part the MSM will back them up.
(6) Young people are terrified about climate change. The left has done its job very well.
Several days ago, NBC reported on the existence of another large group of Haitians (this time in Colombia, and numbering more than twenty thousand) preparing to make the long journey up through Central America and eventually across Mexico into Texas over a completely undefended border. News of the success of the great majority of the initial group (relatively few having been returned to Haiti) will have reached them, and they will certainly be emboldened to defy our existing laws, about which neither the pathological liar (Mayorkas) nor the senile buffoon seems to care. An innocuous telephone call from Trump was sufficient to bring about an expensive and absurd pseudo-impeachment, but the complete dereliction of constitutional duty by this illegitimate administration merits little attention in the vacuous and partisan MSM.
The candidate for Merkel’s party was weak, and the one for the more leftist social Democrats was better known and has a better public personalty. Everyone wants the same old middle ground.
expat’s comment may well be all that’s going on. Perhaps Germans don’t see the strong historical forces at work. Perhaps they don’t sense time is short …
I actually think humanity is doomed because of all these delusional young people.
Germany is a sailboat adrift without a rudder, becalmed by its own lack of consensus. It lacks consensus for the same reason as does the rest of the West.
A rejection of reality leaves no basis for consensus.
DHS Secretary Mayorkas is one of those who has earned a place in front of a firing squad.
Ah the irony, as well as the hypocritical duplicity. Governor Abbot of Texas is himself in dereliction of his duty. He could easily order the mobilization of the Texas National Guard and send them to the border region, acting as a final line of defense.
Just another RINO pretending to be a conservative. Just another George W. Bush. He says nothing derogatory about Trump because it is politically expedient to remain silent.
AOC continues to beclown herself. She continually earns a reaction of scornful laughter.
As for the Biden administration’s gobbledygook, what else do they have, other than the classic; “if you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit!”?
They know they’re not fooling the 70+ Million Trump voters. But besides knowing that the MSM propagandists will do as directed, they also know that the voters don’t count… when you control who counts the votes.
Does anyone here imagine that the fraud will be less in 2022 and 2024?
When the day they are finally held to account arrives and, that day shall arrive… hold them fully accountable for their crimes. Let there be no “lending of ears” to any cries for mercy.
On that day remember the dialectic of the Left: ” When we are the weaker, we ask for mercy because that is your principle. But when we are the stronger, We. Show. No. Mercy. because that is our principle…
I have no doubt that Biden slept through any logic courses that he stumbled into. Presumably math as well.
For most of us, if we are profligate our resources are depleted to the extent that we pay our debts. Of course, Biden would assume that the money supply is endless because he has taxing power and printing presses.
AOC is a bit of a cypher. I just went to her Wikipedia page to review her history. It appears that she is actually intelligent, as well as educated. Color me shocked. So is she playing a more sophisticated game than some of us give her credit for? Does she willingly endure the scorn of many to appeal to a particular segment, which rewards her with unqualified support? To what ultimate end? Nah! Something melted her wiring.
At any rate, it is a sad commentary that either of the two have positions of power and responsibility in our government.
At Power Line, John Hinderaker posts a chart showing nearly 50% of German voters listing “climate change” as their first concern.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/09/in-germany-the-knife-edge-politics-of-meh.php
Naomi Wolf – hearing or seeing her name usually makes me run away. Just saw Tucker Carlson interview her on Tucker Carlson Today (on FoxNation) about her views on Covid vaccinations, related pubic policy, including vaccine passports, and Biden’s “othering” of the “unvaccinated.” Holy cow, she actually said that Biden should be impeached for his recent speech and policies. She expressed very clear concern and alarm about the potential for significant reductions in our liberty and the formalization of different classes of society. Well, I did not expect this at all. If you can see it, it is well worth the time. I would love to see this interview much more widely disseminated.
@T-Rex:
There’s a hilarious video from last year of Naomi Wolf taking her first lessons with an AR-15. She seems to be having a good time.
She’s gotta be going through menopause… so perhaps gun is symptom not cause of this newfound more aligned (Dare one say Based?) orneriness.
Geoffrey Britain +1
They are preparing the boxcars for us, even if only in their heads.
WRT Tucker Carlson, I have pretty much written him off. The other member of my household holds him in the highest esteem, and he plays on the TV in our home every evening.
I agree with some of his schtick, but I think he has adopted the gadfly role and taken ti too far. Yes, universal vaccine mandates can be an abuse of power, and should be challenged in the courts when they are. Unless it can be proven that unvaccinated persons are a health risk to the vaccinated, the government should just stay out of it for the most part. Individual choice. OK. But, sometimes Tucker seems to disparage those who choose to protect themselves as though we are capitualating..
Then, there is the issue of mandatory vaccination for certain people. Here, he does not differentiate. Society has always opted to require certain behavior from certain people who are critical. I wish I could count the number of shots that I got over the course of 25 years, because the USN considered the fitness for duty of people in my category to be critical to the national welfare. We did not question that; and there is no reason to do so now. You might extend the logic to those who choose to work as First Responders, or health care providers.
There is a line between what society needs to do to protect the public good, and over reach. People with big megaphones should respect that, and try to honor it.
@Oldflyer:
Fair enough on all your points. But Carlson is the only major public figure out there holding the line on *anything*.
There’s madness in the air all-round and nobody is going to be perfectly consistent and right about everything.
No Enemies to the Right.
oldflyer:
One can be relatively intelligent and also have what passes for an education these days and not be at all wise or really intelligent. My take on AOC is that she mostly has a degree in leftism, but that she’s not at all as dumb as she sometimes sounds. Some of her stupid stuff is a calculated tactical appeal to certain supporters, and some is the influence of leftist indoctrination.
I was just talking with my Wife today about what OldFlyer wrote about. Yes, going in the Service we lined up and machoistic on either side hit us with a pressure gun shot. We mandate that kids be vaccinated for a number of childhood diseases. So is the resistance to the shot because it is mandated, or because of the way it was developed, or something else. Maybe an excuse to be perverse. I do know that those resisting the shot are not all Trump supporters as some in the news and politicians are pushing. I mean, all those NYC teachers can’t all be Trump supporters, nor all the EMT’s, Cops, Firemen and Nurses.
Neo: ” Young people are terrified about climate change. The left has done its job very well.”
We could start by telling them a couple of jokes.
“Capitalism turns luxuries into necessities. Socialism turns necessities into luxuries.”
“What did socialists use for light before candles? Electric light bulbs.”
They won’t get the humor, but if they ask why they’re funny, maybe they would learn something about the climate change scam.
Oldflyer, I’ve had some of the same thoughts about the anti-vax crusade that Tucker is on. I remember my first day going through OCS. Lined up in a gym going through the shot line. Six shots, three in each arm . Then there were the shots we got before deploying to the Tonkin Gulf. A couple I’d never had before, but another six. They were a part of what we had to do as military men. Vaccinations I never questioned. I had some concerns about the Covid vax, but figured that at 88 it was six of one and half a dozen of the other. It offered a chance at normality. nd maybe even a couple more years upright. Hah. 🙂 Well, it’s not completely normal, but getting closer. And I’m still upright. 🙂
I get that some people are really frightened of it because the vaccine is new and experimental. Long term effects unknown. There are rumors that it can make young women unable to bear children. Then there are those who had the virus and developed natural immunity. Young males less than 18 seem to be at some risk of cardiomyopathy. There have been side effects, but they’ve administered 180 million vaccinations, and as vaccines go, it seems pretty safe. The medical scientists and politicians have, IMO, done a lousy job of explaining the facts to the public. And don’t get me started on social media and the effect it has had. I’m sympathetic to young people who are hesitant and to those who mare naturally immune. But Joe and Dr. Fauci have done such a poor job of leading it’s just a mess.
Laura Ingraham had a segment on her show about what’s happening in Australia. It’s a lockdown horror show. We do have to resist the idea that we can get to Civid Zero through lockdowns and vaccinations, as they are attempting to do in OZ.
Shirehome; you are absolutely correct. The Left and the media have tried to paint the anti-vaxxers as knuckle dragging Trumpsters. It is far more complicated. I know a few personally. One has a degree in Geology, and is scientifically oriented; but, he rejects all vaccines, including the flu shot. Another is simply an ignorant wuss. Then there are two families that rejected the vaccine on religious grounds. One had two deaths; the other had multiple cases, but all survived.
With respect to mandatory vaccines, my wife and I were trying to find our small pox scars from about 80 years ago. They have faded; but, we and all of our contemporaries had them. I suspect that back in the day, we had a lot more confidence in science and government. That may, or may not, have been naive of us.
I have no societal argument with the anti-vaxxers. I do think they are foolish on a personal level; but that is their choice. Got my booster Saturday. My wife got hers today once she noted that I survived. The joke is that she later told me that people had died from the vaccine as much as two weeks after the shot. Like everything else to do with COVID I view that assertion with healthy skepticism.
Still, I am glad that Trump pushed the vaccine program through, and that the Biden crowd have jumped on the bandwagon. I will take the shots that are offered, and I will mask up around strangers in confined spaces until I am sure that I am immune. Aside from the government/media hype I have personally seen enough evidence of deaths and deathly illness to know that I do not want to mess with this thing.
I also wore a parachute, and armed my ejection seat in tactical jets (not with the airlines in the interest of passenger relations),
Oldflyer; SHIREHOME:
The smallpox vaccine was different in that it was not experimental by the time it became required, and it prevented a very lethal disease. MUCH more lethal than COVID.
I also am vaccinated and plan to get the booster when available. But I understand and defend the right of those who decline, for whatever reason. I also know a spectrum of people who have refused the vaccine, both on the left and on the right. Some are health nuts, some scientists, some have an immune disorder and cannot get the shot, some have already had the illness.
COVID is over 99.8 survivable to healthy adults under 40. 99.999% survivable for children. The vaccine has proven “leaky” and it’s accepted that the vaccinated carry it and transmit it, and the claim that breakthrough infections are “rare” is belied by the ever increasing stories of vaccinated people getting it.
Of those that died of Covid 60% are over 70, 80% over 50. Vast majority of all deaths had other health issues. And the vaccine is not risk free, going the other way and hurting the young more than the old. No one here is going to say there are zero deaths and injuries from the vaccine, are they? None at all?
There is simply no reason to mandate vaccines as it is a risk-reward only for yourself, not others as the left keeps claiming.
I got my doses, but after reading more about the vaccine I just don’t see a reason to get a booster at a healthy middle age. There is speculation that clotting risk goes up with each jab, and there is also literature saying the vacced are more like to get variants than the unvacced, especially if the spike protein mutates.
Like me, millions and millions of currently vaccinated will fall off to the other side to “unvaccinated” once the government decrees two shots are not enough (and they will). If you have health issues or over 60 I highly encourage you to take the risk of a third shot, but I’m done.
I have two Pfizers in me. That was from February. Given the social pressure, I sometimes wonder if I could get an antidote to the vax and walk around with a sign saying I’m unvaxed. Contrarian is fun.
One of the questions nobody is asking, that I’m aware of, is why so many health care workers are refusing. What do they know the rest of us would like to know?
Other shots which have been routine, in some cases longer than any of us have been alive, are now…routine. They were not introduced in a panic, larded with terms like “rushed”, “hurried”, “warp speed” by an establishment part of which assigned medical benefits by political party and changed The True Science on a weekly basis.
So a virologist says her experiments with one of the shots destroyed the germ cells in her subjects–all animals. I have granddaughters. What am I to think? It was a little experiment. The big experiment uses human subjects.
Clearly, somebody or a lot of them is fudging the figures in terms of “died of” versus “died with”. Why do that if there’s no…..thing you’re trying to hide?
I use the interrogative because there really are no answers easily available and most of us would prefer to know, rather than be assured by those whose assurances have frequently been wrong, which is to say “experts” as explained by journalists.
My wife and I are in our mid-seventies. A lot of our friends are, as well. And they’re in bad shape, one way or another. A lot of our week–slight exaggeration–is devoted to helping them out one way or another. Fortunately–for them as well as us–we’re in good health. But from my perspective, seeing what the future may hold…do I really want to go there? So Covid kills me, the shot kills me, something else kills me, or I’m an invalid for five years. Why don’t I flip a coin and view the result with skepticism anyway on account of I can’t get a straight answer.
The foregoing is to dip into one part of the calculus one may not be hearing from people trying to decide.
I’m very much on the fence regarding a 3rd shot. I finished 2 Modernas in March.
Part of my reluctance is some of statements from virologists that the large scale vaccinations driving more mutations.
However, the largest factor is the current data which shows the Delta is collapsing at a remarkable rate for the last 20 days. In fact, by just doing a simple least squares fit shows near zero new cases in about 10 days from now. Why is this not being reported…rhetorical question.
If the Lambda or Mu start surging in December I may have to rethink. But why take a booster for the Alpha that is no longer primary?
Richard Aubrey…”(other vaccines) were not introduced in a panic, larded with terms like “rushed”, “hurried”, “warp speed” by an establishment part of which assigned medical benefits by political party and changed The True Science on a weekly basis.”
The fast development and deployment of the vaccines was specifically due to President Trump, not to any establishment. Left to the normal way of doing things, we would have gotten a vaccine maybe mid-2022 and maybe the Twelfth of Never. And there would have been at least a couple of hundred thousand more deaths.
David. Point about vax is reasons for hesitancy. Not the success. Different from injections which have been around for a half century.
Both my wife and I got the single shot J&J back in early April when our “gracious” Governor finally allowed her to get it. She is wheelchair bound with MS but that wasn’t considered a condition, by the government as interpreted by her doctors, which made her eligible earlier, she’s under 65 and I’m over so we waited until both of us could get them together. No problems with it that we’ve noticed.
I was glad that when I asked at our pharmacy to sign up they said they were taking walk-ins for the J&J. The logistics of getting her, or I since she has to go with me too, to appointments on a day and time certain can be difficult which is one reason I waited for us to go together.
Mandates should not be a thing. This should be an individual choice to make, privately.
physicsguy —
Even the Seattle Times has admitted that delta cases have peaked and are falling, but of course they had to keep up the skeer by adding in the same article that WA state public health people expect them to climb right back up when it gets cold.
There just can’t ever be any good news for those ghouls.
I’m in the same place as physicsguy, but am off the fence regarding the booster. No thanks. I didn’t have any major problems with the first two shots, but the arthralgia and myalgia (which I had before hand) were decidedly unpleasant. Now if they come up with a new vax that is currently 95% effective, give me a heads up.
I forgot about the Smallpox vax. Yep, have mine, very faded. I was a “Polio Pioneer”. Part of the very first group that got the Polio Vaccine. A test group if you will. Got the booster sugar cube when they came out, and another booster several years ago before going overseas (non military – at least I am not sure if the booster was in those air guns). I talked with my Doctor last week about the boosters. She is conservative medically (not politically) and said she would get the booster. We have both had the Moderna. I guess my wife and I will get the booster because we like to travel. I am sure it will be required.
@J.J:
“We do have to resist the idea that we can get to Covid Zero through lockdowns and vaccinations, as they are attempting to do in OZ.”
It is very difficult to explain to most people that outside of math, zero (ie 0.000000 ad infinitum) simply doesn’t exist. So, one single case in OZ? Back to troops on the streets.
The vaccines we all had in years past were for childhood diseases. With the exception of polio I had already had them all. Covid is a disease of the elderly and those with serious comorbidities. The vaccine is a novel type, a messenger RNA unique in medical history. It now appears to be a non-“sterilizing” vaccine, which is also new. Possibly this is because it is directed at the spike protein rather than the entire virion. This vaccine story has been infested with politics since the beginning. First it was announced that a vaccine could not be developed that quickly. Then the Democrats advised their supporters to reject it because Trump was involved. Now, it appears to be a power play. A large share of resisters seem to be blacks, which is a fact concealed by Democrats who need their votes.
It is obvious that antibody testing should solve the issue of “natural immunity.” The PCR test was often unreliable. This is a very complicated topic that has been made impossible by politics.
AOC’s silly scene is evidence that she is serious about a primary challenge to Schumer. She was obviously told she could not be recorded as anti-Israel and still be a viable candidate in New York City.
Did Lying Joe get the jab? How do we know what if ANYTHING was injected into Lying Joe as part of the Lying Joe Theater Show.
“…This may seem bizarre to you as well as devoid of logic, but I’m pretty sure it is carefully crafted to appeal to her supporters, who value emotion above all …”
So, let’s review. You say that at some period or periods during your life, those in your circle have accused you of ” arguing like a lawyer” and being guilty of the acts of reasoning and logical analysis. This is if I understood you correctly, nothing new and very mich predated even your law degree. It was many of those you knew from day to day living who maintained this.
You have mentioned that 30 years ago in grad school, alarmed, you pointed out the dire consequences for the rule of law and constitutional governance for a particular trajectory upon with your masters of social work associates ( I think it was) had set. And that they heard you out with an air of polite if not sublime indifference not even bothering to respond or rebut.
You have mentioned that in your grammar school days children were drilled in civics and on the importance of Liberty and personal civic responsibility and that heritage of rights which were theirs to keep or lose; but that they got none of that, so you believed, at home. And after all, “Who did normally, or should?” was the standard operating assumption.
Your progressive minded grandmother friends, you say, are mentally occupied for the most part with doting on their grandkids and enjoying themselves; without ever really thinking too deeply about where their choices at the ballot box are driving us all; trusting to the same class affirming news sources they have always defaulted to, along with their feelings.
So, what are the personal responsibilities in a constitutional polity constructed to ensure a regime of Liberty and personal freedom, of such people? Are they meeting them?
In what sense are they deserving of receiving the benefits of such a life lived in a clearing they expend no effort whatsoever in perptuating?
Are they even ” constitutionally” ( no pun intended) fitted by nature for such a life? In what sense do they deserve the freedoms they are so indifferent to maintaining?
Frankly, I don’t think they do much value freedom for themselves if they have comfort and emotional tickles in compensation, nor do they like it much when others have it.
1. What are the personal responsibilities of these individuals insofar as it comes to being informed and thinking critically …whether they are spoon fed it or not.
2. Is it possible that they are not really fit to be free and don’t want to be, as Sarah Conley suggests?
I think you can see the answer for yourself in the words that loom largest in their minds: ” inclusivity”, “acceptance”, ” affirmation”, “community”, “feelings”.
If I was in error in describing them as effen peasants to the core, as basically clever grazing animals, concerned only with the languid enjoyment of their bodily functions and with not a higher consideration in their heads as Aristotle had asserted, I don’t think I could be shown to be in error by much.
I’m on the fence about the Moderna booster, which hasn’t been approved yet, anyhow. I’ll wait to see data, if they have it, and to see how the virus curve is doing.
The serious problem I see with vaccine mandates, besides individual risk evaluation, is that authorities are ignoring natural immunity. There’s no evidence that people who’ve had the virus and recovered need a vaccine. Its use among the already-immune means that we now have limited data on immune resistance.
Lol. I could not find the word ” perpetuating” as I tried to correct my typo on this tiny screen
If there is such a thing as “perpuating” or whatever it was I wrote, it was not what I meant.
One big problem with the mRNA vaccine. It does not prevent infection.
Mike K:
That is certainly less than ideal. But I don’t actually see it as a big problem, if two other things are the case (and as far as I can tell so far, they are the case): (1) they reduce the rate of infection in the vaccinated compare to the unvaccinated (2) they reduce the severity of the infection so that the person who is both vaccinated and infected has a subclinical case in terms of symptoms or has quite mild symptoms.
Re vaccines. If every Democrat voter, registered and otherwise, if all members of their client class, and their like minded families and dependents were vaccinated forthwith and completely – then, no normal humans would feel pressure to trouble themselves unnecessarily, beyond basic prudence for those most obviously at risk.
Instead, we find that there must be a lot of hidden recalcitrance in the ranks of the Demo Troll Masses: not doing as the master and dispenser of their daily bread, commands.
That is the place and population with which to start then. How dare they! Bought and paid for, shipped and received, and stamped with the padrone’s brand, who are they to say “No”?
Round them up Joe. You have their names. They are members of your own party and its machine.
As the Lord says to Satan on doomsday, regarding those goats he has command be gone from Him : “They are yours (Joe). Do with THEM as you will. “
The word “bizarre” is appropriate for AOC’s statement. I really think that the acted-out emotional dramas of neurotic, mostly young, mostly white, almost all liberal-left women are a huge factor in the nutty climate of our time. That plus “social media,” especially Twitter, which seems to foster the snarky superficial approach to everything. The Persons of Color who are involved in this, such as AOC herself, seem to have absorbed the style from the white girls, or maybe grew up in more or less the same milieu.
I think the number 1 dislike Germans have is for the USA.
So here are the Germans, members of NATO, which exists today ONLY to thwart the ambitions of Russia , and Germany will be obtaining on the order of 50% of all their natural gas from Russia.
Terrific.
As long as they do not have to buy it (liquefied, of course) from the USA, that’s all that matters.
Despite Germany’s annual defense spending of about 50 Billion euros – all of which is spent to protect themselves from which nation? Ecuador? Bolivia? Iceland? Luxembourg? Gambia? Belize ? Ireland? …….oh, that’s right RUSSIA !!
Who would have thunk it?
And really now, if Russia once again reasserts is sovereignty over Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – which would take about 15 minutes when you think about it – does anybody believe NATO will move in a significant way to force them out?
I don’t .
And certainly Germany will not.
All of Europe sat on their respective anuses while genocide was occurring in a falling apart Yugoslavia.
(As an aside; the falling apart of Yugoslavia is a good example of “multi-multiculturalism” at work. And you can’t even blame the evil capitalism for its demise).
The Germans (and all of Europe, really) hated Trump because he saw how stupid our policies were and how they favored our “friends.” He tried to modify them to be more equitable.
The Germans and Euros in general could not abide this.
So now they have Joke Bite-me Bidet to deal with.
The Germans and the world are laughing non-stop at their luck, and Russia and China cannot believe their luck.
They must think it’s some sort of ploy or trick, because no nation on earth would appoint a leader – with a senile finger on the nuke button – as ridiculous or inept as a Joke Bidet.
Honestly, if Vlad the Impaler Putin was the president, he could not do worse than Joke Bidet, in F’ing over the American citizenry.
Vaccines in general don’t prevent infection. What they do do is prime the immune system so that the invading virus is overwhelmed, fought off sooner, much sooner, and so the disease presents few if any symptoms and does little if any damage.
Just watched a Youtube video that did a nice job of explaining political parties in Germany.