COVID was such a golden opportunity for the authoritarian left
Governments around the world used the fear engendered by the COVID pandemic to increase their control on both the behavior of their populations and the ability of those populations to exchange information. The excuse was that this was a life-or-death emergency, and to that end they both exaggerated the threat and lied about many things connected with it. In addition to flat-out lying, there were elements of the science that were not “settled,” and yet the authorities pretended they were and blocked speculation by the hoi-polloi (that’s the rest of us) about things that didn’t fit the official narrative.
And yet much of that speculation, so strongly suppressed, has turned out to be true. And not on minor issues, either. One big one is the probable lab leak origin of the virus.
That’s not to say that all such speculation is true. Hardly. Much of the falsehood by the speculation crowd comes from the use of statistics to supposedly prove some point that those statistics simply don’t prove. But that certainly doesn’t justify squelching all dissent and disagreement and questioning of the official line, which is what happened with Twitter:
On Tuesday, Musk released publicly a report that explains how many accounts were banned due to supposed COVID-19 “misinformation.” He then dropped a bomb of a policy change, making it official that Twitter will no longer ban anyone for expressing varying opinions on the coronavirus…
Conservative accounts were targeted in large numbers, with over 11,000 of them being banned, while liberal accounts were allowed to spread all manner of misinformation on various topics with not even an eye being batted. Then there were the over 11 million “challenges” put on posts, which entailed a disclaimer asserting something was false because the “experts” said so when it often wasn’t.
I have to say that Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is one of the more interesting stories these days, although it has a lot of competition. The man has cojones, that’s for sure, because he knows they’re coming after him. For example, back on November 10, Biden said this:
“Mr. President, do you think Elon Musk is a threat to U.S. national security?” a reporter asked the president during a press conference on Wednesday. “And should the U.S. — and with the tools you have — investigate his joint acquisition of Twitter with foreign governments, which include the Saudis?”
“I think that Elon Musk’s cooperation and/or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at,” Biden responded. “Whether or not he is doing anything inappropriate, I’m not suggesting that. I’m suggesting that it wor- — worth being looked at. And — and — but that’s all I’ll say.”
The reporter attempted to probe Biden on how the federal government might “look at” Musk, to which Biden respond that there were “a lot of ways,” before moving on to another reporter’s question.
I bet there are.
It’s almost humorous – almost, but not quite – that Biden is suggesting that Musk’s “cooperation or technical relationships with other countries” needs looking into, considering Biden’s own history and that of his immediate family.
The newest COVID boondoggle is the bivalent booster jab, which the public is largely ignoring in spite of pressure from Brandon and the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, Ashish Jha. “Team Biden re-purposed billions of dollars to buy 170 million doses of the new bivalent COVID-19 vaccine. The problem is, few people are getting the shots. The CDC reports that just 35 million people — roughly 11% of the population and only 15% of the 227 million people who have completed the primary vaccine series and are eligible for the new booster — have taken it in the three months since it was authorized. But instead of examining why the response is so poor, the administration is resorting to its usual solution — spend more money.”
https://nypost.com/2022/11/25/joe-biden-wastes-billions-on-covid-boosters-vaccines/
They’ll have to figure out a new way to terrorize the public about the Woo-Woo Flu.
Jane Fonda infamously called the Wuhan-virus “God’s gift to the left”, and “progressive” totalitarians obsessed with power would certainly prefer that it be the gift which keeps on giving but, despite the recent erosion of our liberties, Americans are less controllable than the Chinese, whose recent awakening to the insanity of “COVID-Zero” (truly a chimera, yet believed in by many technocrats around the world) is doomed to failure.
Musk is taking on the administration, and also taking on Apple. I hope succeeds. They talked about “democracy” being at risk in the election, but it is very clear who is opposed to free speech.
The phrase “settled science” annoys the poo out of me.
Anyone remotely aware of how “science” works knows that it is NEVER “settled”. If settled were a state that scientific endeavor landed in, we would not have so many of the amazing things and thoughts that we enjoy today.
How long till another engineered “golden opportunity” is visited upon us?
PA-Cat, I have had three health professionals, who I respect, tell me that what you call bivalent booster jab is a worthwhile measure, and is keeping people out of the hospital.
Maybe the vaccines and wearing of masks are unnecessary. On the other hand, I have not had COVID although I am out and about (masked when indoors) constantly. At 87, I don’t want COVID, so I will continue doing those things that seem sensible, and that I did when I did not catch it.
That is not to say, that I do not agree with the premise that there has been an awful lot of misinformation. I also agree, as any sentient resident of California would, that a lot of petty Dictators used COVID as a springboard to free their inner tyrant.
I do believe that each person should choose their path. We were evidently lied to when told that getting vaccinated was necessary to protect others. That lie was used to enforce mandates, and the fallout damaged countless lives. For that there should be accountability. It should start with “Fauci the Fallible”.
As to Neo’s basic topic. Could it possibly be that COVID, and the regime’s response to it, could be the catalyst to blow the lid off in China? As the saying goes, “every cloud has a silver lining”.
oldflyer, what you’re suggesting is what our national policy should have been by the summer/early fall of 2020, when we had sufficient data to determine that this was a virus affecting the older population.
I hope you’re wearing a N95 mask. Indoors a good solution is to get enough air changes. Opening a window slightly.
While this is probably overkill, this contraption is effective.
https://agcenter.ucdavis.edu/news/corsi-rosenthal-box-diy-box-fan-air-filter-covid-19-and-wildfire-smoke
Thanks to oldflyer for his narrative. Like him, I’m glad I haven’t caught the virus. Don’t know why. I had the first shots and a booster. I felt like I was safe. Ha, now I know I might have caught it anyway.
Last spring our daughter, who lives with us, caught Omicron. (A mild case much like a cold.) We assumed we would get it even if we were careful. It’s supposed to be very contagious. We tested ourselves every other day and expected symptoms or a positive test. Hmm, didn’t happen. She got well and we were fine.
Our personal doctor has us on Vitamin D. Enough to get our levels above 50 nanograms per ml. She recommended it before Covid ever hit because she has found it helps oldsters fight off colds and Pacific NW winter depression.
Many people told us the Covid vaccinations hit them hard. My wife and I only had a slightly sore arm for a day. Strange. I kept wondering if our Vitamin D levels have been a help. Then I read this the other day:
“Due to the extremely contagious and fatal nature of the virus, it has been a priority of medical research to find effective means of treatment. Amid this search, the role of vitamin D in modulating various aspects of the innate and adaptive immune system has been discussed. This review aims to consolidate the research surrounding the role of vitamin D in the treatment and prevention of COVID-19. While there are some conflicting results reported, the consensus is that vitamin D has a host of immunomodulatory effects which may be beneficial in the context of COVID-19 and that low levels of vitamin D can result in dysfunction of crucial antimicrobial effects, potentially contributing to poor prognosis. Studies also show that the effects of low vitamin D can be mitigated via supplementation, although the benefits of vitamin D supplementation in the treatment of COVID-19 remain controversial.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8509048/
Interesting.
We haven’t gotten our bivalent booster. The virus is still low level here even though we’re having an outbreak of RSV which is impacting all the children’s hospitals. With the anti-viral therapy available, (They’re actually advertising it on TV these days.), and a good supply of tests, we’re considering not getting the booster. IMO, the long-term safety of the mRNA vaccines is still an unknown. Though at my age, long term probably won’t be very much longer. 🙁 Que Sera, sera.
From personal experience with relatives and classmates, I can tell you these were the best years of their lives.
I had Covid about two years ago, I think, and barely noticed it. It was almost asymptomatic. My daughter noticed and asked me if I was OK. I’m almost 80 and some days are good, and some not so good and I thought I was just having a not so good day. When I lost my sense of smell, I decided it was Covid. I take B vitamins and a multi vitamin every day and that’s it. My son tells me that if you have been jabbed you will be less sick if you catch Covid and if you die you will be less dead.
I’d say Trump broke The Left where BLM/Floyd was the perfect excuse for The Left to go bat sh*t crazy and push their pet projects. COVID was the gift that came from China yet somehow America is Bad with no American politicians and celebrities boycotting the country or pointing a strong finger at them, but they are boycotting various states, smearing its citizens, organizations and businesses in the US that do not bend to the Regressive/Woke social religion.
Immediate family and me got COVID this year. Everyone is fully vaccinated. Each one of us experienced flu like symptoms for a few days. We all survived and have fully recovered. Oddly enough, my parents caught it while traveling *abroad. They experienced COVID symptoms when they touched down Stateside the following day. My sibling who past it on to me, probably caught it either from one of his co-workers. He too was traveling *abroad for work, so it’s assumed that he either caught it there or somewhere in SF when on-site for his client. At least in our case, it seemed we were more vulnerable to non-Americans than we were to ourselves.
*Canada & Austria
Regarding Musk/Twitter and his feud with Apple, I am beginning to wonder if Musk’s forte is his ability to envision an entirely new approach to a problem, and his weakness is seeing his new approach through to a satisfactory implementation.
What prompts this thinking on my part is that I recently became a Starlink user and am having some second thoughts about the technology.
In a nutshell, what Starlink offers is internet connectivity to areas that are poorly serviced by traditional carriers. He does this by using an array of low Earth orbiting satellites instead of a few geosynchronous satellites parked some 25,000 miles in space. Since they are not as far away, less power is needed to relay signals through them.
And when the service was first announced about two years ago, and I knew I was moving to rural Ohio where other carriers were expensive and spotty, I pre-ordered.
Pre-ordering entailed a $99 registration fee and put me on a waiting list, with estimated delivery in spring of 2022. I arrived at my new home in June 2022. Starlink availability in my area was by then pushed out to sometime near the end of the year.
Two weeks ago I got an offer for something called “Best Effort” Starlink service. The idea was that I could take delivery, but with the understanding that the service would not be as high quality as originally proposed. Occasional outages could be expected, and if I played a lot of games or downloaded a lot of streaming service, I might see frequent delays. The offer was worded in such a way that it was clear they were not encouraging people too take it. I accepted the offer with those limitations understood, as I don’t game or stream.
The service has now been operating for a week, and there are indeed some hiccups: a couple of download delays and weather outages. Not a big deal, and I was warned in advance, so I’m not complaining.
But my thinking is that Starlink availability was first offered in this area nine months ago. And I recall Tesla deliveries were delayed at first. And Musk’s proposal for a pneumatic high-speed transportation system in CA has just disappeared, while his acquisition of Twitter has not taken place without birthing pains.
All of these innovations are reminiscent of the exciting things we used to read about in Popular Mechanics. They clearly are the product of some visionary thinking and the willingness to invest a lot of money at the outset. But they are also innovations that need a lot of staff work to bring them to fruition.
I think this might still be lacking in the Musk organization — someone who will take the vision and do the staff work to make it come to pass with a minimum of hiccups. Musk needs to be freed of the staff work so he can dream big dreams, and then have people around him who can make the vision reality. Twitter needs this right now, and Starlink needed in last year.
They talked about “democracy” being at risk in the election
Kate they fear democracy as they define it … with the implied obligation that you SUBMIT to the “majority will” as expressed by the Pedestaled, er, elected elite -right, wrong, or indifferent … is at risk. That’s also the reason why they consider J6 their 9/11-in-a-teapot.
For without that obligation, assuring our compliance with their fundie cargo-cult’s One True Way is an exercise in herding cats … and they are obsessed with our OBEDIENCE.
———————————-
I think this might still be lacking in the Musk organization — someone who will take the vision and do the staff work to make it come to pass with a minimum of hiccups.
F, I see what you are seeing as simply growing pains of a visionary business, that is not afraid to actually learn by doing. Though I do find it surprising they didn’t realize that large openings in battery packs are difficult to seal against water intrusion … that one’s going to be an expensive lesson for them.
Compare Tesla against GM – when already well-established, lost a billion with the EV1 in the 1990’s, and needed that government bailout/UAW intrusion fifteen years later.
All that being said, SpaceX has put a lot less metal in the bottom of the ocean than NASA did when they were coming up the learning curve in the early 1960’s.
As for Twitter – perhaps its affronts to freedom of information offended Musk, who depends upon the free flow of truthful information to do what his firms do, and motivated him to buy Twitter and clean it up.
BrianE, when masked I always wear the N-95. Health care professional daughters insist on it.
I see most staff in clinics wear the more common mask, but they have told me that when in an environment where COVID exposure is more likely, they also go to the N-95. I don’t know why they do it that way, unless the common one is more comfortable. I never have one on for more than a few minutes.
I have had three family members with COVID before the vaccine. One, with other issues, was extremely ill. She was offered hospitalization. but refused. Thankfully, she made it. The other two were quite ill, but not as acute. However, both of those have had “long COVID” issues which are manifested in random surging heart rates–up to 150bpm +/-. Over 18 months later, they still have episodes; but hopefully to a lesser degree. They won’t talk about it any longer.
The point is that many people in my circle have had COVID since they were vaccinated. But none had a severe case, and to the best of my knowledge, none have had extended aftereffects.
That is my observation about the efficacy of vaccines, for what it is worth. As I said, two of my own health providers, and my pharmacist strongly recommended the bivalent booster, with the admonition that it would keep me out of the hospital. I got it.
…as Trudeau’s WTF government continues to circle the drain….
“Canada’s On Track To Become A Giant Liberal Party Abattoir: Justice Minister David Lametti Says Suicide & Euthanasia The Same Thing”—
https://blazingcatfur.ca/2022/11/30/canadas-on-track-to-become-a-giant-liberal-party-abattoir-justice-minister-david-lametti-says-suicide-euthanasia-the-same-thing/
Its almost as if it was designed this way as a terror weapon
Oldflyer, bless your heart.
Logic is better. Try it. Health professionals simply repeat whatever the CDC tells them. The CDC is proven to be corrupt, dishonest and incompetent. Repeatedly. About practically every single important aspect of Covid. In many specialties, any doctor who gives advice against the party line will lose their board certifications, hospital privileges and even their license to practice. Not exactly an atmosphere for the best advice.
BTW — your mask increases your risk of getting sick. Seriously. Check the science. Not the advice of corrupt, incompetent bureaucrats like Fauci. The science.
—
JD Keene,
“Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.” — Richard Feynman, America’s greatest physicist.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/11/renowned-oncologist-sends-urgent-letter-calling-uk-end-covid-vaccine-program-immediately-cancers-diseases-rapidly-progressing-boosted-people/
“Dr. Angus Dalgleish, a renowned oncologist practicing in the UK, recently wrote an open letter to the editor-in-chief of the medical journal The BMJ, urging the journal to “make valid informed consent for COVID vaccination a priority topic” because cancers and other diseases are rapidly progressing among “boosted” people.
Angus George Dalgleish, 72, is a professor of oncology at St George’s, University of London, best known for his contributions to HIV/AIDS research and is one of the most sought-after doctors in London.”
There is a possibility was it chicken or egg
Was Covid the catalyst for the massive vote fraud
Or was a need to take down Trump and Covid was unleashed ( as Fauci himself has hinted at)
oldflyer, If you have a pulse oximeter (something everyone should have right beside their thermometer, take a reading with and without the mask. You will notice your blood oxygen levels drop.
Same with using a high merv hvac air filter. The higher the filtration level the more resistance to the flow of air.
Any respiratory illness whether pneumonia or covid can be dangerous when it affects the lungs. If the blood oxygen level drops below 90%, it’s time to consider supplemental oxygen. (I suspect if you’re at the doctor’s office and they read below 90%, you’ll probably end up in the hospital.)
As to stan’s comment about your mask making you sick– they do need to be replaced regularly.
JJ,
I’ve read that o-negative blood type gives some natural resistance to covid.
I agree that vitamin D is essential, regardless of the recent flurry of articles suggesting it does no good.
I’ve had covid twice– once early April 2020, before there was testing, so I can only assume it was covid, since I’ve never had the symptoms like it before. Then January 2022. I only know it was covid because my wife tested positive, so I got tested. Something like a bad cold.
In August 2021, I helped my nephew, who was very ill with covid, at his house. Every day for two weeks I spent an hour or so at his house. Drove him several times to the doctor (half hour drive each way). Never got it, but I did use an N95 mask whenever I was in contact with him. Supplemented with D, Quercetin, zinc, NAC. We would have used ivermectin, but by this time, it was impossible to find. He has a stubborn German ancestry, and refused to go to the Doctor at first. Finally went after a week. Had low O2 level, but the doctor said he couldn’t prescribe supplemental O2 unless he went to the emergency room– which he wouldn’t do. So I set him up with supplemental oxygen using industrial oxygen with a bubbler water filter. His oxygen levels dropped into the 70’s without oxygen, but maintained around 90% with. The doctor did proscribe Dexamethasone, which I think made a huge difference. We went through a lot of oxygen, and I later calculated he was getting around 80 ml/hr. Pretty obvious this was the delta variant.
In November, his brother became sick. Same stubborn German stock– he refused to do anything. I wasn’t aware he was even sick until he went to the Doctor around two weeks in. They put him in the hospital, but there is little that can be done once it’s in the lungs, and he died a few weeks later, after he made the decision to take him off the respirator. Heartbreaking.
I don’t know if he might have had the same outcome as his brother, had he taken it more seriously, since his brother was in excellent shape (power lifter).
stan:
Where is the doctor’s data about disease progression in vaccinated versus unvaccinated patients? He presents none. Until he publishes statistics comparing cancer progression in boosted people matched for age, type of cancer, and pre-boosted cancer stage to those of non-boosted people, his observations are meaningless.
Good luck in finding a lot of cancer patients who haven’t had a booster, by the way.
The letter is at Gateway Pundit and Daily Skeptic, two sites I have found consistently unreliable in the past. That doesn’t mean everything on there is false or misleading, but I never link to either any more.
What double blind research has the cdc done we know phizer has some serious control group problems?
Time for a little trip down memory lane before we start requiring those really, really “solid” “studies” coming along in, oh say, five or ten years.
https://twitter.com/SebStub/status/1591011343439519744
Gerard vanderleun:
You are welcome to believe in anecdotal evidence if you like. I do not, and it has stood me in good stead.
I have had to revise very little that I’ve written or believed about COVID so far. From the start I’ve been skeptical about a lot of official claims, but I am also skeptical about a lot of “skeptics'” claims. Rightly so, for the most part, in both cases.
And you know very little about studies if you think they ordinarily take five or ten years. There are plenty of well-done studies of COVID that have come out, starting just a few months into the pandemic. Your snark is quite misplaced.
As far as that tweet you offer goes, where research is concerned you can find a study about something that says almost anything. The only way that one can find anything approximating the truth is to look at a lot of studies on the subject. Fortunately, we have a lot of studies on COVID vaccines. I have been reading assiduously from the beginning, and those studies cited in that tweet are very atypical of what was claimed. From the start there have always been varying degrees of effectiveness claimed that were and are very much short of 100%. And AstraZeneca vaccine in particular was known early on to have one of the worst efficacy profiles of them all.
Just to take an example of typical early problems that were reported and responded to and not ignored by officials, see this, for example.
I could go on and on and on with details about this, but it’s a waste of time at this point. If you really want to put in some time and effort, read my posts on COVID research right from the start, in particular my posts on vaccines, such as this one as well as this and this. And by the way, early vaccine research findings regarding the original variant are different than those following the later variants; for the most part, vaccines were more effective against transmission of early variants, but have been significantly effective in diminishing the number of serious cases of COVID and death from all strains.