Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

After roe, women are no longer free.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

This fight is for everything.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / Saturday Night Open Thread: Let’s Stop Cossetting the Plague Enablers

Saturday Night Open Thread: Let’s Stop Cossetting the Plague Enablers

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51Comments

  2. 2.

    HeleninEire

    Yea this is me. The EU is now reconsidering whether they will allow Americans in. I will lose my everloving shit if Ireland denies me entry in September. I am a NYer. I did EVERYTHING right while I watched 35,000 of my neighbors die. And now because of those stupid dumb science denying hillbillies (apologies Ozark, not you) I will be denied my right to spend my birthday with my wonderful Irish friends.

  3. 3.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I heard an interview with a doctor somewhere in the Old Confederacy saying they’re turning away people with chronic conditions to treat the un-vaxxed, that’s ass-backwards

    also, the big anti-vax rally in LA included a segment of Interperative Dance of Feelings to whatever the hell the successor to Lee Greenwood is. I heard the lyric “there’s a statue comin’ down in a town near you”

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: First bit of the LA Times story:

    An anti-vaccine rally at Los Angeles City Hall turned violent Saturday, with one person stabbed and a reporter saying he was assaulted, according to police and protesters on the scene.

    Could you imagine having to explain that to someone who just woke up after being in a coma for the last couple of years?

  5. 5.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I agree. If they’re going to force doctors and hospital admins to make tough but responsible decisions about resources, then I am all for making the unvaxxed wait until everyone else’s needs are addressed. Maybe they’ll make it, but fuck ’em.

  6. 6.

    Another Scott

    I think a huge reason for the dip in vaccination rates is that too many saw no consequences for refusing vaccines, and being noisy about it increased their status in their MAGA tribe. And it became a talisman.

    Once vaccines are required, with real consequences for not having it, more people will get them and most of the holdouts will be the hard-core types who cannot be reached as long as it remains a political totem.

    And we’re seeing daily vaccination rates rise as people realize – yes, there are actual consequences in not being vaccinated. And in a few weeks, people see the stark reality that they may lose their job if they don’t get vaccinated. (Remember the big Texas hospital worker protest about not getting vaccinated – they’ll all quit!! Only 25 quit.)

    It’s unfortunate that it’s come to this, but it’s not surprising. And we should continue doing everything we can to make it as easy as possible to get vaccinated and make it difficult for people who are out in their communities to say no.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  7. 7.

    Jim Appleton

    I have no epidemiological expertise.  It seems highly unlikely that this pandemic can be stopped anytime soon.

     

    Worse, all of us are susceptible to the stupidity of low-information pawns.

  9. 9.

    Dan B

    If Delta doesn’t burn itself out soon ER’s will be forced to Triage.  As I understand the protocol the people who are not vaccinated will be made as comfortable as the staff can manage and the vaccinated who are more likely to survive will receive treatment.  The same should be true for children who can’t be vaccinated yet (c’mon CDC!?) but are more likely to live.

     

    There are some immunocompromised who will perish because of the pandemic of right wing rage that is driving this endless cycle of crises.

  10. 10.

    The Dangerman

    Feeling judged? Oh, you poor, poor dears, what can I do … nah, just kidding, fuck you.

    If Folks don’t want the shot, they should forfeit their right to any medical insurance they might have. Of course, that means they probably go bankrupt and lose the house and the cars; too bad.

  11. 11.

    Dan B

    • The other horror about to befall us is Africa.  I pray (agnostic prayers) that the mant BIPOC in the Biden / Harris administration are on top of this.
  12. 12.

    Poe Larity

    We just need a crazier conspiracy. Like Hillary is QAnon and realized she’d need a Soros-Sino virus to trick the MAGAts into self-extermination for electoral winning.

    Perhaps pics of Emergency Room entrances with “Vaxxed” and “Unvaxxed” admission lines.

  14. 14.

    Dan B

    @The Dangerman: I have in-laws (out-laws, my partner and I are not married…) who are furious at leftist activists who are impolite.  Being treated “politely” would make doing nothing, changing nothing, so much easier.

     

    They believe we don’t notice the blatant hypocrisy.  We don’t spend time with them anymore.

  15. 15.

    RaflW

    If someone has a heart attack or stroke, and there’s no ER capacity or ICU bed, why the fuck should a vaccine denier get to keep the bed because their ass “got there first” via runaway Covid.

    Almost as damn bad is DeSantis humping a $1,500 per dose antibody treatment that is 99% obviated by having had two $15-20 shots given 3-4 weeks apart. Fiscally conservative! Pro life

    (eta: costs to the gov’t +/or health system, not end users)

  16. 16.

    Soprano2

    I told someone on FB who was whining about feeling “judged ” and “discriminated against” for not getting vaxxed that I was done worrying about the feelings of people who’ve been telling me “fuck your feelings” for the past 5 years. I also told her that things like being charged more for insurance if you aren’t vaxxed are not called “discrimination”, but are actually called “consequences”, and that there is no right not to be criticized for choosing not to be vaxxed. Fuck their tender feelings, I’m done with them. They are such whiners. I wish every one of them had to experience what my mom did in the ER because of their refusal to get vaxxed.

  17. 17.

    RaflW

    Kida appreciating this, too.

    @SHEsus__Christ
    People are upset about signs that say “masks only”.
    Imagine how people felt when they said “whites only.”

  18. 18.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Right-wing antagonist of Pope Francis and the Democratic Party, ETA also a vaccine skeptic

    Cardinal Burke @cardinalrlburke 2h
    Cardinal Burke has been admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 and is being assisted by a ventilator. Doctors are encouraged by his progress. H.E. faithfully prayed the Rosary for those suffering from the virus. On this Vigil of the Assumption, let us now pray the Rosary for him

    According to the National Catholic Reporter, Burke “has expressed skepticism about the need for distancing measures to contain the coronavirus and has opposed mandatory vaccination schemes.”

  25. 25.

    Richard

    Today we went to Hildale and Colorado City to take a look at the new big grocery store. It is about an hour away if you use the highways.

    You can use Sheep Bridge it is faster but it will slow you down because it is a dirt road and you might be talking or looking at things.

    Anyway we finally got there.  I was excited to see that new market they have built! It looks really nice from the outside.

    I was afraid to go inside. I asked my companion to go see what is it. I asked her to see if it has scooters for people who can’t walk anymore.

    She said it is nice and the bathrooms are clean. They don’t have scooters.

    So anyway it looked like a thunderstorm was coming and we better get out of here. We would have loved to visit the Hildale City park but the way those clouds were looking,  we save it for another time.

    Anyway, going through that place where they are scraping the land for their investments, there was a dust storm. We couldn’t see shit. It was dangerous and scary.

    After surviving that, we were happy to get off the highway.

  26. 26.

    fake irishman

    @Dan B:

    They are on it and have been on it for several months now.  The Biden administration is working with COVAX and the African Union to purchase and deliver lots of the vaccine to Africa.   You can follow the progress in Africa (and everywhere else) here. Africa has gotten about 20 million doses (mixed among the three vaccines approved in the USA) so far with more on the way.  More than 110 million have been delivered so far. 550 million have been pledged by the USA worldwide. This dwarfs any other country’s donations.

    To give an example that shows the scope, about 300,000 J&J doses have gone to the Central African Republic, which is a landlocked, very rural, very poor country of about 4.6 million people known for its gorillas. That’s enough vaccine to fully vaccinate 5-10 percent of the population. Nowhere near enough to stop an outbreak, but certainly enough to cover the healthcare work force and quite a few particularly vulnerable folks. It will save hundreds of lives.

    You can see this pattern with many African countries (and Asian countries, and Latin American countries, and Caribbean countries): not enough doses to cover everyone, but a heck of a lot more than a token photo op and enough to protect a non-trivial part of the population. This is a serious operation with a lot of folks working long hours and trying to help as quickly as possible while working with the host countries to ensure that all of their regulations are fulfilled and sovereignty respected (And, I might add, a hell of lot of hard working African public health and diplomatic folks doing the same thing on their end).

    Follow Deputy Sec. State Wendy Sherman’s twitter feed.  As Cheryl Rofer mentioned about eight weeks ago, Sherman seems to be the official relying all of the deliveries on Twitter. Scrolling through her feed relating the week’s deliveries makes my day brighter.

  28. 28.

    Hallmark

    I am a long time lurker.   This shit has me incandescent with rage.  I work at a large pharmacy company you have heard of (company policy prevents me from saying more) and I have been working on the vaccine in various ways for over a year.  I you got a shot in the US, there is about a 40% chance that my signature is on it somewhere.  We produced a fucking miracle.  Would everything be perfect if these idiots got a shot?  No.  But my friends would be dealing with fewer children in the ICU.   My father wouldn’t be about to lock down (again) in the retirement home.   Maybe my kid wouldn’t wouldn’t be worried about losing her sense of smell.   Maybe the doses of vaccine that I literally had to get my people to stop crying in the lab because of the stress so they could get one more test run and that next batch out the wouldn’t be discarded because they expired before someone was willing to take it.   Maybe my immune comprised mother-in-law could see her grandchildren in person.

    It is a good thing I don’t own a gun.

  29. 29.

    mrmoshpotato

    Stupid, selfish shitstains are growing testy about getting judged for their refusal to get vaccinated.

    Have they tried shutting the fuck up and dying already?*

    *Only half joking

  31. 31.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Sister Golden Bear: Amen, sister.  And that Cardinal, I sure hope he gets to meet his Maker, find out exactly what all his covidiocy gets him ….. right before he heads down the tube to Hell.

  32. 32.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Dan B:

    I have in-laws (out-laws, my partner and I are not married…) who are furious at leftist activists who are impolite. 

    Gonna take the educated guess that they voted for the Kremlin’s orange fascist shitstain – twice.

  34. 34.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    As far as I am concerned it’s high time for the anti-vaccers to man up if they think COVID is a little flue. They should go have COVID parties were they infect each other and then they can die, or just horribly sick and develop the anti-bodies the hard way and in two months this will be over. And they can kindly stay home and not bother the doctors will their self inflicted bullshit while they tough it out.

  36. 36.

    opiejeanne

    @Hallmark: I was so happy when I got the second Pfizer shot, I nearly cried.

    Thank you for whatever you did to help the vaccine come into existence. My niece’s husband volunteered for the Moderna test; he got the vaccine and not the placebo. He was vaccinated so long ago that a recent test showed that his antibodies had declined greatly, and he’s hoping he can get a booster soon, because he works with the public.

  37. 37.

    Reverse tool order

    @Hallmark: (@ 28) Hey, there’s always a fraction of foolish primate behavior from us foolish primates. The fraction of sensible behavior is so much larger it almost isn’t news. Hundreds of millions already benefitting and many more on the way.

    It seems like a miracle, it actually was hard and good work, and plenty of it, by you and yours.

    I estimated my odds of a bad outcome if infected at 10%, so I wanted the shots and unexpectedly got em in April. Did not anticipate how thrilled I would be cuz I don’t do thrilled.

    So, grateful thanks to you and all doing this awesome thing.

  39. 39.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Hallmark: ​
      You won’t get a medal, no-one will know what you did except you. That’s a great thing to take with you into the future anyways.

    Thank you for your service.

  40. 40.

    J R in WV

    @Hallmark:

    Thank you for your hard work and miracle accomplishment creating a vaccine — we are all shocked and amazed that so many people are refusing to take advantage of it.

    I personally believe unvaccinated people infected with Corona-19 should be treated in a back corner of the parking lot by the lot manager as best the lot guys can. This will free up the medical staff for patients who are responsible and deserve treatment.

    I’m done with any sympathy for vaccination refusers, who should all be quarantined to  prevent them from spreading their diseases. They lose their freedom to be able to associate in public when they refuse to be responsible to the community!

  41. 41.

    Bluegirlfromwyo

    @Hallmark: FWIW, thank you from those of us who also think you produced a miracle and share your rage. I wept with joy the day I got my second shot and I’m terrified of needles.

  42. 42.

    Ken

    @VOR: you jest, but I seem to recall this very thing last year.

    I think EVT meant a party where the purpose was to spread COVID. Sturgis and proms don’t count.

  43. 43.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Chetan Murthy: And when the Red Beany reaches the Pearly Gates and demands an audience with The Big Guy and lambastes him about not having saved his flabby butt from the virus, The Big Guy will say,

    I got you three vaccines in record time. Even more if you count Sinovac and Sputnik. What else did you expect me to do?

    as he pulls the lever to trigger the trap door beneath Burke’s feet that drop him into the Infernal Regions…​

  44. 44.

    SFAW

    @Ken:

    I think VOR was talking about those same things. I also (vaguely, perhaps incorrectly) seem to recall that there were a few “let’s all get ourselves infected and develop antibodies” parties.

  47. 47.

    Josie

    I clicked through to read the article about Cardinal Burke.  Not only is he a vaccine refuser, he believes in the microchip theory.  I thought Catholic priests were supposed to be well educated.  So much for that idea.
     ETA: Hallmark: Thanks from me and all my family for your hard work and your success.​

  49. 49.

    Geminid

    @Josie: The last few years have demonstrated that the well-educated can talk and act just as stupidly as the rest of Americans, even more so.

  50. 50.

    bcw

    I think covid and vaccine denial are a form of cowardice where the person doesn’t want to face the idea they and their family is threatened so they pretend it isn’t real and get really angry at anyone who threatens their chosen delusion with things like mask mandates.

  51. 51.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Hallmark:  Thank you very much for all your work getting us the vaccines. I totally share your frustration; I just found out this weekend that my eccentric uncle refuses to get vaccinated. I sent my parents the article about the Serbian cave hermit who got the vaccine, in hopes that it might shock some sense back into him. At least my parents are refusing to see him at Thanksgiving….

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