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You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / Friday Evening Open Thread: Ewww, Poor-People Cooties!

Friday Evening Open Thread: Ewww, Poor-People Cooties!

by Anne Laurie|  September 17, 20216:31 pm| 152 Comments

This post is in: COVID-19 Coronavirus, Excellent Links, Open Threads

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I don’t think this explains all of the anti-vaccine mishuganas, but yeah, it’s a factor:

Trouble is we thought vaccination was about sovereignty when really the metaphor is POVERTY. That's how the antivax think about Covid: Like poverty it's something that will happen to you if you are 1) unlucky or 2) of low character – that it's mostly something that happens to POC

— gom jabbroni (@jacobtwop) September 10, 2021

And just like the poor hate the poor, they hate the people who “have Covid,” which is POC. It’s just that they’re used to hating them, so we don’t think about it. white supremacy is a huge part of antivax for this reason – white people with covid are the aberration, not the rule.

The numbers don’t bear it out, of course, but they never do. An antivaxxer with Covid is like a temporarily embarrassed millionaire — that’s why they don’t want it on the death certificate or in the paper. Because they failed to uphold white supremacy by getting the illness.

So we can file antivax under the same pathology that brought you “white Republicans vote against their financial interest because hurting Black people is more important to them” and “West Virginia Senator blocks crucial bills that would save the poorest in his state”

We’re so used to seeing conservatives treat poverty like a disease but somehow we missed them treating this disease the same way they treat poverty. A big enough difference with enough sequelae that it’s worth recentering the whole conversation, in my opinion…

This is also why Libertarians/edgelord South Park Republicans like Nate Silver are coming down on this in such a weird way — that people are “too worried” about Covid — because “people” in this case isn’t “humans” but a specific KIND of human, who is above all that business.

When you see an unmasked person, or a person half-assing it like their nose is sticking out, then, what they are saying is: “I’m not part of that tribe that gets Covid; I am doing the bare minimum but don’t mistake me for a poor person who fears getting a POC disease”.

It comes with such a heaping helping of toxic masculinity that we thought that’s what it was about — and of course it partly is — but where the men act out at CostCo, the women are doing it at school board meetings. Either way, same intent: A proud recitation of white supremacy.

expressed in a tantrum because they don’t feel heard, which is to say they don’t feel believed – because they do know the whole thing is a playacted narrative that has nothing to do with the very real, dangerous facts on the ground & everything to do with defining oneself.

Oh, there's ableist eugenics, too. There's a lot of handwaving of deaths because of "comorbidities.* The perception is that everyone at risk is useless and has one foot in the grave already, so we may as well let them die off. Nevermind that they'd otherwise have decades left.

— Social Distance Bard (@textualdeviance) September 12, 2021

Too, also:

A clear lesson from the initial mask debate is that lying to people because you think it’s better for them doesn't work out.

On the flipside, if you can’t tell people the truth because they don’t like it, then I don’t see how anything works. It’s a fatal indictment on society.

— German Lopez (@germanrlopez) September 16, 2021

I’m just fed up with arguments about how the unvaccinated feel like the vaccinated and policymakers are being mean to them. The unvaccinated are putting people at literally fatal risk — that's pretty mean! It makes sense to do something very serious about it!

— German Lopez (@germanrlopez) September 16, 2021

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Reader Interactions

152Comments

  1. 1.

    Comrade Colette

    September 17, 2021 at 6:37 pm

    This is also why Libertarians/edgelord South Park Republicans like Nate Silver are coming down on this in such a weird way — that people are “too worried” about Covid — because “people” in this case isn’t “humans” but a specific KIND of human, who is above all that business.

    This is all of it.

    I thought about adding “white” to Libertarians/edgelord South Park Republicans, but that seems redundant.

  2. 2.

    laura

    September 17, 2021 at 6:42 pm

    Spouse is awaiting the results of a Covid test taken yesterday and yes, we’re both fully vaxed. What a pack of entitled assholes we all live amongst.

  3. 3.

    craigie

    September 17, 2021 at 6:42 pm

    Would this be different if the virus came out of, say, Norway instead of China?

    Maybe.

  4. 4.

    planetjanet

    September 17, 2021 at 6:45 pm

    Naw, it’s just tribalism.

  5. 5.

    Jeffro

    September 17, 2021 at 6:45 pm

    Libertarians can’t believe that in the absence of government mandates, people still do stupid things that get themselves killed.  They also can’t wrap their heads around the concept that ‘people doing stupid things’ sometimes affects – or maybe even kills – other citizens, and so there is an actual. fucking. reason. why we have government mandates.

    This is why I call them “libertarians” (with air quotes if I’m talking to someone in person).  It’s an act with exactly zero thought behind it.  It’s like putting on a costume at Halloween: “Smart Man!  Smarter and Freer Than You!!”  No you fucking aren’t.  You’re a toddler in an adult body.

  6. 6.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 17, 2021 at 6:47 pm

    The Ebola panic was definitely because it comes out of “The Dark Continent” in more ways that one. These wretched excuses for humans can’t get past skin color at any time.

  7. 7.

    Jeffro

    September 17, 2021 at 6:47 pm

    Also, GOP rep who is quitting due to recurrent threats to his family draws…nope, not sympathy from the orange moron, but…more threats.

    Hey Republicans!  Your lack of principles have cost this country enough.  Couldja at least step up and disavow violence against your own?  (Narrator: of course not.)

  8. 8.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 17, 2021 at 6:48 pm

    @Jeffro: Abso-fucking-lutely.  This is why I loathe glibertarian dickheads.  Like that total asshole Bill Maher.

  9. 9.

    WaterGirl

    September 17, 2021 at 6:48 pm

    @craigie: Probably.

  10. 10.

    trollhattan

    September 17, 2021 at 6:51 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    I admit the very thought of ebola scars the utter shit [heh] out of me after reading The Hot Zone. Do not want hemorrhagic disease. From anywhere. Any time. Also not marburg. What an awful, awful way to die. Luckily, not super transmissible, not easy to bioweaponize.

  11. 11.

    Geminid

    September 17, 2021 at 6:54 pm

    @craigie: The next pandemic may come out of a laxly regulated hog farm in North Carolina. Maybe after a global warming-enhanced hurricane washes out the waste lagoon.

  12. 12.

    SpaceUnit

    September 17, 2021 at 6:55 pm

    I’m not so sure about this.  I think the greater cause of anti-vax / anti-mask belligerence is simply the fact that early on Trump downplayed and dismissed the threat of Covid 19.  It immediately became republican doctrine to resist efforts to fight the pandemic and to see them as something coming from “the other side”.  It’s just performative tribalism

     

    ETA:  Of course it’s still plenty stupid.

  13. 13.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 17, 2021 at 6:57 pm

    “Stop Calling it a ‘Pandemic of the Unvaccinated.’ Sure, it may be true, but that doesn’t mean it’s productive.”

    Here’s what might FINALLY get the message through: if you show up at an emergency room with COVID symptoms and don’t have the jab card, you get turned away. You’ve made your sovereign choice in not getting the jab, now face the consequences, motherfuckers. Darwin in action. We need this sort of triage to allow people with actual non-stupidity based emergencies, like that kid in Florida with an inflamed appendix in need of being removed but no room in the ICU due to COVIDiots, to get treatment.​​​

  14. 14.

    Jeffro

    September 17, 2021 at 6:59 pm

    @SpaceUnit: yes, all of this.

    Mask-wearing and supporting vaccine mandates are a tacit admission that trumpov downplayed/lied about the virus (“it’s a hoax”…”it’ll all go away by summer (2020!)”…etc etc etc) and therefore is fallible.  Can’t have THAT.

  15. 15.

    Richard

    September 17, 2021 at 6:59 pm

    They are scared, so they go in to this mentality. Their main source of information is Fox news and Facebook.

    They are being brainwashed every day. Never underestimate the power that those media have.

    It breaks my heart. I don’t care how many of their shouting pundits will go screaming to the grave.

    They are disrespectful. They are not good for our community, and they are not good for themselves.

    Who will clean up the mess? Not them! They will be too busy trying to convince the survivors that it is all our fault. No sympathy.

  16. 16.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 17, 2021 at 7:04 pm

    @trollhattan: ​
     Ebola is a pretty scary thing all on its own, as you mentioned, but still, look at the source. Space Unit at 12 definitely is on to something about all this, it feeds into the racism angle (“The Kung-Flu”) and the failure of people to recognize that SOMETIMES “shit happens!” and you need to respond to that and take steps to mitigate. This is fucking Untergang shit with Steiner and his non-existent Army.

  17. 17.

    Richard

    September 17, 2021 at 7:04 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Bill Maher is an asshole. He thinks he’s pretty smart, but i bet he will end up with an empty heart.

  18. 18.

    Brachiator

    September 17, 2021 at 7:04 pm

    Oh, there’s ableist eugenics, too. There’s a lot of handwaving of deaths because of “comorbidities.* The perception is that everyone at risk is useless and has one foot in the grave already, so we may as well let them die off. Nevermind that they’d otherwise have decades left.

    This is a good point. From the beginning, Covid deniers in the US and UK have often been people who are strong on right wing ideology, but painfully weak when it comes to understanding science, math, risk or life expectancy.

    What was initially weird was how openly they expressed their view that keeping the economy running was more important than human life.

    It has also been wild to see the occasional evangelical preacher insist that a good Christian should be eager to want to die early as so not “fear” the virus.

    I was appalled and disgusted at the reverse eugenics of, I believe, the Texas Lt governor, who suggested that only black folk and undocumented people should get vaccinated because good white people could live their lives in ease. It would have been interesting to see Texas work hard to get all nonwhite people vaccinated.

  19. 19.

    dr. bloor

    September 17, 2021 at 7:08 pm

    When you see an unmasked person, or a person half-assing it like their nose is sticking out, then, what they are saying is: “I’m not part of that tribe that gets Covid; I am doing the bare minimum but don’t mistake me for a poor person who fears getting a POC disease”.

    He’s never been to a Home Depot, at least not in my city, where half-assed mask-wearing is a multi-culti affair.  And, as much as I hate to be in the position of Defending Nate Silver, his schtick is Everybody is Worse at Calculating Probabilities Than I Am.  An interesting premise that he undermines by piling on.

  20. 20.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 17, 2021 at 7:08 pm

    @Brachiator: It would have been interesting to see Texas work hard to get all nonwhite people vaccinated.

    Yet it’s something that would never have crossed the pea-brains of the Texass GQp in the first place.

  21. 21.

    Jeffro

    September 17, 2021 at 7:09 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: yes, this absolutely.  Suck down all the ivermectin you want at home, but don’t drag our health care system down with you.  Retweet Nicki Minaj all you like, but we’re going to turn you away at the door of the ER if you can’t breathe but – oopsie!  I guess we didn’t ask nicely enough! – you didn’t get vaccinated.

    Make your choice and live with it.

    A lack of consequences for following trumpov & Co down the rabbit hole is what’s prolonging this stupid pandemic (which, frankly, should have been over with last summer, vaccine or no vaccine).

  22. 22.

    Richard

    September 17, 2021 at 7:14 pm

    @craigie:

    Norway is a small population. We could possibly shut the whole country down and supply them with necessities for even a year or two.

    Meanwhile, the television would be telling us about the Vikings and then after we got tired of that, the television would show us a bunch of vintage film from WWII.

    China is not a country. It is a big place.

  23. 23.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    September 17, 2021 at 7:17 pm

    Question for the jacktariat. There was an anti-mask hubabloo at my local school district a few weeks ago. Only 3 people spoke in favor of keeping the mask mandate for students. The other two dozen people said callous shit like this:

    Disagreeing parents didn’t address the quarantine requirement issue and instead insisted their children shouldn’t have to wear masks, because they’re not “at-risk.”

    “Teachers are the only ones in the classroom that are at-risk,” said parent Dwight McMurray. “Not to sound insensitive, but if masks work and [teachers] have had their immunizations, why are your teachers at risk at all?”

    Also, looney-tunes crap like masks causing co2 poisoning or some such trash.

    The school board is keeping the mandate in place for 20 days and plans to revisit it in a meeting on the 27th.

    So, I was thinking of going to this meeting and speaking my mind to confront them. However, I plan on going nuclear on them, calling them idiots, saying how much I feel sorry for the children of the father who claimed co2 poisoning w/ masks, and just generally calling them all callous assholes who are fine with kids getting sick as long as it’s not their kids.

    Do you all think of this a good idea? It’s how I want to respond to them, but a respiratory therapist who went to the first meeting was confronted by an anti-masker afterwards, who told him the meeting wasn’t for him

  24. 24.

    NotMax

    September 17, 2021 at 7:21 pm

    @trollhattan

    Trivia:

    Ebola was given its name from a river some distance removed from the area where it was first scientifically identified and documented so as not to tar the name of any specific village.

  25. 25.

    dr. bloor

    September 17, 2021 at 7:24 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
    You can find some data for whatever righteous rant you deliver here.
    If they start shitting on the AAP, remind them to share their views with their kid’s pediatrician during their next annual checkup.​

  26. 26.

    Mousebumples

    September 17, 2021 at 7:25 pm

    My super simplified explanation for why even the previously infected need at least 1 shot –

    Imagine you are mugged. When you’re talking to the police, what will you remember about your attacker? Height? Weight? Gender? Eye color? Hair color? Shirt color? If you see the same person again, will you recognize them?

    Your immune system will remember *something* from your infection, but you don’t know that’ll be the spike protein or if it’ll be something way less useful.

    Give your immune system a reminder of the big bad covid. Get your shot.

    Maybe more on topic for downstairs but ?‍♀️

    Suggested amendments welcome. It makes sense in my head, at least!

  27. 27.

    Jeffro

    September 17, 2021 at 7:26 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): don’t go nuclear on them, as much as they deserve it.

    Just point out their 1) inconsistency and 2) callousness:

    1. If masks work, they work for everyone at mitigating the spread to teachers, students, and of course the families that those teachers and students go home to.  If they don’t work…why do doctors wear them in the ER?  Why do sick people in many countries wear them as a matter of course?  It’s a respiratory virus!
    2. Is this a huge imposition?  Is anyone being asked to ‘storm the beaches of Iwo Jima’ here?  Do the kids have a huge issue with it?  Don’t we already have a dress code that for some reason cares about spaghetti straps and offensive words on t-shirts?  Couldn’t we at least, for this year, add a line to that dress code to protect us from this highly contagious and deadly virus?
  28. 28.

    NotMax

    September 17, 2021 at 7:26 pm

    Kansas and Missouri will be the new home to about 2,000 of the first 37,000 refugees resettling in the U.S. after American forces withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban took control. Source

    As if they haven’t been through enough tsuris.

    //

  29. 29.

    dr. bloor

    September 17, 2021 at 7:27 pm

    @NotMax: Good Christ.  A week in Branson and they’ll all be pleading for flights back to Kabul.

  30. 30.

    Shakti

    September 17, 2021 at 7:34 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Practically? If you feel pugnacious you could defend the other people who show up at the meeting to be in favor of mask mandates.  Just round robin defend each other and make it clear it’ll hurt if they try to intimidate, corner or stalk anyone.

    Points:

    • You pay taxes for the schools; you have a right to a say in how they are run.  If they don’t like that, they are welcome to move to a place with no public schools and pay to educate their child solely out of their own pocket, no federal or state money allowed.
    • Community spread in schools causes disruption in schools and teachers don’t grow on trees; the burnout rate was high before covid. Do they want Jimothy to be one of 50 in a classroom?
    • Some teachers have children, do they want to orphan kids?
    • It’s a violation of the ADA to make school inaccessible for immunocompromised and disabled kids. How much are they willing to pony up in additional taxes for the lawsuit the school district will lose if they go no mask?  If they’ve banned peanuts from school, they can wear masks.

     

    Other than that, I’ve got nothing. Such people don’t deserve children.

  31. 31.

    mrmoshpotato

    September 17, 2021 at 7:35 pm

    OT – Oh look. David Fucking Brooks on PBS Snoozehour.

  32. 32.

    ColoradoGuy

    September 17, 2021 at 7:35 pm

    The defining moment of the T**** presidency was him ripping off the mask on the Truman balcony. For his followers, it was Christ ascending into heaven, the Superman who beat the Chinese virus through sheer force of will. This is really how they see him, so being good followers of their Christ-made-flesh, they follow his example … bluster, rage, open racism, and threats to take over “their” God-given country.

    Asking politely is just playing into their game. They see all Democrats as weak, corrupted, and unmanly … Fox tells them so every day. And yes, “other”, not the pure and uncorrupted Real Americans as they see themselves.

  33. 33.

    NotMax

    September 17, 2021 at 7:38 pm

    Spouting from both sides of their [insert orifice of choice here].

    Even Republicans Don’t Believe Their Arguments Against Biden’s Vaccine Mandate

    They’re contradicting themselves on every point. Source

    Time to go long on investing in whiplash collar futures?

  34. 34.

    OGLiberal

    September 17, 2021 at 7:42 pm

    @Jeffro: I read a “journos visit Ohio diner”-like article on cnn.com where they visited some town in Missouri they visited previously and is now getting hit really hard. Low vax rates, of course. They interviewed one guy who said he wasn’t going to get vaccinated because “they shafted my president”. He, of course, had COVID and previously had a kidney transplant. Lucky he survived but he’s still not going to get the shot because “you shafted me out of my president”. When told that Trump had encouraged people to get the vaccine he said he hadn’t heard that and that he didn’t watch the news because ” you’uns have all pissed me off so bad”,.

    It’s it bad for me to wish long COVID on this dickhead?

  35. 35.

    The Dangerman

    September 17, 2021 at 7:44 pm

    I’m being mean to them? Sure, I fantasize about going “where’s the shot”, using “where’s my money” of Stewie and Brian fame as my guide (I’ll let you Google The Family Guy clip), but mean to them? Fuck em.

  36. 36.

    MomSense

    September 17, 2021 at 7:45 pm

    @OGLiberal:

    It’s become a kind of loyalty oath for them.

  37. 37.

    OGLiberal

    September 17, 2021 at 7:48 pm

    @MomSense: Meanwhile, almost all of their political and media heroes/gods are fully vaccinated and have been for quite some time.  But if you tell them that they won’t believe it.

  38. 38.

    Baud

    September 17, 2021 at 7:50 pm

    @OGLiberal:

    they shafted my president”.

     
    And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

  39. 39.

    VeniceRiley

    September 17, 2021 at 7:50 pm

    I get mad at the ones who do the “My body. My choice!” All smug.  They’re the ones forcing women to have an ultrasound wand shoved up the vag. F*CK THEM ALL.

    I wish we could say, “Fine. No shots for you. But you MUST have this giant wand shoved in your ass by a stranger who wants a look-see.”

  40. 40.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 17, 2021 at 7:50 pm

    @planetjanet:

    Exactly, willfully ignorant proudly obstinate tribalism. This whole racism angle is giving these fuck knuckles entirely too much credit. Someone who doesn’t kiss Trump’s ass  is telling them to take a free vaccine and they react as they always do with petulance and tantrums.

  41. 41.

    Jeffro

    September 17, 2021 at 7:51 pm

    @NotMax: this is why when you pin them down on something, they end up sounding like babbling idiots: their only guiding principals are 1) the opposite of whatever Democrats are for, regardless of the cost to themselves and the country, and 2) kneecapping the recovery in order to (they think) kneecap Biden, since they’ve been unable to ding him thus far.

  42. 42.

    Kay

    September 17, 2021 at 7:51 pm

    @Jeffro:

    Is this a huge imposition?  Is anyone being asked to ‘storm the beaches of Iwo Jima’ here?  Do the kids have a huge issue with it?

    I can’t get past that point with them – the truth is I’m furious with them so it’s better I don’t engage at all.
    Not a good messenger- I think they’re whiny and unhelpful and they have yet to say anything I find persuasive. Masks aren’t that big a deal. They should stop complaining.

  43. 43.

    Cermet

    September 17, 2021 at 7:53 pm

    @OGLiberal: No; extra long, in fact.

  44. 44.

    Jeffro

    September 17, 2021 at 7:53 pm

    @OGLiberal: nope, you are excused

    The media could help out/do their jobs here.  Instead of asking Ohio diner patrons why Joe Biden is personally haunting their dreams and dashing their hopes, they could ask, “have you seen this latest clip about Fox News requiring its on-air hosts (and everyone else) to be vaccinated?  That means Tucker and Laura too.  How does that make you feel?”

  45. 45.

    OGLiberal

    September 17, 2021 at 7:55 pm

    @Comrade Colette: Nate Silver seems to be irrationally focused on masks.  Seriously, how much of an inconvenience is to put on a mask when you go out in public?  Schools have dress codes and even a lot of public schools these days have dress codes that say not only what you can’t wear but what you have to wear.  Why is making kids and teachers wear a mask such a fucking stretch.  I’m fully vaccinated, as are my kids and wife.  I wear a mask whenever I go out in public and/or interact with people who aren’t my family.  My life has not grown increasingly difficult because of this.  What is wrong with this people.

  46. 46.

    Jeffro

    September 17, 2021 at 7:55 pm

    @MomSense: it sure is now

    Where, I wonder, should our national snooze media lay the blame for that?  Mr. “it’s all a hoax, it’ll all go away by summer?”  Mr. hydroxychloroquine/ultraviolet light/etc?  trumpov Lite, pushing expensive Regeneron for folks who’ve ALREADY caught the virus instead of free and proven vaccinations BEFORE they catch it?

    Verily, ’tis a mystery to me (and to the snooze media too, apparently)

  47. 47.

    Subsole

    September 17, 2021 at 7:57 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I know a lot of covidiots are using a script. See maybe if you can match one up?

    Maybe play up that these people are being coached? That their arguments are not their own?

    I would undermine them rather than butt heads. Making them sound like muppets will probably weigh more than just shouting. All that gets you is a bunch of people reflexively tuning out the argument as “oh, both sides are so nasty”.

    But you know the room. I don’t.

  48. 48.

    Subsole

    September 17, 2021 at 8:00 pm

     

     

    @Baud: We will likely get the chance in ’24.

  49. 49.

    Subsole

    September 17, 2021 at 8:01 pm

    @Jeffro: But then it would be awkward when tucker is buying them drinks this weekend…

  50. 50.

    OGLiberal

    September 17, 2021 at 8:01 pm

    @Jeffro: Agree. But then a lot of these people think Fox News is the liberal media.  Their news authority is Uncle Frank on Facebook and Reverend Joe at the local Baptist church. (speaking of, the signs outside of one of the Baptist church near my house in NEPA are a hoot)

  51. 51.

    Suzanne

    September 17, 2021 at 8:02 pm

    This is also sexist. Illness is weakness to a lot of dudes. Men refuse to go to the doctor to a much greater degree than women. Toxic masculinity bullshit, of course.

    This pandemic has laid bare every disgusting social pathology we have. As I have noted, this pandemic has made me think very positively about moving out somewhere where no one lives.

  52. 52.

    Suzanne

    September 17, 2021 at 8:05 pm

    @OGLiberal:

    Seriously, how much of an inconvenience is to put on a mask when you go out in public? 

    Um, I kind of hate it. I don’t like wearing them when I work out because they’re hot. Masks worsen my skin breakouts. I still do it because I’m not dumb and I understand risk/reward, but it sucks and I am incredibly pissed that I still have to do it.

  53. 53.

    gwangung

    September 17, 2021 at 8:10 pm

    @Suzanne: Definitely a pain when working out aerobically (not as much of a problem for me when doing weights).

    Strangely, I don’t have any problem with cloth masks in public (the disposable KN95s tend to creep down after a couple hours…)

  54. 54.

    debbie

    September 17, 2021 at 8:11 pm

     

    @Baud:

    This time with a real shaft!

  55. 55.

    Spanky

    September 17, 2021 at 8:13 pm

    @Suzanne:

    As I have noted, this pandemic has made me think very positively about moving out somewhere where no one lives.

    Oh yeah. Like Ted Kosinski did.

    Seriously, that’s where the worst of them live.

  56. 56.

    Ruckus

    September 17, 2021 at 8:13 pm

    @Jeffro:

    I’ve seen toddlers with more sense than any libertarian. Don’t disgrace the act of being young on people not smarter than a dried turd. I mean come on there aren’t many humans that can get less informed and less capable of actual thought than libertarians. Hard right wingers, but I’m not sure they were ever smarter than a block of cheese. Certainly more distasteful.

  57. 57.

    Ruckus

    September 17, 2021 at 8:16 pm

    @SpaceUnit:

    It’s just performative tribalism

    Well yes, but isn’t that what their entire political effort is?

  58. 58.

    dmsilev

    September 17, 2021 at 8:17 pm

    @Suzanne:

    I still do it because I’m not dumb and I understand risk/reward, but it sucks and I am incredibly pissed that I still have to do it.

    Pretty much had exactly this conversation with a coworker the other day. “Yeah, it’s uncomfortable and it’d sure be nice if we didn’t have to wear the things, but we’re not idiots so we wear them.”

    Fortunately, local case rates are trending down nicely, so there’s at least some hope that we’ll get to a level low enough that Public Health says we can take them off inside.

  59. 59.

    Suzanne

    September 17, 2021 at 8:18 pm

    @gwangung: I have been doing hot yoga and wearing a mask during hot yoga sucks. With the mask on, my face sweats so much that it runs up my nose when I’m in downward-facing dog. It’s gross. I still wear it, because I am not a dumbass. But I am sooooo fucking mad that the antivax crew fucked this up. And I have run out of sympathy when they fuck around and find out.

  60. 60.

    Suzanne

    September 17, 2021 at 8:19 pm

    @Spanky: I was thinking somewhere really remote. I started looking at property for sale in the Northwest Territories.

  61. 61.

    Spanky

    September 17, 2021 at 8:25 pm

    ATTENTION PENNSYLVANIANS:

    As of Friday, Pennsylvania’s state-run liquor stores are starting to ration sales of some products. It’s a response to what is being described as a supply shortage.

    The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board alerted its license holders Thursday that two-bottle-per-day limits for some products at state stores will remain in place indefinitely.

    The PLCB cited “sustained supply chain disruptions and product shortages” as the primary cause of restrictions on some 43 items.

    From the Tribune, which I can’t link for some reason.

  62. 62.

    Anoniminous

    September 17, 2021 at 8:25 pm

    @trollhattan: ​
     

    FYI – they have discovered Ebola can go dormant for years and then manifest

    Thought I’d make your day!

    :-)

  63. 63.

    Spanky

    September 17, 2021 at 8:26 pm

    @Suzanne: I hope you really like winters.

  64. 64.

    Ruckus

    September 17, 2021 at 8:27 pm

    @Mousebumples:

    You are trying to talk sense to people who have refused all offers of any sense whatsoever, good, common or bad. Most of them want to be part of the great white hope, which is that they will once again be the only people with any power or money. They fail to realize that they won’t be the ones with the power and the money, that will be the people telling them that it’s the democrats.

  65. 65.

    Suzanne

    September 17, 2021 at 8:30 pm

    @Spanky: Liquor laws in this state are the stupidest thing I have ever seen.

    Of course, I am coming from Arizona, where for quite some time, you could buy guns and liquor at the same store.

  66. 66.

    Starfish

    September 17, 2021 at 8:30 pm

    @craigie: No, all of the “virus is spread by dirty migrants” narratives would fill up the vacuum that is currently filled by anti-Asian racism.

  67. 67.

    dmsilev

    September 17, 2021 at 8:30 pm

    @Suzanne: In the late 70s/early 80s, my dad was really really worried about the prospects for a nuclear war, so he started looking into the feasibility of moving the family somewhere remote. His idea was the Falkland Islands. Nobody would possibly fight a war there, right? My mom still teases him about that, now and again.

  68. 68.

    Suzanne

    September 17, 2021 at 8:30 pm

    @Spanky: I really hate people.

  69. 69.

    Sure Lurkalot

    September 17, 2021 at 8:32 pm

    Any article in the Denver Post about COVID inevitably draws comments that it is only the old, sick and fat people who need to fear/succumb to COVID. That they may have years or decades of life left on their clocks, to be parents, grandparents, siblings, spouses, friends, etc. is never considered.

    As for TFG’s response, I think it is Thom Hartmann who maintains the response was okay until April when it was discovered that it was killing the elderly many of whom were on public support and POC, after which it was “churches open by Easter.” There may be some truth in that.

  70. 70.

    Ruckus

    September 17, 2021 at 8:33 pm

    @Jeffro:

    Most of them don’t think this will affect them. They just think they are better than the disease and that only the poor and minority people will get it. They aren’t like everyone else, just ask them. They have been told for decades that they are great, they are righteous, everyone else are heathens and doubters and the cause of all the worlds problems. That noise you hear is reality biting them in the ass.

  71. 71.

    dmsilev

    September 17, 2021 at 8:37 pm

    @Sure Lurkalot: TFG spent the first few months of the pandemic denying that it existed, which is hardly what I’d call “okay”. Then he acted like he took it seriously for a few weeks, but that didn’t last long.

  72. 72.

    Soprano2

    September 17, 2021 at 8:41 pm

    @dr. bloor: Oh c’mon, Branson is not that bad….. Strangely enough there are lots of Russians in Branson for some reason.

  73. 73.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    September 17, 2021 at 8:42 pm

    @Suzanne:

    So do I sometimes. Especially when you’ve worked in the retail/service industry for any length of time

  74. 74.

    Ken

    September 17, 2021 at 8:45 pm

    @Spanky: As of Friday, Pennsylvania’s state-run liquor stores are starting to ration sales of some products.

    How is this Biden’s fault?

    Let me rephrase; how will the Republicans try to make this Biden’s fault?

  75. 75.

    frosty

    September 17, 2021 at 8:46 pm

    @Suzanne: I’m only a mile from the state line (four miles by road). There are better stores in Maryland, but I have to go to metro Baltimore for those. And some worse ones too.​

  76. 76.

    Suzanne

    September 17, 2021 at 8:51 pm

    @frosty: I can’t find Buffalo Trace. I am sad.

  77. 77.

    SpaceUnit

    September 17, 2021 at 8:51 pm

    @Ruckus:  Yeah.  My point was that with repubs you should never attribute to elaborate reasoning (however racist or ugly) what can be more easily chalked up to thick-headed tribalism.  That first tweet under the header talks about “metaphors for poverty” but these clowns don’t really think like that.  At least not in my experience.

  78. 78.

    OGLiberal

    September 17, 2021 at 8:52 pm

    @Suzanne: Yes, if the no mask lunatics dealt with the minor inconvenience like you are then we might not be talking about masks at all right now.  Also, the reasons the idiots give for not wearing them are not the ones you give, which are understandable but also the types of things you sacrifice for the sake of personal and public health.

  79. 79.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    September 17, 2021 at 8:54 pm

    @Suzanne:

    Ohio is pretty much the same. You can only buy hard liquor in state liquor stores. Those stores aren’t necessarily owned by the state but still control what liquor they receive

  80. 80.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    September 17, 2021 at 9:03 pm

    @dr. bloor:

    I’ll definitely use that, thanks!

    @Jeffro:

    All good advice. I’ll probably still call them idiots tho lol

    @Shakti:

    I especially like the 2nd and 4th points. I’d add that since all children under 12 are unvaccinated and can’t be, they’re basically virus incubators who could create a more dangerous variant that could defeat the current vaccines. Not to mention that pediatric hospitals are in crisis in the state atm

    @Subsole:

    That’s good too! I’ll have to remember to accuse them of being outside agitators lol

  81. 81.

    Suzanne

    September 17, 2021 at 9:05 pm

    @OGLiberal: I am masking until my kids are vaccinated, I think. Fuck this. I really am done. I am very much at the give-up point with all of the precautions.

  82. 82.

    Chetan Murthy

    September 17, 2021 at 9:07 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Goku, you’re a good guy, and we’ve interacted enough that I think I’d enjoy having a drink with you.  Can I just say:

    1. it’s unlikely you’ll change their minds: that’s who they are, and it’s a pity.
    2. it *is* somewhat likely you’ll anger them, and do you really want that in your life?  B/c they may take it out on you.
    3. If you’re going to say something, I would coordinate with others, and stick to the most …. reasonable exposition of the facts, and esp. from your position as a medical worker.

    But more than anything, I would just say that you should try to avoid angering these bastards.  You won’t be improving your chances of getting thru to them, and you will be taking personal physical risk in the process.

    Life’s short, man.  Life’s short.  Don’t go shaking your fist at the tornado: instead, get into your storm shelter.

  83. 83.

    Chetan Murthy

    September 17, 2021 at 9:11 pm

    @Chetan Murthy: Also: the only positive change you can enact, is to convince the school board to continue with masking, etc.  Your being the calm, reasonable, non-confrontational voice in the room, and esp. in concert with others, reinforcing each other, makes that outcome more likely.

    Just to be clear; I’m 100% as angry as you are.  Maybe more.  So I fully understand the …. psychological gratification that would come from ripping these shitbirds’ heads off and shitting down their necks, I really, really do.

  84. 84.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    September 17, 2021 at 9:22 pm

    @Suzanne:

    It’s difficult to get Buffalo Trace for whatever reason at the store’s state liquor agency. I don’t know if it’s because of limited production or just high demand. Probably both

  85. 85.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    September 17, 2021 at 9:25 pm

    @Chetan Murthy:

    I understand what you’re saying, but I never really had any intention of changing the anti-maker minds, just backing up the school board and convincing them to keep the mask mandate. All the while pithily insulting the anti-maskers present

  86. 86.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 17, 2021 at 9:35 pm

    Sweet Jesus watching on as a gang of actual Cockneys beat the ever loving shit out of Dick Van Dyke, here is the British specimen of the magat.

  87. 87.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 17, 2021 at 9:38 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: He’s a regular there.  Which is why it is hot garbage.  Long gone are the days of McNeill and Lehrer, when it was actually a very good alternative to the major networks.  Only Uncle Walter was better.

  88. 88.

    Citizen Scientist

    September 17, 2021 at 9:41 pm

    @Suzanne: Buffalo Trace (and other stuff like my beloved Blanton’s) is in short supply in more places than PA; I know it’s the same in VA, based on my inquiries during a trip there in May.  My local store (in PA) will hold BT and other limited supply whiskey behind the counter, and you have to ask for out to find out if they actually have it.  Might be worth a try in your neck of Penn’s woods.

  89. 89.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 17, 2021 at 9:41 pm

    @OGLiberal: ​
     Todd Starnes was told that the Faux Noise “talent” had all been vaccinated, and it was company policy that ALL employees were vaccinated, and he blurted out “That can’t be true!”

  90. 90.

    Peale

    September 17, 2021 at 9:42 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: is Mark Shields still the “liberal” pundit? He’s been the house liberal since 1788.

  91. 91.

    dnfree

    September 17, 2021 at 9:44 pm

    @Peale: now it’s Capehart.

  92. 92.

    Mike in NC

    September 17, 2021 at 9:49 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: After Mary Poppins, who can blame the Cockneys for hating Dick Van Dyck?

  93. 93.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 17, 2021 at 9:49 pm

    @Peale: ​
     Yeah, Shields is still there, trying to hold the fort against Villager scum like Woodruff.

  94. 94.

    NotMax

    September 17, 2021 at 9:51 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Outgrew Zima?

    :)

  95. 95.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 17, 2021 at 9:57 pm

    @dr. bloor:

    He’s never been to a Home Depot, at least not in my city, where half-assed mask-wearing is a multi-culti affair.

    Being that I’m at the Glendale Home Depot quite a lot(since I’m a Delivery Associate), this is true here as well.

  96. 96.

    Suzanne

    September 17, 2021 at 9:58 pm

    @Citizen Scientist: Every time I go to the liquor store, I ask about it. I don’t go really that often, but sometimes I find myself near one so I pop in to give it a try. Multiple locations have said that they have no idea when they will get it, it just shows up, and it is always gone by midday. So they have instructed me to call DAILY. Which, fuck that and fuck you. I don’t even poop daily.

  97. 97.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 17, 2021 at 9:59 pm

    @Mike in NC: ​ 

    Your outside link got caught in the link to my comment on the thread.

    Anyway, Muslamic Ray Guns for all.

  98. 98.

    KSinMA

    September 17, 2021 at 10:02 pm

    @Suzanne:

     

    @Suzanne: Come on over to New England. Maybe you’d like it. There’s still plenty of open space where your nearest neighbors won’t be human.

  99. 99.

    NotMax

    September 17, 2021 at 10:03 pm

    @Mike in NC

    Van Dyke evidently skimped on the Heineken.

    :)

  100. 100.

    Suzanne

    September 17, 2021 at 10:04 pm

    I should note that I mean fuck the royal you, not any specific yous here.

  101. 101.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 17, 2021 at 10:06 pm

    @NotMax:

    If nothing else, you are one obscure link-dropping motherfucker.

    Well done.

  102. 102.

    James E Powell

    September 17, 2021 at 10:09 pm

    @Jeffro:

    The media could help out/do their jobs here.

    LOL – Never

  103. 103.

    Suzanne

    September 17, 2021 at 10:09 pm

    @KSinMA: I do like New England. I like crusty old bastards, and New England has a lot of those. I like the Maine coast. I like Susan Collins much less.

  104. 104.

    Jay

    September 17, 2021 at 10:09 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Delivery Associate, man that sucks. Worse than Tool Rental or Plumbing. Try to get on the Pro Desk.

  105. 105.

    Sure Lurkalot

    September 17, 2021 at 10:09 pm

    @OGLiberal: @Suzanne:

    I can’t disagree that yoga biking running etc sucks with a mask.

    I went to studio classes until my mid forties when the demands of my job made it stressful to get to. I made a small area in my basement for cardio and free weights. I started running and continued cycling.

    This solution is not for everyone, I do miss the friendships and the routine but there’s no need for a mask.

  106. 106.

    Jay

    September 17, 2021 at 10:10 pm

    @Suzanne:

    cross the border to “The Atlantic Bubble”.

  107. 107.

    James E Powell

    September 17, 2021 at 10:11 pm

    @SpaceUnit:

     It’s just performative tribalism.

    And the tribe is white supremacists.

  108. 108.

    dmsilev

    September 17, 2021 at 10:18 pm

    @KSinMA: 

    Come on over to New England. Maybe you’d like it. There’s still plenty of open space where your nearest neighbors won’t be human.

    I mean, sure, the real estate market in Insmouth is very affordable, but that’s for good reason…

  109. 109.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 17, 2021 at 10:22 pm

    @James E Powell: Prezactly.

  110. 110.

    dnfree

    September 17, 2021 at 10:25 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: no, Shields retired months ago.  It’s Jonathan Capehart now.

    ETA that I just sent another of my periodic emails complaining about Judy Woodruff.  Her interview with the French ambassador was execrable.  “Do you feel betrayed?”

  111. 111.

    John Revolta

    September 17, 2021 at 10:29 pm

    @KSinMA: @KSinMA:

    @Suzanne: Come on over to New England. Maybe you’d like it. There’s still plenty of open space where your nearest neighbors won’t be human.

    This is why it’s dangerous to just drop into a thread wherever. I thought this was a reply to Suzanne two comments before.

    I don’t even poop daily.

    It kinda made sense…………………..

  112. 112.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 17, 2021 at 10:31 pm

    @dnfree: TY for the update on Shields.  Obviously I was not aware, because I gave up on the show when that utter shithead Brooks became a regular.

  113. 113.

    Cameron

    September 17, 2021 at 10:34 pm

    @Spanky: I think local distilleries (of which PA has some very good ones) can sell their products bottled to go; I know a bunch of them have their own barrelhouses.

  114. 114.

    Lyrebird

    September 17, 2021 at 10:44 pm

    @Chetan Murthy: ​
     

    What Chetan said.

    If I tried saying anything, I might add that there are immunocompromised adults, as well, including some teachers and staff. But I would be afraid of saying anything at all.

    I sent a note to the head of our board of ed after some milder anti mask drama, said it was sad but I do not feel safe responding to that in public.

  115. 115.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    September 17, 2021 at 10:45 pm

    @NotMax:

    LOL never!

    But seriously, I’m not a hard liquor, whiskey/bourbon kind of person. I tried Crown Royal Peach and I wasn’t impressed

  116. 116.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    September 17, 2021 at 10:47 pm

    @Suzanne:

    Hey, Suzanne, have I said anything wrong to you?

  117. 117.

    RaflW

    September 17, 2021 at 11:03 pm

    When I’ve expressed twitter outrage that kids have died of Covid in America, and that Republican bullshittery is certainly partly to blame, the ‘comorbidity’ freaks (or, trolls of course) come out of the woodwork. And get blocked.

    Seeing it hereabove called eugenics makes it fit — how the white supremacy clicks together with the nazi-esque urge to jettison the imperfect. And it just makes my stomach churn.

  118. 118.

    Betsy

    September 17, 2021 at 11:05 pm

    @Geminid: Those hog lagoons and industrial swine torture “farms” are almost all located in the most impoverished counties with the highest numbers of oppressed people of color (including many people of mixed black + native tribal background), so you can better believe that when it does happen, a Way will be Found to blame and hate on them.

  119. 119.

    Jeffro

    September 17, 2021 at 11:06 pm

    @Subsole: I’m asking them…nicely…to get awkward.

    Throw it out there, snooze media!  Live dangerously!  Ask. Questions. That. Need. To. Be. Asked.

    “Tucker, is it true you and your family are all vaccinated?  Um sorry dodging behind HIPPA just tells me that they are, and you don’t want to admit it – if you were a proud anti-vaxxer, you’d say so.  Why don’t you want to admit it?”

  120. 120.

    Jeffro

    September 17, 2021 at 11:07 pm

    @OGLiberal: yeah but most RWNJs have drifted back to Fox since it realized it was losing market share to OANN and ramped up the crazy…there’s no mass exodus there…

    Keep chipping away, ask questions, get it down to the Crazification Factor at a minimum.  That’s all I’m asking.  ;)

  121. 121.

    Jeffro

    September 17, 2021 at 11:08 pm

    @Ruckus: fair point.

    Toddlers know when someone’s not pulling their weight, won’t share, won’t play by the rules.

  122. 122.

    Jeffro

    September 17, 2021 at 11:11 pm

    @Ruckus: that, and they just follow whatever their ‘leaders’ tell them, blindly.

    If trumpov told them to put on a mask, they’d do it so quickly that the ones who were driving at the time would probably wreck their cars.

    If he told them to get vaccinated, they’d be beating up pharmacists for not jabbing them quickly enough.

  123. 123.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 17, 2021 at 11:16 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I tried Crown Royal Peach

    Why would you do that?

  124. 124.

    Betsy

    September 17, 2021 at 11:23 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: He tweeted it. Then deleted it once he started to get ratioed. There are screenshots out there.

  125. 125.

    Fake Irishman

    September 17, 2021 at 11:27 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    One thing I haven’t seen people giving you advice mention is that you should organize a few friends (yes, yes I know, we’re jackals, we don’t have friends that don’t have four legs) who live locally  to come speak with you. But let’s say you get three friends to come with you and they each can get two more. That will go a long way to even the odds. Is there some one in the PTA you trust? Any students or alums you know? Some one in your book club or writing circle, or gamer coven or bird watching group or quilting guild? If you’re really desperate, is there a lurker on this blog? There is power in numbers. Show up with 50 folks speaking calmly who live locally and you will marginalize the buffoons. Even showing up with 3 or 4 may give the school board some spine.

    Together we have agency.

    Solidarity!

  126. 126.

    Jay

    September 17, 2021 at 11:31 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    got a bottle of Captain Morgan Spiced Rum as a thank you.

    Nonna got locked out of her apartment, needed her meds, landlord would be there in 6 hours, daughter was freaked.

    We were across the hall, 6th floor, so from the patio, climbed onto the roof, downclimbed to her patio, opened the cracked patio door, pet her cat, opened Nonna’s door,

    Got the gift of spiced rum the next day, drank it in gratitude.

    Never again, the spiced rum that is.

  127. 127.

    Jay

    September 17, 2021 at 11:32 pm

    @Fake Irishman:

    love your reply, Community vs. morons.

  128. 128.

    Fake Irishman

    September 17, 2021 at 11:34 pm

    @Chetan Murthy:

    And I didn’t give you credit for advocating I. 82  what I advocated in comment 125. Consider this a citation.

  129. 129.

    Fake Irishman

    September 17, 2021 at 11:37 pm

    @Jay:

    thanks! I love your pithy summing up.

    And having a lot of the community there communicates a silent but very clear threat the Morons are outnumbered and not wanted. They tend to slink away or look a lot more ridiculous and a lot less scary.

  130. 130.

    Chetan Murthy

    September 17, 2021 at 11:39 pm

    @Fake Irishman: Ehh, actually, I think you did a great job of pointing out the importance of numbers.  It’s a separate and important consideration: as you put it, you want to show up as a mass, and not just because the school board will remember it, but also, I’d say, b/c there’s safety in numbers.  You don’t want to be one of only a few, b/c the bastards might feel emboldened.  Show up as fifty, and that won’t happen.

  131. 131.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 17, 2021 at 11:44 pm

    @Betsy: ​
     They never learn that the Internet is forever, do they?

  132. 132.

    frosty

    September 17, 2021 at 11:46 pm

    @Suzanne: We’ve ordered stuff and had it delivered to the local state shore. Give that a try.

    Also, some are bigger than others. The one in York is easily 2x or 3x bigger than the local one next to Walmart. I expect they’d have Buffalo Trace.

  133. 133.

    JAFD

    September 17, 2021 at 11:48 pm

    The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is either the first or second largest buyer of drinking alcohol in the world (the Ontario system is the other). If they can’t get as much as they want to sell, it’s a worldwide shortage.  Probably not enuf was laid down to age X years ago…

    I think I’m a reasonably prudent man, and was jabbed back in Jan/Feb. Usually, if I’m outside and more than 5 yards from anyone not in a vehicle, I pull my mask down to breath easier.  Am I wrong ?

    Have great weekend, fellow jackals !

  134. 134.

    Miss Bianca

    September 17, 2021 at 11:51 pm

    @Jeffro:  except Trump did tell the faithful to get vaccinated at one of his recent rallies, and got booed for it. I think Trumpenstein’s monster has definitely broken out of the lab.

  135. 135.

    Another Scott

    September 17, 2021 at 11:51 pm

    That was fast…

    Major new Bat sarbecovirus discovery in horseshoe bats in Laos. A virus with a spike protein containing an RBD only 2 amino acids different from Wuhan SARS CoV2 and uses hACE2 as efficiently

    So now this is definitive. There is nothing unnatural or “uniquely adapted” about SARS2

    — Stuart Neil (@stuartjdneil) September 17, 2021

    (via CherylRofer)

    Preprint:

    Abstract

    The animal reservoir of SARS-CoV-2 is unknown despite reports of various SARS-CoV-2-related viruses in Asian Rhinolophus bats, including the closest virus from R. affinis, RaTG13. Several studies have suggested the involvement of pangolin coronaviruses in SARS-CoV-2 emergence. SARS-CoV-2 presents a mosaic genome, to which different progenitors contribute. The spike sequence determines the binding affinity and accessibility of its receptor-binding domain (RBD) to the cellular angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor and is responsible for host range. SARS-CoV-2 progenitor bat viruses genetically close to SARS-CoV-2 and able to enter human cells through a human ACE2 pathway have not yet been identified, though they would be key in understanding the origin of the epidemics. Here we show that such viruses indeed circulate in cave bats living in the limestone karstic terrain in North Laos, within the Indochinese peninsula. We found that the RBDs of these viruses differ from that of SARS-CoV-2 by only one or two residues, bind as efficiently to the hACE2 protein as the SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan strain isolated in early human cases, and mediate hACE2-dependent entry into human cells, which is inhibited by antibodies neutralizing SARS-CoV-2. None of these bat viruses harbors a furin cleavage site in the spike. Our findings therefore indicate that bat-borne SARS-CoV-2-like viruses potentially infectious for humans circulate in Rhinolophus spp. in the Indochinese peninsula.

    Which, of course, means that there are more viruses out there… SCMP:

    Covid-19 has been called a “once in a century” pandemic, but new research suggests that the kind of event thought to have sparked its outbreak – the spillover of a bat virus to people – is more common than previously known.

    Some 400,000 people across Southeast Asia and southern China may be infected by Sars-related bat coronaviruses on average each year, though most infections go undetected and may not spread, according to research from a team of emerging infectious disease specialists.

    “It seems like a huge number, but when you think about the number of people that live in that region – it’s hundreds of millions of people with a very active wildlife trade, high exposure to wildlife and tens of millions of bats flying out every night … and eventually you get infected,” co-author Peter Daszak said.

    […]

    I see bats flittering above our NoVA streets on our evening walks this time of year…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  136. 136.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    September 17, 2021 at 11:52 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Heh, because I wanted to see why it was so popular. People love it for some reason

  137. 137.

    NotMax

    September 17, 2021 at 11:57 pm

    @frosty

    Ah, York. No one who passes by can miss the giant weightlifter (who is rotating again, word has it, after restoration).

  138. 138.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 17, 2021 at 11:58 pm

    This thread, if nothing else, is a shining example of the lengths Americans will go to secure their liquor.

    We fought the law for this shit.

  139. 139.

    NotMax

    September 18, 2021 at 12:13 am

    @HumboldtBlue

    Never tasted it (and linked to the video some years back) — Ryan Reynolds’ initial ad for Aviation gin is, IMHO, a classic of tongue superglued in cheek.

    :)

  140. 140.

    brantl

    September 18, 2021 at 12:21 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Get yourself a crowd of supporters, and when the anti-maskers/vaxxers confront you, confront them with your crowd (politely, but firmly).

  141. 141.

    brantl

    September 18, 2021 at 12:23 am

    @Mousebumples:Suggested amendments welcome. It makes sense in my head, at least!

     

    It isn’t scientifically accurate.

  142. 142.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 18, 2021 at 12:24 am

    @NotMax: ​ 

    There’s always something funky out there.

  143. 143.

    NotMax

    September 18, 2021 at 12:28 am

    @HumboldtBlue

    (open George Takei)

    Oh, my.

    (close George Takei)

  144. 144.

    Kayla Rudbek

    September 18, 2021 at 12:29 am

    @Another Scott: thanks for the link! I sent it to Mr. Rudbek because he’s been talking about the possibility that this was a lab escape…he worked in biotech/medical research labs but that was nearly twenty years ago now….

  145. 145.

    brantl

    September 18, 2021 at 12:30 am

    @VeniceRiley: Make it a giant ultraviolet light bulb, and they’ll be begging for it!

  146. 146.

    James E Powell

    September 18, 2021 at 12:36 am

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Funky, but chic

  147. 147.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 18, 2021 at 12:55 am

    @James E Powell: ​ 

    Chic. But funky.

  148. 148.

    James E Powell

    September 18, 2021 at 1:07 am

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Nile Rodgers telling the story of that song. He’s a treasure.

  149. 149.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 18, 2021 at 1:27 am

    @James E Powell: ​ 

    Brilliant.

  150. 150.

    yellowdog

    September 18, 2021 at 3:59 am

    @JAFD: I wear a mask to walk the dog and I usually don’t get within 20 feet of anyone. Obviously, YMMV.

  151. 151.

    Uncle Cosmo

    September 18, 2021 at 9:42 am

    @frosty: Jeebus fracking cripes, chillguy, if you’re just a mile north of the M-D line, how hard is it to drive down to Total Wine & Liquor (Loch Raven Blvd and I-695) & load up the trunk once a week? First-world problem IMHO.

    (NB I have even bought a 6pack of authentic Czech Budweiser there – it was sold as “Czechvar”. Beat the living crap [serprize serprize] out of the equine urine bottled in St. Louis. “Brewed in České Budějovice” [the Czech version of the German “Budweis”] on the side of the carton is the tell.)

  152. 152.

    Mart

    September 18, 2021 at 2:28 pm

    This was a very helpful to me as I noticed (along with some reporters) a shift to getting serious about the disease around March/April 2020 by Fox and TFG (as much as he can muster serious). Around then a report came up that it was killing very old folks and the blahs, and poof, back to no big deal.

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