COVID explained

[Maddy]

A conspiracy, legally speaking, refers to two or more people acting in concert to further an unlawful objective. My observation, having been in the field of litigation for several decades, is that people rarely pursue illegal ends in isolation. Illegal acts generally involve a degree of complexity and a whole trail of actors who enable one another both practically and psychologically and who cover up one another's dirty deeds.

Why should admitting the world works in this way carry such a demeaning implication? Are those who constantly berate the opinions of others by screaming "Conspiracy theory!" simply ignorant of reality or are they just hell-bent on shutting up those people with whom they disagree?

There are certain culturally-resonant terms whose sole purpose is to shut down discussion. One is "Racist." Another is "Conspiracy theory." Don't pull that shit on me and not expect to get called on it.

[SomeDude]

Are those who constantly berate the opinions of others by screaming "Conspiracy theory!" simply ignorant of reality or are they just hell-bent on shutting up those people with whom they disagree?

Just assume it's 50-50, that's close enough. Either way, if you're talking with someone that ignorant of reality or hell-bent on shutting you up, it's best to stop talking to them.

The enemy will say things like "We need to keep talking to each other, and work together, and be nice, and just put these handcuffs on, and get in the van, yeah that's nice right there".

Nope. Patriots and freedom lovers need to stop engaging in debate with the other side and start clearing out the traitors in our ranks. At this point anyone talking about how bad the protesters are or saying that even if there was fraud we should just go along with it all......is a traitor and worse than any dem, liberal, communist etc.

[Xan]

Patriots and freedom lovers need to stop engaging in debate with the other side and start clearing out the traitors in our ranks. At this point anyone talking about how bad the protesters are or saying that even if there was fraud we should just go along with it all......is a traitor and worse than any dem, liberal, communist etc.

SomeDude, this is a discussion forum. You're welcome to go cleaning out your own ranks somewhere else, but here, we don't and can't do anything BUT engage in debate.

[SomeDude]

Patriots and freedom lovers need to stop engaging in debate with the other side and start clearing out the traitors in our ranks. At this point anyone talking about how bad the protesters are or saying that even if there was fraud we should just go along with it all......is a traitor and worse than any dem, liberal, communist etc.

SomeDude, this is a discussion forum. You're welcome to go cleaning out your own ranks somewhere else, but here, we don't and can't do anything BUT engage in debate.

Xan....i would never imply not debating here....

I'll be more clear....

Debate with "the other side" on THIS forum is great idea, but should be engaged for entertainment purposes and no one should get riled up over it. This is the internet. When it comes to your personal life.....i would suggest freedom loving patriots save their time and blood pressure and political activism be geared towards cleaning our own ranks. Lots of snakes in the grass.

[Kriegsspiel]

Maybe this is something.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's weekly influenza surveillance tracker reports that the cumulative positive influenza test rate from late September into the week of Dec. 19 stands at 0.2% as measured by clinical labs. That's compared to a cumulative 8.7% from a year before.

The weekly comparisons are even starker: This week one year ago, the positive clinical rate was 22%, where now it stands at 0.1%.
link

[SomeDude]

Maybe this is something.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's weekly influenza surveillance tracker reports that the cumulative positive influenza test rate from late September into the week of Dec. 19 stands at 0.2% as measured by clinical labs. That's compared to a cumulative 8.7% from a year before.

The weekly comparisons are even starker: This week one year ago, the positive clinical rate was 22%, where now it stands at 0.1%.
link

I'm sure it's another kooky conspiracy theory and the spike in covid cases couldn't possibly just be the normal flu.

Hopefully we get a federal mandate from Joe Biden to not walk out of our homes without masks for 100 days. Then 200. Then forever.

He is the most popular man in American history after all.

[Hal]

Are those who constantly berate the opinions of others by screaming "Conspiracy theory!" simply ignorant of reality or are they just hell-bent on shutting up those people with whom they disagree?

Just assume it's 50-50, that's close enough. Either way, if you're talking with someone that ignorant of reality or hell-bent on shutting you up, it's best to stop talking to them.

The enemy will say things like "We need to keep talking to each other, and work together, and be nice, and just put these handcuffs on, and get in the van, yeah that's nice right there".

Nope. Patriots and freedom lovers need to stop engaging in debate with the other side and start clearing out the traitors in our ranks. At this point anyone talking about how bad the protesters are or saying that even if there was fraud we should just go along with it all......is a traitor and worse than any dem, liberal, communist etc.

Personally, I quite like the Stoic attitude. Marcus Aurelius, as Emperor of Rome, had to deal with the bad side of human nature on steroids.
The approach I try to take is ask yourself not what we should do, but what I should do.

Have a read of the link if you wish....
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/marcus-aurelius/
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2680

[WiseOne]

Maybe this is something.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's weekly influenza surveillance tracker reports that the cumulative positive influenza test rate from late September into the week of Dec. 19 stands at 0.2% as measured by clinical labs. That's compared to a cumulative 8.7% from a year before.

The weekly comparisons are even starker: This week one year ago, the positive clinical rate was 22%, where now it stands at 0.1%.
link

Super interesting....

There are two explanations I can think of. One is that lockdowns actually work to prevent flu - despite all the WHO studies saying otherwise - while failing to prevent COVID. That's just a bit inexplicable.

The other is that hospitals are concentrating on testing for COVID and so they don't have the bandwidth to think about testing for the flu. Or the interest in it. Note that the care pathway and the natural progression for both these conditions are more or less the same, apart from a couple of COVID-specific drugs, and there's no reimbursement incentive for a flu case. So a flu test isn't particularly impactful.

[Tortoise]

The other is that hospitals are concentrating on testing for COVID and so they don't have the bandwidth to think about testing for the flu. Or the interest in it. Note that the care pathway and the natural progression for both these conditions are more or less the same, apart from a couple of COVID-specific drugs, and there's no reimbursement incentive for a flu case. So a flu test isn't particularly impactful.

Why WiseOne, you sound like a conspiracy theorist! Do you work for Alex Jones?

A question I often pose to various people but never get any responses to is this: If every person who tested positive for Covid had also been tested for the flu at the same time, how many of them would have tested positive for both?

If we have no way of guessing the answer, isn't anyone interested in performing that simple experiment?