Awful. Just horrible.

The Massie family is disturbed as well as acting disturbing. No one needs that much fire power short of being in law enforcement or the military. They will probably say thaey are "hunters" and again, anyone who uses that much fire power to hunt is a "murderer" not a hunter to quote a hunter friend of mine who uses a bow to hunt. There is no sport in mowing down a deer or any other game animal. Sorry I am antigun and use to beat the crap out of my brothers when they pointed cap pistols at me.

My BIL is an avid hunter (keeps the freezer stocked with venison) and lifelong NRA member. (He even gave my niece a lifelong membership when she was born--she may be the only Jewish princess I know who's both a DAR & NRA member, though she never uses either membership). He owns only single-shot rifles, which he keeps locked up in a gun safe. He says that anyone who needs an AR-15 or any other semi-automatic weapon to kill a deer or duck is too stupid to be allowed to own a gun.

Watching Fareed Zakaria this a.m., and am totally frustrated by ultra-progressives' increasingly simplistic binary thinking. (I expect that mindset from GQP-ers, but--and I hate to use this expression, which has backfired on us so often--I thought we on the left were "better than that"). Once again, he's parroting the WHO's line that we're "hoarding" vaccines while the Third World suffers. Yes, we and the EU (and, BTW, South Aftrica) have a surplus of vaccine doses and haven't completely fulfilled our donation pledges. But we still have donated as much as the UK, EU, and China combined. (What's China's excuse)? If it's "immoral" to administer boosters, what are we supposed to do? 50 million doses of that stockpile will expire by Dec. 31--long before they can safely reach poor countries; were we to ship them tomorrow they would still not be administered in time because the target nations lack proper storage, distribution logistics, and personnel to administer them. Are we supposed to let that happen to assuage our collective guilt, while we halt booster shots for our most vulnerable (as well as, by implication, making sure as many Americans as possible get vaccinated, period)?

When we board an airplane, the safety lecture ("Stations of the Crash") admonishes us that when oxygen masks drop from the ceiling, we should don our own first before assisting others, precisely so we can be in a position to help. And the flaw with anti-abortion laws that lack life-of-the-mother exemptions--even those forbidding late-term abortions--is that if the mother dies during her pregnancy, so does the fetus. Yes, it's true that the fewer people worldwide who are vaccinated, the longer the pandemic will last--perhaps at best perpetually endemic. But WHO's insistence that we fall on our swords rather than have enough of us be in a position to volunteer to combat undervaccination both here & abroad is the functional equivalent of insisting we put others' oxygen masks on them before donning our own, or attempt to carry a pregnancy to term that would kill both mother and baby. (I'd say it's "shortsighted" but I'm sure some knee-jerker would label that expression, and me. as "ableist").

Where are the freezers, refrigerated trucks, syringes, distribution systems, national/provincial/local logistical frameworks, syringes, training, and personnel? And most importantly--here & abroad--where is the forceful public education to overcome disinformation spread amongst those worldwide who must rely on cellular data & therefore social media and rumor for all their "information?" Without all that, donating vaccines might as well consist of merely dumping boxes of them on the tarmac in Africa & Asia.

This is why I dropped the "How has the Pandemic..." thread from "My Favorites." A few of the Canadians (not you, pingpong) there have hijacked the thread to pile on to the USA as selfish & evil for giving boosters while poor countries are grossly unvaccinated, allowing variants to develop & spread. I'm so frustrated by those who are so doctrinaire (and dare I say, smugly self-righteous) about all sorts of things, not just vaccines: veganism vs. omnivores, drinking almond milk (because growing almonds is water-intensive), contending bicyclists should be exempt from traffic & safety laws because they're "non-polluters," wearing only natural-fiber clothing made either in US union shops or by Third World womens' cottage industries financed by international charities, yada yada.

Hate to sound like the proverbial (not literal) "Karen," but it's exasperating to see so many people refusing to acknowldege complicating factors and extenuating circumstances that confound simplistically sanctimonious (il)logic. It's so much easier to check off boxes of ideologically-correct personal behaviors and condemn those who leave any of those boxes "unticked." I wonder if they, even Greta Thunberg, heat their dwellings with anything other than wind or solar power, use lights (electric, cobalt-intensive battery flashlights, or burn candles) in the darkness, recharge their devices, wash their clothes with anything other than a rock and a riverbank, and eat nothing but raw vegetables they only grow themselves or forage.

There's a hilarious song by the Madison, WI humor-folk duo Lou & Peter Berryman titled "Uncle Dave's Grace." Its protagonist ("he reads The Progressive, which makes him depressed") has been invited to say grace at Thanksgiving dinner--but proceeds to do so by guilt-tripping the guests over cruelly mistreated turkeys, exploited and pesticide-sickened grape-pickers, lead & other dangerous elements in their glasses & chandeliers & lightbulbs, clothing made from petrochemicals by child labor in sweatshops, pollution from heating homes with fossil fuels and firewood, etc. The narrators conclude by asking what we should do: "Go without food, in the nude, in a cave...or next year have someone say grace besides Dave"? I know of (and know personally) few performing artists more socially-conscious than the Berrymans--they at least can see below the veneer of ideological perfection to the realities that lie beneath.

One more bit of rant: guess where immunologists now concede Omicron first emerged, before South African scientists first publicly identified it? Europe--especially the Netherlands & Germany (largest source of travelers to their formerly-controlled southern African nations such as SA, Botswana, Namibia, etc.) and the UK (Zimbabwe, Nigeria, etc.).

And a tiny ray of hope (not a certainty nor even a probability) is that thus far, almost none (at least none of them in the U.S.) of the reported Omicron cases have required hospitalization, and the few that have did not result in death or require ICU admission and resulted in much shorter stays. The Omicron+ cases have been asymptomatic or relatively mild and of much shorter duration than those caused by Delta (still 99.9% of US cases) and its predecessors, despite Omicron being incontrovertibly more transmissible & thus easier to catch. (One MN patient had been fully-vaccinated and allegedly "recently received a booster;" but nobody is saying how "recently," which type of booster he received, nor the strength of the dose. And by the time his test came back Omiron+, he had already recovered).

It makes sense that a more transmissible virus is seemingly paradoxically less deadly or even causes less serious disease. The evolutionary "goal" of a virus (a stretch, because it cannot "think" and form intentions) is survival. To survive, it must replicate. To replicate, it needs a non-immune living host. The more people it kills, the fewer it can potentially infect and therefore--also taking into account the immune--the more impaired its ability to replicate and spread. So yes--we should be concerned; but to quote CDPH Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady (a paragon of caution in a nation of mitigation-spurning officials), "the sky is not falling."

This is no surprise to us:

Study: Risk of dying from COVID 50% higher in red states

UNDATED (WKRC/CNN Newsource) - People who live in states that voted for Donald Trump are at a 50% higher risk of dying from COVID-19.

That's according to a new CNN analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University, which shows a direct parallel between low vaccination rates and higher death rates in individual states.

Pro-Trump red states had a 52% higher average of COVID-19 deaths per capita than blue states, researchers found.

That mirrors the vaccination rate data, which showed that 4 in 10 republicans remain unvaccinated, compared to just 1 in 10 democrats.

The five states with the highest per capita death rates -- Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, and West Virginia -- all went for Trump in the 2020 election.

Meanwhile, the death rates in blue states, where vaccination rates are higher, have significantly declined since vaccines were made available.

Agree that the ranting about the US not providing vaccine to Canada in a timely manner was (on "How has the Pandemic..."), and is getting on my nerves. I don't have all the facts about the supply to Canada but know that I was unable to get the vaccine when first released until the middle of March even though I was considered high risk and over 70. I tried enrolling on several sites and read stories of others travelling up to 4 hours to another county (with low populations) to get theirs. Some administrative idiot decided to do those counties first and many were clearly "red" and not the least bit interested in getting the vaccine while the more heavily populated counties were scrambling to get it. I have physicians in two major health care systems and had to wait for one of them to reach out to me to get the first in March, second in April, and then booster in October right before I had my surgery. I had also registered with the county health department but never got a call from them or an email to register for the vaccine. My rheumatologist put my name on the "high risk" list and I think that was what got me the March appointment.

So if you are Canadian and read this, do not take offense but we needed to meet the needs of our population first. Your issue is with the manufacturers and yet, it seems we are the target for your wrath. I don't feel selfish about receiving my vaccine and will not let you guilt me because we had first access. Your distribution system seems to be a problem as well and I would suggest you focus your wrath on the pitfalls of your health care system. Apparently it is not all it is cracked up to be.

I, too, dropped the pandemic thread and hope the argument does not get transferred to another thread. I was truly interested in how folks have been impacted by the pandemic and was sorry to see the thread veer off topic.

Just read this this a.m. on my Mashup MD (medical-journal-aggregator) e-mail news feed:

https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/1...

It finds that a 6-7 week, not 3-4 week interval between the initial and second mRNA shot may generate more and more durable antibodies & coronvirus-specific T-cells. I remember that after my first Moderna the handout said to get my second shot no sooner than 28 but up to 42 days later. Had I known then what I know now....

Of course, the flip side of that is possibly a longer window of vulnerability to community transmission in the interim, if exposed and not masked.

But a warning about Mashup MD--it also includes articles with sensationalist headlines like (just this morning) "is natural immunity equal or superior to vaccine-generated immunity?" Click through, and you will find the author is Dr. Marty Markary--the WSJ's right-wing medical "shill." Caveat lector.

If we could get vaccines against Boebert and MTG, we'd still need an enema against McConnell.

Or how many, in what order?

First of all thanks for all the mentions caused by my sudden departure from one of the finest threads on B.C. Org. It has been quite a haul, but I'm doing well and have been home for two days from Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. Now all I have to do is hope they don't re-possess my new mitral pig valve. I started out in Carbondale, Illinois, was home for a very slight few days then transported by ambulance to Barnes.

Turns out, I my mitral valve would neither open fully, or fully close. No question that something had to be done. I've a lot of recuperating to do but hopefully I will start find the quotes that everyone seems to like so much. All of you were so missed. One of the highlights of my day is spending time with my feelings, thoughts, and ideas where I feel so understood. Love to all.

SPECIAL NOTE to April. I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your husband. I truly cannot imagine so many of these things. Our loved ones complete us. I pray your healing goes on and that the best of memories is able to take most of your pain.

Welcome back and glad to hear you’re on the mend

Jackie, you have been very much missed. So good to hear from you and know you are now post surgery and working on recovery/rehab. Praying for a smooth recovery. Keep on taking care of yourself, so glad you have family there with you.

Jackie, so happy and relieved to read your post! Best wishes for speedy and complete recovery. Do as the doctor orders! ❤ ❤

So glad to see that you're doing better, Jackie. You were very much missed. This is usually the first thread I check each morning, and it just wasn't the same without you.

Trish

Thanks once again to all. I was missing all of you I think as much as you were missing me.

I've been trying to keep up with the current state of affairs ( often hideous ) as I hear talk of the Reps. working hard in order to try to get many guarantees in place to make sure that they can take the next election away from anyone they want too. My disgust knows no bounds. Guess I should at least be happy they are all being so transparent. Still I am sad for all the lost ground and the feeling of security ( even when I didn't care for the party in power ) that I was able to have.

Hopefully, when the time comes we on this side will be as ready and able to see that WE get the outcome and results we want and deserve through another fair election.