leh-nerd skin-erd

Did you survive?

The problem is this goes one step further than that. I can understand non-interested folks not really paying attention to politics and something like the Russia hoax. People are busy and you outlined one of the reasons people dont bother. I'm talking about people who care enough to be engaged but believe it's 100% appropriate to weaponize intelligence, f around with FISA, and oust a president they disagree with. We've all engaged with these people before, and these were the same people lead around by the nose screaming "Worse than watergate!" when Obama started the scam and never understanding it was, they just had the wrong perspective.

How many deaths would you think come from mass protests? You’re running the daily death toll, you seem very dialed in to the crisis, must have an opinion?

Thanks for replying, but we'll have to agree to disagree. The reality is that the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, for all the good that followed, it occurred half-a-century ago. Our country today is not the country of the 1960s, and our ability to connect almost instantaneously dwarves the communication at that time. The mass notification to the hundreds of thousands of protestors that they are risking the lives of themselves and they know via Facebook, Insta, Tik Tok, and loudspeaker could certainly include "We Stand With You, But A Whole Hell of a Lot of You are Going to Be Infected and Die from COVID 19" if necessary. The theory that the outdoor nature of the protests somehow magically prevents wide scale transmission if the intellectual equivalent of suggesting we don't need security features on airliners--we really just need to close the door to the cockpit. It's silly and no offense intended, but it borders on the moronic. Some in the crowd are screaming, crying, yelling, tearful, physical--and the spittle surely flies and again--they all arrive from somewhere, somehow. I've come to the conclusion that while the virus is dangerous, we're all being played. Or, maybe the political leaders actually want protestors infect and dying for any number of reasons. Thanks for the feedback though--you're a good egg.

I don't wear a mask walking the dog, through a parking lot, at work when clients are not in. I do wear a mask when there is any person in my field of vision, when I enter stores, and when I'm setting treasured national monuments ablaze. ?

I'm trying, I really am. I just revert back to what I know to be true: Individual enterprises can be honest and truthful, but when you look at the massive amounts of money changing hands, there are inevitably organizations that do not follow the ethical path. Hospitals are sales organizations, they just sell different products than Chipolte. I'm sorry to hear you lost a friend (I have a friend who at age 54 was admitted to the hospital 4 days after I saw him--both maskless---in the early COVID days--he had a tough go but survived, no underlying health issues), and certainly would attribute your friend's death to COVID. I am aware of a story where a friend in end stage cancer who was on hospice tested positive for COVID, and his death subsequently attributed to COVID. I'd think that death was due to catastrophic organ failure that began before COVID was even a thought in our minds. Some people like to control other people. It's a story as old as humanity. It makes zero sense for a governor shutting down a state, destroying people's financial and emotional lives as they comply to NOT scream to the high heavens "COVID SPREADS AMONG PROTESTORS. STAY AT HOME. STAY AWAY. YOU'RE KILLING PEOPLE!". Either the dead don't matter, or we're being manipulated for political gain. We agree on the police though--so that's something.

I understood. You're suggesting that not one of the hundreds of thousands of people attending protests found anything out "the hard way". Because they were outside. 6' apart. Masked up. And arrived by transporter like in the old Star Trek show. Mmmmmm'kay.

Which is markedly different than 'safe'.

First--thanks for the honest reply. In the interest of full disclosure, I've read more than a few of your posts on various subjects and often wondered if you should add 'cranky' to your screen name. ? I don't think we would agree on many issues, but I respect the fact that you took the time to reply. As noted earlier, people with all sorts of opinions on the governmental shut down of our economy seem to develop alligator arms when I inquire on this issue. I'm not a scientist, but really enjoy watching the behavior of those suggesting XXX for the masses and operating on a YYY basis (this is the extent of my dive into data). With that in mind, here's some feedback: I think when you mix fear, medicine, salvation and money, there is a tendency for those in power to attempt to grab more power. In this case, fear is (you're going to die or at least kill everyone around you!), medicine (the science behind covid), salvation (you--individually, submit to THE order to save you and everyone around you!), and money (COVID is making lots of people and enterprises lots of money), there is a high likelihood of abuse by those in power; I think COVID is serious and needs to be taken as such, but we've transitioned from common sense to abuse of power to smother the economy for political purposes; There seems to be room for debate about approach and the science behind successfully navigating the COVID outbreak, but those who speak out against the lockdown of the economy are branded deniers. Same as it ever was. So using the 150,000+ COVID deaths, in your guesstimate 7,500 - 15,000 deaths resulted from COVID. Based on a quick Google search, that number represents between 10.1% and 21.1% of the population of the Town of Tonawanda...and no politician, health provider or social do-gooder is out sounding a massive alarm about the dangers these protests pose? In the neighborhood I grew up in, I'd think if you walked down the street and found a dead body in the driveway of every 5th house, it would be considered newsworthy. The second point on all this. Just using some anecdotal numbers, I'd say a minimum of 10-15% of the people I encounter out and about are not following the instructions listed on the mask box in English/Spanish/German and French. I see noses exposed, breach of mask on either side, non-compliant masks and the like. In other words, mask discipline is sorta suspect. So, in a gathering of 25,000 people packed tightly together in a highly emotional and charged state, assuming a 10% mask discipline issue, that's 2500 people around all sorts of bodily fluids, droplets and aerosols. They disturb the mask to catch a better breath, they rub and pick their nose, wipe sweat from their face and flick it about, they drink fluids to stay hydrated, and quite likely a substantial % seek hydration from a communal source. I'd be the number is substantially higher (maybe closer to 50% over a 5 or 6 hour protest) but this works for now. So, let's assume 2,500 people lacking mask discipline each encounter 25 people people in there social group in the immediate days after a protest...well, that's a substantial exposure imo. Third point. Protests are not spontaneous in many cases, it's not like 5 individuals gathered a on street corner suddenly start a protest. The individuals protesting arrive at a location by many means of transport---walking, riding a bus, personal auto, rental cars, train, plane, UHaul box trucks, riding a bike. Along the way there, and on the way 'home', they use public facilities, transportation, food stores, McDonalds, thruway rest stops and encounter all sorts of people unaffiliated with the protests just trying to make a living. They go to Walmart, Target, a restaurant to eat, 7-11 and Wegmans. They engage, eat, sleep, drink, vomit, excrete, copulate and so on--hopefully not in that order. Here's my point. Personally, I think you are extraordinarily low on your estimates. It makes no sense to me. Be that as it may, our elected leaders advise us under threat of law and financial ruin that 25,000 people gathering pose little risk, but 12 family members spending time together over Memorial Day represents 2 too many. They tell us that droplets dodge protestors packed like sardines on a public street, but that business owners will be crushed if they have more than 15 people in a place rated for 50 unless they serve Super-sized Nachos with the beer the customer ordered. They tell us church services must be suspended or moved on line, but applaud 40 unmasked MomsAgainstSomeStuff linked arm and arm. In the end, assuming you are correct, it would appear the 7,500-15,000 dead is a price worth paying to defund the police. That number will surely rise to God knows what, and it seems an extraordinarily high price for progress. Or, our elected leaders are playing a much longer game and it really doesn't matter who gets trampled along the way. Thanks again. I really do appreciate it.

OMF...thanks for chipping in. You've mentioned the science so maybe you can help. Individuals who gather at events outside by the tens of thousands...do they contribute to the spread or not? Assuming they do, what percentage would you attribute to the infection/death rate? I wear a mask, am unconvinced it truly helps me, but social distance and have all along. I shut my office down, arranged for people to work from home for an extended period of time at substantial cost on a personal level. Thanks.

Thanks for taking a stab at this. Most I've engaged with don't seem to want to share their thoughts on this issue. You haven't answered the question, but we're getting there. "Not nearly as dangerous", what does that mean to you? Would you attribute 5% of the new cases/deaths to the outdoor protests? 10%? 0? And does it make a difference if we call one a protest and one a rally? Is that the magic to the virus running rampant in one situation and encountering deflector shields in the other?

Same question for you Cap. What divine intervention causes the virus to hover over tens of thousands of protestors—by now, more like millions—gathered arm and arm, yet targets 17 people socially distanced outside at a bar in Upstate NYwith laser focus, assuming of course they only ordered 25 chicken wings (hot, xtra crispy with extra blue) v a cheeseburger with a Caesar salad on the side? I think you’re right about the part about being in good hands though.

You’re taking the time to post, and care enough to create a cool nickname for the President, but I may have missed your reply to an earlier question: Do you believe, as do such soaring intellectuals as Pelosi, Biden, Schumer, and Cuomo, that the virus hovers magically over the hundreds of thousands of protestors in the streets all across the country, respecting the boundaries and sanctity of events? How many transmissions and deaths would you attribute to the protests? Maybe all those people benefited from astral intervention as well?

I’m confident that you and Mr. B Gal can comfortably handle the wet work that will follow. I’ve seen Jason Bourne movies. You grab a TV Guide, roll it up into a tube, slam it into an ear hole and the guy dies bleeding out the lower extremities (obviously). Mr. B Gal grabs a towel, snaps the other guy in the eye, the eye pops like stepped on grape (obviously) then whirls the towel into a knot around the guy’s wrist and makes him beat himself to death. Then, you call your friends, bip bop boop, the clean up team shows up, you and the Mr. go out dancing to a Luther Vandros cover band.

I just don’t think enough people care. If FISA court abuses, circular reporting, collusion with MSM and the FBI crushing citizens doesn’t cause you to think “Wait, what if this happened to me?”, what do they care if Flynn got kneecapped? When I questioned another poster about the failure of the MSM (WaPo specifically) with respect to Russia/Herr Muëllër, and the spectacular failure of their vaunted anonymous sources, his reply was basically that they had a bad day and just missed it. I think Flynn to many is disposable, a throw away. I keep thinking he cannot possibly appear to be older and more out of touch than the last time he appeared old and out of touch, but he one ups himself every time. 50 years in the public eye and he doesn’t understand delay? No one prepped him for it? And what’s with his sister Liz-Warren Biden translating to each party what the other says.

So, I've been thinking about the sad emoji that you clicked on re: my earlier reply. Obviously, this is internet correspondence so 'sad' probably means different things to different people. Maybe you're sad I'm a dimwit for not being concerned about Trump, maybe you're sad that I don't see Trump and the danger he posed the way you do, or maybe you think it's crazy a fellow citizen wouldn't be hoppin' mad that a president would even think something like this. But, speaking hypothetically, let's assume President Trump could legally postpone the election for...say 2 years. I'm talking emergency powers, outrage from the left, outrage in the streets, whatever, but assuming it was legal.... Why should I oppose that, in fact, why would I not enthusiastically support it? The leaders of the opposition party ran a con on the people....and what makes me sad is a whole lot of people like you supported it. It didnt matter that it was preposterous, it didn't matter that there was never evidence, it didnt matter that thinking people knew it was BS about 3 months into his term. It still doesn't matter to you, in spite of the complete and total clusterfxxk that the Mueller trials were exposed to be. The way I see it, the rules of the game are established, and the rules as established by your people that there are no rules...and you and yours are at least hypothetically complicit in impacting my vote. My president's ability to lead was impacted on a massive scale. Why would I care about your vote when you don't give a $#!! about mine? Hypothetically speaking.

I'm not upset. I don't think it's a bad indicator. I think the election will move forward, a president chosen, raucous debate will follow, and half the country will hate the other half. And I think Joe Biden participating in destroying General Flynn, including unmasking his name as he was leaving office and lying about it later, is 200x more troubling than a president's musings. Then again, there's lots of folk taking a knee and cloaking themselves in the light of Joe Biden, who, incidentally, now thinks his name Kelly Leak.

Perhaps so. In my case the site was tricky, a number of large boulders/trees in the way, the foundation impactful etc. In fairness he also prepped and installed a septic system for me, leveled a boatload of land and graded the ground to assist with water runoff. When I graduated in 1979, I never considered BOCES, so I never got the heavy-machinery-while-high experience and perhaps shall add it to my bucket list. I moved out of WNY shortly after college was completed and now live near Albany. When I go home, I feel like I'm there when I pass Batavia Turf Farms just off the NYS thruway.

That's why I always hand out samples of my stool Chef, usually while still warm. One can never be too careful.

I'll let you fellows work out the details of your squabble, but I paid about $13,000 to a ditch digger a few years ago. He was a magician on a backhoe, balancing that machine on uneven ground as he trenched alongside a 70 year old foundation. Amazing guy, professional, trustworthy and a true artist. One thing my roots in WNY taught me was that honest work is simply that, honest work.

It is more apparent everyday that the ultimate goal is to crush people who stand in the way of the machine. It's not new, it's not some sort of novel concept, and in fact, it plays out everyday. By crushing individuals, the message is sent---Sit the ^%$# down and eat the gruel we give you. It also sends a more important message to those that would follow: You're next. I'm tapping out on hope that anything gets accomplished on the Durham front. I am finally realizing that I was wrong. Most people don't care about election fixing, don't care about allegations of treason against a president, don't care about anything but seeing their candidate win. You've got people blathering on about Trump and racism, all while lining up to vote for Joe in spite of all the evidence readily available demonstrating his racist behavior. I used to tell my daughter that most reasonable people were pro-life at some point along the way...certainly by the 3rd month people began to get squeamish about aborting a child. I was wrong there too, Turns out loads of people are happy with on demand, any time, up to and perhaps after birth.

"Shenanigans"? An ambassador is killed on an administration's watch, questions about security, vigilance, protection and lack of response that might have saved the ambassador are rightly asked. It is an undeniable fact that Obama officials concocted a cover-up story that exposed an innocent man to grave danger, the secretary of state emails her daughter under the code name Amanda Beaverhousen revealing the truth about the attack (because shouldn't every mom be able to discuss top secret intelligence with her daughter!), and that the story was made up to directly influence voters during an election season. Every administration in the history of the country would be scrutinized, dissected and rightly attacked for that type of bs.

I'm not sure who the COVID deniers are, and as far as anti-maskers, it's intellectually dishonest to suggest that everyone in the scientific/medical community agrees that they are effective. What are your thoughts on COVID and the mass protests across this great country? It seems there are more than a few COVID-Protest deniers in positions of leadership across the spectrum.

Well, even you would likely be fair enough to suggest that the Obama admins phony story about spontaneous demonstrations over a YouTube video was the first act in the political theater that ensued (it would be the second if you consider the stand-down orders given to potential rescuers). Putting aside the grave threat the situation created for the previously anonymous individual when Obama officials spun the web, it was clearly designed to influence voters during an election cycle. Whatever else happened thereafter, the story was not concocted to honor Stevens and the other brave Americans abandoned at the embassy.

I can never remember if we’re wanting to be The Dutch or not. I’m not getting the Dutch boy hair either way. Not going to happen.