Charles Pierce: The Ghoulish Hubris of Letting People Die and Calling That Bravery

[Nevilledog]

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a42111965/ron-desantis-courage-to-be-free/

No paywall
https://archive.ph/tiuec

Presumably, they all sat witness at hospitals and bedsides. Presumably, they all made the arrangements and attended the funerals and laughed over the cold cuts and bulky rolls, and the beer and whiskey afterwards. Presumably, they all still mourn. But did any of them learn anything? Did any of them learn anything that they subsequently put into practice? Who were these people anyway, and what kind of monster did you have to be to lead them on? Who lives through a pandemic and makes war on the cures?

In September, the National Bureau of Economic Research attempted to answer all of these questions. And the answers remain, well, baffling even as Florida Gov. Ronald DeSantis (to name only one example) runs for president on the basis of his “highly successful” COVID policies, which held the butcher’s bill in that state to a mere 82,875.

We estimate substantially higher excess death rates for registered Republicans when compared to registered Democrats, with almost all of the difference concentrated in the period after vaccines were widely available in our study states. Overall, the excess death rate for Republicans was 5.4 percentage points (pp), or 76%, higher than the excess death rate for Democrats. Post-vaccines, the excess death rate gap between Republicans and Democrats widened from 1.6 pp (22% of the Democrat excess death rate) to 10.4 pp (153% of the Democrat excess death rate). The gap in excess death rates between Republicans and Democrats is concentrated in counties with low vaccination rates and only materializes after vaccines became widely available.

Then there was this finding, which was both predictable and utterly bizarre:

Overall, our results suggest that political party affiliation only became a substantial risk factor in Ohio and Florida after vaccines were widely available.

In other words, within this particular demographic slice of our fellow citizens, after the arrival of the vaccines that protected us from the pandemic, the pandemic got…worse, and political affiliation was a contributing factor. I’m not sure I ever want to meet anyone whose mind is not blown by this fact. But I’m damn sure not voting for a guy whose platform is built on pride in his “I was brave enough to do nothing” performance in the face of a once-a-century public health emergency.

*snip*

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[Coventina]

2. I'm having a hard time regretting these numbers. The less idiots the better.

The only downside is their potential to infect compromised non-idiots.

[calimary]

6. I know how you feel, Coventina.

I’m right there with ya.

Is Mother Nature doing some of the housecleaning for the rest of us?

[calimary]

10. Dupe. My apologies.

Last edited Wed Nov 30, 2022, 04:37 PM - Edit history (1)

But I’m STILL there with ya, Coventina.

[Coventina]

21. LOL!

[Dustlawyer]

20. One of the secretaries in my office lost her dad and husband to Covid.

She told me he was a Covid hoaxer and didn't believe in it. Thought the vaccine was harmful etc., and died of Covid. When I mentioned that I had just received the new Covid booster she shook her head and said she would never get the vaccine because they may not be safe. I pointed out that Covid was obviously much more dangerous than the vaccine, but it was like talking to a wall. She is not a bad person and really misses her husband. I will try not to ever underestimate the power of propaganda and cult of personality again.

[Coventina]

22. I have no words.

[malaise]

24. The good news is that you gad your vaccines and boosters somshe

can’t kill you.
Darwin rules.

[paleotn]

27. And yet I'm sure she drives a car.

A vastly more hazardous activity than any FDA approved vaccine. By orders of magnitude. Humans. Ugh.

[Evolve Dammit]

33. A really good example of how we're not going to be able to fix these bitter divisions. Mind is shut

[shrike3]

45. My husband's friend, an otherwise lovely man, was a Trumper.

Never obnoxious about it. No flags, no hats, no arguments. But he thought Covid was a hoax. I talked to him only once about it. I told him we wanted him for a long time and could he please wear a mask? He gave me the long spiel about not being able to breathe. Get this: he was immunocompromised. He was rushed to the hospital with Covid and died that day.

[Probatim]

23. Just imagine the gap in deaths if COVID were more deadly.

The world dodged a bullet that COVID wasn't a) extremely deadly and b) highly virulent.

As it was, it was pretty damned contagious and it killed a lot of older/less healthy adults (I know not all were older/less healthy). The next one might not be as "tame" as this one and, with built-in vaccine hesitancy and virulent stupidity, could be far deadlier than this one.

[paleotn]

28. Exactly!

As bad as it was, it could have been a hell of a lot worse.

[MOMFUDSKI]

26. I personally know 3 trumper, non-vaxxed people

that died from Covid.

[Coventina]

30. 3 less voters for the dark side.

I used to be a much more kindly person.

But, I heard "fuck your feelings" a few too many times.

They might be grieved by a few, but the world is better off without them.

[gratuitous]

3. Yet shockingly

DeSantis, who squeaked out a win for governor in 2018, was returned to office with nearly 60% of the vote in a blowout in 2022. Yeah, I have many things to say about the relative intelligence of the average Florida voter.

[erronis]

14. Or maybe something to be said for the way voting has been rigged in Florida?

How many countries allow small provincial fiefdoms to determine how they will administer voting for nation-wide positions? Or even allow these fiefdoms to have complete control over who they allow to vote and when for local elections? The US is still locked into the mode of the original 13 colonies and slave fiefdoms.

[CharleyDog]

17. and there is evidence that a large number of Dems left Florida during/after Covid

fiasco and a large number of Repubs migrated to Florida for "freedom" from Covid mitigation efforts in other states.

[Skittles]

19. yes

I don't think DeFascist is as popular outside of Florida

[littlemissmartypants]

37. Florida...go for the sunshine...stay for the OJ and fascism...

Nobody tries to "wake" you so when you die, nobody cares. I feel sorry for the defenseless children the most. Many of the older children know different but are trapped in families that are oblivious. It hurts my heart. ❤️

[Botany]

4. Repost Thanx to DUer TigressDem / Death Rate for UNVACCINATED age 50+ is through the roof.

Death Rate for UNVACCINATED age 50+ is through the roof. VAXXED are near the floor. LINK

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/united-states-rates-of-covid-19-deaths-by-vaccination-status?country=~50%2B


*****
My thoughts ... fine let 'em die. Matter of fact I want more of them to die. These dumb ass anti vax idiots
are being told by the talking heads @ Fox that they are really "Free Dumb Fighters" but to get into the News
Corp (fox news) you need to be vaccinated. The same goes for DeSantis, Abbott, Noem, and others who are
knowingly trying to spread the disease for some kind of sick Machiavellian reason. And now Musk is in on this
game too?

[ananda]

5. It's weird. Their own are the ones who are dying.

...

[Sky Jewels]

9. They're just accelerating the great demographic shift of Gen Z/Millennials taking over politically.

And I thank them for removing themselves from the voter rolls ... permanently.

[IbogaProject]

25. Problem is they still go to the hospital

So they spread it beyond themselves and their foolish circle into the broader public. Also they hog up medical resources to our detriment. Not all the excess deaths is strictly from COVID, some is from the delays in other lifesaving care and screening that is still ongoing. I like you hope this is strictly hitting the GOP faithful but I fear that we might be losing some of our own in those overloaded Red areas.

[irisblue]

7. Info from twitter- shortage of school bus drivers in Ohio

https://news.wosu.org/news/2022-08-22/ohio-school-districts-still-struggling-with-a-bus-driver-shortage

title-Ohio school districts still struggling with a bus driver shortage
The Statehouse News Bureau | By Karen Kasler
Published August 22, 2022 at 8:03 AM EDT


https://www.news-herald.com/2022/10/16/local-schools-affected-by-shortage-of-licensed-bus-drivers


Northeast Ohio schools affected by shortage of licensed bus drivers
William Tilton
October 16, 2022 at 1:00 p.m.
Categories:Latest Headlines, Local News, NewsNortheast Ohio schools affected by shortage of licensed bus drivers
William Tilton
October 16, 2022 at 1:00 p.m.
Categories:Latest Headlines, Local News, News




Unexpected consequences of Covid deaths? 🤔
These facts sure sound like a research project for sociology, public health & history students at Ohios' & the nations colleges & universities


Posted too quick.

[littlemissmartypants]

38. I heard on NPR the other day that there's a Santa shortage this year.

Malls and other venues are having trouble staffing Santas because almost 30% of those who serve in the role died during the pandemic presumably of Covid-19. So sad. ❤️

[GopherGal]

43. My question for both of these roles:

Are there Santa/bus-driver shortages because too much of the candidate population pool died of Covid-19, or are there shortages because they (sensibly) put a vaccination requirement for those roles that have so much contact with young children and their would-be-job candidates refuse to get vaxxed?

[littlemissmartypants]

44. Santas died. I imagine bus drivers did too. It's less likely that they are

Abstaining getting vaccinated and losing livelihoods. Both jobs are high contact and high risk. Both create conditions that propagate infections.

The concept of infection is bilateral. Getting infected and infecting those you mingle with are similarly risky. The outcome of death is clearly documented and a predictable outcome if one's not vaccinated.

It is not inconceivable that both factors, each one being Anti-vaxxer, combine to contribute to the death toll.

So...
Q: Are there Santa/bus-driver shortages because too much of the candidate population pool died of Covid-19?
A: Yes

Q: Are there shortages because they (sensibly) put a vaccination requirement for those roles that have so much contact with young children and their would-be-job candidates refuse to get vaxxed?
A: Likely also yes because being vaxxed is then a condition of employment and without a vaccine record those individuals are ostensibly unemployable.

Thanks for the reply, GopherGal.



❤️ pants

[Aussie105]

8. Zero sum thinking?

"They died for me, so I don't have to."?

Cover that with a layer of bravery, and all is fine. Statues for the fallen next!

1,105,049 deaths in the US so far.
6,639,314 globally.

The US has one of the highest deaths from covid per million of population globally.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

Such bravery! /sarcasm

[littlemissmartypants]

39. US Coronavirus Deaths Per Day

567.00 for Nov 30 2022
(And that's probably an under count.)
US Coronavirus Deaths Per Day is at a current level of 567.00, up from 393.00 yesterday and down from 1636.00 one year ago. This is a change of 44.27% from yesterday and -65.34% from one year ago.
More...
https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_coronavirus_deaths_per_day

[mountain grammy]

11. K&R

[dchill]

12. K&R.

[onecaliberal]

13. K&R

[Hekate]

15. Loathsome creatures

[turbo_satan]

16. DeSantis will spin it his way

In his upcoming book, I can almost guarantee you that DeSantis will outright lie. He'll merely say that not only did his policies lead to more "freedom," but they also resulted in lower fatality numbers. There is no cost for blatantly lying and his adherents will proudly tout the lie as absolute truth. They'll all say that the vaccines did nothing, masking did nothing, and school closures did nothing and that the proof is in the pudding: the lowest number of COVID-19 fatalities in the country -- maybe even in the world. DeSantis will be the perfect candidate for a post-truth America.

[WestMichRad]

18. Couple this with the statistics about deaths from gunshots

… over a million people in the US have died from gunshot wounds over the past 30 years.

It baffles me how anyone can honestly think Republicans make life better in the USA.

[wryter2000]

29. Might this make a difference in elections?

Especially with suburban voters? Just fewer Republicans to vote.

[Timeflyer]

31. Even the vulnerable vaccinated died between development of vaccines and boosters in FL.

because so many were duped to somehow believe science denial is patriotic. Gov. DeathSatan would gleefully climb over a mountain of corpses if tRump cult members, the Proud Boys and their Ladies' Auxiliary, Moms for Brigotry, kept him in power.

[bagimin]

32. k& highly recommended

[Ford_Prefect]

34. The official COVID death numbers in FLA are a lie. DeSantis had a range of COVID deaths

reclassified to be due to other causes as a means of hiding how bad the pandemic was/is. He fired the top person keeping track of this and persecuted her for continuing to report real numbers to the public. I haven't seen the estimate of actual deaths versus reported but I recall one remark suggesting that this practice reduced the official numbers by at least 33%.

Given the population density of Florida, the age mix of the population, along with the resistance to public health measures and immunization of DeSantis' state government I find the final number is unrealistically low.

Several states engaged in similar deceptive practices so the real numbers of how many died are not accounted for yet.

[hay rick]

35. I have been emphasizing and documenting this story...

Most recently, a summary: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217050914

here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216779219

commentary here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216302394

here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215780032

here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215345588

relevant: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215154967

[littlemissmartypants]

40. Fantastic! I know that was a lot of work. Have you considered cross posting to the Florida group?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1045

Things sink like boulders in General Discussion and many miss wonderful things like this. Thank you for aggregating this for us!

❤️ pants

[gristy]

42. Well done!

Rolling Stone or New Yorker or Atlantic quality writing. Props to the man!

Most recently, a summary: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217050914

[RobinA]

36. I Thought This Thread

was going to be about sending people off to war and then saying what heros they are. Especially if they don't come back or come back injured. That's what I think is weird.

[paulkienitz]

41. If you're wondering how many mass shootings it will take to make them reconsider gun control,

the number of deaths they willingly inflicted on themselves from covid makes it pretty clear that we're not even a tenth of the way there yet. Maybe when we get to one mass shooting per hour the death rate will finally be bad enough to change a few minds.