Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

IronLionZion

IronLionZion's Journal
IronLionZion's Journal
September 23, 2021

Michael Flynn Thinks They Might Be Putting the Covid Vaccine in Your Salad Dressing

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/michael-flynn-covid-vaccines-salad-dressing-pastor-1230601/



Michael Flynn is no longer a general, no longer the national security adviser, and no longer a credible figure in mainstream conservatism. This hasn’t stopped him from becoming one of the most powerful influencers among the nether regions of the MAGAverse. The Trump World hero has spent the bulk of the year spreading conspiracy theories at behind podiums at QAnon conferences, in front of evangelical church congregations, and on a never-ending stream of janky, grift-y internet shows and podcasts. It wouldn’t be hard to argue that he’s at or near the height of his popularity.

The world of disinformation grifters can be a ruthless one, though, as Flynn found out this week. One minute you’re calling out the devil for doing his work through condiments, the next you’re being called out as the devil yourself.

On Monday, Flynn appeared on “Thrivetime Show: Business School Without the B.S.,” a podcast clearly meant to drive business to host Clay Clark’s business coaching program, the ventures of affiliated snake oil salesmen, and Clark’s health-focused “Reawaken America” tour, featuring Flynn and other notable names. Mike Lindell, the pillow guy, for instance. Most of the tour’s upcoming dates are listed as sold out.

The interview with Flynn begins with a lot of talk about “waking up” to reality, followed by Clark claiming that PCR Covid tests are rigged, and that once you’re into the hospital doctors give you drugs developed by George Soros to kill you (one of the drugs he cites, Remdesevir, was administered to President Trump), all the while withholding “100-percent effective” treatments like hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin, also known as the horse paste that has caused a flood of calls to poison control from victims of Clark-type con men.

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1440644282759614478


More tweets and idiocy at the link.

I think I will make myself a delicious salad with dressing for lunch today.
September 22, 2021

Return Of The Cold



September 18, 2021

'Justice for J6' rally disperses with few incidents

https://wtop.com/dc/2021/09/fences-up-security-heightened-as-dc-prepares-for-justice-for-j6-rally/

U.S. Capitol and law enforcement groups were ready to go and the fencing was put up around the Capitol as the “Justice for J6” rally moved into D.C.
Saturday’s rally was organized by a group calling for justice for those who, eight months earlier, stormed the same area in a deadly insurrection.

At 12:40 p.m., United States Capitol Police officers arrested a man who had a knife, for a weapons violation.

WTOP’s Ken Duffy was there when police were searching a man for weapons.

Just after the scheduled start time of noon, there were very few people that showed up for the demonstration.

WTOP’s Mitchell Miller said one of the counter-protesters was Doug Hughes who in 2015 flew a gyrocopter onto the West Lawn of the Capitol near the site of today’s rally. He was jailed and lost his job but says he has no regrets. He was protesting government corruption.

The rally is scheduled to last until 1:15 p.m. at Union Square between 1st and 3rd streets. Some 700 people are expected to attend the demonstration, according to the event permit, but U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger said it is not clear how accurate that number is.


tweets, videos, photos, at link. Glad it's over and these idiots can go home. Bye Felicia. Don't come back.
September 15, 2021

D.C. prepares for far-right protesters during day of festivals, gatherings

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/09/14/january-6-protesters-preparation/

D.C. officials think a demonstration planned for Saturday by far-right groups supporting the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 will prove to be a small gathering, attracting no more than a few hundred people.

But city leaders are worried that those who do attend may bring firearms illegally, setting up the potential for clashes in an area expected to be bustling on Saturday with crowds at multiple events: the annual H Street festival in Northeast that typically attracts thousands; a Howard University football game at Audi Field in Southwest; a baseball game at Nationals Park; and a Harry Styles concert at Capital One Arena downtown.

“This is a great day for the city. This is showing that we’re open and folks can come here and do everything” from taking in a sports game or a show to attending a political protest, said Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Christopher Geldart on Tuesday. “It’s really what the city’s about.”

But Geldart also acknowledged the concerns. As he spoke, more than 30 staff members from Democratic Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s office walked the blocks on H Street NE that will host Saturday’s festival. They stepped into each business on the commercial corridor to offer window signs noting that guns are prohibited inside.

“If you see someone with a firearm, immediately call 911,” some of the signs said. Proprietors of restaurants, pharmacies and gyms accepted the fliers.




There is a lot going on downtown this weekend. Right wingers have been photographed illegally open carrying long guns around downtown DC before.

Be safe out there DUers. I don't plan on going anywhere near the Capitol this Saturday.
September 10, 2021

Plastic bricks in Kenya - NZAMBI MATEE - Young Champion of the Earth 2020 for Africa



Bricks would probably have less erosion than pavement. Sounds like a good idea to recycle plastics to eventually build housing.
September 2, 2021

GOP Covid policy is killing GOP voters

https://thewhyaxis.substack.com/p/gop-covid-policy-is-killing-gop-voters

Republican attitudes, conspiracy theories and policy failures have created conditions for the Delta variant to thrive.

It’s well-known, by this point, that the Delta variant is currently hitting Republican states and counties the hardest. In the South especially, vaccination rates are low and mask use has typically been spotty, resulting in skyrocketing case and hospitalization numbers in several states.

But the picture on mortality has been less clear. Deaths lag behind hospitalizations, so the former have been slower to rise than the latter. Covid treatment has also improved since the early days of the pandemic, boosting patients’ odds of survival. And senior citizens, the group most vulnerable to the virus, have high rates of vaccination relative to other age groups.

But several months into the Delta wave and the data are clear: over the past month, people living in the most staunchly Republican counties have been three times more likely to die of Covid than those living in Democratic strongholds. While the disease doesn’t make political distinctions, Republican attitudes, conspiracy theories and policy failures have created conditions in which the Delta variant can thrive.

In counties where Donald Trump got fewer than 20 percent of 2020 presidential votes, for instance, there have been, on average, fewer than 5 Covid deaths for every 100,000 people since July 31, 2021 — roughly the start of the latest wave of death corresponding with the Delta variant. In places where he got 80 percent or more of the vote, on the other hand, the death rate is closer to 15 per 100,000. Across all counties there’s effectively a dose-response relationship between Republicanism and Covid mortality: as the share of Republican voters increases in your county, your likelihood of dying from the disease rises as well.

A few notes on these numbers, before we go on. They exclude the states of Nebraska and Florida, which, unconscionably, no longer report reliable county-level Covid statistics. They exclude Alaska as well, as the state does not report election data at the county level (I’m sure there’s a way to finagle this, but I was running short on time).


Graphs and more data at link. It's what many of us suspected and now there's hard data to support this.

Of course some red states decided COVID is over if they stop reporting county data. So Florida, Nebraska, and Alaska are excluded from this study.

September 2, 2021

Vaccines cut risk of 'long covid' in half, major study finds

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/09/02/covid-delta-variant-live-updates/



A new study that included more than a million adults in Britain has found that instances of people contracting the coronavirus after full vaccination are extremely rare — and that their risk of experiencing lingering symptoms of the disease in what’s known as “long covid” is reduced by almost half.

The study, published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal on Wednesday, included nearly 1 million fully vaccinated British adults who reported receiving their first dose from December 2020 to July 2021. The study’s participants included people who received vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or AstraZeneca — the latter of which is not approved for use in the United States.

The study adds to the evidence that vaccinations not only protect people against severe covid-19 symptoms and reduce the risk of hospitalization, but also significantly reduce the likelihood of ongoing, debilitating symptoms after an infection — and drastically reduce the chances of getting infected at all. The study’s authors also suggest that immunocompromised people are the ones who should be prioritized for booster shots, rather than making the decision solely based on age.


That's the whole article. No paywall.

Here's the Lancet link: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(21)00460-6/fulltext#seccestitle80

Profile Information

Gender: Male
Hometown: Southwestern PA
Home country: USA
Current location: Arlington, VA
Member since: Mon Nov 10, 2003, 06:36 PM
Number of posts: 47,402

About IronLionZion

If an H-1b has an American accent, they are probably not an H-1b. It's race, not citizenship. Americans are more diverse than you think. Millions of US citizens don't look the way you might expect. This fact is very important and will help us win elections.
Latest Discussions»IronLionZion's Journal