The United States is moving into a time of catastrophe. Thirty-two percent of people were unable to make either their rent or mortgage payments in July. Twenty-two percent of small businesses seem likely to go bankrupt. One-third of small independent farms are on the verge of bankruptcy. When these people lose their homes and wind up on the street, there will be tens of millions of homeless Americans, with widespread hunger.
All this and the pandemic is reaching new highs.
It is natural to feel powerless in times like these. Indeed it is natural to feel powerless in most times.
As I wrote on Monday, “being weak and only one person, to you the system feels like a force of nature or God, given, not a man-made construction.”
Compared to the system, as an individual, you are weak. There are a few exceptions, but I doubt any of my readers are in that .0001 percent bucket.
But that assumes you act directly against the system, to change it.
You can’t fight a hurricane, but you can prepare for it. You can build your house in ways that mean it will hardly be damaged. You can flee before it arrives, perhaps, or at least take shelter. You can store food, make friends, and be ready.
In the 1930s, many people in Germany tried to stop the Nazis from taking power. They failed. Some stuck around, they wound up in camps and dead (and it wasn’t just Jews, they killed left-wingers, their direct opponents, first). Others said, “Woah, we lost that fight,” and left.
Those people survived, and they have descendants.
Now, I am not telling you to leave the United States. Right now, only about 20 countries will even let Americans in. I’ve been telling you for years, over a decade, to get the fuck out if you could (I know many people can’t). You either did that, or didn’t, and it’s too late now–at least for this catastrophe cycle.
What I am saying, instead, is this:
You can’t always stop history, but you can always decide how you act and react to history, and to catastrophe.
Martial arts instructors, the good ones, tell their students that the best thing to do in a fight is often to run or de-escalate. Fights are risky, and if you can run faster than the other guy, you don’t get hurt. Now, of course, there are times when you have to fight, but the point is, sometimes you don’t, and sometimes fighting is really, really stupid.
This is not counsel to not do what you can to change large forces. By all means demonstrate, organize, vote, and so on. But recognize that as one person, while you must contribute, you cannot determine the end result. You can only do your part, hope others do their part, and that it is enough. If it isn’t, it isn’t on you, unless perhaps you are leading the movement or are very senior in it.
When it comes to opposing large historical events, you should not put your ego or happiness on the line. You are not the determining factor, and feeling as if you are is foolishness.
The key to feeling powerful in bad times is determining what you control, and doing that. Perhaps you can stock up food. Perhaps you can move. Perhaps you can make friends with your neighbours so there is mutual aid right next door. Perhaps you can start a garden. Perhaps you can stockpile food and other essentials. Perhaps you have enough resources to go partially or full off grid. Perhaps you can create a bug-out bag and practice the route you intend to use if you need to leave. Perhaps you can get a new job in another part of the country. Perhaps you and some friends can live together and be safer and stronger and better prepared together. Perhaps you can learn practical skills which will help when things go bad.
Perhaps you can come up with many actions, unique to your situation, which I will never think of.
When you concentrate on what you can do, and what you can control, instead of what you can’t control, you increase your odds of survival, prosperity, and happiness, and you cut away hard at the feeling of powerlessness.
The great forces of history are not yours to control, but if you understand them (or listen to those who do, and that may not be me, but others) then you can prepare. You can outwit them and prosper or at least survive well despite them.
In WWII, there were places which were untouched. During the Bubonic plagues, there were places that lost no one or very few people. There were people who looked at the circumstances and used them to not only prosper but to take care of others.
Look at your current situation and ask yourself, “What can I do to prepare?” Make a list. Do something on the list.
Measure yourself and your power against what you do that you can do, not in fighting history.
And remember, those who survive and prosper in a crisis are those who have power afterwards and can support a better world.
With rare exceptions (and they do exist), you don’t need to feel powerless, or be powerless.
Everything I write here is free, but rent isn’t, so if you value my writing, please DONATE or SUBSCRIBE.
Zachary Smith
Good idea – if you have the money to buy the reserves. Or enough space to safely store them. Or the knowledge not to screw up on the choices to be made. Security is another issue. Since I’ve been on the internet I’ve often spoken of a distant relative who once told me he wasn’t making any “stockpile”, and if the balloon went up he’d uses his trusty Second Amendment tools to take what he needs from other people. At the time he wasn’t kidding, though in the intervening years he has “got religion” and things may have changed. “May Have!”. In places like Hawaii this stockpiling needs to be a governmental decision. An island importing 90% of its food is going to be in a lot of trouble before much time goes by.
For most people drinking water is of more immediate importance than food. Two options;
https://www.walmart.com/ip/American-Maid-5-gal-Water-Bottle/51200565
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Emergency-Essentials-55-Gal-Water-Barrel-3-Piece-Set/46693967
Notice the “out of stock” tag on the large barrel. These might be as hard to track down as N-95 masks. If you have a well, a properly sized generator would deliver water to the surface till you ran out of fuel. Deep well hand pumps are extremely expensive these days. Invest in a store-bought well bucket – if they’re still being manufactured. Online plans exist for making them from PVC pipe. You’re on city water and don’t have a well? Lots of planning to do! Probably lots of money to be spent.
Always a good idea, but the usefulness of bug-out bags can be overemphasized. In the worst disasters locals will throw up roadblocks backed with heavily armed police and “new deputies”. A survival blogger once noted that another word for the folks who are bugging out is “refugees”.
Those of us in the bottom 99% are in a world of hurt because NOBODY in power is on our side. They’re looking out only for themselves. That mental attitude has been successful for generations, and most of the 1% can’t imagine it won’t continue to work. They’re as well educated about “the real world” as Trump, and are as ethical as the Clintons and Obamas and the rest. Not at all a good situation – from my point of view.
Guest
Heh. I thought I was getting away from the worst of the heat and drought and right wingers when I moved 10 years ago…. to Portlandia, the place the right wingers now have a hard on to destroy (and everywhere outside of US cities is full of right wingers).
I’m curious of the specifics of how this is supposed to play out.
As bizarrely out of touch as Polyps and Schumer might be, they do represent how most American think about what is possible and important (saving the all important jahhb creators first and last). So I can’t even guess at what finally precipitates riots or when or where it starts. If anyone on the left took this situation at all seriously, they would be scrambling to replace Biden on the ticket. No one even dares dream of that. This election is our last chance and going with Biden is just fatalistic surrender.
Also, unless Canada and Yerp get their acts together, you won’t be far behind us on this run away train to hell. Covid is messing with everyone’s economy. Business as usual is over. Do you reform and move left? Or do you default to the slippery slope to authoritarianism with the rest of the world.
different clue
I will try and offer two little ways of looking at ” what I/we can/should do” based on what I think I understand Ian Welsh to be saying in the widest scope. If my supposedly understanding-based fine-focus statements are too wrong to let stand uncorrected, then perhaps I will be corrected.
Thing One . . . those of us who can lift a finger should lift a finger. We should not feel compelled to lift nine more fingers to make up for 9 other people who will not even lift Finger Number One.
Thing Two . . . the phrase ” just a drop in the bucket” was invented to discourage and demotivate people who could put a drop in a bucket from even doing that. So here is perhaps a re-motivator.
I am a pharmacy technician. In pharmacy, the volume of a liquid referred to as ” one drop” is deFINED to be ” one twentieth of a milliliter”. Based on that definition, there are decreed to be
20 drops in a milliliter. So there are 20,000 drops in a liter. Since a liter is ” about like” a quart, we can say that there are roughly 4 liters in a gallon, basically. So that means there are 80 thousand drops in a gallon. And that means that there are 400,000 drops in a 5 gallon bucket. So if each of 400,000 people each puts one drop into the bucket, those 400,000 people have filled a 5 gallon bucket.
” just” a ” drop in the bucket”.
Geoffrey Dewan
Ran across this letter sent to Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo. Seeing catastrophe in Europe at the moment may be a bit of projection. You can kind of see why they aren’t letting any of us in these days. Vive la France!
The Letter:
“About a month ago we were in a zoom meeting with the school where our smallest is registered for pre-K when we were blindsided by the sudden realization that ***they were really contemplating not opening the schools full time.***
This was a shock to us. We are a binational family: my wife is French, I’m American, the kids have both passports. We spend all of our summer and winter breaks in Paris. We have more close friends there than we do in NYC. Even many of our work colleagues are European. So we’re plugged into the thinking in Europe and particularly in Paris—evidently more than we are in NYC, where we live. Starting in late May we were hearing from our Parisian friends that their kids were in school, they were eating out on restaurant terraces, and life was returning to normal. We expected that NYC would follow, a few weeks behind. So when the school director was explaining on zoom that we could expect 1/3 of school time to be in person, we couldn’t believe what we were hearing.
Long story short: we boarded a flight about 3-4 weeks ago and I’m writing this from Paris. We arrived in time for our kids to attend school for a few days (school ended soon after the two week quarantine, but we got a few days in). So I can confirm what DW says–schools are not just running, they are running essentially normally, albeit with obvious precautions (hand sanitizer on the way in, etc). When they first re-opened in May it was for essential workers and first responders, but it quickly expanded to include everyone. Now that school is out for the summer, all the usual summer camps are running.
By the way, French parents have zero qualms about sending their kids to school–our friends look at us like we’re nuts when we explain how our American friends in NYC are nervous and hesitant to send their kids back.
Life on the street feels subdued only because of the absence of tourists—my American accent turns heads now. When we first arrived, half the people still had masks. Now masks are very rare (you just keep a mask in your pocket or around your neck in case you want to enter a shop). The restaurants have taken over all the sidewalks and the tables are full. There are large gatherings of young people on the shores of the Seine on a nightly basis, even more than last year, I would say.
The charm of New York is its vibrancy and energy. When half empty, it just feels very sad. Paris is the opposite. One of my French friends told me “it’s probably the best time to be in Paris in 40 years.”
We will not be coming home in August. We’re going to stay right here: where the schools are open, the government is at least half-competent and covid is (for now, at least) mostly under control. We’ll do our teaching on zoom. We’re not even sure whether we’ll come back in January or next summer.
By the way, we know two other French-American couples in NYC with kids around the same ages as ours. Both families are now in Paris with us, with plans to stay!”
Pastor Joe
What? You mean the Nanny state will not be there to offer free stuff to all the little snowflakes?
That they may -gasp- have to take responsibility for themselves instead of finding ways to guilt trip other people to do it for them?
Oh my god. This is too much. I think I need to go spend some time in my safe space.
Guest
Just saw Ian’s tweet about Biden “crushing” trump in polls. Very recently it seemed like trump’s support had a hard floor of 40%. Maybe this is the first sign people are starting to freak out. But going with Biden is like braking the glass on the emergency alarm then using the shards to cut your wrist.
Praying for a covid plague wipe out at DNC before the convention.
Olivier
Why are even food producers going bust? Yes, I know, there was a demand switch from bulk- to retail-size packaging but that’s solvable, no?
different clue
@Guest,
The left tried to pre-empt Biden on the ticket, using Sanders as their pre-emption choice. The whole mainstream party, partly orchestrated by Obama talking with the “other moderates” to co-ordinate them all withdrawing at once and assigning their delegates to Biden, successfully aborted and deflected that pre-emption effort. The left can try replacing Biden if it wants to, the mainstream will work to protect the Biden and keep it in place.
Perhaps all these committed leftists might also think about lifting a finger toward survival prepping, even while trying their hardest to replace the Biden.
KT Chong
I went to a Chinese New Year Festival (a street celebration and parade) at around the end of January. Got sick with flu-like symptoms for almost three whole weeks in February; did not know what it was.
Tested in April and May for COVID 19 and did not have it.
Tested in early June for anti-body, and I had it, which meant I must have gotten COVID 19 in January/February and developed the immunity for it. Didn’t get sick between March to early July, and I went out every other day (though I always wear a mask and gloves.)
Almost couple weeks ago, just got sick again, mild symptoms, less severe than and somewhat different from those I got from February… and tested POSITIVE for COVID 19.
Which means, either I got a different strain, or the anti-body only lasted for only about 4-5 months. If Trump and Republicans are betting on herd immunity by attrition… then we are FUCKED.
Zinsky
Good advice, Ian. I also advocate “working under the radar” to make change, organizing locally to make changes in your neighborhoods (e.g. packing the local school boards with liberals!). Real change only happens at the personal level. You don’t need to be the noisiest trumpet to get attention in the band – just the one who helps every other instrument sound better by playing together mellifluously.
Bill H
@Guest, “Maybe this is the first sign people are starting to freak out.”
More likely it’s that Trump supporters are reacting to threats and violence from the left. Showing support for Trump can get you killed, and will at best get you yelled at in very unpleasant ways. People still support Trump, they just don’t admit it in public. Will they admit it in the privacy of a voting booth? Well, we’ll find out in due course.
metamars
Well, my segway into the stated title of diary is as follows:
Well all have budgetary limits, so looking out for your families health should include bang-for-the-buck calculations. Especially if you’re out of work, can’t get (or don’t trust) your healthcare options, etc.
A while back, sermo polled doctors, worldwide, for “most effective” treatment for covid-19, and hydroxychloroquine ranked with a plurality of votes.
That is no longer true. The following is taken from https://app.sermo.com/covid19-barometer?utm_campaign=wwwsermo_covid19 , in answer to the question “For patients you treat outside the hospital (mild symptoms in community setting), rate the efficacy of medications you have used to treat COVID-19.”, hydroxychloroquine is ranked 15th, when combining “extremely effective” and “very effective” ratings. It is ranked 22nd, when just considering “extremely effective”
It should be noted that some treatments are (I presume) orthogonal or synergistic with hydroxychloroquine. E.g., oxygen, Vit D, zinc, and vit C. I mean, these are all essentially nutrients, so it seems crazy not to take them, no matter what drug treatment you may opt for. Oral Vit D, Vit C, and zinc are inexpensive (or were ; not sure with supply chains messed up).
What needs to be done is that somebody should look up costs associated with a ‘typical’ treatment, then develop a “bang for the buck” ranking incorporating that.
If it fits in your family budget, it makes sense to take Vit D, Vit C and zinc prophylactically. D and zinc in too high doses will eventually get you into trouble, so you need to do your homework on dosage.
Of course, the government should be encouraging people to take C, D and zinc prophylactically, but the profit motive apparently holds dominates the civically responsible and humane thing to do.
In the following, the first number in each line is combined “extremely effective” and “very effective” rating. The second number is just “extremely effective”.
Hepatitis C Combo 88 13
Traditional Chinese Medicine 79 43
Gamma Globulin 67 13
Dexamethasone 64 19
Plasma from recovered patients 64 27
Favipiravir 60 30
Interferon-beta 60 20
norepinephrine 60 25
oxygen 60 33
ivermectin 58 21
anti-clotting / anticoagulants 56 22
Tocilizumab 54 27
Anti-HIV combo 50 23
Sarilumab 50 17
Hydroxychloroquine 44 8
Vit C infused 44 33
Azithromycis “or similar antibiotics” 42 10
Remdesivir 41 8
Cholchicine 38 10
Alph-2-Macroglobulins 33 33
Tamiflu 32 4
Zinc 31 12
Vit D 31 12
Acyclovir 29 10
Vit C tablet 28 8
Vit D infused 18 18
ranked by just “extremely effective”
Traditional Chinese Medicine 79 43
oxygen 60 33
Vit C infused 44 33
Alph-2-Macroglobulins 33 33
Favipiravir 60 30
Plasma from recovered patients 64 27
Tocilizumab 54 27
norepinephrine 60 25
Anti-HIV combo 50 23
anti-clotting / anticoagulants 56 22
ivermectin 58 21
Interferon-beta 60 20
Dexamethasone 64 19
Vit D infused 18 18
Sarilumab 50 17
Hepatitis C Combo 88 13
Gamma Globulin 67 13
Zinc 31 12
Vit D 31 12
Azithromycis “or similar antibiotics” 42 10
Cholchicine 38 10
Acyclovir 29 10
Hydroxychloroquine 44 8
Remdesivir 41 8
Vit C tablet 28 8
Tamiflu 32 4
Ché Pasa
Our individual power is very limited, as in fact it should be and needs to be if we’re to have a functioning society. Noting that in many ways we have a highly dysfunctional society without being conscious of the underlying reasons for how and why it’s that way is characteristic of a decadent politics. Simply blaming one “side” or the other what’s wrong ultimately gets us nowhere, but that’s the point of our political systems, so it happens among many of these powerless individuals — while the existential crises pile up.
The cities are being emptied bit by bit, as the virus wreaks its… magic. Individuals are doing what they can and must to survive this crisis among so many others. The countryside is filling up with more and more people who hope to weather these multiple crises in calmer circumstances, but who knows what will come? Perhaps we’ll see a restoration of the better values of the past as the newcomers to the countryside see how a simple life actually serves society and the soul. Maybe this is what we need, but I have few illusions about it. Out here in the wilderness is no paradise, and sometimes the “values” can have severe consequences for those who don’t quite fit if you know what I mean.
Whatever the case, government in the United States at every level is failing badly, and this is noted and widely recognized among those powerless individuals. Few see putting someone else on the throne as real answer to what’s gone wrong, but there are tons of tiny revolutions going on, and among them will be found an answer.
The potential for civil war grows as the fear quotient grows. Right now, fear is still largely though not entirely in check, but as systems continue to fail, fear will follow and spread. We prepare as best we can.
S Brennan
Panic if you want to, that’s your right.
Fine.
Or, just read up a little on this disease, but stay away from big pharma dependent rags/websites and you will find something interesting. Covid-19 already has effective treatments that weaken/shorten the disease’s grip. The choice to let so many die, to enable this disease has been made by Wilsonian DNCers working hand in glove with Bush [the 2nd] RNCers. The kids here won’t remember Donald Rumsfeld but he was Chairman of Gilead* before being Secretary of Defence so, Remdesivir being the drug of Choice in a moneymaking scheme** for the 0.01% should come as no surprise.
Oh, and please…don’t listen to Pharma’s little flack Fauci, that piece of puss has been a lying shill for Big Pharma since the early 80’s…look up AIDS Vaccine and Fauci, it’ll tell you all you have to know about that creep…also there’s a great photo of Fauci and Bush [the 2nd] yucking it up before launching a scheme to put billions into Gilead’s hands for an exclusive “bird flu” cure.
===========================================
*
Gilead Sciences’s criminal drug testing – https://www.voltairenet.org/article203326.html
**
Fortune magazine
“Gilead Sciences board is “politically well-connected.” Notable well-connected board members include former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who served as the company’s chairman before leaving to join Bush II’s cabinet. Former US Secretary of State George Shultz served on the board for a decade and is currently an Emeritus director. Corporate Governance & Nominating Committee chair Gayle E. Wilson is the wife of former California Governor Pete Wilson. While it may be interesting to note that all three board members are directly tied to the Republican Party, it is Mr. Rumsfeld’s role that causes the most concern.
In 1996, Gilead Sciences sold the licensing rights of Tamiflu, an antiviral drug, to Swiss biopharmaceutical giant Hoffmann-La Roche but maintained the right to collect royalties based on a percentage of net sales. Then, nearly 10 years later, when the globe was in the midst of a bird flu scare, President Bush unveiled a $7.1 billion plan to prepare for the looming pandemic. To make his case, Mr. Bush frighteningly described the impending crisis as “a lot like a forest fire … if caught early, it might be extinguished with limited damage; if allowed to smolder undetected, it can grow to an inferno that spreads quickly beyond our ability to control it.” (Except, of course, that the pandemic never occurred). The plan included $1.2 billion to purchase vaccines; $1 billion to stockpile additional antiviral medications (including Tamiflu); and $2.8 billion for a “crash program” to accelerate the development of new technology to speed vaccine production. Mr. Rumsfeld, as it turns out, was not only the former Chairman at Gilead Sciences, but he was also one of its major shareholders.
S Brennan
And while not the biggest fan of NC, this article is worth a read for those trying to empower themselves through knowledge:
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/07/covid-19-mistakes-to-avoid-dont-mix-up-prophylaxis-and-cure.html
“…with HCQ studies…Many studies have looked at its use as a cure for those who have late-Stage COVID-19, and those poor results are extrapolated to conclude the drug has no utility whatsoever. I can’t help but think that the muddy scientific record is partly because big Pharma doesn’t benefit from clarity here,
Imagine, for example, we made the same type of logical mistake in evaluating the efficacy of birth control pills, e.g., conflation of the use of something as a cure, and as a prophylaxis. Assume you waited ’til week 24 of your pregnancy to take your birth control pills and then concluded that the drugs didn’t work very well: they didn’t prevent pregnancy at that stage and for all I know, their use might lead you to bring to term a damaged fetus or spontaneously abort. Whereas, if you used the drug as directed – taking them regularly, before and after you have sex, they work just fine.
The India seems to think that the same applies to HCQ and perhaps it does – even if Donald Trump thinks so. But no one at big Pharma will get rich if that is the case. So there’s a whole lot of conflation of prophylaxis and cure going on with people who should know better.”
Ten Bears
Throw a monkey wrench in it. Random acts of sabotage, senseless vandalism. Break things.
For years I’ve headlined posts and made comment here and there “we have to stop doing what we’re doing, it isn’t working.” While I am happy to see folks catching on I lament the time that has been wasted. Jerked off. It may be too late.
metamars
I have a neighbor I’m friendly with, who was for Bernie this time around, and last. We chatted the other day, and I told him that Bernie had pretty much capitulated for trinkets, from the Biden campaign. However, he insisted that Bernie’s real, and significant contribution, had to do with getting other progressive candidates elected.
According to the Fox news talking heads, Bernie and the “squad” has some sort of magical hold over Biden and the DNC insiders. I think they’re blowing smoke, mostly, because Trump is looking like a loser, and so they are doubling down on their standard “far left radical agenda” narrative.
The only sense that I agree with the Fox news dudes is when it comes to law and order. Tolerance for tearing down statues, rioting, looting, letting homeless people defecate on city streets, etc., seems like a distinctly Democratic propensity. Even so, when (if) the Biden people take over, they will return to a default of more subtle forms of state-encouraged crime, like letting the IRS target conservative organizations. On a local government level, however, I expect the more radical wackiness to continue.
Having said all that, I am concerned that, even with a Biden victory, domestic color revolution activities will continue, with local law enforcement being disbanded in favor of NATO “peacekeeping” forces, with lots of Dynecorp traditional drug and human trafficking thrown into the mix. George Webb has been investigating this for years. He was recently digitally assassinated, but has chosen to make lemonade, by putting his reporting into a book, which he will continually update. This book is called “Awan Minutes to Midnight”.
OOPS! I just checked, and amazon has pulled the book. Couldn’t have been up for more than 2 weeks. Well, you’ll have to see where he’ll release future versions via his twitter account, @GeorgWebb , though I wouldn’t count on that lasting too long. For now, from his twitter account:
TruthLeaks – Investigative Journalist George Webb
@GeorgWebb
·
10h
I am declaring Awan Minutes To Midnight free to be republished by any blog or website in the world. You have my blessing. I am rewriting the book now as Who Is Killing Trump?
TruthLeaks – Investigative Journalist George Webb
@GeorgWebb
·
10h
There is a url that I can’t share on Twitter. You will have to get it as a Twitter dm from George Webb research groups. All are welcome to read it as I write the new and better replacement.
TruthLeaks – Investigative Journalist George Webb
@GeorgWebb
·
10h
In light of Amazon destroying my #1 best selling book, after Parler destroyed the notes to that book, after YouTube destroyed the 4,000 videos of evidence of that book, I am writing a completely new book publicly which I will share on Google Docs.
capelin
Outside with you both. Sanitize your hands. Stand 6′ apart, then walk 20 paces and draw your pixels.
guest
KT Chong PERMALINK
July 16, 2020
I went to a Chinese New Year Festival (a street celebration and parade) at around the end of January. Got sick with flu-like symptoms for almost three whole……and tested POSITIVE for COVID 19.
Which means, either I got a different strain, or the anti-body only lasted for only about 4-5 months. If Trump and Republicans are betting on herd immunity by attrition… then we are FUCKED.
OR your infection never went away. Like herpes, it could have died back to certain reservoirs in your body and flares up from time to time when defenses weak.
In March I met a guy who got something like that in January after trip to NYC where he spent time in Chinatown.
I had something mild yet very weird in January. Two short colds with a week in between that were just dry cough (no nasal symptoms) and one day where I got so weak and my heart was racing I thought I might be dying. Probably not covid. But ever since, I seem to get bouts every few weeks where head is hot, esp my eyes.
But in Oregon you can’t just get tested for that kind of suspicion, and I don’t even think antibody tests are available.
StewartM
Pastor Joe
The nanny state has been handing over far, far, far more “free money” to the billionaire class than the plebes for over a decade. You not notice that?
StewartM
KT Chong
I’m still waiting for anyone to show me a pathogen that was ever stopped by the vaunted ‘herd immunity’ the Right keeps yapping about. All the great killers of the past were stopped by either effective treatments, new drugs, vaccines, or by advances in social hygiene.
Ché Pasa
As a confirmatory side note regarding the virus. A lot of people we know were sick with something “odd” in January. Ms Ché was attending a week-long resident seminar in Santa Fé with several dozen people from all over the country. Some had recently been abroad. She doesn’t recall if any had been in China, but she remembers that several had returned from Europe. A number were sick, and as the residency continued, more and more of the attendees got sick. Eventually, more than half were ill, including Ms Ché. Some were ill for months, into March.
Nobody knows what it was. Only two that we know of have been tested for COVID-19, and both were negative.
Ms. Ché will try to get a test tomorrow to see if she had it. We’ll see…
metamars
@StewartM
“I’m still waiting for anyone to show me a pathogen that was ever stopped by the vaunted ‘herd immunity’ the Right keeps yapping about. All the great killers of the past were stopped by either effective treatments, new drugs, vaccines, or by advances in social hygiene.”
I’ll bite: Spanish flu
BTW, “herd immunity” is not a right wing or left wing concept.
IMNSHO, the mainstream media is pretty much a waste of time if you want to understand the pandemic. That includes “right wing” Fox news. I also suggest you try and figure out which people with assumed expertise are being more truthful, rational, and non-self-censoring. Just because somebody has relevant credentials doesn’t mean that what they’re telling you is worth a bucket of spit.
You could start your explorations in understanding with Ivor Cummins interview of Dr. John Lee, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRYEBHDyR3Y&t=968s
However, if it’s more essential to your self-esteem to hate on “right wingers”, you’d best skip this. Why raise your blood pressure, if you’re going to be compelled to reject rational arguments, in favor of more catastrophic scenarios, anyway?
From the interview (48:50):
“some people hate when people just lie in
general and I know that in a corporate
world that I was in you know lies are
needed sometimes but one thing I can’t
tolerate is the technical truth that is
twisted for political purposes it always
drove me crazy from the first year of my
career and this here is obviously such a
big version of that I’m going crazy for
two and a half months now had an
immunologist a professor in Bern
Switzerland a video came out yesterday
of an interview that was stunning and he
actually covered everything and he said
at the end he went to all of what we
said about all the layers of the immune
system
he said it’s absurd what’s being said by
people that he would expect to know how
this works right so they’re all
cognitive bias but he also said in the
last few minutes that his students past
students who are now in careers in
immunology have privately said they
really appreciated his thoughtfulness
and they agree with him but they said we
CAN’T SAY IT BECAUSE OF OUR CAREERS AND …”
Finally, FWIW, I don’t think scientists really understand the mechanics of herd immunity. If my speculations about the microbiome being involved are correct, that is hardly surprising, as that is a frontier in and of itself.
different clue
Bernie’s most significant and long-lasting achievement, if there is to be one, will be the organized groups of several million supporters who organized in his support. If they can stay together and stay organized, they will become the self-given gift which they will give to themselves and eachother.
If they can stay organized and in systematic touch, they can figure out stuff to do and when/ how to do it. They can also share information around about this and that. If they want, they could even share non-harmful non-psycho/sociopathic survival information between all their millions of selves. They could start learning/living/loving all this survivalist information and become nodes of strength, support and encouragement to those around them who see them surviving when survival seems doubtful to many.
They don’t need a Bernie to tell them to do that or to lead them. They can tell/lead eachother in these and other initiatives.