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Post by miscmisc on Dec 10, 2020 15:00:48 GMT 1
This sounds really... harsh.
This is Robert Lighthizer, the *Trump administration's* USTR. The Trump administration is supposed to be in favor of Brexit, right?
The statement basically says, "OK, thanks for that, but we were going to get it regardless of what you do anyway, so thanks but don't expect anything in return." Unnecessarily harsh and cold.
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Post by miscmisc on Dec 10, 2020 16:29:44 GMT 1
It may be too late, but I think countries like Slovenia need to get vaccines as soon as possible. Merkel talked about the "unacceptable," but 50 deaths per day for such a tiny country as Slovenia is truly, truly unacceptable. That's pretty much the worst fatality rate in the world at the moment.
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Post by miscmisc on Dec 10, 2020 17:01:07 GMT 1
If triage has been already going on even in such a wealthy country as Sweden - and it's 120% clear from the ICU admission data that it has even though they never announce it officially - you bet it's happening in many of the less wealthy countries particularly in Eastern Europe. Very old patients have been refused. It's true that most of them wouldn't survive anyway, but some of them *would*. The ICU survival rate isn't high for 80+, but far from being zero. And they would have indeed 0% chance without the ICU treatment.
Triage is always heartbreaking.
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Post by miscmisc on Dec 10, 2020 18:36:34 GMT 1
This really feels like a scene from a horror movie.
Just a different planet, except that its ICU occupancy is now 99% primarily due to the same virus that we on Planet Earth are familiar with.
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gols
Novice Member
Posts: 163 
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Post by gols on Dec 10, 2020 18:39:59 GMT 1
What would it take to stop Britons from calling vaccine injection a "jab"? Sounds very unpleasant. I don't think 'injection' sounds that appealing either... ; ) |
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Post by miscmisc on Dec 10, 2020 18:41:17 GMT 1
ANY country can suffer from a mass delusion if something starts wrong and keeps going wrong.
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Post by miscmisc on Dec 10, 2020 18:42:50 GMT 1
What would it take to stop Britons from calling vaccine injection a "jab"? Sounds very unpleasant. I don't think 'injection' sounds that appealing either... ; ) You may not like a "shot" either, lol. |
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gols
Novice Member
Posts: 163
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Post by gols on Dec 10, 2020 18:48:22 GMT 1
I don't think 'injection' sounds that appealing either... ; ) You may not like a "shot" either, lol. Maybe that's where the anti-vaxx midset really comes from. It's a reaction to the violent nature of the terminology.
Maybe they should re-brand them as 'vaccine hugs', or 'immunity cuddles'.
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Post by miscmisc on Dec 10, 2020 19:37:08 GMT 1
Damn, this person nailed it.
I was thinking for a while the Republican "overwhelm them with lawsuits" strategy reminded me of something, and it's Scientology!
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Post by miscmisc on Dec 11, 2020 2:25:18 GMT 1
I know I've been totally in the "lesser of multiple evils" mode in this thread lately. I'm upset with the near-total global silence on what Turkey and Azerbaijan have been doing to Armenia for example, but I don't talk about it here. I know I gave a pass to people/things that I normally wouldn't, or even shouldn't. I even okayed Neera Tanden. Whoa, did I? [checking previous rants] Yup, I did.
But don't get me wrong. I do think centrist libs like Joe Biden will be woefully ineffective and even harmful in this US political environment. His team is already promoting the kind of people who shouldn't be elevated. The whole thing looks like Obama's 3rd term with the same cast members, with the only redeeming quality being the absence of deficit hawks.
I'm not even talking about their disregard for the left (quelle surprise), or even about Susan Rice. It goes much deeper than that. It seems to me that the Democratic Party is in crisis, but few are willing to talk about that.
I just don't want to be redundant, and frankly I don't have energy to rant about those issues when more naked, raw stupidity blocks my view. I find myself and my topics in this thread boring these days - because raw stupidity and evil are boring - and that probably means I'm approaching some high entropy point in this thread = time to leave.
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Post by miscmisc on Dec 11, 2020 2:56:28 GMT 1
The Democratic leaders - most of whom should retire BTW - treating the whole shit show as crazies making stupid noise is a grave mistake. It's a national crisis, and such a misguidedly "adult" attitude simply exacerbates the problem.
But they won't listen. They will also never admit that at the root of the problem is... the US Constitution. The fetishization of that 18th century document must end.
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Post by miscmisc on Dec 11, 2020 8:38:01 GMT 1
This is not a cool hip mRNA vaccine, but of the old school kind. And if these data are reliable, it works exceptionally well too.
Most of you - assuming you are in Europe/North America/Oceania/Japan/Korea etc. - aren't likely to get this one because, you know, CHINA!, but this can be stored in a fridge for a long time and is significantly cheaper than the mRNA ones. It would easily beat Pfizer's and Moderna's as Peopel's Vaccine for the global consumption.
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Post by miscmisc on Dec 11, 2020 9:20:14 GMT 1
It's annoying that Boris Johnson keeps talking about the "Australian option" or whatever the hell he calls it when he refers to No Deal.
I mean, it's literally a no deal, and a deal that Australia basically hates. They resent the fact that they can't make their agricultural products price competitive in Europe due to the huge tariffs. They can afford to have a bad deal like that because their primary trading partner today is South/East Asia. Australian products are absolutely ubiquitous in Japan for example. Look at the Australian exports to the EU on the other hand: It's less than a quarter of the volume to Japan.
Europe is a faraway place for Australia now, more so than it used to be. They used to bother to go to Switzerland/Austria (or Canada) for skiing, but many or them opt for the Japanese winter resorts now.
Speaking of Japan, sure, the UK and Japan agreed on a trade deal a couple months ago, and it's actually a pretty good one for Britain. Probably by far the most successful and speedy trade negotiation that the Johnson government has done to date.
But it goes without saying that the UK will never be even remotely as successful in the Japanese market as Australia has been. The UK is simply not part of the Pacific Rim econo-sphere no matter what; It literally belongs on the other side of the world.
Therefore, the actual "Australian deal," which presupposes the Chinese and Japanese market, has no relevance to the British situation. I suppose most British people outside the Johnson fan club do understand that, but it sounds totally ridiculous.
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Post by miscmisc on Dec 11, 2020 16:27:17 GMT 1
 Shit like this is why so many Eurocrats find the whole thing absolutely hilarious. They are fucking assholes and pricks, but who can blame them.
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Post by miscmisc on Dec 11, 2020 16:35:57 GMT 1
If the pace of the US Covid fatality doesn't change significantly in a month or so, the US will end up losing almost as many lives as it did due to the Spanish Flu in 1918.
Incredible.
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