Restoring Humanity to Humanity - Open Thread 10/08/21

Someday this epidemic will end. What then? How will we reconcile the deep divisions that have been so skillfully cultivated? How will we reconcile the animosity that has so been insidiously implanted into our psyches? How do we look each other in the eyes after the cultivators of aspersion have fomented so much hatred? Broken families, broken friendships, broken lives. How does humanity deprogram itself? How do we individually break through the fog?

Our reality has been reshaped right before our eyes. No matter your stance on either side of this pandemic, your reality has been formed by others. Think you're immune to the programming? I say, think again. I think we have all been manipulated.

The constant barrage of disinformation and outright lies from every angle has taken its toll. It's not so difficult to see the stress in everyday people, it manifests itself in many ways. It's incessant, every day, day after day, this outrage or that outrage, here's the "truth", no here's the "real truth", don't listen to them they're on the other side, it's all intentional FUD. The media conglomerate grinds on and on from the left to the right and all points in between. We all know the term for the constant pounding on our brains; gaslighting.

Gaslighting is a form of manipulation that occurs in abusive relationships. It is an insidious and sometimes covert type of emotional abuse where the bully or abuser makes the target question their judgments and reality. Ultimately, the victim of gaslighting starts to wonder if they are losing their sanity.

Gaslighting is a technique that undermines your entire perception of reality. When someone is gaslighting you, you often second-guess yourself, your memories, and your perceptions.

After communicating with the person gaslighting you, you are left feeling dazed and wondering if there is something wrong with you. Tactics like these can confuse you and cause you to question your judgment and overall mental health.

Source

The gaslighting concept has been with us for a long while. Surely we are aware of it as it happens, right? Do we really see it? Or do we simply accept it because it makes living the lies so much simpler? Once the gaslighting has been totally absorbed, the mind can safely be shut off from external conflict, even if one understands that they have been conditioned. It's nearly impossible to penetrate the self defense mechanism at that point. The gaslighting was a success. Of course this supposition does not apply to everyone, some will still have critical doubts, but most go on in blissful acceptance of "THE TRUTH" as they see it, or have been conditioned to see it. Life is much easier that way.

Which brings up another point. Is the concept of free will even valid in today's world? Are we truly free to do as we please? I posit that we all have been gaslit and propagandized into what I'll call our own personal mental safe space. Did you come to your conclusion by your own volition or was it someone else that has leveraged you or convinced you or that you've reached your conclusions as a free thinking individual? Sure, you may be physically free to move about (in relative terms), for now, but what about your mind. Is it truly free will if we can be so easily manipulated?

Back to the original premise of this piece, restoring humanity to humanity. After the pandemic will we accept the fact that we have been manipulated or will we push it to the back of our minds and act like it didn't even happen? Will we continue to allow ourselves to hate our fellow man on the pretext of someone else's agenda? Can we learn to accept one another again? Can we mend that which is broken?

Will we be able to heal the psychological divisions? There are strong forces that will want to continue the manipulation for the sake of dividing us long after this pandemic runs its course. Why would they stop doing it when it works so well.

In my humble opinion, the first step in breaking the conditioning is to realize that it is in fact happening. I'll say it again, the struggle isn't horizontal, it's vertical. Eyes opened one at a time.

In conclusion, I don't expect anyone to concur with my assertions, all I ask is that you consider them. Maybe you'll see this as a "no shit Sherlock" point of view. Maybe you'll agree. Maybe not. Maybe humanity is too far gone. Maybe there is a great awakening afoot. Maybe.

We're at a crossroads, folks, how it all shakes out is up to us. Interesting times indeed.

I'm just a simple man in east Texas trying to make sense of it all. That is my reality.

Disclaimer 1: All personal pronoun references in this post are about folks in general and no one here personally.

Disclaimer 2: This article is the opinion of the author only and does not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the management. Heh!

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Where have you all been the last few days? Biggrin

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@JtC . Must say I'm glad you're back.

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@randtntx
Good to see you as well and I'm glad to be back with batteries fully charged.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@JtC

I thought C99 was being left to bootstrap a new paradigm of community, with the ground crew organizing the emergence of self-management. At best.

At worse, I thought C99 was being consigned to a "Lord of the Flies" designation, with a betting window off to the side.

So, you went off on a spa weekend, then?

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
janis b's picture

@Pluto's Republic

I guess now we might not know whether we were capable of the challenge. I'd bet though we were, and that a spa weekend is just the right medicine ; ).

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@Pluto's Republic
and a terrible hangover, not easy to get rid of.

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Creosote.'s picture

@JtC

I'm grateful for that and all you've not mentioned but done and held up under to make it possible for us to grasp and use. Makes up for not enough people nearby geographically or with enough grit to know firsthand how to strike even an actual match in the dark -- never have been home till the here and now.
Moving from La Salle must have paralleled leaving an important room.

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It takes good horse sense to sort these issues out
Yippee eye oh kayeah
Thanks for the OT!

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@QMS
winnie, neigh, snort.

Thanks brother.

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Lookout's picture

So nice to "see" you! Interesting ruminations my friend.

The constant barrage of disinformation and outright lies from every angle has taken its toll.

The corporate capture of media almost insures this will be the case for at least the rest of our lives. IMO, only complete collapse will bring the end of the oligarchy...if that.

I think we have all been manipulated.

No bout adoubt it.

Will we continue to allow ourselves to hate our fellow man on the pretext of someone else's agenda? Can we learn to accept one another again?

I can't remember a time when we ever accepted everyone. Seems to me there's always be the "others". Whether we're talking other tribes or clans in the past or races and nationalities today. We are one family of humankind, but it is a minority that view us all in that manner from my perspective and experience.

Why would they stop doing it when it works so well.

Precisely! Return to my first comment about the megaphone of the MSM.

Lately I've been thinking of our development into an assemblage of dystopian novels - the authoritarian control of 1984, the distraction using pleasure as in Brave New World, and the suppression of information like Fahrenheit 451. I think individuals can side step the worse of these, but will not be allowed a platform to help others escape. That is what makes this platform so important in these times.

Thank you JtC for hosting this community and giving us the opportunity to express opinions outside the accepted narrative. And thank the whole community for your insights, thoughtful nature, and willingness to share.

Hope you all have a great day. The rain finally lifted and the homestead has a multitude of tasks awaiting.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout
thanks for being a stalwart in a time of doubt.

You rock, in an old timey way!

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mimi's picture

and for that I am genuinely happy.
I didn't know Sherlock is such a good cowboy.
And if you don't understand my (not so) funny English that is just my freedom to talk my mouth as I please and I am grateful that you allowed me to do that as I please.

Restoring humanity to humanity? Looking you in the eyes? Hmm... I think humanity is acting like crickets. Searching for a hiding place. I would not advixe to search for crickets. It seems to be a hopeless endeavour.

Thanks for this great OT, Sherlock. I don't like crossroads. Too hard to know which direction to take.

With all due respect ... I need a new nickname for you.

Stay put and be well.

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@mimi
a new nickname? You can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay, or you can call me Johnny...

Just don't call me late for supper.

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mimi's picture

@JtC
where have you been? Now dinner is ready.

I hate the google.

First, let's define both terms. Merriam-Webster establishes dinner as "the principal meal of the day." Supper, on the other hand, has three definitions: The evening meal when dinner is taken at mid-day. A light meal served late in the evening.

Just don't ask for popcorm or potato chips. Wink

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janis b's picture

@mimi

Restoring humanity to humanity? Looking you in the eyes? Hmm... I think humanity is acting like crickets. Searching for a hiding place. I would not advixe to search for crickets. It seems to be a hopeless endeavour.

Thankfully we sometimes still have a choice.

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Wecome back---so glad your hiatus was brief.

There are some green shoots visible. For me, it was Fauci's comment a few weeks ago that "If the Polio Vaccine were discovered today, would we even allow it to come to market?" The obvious answer is "No." We favor testing diagnoses endless treatments and expensive meds over cures. Profit is the goal, not people's health and lives.

This mild objection from a major participant in all the madness gives me hope.

The hysteria and focus on Covid is currently filling an important place in our media's gaslighting. The intention is to keep our focus on Trump, Covid and the phony kerfuffles they are currently drumming up in DC. This is all to confuse us enough that we do not question what is actually happening in our country and around the world.

AtC 99 we focus on all the items that need attention even as we examine each one thoroughly. That's what the Evening News plus an Open Thread each day provide.

Space for many things to be discussed and chewed over. Not like the media, who agree on which topics to cover and others to ignore.

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NYCVG

@NYCVG
we have the best media that money can buy. The old adage "you get what you pay for" is certainly in play.

Thanks for reading.

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Think like TPTB. What is COVID to them?
ans: An opportunity to make $billions.
Who would stop us?
ans: Well, it used to be anti authoritarian lefties, but we got the authoritarian right to attack them for us. Now it's anti authoritarian rightists. What we need are authoritarian leftists.
Hey, we've got authoritarian pseudo leftists, and we've already indoctrinated them to hate anti authoritarian rightists for us.
ans: Flood the media with propaganda about how those who aren't falling for our vaccination scam are brain dead haters who are killing us. Hate is a sure-fire tool.
But what about when the antiauthoritarian right and left realize they're both being played? They'll both hate us!
ans: Gleep!

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On to Biden since 1973

mimi's picture

@doh1304
they are so "cheap".

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@doh1304
"gleep" is right! Well said.

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TheOtherMaven's picture

@JtC

it gleeps." (James Thurber, The 13 Clocks).

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

How's the pony doing?

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

@Fishtroller 02
he's chomping at the bit.

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@JtC

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

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@JtC

He'd be a hit at our town's annual horse show in Kentucky, but they probably wouldn't let him board in the same barns as the saddlebreds... doesn't have the elite pedigree... ha! Actually those poor saddlebreds go through a life of pain to be shown off. Different breed from the racing horses.

Anyway, if that pony starts dragging in the mud again, you know what to do!

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

mimi's picture

Tulsi Gabbard: The Attorney General is weaponizing federal agencies to intimidate Americans into compliance

And the reality is that, as you know, very well, whether we disagree or agree with each other, whether our speech is quiet or obnoxious, our speech is protected by the First Amendment. It's something that I, as a soldier and as a member of Congress, took an oath to support and defend the Constitution. And I may hate the speech that you say. I may completely disagree with it, but I will lay down my life to protect your right to say it.

xyz

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@mimi
about her, she is courageous.

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mimi's picture

@JtC

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gulfgal98's picture

In my naive, overly optimistic way, I honestly believed that the pandemic would make us all behave in a kinder and gentler way toward one another. I could not have been more wrong. My stupid delusions of people actually coming together and caring for one another has been permanently dashed.

This pandemic and how friends, family, and our own government have reacted to it has completely and utterly darkened how I now view the world. It really does not matter who is right and who is wrong. Just as it does not matter if you believe that I have been propagandized or manipulated over this issue or not. We are all constantly being propagandized and manipulated over everything in this country. The coup has been completed and the dismantling of all public good is nearly complete. We saw that in our government's failure to give the people of this country healthcare in the midst of a pandemic while funneling trillions of dollars upward to large corporations and the wealthiest among us.

In May of this year, I wrote an essay about the Great Reset and its implications for every one of us. Perhaps we should all be talking about the much bigger picture envisioned by the Great Reset instead of attacking one another over vaccines, cures, and masks.

Honestly, I have come to believe that is no undoing what has happened to us as human beings in the last year and a half. It is extremely sad to watch us fighting over scraps on the ground while the oligarchs get fatter and fatter. All I know is that as I get older, I have become very tired of the infighting. And maybe that is exactly what the oligarchs have wanted all along.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

snoopydawg's picture

@gulfgal98

Thanks for reposting the link to it. Yes I have been wondering why we aren’t talking more about it and I think we should. Part of it was that damn self censorship in case it’s another thing viewed as a conspiracy theory and would just cause more friction here. I don’t think it is because it seems most countries have been following the same script. Kill the economy, kill small businesses, kill people’s options to make a living, kill the option for people to afford housing, kill…ect. But make sure that the rich people get even more insanely rich by transferring money to them free of charge and rigging the economy for them.

Then add in all the censorship and topics that we are forbidden to talk about and losing the ways to do it. That democrats are the ones pushing for more censorship just blows my mind as does how many dem voters that are in favor of it no matter that they stood against it their whole lives previously.

Congress gave Blackstone money again so they can buy up any house that meets their fancy including whole neighborhoods and then renting them out at obscene rates. And also planning on building factory towns and all that comes with it. Yep I think we should be definitely talking about this.

We did cover the massive transfer of money from congress immediately while they dickered about how much to send us. Democrats are still doing it. No problem passing the largest military budget in history while cutting down what comes to we the people. Manchin doesn’t want an entitlement society? But he has no problem with one that benefits his donors. Trillions in subsidies for fossil fuels and gawd only knows what else, but gawd forbid that Americans are food secure. Oops..I’ll stop here.

Thanks again.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@gulfgal98
I agree with everything you've said.

Here's my take on the Great Reset: TPTB are well aware that the collapse of the economy is inevitable. That thought I'm sure makes them poop their depends.

IMHO the Reset is cover for them to keep their heads off of the pikes. They'll blame the collapse on everything but themselves. It's a grand plan to swipe everything off the top as they start the game afresh, keeping their skin in the game while they fleece the world.

It's brilliant actually, rape the world, take all of the assets and then rent it all back to the newly minted slaves. Cloak the collapse, stack the deck and keep themselves off of the lamp posts.

"Hey people of the world, due to no fault of our own, the global economy has collapsed, but thankfully you have us to reset the whole thing so you can have nothing and be happy".

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@gulfgal98 and agree with every bit.

If you can, try to hang in there with us.

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NYCVG

Of course this opening line reminded me of one of the dozens of iconic moments in Apocalypse Now: "Someday this war is gonna end."

Until about six weeks ago or so, I took that as a given. Like every plague in human memory, it eventually would play itself out in time. In fact, that commonsensical thought is what animated my own message board comments from the start of the crisis. I saw no evidence, anywhere, that anybody in authority thought that notion was worth consideration in determining how to "save lives."

No, it was just assumed without any meaningful debate or even explanation that the virus would kill indiscriminately and indefinitely unless humans reduced their personal contact each other. That may be the simple truth, but it still does not answer the question of why it does not kill everybody -- or why previous global infections have played themselves out in time.

That open ended formulation of "saving lives" did not pass my smell test, and I made some internet posts asking the question, how bad can this pandemic be?
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Worst Case Scenario 7/9/20

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Instead of arguing about the unknowable future course of the Asteroid Virus, let us assume the worst. In addition to mutating into multiple configurations, it turns out the virus has collateral pathological effects besides filling up the lungs with fluid. Suggestions that this might be happening are showing up on the internet as of now.

In this thought experiment, the current flap about the World Health Organization and aerosol projection of infectious material is joined by dozens of other bureaucratic screw-ups, while the infection rate climbs and the death rate resumes its climb. Public pressure groups and some politicians "call out" the various organizations like WHO and CDC for their criminal negligence, and the general public becomes more disillusioned and angry. So mad, they vote Democrat in November.

But the virus ignores the election returns and continues to attack human beings, making millions sick and hundreds of thousands die, due to a combination of Trumpian Anti-Science stupidity, the fundamental dysfunctionality of our social order and the unbeatable nature of the mutating, multi-faceted plague that refuses to go away.

How many people will this ultimately kill?

And how will people manage to remain good citizens as the "correct" science continues to impose social distancing indefinitely -- the New Normal is masks and long lines with no mass gatherings of people ever.

Does this civilization survive? How?

This, of course, is a more elaborate version of a question that still draws contempt and invective rather than rational thought. Is the cure worse than the disease? This question has nothing whatsoever to do with whether any particular statistic is bogus. It assumes that the virus is as bad as Science can possibly predict a virus to be, and then asks how bad is that? It also asks the forbidden question of how many people will be killed, maimed, sickened, rendered homeless, go hungry, turn to crime, become addicted -- and become multi-factored and multi-vectored THREATS -- in the Intentional Depression started to defeat the virus.

And it is the organized suppression of this side of the Pandemic Equation that makes me paranoid.

.

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How Do We Know When We've Won of Lost? 8/17.20
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I will never forget the first week of this War Against the Invisible Enemy. On March 10, during a nationally televised basketball game, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver ordered the end of all NBA games, effective at the final buzzer. Two days later, before Trump declared a National Emergency, toilet paper disappeared from grocery stores and hoarding turned shopping into a Third World dystopian ordeal. At that point, there was no governmental order -- just panic. "If there is no more sports, something really BIG must be going on!"

From then to now, a hodge podge of orders, reversals and resumptions of various policies have materialized from a bewildering parade of politicians, bureaucrats and designated experts who appear on TV almost every day to reveal the latest numbers, curves, surges, spikes, waves, explosions and wildfires that show that whatever we have done so far to stop the virus has not worked.

There was never any debate at all, and the strategy for fighting the virus was just announced without any discussion of other alternatives. This was yet another example of binary framing -- either you are with us or you are with the terrorists, either you support Russiagate or you are a MAGA head, either you support every detail of the restrictions or you are a Trump supporting moron and a terrorist bent on the slaughter of innocents.

.

What I had no conception of as a year ago was the bizarre transformation of the global economy that is taking place. It is hidden in plain sight in the business press, but it never makes headlines and it is invariably segregated from "news" about the pandemic. The Federal Reserve has been creating liquidity to support the stock and real estate markets, throwing trillions (with a T) "dollars" at investors and the stock market averages are about double where they were as of March 2020. Housing prices have increased by more 15% while there are 15 million vacancies, including seven million dwellings "held off the market."

The price tag for all the various economic legerdemain is at least $10 trillion around the world, probably more than $20 trillion.

To link the anomalies of Covid policy with the perversity of the stock market and real estate booms is of course just another paranoid conspiracy theory. Guilty as charged. I believe that the "cost" of the pandemic is much like the "cost" of the War on Terrorism -- a gift to the friendly guys and gals who donate money to politicians.

.
As of March 2021, the good folks at Pfizer held a conference call with the "investment community." As of then, they were working under two assumptions:

1. booster shots would become necessary for the rest of time

2. the pandemic would turn endemic
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we think as this shifts from pandemic to endemic, we think there's an opportunity here for us

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Six months later, well shut my mouth, but they were right back then.

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So, I hope you are right, JtC, and I hope that the pandemic is winding down already. Most importantly, I am hoping that the infinite power behind the most ridiculous bullshit in the history of the world accepts that verdict and agrees to shut down the mandatory vaccination program as unnecessary.

Based on the trajectory as reflected by what I pointed out last summer and what is going on now, I cannot imagine that happening. Nobody goes to this much trouble to say, "Whew! We are so glad we don't have to tell people what to do about their health anymore!"

My sourpuss skepticism is no more reliable than all this message board science I have been hearing about for a year and a half. But I believe I see the writing on the proverbial wall. The most absurd of paranoid fantasies are far more likely than not to be implemented as whatever diabolical Doctor Evil plot is on track. Whatever is going on, it sure ain't a sincere effort to "save lives."

So your goal is sensible and humane -- how do we avoid hating each other? That should be a lot easier than to stop worrying. I don't hate my brother who thinks I am going to die of covid because I have not gotten vaccinated. He is no longer impressed with mask wearing, but he concedes it is better than nothing.

I could debate with my brother and prove to him that this vaccine regime does not and cannot stop the pandemic or keep the vaccinated from spreading infection. Shit, that is a no-brainer as the authorities tell us to wear a mask even after getting jabbed.

I also have a business associate who shocked me on a phone call this week. He is an extremely nice guy who is a lifetime lefty who does not vote because both parties are run by capitalism. I called him to let him know that I had quit my job as of August 31, and that I had now severed all ties with the union that employed us both. Although he was aware of the September 1 deadline, it did not occur to him that I did not want to get vaccinated.

In fact, he told me about some hot job opportunities with Los Angeles County. Next month some 4000 county employees who are "too stupid to get vaccinated will be fired. You can probably get a job easily." Ever since Trump became the Poster Child for pandemic skepticism, I have heard this exact same presumptuous tone of voice that assumes that everybody with any common sense is on board with every detail of the Save Lives narrative -- and that anybody who does not share that assumption deserves to have their lives destroyed. That is about as good a definition of hate that I can imagine.

That irrational hate is what you are talking about. I have to own up to vast disappointment in my brother and my former colleague. Although my brother insisted on "discussing" it, I never talked about any of this with my professional associates. In fact I went to some trouble to disguise the reason for my "retirement": It ain't anybody's business what my health care regime is. I did not quit because of the vaccine. I quit because my employer (a labor union !?!?) has no legal or moral right to ask if I got jabbed -- for the simple truth that these vaccines do not prevent infection or spread. If I decide that I don't want to get stuck, the ONLY rationale that would make any sense for mandatory vaccination would be if it offered actual immunity. That would indeed end a pandemic.

But it hasn't and the Pfizer folks never claimed it would.

This is not to say that the community here should throw up its collective hands and say, "Well it was a nice thing, freedom. Sad to see it go."

But the pandemic might not ever end. Isn't that what endemic means?

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I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.

snoopydawg's picture

@fire with fire

Well said. I too have avoided hating anyone who believes differently than I do. When my brother said something about the stupid people who refuse to get vaccinated and are keeping the epidemic going I just said, yup, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to change his mind by mentioning how it doesn’t stop us from getting infected and spreading the virus. And people with that mindset rarely think about the people who cannot get vaccinated. Everyone who doesn’t is just stupid and selfish and, and…

BTW not one of the current vaccines have been fully approved and that makes the mandates illegal. Pfizer’s is not available yet and they are using up their vaccines that are under EAU, but Fauci hasn’t told us that. Walensky is saying that they are perfectly safe for pregnant women even though they haven’t been tested to see if they are. And since kids rarely get sick why is Pfizer asking for EAU to vaccinated them? Biden still hasn’t given OSHA the power to enforce the mandates and I’m not sure that he legally can, but it was a scare tactic to get people to take them. And guess what? The NY governor is firing anyone who doesn’t get it and replacing health care workers with national guard health care workers who don’t have to get vaccinated until June 2022. Wut? Tell me how that makes sense?

Merck’s new drug doesn’t work and can cause cancer, costs under $18 to make but they are selling it for $700. The government has already given them $1.7 billion for 1.2 billion doses. India has stopped working with them because of both issues. Just another way to transfer money upwards and from the things that we should be getting. If the truth about all this ever comes out…

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

snoopydawg's picture

@snoopydawg

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

@fire with fire
I too hope I'm right, but I too understand your pessimism.

Thanks for the comment.

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@fire with fire endemic means here forever. endless jabs. "Get used to it. Live with it." Very grim, indeed.

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NYCVG

janis b's picture

@fire with fire

It also asks the forbidden question of how many people will be killed, maimed, sickened, rendered homeless, go hungry, turn to crime, become addicted -- and become multi-factored and multi-vectored THREATS -- in the Intentional Depression started to defeat the virus.

From the beginning what occupied my mind most was the question, "what will become of those who are isolated from their sources of life?", whether it be a loved family member, or everyday social, work, or physical connections; and "what will become of their sense of vitality?". I think many have found resourceful and creative ways to soften the degree of separation, but many are suffering from this unnatural and destructive direction. To me that is a great source of the depression.

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@janis b
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A year and a half of this stilted and antiseptic version of daily life has driven my wife and I right up to the breaking point. We have been married for 33 years, but we have never before been locked in the same space together 24/7 and we tend to get on each other's nerves like never before.

The rows of tents on Sunset Blvd are another gut wrenching reminder of our current regime of Life Out of Balance.

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I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.

janis b's picture

@fire with fire

I hope you both can find the balance, even during these most trying times.

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4 users have voted.

Do we have the patience and the love to look past all these false divisions and see the person behind? Do we know how to forgive others (and ourselves) for being so easily hoodwinked by skillful manipulators?

I have certainly not mastered these abilities, but I do recognize the need for it. That’s as a good place to start working on this problem as I can muster. Not at others, but in myself.

My two cents

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

@ovals49
we are not quite to the collective Borg state, yet. But you are correct, it will take each individual to open their eyes to the manipulation. Convincing folks, on both sides of the issues, that they have been programmed will be a daunting task. Government overreach should help the process along as they get more bold in their determinations.

Thanks for commenting.

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11 users have voted.
Dawn's Meta's picture

after seven years you deserve a real vacation. This was too short for a real break. I do hope you are taking care of yourself and your family.

That means I hope, downtime for real.

A heartfelt greeting to Gulfgal, no matter what you say, I cannot be offended. I so sorry that you feel constrained in this horrible time. I know many here love you.

JtC, the Covid Corner thingy was a great idea. I think we have been behaving ourselves. There are fewer voices, but some of the interactions have been truly wonderful, sweet, smart and human.

Then there's a personal dilemma.

Like OTC we have just had two, two more kittens turn up in our hedge. One even came to the window over the extension roof. They are fluffy, cute, cold and hungry. This time last year we rescued George and Ira out of the ditch in almost the same conditions.

These guys look good but mon Dieu, two more babies? One fluffy white with grey spots and one fluffy grey with white spots. They may be a bit older than our two were when we heard them crying in the ditch.

Oh woe. What a piece of work is man...and cat.

The costs of putting cats down in a country which views them as mousers for barns, is horrific. Cats are not happy in France. They are in Italy, Greece and other countries. We've heard Spain isn't so great if you're a cat either.

If any of you have any ideas (forget the sign on a tree, the stray and feral kittens are legion) let me know. I hate to see suffering in any creature or human.

Thank you.

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10 users have voted.

A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.

@Dawn's Meta
gentle lady. I feel much better after my short sojourn.

I hope there's a special level of hell for people that abandon innocent little animals. The bastids.

Obviously you've been tagged as a caring human being. That is admirable.

Thanks Dawn.

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9 users have voted.
Dawn's Meta's picture

I don't know why I was thinking of this commercial, but the writers of Weinhard's beer and Rainier Beer had some of the best commercials ever.

[video:https://youtu.be/iigxaFBTAZ4]

Shifting a motorcycle through gears: Rainier Beer
[video:https://youtu.be/AKFmc0oZXFI]

Frogs Rainier Beer
[video:https://youtu.be/zCW9gqN-_mE]

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4 users have voted.

A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.

hecate's picture

in the day, when came a plague, people in the village would hallucinate it was because Jews poisoned the wells.

The only difference between those days and these is that today there are a billion and one tubes where people worldwide can hallucinate together that Jews, and honorary Jews, like George Soros, Bill Gates, and Anthony Fauci, conspired to deliberately create a Great Reset plague, via some satanic pizzagating ceremony involving fucking a bat in a cave.

Among the Americans the coercion question was settled in 1905, when the US Supreme Court held the city of Cambridge could require its people be vaccinated for smallpox. The Americans were then more wild in the streets than they are today: some overzealous vaccinators actually kicked people’s doors down, to jab them, while foam-flecked fuck-no-you’re-not-shooting-me-up-with-Bill-Gates-semen! resisters burned their arms with nitric acid, to leave a scar they’d then try to pass off as a smallpox hole.

When once you get into the histories, you discover that only very rarely have the Americans been sane and decent. And such is true for most of the rest of the humans, too.

There has always been a divide between those with higher brain functioning, who will accept the existence of things like germs and gravity, though they can’t see them, and therefore must rely on the word of “experts,” and those who would prefer to sit around all day, and all of the night, masturbating like a monkey, “doing the research.”

As for the oh the humanity, I have a friend whose grandfather died of the plague and who remains masked and sheltered up the ying-yang for her young child with Down syndrome, and another friend, pregnant, unvaccinated, of the Jew Reset school, who wanders the land convinced she is in No Danger. Yet we all get along, because we burned in a fire together. When once you accept we’re all pretty much in a fire at all times, all this other shit becomes . . . ridiculous.

And JtC: in this state, these days, even if you’ve committed a murder, sometimes they let you out after seven years. So you, for sure, deserve a break, today. And all the days.

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15 users have voted.

@hecate
great to have you stop by, and great to see you're still wielding the sword of words. The bones grow ever higher.

I've been thinking of you lately, sounds like you're still in Paradise. How's things going there?

Sure would be nice if you would grace our pages again.

Thanks for stopping by, K.

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8 users have voted.
hecate's picture

@JtC
burned down. They’ve spent the summer ripping up the neighborhood to put in curbs gutters sidewalks along streets where 90% of everything went to ash and there’s been no rebuilding. The project is on a grant approved before the town burned down and the money could not be repurposed. So I’m amid noisy folly. If it ever rains real good hopefully they’ll leave off for a season or two.

There was a dust-up a while back where they claimed only 23% of the town was vaccinated. People were like: what is wrong with those yeehaws? They survived a fire, and now they want to die in a plague? Then I discovered they were relying for their base population figure on a census pre-fire. So that 23% was like, you know, some Trump number—where it’s just pulled out your ass and flung to the orcs, who unquestioningly, lovingly, eat it right up.

Numbers. Gotta be careful with those things.

I’ll try to think of a way to grace your pages while being . . . graceful. : )

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12 users have voted.

@hecate
I've never known you to be ungraceful. Biggrin

Really hope to see more of you my friend. I miss your grace.

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10 users have voted.
hecate's picture

@JtC
I am grace. I think that’s even in a prayer somewhere:

Hail hecate, full of grace.

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8 users have voted.

@hecate
bogazeedee, ommmm bogazeedee, bogazeedee ommmm.

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9 users have voted.
hecate's picture

@JtC
don’t remember how to do the smilies. Just pretend there’s a big laughing one here. : )

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9 users have voted.
janis b's picture

@hecate

"I’ll try to think of a way to grace your pages while being . . . graceful. : )"

I'm sure you'll find a way between graceful and otherwise. Your writing and thoughts are both so tender and fierce an expression of your thinking and these times.

It’s wonderful to know that you share the place you are in with others who support one another mutually. Too bad about the electrical and mechanical noise, but hoping the rains fall. How is your animal family doing?

I hope once in awhile you will write some more here. It could be mutually beneficial ; ).

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7 users have voted.
hecate's picture

@janis b
been a lot of casualties in the animal family. Not a pleasant story.

I don’t know about “mutually beneficial.” I don’t do the research in the conservative treehouse with Jimmy Dore screeching at top volume. So there’d be kind of a round peg in jagged hole problem.

Like today I might want to write about the Nobel Peace Prize pinned to the hole in Anna Politkovskaya’s forehead. Which could cause the Vlad The Man true believers to St. Vitus Dance. And I’m just burned out on conflict.

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5 users have voted.
janis b's picture

@hecate

I am sorry for your and their loss.

From a more mundane realm, I don't believe Jimmy Dore or any of his kind have to be a limitation here.

I don’t know about “mutually beneficial.” I don’t do the research in the conservative treehouse with Jimmy Dore screeching at top volume. So there’d be kind of a round peg in jagged hole problem.

Ultimately, there is room here for softer, less abrasive voices, if we make it so.

I can definitely appreciate your desire for non-divisivness and conflict.

Not sure where this came from, but here you go …

[video:https://youtu.be/8aShfolR6w8]

https://youtu.be/8aShfolR6w8

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4 users have voted.
hecate's picture

@janis b
[video:https://youtu.be/zof1DBjb5jM]

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2 users have voted.
janis b's picture

@hecate

This resonates -

The infinity symbol holds a deep meaning for spirituality, love, beauty, and power. The mysticism of our past and the possibility for an eternal future give the infinity symbol a sense of awe and wonder.

In a world filled with distraction and complications, the infinity symbol represents a sense of simplicity and balance. It reminds us to be conscious of where we are and the endless possibilities we have before us.

(my italics)
https://gyllenwatches.com/blogs/journal/infinity-symbol-meaning

Thanks for a new cover of my favourite song. Every time I listen to the original, which is very often, I experience the same sense of delight. If one can have a theme song, this one’s mine ; ).

[video:https://youtu.be/JccW-mLdNe0]

It’s Springtime here!

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3 users have voted.
Dawn's Meta's picture

@hecate glad to see you.

Hope you are doing ok.

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10 users have voted.

A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.

hecate's picture

@Dawn's Meta
[video:https://youtu.be/lpn2BUxzxRM]

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3 users have voted.

@hecate welcomes!
You are surviving such a disaster. It must play in your head constantly.
And now this virus disaster!
All of f us need a break, and that includes JtC.

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3 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

zed2's picture

why would anybody care about Trump (or Biden for that matter) Politics (and poluticians) are old stale news.

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0 users have voted.

@zed2
are you a bot?

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3 users have voted.
janis b's picture

@JtC

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4 users have voted.
zed2's picture

what about resveratrol, Iam still wondering. Its cheap and it blocks SARS, MERS and COVID-19 from replicating in vitro. And its side effects are "its good for you"

It opens the airway really well.

video is of English-speaking dog!

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1 user has voted.
JekyllnHyde's picture

It's great to see you.

I am most interested in changes to our politics. I'm just taking a wait 'n see attitude. I think it's too early to tell how life will change permanently post-pandemic. Several changes are definitely coming, including working from home for a substantial portion of the workforce.

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4 users have voted.

A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma

@JekyllnHyde
how you doing old friend.

Can't say that I disagree with your assessment. One thing I'm fairly sure wont happen post pandemic, is politics that actually work for the people. That is unless, like Mitt, one considers corporations as people, then everything is hunky dory.

Uggh

Thanks for stopping by, it's great to hear from you.

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4 users have voted.