@raphjd said in Carl Sagan's advise on Critical Thinking:

@bi4smooth

Fauci was a POS then and is still a POS, but you worship him.

Your liberal, Pelosi panty sniffing idiocy is showing.

Rand Paul, read directly from the NIH website, the definition of GOF research. He then read the section of the work to be funded by the NIH for Bill Gate's Eco-Health. Even you can do that.

Unlike you, I don't pretend to know more (or better) than the experts in the field who "peer reviewed" the reports and the claims made by Sen. Paul...

If you know more than them, please present your CV here to backup your claims...

@raphjd said in Where's the liberal C-19 outrage?!:

@bi4smooth

I'm not surprised you can't see your downplaying of any of this, because you are a liberal, Warhawk, swampie.

Hmmm... let's see...

Someone lights a match...
You shout FIRE
I walked over and said: Yup, that's a match!

And now you're upset that I said "yup" instead of "FIRE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

I understand... but it's still just a match... fire, to be sure, just not the forest fire you want it to be!

@raphjd said in Voter Suppression - a new twist:

@bi4smooth

Maybe you should read up on Climate-gate or Fauci's role in the AZT scandal before you worship scientists.

Scientists aren't saints. Many of them are dirty as hell.

Scientists are people too... none of us are perfect.

Look, I haven't looked up Fauci's role in AZT - because I already know the NIH's and FDA's role in the drug. From my memory:

• they attempted to run double-blind tests, but the AIDS patients didn't care - they would find each other and either "pool pills" or determine (because it wasn't that hard) which one had the real drugs, and those who didn't bought the real AZT on the black-market)
• they (the FDA) already knew how dangerous the drug was because it was a failed cancer treatment... and the side effects were not "within the scope" of the AIDS disease's side effects, so it was easy for the medical professionals to tell who was on AZT and who was not.
• people (and doctors) were LITERALLY "grasping at straws" for ANYTHING that night help - and AIDS sufferers routinely offered themselves up as Guinea-Pigs - knowing they were going to die, but hoping (praying) that they might help others.

Mind you, the Gay Community was a fuck-load more closely-knit community then vs the way things are now. I personally knew a sizeable percentage of ALL out queers in the Cape Canaveral area... and they knew me. And we knew who was sick and who wasn't (we didn't even have the term HIV in the mid-80s when I started work there!)

Also: this was the 1980's and 1990's - medicine was still largely "witch-doctory" -- that is, "experiments" were largely "let's try this!" - throw something (EVERYTHING) at it, and see what works - even a little bit! AZT was hardly the first, nor the last failed "other" drug tried against AIDS. Still, they WERE using the "scientific method" (where they could - see above where AIDS patients themselves were destroying/invalidating research!) - try something, prove it's wrong, identify why/where/how it's wrong (to learn from your failure), and try something else... lather, rinse, repeat. (Guess, Test, evaluate, repeat)

Modern medicine isn't perfect, but it's LIGHTYEARS ahead of that! We developed the mRNA vaccines based on DNA sequencing of the virus itself! Technology that wasn't even DREAMED of in 1990! Even so, there was quite a bit of trepidation at giving those early nRNA based COVID-19 shots to humans! It's TRUE that it was tested in ways that short-circuited several safeguards... but, as with the AIDS crisis, when people are dying in large numbers, you "do what you have to do".

Ironic that you want to throw Fauci under-the-bus for AZT, but you have no ill-regard for Trump's touting of crazy COVID-19 theories:

• “Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous – whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful – light,” -- said at a news conference, not while "brainstorming" with scientists...
• “And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside, or almost a cleaning?” - hundreds of US citizens died from injecting or ingesting cleaning fluids as a result of that flippant remark...
• And let's not forget hydroxychloroquine - an anti-malarial drug, with known serious side-effects... in opposition to the "modern medicine" approach of extracting the viral DNA and perfecting a treatment targeting that DNA, this was more of the old-school "throw anything at it and see what works, even if just a little"... only, in all of the CONTROLLED studies, it rarely worked.(Though it DID work in some cases, which helped them find better TREATMENTS (though, still no CURES) for the disease.) Still, Trump (really, more his supporters - he dropped the idea mostly, it was his supporters who wouldn't/couldn't let it die!) continued to push it - almost like religious "trust me" argument - long past the definitive studies that showed the cost-benefit was sharply skewed towards the COST side...

Mind you: hydroxychloroquine was NOT the unmitigated failure that light (much less, cancer-causing UV light) or IV cleaning supplies were! Its use DID help a few people, and more importantly DID lead to better treatments for CIVID-19 overall... like any good TEST SUBJECT, it wasn't THE ANSWER - but it helped us get CLOSER TO IT!

@raphjd said in Where's the liberal C-19 outrage?!:

@bi4smooth

Once again, you can't condemn a liberal.

BTW, nice Whataboutism, dragging Trump into this topic. Now you can drop the "but I'm a Republican" crap.

LOL - I can't support made-up, or incorrectly focused facts...

If you had the ability to read big words you would know that I most-certainly lambasted Obama above, and ALSO blamed him (at least partly) for the increase in CIVOD-19 cases in Martha's Vineyard...

I literally wrote: Obama was a solipsistic MORON (look up solipsistic if you must... though I'm certain you can relate to the word MORON already)

Once again, I wrote in support of your underlying argument, but decrying your use of hyperbole, misinformation, and fake-facts to make it! (Though, in this case, your numbers weren't made up, they were actually LOWER than the MV health department actually reported... but your characterization of them WAS hyperbolic and mis-appropriated: the COVID-19 cases are for all MV residents, not Obama guests)

I'm sorry you disagree, but I affirm my belief that:

• I am a Republican - and have been for decades
• Trump is a RINO, having re-joined the party in 2009 (being a Democrat from 2001-2009)

@raphjd said in Carl Sagan's advise on Critical Thinking:

@bi4smooth

As an "expert", how many people did Fauci kill in the AZT scandal?

Fauci wasn't "wrong" about GOF research, in the Rand paul exchange. Fauci was/is a liar.

Rand Paul quoted from the official NIH website what GOF research is, he then compared it to what Fauci funded Bill Gate's Eco-Health to do in Wuhan. Only a blatant liar or a crackhead liberal would claim they aren't the same. Fauci said they weren't the same.

For the love of Poseidon, please stop sucking Fauci's ass.

See a match, shout FIRE!

I've never supported Fauci unconditionally.

• I know little about Fauci and AZT in the 1990's - I do know that I had friends literally dying to get added to virtually any cockamamie study they could (replacing your entire blood supply? Using Leukemia treatments? Freezing your body to the point of actual, if short-term death? Yeah - people tried all of these things)... AZT was certainly known not to be a cure, and it had a long list of known side-effects - but it was forced into approval by the newly-minted gay-political-machine - even though CDC and FDA said there wasn't enough known about it's long-term effects.... like the early COVID-19 response, we didn't know SHIT yet.
• I do know you have a habit of holding people you dislike to modern-day standards, even to their decades-old behaviors and decisions. So, I take your point-of-view with a grain of salt - you can only blame yourself for that...
• Forget Fauci or Paul - look at what the other scientists have said about the purported GOF research Paul was accusing them of... it didn't match the criteria.

Considering Fauci's word to "be enough" is to make him "an authority" - which I don't believe he is (nor, does he claim to be)... likewise, to assume that an Ophthalmologist (Rand Paul) knows more about genetic research than a department head at the NIH (or, ALL of the department heads at the NIH) is just plain absurd.

There is a reason why Scientific Research is "peer reviewed" prior to being generally accepted, and why some kinds of research get the "peer review" treatment even before the experiments start!

Peer review said that the NIH research in Wuhan was NOT Gain Of Function... that you think Rand Paul (and yourself) have more in-depth knowledge of the subject than the general scientific community (in and outside the NIH) speaks more to your own hubris and self-aggrandizement...

I'm sorry, especially given the scientific community's response to the Paul/Fauci argument about GOF, I think Rand Paul should be embarrassed! (Maybe he is!... privately)

@raphjd said in 99.7% Survive, so why a vaccine when TB kills x1000:

@bi4smooth

If I become a liberal, I won't need a mask, just ask Pelosi, Schumer, Beetlejuice, and all the rest.

If Nancy doesn't wear a mask and gets (and dies) from COVID-19, then she gets what she deserves. The same as McConnell or Schumer or McCarthy or Paul or Cruz or AOC or "the Squad".... they're all hypocritical elitist politicians who think they're not as "unclean" as the rest of us, and so they aren't as much at risk.

In other words: They're all full of shit!

The difference between you and me is that you see Trumpites as "above it all" - pure and clean... Whereas I see them as just more self-absorbed, power-hungry, NIMBY assholes.

Q: How can you tell a politician is telling the truth?
A: Hah! It was a trick question! Just like roosters don't lay eggs, it just doesn't happen!

Anti-maskers and Anti-vaxers are all stupid, science-ignoring morons who are doing the human species a favor by dying in much higher numbers of COVID-19! (The human gene is getting a little smarter as a result, no?)

It doesn't matter whether the idiots are Dems or Repubicans, Libs or Conservatives, White or Black, Senators or Congressmen... ignore the science, and people die... and maybe that'll be you! (Karma is a bitch, after all!)

The only place in the VAX and MASK argument where my politics comes into play these days is that currently, so many MORE Republicans are dying of this disease - because so many of our own party's leaders are pitching anti-science, "not wearing a mask is a personal freedom issue" bullshit... (I'm looking at you Ted Cruz and Rand Paul!) and while I think the morons who are CREATING and FOLLOWING this advise get what they deserve (sickness, and even death), some of those dying are my idiots - from my party... and I want for there to be fewer idiot-Republicans...

Honestly, I want there to be fewer idiots entirely - but fewer Republican idiots, to be sure!

Yeah, I know my rhetoric is a little harsh here... but COVID-19 is still killing people, and using more gentle language about it won't change that. Mother Nature is neither a Liberal nor a Conservative... but, she is a mean and vengeful bitch when you ignore her!

@raphjd said in Where's the liberal C-19 outrage?!:

According to reports, at least 63 of Obama's birthday party guests got C-19.

Let's not forget how liberal media said that would be exempt from getting C-19 because they are "sophisticated", but I can't go to my corner deli without a mask or 600 trillion people will get it.

One again, you can't help but see a match and scream FIRE!

Obama was a solipsistic MORON for still having the stupid birthday party while Delta was exploding COVID-19 all over again. (Wasn't so unreasonable when it was planned in May, but it got so - extremely unreasonable - by August!)

That said:

• The report is that 74 people in Martha's Vineyard tested positive for COVID-19 (that's even more now than you reported),
• That is not the same as 74 guests of the Obamas.
• Martha's Vineyard wasn't immune from COVID-19 pre-party, it's just that this was a spike
• While the official reports are that (according to a Tisbury health agent and boards of health spokesperson) 'At this time we're not aware of any cases connected to the Obama party', this too falls under the "likelihood" cause of Occam's Razor:
  Shortly after a huge birthday party, where the host flew in HUNDREDS of people for his magical birthday soiree, there is a spike in COVID-19 infections in MV... could it be that it's just a coincidence? Sure! and it could also be a coincidence that protesters stormed the Capitol on the exact day and time of the Electoral College count... sure, it was just a coincidence! OR maybe, just maybe the obvious causality is actually true, and you just don't want to see it...

To be clear: I join your outrage against the whole giant Obama party in August idea... I just don't share your willingness to distort facts to make things out as worse than they are... the REAL facts are sufficient to make the results of the party tragic and abominable.

BTW: This isn't January, 2021... having a positive COVID-19 test doesn't mean likely hospitalization, or a 1-5% chance of death from the disease. Fully vaccinated people can still CATCH COVID-19, they just won't get AS SICK from it! While it's no excuse, MV residents have a rather high COVID-19 vaccination rate (source)

But let's not mince words: while Obama may have culled the guest list significantly, there were still hundreds of people flying into MV to either attend, or to attend to the bash... that is: guests and workers... To think that none would be COVID-19 positive - even if they did rapid-tests on all of them - is inexcusably stupid!

This is, however, a classic example of how one person's hubris can affect the lives of others around him. Obama, in his hedonistic, self-serving way, failed to follow even simple guidelines (like inviting few-enough guests that social distancing would be reasonable, or requiring masks - of guests and workers - throughout the event)

And while I share your outrage that politicians continue to think that because they write (or enforce) the law, that they are above the law, this is not a liberal/conservative thing... it's a politicians are crooked bastards thing! And the higher up they go, the more they think they are above the law. (Obama is not really different from Trump in this aspect!)

One final point - to the follow-on post:

• Groping women without their consent is a potentially criminal act
• Not wearing a mask and not setting a good example is not - no, not even in areas that have "mask mandates" - you don't get arrested solely for not wearing a mask

@nagatha95 said in Whitelists?:

Hello all! Forgive me if this has been already discussed but I cant find the post anywhere. I was having trouble seeding my uploads when I was using Transmission on MacOS, and then after using both Deluge and Folx I was seeding without any issue, even though I was following the same process to seed....

My question is, is there a whitelist for acceptable torrent clients? Or will anything go, and its just whatever youre comfortable with?

Thanks everyone! Stay horny!

It's unlikely the fact that you're using that client vs. another - at least on the tracker end. It is more likely that the other clients are using other ports or have other settings that are allowing them to work.

Apple is, in general, very unfavorable to file sharing in general (unless you're using iCloud to do it). They ban torrent clients and the like from their "App Stores" (iTunes, etc) and have for decades now.

It's not impossible that it's the client vs the tracker - I haven't looked in detail at it - but I would say its unlikely...

Think of it this way: you're microwaving an aluminum ball (doh! YouTube video?), and after about 10 seconds of sparks flying there's the sound of thunder and at almost the same instant your microwave oven literally explodes.
Was it caused by the aluminum ball and the sparks? Or, was it caused by the lightening a few miles away?
From a purely scientific point of view, it could have been either... but, it's more likely that it was the aluminum ball that caused your microwave to explode...
Either way, post the video!

@manhandler said in 99.7% Survive, so why a vaccine when TB kills x1000:

@bi4smooth Solved? You're ridiculous. 1.2 MILLION died in 2019 from TB. And you say it's "solved." Again, more nonsense from someone who has no idea what they're talking about. 1.2 MILLION is just a statistic huh? God you're dumb.

OK - solved may have been overreach... when detected, most TB cases are successfully treated... but it IS and REMAINS a highly infectious - bacterial-caused - disease!

But if you REALLY want to get down to brass tacks here: one of the best ways to protect against TB? (LOL - you're going to soil yourself here!)

Wearing masks!

So - follow my (and the CDC's) advise and wear a mask in public to protect against COVID-19... or,
follow the advise of @raphjd & @ManHandler and wear a mask in public to protect against Tuberculosis!

Either way, the public wins:

WEAR A F-ING MASK!

@manhandler said in Carl Sagan's advise on Critical Thinking:

@bi4smooth Arguments from authority carry little weight... hmm. Yet you spew "authority" lines all day long. Fauci is your GOD. He IS Science to you. You need to read what you posted again.

Not at all... Fauci (to use your example) is no authority! He is an EXPERT!

To repeat what I posted to your absurdity on another thread:

Funny about the difference between you and actual scientists:

• Actual scientists go out of their way to prove they are wrong - about everything! It's the scientific method!
• You go out of your way to prove you're right - about every insignificant detail - even when you've clearly made a mistake, you insist you are right - mostly in a childlike manner: repeating yourself, saying it louder or multiple times, and lastly calling the other person names...

That is germane to the topic because you like to point out Fauci's having been wrong in the past as evidence of his incompetence. I point to Fauci's having been wrong in the past as evidence that he's working with DATA and not POLITICS!

• Data changes as more and more is gathered. More data means better conclusions.
• Politics nearly never changes... Just look at you and Trump!

@manhandler said in Voter Suppression - a new twist:

@bi4smooth Nah. You're just stupid. I don't think that nurses are in on a conspiracy. I think you're dumb. The numbers are in, and it IS 95% in the highest vaccinated places, Israel, Norway, Iceland, Maine, Singapore, Australia.... the hospitals are filled with people who have been VACCINATED. You're stupid. There really isn't much to say because it doesn't matter. The ones in the hospital are not as Fauci claims without evidence, the unvaxxed. You just don't know what you're talking about.

Plus, that number (95%) is even in question, because Covid is just the Flu. The PCR test has been UN-authorized. That's the test they use to determine if you have Covid. That means the test itself is no longer authorized, and your numbers are based on a false test. Meaning, all your numbers are bullshit. So you can pick and choose which federal agency you want. The CDC versus the FDA. It doesn't matter. We all know that you're full of shit. Just let it go. The creator of the PCR said it's not a diagnostic and it can't determine if you're infected. It can determine if a steel wall has a little Vitamin C. That doesn't mean anything. God damn you're dumb. Just shut the hell up already.

I'm not the illiterate one...

• 95% of the people in hospital with COVID or COVID-like symptoms are UN (non) (did not take the shot) vaccinated.
• There are DOZENS of kinds of tests for COVID-19. (Look out on Tic-Tok for a way kids are fooling one of the quick-tests by dipping the specimen stick into a coke! - Mind you it doesn't mean coke products have COVID-19, all it does is "break the test" - and rinsing the stick restores the test results, if there were any)

Funny about the difference between you and actual scientists:

• Actual scientists go out of their way to prove they are wrong - about everything! It's the scientific method!
• You go out of your way to prove you're right - about every insignificant detail - even when you've clearly made a mistake, you insist you are right - mostly in a childlike manner: repeating yourself, saying it louder or multiple times, and lastly calling the other person names...

@raphjd said in CNN Participates in $200k Go Fund Me Scam Failing to Vet Childless “Single Mother”:

@bi4smooth

The same truth that allows you to use mental gymnastics to defend liberal policies at every turn while keeping your extreme TDS.

Where was your indignation about all the blatantly fake "news" stories by your beloved liberal media? I don't remember you speaking out against CNN and Chris Cuomo faking him being on his death bed with C-19, only to be caught out fighting with a cyclist because Chris had to jog in the bicycle lane, because he's special.

I don't remember you saying anything when CNN was caught faking the protest in London, thanks to the local businesses filming them faking it.

You don't like conservative "spin" but you are silent on liberal lies.

You are a moron:

• I said months ago that Gov "Kiss me" Cuomo in NY was in trouble, and while I could not care less about how CNN covered it, they did - and in the days BEFORE his resignation, they highlighted other DEMS asking him to resign and lambasted his stipid and ill-advised responses and counter-claims.
• I said months ago that Biden's wild-ass spending would spur inflation like we haven't seen since the 1970s - and its starting, and CNN (again, only because they're your own personal whipping-boy) seems to be agreeing: see for yourself

Mind you, I didn't say that Cuomo was the worst Governor since George Wallace - just that he was an abuser and that his personal behavior was going to cost him his position. I also didn't make shit up, like claiming he repeatedly RAPED these women, or that he ENSLAVED them for his sexual games... no, just the facts: women made claims that he kissed them and groped them without clear consent, and that he TRIED to gain their consent to go further and failed.... but given the power imbalance, even his unwelcome touching and kissing was too much - and in the me-too world, it was enough to get him out. (Mind you: he was just following in the footsteps of his heroes: JFK was a serial molester, and we all know about BFClinton & his attraction to interns!)

While we're at it, ALL of the MSM is after Biden for this Afghanistan thing - most are likening it to the Vietnam pullout!

Doesn't that run counter to your claim that they basically suck his dick because he's a liberal?

@raphjd said in Too late for this guy... will you be next?:

@serenity

Politi-"facts" can't be trusted, as I've shown more than a few times.

Their so-called facts are political.

They didn't trust the vaccine because of Trump. It's still a distrust of the vaccine.

Fauci has been proven to be a liar about many things. How many people did Fauci kill in the AZT scandal?

Also, read that article.

Biden said that people don't believe that he (Trump) is telling the truth about the vaccine. So if people can believe Trump is a lair, we can believe that Biden is also a liar. As we all know, unless you're a liberal, Biden has lied about countless things just in the last 2 years. So, once again, Biden has cast doubt on the vaccine because he is a proven liar.

Let's not forget that last year Biden slagged off Trump for not ending the pandemic and that he (Biden) knew how to end it and here we are 7 months in. That was when we were 8 months into the pandemic. Biden has 1 month to go to match when he slagged off Trump claiming that he was going to end the pandemic.

Also, when you read the Aug 2020 Binden interview, don't forget what he said. That people were not going to trust it unless it's gone through all the testing. To date, none of the vaccines are approved for general use. Instead, they are only approved for "experimental use". They have not gone through the testing for full approval.

I know you will ignore all this because of your liberalism. It's just like you voted for Honest Joe and Camel Toe the Ho because you don't care how dirty they are, just that they aren't Trump.

Let's not forget, my sister, niece, and brother-in-law aren't black according to your Chinese worshipping Biden.

People in 500 BC thought that applying leeches cured consumption (aka Tuberculosis)... it took CENTURIES to debunk that myth. It wasn't the "politicians" (or the "aristocracy" of the time) that told them this, it was their DOCTORS (who were also their barbers, so ... you get what you pay for?)

Science today is moving much more quickly. What people thought about COVID-19 (whether Trump or Pelosi - doesn't matter) in January of 2020 or even January of 2021 is immaterial to the known facts TODAY.

Your claim that Liberals "flipped" on the vaccine when Biden took office may or may not be true - but either way, it came on the heels of new, added knowledge about the virus (and the vaccines). The "flip" didn't happen in a vacuum.

You also leave out that Conservatives also flipped on the vaccine when Biden took office: what was originally "The Trump Vaccine" suddenly became suspect because Biden might get credit for shipping it! (100% of the development of the Pfizer, Moderna, & J&J vaccines were funded by and completed DURING the Trump administration... The only thing Biden has done is to distribute it (and encourage people to take it!).

People who believe Politicians (and talking heads) when it comes to healthcare get what they pay for... and when there has been AS MUCH effort made to show that the COVID-19 vaccines are both safe and effective as we have seen, the people who insist otherwise get what they deserve. (Harsh, but true. Mother nature is a cruel mistress... and she is completely unforgiving of idiocy!)

I understood the people in December (2020) and January (2021) who didn't want to "be the first - to be an experiment"... but that ship has sailed. World-wide, 500 million PLUS have had the vaccine... your opportunity to be "one of the first" has long-since passed. In the US alone, 350+ million doses have been given, and nearly 170 million are now fully vaccinated.

It's no longer about "trusting the science" - now it's become purely policical - and as-if the 2020 US Census numbers weren't troubling enough for Republicans, the fact that a HUGE majority of those CURRENTLY dying from COVID-19 are Republicans who deny the need to protect ourselves or our society from COVID-19 is a significant RISK to the future of the Party. My Party.

@raphjd said in CNN Participates in $200k Go Fund Me Scam Failing to Vet Childless “Single Mother”:

@bi4smooth

The only thing of mine is the sentence below the link. The title is from the video.

As always, you defend liberals while trying to pretend you aren't a liberal.

I defend truth - whether it is in support of Liberal or Conservative causes... TRUTH is apolitical.

I also DETEST spin! Which is why I hold CNN, FOX, and most other cable-news outlets in such LOW regard. They LIVE on spin. They also LIVE on hyperbole - like the Tabloids of old...

The HEADLINE is "Trump admits to sexual battery" - and only deep in the story, and after doing additional digging do you realize it's just Trump bragging to a reporter about the liberties some women afford to celebrities...

Alternatively, the HEADLINE is "Pelosi hates Capitol Cops" - and only when you look deep into the story do you realize it's just that she voted against one bill in favor of another - in support of the Capitol-Hill PD.

They do it because it drives ratings. Sadly, too many of their "viewers" have the attention span of a gnat (or less), and don't look beyond the headlines.

The fact that you re-post false and misleading data (stories) and I call you on it doesn't make me a liberal or a conservative... it makes me critical of your ability to provide any information in this realm without applying hyperbole, falsehoods, misleading claims, and outright deception.

As I've said multiple times: I agree (more often than you think) with the underlying claim you make (like that policing in western culture is out-of-hand) - but I do not agree that making up facts, or grossly exaggerating stories in any way helps spread that message... indeed, I think those "tactics" actually detract from the "believability" of your message, weakening your overall argument.

When you scream "FIRE!" every time someone lights a match, your alarms when there is an actual, significant fire will fall on deaf ears.
The fact that those lit matches really were fire notwithstanding.

@manhandler said in 99.7% Survive, so why a vaccine when TB kills x1000:

@bi4smooth You're starting off with a total falsity: TB is the number one killer in the entire world. You really are just lost with fake news.

Fatalities from TB haven't been significant in developed countries in DECADES. TB is a "solved problem".

Your seemingly endless "river of shit-facts" however, is a problem modern science has no answer for...

From Carl Sagan's book:The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (ISBN-10: 0345409469 or ISBN-13: 978-0345409461)

There is a chapter called: The Fine Art of Baloney Detection

In this chapter, Sagan shares nine tools to apply when attempting to determine whether something is fact, fiction, or deception:

1 - Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the “facts.”
2 - Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view.
3 - Arguments from authority carry little weight — “authorities” have made mistakes in the past. They will do so again in the future. Perhaps a better way to say it is that in science there are no authorities; at most, there are experts.
4 - Spin more than one hypothesis. If there’s something to be explained, think of all the different ways in which it could be explained. Then think of tests by which you might systematically disprove each of the alternatives. What survives, the hypothesis that resists disproof in this Darwinian selection among “multiple working hypotheses,” has a much better chance of being the right answer than if you had simply run with the first idea that caught your fancy.
5 - Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it’s yours. It’s only a way station in the pursuit of knowledge. Ask yourself why you like the idea. Compare it fairly with the alternatives. See if you can find reasons for rejecting it. If you don’t, others will.
6 - Quantify. If whatever it is you’re explaining has some measure, some numerical quantity attached to it, you’ll be much better able to discriminate among competing hypotheses. What is vague and qualitative is open to many explanations. Of course there are truths to be sought in the many qualitative issues we are obliged to confront, but finding them is more challenging.
7 - If there’s a chain of argument, every link in the chain must work (including the premise) — not just most of them.
8 - Occam’s Razor. This convenient rule-of-thumb urges us when faced with two hypotheses that explain the data equally well to choose the simpler.
9 - Always ask whether the hypothesis can be, at least in principle, falsified. Propositions that are untestable, unfalsifiable are not worth much. Consider the grand idea that our Universe and everything in it is just an elementary particle — an electron, say — in a much bigger Cosmos. But if we can never acquire information from outside our Universe, is not the idea incapable of disproof? You must be able to check assertions out. Inveterate skeptics must be given the chance to follow your reasoning, to duplicate your experiments and see if they get the same result."

I'll leave it to the "Gentle Reader" to take from this nugget of wisdom what you will. I only offer it as a way to bolster your own "bullshit detector" on these forums.

@manhandler said in Voter Suppression - a new twist:

@bi4smooth You're dumb. 95% of Covid hospitalizations are vaccinated. 5% are not. Let's go back to kindergarten math, k?

Your source is badly misinformed.... and you need to apply even a modicum of critical thinking when you post crap like that. Your numbers don't pass the smell test - not even close!

What are some real numbers?

So, on Aug 2 (2021), the US CDC reported that there are a little over 60,000 people in the US who are actively (on that date) in Hospital, diagnosed with COVID-19. (in 49 states and 5 territories... 1 state (unlisted by the CDC) is refusing to provided data - Probably Florida: our Governor seems to think this is all a joke).

Of those, 50,000 (yes, Virgina, this is a SPIKE in new cases! That's 80% of the people in Hospital RIGHT NOW) are new patients (admitted THIS WEEK).

• Don't forget, every week: some go home: family or funeral, some go home...

About 16,000 of those US COVID-19 patients currently in Hospital are in an ICU unit, with another 1,000-2,000 in hospitals that WOULD put them into an ICU unit, but there are none available. (That is between 1 and 2 thousand "loved ones" who CANNOT get the care they need because there is no room)...

but all of that doesn't address your utterly ridiculous contention that 95% were vaccinated...

The CDC doesn't have (or at least doesn't provide a current tally of patients who are considered "breakthrough" - had the vaccine and still got sick enough to need hospitalization... but that's because those numbers are insignificantly low... what they DO have (and publicize) is a running tally - of ALL vaccinated people who have been hospitalized with COVID-19... and on Aug 2 (2021), that number was 7525. TOTAL - from when vaccines were introduced in January/February, 2021 to Aug 2, 2021.

Oh, and of those "breakthrough" cases, 5557 (74% if you like statistics) were age 65 or older!

This does 2 things:

• 1 shows your "numbers" to be wildly off-base... (If 95% of hospitalizations were from people who WERE vaccinated, don't you think SOMEONE - in a MEDICAL field, not some political hack/talking head - would be trying to convince the Government to shutdown the vaccination programs? If not in the US, then in any of the OTHER 192 countries in the UN? (Or is this a giant, world-wide conspiracy... probably being run by the lizard-people?)
• 2 These numbers show why the CDC and FDA are so strongly considering authorizing older, and immuno-compromised people to get a BOOSTER shot of the vaccine. (UPDATE: They authorized boosters for immuno-compromised people TODAY!)

This may come as a shock to you, but people who choose careers in medicine (whether as physicians, nurses, PAs, or other front-line people - or as researchers) rarely, if ever, make that choice because they want to harm people, or even control people. As someone with 3 members of the "medical community" in my family, I can attest that these people want (in general) to help other people - that is their calling. (Yes, there are some who took that career path for monetary reasons... you can't paint a family of professions with one broad stroke and not expect to miss some people! But the VAST majority of the people I know in medicine are in that profession - chose that profession - in order to help people... not make them sick, not to kill them, not for politics (there are, statistically, very few DOCTORS in politics!)

@unoqualsiasi said in Living together before marriage:

Io non ho mai sentito la necessità di sposarmi. Lei neanche.
Quando abbiamo deciso di andare a convivere abbiamo fatto una festa con un piccolo ricevimento e poi un viaggio, come fosse un viaggio di nozze.
Fu bello vedere entrambi le famiglie attivarsi per terminare i lavori nella nostra nuova casa entro la data prevista del trasloco. Organizzare la festa, le tappe del viaggio..
Fu un pò come organizzare il matrimonio, ma senza lo sbattimento della cerimonia e i rischi legislativi che comporta.
Da quel dì sono 14 anni che conviviamo senza problemi..

Or, in English, he said:

I have never felt the need to get married. Neither did she.
When we decided to go to live together we had a party with a small reception and then a trip, as if it were a honeymoon.
It was nice to see both families take action to finish the work on our new home by the scheduled move date. Organize the party, the stages of the journey ..
It was a bit like organizing the wedding, but without the hassle of the ceremony and the legislative risks it entails.
Since that day, we have been living together without problems for 14 years ..

In my own experience, marriage is a construct that was largely based on keeping mothers and fathers together for the betterment of their children. That certainly didn't mean all married couples HAD to have children - but it is instructive to know that in some religions, it IS expected - and that being barren (unable to have children) is a legitimate reason/cause for divorce/annulment in most of those same religions).

I was married once (and had kids)... we're divorced now, and I will not seek "marriage" again... though I would like to find another romantic partner...

@raphjd said in CNN Participates in $200k Go Fund Me Scam Failing to Vet Childless “Single Mother”:

https://rumble.com/vkyt0d-cnn-participates-in-200k-go-fund-me-scam-failing-to-vet-childless-single-mo.html?mref=6zof&mc=dgip3&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The+Charlie+Kirk+Show&ep=1

Because liberals don't care about the truth, just the narrative.

Your facts are true (the woman was misleading the CNN reporter)... your characterization less so (typical hyperbole, actually):

No outside fact-checker reported on the woman's status (as NOT the mother of the children in the video)... the ACTUAL mother contacted CNN, and CNN published a complete clarification: (here, if you want to read it). Further, the woman in the interview often cares for those actual children (they are her boyfriend's kids, although they do not LIVE with her)... and she IS facing eviction...

Misleading, and factually unsound? yes. A SCAM (intentionally defrauding people)? not so much...

I'm no fan of CNN - and I think it shows a lack of judgement editorially that they published (and broadcast) this story without proper vetting.

But again, your hyperbolic inflation of the actual facts and failure to look at your own facts (is it a surprise that Charlie Kirk didn't include the fact that CNN "broke the story" that the story was in need of clarification? NO!) severely degrades the validity of your REAL proposition: CNN was easily deceived and was editorially lazy.... and it is a pattern (honestly, it's a pattern at FOX too!)

@raphjd said in Too late for this guy... will you be next?:

@bi4smooth

You obviously live under a rock.

The police let the rioters/looters run amuck but went in full force against peaceful anti-mask/lockdown protests.

Liberals constantly told us how rioting and looting didn't spread C-19, while claiming that peaceful protests were super spreader events.

And again, religious gathers were restricted and police putting a stop to them while allowing rioting and looting.

Of course, politicians exempt themselves from their own laws. I am the chairman of my royal borough (not the entire city) and the City is putting in Low Emission Zones across the city. They have exempted themselves from the LEZ rules so they can drive anywhere in the city, without a care, no matter how polluting their cars are. The same applies to the dirty-ass city vehicles, that should have been replaced a decade ago.

You would have a lot more luck "spreading your word" if you weren't so damned hyperbolic... let's just take one of your arguments as an example:

Liberals (wrongly) claimed the BLM marchers weren't spreading COVID because they were wearing masks (some, but certainly not all, were) and were social distancing (laughable!). Their claims were bogus, and can be called out as such without:
a) calling them all rioters - some were, some weren't... the rioters were arguably not so much there in support of BLM, but in support of ANY protest - they were mostly angry, and, well... any port in a storm! But even if all of the rioters WERE BLM, not all the BLM marchers were rioters... and making them all out to be so is inflamatory, easily debunked, and weakens your argument.
b) claiming that the events were "super-spreaders" - they were outdoors, and even back then masks and social distancing weren't being pushed for outdoor events.

Again, by hyper-exaggerating the facts, you marginalize your point, lose the "middle of the road" folks you might have otherwise persuaded, and overall weaken your argument.

Another example:
Religious gatherings were not curtailed... INDOOR religious gatherings were... how do I know? Because my church "moved outdoors"! (I live in Fla... the winter months are our DRY season... moving to the field across from the church property was EASY and the property owner didn't mind one bit! (In fact, he didn't even complain when people left a trashy mess behind and the youth group didn't come to clean up until Wednesday!).

Now, CLEARLY, I'm talking about where I live, and your mileage may have varied... but here in Fla (home of Florida Man - and, no I don't know him - he's a nutjob!), there were LOTS of churches who just moved outside. (That's a lot harder at THIS time of year - we're in our WET season, and the ground is mostly saturated with water 24/7). Northern climates may not have had it so easy - but my daughter was the choir director at a church in NC, and they broadcast their services online via their website (they already live-streamed them pre-covid, so it wasn't a big deal!)

But still, I know that some churches were really put-out by the bans on indoor gatherings... and as I've said before, if those bans were specifically (or even indirectly) targeted to religious services, they'd have a valid constitutional argument! But the bans were a public health issue and applied to ALL indoor gatherings - even (especially?) sporting events and political rallies!

But there were no police in riot gear blocking entrances to churches! And - speaking for us here in Fla - police didn't interfere with pro-mask or anti-mask protesters at all - they just tried to keep them apart and only arrested people who threw things or got violent themselves.

Again: the point you're trying to make is being lost in your hyperbole - which makes your whole argument carry less weight.

But this is the whole problem with our politics today!

It's not enough that you have a better argument or better reasons than the other guy... no, you have to make the "other guy" out to be a traitor, a communist, a nazi, an evil, no-good-in-him, disgrace of a human being! And, naturally the "other guy" retaliates in a like manner.

When the protesters raise their lighters in solidarity in support of someone killed by the police, the "blue line" folk have to describe it as "threatening to burn down the city" or other hyperbolic bullshit.

THAT'S why I get most of my US news from FOREIGN sources... it's not that the foreign sources don't have some bias - face it, we all have SOME bias - but rather they are "removed" from the "burn them at the stake" level of heated rhetoric. Their reporting is calmer, and contains more FACTS than opinions (yes, the choice of WHICH facts to broadcast establishes an opinion... in a perfect world, you would piss gasoline and shit edible food for lower animals... this isn't - and never will be - a perfect world!)