gearhog

"The collapse of the Afghan Army/Gov't happened at a much faster rate than anyone expected. It was a surprise." https://twitter.com/MrsT106/status/1434473115636150273?s=20 Really? https://www.reuters.com/world/exclusive-call-before-afghan-collapse-biden-pressed-ghani-change-perception-2021-08-31/

Keep pulling that thread, brother. See where it takes you.

We're witnessing the biggest seizure of power in history. It sounds like hyperbole until you realize it's not. Pay attention. Newly empowered Center for Disease Control is bringing gun violence under its authority. https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/27/health/cdc-gun-research-walensky/index.html

Brother, that's fair. I obviously don't agree and wish your line was closer to mine. That's not going to happen but I don't think it needs to today. I'm glad that you have a line in the sand, but yours is going to be surpassed as well as long as you don't move it. When it happens, you're also going to have to make a decision about whether to speak out against it. Tyranny and authoritarianism is by far the default and most common form of governance. It doesn't stop until a level of resistance is met that (hopefully) places you and I on the same side. I, of couse, want you to think the same as me. "This is too far". I'm confident I won't have to wait long for that to happen.

I'm all out of upvotes today, fellas, but... Yes.

Absolutely no one here has said any of the things you're falsely attributing to my position or anyone else's who thinks our response to COVID is going way too far. We can't have a civil discussion on the singular issue at hand without one side of the argument chiming in with "Whataboutisms", hyperbole, and hysterics (Fuck, motherfuckers, goddamnit, etc.) Can you not defend your position on COVID without relying on unrelated and irrelevant arguments? We've just established 83.3% of our population has COVID antibodies as of 4 months ago (while the herd immunity threshold is widely regarded at an "unachievable" 60-70%), pharmaceutical companies are applying pressure for endless boosters and now pills, and COVID passports are already in the United States. The only difference between us is where we drawn the line of "common sense". It is vastly apparent to me that we've crossed the definition of it, but you're unwilling to specify where you draw the line. I believe it is more important to you to defend the side you've chosen than to admit that people will take from you until say "That's enough." Where was your alarmism in 2018? source: https://time.com/5107984/hospitals-handling-burden-flu-patients/

Just a friendly reminder that this issue is larger than the military.

Pfizer CEO doubling down: Vaccinations and Boosters aren't good enough. Non-hospitalized low risk adults also need Pfizer's new and improved oral medication. What more does it take for people to understand what is obviously happening? Snap out of it, FFS. The Press Release: https://t.co/su5VtfbWPX?amp=1 The CEO:

US CDC Study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last night: 83.3% of the US population had protection from SARS-CoV-2 by way of injection and natural exposure antibodies. IN MAY 2021. Unbelievable. Our response is more about leverage than threat. Link to the study: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2784013 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-9952555/CDC-study-estimates-80-Americans-protected-COVID-19.html

That's insane. It's the one place I've always wanted to go, but have never been. I guess I won't be. Perhaps these programs will be rolled back as soon as the Delta variant is gone. Do you suppose? Why do most provisions of the Patriot Act continue to get reauthorization? Why would a previously perfectly rational western democratic government make these draconian changes seemingly against the will of their population? It just doesn't make sense. Perhaps we're looking at it wrong. Extreme responses to COVID variants drive the need for social credit technology. Social credit technology drives the need for extreme responses to COVID variants. What would cause otherwise successful and elite Western democratic leaders and corporations to want to unilaterally impose these kinds of social changes? They sincerely believe that these compromises on Freedom must be made in the interest of self-preservation. The deadlocks and widening divisions between Western political parties are not allowing governments to respond quickly enough to what they believe are imminent threats, including economies, financial systems, climate change, and population growth. Trudeau explains:

This is not a theory. Read this carefully. This is at our doorstep. Not from a fringe website. From The Atlantic. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/619940/

From this morning’s email from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. LOL, so ridiculous considering the leading comorbidities form “Covid deaths” are heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.

I’ve never heard of this guy before, but those are some harsh words considering the number of private rescue missions currently being conducted. Just this morning, I responded to a request seeking current and qualified 737 pilot for some sort of rescue op. If called, I’ll be out the door before the call ends. Personally, I kind of admire someone willing to take a risk to rescue fellow Americans who were abandoned, even if unsuccessful. I doubt counting on anyone else to come to his rescue was part of the calculus. Just a different opinion, man. EDIT:?Dunbar nailed it. What he said.

Ridiculous. This is how you say: "We're going to pay hefty ransom" without saying "We're going to pay a hefty ransom."

Not sure which one you have, but the NHS passport app's most recent privacy notice advises the user that the app collects and stores a vast amount of "special category" information for Track and Trace. It's worth looking into. As you read this, please realize I'm not into conspiracy theories. I just want to know what we're getting into. I don't go to crazy-eyed right wing websites for this info or editorials about how we're all becoming slaves, I go to the source that anyone can access today, and am posting what these legitimate organizations and individuals themselves are openly saying. If you agree with all of this, go get the app. You may be scanning a simple QR, but there's a lot more to it. I do have a hard time believing that people are ok with all of the below. I think it's just that they're too apathetic to read the fine print. It's all apathy. And, of course: "If I'm doing nothing wrong, then I have nothing to hide." Check out the list, it's amazing. Read the entire page, including the private companies the government will be sending their citizens' data to. This is what is coming here. The attached screenshots are from this website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-test-and-trace-privacy-information/test-and-trace-overarching-privacy-notice

This should get interesting. "On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) has gone rogue to travel to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan on a rescue mission, in the face of multiple warnings not to do so from the Pentagon and State Department — and that nobody knows where he is." https://www.rawstory.com/markwayne-mullin-afghanistan/ And Biden is probably done. He knew, and he wanted people to lie about it. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9945031/Biden-told-Afghan-President-needed-change-perception-Talibans-rapid-advance.html

"Hey, Nav... can you take a picture of us flying the plane?"

October 2019? That's weird. They really nailed it, didn't they? https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/about

For anyone wondering how your new COVID passport is going to work, here's the detailed guidance just published by the WHO. It's funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, so you know it's going to work just as well as the Windows computer in your office. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-Digital_certificates-vaccination-technical_briefing-2021.1

Sounds like the Tucanos were rendered inoperable on the way out. Other tweets from this account indicate that other aircraft in Kabul were destroyed by us as we left. There are mentions of some still operational, and pilots being available to fly them from Kabul to Khandahar. A few videos of a rebuilt Blackhawk flying over Khandahar celebrated as the Islamic Emirate Air Force . There are also some interesting comments regarding China. Also: Chinooks https://twitter.com/ejwi9ws9/status/1432478761468022784?s=20

Well, then... where do I mail your honorary PhD, Doc?

My whole argument has been centered on the belief that it is not black and white (vaxxed and unvaxxed). And it's not that I'm not interested in answering this question, it's that you posted the question while I was responding to your earlier post. I think you're actually asking me if I showed up after someone else in the ICU, and we both needed ICU, if I would prioritize myself ahead of them and deny them care.. as if it were some giant moral conundrum. Seriously? I'm a retired military officer who has led a full life and has been exposed to more risk than most in the name of service and sacrifice, and I continue to willingly expose myself to high risk activities on nearly a daily basis. Motorcycles, beer, steaks, flying, skiing, etc. Your question is f'ing stupid. Likely the dumbest one I've ever been asked on this forum.

"Hutchinson said hospitals in the state were working to open more ICU beds for virus patients." What a ridiculous concept. So your Aunt Martha is an anti-government lockdown protestor. That's an oddly specific politically charged reference to make when determining who you're going to remove from life support. Why is that always part of the equation and usually one of the first mentioned? You're making my point for me. You say it's not about emotion, I say it is. Just curious, when was your last shift in the hell that is triage?

No, that's not the core of the issue. "Lack of resources" is the vague unspecific backdrop being used to justify killing someone who made a choice different that you. You may not agree with that statement, but let's start with the real core of the issue, which was a very specific hypothetical scenario created by pawnman: not enough ventilators. First, let us establish that today, this is a real threat in real places to the extent that it's worth having a debate over. By "us", I mean "you". Post a link. Second, giving you the benefit of the doubt that the above precondition will be met, I'll give you similar question about the specific scenario pawnman created: You're at a hospital with 20 ventilators and 20 people on ventilators all with hopes of recovery. 8 of them are unvaccinated. 10 more people show up. 6 of them are vaccinated (going with the 60/40% vax stats). Give them all names of friends and family you have close personal relationships with. Now, do you remove one of the ventilators from an unvaxxed patient (thereby giving them a death sentence) and give it to a vaxxed patient? pawnman unapologetically and enthusiastically says "Yes!" with absolutely no other discerning questions or qualifying statements about about any of the patients. He would actively seek to remove life from one individual and give it to another with no expert medical knowledge and would base his decision solely on vaccine - yes/no? criteria and using "insufficient resources" as an excuse. This is a very direct and straightforward question but if I were you, I wouldn't answer it. Maybe skip it.

But I believe it will most definitely happen. This virus will always evade our defenses for as long as there are people and animals. Just as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc have. I've had COVID. Once definitely, twice possibly. For me, it was moderately severe. I was legitimately scared the first time. After, I started to consider my irrational fears and where they came from. I have been hospitalized with pneumonia and atelactasis previously, but wasn't as fearful. Something was different. The information I was getting second hand didn't match what I have experience first hand over the last year. I know people who have died from this. But I also know more people who have died from other things. Took my family to Germany in 2018. Went to Rudesheim. The Carl Jung winery is there. I became interested in his books. They're a little bland, so I can't say that I read them thoroughly, but there's some good stuff in there. For instance: Mass Psychosis. Everything he has said on the subject seems to have been deliberately and carefully put into practice. Here's a boiled down article: https://academyofideas.com/2021/02/mass-psychosis-greatest-threat-to-humanity/ There is more to life than paralyzing fear of death. If a person can't see that not only are we facing a somewhat deadly virus, but worse yet, a system that seeks to exploit it, they're willfully naive. Don't buy into it.