Did you notice Devin’s cow, above? Here’s how the tool made a fool of himself at CPAC.
Opinion by Hal Brown
I was listening to Dr. Fauci on MSNBC this morning talking about the long haulers, the term used to describe people who had Covid, even very mild cases, who suffer serious and sometimes debilitating aftereffects. His message was that while Covid-19 is still life-threatening and there was much reason for optimism as more people were vaccinated it would take 70% to 90% of the population to achieve herd immunity. This 20 point range struck me as a major unknown. 70% is a lot different than 90%. He also talked about the very serious aftereffects from having even very mild cases after a patient has recovered. These people are call the longer haulers.
This has been reported in the media before. Here’s a JAMA article about it: As Their Numbers Grow, COVID-19 “Long Haulers” Stump Experts from September.
Donald Trump is unique in almost too many ways to count but one “first” for a president is his public denial of a pandemic which lead directly to an uncountable number of deaths. As Bob Woodwood’s tape proved he knew early how serious the pandemic would be. He made it into a hoax for purely political reasons.
Even now at CPAC you could see that numerous attendees weren’t wearing masks and they certainly weren’t maintain the recommended social distance. I haven’t seen any polls about how many members of the MAGA cult were planning to get vaccinated. This is crucial because unless Trump can persuade those to whom he told Covid was a hoax that they still needed to get vaccinated I think some unknown but significant percentage won’t. Why would they listen to Dr. Fauci who Trump has all but been called a fraud?
Some speakers like Kristi Noem slammed Covid shutdowns, and defended South Dakota's Covid record.
The meaning of culling the herd is generally applied to a direct action taken to remove weaker individuals from a herd of animals by killing them or just reducing the size of a herd for various environmental reasons. The term is also applied to how predators cull a herd by preying on the weaker members.
In June of 2020 The Genetics and Society published “Who Among Us Is Valuable Enough to Save?’ Note this came out before all the effective vaccines were invented.
Who should live and who should die? That brutal and generally unspoken question is behind all the eugenic reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of those assaults on decency are obviously racist, or ableist, but others are a little more subtle and arguably at least as dangerous, since the eugenics is somewhat less apparent.
People are grasping for solutions that don’t exist. That explains the meretricious attraction of quack remedies , fake statistics and claims of miracles . Something had to be done, so something was done: For instance, titans of industry (well, chief executives of drug-store companies) were summoned to the White House to promote drive-through testing stations that never appeared in quantity ; not a lot of harm was done by this stunt, except that expectations were raised and not fulfilled.
Perhaps inevitably, some members of the investment class , and others who think they know more than the epidemiologists, started impatiently promoting “herd immunity” as the way forward, at least until a vaccine is widely available. This is simplistic to the point of being very dangerous, not least because no such vaccine exists yet. The most optimistic estimate (from the White House) is that there might be one by the end of the year; mid-2021 is more likely, though the chief executive of Merck calls a 12- to 18-month timeframe “very aggressive ” and rushing development could be dangerous . Even then, hundreds of millions of doses would need to be manufactured for the US alone, let alone the rest of the world.
Again, note that the term “culling the herd” is used to refer to an external action taking towards a herd.
What we are seeing now is an internal action, an inaction really, taken by a large group of Trump supporters who are taking their cue from him and have convinced themselves that Covid-19 is not a really threat at least, and at the most crazy QAnon level, that it is a hoax promoted for political reasons by Democrats.
They have turned Dr. Fauci into a lying villain and part of a conspiracy.
While the GOP is doing everything possible to disenfranchise voters likely to vote for Democratic candidates in the long run shifting demographics will be their undoing. I keep hearing the year 2045 as the year when no amount of making voting difficult will enable them to win and election. In the shorter run something else may happen to make it more difficult to win an election.
Put this under the following heading for them:
Beware of unintended consequences
I am not referring to the fact that that the percentages of white American will decrease in the future making it impossible for the GOP to win with only their base of white voters. I am saying that it is because self-culling their actual numbers may decrease their voters because many of them will be dead or too sick to make it to a voting site on of any of the the days they are allowed to vote in person aside from the traditional first Tuesday after the first Monday in November with all the identification that GOP controlled states have mandated.
Rational people no matter what their political affiliation is will have all been immunized and will still be wearing masks, washing their hands, and practicing social distancing as long as the CDC recommends this. I expect the majority of Democrats will fall into this category.
As for the MAGA cult who refused to get vaccinated, caught Covid, and infected each other, and died, they will have effectively self-culled their own herd of other brainwashed Trump zealots.
Despite Republican efforts to allow dead people to vote, something they accused the Democrats of doing, they’d never be able to pull this off especially with all the new and unnecessary anti-fraud protections being passed in the states. This would be yet another unintended consequence.
Some of those MAGAs who became long haulers who weren't totally brainwashed into the Trump Covid hoax lie may feel betrayed by him and although few would vote for a Democrat they may vote for moderate Republicans in future elections even thought Trump rails against them.
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Not exactly related story: Catholics Urged To Shun Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Over Abortion Link (“morally compromised” because it was developed using stem cells from the 1970s and ‘80s.)
On the Poll: I forgot the category for those who aren’t yet able to get their vaccination because of age restrictions. As many as eight people checked “other” in that group and planned to get the shot as soon they were are eligible. I added three “other” categories in a new poll which I’ll specify here if anyone notes I forgot one in the poll. The original poll is below. Scroll down for the new one.
On the poll use Other No. 1 for reasons not specified. Use Other 2 if registered with the state or county and waiting until they notify you. Use Other No. 3 if you have Covid and have to wait a period of time before signing up for your vaccination..