nic

The teams the Big 10 would take from the Big12 is Texas, Iowa St., Kansas and OU. OU would get a pass on not being part of the AAU similar to ND. I think ND will be stuck with the ACC. Big10 would take 2 more for 16. Kansas would be good. The other might come from out East, assuming the ACC doesn’t poach Maryland and PSU.

Another tweet.

Anyone see this from the Wash Post? I thought a lab leak theory was plausible a year and not because Trump said it. I am not sure about the NIH funding gain of function, but this Josh dude has been digging into it. A real reporter perhaps? Josh Rogin @joshrogin Hey guys, @RandPaul was right and Fauci was wrong. The NIH was funding gain of function research in Wuhan but NIH pretended it didn't meet their "gain of function" definition to avoid their own oversight mechanism. SorryNotSorry if that doesn't fit your favorite narrative.

Trump is an a$$ that likes to talk about himself and embellish everything he says. Biden is having cognitive issues and is a gaff a minute. Some in the press politely call it “going off script”. If you look at past quotes from both, you will find questionable/bad comments ....not to mention actions. Most of these politicians just say/do what it takes to stay in power.

Is there a politician who is not slimy? I guess I can think of a few who are at least consistent.

From CNN. ...cheers to CNN for mentioning this. All seems accurate to me. “In West Wing meetings lately, White House chief of staff Ron Klain has impressed upon aides the critical importance of the next few weeks. Recognizing the stakes, Biden and his team are sharpening their strategy to confront an epic set of challenges that some of his allies fear could impart lasting political damage: Covid cases are spiking, inflation is up, border crossings are rising, the Taliban are taking over Afghanistan and a much-touted bipartisan infrastructure agreement is teetering on the brink.” ... “ at the White House and on the road, the President has begun adopting a more aggressive stance against Republicans and other critics, including on voting rights and the Afghanistan withdrawal. “ “The administration recently launched an offensive against vaccine disinformation it believes is helping to drive Covid cases among the unvaccinated, inadvertently sparking a tiff with Facebook.” ...blaming Facebook was a really dumb move in my opinion. I am pretty sure their censoring is in favor of the Democratic political agenda. Don’t shoot an ally. “And Biden himself plans to tighten his focus in coming weeks on popular elements of a sweeping legislative agenda that hangs in the balance, according to officials, hoping to sway Americans in red-leaning areas.” ...Good luck with that. The problem is that a 50/50 senate is not a mandate. It requires comprise (if that is even possible) or picking the right battles. Like prison reform during the last administration. “Still, internal divides persist among officials in some fraught areas, like immigration and Covid reopening plans, with heightened debate over how single decisions could resonate politically. And Biden's penchant for going off-script has thrown his team into cleanup mode at multiple points so far.”

Sorry. Bad joke. I was reading about this person at the time. "Today, the Virginia PTA executive committee requested and received the resignation of Michelle Leete, who served as Vice President of Training,"... “Let's deny this off-key band of people that are anti-education, anti-teacher, anti-equity, anti-history, anti-racial … anti-opportunities, anti-help people, anti-diversity, [inaudible], anti-science, anti-change agent, anti-social justice, anti-health care, anti-worker, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-children, anti-health care, anti-worker, anti-environment, anti-admissions policy change, anti-inclusion, anti-live and let live – let them die!" Leete said in a video.

More thoughts on Cuba from the author and creator of the 1619 project. "The most equal multi-racial country in our hemisphere, it would be Cuba," Hannah-Jones said, as reported by the publication. "Cuba has the least inequality between Black and white people anyplace really in the hemisphere. I mean, the Caribbean, most of the Caribbean it's hard to count because the White population in a lot of those countries is very, very small. A lot of those countries are run by Black folks. But in places that are truly at least biracial countries, Cuba actually has the least inequality. And that's largely due to socialism—which I'm sure no one wants to hear."

Some liberals would consider that a bonus.

I also wondered today, whether most of the news media would actually cover it if Trump came out with a statement encouraging people to take the vaccine. I am not sure they would, because they would not want to give him the credit. Plus it would be prefaced by Trump bragging about how he got the vaccine out so quickly and him complaining about how the election was stolen.

I was reading an article on CNN trying to correlate anti-vax folks with people who believe Biden didn’t legitimately win the 2020. They sited that 1/3 of the people who believe the latter have been vaccinated. They noted one prominent figure in that camp, who also has urged people to get the vaccine. “Former President Donald Trump, for example, is a big promoter of false conspiracy theories about the election but he actually has gotten the vaccine and has urged others to get vaccinated.” They also mentioned Republicans who were pushing the vaccine late last year who are no longer pushing it due to conspiracy theories or misinformation. For misinformation, the article sited Rand Paul who is not taking it due to natural immunity. I know many that fall into this camp. For conspiracy theories, they sited a Congressman who was worried about the government invading people’s privacy and ultimately taking their guns away. Seems like a stretch, but this would fall into the distrust of government category I have mentioned in other posts. Lastly they cited that since kids and younger folks have had minor reactions to this virus, there isn’t a feeling of urgency to get vaccinated. I think most of this jives with what I have observed, other than the taking of guns part.

Most people I know over 40 that haven’t been vaccinated are still waiting to see if there is fallout from the vax, or had covid and think they don’t need it. I don’t hear many conspiracy theory reasons. I also think very few will change their mind. Most of the unvaccinated are under 40 and I don’t think many under 30 get their covid news from Instagram, Twitter or YouTube. They would rather watch the next reincarnation of jack a$$ the movie to laugh at people doing crap they should not do at home. but mostly there is so much distrust of the media and government that getting involved with social media filtering of covid news will a) lead to more ‘filtering’ for political purposes and b) lead to more distrust of both. maybe there is a way to figure out why so many under 40 are blowing off the vaccine and then figure out how to convince them otherwise. Targeted adds, like the Uncle Sam posters from WWII. Sorry bad example. Celebrity endorsements? Celebs have mostly lost credibility. Bribe them with weed and booze? 500 dollar tax free bonus when you get shot number two? Seems like we should be smart enough to come up with something other than censorship, which can easily be abused.

Now the Illini have a shot to finish a disappointing second again.

Actually Govt colluding with big tech could blew up the "we are a private company and can sensor what we want" argument. And after a great statement on Cuba we go back to dumb a$$ comments when asked about Facebook. "They’re killing people," Biden responded. "The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and they’re killing people."

I think Biden has some early signs of dementia, but I wasn’t sure about his leanings because he keeps his mouth shut to appease some of his base, and to limit the gaffes. I was simply surprised he actually said it. The middle of the country is pleased. The left is disappointed, but they really aren’t as prevalent as they think they are. Just loud. The right is politically bummed too because they were going to use Cuba against the Dems by promoting quotes from BLM and politicians like AOC and her friends. Now I want to see some action....get that internet up and running and let the people of Cuba know we got their back. If he supports a Cuban democracy flip, he will flip Florida. Let’s see if he has the Moxie.

"We’re considering whether we have the technological ability to reinstate that (internet) access," Biden said during a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Thursday. "Communism is a failed system, a universally failed system, and I don’t see socialism as a very useful substitute," the president said. "Cuba is, unfortunately, a failed state and repressing their citizens," he continued. "There are a number of things that we are considering doing to help the people of Cuba, but they would require…a guarantee that they would not be taken advantage of by the government."

It all depends in which news people read and believe. The press secretary made the comments. Listen to the comments in a video, then read both left wing and right wing media opinions and form your own.

So I looked it up myself at the CDC website. Age seems to be a key factor in getting vaccinated. The 12 to 17 year range was 25 to 37%. 18 to 39 was in the 40s. By the time you hit 75+, it was 77%. ethnicity data was limited. Interestingly enough American Indian/Alaskan Native had the highest %. The black community was the lowest %.

If you are saying since the vaccine came out mid December, I would agree. Even before then, he was all about changing the election results. If he was still in charge, I bet there would be a bump in vaccination rates among conservatives and maybe a bit lower among people who hate him. Although my liberal friends seemed to have a higher level of anxiety about COVID so maybe they would still get the Vax regardless of their hatred and distrust of Trump. I am not sure we would see a big bump among conservatives just because of Trump pushing it. I think there are a lot of folks that decided not to get it before it ever came out. What is the Vax rate by ethnic groups or socio-economic status? Maybe it mostly based on age at this point with people not worrying about their kids.

If the guys at the top actually deserve the credit (big if), Trump gets it for getting the vaccine out quickly and getting distribution started. Biden gets it for continued distribution. You will convince me any differently. They both pushed the vaccine, and I haven’t heard much from Trump since they banned him from social media, but I don’t think he has said not to get it. Didn’t Trump and his family even publicly get the vaccine? I don’t remember now. I guess it didn’t make a difference to me whether he did or did not. I made my own choice to take the chance and get it, and I didn’t make that choice for me either. I was willing to wait, but I also wanted to see people that were at risk without acting like we both had leprosy. Wasn’t (isn’t) Luis Farrakhan posting to his followers on social media NOT to get the vaccine? Didn’t it take a long time for social media to finally start to censor those posts. Isn’t the vaccination rate in the black community really low? I didn’t see much outrage toward Farrakhan other than the right wing media screaming about social media hypocrisy. bottom line is that it is unfortunate to see people pushing not to get the vaccine. It’s also irritating to watch people shame others into getting it. It’s too bad politics and media bias weigh into people’s decision on this.

I don’t like soliciting. I actually feel bad for them. I also don’t like strangers asking personal questions, and I was joking about the baseball bat. I think you took this too seriously. Besides, it’s in the garage and it would take to long to go get it.

Somebody has to try and save 2022. I guess trying to pin the defund movement on the Republicans didn’t work. “Biden calls for hiring more police, cracking down on illegal guns to combat crime”

Looks better without the troops and fences too.

What if they both said it was ready? would it tainted by the Trumpster? I was skeptical of a drug made that fast. I hope wasn’t right.