Time to read THE LAST CENTURION?

TFLYTSNBN wrote:The only way to refute stubborn bigotry such as yours is to simply wait it out and count the carcasses.

It's not bigotry to state facts.

What is bigotry however, is to use derogatory terms for groups of people which you frequently do.

TFLYTSNBN wrote:

The numbers on total cases seem awful, but that is because the US has a large population. When you compare infection rates and death rates, the US is doing EXTREMELY well. This reality is due entirely to Trump's willingness to impose a travel ban on China then on Eurotrash.

If it can be said that the US is looking good at all, it is because we are still way behind the curve on testing. You can be sure that once testing is comprensively available our rates won't look nearly so favorable.

The China ban probably helped some. The European ban probably not at all. The horse was completely out of the barn by that point. In fact even before the China ban was imposed, symptom free people could have been flying in who were virus carriers. I suspect that the China ban did slow things down a bit. But the final word on its effectiveness is yet to be written.

Oh, by the way, there is no such thing as "Eurotrash". Last time I checked they were our brothers and sisters in the human family to be respected as such.

Don

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Looking at the numbers, I'm glad I'm in Canada and not the USA.

Dilandu wrote:

TFLYTSNBN wrote:OK everyone. President Trump is not a doctor. I do not expect him to get the scientific terms right all of the time. I also believe that he was mislead just like most world leaders by the Chinese who claimed that they had it under control. The science is also unsettled, particularly in regards to possible treatments with existing drugs. As I write this, Trump is being vindicated on this issue.

Seriously, your excuses about "bad, bad Chinese lied to us" sound just as lame as your previous wet dreams about pandemic causing business to flee from China to USA SO THE TIME COULD BE REVERSED AND AMERICAN GLORY SHINE ETERNAL!!! Both are senseless wishful thinking.

No one should be trusting what comes out of China right now. The problem is not that they are Chinese. The problem is that they are an authoritarian regime without an unfettered press to look over their shoulder and keep them honest. Contrast that with what happened here not so very long ago when Trump kept trying to tell us that everything was ok and was instantly pounced on over the nonsense.

At any rate, we will see how well China is doing as time goes on. But since they tried to cover it up when it first started, I'm not willing to give them the benefit of the doubt now.

Don

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jchilds wrote:Looking at the numbers, I'm glad I'm in Canada and not the USA.

Stay alert. It is really quite improbable that you will escape. You are just further back on the curve. By the way, be healthy and well.

Don

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TFLYTSNBN wrote:...The only way to refute stubborn bigotry such as yours is to simply wait it out and count the carcasses...

You talk of bigotry, and yet your use of a term likes “Eurotrash” shows an inordinate amount of bigotry from your side!

Arol wrote:

TFLYTSNBN wrote:...The only way to refute stubborn bigotry such as yours is to simply wait it out and count the carcasses...

You talk of bigotry, and yet your use of a term likes “Eurotrash” shows an inordinate amount of bigotry from your side!

You have to understand that in conservative circles in the US one of the pinnacles of debate strategy is "I KNOW YOU ARE BUT WHAT AM I!?"

TFLY has made innumerable bigoted statements and arguments on these forums. As a result he has predictably been called on it many times.

And because he has been called bigoted, he must now reflexively accuse everyone else of bigotry in reflexive response, regardless of the content if whatever post he is replying to.

(For a prime example of this at work, I refer you to Trump's entire "Fake News" schtick, which was born out of a response to reporting of actual fraudulent news sites being created to support his candidacy during the last election. Then when confronted with it his immediate response was to declare all actual journalists "Fake News". And he's never looked back)

At the risk of stoking the Panic Fire, a few interesting articles have hit the net.

Headline 1 (Yahoo News) - Border Patrol Stopped a Chinese Biologist Carrying Viable SARS, MERS Viruses at Detroit Airport in 2018
Headline 2 (Yahoo News) - Suspected SARS virus and flu samples found in luggage: FBI report describes China's 'biosecurity risk'
Headline 3 (Daily Mail) - FBI warned of concerns over 'biosecurity risk' from Chinese scientists' research in the US after intercepting Sars virus and flu samples illicitly carried in their luggage a year before coronavirus outbreak

These stories reference events dating back to November 2018 and are somewhat concerning. Transporting potentially viable viruses in personal luggage without using proper warning labels and secured boxes flouts quite a few bio-safety protocols.

Before anyone leaps to the "China sacrificed thousands trying to kill of the rest of the world" bandwagon, may I point out that I sincerely doubt the Wuhan Virus was artificial. However, it does show the rather horrifying approach that China has to regulations and safety protocols - ignore unless called upon publicly.

Michael Everett wrote:At the risk of stoking the Panic Fire, a few interesting articles have hit the net.

Headline 1 (Yahoo News) - Border Patrol Stopped a Chinese Biologist Carrying Viable SARS, MERS Viruses at Detroit Airport in 2018
Headline 2 (Yahoo News) - Suspected SARS virus and flu samples found in luggage: FBI report describes China's 'biosecurity risk'
Headline 3 (Daily Mail) - FBI warned of concerns over 'biosecurity risk' from Chinese scientists' research in the US after intercepting Sars virus and flu samples illicitly carried in their luggage a year before coronavirus outbreak

These stories reference events dating back to November 2018 and are somewhat concerning. Transporting potentially viable viruses in personal luggage without using proper warning labels and secured boxes flouts quite a few bio-safety protocols.

Before anyone leaps to the "China sacrificed thousands trying to kill of the rest of the world" bandwagon, may I point out that I sincerely doubt the Wuhan Virus was artificial. However, it does show the rather horrifying approach that China has to regulations and safety protocols - ignore unless called upon publicly.

I still think it's man-geneered.

If it isn't, and I do hope it isn't because biowarfare is way too low for man to go, it plays right into my alternate theory that it got away from them. Look how careless and cavalier they were about carrying it.

cthia wrote:I still think it's man-geneered.

If it isn't, and I do hope it isn't because biowarfare is way too low for man to go, it plays right into my alternate theory that it got away from them. Look how careless and cavalier they were about carrying it.

I don't think it's a bio-engineered weapon for several reasons.

1) It has been examined by scientists down to a molecular level and none of the indications of artificial augmentation/alteration have been found. While lack of evidence is not evidence of lack, the scientists had very good reason to look closely and would very likely have found any indications.

2) China is not known for its innovation skills. Duplication, yes. Modification, to a degree, but innovation? Their entire current culture is constructed to stifle free-thinking. Orders must be followed, forms filled in... original thinking (or even going off-script) are seen as threats to be quashed.
Creating a Bio-weapon and deploying it requires both innovation and a rather fanatical attention to detail that most Chinese simply do not have due to their upbringing and education.
Yes, there are Chinese people more than capable of doing said things, but given the cultural inertia they'd have to work against, it is unlikely in the extreme that they could assemble the resources needed for such a project.

3) Geopolitical Trends. Before the Corvid-19 outbreak, China was making considerable headway in infiltrating the economies of other countries, especially the African nations, in ways that were letting them either gain access to the political controls or set things up that they could undermine infrastructure almost instantly should the government in question turn against them. While a relatively slow process, the Chinese Government thinks in terms of decades (or even centuries) and the technique was working. They had no reason to completely rearrange the gameboard with Corvid-19, not when they were moving to claim eventual victory.