Occasional Reader 9/16/2020 5:23:45 AM

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Occasional Reader 9/16/2020 5:25:00 AM

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Lancaster, PA judge throws the book at suspected rioters, sets millions-dollar bail.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8736183/1M-bail-set-Lancaster-police-shooting-demonstrators.html

That’s the way you do it.

vxbush 9/16/2020 6:01:41 AM

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In #2 Occasional Reader said: That’s the way you do it.

I hope this becomes a trend as judges watch the news and start hearing stories of the coordination of these "peaceful protests."

Morning, campers. 

lucius septimius 9/16/2020 6:41:09 AM

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buzzsawmonkey 9/16/2020 6:49:57 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 4:

Hurricane Sally, guess you got to slow your windspeed down
Hurricane Sally, guess you got to slow your windspeed down
You'll be runnin' all over the ground now
Lookin' for some towns and trees you can pound

All you want to do is blow around Sally---blow, Sally, blow
All you want to do is blow around Sally---blow, Sally, blow
All you want to do is blow around Sally---blow, Sally, blow

Occasional Reader 9/16/2020 7:27:03 AM

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In #4 lucius septimius said: Sally's on her way.

Bright side, the heavy rains will put out the fires from the latest round of rioting.

Occasional Reader 9/16/2020 7:56:32 AM

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OMG TRUMP IS LITERALLY WORSE THAN LITERALLY HITLER, LITERALLY

lucius septimius 9/16/2020 8:08:07 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 7:

Yeah, but Israel has never been at war with Bahrain or the UAE so big whup.

(latest Demonrat talking point).

JCM 9/16/2020 8:08:23 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 7:

During a CNN interview on Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi derisively called the peace agreements the Trump administration has sponsored this month between Israel and two Arab states, Bahrain and the UAE, "a distraction" from the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

buzzsawmonkey 9/16/2020 8:15:09 AM

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In #8 lucius septimius said: Yeah, but Israel has never been at war with Bahrain or the UAE so big whup.

Nonetheless...

I persuaded the UAE
To make peace with the Israelis
Now I'll try it again
Mideast peace would be happenin'
Abbas his pants would be crappin' in
If I only had Bahrain!

---from the new "Wizard of Oz"

Occasional Reader 9/16/2020 8:17:14 AM

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Reply to JCM in 9:

"Crumbs!  Crumbs!"

STFU, Nancy. 

lucius septimius 9/16/2020 8:55:57 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 10:

The WSJ noted today that the end result of this may be that the Palestinians will have to fall in line.  Most of the Arab world are sick of them.

Looking back, Moshe Dayan was right when he advised against any long-term occupation of the West Bank.

doppelganglander 9/16/2020 8:59:16 AM

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Reply to JCM in 9:

They keep writing Trump's ads for him, don't they?

The proper term is normalizing diplomatic relations, but the media prefers small words like peace pact. Most people can't tell the difference anyway.

lucius septimius 9/16/2020 9:14:39 AM

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I had an opportunity to watch the liberal mind at work yesterday.

I had told a friend about a thesis connecting the evolution of modern humans to cooking and sent him a copy of the original article.  A key component of the argument is that cooking is linked to (1) pair bonding among humans, and (2) division of labor between men and women.  

While attempting to summarize the argument, it was fascinating to watch his liberal mind deal with the not very PC implications of the thesis.  The point is pair-bonding between male and female but he attempted to turn that into "pairs" of any two people and ultimately into "groups of people."  In other words, he could not assimilate the main point and had to rewrite it to fit current liberal pieties about "love is love" and soft "it takes a village" collectivism.  I watched him as he closed his eyes and, speaking very slowly, carefully substituted the first and then the second.  Only then could he agree with the argument, through a simple act of substitution which obscured the original point but confirmed his biases.

JCM 9/16/2020 10:19:29 AM

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JCM 9/16/2020 10:31:42 AM

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Kid's teacher during online class, took a break, forgot to turn off her camera.... and hit a bong.

Teacher is now fired and a replacement is taking over the class.....

OY VEY.

vxbush 9/16/2020 10:44:01 AM

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In #16 JCM said: Kid's teacher during online class, took a break, forgot to turn off her camera.... and hit a bong. Teacher is now fired and a replacement is taking over the class..... OY VEY.

Egads. How many parents saw this???

buzzsawmonkey 9/16/2020 10:55:24 AM

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In #16 JCM said: Kid's teacher during online class, took a break, forgot to turn off her camera.... and hit a bong.

So the public-school system really is going to pot?

Occasional Reader 9/16/2020 11:02:45 AM

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In #16 JCM said: and hit a bong.

There is no excuse for using violence on any of the relatives of one of the great World War II air aces.

JCM 9/16/2020 11:06:56 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 19:

Air ace puns are getting really Olds.

doppelganglander 9/16/2020 11:17:38 AM

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Reply to JCM in 16:

Your own kid? Wow. I can certainly understand why she felt the need to do that, but it's rather unprofessional. 

My HS freshman English teacher was frequently baked (or drunk) in class. My friend sat by the window where she did a brisk business in walk-up sales of weed and the teacher never noticed. 

lucius septimius 9/16/2020 11:39:04 AM

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In #21 doppelganglander said: I can certainly understand why she felt the need to do that, but it's rather unprofessional. 

Turn off the camera -- I guess this is how dope destroys the brain.

JCM 9/16/2020 12:55:00 PM

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doppelganglander 9/16/2020 1:17:50 PM

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Occasional Reader 9/16/2020 1:55:37 PM

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In #24 doppelganglander said: This gem asked whether a vaccine should go to minorities first

That is seriously being discussed at NIH, and is a distinct possibility. The official rationale is the "disproportional" mortality/morbidity rates that have been recorded among different ethnic/racial groups with Covid-19. 

JCM 9/16/2020 1:58:21 PM

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Price tag for new city contract with Seattle 'street czar' draws scrutiny

SEATTLE — The city of Seattle has entered into a contract with Andre Taylor, a high-profile civic activist who will become the city’s first “Street Czar,” a role that has come under fire from some in the community.

Under the terms of the year-long contract, the city will pay Taylor and his group, called Not This Time, $150,000 to provide "expertise and support services in de-escalation, community engagement, and alternatives to policing.” The city's contract was first reported by Publicola.

Kosh's Shadow 9/16/2020 2:05:34 PM

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In #26 JCM said: Price tag for new city contract with Seattle 'street czar' draws scrutiny SEATTLE — The city of Seattle has entered into a contract with Andre Taylor, a high-profile civic activist who will become the city’s first “Street Czar,” a role that has come under fire from some in the community. Under the terms of the year-long contract, the city will pay Taylor and his group, called Not This Time, $150,000 to provide "expertise and support services in de-escalation, community engagement, and alternatives to policing.” The city's contract was first reported by Publicola.

Pay me and I'll de-escalate the riots. Nice city you got here. Be a shame if someone set fire to it.

Kosh's Shadow 9/16/2020 2:07:46 PM

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From last night on whether COVID was created in a lab:

In #8 doppelganglander said: A link to the report. I don't pretend to understand it, but I'm looking forward to an analysis from someone who does (and isn't on China's payroll).

I'm not a virologist; I'm a software engineer with a degree in physics, but I can make some comments, especially since some of what I've read so far exactly match what I have been thinking

Long asymptomatic period - my thought - great for bioweapon. Spread through the population before they know it is there.

Binds better than anything else to certain human cells. The proteins that let it do so differ considerably from those found in nature. And the genes show signs of editing.

Affects multiple organs (something they are only slowly letting on to)

96% similarity with the bat virus - that is how far apart human and chimp genomes are. NOT that close!

Wuhan lab working with US labs have done similar work.

Then they go to describe how this could be done in a lab.

I don't have time to read this fully tonight - this was from skimming the first part.

Also, as I said before, coronaviruses usually mutate easily. This one has genetic code to slow that (SciAm article) Not something you'd expect from natural selection, but what you'd want in a bioweapon, so the country deploying it (which would be expected to have  a vaccine) would not find its vaccine becoming ineffective, the way flu vaccines do.

Kosh's Shadow 9/16/2020 2:13:09 PM

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A new definition of chutzpah:

Iran tells World Court that US sanctions breach friendship treaty

THE HAGUE - Lawyers for Iran told judges on Wednesday at the United Nations' top court that by crippling Iran's economy, sanctions imposed by the United States in 2018 had violated a decades-old bilateral friendship treaty.

In an earlier case involving frozen assets, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), or World Court, ruled in 2019 that the 1955 Treaty of Amity could provide a legal basis for its involvement in an Iranian-US dispute.

Countersue - occupying the US Embassy and calling for Death to America violates the treaty. You pay up first, with interest.

Kosh's Shadow 9/16/2020 2:14:41 PM

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In #16 JCM said: Kid's teacher during online class, took a break, forgot to turn off her camera.... and hit a bong. Teacher is now fired and a replacement is taking over the class..... OY VEY.

Cheech, I mean sheesh!

doppelganglander 9/16/2020 4:10:37 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 25:

If there were a biological reason for POC to be more vulnerable, I'd totally agree. The fact is, it's due to lifestyle, behavior, and co-morbidities. 
If you're morbidly obese and have Type II diabetes, you're more vulnerable no matter what color you are, but those conditions have a higher prevalence in minority communities. There are also factors like living in a multigenerational household.

I have no idea how best to allocate a scarce resource like a vaccine, but it's definitely not by color. Personally, I will not be taking it unless/until it's been thoroughly tested for at least a year or two. I honestly don't expect there to be an effective vaccine at all. 

doppelganglander 9/16/2020 4:13:23 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 28:

I've had similar thoughts. I would like to think the release was accidental because so many Chinese were infected and killed, but let's face it - the CCP has no regard for human life, even their own people.

buzzsawmonkey 9/16/2020 4:36:33 PM

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In #32 doppelganglander said: but let's face it - the CCP has no regard for human life, even their own people.

They've got lots and lots to spare.