Author: No Name

Several months ago I surmised that in the end the vaccinated would find that they are at more risk than was being communicated. As it turns out, I was right. There are thousands of factors as to why that is and blaming the unvaccinated is just moronic. The top factors are as follows in no particular order:

• The vaccines were tested in a population that was locked down, social distancing and wearing masks, providing a weak testing ground for the vaccine.
• The vaccine wasn’t tested with obese individuals. They were extremely particular about their participant selection and the obese population was virtually ignored. The same population flooding into hospitals.
• Children were not in schools. Seriously…putting that many people in a closed space and expecting good results?
• The vaccinated think they have immunity and they do not. They never have, and never will.

Hospitals are failing to coordinate patient care because we live in a profit-based society. Hospitals are losing 200 billion dollars annually. If they were making money, then the narrative would be much different. No one gives a shit about your health, not liberal, not conservative. It’s all about economics. This is why I’m so amused that many on both sides think they are superior than the other while all the while you are all being manipulated. 

There are roughly 91000 COVID patients in the hospital today. 3640 of those are on ventilators, and roughly 15,470 of the 91,000 will die. That’s a death rate of 17% if you are hospitalized according to the NCBI. That’s actually an improvement from 25% three months ago. That’s likely directly related to the vaccine and monoclonal therapies. 

Our hospital inpatient rate is sooooooo much higher than the rest of the world because 40% of our population is fat. To add insult to injury, 78% of the people dying of covid are fat. They are flooding the hospitals in DROVES but you want to blame healthy people for the problem. Good luck with that. 

Even with the MASSIVE US obesity rate, the chance of death if you are infected is 1.6%, only slightly lower than what it was pre-vaccine. That’s because 40% will never show a symptom and only 7% will see a hospital. If you find that level of risk insurmountable, then get vaccinated. If you are comfortable with it, then don’t. Knowing the risks and making a decision based on those risks is a personal decision. No one gets to make it for you no matter what high horse they ride.

The leading risks in order are being fat, having comorbidities, and being old.

People have refused to care for themselves for decades, driving up healthcare costs to the tune of 100 billion dollars annually and the obese over-run hospitals at alarming rates with Covid. Now they want a shot to save their ass for decades of taking up more than their share of gravity.

And all of a sudden, because they failed to make good health choices, they want to make them for me. Not because they have any concern for me personally, but because they think I hold some responsibility for their lifetime of bad decisions. I do not. 

Your health is your responsibility, it is not mine. I’m not a risk to you. That Big Mac and hot dog you ate are the risk. I know…you don’t know what’s in them so you don’t care. Well…it’s killing you so you should care. That’s why I care what goes into my body and that vaccine won’t come anywhere near it. Why is that? Because my risk of having an adverse reaction to the vaccine (nausea, vomiting, headache, fatigue) are 100%. My risk of getting Covid and having long-term effects, or dying are statistically zero. 

Does that mean I am anti-vaccine? Only for me. You see, I’m a grown up. I get to make grown up decisions. On the off chance I ever get Covid there’s a 99.9999999% chance I’ll get over it. On the less than 1% chance I do end up dying from it you will NEVER hear me say “Gee…I wish I got vaccincated.” Why? Again, because I’m a grown up and accept my decisions and will loudly and if needed, violently, protect my right to make them.

Articles like the one below have been flooding my FakeBook feed for an entire year, and I feel I need to address it. So….

…hang on to your knickers…

Is someone like me to have a problem with this? I don’t. If you think when you go to an eatery that everyone there is washing their hands, good luck with that. I have walked out of more places than I can count after I saw a cook take a shit, got up and walked out without washing his hands, or a waiter picked their nose, or yes..someone combing their hair around my food. 

It is absolutely my choice to decide what risks I want to take. In the United States, there is a social contract that you must follow when leaving your home. That is that you accept certain risks. Those risks are that you may come into contact with situations that might kill you. 

Now, you have a choice to stay in your home, arm yourself (wear a mask) or do the other things to make you safe. Others have a choice NOT to do those things. If you have a business you have a choice to tell customers they can’t go in if they don’t have a mask. Others have a choice to either don said mask, or not go in. Welcome to America!

I’m annoyed up to my asshole with this idea that 2% of the planet get to control the lives of 98%. It’s bullshit. No different than 600 billionaires controlling the lives of everyone else. 

Covid is real. The vaccine is effective. However it is also true that this disease, left unchecked, would have still had little impact on our health compared to everything else in our lives. Masks are just something to get the masses around because our leaders determined that there would be mass panic if they didn’t find something for people to cling to.

People refuse to control the things that really reduce risk like eating less sugar, or exercising, not smoking, not drinking, etc. Nope… “Save a life. Wear a mask” Well…I am saving lives…thousands of them in fact by the many other things I do and don’t do. You want to blame me for granny getting sick? Then tell me the day and time I showed up at Granny’s house and I’ll apologize. Likely it was you who went to see granny and killed her and you fail to take responsibility. Should have stayed in that basement. Nevermind, it’s just easier to blame others. 

Here’s one. Want to save lives? Work in a homeless shelter. Work in a women’s shelter. Give to the needy, but stop acting like a fucking martyr because you put a cheap piece of cloth over your face. 

Know why no one does the things I mentioned above? It takes effort. It’s easier to wear a mask and act like you’ve accomplished something.

Rex

I was listening to the Ted Radio Hour while driving from Colorado to Boulder City NV, when Huang Hung came on talking about how China has been managing the Covid virus.  Hung is a U.S. citizen who has been living in China since 1991 and is considered the “Oprah of China.”  Anyway there has been a lot of criticism over how the U.S. has responded compared to China.  Hung offered her input and her opinion which I have quoted below.  I have also included a link to the recording  because I don’t want to be guilty of mis quoting her.  However, when responding on what China is doing, such as requiring users to scan QR codes when they enter a shopping mall, below was her response. You can find the entire interview here.

“I walk into a shopping mall and I have to say I’m glad, I feel safer that there is a scanning system.  It is for the greater good.  The Chinese kind of realize, in time of crisis it is necessary to bound together, and whatever inconvenience happens, <sic> you need to be able to tolerate it.  You need to be patient.  You need to work with other people. You need to support the collective, rather than just think for yourself. “

Depending on who you are, you will have completely different reactions to that statement.  If you are a liberal, you may be fine and dandy with it.  To a liberal, we need to come together in crisis, and regardless of what civil liberties may be at risk it’s more important to save the lives of as many people as possible, than it is to lose a bit of freedom and anonymity.  

To the conservative, this is complete blasphemy.  Of course you would rather die than give into someone tracking where you are, what you are doing, and the idea of giving up free thought is appalling.  How dare anyone try to tell you that you have to give up the ability to think for yourself.  

The irony, that I won’t get into here, is that after 9/11 the sides of the conversation were completely reversed. The conservatives were freely throwing away our civil liberties, and the liberals were fighting to keep them, but I digress.

Either way this is where the entire conflict over Covid, and masks and businesses staying open or closed comes to a head.  Libreral: You need to wear a mask to save the sick and elderly.  Conservative:  The sick and elderly need to manage their own risks.  Since the foudnations of this country were founded on self-reliance it’s difficult for many to understand how anyone would want it any other way.  

There’s a psychological piece to this as well.  It’s about risk.  Investors know a lot about risk.  Forgive me for using finance as an example, but the same applies to health and welfare.  It’s all about risk tolerance.  For example, if you have a low risk toleratnce, then Covid is pretty much a non-issue.  There really is a 98% survival rate.  If you’re solely looking at the numbers the likelihood of dying, or even ending up in the hospital is extremely small.  However, if you have a low risk tolerance, then taking any risk is just too much for you.  This is why young people are the absolute highest number of illnesses.  They are comfortable with risk.  The elderly are not.  However, unfortunately, the elderly are also at the greater risk of dying.  So now it comes down to how do they manage what’s left of their lives.

I think I’ve made my feelings clear in my writings on what I think of the reaction to the pandemic.  I also think that there is a greater desire to create hysteria than there is to actually solve a problem.  I also want to point out that Freedom and Safety are often opposing ideas. You can’t have both. You can only have one or the other. How much of each is a balance that this country has been trying to manage for over two centuries.

What this pandemic has done on so many levels is illustrate that changes need made to manage the needs and desires of both sides.  This is true of all things, not just Covid.  However, I will say this, if anyone ever suggests to me that I have to give up free thought, that will be the end of our conversation.  

Rex

Today the governor of Tennessee said that the “One thing this vaccine will not solve or cure is selfishness.”  I agree.  You are being selfish.  The utter selfishness and complete childishness of the people who act like wearing masks, or working in service level jobs, or making the zero effort of getting sick should be immortalized is so duplicitous.  These are the same Karens who complain when someone uses the wrong color trash bag. So when Governor “I’m placating to the liberal vote” makes ridiculous statements, I get a little testy. 

Rant about to begin:

The current litany of stupidity to this crisis is astounding.  In fact it’s not Covid that’s the crisis here, it’s the reaction.  It’s like a kid who can’t go out in sunlight so every other child on the planet has to stay inside because Billy can’t just wear sunscreen.  It’s ridiculous.  “Mommy…I can’t go outside.”  “I know Billy…mommy will call the school and make sure no one else can have fun either.”  I’m being selfish?  Really?  Is it me, who thinks that the thousands of service workers, who need to feed their families should have the opportunity rather than sitting at home wondering where their next meal will come from, or is it you who thinks we should lock everyone up for a virus that has a 98% survival rate?  Am I being selfish or is it the rest of you whiny little bitches?  I guess next time you get the shits from eating deep fat fried whatever, we’ll make everyone take laxatives.  

I’ve had it up to my receding hairline with the propensity of the left wing inflicting their misguided sympathies to whatever group makes it into the news.  CNN today reported 17,000,000 Covid cases in the U.S.  OK…let’s forget the fact that it’s meant to be misleading.  The actual active cases are…wait for it…less than 7,000,000.  The rest have either recovered, and yes, a very small minority have died.  So of the 7,000,000, how many of those are serious?  Wait for it again…28,305.  That’s right.  28k are seriously ill.  We have shut down an entire country of 340,000,000 for 28,000 people.  That’s like shutting every road in the U.S. down because of car accidents.  

What’s most annoying about this is not that people are sick, but the fake martyrdom from people who think they need to control the lives of every…single…person…on…earth.  Never mind that millions upon millions upon millions more are hungry, abused, homeless, or ill from thousands of other far more dangerous diseases…nope…all that’s wrong with the world is Covid.  You all remind me of the upper middle-class white girl in college who all of a sudden adopts the real struggles of African Americans as her own.  It’s nauseating.

It is true that our health system is struggling.  Covid didn’t cause this, it just brought it to the forefront.  Now everyone can see how easily a minor crisis can completely crush it.  People who complain about the long ER lines, or not getting quick care, don’t seem to be paying attention as to why, however.  It’s not lack of available clinicians, it’s not lack of available beds, its because profit is the primary motivator of our worthless healthcare system. Beds are assigned based, not on need, but on income potential. Why do you think Texas puts minority Covid patients in the parking garage but the white ones get inside? In addition, the first point of contact for ANY patient is the business office.  No one gets to see a clinician until the facility gets to see their wallet.  Covid isn’t killing healthcare greed is.

The creation of the vaccine will eventually help.  At least Pfizer is getting rich.  OK, that’s not true.  Amazon, Costco, Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens are making a fuck ton as well.  The only ones not making a killing are medical facilities.  Why you ask?  I’ll tell ya.  Because they make their money off of surgeries, and clinical procedures, not actually providing care to sick people.  Also, most of these patients are extremely old, or extremely poor and Medicare and Medicaid don’t pay as well as private insurance.  That’s why clinicians are whining so loudly.  If this disease impacted the rich and powerful more than the poor and weak hospitals would be adding new wings to their buildings rather than pushing people to parking level B. Make no mistake, they’re not overloaded with patients.  They’re overloaded with patients who don’t pay.

So…Pot Meet Kettle.  We’re all a bunch of selfish fuckers. But at least I’m willing to admit it.

Rex

So way back in the old days when we had a President that wasn’t a national and international disgrace, we were entertained through the media by people like Kim Davis, the Kentucky bigot who refused to grant marriage licenses to gay couples, and eventually, through her antics was removed from office and eventually jailed for contempt.

Rather than going through all the details of this abomination of decency, let’s fast forward to the Supreme court who this week refused to hear her case, with an end result that all her penalties, lawsuits and jail sentences will remain in place.  This is a victory for civility for sure, yet don’t hold your breath just yet, Alito and Thomas chimed in complaining that the court should have heard the case.  Their opinion can be summed up in the following quote which states that the court’s decision “enables courts and governments to brand religious adherents who believe that marriage is between one man and one woman as bigots, making their religious liberty concerns that much easier to dismiss.”

Well Sam and Clarence, guess what, those attitudes ARE bigoted and absolutely should be dismissed.  Most of us learned in grade school that your rights can only go so far until they inhibit the rights of others.  Guess what…her rights inhibited the rights of others.  The fact that you, and Ms. Davis distort, manipulate, destroy, and utterly bastardize the teachings of Christ is disgusting.  The fact that you use religious freedom as your reason for doing so is immoral. 

Christ himself is ashamed of your behavior.  Davis was a public figure, supposed to perform a public charge, and to defend the laws set forth by our government and Constitution.  She chose not to do that.  Well…guess what…she doesn’t get to do that based on the Constitution that you two bigots claim to defend.  You absolutely have a right to exclude people from your life, or your private organization.  However, you DO NOT have a right to exclude people you don’t like from public services.  The fact that I have to tell two Supreme Court justices that is frankly frightening.  The fact that one of you is a black man, is literally bewildering.

I don’t often talk about my own religious beliefs, or that lack there-of.  However, I do have them, having been raised in the Lutheran faith from the day I was born.  In fact I was baptized, confirmed, and married in the same church, and once my wife gets tired of me, will likely be buried there as well.  The thing I learned from childhood was that everyone is the same in the eyes of Christ.  There’s no one that is better, or less.  We all are children of God, and while you might think you have a superiority to others different from you, regardless of your religious faith, or sexual orientation, you are wrong.

I am so sick of the bigots and racists in this world cherry picking what they want from the Old Testament, using it as support for their hate, and claiming it as teachings from Christ.  It’s annoying.  It’s also silly.  You can go to the Bible and find support from everything from slavery to bigamy.  Think I’m joking?  I suggest you read the Ten Commandments directly from the Bible.  It will be very enlightening.  If Trump is elected again, with McConnell’s help we just might end up with bigamy and concubines again, not to mention 12-year-old brides. 

People in this country should never use religion to justify their actions, whether moral or immoral.  It’s not exactly a text that is completely moral in its own right.  This is why a group of founding fathers got together a couple of centuries ago and built their own playbook for governing a country.  Were they perfect individuals? Of course not.  However, they did have the forethought to understand that times change, and you need a framework that can grow with those changes.  Suffice it to say that these guys wouldn’t even recognize the country as it is today.  I’m sure Clarence would agree with me.  Since if they came back he would immediately be tied to a post and whipped to death for bewitching and raping a white woman (his wife is white), having the willingness to learn how to read, and the audacity to interpret the law.

The fact that the current Administration is in the process of placing another bigot on the court is disturbing. Based on her writings, she’s more than willing to ignore the tenets of her own faith to push forward her own prejudices and mask them as her religion or the law. Keep in mind that many of her own beliefs are not supported by her own Pope. While it is true that he would not support abortion, he would however, support public assistance, healthcare, housing, and a host of other things this court, and this nominee doesn’t. It’s a wonder she, and so many others like her can claim themselves Christian.

Rex