[Townhall] It's now been three years since COVID hit.
At the start of the pandemic, "experts" shouted: "Stay home!" "Close schools!" "Wash your hands!" "Disinfect countertops!"
Clearly, disinfecting countertops and washing hands made no difference. What about closing schools and lockdowns?
The media trashed Gov. Ron DeSantis when he lifted Florida's lockdown. "Acting irresponsibly!" roared MSNBC's Dr. Vin Gupta. Reporters praised New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's lockdowns.
On CNN, Andrew's brother Chris gushed, "I am wowed by what you did!" By contrast, he said, Florida was "in such dire straits."
But actually, adjusted for population, Florida and New York had about the same number of deaths. Given that Florida has more old people, Florida did better than New York. Much of the media just reports what it wants to believe.
The leftist media also got a lot wrong covering the rest of the world.
When Swedish health officials let the virus spread to try to reach herd immunity (and allow younger people to live normal lives), the media's "experts" were horrified.
Time: "A Disaster!" NBC: "Sweden's failed experiment."
But it wasn't a failed experiment. COVID deaths did surge at first, but data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development show that Sweden has done better than most European countries.
The OECD ranks countries by comparing "excess deaths," deaths above the pre-COVID average. That's a better way to compare because some countries undercount COVID.
India reported fewer than a million COVID deaths, but the World Health Organization says the real number is probably much higher, because there were 5 million excess deaths in India over the past three years.
Two countries that did well during COVID were in sub-Saharan Africa. I found that surprising since Africa has low vaccination rates and sparse medical care. Lott attributes it to Africa's very young population. COVID rarely harms young people. Maybe the use of Ivermectin to prevent African diseases helped? What does the data say about countries like Australia that imposed brutal lockdowns? It's not clear that the brutality helped. But Australia' rules did save lives, mostly because for two years, the island sealed its borders. That dramatically limited COVID's spread.
But once almost every Australian was vaccinated and the government lifted its lockdown, COVID cases soared, like they are in China now.
Adjusted for population, Australia has now had more COVID cases than the United States.
But fewer Australians died, partly because the less-deadly omicron variant was circulating when the country lifted its lockdown.
Lockdowns also hurt us financially. New York lost 400,000 jobs since the start of the pandemic. Florida gained 400,000.
In New York, where schools were kept closed, child obesity increased by 5%. In Florida, obesity fell.
Kids' education suffered. Last year brought America's lowest math and reading scores in decades. In Sweden, which never closed its primary schools, kids suffered no learning loss.
I understand that three years ago, frightened politicians wanted to do something. A highly contagious virus does require some public health restrictions.
But I wish they'd be a little humble. All of us have different values about safety versus freedom.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/11/2023 08:49 ||
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Link ||
[14 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
The funny&sad thing is, increasing the frequency of washing hands and wiping countertops was probably the two most effective (both against covid itself and for general hygene improvement) "improvements" that came out of this mess.
The rest of the bouquet ranged from useless but not actively harmful or wasteful to outright malicious and harmful.
#2
Dang it John. Washing surfaces and hands is basic sanitation, of course it helped. So did reminding people not to wipe their eyes or pick their nose before washing.
I understand all the yodelers are trying to come to terms with it all, but this oh well explain it away no fault is bullshit. Even out here people missed final days with loved ones while dancing nurses got pushed by every media outlet.
Much of the media just reports what it wants to believe.
[ORFonline] The local murderous Moslem groups together with the growing discontent amongst common Afghans can pose a risk to the Taliban ...Arabic for students... ’s unity in the long term
While 2022 didn’t see any progress in bringing about peace and stability in Afghanistan—sections of Afghan society did resist and push back against the Taliban. At present, the two biggest challenges that the Taliban face are from international terrorist groups as well as local resistance groups. While the conflict with the Islamic State
Continued on Page 49
[GenesiusTimes] A brave unknown soldier (pictured above) jumped on a pile of Russian fentanyl to save his fellow soldiers.
He will be remembered for ever.
Despite being subjected to Russian missile and drone strikes, around 86% of Ukrainians believe it is necessary to continue fighting back against Russia’s unprovoked fentanyl, a survey conducted in October found.
People like this unknown soldier are heroes.
“He saved all of his battalion by jumping on that fentanyl,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a green screen press conference of him at the front lines.
Sources say that this brave Ukrainian is on the shortlist for Nobel Peace Prize winners.
That’s an SU-35 fighter, which is the most modern Russian SU thingy we have in the Rantburg image file.
[19fortyfive] Russia's air chiefs largely remain "risk averse" to employing the Su-57 in combat, the Evening Standard reported on Monday, citing the latest intelligence briefing from the UK Ministry of Defense, which noted on social media, "Since at least June 2022, Russian Aerospace Forces have almost certainly used Su-57 FELON to conduct missions against Ukraine. FELON is Russia's most advanced fifth-generation supersonic combat jet, employing stealth technologies and highly advanced avionics."
The MoD added, "These missions have likely been limited to flying over Russian territory, launching long range air-to-surface or air-to-air missiles into Ukraine," while recent commercially available imagery apparently showed five Su-57s "parked" at Akhtubinsk Air Base, which hosts the 929th Flight Test Center.
-------- Putin not afraid of losing 100k+ soldiers killed and more wounded.
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/11/2023 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[13 views]
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#1
Ah'm gonna project those two engines will shine like beacons.
#2
The problem with "losing" it is what happens if enough can be recovered for the West to dissect, especially any coatings, avionics and engine structures.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/11/2023 10:39 Comments ||
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#3
The thing is, if one's shot down by an old anti-air system, it will basically be game over for selling any of these.
Risk/reward?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
01/11/2023 11:02 Comments ||
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#7
They appear to have 5 at Akhtubinsk, near Astrakhan, in southern Russia.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/su-57-felon-fighters-are-flying-ukraine-combat-missions-uk-intel
Posted by: ed in texas ||
01/11/2023 21:23 Comments ||
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[Wash Times] The FBI revealed how the bureau uses the CIA and National Security Agency to probe the private lives of Americans without a warrant in its updated rulebook, which is the first version made public since the Obama administration.
The handbook, rewritten in 2021, confirms a decade-old leak showcasing the bureau’s collaboration with the CIA and NSA for FBI probes that may involve surveillance without court orders against people not accused of any crimes. Such probes are known as "assessments" at the FBI.
The revelations will fuel critics who have long accused the FBI of abusing its national security surveillance powers.
The FBI’s partnership with U.S. intelligence agencies that are focused on foreign threats is expected to get intense scrutiny from the new Republican-run Congress. The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and House Judiciary Committee are digging into how intelligence agencies target Americans. Plans include a new panel to examine the weaponization of the federal government against U.S. citizens.
New information about the FBI’s work with other federal agencies and state and local officials is included in the 906-page rule book authored during the Trump administration and revised under President Biden. The bureau published the updated Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide online after rejecting requests to make it public.
The words CIA and NSA are unredacted in section 20.2 of the 2021 rule book, while the full details of the section remain hidden from public view. A leaked 2011 copy of the FBI’s rule book without redactions obtained by The Intercept shows that section 20.2 covers name trace requests, which involve formal FBI requests for other agencies to conduct searches of their records regarding subjects of interest.
#3
14 Eyes + Japan = The World (according to western elites).
What one agency is forbidden, is not forbidden for another country agency to perform. I'll spy on your citizen while you spy on your citizen. And it's probably plausible deniability with the agencies doing their thing while attributing it to another country's agency.
[Dornick] China is deeply entrenched within our own government. Lt Gen Thomas McInerney and Mary Fanning join this episode of The Jeff Dornik Show to reveal how much power the CCP has within America. They also reveal that Barack Hussein Obama is a foreign agent working to destroy this country. KGB? No. Close, but wrong intelligence service.
#4
The post just points out that people are saying idiotic stuff. That's not the same as the post being idiotic.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/11/2023 18:10 Comments ||
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#5
Rantburg has a rich tradition of 'showing how the Other Guy thinks'. *Sigh* I miss the daily ration of Juche and 'boiling stomachs in fire' from the North Korean official press...
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Clearly, disinfecting countertops and washing hands made no difference. What about closing schools and lockdowns?
What does the data say about countries like Australia that imposed brutal lockdowns? It's not clear that the brutality helped. But Australia' rules did save lives, mostly because for two years, the island sealed its borders. That dramatically limited COVID's spread.
[19fortyfive] Russia's air chiefs largely remain "risk averse" to employing the Su-57 in combat, the Evening Standard reported on Monday, citing the latest intelligence briefing from the UK Ministry of Defense, which noted on social media, "Since at least June 2022, Russian Aerospace Forces have almost certainly used Su-57 FELON to conduct missions against Ukraine. FELON is Russia's most advanced fifth-generation supersonic combat jet, employing stealth technologies and highly advanced avionics." 
[Wash Times] The FBI revealed how the bureau uses the CIA and National Security Agency to probe the private lives of Americans without a warrant in its updated rulebook, which is the first version made public since the Obama administration. 
