PhineasC

Brazil has entire slum cities where people live in the literal garbage, so it's hard to draw any conclusions there.

There are always anecdotal stories with any disease. We all know about the cardiologist in town who ran in Iron Man competitions and then dropped dead of a sudden heart attack at age 37. There is a story like this known to every family. The news always covers these stories extensively due to the shock factor. When you scale up to the world population, it becomes very clear the number of young people having very negative COVID outcomes is vanishingly small, just like most 37 year old cardiologists don't drop dead after a morning jog.

Yep, the list is extensive. I don't have any issue with marijuana legalization myself. I also think people should be allowed to snort a line a coke if they want to as well, and then visit a prostitute. Just as long as they stay in control of themselves and don't harm others, I am good with it.

Like anything, weed can be abused and cause issues in your life. If you find yourself always searching for the next source of weed, blowing off work and family engagements over weed, and feel compelled to smoke/ingest weed every day (and get irritable if you can't), then you have an issue. It's kinda weird how some people seem to think it's impossible to get addicted to marijuana when trying to compare it to alcohol and other drugs. That doesn't even make any sense. People can get addicted to just about anything that causes even just a minor dopamine release. Of course addiction to marijuana is a thing.

I used to drink a lot of big IPAs but I have backed off on them because they kinda make me feel like shit now after a couple. Heartburn and hangovers. I drink more wine lately and also seltzers with booze. I have a soda machine at home that I can use to fizz up bottles of wine. Buy some cheap rose and add bubbles.

How are your knees? Swelled up and knotty?

America is full of silly Puritan stuff like that. Gotta cover up the boobs on statues but feel free to let your 7 year old gun down hookers in GTA V after school.

Yes, that's basically it. The difference is there is insurance to cover sexual harassment claims, and also tons of case law out there that sets a limit on damages and also makes certain clearly bogus claims pretty easy to get dismissed. There is no such case law for COVID and no insurance to cover claims. How do we even define "not wearing a mask properly"? Is it one mask or two? What if they were 5.5 feet away? What if everyone was vaccinated? People can very broadly state that they "feared for their personal health" and such a statement carries enormous weight at this point. I mean, in fairness, we have had plenty of media figures literally say not following COVID protocols is akin to murder... this stuff trickles into the legal system. I have seen this first hand now and it sucks.

LOL Don't ever change, man. I love it.

It's really weird to me how quickly some folks have switched to arguing that big businesses need to always have the right to discriminate as they see fit and if the little guy doesn't like it, tough shit! My head has been spinning watching this transformation take place in basically a little over a year.

Seeing people without masks shocks and amazes you now? Yeah, not taking advice on vaccinating my kids from you any time soon. Sorry.

Many businesses will mandate these things because they have zero liability protection from frivolous COVID claims now... thanks to the government, in large part.

The problem arises with "private businesses" such as airlines, utilities, and media platforms for which the barrier to entry for competition is very steep and the government does very little to regulate, break-up monopolies, and lower barriers to entry. In fact, the government more often now protects these large businesses from competition and props them up with taxpayer dollars. It's basically the worst parts of socialism and capitalism out there right now. For small stores and the local hotdog truck, your point is totally valid.

"Safety first and foremost..." A lot of folks have died over a statement like that taken to it's logical endpoint.

Did you know that there are many new laws and statutes on the books in states because of COVID? None of them have been fully tested in court so there is no precedence to say how they will be enforced. Many of those stimulus bills passed at the Federal and state levels were chock full of new laws and regulations like this. People, businesses, and the govt now have very broad power to do whatever they want in the name of "furthering public health and safety." Here is one Stowe should look out for that we dealt with: if someone is removed from your place of business for whatever reason, they can later claim that they were removed from the premises because they raised a concern over other coworkers or patrons not wearing masks correctly, and that person can receive "whistleblower" protections and any action taken against them can be considered retaliation against a whistleblower. Not wearing a mask properly can be considered a "criminal act" that a person has a duty to blow the whistle on. They do not need to get COVID or even be at risk themselves at all. This is basically the modern version of slipping on a banana peel and claiming an injury settlement, except there is no case law to cap damages and insurance policies do not cover COVID claims yet (perhaps never).

Then you have to stop doing those things. I am not a fan of the pressure campaign some seem to want to force everyone (including kids) to get an emergency vaccine just so they can "participate in a modern society." That seems wrong.

I don't find the news (which is incessantly beating a negative drum about social unrest and racism these days) to be very entertaining, but to each his own, I guess. I have been sued over COVID policies already, as have several of my customers. Unfortunately, that has definitely created a "high-strung" environment for me and many other business owners who are concerned about what is coming next. We have zero liability protections from frivolous COVID-related lawsuits as we go back to "normal operations." There is a lot of money on the line here. I don't expect most to get this, that's fine.

Nothing wrong with making an informed choice. No one begrudges you for making a choice. I can tell you from the "refuser" side of the debate, none of us care if you get the jab. Feel free. It's wonderful and a remarkable achievement that such an effective vaccine has been made available so fast. Just don't mandate your choice for everyone else, is all we ask.

I stopped watching all political news. I don't follow any of it at this point. I never have any idea what Congress is up to.

I wouldn't go that far, but I am pretty smart. Appreciate the compliments, man.

Lockdowns are starting to come back to Asia, Europe, and Canada too. I hope the US keeps reopening and doesn't backslide into that crap again.

So what? This is being boosted as news for a reason. Case numbers are literally used to scare people into compliance. Otherwise, they are meaningless without a lot of context. They did the same thing last spring and summer with the talk over spring breakers and Kawasaki syndrome as justification for why schools needed to stay closed. I am not denying the facts, I am discussing the how/when/why of news being boosted sometimes and buried other times.

This one looks a little sloppier and less slam-dunk than the last one, at least at my spot. Could be a back-and-forth battle with rain mixing in.

I think the push to vaccinate children with an EUA vaccine is gross, personally. Never going to back off that position. Many adults are being selfish cowards over this whole pandemic.

I think the media decides what fear-porn news to boost/amplify when convenient. I don't think it's a conspiracy that kids can get COVID. We all know they can.