CitizenVectron

Realistically there have probably been far more deaths in India (and maybe even Russia)...but that's not to diminish the deaths in America. Very sad, and almost certainly the majority were preventable.

Yes, obviously the title was farcical

Yeah Canada is pre-emptively threatening to retaliate, nothing is certain yet. From what has been reported in the Canadian press, the US hasn't been very willing to listen to concerns so far, which is why I imagine Canada is threatening action. Hopefully the US changes the tax incentive to align to the existing auto manufacturing balance between the two countries. Also I am going to change the article because it's from the NP and they are a rag newspaper (which is why the article sucks).

EDIT - Removed National Post trash article. Canada threatens new tariffs on US exports if electric vehicle tax credit approved | Watch News Videos Online GLOBALNEWS.CA Watch Canada threatens new tariffs on US exports if electric vehicle tax credit approved Video Online, on GlobalNews.ca tl:dw: Biden has proposed electric vehicle tax credit that would hit Canadian automakers (which are really American automakers) and the existing balance of auto manufacturing between the two countries. Historically, Canada has not placed tariffs on American vehicles as American manufacturers have built vehicles in Canada (as long as one vehicle is made in Canada for every vehicle purchased, the status quo is maintained). This tax incentive would change that (as many vehicles made in Canada are shipped to the US for sale), so Canada is threatening retaliation over this change to the status quo. Canada would likely heavily target Michigan as well as places with ties to the Biden administration. More fun times ahead, if the US moves forward with the vehicle tax credit as-is (without including vehicles made in Canada).

In the face of the Omicron wave, instead of encouraging people to be safer, the premier of Alberta is just going to loosen rules for Christmas since he says many people were going to break them anyway (including himself!). What a fucking embarrassment of a province (perhaps only less embarrassing than my own).

It's all it is. People are just mad about having their racism pointed out.

Right...so in reality (which is what matters), being "woke" simply means being alert and on the watch for racism/sexism, etc. That's not a negative thing at all.

"We in France have a long tradition of segregating immigrants into their own communities and then ignoring the poverty and other issues that result, and no other culture is going to force us to examine our major failures!"

Are you fucking serious? Jesus fucking Christ. The only acceptable options were something to do with frontline healthcare workers, or vaccine researchers.

The caveat here is that hospitalizations are on the rise in SA, so we could still see an uptick in deaths. But, so far, we haven't seen the increase in mortality that was feared. This could be because Omicron is a milder strain, or it could also be because even though only 30-some % of SA is vaccinated, a very large number have also caught the disease in the past year. So Omicron could be spreading through the population but not doing much damage (relatively) since there is existing widespread prior infection/partial immunity against severe outcome.

I've run into this as well. My response is...okay, so what? Let's not call them vaccines then, let's call them "Protect-me-shots." If you get it, you reduce your chance of death by 99% and hospitalization by 95%. It might not stop you from getting it, but it protects you if you do. But they don't have a response for that either, because in their mind everything needs to be black-and-white, because that is how they see the world; things either work or they don't, things are either good, or they are bad. Honestly, I have family that is really close to this position (but got vaccinated) in that they get really mad if a doctor can't solve their problem with a simple procedure or pill. My wife's mother complains that even though she's had two back surgeries, her back still hurts, and she won't have another one (or stop smoking, stop doing physical activities which aggravate it, etc). She even complains that she has to take certain medication to help. My wife has to tell her that for her own MS and Grave's Disease, she will likely be on anywhere from 5-10 pills daily for the rest of her life, and that's only to keep her disability and chronic issues as they are, not even to fix them. But some people just don't get it, because it's so much easier to fall back on the fairy tale of black-and-white.

It honestly felt like we were watching a movie about an alien civilization, yet it was believable. And that makes sense as it's over 20,000 years in the future (if memory serves correct)—imagine even the ancient Egyptians (being only a few thousand years ago) seeing one of our current wars/struggles play out.

Next year the entertainment will end with a 2nd-grade teacher beheading an instructional assistant in front of a frothing crowd, all for thirty new crayon boxes.

Is this the one about the Cobras and the Panthers?

Covid: Boris Johnson sets new booster target ahead of 'Omicron wave' WWW.BBC.COM The UK is facing an Omicron emergency, says Boris Johnson, as boosters are offered to all over-18s in England. Anyone 18+ in UK can now get a booster three months after their last shot. This is good, as evidence from the UK shows that while the booster provides up to 75% protection against transmission, it quickly drops off after a month or two.

Wallace is no angel, but he was 10x better than what is left on Fox. Without Shepherd and him, they have basically lost any pretense of being a normal news source. But hey—why even bother to pretend when you're likely to help steal the next election?

Update: Talked to the niece today. There were some tears. My wife said that our safety comes first, as well as the rest of our family, so the niece has to follow our rules or find another place to live. Niece was crying and said that her mom is taking out everything on her (even though we are the ones with the no-unvaccinated rule). However, the niece said that she agrees, and let us know she's already canceled plans to see her dad this evening because her brother (unvaxxed) was going to be there. We told her we'd understand if she wants to move out because of our rules, etc. Sounds like she'll be staying, though I think Christmas will be tough because her mom will be pressuring her to go over, etc. And we did manage to arrange Christmas visits with our own parents, on the condition that everyone takes rapid tests an hour before (we all have access). We're all vaccinated, but some have two shots, others three. So still vulnerable to Omicron spread, and with chronic conditions around we don't want to take risks.

Anecdote about hospitals being overloaded in Michigan from a resetera user: My 69-year old dad was hit by a car last Thursday night in Holland (about 75 minutes from home) while crossing the street. He has several breaks in his right leg and foot and also a pretty badly sprained shoulder and elbow. We got a call around 10pm from the hospital letting us know, and also telling us we had to go pick him up because there was no room. My girlfriend and I certainly cannot give the care he needs and he lives alone in a very rundown, old trailer. But I'm my dad's only child so what choice did we have but to get him and drive him to our house in Kalamazoo around midnight that same night? When we got to the hospital he was laying in the hallway. The doctors said he needed surgery asap but they had no room for him. We managed to get him in the car and to our house, then we literally had to carefully drag him on the ground and up our front steps into the house. Then we slid him a few feet from the door onto our living room floor. For the next day I had to do my best impression of a nurse at home caring for him while also taking care of our son and getting on the phone trying to find him an open bed at a hospital and admitted into surgery. It was Friday, and the last thing my dad needed was to be stuck on our floor through the whole weekend. We finally got him a room at Bronson hospital Friday evening after striking out and wasting several hours trying to get the records over to Borgess hospital. His primary care is from Borgess and she was upset we even brought him home in the first place.... But wtf we're we supposed to do? My dad was in incredible pain. First time I ever heard him cry was while we were getting him out of the car and into the house. None of us wanted to go through that trauma or risk worsening my dad's injuries. But the hospitals are packed. No room nearly anywhere directly and indirectly because of Covid. Fast forward a week later - he spent 6 nights at Bronson, had surgery, and is now on his second day at Mary Free Bed in Grand Rapids. We're lucky we got him in there, but sadly it sounds like he'll be sent home more quickly than he would in normal times. I feel for anyone in even more precarious circumstances that desperately need to go to the hospital.

In a poll of things that Canadians are most worried about (as threats to Canada), the democratic unraveling of the USA was #4 or #5, I think, with 77% of the country being worried.

Ugh, not sure what to do. As aid before, our 18-year-old niece is staying with us while she upgrades classes (and then attends university/college) because her mom/step-dad and dad (separate households) are white trash and don't care about her future. One of the conditions of living with us (she moved in this August) was that she could only see people who were fully vaccinated, and that she could have very limited people over to our house (basically her best friend, who is also fully vaxxed). However, we have reason to believe that she has been seeing her brother (unvaxxed) and possibly her mom/step-dad (unvaxxed and QAnon anti-vaxxers) behind our back. We are going to talk to her tomorrow about it. On the one hand, I get it—it's tough to not see your family (though we said we are fine if they want to see each other outdoors for a bit, etc). But her mom is crazy (my wife's sister) and has gone on rants about my wife and I, saying we are sheep trying to separate society, etc. I do not trust them to be safe. Hell, last xmas when it was illegal to see anyone outside your own house, they held a giant xmas party in secret. I know they are unsafe, and that they think the pandemic is fake. We don't want to kick out the niece since realistically our help is the only thing probably keeping her on a good path at the moment, but we also don't want to be unsafe, especially with my wife's chronic health conditions. We're very conflicted.

Good thread about how Omicron likely isn't actually milder, and we're still going to see a lot of death in the new wave: Basically, it looks milder because a lower % of Omicron cases are severe. But that's because it's able to more easily infect people who've already had it, as well as those with two vaccines or fewer. But those latter groups are getting mild cases due to their immunity. So really, we'll likely see the same amount of hospitalizations and death as wave 4...or maybe even more since this will spread further and faster. But those who catch severe illness will likely be unvaccinated.

Also, the candle factory that collapsed had over 100 people in it at the time, most are unaccounted for. No way the death toll stays near where it is now (around 70).

Yep, here too. Only 50+ can get boosters right now, the rest of us have to wait until January...even though the province has a stockpile of them.