I don't think Bush or Cheney was the mover. The Pentagon was looking for territory from which to patrol and "stabilize" the Eastern hemisphere because the delays caused by the curvature of the earth negated the satelite information. So, they wanted download facilities on the edge of the Indian Ocean and Somalia was the first choice. When Clinton pulled out because of a few rebels, Afghanistan and Iraq were next in line. As it turned out, Afghanistan is unsuitable because of the terrain. Iraq resisted ceding territory until it was too late to stave off the invasion, which had already been planned under Clinton. Since all they wanted was some land for monitoring and bases for airplanes in that god-forsaken desert, it did not look like a big deal. They failed to take into account the Arab herders and their million sheep. Migrating populations are such a nuisance!
I think you mean the significance of Obama raises a question about the long-term significance of his election. In 2008 Democrats were smart and picked the least offensive, most charismatic male to spearhead some significant legislation that he had no strong position on. Obama believed his own hype and was fairly oblivious to the bigots slings. Michelle managed to promote some signficant social issues and affirmed the attitudes of the disfemists. Biden's revenge was to pick Harris, whom the bigots are afraid to attack, as VP. The argument that Harris would take over in short order did not take hold. David Perdue in Georgia tried an assault and was quickly shot down. I would have preferred having more democrats elected to the Senate, but having it come down to Georgia is a cnstant boon. Irony? Raffensperger got elected in a run-off that hardly anyone paid any attention to becaause nobody got more than fifty percent in the November election. You think he wasn't going to pay close attention to the run-off for 2020?
Josh Marshall on the denouement in Afghanistan [Click] I should have put more emphasis on the history of foreign military adventurism in Afghanistan, unalterable logistic difficulties, and alternate courses that the Bush-Cheney administration could and should have taken. That said, I think his take on the current political situation is very reasonable.
Pretty impressive, all right. I am reminded of Chairman Mao's explanation of how the People's Liberation Army was equipped by the western powers who gave the Nationalist Army arms and supplies that subsequently fell into the hands of the PLA. I wonder how good a job the US consulate did of destroying records; it shouldn't surprise me if they were inadequately prepared.
U.S. completes evacuation from American embassy in Kabul [Click] Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid: "We assured all embassies, diplomatic centers, institutions and places and foreign nationals in Kabul that they will not face any danger.”
Written by our own Deaniac, Liane Allen*in*VT! (Liane Allen)
Understanding "Breakthrough Infections": If you're vaccinated and catch COVID, you ARE still well-protected, if you have a healthy immune system. It is not a case of the virus escaping your immune system. There are very, very few vaccinated people who end up needing hospital care. It is extremely rare that a vaccinated person with a normally-functional immune system goes on to develop COVID disease. Most of what is being called "breakthrough cases" are simply an artifact of the way our bodies handle upper respiratory infections. Because MOST things that get into your sinuses will simply be flushed out without any effort beyond normal mucus production over the course of 5 days or so, and because immune response takes a LOT of energy, your body doesn't bother calling in the big immune guns unless something has been present for those 5 days. Delta takes about 3.5 days to attach, invade, and replicate, so it's doing the virus factory thing while your body's in its "wait and see" phase. Most people who are getting "breakthroughs" are getting symptoms around 3.5 days - 4 days after exposure. The symptoms their immune systems, primed by the vaccine, ringing alarm bells, telling their bodies that there's a known nasty critter that they're going to have to fight. People are getting tested at this point, and testing positive, because COVID is, indeed, in their sinuses. They do not, however, have COVID *disease*, just COVID exposure. Day 5-6 is where the difference between having COVID disease, and having COVID in your sinuses becomes obvious. The people who have good immunity from vaccination will start to feel awful as their immune systems jump all over the virus, destroying it over the next 5 days or so. With Delta, because it builds its virus factories quickly, and because it connects so well to your ACE2 receptors, making it possible to make a LOT of factories quickly, it's possible for a fully vaccinated person to be a carrier for a few days, but their infectiousness drops off quite quickly and the vast, vast majority won't go on to develop COVID disease. They tend to be carriers from roughly day 3 to day 10 after exposure, though the viral load in exhaled air drops quickly starting around day 6, as the immune system wipes out the virus. In contrast, people who did not develop good immunity to the virus, or who have not been vaccinated, will go on to get COVID disease. They usually don't start to feel sick until day 10 or so, after exposure, during which time they've been carriers, spewing extremely high viral loads for several extra days. The virus will get into their lower respiratory system, and *will* cause lung damage, even if they eventually fight it off without needing hospitalization. Preliminary studies show it also may cause some brain damage, even if they had no neurological symptoms. In some, it will invade their bone marrow, and change their platelets, making them highly susceptible to blood clots - which often happen weeks to months after they "recover" from the initial infection. About 20% (1 in 5) of people infected with Delta will end up needing some hospital care, and just shy of 2% (nearly 1 in 50) of them will die. So, the vaccine protects you from illness and death. It does so extremely well. The way media reports "breakthrough infections" is not terribly clear, and implies that the vaccines are less protective than they are. They are very effective, BUT, due to the way our immune systems work, and the way Delta works, we need to wear masks to prevent exposure.
OOPS—27 Covid-19 cases on Carnival Cruise ship. [Click] More precautions to be taken in future.
ReplyDeleteTaliban Enters Kabul [Click] Some more of Bush Junior's and Cheney's chickens come home to roost.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Bush or Cheney was the mover. The Pentagon was looking for territory from which to patrol and "stabilize" the Eastern hemisphere because the delays caused by the curvature of the earth negated the satelite information. So, they wanted download facilities on the edge of the Indian Ocean and Somalia was the first choice. When Clinton pulled out because of a few rebels, Afghanistan and Iraq were next in line. As it turned out, Afghanistan is unsuitable because of the terrain. Iraq resisted ceding territory until it was too late to stave off the invasion, which had already been planned under Clinton.
DeleteSince all they wanted was some land for monitoring and bases for airplanes in that god-forsaken desert, it did not look like a big deal. They failed to take into account the Arab herders and their million sheep. Migrating populations are such a nuisance!
ReplyDeleteObama poses a question that we still cannot answer [Click]
White, non-Hispanic Americans now account for less than six in 10 people in the U.S. — a more precipitous drop over the past decade than experts expected — and they're no longer the racial-ethnic majority in 13% of U.S. counties. [Click]
I think you mean the significance of Obama raises a question about the long-term significance of his election. In 2008 Democrats were smart and picked the least offensive, most charismatic male to spearhead some significant legislation that he had no strong position on. Obama believed his own hype and was fairly oblivious to the bigots slings. Michelle managed to promote some signficant social issues and affirmed the attitudes of the disfemists.
DeleteBiden's revenge was to pick Harris, whom the bigots are afraid to attack, as VP. The argument that Harris would take over in short order did not take hold. David Perdue in Georgia tried an assault and was quickly shot down.
I would have preferred having more democrats elected to the Senate, but having it come down to Georgia is a cnstant boon.
Irony? Raffensperger got elected in a run-off that hardly anyone paid any attention to becaause nobody got more than fifty percent in the November election. You think he wasn't going to pay close attention to the run-off for 2020?
Josh Marshall on the denouement in Afghanistan [Click] I should have put more emphasis on the history of foreign military adventurism in Afghanistan, unalterable logistic difficulties, and alternate courses that the Bush-Cheney administration could and should have taken. That said, I think his take on the current political situation is very reasonable.
ReplyDeleteCNN: AFGHAN GOVERNMENT FALLS
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/afghanistan-taliban-us-troops-intl-08-15-21/index.html
It only took 2 weeks and we barely got US people out.
DeleteTalk about a huge miscalculation.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/15/politics/biden-administration-taliban-kabul-afghanistan/index.html
Pretty impressive, all right. I am reminded of Chairman Mao's explanation of how the People's Liberation Army was equipped by the western powers who gave the Nationalist Army arms and supplies that subsequently fell into the hands of the PLA. I wonder how good a job the US consulate did of destroying records; it shouldn't surprise me if they were inadequately prepared.
DeleteU.S. completes evacuation from American embassy in Kabul [Click] Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid: "We assured all embassies, diplomatic centers, institutions and places and foreign nationals in Kabul that they will not face any danger.”
DeleteIllicit Deals and Mass Desertions Led to Taliban Victory [Click]
DeleteSpanish flu vs COVID-19: An Australian perspective of a pandemic [Click]
ReplyDeleteUS could soon see 200,000 Covid cases a day again. [Click] ‘Unvaccinated are sitting ducks’
ReplyDeleteWritten by our own Deaniac, Liane Allen*in*VT! (Liane Allen)
DeleteUnderstanding "Breakthrough Infections":
If you're vaccinated and catch COVID, you ARE still well-protected, if you have a healthy immune system. It is not a case of the virus escaping your immune system.
There are very, very few vaccinated people who end up needing hospital care. It is extremely rare that a vaccinated person with a normally-functional immune system goes on to develop COVID disease.
Most of what is being called "breakthrough cases" are simply an artifact of the way our bodies handle upper respiratory infections.
Because MOST things that get into your sinuses will simply be flushed out without any effort beyond normal mucus production over the course of 5 days or so, and because immune response takes a LOT of energy, your body doesn't bother calling in the big immune guns unless something has been present for those 5 days.
Delta takes about 3.5 days to attach, invade, and replicate, so it's doing the virus factory thing while your body's in its "wait and see" phase. Most people who are getting "breakthroughs" are getting symptoms around 3.5 days - 4 days after exposure.
The symptoms their immune systems, primed by the vaccine, ringing alarm bells, telling their bodies that there's a known nasty critter that they're going to have to fight.
People are getting tested at this point, and testing positive, because COVID is, indeed, in their sinuses.
They do not, however, have COVID *disease*, just COVID exposure.
Day 5-6 is where the difference between having COVID disease, and having COVID in your sinuses becomes obvious.
The people who have good immunity from vaccination will start to feel awful as their immune systems jump all over the virus, destroying it over the next 5 days or so.
With Delta, because it builds its virus factories quickly, and because it connects so well to your ACE2 receptors, making it possible to make a LOT of factories quickly, it's possible for a fully vaccinated person to be a carrier for a few days, but their infectiousness drops off quite quickly and the vast, vast majority won't go on to develop COVID disease.
They tend to be carriers from roughly day 3 to day 10 after exposure, though the viral load in exhaled air drops quickly starting around day 6, as the immune system wipes out the virus.
In contrast, people who did not develop good immunity to the virus, or who have not been vaccinated, will go on to get COVID disease. They usually don't start to feel sick until day 10 or so, after exposure, during which time they've been carriers, spewing extremely high viral loads for several extra days.
The virus will get into their lower respiratory system, and *will* cause lung damage, even if they eventually fight it off without needing hospitalization. Preliminary studies show it also may cause some brain damage, even if they had no neurological symptoms. In some, it will invade their bone marrow, and change their platelets, making them highly susceptible to blood clots - which often happen weeks to months after they "recover" from the initial infection.
About 20% (1 in 5) of people infected with Delta will end up needing some hospital care, and just shy of 2% (nearly 1 in 50) of them will die.
So, the vaccine protects you from illness and death.
It does so extremely well.
The way media reports "breakthrough infections" is not terribly clear, and implies that the vaccines are less protective than they are. They are very effective, BUT, due to the way our immune systems work, and the way Delta works, we need to wear masks to prevent exposure.
Charles M Blow: It Was a Terrifying Census for White Nationalists [Click]
ReplyDeleteAlternative link, with no paywall:
Deletehttps://lightlynews.com/2021/08/15/opinion/opinion-it-was-a-terrifying-census-for-white-nationalists/