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Raspberry Beret
Cream
When the doves cry

Thank you J70 and JoG2. It has been a wild ride. Don't mind admitting I suffered from some mental health issues during that time. My childhood best friend took his life in Feb 2020, which broke my heart -  and it all compounded from there I am sure as well. I went from a fighting fit 39 year old to a sedentary, out of shape 43 year old. Some of it was self induced for sure, but I Never saw it coming. I wish everyone all the best at all the times, I am a peace loving hippy. I can just never accept that AF spent his 50 year career working towards manipulating humanity and trying to get trump loving nutjobs into masks against their will as his career zenith. Literally makes no sense to anyone who can think for themselves. Which is the irony that we hear from those who 'want to think for themselves'.

God Speed.

Always been reluctant to engage in Covid discussions, as this was an unprecedented global event that did threaten the world as we knew it and did result in a significant number of deaths across the globe. I personally find the witch hunt against Anthony Fauci to be abhorrent and pursued by the lowest of the low in our societies. I say that because they made it personal, and grotesque. This is a man of quality and dignity, who long before Covid was instrumental in efforts to curb HIV/Aids, Swine Flu, Avian Flu, and Ebola initiatives - not just USA but world wide. Politically he was trusted by presidents as far back as Regan, both Bushes, Clinton and Obama. It's no coincidence that the nasty discourse started during a pivotal world event when the man responsible for the erosion of democracy came into power.

The Science:
Thankfully until this COVID pandemic, we could only model how to handle the challenges that the virus brought to our doorsteps. There was no foolproof blueprint. The same with the vaccines. I work in this industry as a non biased contract research organization who worked along side the vaccine manufacture players (Pfizer, Moderna, J&J) to provide the safety data (non clinical) back to the pharma companies for their submissions to the FDA. I took the Moderna vaccine rounds 1 and 2. I've had Covid 4 times. More on that later. The previously understood safety profiles of mRNA based vaccines was leveraged for Covid vaccines to fast track the approvals - again an emergency decision based on what was facing the world. Should it have been mandated? Perhaps not. Do I wonder about the long term efficacy of the Vaccines? Yeah, there are days that I do. Did we have long term data in high population clinical trials that a non emergency approved medicine/vaccine would have? Not sure that we did. Were we the long term clinical trial? Perhaps. Would I take the vaccine again at that time in history? Yes. Did I continue with boosters after round 2? No.

The money!
So, the shitehawks such as MTG and others are screaming at Fauci about his increased net worth during the pandemic (2019-2022). Net worth of $11 or $12 million up from $7.5 or something to that effect. The pandemic was a bumper time for anyone connected with drug development. Stocks of all biotech and pharma soared (sorely coming back to earth now). Doctors and health care workers received all kind of hazard pay. I am actually surprised at how low this mans net worth is. The average orthopedic surgeon salary in my town is $500k. Average chief medical officer salary is $600k. Hardly an insane growth of net worth as the primary infectious disease advisor to the president of the USA during a pandemic in my opinion.

The virus
I'll offer two personal experiences on Covid 19.

May 2022 I was in Ireland. To fly back to the USA a negative Covid test was required. I flew, safe and sound, no virus before I boarded, no virus after I landed. 8 weeks later I was home again this time with my wife and daughter. During that 8 week period the CDC removed the requirement to have a negative test before boarding a flight or entering the US. We, and presumably half the plane landed in the USA and tested positive within a day of landing with the contract tracing app it was traced back to our flight. Did testing impact my civil liberties? Nah. Did it help with limiting transmission? Absolutely. Same with masks. Did they stop covid? Did covid not exist when you took your mask off to eat in a restaurant? Of course not. Did any of it help? I would argue that if it did it was marginal. Did it hurt? I would argue that it did not.

July 2022 was the 3rd time I contracted Covid - and I never had a cavalier attitude to whatever the regulations at any time were. It unfortunately has taken a serious toll on me since then, and my wife as well. She was high risk due to a long standing autoimmune disease and I thought I would be fine (although have a history of chest issues). Since July 2022 we have both been chronically ill with repeated respiratory issues, respiratory fatigue, loss of lung volume (I can barely move the needle when performing the forced respiratory volume test). I lay awake at night wondering why this all happened, but one thing I don't lay awake wondering is if Dr Anthony Fauci did it to me. You don't build a career spanning such political and scientific events as an evil, or even incompetent person. I know who I would rather stand behind - and it isn't MTG and her cronies who are chasing down a man who should be able to retire while being proud of his contribution to the betterment of humanity (the irony), during one of our darkest periods.

All in all it just astounds me that there are so many self educated experts that walk among us, talking in such certainties and absolutes. This is one of the most complicated, logistically challenging and dangerous issues our generation ever faced. I'd give the decision makers in many respects a solid B. Did we do some insane and dumb stuff during the pandemic, in hindsight - absolutely. Did we do it with Machiavellian intention, or because we were at one stage scrambling to keep the world turning? Those with half a brain will know the answer.

He's just been released and is expected to be at Valhalla in 15 minutes.

With that beard and the way the cops were going he coulda ended up in the 'actual' Valhalla !

Moral of the story is.... Cops love a bitta power!!

Listen, those country club types... It's a f**king war zone out there.

Clearly the cop is a LIV golf trump nutjob.

He's just been released and is expected to be at Valhalla in 15 minutes.

Behave yourself Scheffler, that's ridiculous.

Stop, in the name of the law?

Booked into jail with charges including second degree assault of a police office. Christ almighty this is mental.

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/40162983/scottie-scheffler-detained-police-prior-start-pga-championship

[The police should have quickly made some arrangements for the players etc to get in FFS.]

Sorry not having that the police need a bit of sense too. The poor guy is just trying to get to the tournament, he has an early tee off time. The police should have quickly made some arrangements for the players etc to get in FFS. I guess with his new beard he looks like a terrorist so that makes it ok

Big statement given there's no information on the accident, or what Scheffler actually did with his vehicle.

Worst case scenario assuming loss of life I think catering to the professional athletes would be a secondary objective.

Time will tell.

Scheffler arrested outside the course this morning - that's one way to stop him from winning

Cuffing people for driving on an extra 20 meters

He's lucky he didnt have a broken tail light, that allows the cops to stick the knee in the neck

Not sticking up for the Polis here, but somethings are well understood - not f**king around at the scene of an accident is one of them. Can only imagine that tensions were running high given there's some kind of accident that has led to an hour delay.

Scheffler arrested outside the course this morning - that's one way to stop him from winning

That's some of the wildest footage. Cops said he was on his way to jail.

I don't care if City win it's not that big a deal and I won't have to listen too much.

The way Arsenal fans I know have been slabbering all year I'm more than happy for them to come up short.

Fuggawayaff

Any hidden gems movie wise?

  

Rory and the wife divorcing - not the greatest prep for a major you'd imagine.

I don't get why they haven't waited until next Monday... why have the hype around it the week of a major?

See above - because I think he's fine with it. Something happened...No doubt.

Why backwards and not forwards?