iNow

To test stuff. It's right there in the title.

Well, speaking of China and Taiwan: https://www.npr.org/2022/01/28/1076246311/chinas-ambassador-to-the-u-s-warns-of-military-conflict-over-taiwan

My take is slightly different. I think we have significant capabilities here, but also that we don't want to use this "smaller" Ukraine incursion to show the various tricks we have up our sleeves... that we'll reserve certain cyber capabilities for "bigger" issues. But predictions are hard, especially about the future. Meanwhile, KJU in North Korea has done six missile tests just this month — equal to all of 2021 — and has called on NK to prepare for “long-term confrontation.” Good times.

US is sending javelin anti-tank missiles into Ukraine.

No, it just softens the blow a tiny bit… like getting kicked in the nuts still hurts even when wearing a cup, but the cup does help… to MAYBE make Europe slightly less resistant to engaging or sanctioning. No pun intended, eh Nord Stream

US has agreed to supplement fuel supply to Europe in what seems likely to be an attempt by the US to blunt Putins threats to cutoff Russian fuel sources to Europe if they respond to his Ukraine invasion.

I’m not seeing evidence that loss of staff from resignations due to vaccine mandate will cause more deaths than unvaccinated staff being around vulnerable patients.

Which one confirms please?

Where exactly was it established that vaccine mandates worsen staffing shortages… so much worse, in fact, that mandating vaccines is more detrimental to patient wellbeing than allowing unvaccinated healthcare workers to continue working directly with vulnerable and immunocompromised patient populations? Asking bc I’m 99.99% sure you’ve evaded this question the other 7 or 12 times it’s been asked if you.

We have a shortage of truck / lorry drivers. We clearly MUST stop expecting them to get a proper license before heading out on to our roads and into our towns! Pfft... Expecting drivers to prove their skill and willingness to apply the brakes early and often before getting behind the wheel... Where will this tyranny end!!1!!one!2!1!

Words from the speaker are like a bucket of paint being thrown toward us. The receiver or listener is then a screen through which that paint passes. Each screen differs based on innate abilities and past experience, and it’s only after being screened that the listener observes the splatter pattern and colors in an attempt to decipher what the painter threw. Plato’s allegory of the cave. We don’t ever see the object directly, only the shadow it casts into our minds.

Others already correctly noted that this bogeyman argument hasnt come to pass in essentially any situation where it’s been discussed. I think less than 2% of those threatening to resign actually did. Same with NYC firefighters, teachers, and healthcare workers in other regions. How about you confirm quit rates are actually rising before using it as an argument against healthcare workers vaccinating? Reasons generally involve being misinformed and ignorant of the facts. Those who know most are most likely to vaccinate. Those who know least are most likely to avoid it. You mean the same government who already mandates other vaccines for those very same workers and has for decades? Actually, my view is that unhealthy people seeking care should not be subjected to unvaccinated healthcare workers and that healthcare workers who don’t get vaccinated ought to find another profession where their refusal to vaccinate isn’t further raising the risk for already high risk individuals. I guess it’s a good thing then that I’ve shared my reasons for that dismissal and presented reasonable arguments in support of it.

First of all, I’m not the only one correcting you,or offering replies. Resident experts here have engaged you repeatedly as well and they’ve cited multiple works in support of their stance. Those URLs aren’t there just to make a post look pretty or decorate them, you know. Second of all, what do you wish me to reply to? Happy to answer, but need to remind you that “conclusive” is subjective and as I’ve noted you very much appear emotionally attached to your conclusions. In those situations, more data doesn’t tend to change views… and lots and lots of data has already been provided to you… so forgive me for not taking your request too seriously.

Given the almost 12 different threads where your misconceptions and seeming inability to grasp scale or probabilities and how very many times you’ve already been corrected, and given how you just keep repeating the same silly claims over and over and over … yes. A little humor seemed appropriate.

Like I said: I’m fine with contrary views. I’m not, however, fine with willful ignorance and ideologically informed selfishness in the face of global pandemics.

Like moving into Taiwan or Hong Kong while we’re distracted, perhaps? I can see that, but feel they’re not that tone deaf and wouldn’t do that the same time global media is covering them nonstop with the Olympics.

I don’t feel like quibbling, but overall yes. I’d be comfortable calling those models. YMMV

The US has now put 8,500 troops across Europe in high alert and begun propositioning forces in allied countries. This signals a shift in our deployment footprint and is an acknowledgment that conflict is almost surely coming. The thing to watch next is air units like F-18s and related support like AWACS for early warning coming in to surrounding countries like Romania and Poland. If that happens, it’ll be a sign US is flexing and trying to look muscular, and more precisely that we felt the need to so.

What about it? It clearly describes outcome Z, even if imprecisely.

Of course it is. They're a fairly standard cross-section of the population just like the rest of us. Do you forget how the flu vaccine changes every. single. year... and is new EACH time it's administered? It's been happening for decades, mate. Have you been living under a rock or something? 500 MILLION doses have been administered. Tens of THOUSANDS of participants across MULTIPLE clinical trials show it to be safe AND effective. The LARGEST effect has been an allergic response in 0.2% (that's two-tenths of one percent) of participants and some soreness at the injection site for a day or two. Other effects considered serious were things like blot clots that it turns out were happening at the same scale as one would expect from general population even absent a vaccination event. But this has ALL been explained to you REPEATEDLY in threads here already and you just won't let the evidence change you're mind. You're too emotionally committed to your preconceived conclusions... or perhaps you don't grasp the concepts of scope and scale, or maybe need to refresh yourself on basic statistics? In another study, 20 MILLION people got the vaccine, and 25 (not million, not thousand, not hundred... just 25) had a bloodclot, and there's no evidence that the vaccine was even the cause... correlation is not causation.

Models accurately explain current behavior and make testable predictions about future behaviors observed in specific circumstances. It's not enough to say that X or Y will change, but instead must be able to forecast the outcome as Z.

Of course it can. Full stop. There is both an extremely well established and accepted precedent here AND in parallel an agreement from every single employee themselves in their employment contract that they WILL follow all regulations and guidelines around vaccination as a condition of their employment. So, just think this through for more than 2.61 seconds and you'll see what I mean... Healthcare worker applies for a job. Hospital system agrees they're qualified and hands them a contract that says, "Sure! We'll hire you, under the following conditions to which you must agree before starting in this role." The contract then explicitly spells out those conditions like "you will be vaccinated against X,Y,Z and others we deem necessary in the future for the protection of our patients and staff, and you agree to show up on time and not steal personal items from patients and not engage in felatio with coworkers in the supply closet, etc." The contract then asks, "Do you agree to these TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF YOUR EMPLOYMENT?" and the healthcare worker then either says No and goes to find another job elsewhere OR they confirm both A) their understanding of employment conditions, and B) their acceptance of them and then finally C) they follow-up by signing their name to complete the transaction around this entirely valid, justifiable, and LEGAL contractual agreement. THEN... on top of that and in terms of precedent... there is a LONG list of multiple vaccines that are ALREADY required of healthcare workers including things such as Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Varicella, Polio, Tetanus, Diphtheria, Typhoid, plus an annual Influenza shot in most cases. So, the real question here for you is: By what backwards chain of logic and blinkered blinded ideology have you arrived upon the conclusion that a Covid-19 vaccine is or should be ANY different and suddenly considered "unjustified" or "too burdensome?"