Conspiracies

[jfish26]

lol lmao

One of the more depressing macro things is seeing just how EFFECTIVE fear-mongering is...migrant caravans this, crime-infested cities that, drag-show-grooming the other thing.

It's the same playbook, over and over and over.

And why not? It works.

This is insane to hear the "terrified of covid" crowd talk about fear mongering being effective. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black

Its a wasteful spending issue not a fear issue, the American people are severely overtaxed. Have you seen any government spending bills? They are wasteful and dishonest. And our government continues to increase taxing. With increases to the irs budget they are spending more American dollars on the department so they can claim/pursue even MORE American tax dollars and it is absolutely disgusting

Do with it what you will, I guess, but I don't think you'll find many serious analyses concluding that our tax rate is on par with, or even in excess of, the tax rates of other first-line, democratic* countries.

https://www.oecd.org/tax/revenue-statis ... states.pdf

* Maybe this is your issue: if you buy Fox's scare-mongering, which clearly you do, you may well also harbor autocratic, anti-democratic, leanings.

[twocoach]

lol lmao

One of the more depressing macro things is seeing just how EFFECTIVE fear-mongering is...migrant caravans this, crime-infested cities that, drag-show-grooming the other thing.

It's the same playbook, over and over and over.

And why not? It works.

This is insane to hear the "terrified of covid" crowd talk about fear mongering being effective. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black

Its a wasteful spending issue not a fear issue, the American people are severely overtaxed. Have you seen any government spending bills? They are wasteful and dishonest. And our government continues to increase taxing. With increases to the irs budget they are spending more American dollars on the department so they can claim/pursue even MORE American tax dollars and it is absolutely disgusting

https://www.forbes.com/sites/insider/20 ... e7b2964812

You should do some research on all of these concerns you have. The IRS is increasing their budget so that they can work through the huge backlog of tax returns they have. It will be used to bring the amount of agents back up to previous levels, bring technology up to something remotely resembling a competent level and bring call center staff up to levels where they can actually handle the volume of taxpayer questions in a more timely manner. This is will not only allow them to properly collect the tax money that is OWED BY American taxpayers but also allow them to get returns that are OWED TO American taxpayers. Increasing the IRS budget does nothing to increase the amount or percentage of taxes paid by Americans.

At least try to educate yourself on the things you claim instead of just parroting the fearmongering ignorance of the GOP.

[KUTradition]

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lani ... 6/fulltext

Based on official reported COVID-19 deaths, we estimated that vaccinations prevented 14·4 million (95% credible interval [Crl] 13·7–15·9) deaths from COVID-19 in 185 countries and territories between Dec 8, 2020, and Dec 8, 2021. This estimate rose to 19·8 million (95% Crl 19·1–20·4) deaths from COVID-19 averted when we used excess deaths as an estimate of the true extent of the pandemic, representing a global reduction of 63% in total deaths (19·8 million of 31·4 million) during the first year of COVID-19 vaccination. In COVAX Advance Market Commitment countries, we estimated that 41% of excess mortality (7·4 million [95% Crl 6·8–7·7] of 17·9 million deaths) was averted. In low-income countries, we estimated that an additional 45% (95% CrI 42–49) of deaths could have been averted had the 20% vaccination coverage target set by COVAX been met by each country, and that an additional 111% (105–118) of deaths could have been averted had the 40% target set by WHO been met by each country by the end of 2021.

but i guess we should just take randy’s word as truth

[jfish26]

One of the more depressing macro things is seeing just how EFFECTIVE fear-mongering is...migrant caravans this, crime-infested cities that, drag-show-grooming the other thing.

It's the same playbook, over and over and over.

And why not? It works.

This is insane to hear the "terrified of covid" crowd talk about fear mongering being effective. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black

Its a wasteful spending issue not a fear issue, the American people are severely overtaxed. Have you seen any government spending bills? They are wasteful and dishonest. And our government continues to increase taxing. With increases to the irs budget they are spending more American dollars on the department so they can claim/pursue even MORE American tax dollars and it is absolutely disgusting

You should do some research on all of these concerns you have. The IRS is increasing their budget so that they can work through the huge backlog of tax returns they have. This is will not only allow them to properly collect the tax money that is OWED BY American taxpayers but also allow them to get returns that are OWED TO American taxpayers. Increasing the IRS budget does nothing to increase the amount or percentage of taxes paid by Americans.

I think there are reasonable discussions to be had on government spending, generally, and how it is considered/approved, specifically.

I think there are ALSO reasonable discussions to be had on tax policy, generally, and what we incentivize (or not), specifically.

But the fact is that the system presently IS set up to put a much higher effective tax burden on income earners, as opposed to wealth accumulators. There absolutely ARE good reasons not to "punish" the accumulation of wealth. But the net-net of encouraging it, as we do, is that the gap in tax revenue arising out of pro-wealth-accumulation policy...falls on income earners.

[Mjl]

lol lmao

One of the more depressing macro things is seeing just how EFFECTIVE fear-mongering is...migrant caravans this, crime-infested cities that, drag-show-grooming the other thing.

It's the same playbook, over and over and over.

And why not? It works.

This is insane to hear the "terrified of covid" crowd talk about fear mongering being effective. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black

Its a wasteful spending issue not a fear issue, the American people are severely overtaxed. Have you seen any government spending bills? They are wasteful and dishonest. And our government continues to increase taxing. With increases to the irs budget they are spending more American dollars on the department so they can claim/pursue even MORE American tax dollars and it is absolutely disgusting

Again - what tax increases?

[twocoach]

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lani ... 6/fulltext

Based on official reported COVID-19 deaths, we estimated that vaccinations prevented 14·4 million (95% credible interval [Crl] 13·7–15·9) deaths from COVID-19 in 185 countries and territories between Dec 8, 2020, and Dec 8, 2021. This estimate rose to 19·8 million (95% Crl 19·1–20·4) deaths from COVID-19 averted when we used excess deaths as an estimate of the true extent of the pandemic, representing a global reduction of 63% in total deaths (19·8 million of 31·4 million) during the first year of COVID-19 vaccination. In COVAX Advance Market Commitment countries, we estimated that 41% of excess mortality (7·4 million [95% Crl 6·8–7·7] of 17·9 million deaths) was averted. In low-income countries, we estimated that an additional 45% (95% CrI 42–49) of deaths could have been averted had the 20% vaccination coverage target set by COVAX been met by each country, and that an additional 111% (105–118) of deaths could have been averted had the 40% target set by WHO been met by each country by the end of 2021.

but i guess we should just take randy’s word as truth

The fact that some people don't recognize how many lives were saved by the covid vaccines just confirms to me that ignorance is sometimes simply a choice. I feel bad for the people who simply do not have the natural intelligence to understand concepts that are higher than the most basic levels but people who choose ignorance just baffle me. That politics has so wholly taken over people lives that they can resort to spouting clearly ignorant statements just to support their political leanings just shows me that this isn't a problem that is going to improve over time.

[KUTradition]

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lani ... 6/fulltext

Based on official reported COVID-19 deaths, we estimated that vaccinations prevented 14·4 million (95% credible interval [Crl] 13·7–15·9) deaths from COVID-19 in 185 countries and territories between Dec 8, 2020, and Dec 8, 2021. This estimate rose to 19·8 million (95% Crl 19·1–20·4) deaths from COVID-19 averted when we used excess deaths as an estimate of the true extent of the pandemic, representing a global reduction of 63% in total deaths (19·8 million of 31·4 million) during the first year of COVID-19 vaccination. In COVAX Advance Market Commitment countries, we estimated that 41% of excess mortality (7·4 million [95% Crl 6·8–7·7] of 17·9 million deaths) was averted. In low-income countries, we estimated that an additional 45% (95% CrI 42–49) of deaths could have been averted had the 20% vaccination coverage target set by COVAX been met by each country, and that an additional 111% (105–118) of deaths could have been averted had the 40% target set by WHO been met by each country by the end of 2021.

but i guess we should just take randy’s word as truth

The fact that some people don't recognize how many lives were saved by the covid vaccines just confirms to me that ignorance is sometimes simply a choice. I feel bad for the people who simply do not have the natural intelligence to understand concepts that are higher than the most basic levels but people who choose ignorance just baffle me. That politics has so wholly taken over people lives that they can resort to spouting clearly ignorant statements just to support their political leanings just shows me that this isn't a problem that is going to improve over time.

the two of them intentionally misrepresent the situation and cherry pick data points/anecdotes that fit their narrative…not just on covid, as this thread shows

[jfish26]

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lani ... 6/fulltext

Based on official reported COVID-19 deaths, we estimated that vaccinations prevented 14·4 million (95% credible interval [Crl] 13·7–15·9) deaths from COVID-19 in 185 countries and territories between Dec 8, 2020, and Dec 8, 2021. This estimate rose to 19·8 million (95% Crl 19·1–20·4) deaths from COVID-19 averted when we used excess deaths as an estimate of the true extent of the pandemic, representing a global reduction of 63% in total deaths (19·8 million of 31·4 million) during the first year of COVID-19 vaccination. In COVAX Advance Market Commitment countries, we estimated that 41% of excess mortality (7·4 million [95% Crl 6·8–7·7] of 17·9 million deaths) was averted. In low-income countries, we estimated that an additional 45% (95% CrI 42–49) of deaths could have been averted had the 20% vaccination coverage target set by COVAX been met by each country, and that an additional 111% (105–118) of deaths could have been averted had the 40% target set by WHO been met by each country by the end of 2021.

but i guess we should just take randy’s word as truth

The fact that some people don't recognize how many lives were saved by the covid vaccines just confirms to me that ignorance is sometimes simply a choice. I feel bad for the people who simply do not have the natural intelligence to understand concepts that are higher than the most basic levels but people who choose ignorance just baffle me. That politics has so wholly taken over people lives that they can resort to spouting clearly ignorant statements just to support their political leanings just shows me that this isn't a problem that is going to improve over time.

It's also the case that the "the virus doesn't hurt healthy people" crowd always always always ignores the fact that, the more we allow the virus to spread (including, perhaps even especially, among healthy people), the more certain it becomes that the virus will adapt such that it becomes more dangerous to healthy people.

[twocoach]

This is insane to hear the "terrified of covid" crowd talk about fear mongering being effective. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black

Its a wasteful spending issue not a fear issue, the American people are severely overtaxed. Have you seen any government spending bills? They are wasteful and dishonest. And our government continues to increase taxing. With increases to the irs budget they are spending more American dollars on the department so they can claim/pursue even MORE American tax dollars and it is absolutely disgusting

You should do some research on all of these concerns you have. The IRS is increasing their budget so that they can work through the huge backlog of tax returns they have. This is will not only allow them to properly collect the tax money that is OWED BY American taxpayers but also allow them to get returns that are OWED TO American taxpayers. Increasing the IRS budget does nothing to increase the amount or percentage of taxes paid by Americans.

I think there are reasonable discussions to be had on government spending, generally, and how it is considered/approved, specifically.

I think there are ALSO reasonable discussions to be had on tax policy, generally, and what we incentivize (or not), specifically.

But the fact is that the system presently IS set up to put a much higher effective tax burden on income earners, as opposed to wealth accumulators. There absolutely ARE good reasons not to "punish" the accumulation of wealth. But the net-net of encouraging it, as we do, is that the gap in tax revenue arising out of pro-wealth-accumulation policy...falls on income earners.

No one can state for certain who the true burden of taxation falls upon if you don't actually gather all of the tax revenue and return all of the overpayment that is owed in the system as it stands. Once you get to the point where all monies owed in and out have been distributed, only then can you look at what changes need to be made to the percentages of monies owed to and from various subgroups of citizens and corporations.

[zsn]

Heard versions of this and also shared here before: “Covid is not just a public health issue. It’s also an intelligence test”

[twocoach]

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lani ... 6/fulltext

Based on official reported COVID-19 deaths, we estimated that vaccinations prevented 14·4 million (95% credible interval [Crl] 13·7–15·9) deaths from COVID-19 in 185 countries and territories between Dec 8, 2020, and Dec 8, 2021. This estimate rose to 19·8 million (95% Crl 19·1–20·4) deaths from COVID-19 averted when we used excess deaths as an estimate of the true extent of the pandemic, representing a global reduction of 63% in total deaths (19·8 million of 31·4 million) during the first year of COVID-19 vaccination. In COVAX Advance Market Commitment countries, we estimated that 41% of excess mortality (7·4 million [95% Crl 6·8–7·7] of 17·9 million deaths) was averted. In low-income countries, we estimated that an additional 45% (95% CrI 42–49) of deaths could have been averted had the 20% vaccination coverage target set by COVAX been met by each country, and that an additional 111% (105–118) of deaths could have been averted had the 40% target set by WHO been met by each country by the end of 2021.

but i guess we should just take randy’s word as truth

The fact that some people don't recognize how many lives were saved by the covid vaccines just confirms to me that ignorance is sometimes simply a choice. I feel bad for the people who simply do not have the natural intelligence to understand concepts that are higher than the most basic levels but people who choose ignorance just baffle me. That politics has so wholly taken over people lives that they can resort to spouting clearly ignorant statements just to support their political leanings just shows me that this isn't a problem that is going to improve over time.

the two of them intentionally misrepresent the situation and cherry pick data points/anecdotes that fit their narrative…not just on covid, as this thread shows

It's just the "all or nothing" that is so dumb to me. The fact that I got covid despite being vaccinated doesn't prove that the covid vaccine "is useless" or "doesn't work". That's toddler logic. Like with most everything, there is much more nuance to the situation that these people just choose to ignore because it doesn't support their simpleton argument. Arguing with lazy people who don't actually care about the details is pointless. We just have to build some of their ignorance and laziness into the model and deal with it.

It cost thousands upon thousands of people their lives, which is a shame. I am glad that none of my loved ones were collateral damage to their ignorance.

[twocoach]

Heard versions of this and also shared here before: “Covid is not just a public health issue. It’s also an intelligence test”

In just short of 2 years, tens of millions of people are going to vote for a criminal who openly incited an insurrection against our nation. There is no measure of intelligence that our nation is not failing at far too high a rate.

[japhy]

One of the more depressing macro things is seeing just how EFFECTIVE fear-mongering is...migrant caravans this, crime-infested cities that, drag-show-grooming the other thing.

It's the same playbook, over and over and over.

And why not? It works.

This is insane to hear the "terrified of covid" crowd talk about fear mongering being effective. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black

Its a wasteful spending issue not a fear issue, the American people are severely overtaxed. Have you seen any government spending bills? They are wasteful and dishonest. And our government continues to increase taxing. With increases to the irs budget they are spending more American dollars on the department so they can claim/pursue even MORE American tax dollars and it is absolutely disgusting

https://www.forbes.com/sites/insider/20 ... e7b2964812

You should do some research on all of these concerns you have. The IRS is increasing their budget so that they can work through the huge backlog of tax returns they have. It will be used to bring the amount of agents back up to previous levels, bring technology up to something remotely resembling a competent level and bring call center staff up to levels where they can actually handle the volume of taxpayer questions in a more timely manner. This is will not only allow them to properly collect the tax money that is OWED BY American taxpayers but also allow them to get returns that are OWED TO American taxpayers. Increasing the IRS budget does nothing to increase the amount or percentage of taxes paid by Americans.

At least try to educate yourself on the things you claim instead of just parroting the fearmongering ignorance of the GOP.

Maybe some (or all) of that is true, but it doesn't explain the bazillion bullets the IRS is buying to shoot taxpayers! And how do you explain the black helicopter that just flew over my house while Annie Oakley was sending our team of shifty accountants the list of "charitable donations" we made this year? And why is Annie wearing DC's high school graduation ring?

And why was the UPS driver who dropped off our packages just now, WeARiNg a blue UN helMEt?

BOOM! The purge of free thinkers is about to begin!

[zsn]

You must have the high end UPS driver. Mine was wearing a tin-foil (not the readily available aluminum foil) hat!!!!

[twocoach]

Back on topic:

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate ... JtEALw_wcB

1) Chemtrails
2) Impeding Martial Law
3) FEMA Concentration Camps
4) Foreign Troops on US Soil
5) Door to Door Gun Confiscations
6) 9/11 Orchestrated by US Government
7) Population Control
8) HAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program)
9) The Federal Reserve
10) North American Union

Some of these are loosely based on some modicum of fact but many are just flat out stupid.

[ousdahl]

The mainstream media didn’t predict this.

And yet, we had a thread that predicted this.

The sticker on the box even predicted this.

it’s so obviously obvious

Wake up sheeple!

[StayCurious]

The whole "benefits out weigh the risks" argument is the dumbest argument. Because most people don't need any benefits from vaccines. As we have known all along. Nearly all (99%) survive covid, and most have mild symptoms or no symptoms. Its been that way all along, since the very beginning

The benefits outweigh the risks, unless of course, you're one of the unlucky ones like this girl. No one on this site has ever expressed any care about these people who are permanently disabled because of these shots. Hell, some on here still are lying by stating the vaccines are "safe for everyone." This young woman had her whole life ahead of her.

https://www.realnotrare.com/post/olivia-c-19-yrs-old

[randylahey]

Being worried about covid is one thing, I know there is good intent.

But now some of you are irs apologists? Whyyyyy.. you ought to be ashamed of yourselves lol. Our government is so insanely financially irresponsible. Trillion dollar spending bills being drawn up every year, sending billions and billions of dollars overseas. How can anyone defend the need for an enhanced irs in this country

[StayCurious]

IRS is useless. Get rid of 95% of them and then simply the tax code. It's huge waste of resources.

[randylahey]

The whole "benefits out weigh the risks" argument is the dumbest argument. Because most people don't need any benefits from vaccines. As we have known all along. Nearly all (99%) survive covid, and most have mild symptoms or no symptoms. Its been that way all along, since the very beginning

The benefits outweigh the risks, unless of course, you're one of the unlucky ones like this girl. No one on this site has ever expressed any care about these people who are permanently disabled because of these shots. Hell, some on here still are lying by stating the vaccines are "safe for everyone." This young woman had her whole life ahead of her.

https://www.realnotrare.com/post/olivia-c-19-yrs-old

They seem to ignore that some people have died from the vaccine, and blood clotting and heart inflammation can be caused by the vaccine. You could end up with those side effects from a medical treatment you never needed