Steerzing in a New Direction...

[Matt Cavanaugh]

Anne Rice is dead. Not undead, just dead.

[Bhurzum]

Harnaaz Sandhu (India) takes the "Miss Universe" crown.

https://i1.wp.com/mymorningtea.in/wp-co ... 202630.jpg

Can't say I'm surprised!

[Service Dog]

The tears of Vicente Fernández have finally dried, and his corazón now rests. Age 81.







The day I die, let it be with mariachis, my goodbye to life
Instead of praying to me, they sing me songs, as a farewell
Let it be my wake, with happy music, and with many bottles
For my friends to toast the dead, the same for them
I would like to have a quiet death,
Under the sun of my country, which is not proud
I want to die, they bring me tequila,
That between wine and women I feel happy

El Adios de la Vida

[fafnir]

Anne Rice is dead. Not undead, just dead.

How can we be sure if nobody has hammered a stake through her foul heart?

[Service Dog]

[another lurker]

Matt's horses are free range

[Matt Cavanaugh]

[Steersman]

Anne Rice is dead. Not undead, just dead.

How can we be sure if nobody has hammered a stake through her foul heart?

:-) Might be poetic justice if she were to come back and put the bite on both you and Matt for those comments ... ;-)

Interesting character though, even if there's no indication that she's an alumni of Transylvania University ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transylvania_University

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Rice

Of particular note:

Rice's novels are popular among many members of the LGBT+ community, some of whom have perceived her vampire characters as allegorical symbols of isolation and social alienation. Similarly, a reviewer writing for The Boston Globe observed that the vampires of her novels represent "the walking alienated, those of us who, by choice or not, dwell on the fringe."

"Interesting" peregrinations around the issue of religion:

In her memoir Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession, Rice stated:

"In the moment of surrender, I let go of all the theological or social questions which had kept me from [God] for countless years. I simply let them go. There was the sense, profound and wordless, that if He knew everything I did not have to know everything, and that, in seeking to know everything, I'd been, all of my life, missing the entire point. No social paradox, no historic disaster, no hideous record of injustice or misery should keep me from Him. No question of Scriptural integrity, no torment over the fate of this or that atheist or gay friend, no worry for those condemned and ostracized by my church or any other church should stand between me and Him. The reason? It was magnificently simple: He knew how or why everything happened; He knew the disposition of every single soul. He wasn't going to let anything happen by accident! Nobody was going to go to Hell by mistake."

Nice that she had, more or less accurately, characterized Christians as "this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group" but rather disconcerting if not depressing that she had apparently and finally threw her lot in with the faithful. "magical thinking", indeed.

[Steersman]

https://youtu.be/jZ9sz5_o-uE

As Pinker suggested, the GoP may be the "party of stupid", but the Democrats seem ready to give them a run for their money on that score.

Somewhat apropos of which:

Couple of shots at CNN, Don Lemon, Smollette, and the VP:

"CNN's Don Lemon texting Jussie Smollett is 'serious': Joe Concha"

"Reports raise questions of VP's fitness for office"

[fafnir]

:-) Might be poetic justice if she were to come back and put the bite on both you and Matt for those comments ... ;-)

Interesting character though, even if there's no indication that she's an alumni of Transylvania University ...

I checked and it looks like she was still able to ovulate when she wrote Interview With The Vampire.

[Lsuoma]

Ah, the joys of not being able to sleep...



No doubt I'll draw flak for my white privilege, horrible racism and obvious links to Der Orangegruppenfuher.

Yeah, well I spent all weekend not being able to sleep because of fucking prostatitis. Not recommended AT ALL.

[Steersman]

:-) Might be poetic justice if she were to come back and put the bite on both you and Matt for those comments ... ;-)

Interesting character though, even if there's no indication that she's an alumni of Transylvania University ...

I checked and it looks like she was still able to ovulate when she wrote Interview With The Vampire.

Good news - guess she actually qualified as a real woman, as an "adult human female (produces ova)" at one stage in her life. But probably only an "honorary female" at the time of her death. ;-)

Although at least at several points in her life as she had two kids - underlines the "honorary"; served with honour and distinction, an honorary discharge from the ranks. So to speak.

But seems that the issue of what "biological sex" means, particularly in a legal context, is heating up:



Haven't watch much of it yet, but it will be interesting to see how the legal beagles square a legal definition with the biological one, particularly as the latter one - based on functional gonads - is the only one that holds any water at all.

But - speaking of definitions, and from a two birds, one stone point of view - as you seem to genuflect to the view that gender is synonymous with sex - a not particularly credible position - you might be interested in Shrier's latest and my comment thereon:

https://abigailshrier.substack.com/p/wh ... nt/3963706

[Service Dog]

...you [fafnir] seem to genuflect to the view that gender is synonymous with sex...

No, you do! :teasing-neener:

The record clearly shows that-- when it emits from you, Steersman, this accusation (and others like-it) are unfalsifiable. You fling such claims without discretion or standard.

Guzzle some of your own medicine: Steersman-- you you you yourself FREQUENTLY conflate gender with sex.

When you did it-- and were called-out-- you made excuses. Yet you call-out others no-more guilty than you are. Poor form.

Luke 4:23

[Steersman]

...you [fafnir] seem to genuflect to the view that gender is synonymous with sex...

No, you do! :teasing-neener:

:lol: :roll: ;)

The record clearly shows that-- when it emits from you, Steersman, this accusation (and others like-it) are unfalsifiable. You fling such claims without discretion or standard.

:roll:

You might actually do some due diligence and look back over Fafnir's "arguments".

Guzzle some of your own medicine: Steersman-- you you you yourself FREQUENTLY conflate gender with sex.

What unmitigated horse shit. Where - exactly - have I done so?

When you did it-- and were called-out-- you made excuses. Yet you call-out others no-more guilty than you are. Poor form.

Luke 4:23

:roll:

[Matt Cavanaugh]

Matt's horses are free range

That's happened twice.

[Bhurzum]

Yeah, well I spent all weekend not being able to sleep because of fucking prostatitis. Not recommended AT ALL.

Sounds like a right pain in the hole.

https://media0.giphy.com/media/lwOYUbTCFrri0/giphy.gif

It could be worse, it appears that my early morning tweets have earned me another suspension. Fuck sake...

[Lsuoma]

First it felt like I was pissing unlit sparklers. Then lit sparklers. Then lit sparkles with razor blades attached (probably woke fucking Gillette blades). Right now it's down to a low-and-slow smoker. Fuck me, the worst I've ever felt apart from acute pancreatitis - the latter was a nine, this a seven.

The only worse pain I can imagine is Bhurzo finding out that Indyref failed.

[Bhurzum]

The only worse pain I can imagine is Bhurzo finding out that Indyref failed.

Clearly you've never had two Eastern European hookers administer an atomic blowjob!

THAT'S pain (well, a bubbling cauldron of pain, pleasure, shock and self-loathing)

Also, I'm a unionist. If you cut me, union flags spray out of the wound...

[Steersman]

The only worse pain I can imagine is Bhurzo finding out that Indyref failed.

Clearly you've never had two Eastern European hookers administer an atomic blowjob!

THAT'S pain (well, a bubbling cauldron of pain, pleasure, shock and self-loathing)

I can sympathize, at least somewhat ... ;-)

Also, I'm a unionist. If you cut me, union flags spray out of the wound...

Good man :-) ; didn't think you supported separation though Sturgeon & company is maybe another story.

But rather doubt you're much in favour of the SNP's plan:

to reform the Gender Recognition Act to allow for self-declaration of sex”

https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics ... m-linehan/

Somewhat amused to see a sign in the article saying that "people can't change sex" - something of a commendable backtrack from the too common view that "sex is immutable (!!11!! :roll: )".

But sorry to see that you've been suspended by Twitter - for that Smollett/Oscars tweet? Seemed pretty tame. That the account you've had for several years?

[Service Dog]

.

When those blades
blaze & dance

There's naught to do
but yelp & groan

with the Cossack rhythm

And when thee banana-tree root burns
:burn:

~focus~

on

the spinning dancer

[Service Dog]

The Mythicist Milwaukee secularism organization-- behind MythCon-- is now known as Mythinformed MKE.

Grab your monopods, man. Squeeze into that ol' Hitchens-quote t-shirt.
Decorate your head & neck with colander & surly.

And catch the next elevator going UP! to the Skepchick suite. Clothing optional, byob, 'Hug Me I'm Vaccinated' (buttstuff costs extra).

I wonder what the big panel's gonna be about?

[Bhurzum]

Good man :-) ; didn't think you supported separation though Sturgeon & company is maybe another story.

Sturgeon and her cohorts are a blight upon Scotland. They appeal to the "Braveheart clique" - anti English separatists - and use emotional argumentation, ignorance and bigotry to stir up support. They're the type of people who claim that placing the "butcher's apron" (the union flag) upon the packaging of a product somehow, magically, reduces the quality/value of that item. Yes, I've actually heard educated people make this exact argument.

The truly sad thing is how many of the buggers there are!

But rather doubt you're much in favour of the SNP's plan:

Hells no! I'd vote Labour before I'd vote SNP and I'd never, ever vote Labour - shower of communists, anti-semites and degenerate fuckpigs.

But sorry to see that you've been suspended by Twitter - for that Smollett/Oscars tweet? Seemed pretty tame. That the account you've had for several years?

Heh. Turns out it wasn't the Smollet/Oscars tweet. It was a rather poorly worded but entirely sarcastic tweet in response to a tranny lesbian (M to F - a bloke in a dress) who stated that CIS lesbians should be prepared to sleep with him and rattled off a list of five reasons why. The list included gems such as:

1) He can reach the top/high shelves in the kitchen.
2) He can bench xxx weight (can't remember exact weight but it was laughably low).
3) He would treat CIS lesbians like goddesses.

In response, I tweeted a rather vulgar comment about CIS lesbians needing to take a jack-hammering from him and gargling his gender fluid or they'd be ignorant bigots. I also suggested the punishment for their refusal to bang this bloke should involve being dragged through the streets, being pelted with dog shit and being dumped in a pit to rot.

Clearly sarcasm.

Anyway, according to twitter, I am promoting hatred, inciting violence towards a protected group (shouldn't all people be protected?) and I'm a thoroughly bad egg. Also, they're monitoring me to ensure I don't create another account using another name/alias. All very sinister sounding.

Yup, it was an old account. Purely for my amusement, I have appealed the ban to hear their response but don't think much will happen. It's all good though, I already have a backup account primed and have copied the list of people I followed.

Nil desperandum :lol:

[fafnir]

Clearly you've never had two Eastern European hookers administer an atomic blowjob!

In Soviet Russia, hookers have you.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

, I have appealed the ban to hear their response but don't think much will happen.

Was the ban under the deformed dwarf lenin, or the new ghee-slathered brown hitler?

[Service Dog]

If the Twitter ban sticks, this could be your fall-back plan...

https://media.patriots.win/post/IlQvLFHp.png

[MarcusAu]

The Mythicist Milwaukee secularism organization-- behind MythCon-- is now known as Mythinformed MKE.

Grab your monopods, man. Squeeze into that ol' Hitchens-quote t-shirt.
Decorate your head & neck with colander & surly.

And catch the next elevator going UP! to the Skepchick suite. Clothing optional, byob, 'Hug Me I'm Vaccinated' (buttstuff costs extra).

I wonder what the big panel's gonna be about?

In the past they've asked such luminaries as Sargon, Shoe-on-Head and Armo(u)red Sceptic along to give presentations or debate.

It must have been like watching a YouTube vid in real life - except less convenient to exit.

I'm guessing that the organisers see their jobs as being full time facilitators of presenting controversy. And for that other and more accessible alternatives are available.

[MarcusAu]

If the Twitter ban sticks, this could be your fall-back plan...

https://media.patriots.win/post/IlQvLFHp.png

Slightly more edgy than 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' I suppose.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

Uh oh -- looks like Matt Dillahunty's girlfriend has gotten in trouble with the law:

https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/ins ... lice-sign/

[MarcusAu]

Uh oh -- looks like Matt Dillahunty's girlfriend has gotten in trouble with the law:

https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/ins ... lice-sign/

The scuttlebutt I heard was that MD was involved an a situation that while not domestic violence, was certainly intimidation for the other (femaie) party involved.

Said party not being his wife. I don't know who it was, apparently video exists, but I haven't seen it.

From how it was described - it sounded like the unknown female was hiding under a bed while MD when on a tirade.

But I've only heard the story from one source - and it has not been confirmed to my knowledge. Anyone interested, and with more investigative skills that I can check things out for themself.

[another lurker]

Bhurzum is a faggit.discuss


Btw bhurzie, you have beautiful kids I was shocked!!

Yes, I do lurk here from time to time

[Matt Cavanaugh]

The scuttlebutt I heard was that MD was involved an a situation that while not domestic violence, was certainly intimidation for the other (femaie) party involved.

I can see that happening. Raging temper just under the Confucius veneer.

I NEVER liked Dilly. Pompous windbag, no value-add. It'd be mega-lulz to troll him and good Pit-style, but all these woke wankers have isolated themselves in their ideology bubbles.

[Bhurzum]

Bhurzum is a faggit.discuss


Btw bhurzie, you have beautiful kids I was shocked!!

Yes, I do lurk here from time to time

Of course they're beautiful, they're bred from the finest stock!

Anyhoo, gimme a clue - are you an IRL friend, ex-workmate (or spouse) or an online buddy? Can PM me if you'd rather minimise.

(this has really intrigued me because my FB is locked up tighter than a gnat's chuff!)

[John D]

Haha. Clown World. Even Webster says you can pick your pronouns.

But... really... what is the traditional use of pronouns?... I ask.... and I propose an answer. A pronoun is simply used to speed up speech and to make it quick and accurate. For all of human history it has been easy to distinguish the broad pronoun categories. It was easy to identify a girl, boy, man, or woman. The pronoun did not need permission. Occasionally mistakes where made as in the Monty Python and the Holy Grail bit, but generally they were a simply way to speed up communication. The bottom line is that you cannot declare your pronouns. They are thrust upon you by others. If you choose a pronoun you are really choosing a title.

A title is an identification for you... similar to a pronoun... but it can be specific. It can be an honorific title such as Doctor, Revered, Rabi, Judge...etc. It needs to be acknowledged that a title or honorific is something that must be communicated in a detailed way. An honorific does not have the purpose of a pronoun. A pronoun speeds up communication by generalizing and an honorific slows communication by adding specificity.

So... here is my bottom line. You don't get to choose your pronoun. You may choose your honorific or title. A pronoun is not something you can demand of others. But... of course... even Webster has changed this. Haha. Fucking clown world.

"Hi... Name name is John and my pronouns are "fuck off", "fuck off", and "fuck off"

Full Definition of pronoun
1plural pronouns : any of a small set of words (such as I, she, he, you, it, we, or they) in a language that are used as substitutes for nouns or noun phrases and whose referents are named or understood in the context
2pronouns plural : the third person personal pronouns (such as he/him, she/her, and they/them) that a person goes by
What are your pronouns?
"I'm Jo, my pronouns are she/her." "I'm Jade, my pronouns are they/them."
… many people with nonbinary genders use "they" and "their" pronouns, although language and gender expression vary widely.

My name is Dennis.
Well, I didn't know your name was Dennis.
Well... you could have asked.

(Haha.... this is the same as having to ask what your pronoun is. If you have to ask what your pronoun is then it isn't a pronoun).

[Service Dog]

https://media.patriots.win/post/cxQA3UU3.png

[Service Dog]

https://media.patriots.win/post/bLQ5OHZS.png

[Steersman]

The scuttlebutt I heard was that MD was involved an a situation that while not domestic violence, was certainly intimidation for the other (femaie) party involved.

I can see that happening. Raging temper just under the Confucius veneer.

I NEVER liked Dilly. Pompous windbag, no value-add. It'd be mega-lulz to troll him and good Pit-style, but all these woke wankers have isolated themselves in their ideology bubbles.

"ideology bubbles", indeed. See from his Twitter feed that he's rather quick to block at the drop of a hat - "don't confuse me with facts" and all that.

And see that he retweets transwoman Katy Montgomerie. There may well be some merit in "her" arguments, but more than a few flies in the ointment:

https://katymontgomerie.medium.com/a-li ... 84fa903ceb

But as I'm sure that you and Service Dog are keeping tabs on the ivermectin front ;-) , I thought you might "enjoy" Coyne's latest:

https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2021/12/ ... vermectin/

Rather sad case but maybe instructive ...

Somewhat more broadly and for your "Beaver" file, another sad tale of New Zealand's abandonment of science and reason for the blandishments of the Woke:

https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2021/12/ ... ge-ruckus/

[Matt Cavanaugh]

But as I'm sure that you and Service Dog are keeping tabs on the ivermectin front ;-) , I thought you might "enjoy" Coyne's latest:

https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2021/12/ ... vermectin/

While he denies it, Coyne is relishing in the sort of Todesschadenfreude that our good comrade, screwtape did before flouncing to woker pastures.

“ we still have no good evidence that ivermectin … is an efficacious preventive and cure for Covid-19.”

There are, of course, now SEVENTY studies supporting ivermectin, not to mention the astounding results in India and South America.

https://ivmmeta.com

But anyone who’d bring these facts to Coyne’s attention would be banned (if not so already) and/or bullied by his WEITard commentariat.

Coyne is an ignorant old fool and a fusspot, fond of flaunting his imagined intellectual superiority.

[Steersman]

But as I'm sure that you and Service Dog are keeping tabs on the ivermectin front ;-) , I thought you might "enjoy" Coyne's latest:

https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2021/12/ ... vermectin/

While he denies it, Coyne is relishing in the sort of Todesschadenfreude that our good comrade, screwtape did before flouncing to woker pastures.

Seems a bit of a stretch to call "I feel bad" a case of schadenfreude:

I feel bad for this man and his wife, but there’s a strong dose of irony in this story

“ we still have no good evidence that ivermectin … is an efficacious preventive and cure for Covid-19.”

There are, of course, now SEVENTY studies supporting ivermectin, not to mention the astounding results in India and South America.

https://ivmmeta.com

But anyone who’d bring these facts to Coyne’s attention would be banned (if not so already) and/or bullied by his WEITard commentariat.

You read any part of that study that he had linked?

https://www.statnews.com/2021/08/25/ive ... -evidence/

Rather large number of conflicting arguments and "studies", and "supporting ivermectin" seems rather tenuous. Even the source you quoted said:

While many treatments have some level of efficacy, they do not replace vaccines and other measures to avoid infection.

But the case that Coyne led off with seems based more on the view of the unfortunate victim and his wife that ivermectin replaces vaccines. Anti-virals may in fact have a role to play in attenuating the effects of catching covid, but - ounce of prevention and all that.

I see that Canada is getting into the act of manufacturing Merck's anti-viral and anti-Covid drug, molnupiravir, which apparently "works by blocking the enzyme essential for viral replication" so clearly the concept is not intrinsically without merit:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/merck- ... -1.6275033

But no indication, that I've seen, how ivermectin might work. And the Wikipedia article on it argues or suggests it attacks parasites directly:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivermectin#Pharmacology

Limited though some efficacy as an anti-viral though at "doses much higher than the maximum approved or safely achievable for use in humans"

Complex issue - and biochemistry - but grabbing at straws seems unwise.

Coyne is an ignorant old fool and a fusspot, fond of flaunting his imagined intellectual superiority.

I wouldn't go that far though I'd certainly agree that he has his blindspots - determinism being something of an untenable article of faith with him, and he seems strangely reluctant, particularly for a biologist, to accept both the standard biological definitions for the sexes and their consequences:

MolecularReproduction_Lehtonen_Parker_DefinitionProduces_2A.jpg

(35.66 KiB) Downloaded 98 times

Though there's a lot of that going around, particularly the latter ... ;-)

But think he also does yeoman's work in drawing attention to a number of problematic issues - New Zealand's abandonment of science and reason, for example.

[Service Dog]

OMG. Ivermectin killed that guy! They gave him two doses of horse dewormer and he died!

This is exactly what we were warned-about: accidental overdose.

Acts 9:18

And... wait... whuuuuuuuttttt... you mean?... you really mean it?... THE EGYPTIAN IVERMECTIN STUDY IS BOGUS????? Oh NOES!

John 9:25

[ThreeFlangedJavis]

But as I'm sure that you and Service Dog are keeping tabs on the ivermectin front ;-) , I thought you might "enjoy" Coyne's latest:

https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2021/12/ ... vermectin/

While he denies it, Coyne is relishing in the sort of Todesschadenfreude that our good comrade, screwtape did before flouncing to woker pastures.

“ we still have no good evidence that ivermectin … is an efficacious preventive and cure for Covid-19.”

There are, of course, now SEVENTY studies supporting ivermectin, not to mention the astounding results in India and South America.

https://ivmmeta.com

But anyone who’d bring these facts to Coyne’s attention would be banned (if not so already) and/or bullied by his WEITard commentariat.

Coyne is an ignorant old fool and a fusspot, fond of flaunting his imagined intellectual superiority.

Coyne has gone from irritating to vomit-inducing. He cultivates an air of studied objectivity while producing a big bag 'o shite. He badly mis-represented the Weinstein's opinion on both vaccines and Ivermectin and quoted the usual reflexively liberal "authorities" like Gorski. He brought up an an FDA tweet highlighting the horse medicine angle but said that he knows Ivermectin has "valid" human uses, basically shifting the perception of Ivermectin from human pharmaceutical with veterinary uses to the the inverse. No Coyne, you bag of excrement, there is no irony in a man dying of Covid after his wife pushes for a safe but unproven treatment option out of desperation. The comments from his hyper-smug, pig ignorant and short-memoried following are a distillation of everything wrong with this crowd.

[Bhurzum]

Hello,

Your account has been suspended and will not be restored because it was found to be violating Twitter's Terms of Service, specifically the Twitter Rules against hateful conduct.

It is against our rules to promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.

https://media0.giphy.com/media/sVZwCKdihacRW/giphy.gif

Time to roll-out account #3...

[Matt Cavanaugh]

And... wait... whuuuuuuuttttt... you mean?... you really mean it?... THE EGYPTIAN IVERMECTIN STUDY IS BOGUS????? Oh NOES!

There are, of course, now SEVENTY SIXTY-NINE studies supporting ivermectin, not to mention the astounding results in India and South America.

FTFM

[Matt Cavanaugh]

It is against our rules to promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.

How dare that swarthy, bandy-legged, syphilis-ridden, mentally retarded, cow-worshipping Punjab, beta cuck, man-child faggot!

[Matt Cavanaugh]

He brought up an an FDA tweet highlighting the horse medicine angle but said that he knows Ivermectin has "valid" human uses, basically shifting the perception of Ivermectin from human pharmaceutical with veterinary uses to the the inverse.

It's the same damn stuff. Coyne and his retarded sycophants would be at a loss to explain any difference, but mocking the deaths of the 'horse goop gobblers' and 'anti-vaxxers' (sic) boosts the fragile egos of these ignorant, arrogant twats.

[MarcusAu]

Hello,

Your account has been suspended and will not be restored because it was found to be violating Twitter's Terms of Service, specifically the Twitter Rules against hateful conduct.

It is against our rules to promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.

...

Time to roll-out account #3...

Well at least you are in good company...

[Steersman]

OMG. Ivermectin killed that guy! They gave him two doses of horse dewormer and he died!

He died with ivermectin, not because of ivermectin. There IS a difference ... :P ;)

[Steersman]

<snip>

Time to roll-out account #3...

Well at least you are in good company...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFX_xkZYSdo

:-) Maybe that "mentally retarded, cow-worshipping Punjab, beta cuck, man-child faggot!" currently in charge of Twitter ain't so bad after all ... ;-)

But maybe some evidence that "Big Tech" is getting a bit nervous at calls to regulate them. From Kara Swisher's NYT newsletter:

Will the U.S. Ever Actually Regulate Tech?

The U.S.’s failure to pass substantive and thoughtful tech regulation — particularly as Big Tech has grown to be the most powerful global force — has opened the door for the rest of the world to take the lead, for better or worse. That started many years ago with the passage of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation and has been followed by a series of efforts by global regulators to try to rein in Big Tech.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/02/opin ... =url-share

Though it would have been nicer if that were the case when I fell afoul of the enforcers at Twitter, this having precipitated one of my suspensions there:

Tweets_SteersMann_Bhurzum_WhiteDudes1A.jpeg

(100.26 KiB) Downloaded 56 times

Even putting a winky or two in there didn't save me, enforcers and algorithms being kinda clueless about nuance.

Still, maybe a welcome sign of some changes in the wind, some evidence that Twitter's rather egregious biases are being recognized. Something along that line from another NYTimes article:

First, Mr. Agrawal must restore trust in the site by better policing misinformation spread by politicians and celebrities. ....

For instance, Twitter allowed to stand a September tweet from the musician Nicki Minaj that falsely tied the Covid vaccination to impotence.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/02/opin ... =url-share

[Service Dog]

Seems a bit of a stretch to call "I feel bad" a case of schadenfreude:

From Coyne's Ivermectin comment section:

Brujo Feo wrote:

"...Der Drumpf WILL BE reëlected in 2024. The Dems have ZERO plans to stop any of this.

If this happens, science will once again be devalued. The country will AGAIN be run by coal and petroleum interests. MANY more people will die. So…every Qcumber, every vaccine denialist, every Trumputo that dies now at least makes it possible that more live will be saved later. “Glee”? No, wrong word. But the math is pretty clear..."

jimbo wrote:

While I take no pleasure in the death of people, there is something worth grinning about when individuals ... suffer the consequences of their own bad advice.... I don’t wish for such people to die but I do think they deserve to get a scary bout of COVID. That may sound cruel but it is not, it is the foundation of justice... I’m GLAD Trump got COVID. Because I wanted him dead or to suffer? No, because I wanted him to shut his goddamn yap and stop harming people who listened to him out of loyalty. A lot of those people are dead and even now, dying. Trump NOT giving bad medical advice is a good thing and if the only thing to shut him up or teach him not to do that is to get a dose of karma/justice and overcome his lack of empathy and hypocrisy, then that is a good thing for US citizens. It’s an ethical position, not to be confused with finding humorous when people who are ignorant, gullible, cavalier, risky, apathetic, or misinformed contract or even succumb to COVID. ... those people deserve our contempt and ridicule and deserve to be muted and if they suffer the consequences of their bad advice, good…it’s not only ironic but just and I would hope that they take responsibility like a proper adult should and learn a valuable life lesson.

RedLivingBlue wrote:

I’m just gonna leave this… sorryantivaxxer.com

Brujo Feo
December 14, 2021 at 11:10 am
I fully expect that the widow’s position (or that of any number of idiots speaking on her behalf) will be that the ivermectin WOULD HAVE saved him, but for the delay in his getting it caused by the litigation.

Responding to that would be like trying to nail Jell-O to a wall.

Irena Schulz
December 14, 2021 at 11:19 am
People in my very red state of South Carolina are so on board with Ivermectin. I went to my “female practitioner” midst the pandemic regarding hormone issues. She stated that everyone in the office who caught Covid had been successfully treated with ivermectin. I haven’t gone back there.

ALL drugs have side effects. How can anyone dismiss a vaccine because of side effects and take something else even though that has side effects also? I don’t think I’ll ever hear a logical answer to that one.

W.Benson
December 14, 2021 at 1:43 pm
Reddit has its “Herman Cain Award”. Sadly, there are hundreds of examples of suicide and manslaughter through stubborn ignorance similar to the one given here at WEIT.
https://www.reddit.com/r/HermanCainAward/

Hempenstein
December 14, 2021 at 9:00 pm
If you steadfastly refuse to get vaccinated for any of the usual antivaxx reasons and wind up dying from COVID, I really DO NOT CARE. I’m not happy, but I really don’t care.

What I do care about are the people you needlessly exposed to the virus while you were getting infected, and I especially care about the people that you have burdened in taking care of you. ... Plus, you are taking up facilities that might be needed for the sorts of cases that otherwise come into hospitals. Also ... may be keeping people away from a hospital for treatment for other things.

[Steersman]

Seems a bit of a stretch to call "I feel bad" a case of schadenfreude:

From Coyne's Ivermectin comment section:

<snip>

That's his commentariat, not him. Though since he curates what's posted there that might make him culpable to some degree.

But did you - or Matt - read the linked US Today article? Particularly sad as the guy was "a 52-year-old structural engineer" - how old are you and Matt? ;-)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/202 ... 812207002/

However, I didn't see anything at all there about whether the guy had refused to get a vaccine or whether there was any particular reason why he wouldn't have done so. That's a big part of the "false information" surrounding Covid and ivermectin - and there's no shortage of such false information. From the USA Today article:

His conclusions, though, were found to be based on what experts say could be flawed studies. Some of the studies were based on data that doesn’t exist and others cherry-picked information, leaping to conclusions that Business Insider described as making “ivermectin sound more effective against COVID-19 than it is.” An Egyptian study, described as one of the largest ivermectin studies in the world, was found to be based on data that didn’t exist. An Argentinian study found that ivermectin could prevent all COVID-19 infections, but an investigation by BuzzFeed News revealed that some of the hospitals cited in it never participated. Two scientific papers co-authored by Kory have been retracted after objections to their use of data and “bias issues” were raised, according to RetractionWatch.com.

Not just the "Egyptian study" that's been retracted - seems to be a rather large percentage that are in the same boat.

As Coyne himself indicated, antiviral drugs from Pfizer and Merck clearly have some merit - the concept is sound. The question is whether invermectin qualifies - sure, as a "Hail Mary pass" - as the USA Today article argued - it may have some justification, at least after the fact. But the fact of the matter is that the anti-scientifc claptrap being peddled by far too many anti-vaxxers is contributing, not insignificantly, to both the death toll and the load on the hospitals and staff.

Not surprising that many, particularly those directly affected, might at least be a little bit "peeved".

[AndrewV69]

OMG. Ivermectin killed that guy! They gave him two doses of horse dewormer and he died!

This is exactly what we were warned-about: accidental overdose.

Acts 9:18

And... wait... whuuuuuuuttttt... you mean?... you really mean it?... THE EGYPTIAN IVERMECTIN STUDY IS BOGUS????? Oh NOES!

John 9:25

This might help?

Ivermectin for COVID-19: real-time meta analysis of 70 studies

Results are very robust — in worst case exclusion sensitivity analysis 58 of 70 studies must be excluded to avoid finding statistically significant efficacy.

[AndrewV69]

Scott Alexander opines:

(There were 63 studies at the time I looked. More added since then.)

Ivermectin: Much More Than You Wanted To Know/

Dozens of teams published studies saying ivermectin definitely worked. Then most scientists concluded it didn’t. What a great opportunity to exercise our study-analyzing muscles!

...

I have no idea who runs it - they’ve very reasonably kept their identity secret - but my hat is off to them. Each of these study names links to a discussion page which extracts key outcomes and offers links to html and pdf versions of the full text. These same people have another 35 ivermectin studies with different inclusion criteria, subanalyses by every variable under the sun, responses and counterresponses to everyone who disagrees with them about every study, and they’ve done this for twenty-nine other controversial COVID treatments.

[Bhurzum]

Though it would have been nicer if that were the case when I fell afoul of the enforcers at Twitter, this having precipitated one of my suspensions there:


Tweets_SteersMann_Bhurzum_WhiteDudes1A.jpeg

Twitter is like the wild West - roving bands of maniacs foaming and frothing about "kill all white men" or "whitey's gotta pay", gangs of rabid feminazi twats spewing barely concealed (if not blatantly open) hatred for men, individuals posting their support for various terrorist groups (IRA, assorted towel-head variants, openly communist thugs etc) and countless degenerate fuckpigs dribbling about paedo rights, tranny bigotry and the RIGHT to dress small boys in fetish gear then get them to dance for an audience of braying adults. Oh, and the anti-semitism! Holy fuck, the anti-semitism is off the charts!

All perfectly fine by Twitter's standards. In fact, no, in most cases it's empowering to display your support for these things.

However, if you make a blatantly sarcastic post slaying one of these holy cows or use strong language...

Ah fuck it. I'm going to give it a few days before launching my next account - just as rude, just as crude and eager to slaughter some cows! I just need to come up with a catchy user name, something clever and witty that won't give the game away.

@BhurzumIII
@BhurzumIIElectricBoogaloo
@GhostOfBhurzum

:lol:

[AndrewV69]

This is what Scott had to say about the Egyptian study (I am assuming it is the one you guys were talking about earlier?)

Elgazzar et al: This one isn’t on the table above, but we can’t start talking about the others until we get it out of the way. 600 Egyptian patients were randomized into six groups, including three that got ivermectin. The ivermectin groups did substantially better: for example, 2 vs. 20 deaths in ivermectin group 3 vs. non-ivermectin group 4. There were various other equally impressive outcomes.

Unfortunately, it’s all false. Some epidemiologists and reporters were able to obtain the raw data (it was password-protected, but the password was “1234”), and it was pretty bizarre. Some patients appeared to have died before the trial started; others were arranged in groups of four such that it seemed like the authors had just copy-pasted the same four patients again and again. Probably either the study never happened, or at least the data were heavily edited afterwards. You can read more here. A lot of the apparent benefit of ivermectin in meta-analyses disappeared after taking out this paper (though remember, this isn’t even on the table at the top of the post, so it doesn’t directly affect that).

Since the Elgazzar debacle, a group of researchers including Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, Kyle Sheldrake, James Heathers, Nick Brown, Jack Lawrence, etc, have been trying to double-check as many other ivermectin studies as possible. At least three others - Samaha, Carvallo, and Niaee - have similar problems and have been retracted.

Those studies were all removed before I screenshotted the table above, and they’re not on there. But everybody is pretty paranoid right now and looking for fraud a lot harder than they might be in normal situations.

[AndrewV69]

[Steersman]

This is what Scott had to say about the Egyptian study (I am assuming it is the one you guys were talking about earlier?)

Elgazzar et al: This one isn’t on the table above, but we can’t start talking about the others until we get it out of the way. ....

Unfortunately, it’s all false. Some epidemiologists and reporters were able to obtain the raw data (it was password-protected, but the password was “1234”), and it was pretty bizarre. ....

Those studies were all removed before I screenshotted the table above, and they’re not on there. But everybody is pretty paranoid right now and looking for fraud a lot harder than they might be in normal situations.

Well, well, well. Another blast from the past, another decloaker, another lurker, someone else ready to enter the jousting lists. :-) And you with your own horse too ... ;-)

But glad you posted some of Alexander's "qualifications" - many of those sources look rather iffy at best:

Acknowledging that this is interesting, let’s detract from it a little.

First, this presentation can exaggerate the effect size (represented by how far the green boxes are to the left of the gray line in the middle representing no effect). It focuses on the most dire outcome in every study - death if anybody died, hospitalization if anyone was hospitalized, etc. ....

You at least should appreciate that there are many factors involved in such studies, that biases in the methodology can skew the results in virtually any direction that one wants. Seem to recollect reading somewhere that many if not most of those supposedly "cured" by ivermectin were in fact just "lousy" with lice and other parasites that ivermectin is most effective against ... ;-)

Of some amusement is that avermectins - the family name encompassing ivermection - means, in Latin, "a 'without', vermis 'worms' ..."

But generally a big fan of Scott's; have always "liked" his "may doom us all" ("doomed, I say, doomed!") as being a particularly cogent observation:

ScottAlexander_FacebookSpectacularlyBroken_Sctn1D.jpg

(67.68 KiB) Downloaded 42 times

Though much less so of his views on transgenderism, particularly as they relate to categories. While he is more or less correct that "The categories were made for man, not man for the categories", that does not mean that they're entirely arbitrary or useless - as your "friend" Zinnia Jones once argued in quoting Alexander ... ;-)

https://medium.com/@steersmann/the-impe ... 4154213e42

https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/11/21/t ... ategories/

[Stankeye]

Scott Alexander opines:

(There were 63 studies at the time I looked. More added since then.)

Ivermectin: Much More Than You Wanted To Know/

Dozens of teams published studies saying ivermectin definitely worked. Then most scientists concluded it didn’t. What a great opportunity to exercise our study-analyzing muscles!

...

I have no idea who runs it - they’ve very reasonably kept their identity secret - but my hat is off to them. Each of these study names links to a discussion page which extracts key outcomes and offers links to html and pdf versions of the full text. These same people have another 35 ivermectin studies with different inclusion criteria, subanalyses by every variable under the sun, responses and counterresponses to everyone who disagrees with them about every study, and they’ve done this for twenty-nine other controversial COVID treatments.

Alexandros Marinos did a followup to Scotts work.

https://doyourownresearch.substack.com/ ... lcome=true

I believe Scott and Alexandros are continuing the discussion, I think twitter.

Alexandros does good sensemaking on Twitter mostly.

[Steersman]

Though it would have been nicer if that were the case when I fell afoul of the enforcers at Twitter, this having precipitated one of my suspensions there:


Tweets_SteersMann_Bhurzum_WhiteDudes1A.jpeg

Twitter is like the wild West - roving bands of maniacs foaming and frothing about "kill all white men" or "whitey's gotta pay", gangs of rabid feminazi twats spewing barely concealed (if not blatantly open) hatred for men, individuals posting their support for various terrorist groups (IRA, assorted towel-head variants, openly communist thugs etc) and countless degenerate fuckpigs dribbling about paedo rights, tranny bigotry and the RIGHT to dress small boys in fetish gear then get them to dance for an audience of braying adults. Oh, and the anti-semitism! Holy fuck, the anti-semitism is off the charts!

Amen to that. Remember reading the phrase "rage is all the rage", probably some 30 years ago, probably well before Twitter was even a glint in Dorsey's.

All perfectly fine by Twitter's standards. In fact, no, in most cases it's empowering to display your support for these things.

However, if you make a blatantly sarcastic post slaying one of these holy cows or use strong language...

I can sympathize. Though "Poe's Law" has some relevance - some value in adding a winky or a "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" phrase to underline that one is being sarcastic. :-)

Although, as they say, a wink is as good as a nod to a blind man - or algorithm.

Ah fuck it. I'm going to give it a few days before launching my next account - just as rude, just as crude and eager to slaughter some cows! I just need to come up with a catchy user name, something clever and witty that won't give the game away.

@BhurzumIII
@BhurzumIIElectricBoogaloo
@GhostOfBhurzum

:lol:

My vote is for number 3 :-) ,

Been meaning to create a new account myself but think that Twitter has gotten sneaky or clever in tracking previous accounts.

[Stankeye]

Scott Alexander opines:

(There were 63 studies at the time I looked. More added since then.)

Ivermectin: Much More Than You Wanted To Know/

Dozens of teams published studies saying ivermectin definitely worked. Then most scientists concluded it didn’t. What a great opportunity to exercise our study-analyzing muscles!

...

I have no idea who runs it - they’ve very reasonably kept their identity secret - but my hat is off to them. Each of these study names links to a discussion page which extracts key outcomes and offers links to html and pdf versions of the full text. These same people have another 35 ivermectin studies with different inclusion criteria, subanalyses by every variable under the sun, responses and counterresponses to everyone who disagrees with them about every study, and they’ve done this for twenty-nine other controversial COVID treatments.

Alexandros Marinos did a followup to Scotts work.

https://doyourownresearch.substack.com/ ... lcome=true

I believe Scott and Alexandros are continuing the discussion, I think twitter.

Alexandros does good sensemaking on Twitter mostly.

Not on Twitter.

Scott responded to Alexandros post in his Open Thread. #5

https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/open-thread-200

In which we discover it doesn't matter how many RCT's you do, Scott will not budge, also using a psychic phenomena metaphor. I think he realizes he has painted himself into a corner in that all RCT's are either gamable or he is being overly critical of RCT's he doesn't like.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

Well that was a long, self-indulgent ramble for tl;dr: Ivermectin the dewormer had the best results vs. covid where the local population had a lot of worms. Of course, we don't have any studies from the US and other places where it's use is effectively banned (or administered surreptitiously.)

I'll accept that as plausible. But it ignores that ivermectin was first proposed because it "obliterated" covid viruses in the lab.

Bottom line, ivermectin is entirely safe, extremely cheap, and possibly effective. And if not effective, has beneficial ancillary effects. The rabid hate against it is not derived from so-so metastudy results.

[Service Dog]

tl;dr: Ivermectin the dewormer had the best results vs. covid where the local population had a lot of worms.

If the massive reduction in hospitalization & death... after administering Ivermectin... is attributable to the populations-in-question being riddled with worms...

then... that same data also proves that that a massive number of 3rd-world-shithole people who were hospitalized-or-died due-to (or 'with') Covid... had a significant comorbidity: WORMS.

Thus the presumed danger of Covid -- to people in-good-health -- should be adjusted downward. But the critics-of-Ivermectin won't bother to do that.

Ezekiel 34:4
Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them.


--

I'll restate my position: at this point, the medical details of Covid/ and the Favored Treatments/ and the Dark Horse Treatments/ and the long-debunked Egyptian study... are not my primary concern.

My concern is the over-reach of bureaucracies and busybodies... vs. individual autonomy.

The screwtapes are worse than the disease.

Exodus 15:26
And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer.”

For my backside is like unto a cake and my figsack dangles so that thee may kiss it and be blessed with unholy crotch rot. Isaiah 38:21