Did I not actually say "it's all the same thing"?

>And as I was growing up especially, (I'm 25) a lot of my peers hated or resented most people older than them MAINLY for political reasons which just never made sense to me. And that is something I have seen as well. And side note, my youngest son is older than you are. But the South has a very different culture, one that is foreign to many in the big cities. I was helping a black family in a computer store I worked at in Alabama, and when I asked the kid a question and he responded "Yea", his mom smacked him in the back of the head and said "You speak to that man with respect, you say 'Yes sir!'." I have also seen parents smack their kids for not standing for a lady or holding the door for them. Those were the kinds of manners I was raised with (1960s-70s LA), but had not seen in many years. But down there, that is still expected and parents will quickly correct their kids if they think they are being rude. And to be honest, I largely reject most things political. One of my friends labeled me a "Militant Moderate", which I think is actually pretty accurate. I do not hold strong to either political party, and reject the extremes of both.

Were many of the masks N95 rated? Here is the thing, my wife is a Nurse, and I spent many years in medical units in the Army, especially when this broke out. If the mask was not an N95 mask that prevents the spreading of virus, it is pretty much worthless. Masks can be a great thing, I often had to wear them at work before COVID. However, if the mask is not rated for the pathogen, it is pretty much worthless. About like wearing a sheepskin condom and HIV. And feel free to look it up, Yes, it is a condom. No, it will not do a damned thing to protect you from HIV or HPV. But it will protect you from bacteriological STIs like Syphilis or Gonorrhea. Wearing the wrong protection will not help you, or anybody else.

Wow, that is frightening to look through. I think what shocked me the most in reading what I had removed is that a lot of it was relating to actual hard science and I was quoting long agreed upon scientific theories, and why some recent claims contradict accepted scientific theories.

That is another huge stereotype that is amazingly wrong. I have been studying the Neo-Nazi movement in the US for decades, and want to know what a lot of them have in common? Robert Matthews and "The Order". Bufford Furrow and the North Valley Jewish Center shooting. Richard Butler and the Aryan Nations. Samuel Woodward and the shooting of Blaze Bernstein and four others between 2017 and 2018. John Earnest and the Poway Synagogue shooting. All of the above and a great many others were by such individuals from California, primarily Los Angeles. They try to pretend such hate does not exist in their own areas, and yet blame all of that and more on areas of the country they had never been to, and has nothing to do with it. About 15 years ago when I was in Alabama, the Klan tried to do a recruiting drive in Montgomery. And the funny thing is, the police were called and they had to protect the Klansmen from a group of white attackers. The Klan is far more alive in the "Blue State" areas of the nation than it is in the South today. And this is not even anything new, over 4 decades ago it was even a joke in the Blues Brothers movie. Where one of the main targets of Jake and Elwood was "Illinois Nazis", a real thing. Sadly, most of the younger people do not seem to know about Skokie where the Klan won a Supreme Court decision to let them march in Illinois. Yes, even in liberal Illinois they have a large presence, far more so than they do in the South today.

The fact is, I have seen this on the extremes of both sides of the political spectrum. Far Right, Far Left, it's all the same thing. Fanatics that refuse to accept anything but their beliefs and wanting anything resembling the truth be censored.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiEYJ4UwcR0

I have been getting it from them for most of my life, as my career choice was serving in the military. Which almost all of them have an almost insane hatred for. And yes, I had even been sworn at, spit at, had garbage thrown at me, and other such crap in cities like LA and Baghdad by the Bay. Which I find particularly funny as those "Big City Liberals" have almost never lived anywhere but the big cities. Yet throughout my life I have lived in almost a dozen states and in three countries in addition to the US on two other Continents. In everything from huge cities like LA, to small towns of less than 3,000 people. They largely live in bubbles of their own creation, and are almost completely oblivious to any others not in their bubble.

>Funny how on conservative forums you can say "fuck Donald Trump I hope he dies in a plane crash I'm going to kill him" and people might start attacking you but you won't get banned. I would only "attack" that because that is an evil thing to think or say. I myself absolutely detest him, but I would no more say he should die than anybody else. Just because you do not like somebody or agree with them does not mean they should die. There are a lot of people I do not agree with politically, but I do not wish they should die just because we disagree. Those are the thoughts of somebody that is so radical that they have lost all common sense and decency.

Nor Animal Farm. All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

A great many on the Left have an almost insane hatred for anybody from The South. I find it funny how they will use all kinds of stereotypes and slurs for them, yet will admit they had never been there themselves. I used to get a lot of insane feedback like that from them when I lived in Dothan and identified myself as that was my location. Never mind that I am actually from Los Angeles, does not matter. A lot of them actually seem to think most Southerners drive pickups, wear Klan robes on a daily basis, and have all married their sisters and live in trailers.

They just want a giant echo chamber, where everybody agrees with them. Funny how those who claim to love freedom the most are often the most likely to want to take away free speech.

Ah, and once again, insults. Where exactly did I say that? I simply recognize it for what it is, consensus and not fact. And yes, I am aware of that. The problem is that a great many seem to think they are the same thing, they are not. If one goes back a century, the "consensus" was that blacks were intellectually inferior. Does that being a consensus mean it was true?

Once again, no actual reference and just tossing around insults and nothing else.

With just a pretty picture with nothing labeled. And from some kind of article that said nothing of what you are claiming. From a site that is nothing more than a release point for press releases. Not sure what exactly this is supposed to tell me. This is nothing but a press release of some researchers. And it is not for trying to see where it came from, but to trace future mutations, Wow, you might want to actually read the source you are trying to claim. But don't feel bad, I see that all the time. Wow,

>No, there's actually huge genealogical jumps in the Functions of the virus. Virus do not have "genealogy". But please, let me know where I can read this research, because I would like to know more.

>So out of all the places on earth, the outbreak happened to be in the one place that had the lab where they had “gain of function testing”. Not at all. SARS-CoV (now SARS-Cov-1) is closely related to COVID, and it broke out hundreds of miles away. That the virus was first detected there means nothing. Reston, Virginia is only 12 miles from Langley. That does not mean that the CIA created Ebola Reston.

Once again, somebody that responds with insults and can not actually come up with any actual facts. Got it, please try responding with actual facts and not just attacks.

Very nice response, can't refute facts so resort to insults. Have a nice day.

Or even what they have is simply a viewpoint and not facts or truth at all. That is often what I find frustrating, because people all too often confuse beliefs with facts, and they are not the same thing.

As the great Michael Crichton said... I want to pause here and talk about this notion of consensus, and the rise of what has been called consensus science. I regard consensus science as an extremely pernicious development that ought to be stopped cold in its tracks. **Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you’re being had.** Do scientists agree that it came from the Wuhan area? Yes, that is without a doubt. But that is not the same thing as saying it came from a lab. COVID and other similar virus have been entering the human population from that region for thousands of years.

>you fix the problem that motivates the crime, you fix problems that cause addiction not jail addicts That is nonsensical in the extreme. What about the problems that cause theft, muggings, sexual assault, rape, murder, car theft, and all of the other problems? I have no freaking interest in trying to "solve the problems", I care about removing those from the general public and being punished so they do not do it again. If your dog craps on the carpet, do you try and find out what it needs to stop doing that, or do you whack it across the nose and scold it? Because I can promise you, doing one will do absolutely nothing to stop the problem, and the other one will.

And once again, passing even more gun laws when the ones on the books already are not even enforced is pointless. How about mandatory prison sentences of a minimum of 10 years for some of the crimes already on the books? Like a felon with a gun, making a straw purchase, or using a gun in any sort of crime? That is the real problem, not that there are not enough laws. It is that the laws we already have are almost never enforced. I am sick of hearing about some felon doing a robbery with a pistol, then only getting 2 or 3 years. TO me, crimes like that should be 10 years minimum. With each following offence doubled. Criminals know they will only get a slap on the wrist, so have no fear of the law. Start putting teeth back into them, and I bet the crimes like that drop quickly. Otherwise, you can pass 100 laws and prohibit all weapons and they will still get them. Mexico has the exact same problem. Outright prohibition, yet their criminal justice system is corrupt and a joke so none of the criminals care. That is why they have sent some of their worst cartel leaders to the US. As bad as our system is, it's better than theirs.

Really? Are we forcing their gangs to buy guns? The most common guns traced from Mexico back to the US are actually .380 and .22 pistols. But most of what the gangs are using are illegal even in the US, so that really does not make sense.

Lax enforcement. The simple fact is, even when caught those that violate most of the gun laws are never prosecuted. Case in point, a "Straw Purchase" or falsely filling out an ATF 4473 is a felony, but guess how many people are ever convicted for that? Or all the cases of felons with a firearm that are essentially tossed out of court. It does not matter if you add a million laws, if they are not enforced, they are all worthless and will do nothing. Want to see things change? Mandatory enforcement and minimum sentencing for things like "armed robbery" and "felon with a firearm" violations. Actually lock them up for a minimum of 10 years, and you might start to see things change. But I am sick and tired of reading about some gangbanger with several felonies getting caught after doing a drive-by, and then after their trial only being sentenced to 2 years. Where that is how long they were in jail awaiting trial and are released. I am highly 2nd Amendment, but am even more pro-enforcement of the laws. And if there is no enforcement, there is essentially no law. They just need to get serious about enforcing the laws they already have.

Mexico has an almost complete prohibition on firearms, yet one of the highest murder rates in the world. The Swiss damned near mandate everybody own a fully automatic rifle, yet has one of the lowest rates in the world. That is the problem when people make childish claims without examining the reality.