𝕌𝕟𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕

Alt politics and policy discussion account.

[𝕌𝕟𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 @_typeerror_]

Erich Fromm - The Sane Society

[𝕌𝕟𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 @_typeerror_]

@TheKevinDalton AFAIK Musk's no nazi but he 100% intentionally thew a seig heil. Dude's got the sense of humor of a 12 year old. "My heart goes out to you." Smirking the whole time.

[𝕌𝕟𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 @_typeerror_]

I'm not opposed to California's Prop 13, but recognize the incentive structure it creates. The state has more of an incentive to let every high value piece of real estate burn in hopes that the owner sells it than to save the existing homes. Do the #WildfireShufflle.

[𝕌𝕟𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 @_typeerror_]

Teachers' Unions in public education cause issues like homelessness, drug addiction, and student debt. Creating self-sufficient, competitive graduates is a conflict of Union interests.

[Michael Shellenberger @shellenberger]

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) and as Chief Medical Advisor to President Biden during Covid-19, today testified to Congress about Covid vaccines and Covid’s origin.

"The first iteration of vaccines did have an effect — not 100%, not a high effect — they did prevent infection, and subsequently, obviously, transmission,” Fauci said. “However, it's important to point out something that we did not know early on that became evident as the months went by: the durability of protection against infection, and hence, the transmission was relatively limited."

But there was never definitive evidence that the vaccines would prevent transmission. In December 2020, the FDA determined that “data are not available to make a determination about how long the vaccine will provide protection, nor is there evidence that the vaccine prevents transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from person to person.”

The CDC in 2020 and 2021 stated that protection would wear off, that the evidence was unclear, and that the data were limited, noted data analyst Kelley K during the hearing.

When Fauci said in May 2021 that a vaccinated person would become a “dead end to the virus,” he was repeating a political talking point and not accurately representing the science. Claiming vaccination would prevent spread was a strategy to increase vaccine uptake among young, healthy people who were not vulnerable to severe COVID outcomes.

In other words, the science had not been “settled,” but Fauci and other public health leaders chose to espouse a noble lie to encourage vaccination.

To his credit, Fauci testified before Congress today and sat for many hours of a transcribed interview.

But Fauci also implied that investigating his role put him at risk. “Every time someone gets up and says I'm responsible for the death of people throughout the world,” he emphasized, “the death threats go up.”

We unreservedly condemn any threats Fauci and his family may have received. It is illegal to threaten people with death or physical violence, as it should be. At the same time, we must be free to discuss Fauci’s role in funding the laboratory research to make coronaviruses more infectious, known as “gain-of-function research,” without fear of being accused of inciting violence against Fauci or his family members.

It would be an abuse of power to suggest that any effort to hold Fauci accountable is equivalent to threatening him or his family. The responsibility for making threats lies with the person making them and not with those whose statements have ostensibly influenced them.

And yet many Democrats repeatedly suggested that there was something sinister and dangerous about criticisms of Fauci for his role in shaping the US response to the pandemic as well as his role advocating for and funding the kinds of biomedical research that may have caused it. And Democrats repeatedly referred to the idea that US taxpayer dollars funded the research that resulted in the creation of SARS-CoV-2 a “conspiracy theory.”

Said @RepRaskin (D-CA), "The investigation of Dr Fauci shows he is an honorable public servant who has devoted his entire career to the public health and the public interest. And he is not a comic book supervillain. He did not fund research to create the Cove in 19 pandemic. He did not lie to Congress about gain of function research in Wuhan, and he did not organize a lab leak suppression campaign today."

Said Rep. @KathyCastorFL (D-FL), "The evidence to date points to COVID 19 having originated from an animal market in China... this committee should be doing more to fight for those answers, but instead has wasted significant time and taxpayer money fueling conspiracy theories."

Said @RepKweisiMfume (D-MD), "Conspiracy theory after another get debunked...."

But the lab leak theory is not a conspiracy theory. A few hours before Fauci testified, The New York Times, the most important newspaper for Democrats, published a complete and graphics-heavy case for the lab leak theory of Covid-19’s origin.

A “growing volume of evidence — gleaned from public records released under the Freedom of Information Act, digital sleuthing through online databases, scientific papers analyzing the virus and its spread, and leaks from within the U.S. government — suggests that the pandemic most likely occurred because a virus escaped from a research lab in Wuhan, China,” wrote @Ayjchan who coauthored the 2021 book, Viral, with @mattwridley, in the Times.

In today’s hearing, Fauci insisted that he did not fund risky gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China. The research his agency funded, he claimed, was not technically gain-of-function under the regulatory definition set by something called “The Guidelines on Potential Pandemic Pathogens Care and Oversight (P3CO).”

Asked Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA), "Dr. Fauci, according to the regulatory definitions, for example, in P3CO, that NIH applied to proposed research, did NIH ever fund gain of function research in Wuhan, China?"

Responded Fauci, "As you said, Congressman Ruiz, according to the regulatory and operative definition of P3CO, the NIH did not fund gain of function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology."

But Fauci and Francis Collins, the former head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), spent years seeking to weaken oversight of such research. In 2011, after the NIH biosecurity board unanimously recommended that certain dangerous gain-of-function bird flu research not be published, Fauci and Collins published an opinion piece called “A flu virus risk worth taking” in the Washington Post, arguing that the benefits of this research outweighed the potential for a pandemic.

The following year, 2012, NIH’s biosecurity board signed non-disclosure agreements and met with Fauci and Collins. The board, apparently under pressure from Fauci and Collins, then revised its previous recommendation to publish the risky bird flu research.

According to Fauci and Democrats in Congress, NIH’s grant to EcoHealth Alliance did not fall under P3CO guidelines because it was not anticipated to increase a pathogen’s danger to humans, specifically.

But in emails, NIH staff expressed their concerns about EcoHealth Alliance’s work creating hybrid “chimera” MERS and SARS viruses, in order to increase their infectiousness, in 2016. NIH staff pointed out that there was a moratorium placed on that research in 2014.

Peter Daszak, the president of the EcoHealth Alliance, persuaded NIH staff to concede to a research threshold, saying EcoHealth would halt its research if the chimeras had enhanced viral growth 10 times that of the original viruses.

After reaching an agreement with NIH, Daszak specifically referred to this work as gain-of-function, writing, “This is terrific! We are very happy to hear that our Gain of Function research funding pause has been lifted. Cheers, Peter.”

Then, in 2018, EcoHealth went on to seemingly violate its agreement by producing a chimeric virus with a viral load 10,000 times greater than the original virus.

As such, Fauci, his colleagues, and the Democrats were playing word games, redefining what they mean by gain-of-function research in ways that allowed them to deny responsibility.

And that’s not all.

After the Obama administration had established a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) committee to review proposed gain-of-function projects before the NIH could approve them, Fauci and Collins knowingly sought to make changes to NIH policy in order to allow funding for riskier gain-of-function experiments. These changes included removing the committee’s ability to block projects and limiting the type of projects the committee could review.

In his testimony, Fauci misrepresented the scientific possibility that NIH funding is associated with the Covid-19 outbreak, as well as his role in the “Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2” paper, which infamously and misleadingly, claimed that, “Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus.”

But consider how, in 2018, EcoHealth Alliance applied for a grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for a project called “DEFUSE” that would involve Shi Zhengli’s lab group at WIV and Ralph Baric’s lab at the University of North Carolina (UNC). Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act reveal that the features of SARS-CoV-2 closely resemble the work described in EcoHealth Alliance’s proposal.

On February 1, 2020, Fauci and Collins held a meeting called “Coronavirus sequence comparison” with other scientists to compare the spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 and RaTG13, its closest genetic relative which the NIH-funded Wuhan lab discovered. This meeting would lead to the “Proximal Origin” paper.

In the hearing, Fauci downplayed his role.

After Majority Counsel Mitch Benzine asked, "Did Dr. Anderson send you drafts to review?" Fauci responded, "He sent drafts, but I'm going to jump ahead of you if I might dribble around. I did not edit it. That was mentioned by a few of the Congressmen. I did not edit the paper."

While it may be true that Fauci did not “edit” the “Proximal Origin” paper, lead author Kristian Andersen said he “prompted” it, and the authors sent him a final draft for approval. In their private exchanges, the authors repeatedly refer to Collins and Fauci as the “Bethesda boys.” Their offices were located in Bethesda, Maryland.

The “Bethesda boys” appear to have directed some of the paper’s content. After Andersen suggested that a first draft should be sent “up the chain,” Fauci and Collins voiced concern that culturing or serial passaging (a process through which a virus can be made more infectious to humans) was still included as a possible origin.

Jeremy Farrar, head of the Wellcome Trust, then pressured the authors to remove it. Shortly after publishing the preprint, Holmes told Andersen, “Sorry the last bit had to be done without you… pressure from on high.” Fauci would go on to cite this paper as objective evidence from independent scientists.

All of this, and yet, throughout the Oversight Committee’s hearing, Democrats refused to provide oversight and criticized their colleagues who attempted to provide it. “I'm sorry for the personal attacks you have received and may have to deal with today,” said one. “Thank you, sir, and your entire team for saving lives in this country, and I'm sorry you have to continue going on with these attacks,” said another.

“The Republicans failed to find, uh, a shred of evidence of their far-fetched conspiracy linking Dr. Fauci to a cover-up of the origins of the pandemic,” said one. “Sir, do you think the American public should listen to America's brightest and best doctors and scientists? Or instead, listen to podcasters, conspiracy theorists, and unhinged Facebook memes,” asked another.

Since World War II, Democrats, liberals, and progressives have criticized their political enemies as overly deferent to authority. Today, at the hearing with Fauci and other hearings where mainstream science is questioned, they criticize their enemies for not being sufficiently deferent. What changed?...

[𝕌𝕟𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 @_typeerror_]

@KTVU Which is worse:
Paying Stormy Daniels to not talk about her past relationship, or
having over 50 CIA agents sign a document lying about Hunter's laptop.

[BAY AREA STATE OF MIND @YayAreaNews]

California spent $24 BILLION on the state’s homeless crisis

A recent audit showed no one knows where the money went

On top of that, homelessness increased by 50%

[𝕌𝕟𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 @_typeerror_]

@sfchronicle @ITDP_HQ Ebikes are great and everyone should have either an ebike or acoustic. But even as someone who rides at least 10k miles a year on a bicycle, people rarely bike in the rain. It’s only supplemental for a car/uber/bus/whatever. So cars need to be accommodated for.

[𝕌𝕟𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 @_typeerror_]

@AndrewKerrNC @pnjaban They’re probably waiting for backup and a paddy wagon.

[𝕌𝕟𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 @_typeerror_]

@KTVU 2mg * 9.6 million is 42 pounds. Death penalty has to come back for drug dealers. What do you think they’re buying with this money, Church rennovations? Everyone in California is being outbidded and outcompeted in every market by drug money.

[Darren Stallcup - World Peace Movement @darren_stallcup]

Rest In Peace Tuan Le the #Oakland police officer who was fatally shot
in the line of duty on Friday morning while intercepting a robbery in Oakland. Thoughts and Prayers going out to His family and The Asian American community 🇺🇸🙏💯

[𝕌𝕟𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 @_typeerror_]

@darren_stallcup Tuan was a good dude. Had that big brother energy that was a joy to be around. Amazing that we survived so much shenanigns only for him to go on to protect and serve, and lose his life in the line of duty.

Please pray for his family, his crew, and for this state.

[𝕌𝕟𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 @_typeerror_]

@Scott_Wiener You grew up in New Jersey, and also, Judiasm teaches you to think you're a victim and that everyone is out to get you, not because you are one, but because it's a tool in the art of persuasion. The israel-palestine conflict is not one sided so it cant be antisemetic to omit it.

[𝕌𝕟𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 @_typeerror_]

@ib2_real Is Gavin bragging there's no historical precedent for how bad he's doing? Blazing a new trail from the past is not always progress.

[Yashar Ali 🐘 @yashar]

Last night the Oakland City Council voted on a resolution to call for a ceasefire.

A city council member tried to insert language condemning Hamas.

This was the reaction…

[Collin Rugg @CollinRugg]

JUST IN: California man, Vince Ricci, who defended his family from two robbers at his home has been stripped of his concealed carry permit

Absolute insanity.

On Nov 4 when Ricci was returning from the gym, two armed men rushed him as he was entering his home.

Ricci jumped into action and pulled out a handgun and chased the robbers off his property.

Ricci had a concealed carry permit which saved his home from being robbed and potentially the lives of his family.

Unfortunately, the sheriff's department in Los Angeles has stripped the permit away because Ricci's "yelled" at the LAPD when they came to investigate.

Ricci is convinced that the decision to take his permit away was because he used the gun to protect his family.

The sheriff's department is refusing to release anymore information.

Looks like he hurt LAPD's feelings. Unreal.

[Henry K. Lee @henrykleeKTVU]

They robbed a security guard - and @CoreMarkHQ wholesale distributor truck he was there to protect - of cigarettes & tobacco outside @7eleven at Grand & Mandana. @oaklandpoliceca investigating

[𝕌𝕟𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 @_typeerror_]

@Scott_Wiener sack the board. it has to be done.

[𝕌𝕟𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 @_typeerror_]

@Scott_Wiener what an utter waste

[𝕌𝕟𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 @_typeerror_]

@lwoodhouse We're more valuable bargaining chips to hold onto.