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'Inmates run the asylum': Political observers stunned by QAnon congresswoman’s massive fundraising haul On Wednesday, POLITICO reported that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), the famously QAnon-sympathetic conspiracy theorist congresswoman who lost her House committee assignments after social media activity endorsing the execution of prominent Democrats in Congress, raised $3.2 million in the first quarter of 2021 — a huge amount of money for a freshman lawmaker in a district that is almost certainly too Republican-leaning to field a competitive race in the midterms anyway. Political observers on social media quickly reacted to the news of Greene's fundraising haul, many of them expressing dismay and disgust that so many people endorse Greene's brand of politics. Republicans are the party of QAnon. They can deny it, but it's true. The inmates run the asylum and have for years. https://t.co/1FQpsoVn6H — Emily C. Singer (@Emily C. Singer)1617800521.0 Just a reminder that the Republican base *wants* their leaders to act like Marjorie Taylor Greene. https://t.co/68QIcsqYXY — Renato Mariotti (@Renato Mariotti)1617800963.0 'Inmates run the asylum': Political observers stunned by QAnon congresswoman’s massive fundraising haul - Alternet.org

Then they ought to tax electric stoves as they compete with natural gas stoves.

How Austin is actually responding to the call to transform its police budget Homelessness in the U.S., which was already on the rise prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, increased in 2020, exacerbated by the economic realities of the pandemic. Austin, Texas, is no exception, with an estimated 11 percent increase in homeless people counted in the city and Travis County between 2019 and 2020, according to the point-in-time (PIT) count reported in the Austin American-Statesman. Of Austin's population of roughly 1 million, an estimated 2,500 people experience homelessness on any given night, according to the 2020 PIT count. Austin City Council member Gregorio Casar says this is a number "a community of [more than] a million folks should be able to care [for]." In an effort to do so, the city of Austin has been purchasing underutilized hotels and transforming them into housing and services for people experiencing homelessness. In a February 4 meeting, the Austin City Council approved the purchase of a fourth hotel—which will provide 150 new homes to the homeless population in the city. Casar says the city plans to move forward on purchasing a fifth and a sixth hotel in the future. "We have found sufficient resources in the city budget to acquire more hotels because we really believe that it's a strategy for significantly reducing homelessness in the city," he says. In addition to providing long-term and transitional housing to people experiencing homelessness, the hotels purchased by the city will also provide supportive services, including mental health services, trauma services and job services. How Austin is actually responding to the call to transform its police budget - Alternet.org

PC thinking at its finest.

AHA! It's that reverse shrinkology thingie in action. Clever girl.

Half of Republicans think Jan. 6 siege was peaceful or staged by antifa, new poll finds. Only 3 in 10 Republicans say Donald Trump was "somewhat responsible" for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol What percentage of Republicans believe the Jan. Capitol siege was either a peaceful demonstration or led by antifa, nearly three months after the riot? A jarring new poll conducted by Reuters and Ipsos, published on Monday, found that "about half of Republicans believe the siege was largely a non-violent protest or was the handiwork of left-wing activists 'trying to make Trump look bad.'" Although there is considerable evidence to support the fact that proud pro-Trump vigilantes were seen around the Capitol building in large numbers on that dark day in Washington, many Republicans appear to have created an alternative reality, or simply haven't registered the corrections issued by conservative media. A few days following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, one dubious report from the Washington Times was widely circulated in right-wing circles, claiming that "Antifa members" were identified in the crowd. The Times later retracted that article in its entirety, after Mediaite reported that the outlet made silent changes to the story in the dead of night. The story stoked innumerable false claims in conservative Twitter circles, which widely spread the discredited notion that antifa was behind the Jan. 6 riot. As for the new poll, the results are startling, even beyond the headline news that most Republican voters believe the siege was the fault of leftists or was entirely "non-violent." Half of Republicans think Jan. 6 siege was peaceful or staged by antifa, new poll finds | Salon.com

Reported on CBC news this morning that there are two massive outbreaks in the Calgary area yesterday related to two workplaces, but the frightening thing is that 46%- almost half of the new cases are variants. The epidemiologist interviewed said that Alberta is on the verge of a full-blown crisis and that (provincial) government inaction was mostly to blame,

Republicans dupe their low-information voters again — this time on the Capitol siege Donald Trump's rabid base of GOP voters continue to consumes disinformation at a voracious pace. Not only do six in 10 Republicans believe the election was "stolen" from Trump, according to new Reuters polling, about half either believe the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol attack was largely peaceful or was staged by left-leaning activists "trying to make Trump look bad." Sure, Trump supporters in para-military gear waving Trump flags and donning an endless amount of Trump paraphernalia literally climbed the walls of the Capitol in an assault that left five dead and injured more than a hundred police officers. But was it really that violent? And hey, it's not like Trump ever promoted violence at his rallies. So it all seem very dubious, no? Just last week, Trump told Fox News that the Capitol siege posed "zero threat" to U.S. lawmakers working to certify the election results that day. Meanwhile, GOP senators like Ron Johnson of Wisconsin are busy selling the notion that Trump supporters wouldn't hurt a fly but Black Lives Matter protesters are where the real danger lies because, well, the obvious—the Trump supporters are overwhelmingly white. No small bit of racism there. Obviously, the GOP can just get away with this stuff because Republican voters insist on continuing to be the most gullible group of lemmings known to man. Republicans dupe their low-information voters again — this time on the Capitol siege - Alternet.org

Inflammation? Fever? What to expect after your second COVID-19 vaccine shot A doctor answers your common questions on side effects and fatigue Every day, millions of people are getting the COVID-19 vaccine. And as more shots end up in more arms, more questions arise—especially for the two-shot vaccines, which are still the majority of the vaccines distributed. Anecdotally, many of the vaccinated report fatigue or even faint fevers after receiving their second shot. Indeed, while it is certainly possible to experience side effects after dose one, there's a higher frequency of side effects after the second dose, according to clinical trial data for both vaccines. The vaccines that require two shots are the two from Pfizer and Moderna, which are both approved in the United States and are both made using messenger RNA, or mRNA. This mRNA technology delivers the genetic code of one of the virus's proteins to one's cells. The immune system learns recognize the spike protein on the SARS-2 coronavirus and develop antibodies to fight it. While both vaccines use the same technology, there are a few differences between the two. First, the Pfizer vaccine has been authorized for people aged 16 and older; Moderna has been approved for people 18 and older. However, both companies are conducting vaccine trials for those in lower age groups. Second, both vaccines have remarkable efficacy; Pfizer is at 95 percent, and Moderna was 94.1% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 cases. Another major difference is the time between receiving the first and second dose— the second Moderna dose is 28 days. For the Pfizer vaccine, it's 21 days. This is partly because Moderna administers a larger first dose— 100 micrograms. The Pfizer dose contains 30 micrograms of the vaccine. Salon interviewed Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, to answer some of readers' most pressing questions on how to prepare for one's second shot, and what to expect. As always, this interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. Should people take time off of work for a day or two, or let their bosses know that they'll be getting the second dose, in case they're not feeling well? I wouldn't necessarily preemptively take a day off, but I would probably let people know that you're getting a vaccine and just to be a little more understanding and maybe flexible about that, because it's unpredictable. I know people who have had a second dose and had no problems at all. I myself had a second dose and went and worked an overnight shift in the ICU afterwards. I felt a little achy, but it was fine. And then there are other people who have more severe symptoms, so I think it really is variable. I would just let people know that that's what's happening. And have some flexibility built into that. Fatigue is a common side effect. For the Moderna vaccine, the highest rate of fatigue reported were by trial participants 18 to 64 years after the 2nd dose. More than half of Pfizer trial participants reported fatigue after the second dose, too. But people are wondering, how much fatigue should they expect to experience? Is it possible that too much fatigue would be alarming, and someone should call their doctor if they're experiencing it? Some people spend the day in bed, and other people feel tired but they still go about their day. I think it's variable. It's usually just you feel tired, you feel more sleepy than normal, that's basically how most people experience it. It's hard to know exactly how much the fatigue is concerning because it's such a subjective type of complaint, and also depends on your baseline and other medical conditions that you may have. I would say for the 36 or so hours post-vaccine that it's probably normal to feel fatigue after that. If it continues then I think it may be something else unrelated to the vaccine, or something you might need to be formally evaluated for. I don't think there's any hard and fast rule to come up with, because you have to kind of look at each person's baseline and understand where they fit. Are there any side effects people should keep their eye on after the 15 minute observation period is over? The 15 minutes period is meant to screen out people that might have severe allergic reactions. Severe allergic reactions are unlikely to occur after that period of time. You may still have the aches and pains. Some people with the Moderna vaccine get a rash several days later at the injection site. Some people do get those Moderna rashes evaluated by their doctors, but it's not something that requires you to call 911. People have asked if they can take over the counter medicine after they received the vaccine — say, Ibuprofen and Advil. What are your thoughts on that? I took acetaminophen (which is Tylenol) about 12 hours, or maybe 18 hours, after the second dose because of a headache, some muscle aches and pains. I think it's completely fine to do that. There are some theoretical concerns about using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen, naproxen, which brand names are Advil or Motrin or Aleve, because they think it might blunt the immune response. There have been some studies with other vaccines, but I don't know if it's clinically significant. But for people that have that concern, you could take acetaminophen, or Tylenol — it's not an anti-inflammatory drug. Want more health and science stories in your inbox? Subscribe to Salon's weekly newsletter The Vulgar Scientist. What about drinking alcohol? There have been some reports of people in other countries being advised not to drink after receiving the vaccine. I don't think it makes a big clinical difference. The only thing I would say is just be careful with alcohol and then blaming the vaccine for your hangover. You know, or if you get nausea and vomiting or you get a headache because you're hung over. Another side effect is swollen lymph nodes. That's not necessarily just a second dose side effect, that can happen anytime. A lot of these things could happen with either, but yeah, you can get swollen lymph nodes. After a vaccination, that's not uncommon. It happens with other vaccines as well. That's one of the sites of your immune system, where it's housed, so it's not uncommon to see that increased activity of your immune system be correlated with increased lymph node swelling, which is usually transient and goes away just like when you get swollen lymph nodes after a sore throat, for example. When the lymph node swells, the one that swells is closest to where the site of inflammation is in the site of inflammation. The site of inflammation with this vaccine is your deltoid muscle, which is going to drain to your axillary lymph node, so the lymph nodes in your armpits. So those are the ones that you wouldn't you'd maybe see get full in versus the ones in your neck which you get sometimes after, you know, what, when you have strep throat. Some people have wondered, "if I'm not having any side effects is the vaccine working?" You can't make that kind of a claim. In general, when you do have those side effects it is the result of your immune system but the absence of those side effects doesn't mean that you're not getting a take, or we call say "the vaccine is not taking." We can't really say that some people have no symptoms at all with the vaccine and they have a perfectly appropriate response to it, immunologically. Do either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine have more side effects than the other? These weren't studied in head to head trials, so it's very hard to make comparisons.

The concept of "defunding the police" has been deliberately and widely misrepresented. About 80% of the callouts police go to can be better handled by Mobile Crisis Units and are really non-criminal events. The "defunding" movement wants money to go to services that are more effectively handed without police presence. This would free up police resources to handle serious incidents, resulting in better policing and fewer people taken off to jail.

True, but you gotta have a cover story.

Buttigieg is one of the brightest lights in the Democratic party and ought to be a contender for the presidency in time.

Sad as it is for another human being to suffer this fate, it is Darwin's Law in action. As another addict (Robin Williams) said: "cocaine is nature's way of telling you you have too much money". Even sadder is the lionization of these idiots by their young followers.

Par for the course in Cowgary, Alabama. Doesn't matter if people get sick and die, so long as their souls are saved.

Reports out of the States indicate that Gaetz' close friend (Joel Greenberg) is facing 30 charges involving a decade of sexual contacts with minors and is under pressure to flip on Gaetz. Given the severity of the charges facing Greenberg and the potential consequences and the history of pedophiles being eager to save their own butts, it is almost certain that he will turn on Gaetz. Trump could face "legal consequences" for bilking supporters of campaign fundraising – analyst President Donald Trump could face "legal consequences" for fundraising scams that were uncovered by The New York Times. On Saturday, the newspaper published a damning report titled, "How Trump Steered Supporters Into Unwitting Donations." "An investigation from The New York Times reveals Trump's cash-grabbing tactics with donors which the former president's spokesman is not denying. The Times reports Trump's campaign made recurring donations the default, then doubled them in an operation nicknamed the 'money bomb,' unbeknownst to many unsuspecting donors," MSNBC's Alicia Menendez reported Saturday. "One retiree said they withdrew seven times from his account." For analysis, Menendez interviewed Jill Wine-Banks, the former organized crime prosecutor who was an assistant Watergate special prosecutor. "Millions of dollars obtained through these practices," Menendez noted. "While they may be shady, are these tactics illegal?" "They may be legal, you have to be really careful," Wine-Banks replied. "You don't expect a former president of the United States to be using these kind of tactics. This is the kind of thing you expect from, oh, scam artists who sell really low-quality products," she noted. "In this case, what was happening was people would sign up thinking they were donating one time and there would be a little button they didn't see that said make this monthly, make this weekly, and sometimes it changed from monthly to weekly after they had hit it or had entered the one-time donation amount," "I think that that kind of fraud should have political consequences, even if it doesn't have legal. But I think there are legal consequences," she said. "He is facing so many civil and criminal charges right now that he's going crazy trying to defend himself. He needs full-time law firm, not a full-time lawyer, but he needs a full-time firm to handle all of the cases from the varying -- from Georgia, from the Manhattan D.A., from the New York attorney general, from the District of Columbia, from the policemen who have sued," she explained. "The New York courts ruled the defamation case can proceed, which means, by the way, that there will be under oath depositions, the president is going to have to testify, the former president, he has absolutely no way to evade any longer."

Thank you for the condolences, but it was long ago. I am not the same as I was, and perhaps that was why she passed out of my life. All wisdom comes at a price and I am grateful for all she was and brought into my life. She came here to do and learn certain things and when they were done, she moved on.

When I was 30ish, I could look back and see what an idiot I had been. When I was in my 50's, I became aware that I had been stupid in my 30's in so many ways. This means, by implication, I am probably a pompous ass now. My late wife and I used to say that we got married, had kids and then grew up while we were doing all that. L'Chaim.

Everyone screws up now and then. When we are younger, we can delude ourselves into thinking we don't but as we age, the evidence gets pretty hard to ignore.

He should be considered a piece of #2.

Kenny does not want to alienate his base. You could consider that Darwin's theory in action.

Apparently the Trump followers are both depressed and enraged because Trump has not emerged from his Mar-A-Lago tomb after three (or more) days and regained all his former power and glory. They are also feeling that way because of the steady parade of arrests in the Capitol insurrection and no GOP figure has stepped forward with the proof that was promised that would exonerate all the right-wing participants and place the blame on Antifa. I have little doubt that this was the motivating factor in this incident. A futile incident and deaths in a support of a failed movement.

Epidemiologist Who Helped Wipe Out Smallpox Issues Stark Warning About COVID-19 Variants Epidemiologist Dr. Larry Brilliant, best known for his work eradicating smallpox, on Thursday expressed concerns over new coronavirus variants and stressed the need for a backup plan in addition to vaccinations to control the pandemic. “I’m quite worried about the variants. We seem to be getting not only many variants, but variants of concern almost every week,” Brilliant told CNN’s Erin Burnett. Daily new infections in the United States have plateaued at around 60,000, and public health experts warn that a fourth wave of the virus could be about to crash down on the country. A coronavirus strain that originated in South Africa, for example, renders the AstraZeneca vaccine 90% ineffective, Brilliant pointed out. A variant first seen in Brazil can allow reinfection, and one that emerged in the United Kingdom is more transmissible. “I do think we have to have a backup plan in addition to vaccinating everybody as fast as we can,” said Brilliant. “I think we have to get really much better at outbreak containment, detecting of diseases, finding them, isolating them, and vaccinating them with the vaccine that matches the variant that our genomics tells us they have.” Burnett asked if vaccine booster shots being developed against the variants would be enough. “I think it could be that the booster does it,” Brilliant replied. “I’m hopeful that there’ll be boosters that vaccinate us and immunize us for everything since the last vaccine we had. But, in addition, we will have dozens of vaccines and some will match better against certain variants.”