Not so funny real life Capt Trips thread

[The Sybian]

That reminds me of a quote by Neil DeGrasse Tyson which noted that the vast majority of Covid deaths are among likely Republican voters. I wonder if that will be borne out in future elections.

Maybe that will put a dent in the gerrymandering and voter suppression. I am extremely pessimistic about the midterms.

[Johnnie]

That reminds me of a quote by Neil DeGrasse Tyson which noted that the vast majority of Covid deaths are among likely Republican voters. I wonder if that will be borne out in future elections.

Maybe that will put a dent in the gerrymandering and voter suppression. I am extremely pessimistic about the midterms.

I'd love to believe that this would happen, but if Virginia is any indicator, Democrats will do nothing, trip on their dicks, blame progressives for not bending the knee completely to the 'moderate,' and then silently shrug that they have to wear the gimp suit under Republican rule.

Rich democrats would rather a Republican be in power than cede any modicum of fairness to the rest of the proletariat. Look at Pelosi and her response to Congressional stock ownership. She's worth 9 figures. A better government puts people like her in their place. That's why Trump will get off scot-free. Putting him in jail would open the door to actual justice.

[Johnnie]

IMG_20220110_194804_199.jpg (63.63 KiB) Viewed 665 times

[degenerasian]

That reminds me of a quote by Neil DeGrasse Tyson which noted that the vast majority of Covid deaths are among likely Republican voters. I wonder if that will be borne out in future elections.

Maybe that will put a dent in the gerrymandering and voter suppression. I am extremely pessimistic about the midterms.

I'd love to believe that this would happen, but if Virginia is any indicator, Democrats will do nothing, trip on their dicks, blame progressives for not bending the knee completely to the 'moderate,' and then silently shrug that they have to wear the gimp suit under Republican rule.

Rich democrats would rather a Republican be in power than cede any modicum of fairness to the rest of the proletariat. Look at Pelosi and her response to Congressional stock ownership. She's worth 9 figures. A better government puts people like her in their place. That's why Trump will get off scot-free. Putting him in jail would open the door to actual justice.

How is Pelosi, just a member of Congress, worth 9 figures, that's insane. What her actual salary? 200k? And she not even a Republican.

[sancarlos]

How is Pelosi, just a member of Congress, worth 9 figures, that's insane. What her actual salary? 200k? And she not even a Republican.

Her husband is a big venture capital guy. (Probably helped by political connections.)

[A_B]

That and books and speaking enagements. Doesn't seem out of the ordinary to me. PLus a big part of everyday expenses are probably paid for so the salary can nearly all go towards savings/net worth.

[Rex]

9 figures seems like a lot though. Maybe she owns a piece of land in San Francisco

[A_B]

I did the math wrong on 9 figures. Was thinking that was just a 10+ millionaire for some reason but I am dumb.

[The Sybian]

9 figures seems like a lot though. Maybe she owns a piece of land in San Francisco

Her husband is an investment banker, so not crazy at all. What is crazy, is not requiring the President or Members of Congress to place all of their investments into a blind trust. Every President prior to Trump did this, or sold their peanut farm to ensure they wouldn't advance policies to benefit their investments. A few weeks prior to the pandemic, Senator Richard Burr left a briefing on the economic shitstorm to follow. He immediately made a call to his brother-in-law and his stockbroker. Within minutes, both he and his brother-in-law sold everything, just days before the stocks tanked. It's disgusting that nothing happened. Sure, there was an SEC investigation, but these fucks are above the law. Pelosi has always claimed she is walled off from her husband's investing, but you can't tell me they don't talk. That's the shit Trump pulled when he refused to place his investments in a blind trust. He said Junior would run the business and he wouldn't talk to Junior, then a week into his Presidency he openly invited Junior into Presidential meetings directly involving their properties (forget specifically, maybe the Scottish golf courses) and Ivanka had a WH office while also operating the family business.

[mister d]

I have not audited any of this, nor will I or would I know how to, but if its accurate ...

[Giff]

Pitchforks, anyone?

[Rush2112]

Pitchforks, anyone?

Keep it down they'll corner the market.

[A_B]

Pitchforks, anyone?

What are you gonna do, storm congress?

[mister d]

Pitchforks, anyone?

I give Congress the rare 0.0.

[The Sybian]

Am I misunderstanding, or does that imply almost 500 members of Congress' investments did worse than the S&P? I would think in any group of 535 investors a percentage are going to beat the S&P. I'm also leery of any bar graph that doesn't have any unit of measurement. I'm all for regulations and have no doubt numerous Members of Congress are trading on inside information, but this chart is really useless and says nothing.


ETA: After 5 minutes of research, beating the S&P is more difficult than I thought. Only 33% of managed equity funds beat the S&P last year, so that does take skill and knowledge. OTOH, could a Congressman invest with a great manager who does well? I am not doubting illegal trading is going on, and I'd love to see it prosecuted, but I also don't think any one Congressman beating the S&P is proof of fraud. Take a random sampling of any wealthy investors, and I'm sure some will beat the S&P.

[P.D.X.]

And really did they do better than civilians in the same income brackets?

[Johnnie]

Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into the Politics pt 2 thread with that jab (lolz) at Pelosi.

[A_B]

I went to my first COVID funeral over the weekend. Dad of one of oldest's best friends in high school (like, one was at the others house in some fashion every weekend for nearly 4 years). We didn't know the father very well, however.

Me and the family were masked up but I was truly shocked at how few other people were. It was fairly crowded, too. I didn't feel very comfortable at all.

[The Sybian]

I went to my first COVID funeral over the weekend. Dad of one of oldest's best friends in high school (like, one was at the others house in some fashion every weekend for nearly 4 years). We didn't know the father very well, however.

Me and the family were masked up but I was truly shocked at how few other people were. It was fairly crowded, too. I didn't feel very comfortable at all.

Can you have a starker reminder of the dangers of gathering in public than sitting at a funeral for someone who died of COVID? Have they learned nothing? Sorry for the family and all, don't mean to make light of their loss, but I don't get people.

[The Sybian]

Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into the Politics pt 2 thread with that jab (lolz) at Pelosi.

I'm not an expert, but this seems like a pointless vaccine and something the anti-vaxxers are going to jump all over. It seems the current vaccine doesn't stop infection of Omicron, but provides protection from severe symptoms, so if you are fully vaxx'd, seems pointless, and if you aren't vaxx'd yet, you aren't getting a vaccine specific to the least dangerous variant to date. I can see this as a rally cry to "prove" Pfizer is just out to maximize profits.

[Johnnie]

I agree with you. There's always money to be made during a crisis.

[mister d]

And really did they do better than civilians in the same income brackets?

I'm not sure this matters if they have access to information civilians in the same income brackets don't, right?

[P.D.X.]

And really did they do better than civilians in the same income brackets?

I'm not sure this matters if they have access to information civilians in the same income brackets don't, right?

The question though is to the degree that being in congress helps their investments. Wouldn't the best way to determine this is to compare them to similar investors that aren't in congress?

(The graph means to say "congess people get leverage in their investments due to their positions" whereas I suspect that all wealthy ppl have similar leverage by virtue of the resources afforded them simply by being wealthy.)

[Rex]

Insider trading in public stocks is not a great way to make money unless you know about a merger (not likely with these guys) or a drug approval (more likely) or something along those lines.

[degenerasian]

Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into the Politics pt 2 thread with that jab (lolz) at Pelosi.

I'm not an expert, but this seems like a pointless vaccine and something the anti-vaxxers are going to jump all over. It seems the current vaccine doesn't stop infection of Omicron, but provides protection from severe symptoms, so if you are fully vaxx'd, seems pointless, and if you aren't vaxx'd yet, you aren't getting a vaccine specific to the least dangerous variant to date. I can see this as a rally cry to "prove" Pfizer is just out to maximize profits.

There's just not enough information out there. Immunity isn't a binary thing and it's not forever. The idea that you're either protected or not is incorrect. Protection against severe disease still wanes and it is less effective when you encounter a variant that's different from the one that you were immunized against or infected by. So this could be a good thing?

[EnochRoot]

Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into the Politics pt 2 thread with that jab (lolz) at Pelosi.

I'm not an expert, but this seems like a pointless vaccine and something the anti-vaxxers are going to jump all over. It seems the current vaccine doesn't stop infection of Omicron, but provides protection from severe symptoms, so if you are fully vaxx'd, seems pointless, and if you aren't vaxx'd yet, you aren't getting a vaccine specific to the least dangerous variant to date. I can see this as a rally cry to "prove" Pfizer is just out to maximize profits.

Set aside the folly of trying to mitigate the risk of how the crazies might perceive this (their rallying cry is now “dying with covid” rather than “dying of covid”), but why do you think we are ever fully vaxx’d? We are vaxx’d to a point in time. It’s always been that way.

[The Sybian]

Set aside the folly of trying to mitigate the risk of how the crazies might perceive this (their rallying cry is now “dying with covid” rather than “dying of covid”), but why do you think we are ever fully vaxx’d? We are vaxx’d to a point in time. It’s always been that way.

I realized "fully vaxx'd" is a moving target. For now, I define it as either receiving your second dose less than 5 months ago, or having 2 doses and a booster.

There's just not enough information out there. Immunity isn't a binary thing and it's not forever. The idea that you're either protected or not is incorrect. Protection against severe disease still wanes and it is less effective when you encounter a variant that's different from the one that you were immunized against or infected by. So this could be a good thing?

Completely agree it's not binary or forever. I'm just talking about the timing of the Omicron vaccine and protection against Omicron. It appears the current vaccines don't fully immunize from Omicron, but it provides some protection from worse symptoms and reduces likelihood of hospitalization. IMO, it's not worth getting an additional Omicron vaccine in March (I think spread of Omicron will be very limited in the US by March anyways) if you already have 2 doses and a booster. This may prove useful if they can very quickly churn out new vaccines for potential new variants that are more resistant to previous vaccines or more deadly.

[degenerasian]

Set aside the folly of trying to mitigate the risk of how the crazies might perceive this (their rallying cry is now “dying with covid” rather than “dying of covid”), but why do you think we are ever fully vaxx’d? We are vaxx’d to a point in time. It’s always been that way.

I realized "fully vaxx'd" is a moving target. For now, I define it as either receiving your second dose less than 5 months ago, or having 2 doses and a booster.

There's just not enough information out there. Immunity isn't a binary thing and it's not forever. The idea that you're either protected or not is incorrect. Protection against severe disease still wanes and it is less effective when you encounter a variant that's different from the one that you were immunized against or infected by. So this could be a good thing?

Completely agree it's not binary or forever. I'm just talking about the timing of the Omicron vaccine and protection against Omicron. It appears the current vaccines don't fully immunize from Omicron, but it provides some protection from worse symptoms and reduces likelihood of hospitalization. IMO, it's not worth getting an additional Omicron vaccine in March (I think spread of Omicron will be very limited in the US by March anyways) if you already have 2 doses and a booster. This may prove useful if they can very quickly churn out new vaccines for potential new variants that are more resistant to previous vaccines or more deadly.

For younger healthier people, that makes sense. But there are a lot of older or vulnerable people who currently have pretty short-term immunity against Omicron through a 3rd dose of a less than ideal vaccine. If they can get one that's better suited to Omicron than can generate better and longer-lasting immunity against severe disease, then it makes tons of sense for them to get access to it. Besides, it's not going to be March when these are rolling out to the average person; it'll be more like summer.

[pruitt2]

My brother (60) has it. His only text today was "I am so sick" with a picture of his rapid test result.

He's double vaxxed, unsure of the booster.

[Johnnie]

[mister d]

He actually said "lets go Roger" huh huh huh huh huh huh huh.

[pruitt2]

Just spoke to my sister who works in Senator Hirono's office.

She said that she, her Senator and another staffer were in an elevator with Alaska Senator Sullivan and two of his staffers. His staffers were masked, and Sullivan wasn't, so Senator Hirono said that he clearly had intelligent staffers, just too bad that he wasn't as bright as them.

My sister said that he left the elevator fuming.

That woman is a hardass.

[The Sybian]

When masks first became a thing, I was surprised to find how easy it was to recognize people with their faces half covered. Then on Saturday, while leaving a COVID vaccine site after getting my kids boosted, I failed to recognize a friend I carpooled to preschool with, went to school with from K-12, and even Hebrew School 8 years, which was a class of 8-10 kids. She walked in while I walked out, and she was staring at me like she knew me. I was wracking my brain. She laughed and said, "you don't recognize me, do you." Stared for a few seconds more... nope. She took down the mask, and I can't believe I didn't recognize her. I think she had a ski hat on, too. A bit embarrassing, but nice to catch up.

[A_B]

When masks first became a thing, I was surprised to find how easy it was to recognize people with their faces half covered. Then on Saturday, while leaving a COVID vaccine site after getting my kids boosted, I failed to recognize a friend I carpooled to preschool with, went to school with from K-12, and even Hebrew School 8 years, which was a class of 8-10 kids. She walked in while I walked out, and she was staring at me like she knew me. I was wracking my brain. She laughed and said, "you don't recognize me, do you." Stared for a few seconds more... nope. She took down the mask, and I can't believe I didn't recognize her. I think she had a ski hat on, too. A bit embarrassing, but nice to catch up.

I hope Rass is taking notes for the meet cute part of his holiday movie "An Old Friend Gets Reacquainted with The Sybian."

[mister d]

"I didn't recognize you when I couldn't see your mouth."

[A_B]

"I didn't recognize you when I couldn't see your mouth."

Ooooh, sorry. We were looking for "lips" there.

[mister d]

Some of us extend beyond the lips ; P

[The Sybian]

When masks first became a thing, I was surprised to find how easy it was to recognize people with their faces half covered. Then on Saturday, while leaving a COVID vaccine site after getting my kids boosted, I failed to recognize a friend I carpooled to preschool with, went to school with from K-12, and even Hebrew School 8 years, which was a class of 8-10 kids. She walked in while I walked out, and she was staring at me like she knew me. I was wracking my brain. She laughed and said, "you don't recognize me, do you." Stared for a few seconds more... nope. She took down the mask, and I can't believe I didn't recognize her. I think she had a ski hat on, too. A bit embarrassing, but nice to catch up.

I hope Rass is taking notes for the meet cute part of his holiday movie "An Old Friend Gets Reacquainted with The Sybian."

Hilarious. There must be porn spoofs of Hallmark movies out there. I think we have some good plot for Rass' movie. We were married on the same day and had a number of friends invited to both weddings. Last time I saw her, she and my wife were both pregnant and due around the same time. They got together a couple times during their maternity leaves. Not sure how we write the plot where we leave our spouses and finally get together, but I'll update you guys in a few years when I find out.

[Rush2112]

Guy who I knew in HS passed away last night from COVID after denying COVID and slamming on vaxxed people. Of course his FB is filled with "I don't know how it happened???!!!?"

Sigh.

[The Sybian]

Guy who I knew in HS passed away last night from COVID after denying COVID and slamming on vaxxed people. Of course his FB is filled with "I don't know how it happened???!!!?"

Sigh.

You should reply with "I can't believe it didn't happen sooner."