Castanza

Well culture is intertwined to sociology economic conditions so I think it’s relevant. But yes absolutely nothing from this admin. However this admin did not campaign on that either. Perhaps some wise politician will leverage guns and mental healthcare to address universal or a more robust offering in the states. It’s not currently approached from that angle and doesn’t pull from across the aisle.

This is pretty much what 30 years of FBI data suggests…there is something culturally that has changed which makes the US exceptionally “good” at spawning individuals with a desire to do unthinkable things. It’s sad and should be a focal point alongside some legislation considerations. But I’ve said my peace on this topic so…exiting stage left…

@LC Canadian Firearm Homicides rate: 2023= .73 per 100k Even with Bill C-17 in the early 90s can you attribute it all to that? Certainly played a role…but cultures, economics, healthcare etc. all play a role.

I think most people and companies are kind of holding their breath waiting for the next show to drop. IT is in a hiring freeze for sure, along with some other segments. Small businesses definitely seeing pushback on pricing from consumers (but what can they do?) What I notice most though, is almost a complete lack of planning by individuals who have the means to plan ahead to weather any type of storm. Most people over inflate to themselves just how important they are to their company. Most people don’t save nearly enough in emergency funds. Americans in general have been conditioned to live as if the possibility of bad things happening here is just a myth. Overall it definitely just seems “weird” out there…

Lol and now he’s running for mayor

Precautions well outlasted new data that was widely available on a global level for some things. As mentioned before, I think both administrations were outclassed by the problem and as I said anyone would have had a hard time. The point of this discussion was to highlight in part a reason why everyone is so vaccine hesitant TODAY. Probably because of the strong arming that occurred during covid. You reap what you sow to a degree. I am not arguing that precautions were unnecessary. At the end of the day decisions had to be made and I understand that.

Well then take it up with NIH…it’s not my study. And nowhere did I say Tylenol causes autism or that you should not get your covid vaccine…

The covid topic does not exist on this forum anymore. You made the claim that because I did NOT refute something someone may or may not have said I am (in your opinion) in agreement with said statement. Regarding the hindsight....nobody even mentioned covid in context of being similar to the flu. YOU brought this topic up, not Greg, I or LC... It was regarding leaderships response. I said both administrations were outclassed by the issue at hand and did not rise to the occasion. Hence, part of the reason we have a large swath of people who are vaccine hesitant today. You said you were actively discussing the covid topic LC, Greg, and myself were discussing. I pointed out that you did not make any comments at all regarding the topic since it first came up 10 pages ago. Therefore you were NOT involved in the conversation. If you want to engage, then do so...But bringing up out of context, unproven, irrelevant points along with accusations is not the way. Perhaps regarding a specific topic that you did not use any data to support...I have never once bragged about my education on this forum. Not once. In fact I've probably done the opposite. If you would have not commented with some out of context off topic accusation OR instead, chose to contributed to the discussion within context there would have been no issues....instead you did exactly that, were asked to clarify but instead doubled down further moving the conversation off topic... Again....Moving on...I will not respond to this nonsense any further. If you wish to have discussion you can DM me.

Last slug of BRO now at a full position for me.

This whole AI boom has definitely glossed over the complexity of software and how it's implemented alongside infrastructure, third party software etc. I'm definitely not up and up on everything, but I work in the tech field and I do not see many opportunities for a push button replacement. @WayWardCloud, @rogermunibond and a few others are definitely more up to date with this info. Have either of you seen an example of a push button solution at scale?

Please show me another example where I have disparaged anyone on this forum....If you're going to make the claim then at least provide evidence...Perhaps you are thinking of someone else with a purple icon and a C for a starting letter. Again, you continue to insert yourself into conversations you're not providing any insight too...But hey I called you squirt a single time...lock me up! You have no comments regarding covid on any of the prior pages before your interjection and claim of "just another flu." Yet you insist you were "part of the conversation." @LC, @Marco Van Basten @Gregmal and myself were discussing the response to covid by officials... Receipts are all there.... Here is your initial interjection: Nobody claimed this or was even discussing this, yet you interject and make the claim regardless. My Response: Further explanation no derogatory terms used. Your Response: Walking back your comment, and taking a shot without any discussion My Response: Playful banter to your unprovoked jabs along with further explanation saying "if you're not going to engage in discussion then I'm not going to waste my time." Your Response: No discussion and further derogatory jabs MY RESPONSE: BUT THEN YOU KEEP GOING....Bringing up foggy recollections or lack of recollections that someone may or may not have said 5 years ago that have nothing to do with the discussion you claimed you were involved in yet have no input or discussion found in the last 10 pages lol?!?! Enjoy your day Cwericb

You do realize the covid vaccine does not prevent you from spreading covid if you have covid right? It prevents YOU from having severe affects and prolonged illness....You should limit exposure to at risk individuals whether vaccinated or not if you are sick or symptomatic. There are some studies that show that vaccinated individuals have a reduced viral load in a shorter timeframe than say an asymptomatic person, but it seems to be (according to a bunch of NIH studies, MayoClinic, and CDC studies 2023-2025 that it is not a huge difference). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39283431/

Yes and like the Flu it’s likely impossible for covid. As the previous study showed, asymptomatic covid cases likely don’t contribute to the spread of covid-19 any more than people who are vaccinated for covid-19 but also contract the virus. In many cases they contribute less since even with the covid vaccine you can contract covid and exhibit symptoms greater than someone who is asymptomatic. Here is another one for you regarding herd immunity by the Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/herd-immunity-and-coronavirus/art-20486808 @Gregmal

Yes, where you interjected yourself into the conversation with some random “just another flu” comment that nobody had said or was claiming. You implied this was the view of some currently. I’m not sure which “point” you are referring; but I’m assuming it’s the one where I shared an FBI report with 30 years of compiled data and their opinion on the firearm issue? You’re free to agree or disagree with their views. One thing that gets lost in forum format discussions is the context and frame of mind said poster has. Just looking at the last two pages I see multiple responses to points made that do not address the topic in the context that it was said (ex. @Parsad referencing backwards looking vaccine studies with current data in order to address Greg’s comment regarding a parents view of the covid vaccine during 2020) Discussing covid with a 2020 this is what we knew then vs 2025 this is what we know now viewpoint is vastly different. If you do not read the context of the conversation and note this distinction you will likely misunderstand someone’s point.

Do you? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39283431/ Edit: and because you likely didn’t read the conversation in its entirety, I said I’m not against vaccines in any way shape or form. Simply said during the thick of covid some more tact from leadership could have gone a long way with the general population.

That’s not the point Greg is making. At the time there was no clinical data, but we did know that very few kids were having issues with it. Going from memory most were asymptomatic? But we did know people over 50 were dropping like flies. Hindsight is different, but in the thick of it people were frustrated because it seemed like experts were not taking this into account and there were vast differences in opinions regarding children and the covid vaccine among qualified individuals. So instead of addressing it professionally, leadership continued to force their opinion down the throats of the American populace and politicize the topic even further…..this is one action that has lead to hesitancy in today’s world. There was little common sense with how either administration handled the event. Trump not Biden are leaders imo. They were and are outclassed by the position they hold.

Playful banter… @cwericb does not engage in good faith arguments. He interjects into discussions with one liners and then shift the goal posts when his point is addressed. It’s not productive. Moving on …

I’m talking in general terms regarding a wide range of topics and views each side of the political aisle backs. My comment was not covid specific.

Sure thing squirt....there is only a handful of people engaged in this conversation.... I'm not going to sit here and rehash timelines while you throw in comments from the peanut section....we all know the history and timelines....Covid was/is real and was a problem (fact)....but it's undeniable that there were major issues with how the response was handled that contributed to the current vaccine hesitant environment....unknowns or not, the approach was not democratic nor professional. Again, politics was elevated above common sense out of pride...

Who said that? I was one of the first on here saying Covid was something to watch when videos of China fogging entire cities was coming out weeks before it hit in the US. The only revisionist history is people saying Fauci and the CDC had good communication while glossing over the strong arming, and censoring of any other date. You're also messing up timelines as the poor communication continues well into 2021...The were still HEAVILIY pushing narratives that were no longer true. Look how late they were trying to push through vaccinations of young kids when it was well known they were not at risk...

Nothing more true has been said. Well perhaps the big brains should re-think their approach? The reason people are skeptical about everything vaccine related today is because the egg heads in charge of covid response fumbled the ball continuously. The situation was fast changing and would have been difficult for anyone in charge....but instead of addressing the public with common sense or humility, they decided to ban qualified experts on social media, make conflicting statements and take hard stances out of pride and apply dumbass rules like "You can got to a bar but you have to get a drink AND food and not just a drink". They absolutely permanently scared some kids emotionally with how this was handled. I still see some kids wearing mask outside to this day because during the pandemic they ramped the polarization and social anxiety up 1000x and told people if you don't wear an old gym sock on your face or keep 6ft apart you're basically going to die. Absolutely moronic.... It would have been much better if they simple said "This is extremely fast moving complex situation that we do not have all the answers to. Please work with us as we issue new guidelines. We are attempting to get all of the information we can and are coordinating with as many experts and government agencies as possible. We understand that some information/guidelines we are giving now may or may not be relevant in the near future; but we are doing out best to provide the maximum amount of protection to the American people with the information we have."

The science being followed is highly selective on both sides of the aisle…just saying…. But for topic sake 100% agree

It's because we have elevated politics above everything else..It makes people so tribal that common sense get's thrown out the door. I can see not getting the Covid vaccine or Flu vaccine if you're young and healthy. I've never had the flu not have I had a flu shot until this year. Why? Because I have a 2 year old in daycare and the kids nose is running pretty much every other week. Skipping the standard children's immunization schedule is something special....Can't imagine telling my kid they got Hep B and have developed liver disease because I chose not to get them the vaccine as a child.... Excuse me as I go give my son autism ... er I mean Tylenol...

Serious question...What is a reasonable solution to all of this in your opinion? It seems the current political environment only allows for extreme approaches to the issue. Hence we have the masked, unmarked, unbadged ICE agents toeing a very fine Constitutional line and likely crossing it in many cases (Hence the comparison to Brownshirts, Fascists etc....I'd say closer to McCarthyism)....but on the other side of the aisle we had basically zero attempt to mitigate or correct the issue with any form of reasonableness. Slinging feces is fun and all, but you've got to ask....how did we end up here?

GOOGL was a steal at 13x. But the rest of those are either fairly valued, downright expensive or not pure AI plays but beneficiaries. I mean QQQ or the S&P 500 might be the cleanest way to capture AI upside unless we get another GOOGL sell off. Dell could be interesting for a hardware perspective but I haven’t dug in much.