All_Pro_Bills

So 87% of seniors favor paying less for their prescriptions? Who'd have guessed?

Nor has any vaccine been based on an mRNA Gene Therapy platform before. Something that most scientists and clinicians would categorize as "experimental". And that implies potential unknown risks.

What seems to get lost is the efficacy rate. The clinical trials that provided EUA for the Pfizer vaccine generated an efficacy rate of 95.1%. Last night the ABC news story on the vaccine receiving FDA approval, which was a foregone conclusion, put the number at 91%. That means for every 100 people vaccinated 4.9 or 9 people respectively will be not be protected. That is most likely the population making up the breakthrough cases. And now we know the vaccine loses efficacy over time. And have some hard data on the deterioration rate and time line. That's why the booster shots are needed. While we have data on short-term side effects of getting the shot, some of which have been serious and leading to death, what we still don't know are any long-term side effects of the vaccine. People in high risk health situations for adverse side effects from the vaccine should not be "mandated" to get vaccinated. That is just medically irresponsible and borders on criminal. Unknown long-term side effects is one of the main concerns with the vaccine hesitant and a likely concern in the back of the minds of many, like myself, getting vaccinated too. Will it lead to massive health complications of one kind or another sometime in the future? Or will all be well? Or something in between? We don't know. That's the part that worries me. Nobody has data on the future. Anyone who claims there are no serious and life-threatening long term side effects is stating something as fact that they cannot possible know is true or false. At best its a educated guess based on the information and science available now. At worst its simply a political statement to minimize public concerns and resistance. Anyone saying the risk of the virus causing serious illness is worth the risk of any potential health consequences a year or two from today cannot possibly know that either. There's no information available to make those claims. As it goes, nothing is more frightening than ignorance in action.

And Joe says we might need to extend the deal deadline and the Taliban say "no". So this is likely to get very ugly. Typically when you plan a retreat you want to deploy combat and security forces to guard your withdrawing forces from attack. But not these clowns. They abandon a secure air base, pull out all their military forces, and leave unarmed and vulnerable civilian populations behind. And when realizing how badly they've screwed up resort to a risky strategy of having to re-insert the military back into the conflict. And now the administration finds itself in a position of begging a savage and bloodthirsty medieval enemy for mercy in allowing their people out of the conflict zone. The most embarrassing moment in American history. But no worries some say. Because it wasn't Joe's plan. If anyone wants to use that excuse for total failure I hope it makes them feel better.

A good question. What is the definition of fully vaccinated? Does it mean a two shot dose? Or that with a booster? Or another booster after that? Is there going to be an expiration date on the "fully vaccinated" status of a person based on the medical effectiveness of the vaccine "wearing off"? Questions right now with no answers from anybody running anything.

For the reason they fled, in a procedural move to block legislation from passing, it appears the Governor is intent on arresting them when they return.

This is meant to be satire on the fiasco in Kabul?

Masks or no masks I think one element missing in schools is a program of vigorous testing. There are 'instant" type COVID tests available that could be used on students. Tests that can generate positive/negative results in 15-30 minutes. That could be administered at home before going to school. They're moderately expensive but no more expensive when you weigh the cost of hospitalizations and spreading the infection. I'm not sure why officials and health experts have not pushed this action although one issue is availability and supply of these tests. But that can be resolved by throwing some resources behind producing more. To me it seems like they've dropped the ball on an effective tool.

It is incomprehensible how anyone could believe this administration is doing a good job. Maybe that's just a reflection of the low intelligence and poorly functioning mental processes developed in citizens by school systems that have been destroyed by fringe-left programs? The only thing worse than Ole Joe might be bumping up VP Harris to the top job. If you think its bad now just wait for that to happen. That's when all Hell will break loose.

This is all about the complete incompetence of the current administration. Nobody that's struck in Afghanistan or that has family or friends trapped there gives a flying "F" what Trump did or didn't do or what did and did not happen between 2016 to 2020. Your continuous references to the object of your affection to present false comparisons between administrations don't change anything about the current situation on the ground which is chaos. This disaster is Biden's cross to die on, nobody else's.

You're right. Its a risk vs. risk game. But if you're the Pakistani's do you want to take the chance of saying "No"? And what's the political cost of reeling in the Taliban? Or losing all that aid and seeing your economy decimated over time? My goal is to suggest "an offer you can't refuse" that has costs so extreme it might be impossible to turn down. If they want to negotiate a little so everybody saves face or doesn't get too exposed, then sure we could do that. Maybe some of this is going on behinds the scenes here now. I hope so. But nothings obvious in what information is publicly available right now. But when push comes to shove if you're the 800 lb. Gorilla in the jungle you can't sit around and let the little critters push you around.

I'd like to propose a solution to this problem to the President. I think it will be a quite effective and relatively painless solution. It doesn't require firing a shot, bombing anybody, or causing any harm to any friend or foe on the ground in Afghanistan. All I ask is to put me in charge for 1 hour. That's all I think it will take. And my suggestion just uses a simple tool called root cause analysis. So the Taliban are running around now, harassing and beating people, killing some, keeping others from getting out. All because they insist on following Sharia Law. But my root cause analysis says the problem is Pakistan. They're the people aiding and assisting the Taliban for the 20 year period. Hiding them, giving them aid and assistance. Using their intelligence agency, ISI, against US forces on the ground. And the gall of it all is the US bankrolls the Pakistani military along with lots of civilian and military aid. All this is well known inside our government, the military, and the intelligence agencies. So I'd just get the Pakistani PM on the phone and tell him this crap stops in 30 minute or else. Or else we freeze all military aid Or else we freeze all civilian aid Or else we freeze all your financial accounts including yours personally Or else we block all access to financial trade and reserve settlement transactions Or else we crash your currency on the markets on Monday Or else we confiscate all your commercial and government assets at the Federal Reserve and the commercial banking system. Or else we blockade your ports with our Navy and no ships of any kind get in or out. We want guarantees of safety for all Americans and other foreign nationals and pledges of no harm or retribution to anyone that might have cooperated with us for the 20 year period. And we want all our planes, vehicles, and other equipment left behind. And if we find out any of our terms have been violated your ass his history. Will this work? I think so. All that's missing is the will inside the administration to do this. Problem solved.

I sympathize with our friend Bill. And my post attempting satire was meant to poke fun at the sad state of US customs and immigration policy rather than a derogatory comment on any person or group. The restrictions and rules make little logical sense to me and the "experts" making these decisions appear clueless to reality and unwilling to explain any of the reasoning and inputs they've used to devise their little schemes. One can only assume revealing the truth of their intentions would result in a lot of public pushback? Like keeping Canadian football fans out of the US and prohibiting them from tailgating and Bills home games. But seeming to contradict themselves by eliminating all checks and restrictions elsewhere. My conclusion is they all should be fired for incompetence and negligence but since they are unaccountable government hacks that won't be happening. Oh, and those pizza's sound good.

Can you put your endless holier than thou virtue signalling routine on hold for a few minutes to enjoy a little attempt satire?

You and you're buddies just need to disguise yourselves as COVID-positive Central American transsexual rights activists and US Customs will wave you right through.

All I'm saying is if you agree with that idiot you might want to re-evaluate your standards for evaluating and grading success and competence. Because from where I sit the entire execution (maybe a bad choice of a word here) of this exit strategy/retreat looks like a complete and total disaster of Biblical proportions. It takes an exceptionally high level of incompetence and stupidity to fail this bad. And anyone believing and suggesting this is some kind of success needs to get the loose screws in their head tightened down a couple turns. If Letterman was still on late night TV doing his top 10's this one would positively make the "top ten screw-ups of all time list".

What happens when the Dems run out of excuses to not show ID?

Kate's an idiot. Or if she believes her own bull crap maybe she can get her ass over there and walk some citizens through those Taliban checkpoints? Do you follow every moron and imbecile on Facebook?

Absolutely, something obvious to anyone capable of critical thinking and original thought the day after the election last November. Mental skills that have been banned from the public domain and social media. As unless some 24 year old Silicon Valley "credentialed idiot" censor/fact checker working under the guidance of Dorsey and Zuckerberg on social media approves of your words and thoughts they cannot be considered to be "information".

Oh, absolutely not the end. There must be something here. There evil one must be destroyed and his followers punished. Like Belushi in Animal House. The TDS zealots will say "its not over until we say its over!" Taliban = the American Left.

"Ninety to ninety-five percent of these are one-off cases," said a former senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. "Then you have five percent, maybe, of these militia groups that were more closely organized. But there was no grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and all of these people to storm the Capitol and take hostages." FBI investigators did find that cells of protesters, including followers of the far-right Oath Keepers and Proud Boys groups, had aimed to break into the Capitol. But they found no evidence that the groups had serious plans about what to do if they made it inside, the sources said. Insurrection narrative... Rest In Peace.

The image of people hanging on to departing aircraft and falling to their deaths isn't good optics for one. And if I was stuck there I'd be worried as those savages have no incentive to play nice here as Biden's lack of foresight has left the US in a very weak position.

Yup. The question wasn't "do you support the decision to leave thousands of American citizens and Afghan allies behind to be slaughtered by the Taliban?"

So far the suspect is a "white male shouting anti-government slogans". The provided by a student on her way to a race in politics class near the Library of Congress. So its only a matter of time before all the dots are connected to... you know who inciting violence!

Lordy, lordy. We're still on the first page and you're already changing the topic..