NeuroTypical

Hey, I'm totally fine with news sources that are open and transparent about their bias. Problem comes when people don't think they have bias, or pretend they don't. Anyone else ever listen to AM Radio guy Hugh Hewitt? Lawyer, professor, inside beltway government experience, with a talk radio show on the side. He used to do a bit on his show where he'd interview a left-leaning journalist/columnist/broadcaster/etc. It was fascinating to hear their opinions on bias in media. The average opinion from these folks are "there's no bias in media - there are just occasional bad actors out there producing propaganda (like Fox)". Hugh would ask them if they thought they were lefties or liberals - most would refuse to answer, claiming to be unbiased and the answer didn't matter. Hugh would ask questions like "do you own a gun?" and "are you in favor of expanding abortion rights?" You could hear people squirm. Eventually, word got out at what an interview with Hugh would be like, and people stopped appearing on his show. So he had to dump that bit. His analogies have stuck with me over the years: "You're like a coal miner with no canary - you don't know that you're sick." "When I play golf, I take wind into account, and aim into the wind. I'm not opposed to you being biased, I just want you to admit which way you make the wind blow. So people looking for truth know how to interpret what you are saying."

After reading this thread and a few others like it, I think I'm sure what to believe. Every time someone interacts with ChatGPT, someone's copy of the BoM has the page containing D&C88:118 burst into flames.

Asking it about transgender issues is a fun exercise in finding out what it's allowed to say, and what it won't talk about. If you ask it to write a paragraph about detransitioners or the gender critical theory, it will refuse. But when I asked it to write a paragraph about transgendered children, I got some sanity:

Hi and welcome. There's some wise advice I've heard: When people tell you/show you who they are, believe them. Sounds like your BF is being honest. So you can believe him when he tells you and shows you he's not temple sealing material. Sounds like you've got a choice to make. Either break up and find someone with a compatible view of faith/religion/church/the eternities, or marry him and give up on yours. That means the probability that any kids will be raised outside the church. People who don't feel welcome in the church, probably won't want their kids going.

Hi Traveler, I'd like to keep this thread related to covid and the covid vaccines. If you wish to talk about gene therapy, please start a new thread, so as to not muddle that topic with this one. Since they have nothing to do with each other. Because: https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-covid-vaccines-gene-therapy-806280914802 https://www.goodrx.com/health-topic/vaccines/are-mrna-vaccines-gene-therapy https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34271959/ https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-covid-mrna-gene-idUSL1N2PH16N

Whelp, one thing I'm learning, is that the topic is still a sore spot for many, emotions continue to run high, and folks who see things differently continue to find ways to make it personal. (Not talking about you Carb.)

I just like to point out at times like these, that I participated in the phase III trial for Moderna. Phase 1 was (I believe) done on animals. Phase 2 was done on the healthy fit young humans - tens of thousands of volunteers got the shots (of varying volume, or placebos), and studied for a while. Phase 3 was done on the general public - including old people, people with other health issues, even people with COVID co-morbidities. Again, me and 30,000 other volunteers, of varying ages and health, got shots (or placebos), and then had recurring blood tests, and every cough and hiccup reported and studied. Pregnant or nursing women were excluded, and no testing on kiddos until March '21. My first shot was in August 2020. December 2020 had the FDA concluding things about safety and effectiveness. Canada, Israel, Singapore, then the WHO, Japan, India, Malaysia, Europe, Australia all approved things shortly after. 99% of the organizations and nations who studied the thing, all agreed with the approval and release. They released it to the public in December. Since supplies were limited, they started with our elders in nursing homes - those at highest risk. These folks accounted for like 80% of the covid deaths, so they got shots first. This is what "rushed through testing" looks like. 5-6 months of testing and data gathering on 30k volunteers. And yes, the word "rushed" applies - usually it takes years. Anyway, perspective is important. It's good to understand what "rushed through testing" looks like. Carry on folks.

BECOME UNGOVERNABLE!!!

No, and no. Here's the form: https://portals.veracross.com/catlin/form/inquiry/inquiry?confirmed=true Here's the school website: https://www.catlin.edu/admission/apply-to-catlin-gabel It's a grade 9-12 private school in Portland Oregon.

I remember that! https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=121856&page=1

If Putin was on that helicopter, and someone voices the outlandish notion that the Russians themselves may have done it, those people are obviously crazy. Don't listen to Ruslan Alikhadzhiyev, Dzhokhar Dudayev, Aslan Maskhadov, Abdul-Halim Sadulayev, Arbi Barayev, Turpal-Ali Atgeriyev, Ruslan Gelayev, Akhmed Avdorkhanov, Vakha Arsanov, Supyan Abdullayev, Dokka Umarov, Aliaskhab Kebekov, Magomed Suleimanov, Zalim Shebzukhov, Rasul Makasharipov, Rappani Khalilov, Abdul Madzhid, Omar Sheikhulayev, Umalat Magomedov, Magomed Vagabov, Israpil Velijanov, Ibragimkhalil Daudov, Rustam Asildarov, Said Kharakansky, Muslim Atayev, Anzor Astemirov, Asker Dzhappuyev, Alim Zankishiev, Khuseyn Gakayev, Dzhamaleyl Mutaliyev, Arthur Getagazhev, Fyodor Kokoshkin, Nicholas II, Sergey Kirov, and Sultan Ibraimov. They're all lying.

Such a negative word. So much better to be a secan.

Video on how the earthquake-proofing will work. Dang amazing. If (when) there's a big earthquake, the temple will basically sit still while the earth moves around it.

When I was in my Moderna phase III trial program, I was required to submit every health thing that happened to me, to the study. If I had died and they found what that youtube guy showed, Moderna would have the data. Abso-friggin-lutely was everything being looked at. It would be insane to not look, or ignore results they didn't like. Can you guess why?

It's a good and relevant question Gator. We homeschooled our kids up through high school. I met hundreds of homeschooling parents, maybe a thousand. I never met a single one who thought they knew everything necessary. Much effort in finding good curricula, homeschooling clubs and co-ops. I stink at math, my wife said "I can get them through algebra, then we'll need to figure something out." We figured something out. When it came to teaching stuff, we got a curricula. We taught from the book. I would read next day's lesson, and 90% of was new to me. Then I taught it the next day. That's a big part of homeschooling life - staying one lesson ahead of the kiddo. Lots and lots and lots and lots of questions were answered with "I don't have the faintest clue - lets find out together". There were co-ops and homeschool clubs. Someone knew chemistry, someone knew math, someone knew music, anyone can teach history. Now, a truthful answer to your question has to account for the existence of some parents who screw up their kids. Parents who never join any co-ops, who I never met, because they were off in their secluded house with tinfoil over the windows to keep the bad thoughts out. We know parents like this exist. But those parents exist both in homeschooling and public school settings. You might think public school is a way to catch the bad parents, and that's sometimes true, but each state also has homeschooling standards. Colorado has parents either periodically submit standardized test scores, or have their kids evaluated by a "qualified person" at grades 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. We went the 'qualified person' route, and had our kids evaluated by someone with a masters degree in special ed, CO teaching license, 20 years teaching experience, and 7 years experience giving evaluations. You don't turn in your paperwork, the state comes a'knocking. They never showed up at our door, because we exceeded CO homeschooling requirements.

Anecdotes, rumors, theories, and vague passive voice opining do not make for a noticeable jump in mysterious deaths. I mean yes, we know quite a bit about excess deaths over and above what used to be a normal run-rate, starting in 2020. The CDC even has stuff on their website about it. A crapton of suicides, homicides, heart disease related things, fatal diseases, as well as domestic abuse and alcoholism and drug abuse, and depression and anxiety. Seems likely a lot of that is due to lockdowns and quarantines, social isolation, and delays in medical care. But hey, maybe vaccines make you drink and beat your wife more. "The theory has been floated", but "it continues to be blown off as a conspiracy theory." See how crazy that sounds? The notion that fatal changes to our human condition are not being studied, is just plain old flateartherish nonsense. People must spend energy to remain willfully blind, refusing to accept information, to keep an opinion like that.

Well, y'all'll be happy to know that the preschool teacher from Longmeadow Massachusetts who was filming some of her nude OnlyFans content on school grounds, got fired as soon as they found out. But y'all'll be less happy to hear that a school district in Bakersfield CA has a policy of hiding a student's transition to another gender from their parents. Daycare in North Carolina using a doll to teach nonbinary gender identities to 4-5 year olds. Central Bucks School District in Doyelstown, PA sponsored a "queer prom" for kids as young as 13. A member of the school board, and a democrat state senator is listed as sponsor. Every kid got a gift bag with a condom, lube, and info from Planned Parenthood. (I'm not gonna link the video. You can PM me your email address if you'd like a link.) These are just news stories from this week. They just keep coming and coming.

Canadian red is more the color of maple syrup, anyway. Wake me up when Quebec actually secedes. 😊

With over 13 billion shots given to almost 70% of all the humans on earth, and no real noticible jump in "mysterious deaths" it's pretty difficult to blame mysterious deaths on the vaccine. Claiming otherwise is basically a statement that someone doesn't understand math or statistics or science. As far as serious medical conditions, there'll have to be some long-term studies before we can prove or disprove much about the impact the vaccine had on us, good or bad. Preliminary statistics gathering say it was partially effective, saved lives, and reduced severity of the disease for most. "Long covid" is a giant question mark. Did getting the shot help? Did some of the emergency-use anivirals like Paxlovid help or hurt? But yeah, as far as Trudeau goes, 2023 is much different than a few years ago for him. Lots and lots of reasons why people are angry with the Canadian govt for lots and lots of different reasons.

Oh wow. I'm happy to see this happening. I hope it becomes a thing and spreads across the nation. Competition makes things better. Schools should live in a world where if they don't provide a wanted service and someone else does, that school won't be having the students or money. And if folks are passing out at the big amount vouchered to homeschoolers, a good reaction is to understand that's based on what the citizenry gets taxed per child. it should be an eye opening moment.

Oh wow. Since 2020, folks have been arguing about how we gather and interpret COVID death numbers. Folks on the conservative/right have long claimed we overcounted and over reported deaths from COVID. The accusation: When someone has COVID, but dies of something else, like a car crash or cancer, the death certificate might list COVID as one of the causes of death. The freedom loving conservatives cared, because if you overstate COVID deaths, you can make the problem seem worse than it actually is. And then you feel justified in supporting more restrictive government control and public health policy, than is actually warranted. The center left pushed back, saying our resistance to lockdowns and distancing and mark mandated and vaccine mandates, was based on delusions and conspiracy theories, and the right’s ideas would kill children and old people. Well, it looks like the center left is now coming to grips that the right has a valid point. Here’s Lena Wen in the Washington Post, highly respected great holy bastion of liberal thought, finally saying the same thing the right has been saying for 3 years: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/13/covid-pandemic-deaths-hospitalizations-overcounting/

Heh. Nothing biased, agenda-driven, or context-lacking in your post JohnsonJones. No, not at all. Let's produce a bit of data, and see what phrases like "much more likely to die" and "far more percentage wise" means to you: Yeah, the US, with it's 2nd amendment and private gun-ownership that about doubles all the rest of the 1st world put together, has slightly more per capita police shootings than the other 1st world countries. At least, the reporting ones - please note that Italy, Spain, Barcelona, Russia, Austria, the Chech Republic, Greece, Turkey, China, South Korea, and others don't report data, so we can't be sure. I don't know about you, but when I view this context, it makes your entire post seem fatally and ludicrously biased. Yeah. The US is an absolute bloodbath compared to civilized places like France and Norway. At least, what, three pixels worth of bloodbath more. It must be all the low-IQ poorly educated apathetic scared cops who sit back content to be such a deadly threat to the citizens they're sworn to protect. 🙄 I mean, yeah, you are couching your floated notions by admitting the possibility that none of the reasons you mention might explain why cops shoot citizens in the US. But you totally miss what seems one of the most obvious notions to float: Armed bad guys trying to kill cops. There. I solved the riddle for you. It's a shame you didn't do even basic "I wonder if I'm being lied to" research before making such an obviously false claim. A couple questions for you: 1- If you had to guess, what would you say are the 7 counties in the US with the highest numbers of police killings? Who's democrat run and who is republican run? Anything interesting or unique about them that might stand out as a reason? 2- If you removed the top 7, what impact do you think that have on our overall country numbers? Dude, it's not even an election year. This blurb literally reads like it's straight out of the standard progressive "lie, polarize, and insult" playbook. I'm surprised you didn't also make it about white privilege.

I'm sorry to hear that. I can understand why someone might feel a little anti-taser after such an association. Like folks who give up driving after witnessing or being involved in an auto accident where someone is killed.

By the way, It's SO NICE to have you back @zil2!