So this is fun. Twitter slaps a disinfo badge on this guy. But who is Marin Kulldorff? Some internet troll? Nah...just an epidemiologist and biostatisician that teaches at Harvard.

What I meant was that excess deaths count number of deaths over the previous year. However, if flu deaths were down massively, then excess deaths should be higher as we had fewer flu deaths so the baseline should be lower.

If it does grow, and odds are it will not in the way you believe, you can claim to be the first person here to have reported other people predicting that.

Cool. What percentage of people in his type of position share his beliefs? Assuming it is low - what is your interpretation of that as you cherry pick the one dude within that field who says what you want to hear? Thanks for reporting what others are saying - you do that job well! You should quote that doctor who talked about alien urine last year or something.

All the best.

Ah yes, one of the authors of the libertarian approach to COVID, the Great Barrington Declaration, written for the think tank The American Institute for Economic Research.

Let's learn a bit about them.

"AIER statements and publications portray the risks of climate change as minor and manageable,[8] with titles such as "What Greta Thunberg Forgets About Climate Change", "The Real Reason Nobody Takes Environmental Activists Seriously" and "Brazilians Should Keep Slashing Their Rainforest".[9][10][11]
The institution has also funded research on the comparative benefits that sweatshopssupplying multinationals bring to the people working in them.[12][13]

COVID-19Edit

AIER issued a statement in October 2020 called the "Great Barrington Declaration" that argued for a herd immunity strategy to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.[14] It was roundly condemned by public health experts.[14][15] Anthony Fauci, the White House's top infectious disease expert, called the declaration "total nonsense" and unscientific.[14] Tyler Cowen, a libertarian economist at George Mason University, wrote that while he sympathizes with a libertarian approach to deal with the pandemic, the declaration was dangerous and misguided.[16]The declaration was also criticized by the Niskanen Center,[17] a formerly libertarian think tank[18] that now calls itself moderate.[19]
AIER paid for ads on Facebook promoting its articles against government social distancingmeasures and mask mandates.[20]
In October 2020, Twitter removed a tweet by White House coronavirus adviser Scott Atlaslinking to an AIER article that argued against the effectiveness of masks.[21]"


For someone soooooo concerned that everybody is on the same team and out to get us, you sure are putting a lot of stock in the word of people who's primary goal is to keep the economy moving over all else, including the death of the planet.

Master,
Was his tweet wrong and should twitter be slapping disinfo notices on Harvard epidemiologists?

Indeed. Nice to agree totally with a Trolley for once.

What's more objecting to 'semantic drift' is in no way defending the people/things being name called with this drift. 'Fascism is a common one, 'paedophilia' is another that crops up a fair bit.

I'll repeat this here, since I think you skipped it on purpose prior not liking what it says, as I think, if I am reading you correctly, your position seems far closer to fascism then the corporate one you are worrying about.

It's not close to fascism at all. I'd just update the 14th amendment a bit to extend the equal protection clause to the unvaccinated. That's the opposite of fascism. It's more freedom.

See Monte's post above. How many of his colleagues agree with the approach he is putting forth?

Based on his challenge to twitter here, I'll guess all of them.

I'd like to point out, by the time it meets you all's definition of fascism, it's going to be too late. Authoritarianship doesn't happen all at once.

I might go further though and then it would then be disingenuous to claim people were free to ignore it. e.g. access to public services, transport, education, care jobs etc could all require vaccination/exempt status. It would be impractical to function without one.

I still have the reservations so I might not support this but it's definitely the way it could go rto avery significant extent. I can't imagine it working in the UK and being restricted just to 'optional' activities.

You tend to be totally wrong on things like this, but if the vast bulk of people in his profession came out and distanced themselves from his belief you could spin that into some conspiracy anyways, especially if someone else said it before you.

Anyways, your cherry picking in this situation was pretty LOL, even for you. Feel free to reply to this with a question if you like, and then get back to work on Portland. After all, its a beautiful day in this neighborhood.

All the best.

This sort of true but the overwhelming majority of the time authoratarianism within a democracy doesn't become fascism. It's like going to war to stop another hitler - you would end up with a lot of uneeded wars to try to stop it being too late. And it's not even at all clear that the attempts make the thing you're trying to stop less likely.

Slippery slopes are a real dynamic phenomena and not to be totally dismissed. But not everythign is a slippery slope with the bottom being the likely destination.

I am not taking a position on whether he or the others in his field are correct.

That said, I do think what he said needs to be couched with a caveat that he should of given and that is appropriate for Twitter to add, just to say 'this view is in dispute', when he did not.

He should mention his view in the majoritarian view and should advise people reaching out to him to consider his view but consult with their own physicians.

Covid is not a static risk.



More young Canadians getting severe COVID-19, being hospitalized: experts

...The new long-range projections, released on Friday, show that the highest incidences of COVID-19 are currently being experienced in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and parts of Ontario, while the overall incidence rates are highest among young adults aged 20 to 39 and have declined among older Canadians....

Slippery slope arguments are problematic as I can theorize in other directs and we end up with a lot of what ifs pointing in every direction.

So for my point I just want to stick to the private businesses.

I want to know if Luckbox agrees his position, if I am reading it correctly, which would be to not allow private companies to regulate their own perception of risk, is closer to fascism than what he purports is risking fascism.

...

...

Yes and yes and you should stop spreading this vaccine truther idiocy.

Anti-vaxxer gonna anti-vaxx.

I don't know much or anything about the guy, other than that he is apparently a Harvard epidemiologist and biostatisician. I don't think he's a vaccine truther, but maybe even Harvard let one slip through the cracks. It can happen.

No private companies should definitely be able to do that. What I'm saying is don't allow them to discriminate on the basis of who has or has not received certain injections.
Florida is doing it, at least when it comes to covid.

The appeal to the extremes argument from the left is getting old. As in, its not the extreme version of x so it's no big deal. **** that. The assault on speech, commerce, press, privacy, truth, science, liberty, etc on the basis of cultural activism is real.

Kinda at least worth pointing out that the fdr/newdeal era--basically accounts for those golden era good old days the conservatives etc all pine for In addition to being a top3 most popular President for like our entire lives.

Yes I agree on slipperly slopes but any plausible one is a genuine objection to getting on the slide. It doesn't have to be inevitable to be a real consideration and any argument that dismisses them completely is wrong.

No. It is a big deal. Its a huge deal. But it isn't fascism and it's unlikely to lead to fascism.

Authoratarianism is also mostly from the right imo but that's another argument.