OT: The Official COVID/Omicron Variant+ thread

[Clyde_Style]

Us been fighting commies the last 300 years to only become one

Tell us where the commies touched you

Karl Marx was their babysitter in the year 1725. Let’s just say the author of the Communist Manifesto was more hands on than the job called for

[Clyde_Style]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/15/health/mrna-vaccine.html?searchResultPosition=1


I read this in the paper Sunday. The print had a better headline: Decades of Discovery Before Sprint to Vaccine.

I never knew the vaccine was an accumulation of a bunch of different studies in different fields, including research on a cure for AIDS, and spanned so many years. I wish I had understood this while anti-vaccine friends told me they don’t trust how quickley the vaccine developed.

NYT might still give 5 free articles a month. Interesting info that I will try to summarize:

1. Discovery of mRNA 60-years ago. A genetic molecule that helps cells make protein. Decades later scientist pursue using mRNA to make tiny pieces of viruses that strengthen the immune system.

2. Meanwhile, gene therapy biotech look for a way to protect fragile molecules and safely deliver to human cells

3. 1996 USA. AIDS has killed 350,000 Americans and 6 million people worldwide. Bill Clinton invites crazed Aunts arch nemesis, Anthony Fauci, for a briefing. Clinton said to Fauci “you’ve known about AIDS since 1981 how come there is no vaccine yet.” Fauci says efforts are unorganized, pitches a research lab, and Clinton agrees. The Vaccine Research Center in Maryland is born.

4. They detail atomic structure of a HIV spike that allows it shape shift and spread to more human cells. They look for parts of the spike the immune system best recognizes and can block. Try to recreate it. The research failed to find a vaccination for HIV.

5. HIV cells rapidly change. In 2008, a scientist decided to take the research to a more manageable virus. Teams with a scientist working on HIV and a respiratory illness called R.S.V.. they research a protein that helps viruses merge with cells and learn how to contain it.

6. Flashback to 1950, mRNA molecule is known to help make protein but they don’t know how the genetic code finds the cell database. In 1960, scientists figure out the messenger is a molecule called X. pronounced Eeks because these scientist were from Fournier’s homeland.

7. X carries copies of the DNA code to ribosomes, cell components that read code and pump the decoded proteins. Molecule messenger RNA. It is difficult to isolate and easily falls apart. The research sits for decades because of this.

8. It is 1998. Up to that point commercial vaccines carried modified viruses or pieces of them to train the immune system to attack it. A Hungarian scientist studying at Penn theorizes mRNA can coerce a cell to create any type of protein, insulin to the spike of a virus, as long as they know it’s genetic code. She teams with a PENN virologist and they feel they're on to something. mRNA vaccines could carry instructions that teach body cells to pump their own viral proteins. This could better mimic a real infection and prompt the immune system to build stronger defense.

9. Eventually mRNA becomes easier to isolate but is making test rats sick. The immune system sees mRNA as an evading pathogen. The rats become ill and the mRNA destroyed.

10. They discover cells protect their own mRNA with a chemical modification. They tried making the same modification to the mRNA before injecting it into cells. It worked. They successfully got cells to accept mRNA. *I would like to learn more about the chemical modification.

11. Drs Kariko and Weissman knew the molecules must be shielded in the bloodstream to prevent degradation and work as a vaccine.

12. Team in Vancouver, led by Dr Culliss studies biological membranes. The outer layer of fat, called lipids, encases trillions of cells. They want to create their own lipids to encase drugs and genetic material to transport to cells.


13. The test fat was way bigger then body cells and some of the man made lipids had electric charges with a form of toxicity that ripped cell membranes apart. They found a way to manipulate the positive charge to disappear once injected into the bloodstream. *reasonable to have questions about this

14. Kariko and Weismann hear about this but are the midst of business disputes with each other. Cullis reluctantly agreed to allow vaccine creators to use the lipids. They encase vaccines but still nobody knows the precise genetic code needed for a MERS vaccine.

15. The team from 5 at the Vaccine Research Center are focused on coronavirus in 2013 with MERS and SARS and HBU1 before it. MERS spiked a lot like HIV meaning it shape shifts and is difficult to isolate and harder to find an effective vaccine. So they looked at electron images of frozen HBU1 proteins. The first time seeing a coronavirus before it latched onto cells.

16. Loose joints are identified and two stiff amino acids are inserted in this model. The entire thing became more rigid. MERS disappears before they could use the info and the entire thing was buried in a 2017 patent filing.

17. Covid-19 entered the world. The same type of pathogen. Decades of work provided a framework for effective covid vaccines.

Its amazing how scientist remain persistent. They have theories and convictions that take years to prove. More years to see real life application. Some don't see any recognition. Kind of like Knicks fans.

Also I see how my parent's kind of rich friend got his theory that Covid was Fauci's next hit job after inventing AIDS and SARS to get wealthy. It's a lazy interpretation of details that strokes ego and sells humanity short. Amazing things and good people are possible.

I am not a scientist or virologist or anything close. I sell IT for a living. Just a dude with the Sunday paper and a highlighter. Much of the points are direct from passages in the article. This summary was longer than I anticipated.

Thank man, I appreciate that. I read it. It felt like a mystery novel unfolding. When I got to the lipids I said oh that’s cool.

It does underline how intricate reality is. Conspiracy nutz will always find a way to fit the narrative to match their targets.

[Jethrobodine123]

I’m hearing rumblings about Biden taking us to war against Russia over Ukraine. WTF? Anyone have more info?

I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it is a seriously chitty situation for Biden to be in after Trump destabilized America’s role in NATO and undermined our presence in Europe to appease Putin. When you say go to war there can’t be a unilateral action by the U.S. against Russia. It will still have to involve NATO.

Putin is taking advantage of what's going on politically in the U.S. and he's doing everything he can to hurt Biden. He wants his lackey back in the Whitehouse.

J

[Clyde_Style]

I’m hearing rumblings about Biden taking us to war against Russia over Ukraine. WTF? Anyone have more info?

I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it is a seriously chitty situation for Biden to be in after Trump destabilized America’s role in NATO and undermined our presence in Europe to appease Putin. When you say go to war there can’t be a unilateral action by the U.S. against Russia. It will still have to involve NATO.

Putin is taking advantage of what's going on politically in the U.S. and he's doing everything he can to hurt Biden. He wants his lackey back in the Whitehouse.

J

That’s correct. Putin will move on Ukraine because it would be an unpopular move for Biden to get involved.

Trump is not running in 2024. That’s the sucker move played by the media because it generates clicks and by Trump because it allows him to keep grifting his remaining followers for “campaign funds”. He’s only interested in raising money for his legal defense. And he was showing signs of senile dementia while still in office. In three years he could be a drooling vegetable, preferably a carrot in an orange jumpsuit.

But Trump was working for Putin. Anyone who still doesn’t understand that is, frankly, an idiot. America is full of them.

[Jethrobodine123]

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/19/politics/supreme-court-trump-white-house-docs/index.html

Supreme Court clears the way for House to get Trump White House documents

This is a big one, they will have access to all those documents and contacts to and from the Whitehouse.

J

It’s big also because SCOTUS is not shielding Trump. He’s on his own now

Trump may be on his own but SCOTUS has now picked up the ball and doing a lot of the dirty work. They don't need Trump anymore to accomplish their goals. Trump served his purpose and now he's expendable. It's that simple.

I've been noticing for a few weeks now that there seems to be rumblings and or the beginning of moving away from Trump from some of the major players associated with the Republican party. There are a lot of people in the party, politicians and big money players, who hate Trump and would like nothing better than to see him gone. Possible that they want to get through the midterms without too much distraction, thinking they have a good shot at winning, but there could be a let's get on the DeSantis bandwagon thereafter.

J

[Lord Commander]

It’s big also because SCOTUS is not shielding Trump. He’s on his own now

Trump may be on his own but SCOTUS has now picked up the ball and doing a lot of the dirty work. They don't need Trump anymore to accomplish their goals. Trump served his purpose and now he's expendable. It's that simple.

I've been noticing for a few weeks now that there seems to be rumblings and or the beginning of moving away from Trump from some of the major players associated with the Republican party. There are a lot of people in the party, politicians and big money players, who hate Trump and would like nothing better than to see him gone. Possible that they want to get through the midterms without too much distraction, thinking they have a good shot at winning, but there could be a let's get on the DeSantis bandwagon thereafter.

J

Jesus...I can't even begin to imagine that moron in office. He might be a bigger idiot than Trump.

[Clyde_Style]

It’s big also because SCOTUS is not shielding Trump. He’s on his own now

Trump may be on his own but SCOTUS has now picked up the ball and doing a lot of the dirty work. They don't need Trump anymore to accomplish their goals. Trump served his purpose and now he's expendable. It's that simple.

I've been noticing for a few weeks now that there seems to be rumblings and or the beginning of moving away from Trump from some of the major players associated with the Republican party. There are a lot of people in the party, politicians and big money players, who hate Trump and would like nothing better than to see him gone. Possible that they want to get through the midterms without too much distraction, thinking they have a good shot at winning, but there could be a let's get on the DeSantis bandwagon thereafter.

J

The GOP is a collection of grifters now and there is no honor among thieves. As long as Trump is a mathematical factor with his base they will play his game. But most of them probably would love nothing more than to see him put away and out of their calculations. That’s why when he does go on trial and convicted you’ll see crocodile tears at first, but once the severity of his crimes become entrenched in the public’s mind many of them will publicly finally wash their hands of him or just take a neutral non-commital position on his crimes in order to still get the votes of those who elevate Trump to martyrdom.

One of the evolutions of the GOP was the use of blackmail. It seemed to go into hyperdrive once Trump secured the nomination in 2016 and all kinds of Republicans who once disparaged Trump in the worst terms became his bitches. He clearly blackmailed Lindsey Graham who underwent a personality transformation like no other. Some of this dovetailed with the Russian influence, i.e. hacking, which was clearly used to benefit Trump at that time.

So it is a combination of factoring in the value of Trump’s base + blackmail in specific instances.

DeSantis is a human cabbage. He’s just as stupid as Trump, but without the pathetic bluster that Trump somehow worked to his advantage (always a mystery to me how anyone found Trump vaguely compelling, but whatever). Trump is warring with DeSantis now because he wants every penny he can raise now, not because he is actually running in 2024.

Roger Stone recently vowed to take down DeSantis. Stone is known as the dirty trickster of the GOP so he could get dirt on DeSantis. Stone is next on deck in the Jan. 6 investigation. He was knee deep in the insurrection plans so he will have to flip on Trump to avoid prison. He used up his get of jail free cards. So he’s threatening DeSantis now as a temporary public show of loyalty to Trump, but it doesn’t mean he won’t flip as he’s a survival oriented sewer rat.

Five years ago I would have said DeSantis getting the GOP nomination would be a gift to the Democrats, but then the public voted for a venal pig like Trump so you can’t write off any joker once they get the nomination. But DeSantis is a fcking idiot. Republicans don’t care so it would be up to the Indy vote then.

[Clyde_Style]

Trump may be on his own but SCOTUS has now picked up the ball and doing a lot of the dirty work. They don't need Trump anymore to accomplish their goals. Trump served his purpose and now he's expendable. It's that simple.

I've been noticing for a few weeks now that there seems to be rumblings and or the beginning of moving away from Trump from some of the major players associated with the Republican party. There are a lot of people in the party, politicians and big money players, who hate Trump and would like nothing better than to see him gone. Possible that they want to get through the midterms without too much distraction, thinking they have a good shot at winning, but there could be a let's get on the DeSantis bandwagon thereafter.

J

Jesus...I can't even begin to imagine that moron in office. He might be a bigger idiot than Trump.

DeSantis is so stupid that at an early covid press conference he put on a mask by turning it sideways and putting the ear loop over his head. He’s dumber than a box of rocks

Watch on YouTube

[Clyde_Style]

Florida elected DeSantis when his primary TV ad was this catastrophe. Yeah, I know

Watch on YouTube

[Jethrobodine123]

I've been noticing for a few weeks now that there seems to be rumblings and or the beginning of moving away from Trump from some of the major players associated with the Republican party. There are a lot of people in the party, politicians and big money players, who hate Trump and would like nothing better than to see him gone. Possible that they want to get through the midterms without too much distraction, thinking they have a good shot at winning, but there could be a let's get on the DeSantis bandwagon thereafter.

J

Jesus...I can't even begin to imagine that moron in office. He might be a bigger idiot than Trump.

DeSantis is so stupid that at an early covid press conference he put on a mask by turning it sideways and putting the ear loop over his head. He’s dumber than a box of rocks

Watch on YouTube

I'm with you there, won't hear me disagree with you. He's an idiot of the first order and lacking any morals, god help us all if he wins the Republican nomination, never mind the presidency. However, it's very possible that he or some other candidate as bad or worse could vie for the Whitehouse in three years, the Republicans showed how low they could go in 2016.

J

[Clyde_Style]

ONLY ONE PERSON SHOWED UP TO THE PRO-TRUMP PROTEST OUTSIDE TWITTER’S SAN FRANCISCO HQ

https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/11/22225721/twitter-protest-san-francisco-trump-stopthesteal-deplatforming

[Clyde_Style]

This is a new detail in the NYS case and it is telling for these reasons:

1) The people working for Trump are negligent, but probably also sloppy and incompetent

2) The courts are not having it

3) Any fears that the Trump mafia can stretch everything out indefinitely and get away with their crimes should be put to bed by now. With this ruling and the SCOTUS ruling yesterday, the courts are showing no tolerance for Trump’s legal delay tactics. They are not working

Buckle Up

Read on Twitter

[RandlesCornrows]

Are people aware we’re literally seconds from world war 3. it’s pretty damn eye opening how much Biden and trump or the US Gov completely isolated and is beginning to turn off EU countries. Esp how much were provoking China and Russia.

[Clyde_Style]

Are people aware we’re literally seconds from world war 3. it’s pretty damn eye opening how much Biden and trump or the US Gov completely isolated and is beginning to turn off EU countries. Esp how much were provoking China and Russia.

You obviously don't know what Trump did to NATO. Equating his actions with Biden is irresponsible

[KnicksGadfly]

Are people aware we’re literally seconds from world war 3. it’s pretty damn eye opening how much Biden and trump or the US Gov completely isolated and is beginning to turn off EU countries. Esp how much were provoking China and Russia.

Trump definitely isolated the States. Biden is better. Hopefully we can reestablish those friendships, but the world is a bit wary, considering that Trump may run again. Truth is, most countries would prefer an international order led by the US rather than China.

As for China and Russia, no, we didn't provoke it. We were going to need to deal with it sooner or later. We were just too optimistic in the 90s about them, and how they would accept democracy and all would be okay. But if you look at countries like Australia, Ukraine, Lithuania, EU, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Canada, UK, etc, you'd know that these countries are all dealing with China/Russia in their own way, and it's not the US provoking them. It was going to happen sooner or later.

You're right that the US cannot go at it alone, and hopefully, it won't.

[Pointgod]

I’m hearing rumblings about Biden taking us to war against Russia over Ukraine. WTF? Anyone have more info?

I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it is a seriously chitty situation for Biden to be in after Trump destabilized America’s role in NATO and undermined our presence in Europe to appease Putin. When you say go to war there can’t be a unilateral action by the U.S. against Russia. It will still have to involve NATO.

Putin is taking advantage of what's going on politically in the U.S. and he's doing everything he can to hurt Biden. He wants his lackey back in the Whitehouse.

J

Facts. Putin’s goal is to destroy NATO. When Trump was in the Whitehouse he alienated NATO and was soft on Putin. Now that Biden’s in the Whitehouse Putin is trying to bait him. Putin doesn’t want a war, but he knows that if he makes Biden look weak, his friends on Fox News and right wing media will do the rest.

[Clyde_Style]

Read on Twitter

[HarthorneWingo]

Excellent speech by Georgia Senator John Ossoff on voting rights. He excoriates Senate Republicans. Ossoff is turning out to be more progressive than his background suggested. I'm impressed.

Edit: Turns out that Ossoff worked on the staff of Rep. John Lewis. Nice.

Watch on YouTube

[Clyde_Style]

Fulton County GA has empaneled a special grand jury to speed up the indictment process. It means they know they will indict for election fraud related issues. The DA met Trump lawyers a month ago so Trump knows how bad this is and he’s flipping out. He’s a moron as usual saying his call to the GA Secy of State Raffensberger was “more perfect” than his call to the Ukraine. The panic is growing

[Clyde_Style]

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/never-piss-off-a-black-woman/43683/

The companies targeted by James include Trump’s golf clubs in Westchester County, NY, Scotland, and his Manhattan properties, Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street. James goes into detail about the falsehoods, including $150,000 initiation fees for memberships in his golf clubs that were never collected, mansions that were never built, and 20,000 square feet in the Trump Tower triplex that does not even exist.

When fraud that brazen is well documented I become less concerned about the prospects of a bad jury member gumming up the verdict.