Re: Cool, cool

1

And in case we've all forgotten: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/texas-city-nursing-home-doc-unproven-trump-drug-15270476.php
"Even after deaths and positive tests, Texas City doctor declares victory with Trump-touted drug"

When 83 residents and staff at a Texas City nursing home tested positive for the novel coronavirus in April, Dr. Robin Armstrong rolled the dice.

Armstrong, a politically connected physician and medical director at The Resort at Texas City, obtained supplies of hydroxychloroquine, a drug not approved for treating COVID-19, from the state and immediately began providing the tablets to 38 residents who had tested positive but not yet shown symptoms.


It's morally no worse than experimenting on prisoners. But still, it happened a while ago (april 2020) and everybody just forgot about it.
Posted by: Chetan Murthy | Link to this comment | 08-26-21 7:35 PM
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Actually, I took the research ethics training every other year for twelves years. It is morally worse to experiment in prisoners.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-26-21 7:44 PM
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Something, something, Belmont Report, something, Helsinki, something.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-26-21 7:57 PM
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The Florida numbers are astounding. We're going to pass the U.K. in deaths per capita pretty quickly unless they go back to all using the same toothbrush.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-26-21 8:04 PM
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And the hospitalization and death rates are concentrated in half the population! So it's twice as bad as even the terrible numbers imply! I just can't get over that.


Posted by: heebie | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 3:13 AM
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The article doesn't say whether the prisoners have been vaccinated, or have been given the opportunity to be vaccinated. That'd be the biggest thing to worry about.

I wonder what % of prison/jail doctors are quacks.


Posted by: Yeet the Rich | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 3:21 AM
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Should clearly be struck off. Are doctors in the benighted states licensed by state or federal authorities? Because somebody should see to it that he can't just cross state lines and continue to practice. Finding him a job building roads in an orange suit would be favourite. He can work the same shift as the prison governor who allowed him to do this stuff.


Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 5:49 AM
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I'm not sure how the rules go. Doctors have pretty wide scope to prescribe whatever is approved.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 5:59 AM
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Not that my doctor will let me try ketamine.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 6:01 AM
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Would it be First Amendment-compliant to pass a law against collecting money for spreading COVID disinformation? Call it pandemic fraud or something.

Like, you can't be penalized for saying stuff in person or online, but you can be penalized for running a commercial enterprise. So no speaker's fees. no instructional booklets, etc.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 6:18 AM
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No.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 6:25 AM
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You can do it all at cost if you choose.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 6:59 AM
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Disseminating information in a commercial enterprise is usually called "the press."


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 7:05 AM
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Maybe the First Amendment needs some work.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 7:33 AM
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If it gets it, I wouldn't give you even money betting it would be an improvement.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 7:35 AM
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Doctors treating vulnerable and captive populations have an extraordinary ethical duty to conform to informed consent and standard treatment regimens.


Posted by: (gensym) | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 7:35 AM
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True, better regulation of existing doctors could get us a lot of the way. And stop giving chiropractors, homeopaths, etc. their own official recognition.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 7:37 AM
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15: if it's a constitutional convention representing everyone in the US, by conventional electoral means, I agree. But the big question is who you bring to the table.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 8:15 AM
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If you could control who to bring the table, we would not be fucked right now.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 8:23 AM
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Right now you can't. I think things are getting less and less linear/predictable.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 8:39 AM
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I'm finding all these people who won't get one of the most widely tested and effective vaccines but are instead dosing themselves with horse paste to the extent it's giving them the shits utterly hilarious.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 8:56 AM
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It's kind of sad too tbh. Is there a German word for that?


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 8:57 AM
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21 is the hope for the future.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 9:05 AM
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When you're 20 minutes into your toilet session and you realize you can't smell anything, you might call "rock bottom" and reassess.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 9:42 AM
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They're buying it in insane quantities too:

At Kenai Feed & Supply, a rush on the drug prompted the store to limit sales to one per person "unless we know they have horses or cows," said longtime employee Tara Janik.
People tell her the off-brand use of the drug to treat the virus is "all over Facebook," Janik said. Others try to convince store employees they're buying for their animals, but don't know what they weigh.
Shoppers are buying tremendous amounts at one time.
"One person bought 15 of the tubes of paste for horses," she said. "One tube treats a thousand pounds of horse. So I'm not sure what they plan to do with it."

Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 9:43 AM
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Resell it at a higher price once the shelves empty, I suspect.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 9:52 AM
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The adverse events databases are going to be so lit.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 9:54 AM
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I am kind of curious if we'll end up eliminating a previously undetected level of worm infection is certain populations.


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 10:00 AM
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in certain populations


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 10:00 AM
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Woe unto the Alaskan flatworm-American community, though.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 10:02 AM
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Beat me to it.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 10:02 AM
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22: Selbstzerfleischung.


Posted by: Doug | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 12:35 PM
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28: If only it could cure brainworms.


Posted by: snarkout | Link to this comment | 08-27-21 12:52 PM
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Haha, thanks Doug


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 08-28-21 12:08 AM
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34 was me


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 08-28-21 12:08 AM
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If people, as per 25, are swallowing enough of this stuff to unplug a shire horse, and they don't understand the need to hydrate themselves massively, some of them are going to die. Which I conclude with no pleasure at all, but it may be necessary to restore a measure of sanity to the "debate".


Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 08-28-21 4:53 AM
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I think it's more trying to corner a market for resale, as per 26.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-28-21 7:36 AM
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I'm not sure if the intent is to be anti-anti-vax, but setting Sirhan Sirhan free when he is known to be effective against Robert Kennedys seems too spot-on.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-28-21 9:41 AM
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I thought JFK Jr. was the one certain people needed a vaccine for.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 08-28-21 6:28 PM
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There's a "When Prophecy Fails" to be written about Q yet, but maybe it's too soon to ask them stuff.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-28-21 7:25 PM
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What happens is that they spiritualise it. Q will follow the path of the Millerites and indeed the followers of St Paul, and interpret all the prophecies metaphorically. It has already moved into anti-vax and wellness in a very big way, especially outside the US. The "elite paedophile" conspiracy is flexible enough to adapt to almost any political system. Hell, I am writing about elite paedophilia in the public schools and the Church of England right now, or I would be, if I were not commenting here.


Posted by: NW | Link to this comment | 08-29-21 1:04 AM
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On Covid and whilst I am bashing the NYT, they have an absolute howler of an article asking why Florida is having such a tough time now even though it had a "strong push" on vaccinations. They did in fact get out early on the elderly but the articvle mostly ignores the broader context of Florida/Desantis' approach to vaccinations (and the overall pandemic) and some specific "statistical" issues*. For instance Timothy Burke points out" Florida didn't make a strong push to "vaccinate people," it made a strong push to vaccinate rich white people. When the federal government opened up mass vaccination centers to serve everyone else, DeSantis derisively called them "FEMA camps." And the demographics in Florida mean that when broken out by age group, Florida's vaccination rates are all relatively lower than its overall rate would imply. They do mention the demographics in the article but still write: Exactly why the state has been so hard-hit remains an elusive question.

*Given the large variance by age group in Covid statistics, hospitalization and death rates and vaccination rates has led to several places where Simpson's paradox leads to some real deceptive "stats." This vaccination rate thing is one, but more striking was someone who teased out one of the "OMG Breakthrough cases!" studies (In England I think) to show that a scary % of cases being breakthrough was much less scary when examined by age group; every age group had within it had a much lower breakthough case % than the overall %.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 08-29-21 5:42 AM
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In general Covid stuff, neighbours on our street have a 5-month-old baby with Covid. This is the first time I've heard of it in one so young. Fortunately, at least yesterday the little lad had a nasty cough but wasn't having any problems breathing. Long may he continue thus. But you can't vaccinate babies that age against anything as far as I know, so if it's starting to circulate among infants, that's really bad news. Wear your mask while feeding your babies!


Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 08-29-21 7:15 AM
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43. From the CDC: "At 1 to 2 months old, your baby should receive vaccines to prevent polio, whooping cough, hepatitis B, and five other harmful diseases."


Posted by: DaveLMA | Link to this comment | 08-29-21 7:19 AM
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"DTaP" would be a good name for when a scientist and a rapper have a baby.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-29-21 7:56 AM
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and interpret all the prophecies metaphorically

I think that's right, and I'd take it one step further and say that this isn't even an evolution or a change. The story of Q, from its inception, was figurative language, taken "seriously but not literally" (to coin a phrase).


Posted by: politicalfootball | Link to this comment | 08-30-21 5:32 AM
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42: I generally look for institutional causes for a boneheaded story like that one, but I'm at a loss here. This just reads as rank incompetence to me -- or reckless disregard for the truth.


Posted by: politicalfootball | Link to this comment | 08-30-21 5:44 AM
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47: I look for subconscious bias. I'm instantly like: Why does the author or the editor think DeSantis is a great guy, really, and therefore do a "shrug, who could know?" about every easily knowable bad thing DeSantis has done? I know my bubble is lefty but it's been nonstop criticism/mockery of DeSantis for months, and the case load and deaths are obviously right there to see.


Posted by: chill | Link to this comment | 08-30-21 5:56 AM
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On second reading, I guess you covered that under "reckless disregard for the truth"


Posted by: chill | Link to this comment | 08-30-21 5:56 AM
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Speaking of deaths, I'm trying to stop reading the Herman Cain Awards. It's not good for me.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-30-21 6:01 AM
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48: I, too, was wondering about the influence of the lefty bubble on me. I mean, everybody that me and Pauline Kael know understands how DeSantis has been actively fucking this thing up.


Posted by: politicalfootball | Link to this comment | 08-30-21 6:02 AM
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Only if you value human life.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-30-21 6:09 AM
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50: I don't know if I mentioned it here, but on Cain's web site, the memorial after he died quoted a Bible verse about people getting what they deserve.


Posted by: politicalfootball | Link to this comment | 08-30-21 6:14 AM
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The thing is there's a non-trivial minority that is willing to risk death to prove people like you and me wrong and that this is only partial due to them having a poor understanding of how to assess risk.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-30-21 6:18 AM
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The lead author on the piece in 42 is a Florida-based writer who has generally been a bit soft on DeSantis in several articles. What is noticeable to me in an article like this is the lack of any truly critical voices (contrast with 95% of the quotes on any article on Afghanistan). So you get Mr. DeSantis continues to stay the course, hoping to power through despite the devastating human toll. just hanging out there.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 08-30-21 6:26 AM
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When you're 20 minutes into your toilet session and you realize you can't smell anything, you might call "rock bottom" and reassess.

If Moby and his comments last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was his finest hour." Or at least it cracked me up.


Posted by: DaveLHI | Link to this comment | 08-30-21 2:25 PM
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56:. Yeah, that's some quality potty humor.


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 08-30-21 3:01 PM
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