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The dumbasses are cutting off their noses to spite their faces. This was posted on Reddit. Speaks for so many. Whether or not anyone will listen is something else. My career of treating patients has ended Heavy Content Warning After more than three decades as a physician, the Q maniacs have succeeded in driving me out of providing care to patients. I, like many of my colleagues, am moving into medically-adjacent work, where we can continue to apply our training and decades off knowledge without ever having to come in contact with sick people. I've been able to deal with the years of patients who attended Google Medical School, and the hours wasted explaining things such as why cinnamon cannot be used to treat diabetes, or that garlic and beetroot can't treat HIV. And Lord save me from essential oils. COVID and Q finally proved to be the one of amateur "experts" that was too much for me. The horrific deaths are beyond what you might imagine. They emerge almost unrecognizable to their families. Since June, I have never seen a horrible case of someone who was vaccinated. I have seen people struggling to breathe through lungs that have hardened to near uselessness, begging us in their ignorance to give them the vaccine now. We can tell, almost without fail, which ones will die when they come through the door of the ICU, but we do everything in our power to keep them alive - BIPAP, ECMO, ventilator - knowing we are stretching out the inevitable. We use paralytics with ECMO and ventilators, then ease them off to see if they can function. And as the drugs wane, the look of terror emerges, the tears. We try to calm them, to swallow our desire to scream at them: This is your fault! This didn't have to happen! Often, their spouse or their uncle or neighbor is nearby, dying along with them. And we work hard for those rare cases where we can pull them back from the edge. I could deal with all of that. What I can no longer handle is the screaming, not from the patients, but from the families. They are not screaming in anguish, or in recognition of how their foolishness has led them to this point. No, they are screaming at me. Because, you see, I am part of the global conspiracy to commit genocide. If only I would give 10,000 mg of Vitamin C - even though the body can only absorb a maximum of 100 mg a day, with the rest creating the world's most expensive urine - they would be saved. Or hydroxychloroquine. Or ivermectin. Those have never been studied, they assure me, and when I tell them they have been, they snap that I don't know what I'm talking about. I want, oh god I want, to tell them that if we are the ones responsible for killing their loved ones, then why the hell have they brought them to the hospital? Why throw them into our clutches? I know the answer: They know it is all lies. But their egos are so huge they cant bring themselves to admit it. My breaking point came three weeks ago. I dealt with a particularly horrible case. This was a husband and father, 38 years old. A wife, two daughters, one son. All of age to get vaccinated, none vaccinated. If you could have seen his face, and the ravages left by both COVID and the time he spent prone on his stomach. An enormous clot kept reforming in his leg, and we had been forced to amputate his foot in hopes of keeping him alive. When he was awake, the look of terror in his eyes, the crying, the pain. It was nothing new. But the begging, over and over, "Don't let me die." And "Give me the vaccine." All I could tell him is "We won't let you" - although I never said we might not have any choice in the matter. And I told him, repeatedly, it was too late for the vaccine. He begged me to bring in his family. A nurse called them, because they had never come to the hospital. They refused to wear masks, and so would not be admitted. The nurse told the wife that her husband was likely dying, and was begging to see them. All she cared about was masks. She would only come if she and her daughters didn't have to wear any. The nurse came to me and told me the wife wanted to speak to me. I got on the phone and she ordered me to cure him with ivermectin and vitamin C & D. I explained to her, those do not work, they have been extensively studied and the amount of ivermectin needed to treat even mild COVID would kill a human being. Once again, I was told I was ignorant. I asked her to come down to the hospital, to bring her children, to at least wait outside. Somehow, she agreed. The nurses were all busy, and I took over the role they usually perform, comforting the dying. I sat beside the man's bed. Through tears, he rasped out sounds I could vaguely understand as a question. I guessed at what he was asking, and assured him that yes, his family was coming. He was so frightened, and I could tell he knew death was unavoidable. I'm not religious, but I knew he was, and I talked about the comfort of Jesus as I held his hand. About a minute later, he coded. We tried to save him, but there was nothing to be done. He died. Twenty minutes later, I heard from a nurse that the family was here, that they had made a ruckus down in the lobby demanding to be let upstairs without masks, and had been thrown out of the hospital. I consulted with a few colleagues who agreed to cover me so that i could speak to them in the parking lot. I took the elevator down, and asked security to point out the family that refused to wear masks. Fortunately, they had not left. I stepped outside, went to the wife, and identified myself. I told her that I was sorry, that we had done everything we could, but her husband had passed a few minutes earlier. I did not manage to get the words of the sentence fully out of my mouth when I felt the fist strike my face and heard the screamed words "You murderer!" I fell backwards, tripped, and plopped onto the pavement, the back off my head striking asphalt. I vaguely heard the words being screamed about ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine and god knows what else. I heard "you could have saved him if you listened!" I tasted blood from the top of my lip. It took a moment to know it was seeping from my nose, which she had broken. My mask was getting wet, and thus useless. Security grabbed her. They were getting ready to call the police, but I knew if they did, I would become the next national target for the Q maniacs. I told them to just put her in her car. I wasn't going to press charges. I went back to the hospital. I started looking for a new job the next day. I will never treat a patient again. Thank God.

A few weeks ago people were bitching about the Lions losing every game and saying it doesn't matter if they pick 1st or not cause there isn't an Andrew Luck or Trevor Lawrence in this draft. And of course like clock work when the Lions win a couple games and start to look better those people mock them for screwing up their draft position that didnt matter a month ago but now suddenly they are going to miss out on some franchise altering talent in their eyes.

I wonder how many other Lions got this message after yesterday's performance?

Yup.

This is a classic Lions game. It would be better for their long term interests to lose which is why they will pull off a shocking win. Even in victory they find a way to fuck themselves a little. Lions ML +575

It was the most complete game I recall in a long time. The last one I can think of was the game against New England in Patricia's first win.

From the White House Press Briefing today, Jenn Psaki not playing around. This is what MAGA wants right? Someone who will tell it like it is?

Obviously it's not abstract for progressives.... how about for people who are not progressive? That average person that fife speaks of who doesn't sit around and think about this stuff like we all do? I see what fife is saying with fears of fascism not being sufficient a platform to run on.... obviously he's correct. But I'd also argue that Democrats (progressives included) are generally pretty bad at marketing their platforms to the average person., and climate change may be one of the better examples of their ineffectiveness.

they don't. They think progs owe them their votes b/c they're "not as bad as the fascist Republicans". It will only get worse if the GOP keeps going to the left of them on some of these key economic issues (at least rhetorically). I think this board is full of people that have socioeconomic status that enables us to vote based on things like "stopping fascism". And that's totally fine. But I also think there are a lot of ppl out there that are voting based on things like "my job" and, right or wrong it doesn't matter, "stopping fascism" isn't on their radar. The Democrats need to either get "stopping fascism" on people's radar (and do so in a way that isn't terrible and "you don't know what's best for you-ish"), or adapt in some other way to get the "my job" votes. "My job" is just one example.

engineers do chaos theory also my friend.....

but as always, you have to crawl before you can walk. If Progs won't support moderates over conservatives, they will never move the center close enough to where they are to get anything they want. That's just reality. If we had a three party system where a block could swing it's support to a second moderate party they could have more leverage, but unfortunately (or not, YMMV on that) the US system doesn't and never has worked that way. It has *always* been incumbent on the left and right to persuade the middle before they can get what they want. The left did it in the 30's and 60's, with the social net and civil rights, the right did it in the 80's with Reaganomics. That is just how it works. Party Politics is the US can only be done from the inside out. If you can't persuade your own side, you never get an opportunity to persuade anyone else.

Progressives are desperately worried about issues like climate change, wealth disparity, racial equity and wealthy disparity. They probably don't think the moderates care about those issues, so they aren't supporting them. Maybe they'll vote and maybe they won't, but Democrats are not entitled to the progressive vote.

Lawrence has been getting destroyed on the regular. I wouldn't be surprised if they took Neal and the two pass rushers were still available at 2 and 3. Dropping a couple of spots isn't the worst thing in the world and it'll be nice to see this young group get a taste of winning.

Remember when Denver was like a RB paradise? No matter who they had back there seemed to just light it up every year? I don't want to jinx anything, but it feels like our OL right now is doing that for our RBs. Now obviously some of this is on the RBs themselves, but I think part of the success on the ground needs to be given to the OL as well.

There was a poll conducted of West Virginia on 3 November last year. And Joe Biden lost it by nearly 45 points. If one really believes that if the question were framed as being Joe Biden's bill (as it inevitably would be should a bill pass) and that West Virginians would subsequently approve 65-35, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe, just maybe, Joe Manchin understands his state better than social media and message board randos?

This was the first time the Lions and Pistons won on the same day since November of 2017.

saying they're butthurt and blaming them for fascism instead of the fascists doesn't strike me as a way to get them to vote how you want them to vote.

not sure why you're being so condescending with me still after this performance you just had, but whatever you already wasted your time bro I didn't have anything to do with it. Sadly, by quoting me, you also wasted my time with it. You seem to have no concern about wasting my time so I'm not feeling so compelled to provide a corresponding evaluation.

it would be a surprise if any politician didnt do that.

Biden should start exercising some executive power on the coal industry now

Monday the Lions should be calling Charles Harris' agent and setting up an extension.

Because we've had SO much success by losing and drafting high for the last 60 years? Your high draft choice option has NEVER worked.

holy cow...did jared goff just STEP UP IN THE POCKET AND THROW A TD instead of running backwards at the first sign of pressure? its almost like he's a real nfl qb.

"In the game".

I'm very nervous about taking a QB, especially if we're trading up to get one. I'm just not real high on any of the current guys and I don't want the org to get one just because the "have" to get a QB.

I don’t bother with those anymore. Partly over being a snob but also just calories and cost. I’d rather just have water or unsweetened tea then I will have one of my own when I get home. At weddings and functions like that I stick with 7 and 7.

Ha! Yes, I use a online TV, a PC, and projector for watching TV/movies...I was watching a game when my cat perched herself in between the projector and the screen....her shadow appeared to be stalking Johnathan Schoop 😃

A few sad stories from my wife over the weekend. Mid sixties grandma (Non-Vax) gets moved into the unit Saturday morning. Was making grocerey list for Christmas dinner. Nose dives Saturday afternoon and dies Sunday morning still clutching the grocery list.... She was suppose to get a 18 yo special needs kid (Non-Vax) who turned 18 this week. She was being seen by Riley Childrens Hospital because she had a number of issues. Since she is 18 Riley will not see her anymore. She died being transported via Lifeline helicopter on the way to Fort Wayne. Not sure how my wife is able to shrug off back to back 18 hour shift and go back to making Christmas cookies after seeing so much death but she has done it for 20 years....