https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel...
It's reality as it appears to be to a person on the outside. Not actual reality.
The American reality of stepping on rake after rake after rake. A gag that meanders repeatedly between funny and sad.
The simple fact is that we’re dealing with idiots and pure stupidity. Idiots elected them and the idiots are having their day in the sun. Unfortunately, their stupidity is no longer contained to the office environments and executive leadership roles they had before. They are unfortunately able to make decisions that affect the general population.
The US did an okay-ish job for a long time keeping people like this from gaining a foothold of too many positions of power. Unfortunately, we lost control and we may never get it back on the right track.
Princeton and Harvard are graduating idiots?
We can start with whomever showed up to that inauguration, and expand from there. If they could afford that bribe, they can certainly afford to pay for repairing the damage their golden boy has caused.
But just cutting taxes for the rich is not that model.
Hopefully sanity prevails and we retroactively declare those tax cuts as loans, now due with interest. Yeah, not how contracts are supposed to work. So what.
Vaccines should not be given automatically, because that causes people to not think about why they need it. They think that it is something is imposed on them. But if they always have to request it (and the request is quick and always given, or super cheap at the shop) then people would have to know to get vaccinated. Parents will talk to each other about which vaccine is necessary (and its going to be all of them because they will know someone that died from it)
This is true for any crisis really. For example, lets say that you are managing someone's finances or health, you found out that they are in a horrible situation. But then, you discovered a solution that does not require their attention. So you work tirelessly behind the scene to fix their finances or develop new cure. Voila! Problem solved. Or is it? You have not fixed the fundamental problem that they are an obese with obese lifestyle.
The personal responsibility model of obesity works for individuals (including myself), but falls flat when discussing how to lower the weight of millions.
Throughout history, human civilisations have tried to deal with problems (e.g. droughts, floods, famines etc) by proactively taking measures to increase their chance of survival. Simple things like storing grain to be used during the winter is an effective strategy, whereas letting people starve to death so that they can learn about storing grain seems like a really stupid idea for stupid people.
The reasons for not doing the vaccine anymore were, essentially, "the vaccine is more dangerous than the sickness" and "the vaccine is not necessary to avoid the sickness".
Both of those statement are, factually, scientifically, not true. That's reality. Which is what parent meant, no matter the deep conviction and the political innuendo, ultimately reality is you either do the vaccine and are safe for no risk or you don't and you get infection waves.
It also makes a stupidly-obvious tactic viable for the enemy.
See: viruses and the efficacy of vaccines thereupon.
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/smallpox-inoculation-revolu...
> During the 1700s, smallpox raged through the American colonies and the Continental Army. Smallpox impacted the Continental Army severely during the Revolutionary War, so much so that George Washington mandated inoculation for all Continental soldiers in 1777. Just fifty-six years earlier, in 1721, Bostonian doctors and clergy introduced the procedure to the American colonies. Without the vision and determination of these early Bostonians in normalizing inoculation, Washington may not have made the decision to mandate inoculation for the Continental Army. Though it was a controversial action, many historians credit the medical mandate with the colonists’ victory in the Revolutionary War and the creation of the United States of America.
https://www.mountvernon.org/education/primary-source-collect...
> HEAD QUARTERS MORRIS TOWN 12TH MARCH 1777
> Sir
> You are hereby required immediately to send me an exact return of your regiment, and to send all your recruits, who have had the small pox to join the Army. Those, who have not, are to be sent to Philadelphia, and put under the direction of the commanding officer there, who will have them inoculated.
Apparently, there was a dysentery outbreak. They didn’t retreat, because they couldn’t. Maybe that was the thinking behind this edict.
I have habit of watching historical YouTube videos and so many times battles were lost or sieges were broken because one side got sick and could not keep fighting.
Only an ignorant who never studied history would voluntarily remove vaccination from army units.
Your friend knows his history; disease has been the leading cause of death in warfare, historically, killing more soldiers than actual combat.
Literally a for profit scam by Big Pharma which I thought most of HN used to be against
Please don't do this: "Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading" [1].
> flu vaccines are extremely ineffective
They're not. They're not particularly effective for preventing flu in an individual. But at the group level, they have a clear and useful effect.
This is my understanding. It basically would have marginally reduced the cost of the flu coming through, right? But thats not the impression that I would get from any of the discussion here. Am I wrong?
On your own impression? Probably not.
I’m not militant about getting the flu shot every year. I think I would be if I were in a company where my getting sick could get a friend killed.
This the opposite of your understanding. The benefit to the individuals in a group from the whole group taking the vaccine is actually much larger than the benefit to an individual in the group of taking the vaccine solo.
You can read more about it here (and ask more questions!). https://claude.ai/share/8e8ffef7-ba33-44aa-a2a6-ca3b9be6d516
"Flu vaccines didn't work that well in the US, officials find (2026)"
https://abc7chicago.com/post/flu-vaccines-didnt-work-us-offi...
https://apnews.com/article/flu-season-cdc-subclade-k-vaccina...
"Flu Vaccine Was Not Very Effective This Season, the C.D.C. Says (2022)"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/research-news/15706/
"Flu shot fail: Why doesn't the vaccine always work? (2014)"
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/flu-shot-fail-why...
This is especially true in the case of the flu because it has a relatively low R0 of approximately 1.3, meaning that without intervention/vaccines, each infected individual infects on average 1.3 other people. The vaccine just needs to be effective enough to drive the reproduction rate below 1 for the virus to die out.
We do not have good data on how effective flu vaccines are at neutralizing transmission. But for the sake of argument, let's take these relatively "bad" years for the flu where they prevented 40% of doctor's visits. Suppose that corresponds to merely preventing 40% of transmissions. The other 60% of transmissions still occur.
In that case is it even possible to drive R_eff (the effective reproduction rate of the virus) below 1? It turns out, yes! With an R0 of 1.3 and an effectiveness of only 40%, you stop the spread of the virus after vaccinating only 60% of people.
Details on the math: https://claude.ai/share/8e8ffef7-ba33-44aa-a2a6-ca3b9be6d516. You can also extend the conversation and ask more questions!
Taking that as a given how bad was it?
This season's vaccines were around 25% to 30% effective in preventing adults from getting sick enough from the flu that they had to go to a doctor's office, clinic or hospital, according to a CDC report this week.
Children who were vaccinated were about 40% less likely to get treatment at a doctor's office or hospital.
The questions really should be .. did people die that could have been saved, was it cost effective to vaccinate a hundred million people to reduce the percentage of those who contacted flu and then got sick (and did the vaccination reduce the numbers of people in contact).
As it stands, by your examples, the flu vaccine didn't perform well that year, in comparison to others, but it hardly looks as though it had no effect whatsoever.
1) Most people who claim to have "the flu" don't actually have influenza. Thus, if they take a flu vaccine, and get "the flu", they blame the flu
2) The vaccine does not create a perfect boundary. It's a population scale benefit. It makes it less likely one gets infected, it makes it less likely that someone who gets infected has serious disease, and it makes it less likely that someone infected passes it along
3) The "flu vaccine" is a prediction, trying to guess the strains that will be prevalent in the upcoming season Sometimes they guess wrong, and it's less effective. If we supported mRNA technology this could be improved.
Sorry, this is absolutely bullshit. They’re wildly effective in the easiest population to look at - MA Seniors, who are highly incentivized to get them because of their efficacy.
Sometimes, it’s best to stop talking when you know you don’t have any clue what you’re talking about.
2 million dead Americans later and people still complain that they were asked to get a vaccine to try to save lives. or complain about a shutdown which should have lasted a few months max if people had done what they were supposed to and would have saved millions of lives.
I think you are largely right, but I dont think they have any obligation to save anyone else's life.
I think there would have been better uptake amung republicans if it was presented a optional healthcare choice or suggestion.
Sadly, no. There is a theory that Ebola cases are really just arsenic poisoning from the mines in the area. That’s the kind of narrative that would take hold realistically.
I would also point out that prior to Bidens election it was mostly Democrats who were saying they weren’t going to take the vaccine when it came out, that it would be rushed and have something wrong with it.
Suppose you're right. They're still entitled to their views, they're entitled to honesty from their government, and frankly I'd say the government should not be trying to coerce people into taking an officially-experimental vaccine by the back door any more than they should be directly forcing people to do so.
> 2 million dead Americans later
Maybe. Depends very much on who's doing the calculations.
> complain about a shutdown which should have lasted a few months max if people had done what they were supposed to
Bullshit. Countries with much higher social compliance saw the same endless lockdowns.
"NEW YORK (AP) — A study on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness has finally been published after being blocked from a government health journal.
The vaccine was found to be about 55% effective against COVID-19-associated hospitalizations, and reduced COVID-19-related trips to emergency departments and urgent care clinics by 50%, according to the study published Tuesday by JAMA Network Open."
https://apnews.com/article/cdc-covid-vaccine-effective-study...
There's a double layer of irony here, # There is something wrong and hypocritical.
#
where the people # People who thought vaccines were good
criticizing people # criticized anti-vaxxers,
of the ignorance # saying the anti-vaxxers didn't realize
of "unintended" consequences # the damage they would cause
of vaccine fear # by scaring everyone away from proper treatment.
#
will play defense # Those people give excuses
for the unintended consequence # for the problem they actually created
of causing that fear # by MAKING the anti-vaxxers afraid in the first place
by the extremely aggressive pushing # since they tried too hard
of vaccine policies during covid. # to get everyone vaccinated to stop the virus.
Compare to: "Well, the car I was driving is wrecked, and it's all your fault! You should have known that I don't like being told what do to, so by telling me to slow down you forced me to accelerate into that barrier to prove that you aren't the boss of me. We could have avoided this whole mess if you'd simply babied my special needs and irrationalities like an adult."
Some of you need to realize that writing some React pages doesn’t actually make you a polymath.
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.
Democracy dies when stupid people become convinced that they know best and have all the answers.
Democracy works exactly because of this?
We just poll all the people, including the dumb ones, and then average out the answers. The dumbs all cancel out in the end. (Yes, of course, I know it is a lot more complex than this)
The whole point of democracy is that we don't know what is the dumb or smart answer so we have these complex functions and dances to squeeze out the best one we can think of at the time. (Yes, I know that the reasons for states to turn democratic are complex)
To the degree that democracy works, it works as you say. But we systematically fail to include all of the people, so the dumbs often don't cancel out.
Readiness - a matter of national security - tends to trump most concerns that, in civilian populations, might warrant greater choice and debate.
Almost like it was politically-motivated and it's not truthfully a "matter of national security"
The 1918 "Spanish flu" was cultivated in the trenches and spread through military camps and demobilization.
Hesgeth should be removed from his position ASAP.
Edit:
>Around 60% of previously unvaccinated trainees at Lackland initially declined the flu shot during the vaccine requirement’s lapse, according to the defense official.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/24/politics/flu-shot-outbrea...
Forget about Hesgeth. The USA is completely effed up.
While also lying about taking Tylenol during pregnancy causing autism. They've done more studies since that misinformation to prove once again there's no connection.
RFK should be removed along with the POTUS who put him there.
The (tear) gas chamber was a blessing in disguise, because it caused everyone to expel every dram of mucus that’d been stuck in our lungs. It was the first time I could breathe freely through my nose in a month.
"Our armed forces need warriors, not weak losers who can't fight off a little virus," he stated. "You should be able to do 70 pull-ups in a minute and to never succumb to the so-called flu."
So which ones are still exempt from the vaccines? Space Force, USMC, Coast Guard, who else?
Uniformed Health Service (the reason the Surgeon General is a General), which I'm certain is vaccinated.
NOAA also has uniformed personnel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniformed_services_of_the_Unit...
Sounds like we have a leadership issue.
Both decisions? Or just the walkback one?
Yes, that world is one based more on reality and common sense rather than politics and rhetoric.
Unfortunately, this does not describe the world we are currently trapped in.
There's always a tension between growing the pie or taking more of the pie for yourself. If growth appears to be slowing and there's a lot of pie to fight over, more and more people will focus on the latter. Sometimes that's healthy, but without external pressure it usually takes the form of corruption, pettiness, and other destructive behaviors.