Originally Posted By: JohnJohnJohn
Last year's major fail was politicizing mask wearing. Estimates are as many as 80% of the dead would still be alive had masks been promoted early on as essential.

This year's fail has been, in my humble opinion, not clearly explaining the vaccine! I trust the vaccine 100% and will get it ASAP! But it is important to understand the vaccine. It does NOT give you immunity to COVID-19. Instead, it simply prepares your body to be able to fight it off very effectively. A vaccinated person can still get COVID-19 but the vaccine will keep you out of the hospital and keep you alive. I wish they would promote it as something that tames COVID rather than something that prevents it!


Good points. People did not understand the masks either. I can't count how many people said "This mask isn't going to keep you from getting Covid." While that is correct, it also isn't why we wear masks.

This is largely about listening skills and how people in general condense words and create their own version. I once had a guy want to argue that "You can't testify against your spouse." That is 100% not true. You can not be FORCED to testify against your spouse. If you want to, your testimony is welcomed like anyone else's. (I have 3 ex spouses who would be thrilled to testify against me!) That microwave logic led to the complete misunderstanding about why we are asked to wear masks. Had they read all the way through, it would be clear that our exhausted breath travels up to 6 feet (that distance sound familiar?) and air expelled under force (coughing) travels 10 or more. The mask keeps your air contained, but the anti-maskers don't want to know that part.

As far as the gun thing, it is important to remember that the gun did nothing. Impeding gun sales by more redundant laws will not stop people with ill intent rom buying guns. They will just buy them illegally. Using me as the example, I am 3 months short of 70. I do not have as much as a misdemeanor on my record. My entire police record is 5 speeding tickets. I can pass any background check you can throw at me, and in fact in my state the possession of a concealed carry permit IS a background check. Thus (something else the anti 2A people harp on) I can walk into a sporting goods store and buy a gun immediately. In a true act of overreaction after the last one (before Colorado) the battle cry has become "waiting period of 2 days". That just delays the act by 2 days, but if someone has that kind of evil in their heart, it is going to happen. You simply cannot legislate behavior, and that's what what the liberal side outcry is asking to be done. This guy in Colorado would likely have done what he did had he bought his gun at Bob's Gun Store or Louie the gun runner selling guns smuggled in from Mexico or stolen from someone who DID buy it legally at Bob's Gun Store. I heard shots about 11pm last night. I hear them 3-5 times per week. If laws were passed that saw every legal gun collected by law enforcement, I would hear STOLEN gunfire 3-5 times per week. The people doing the shooting largely bought their guns on the street. No paperwork, nothing. Cash out, gun it. Tell us how to legislate it. My town, statistically, is horrible for the gun play, However, statistics don't factor in who is involved. We have gangs here and drug turf wars. All the shooting is a young demographic and in very specific areas, but if it is inside the city limits, they all count.

Billy lives in a place where there is a notorious area called Liberty City. There is a gang known as 12th St and a rival known as 13th Court. They live 150 feet apart. And they shoot each other for sport. Nobody knows why except that "they" are the enemy. It is literally the Hatfields and McCoys. They are feuding because they are feuding, and nobody knows why. The kids there rarely live past 20 years of age. However they also have 4 kids by the so the next generation of feuding gangs is always 14-16 years behind. How do you stop that? It's been going on for years. See the image. 12th St and 13th Court.

Small towns seem to have the advantage here. That sense of community where everybody has known everybody for generations tend to see more compassion toward people. I kind of envy that, though I enjoy a bigger city so on that extremely rare occasion that I DO want to go out I have places to go. Days go by where I don't even start my car! I have at least 2 of everything in my house so I don't need anything but consumables like food.

We'll get through this!! As long as we all remember that vaccination does not mean immunity as J3 pointed out, we'll get through it. Easing the reins because of the vaccine is a bad move IMHO and I anticipate we will see a spike as people let their guard down.