Why America Scrapped Its Pandemic Travel Bans.

About fucking time. Now one of my friends might be able to visit me. That was a totally useless, worthless ban that did nothing but hurt people.

As much as I make fun of the stupid-ass Fat Acceptance bozos, by far the worst cultural phenomenon lately is the rise of those who refuse the Covid vaccines.

Damn, that’s powerful dumb. We need new names for the asshat-level dumbassitude of those people.

Being Fat in America Is Nothing Like Being Fat Abroad.

Reading this article, I realized something (probably because I am a low-empathy person in general): fat people feel like being fat is something that just, somehow, happens to them. However, when I was fat it was totally clear to me why it was the case: I ate way too goddamn much and thus made myself fat.

Body control and control of one’s own mind seem primary to me. Without those, what do you have? Not much. Not much at all. Glad I can do both of those things relatively easily.

I was thinking today about the liberal li(n)e that Covid is absolutely fated to become mega-virulent and that they somehow believe it’s like the bubonic plague, for which herd immunity was never developed*. SARS2 is absolutely nothing like bubonic plague, of course, and there are nearly no lessons to be learned from that. The below is far more likely (~99%+):

Zero Covid was a very harmful fantasy that is preventing the above. People are starting to abandon that now, luckily, and seeing the inevitable shape of future history.

*This is not exactly true, but herd immunity waned over time, which is why there were various waves, etc., separated by dozens to hundreds of years. Anyway, SARS2 is nothing like Yersinia pestis so it’s kind of like comparing a toad with a dolphin.

They have enough clowns in the Fat Acceptance movement to start several new circuses.

1. I've devoted much of my career to understanding authoritarianism and the breakdown of democracy. And I'm growing increasingly pessimistic about the prospects for American democracy, because of one simple question: what could slow down the GOP march toward authoritarianism?

— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) September 21, 2021

I do agree. I think there’s about an 80% chance of a Republican coup in 2024, and if it does not occur that year, then nearly 100% chance in 2028.

January 6 was a trial run, similar to the (also-incompetent) 1923 Beer Hall Putsch in Germany.

Saw this tweet in a thread about supply chain shortages and I mostly agree:

That was not brilliant, no. And it was done poorly. Many mistakes preceded this, and many have followed, too, exacerbating the harm. Lockdowns should’ve been temporary and targeted; destruction from those is going to last decades.