TallGuyJohninBKK

Not true at all. I've been here equally as long, and many of us -- fitting into none of the groups you list above -- were regularly wearing face masks in Thailand when outdoors long before COVID came along, because of the PM2.5 seasonal air pollution problems. And fortunate we were too... Because when COVID did come along, many of us already had good home stocks of high-quality N95 face masks for air pollution, that then could be repurposed for COVID at a time when N95 masks were virtually unavailable to the general public because of the crush of demand by medical workers dealing with the COVID onslaught.

Dunno what exact chemical method the Thais are pursuing... But in terms of the general anti-COVID nasal spray approach, the Australians already beat them to it by a long ways.... Though just how well the product works seems to be a matter of some dispute: Australian COVID nasal spray not on shop shelves amid TGA dispute "Starpharma started developing its nasal spray Viraleze in 2020 as a preventative tool against coronavirus, to be used alongside vaccination. Viraleze has since been launched into several overseas markets, but the company does not yet have clearance to sell the spray in Australia." ... The company also voluntarily paused in-store sales of Viraleze in the United Kingdom after its medicines regulator asked questions about the promotional claims the company was making on packaging for the nasal spray." https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/australian-covid-nasal-spray-not-on-shop-shelves-amid-tga-dispute-20220303-p5a1c6.html

Yes... that's why "disposable" masks are meant to be disposable single use... and why the public health advice since the beginning has been to put on and take off the mask by the straps, without touching the exterior surface of the mask.

People should wear the best quality, highest efficiency mask that they can obtain.... The gold standard of masks for COVID purposes are the N95 masks, which have the two headstraps to help insure a tight face seal. The Korean made KF94 are better than the commonplace cloth or medical masks... but AFAIK, they're only of the ear loop strap variety... And that style tends to provide a less tight face seal than the head straps variety. There are no N95 masks with ear loops... All N95 masks have the dual head straps design.

Regarding mask wearing, that's exactly what I've been doing and will continue to do when outside my home in close proximity to others...as long as COVID is circulating in the country -- regardless of what the government says or doesn't say. I don't need the government to tell me to do something that is a common sense health protection measure...and that doesn't bother me at all...in a time of COVID. And the N95 masks I wear have been shown to significantly reduce the risk of contracting COVID, in addition to the fact that I've been fully vaccinated and boosted, as companion protections. So I'm going to keep wearing my mask when in close proximity to others outside of home, until there are no longer official government numbers saying things like today's update: --10,000+ people are currently hospitalized in Thailand because of COVID. --610 of those are in serious condition with pneumonia type symptoms. --and another 286 are in such bad condition that they've required intubation in order to breathe. https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/photos/591579362460392 And then, of course, there was this little nugget in today's news: COVID cognitive decline more widespread than thought, say researchers at Australia's first long-COVID clinic "And the team has found something startling. Around one quarter of the ADAPT study's participants were experiencing noticeable cognitive decline a year after getting COVID. And, some sort of cognitive decline was recorded in almost all of the participants, regardless of the severity of the initial infection." https://aseannow.com/topic/1264058-covid-cognitive-decline-more-widespread-than-thought-say-researchers-at-australias-first-long-covid-clinic/

That's why I objected to his terminology and characterization... because it obviously was loaded and politically biased, in addition to being medically incorrect.... The specific "baby" choice he offered doesn't come into play in regards to abortion.

In my world view and I think by definition, it's not a "baby" until after it's born... So prior to birth, for me, it ought to be left to the mother to decide what goes. So I don't see abortion as killing a "baby," I see it as removing a "fetus." "A fetus or foetus is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo." Note the term... unborn. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetus

Or end up getting suspended from practicing law... because of their fraudulent efforts on his behalf....

The second pgh above seems a pretty silly/wrong-headed comment for a medical professional to make. Those newer variants are now here in Thailand. They're easily transmissible and, according to him, tend to attack the lungs and cause more serious symptoms. AFAIK, elsewhere where those 4 and 5 variants have circulated, they tend to overtake the prior Omicron variants.... And I'd assume there's no reason to think the same thing won't also happen here with time. But I guess in his book, you don't worry about a speeding car heading your way until it's already run you over... "BA.4 and BA.5 caused an estimated 35% of new Covid-19 infections in the United States last week, up from 29% the week before, according to data shared by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday. BA.4 and BA.5 are the fastest spreading variants reported to date, and they are expected to dominate Covid-19 transmission in the United States, United Kingdom and the rest of Europe within the next few weeks, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control." https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/22/health/ba4-ba5-escape-antibodies-covid-vaccine/index.html

I think the answer to that is he [Trump] didn't want ANY committee at all investigating his attempted insurrection/coup... And he used his influence among Congressional Republicans to kill the Democrats' first proposal for an independent investigating commission of prominent public figures (not politicians).

I tend to agree.... I've been perplexed by the pretty heavy amount of positive media coverage over this current legislation, considering how relatively little it would do... But then again, considering how little to nothing Congress has done with dealing with the proliferations of guns and mass shootings through the years, I guess even a little something done now would be something. Congrats Congress.... until the next mass shooting comes along. ????

That's not the reality of the situation. Too many elderly there, and elsewhere including Thailand, have been refusing to get vaccinated and boosted, contrary to public health guidelines.

In the above comments, Biden wasn't talking specifically about another COVID pandemic, but rather, some type of future pandemic at some unknown point in the future. And, if you get past the political spin of the Newsweek article with the unflattering photo and the embedded Republican National Committee tweet, the latter part of the article is replete with various health and medical experts saying essentially that what Biden said is correct, and we'd all best be planning for the future. "Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, experts have warned about the frequency of pandemics across the world as well as potential reasons for an increase in disease outbreaks. "The time between these outbreaks is getting shorter and shorter," Dr Tracey McNamara, a professor of pathology at Western University of Health Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine, said, according to an ABC News report from 2020. The President of EcoHealth Alliance, Dr. Peter Daszak, added: "We are only able to sustain an outbreak maybe once every decade. The rate we are going is not sustainable."

He was a known proponent of the insurrection long before that.

Criminal or non-criminal, the obvious point is an investigating committee charged with establishing facts and findings can't have people serving on it who supported and/or participated in the misdeeds being investigated. That shouldn't be too hard for any right-thinking person to understand. You don't have Haldeman or Ehrlichman on the Watergate commission. You don't have people who assisted the 9/11 terrorists on the 9/11 commission for the supposed sake of balance.

Another thing to note as far as the committee's work thus far.... Despite claims by some posters here. I haven't seen ANY claims by any of the many Republican figures who have testified before the committee either in the live hearings or via videotaped presentation that their remarks/comments have been falsely or inaccurately presented....

If the police are going to investigate a string of bank robberies, how likely do you think it is that they'll have the robbers as part of their team? Same principle here - it would make zero sense in any sane world to have the proponents and enablers (specifically Reps. Jordan and Banks) of an attempted insurrection and coup to serve on the investigating panel. And as for the failed notion of an independent investigating commission made up of respected public figures (not politicians), the above link pretty well spells out that Trump and his Republican lackies killed that plan. "The day before the House voted on the legislation, Trump came out in opposition to it and called on Republicans to "not approve the Democrat trap of the Jan. 6 Commission," arguing that it amounted to "more partisan unfairness."... But the Senate killed the commission idea after Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., came out against it, effectively ending any hope that the bill could get the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster." And as for the Republicans objections to the final committee that resulted, the above link also noted that a federal judge appointed by Trump of all people rejected the Republicans claims and said the committee as constituted could proceed with its task. In short, you've got nothing!

Very apropos.... When you do a Google search to check the common definition of "sedition" and the results include the Wikipedia entry on the subject, look what now comes up.... History will no doubt regard him and them as such...

Answer being, because the "Yanks" at the time had a president who was charged with defending the country, its government and its Constitution as his primary job, but who instead incited insurrectionists and mounted a public campaign of sedition against his own country.

I think clearly there were failures on the part of local law enforcement and the military to adequately protect the Capitol and defend against the rioting Trump mob that day.... That's certainly clear by the outcome. And while I'm sure various factors contributed to that, it's probably hard to overlook the likely contributing factor that it was the President of the U.S. -- the military's Commander in Chief -- who directed the mob to go to the Capitol and was publicly egging them on, and that probably made at least some LE and military folks hesitant, at least at first, to go against their CIC and do what needed to be done without explicit orders. And then beyond that, there was, as the various media reports have documented, Trump's refusal that day as the rioters were storming the Capitol to call in more LE/military resources as Commander in Chief. So certainly some of the blame rests squarely on him. Jun 9, 2022 at 9:32 pm ET Cheney: Trump Never Called Military to Defend U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 – But Pence Did https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/jan-6-hearings-news-live/card/cheney-trump-never-called-military-to-defend-u-s-capitol-on-jan-6-but-pence-did-js5yUaivfa2Yz5QCZ77p "Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming said that it was former Vice President Mike Pence, not former President Donald Trump, who called for the military to defend the U.S. Capitol during the riot. Mr. Trump “placed no call to any element of the U.S. government to instruct that the Capitol be defended,” Ms. Cheney said. She said Mr. Trump did not call his Secretary of Defense on Jan. 6, or speak to his Attorney General or the Department of Homeland Security." AND Fact check: Trump repeats false claim that Pelosi rejected request for National Guard ahead of Jan. 6 "Trump’s claim is one of many efforts by Republicans and supporters of the former president to shift blame and downplay the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol that resulted in four deaths and led to more than 600 arrests. ... There is no evidence Trump made any formal request about deploying 10,000 National Guard troops before the rally. ... Claims that Pelosi was in charge of Capitol security on Jan. 6 have been previously debunked by USA TODAY. The Capitol Police are overseen by the Capitol Police Board and committees from the Senate and House of Representatives." https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/12/16/fact-check-no-trump-request-10000-guard-troops-jan-6/8929215002/

Not only had members of the Proud Boys within the rioting mob threatened to kill VP Pence if they could find him, but the mob's violence went broadly beyond that: Per AP: "The committee’s interviews with police officers detail “absolutely brutal” abuse from Trump’s supporters as they ran over them and broke into the building. The officers described hearing racial slurs and seeing Nazi salutes. One officer trying to evacuate the Senate said he had stopped several men in full tactical gear, one of whom said, “You better get out of our way, boy, or we’ll go through you to get (the senators).’” The insurrectionists told police officers they would kill them, then members of Congress." Senate report details broad failures around Jan. 6 attack https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-capitol-siege-government-and-politics-96054d62518a7be4c3f30231f51beaf5

The news out of the Texas GOP is even more deplorable than your excerpt explained... To me, this was the most deplorable development: Texas Republicans declare Biden election illegitimate, despite evidence WASHINGTON, June 19 (Reuters) - Republicans in Texas formally rejected President Joe Biden's election in 2020 as illegitimate... The party's embrace of unfounded electoral fraud allegations in a bedrock Republican state came as a bipartisan congressional committee seeks to definitively and publicly debunk the false idea that Biden did not win the election. Biden received 7 million more votes than rival Donald Trump. Biden also received 306 votes from the Electoral College, more than the 270 needed to win." (more) https://www.reuters.com/world/us/texas-republicans-declare-biden-election-illegitimate-despite-evidence-2022-06-19/ The delusion among those folks is so strong... As the Reuters report points out, more than 50 state and federal lawsuits filed by Trump and allies challenging the election were heard and dismissed by judges liberal and conservative alike. IMHO, when a political party abandons the rule of law and the tenets of democracy, and falls into attempted insurrection and sedition, they cease to be a legitimate political party and ought to be recognized for what they are -- insurrectionists and seditionists, and those who condone and enable them.

Listen to not only the scientists, but the doctors as well: June 14, 2022 AMA: Climate change is a public health crisis "Climate change is a public health crisis threatening the well-being of all people, the AMA declared via a policy it adopted during the annual meeting of its House of Delegates. “The scientific evidence is clear: our patients are already facing adverse health effects associated with climate change, from heat-related injuries, vector-borne diseases and air pollution from wildfires, to worsening seasonal allergies and storm-related illness and injuries. ... In particular, the policy “mobilizes the AMA to advocate for policies that limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions aimed at carbon neutrality by 2050, and support rapid implementation and incentivization of clean energy solutions and significant investments in climate resilience through a climate justice lens,” according to the release." https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/20220614/ama-climate-change-is-a-public-health-crisis https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-adopts-new-policy-declaring-climate-change-public-health-crisis

For starters, don't vote for elected officials who are in the climate change denying fringe minority...

Short, flawed/biased memory to say the least... "The early 1980s recession was a severe economic recession that affected much of the world between approximately the start of 1980 and early 1983.[1] It is widely considered to have been the most severe recession since World War II.[2][3] A key event leading to the recession was the 1979 energy crisis, mostly caused by the Iranian Revolution which caused a disruption to the global oil supply, which saw oil prices rising sharply in 1979 and early 1980.[" And "The recession, which has been termed the "Reagan recession",[38][39][40] coupled with budget cuts, which were enacted in 1981 but began to take effect only in 1982, led many voters to believe that Reagan was insensitive to the needs of average citizens and favored the wealthy.[41][42][43] In January 1983, Reagan's popularity rating fell to 35%." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_1980s_recession#United_States Sounds pretty familiar to the current circumstance, except the current causes are COVID and Ukraine instead of Iran and Reaganomics. And somehow, the U.S. survived that economic tumult, just as it will the current one -- at least unless the insurrectionists get their way.