TallGuyJohninBKK

As is typical of these kind of attempted partisan political hit pieces, the above clip is taken out of context (no reference to when/where the remarks were given) and provides only the opening halting 1 minute portion of what in fact was an almost 4-minute long, cogent, detailed and specific answer given by Vice President Harris back in November 2021 during a press conference at the Paris Peace Summit that included a major focus on the U.S.-France relationship and international relations issues (and not U.S. domestic inflation). But nonetheless, Harris' full answer to a Bloomberg reporter's question starting at the 22:30 point about U.S. inflation amid the COVID pandemic and what at the time was the administration's Build Back Better legislative proposal that ultimately became the enacted Inflation Reduction Act is here starting at the 22:55 time point and concluding at about 26:40. Also, Fox News later posted a partial transcript of Harris' comments that I can only partially quote below, as per forum rules: ""So we have addressed it in a number of ways. One of the issues that we know is related to this is the supply chain issue that we just discussed. So on a domestic level, in terms of domestic policy, one of the approaches we have taken is to work with labor unions and to work with municipalities in opening back up and extending the hours of our ports," she said. ... "There is also a point that is important to make on the Build Back Better framework. One, it is designed to make it less expensive for working people to live. It was specifically designed to bring down the costs of child care and increase accessibility and availability. Designed to bring down the cost of elder care and make it available to all the working families that need that support and need that help," she said. "And, Build Back Better is not going to cost anything — we're paying for it. So when we can get Build Back Better passed, and we are optimistic that we will, the American people will see costs actually reduced around some of the most essential services that they need to take care of their basic responsibilities, including issues like child care and elder care, and also preschool," Harris said. And more comments from her answer after that, as given in the above video. https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/flashback-kamala-harris-responds-how-shed-handle-inflation

Thanks for digging down further in the page to find that nugget. That answers my question above!

Right..... The effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines to prevent long COVID symptoms: staggered cohort study of data from the UK, Spain, and Estonia March 2024 "Vaccination against COVID-19 consistently reduced the risk of long COVID symptoms, which highlights the importance of vaccination to prevent persistent COVID-19 symptoms, particularly in adults." ... Added value of this study To our knowledge, this is the first multinational study to assess population-level vaccine effectiveness to prevent long COVID symptoms. Our study of more than 10 million vaccinated people and 10 million unvaccinated people, showed that COVID-19 vaccination reduces the risk of developing long COVID. Our findings were consistent across three different European countries and four databases, covering different health-care settings and national health-care policies. All vaccines reduced the risk of developing long COVID symptoms, with BNT162b2 showing slightly better effectiveness than ChAdOx1. ... Discussion Our analyses of more than 20 million vaccinated and unvaccinated people show the clinical effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines to prevent the development of long COVID in three European countries (the UK, Estonia, and Spain), with overall vaccine effectiveness ranging from 29% to 52%. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(23)00414-9/fulltext

Of course this above is what the New York Post would claim in the Rupert Murdoch property's relentless pro-Trump, anti-Democrat coverage. "Trump could..." But take it for just what it's worth. So "could" a lot of other outcomes result. Other media outlets have a different read on the current state of things: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/us/elections/polls-president.html https://archive.ph/cDPVi The share of undecided voters in major battleground states Polls in battleground states suggest that Harris and Trump are practically in a dead heat. That means even the few percent of voters who remain undecided could tip the scales one way or the other. Keeping an eye on these voters will be key to understanding what to expect in each of the swing states. https://www.vox.com/politics/369735/2024-election-biden-harris-forecast-approval-undecided-spending

My simple question here is -- has it been explained anywhere here how it is that Chinese nationals were working as laborers on a Thai government (State Railway of Thailand) contracted construction project? I always thought construction labor work in Thailand was mainly restricted by law to Thai nationals. Prohibited Occupations in Thailand ... "According to the Alien Act Law set by Thailand, the following are the type of work or jobs not allowed to be handled by foreigners working in Thailand and expect that foreigners engaging in such type of job or work will not be granted a Thai work permit: ... --Labor work, with the exception of fishing boat labor. --Whether it’s bricklaying, carpentry, or other types of construction work. --Professional civil engineering services, excluding tasks needing specialized skills. But include design and computation, systemization, analysis, planning, testing, construction supervision, and consulting services. https://www.thaiworkpermit.com/prohibited-occupations-in-thailand.html

Except numerous studies from various sources have consistently found that unvaccinated people become infected with COVID and also suffer Long COVID at higher rates than the vaccinated. Just some of many examples: Vaccinated People Have Up to 58% Lower Risk of Long COVID Feb. 21, 2024 – People vaccinated against COVID-19 were significantly less likely to have long COVID during the first few years of the pandemic, a new study from Michigan shows. ... The researchers compared vaccinated and unvaccinated people multiple ways and consistently showed at least a 40% difference in long COVID. https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid-19-vaccine/news/20240221/vaccinated-people-lower-risk-long-covid-study Getting Vaccinated May Be Your Best Protection from Long COVID People vaccinated before their first case of COVID-19 are diagnosed with Long COVID almost four times less than unvaccinated people, suggests a large new study published Nov. 22 in the BMJ. That’s not an entirely new finding. For years, studies have shown that, while vaccinated people can and do develop Long COVID, they are at lower risk than people who haven’t had their shots. https://time.com/6338434/vaccination-long-covid-risk/ Long Covid and Vaccination: What You Need to Know A new study adds to evidence that the shots can reduce the chances of developing one of the most dreaded consequences of Covid. July 17, 2024 ... "In the new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Al-Aly and his colleagues provided persuasive evidence that vaccines cut the risk of long Covid. Before the vaccines were introduced, about 1 in 10 people had long Covid one year after being infected. After the shots were available, 9.5 percent of the unvaccinated developed long Covid after an infection with the Delta variant, and 7.8 percent did so after infection with the Omicron variant. But among vaccinated people, only 5.3 percent developed long Covid after infection with the Delta variant, and 3.5 percent after infection with the Omicron variant. New York Times https://archive.ph/6BCEg#selection-1021.0-1033.164

Of course! By your standard, they must have been price control espousing Marxists!

So by your price controls illogic, former Republican presidents Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon must have been Marxists and Fascists as well: In 1971: "Nixon issued Executive Order 11615 (pursuant to the Economic Stabilization Act of 1970), imposing a 90-day freeze on wages and prices in order to counter inflation. This was the first time the U.S. government had enacted wage and price controls since World War II." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_shock And then later from 1975: FORD SIGNS BILL ON ENERGY THAT ENDS POLICY IMPASSE AND CUTS CRUDE OIL PRICES WASHINGTON, Dec. 22—President Ford ended a yearlong stalemate with. Congress over energy policy today by signing into law a bill that will roll back crude oil prices and help stabilize gasoline and fuel oil prices for consumers, at least temporarily. ... Cut in Crude Oil Price The new law will force a reduction in the average price of crude oil produced in the United States from the current $8.75 a barrel to $7.66 a barrel. The change will go into effect in February." Shocking what those Republican Marxist presidents were up to.... 😞 But when it comes to "fascism", the definition of that sounds a whole lot more like a different presidential candidate: "Not all scholars agree on what fascism is. Philosopher Jason Stanley of Yale University says it is "a cult of the leader who promises national restoration in the face of humiliation brought on by supposed communists, Marxists and minorities and immigrants who are supposedly posing a threat to the character and the history of a nation." That is, fascism focuses on one person as leader, fascism says communism is bad, and fascism says that at least one group of people is bad and has caused the nation's problems. This group could be people from other countries or groups of people within the country.[9] [BOLD emphasis added] https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism That sound a whole lot like the campaign platform and ravings of.... well, you know who.

Someone above kind of put their foot in it.... 🙂

Trump having "a somewhat promiscuous relationship with the truth" is pretty much like saying... ...water is wet!

Re part 1 above, maybe you should consult further with: Re part 2 above: Not that most people these days actually believe anything Donald Trump says is the "actual truth".

Can't let a dead dog lie... Once more from the OP: "To be doubly certain, I consulted a leading historian of American Marxism, Paul Buhle, a retired lecturer at Brown University. He said he had looked into Harris’ history and found no evidence of Marxist leanings. “It’s a slur,” he wrote in an email."

I did... in order to highlight the inanity and inaccuracy of Trump's name calling directed against VP Harris. As the OP report further noted: "For another thing, Harris has moved quickly and effectively to define her positions as squarely within the mainstream of current Democratic thinking: liberal, but a long way from anything resembling Marxism, which calls for government ownership of major industries." The majority of the public understand that, and recognizes Trump's tripe for what it is.

Say various of the posters here who regularly regurgitate Trump's nonsense name-calling tripe. Voters know Trump and recognize his name calling and him for what they are... nonsense.

From the same report above: "A Wall Street Journal poll released last week found that the vice president is viewed positively by 49% of voters, a gain of 14% since July. The same poll found that 59% of voters consider Trump “too extreme” to be president, but only 46% consider Harris too extreme. (That number, 46%, roughly matches already committed Trump voters’ share of the electorate.)" Then.... From the same OP report: "She has made some arguably progressive campaign proposals, including a federal ban on “price-gouging” by grocery stores; Trump denounced the idea as “Soviet-style price controls.” But it turned out to be broadly popular: An Economist-YouGov poll last month found that 60% of voters like the idea, including about half of Republicans." Trump can't win for trying...

Per the Los Angeles Times in the following news report. ..."Trump claimed, without a shred of evidence, that Vice President Harris, whom he has dubbed “Comrade Kamala,” “wants this country to go communist.” ... But his wild punches aren’t landing.... So why is Trump’s free-swinging rhetoric failing? For one thing, Harris isn’t — and never has been — a Marxist, and most voters appear to recognize that. ... To be doubly certain, I consulted a leading historian of American Marxism, Paul Buhle, a retired lecturer at Brown University. He said he had looked into Harris’ history and found no evidence of Marxist leanings. “It’s a slur,” he wrote in an email. (more) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-calls-harris-a-marxist-a-communist-even-a-fascist-why-his-wild-punches-don-t-land/ar-AA1pQtYt

Long Covid symptoms in kids aren’t one-size-fits-all, study shows Headaches dominate in very young, fatigue in adolescents Aug. 21, 2024 Rachel Gross wants to clear up misconceptions about children and Covid-19. A pediatrician and population health researcher, she recalls a time four years ago when people didn’t think children could even contract the disease. Then, after accepting kids’ vulnerability to the virus, it was thought only adults could suffer from the myriad symptoms that persist or crop up post-infection, collectively known as long Covid. Now that it’s clear kids can also develop long Covid, Gross wants to correct assumptions that the condition looks the same in adults as in children, no matter their age. In new research published Wednesday in JAMA, Gross and the RECOVER-Pediatrics Consortium report that school-age children and adolescents experience similar long Covid symptoms across multiple organ systems, but those symptoms cluster in ways that vary depending on their age while diverging to some degree from the pattern seen in adults. As part of the federally funded RECOVER initiative focused on post-acute sequelae of SARS-Cov-2, or PASC for short, the study found that school-age children (6 to 11 years old) with prolonged symptoms were more likely than uninfected children to experience headaches (57%); trouble with memory, focusing, and sleeping (44%); and abdominal pain (43%) at least four weeks after Covid. Infected adolescents (12 to 17 years old) more often had daytime fatigue, sleepiness, and low energy (80%); body, muscle, or joint pain (55%); and trouble with memory and focusing (47%) post-infection than uninfected peers. (more) STAT https://www.statnews.com/2024/08/21/long-covid-symptoms-children-recover/ https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2822770

Here the concluding passage from the original New York Times opinion piece: "Whatever our politics, Trump brings out the worst in all of us. He nurtures hate on his side that we mirror. So let’s take a deep breath, summon F.D.R.’s empathy for the forgotten man, follow Clinton’s advice — and, for the sake of winning elections as well as of civility, remember that the best way to get others to listen to us is to first listen to them." Well, if nothing else, it's a rarity to find the words "Trump" and "civility" mentioned anywhere close to each other. But I do agree with the author's primary conclusion: "Trump brings out the worst in all of us." That's reason enough that he never should serve as U.S. president again, for the sake of the U.S. and the world.

A recent report found 5.8 million U.S. kids have long COVID. Here’s what you need to know now. Updated Aug 26, 2024 ...a new large analysis published this year in the journal Pediatrics found 5.8 million American kids have long COVID—symptoms lasting at least six months after infection. The report estimated that, much like adults, 10% to 20% of kids who get sick with COVID-19 develop this complex, poorly understood post-infection syndrome that can affect almost every system in the body. The problem is, it can be really hard to diagnose and even harder to find someone who recognizes the signs and knows how to help your child get better. Who Develops Long COVID? As we found out firsthand, any kid can develop long COVID. “Research indicates that long COVID can affect previously healthy children and adolescents, including those who experienced only mild cases of COVID-19,” says Carlos Oliveira, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, CT. At the same time, he adds, kids who got severely ill during that initial infection have a potential double whammy, as they are “significantly more likely to develop long COVID.” ... The stakes are high, as many kids across the country and world are having their lives upended by long COVID, says Jessica Snowden, M.D., chief of pediatric infectious disease and vice dean for research at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, AR. “I hear from parents and children all the time who are struggling with a wide variety of long COVID symptoms, from school problems to breathing concerns.” (more) Health Central https://www.healthcentral.com/condition/coronavirus/pediatric-long-covid https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/153/3/e2023062570/196606/Postacute-Sequelae-of-SARS-CoV-2-in-Children

Long COVID is a $1 trillion problem with no cure. Experts plead for governments to wake up August 9, 2024 ... This form of COVID is particularly perilous because, for many people, its symptoms may last years (or a lifetime) and their effects may trigger all sorts of associated problems and costs. Long COVID “affects nearly every organ system,” the review notes, including the cardiovascular, immune, gastrointestinal and reproductive systems. While more than 200 symptoms have been identified, common symptoms include memory problems, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, heart palpitations, chronic cough, shortness or breath and recurring headaches. Chillingly, most people who develop long COVID did not have particularly vicious cases of the virus initially. That’s in part because so many more people experience a mild form of COVID rather than a severe one. (Across most studies, long COVID risk does increase with the severity of the initial infection.) And each time people become reinfected with the virus, they’re at risk of developing long COVID, even if they didn’t experience it previously. The authors note that studies on recovery from long COVID are “sparse and inconsistent.” But those that have closely evaluated individual manifestations of the virus have found recovery rates to be fairly low at one year, and only 7% to 10% fully recovered after two years. For millions and millions of people, the debilitating effects of long COVID are just that. (more) Fortune https://fortune.com/well/article/long-covid-cost-1-trillion-treatment-cure/

The condition has put significant strain on patients and society — at a global economic cost of about $1 trillion a year, a new report estimates. Aug. 9, 2024 About 400 million people worldwide have been afflicted with long Covid, according to a new report by scientists and other researchers who have studied the condition. The team estimated that the economic cost — from factors like health care services and patients unable to return to work — is about $1 trillion worldwide each year, or about 1 percent of the global economy. ... About 6 percent of adults globally have had long Covid. The authors evaluated scores of studies and metrics to estimate that as of the end of 2023, about 6 percent of adults and about 1 percent of children — or about 400 million people — had ever had long Covid since the pandemic began. They said the estimate accounted for the fact that new cases slowed in 2022 and 2023 because of vaccines and the milder Omicron variant. ... Many people have not fully recovered. The authors cited studies suggesting that only 7 percent to 10 percent of long Covid patients fully recovered two years after developing long Covid. They added that “some manifestations of long Covid, including heart disease, diabetes, myalgic encephalomyelitis and dysautonomia are chronic conditions that last a lifetime.” ... Treatment remains one of the biggest challenges. There is still too little known about treating long Covid, the authors wrote, and there remains a “near-total absence of evidence from randomized clinical trials to guide treatment decisions.” (more) New York Times https://archive.ph/IefAs https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03173-6

Thailand MoPH Weekly COVID report for Aug. 25 - 31, 2024: For the week: --569 new COVID hospitalizations (red) --1 new COVID death (gray) --212 COVID patients currently hospitalized in serious condition (pneumonia type symptoms) (dark purple) --91 COVID patients currently hospitalized requiring ventilation/intubation in order to breathe (light purple) https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

New Covid Vaccines Are Coming. Here’s What to Know. We asked experts about the right time to get a shot, and how long protection will last. Aug. 22, 2024 [Among the questions answered in the full New York Times report linked below:] How are the new shots different? What if I just had Covid? How fast does protection kick in? When should I get vaccinated? New York Times https://archive.ph/iZasE

It's kind of weird (to use that popular term lately)! The OP opinion piece here is actually about what the author thinks could be a political civil war within the Republican Party if Trump loses the election. But a lot of the comments here in this thread have ended up being about the potential other kind of real civil war, like the U.S. got a brief taste of during the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Normally, you wouldn't think the latter even fathomable... But then you look at a lot of the absurd extremist political rhetoric being dished out here on this forum (some share of it probably by non-Americans), and you begin to wonder.... What happens if Harris wins the election, but the Trump election deniers that Republicans have placed in many election departments around the country refuse to count or certify the ballots. Or Republicans in Congress go another round at attempting to do the same with the state election results? We seem to be living in perilous times. New Report Details Terrifying Threat of Trump’s Election Deniers Election deniers hold crucial roles in elections in multiple swing states At least 70 pro–Donald Trump election denialists are working as election officials in key swing states, according to a report published Monday from Rolling Stone and the right-wing extremism research newsletter American Doom. Officials who had promoted election conspiracy theories were identified in at least 16 counties in six swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. These individuals were identified through scouring coverage of refusals to certify 2020 election results and other denialist behavior, as well as sifting through the social media profiles of election officials in these states. Across these swing states, Trump loyalists stand ready to disrupt the results of democratically held elections—at least 22 of them have already refused or delayed certification in recent years, indicating likely chaos in November. (more) https://newrepublic.com/post/184340/trump-election-deniers-power-swing-states https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-how-georgia-officials-wrote-rules-deny-election-results-1235089385/

August 30, 2024 A growing proportion of Americans believe COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and are unwilling to be vaccinated or to recommend it to others, according to the latest national health survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. ... False beliefs proliferate As of July, 28% of survey respondents mistakenly believed that COVID-19 vaccines have caused thousands of deaths, up from 22% in June 2021, while the proportion who know this is untrue fell from 66% to 55% over the same period. Twenty-two percent of Americans believe the falsity that it's less risky to get infected with COVID-19 than to get the vaccine, more than double the 10% with the belief in the months following the 2021 vaccine rollout. The proportion of respondents who mistakenly think that COVID-19 vaccines change human DNA reached 15%, nearly double the 8% who believed it in 2021. ... The skepticism extends to other vaccines as well, with 32% unsure of the effectiveness of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine aimed at young people, 23% uncertain about the pneumonia vaccine, 19% doubting the shingles vaccine, and 47% unsure about the RSV vaccine during pregnancy or at age 60 and older (37%). (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/survey-reveals-growing-american-distrust-vaccines-covid-other-infectious-diseases COVID-19 Misinformation & Vaccine Perceptions Perceptions of Vaccine Safety and Efficacy "Vaccines are one of the great success stories of public health. Vaccination has eliminated or nearly eliminated some diseases (e.g., smallpox and polio). For others, such as COVID-19, it has significantly decreased the number of people experiencing severe illness, hospitalization, and death because of infection. Unfortunately, recent years have seen declines in Americans’ perceptions that a variety of vaccines are safe and effective (see Figure 5). Although most respondents still report these vaccines as safe (65-81%) and effective (61-83%), respondents surveyed showed significant declines in perceptions of safety for MMR and COVID-19 vaccines, and in perceptions of efficacy for MMR, seasonal flu, and pneumonia vaccines. COVID-19 Vaccine Perceived as Less Safe & Effective than Other Vaccines: Our respondents consider MMR and seasonal flu vaccines, which have existed for decades, safer and more effective (75-83%) than the more recent COVID-19 vaccines (65-66%). Evidence from the CDC suggests that COVID-19 vaccines are actually more effective than flu vaccines. There has also been an increase in perceptions that the COVID-19 vaccines are very or somewhat unsafe (from 18% to 24%)." https://cdn.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/asaph-report-summer-2024.pdf