We don't have a labor shortage, we have a sordid shortage of livable wages/healthcare/life due to greed..

@Charlene I think the disrespect for medical workers, especially those working long hours and at great risk, has a bit to do with the shortages. Our rude citizenry basically told them that they are servants who can fuck off and die (literally) for us and will gain zero respect for doing it. This is the ugly American the entire rest of the world tells us about.

@rainmanjr We can thank DJT aka Orange Foolius aka the Done Cheato for politicizing the pandemic and casting aspersions on healthcare professionals.

@Charlene Yes definitely the taxes should be raised immediately so you can help start paying them

@Flyingsaucesir I'm hypothesizing that you mean 'thank' and not "that" but the confirmed rapist, 45, simply used the pandemic to further empower his Party. People, in general, don't trust or like healthcare professionals because they're always telling us what to do while also not doing that stuff. Many healthcare professionals smoked (or smoke) tobacco, for instance, but never fail to advise quitting. 45 merely told them what every one of us say about them behind their back; they are full of shit. That's why it worked. Further, Dems began vehemently defending drugs and practices which were deeply questionable. The vaccine itself, for instance, has not been studied so might have serious health consequences for many. That might still be possible though the alt was to continue the high death rate so Dems deemed the risk necessary. Mandating a person to take this risk was clearly unconstitutional and that is what the controversy was really all about. The confirmed rapist 45 produced the vaccine, however, so any nefarious intent would have been his. They were mad at POTUS Joe for making shots mandatory (for Fed workers) and had a point which scared Dems (including me). How could we survive without fully shutting down the virus was their anxiety and the answer was that many will so Dems were getting hysterical (as they often do because they're also human). And, in the end, the virus did just go away (so far as society is concerned) so the confirmed rapist was correct about that. I hate that fact also but there it is; he was right about a thing or two but uses threats of violence to declare it.

@bebe12 nah...if we raise taxes it Should be on the Billionaires and Corporations..cause you know it's time to Eat the Rich and yeet Conservatives into space, cause they suck the life out of the country, by always blaming workers and non white people...when in fact it's good ol' American Capitalist Greed..

@rainmanjr You wrote a lot so there is a lot to unpack. Ok, here goes:

Yes I meant to write "thanks." Good catch.

It's true that doctors sometimes say "do as I say, not as I do." However, in my experience this is rare. I think people's distrust of medicos is part of a larger pattern of anti-intellectualism that has been a part of American culture for a long time. Regrettably, a certain sector of American society has always been skeptical of book learnin'.

I don't agree that the vaccines or therapies recommended by the CDC were questionable. Work on RNA vaccines had been under way for a decade before they were introduced. Yes, the last stage of testing was accelerated, but it turned out that was totally justified by the severity of the disease we were facing. And the vaccines were indeed safe and effective.

That distrust of intellectuals was what 45 was tapping into. Only now that skepticism is amped up by a tsunami of disinformation online. Thus it is all the more important and necessary that the person with the bully pulpit not say crazy stupid shit. But he did. And continues to do so.

What was questionable was 45 recommending sheep dewormer, UV light, and bleach as therapies.

The virus did not "just go away." People are still dying frim it today, but the death rate is much lower now than it was because most of the population has some level of immunity through exposure to the live virus or through vaccination.

45 only reluctantly advocated for getting vaccinated. He hated having to do it, because it went against what his base wanted to hear. So his advocacy was tepid at best. And other elements of his response were worse; so much so that over 200,000 excess deaths are thought to be due to 45's mishandling of the crisis.

In other words, Trumpty Dumpty was not right about anything except that Americans are uniquely gullible, superstitious, ignorant of science, and distrustful of experts.

PS: Biden was perfectly justified in requiring federal workers to be vaccinated or be fired.

Note: vaccination was not forced on anyone. Federal employees (and others not subject to federal policy) were forced to make a not-too-difficult choice.

Forced vaccination was never a thing. It didn't happen.

And this choice was also imposed by other entities, both public and private, for the same good reasons.

Happily, the vast majority of healthcare workers, cops, and other people whose jobs bring them into contact with the public made the wise choice to keep their jobs and be vaccinated.

@Charlene when you raise taxes for billionaires and corporations, it doesn’t solve any problem they pass the higher taxes off to the consumer, who will end up paying more for the products they supply

@fedup Income taxes..those They Can't pass off..

@fedup That might be true if monopolies or cartels are allowed to operate, but not in a healthy free-market economy. The difference is in the competition...

@Flyingsaucesir YW. It matters not what you agree with, accept as true, or merely desire to promote. I think Dr's are full of shit, express that when the topic fits, and have rarely had anyone disagree with me. Therefore, there are many folks who don't really like them (and that includes Nurses, who likely love a position of authority but which we grudgingly need). Who knows how much of what they're prescribing is to get a free golf vacation from Phizer? Since the answer is "Only they who do it" we who treat their advice loosely are justified.

What matters, concerning an invasive medical treatment, is what each and every human being thinks for themselves. Those that did not agree with your assessments had a right to not receive a shot and not be banned from working (that's a type of forced medication and exactly what Biden did for Fed workers). Yes, more would likely have died but that's the price of individual Rights. Shrug

@rainmanjr I think you misunderstand my position. I am not saying that doctors are infallible. Indeed, some really are full of shit. Witness Dr. Oz, Dr. Robert Malone, and the guy who, 20+ years ago, prescribed for me a steroid to be taken orally for the rest of my life (I never filled that prescription). But the decisions coming out of the CDC are made in consultation with many experts. They don't shoot from the hip.

I'm sorry to hear you using that "forced vaccination" rhetoric. It is just the kind of talk that bolsters the alt-right, neo-Nazi, Christian nationalist, fascist ass wipes. And it's dead wrong. When you accept a job working with the public, you at least tacitly (and sometimes explicitly) agree to certain conditions or give up some rights.

We got off lucky with SARS CoV-2. The next bug could be much worse. Imagine a death rate ten times higher. What then? Are you still going to insist that unvaccinated conspiracy theorists be allowed to go around infecting the populace?

We should be viewing this last round as a dress rehearsal for a much more severe future challenge.

@Flyingsaucesir Pardon me but you love to give rhetoric in place of legal or situational relevance and that makes for a never ending sidebar discussion. A mandate to be vaccinated or lose your job is a forced vaccination. Doesn't matter whether you agree with that or not because it remains true. I worked for the public over 35 years and can cheerfully say to them "Fuck you all."

@rainmanjr OK I see we are at impasse on the semantics. But you did not answer my question.

@Flyingsaucesir Do I believe that a person has a Right to their own body? Yes, I do. That is a higher Right than that of the public's safety.

@rainmanjr Huh. Well maybe it's a good thing you're not a public health official.

@Flyingsaucesir Maybe it's good you're not interpreting the constitution.

@rainmanjr The great thing is that I don't have to. This has already been litigated. The Constitution gives
the state wide latitude to implement health protocols. For instance, the state can deprive any individual of their liberty through quarantine.
[americanbar.org]
And that ain't all. The same can be said for mandatory vaccination.
[americanbar.org]

@Flyingsaucesir Whatever you think, dude.

@rainmanjr Or whatever the American Bar Association thinks, right?

@Flyingsaucesir Apparently law is whatever SCOTUS (not the ABA) says it is and they have not ruled on it, yet. Lawyers (not you or me) have been arguing this point for a while so you are not solving it here. No. I will say that quarantine is not an invasive shot so not the same thing and can't be mandatory. I guess you don't agree with a woman's Right of body autonomy since you think there is no such thing (if the reason is "good" enough)?

@rainmanjr Abortion is not an infectious disease that he public need protection from.

Quarantine and mandatory vaccination are not new things. Both have been employed many times in the past.

I think the general principle is that the safety of the many outweighs the convenience of the few.

Now if you could show that the vaccine was unsafe and ineffective, then it would be a different story.

@Flyingsaucesir A woman's Right to her body is the issue. The sanctity of one's body. Vaccination and quarantine are not the same thing and we are talking about vaccination. I think you're way off base about the many being of greater constitutional concern than the one. Vaccination is an invasion of one's body (therefore different from quarantine). The vaccine did cause many people health problems so obviously not entirely safe. I'm done, dude.

@rainmanjr From what I gather, the vaccine has caused serious side effects in very few people. Out of hundreds of millions, only a few dozen.

@Flyingsaucesir each one of them have a constitutional Right to not be affected.

@rainmanjr Again, it's a good thing you are not a public health official.

@Flyingsaucesir SMH. How's life in the bubble?

CNN came under new ownership last year, and the new owner apparently doesn't give a rat's ass about journalistic integrity.

@Flyingsaucesir I had not realized they were under new ownership - that explains a lot.

@silverotter11 (It explains why I'll never watch again!)