This is a valid point, and is often overlooked. Whilst having good players is important, it's not as important as how they fit together into a single unit.
It's worth also considering the opposite situation, with teams such as Denmark, where the individual players don't seem to be world-beaters, but they way they work together is impressive.

Sure. It would be weird if vaccines didn't apply selection pressure. But this doesn't give credence to the OP's statement that 'it is the vaccination that is creating the variants'. It is clearly not. Mutations arise naturally due to replication errors. Evolution proceeds through natural selection, which means some mutations thrive, others don't. Vaccines don't create variants. The number of variants (mutations) that arise is proportional to the number of instances of the virus in existence. If you reduce the number of particles of virus in existence, through vaccination, then you reduce the number of mutations. The delta variant that is causing so much trouble in the highly-vaccinated UK arose in India, where vaccination levels are very low.

Also (and I'm not saying you're doing this, I'm simply making the point) we can't argue that 'vaccines apply selection pressure to favour vaccine-resistant variants, therefore vaccines are bad'... for one thing it's a circular argument (vaccines lead to things that are resistant to vaccines, therefore vaccines are useless), and secondly it neglects the evidence in favour of vaccines... consider smallpox eradication as an example. Antibiotic resistance is a similar phenomenon - are antibiotics pointless?



Well, there is the massive number of hospitalisations and the 4 million dead to consider.


The curve diminished because of lockdowns and other preventative action, masks, social distancing, etc. As is quite evident from the second wave following directly after the ending of lockdowns. And this is all prior to the introduction of the vaccines.
The question of variants is less relevant in an unvaccinated population - whether people are catching the initial strain or a variant is immaterial if the effects are the same. Variants become important if a vaccine is designed to protect only against the initial strain. But also, obviously it takes high case numbers and time for variants to become established. It's not going to happen instantly at the beginning of the first wave.


Then we are in agreement.


I've presented the data in the charts above. Your statement is without foundation.


Evolution through mutation and natural selection is a straightforward concept. It is not difficult to understand.


Smallpox. Polio. Tetanus. Hepatitis. etc, etc.


I'm sure plenty of pharmaceutical companies are making vast profits from vaccines. This is how the economy is designed. It's working as intended. No need for a massive global conspiracy to explain ordinary behaviour.

It's simply more efficient and more readable to take the relevant part of the post rather than quote the whole thing every time. There's no intention here to divest your statement of context... but it stands by itself, surely? I don't see the problem here.


If English is not your strong suit, then

This is a breathtakingly stupid statement, which reveals a lack of even the most rudimentary grasp of science and how mutations arise naturally from copying errors.


When I open the link you provide, there is a disclaimer at the top of the page:


Again, it's utter stupidity to make such a statement that is in complete opposition to the facts. And by facts I mean large, publicly available datasets from around the world. Not some ranting YouTube charlatan or snake-oil salesman. Do you have any basis for making this statement? Southern Water has just been fined £90 million for knowingly dumping vast quantities of raw sewage into the environment. You should be thankful that on the web you can do it free of penalty.

Take a look at the charts below for the UK and the US.

First, vaccinations in both nations started to take off around the beginning of this year, and have now reached a high level.


Now let's take the second and third charts together.
The difference in case numbers is that the UK has fully opened up now, and is experiencing a huge outbreak of the 'delta' variant, whilst the US remains relatively unscathed...

https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

... but death rates remain extremely low in both nations. The US has low cases numbers and low death rate. The UK has high case numbers and low death rate. You will (or probably won't) note that death rates in the wave prior to widespread vaccination were high in both nations.


I'd ask you to consider this, or even look at the source data, and then form your own conclusions... but there's no point doing that, because anti-vaxxers approach this subject with their own unshakeable fact-free conclusions, and are immune to evidence.

There's a huge amount of evidence for the big bang origin, and zero evidence for the 'God did it' origin.
Big bang is a scientific theory, and is supported by evidence. 'God' is a faith-based theory, and so - for those who believe it - doesn't need evidence.

One thing I find difficult to comprehend is the religious objection to big bang on the basis of 'Well, what happened before the big bang? You don't know that, you don't have evidence for that, therefore it's not true'. The problem with this argument is that it's someone who is happy for their own preferred origin to lack evidence, but simultaneously sees a lack of evidence for the alternative as being proof of its falsity.

As for what did happen before the big bang, whilst we don't know for certain, the fact that space and time are intertwined and can't, scientifically, be considered as separate things, does provide a clue. If we say that the big bang was the origin of space, then it follows that it should also be the origin of time... because it is the origin of spacetime. But this is simply a theory; it's similar to black holes. Energies and densities hitting infinity is the mathematical limiting case, an asymptote that isn't reached; it doesn't necessarily mean an actual infinity... but such extremes do present difficulties to understanding, as they are so far from our everyday human experiences. There are of course many theories as to how the initial conditions of the universe arose... it's just that they are very difficult, and perhaps impossible, to test. To understand a thing you need to view it from the outside. We can't view the universe from the outside.

This is silly. England did score after 2 minutes, you know. Often - and almost always in major finals - if a team takes the lead against a strong opponent, they then sit back and defend, and try to catch the opponent on the break to score a second. This is simply sound tactics. The reason Italy dominated possession so much is because they needed to score, whereas England, having already scored, didn't. Once the score was 1-1, England started to attack again.

Well, then it's lucky that it's impossible for an mRNA vaccine to alter the human genome.


^{[CITATION NEEDED]}


Yes, if a company designs a gene, they can patent that design. I don't think this is in doubt.


I can see what you're aiming for, but this is quite a leap of logic, and doesn't merit the absolute certainty of an all-caps 'WILL'. And, given the impossibility of an mRNA vaccine altering someone's genes, it has no bearing on the CV19 vaccine discussion.

Okay, I have another single word summary: 'McCarthyism'. But I stand by my other one word summary, too. I can see no difference (and plenty of similarities) between this thread and the vaccine nanobots threads, the 5G zombification masts threads, the Bill Gates 'forked-tongued demon' threads.


So we have two options:
a) “progressivism” is progressivism; “democratic socialism” is democratic socialism; “social activism” is social activism, or
b) “progressivism” is Marxism!!!; “democratic socialism” is Marxism!!!; “social activism” is Marxism!!!.

I'd say one of the above options is a self-evident truth, the other represents the familiar hysterical one-note shrieking of a hard-right zealot who wants to demonise anything he doesn't like, and lacks the imagination or energy to even attempt to form a cogent argument.


These two phrases are a neat encapsulation of the whole quote. The author appears to be oblivious to the fact that he accuses people of brainwashing, and then in the very next phrase describes - without giving any explanation or evidence - something as having 'anti-American purposes'. He's either a fool, or thinks his readers are fools.

I'm with suchmoon. Unless the car is a Soviet Lada, in which case I've completely misread the situation.

The idea that Marxism in the US is "devouring our society and culture, swirling around our everyday lives, and ubiquitous in our politics, schools, media, and entertainment" is utterly absurd. Marxism? Seriously?
If I had to sum up the whole quote in one word, it would be 'BADeckeresque'.

That's a hilarious reading of the situation. It takes a lot of effort to contort reality like that. Exceptionally creative journalism - but still utter nonsense.

Yeah, I've posted links like that in the past, and patiently explained how mRNA vaccines work. But it doesn't matter, they don't listen.
And I don't think they are starting from a premise, they're starting from a conclusion 'vaccine=bad', and then desperately trying to twist reality to fit this conclusion through selective facts, laughable interpretations as in the OP and, as you say, false premises. But the conclusion is where they start. This is why evidence and data have no effect on them. Anything that doesn't fit the conclusion is not accepted.

Yes, I was shocked when I saw it was Saka taking the final penalty. He looked terrified as he was preparing to take it. At that moment it doesn't matter who takes the best penalties in training; in a high pressure shootout in the final of a major championship, what you need most is an older player with a lot of experience.

I wanted England to win, and losing on penalties is always hard to take. But I am glad for Saka that other England players missed penalties too. That should make it much easier to bear. It would have been different if everyone scored and he was the only one to miss.

Anyway, great Euros, and next stop Qatar 22!

It does seem likely that there won't be many goals, yes. Firstly, because it's a final, and teams are generally very cautious in finals. Secondly because Italy are always quite a defence-minded team. Thirdly because England seem to be much more tactically aware in this tournament, and don't play their usual risky attacking football... I expect them to line up with a similar defensive formation to that they used against Germany in the last 16.

It's difficult to say what would have happened. If Di Maria hadn't scored when he did, then the match would have unfolded differently. We don't know how it would have played out.
But yes, congratulations to Messi. I'm really glad for him that he finally won a major international trophy. He is the greatest player of the current era, and he deserves it.

Nope. Actually, the Kraken is regulated by FinCEN (registration number 31000176593851).

I've also had a look at the demonic beast's website (everyone has an internet presence these days). Turns out he doesn't offer his slithery tentacled services to residents of WA or NY. Kind of counterintuitive; you'd think you'd be safer away from the coast... but then this ocean-dwelling behemoth has always been beyond the understanding of mere humans.

Viruses mutate. Everything that lives and reproduces, mutates. Mutations are simply copying errors. Some turn out to benefit the organism, and make it a better fit for its environment. Other mutations are detrimental.

So if we have something like Covid-19, which becomes a global pandemic, then there are many many instances of the virus around the world. This means many many mutations. Current vaccines are designed to protect us against the initial variants. They also have some beneficial effect against new variants, new mutations, that may arise... but are not perfect.

What this means in practice is that for so long as the virus continues to circulate, new variants will arise, and new vaccines will need to be designed to combat them. The good thing is that as vaccination increases, and effective herd immunity starts to reduce the spread, then there will be fewer new variants. Immunity will also build up as this ceases to become a 'novel' virus.

Eventually it will simply become endemic, and no more of a problem than flu.

Citing a few individual instances from a pool of many many millions of people, and expecting us to take it as representative of a general trend is utterly absurd.
And the quote even states this, using its own numbers, as the previous poster said.
But I appreciate you at least attempting to use maths as the basis for an argument, even if you've failed so dramatically.

Sounds like this is the thing that you find most outrageous. Your best bet is probably to vote for a candidate who supports a free healthcare system. Here's a link to get you started.

I really hope so. He's been the best player in the world for a long time. He deserves a national trophy.
But history is against him, the last time Argentina won the trophy, Messi was just about to celebrate his sixth birthday. It's been a long time, and Brazil have to be clear favourites.

Hey, I thought this thread was supposed to be about a mythical ancient beast who manages to strike fear into the hearts of men and women, whilst simultaneously not actually existing.
I don't see what God has to do with it.

And it's also false when we look at excess deaths over the last year and a bit. I've presented the data many times, usually in response to "they didn't die of Covid they died of something I prefer" threads.
... but some people don't accept logic or evidence.