The word 'the' is irrelevant here. Please don't try to sidestep the request for evidence. You're claiming that 50% of US doctors are against the Covid vaccine. If you're not willing to supply evidence, then your argument is not based in fact, and is worthless, you may as well just state any unsubstantiated figure. For example: 99.73% of US doctors are in favour of the Covid vaccine.

Made up figures can't form the basis of a solid argument.

Really? Over 50% of doctors in the US don't believe in vaccination? Do you have the data source to hand? Please don't say it's the satan-soldiers hat guy reporting from his living room again.

The symptoms experienced from receiving the vaccine are far milder than the symptoms experienced from contracting the virus. This is the whole point of vaccination.

Anecdotal evidence and hearsay is not representative of a general trend. In my part of the UK, people in the 40-49 age group have been receiving vaccinations during the last two weeks. A few people I've spoken to have had headaches and muscle aches for a day or so, but no-one I'm aware of has been confined to bed or even missed a day of work.

Agree that politicians could have performed much better. Quarantining of people entering the country back in Jan/Feb 2020, coupled with rigorous quarantining and contact tracing of anyone exhibiting symptoms would have been a good idea, and was obviously a good idea at the time, not merely with the benefit of hindsight. We could all see what was about to happen after watching it unfold in China and then spread out to countries such as Italy.

If a nation has ambitions of global hegemony, as China does... then would you want your only opponent to be a) unified and focused and ready to stand against you, or b) distracted and looking inward and fighting itself?

This is why China, and any opponent of the US, prefers Trump in charge.

See also, for comparison on a smaller scale, Russian intervention in the UK's Brexit vote... if you have ambitions to dominate Europe, then would you prefer the EU to be unified and focused, or would you want to incite division and for Britain to leave?

Half-time in Madrid ... Real winning 1-0, looking good for them to keep up the pressure on Atletico. You'd imagine they'll see this one out now they have the lead.
We have to wait until tomorrow for the big test for Atletico away at Sevilla... and then Barca have the benefit of seeing that one play out before their own game on Monday.

Yes, you're wrong. The people you shouldn't trust are those who start from one position, and then stick to it relentlessly, even when evidence piles up to confirm that their position is incorrect.



I'd argue the point about absence of stats, or data. If a scientist starts from one position, and then new evidence arrives, which causes them to change their opinion and position, then that's certainly a good thing.

FTFY: how the Russians used election fraud to get Trump in, because Trump doesn't care. He wants us all to get the virus.

Seriously though, even if you're a Trump supporter, surely you can't argue that he was a unifying force? He was (and still is) incredibly divisive. Trump in office weakens the US partly through his isolationism and removal of the US as the dominant player in global politics, and partly through his ability to create internecine conflict within the US itself.

The Russians, the Chinese, whoever stands against the US... do not want a bridge-builder like Biden in charge. It is not in their own interests.

If your position on minorities being attacked is that people who aren't minorities are also attacked, therefore there's no problem, then I have no further response.

Well, the image that started the thread might provide the answer. Particularly if you read the text in that image.

Asians are being attacked, physically. All people — including Asian people — have the right to walk the streets without fear of some racist coward assaulting them.

Manny Pacquiao is not only one of the greatest fighters of all time, he's also a senator in the Phillippines. Obviously the racist cowards wouldn't take him up on the offer to fight him instead. What he is doing here is highlighting, very effectively, not only the plight of Asians, but also the cowardice of those who perpetrate the attacks.

The message in the image shared by the OP is potent, and — to most people, I think — perfectly clear.

This could be a crucial game. It's vitally important for Atletico that they win this difficult match. If they lose, then Barca could be within a single point of them... and Barca still have to play Atletico, so if they can get within three points and then beat Atletico when they play them, then Barca can be champions. Atletico absolutely need to maintain that gap at a clear four points.

But I do think that Atletico can do it. There's a reason they are top of the table. Barca may have hit form recently, but Atletico are still a difficult team to take points from.

I would suggest that people with a conservative or right-wing mentality have a tendency to be motivated largely by self-interest, and have little to zero concern about the conditions and well-being of the wider population. Whereas those with a left-wing mentality, whilst certainly still having a degree of self-interest, want to reduce suffering and inequality across the whole of society (and ideally the world)... and so won't be happy until those problems are resolved.

If a study focuses solely on the economic status of the individual being surveyed, then whoever is running the study is missing the point.
Bernie Sanders is comparatively wealthy, but is unhappy about the treatment of those less fortunate than himself. Give him a billion dollars, and he'll still have deep concerns about society.
Trump is rich and is only unhappy about things that impact himself. Give him a cheeseburger* and he'll be happy.






*and the presidency**
**and a Twitter account

I'll be generous and assume you are genuinely missing the point. Hate crimes against Asians have increased dramatically since the start of the pandemic. There are plenty of bigoted, racist, xenophobic half-wits out there who for example blame all Chinese people for the spread of the virus. And this includes, of course, blaming US citizens with Chinese ancestry, who may have never even been to China in their lives. I'd give you charts and data, but you don't trust facts and evidence.
And the idea that China's mistreatment of its own citizens is fuelled by anti-Asian racism is utterly absurd. Do you genuinely think that, for example, Xi Jinping is a white European/American with a deep hatred of people with Chinese ancestry?

The only evidence I have that we need evidence to support our claims is the entire history of applied science (including all technology and, yes, engineering).
Claims that don't need evidence, or that people still support despite the absence of any evidence or, indeed, despite the presence of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, are the preserve of religion.

Nothing, it's all of the other points that invite skepticism:

'Rods from God'. Google. Bill Gates. Nuclear explosion in Chinese rail yard. UFOs. Gravity control.

If someone is making a controversial claim, then they need to back it up with evidence. They can't just say things like "Now do understand that the USA has had gravity control since 1955" and expect people to take it as an established truth. Simply saying something doesn't make it true. It's the lack of evidence, combined with there being multiple wild and unsubstantiated claims... this is why the whole thing isn't taken seriously.

Certainly they couldn't penalise him retroactively, no.
But on the other point, I don't know. Red Bull claimed that Hamilton was gaining 0.2 seconds a lap there. If - hypothetically - they hadn't mentioned this until the Max overtake, when the officials told him to give the place back, then they could have presented their evidence and said Hamilton had been gaining an advantage there every lap and no action had been taken, therefore no action should be taken against Max. Appreciate though that this is quite an unlikely scenario... in reality they were always going to mention it as soon as they became aware of it.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is sold at cost. No profit.

Agree that the other vaccine companies are making vast amounts of money. But if an urgent problem can only be resolved by a very small number of expert companies, then you'd expect those companies to make money - it's how the modern economy works. Doesn't make the problem itself artificial, though.

Also, we've heard a fair amount about the effectiveness of vitamin D, which doesn't make $$$ for pharma. And we've heard about the importance of healthy diet, how obesity is a factor, etc. At least in my country - will obviously vary around the world.

Because he's nearing the end of his career at the top, and has maybe a couple of years left. Does he want to spend them at a team in decline, like Barcelona, or does he want to play for one of the best teams in the world. Barcelona are unfortunately not currently one of the best.
But he's been there a long time, and it would certainly be a huge upheaval. I imagine he's conflicted, wanting to go and wanting to stay at the same time.

Yes. During the race, Red Bull complained that Hamilton was going outside track limits at turn 4, and was gaining an advantage... so the officials said he had to stop doing it.
And then, at the end, as we all know... Verstappen overtook Hamilton... by running outside track limits at turn 4... and so, because officials had already said Hamilton couldn't do it, they had to say Verstappen couldn't do it either and had to hand the place back.
Kind of weird that if Red Bull hadn't made the initial complaint, they'd have had a decent chance of winning the race... they could have claimed that Hamilton had been running wide there with no action taken, so Max could do the same.

No, but I believe Kevin Spacey used to be in a barbershop quartet in Skokie, Illinois. The baritone was this guy named Kip Diskin.

I understand that on paper it just looks like yet another boring Mercedes win. But this is not how it happened. Red Bull clearly have the faster car, Max's last qualifying run for example he went purple in all three sectors to qualify in pole by nearly half a second from Hamilton. Race pace may be different to qualifying, but at no point before the first pit stops did it look like Hamilton had any chance of getting close enough to Max to try to overtake. Later in the race was a bit different, which I'll explain below. But Red Bull at the moment (and in potentially unrepresentative Bahrain) have the quicker car.

A team mate's role is primarily as competition only when there is a single clearly dominant team. If we have two teams that are quite evenly matched, then the second driver is absolutely vital in terms of strategy for each team. In fact, I would go as far to say, and this may be controversial, but if things continue as they did in the first race, then the 2021 champion could in large part be determined by the performances of Bottas and Perez. This is apparent in how the race unfolded. Red Bull had one car at the front, Mercedes had two. This meant that Mercedes could split their strategy. Hamilton pitted first... this left Verstappen, the leader, with a choice of a) pit immediately to prevent Hamilton getting the undercut... which leaves Bottas in the lead, and Verstappen potentially needing to pass him out on track to regain the lead, or b) don't pit, and go longer, let Hamilton take the lead, and try to come back at him later with fresher tyres. The point here being that because Mercedes had two cars at the front, they could put one of their cars into the lead whenever they wanted simply because they had an extra driver and Max couldn't cover both of them by himself. If Perez had been up there with Bottas, particularly if he had been in front of Bottas, then the situation would have been very different.