The problem is demonisation of foreigners by certain elements of the media and certain politicians and certain former presidents. 'Foreigners' aren't a problem. Treatment of foreigners is.

One major problematic outcome of immigration, legal or illegal, is that it is often the young and skilled who are able to escape their nation of origin, leading to a brain drain in that country as they move to richer countries with better opportunities, such as the US.

The thing is though, you need to supply evidence to back up these claims. Not just someone talking on YouTube, but proper data. Peer reviewed papers, mass trials involving thousands of test subjects, meta-analyses bringing in data from different and independent sources, that sort of thing. That would give your assertions more weight.

It's great news that the anticipated wave of new infections didn't appear. And it is indeed somewhat of a mystery.
We shouldn't jump to conclusions, so it's just speculation at the moment... and the most likely explanation is perhaps that a degree of herd immunity has been achieved. Excess deaths in January vastly outstripped confirmed Covid deaths, which suggests a large degree of under-reporting of cases.


https://www.wsj.com/articles/south-africas-drop-in-covid-19-cases-adds-to-questions-about-waves-of-infections-11615734003

I think the top 4 is probably settled now. Yes West Ham certainly still have a chance, but their next few matches are more difficult than Chelsea's. Chelsea do have a few more difficult fixtures at the end of the season, but momentum is important and they could be out of sight of West Ham by that point. Having said that, there is still the head-to-head between these two teams in a few weeks' time...

This is why I like posting on the P&S section of this forum. I often encounter people who have perspectives that differ wildly from my own. People from all sorts of different backgrounds, from all sorts of different places around the world, people who challenge my opinions. It is vitally important to continually examine our own opinions for evidence of confirmation bias or other intellectual inauthenticity. Discussions with people who have the opposing viewpoint are a good way to address this.

Sometimes here I encounter arguments that cause me to fundamentally change my opinion. Often I encounter arguments that cause me to see my beliefs from a more nuanced perspective. But most importantly, I think, when discussing with people with whom I disagree, I have cause to try to justify my opinions. If I am unable to justify them convincingly or without evident bias, then I know there is a problem.

The difficulty is that Atletico still have to play 4 of the other 5 teams in the top 6 (all of them expect Real). It's a more difficult run-in than their challengers face. I do still think Atletico will win La Liga, but it will likely be a very close run thing.

You're not really a test subject, though. The vaccines aren't developed and then just made available to the public. There is an established and rigorous trials process, starting with animals and then progressing through three phases of human trials... phase three typically involving thousands of people.

I do take your point though regarding uncertainty and long-term effects - nothing is guaranteed. It's just that taking the vaccine is a lot safer than catching the virus... as appears to be reflected in early post-vaccine data of declining death rates and declining transmission rates.

This is not a new thing, it's a continuation and expansion of an old thing.

Humans have been doing this for thousands of years, through selective breeding. All modern dog breeds have been created artificially by humans. Artificial selection, or human-directed natural selection, or whatever you want to call it, has created all domesticated livestock, and has resulted in all modern agricultural crops, which originated as wild plants. Modern wheat for example bears little similarity to its wild forebears. This is why the moral objection to GM crops is bizarre. And modern medicine, backed by the immense history of scientific discovery and knowledge, should not be regarded as a wild stab-in-the-dark conducted without understanding, when this is clearly not the case. Humans have been tinkering with life for a very long time.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Barca are probably more of a threat than Real Madrid, given the game in hand and the superior goal difference.
Atletico are dropping points, but Real Madrid are as well. Barcelona seem to be in slightly better form.
Atletico do have a very difficult run-in, but Real Madrid and Barcelona have to play each other - the result of that match could determine whether anyone can catch Atletico.

Here you go. Assume 'guess-work' was a typo and you meant 'verifiable and reproducible scientific evidence'.


_{Thin-section electron micrographs of the 2019 novel coronavirus grown in cells at The University of Hong Kong. Image from John Nicholls, Leo Poon and Malik Peiris, The University of Hong Kong (Posted on Twitter/@hkumed on February 3, 2020)}

https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/coronavirus-2019-ncov-photos-microscope-images-1642905-2020-02-03

^^^ Wrong! No correlation. Note the 'financial conflicts of interest' element, which is common to a lot of these conspiracy theories (see also, climate change denial).

https://www.publichealth.org/public-awareness/understanding-vaccines/vaccine-myths-debunked/

The weird thing is, they're using the same gearbox as last year. It's not like it's a new and untested piece of machinery. Perhaps there is some problem in getting the existing gearbox to work with the new car... but then it's strange to say the problem is the gearbox, when it ran absolutely fine last season.


Perhaps. But there does seem to be a genuine issue there. It's one thing to hide your true pace, but another to pretend you have a major issue and then miss a big chunk of what is a very limited testing window.

Pre-season testing always throws up some weird results. I'm as guilty as anyone of trying to draw conclusions when there may not actually be anything of substance available yet. Cars run different tyres, different fuels loads, different strategies, and there is always some element of teams trying to hide their full potential... but even having said this, Mercedes don't look quite right at the moment. One day of testing left, and they do appear to have some problems they need to resolve quite quickly. They are certainly in a better place today than yesterday, as I said above... but now that I've had a bit more time to think about it, I think I was being overly optimistic. It's clear they're not quite where they'd like to be at the moment.

I don't think it's great for Chelsea. They're clinging onto that final Champion's League spot... West Ham now 3 points behind with 2 games in hand.
If you're fourth in the table, I think a draw isn't much use... you need to win.
But for Leeds, yes, a draw is a good enough result.

Looks like Mercedes are back on track (literally, after Hamilton's trip onto the gravel earlier). After a difficult day and a half, Bottas took top spot overall this afternoon.
I was starting to wonder whether there was a fundamental problem with the car. But I suppose that is what testing is for, to iron out any bugs and get everything running smoothly. Mercedes look in a lot better place after this afternoon's session.

Due to relegations and promotions, there have been a few years since 2005 when they've been in different divisions and so haven't played one another.
But I think the key factor here is Grealish. Villa have looked much weaker without him. It's now confirmed that he will miss the Newcastle match, so, given that Villa are still solid defensively, 0-0 seems a reasonable bet.
But whilst it seems reasonable, the outcome is still far from certain, and I wouldn't put money on it.

If you're going to make statements like that, then you really need to supply some evidence to back up your theory.
In my country immigrants are a huge asset, and perform vital, skilled roles in key industries.

And if you go far enough back in time, then we are all immigrants.

This is a good point and is definitely true, yes. Thanks - I should have qualified my statement. It can at times certainly be difficult to distinguish between impartial studies and those that are funded to produce specific desired results. Following the money, where it's obvious or visible, can help to inform our understanding of what is and what is not a reliable study.

This is a common argument I use when discussing climate change with climate-skeptics...  the big polluters and fossil-fuel lobby obviously have a vested interest in denying human-caused climate change, similar to the 'cigarettes are safe' argument pushed by the tobacco industry a few decades back.

I think the root of this is fear of the Other. Homophobia, racism, any sort of bigotry, have the same underlying basis.

Human society is often Us vs Them. 'Them' is a threat, and has been back to the time of paleolithic hunter-gatherer tribes, and I'd imagine early than that, back through our hominin ancestry. And of course it has served rulers throughout history, from tribal chiefs and kings and warlords right through to modern governments, to deflect attention/blame from their own shortcomings onto the convenient scapegoat of the outsider who doesn't have a voice to defend themselves. 'They' are always to blame. Brexit. Mexicans. Black people. Gay people. etc. etc.

And any exposure to this Other serves to peel away a part of the illusion. Which is why the most racist communities are those in 100% white rural areas, why the most ardent homophobes are those who have never met an openly gay person, etc.