Coronavirus

[Jockey]

4 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

Some might argue that Cummings was just doing his job. I'm not defending him but if thats his job of course he's going to try and deliver. 

That is a fair reading of it! The revelation on the care homes was shocking - we knew that that is what was happening, and that was the biggest killer - but to hear someone say it was a government decision was difficult. I think you could also argue Boris knew what he was and still employed him - so can't really complain now! 

[Vincent Vega]

That care homes revelation could see the government in court, and will likely cost the taxpayer another fortune in compensation.

[Mudface]

So as expected, it was those shilling pricks Heneghan and Gupta getting in Johnson's ear about fucking herd immunity back in September, although I guess he was just looking for any justification not to act-

 

Quote

 

Cummings describes how Johnson rejected Sage's call for lockdown in late September
The hearing is now resuming. The next session will focus on what happened in the autumn, ahead of the second lockdown.

Dominic Cummings says Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, advised a short, sharp lockdown. The PM refused to agree to that. But eventually the government did lock down, at the end of October.

He says Vallance and Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, came to No 10 proposing a lockdown lasting two weeks or more.

He says Whitty had said previously that, once schools went back in September, R, the reproduction number, would rise above 1.

He says over the summer he and others had told the PM not to tell everyone to go back to work. But the PM’s priority was the economy.

He says there was a long discussion on a Friday near the end of September when the PM said no.

Cummings proposed a meeting on Monday 21 September, looking at the predictions for what the data would say at the end of October.

But he says by this stage the PM was listening to people saying there was already herd immunity in the population.

He says Vallance and Whitty gave their views.

Prof Carl Heneghan and Prof Sunetra Gupta, both from Oxford and both sceptical about lockdown, spoke. And Prof John Edmunds from Sage spoke too.

He says the PM still was not convinced by the need for the lockdown. 

 

Cummings says all credible people, in his opinion, were pushing for a lockdown at this point.

But the PM was just taking his own advice.

He says the cabinet was not asked. He says he has been very critical of Matt Hancock, but Hancock agreed with Cummings at this point.

 

[Vincent Vega]

These two video clips are probably the most damning.

 

[Bruce Spanner]

36 minutes ago, Mudface said:

So as expected, it was those shilling pricks Heneghan and Gupta getting in Johnson's ear about fucking herd immunity back in September, although I guess he was just looking for any justification not to act-

 

 

Quietly ignoring that it was at Sunak's invitation...

[Jockey]

26 minutes ago, Bruce Spanner said:

 

Quietly ignoring that it was at Sunak's invitation...

Yes! He has gotten away scott free from all this and yet his influence on policy was probably the most damaging. 

[Colonel Bumcunt]

Cummings, friend or foe?

The enemy of my enemy is my friend? 

 

It's uncomfortable, though I'm willing to listen to him, and believe him.  

 

He's always been Asperger'sy.  I think he's the equivalent of Assange in that flawed, egotistical but driven towards things way.  

 

However, I can't read between the lines here, and I can't tell if this is a concerted push by Gove or not.  Gove and Cummings have long been friends and alike thinkers, I'm not sure if that relationship is still in tact, but this all feels like someone senior in government has taken time and effort to clear part of a jungle to build a runway for Cummings to land on and do this.  

[Colonel Bumcunt]

5 hours ago, Bjornebye said:

 

 

 

He's fucking daft.  

The optics of 'running away' while questioned is totally lost on him, he's fucking dead-meat.  Johnson will have to throw someone off the train, and Hancock now has a massive bullseye on his back and it would make today go away for Johnson and Symonds.  

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Really hard to argue with this.

 

 

[Bjornebye]

Kuntsberg surely has to be fucked off as well 

[DJLJ]

https://www.sciencealert.com/most-anti-vaccine-conspiracies-online-come-from-the-same-12-people-study-shows
 

Most Anti-Vaccine Conspiracies Online Come From The Same 12 People, Study Shows 

 

PETER DOCKRILL

17 MAY 2021 

Ensuring people are vaccinated against COVID-19 is the most surefire way to save lives in the ongoing global pandemic. Still, vaccine hesitancy is holding up vital immunization efforts, and it's more important than ever to understand its source.

According to recent research, a large chunk of this very big problem actually has a very small starting point. In a new study, researchers found the majority of anti-vaccine conspiraciescirculating on social media can be traced to a mere handful of individual accounts representing prominent anti-vaccine personalities.

In all, just 12 of these people and their organizations – the so-called disinformation dozen – are responsible for initiating up to 65 percent of all false and misleading anti-vaccine propaganda shared on Facebook and Twitter.

That figure is based on an analysis of over 812,000 posts extracted from Facebook and Twitter between 1 February and 16 March 2021, conducted in an investigation by the not-for-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate(CCDH) and Anti-Vax Watch, an organization that monitors the anti-vaccine industry.

"Living in full view of the public on the internet are a small group of individuals who do not have relevant medical expertise and have their own pockets to line, who are abusing social media platforms to misrepresent the threat of COVID and spread misinformation about the safety of vaccines," explains CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed in the report.

"According to our recent report, anti-vaccine activists on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter reach more than 59 million followers, making these the largest and most important social media platforms for anti-vaxxers."

Per the research, the 'disinformation dozen' behind almost two-thirds of anti-vaccine content shared in the study window includes Joseph Mercola, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Ty and Charlene Bollinger, Sherri Tenpenny, Rizza Islam, Rashid Buttar, Erin Elizabeth, Sayer Ji, Kelly Brogan, Christiane Northrup, Ben Tapper, and Kevin Jenkins.

The researchers say these influential accounts have large numbers of followers and produce high volumes of anti-vaccine content.

Many people on social media who end up sharing anti-vaccine content wouldn't necessarily follow any of these accounts themselves, but the new analysis suggests the majority of shared anti-vaccine posts on platforms like Facebook and Twitter originally begin with this relatively small group of actors.

The group's influence varies depending on the social platform, featuring in up to 17 percent of anti-vaccine tweets on Twitter, but up to 73 percent of anti-vaccine content on Facebook, the report suggests.

The research, originally released in March, was published to urge the leaders of social media platforms to 'deplatform' these prominent voices, whose airing and sharing of anti-vaccine conspiracies and hoaxes ultimately costs lives.

"Disinformation has become a direct threat to public health," Ahmed said in March.

"Social media is enabling anti-vaxxers to recruit millions of Americans and indoctrinate them with fear and doubt. If Big Tech companies don't act now, the pandemic will be prolonged, and more lives will be lost."

Despite a wave of political pressure to take action against the identified dozen accounts, a follow-up study published by CCDH and Anti-Vax Watch in April found 10 of the group were still on Facebook and Twitter as of April 25, with nine remaining on Instagram.

In the weeks since then, some accounts have been banned or restricted, but others have been left alone, retaining their ability to spread misinformation, exposure to which has been linked to higher rates of vaccine hesitancy.

According to the researchers, it's a dangerous failure by tech companies to properly and responsibly rein in the spread of reckless falsehoods on social platforms – many of which are spearheaded by a canny and highly organized body of profit-seeking entrepreneurs.

"The key protagonists in the 'anti-vaxx industry' are a coherent group of professional propagandists," Ahmed wrote in an article in Nature Medicine earlier in the year.

"These are people running multi-million-dollar organizations, incorporated mainly in the USA, with as many as 60 staff each. They produce training manuals for activists, tailor their messages for different audiences, and arrange meetings akin to annual trades conferences, like any other industry."

The report is available on the CCDH website, as is the follow-up analysis.

[Bruce Spanner]

1 minute ago, DJLJ said:

https://www.sciencealert.com/most-anti-vaccine-conspiracies-online-come-from-the-same-12-people-study-shows
 

Most Anti-Vaccine Conspiracies Online Come From The Same 12 People, Study Shows 

 

PETER DOCKRILL

17 MAY 2021 

Ensuring people are vaccinated against COVID-19 is the most surefire way to save lives in the ongoing global pandemic. Still, vaccine hesitancy is holding up vital immunization efforts, and it's more important than ever to understand its source.

According to recent research, a large chunk of this very big problem actually has a very small starting point. In a new study, researchers found the majority of anti-vaccine conspiraciescirculating on social media can be traced to a mere handful of individual accounts representing prominent anti-vaccine personalities.

In all, just 12 of these people and their organizations – the so-called disinformation dozen – are responsible for initiating up to 65 percent of all false and misleading anti-vaccine propaganda shared on Facebook and Twitter.

That figure is based on an analysis of over 812,000 posts extracted from Facebook and Twitter between 1 February and 16 March 2021, conducted in an investigation by the not-for-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate(CCDH) and Anti-Vax Watch, an organization that monitors the anti-vaccine industry.

"Living in full view of the public on the internet are a small group of individuals who do not have relevant medical expertise and have their own pockets to line, who are abusing social media platforms to misrepresent the threat of COVID and spread misinformation about the safety of vaccines," explains CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed in the report.

"According to our recent report, anti-vaccine activists on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter reach more than 59 million followers, making these the largest and most important social media platforms for anti-vaxxers."

Per the research, the 'disinformation dozen' behind almost two-thirds of anti-vaccine content shared in the study window includes Joseph Mercola, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Ty and Charlene Bollinger, Sherri Tenpenny, Rizza Islam, Rashid Buttar, Erin Elizabeth, Sayer Ji, Kelly Brogan, Christiane Northrup, Ben Tapper, and Kevin Jenkins.

The researchers say these influential accounts have large numbers of followers and produce high volumes of anti-vaccine content.

Many people on social media who end up sharing anti-vaccine content wouldn't necessarily follow any of these accounts themselves, but the new analysis suggests the majority of shared anti-vaccine posts on platforms like Facebook and Twitter originally begin with this relatively small group of actors.

The group's influence varies depending on the social platform, featuring in up to 17 percent of anti-vaccine tweets on Twitter, but up to 73 percent of anti-vaccine content on Facebook, the report suggests.

The research, originally released in March, was published to urge the leaders of social media platforms to 'deplatform' these prominent voices, whose airing and sharing of anti-vaccine conspiracies and hoaxes ultimately costs lives.

"Disinformation has become a direct threat to public health," Ahmed said in March.

"Social media is enabling anti-vaxxers to recruit millions of Americans and indoctrinate them with fear and doubt. If Big Tech companies don't act now, the pandemic will be prolonged, and more lives will be lost."

Despite a wave of political pressure to take action against the identified dozen accounts, a follow-up study published by CCDH and Anti-Vax Watch in April found 10 of the group were still on Facebook and Twitter as of April 25, with nine remaining on Instagram.

In the weeks since then, some accounts have been banned or restricted, but others have been left alone, retaining their ability to spread misinformation, exposure to which has been linked to higher rates of vaccine hesitancy.

According to the researchers, it's a dangerous failure by tech companies to properly and responsibly rein in the spread of reckless falsehoods on social platforms – many of which are spearheaded by a canny and highly organized body of profit-seeking entrepreneurs.

"The key protagonists in the 'anti-vaxx industry' are a coherent group of professional propagandists," Ahmed wrote in an article in Nature Medicine earlier in the year.

"These are people running multi-million-dollar organizations, incorporated mainly in the USA, with as many as 60 staff each. They produce training manuals for activists, tailor their messages for different audiences, and arrange meetings akin to annual trades conferences, like any other industry."

The report is available on the CCDH website, as is the follow-up analysis.

 

And to this...

 

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/may/25/influencers-say-russia-linked-pr-agency-asked-them-to-disparage-pfizer-vaccine

 

https://www.connexionfrance.com/French-news/French-influencers-offered-2-000-to-claim-Pfizer-vaccine-is-dangerous

 

https://www.businessinsider.in/science/news/a-mysterious-advertising-agency-offered-french-and-german-influencers-money-to-smear-pfizers-vaccine-the-company-has-suspected-ties-to-russia-/articleshow/82974527.cms

 

The world is fucked.

[DJLJ]

1 minute ago, Bruce Spanner said:

 

And to this...

 

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/may/25/influencers-say-russia-linked-pr-agency-asked-them-to-disparage-pfizer-vaccine

 

https://www.connexionfrance.com/French-news/French-influencers-offered-2-000-to-claim-Pfizer-vaccine-is-dangerous

 

https://www.businessinsider.in/science/news/a-mysterious-advertising-agency-offered-french-and-german-influencers-money-to-smear-pfizers-vaccine-the-company-has-suspected-ties-to-russia-/articleshow/82974527.cms

 

The world is fucked.

It makes you wonder how much of all of this is the doing of a small group of people in both countries, say 2 dozen or so that is just totally fucked in the head but has so much money to throw at the propaganda for their specific warped viewpoints. Add to that that these lunatics has so many followers willing to believe everything they say, just because it was written on Twitter or Facebook or wherever. These companies, what they stand for and how they operate really are the parasites of the world. 

[Bobby Hundreds]

27 minutes ago, Bruce Spanner said:

 

And to this...

 

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/may/25/influencers-say-russia-linked-pr-agency-asked-them-to-disparage-pfizer-vaccine

 

https://www.connexionfrance.com/French-news/French-influencers-offered-2-000-to-claim-Pfizer-vaccine-is-dangerous

 

https://www.businessinsider.in/science/news/a-mysterious-advertising-agency-offered-french-and-german-influencers-money-to-smear-pfizers-vaccine-the-company-has-suspected-ties-to-russia-/articleshow/82974527.cms

 

The world is fucked.

It's the psychopaths we've got at the top. Humanity needs a haircut.

[Bruce Spanner]

12 minutes ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

It's the psychopaths we've got at the top. Humanity needs a haircut.

I said it months back that the country’s moral compass is going to take a generation at least to reset after these cunts have run roughshod and used hate and chaos as a political tool to the degree they have, if it ever does.

 

Its been bad before, but never as immoral, duplicitous, mendacious and utterly devoid of anything apart from self serving bullshit.

 

If there was a popular revolution tomorrow and I was walking down the street and saw them hanging from traitors gate I wouldn’t break step.

[Section_31]

That's like the fact virtually all poor football opinions on TLW are down to Code and Rashid.

[Mudface]

21 minutes ago, Bruce Spanner said:

If there was a popular revolution tomorrow and I was walking down the street and saw them hanging from traitors gate I wouldn’t break step.

Not even to throw stuff at their raven-ravaged corpses?

[magicrat]

2 hours ago, Colonel Bumcunt said:

He's fucking daft.  

The optics of 'running away' while questioned is totally lost on him, he's fucking dead-meat.  Johnson will have to throw someone off the train, and Hancock now has a massive bullseye on his back and it would make today go away for Johnson and Symonds.  

Johnson won't be seen to be knee jerk at Cummings allegations.  Hancock will be re-shuffled in a few months 

[Bjornebye]

Gove right now 

 

 

 

[Bruce Spanner]

12 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

That's like the fact virtually all poor football opinions on TLW are down to Code and Rashid.

 

What has gone under the radar, again, today is the story that Alex signed off and gave his blessing to the ESL through his chief of staff.

 

Astounding how fucking terrible they truly are.

[TheBitch]

33 minutes ago, Bruce Spanner said:

I said it months back that the country’s moral compass is going to take a generation at least to reset after these cunts have run roughshod and used hate and chaos as a political tool to the degree they have, if it ever does.

 

Its been bad before, but never as immoral, duplicitous, mendacious and utterly devoid of anything apart from self serving bullshit.

 

If there was a popular revolution tomorrow and I was walking down the street and saw them hanging from traitors gate I wouldn’t break step.

Not even to have a crafty little one off the cuff?

[Colonel Bumcunt]

1 hour ago, magicrat said:

Johnson won't be seen to be knee jerk at Cummings allegations.  Hancock will be re-shuffled in a few months 

Nah, Hancock is a weasel and right now he's likely trying to come up with his own version to throw Johnson or Whirry under the bus. 

Johnson knows this, he won't risk Hancock revealing something he said. Gove will be working with Hancock.  

[Section_31]

The only thing that surprises me about all this is that anyone is surprised.

 

How could anyone with a straight face act shocked that someone like Johnson would be morally, professional and psychologically ill-equipped to handle a pandemic.

 

The people to blame for this are the people who voted for him. 

[Bruce Spanner]

5 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

The only thing that surprises me about all this is that anyone is surprised.

 

How could anyone with a straight face act shocked that someone like Johnson would be morally, professional and psychologically ill-equipped to handle a pandemic.

 

The people to blame for this are the people who voted for him. 

 

Yeah, and that's what makes me think that actually this will see his approval improve again, it's madness.

 

I saw a comment on twitter earlier to the effect 'no wonder Carrie had to choose new people for Boris as you were so useless' 

 

Fucked I tell thee.

[magicrat]

54 minutes ago, Colonel Bumcunt said:

Nah, Hancock is a weasel and right now he's likely trying to come up with his own version to throw Johnson or Whirry under the bus. 

Johnson knows this, he won't risk Hancock revealing something he said. Gove will be working with Hancock.  

Hancock is damaged goods and no one will be going near him especially not that pond life Gove .