Dear John,

«You keep acting like "the authorities lied,"»

Well even if they did not lie about the medical and scientific facts,
they lied when describing their instructions as "advices" rather than as orders.
Their lies were in pretending to be our friends.

Mhaze,

You’ve been defeated by the cogent arguments of JD: So now would be a good moment to consider the arguments against your theory of conspiracy by the “Lesser Mortals” that in effect, the Authorities were well meaning in their endeavour to save the world, but succumbed to over-enthusiastic responses on too many occasions, coupled with the tendency to “panic” when things went unexpectedly wrong for them.
Lying to the Public is a perfectly human panic response; but lying is inexcusable nonetheless.

Yuyutsu
#The ME wars are not and never were about religion#.

Think on “Sectarian Violence “: Rife in all major religions, leading to senseless slaughter of the perceived enemy.
The Islamic Jihad underway in the ME, against Israel, is definitely a case of Sectarian Violence.
How could you mistake that obvious fact?

The Christian God Head:
As a Hindu, I’m astounded you criticise and mock the Trinity of Christian Gods, when the Hindu religion proffers the exact same view, and worse, with a multiplicity of lesser Gods in the surrounds?

Even I was willing to wear the mask in public.
It was common sense, I wanted to reduce the chances of both getting it, or giving it to others if I somehow caught it but wasn't yet showing symptoms.
- That said we didn't have restrictions for the duration some of the other states did.

Dear Dan,

«Think on “Sectarian Violence“»

Indeed, the name of religion is being abused as a convenient excuse for sectarian violence.

«I’m astounded you criticise and mock the Trinity of Christian Gods, when the Hindu religion proffers the exact same view, and worse, with a multiplicity of lesser Gods in the surrounds?»

This is a common misconception of Hinduism and it stems from two reasons:

The first is plain mistranslation: the closest English word for "Devas", or "Devattas", literally "the bright/shiny ones", is "Angels", not "gods". Angels are not God, angels serve God. Some Jews, Christians and Muslims worship angels too, and not all Hindus do.

The second is that, unlike Jews and those who follow their example, Hindus are not bound by the second commandment: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image". While Hindu devotees may worship God THROUGH various images and endearing forms, these images and forms are understood to only represent God and are not considered as God Himself.

One may also worship God in a leaf or a flower, or the sea or the sky, or whatever inspires one to connect with God. Regardless of the object one chooses, all prayers do reach God.

In the Bhagavad-Gita, God in the form of Shri Krishna says:
"Even those who, endowed with faith are devoted to other gods, they worship Me alone, O Kaunteya, in an indirect manner." [Bhagavad-Gita 9:23]

John Daysh writes: "You act like you’ve caught me out by saying N95 masks stopped 50% of aerosol droplets."

No, I pointed out that you'd accused me of " conveniently ignor[ing] that it also found that properly worn N95 masks reduced transmission by 50% or more" when I had in fact made that very point on that very day in the very post you were responding to.

That you are now trying to fudge that tells me all I need to know about your ethics.

" while ignoring that even the intelligence agencies themselves don’t agree" (on the lab leak)

Who? Who are these intelligence agencies that still hold to the natural causes for Covid theory? You make these claims but never provide evidence.

" I’ve said they reduced infection and transmission early on"

I've said from the outset that they reduced the severity of the infection. But there is no evidence that they reduced infection rates or transmission rates in any of the variants. Indeed they weren't even designed to do that. You make these claims but never provide evidence.

mhaze,

You’re twisting words again instead of addressing the actual arguments, while pretending that I'm the argument. But I don't think anyone's falling for it.

Masks & N95s:
You’re nitpicking one sentence to claim some kind of "ethical failure," but the real issue is how you framed the study’s findings. You presented the 50% figure as a failure, implying that masks were ineffective, while I pointed out that a 50% reduction in transmission is meaningful in a pandemic. You didn’t "catch me fudging" anything - you just don’t like being called out for misrepresenting data.

Lab Leak & Intelligence Agencies:
You claim no intelligence agencies still support the natural origin theory? That’s just false. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) reported in 2023 that U.S. agencies remain split - with the National Intelligence Council and four other intelligence agencies assessing that Covid likely came from natural origins, while the FBI and Department of Energy lean toward a lab leak (both with "low to moderate confidence"). That means the question is still unsettled, no matter how much you insist otherwise.

(http://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2023/3705-odni-releases-report-on-the-potential-links-between-the-wuhan-institute-of-virology-and-the-origin-of-covid-19-1692377393)

Vaccines & Transmission
Your claim that there is "no evidence" vaccines reduced infection or transmission is demonstrably false. Early on, studies did show reduced infection rates, particularly before Delta and Omicron. A study in The Lancet found that fully vaccinated individuals had a lower risk of infection and a reduced viral load, making them less likely to spread the virus.

(http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-30992100768-4/fulltext)

Later variants weakened this effect, but the fact remains: early on, vaccines helped slow transmission.

At this point, you’re just making blanket statements without evidence while demanding evidence from others. If you want to debate honestly, engage with the facts instead of pretending they don’t exist.