GreatWhiteNorth

If you've got a point, make it - otherwise run along.

Meh... Not conspiracy theories. Just regular people trying to work through a pandemic like we've never seen: Efficacy of face masks Masks do work, to some degree, especially the higher end ones. How much did they work? The lower end ones... nowhere near 100% - that was clear. But it was also clear that it was something we could all do at a time when many felt helpless. It was a start. In other countries, when people feel like they are getting a cold, etc. they wear a mask to work/school so they don't infect others. That has been a custom since long before Covid. They work. closing things down At the beginning of the pandemic there was a huge discussion about "do we over-react, or do we under-react?" Either way, the naysayers will be pointing fingers at us afterward. It was a legitimate question. Most states chose to overreact and do more rather than less. Err on the side of caution. At the time, I was a big proponent of continuing with NCAA D1 Wrestling in Minneapolis. I later changed my mind. In hindsight, it probably would have been OK to hold the NCAA tournament. But things are different when there are more questions than answers. social distancing Social distancing works. It did then, and it does now. kids and schools I have close friends who are teachers. Keeping kids out of school did, in fact, hurt their progress. Which is something they and I were concerned about from the beginning. Did it help control the spread? Yes, it did, at least a tiny bit. But just like masks and social distancing - it's almost impossible to know how much or how little. Maybe much more - or not. origin of Covid This one got a lot of press on MSM... not sure I care much. Not sure we'll ever know. I doubt it. Not sure that it really matters. This was a legitimate "conspiracy theory" on the list. There were many theories. IMO, none of them provable, none of them terribly helpful. But there were theories. how Covid deaths were counted They were counted as best as the medical community could do given the circumstances. We're all imperfect people, living in imperfect conditions, with imperfect resources. Deaths were counted, and they were imperfect counts. Not sure that anyone should be surprised by that. "Conspiracy theories" did exist here too, about folks getting paid to lie, etc. Just talk w/o basis. These things were definitely topics of discussion - but only the last (2) had any roots in "conspiracy"... and the conspiracy portion wasn't terribly important or relevant to the bigger picture.

"Google searches for data is 2 or 3 years old"? Not sure what you're referring to here, but if it's published on the web, I'd be surprised if Google doesn't find and index it within a few days. I'm not attacking you, I was just surprised to read your statement and wanted to follow up to clarify.

Conspiracy Theory = Pizzagate, Jewish space lasers starting forest fires, Qanon's secret cabal... The woke dictionary thread was DAF. Stop trying to be a R=Good, L=Bad clown. Conspiracy theories exist across parties. Even people who claim to be a diehard member of either party can see that clearly. Some will even admit it. Trump lied about marching along with the J6 protesters. He said he would, and instead went straight back to watch it live on TV in the White House. This was proven during the J6 hearings. The guy is a coward. Sitting in as the most powerful leader in the world, he could have made any choice he wanted to. He chose to hide. But if you consider the J6 hearings as another conspiracy group - then just watch any of the video's that show it. (Although I suspect you've seen them many times by now.) They are all over youtube. If you can't find them, let me know and I'll send you a few links.

Just the one in "humor"...

Just a pile of incorrect statements in that post. I feel no need to convince you, or anyone else, that what Russia is doing right now in Ukraine is incredibly wrong and incredibly dangerous to much of (if not all) the world population. F'ing Russians - no need for that garbage.

If you feel rap music with violent themes should be "quash"'d - then by all means, go for it. Make a difference! I'm no fan of violent reap music (kill the cops, etc) either. I'd probably support your efforts. Again - go for it! On the other hand, if you just sit quietly by as others who want to make a difference actually show up and make their personal concerns into action... and they succeed while you don't due to lack of action. Then they did something, and you're just pathetic for whining about it when you didn't show up.

Hey WKN, thanks for the shout out! Yes I did hang my argument on what AR stands for. It is a category, it is not any specific weapon. Over time, the actual weapons that used the prefix "AR" changed... drastically. So arguing about it being a specific weapon is just not credible. All AR's aren't military assault rifles and all AR's aren't can shooters. Remember the gas powered V8, rear-wheel drive Mustang that debuted in 1965 (1964 1/2 actually... just so angry detail mongers don't attempt to attack me even further.) That thing was one of the original "muscle cars" - awesome vehicles, burning gas and rubber all over the country with unprecedented popularity. Great cars. But wait - some clown looks up Mustang on the internet and tells me I'm wrong because it's an electric car. Are they right... sort of. Am I right... yes. So why are they going nutso? Yep. That's what they do.

You can look at whatever you like to look at. My point was clear, count me out. There's a certain threshold that, if the conversation drops below it, I opt out. I'm not calling anyone dumb, but that doesn't mean that I will participate in a dumb conversation.

You edited my quote to remove the point I was making. I was in a discussion with another poster about it being an assault rifle or just a deer rifle. If your intent is to misdirect and fool people, keep editing quotes and cherry-picking certain parts to fit your message. If you're going to be dishonest, go full on.

Yes, it is apparent and obvious. Yet the OP claimed to be "confused" about what I had posted. Go ahead and try to make sense of that. Crazy town around here today.

UFO reverse-engineering? I think that might have been a couple weeks ago... and again, a few months before that. Probably more times. I was agreeing with you. People pretend to be experts on social media - THAT is exactly what makes it such a poor source of actual information. Read something new on Facebook recently, good chance it's false or heavily slanted. Twitter, same. And here... same. Social media is all about people chiming in about things they don't know much about. It's like the professional wrestling vs real wrestling. Social media isn't real information - it's entertainment. Nothing more. Some don't see either point (which is truly a shame.) When there's a conference of experts meeting to discuss current medical issues, I can guarantee the (so many) Covid "experts" around here won't be in attendance. (Except... there are always a few who are knowledgable who try to keep everything from going off the rails. The thing is, it is difficult to sort out which is which.) This is the non-wrestling topic, but even when we get back to wrestling (lord, I can't wait for that day), we'll still have wrestling newbies pretending to know more than anyone else (they're easier to pick out because we have a lengthy list of wrestling expertise here.)

No - different pool - I believe the child molester you're thinking of was a swimmer. You know how those "swimmers" are.

What hypocrisy is it that you speak of? Sit back and bathe in what? (See how I fixed the 'e' there?) State your prediction, future-sayer... Er, wait. Both parties are full of political hypocrites. Hypocrisy isn't a prediction - it's a guarantee. That was a can't-lose post, nicely done. (Except for the 'e' - try to remember the 'e')

It's like the f'ing Russians around here. So many incompetent dopes.

From what I've read, the evidence points to 'no', he did not offer to activate the NG. Of course, it is irrelevant - because the NG wouldn't have been needed if Trump hadn't charged up the J6 group to march down to the Capitol with him. (This point isn't hearsay; it was clearly proven in the J6 hearings.) ... and the "with him" part... he lied. Trump didn't go with them as he claimed he would. He was the president at the time, he was 100% in charge, and nobody could override his choice. Yet, he chose to abandon the march. Yawn... seems like we've all been down this road so many times.

So... soo... dumb. Yet another conspiracy theory. Is there no end to this dumb junk being posted? DJT - If you want to make it believable, you're going to have to work a lot harder. Keep at it, I've got faith. ... And you think Sam Harris is one of the most intelligent human beings on the planet? Do you really? Are you sure?

Who are "we"? Count me out... not in your group. Referring to the US Army for solid definitions? A lot of those date back to WW2 or earlier... count me out on that idea. As we've beaten the "sporting rifle" thing to death already... count me out. That horse is sufficiently battered. Maybe discuss with Bigbrog what you found on the internet... that will probably go well.

Nah, selling 'Art' was the old school way... no self-respecting criminal does that anymore. It's selling NFT's via crypto currency now. Transaction anonymity and sudden value fluctuations of NFT's are where current criminals are at.

Wait - but if you "read a dictionary" ... and "the dictionary describes pretty much every semi-automatic gun out there" ... which you've clearly said... doesn't it follow that you'd know an awful lot about guns? Just going by your logic. As I've already posted, I'm no weapons expert. Nor have I claimed to be.

Yes, for the most part. Does seem the point of the whole thing. People discussing topics and exchanging perspectives from their own experience (even though mostly not experts.) Just like neighbors chatting over the fence - except without the geographic limitation. Completely anonymous, yet hopefully some people with more expertise chime in from time to time to keep it from getting completely out of hand. It is, after all, social media - it is not, and has never been, "expert" media.

Yes (to the 1st part.) As I already posted. The ArmaLite AR-15 was produced prior to the M-16. After the M-16 was produced, Colt then produced their Colt AR-15 based on the design of the M-16. This AR-15 had a different mfr, different design, but same model name. That model name became generic. So - we are both correct, the M-16 was developed both before and after different versions of the AR-15. I'm no weapons expert, and there is no narrative.

Yes - perceived value in inertia/momentum, and because he can. Mostly because of ego. Until the realization hit that it was more ego than smart - a bad idea and ol' Musky tried to back out. But it was too late. Zuck had already been developing Threads. It had been in the works for a while, it wasn't new. That's the point when you realize you don't have the cards in your hand, but you've bluffed too hard to fold. Now it's about trying to make lemonade from $44 billion in lemons. I'm sure many will still think he's some kind of genius - but ol' Musky proved otherwise here. It was a stinker deal.

Have any of the folks here stopped and considered that maybe, just maybe... The conspiracy theorist posters here are just half-baked dopes: Paul158: "Will Devon Archer make it to (alive) Congress to testify? We will see." - Bad grammar but sets the tone. Offthemat: The "something’s got him spooked." -- Oooh, that sounds scary-ish. Paul158: Then "Yes that would be death." -- sounds like a commercial is next. Offthemat: And "escaped to Russia she was so scared." -- is she going to be OK? Paul158: "She made a smart move." -- we can relax, she'll be OK. These aren't good soaps, they aren't even bad soaps, these are just awful. Does anyone take these guys seriously?

Not exactly. Colt produced the M-16 prior to the AR-15, after they purchased the design in the late 50's. (And before the term AR-15 became a generic term.) It is amazing.