Merry Christmas!

 A very merry Christmas to you all!

Well, maybe not to the heathen communists.  They don't celebrate Christmas, anyways.

Past, Present, Future

O’Brien was looking down at him speculatively. More than ever he had the air of a teacher taking pains with a wayward but promising child.

‘There is a Party slogan dealing with the control of the past,’ he said. ‘Repeat it, if you please.’

‘”Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past,”‘ repeated Winston obediently.

‘”Who controls the present controls the past,”‘ said O’Brien, nodding his head with slow approval. ‘Is it your opinion, Winston, that the past has real existence?’ 

----------

O'Brien smiled slightly. 'You are a flaw in the pattern, Winston. You are a stain that must be wiped out. Did I not tell you just now that we are different from the persecutors of the past? We are not content with negative obedience, nor even with the most abject submission. When finally you surrender to us, it must be of your own free will. We do not destroy the heretic because he resists us: so long as he resists us we never destroy him. We convert him, we capture his inner mind, we reshape him. We burn all evil and all illusion out of him; we bring him over to our side, not in appearance, but genuinely, heart and soul. We make him one of ourselves before we kill him. It is intolerable to us that an erroneous thought should exist anywhere in the world, however secret and powerless it may be. Even in the instant of death we cannot permit any deviation. In the old days the heretic walked to the stake still a heretic, proclaiming his heresy, exulting in it. Even the victim of the Russian purges could carry rebellion locked up in his skull as he walked down the passage waiting for the bullet. But we make the brain perfect before we blow it out. The command of the old despotisms was "Thou shalt not". The command of the totalitarians was "Thou shalt". Our command is "Thou art". No one whom we bring to this place ever stands out against us. Everyone is washed clean. Even those three miserable traitors in whose innocence you once believed -- Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford -- in the end we broke them down. I took part in their interrogation myself. I saw them gradually worn down, whimpering, grovelling, weeping -- and in the end it was not with pain or fear, only with penitence. By the time we had finished with them they were only the shells of men. There was nothing left in them except sorrow for what they had done, and love of Big Brother. It was touching to see how they loved him. They begged to be shot quickly, so that they could die while their minds were still clean.'

 - 1984, George Orwell

The Supreme Court Punted

 Friday, December 11th, a day which will live in infamy.

The GOP can go to Hell

We have abandoned hill after hill on the cultural battleground to maintain civility.  Now we stand upon the final dunes, our backs to the sea.  Shall we choose to walk into the sea and end this great nation, merely because our enemies demand that we do so else they call us rude names, or shall we stand and fight for what is rightfully ours?

I swore an oath.  "This we'll defend" is not merely an empty slogan, but a promise.

I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

If the enemy blatantly stealing a Presidential election and gloating about what they'll do to us all when they gain power isn't worth fighting for, then nothing ever will be.

Now is the time to prepare your mind and your soul.  Now is the time to bond with your neighbors.  We will not survive the storm by each defending his own home from the waves.  As Ben Franklin said, "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately."

Do I desire the coming storm?  No.  Do I instigate the storm?  No.  As Patrick Henry stated, "The war is already upon us!"  I am not a great orator as he was.  I am not a great leader of men.  I am certainly no politician.  I am merely a patriot, and a man of honor.  That apparently makes me the enemy of both major political parties here in the USA - the evil party and the appeasement party.

I swore an oath.  What I must do to fulfill that oath remains to be seen.  But I will do my duty.  My life, my fortune, my sacred honor.  Here I stand.  I can do no other.  Duty demands it.

The Riddle of Steel

 You must ponder the Riddle of Steel.

You must understand the Riddle of Steel.

You must come to know the Riddle of Steel, as your ancestors did.

You must hold the Riddle of Steel in your heart.

What he said

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Let us not forget that the Pilgrims were celebrating the first successful harvest after they abandoned communism. They were literally thanking God for teaching them that harsh lesson in a way they would not forget for many generations.

Trump's legal team fires back

 Finally, some Republicans are growing spines and giving the press what for.  In addition to proving massive, organized election fraud by the Democrats across the country.

https://youtu.be/buQCdCSDWQQ?t=3514

Summary can be found here:  https://www.breitbart.com/2020-election/2020/11/19/9-key-points-from-trump-campaign-press-conference-on-challenges-to-election-results/

Oh, and here is Joe Biden saying ""We have put together, I think, the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics," back in October.  
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-voter-fraud-organization-video-gaffe

Fraud? What fraud? Nothing to see here. Move along!

Trump got more votes than he did in 2016 everywhere in the entire country except those few battleground cities where Democrats are known to cheat regularly on elections. Where votes for Trump appear to have been shredded in the middle of the night, digitally or physically.

Biden got fewer votes than Hillary did in 2016 everywhere in the entire country except those few battleground cities where Democrats are known to cheat regularly on elections. Where votes for Biden appear to have been artificially created in the middle of the night, digitally or physically.

And now the boss of the Philly Mob is allegedly crowing about the windfall he made selling pallets of pre-filled ballots to the Democrats.  Money is good, influence is better.

This is my hill to die on. I can do no other.

Democrats have ruled with not one whit of care for existing law or the Constitution since before any of us were born. Hillary is walking around free. Epstein didn’t kill himself. Elections don't matter since the Democrats will just cheat harder to win. Tyrants in black robes hand down decrees from on high. 70% of the news is lies, while the remainder is merely wrong. Democrats encourage and enable migrants to invade our country and replace We the People.

There is no law, only Zuul.
There will be war.
This is my hill to die on. I can do no other.

“THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated” (T. Paine)

“I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the Democrat party for the last hundred years, to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves, and the spineless Republicans?”

“Our petitions have been slighted, our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the media, the courts and the legislature… we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!”

“The war is already begun! The next gale that sweeps from the coasts will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”  (I believe P. Henry would understand and forgive the slight alterations.)

What we learned from the elections

This is for you, Pennsylvania.  All Democrat run states, really.  Want proof?  "Senator" Al Franken, Minnesota, 2008.  Votes were counted, recounted, re-recounted, "found" in car trunks and closets, while an entire Republican county's votes were "lost".  Ultimately, Al Franken was declared the winner, despite losing on election night.

Get out there and vote!

 Exercise your right to power.  Go vote today, if you already haven't.  And if you live in a Democrat controlled area, you need to go to the polls today, because the mail-in ballot that you never saw may have been filled out and returned in your name already.

Choose the form of the destructor!

D)  The senile, anti-American, corrupt pedophile in the pockets of both Russia and China.

R)  That jerk Trump.

But know that no matter who wins, civil war 2.0 begins in earnest next year.  The Left will make sure we are never again allowed to elect the wrong candidate.  So who do you want to be in charge of the military and federal police forces when the balloon goes up?

Creepy Story

No shit, there I was...

I once had a Magic 8 Ball that never lied. It was correct 100% of the time, over scores of queries about the past, present, and future. It was the creepiest thing I have ever encountered. I slowly became afraid of the horrible thing at war in Iraq, but it had become a tradition to consult it before every mission. I wouldn’t let the children touch it after I got back home. Thank goodness it eventually bled out, so I could finally dispose of it safely.  The blue ichor permanently stained the shelf, of course.

Relaying the Signal

 Adapt, improvise, and overcome all obstacles.  If the news won't broadcast the story, then we must.

This is a reposting of a story that you should have seen and heard every hour of every day for the last week.  But you probably didn't.  No names have been changed to protect the guilty.

BIG TECH BURNED BY BIDEN BLUNDER

Glenn Harlan Reynolds

In my 2019 book, The Social Media Upheaval, I warned that the Big Tech companies — especially social media giants like Facebook and Twitter — had grown into powerful monopolists, who were using their power over the national conversation to not only sell ads, but also to promote a political agenda. That was pretty obvious last year, but it was even more obvious last week, when Facebook and Twitter tried to black out the New York Post’s blockbuster report about emails found on a laptop abandoned by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son Hunter.

The emails, some of which have been confirmed as genuine with their recipients, show substantial evidence that Hunter Biden used his position as Vice President Joe Biden’s son to extract substantial payments from “clients” in other countries. There are also photos of Hunter with a crack pipe, and engaging in various other unsavory activities. And they demolished the elder Biden’s claim that he never discussed business with his son.

That’s a big election-year news story. Some people doubted its genuineness, and of course it’s always fair to question a big election-year news story, especially one that comes out shortly before the election. (Remember CBS newsman Dan Rather’s promotion of what turned out to be forged memos about George W. Bush’s Air National Guard service?)

But the way you debate whether a story is accurate or not is by debating. (In the case of the Rather memos, it turned out the font was from Microsoft Word, which of course didn’t exist back during the Vietnam War era.) Big Tech could have tried an approach that fostered such a debate. But instead of debate, they went for a blackout: Both services actually blocked links to the New York Post story. That’s right: They blocked readers from discussing a major news story by a major paper, one so old that it was founded by none other than Alexander Hamilton.

I wasn’t advising them — they tend not to ask me for my opinion — but I would have advised against such a blackout. There’s a longstanding Internet term called “the Streisand effect,” going back to when Barbara Streisand demanded that people stop sharing pictures of her beach house. Unsurprisingly, the result was a massive increase in the number of people posting pictures of her beach house. The Big Tech Blackout produced the same result: Now even people who didn’t care so much about Hunter Biden’s racket nonetheless became angry, and started talking about the story.

As lefty journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote in The Intercept, Twitter and Facebook crossed a line far more dangerous than what they censored. Greenwald writes: “Just two hours after the story was online, Facebook intervened. The company dispatched a life-long Democratic Party operative who now works for Facebook — Andy Stone, previously a communications operative for Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, among other D.C. Democratic jobs — to announce that Facebook was ‘reducing [the article’s] distribution on our platform’: in other words, tinkering with its own algorithms to suppress the ability of users to discuss or share the news article. The long-time Democratic Party official did not try to hide his contempt for the article, beginning his censorship announcement by snidely noting: ‘I will intentionally not link to the New York Post.’”

“Twitter’s suppression efforts went far beyond Facebook’s. They banned entirely all users’ ability to share the Post article — not just on their public timeline but even using the platform’s private Direct Messaging feature.”

“Early in the day, users who attempted to link to the New York Post story either publicly or privately received a cryptic message rejecting the attempt as an ‘error.’ Later in the afternoon, Twitter changed the message, advising users that they could not post that link because the company judged its contents to be ‘potentially harmful.’ Even more astonishing still, Twitter locked the account of the New York Post, banning the paper from posting any content all day and, evidently, into Thursday morning.”

This went badly. The heads Facebook and of Twitter, Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey, are now facing Senate subpoenas,the RNC has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, arguing that Twitter’s action in blacking out a damaging story constituted an illegal in-kind donation to the Biden Campaign, and most significantly, everyone is talking about the story now, with many understandably assuming that if the story were false, it would have been debunked rather than blacked out.

CNN’s Jake Tapper tweeted:  ”Congrats to Twitter on its Streisand Effect award!!!” Big Tech shot itself in the foot, and it didn’t stop the signal.

Regardless of who wins in November, it’s likely that there will be substantial efforts to rein in Big Tech. As Greenwald writes, “State censorship is not the only kind of censorship. Private-sector repression of speech and thought, particularly in the internet era, can be as dangerous and consequential. Imagine, for instance, if these two Silicon Valley giants united with Google to declare: henceforth we will ban all content that is critical of President Trump and/or the Republican Party, but will actively promote criticisms of Joe Biden and the Democrats.

“Would anyone encounter difficulty understanding why such a decree would constitute dangerous corporate censorship? Would Democrats respond to such a policy by simply shrugging it off on the radical libertarian ground that private corporations have the right to do whatever they want? To ask that question is to answer it.”

“To begin with, Twitter and particularly Facebook are no ordinary companies. Facebook, as the owner not just of its massive social media platform but also other key communication services it has gobbled up such as Instagram and WhatsApp, is one of the most powerful companies ever to exist, if not the most powerful.”

He’s right. And while this heavyhanded censorship effort failed, there’s no reason to assume that other such efforts won’t work in the future. Not many stories are as hard to squash as a major newspaper’s front page expose during an presidential election.

As I wrote in The Social Media Upheaval, the best solution is probably to apply antitrust law to break up these monopolies: Competing companies would police each other, and if they colluded could be prosecuted under antitrust law. There are also moves to strip them of their immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects them from being sued for things posted or linked on their sites on the theory that they are platforms, not publishers who make publication decisions. And Justice Clarence Thomas has recently called for the Supreme Court to revisit the lower courts’ interpretation of Section 230, which he argues has been overbroad. A decade ago there would have been much more resistance to such proposals, but Big Tech has tarnished its own image since then.

Had Facebook and Twitter approached this story neutrally, as they would have a decade ago, it would probably already be old news to a degree — as Greenwald notes, Hunter’s pay-for-play efforts were already well known, if not in such detail — but instead the story is still hot. More importantly, their heavy handed action has brought home just how much power they wield, and how crudely they’re willing to wield it. They shouldn’t be surprised at the consequences.

What deadly pandemic? All-cause deaths are down substantially.

What deadly pandemic?  Here are the facts from the CDC:

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm

2017 total all-cause deaths: 2,813,503
2018 total all-cause deaths: 2,839,205
As of 10/19/2020: 2,246,171 (Only 6,729 flu deaths? Really?)
Multiplying by 1.25 (day 293/366 = 1.2491) gets us to: 2,807,713

To put us on track for 3,000,000 deaths (that's only an extra 160,000 due to COVID), we'd have to already be at:  2,400,000 deaths.

Let's look at it another way.  We're averaging 7,666 deaths per day so far.  To add another 160,000 deaths, the CDC's reporting would have to be off by 21 days.  Three whole weeks.  This is in a time when the news broadcasts daily death totals by state and as a whole for the nation.  

Of course, the CDC says there have been 206,172 COVID deaths.  Assuming there isn't a single new death blamed on COVID for the rest of the year (hah!), our death toll should be approximately 3,045,000.  So we should be at an all-cause total of 2,436,000 as of October 19.  We're only 189,829 deaths short of that number.  That's 25 days of deaths.  Is the CDC really three and a half weeks behind in their reporting?  I seriously doubt that.

Great Art

 I saw this, and just had to share it here.

Teach your children well

 A picture is worth a thousand words.

Wash your filthy hands!

 From Tempest in a Teardrop.  Stolen shamelessly.

Well, it's Groundhog Day. Again.

 

Why does the military need officers?

 Way back around the turn of the century, an international military exhibition was held in Kazakhstan. All the regional militaries, plus the US, sent a company of paratroopers to drop, assemble, move to their starting line, and assault an objective. The troops dropped in front of bleachers full of senior officers from their respective militaries.

The US troops dropped last in the formation. They assembled, formed up, assaulted the objective, consolidated, dug in, and requested follow on orders before the next nation's company made it to the line of demarcation.

After that very impressive display, the foreign officers asked to meet the American officers in charge. They were quite surprised to discover that every single officer of that company, being a Captain and three Lieutenants, were in the bleachers with them. The Airborne (Ranger) company had conducted the entire mission with its NCOs in charge, from initial planning to final execution.

On a day to day basis, the entire US military would work much, much better if there were no officers to interfere.  The average officer does little but interfere with the efficient functioning of his own unit. The poor officer manages his unit into destruction while actively disrupting any nearby units. The good officer protects his unit from other predators officers.

According to doctrine and lore, the NCOs take care of today.  Company grade officers plan for tomorrow.  Field grade officers plan for next week.  Flag officers plan for next month.  The general staff plan for next year.

Time to go on the offensive. Please sign the petition!

 It's high time we went on the offensive.  Please sign this White House petition to charge the DA in the Kyle Rittenhouse case with federal civil rights crimes.

Sign the petition here.

Prosecute district attorneys who charged Kyle Rittenhouse with murder under 18 U.S. Code § 242

Created by J.H. on August 29, 2020

18 USC § 242 provides for the punishment of "Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States..."

The district attorneys in the Kyle Rittenhouse case, despite clear evidence of lawful self-defense, filed murder charges against Rittenhouse. This not only subjects Rittenhouse to unlawful deprivation of rights it creates a chilling effect on others who wish to exercise their specific enumerate right to keep and bear arms in defense of self and others.

The district attorneys and others involved in this unlawful activity should be prosecuted.

Amazon proves the point

 An anthology is out by several good authors.  The setting is the next global war, with China and Russia stirring up trouble everywhere, while the Marxist traitors spread throughout the globe cause trouble at home everywhere.  Governments dither, when they aren't actively siding with the traitors against the patriots.

Amazon banned my review.  Because reasons.  Thus proving how close the story setting is to real life.

Thank you for submitting a customer review.

Thank you for submitting a customer review on Amazon. After carefully reviewing your submission, your review could not be posted to the website. While we appreciate your time and comments, reviews must adhere to the following guidelines:

A few common issues to keep in mind:

• Your review should focus on specific features of the product and your experience with it. Feedback on the seller or your shipment experience should be provided at www.amazon.com/feedback.
• We do not allow profane or obscene content. This applies to adult products too.
• Advertisements, promotional material or repeated posts that make the same point excessively are considered spam.
• Please do not include URLs external to Amazon or personally identifiable content in your review.
• Any attempt to manipulate Community content or features, including contributing false, misleading, or inauthentic content, is strictly prohibited.

The Hubble Constant Isn't

Watch this video, then come back here.

The reason why the Hubble constant measurements (measurements of distant redshift) keep turning out different by different methods is that there is no Hubble constant.  It isn't a constant.  The universe is not expanding at a constant rate in every direction at every distance at every time.  And even if it were, it wouldn't look like a constant.

If the big bang is true, then the expansion cannot be constant.  If the universe is a solid sphere and not a beach ball with a thin shell, then the expansion cannot be constant.  If general relativity is true, then the expansion cannot be constant.

Big Bang:  If the universe originated in a big bang, then the expansion cannot be the same everywhere.  The random and contrary expansions would have canceled each other, as almost everything ran into almost everything else.

Spherical universe:  If the universe is a solid sphere, then the expansion cannot be equal, because part the outer edges would have been expanding inwards.  This is exactly the same problem as the big bang.  The only way for uniform expansion to work would result in a hollow universe with a thin shell of galaxies.  And the expansion would only look uniform side to side.  There would be very little (if any) expansion from front to back.

General relativity:  The farther away things are, the faster they appear to be moving away.  This effect is subject to the Lorentz factor comes into play.  This is what we actually see with the redshift data from distant supernovae.  Their redshifted light closely approximates the sine wave of relativity.  And the farther away they are, the more closely they approach the redshift of the CMB - the most ancient and furthest light we can see.  Even if expansion were constant (which nothing indicates), then it wouldn't appear constant.

Summary:  Space is not expanding.  The stuff in space is expanding from a central point, the origin point of the big bang.  There is an outer edge, which is moving away from the center at very nearly the speed of light.  The stuff near the center is barely moving at all.  But no matter where you pick, the universe always looks about the same, due to relativistic effects.

QED

I Will Not Obey

The governor of Ohio, where I now reside, has made the arbitrary and capricious order to demand that every resident of the State wear a mask outside.

I will not obey.

I will never obey unlawful orders.

There is no reason to wear a mask.  

The epidemic, such as it was, is over.

It was never a threat to public health.

I procured a modest supply of propeller beanies.  Now, when some fascist Karen demands I put on a mask, I will demand that they first put on the beanie.  Because I have exactly the same authority, and it makes exactly as much sense.

Which way the boys are headed

In opposing the Left, we tried peace, prosperity, and appeasement. They didn't work. We tried logic and polite discourse. They didn't work. We tried the political process. It didn't work. The younger generation is looking for a third way. They see that our way has failed utterly. They see that the Left's way is utter disaster. What is the third way?

They take their cue from their primary enemies on the Left. If the Left is against nationalism, they must become nationalists. If the Left is against racism, they must become racists. If the Left hates Nazis, they must become Nazis.

I can't say that it doesn't work as a motivation. I can't tell them that they're wrong.

Organize Your Community

It is your right and duty as Americans to form defensive militias.

Get to know your neighbors. Find out who you can trust, who you should defend, and who are your enemies. Remember that at least half of all people will sit on the fence and cheer whomever seems to be winning at the time.

Prepare the moral fortitude to do what will eventually become necessary. As Heinlein said, "When the need arises - and it does - you must be able to shoot your own dog. Don't farm it out — that doesn't make it nicer, it makes it worse."

Now go out there and organize.

Arguing with Leftists

Nonviolent resistance only works against those with a conscience and moral principles. People whom you can shame. Imagine how China or Russia would have responded to Gandhi’s campaign.

That’s why you can’t argue moral principles with a Leftist. They have no shame.  Their only guiding principle is power.

All their arguments devolve to "Because I said so!"  And it works, for the same reason that King Louis XIV had his cannon inscribed with "Ultima Ratio Regum" - the final argument of kings.  "Shut up!" they explained.

We need to argue back in the same form, but louder.

Time and Past Time

Speak all you want, but remember the Left does not care, except to use your words against you.  The Republicans care for nothing put their personal comfort.  The conservatives have conserved nothing.

When words fail, when voting is useless, when courts are corrupted, only force matters.  Why do you think the Left owns the streets?  Because they fight with words <i>and</i> fists.  The time to ponder and pontificate is past.  It is time to take action, or lose everything.  Gird you loins, polish your steel, count your rounds, and man up.

The authorities will not save you.  In many places, they have actively joined with the forces of darkness.  You must save yourself, your family, your friends, your town, your state, your nation.

It only takes 3 percent.

Action/Reaction

Vox Day linked to an article on Neon Revolt yesterday.  It was about how the USA is experiencing a Soros funded Color Revolution.

http://voxday.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-assault-on-olympus.html

Neon Revolt's website has been down since shortly after.

Just a cohencidence, I'm sure.

Moral Codes

In the comments over at John Wilder's place (you do read him, right?), I came across this comment:

I had to put off reading this until this evening, but when I saw the Friday WWW title I chuckled. “You have one job. Be a good person.”

Sure thing, Mr. Wilder. Now, just what is “good” -? Is there a cup of hemlock with your name on it? 😋

All joking aside, good on you for anyone who comes across this post and asks this question. It’s a great place to start.

To be good, a moral code and the courage to follow it is required. Christianity is the one that built the West,

Christianity won’t work as a moral code. It did NOT build Western civilization, or even the U.S.A. Christians did. As Mr. Lewis pointed out, one cannot use the stairs of heaven as a short cut to the pharmacy.

Don’t believe me? Explain to your wife and offspring that, while you 100% value their irreplaceable contributions to your lifestyle and success, you’re much happier and fulfilled playing WoW and eating Pez, than caring for them."

If Christianity is not a moral code, then what is it?  No points for replies of "It's a religion, doofus."

If the moral code of Christians is not Christianity, then what is?

Cargo Cults and Witch Hunts

Congratulations, teachers' unions and education degree programs.  You've finally achieved your long term goal of reducing "education" to the status of cargo cults and witch hunts.

People are burning cell towers because they think the 5G signals (which we don't even have yet) directly transmit the Kung Flu virus.

https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2020/05/and-anti-5g-attacks-spread-to-us.html

Mask = Virtue

Mask use by the general public, at this point, is simply virtue signaling. The virus isn’t going away anytime soon. It will just mutate into slightly different forms and keep propagating.

Are you wearing a mask today? Why, when you did not wear a mask for the 2018 flu season, which killed 80,000 Americans?

If you’re not willing to wear a mask forever, why are you wearing it today?

Government Always Screws Up Everything

Almost every single thing the government did regarding the Kung Flu was remarkably stupid, not to mention counterproductive.  The one exception was to shut down international travel, which we did, but too late, and only partially.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/05/15/we-could-open-up-again-and-forget-the-whole-thing/

Oh, and the flu back in 1997-2000 was worse.  And yet somehow, we completely failed to destroy the economy and shred the constitution.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5107a1.htm

Lock downs have been shown to, at best, do no good.
https://wmbriggs.com/post/30833/

We need to rethink military structure

We need a three tiered military. Not in training and readiness, but in equipment, capabilities and focus.

Tier 1: Current generation heavy forces, designed to defeat any other force on the planet in high intensity combat. We won't have infinite numbers of these, but we need enough to be useful and to survive the first wave of attrition. (Examples: F-22, M1 tank, cruisers & carriers, nuclear subs)

Tier 2: Last generation medium/heavy forces, designed to screen the Tier 1 forces or provide extra firepower to Tier 3 forces. (Examples: F-15, M60 tank, destroyers & frigates)

Tier 3: Light/medium, inexpensive forces for pacification operations. You don't need million dollar missiles to kill goatherds armed with rifles, and you don't need aircraft carriers to kill pirates armed with RPGs. (Examples: OV-10, LAV/CV90, corvettes & cutters, diesel subs)

Each tier should be numerically larger than the tier above it.  Tier 2 and 3 forces must be well trained in urban / littoral combat. Do not waste Tier 1 forces on meat grinders!

Kent State 50th Anniversary

This is a few days early, but here are my thoughts on the events at Kent State University, Ohio on a Sunday 50 years ago.

The Kent State shootings were entirely justified. I’ve interviewed several people who stood on all sides that day, and that’s the one thing they agree on.

The setting: The Leftists had been rioting for three days (since Thursday). They announced the Saturday afternoon that they were going to go burn down the ROTC building. And then the next day they were going to go burn down the munitions plant east of town. Where quite a few of the ROTC cadets’ parents worked.

“That night (Friday), in downtown Kent, there were reports of violent clashes between students and local police. Police alleged that their cars were hit with bottles, and that students stopped traffic and lit bonfires in the streets.

Reinforcements were called in from neighboring communities, and Kent Mayor Leroy Satrom declared a state of emergency…” https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/kent-state-shooting

The morning of Sunday (day 4 of rioting), the ROTC cadets (who were most of the local National Guardsmen), formed up and drew arms and ammunition to protect their campus, their parents, their town, and their nation from Leftist traitors who had been rioting, burning and looting for three days. They ultimately failed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN4i7THVh90

The cadets held a line, until the traitors started pelting them with rocks and bottles. Then the cadet commander stupidly backed them up against a fence, from where they could no longer retreat. The assault with rocks, bottles, and garbage continued. And then someone opened fire with a pistol. Everyone involved agrees that this happened. Please note that the cadets were all, every one of them, armed with rifles, and that there was not a single pistol among them. (Pistol and rifle fire sound distinctly different.)

The cadet guardsmen opened fire to defend themselves, as any sane person would. Most fired into the ground or into the air. Thus, they were accused of “firing indiscriminately”. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmd6CHah7Wg

The Truth

The truth about Corona virus.  Written by doctors.  Go read it.
How many powerful people are lying to you every single day?
What is their real agenda?

Just in case that website disappears, here is the text from the article.  For archive purposes.  All praise, rights and attributions to the original authors.

The Truth (and Lies) about Coronavirus

Primary Author: David Williams, MD 

Revised April 23 with updates to section regarding COVID-19 deaths and the addendum.

The Truth (and Lies) about Coronavirus

This is being written on April 19, 2020. Although there is a central author, it is being written on behalf of multiple physicians in West Alabama and will be distributed through multiple medical offices. Between us we have well over a hundred years of practice and have treated hundreds of thousands of patients suffering infectious diseases. Including mission trips we have treated patients on five continents. We planned this date for several reasons. First, most of our patients now realize there is something “funny” about the coverage and handling of this disease. Secondly, if it wasn’t being handled differently by April 19, we knew it would take action from us and our patients to change that handling. Finally, we were told in March by our state officials that experts predicted New York, Florida, Texas, and Alabama were projected to have the median most fatalities from the COVID-19 outbreak with the peak in Alabama expected to be April 19. On this date, Alabama was supposed to be on pace for 5,516 deaths and be short over 21,000 hospital beds. The information just listed, and every piece of information discussed below, can be verified with a quick internet search. Many of the sources will be directly referenced. So here goes:

TRUTH: COVID-19 is an actual medical disease that will lead to tragic deaths.  Although this seems obvious, it should be clear that no one involved wishes to express anything but sympathy to those affected and their families. Respiratory failure is a terrible way to die. That is true if that death is due to asthma, COPD, pneumonia, influenza, smoke inhalation, cystic fibrosis, ALS, or COVID-19.

LIE: We don’t know much about coronavirus. This is one of the media’s favorite lies. It is much scarier if it is unknown. We know that coronavirus is a zoonotic disease. In other words, it’s natural hosts are birds and animals as opposed to humans. We vaccinate domestic animals for them. We know that four forms cause colds every year. We know it mutates and evolves just like the flu. We know it sometimes becomes deadly as it has in SARS and MERS. We have done medical studies on coronavirus as a coexisting illness in patients in the past.

LIE: COVID-19 is more infectious than influenza. This is one of two lies most often quoted by the millions who call national radio programs or post on social media. It is amazing how many people with absolutely no medical training somehow feel qualified to comment on this disease. Now, we want to be more fair than the national media so we are obligated to report there will never be a study where 1,000 people eat after people with the flu and 1,000 others eat after people with COVID-19 to see which one is more infectious. But the evidence is overwhelming. COVID-19 was first identified late December/early January. A little over three and a half months in, we have slightly over 2 million confirmed cases globally. By comparison, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (Google Influenza Update- NCBI), influenza is responsible for up to a billion infections annually. Flu season is basically from the start of October until April. At the flu’s three and a half month mark, that works out to 583 million cases globally. Even accounting for the fact COVID-19 is underreported that is a HUGE difference.

However, there is even further evidence influenza is more infectious. Drawing from our own (meaning everyone reading this) experiences, when influenza gets started in a daycare or elementary school, they often have to be closed for a short time because otherwise everyone gets it. All the kids, workers, teachers, and parents. The most students in one class we could remember was 23 of 25 out at the same time with the flu. Certainly, daycare classes in both Tuscaloosa and Jefferson counties have been closed this year. Contrast that to what you know about coronavirus. The NBA tested hundreds of players, staff, and media to come up with 14 cases. The vast majority did not contract the virus at all. The most extreme case in terms of possible COVID-19 exposure we could find was the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. If you have never toured a military ship, space is at a premium. Very tight and crowded conditions. Secondary to this, hundreds of crew would become infected. So 4,800 men and women were exposed to multiple individuals with the virus several times a day, day after day. Despite that constant exposure, 4,140 (or over 86%) of those sailors would never even contract the disease.

To address the possible rebuttals, it is absolutely true we don’t know the true number of COVID-19 cases. It doesn’t make the average person under 60 sick so we will never account for all of those. However, it doesn’t even infect the average person with a healthy immune system who comes in contact with it, so the number can only be so high. It is true that testing has not been available everywhere the entire three and a half months but we are making up for that by testing generously now. Locally, DCH had tested 3,105 by April 17, 2,958 of which were negative.

LIE: COVID-19 is more dangerous than influenza. The second lie of the medically uninformed. Even among those who do contract COVID-19, most under 60, including virtually everyone under 21, will never know they had it. On the USS Theodore Roosevelt, 60% were asymptomatic. Of the 2 million people who have tested positive for COVID-19 globally, most have had mild to no symptoms. By the three and half month mark of flu season, the flu had resulted in over 2 million severe cases requiring hospitalization. Influenza results in 290,000 to 670,000 deaths annually. COVID-19 deaths will be discussed below.

LIE: The fact one doesn’t know he or she has COVID-19 makes it more dangerous. All viruses shed and are primarily spread while the infected host is asymptomatic. Repeat, all viruses do this. We use the term virulence to describe how dangerous a virus is. The more virulent, the more likely to cause infection or more severe symptoms. One’s chance of becoming infected with anything is multifactorial. In other words, lots of things come into play. The infectiousness and quantity of the pathogen comes into play. Your level of rest, nutrition, stress, age, and general health come into play as well. In the case of influenza, if you contract it you are going to get sick. There will never be a time where the NBA tests hundreds of players and staff to find 14 cases of influenza – two with mild symptoms and twelve with no symptoms. If you get influenza, even if you are Michael Jordan (who had perhaps the most famous flu game of all time), you are going to know. That is because the flu is so virulent that in 24 to 48 hours it overwhelms even the immune system of a healthy adult and you develop symptoms.  But in that 24 hours it is multiplying, everyone around you is at risk. Depending on the exact exposure, the risk goes from high probability to certainty of contracting. For instance, if a high school student kisses their boyfriend or girlfriend during that day, they are getting the flu, period. But COVID-19 is so much less virulent it usually never overcomes the immune system of a healthy adult. Yes, they will shed this virus for up to 2 weeks, but most people around them still won’t get it. Since we are in West Alabama, let’s use a football example. Think of the healthy adult immune system as Alabama’s 2019 football team. Influenza is LSU’s 2019 football team. It only took one exposure to LSU to record a loss. COVID-19 is closer to Arkansas’ 2019 football team, maybe Ole Miss. Alabama could have played them 14 times and were less likely to lose than the one game with LSU. It is possible to record a loss, with some fumbles and a blocked punt, etc. but way less likely.

TRUTH: COVID-19 is more dangerous to the elderly and immunocompromised.

TRUTH: That doesn’t really mean anything in and of itself because everything is more dangerous to those unfortunate individuals. It does mean we should try to protect those individuals from infections in general.

TRUTH: It is now almost impossible for anyone in the general public or general medical community to know the actual number of deaths from COVID-19. That is because sometime in March US hospitals started testing all ER patients and every patient who died, regardless of cause of death, for COVID-19. Those patients are being included by the media in COVID-19 death tolls. Yes, a victim of a car accident brought to a US ER who passes away will be tested for COVID-19. Two of the most egregious examples of misrepresentation involve infants. One of the fascinating things about coronaviruses from a medical standpoint is children are almost universally immune to deleterious effects. A study from back in 2004-2005 was conducted in which swabs were done in both controls and children hospitalized for respiratory illness. The incidence of coronavirus was the same for controls and hospitalized children and the conclusion was HCoV (coronavirus) infection was not associated with hospitalization or with increased severity of illness in those hospitalized due to other infections. Search NIH if you want to review these findings. Obviously, COVID-19 is not included in that study since it was first identified recently. However, COVID-19 has not been associated with pediatric illness anywhere. Not China, South Korea, Italy, or Spain. So on March 29 when BuzzFeed.News and an Illinois paper, The Guardian, led with the headline “The First Infant Has Died In The US After Testing Positive For The Coronavirus,” it caught our attention. The article goes on to say the infant’s death was announced by Governor JB Pritzker and, depending on which article you read, either Pritzker, or Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said: “If you haven’t been paying attention (to COVID-19), maybe this is your wake-up call.” On April 2, CBS News reported Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont had announced “It is with heartbreaking sadness today that we can confirm the first pediatric fatality in Connecticut linked to COVID-19.” He went on to say it was likely one of the youngest deaths from the disease “anywhere.” The problem is neither death has actually been attributed to COVID-19. On April 3, the Hartford Courant correctly clarified that all patients who die in Connecticut hospitals were being tested for the virus, regardless of manner of death, and that Connecticut’s Chief Medical Examiner had not ruled COVID-19 to be the infant’s cause of death. Just yesterday, April 18, NBC 5 Chicago reported Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said it is preliminarily believed the infant in Illinois did not die from coronavirus.

New York is also a source of great misinformation. On March 22, Sky News ran footage of a hospital in Italy. On March 25, CBS This Morning ran the same footage. However, they claimed it was filmed in New York. Citizen reporters by the dozens have recorded empty testing tents and idle ambulance crews when the national media has reported hours long waits at the same testing sites and overstretched ambulance crews. You can find those videos on Youtube, although they don’t always make it easy. But there are enough people interested in getting the truth out there they are consistently reposted. At the time of publishing this link was successful https://youtu.be/MOBKyCY2esw. On April 14, the New York Times reported New York City officials at the Health Department had increased its death toll by 3,700 who NEVER TESTED POSITIVE for the virus. They were “presumed” to have died from it.

REVISED April 23, 2020. This is actually much worse than we thought. According to worldometers.info from January 1 to April 1, 2020 the worldwide deaths from COVID-19 were 46,438 as opposed to 121,993 for influenza. To recap, during the same three months, with the same social distancing, the same shelter in place, and even handicapped with a vaccine against it, the flu still killed more than two and a half times as many people as COVID-19. In terms of deciding to shut down the economy, there were 11 causes of death on the list.  Influenza and COVID-19 were ranked a distant 10th and 11th. On March 23, 2020, a Vox.com article by Dylan Scott outlined COVID-19 risks by age group. CDC figures cited a death rate of 2.7 percent for those 65 to 74, 4.3 percent for those 75 to 84, and 10.4 percent for those 85 and over.

How does a virus that killed 46,438 globally in three months (and which about 96% of those 75 to 84, and 90% of those 85 and older survive) suddenly kill 143,984 in the next three weeks, according the same worldometers.info? 

On April 2nd, 2020, the National Vitals Statistics System, which is part of the CDC, provided new guidance regarding the issuing of death certificates. COVID-19 was to be listed if it was assumed to cause or contribute to a death. For example, if someone dies from pneumonia, respiratory distress, or COPD, and has exhibited coronavirus symptoms, their certificate will list COVID-19 as a presumed contributing factor. Since shortness of breath, fever, and/or cough will be exhibited in all respiratory illnesses, every such death could potentially be recorded as a COVID-19 fatality. This certainly appears to be happening across the board.  We have never seen any disease handled in this way. Any medical professional who can provide an example of similar protocol is encouraged to share such a case. It completely defies any scientific method to work based on assumption. Even doctors opposed to reopening the economy should be upset because we will never have accurate numbers concerning this disease. To complicate matters further, if your city attributes enough deaths to COVID-19, it can request billions of dollars of federal aid.

TRUTH: The current policies instituted by our local, state, and national governments are causing greater health problems than the virus ever will. According to the Wall Street Journal, 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment in just four weeks. When you consider spouses and children, it seems reasonable that up to 70 million Americans would be affected by that number. Staying at home is not without consequence. Those individuals are at significantly higher risk of depression, suicide, domestic abuse, and other mental health issues. The stress is making them more likely to become ill from all manner of disease. Many have lost their insurance. Some will become divorced. Hundreds of thousands of medical procedures have been cancelled or delayed.

There is another threat to our health. Rural hospitals have closed in large numbers is recent years. The situation with COVID-19 has placed many more community hospitals of all sizes at risk. Most are relatively empty and are bleeding cash.

TRUTH: The media as a whole has grossly misrepresented this disease. We felt if we used the word “deliberately” we may have to present this as an opinion, but it sure appears deliberate. A couple of national examples include the CBS This Morning story referenced above and yesterday’s CNN story. The headline read “Jacksonville beach packed as Florida coronavirus cases hit record” and they ran a photo taken in the past of a Los Angeles County beach to show the crowd. Locally, on April 14, local news outlets used the headline, “Mayor Walt Maddox to Pitch Plan to Re-open Tuscaloosa on April 28th.” While not technically untrue, that sounds like the plan is to re-open the city on April 28th. In reality, it should have read, “On April 28, Mayor Walt Maddox to Pitch Plan to Re-open Tuscaloosa,” because no plan is even to be presented until April 28. A Tuscaloosa News headline today read “Prison system reports COVID-19 death.” You had to read the article to find the 66 year-old victim was already terminally ill and had been hospitalized since April 4th in critical care for his preexisting conditions. He only tested positive on the last day of his life.

OPINION: The way in which the media has pushed fear nonstop amounts to psychological warfare against this country. If it hasn’t occurred to you that we have heard one story and essentially one story alone for literally two months, well, that should have aroused suspicion.

TRUTH: The media will continue to fight reopening of this country by stating “experts” predict a spike in deaths if we do so. We would assume those are the same experts who initially predicted 2.2 million US deaths, revised to 200,000, then 100,000, then 60,000, then ordered testing all US deaths just in case they had coronavirus because we weren’t on pace for even 30,000 prior to that change in policy.

TRUTH: Not every country has shut down their economy, and none of those countries have suffered higher rates of death because they have kept their economy going. One of the searches done prior to putting this together related to countries who kept their businesses open. One of the lowest mortality rates in the entire world is Japan, who fits that description. Looking for the country with the highest mortality rate and an open economy, we came across an article with a very liberal bent that described two Scandinavian countries. It described how uncaring Sweden was as it conducted business as usual while Denmark cared for its’ people and shut down. The expected mortality rate for Sweden was 69 per million whereas Denmark was 39 per million. If you take 69 and multiply it by 340 (for 340 million people in the United States) it comes out to 23,640, or about 15,000 fewer people than we are expected to lose to the flu this year.

OPINION: Medical organizations have failed this country. Literally every doctor in America should know everything listed above. So why haven’t organizations like the AMA and AAFP, as well as state organizations, presented this information to their governors and the President?

TRUTH: China is involved, but not how you think. We can not tell you how many times people have expressed consternation about not knowing what China is hiding. Generally, they feel it is horrific death numbers or the genesis story of the virus. China withheld information about the virulence of COVID-19. They knew they had cases of asymptomatic individuals, possibly hundreds of thousands such patients. By not including this data it changed the mortality rate greatly. Initial terror regarding COVID-19 was a 4% mortality rate in China. Most would now concede the mortality rate is less than 0.2% given the high number of asymptomatic patients. Meanwhile, the Chinese are buying property in affected areas, particularly Italy, and likely not unhappy with what is happening in America given their trade battles with President Trump.

TRUTH: The NBA cancelled their season voluntarily, with no external domestic pressures, and China is a huge market for them. Their financial interests in China were threatened after a single tweet from Houston GM Daryl Morey in October supporting Hong Kong protestors. After literally a single runny nose, the NBA cancelled their season and proceeded to test hundreds of healthy individuals looking for COVID-19. We find it fascinating no one in the media, and certainly no one at ESPN, has asked questions about that behavior.

TRUTH: People are lazy, or they have an agenda. Not only did the media not ask pertinent questions about the NBA, they have not reached out to knowledgeable health professionals even when they were provided the names and contacts of such individuals. If the narrative did not fit COVID-19 terror, it was ignored. We know this has happened both locally and nationally. Local, state, and national politicians have done the same thing. All of the information here is readily available. So if any elected official has said anything along the lines of “as a leader, I feel a responsibility to keep people safe,” to support restrictions on you or local businesses, ask that official what research he or she was basing his or her decision on. The general public is lazy. They read headlines. Grossly misleading headlines. So when you pass this on, you will have to insist people actually read the whole thing.

TRUTH: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is making a fortune, and he wants you to stay home. In addition to owning Amazon, he owns the Washington Post. Just read any headline or article it has ever written regarding a plan to reopen the economy. Do with that information what you will, but we hope it means you stop ordering from Amazon and support local businesses instead.

TRUTH: COVID-19 has been treated like a world-ender; it’s not even remotely close.  As mentioned earlier, it has infected just over 2 million people in the world. Not killed 2 million people. Actually, not even made 2 million sick. Just infected. So it is 76 million short of infecting 1% of the world’s population. It is 998 million short of infecting as many as influenza has this year, the vast majority of which are sicker than the average coronavirus patient. The world has never shut down for any disease before. And it chose this one to do so?

TRUTH: Quarantine is a period or place of isolation in which people who have been exposed or infected with a contagious disease are placed. The government has used it to impose shelter in place on healthy individuals and close businesses. There are words for that, but quarantine is not one of those words.

TRUTH: This is not a medical crisis, but a political crisis. There is a saying in politics, “never waste a crisis,” and this is apparently true even if the crisis is fabricated. We briefly debated leaving out politics, but the reality is most have already figured this out and there is no explaining the phenomenon that is COVID-19 hysteria without talking politics. In short, Democrats attempted to impeach Trump late in 2019 and failed. Shortly after a State of the Union address in which he touted considerable economic success, COVID-19 was made front and center by the media. Most probably feel both parties have failed us but there is no debating which party is most responsible for pushing the fear. Every time President Trump argues for reopening, the press and the Democrats gnash their teeth and talk higher death tolls. The governors of Illinois and Connecticut who incorrectly reported infant deaths are Democrat. Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, who has gone so far as to restrict her state’s residents from mowing their lawns and planting flowers, is a Democrat. Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards, who threatened to permanently take licenses from open businesses and organize a special police task force to arrest anyone in groups of more than ten, is a Democrat.

Mayor Walt Maddox is a Democrat. He told us in March that if he did nothing Tuscaloosa County would experience 3,686 deaths due to COVID-19. Think about that for just a second. It was first identified in Wuhan, China, a city of over 11 million people. China has a population of 1.4 billion and at the time of his presentation, COVID-19 had killed a little over 3,200 in the entire country. Tuscaloosa County has a population of just under 184,000 and is considerably less densely populated than Wuhan, China. That number is not only meant to do nothing except incite fear but indicates a serious lack of insight and judgement.

TRUTH: The Alabama coronavirus numbers presented in the opening paragraph appear to be way off. We are nowhere near 5,000 deaths. In fact, we currently have only 4,700 total cases and 113 deaths. Tuscaloosa County has yet to experience a single death. DCH reports five or fewer inpatients in the ICU (they will only report units of five to protect privacy) being treated for COVID-19 with five or fewer on ventilators. Again, every such patient is significant, but we are thankful the numbers are so small. While we recognize some may feel those numbers are smaller due to social distancing and/or shelter in place orders, COVID-19 numbers have not been affected by those behaviors when compared to countries where they were not employed.

TRUTH: If you love your children, enjoy sports, or know anyone who owns or is employed by a small business you should be angry. Very angry. We can absolutely take steps to protect the elderly and vulnerable, but everything should reopen immediately. Millions of high school seniors have been deprived graduations and proms. Millions of high school athletes have lost their spring season. Thousands of NCAA athletes have lost the same. Some will permanently lose their programs altogether due to financial issues associated with the coronavirus response. Your kids are at home when they should be with their teachers and classmates. Your neighbors have been prevented from working and businesses built over decades or generations have been lost or threatened. Absolutely NONE of it was or is necessary.

TRUTH: Nothing will change unless it is demanded. Seriously, take this, repost it, and act on it. It will have to happen nationwide. Call mayors, governors, representatives, senators. Call back the next day. Email them. Email these facts. Verify for yourself which facts you are comfortable utilizing. DO NOT BE LAZY. Call radio stations, TV stations, national news outlets. Send it to medical organizations like the AMA and AAFP. It needs to happen by the thousands. They clearly aren’t paying attention. Or they assume you aren’t.

  

ADDENDUM: I would like to address a few of the concerns and criticisms this document has received. I am changing from we to I because I am speaking only for myself. Primary criticism has been either 1) how do we know this is true/qualification issues or 2) it is a political piece. 

The first criticism simply validates one of the main points of the document. This information can be verified and was valid at the time of publication. Most of the time, you were told exactly where you could find it. The complete lack of effort the public has shown to educate themselves about this virus has contributed to the terror it has created. It really shouldn’t matter who wrote it if the information is valid. I am not an epidemiologist, but, for the record, it was reviewed by one and he agreed.

The second criticism I can at least understand. The objective of the paper was not to be political but to recognize the role it plays in behaviors related to the virus. Frankly, I have never been able to successfully explain why we are hearing so much about a virus that doesn’t make most people sick without involving the politics (and I have tried, and that information is also available). However, I may not have done as well as I could have in conveying that. I am not happy with either party’s handling of the issue. I have had political discussions with patients of every race and persuasion and said the same. Both parties have failed us. I haven’t voted for somebody in way too long. I have voted against somebody else. I have told everyone that has to change if we are going to make it. My primary political concerns are reduced health care premiums, lower deductibles, less expensive drugs, lower taxes, taking care of the environment, and smaller government. We should take care of ourselves and each other. It is my opinion, though, that the media and the Democratic party are most responsible for pushing the fear and trying to keep us from reopening the economy. The point of the paper is to suppress fear, dispense information, and reopen the economy. Yesterday (April 21), Texas’ Governor and Lt. Governor called for reopening their state and the country. The article in The Hill goes on to say Texas has nearly 29 million people with 19,458 having tested positive for coronavirus and 495 fatalities. The response of Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa was that they “would put Texans at-risk to enrich themselves and their stock portfolios.” “They would see our family members die to bail out Wall Street,” Hinojosa said. “The lives of our families, our friends, and our communities have no dollar amount. Texas Republicans can no longer claim to be the pro-life party anymore.” You can draw your own conclusions. I based mine on statements such as those.

  

REVISED April 23, 2020. For those who question whether I am truly anti-fear, as opposed to having another agenda, President Trump disagreed “strongly” with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp’s decisions to reopen certain businesses in his state. I strongly agree with Governor Kemp.