Who benefits from the lockdowns, musings and opinions

The lockdowns have benefitted the unions and Big Tech, two entities massively intertwined with politicians. The lockdowns have hurt the church, small businesses, and anyone seeking an education, particularly children. This won't end well. The lockdowns have increased suspicion and animosity between the haves and have nots (of freedom) Even an ordinary person sees that the ruling class tells us to mask up and shut up, while they continue life as usual--parties, restaurants, travel, investments, and private in-school education for their kids. So when Biden says, wear a mask for 100 days, who will believe him that it is about health? If the power brokers and pushers aren't worried, why should we be?

The future of our country, musings and opinions

Evi Kokalari, an Albanian immigrant, writes: "When I immigrated to America, I had faith for the first time that my vote would actually count; that when I cast my ballot, I was taking part in a sacred and meaningful process. In light of what has transpired over the past few weeks, however, that faith has waned. What is unfurling in America today has been going on in Albania for decades, and I fear for the future of our democracy."

Evi, I feel much the same. In 2016 with Democrats and crazy pink hat ladies ranting about a "stolen election" I knew they just didn't understand the electoral college and what our founders intended. In 2020, I know it was stolen in the middle of the night with massive fraud, and we're no better than any of those other banana republics we've sneered at.

Combine the election fraud with the failure of our churches to stand up to the government, and I really feel we’re living in a remote jungle in a foreign land.

Thanksgiving mandates—an opinion

"I think public health experts should not just listen, but HEAR what people are saying. Americans are saying that despite all the damage done by COVID-19, despite the rising cases and at-capacity ICUs around the country, their desire for human connection is so great, that they are willing to take the risk and have Thanksgiving. Americans are, in effect, expressing the longing and desperation of their soul."

"My worry is that the very nature of the modern media ecosystem is to promote messages that spark anger, shame, and fear. The original article hits these emotions. Doctors then tweet messages that amplify the 'shame on them' message and escalate tensions. The reward system of Twitter gives these actors positive feedback with likes and retweets."

Full piece at Medscape.com (need to register, but free) Op-Ed: Demanding Thanksgiving Abstinence Is Not Public Health | MedPage Today

That explains a lot—church attendance restrictions, Pew survey

59% of Democrats who attended church this past summer either in person or on-line heard sermons about supporting Black Lives Matter.  29% of Republicans who attended church this past summer either in person or on-line heard sermons about supporting Black Lives Matter.  But did either group of Christians hear the truth about BLM, its mission statement, and its role in the destruction of liberty and property in Democrat run cities this past summer? Were they told that the three women who founded it are radical Marxist lesbians who don’t believe in private property or the nuclear family? 

Only 42% of Republicans who attended church this past summer either in person or on-line heard sermons in support of abortion, and only 28% of Democrats hear a similar sermon. And yet, about 1/3 of the abortions in the U.S. are for black women.  Who is the smallest and weakest and most needy among us?  Certainly not the adults rioting and looting on behalf of the mission of BLM—American blacks are the top 5% in wealth of the global population of blacks, most of whom live in Africa.

The headlines in this Pew article are very misleading.  About 42% of Americans never attend church, so when the story about accepting the rules imposed on churches includes “Americans” one needs to read the entire article.  No, the majority of church goers were NOT OK with the restrictions, some of which were far more restrictive than other gatherings. 

Actual numbers are not given in the Pew study, however, even in a 2015 Caddell poll, 46% of Democrats never attended church and 24% of Republicans never attended. And when separated by ideology, only 18% of liberals said they regularly attend church and 62% said they never go. For conservatives, 41% regularly attend and 34% never go.

https://www.pewforum.org/2020/08/07/americans-oppose-religious-exemptions-from-coronavirus-related-restrictions/

The hoax isn’t the virus

This is the hoax--how Democrats and their lackeys in the media, entertainment, academe and unions are presenting the constant lie about how the pandemic was handled. Everyone in the country/world has been proven wrong about this virus at some point in its progression or treatment. From the modeling, to the anti-vaxxers, to the members of the task force, but especially the media. And still NOT ONE published clinical trial on masks and the corona virus exists.

The American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten (salary is $500,000) says that going back to school has never looked like it does now. Weingarten explains that because of President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus, which she says has been chaotic, contradictory and inept, and the lack of federal guidance and funding, we’re seeing a patchwork of school reopening plans across the country.

As you should know, education is in control of state and local government, not the federal government. This has been the standard since the passage of the NW Ordinance in 1787. "Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." It is the state governor, the local mayor and the school board which decide the opening and online options, not the President or the federal Department of Education. Weingarten has overlooked that and continues blathering  the Democrat hoax and passes it along to teachers who pay dearly to read this nonsense.

Do you really believe she or any Democrat/ Socialist/ Communist/ Libertarian or even the President's own supporters would have obeyed if Trump had mandated lockdowns and nationwide compulsory masks as Biden says he'll put in place (it's illegal). They would have had a nationwide strike.

Spokes model for millennials

Alyssa Ahlgren is a millennial who's made a name for herself by being blunt and unapologetically conservative, calling out her generation, including AOC, for being spoiled and naive.

She wrote a nice piece in late May about standing up to fear. Now it's nearly October and I think maybe she was wrong about Americans and what they would put up with.

"Americans were willing to take temporary hits to their liberties to flatten the curve. We followed the rules. We were compliant with the “15 days to slow the spread.” What we are not compliant with is the continued abuse of power backed by zero evidence and practiced in the name of the “common good” and “safety.” As the country’s leaders remain divided on locking down and reopening, Americans are starting to stand together. We will not be vulnerable. We will not be complacent. And we will not shrink in fear. After all, the American spirit was derived from rebellion and the desire to be free. Good luck keeping that locked down."

My church has timidly offered some parking lot and mid-week services, and my library still has closed branches and appointment only computers. I guess our walk doesn't match our talk, especially on the First Amendment.

https://alphanewsmn.com/alyssa-ahlgren-what-the-shutdown-has-taught-us/

It is the fear that endangers us

“You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.” (Psalm 91:5-6)

“We have been through tough flu seasons before without shutting down the country. I remember in 1968 — a terrible year for many reasons — the Hong Kong Flu was raging; 100,000 Americans died from the flu that year. My grandfather was a doctor and warned us about it, but neither the country nor the world shut down. The sick were isolated; the vulnerable were given heightened protection. I remember seeing “Quarantine” signs on the doors of some of the houses in my neighborhood. If someone had the flu, the entire household was ordered to stay inside for two weeks, and that very visible sign was placed on the front door. Meanwhile, the healthy went about their work, and life continued. Yes, the death toll was high, but everyone understood that life had to go on. Years ago, there were so many dangerous illnesses to be afraid of — cholera, smallpox, tuberculosis, polio. It takes courage to live, and people of the time had that courage.

In the current pandemic, which is admittedly severe, we have quarantined the healthy along with the sick, the resilient along with the vulnerable. Crippling fear has seized so many people, and at some point, fear begins to feed on itself. We have shut down our economy, depriving many of their livelihoods and of the dignity that comes from working, from using their talents and from providing for their families.” https://m.ncregister.com/blog/msgr-pope/be-not-afraid?

And I remember the polio seasons of the 1940s and 1950s. I remember the Asian Flu of 1957.  The healthy were not crippled and locked inside. Why did people in a less safe time react more bravely?

The Double Standard of the lockdown vs. the riots—Tucker Carlson

“Race is not the only dividing line,” he explained. “The coronavirus lockdowns had nothing to do with race or white and black, thank God. They are probably the only thing in America that doesn’t. Quarantines are instead scientific — they’re purely a matter of public health. That’s what they told us, and we believed them. We sat passively as they destroyed our country’s economy, as they indicted Americans for trying to make a living. And then the Black Lives Matter riots started, and we learned it was all fake. The very same officials who threatened us with arrest for going outside urged their own voters to flood the streets. And they did, and no one was punished. How could this happen?”

Carlson called that double standard “ritual humiliation” and urged Americans to stand against it.

“It was such a flagrant double standard — not even hidden, right in your face,” Carlson continued. “They didn’t try to explain it. They didn’t bother to justify it. Why? Anyone familiar with totalitarian regimes can tell you exactly why, and what’s going on. This is ritual humiliation. Forcing people to accept mistreatment is a time-tested way to subdue them. ‘Of course, we are not treating you fairly,’ they are telling us. ‘You don’t deserve fairness. You deserve what you get.’ That’s the message, and after a while, the population accepts this. Some believe it. They blame themselves. That’s the goal.”

“But we should never accept it,” he added. “The promise of absolute equality under the law is all we have. Laws are designed to protect the weak, not the strong. At the moment, the people leading this revolution against our system are strong. That’s why they are trying to subvert our laws. If they succeed, there will be nothing to protect the rest of us in this country. We cannot let them do that. In the United States of America, all of us are equal under the law. Period. Say that as loud as you can.”

Holy Trinity Sunday

Today is Sunday.  June 7 is Holy Trinity Sunday. I’ve checked on line and even ELCA and Episcopal church which both support abortion are providing worship at home liturgies and scripture selections. The Catholics use a different selection, and I like theirs better. Although 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 "Greet one another with a holy kiss" will jump out--we may never even shake hands again! This selection was done at least 2 years ago, but is ironic today.

Normally, I would be dressed and ready for church, as we used to call it, and I’d be one of two or three women wearing a dress or skirt. Instead, at 8:30  I was dressed in my gym clothes and ready to go to Lifetime Fitness, which opened a week ago. My church UALC is still closed.

What the lockdown has taught me is I don’t need to go to church—I only have to turn on my computer, and if I don’t like the UALC selection (I never watched after the first try when I was asked to register before watching) I can find great music and dynamic speakers with a click of a mouse. In fact, their submission to the lockdown without a question has taught me I may never need to make the effort again.

After my workout, I went through the McDonald’s drive thru and got a sausage biscuit. At home I enjoyed it and sang a hymn by Horatius Bonar in my squeaky voice which used to be soprano but now is tenor:

“Glory be to God the Father,
glory be to God the Son,
glory be to God the Spirit,
God Almighty, Three in One!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Glory be to him alone.”

Horatius Bonar was born at Edinburgh, in 1808. His education was obtained at the High School, and the University of his native city. He was ordained to the ministry, in 1837, and since then has been pastor at Kelso. In 1843, he joined the Free Church of Scotland. His reputation as a religious writer was first gained on the publication of the "Kelso Tracts," of which he was the author. He has also written many other prose works, some of which have had a very large circulation. Nor is he less favorably known as a religious poet and hymn-writer. The three series of "Hymns of Faith and Hope," have passed through several editions.
--Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A. 1872

The Hymnary.org website use has gone up 40% since April 2019, and I think we know why.  You can support this fine service by making a donation, a tax-deductible contribution by sending a check to Hymnary.org at 3201 Burton SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546.

Americans gave up too easily

Yesterday at the lake house we were getting ready to  go to a friends’ home for breakfast.  ABC tv news was on. Shouting fear, anxiety. Oh woe. This is so awful. We need to crawl back in our holes. So I switched over to Fox using Roku. Exactly the same stories, same footages. Calm reporting, no shouting; explaining that people on beaches and private parties weren't "social distancing." There was a video of a man throwing money from a car and he drew a crowd--they weren't social distancing either. Then on to the stories, honoring those who had sacrificed their lives. What this Memorial Day is about.

But now that our freedoms have been taken away for 2 months, perhaps the day will mean more? We've seen how easily Americans give up liberty and how quickly our governments at all levels are willing to take it.

Later, on our way back to Columbus from Lakeside  we passed a small cemetery on Rt 4 with the veterans walking through with flags and a good size crowd gathered. Did my heart good to see that rural America will not live in fear.

In one small town on Rt. 4 where the public library is on main street there was a sign announcing curb side pick up of books.  Now how hard could that be?  Our suburban public libraries didn’t do that, even though the restaurants figured out how to do it.

Yes, how easily Americans can give up their freedoms—libraries, churches, schools, leisure activities, parks, and no one put a gun to our heads.

Physicians speak out

A physician speaks out about quarantining the healthy. The destruction of the first amendment freedoms while keeping marijuana shops and abortion clinics open. Liquor stores are essential but your business isn't? Dr. Jeff Barke of California:

https://heavy.com/news/2020/05/dr-jeff-barke-video/?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmU6YYGfyUk What is happening to doctors. Learn what's going on. Dr. Yvette Lozano of Texas.

The great divide

Why is the divide over opening or not opening falling along party lines, conservative vs. liberal, red state vs. blue?

First of all, it's Trump. Whatever he advises, the left and the Trump haters will fight. They oppose anything that looks like recovery because he will look good.

It's also class. Many more white color and government workers have kept their jobs but they really don't employ people. The risk takers and entrepreneurs tend to be Republicans--they actually employ people and are small businessmen. They are the ones who have borrowed from their parents or taken a 2nd mortgage to start up a business. Also farmers and blue/pink color workers are more suspicious of government control of their lives and livelihood.

Third. The news is out how the Obama administration tried to undermine/destroy the incoming Trump administration. That's political terrorism and the best way to keep that mum is to keep the focus on something else. Pump up the fear.

Fourth. Academics, upper management and entertainers do not mind waiting it out--they have resources, they know how to get around the rules, they've got treadmills in their remodeled basement and can sneak that Hispanic housekeeper and Asian immigrant hair stylist in the back door (because they certainly don't live in their neighborhood). They just love those TV commercials with the cute kids putting puzzles together with dad in his jammies with sappy music and ridiculous slogans--they may even own the marketing company being paid to make them!

Fifth. Not all Republicans are pro-life, but they haven't carved the initials of death into their political platform for 3 decades, for several generations of voters. In short, their moral compass is different. They are happier, more positive, more likely to be people who live their faith, more likely to be married and have families, and respect life at all ages including the unborn and the very elderly. They know without reading an academic paper or the Wall Street Journal that the longer the economy is closed the more people will die of a multitude of problems than Covid19 would ever touch.

Not 1984, but 2020

“To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again: and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself -- that was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word 'doublethink' involved the use of doublethink.”

― George Orwell, 1984

Doing church during the shutdown

After listening to 2 great sermons by Lutheran pastor Gemechis Buba, we went down to the river (Griggs Reservoir), enjoyed a brunch of McDonald's sausage biscuits and coffee, listened to the choir of birds, geese and passing cars, observed all the joggers, walkers, families and boaters, and came home. Everyone was parking with "social distancing," with 2 empty parking places between each car.

https://vimeo.com/113330866?fbclid=IwAR1Q9Uz3BUA9Id5zUR4hxuGNdJ9H6f3Oz4ee-EXYvbP87PZ7xAQ-RfI3C8g  5 years ago on end times

https://www.facebook.com/DrGemechis/videos/261108571918907/  Mother's day sermon

Enjoying coffee and a walk at Griggs

Lots of boats in the water

Stop the insanity

At the beginning (the end of January when the President was called a racist for sounding the alarm about a mysterious virus originating in China), most of us went along with the need to be prudent, which soon moved to the need to avoid our usual places we congregated, then closing the schools, then seeing our businesses close for a few weeks (they originally said until Easter), then the churches, then the orders to wear masks/don't wear masks; then we began to see the light. This wasn't going to stop unless we objected. The cure was becoming worse than the disease.

Then we noticed the push back about opening up was coming from the same people who gave us 3 years 24/7 of investigating and impeaching our president. Yet the statistics and models were all over the place, and many of the experts disagreed. Some never considered removing from the numbers mix the same people who were also at risk for influenza and pneumonia or the people who already had serious health challenges. And if they did, they were ridiculed or blocked. The president's enemies howled even louder if he speculated or commented or disagreed. We have a health system already endangered and weakened by the previous administration's demands to buy a bad product or go to jail. Now we're being told we have to save it by collapsing every other segment of the economy?

Stop the insanity.

It’s not about your health when . . .

Kevin Sorbo: "It’s not about your health when the State says it’s too dangerous for you to walk in the park with your child, then puts dangerous criminals back on the street – or, when it tells you it’s safe to go in-person to a grocery store, but not to a voting station. . . when the State shuts down millions of private businesses but doesn’t lay off a single government employee, it's not about your health."

Comparing the polio epidemics and Covid19

I’ve been anti-shutdown for weeks, but I only saw this video today.  https://youtu.be/lGC5sGdz4kg  So it has had no influence on me.  I’ve watched how the people of Ohio have been led into complete submission while our small businesses have been destroyed. Big box and chains are open.  I watched our sensible, conservative Republican, Trump-supporting, Governor DeWine and his sidekick Dr. Amy, appear every day on TV always quietly oozing more fear and regulations.

If you’re old enough to remember the polio epidemic, the video makes a lot of sense.  I recall my cousin Jimmy Corbett who died in 1949 of polio, and the Kable children I think 4 of the 5 had it, but all survived. We had a big gathering of Corbetts at the John Corbett home (parents of Jimmy) because of visiting relatives from California.  We had a wonderful time and within days Jimmy was dead from polio and about a week later my sister Carol had it. We all were quarantined (in those days they quarantined the people most at risk to contract the disease not the entire country), but not the adults.  My father moved out of our home in Forreston and moved in with his parents in Mt. Morris so he could earn a living (novel idea for 2020)—all had been at that family dinner.  So why weren’t they afraid for the adults?  Immunity.  Most adults born in the late 19^th or early 20^th century had some immunity to polio, a disease that had been around for centuries. Whether it was improved sanitation (indoor plumbing) or something else, I don’t know, but children of the 1930s and 1940s were being struck down.  Some young adults did have it—like FDR, and I wonder if it was his somewhat pampered life (flush toilets) that created the vulnerability whereas my Dad used an outhouse and met his first flush toilet at 14 when he started high school in Polo, IL.

Our son Phil died a week ago and we’d been caring for him (no wife or children for a safety net) first in his home, then in ours as we began to wear out. Under normal circumstances, my 82 year old husband would have seen his own doctor as soon as he began to have breathing problems, but it was postponed due to our situation and because of the shut down/telemedicine.  He needed testing and that isn’t done on the phone. Eventually the squad took him to the ER when he realized he was exhausted walking to the neighbor’s to get ice cream we’d stored in her freezer. He was admitted, tested, and found to have some serious cardiac issues.  The hospital, the largest in Columbus, was virtually empty. Everything—heart, lung, knee, hip, brain—was postponed because of the pandemic scare.  And how many thousands and thousands either didn’t go to their doctor or weren’t diagnosed because of the focus and policies about Covid19? Even today, the death toll nationwide is higher than normal, and the bump isn’t due to Covid.  It’s probably due to people not going to the doctor when they should have—technically, we’d created a nation of uninsured.

I think our president has been misled and so have many of the governors. Whenever I hear the word “data” I mentally flag it.  Dr. Birx of the president’s task force often said, “the data show. . .” Data is not information, information is not knowledge, and knowledge is not wisdom.”
With more sifting and examination the data are actually showing that over 90% of those who died had one of three, or all three—obesity, hypertension, or diabetes.  So meanwhile, reporters who think will probably not be sent to investigate and all the sheeple get are stupid memes about injecting Lysol.

If you’re too young to remember polio, think about how HIV/AIDS was misreported and politicized (still is) as a disease that all of us would get in the 1980s.  And that’s nonsense in service of an agenda.  It’s still isolated for the most part to gay and bisexual men and drug users, and it’s behavior, not homophobia that spreads it.

Stop the insanity

Old people like me are at risk for Covid19. But no more so than the flu, falls and pneumonia. The shut down/lock up is hurting us more. There are shelves of research showing that being social is key to being healthy in old age; that moving even 45 minutes a day can extend your life, maybe more than 3 hours at the gym. Mall walking with a friend or shopping or a stroll in the park help us more than it helps young whipper snapper reporters opining about the evils of people who want the lock down to end. We may not remember the sermon, but we need our Sunday School class or choir participation or working with the ladies in the kitchen to connect. And yes, Alzheimer's doubles every 5 years after 65, but it's those tiny little strokes, the ones you can't detect on the phone, that really slow down our brains over time.

Governor, stop the insanity. You're killing us.

Pelosi and Trump squabble

“Due to the Shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan has been postponed," the president wrote the speaker of the House of Representatives. “We will reschedule this seven-day excursion when the Shutdown is over. In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, I am sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate.”
She attempted to embarrass Trump with her demand he postpone the address to the nation because of the shut down,  and there wouldn’t be enough security, so he grounded her flight for the same lame reason.
But also she over uses her “free flights” around the world.
We usually have ABC on in the morning when Bob eats breakfast to keep track of the weather, which breaks in with local coverage, but I tell you, the bias and junk we get from broadcast is about as bad as CNN. If they keep using the word “bombshell” to describe every tidbit from Buzzfeed and Politico, they become the child who called wolf. They are working overtime not only to impeach Trump but to disenfranchise everyone who voted for Trump by declaring 2016 invalid.  That puts Nancy in the President’s seat.