The good old days

Whether nostalgia or bad memory or politicians, you may be wrong about "the good old days," crime, climate, income gaps, etc.

"According to a YouGov poll last year, between 21 percent and 45 percent of respondents across the Western world thought that climate change “likely” or “quite likely” will make the human race extinct. At the same time, both the absolute numbers and the proportion of people dying from natural catastrophes like storms, floods, droughts, or wildfires has plummeted over the last century – and that includes all kinds of natural disasters (such as earthquakes and tsunamis) not just the ones that climate change may have worsened."

https://www.humanprogress.org/nothing-is-more-responsible-for-the-good-old-days-than-a-bad-memory/?

A few years ago I recall a report that asked people what percent of the population was homosexual, and many guessed 20-25%. The correct answer was a little over 2%. But it was the topics and characters of films, books and TV programs that caused them to make that wrong estimate. There are some people who think 50% of people who get Covid19 die (99.75% recover).  I think 24/7 news and social media are worsening our memories.

How did American Presidents handle SARS, MERS and Covid19?

April 4, 2003 WebMD - SARS had a death rate around 10% after killing about 80 of the infected. President Bush didn't quarantine Americans who had it until the number rose to 115 and had spread to 29 states by April 2003. No Americans died. Also "China apologized today [April 4, 2003] for not doing a better job of informing the public and international health organizations about the SARS epidemic and pledged full cooperation with the World Health Organization's team currently investigating the outbreak in Guangdong, China."

May 13, 2014, Reuters -"President Barack Obama has been briefed by his advisors on the two confirmed U.S. cases of the deadly virus known as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday."

MERS, a corona virus, (MERS-CoV) had a 35% death rate. Why didn't Obama close travel and at least quarantine returning doctors from the affected area in Muslim countries?

January 30, 2020, The New York Times - President Trump closed travel from China and restricted foreign travelers who had been to China the previous 14 days before there was a single U.S. death from SARS-CoV 2 (Wuhan Virus, Covid-19) or known spread.

President Donald Trump responded to his health advisors faster than either Bush or Obama did to theirs.

The hoax that Democrats are spreading with help of the media is that by doing something different, Trump could have prevented 200,000 deaths. This is all in retaliation for winning the election in 2016.

Not only are Democrats better at lying, the Republicans are spineless wimps for playing by their rules.

Life has risk, Kelly Ripa

I heard it again.

Kelly Ripa (Live with Kelly and Ryan) is not willing to take the risk to see her or her husband's parents during this dangerous time. (It's Bob's favorite show and he never misses). Life comes at you fast, Kelly. It's been a year today since our 50 year old son (your age) had surgery for glioblastoma and about 6 months since he died. We are your parents age. Is this worth it? Not seeing them to protect them? Is Covid19 their only risk? No heart disease or cancer or falls? If one were to pass from H1N1 or a stroke, you could say, "At least it wasn't Covid?"

This summer of the pandemic and lockdowns:

1. We came early (end of May) and stayed late (mid-October) at our vacation home in Lakeside on Lake Erie. From purple iris to changing maples. It helped with grief, our health, and our happiness even with extreme cutbacks in activities.

2. We watched our neighbors at Lakeside handle this pandemic three ways.

a. Stayed home in Arizona, or New York or Florida where they went nowhere either due to governor lockdown or their own fears for their health.

b. Stayed inside their cottages in Lakeside leaving only long enough to feed the feral cats and go to Walmart for groceries.

c. Were outside attending events, visiting with friends, shopping at Walmart and Bassetts and Erie Rd Market, eating in local restaurants, and taking long walks (most people have dogs, we don't).

3. We've watched more TV than usual, but have enjoyed the porch for reading and chatting with friends and strangers through the screen. I've made frequent use of the "Little Free Library" on our street, found 3 keepers, and donated 5-6 titles.

4. We've done less entertaining, but

a. Celebrated our 60th wedding anniversary in a neighbor's yard, with prepackaged snacks, masks, social distancing, and 25 guests.

b. We invited a widower to have dinner with us--probably our only dinner guest, which is a cut back, but certainly important for him.

c. A neighbor who didn't have TV came over 2 nights to watch the RNC national convention in August.

d. We rented a cottage across the street and enjoyed the company of my husband's siblings who are also aging, and we don't see them often.

e. We rented a 6 seat golf cart to tour the town with our relatives, and a neighbor took our whole group on a wonderful sail boat ride.

  

f. We invited friends to have ice cream with us on our porch.

g. We hosted a niece and nephew for a week in our cottage.

5. The Chautauqua programs were limited, however,

a. We attended church most Sundays because Lakeside has a nice park, a gazebo with benches, responsible volunteers, preachers and musicians. Hymn singing and communion in pre-packaged cups.

   

b. I attended talks and lectures I would have skipped any other season, and enjoyed them all--especially being out and about and seeing people. Although everything was also available on-line, I only saw 2 such events. Some of the usual Chautauqua fare was only virtual--I skipped those.

c. We enjoyed many music programs in many genres--symphony, concert band, reenactment, jazz, blues, funk--almost all local (northern Ohio) and all as happy to see us as we were to see them.

   

5. We’ve eaten in several local restaurants, most inside.

a. The Patio in Lakeside, usually twice a week, for Sunday breakfast and mid-week perch. Inside, tables spaced and removed.

b. Marblehead Galley for prime rib, outside on deck.

c. Big Boppers for breakfast inside (very windy that day, and there is plenty of outdoor seating).

d. Crosswinds, inside, newly decorated, acrylic panels  between booths.

e. Tin Goose, small airport, inside.

f. Wednesday night picnic in Perry Park, Lakeside.

g. Hotel Lakeside, reservations, week-ends, Chef Stacy.

I walk 4-5 miles a day, but yesterday had to drive to Sandusky for new shoes to protect my feet. On this morning's walk I saw incredible beauty along the lakefront including two islands, pleasure boats, and freighters. The leaves are starting to turn, there are flowers I've never seen in the summer, and there seem to be so many construction projects, including several new homes. Somebody around here is living, and I'm one of them. Tomorrow might be too late.

                                                 Photo by Beth Sibbring, October 5, 2020

Which hoax?

I've heard the Covid19 hoax so often, I think I could repeat it from memory. The virus is real; the Democrat party lies about how Trump enabled it and did nothing are the hoax. He said it very early, and they’ve twisted his words into their lie. And those lies are working, just as the Charlottesville lie and the MS-13 lie worked for the racism charges. The media and the Democrats constantly abuse us with Covid19 fear, lies, and twisted statistics. Intelligent, college educated, Christian Trump haters are passing the hoax around and it's moving faster than the virus. I'm not sure they believe the hoax, but they hate the President more than they love Jesus, that's for sure, and for that, God will not be mocked.

Here’s an example, but believe it or not, it’s more reasonable than most. “I am, however, feeling quite relieved that the person most deserving of contracting the covid virus has finally had to admit that this disease is a health issue, not a political one!!  Perhaps drs. and scientists are the reliable experts after all.”

So not only does she condemn a person who caught a deadly (but treatable on 99.75% of the cases) virus (most likely in the open air, outside ceremony for Judge Barrett) she passes along the lie that he did nothing.  I recall watching him every evening in March, meeting with his  task force and “science” advisors. Democrats complained it was a political stunt.  The science itself, or even the concept and definition of “science,” has become political, not just the virus.  Now that the President hopes to clear the red tape for emergency use of a drug that speeded his recovery but  not yet approved by FDA (he allowed himself to be a guinea pig), the media and Trump haters are already claiming foul, because no success, no peace agreement, no prisoner release, no technology triumph can be accorded to him. It’s a rule in 2020: He must never, ever be given credit for anything.  If anything is passed, reviewed, accomplished, it must be pointed back to Obama, or maybe Clinton. Never, never, never allow this President to have even the barest recognition that he’s a good leader telling us not to be afraid as strong leaders have advised since the beginning of history.

RGB on population control

Ruth Bader Ginsberg, channeling Margaret Sanger: “Yes, the ruling about that surprised me. [Harris v. McRae – in 1980 the court upheld the Hyde Amendment, which forbids the use of Medicaid for abortions.] Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion. Which some people felt would risk coercing women into having abortions when they didn’t really want them. But when the court decided McRae, the case came out the other way. And then I realized that my perception of it had been altogether wrong”

Roe v. Wade and the budding environmental movement/ population bomb fears of the 1970s met and wedded. It's not really about "women's health."

https://lifelegaldefensefoundation.org/ginsburg-populations-we-dont-want-too-many-of/?

Do not be afraid

This past week I've come to the conclusion that perhaps the President has understood the seriousness of this virus better than the scientists, his task force, Congress, the governors, the Mayors, the naysayers, his enemies in the press and even his most ardent supporters. He knows this is a battle that can't be won by science or talking heads on TV. It's a battle of the heart and mind.

The Bible refers to "fear" hundreds of times. First and most important, Fear of the Lord. Worship, respect, prayer.

Second, there are the "Fear not" passages. Command. Advice. Comfort.

Millions and millions of people across our nation and the world were praying for President Trump this week. Even Nancy Pelosi! From their homes, in their cars, in parades, on the sidewalks outside the hospital, on social media. Catholics, Orthodox, Evangelicals, Fundamentalists and non-denominational Christians were united. People of other faiths, Jews, Hindus, Muslims and the "Nones." If they are serious about their faith, even Christians who don't like him, his personality and policies were praying for his recovery. That was the first use of Fear as used in the Bible.

And when President Trump left the hospital benefitting from high tech, new drugs and some low tech tender care, he told the nation and the world not to fear, don't be afraid of the virus. I think he knows who the real enemy is, and it isn't the virus. It's been the same advice every great leader through the centuries has known instinctively, or by studying history, or through divine guidance.

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.” Psalm 34:4

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Matthew 6:34

The hateful media ridiculed and criticized him for telling us not to be afraid of the virus. Facebook and Twitter were flooded with hate and despair. Would they have said that to FDR as he faced Hitler in the 1940s, or Eisenhower after his severe health problems in both terms in the 1950s? Did they tell JFK it's just too scary to make space flight trials to the moon? They know only the fear, anxiety and worry of the American people can accomplish what their party has intended all along. Retreat, defeat, and surrender.

What we’ve learned since Friday

If nothing else, the President’s  illness has shown us as never before that

1) none of the mitigating efforts including frequent testing, daily temperature taking, social distancing and wearing masks can protect all of us, poorest to richest, weakest to most powerful, all the time, from an infinitesimal virus that has spread around the world; somewhere someone we encounter has not washed her hands, has hugged someone, or brushed up against a particle too small to be blocked by any mask and too quick for soapsuds.

2) A positive attitude and prayer is better for our health than gloom, doom and hatred, even with the finest doctors and anti-virus wonder drugs.

3) The Democrats are determined no matter what to destroy him--and that's the real "hoax" he's been talking about all during this time, not the reality of the virus. The hoax is that they "care" about us or our nation more than they care about regaining power over the White House and especially the courts.

The reality is their hate and deception. These last few days has exposed their nakedness.

Hope from the President upon release from hospital

I agree with Trump 100%. Don't let the virus control you!

The hoax the Democrats love to shout about, isn’t Trump’s opinion, definition or treatment of the virus, but their obsession with it trying to use it to get him out of office. Don’t let fear dominate your life. That was the message of FDR and Churchill. That’s his message. That's what great leaders say. Not "Lockdown the nation" as Joe Biden says. That's not a strategy--it's waving a white flag.

Most people who test positive are never treated in a hospital, but he was because he’s the president. 99.75% who get Covid recover, and yet, all you hear all day from the media is Covid will kill you. That’s unlikely, but it is definitely a risk at his age and weight. (Losing weight should have been one of the mitigating recommendations).

And Oh, the misinformation and fear mongering I've heard about the steroid! It’s very common and used for lung inflammation. My son was on it (didn’t save his life) after his infection while being treated for glioblastoma. Common and cheap. Oxygen levels can fluctuate wildly—I watched the monitor for hours. When this latest media fake outrage cools down they’ll go on to “Why does he get first class care” when millions don’t, or "Why is he getting experimental treatment and others don’t" (actually he was a guinea pig). Big Pharma used to practice on Africans before trying their products on Westerners, now they have the wealthy and powerful before lowering the prices.

Did doctors disagree? Probably. When Phil was hospitalized in February there must have been 20 specialists focusing on every body part and function imaginable (lung, heart, skin, oncology, dental, etc.) in and out of his room for a week and they didn’t agree on much of anything (but they certainly do agree on sending bills).

Their dirty little secret has been made public--the media blame every person who gets sick, or hospitalized or dies, just as they did the president. The only difference is this time, they were hoping the patient would die.

What Saint Paul said

Most Americans are familiar with the idiom, “Damascus road experience” even if they haven’t read about Saint Paul’s conversion in the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament. But I had completely missed his retelling of that in the first chapter of Galatians. Perhaps it is the translation.

“But when he [God] who FROM MY MOTHER’S WOMB* HAD SET ME APART and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me . . . “ Do you really think “from” excludes “inside?”

In evaluating the policies and philosophies of the candidates, I put life issues first, as does one of our founding documents, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Just a few years ago there was only one U.S. politician who would go on record as against the born-alive infant protection act—Barack Obama (as Illinois state senator) and he was left of NARAL, which is hard to do. Now his entire party of sheeples has followed his lead.

Joe Biden, who may have once been pro-life, has gone against his church, his savior, the founding documents, and his own conscience.  And Donald Trump, like Saint Paul, who may once have been pro-choice (with no vote in Congress) but is now pro-life, is the one chosen by God from the womb to save babies.

Late term abortions are indeed rare, as my pro-choice friends remind me—maybe 1.3% of all abortions.  “Only” 5,000-10,000 a year. In Ohio that’s 106 and in New York that’s 1590.**  How many are the proper number for you?

*NIV translated the passage as “from birth,” with “from my mother’s womb” another translation.

**https://lozierinstitute.org/late-term-abortion-stats/ June 2020

Candace Owens ridicules a BLM advocate

https://youtu.be/085u0NnAgjA  10 requests

This BLM advocate which Candace quotes primarily discusses personal property (your home, inheritance, retirement, etc.), which by its standards shouldn't exist at all, even for blacks.  Although she speaks of a voluntary system (because you are a white racist and should "give" things to blacks), the BLM manifesto says private property shouldn't exist at all. Only the party/government would control property on behalf of the "community." This is the rationale for destroying private property during the riots and looting after the Floyd death. It isn't yours anyway, so they have a right to destroy it.

BLM is a Marxist, not a Civil Rights, organization. (Churches are particularly behind the times on this point.) Under Marxism, personal property is virtually the original sin. Marxism also claims the nuclear family only exists to hold on to property through inheritance, so it has to go too. BLM is busy airbrushing it's website to obfuscate its anti-American values, and collecting $10 billion from corporate, "woke" sponsors in a massive shakedown.

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.

Why Democrats hate Judge Barrett

"Judge Barrett isn’t the kind of woman the left tolerates. She’s independent, strong and has rejected the notion that women are still victims in American society. She is too religious, too respectful of her husband, has too many children and loves the United States of America. Not to mention her love for the U.S. Constitution. It’s no wonder the left is trying to destroy her. After all, she stands for everything they stand against: the nuclear family, true tolerance, freedom of religion, the principle that each person, no matter how small, has value, and much more." Katie Pavlich, The Hill, 9/30/20

Media, disinformation and science

http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/

For a number of years, I followed this blog, "Junkfood Science". She did amazing research. Unfortunately, she retired the blog in 2009, but I see she posted her concern in a letter to her readers in May 2020. I think it's worse now than in 2009. Click on over and read her May letter. It's so appropriate in this politicized pandemic.

"Media has become an expanse of junk science, disinformation and doublespeak, politics and marketing. All of us are now on our own to question everything, seek out original sources and do our own fact-checking, research and critical thinking. You'll be surprised at how much of what "everyone knows" is not true."

No published trial on the effects of masks in Covid-19 transmission

"And what of EBM [Evidence Based Medicine] in all this? The deluge of studies on the previously little studied coronaviruses would point to a prodigious increase in knowledge, but only a few add to our understanding. Many are clearly 'me too' efforts where researchers need to have their name associated with the pandemic. A good example of this is the number of reviews of the evidence on masks published in the last three months – fifteen to our knowledge. Yet, the number of published trials on the effects of masks in Covid-19 transmission is – so far – zero."

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/covid-19-and-the-end-of-clinical-medicine-as-we-know-it?

Who is benefitting from corona hype? Democrats and big business

Is the constant hyping of the corona virus part of the plan to defeat Trump? Sure looks like it. It's served Democrats well. Even though it's the governors who have shut us down, not the President, their ratings are better in Covid approval than the President--Americans actually approve of having their freedom restricted by government. And they call Trump a fascist? They play with words, not facts, not data.

It's too dangerous to go to church, but not to Target or the liquor stores (or the marijuana stores in Ohio). It has bankrupted small businesses, but benefitted big business like Amazon, Target, Wal-Mart. Who are more likely to be regular church goers, Democrats or Republicans? Urban knowledge workers can sit at home using Zoom and not suffer any set backs. This all benefits the Democrats; Republican strengths are small business and rural people.

Woodstock was held during the Hong Kong flu epidemic, which killed 100,000. No one in the 1960s expected the government to make them safe. No one closed businesses, schools, or churches. The media pretty much ignored it. And the young people enjoying the music certainly weren't social distancing.

Alex Berenson, Sept 23: “For six months, many big media outlets have done everything possible to attempt to spread panic about the coronavirus. In March, the crisis was ventilator shortages, which proved to be nonexistent. In May, they hyped the almost nonexistent risk Covid presents to children. Over the summer, they pretended that hospitals in the Sunbelt were near collapse. Now they focus relentlessly on a single figure, the death count.”

https://youtu.be/xCn5LuZOFZI There are a few brave souls out there who think the governors' and mayors' handling of Covid19 (lockdowns, school closing, shutting down churches, businesses destroyed) were unconstitutional. I certainly think so, but I'm no expert. But I know enough to know the first speaker on this YouTube misquoted the first amendment, but he was basically on the right track.

Our First Amendment Rights

Why is it, the only ones who seem to be enjoying the rights assured to American citizens in the First Amendment--freedom of religion and assembly, freedom of speech and press--are those who are trying to destroy those same freedoms?

• Is your church open?
• Are your YouTube videos being fact checked by Big Tech?
• Is the press so biased it might as well belong to only one party?
• Are your peaceful protests or patriotic parades supporting the president being infiltrated by radicals who then shut you down?

Welcome to cancel culture.

You may be required to attend a reeducation class at work created by neo-Marxists and critical race theorists.

You may avoid your main line or evangelical church, tired of sermons on "systemic racism."

You may find yourself rejected by family members and friends for exercising those very freedoms they claim to also support.

What is critical race theory and do you really need a seminar to soften you up?

If your church, university department, community organization or civic group--or all of them--are thinking about a "peace, justice and reconciliation" workshop or seminar for the board or members, make sure they read this one first. Since the 90s, these reeducation camps/mafia have been a cottage industry, lining the pockets of so called specialists. Many otherwise smart people have swallowed this "systemic justice" myth--time to get a spine and at least tell them to do their homework. It's just dressed up Marxism in its Sunday best. And be prepared to be called a racist or white supremacist for objecting--even if you're black!

https://thefederalist.com/2020/10/02/forced-denunciations-and-sensitivity-training-mimic-communist-brainwashing-tactics/

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-ends-critical-race-theory-training-federal-employees

Critical Race Theory is central to

• believes racism is present in every aspect of life, every relationship, and every interaction and therefore has its advocates look for it everywhere
• relies upon “interest convergence” (white people only give black people opportunities and freedoms when it is also in their own interests) and therefore doesn’t trust any attempt to make racism better
• is against free societies and wants to dismantle them and replace them with something its advocates control
• only treats race issues as “socially constructed groups,” so there are no individuals in Critical Race Theory
• believes science, reason, and evidence are a “white” way of knowing and that storytelling and lived experience is a “black” alternative, which hurts everyone, especially black people
• rejects all potential alternatives, like colorblindness, as forms of racism, making itself the only allowable game in town (which is totalitarian)
• acts like anyone who disagrees with it must do so for racist and white supremacist reasons, even if those people are black (which is also totalitarian)
• cannot be satisfied, so it becomes a kind of activist black hole that threatens to destroy everything it is introduced into

https://newdiscourses.com/2020/06/reasons-critical-race-theory-terrible-dealing-racism/

Why are our churches talking justice and racial reconciliation now—it’s trendy and they are woke?

2020 wasn't about George Floyd. BLM was launched in 2014 by three lesbian feminists steeped in Marxism.

"Homicide is the leading cause of death for young black men in the U.S., and around 90 percent of the perpetrators are also black. Yet for months [2014] we’ve had protesters nationwide pretending that our morgues are full of young black men because cops are shooting them. Around 98 percent of black shooting deaths do not involve police. In fact, a cop is six times more likely to be shot by someone black than the opposite. The protestors are pushing a false anti-cop narrative, and everyone from the president [Obama] on down has played along.” . . . Jason Riley https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/race-relations-and-law.../

• When did we pray for the millions of babies aborted?
• When did we hear sermons on bitter divorces and the need for understanding and acceptance? In fact, when did we ever even hear a sermon about marriage?
• When did we pray for all the families who’d lost loved ones from cancer or heart disease as we do for Covid19?
• When did we as a congregation ask for justice for the trafficked child or abused woman?
• When the Columbus police were told to stand down during the summer riots, did our church collect money for the damaged or destroyed businesses?

Yes, we need reconciliation, but it’s between members, not races.

Never a better description of what's on the left.

“Imagine to find yourself again in a wide open field, alone with your Guardian Angel;

to your left you see the devil on a lofty throne, he is surrounded with many devils nearby; and around them you see an immense number of people acknowledging him as their master and lord and they render him homage, who by sinning in one way and who in another. Examine the behavior of the disgraced courtesans of that king of abomination: some are furious because of hatred, envy and rage; others are given to murdering, there is a group worn out with their vain pursuit of riches and fame but finding it hollow. Many are hardly human so sunken are they in fleshly vice, corrupt in the animalistic passions. See how they are all without peace, disordered and without restraint; see how they despise each other as they try to hide behind a hypocritical appearance of love.”

St. Francis de Sales, 1567-1622

Biden’s biggest lies—the pandemic, taxes, immigration, etc.

https://www.factcheck.org/2020/08/bidens-greatest-hits/?

Biden falsely accused Trump of being late in imposing travel restrictions on China. In fact, the United States was not late getting off the mark compared with other countries around the world.

In his campaign kickoff speech on April 29, 2019, Biden falsely claimed that “all of” the tax cuts signed into law by Trump “went to folks at the top and corporations that pay no taxes.” Those with higher incomes reaped greater benefits from the tax law, but most households received a tax cut.

During a Democratic debate in January, Biden defended his 2002 vote to authorize the use of military force in Iraq, claiming the Bush administration “said they were not going to go to war” and only sought weapons inspections. But days before the vote, then-President George W. Bush said, “I hope this will not require military action, but it may.”

The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 that Biden sponsored received bipartisan support at the time, but it has since been criticized for some of its provisions, such as mandatory minimum sentencing, and its impact on mass incarceration. Asked at a CNN town hall to defend the crime bill, Biden contended that the law “did not put more people in jail, like it’s argued.”  Others say it exacerbated the situation.

Biden falsely claimed that Trump “asserted that immigrants would, quote, ‘carve you up with a knife.’” Trump said that about MS-13 gang members, not immigrants in general.

At least three times in February, Biden falsely said he was “arrested” 30 years ago while trying to visit Nelson Mandela on Robben Island, where the future leader of South Africa had been imprisoned at the time. But Biden later admitted that he was “stopped” at the Johannesburg airport — not arrested.

We don’t need fact checks on the nuzzling and hair smelling. We’ve all seen the videos.