Putin invades Ukraine

Let's pray that NATO is up to the job, because Biden sure isn't. He left billions in matériel behind for ISIS, he's crippled our energy supply by shutting down Keystone, he's created the worst inflation in 40 years, he's weakened our military with wokeism, and did nothing but chatter and pout as Putin used Hitler's game plan of 1939. Those of you who voted for this because you didn't like Trump's strength, resolve and patriotism have helped create this disaster.

Huckabee is alarmed by Trudeau's tyranny, U.S. silence

 

"Can we see the tyranny that's already here? by Mike Huckabee

Perhaps, for Americans, the most shocking thing about the autocratic power-grab in Canada is the failure of our own government to speak out –- forcefully –- against it. Instead, the current administration is engaged in a similar process of trampling dissent, right here in the good old U.S.A.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn’t simply adopt temporary “emergency powers” to clear the streets of big rigs, as much of an overreach as that was. What he did appears to be even more serious, as he's shown no intention of relinquishing those powers now that the protest has been broken up.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ottawa-blockades-over-but-canadas-trudeau-says-emergency-powers-still-needed-01645469116?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo

In an update to the above story, the leftists in the Canadian parliament have shown themselves to be accomplices of this tyrant, voting to allow him to extend his “emergency” powers AFTER the emergency is over. Read this and be shocked.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/canadian-parliament-votes-to-extend-emergencies-act-for-30-days/#slide-1

And Robert Spencer at PJ Media has a must-read commentary on what has just happened there. Note especially the new regulations for crowdfunding and payment platforms. He’s right: this is how democracies die, by starving dissenters financially.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/robert-spencer/2022/02/20/democracy-dies-in-canada-trudeau-government-to-make-some-of-their-new-authoritarian-measures-permanent-n1560716

On Monday, Tucker Carlson interviewed a man who'd been repeatedly kneed by police in Ottawa after cooperatively climbing down from his rig, kneeling before police and putting his hands behind his head. Ironically, this man, named Csaba Vizi, had come to Canada after fleeing Communist Romania. Video of him inside his truck shows him calmly describing to police how he’s going to surrender peacefully and get on his knees. Then he does so, and waits for them to take him away. But as he tells it, he heard someone yell, “Arrest him! Arrest him!” and he was pushed down onto his stomach. They piled on top of him. We see from other video taken from farther away that one cop very forcefully kneed him, over and over, as he lay on the ground. “I feel like I was beaten, but I took it like a man,” he said.

Yes, they had injured him, he said. “They break my body a little bit, but not my spirit.”

He said that when he came to Canada from Romania, he loved it there, especially the friendly people. He was “so happy.” It was like that for 20 years, but the last couple of years have been different. “It’s impossible to live here anymore,” he said.

https://video.foxnews.com/v/6298431733001#sp=show-clips

A quote from George Orwell featured Monday on Instapundit seems apt: “I have no particular love for the idealized ‘worker’ as he appears in the bourgeois, but when I see an actual flesh-and-blood worker in conflict with his natural enemy, the policeman, I do not have to ask myself which side I am on.”

It’s a shame to see a policeman treat a compliant ‘worker’ such as Csaba Vizi as a natural enemy. Those chilling video images depict an unforgivable abuse of power.

By coincidence, that Orwell quote led into discussion of an article by Glenn Greenwald that I was already planning to highlight in today’s commentary. Greenwald has a new piece on Substack called “The Neoliberal War On Dissent in the West.”

Greenwald comes from what used to be the political left; he would call himself a classical liberal, someone who believes in freedom and free thought, religious freedom, civil rights, equality under the law (as opposed to “equity”), and a government limited by the Constitution. But in the 21st century, classical liberalism has given way to “progressive” authoritarian neoliberalism, with its rigid beliefs, two-tier “justice” system and strict censorship. He knows these people well. And he has a big reality check for us.

We in America have no problem recognizing tyranny across the globe: A Chinese tank sitting ready to crush a lone protester in Tiananmen Square. An East German wiretapper spying on the lives of others behind the Berlin Wall before it fell. The censorship and even criminalization of all dissent. “Re-education” camps. Journalists silenced. We know it when we see it if it’s someplace faraway.

But when it’s right here in front of us, in a DEMOCRACY, we might have a little more trouble recognizing it for what it is: the same kind of tyranny. And if we do see it, there’s still something faintly heretical to some of us about admitting it out loud. It’s as if the idea of this happening in a Western democracy were so absurd it can’t be real. I’d liken this situation to one in which a horrendous crime has happened in your own neighborhood. “This just doesn’t happen HERE,” you likely think. Your neighborhood has always seemed...different. When it happens somewhere else, you take notice, but when it’s two houses down, you’re in shock.

When we were children and pledged allegiance to the Flag, and said “one nation under God,” we took for granted that the freedom given to us by God would always remain, that America was special, shielded by Divine power. It had existed for about 200 years, which to a child is an eternity. As we grew older, we knew there were wars and that freedom can be taken away by other human beings, but, other than the vague atomic threat from faraway Soviet Russia, we still had that feeling of comfort and safety inside our own borders. This was America.

We assumed that the Bill Of Rights protected us as individuals, even if we disagreed with the majority. Our country was set up as a democratic republic, not a pure, majority-rule democracy that might be prone to “popular” uprisings that squelched the rights of the minority. And it has lasted that way for a long time.

But now, even in America, we’re seeing despotism. It’s easy to point to situations in which “due process” doesn’t even apply. In civil asset forfeiture, for example, the government will seize your assets before you’ve even been charged with a crime, let alone convicted. It’s blatantly unconstitutional. Justin Trudeau has done something similar in Canada, freezing assets not only of the protesters but even of people who donated a few dollars to buy them meals. When we witness such tyranny in, say, Russia, we see it for what it is. IT’S THE SAME THING HERE.

Greenwald cites the decade-long repression of Julian Assange as another example. Then-Attorney General Eric Holder, after investigating for years, failed to find evidence of criminality, but financial institutions such as MasterCard, VISA, PayPal and Bank of America were pressured by the Senate Homeland Security Committee into terminating WikiLeaks’ accounts, crippling it.

Financial pressure is a standard weapon these days, with the government joining forces with corporations. GoFundMe tried to steal---I mean, divert, millions in donations intended for the truckers. When GiveSendGo raised millions more, Canadian courts blocked their distribution. The financial system is being used to crush dissent.

Greenwald notes recent protests against the Spanish government by people in Barcelona who wanted more autonomy. The government came down hard on the protesters, treating them like terrorists, seditionists and insurrectionists. (Sound familiar?) Protesters were treated violently, arrested en masse, charged with terrorism and sedition and given long prison sentences.

And when Julian Assange spoke up about how wrong this was, Ecuador rescinded his asylum at their London embassy. They cut off his internet access. Then they allowed London police to come and arrest him.

Anyway, Greenwald makes a critical point: The despotism we so easily recognize around the world is becoming entrenched right here, right now. We can't permit it. https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-neoliberal-war-on-dissent-in?utm_source=url

Outwitting history, by Aaron Lansky, April book club selection

 https://www.judaismunbound.com/podcast/episode-203-aaron-lansky

  

A fascinating book--passing it on with supplementary material today to another Book Club member.  Hope I can remember it all by April. 

The rich, entitled, and egged

"Nearly 5,000 people have signed up to throw eggs at Jeff Bezos’ superyacht when it sails through the Dutch city of Rotterdam this summer. The planned protest comes in the wake of news that the billionaire Amazon founder’s $500 million vessel would require the dismantling of a historic bridge in order to reach open waters."

https://www.geekwire.com/2022/scramble-the-fighters-thousands-of-protesters-sign-up-to-egg-jeff-bezos-yacht-at-dutch-bridge-site/?

Hypothyroidism

https://www.terrytalksnutrition.com/DBfiles/InTheNewsFile/46859.pdf Michael Edwards.

I had no idea! Here's a comprehensive list of symptoms indicative of hypothyroidism in alphabetic order. I noticed my pathology report for thyroid lumps said hypothyroidism, so I looked it up. I don't know what's left.

 Allergic rhinitis

 Asthma

 Angina pectoris

 Atherosclerosis

 Conditions related to the cardiovascular system

 Carpal tunnel syndrome

 Carotenodermia (slight orange tinge to the skin, usually on the palms of the hands and soles of feet)

 Cold extremities, intolerance to the cold

 Coarse, dry, or thinning hair

 Constipation

 Decreased libido

 Dry, rough, and/or itchy skin

 Edema  Erectile dysfunction

 Fallen arches

 Fatigue

 Fibrocystic breast changes

 Fibromyalgia symptoms

 Headaches

 Hoarseness

 Infertility

 Hypercholesterolemia

 Hyperhomocysteinemia

 Hypertension

 Itchy and/or flaky scalp

 Memory loss

 Mood swings, irritability

 Muscle aches

 Menstrual irregularities (amenorrhea, oligomenorrhea, menorrhagia)

 Neck pain, stiffness, aches (especially in the back of the neck)

 Knee pain (due to fallen arches)

 Pallor (an unhealthy pale appearance)

 Pain in the trapezoid and/or neck area

 Psoriasis

 Poor mental concentration

 Polycystic ovary syndrome

 Postpartum depression

 Premenstrual syndrome

 Reactive hypoglycemia

 Recurrent infections

 Sluggishness, tiredness

 Shoulder pain

 Tinnitus

 Urticaria

 Vasomotor rhinitis

 Vertigo

Weakness

 Weight gain While weight gain, an inability to lose weight, and increased appetite can be sign

Do you like True Crime stories?

True crime and mysteries are genres I almost never read unless it’s on my book club list. However, a few days ago I heard J. Warner Wallace interviewed about his book, “The Person of Christ; why Jesus still matters in a world that rejects the Bible.” He tells about how using his skills as a detective he proves that Jesus is who he says he is—even without the testimony of the Gospels or New Testament (a cold case—no body). Talk about the glory of God in arranging things!   https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2022/01/a-detectives-case-for-christ? I’ve been a subscriber to First Things for years, and only recently found out about its podcast.

Wallace's story is amazing, beginning with his own—he was an atheist, didn’t even know very many Christians. But he and his wife decided to try a church because they thought maybe it would be good for the children. He heard the pastor say, Jesus was the smartest person who ever lived, and that set him on his journey. I can’t actually vouch for the book—haven’t read it—but thought the interview was great. https://www.amazon.com/Person-Interest-Jesus-Matters-Rejects/dp/0310111277/?

Political homelessness, those who've left the Left

 https://youtu.be/DQpic6cPwRY

Political homelessness

This discussion is co-sponsored by Tablet and is part of their monthly series called “The Turn,” which focuses on the political homelessness of our current moment. One guest says, "It gets hard to lie after awhile." I couldn't find the term "political homelessness" without finding dozens of articles on homelessness and politics. "When Tablet editor at large Liel Leibovitz saw the left giving up on everything he believed in, he changed politically, a shift he detailed in his recent article, "The Turn." Liel was joined in this video by writer Walter Kirn and Tablet's Editor in Chief Alana Newhouse for this December 27, 2021 conversation about The Turn and what to do next now that so many of us feel politically homeless."

"You may be among the increasing numbers of people going through The Turn right now. Having lived through the turmoil of the last half decade—through the years of MAGA and antifa and rampant identity politics and, most dramatically, the global turmoil caused by COVID-19—more and more of us feel absolutely and irreparably politically homeless. Instinctively, we looked to the Democratic Party, the only home we and our parents and their parents before them had ever known or seriously  considered. But what we saw there—and in the newspapers we used to read, and in the schools whose admission letters once made us so proud—was terrifying. However we tried to explain what was happening on “the left,” it was hard to convince ourselves that it was right, or that it was something we still truly believed in. That is what The Turn is about."

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-turn-liel-leibovitz

Lockdowns had little affect on mortality

A-Literature-Review-and-Meta-Analysis-of-the-Effects-of-Lockdowns-on-COVID-19-Mortality.pdf (jhu.edu)

“A Literature Review and Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Lockdowns on COVID-19 Mortality” By Jonas Herby, Lars Jonung, and Steve H. Hanke

About the Series The Studies in Applied Economics series is under the general direction of Prof. Steve H. Hanke, Founder and Co-Director of The Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise (hanke@jhu.edu). The views expressed in each working paper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the institutions that the authors are affiliated with.

Lockdowns in the U.S. and Europe had little or no impact in reducing deaths from COVID-19, according to a new analysis by researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

The lockdowns during the early phase of the pandemic in 2020 reduced COVID-19 mortality by about 0.2%, said the broad review of multiple scientific studies. Sheltering in place, about 2.9%

“They have contributed to reducing economic activity, raising unemployment, reducing schooling, causing political unrest, contributing to domestic violence, and undermining liberal democracy,” the report said.

Why do governments create inflation? Milton and Rose Friedman

"Inflation is a disease, a dangerous and sometimes fatal disease, a disease that if not checked in time can destroy a society (long list of examples Russia and German after WWI, China after WWII, Brazil in 1954, Chile in 1973, Argentina 1976)  

"No government is willing to accept responsibility for producing inflation, even in less virulent degree.  Government officials always find some excuse--greedy businessmen, grasping trade unions, spendthrift consumers, Arab sheikhs, bad weather, or anything else that seems even remotely plausible. . . none of the alleged culprits possesses a printing press on which it can turn out those pieces of paper we carry in our pockets; none can legally authorize a bookkeeper to make entries on ledgers that are the equivalent of those pieces of paper."

"The more basic question is, why do modern governments increase the quantity of money too rapidly?  Why do they produce inflation when they understand its potential for harm?

From "Free to choose: a personal statement," by Milton and Rose Friedman,  p. 253-254, pb, 1990

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CARES_Act  The CARES act under President Trump

https://www.whitehouse.gov/american-rescue-plan/  is our best example of a government creating inflation.

https://www.ncsl.org/ncsl-in-dc/publications-and-resources/american-rescue-plan-act-of-2021.aspx

https://www.investopedia.com/american-rescue-plan-definition-5095694

When friends disagree about voting, guest blogger Nancy

You are describing your party. 

Your party has let over 1.2 million people from all around the world into our country illegally and those are only the ones they managed to stop temporarily. 

Your party is allowing them to vote in local elections in some states. 

Your party wants to let them vote in all elections in the future. 

Your party wants to send out ballots to all who they show are registered without cleaning the voter rolls of those who have died or moved or now have dementia and those who have not voted in years. 

Anyone at those addresses could vote in those other persons names because your party does not require ID. 

 Your party wants to allow people to collect as many votes as they can to drop in boxes in large bunches setting up possible vote buying. 

Your party wants to accept votes cast up to 2 weeks past Election Day. 

Your party brought out boxes of votes to count late on election night after they told observers to go home because the counting was done for the night. 

How the hell is the party that wants fair and honest votes the one who is trying to steal elections?!!!

Biden is president. Not Trump. I do not agree with the way Trump handled the aftermath of the election. Many of the lawsuits he filed should have been filed before the election to challenge the unconstitutional ways some voting laws were changed. They were thrown out because of timing. I believe with all my heart that the instigators of all the violence on the 6th were not Trump voters. I have seen evidence supporting my opinion. I agree that some in the crowd were far right loonies. But no Trump rallies were ever violent. In fact most of the crowds were quite friendly and even cleaned up after themselves.

Have you seen news of the latest Durham report? Filings that show proof that the Clinton campaign had the Trump campaign, Trump and the Trump presidency hacked? The filings also show how the Clinton Campaign paid to use those hacks to create the illusion of a Russia connection to Trump. Brings back memories of how she paid for the now proven false Russian collusion dossier.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-really-was-spied-on-2016-clinton-campaign-john-durham-court-filing-11644878973 

https://video.foxnews.com/v/6297460219001#sp=show-clips

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/594126-durham-alleges-cyber-analysts-exploited-access-to-trump-white-house 

Truckers or the ladies in pink hats or the J-6 rioters: who is a bigger threat?

The truckers are 90% vaxxed as are most of the people supporting them. This has gone way beyond the vaccine. So now you hear all the media and political lies about Confederate flags, racism, and insurrections. I’m vaxxed too, although losing faith in it daily. Today I learned that a friend of mine who is vaxxed and boosted, has had Covid twice, which means she also has natural immunity, and she is extremely sick. (She also works with animals, and increasingly we see items about them being vectors). I have another friend who has had cancer, heart surgery, and hepatitis flares before 2020 when Covid started—she’s now had her fourth shot, which means they are rolling that out for the extremely immune compromised and we’ll all be next. She’s now having many incidents of A-fib, a known hazard/outcome for the vaccine. She’s 65, and in precarious health. I’m sure she decided to take the risk, but others should have that choice too without having their lives destroyed by the media and government. Also, although there are required vaccines in many places, there have been exemptions in the past, and also there definitely should be health exemptions, like young men with heart problems should be able to decide their risk. They know the natural immunity is real, they know there are test for natural antibodies, so why are the refusing to consider it. There are many things to protest. As in the 16th century. It's why millions of Christians are called "Protestants."

And it’s possible for 8,000 truckers to stop a government, but not a few hundred yahoos, unarmed in silly costumes. This “insurrection” and “take over the government” meme is just pandering to the worst sort of Democrats, the totally unhinged ones. Half a million women in pink hats on Trump’s inauguration day milling around and screaming in DC were far scarier.

Daniel Joseph Donahoe, down the rabbit hole

 My book collection has a provenance, a genealogy, a history. So today I write about "Early Christian hymns; translations of the Verses of the most notable Latin writers of the early and middle ages," Daniel Joseph Donahoe, The Grafton Press, 1908. I checked my shelves because I read an article by Anthony Esolen, "The Song of a Crippled Man." 

 Hermann Contractus was born with deformities--he couldn't walk or talk until he was seven or eight years old, but had a sunny disposition and a brilliant mind.  Young men came from all over Europe to study with him.  He was a master of ancient Latin, Hebrew, theology, astronomy and music. His music and poetry is still used to this day in the Catholic church.

Esolen provided a recent translation by John Henry Newman of Alma Redemptoris Mater from the Roman Breviary.

Mother of the Redeemer, who art ever of heaven

The open gate, and the star of the sea, aid a fallen people,

Which is trying to rise again; thou who didst give birth,

While Nature marveled how, to thy Holy Creator,

Virgin both before and after, from Gabriel's mouth

Accepting the All hail, be merciful towards sinners.

So you see I needed to go to the shelves of my own library to see if I had anything for Hermann the Cripple, b. 1013, d. 1054, and I found "Early Christian Hymns," by Daniel Joseph Donahoe. The introductory material on p. 151 states:

HERMANN CONTRACTUS The son of the Swabian Count Wolfrat of Voringen, Hermann was born in 1013, and died in 1054. He was surnamed Contractus, or the Lame, on account of a physical defect. Educated at the monastery of Reichenau, and after-ward admitted as a member of the fraternity, he added greatly to the reputation of that house, which had been noted for its learning from the time of St. Berno. He is famous as a chronicler of his time. He also devoted himself to mathematics and music, and constructed watches and instruments of various kinds. He wrote a number of hymns, besides producing a didactic poem on "The eight chief vices." The "Alma Redemptoris" and the beautiful anthem "Salve Regina," found in the Roman Breviary, are his, although the last words of the latter were added by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. The Vesper hymn, "Ave Regina Coelorum," is probably of a later period. 

https://archive.org/details/earlychristianhy00dona/page/152/mode/2up

 In an on-line source   http://lawlit.net/lp-2001/donahoe.html I found that  Daniel Joseph Donahoe (1853-1930)  was born of Irish parents at Brimfield, Massachusetts, on February 27, 1853. He is well known as a lawyer in Connecticut, and has been a judge at Middletown, Connecticut, since 1883. He was admitted to the bar in 1871.

He [has] written 'The Holy Maid of France,' a sequence of eight idyls, a poetical narrative of the life of Joan of Arc, in the Springfield Sunday Republican, and is a contributor to many Irish-American periodicals, such as the Boston Pilot, Donahoe's magazine (to whose proprietor he is not related), etc." [Source: D. J. O'Donoghue, The Poets of Ireland: A Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary of Irish Writers of English Verse 112 (Dublin: Hodges Figgis & Co.; London: Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press, 1912) (Gale Research Co., reprint 1968)] [Daniel Donahoe died at Middletown, Connecticut. See W. Stewart Wallace, A Dictionary of North American Authors 123 (Toronto: The Ryerson Press, 1951)]

Poetry

D.J. Donahoe, Idyls of Israel and Other Poems (New York: John B. Alden, Publisher, 1888)(Middletown, Connecticut: Lucius R. Hazen, Publisher, 2nd ed., 1894) [online text]

___________, A Tent by the Lake, and Other Poems (New York: John B. Alden, Publisher, 1889) [online text]

___________, In Sheltered Ways: Poems (Buffalo [N.Y.]: Charles Wells Moulton, 1895)(1894)

Daniel J. Donahue, The Rescue of the Princess: A Song of the Great Dawn (Middletown, Connecticut: 1907) [online text]

_____________, Songs of the Country-Side (Middletown, Connecticut: The Donahoe Publishing Co., 1914) [online text]

Writings & Translations

Daniel Joseph Donahoe, Early Christian Hymns; Translations of the Verses of the Most Notable Latin Writers of the Early and Middle Ages (New York: The Grafton Press, 1908) [online text] (London: T. Werner Laurie, 1908)

__________________, Early Christian Hymns. Series II. Translations of the Verses of the Most Noted Latin Writers of the Early and Middle Ages (Middletown, Connecticut: The Donahoe Pub. Co., 1911).

 How did I get this book I took from my office shelves by Donohue?  

When I was employed by The Ohio State University Libraries I thoroughly enjoyed the annual used book sale sponsored by the Friends of the Libraries.  I should ask some of my retired colleagues about the history of it and when it started, but it hasn't been offered for a long time--maybe two decades. I could almost swoon (it's a librarian thing) even remembering it, because not only did all the librarians contribute gift books to their own campus library, but many non-faculty and non-OSU people contributed, and the proceeds went to the Friends organization to enhance the libraries' collections with special purchases or equipment we couldn't otherwise afford. We were not allowed to sell or give away directly from our libraries to faculty who may have been collectors (in my case, of old veterinary titles), but before I would send boxes of books to the sale, (or to the dumpster in the case of journals) my assistant Sarah Terry would do a brief Author/Title search on each and a list would be prepared so my faculty could go to the sale in the main library basement "armed with information" after checking their own collections.

Hospital condemns man to death for not wanting vaccine when he's already extremely sick

 Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston is refusing a heart transplant for David Ferguson Jr. whose wife and parents I heard on Candace Owens podcast this week. It was heart breaking. He's very ill, and extremely immune compromised; he is in stage 4 heart failure, and they want him to become a guinea pig for a vaccine, already known to be a challenge for the hearts of young men. And there are evil people sending him messages about how he deserves to die--for not taking an experimental vaccine when he's already at death's door. This China virus has been a great success--for the CCP. Has destroyed the moral fiber of our nation.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/boston-hospital-denies-heart-transplant-man-covid-19/story?id=82486765

Anti-slavery collection at Oberlin

"It is proposed to make in the college library an anti-slavery collection, complete as possible, for the future historian, in which shall be gathered every book, every pamphlet, every report, every tract, every newspaper, and every private letter on the subject. For such a collection nothing is unimportant. Scattered here and there these documents are all but worthless, but gathered in one collection they would be priceless." Rev. Henry Matson, librarian at Oberlin College, quoted in the Oberlin Weekly News, February 29, 1884.

Internet Archive (American Libraries collection) Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio

https://archive.org/details/antislavery

This would be a good source for Black History Month particularly the autobiographies.

On making new friends at this age

Six years ago I wrote about the joy of new friends I'd made in the previous 15 years.  Since I didn't use surnames in the article, I had to pause and recall the names and faces. It's been hard to make new friends in these pandemic times, although I did renew some during the days we were taking care of our dying son, and his old friends from 30-40 years ago turned up to support him and us. It seems these days most of our new friends have been made during the summer at Lakeside, like the Priors, the Jankes, the Robys, a Bible study group at the Women's Club and a group of conservatives. I'll miss that when it's gone (just talked to the realtor today).

https://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/12/make-new-friends-but-keep-old.html

In this blog, I mention new people I'd met since retiring in 2000--in the retirees' luncheon group, in our Bible study group at church, in an Ohio history group, in book club, and in the Pregnancy Center where I volunteered.

Just another bit of I told you so wisdom from my mom . . . 

Harmful for children--and everyone else

"It has become clear that the “follow the science” narrative – which has effectively shut down reasoned democratic debate and imposed harmful, life-altering rules on our children – was a political tactic to silence dissent, not an evidence-based philosophy for our protection. Two years into this political catastrophe, parents and citizens have begun to demand a meaningful say in the democratic process and a substantive role in the decisions our children are living with every day."

https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/op-ed-mistreating-children-as-following-the-science/article_66096e20-89d5-11ec-bc13-87c5710287b2.html

Masks and dis- mal- information

It's no wonder people don't trust the "fact checkers." Anyone can read the label on the box of the masks we've all been wearing for 2 years. We can see the photo of the label which Politifact gives a "false." Then the checker does double back flips to tell us not to believe our eyes, or common sense. Or even me who told you almost 2 years ago there was no peer-reviewed research on mask efficacy and safety published before the current epidemic. I was checking every 2 weeks for anything that could justify muzzling children (aka child abuse) and loyal Americans. Zip. Nada. Zilch.

I also suggested two years ago using a mask to protect yourself if you are high risk with co-morbidities (like me), and I was ridiculed and declared a hater for not wanting to protect others. Yet, that is also now being promoted as a reason to wear flimsy masks by both the CDC and medical web sites.

Yesterday I was given a small N95 mask at Marc's, a grocery store, brand Moldex. Impossible to use and has staples next to skin. Probably meant to be stored at the workplace, but won't fit into a pocket or purse, or side tray in a car. There are 2 elastic bands for holding it to the head with collapse resistant Dura-Mesh® shell and soft foam nose cushion. It read, Warning: Misuse may result in sickness or death. IMO, if used properly you could suffocate.

Old drug shows some promise in fighting lung damage of Covid, Disulfiram

But will Disulfiram be able to survive the politics of the Democrats in the lap of Big Pharma?

https://udumbara.net/decades-old-drug-may-help-protect-against-severe-covid-19-symptoms-study

Other drugs approved for different uses have shown some success against COVID-19, including ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, and fluvoxamine, though U.S. health officials primarily recommend ones such as paxlovid that are specifically approved for combating the illness.

I looked at one of the studies on Ivermectin (a meta-analysis of published articles) and found something in the small print. Note: Ivermectin must be used in the very early stages of the disease and symptoms.

"Conflicts of interest.
Pharmaceutical drug trials often have conflicts of interest whereby sponsors or trial staff have a financial interest in the outcome being positive. Ivermectin for COVID-19 lacks this because it is off-patent, has many manufacturers, and is very low cost. In contrast, most COVID-19 ivermectin trials have been run by physicians on the front lines with the primary interest of finding the best methods to save human lives and minimize the collateral damage caused by COVID-19. While pharmaceutical companies are careful to run trials under optimal conditions (for example, restricting patients to those most likely to benefit, only including patients that can be treated soon after onset when necessary, ensuring accurate dosing), many ivermectin trials do not represent the optimal conditions for efficacy.
Two ivermectin trials to date involve very large financial conflicts of interest [López-Medina, Together Trial] — companies closely involved with the trial or organizers stand to lose billions of dollars if ivermectin efficacy becomes more widely known. The design of these trials favors producing a null outcome as detailed in [López-Medina, Together Trial]. Note that biasing an RCT to produce a false positive result is difficult (suppressing adverse events is relatively easy [Evans]), but biasing a trial to produce a false negative result is very easy — for example, in a trial of an antiviral that works within the first 24 hours of symptom onset, trial organizers only need to avoid treating people within the first 24 hours; or with a disease like COVID-19, organizers only need to select a low-risk population where most people recover quickly without treatment. We note that, even under the very suboptimal designs, these trials produced positive results, although without statistical significance.

Designed to fail. Additional upcoming trials including ACTIV-6, COVID-OUT, and PRINCIPLE have been designed in a way that favors finding no effect, with a number of methods including late treatment, selecting low-risk patients, fasting administration, very high conflict of interest medication sourcing, and dosing below current clinical practice. For discussion see [Goodkin].

One patient reported their experience with one of the remote outpatient ivermectin/fluvoxamine trials: they were offered enrollment 7 days after symptoms (receipt of medication would be even later), were offered $400 to participate, and reportedly target healthy people [twitter]. ACTIV-6 also reportedly does not ship study medications on the weekend, adding additional delays [twitter (B)]. https://ivmmeta.com/ivm-meta.pdf

Where are the healthy people studies?

 Because I've been blogging almost 20 years, I receive a lot of inquires from publicity people promoting books, nutritional plans, diets, religions, higher education, and appeals for money.  Today it was a drug treatment program in Massachusetts.  Out of curiosity I decided to look at the main page, then clicked around on the links.  I found a guide for substance abuse for LGBTQ. "I wonder how deep into the guide I can got before it's my fault (society)?  Not to worry.  It was point number one.  

I know there are healthy people who are "marginalized" (the latest term for blaming society).  Why are there no studies on them?  Maybe they could be role models, or perhaps blaming others is part of the pathology of the disease, and which keeps the helpers and caregivers employed?

Adele is called a trans hater because she loves who she is

 

  

https://pagesix.com/2022/02/09/adele-says-i-love-being-a-woman-at-gender-neutral-event/

“A decade ago, if someone had said a woman would [be criticized] for the thought-crime of saying she liked being a woman, I would have laughed at such a ludicrous suggestion. Now it is happening,” she wrote.