The hoopla about women's health

 

Mask compliance and outcomes

"A new peer-reviewed study entitled: "Correlation Between Mask Compliance and COVID-19 Outcomes in Europe" has demonstrated that use of face masks, even widespread, did not correlate with better outcomes during the COVID epidemic, based on data from 35 European countries with populations of over one million people each, encompassing a total of 602 million people."

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/326734

Think of the people who were terrorized, insulted and cancelled because they spoke out against masks, mandates, and monsters under the bed.

Book Club Schedule 2022-2023

Yesterday we had our final meeting of this season, and a lively discussion of The Ninth Hour by Anne McDermott. We voted on selections for next season. Some excellent suggestions, even those that didn't make the cut--one title was a three-way tie.

Here is the schedule for next season's book club.

Sept. 12, 2022 The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson led by Justine at Bethel

Oct. 3, 2022 A Divided Loyalty by Charles Todd led by Cindy at Bethel

Nov. 7, 2022 Ghosts of Gold Mountain by Gordon Chang led by Gail at Peggy's home

Dec. 5, 2022 The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa led by Carolyn A at her home. The Christmas party.

Jan. 9, 2023 The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray led by Marti Bethel

Feb. 6, 2023 Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder led by Linda at Bethel

Mar. 6, 2023 How the Post Office Created America by Winifred Gallagher led by Carolyn A. at Bethel

April 3, 2023 Where the Light Fell by Philip Yancey led by Carolyn C at Bethel

May 1, 2023 The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey led by Peggy H. at Bethel. Bring titles to suggest for the next year.

The new government fake news office

The DHS disinformation governance board's executive director, Nina Jankowicz, at least has clear qualifications for the post. She previously had spread false rumors on social media that Donald Trump voters would show up at the polls in 2020 armed, and joined the mob’s chorus that Hunter Biden’s laptop was “Russian disinformation.” Perhaps the idea behind her hiring was “it takes one to know one.”

Victor Davis Hanson https://amgreatness.com/2022/05/01/the-new-disinformationists/

Five Years ago our TV died--right on time

 " Tonight (May 2, 2017) the living room TV wouldn't turn on. After consulting with Spectrum and trying various things, it was determined it was dead. It seemed new to us, but when I went back through my blog I found I had written about it on Dec. 18, 2009. ". . . selected the Sony Bravio 32L5000 and bought the 4 year extended warranty, which usually we don't. However, the life expectancy of today's models aren't even close to our old "fat" models--we have 3 TVs of various sizes from the 1980s, and one from the early 90s. The clerk said 6-8 years for this one." I see from another blog it replaced a 1994 model. Right on time. It's 7.5 years old."

Our current living room TV is a Samsung and if my math is correct it is about 5 years old.

Smile by Chris Botkin guest blogger

In 1960, Walt Disney produced a movie starring English newcomer Hayley Mills in the title role as "Pollyanna." Not having been groomed, I was too young (7) for crushes one way or the other, but I liked her and the movie and I remember watching it multiple times. Pollyanna was just a young girl and of course no one listened to her, but she was unfailingly cheerful and optimistic about even the most hopeless things, and by the end of the movie she had brightened the lives of everyone around her to the point it almost presaged the porn definition of "happy ending." The message was clear even to prepubescent seven-year-olds: always look on the bright side, hope for the best, things are not as bad as they seem.

The sixties being what they were, that attitude came to be mocked mercilessly, and "Pollyannaism" became a cognoscenti pejorative for unrealistically positive expectations in all walks of life. "OK, Pollyanna" was the "OK, Boomer" of its day. Being tagged as overtly optimistic was the debate closer, your opinion does not matter, you are not listening to "reason."

Well, call me Pollyanna.

I remember Trump finding Obama's missing magic wand, adding 400% more jobs in his first two years than Obama had added in his last two years. I remember deregulation, low inflation, high employment, border control, a more conciliatory China, NATO countries increasing their military budgets, the Abraham Accords and an embassy in Jerusalem. I remember escaping the Paris Accords, cancelling the Iran Deal, ending NAFTA. I remember ISIS mysteriously... disappearing. The caliphate met its unlamented fate, without so much as an obit in the press.

With the possible exception of NAFTA, these were all significant successes, IMO, and I remember them. Do you? Do you remember Pollyanna?

Because, in my Pollyannaism, it sure looks like the Democrats are setting the pins up for a resounding Republican 300 game in the next few years. The pinheads are primed to be bowled over.

The higher the peak of their peak woke lunacy, the greater their fall when the smackdown comes. And whether it is Trump again, or some other Republican, we know the smackdown is coming hard. We have the magic wand. We have seen it done. And it will resemble the fall of the Roman Reich less than Dresden times Nagasaki when it comes.

The left has spent all its political capital. Now, it's on life support with literally borrowed money. Their only way in any direction is to double down on failing programs and lie harder, building the tower of babble higher and higher brick by teetering brick.

I look ahead in my Pollyanna future, and I see the gobsmacking improvement over our country today. I see the Democrat rank and file seeing the gobsmacking improvement over our country today. And I see us all coming together to dance on the grave of the Democrat Party.

But then, I've been an optimist since I was seven.

Newt Gingrich on the Biden Disaster

 by Newt Gingrich

There are so many things going wrong – and so many radically bad decisions being made – it would be useless to focus on just one issue for this column. Before we can solve anything, we need to go item-by-item to understand the insanity, incompetence, and destructiveness which historians will someday write defined the “Biden Disaster.”

Many of these will show up in future columns. Each item represents a threat to America economically, in national security, or culturally. Many will take a generation or more to recover from or solve.

This list is not in any particular order because it is so destructive – and in some cases so weird – I’m not sure a specific sequence exists. Taken together they represent a pattern that will alienate most Americans. If they come to define the modern Democratic Party, the Democrats may turn into a small minority faction for a generation or longer.

1. Inflation is out of control and about to get worse. The Biden administration’s spending policies are driving inflationary pressure as the Federal Reserve plans to expand an already bloated money supply to accommodate the left’s insatiable need for more cash. The stubborn policy against American oil and gas is guaranteeing pain at the pump and sending heating oil and fertilizer prices soaring. The loss of Ukraine and much of Russia as sources of food and fertilizer will guarantee higher food prices – which will cause more pain than gasoline prices.
2. Biden’s declaration that Putin should be tried as a war criminal feels good but is incredibly dangerous. Putin has more than 5,000 nuclear weapons, and he is adjusting the Russian economy to survive the sanctions. Biden will look impotent, and Putin will look like a vicious, brutal survivor.
3. Biden’s shallow dishonesty is further exposed by American reliance on Russia to get to a deal with Iran. The theocratic dictatorship will not deal directly with America, so our negotiations are handled through the Russian ambassador. Furthermore, the Russians are demanding we lift all sanctions on their business with Iran as a price for helping Biden get to a really bad deal with the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism.
4. Biden and the West continue to drag their feet on effective military aid to Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been Churchillian in his courage and determination. Biden is so pathetic he has made Neville Chamberlain look strong. Ukrainians die every day while American bureaucrats and politicians fail to get them the help they deserve.
5. Disney, like many large corporations, is woke at home while kowtowing to the Chinese and other dictators. The profit-over-patriotism cycle in the big corporations will presently lead to a massive popular repudiation. President Donald Trump in Michigan warned: “We should have zero tolerance for woke CEOs who get rich off the world’s worst human rights abusers abroad while they push radical politics in our classrooms here at home. Giant corporations that do business in Communist China while they attack our values here in America should face a massive and crushing tax on all profits made in China. They should lose all tax breaks and all preferential treatment under U.S. law.”
6. Biden is radically pro-transgender at the expense of women’s rights and is destroying Title IX protections for women in sports.
7. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services flew the transgender flag last week. Congress should pass a bill that only the American flag, and state or host country flags, can be flown on government property, including embassies.
8. The left is introducing bills in Maryland and California that allow babies to be killed days after they are born (28 days in Maryland’s case). Pure direct infanticide is now part of the modern Democratic Party.
9. Democratic cities and George Soros funded district attorneys continue to lead to rising crime. So, Biden nominates a Supreme Court Justice who gives light sentences to convicted pedophiles. Democrats increasingly favor the criminal over the victim and the law breaker over the law enforcer.
10. The southern border is a disaster. To be clear: This disaster is not born of incompetence and its not inevitable. The Biden administration policy is to allow the maximum number of people to illegally enter the United States. In New York City and other leftwing jurisdictions there is growing pressure to let people who are here illegally vote. The upcoming rule to drop public health requirements while Americans are still required to wear masks on airplanes is another example of the passion Democrats have for hurting Americans and helping people who come here illegally.
11. President Biden clearly has cognitive challenges. Vice President Kamala Harris is clearly cognitively hopeless (and may be the dumbest person every elected vice president).

These are dangerous times – and the problems are more historic than political.

America’s safety and survival are at stake. The current White House team is utterly incapable of managing this many simultaneous challenges. https://www.gingrich360.com/2022/04/06/bidens-crisis-of-crises/

Which folder? Humor or Politics?

 

America First worked and protected Europe and Ukraine

Despite all the fretting over Trump's "America First" rhetoric, his administration strengthened relations with key partners. The Biden Administration has lost them all.

The two invasions of Ukraine—2014 against Crimea and now against the Ukrainian homeland—took place under two weak Democratic presidents. President Trump’s combination of military build-up, tough talk and unpredictability arguably kept malign Russian ambitions at bay.

Follow the five points in this article. https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/21/what-trump-got-right-about-central-europe-ukraine-and-the-politics-of-security/

The War in Ethiopia has been made worse by our focus on Ukraine

"Footage and news coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been all-encompassing. This is partly because widespread social media use in Ukraine and partly because reporters have much greater access to the front lines.

In Ethiopia, both of these are massively restricted. Clips of military strikes in Mariupol fill our TV screens while next to no footage of the atrocities which have taken place in the East African country have surfaced.

Also, while journalists are prevented from showing the world the tragedy being inflicted upon millions of people, humanitarian aid has also been blocked from accessing the affected regions.

The invasion of Ukraine has, unfortunately, only made this issue worse, as global attention on the war has meant that humanitarian aid has been redirected."

https://scrolla.africa/meanwhile-in-that-other-war-death-toll-in-ethiopia-reaches-500000/

Four years ago this April, our church UALC was celebrating with the Oromo Church of Central Ohio its move to a new church building which we helped fund.  The Oromo people are from Ethiopia, and one of their own is the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

End of the month round up. The world of Biden just gets crazier. Food shortages. Jesus the gardener.

The misinformation "Baghdad Bob" lady, Nina Jankowicz,  that's going to run the "truth office" of the DHS has really stirred things up, hasn't she? I wrote about her before. I wonder if it has anything to do with how many Hispanics and Blacks are turning to the GOP? https://news.yahoo.com/voters-including-parents-latinos-more-202715405.html  Democrats think men can be women by hoping/thinking, and that Ivermectin is unsafe, and that free speech is bad if they aren't in control. Some truth guards they are. Even immigrants know when they are being conned--look where they come from and what they are fleeing!  The Democrats need a venue in Spanish to explain their constant drumbeat about race, color and sex. What better way than using the office that first greets them (and hundreds of other nations) at the border? Can you even imagine the uproar from the media if Donald Trump had suggested he owned free speech and that's all you could hear or know. Wow.

While returning from the gym this morning I heard an old Catholic homily on the importance of the inauguration of Barack Obama. Father John Ricardo, Pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church in Plymouth, Michigan. https://podbay.fm/p/fr-john-riccardos-podcasts/about   Obviously from their 2009 archives, but I can't locate it for a link. He began with what an historic, important event it was and how we all needed to pray for the new president. And he moved on to the danger of Obama's anti-life mission and how he intended to undo the protections for life already in the law. (At that time, Obama's stance on abortion was the most radical of all politicians, state and federal.)  My mind drifted to the sad fact that instead of the hope people had at the time of his election for healing of old racial wounds (even I was hopeful there would be less manic concern about race) he exacerbated and poked his finger in the eyes of all who support his leftist goals. What a shame.  It could have turned out so differently.  The racism ball had been rolling in academe for a long time--now it picked up speed. 

Recently I wrote about some shortages.  Strange ones.  But this morning at Wal-Mart I found oyster crackers, both name brand (over $3) and house brand ($1).  I bought 2 packages since I didn't know how good they would be, but I should have bought more.  I've already eaten about half a package, and they are fine.  I also found Hersey's dark cacao. That was in short supply or unavailable where I usually shop, so I bought two.  I don't want to strip the shelves and create shortages. https://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/05/dark-chocolate-is-good-for-us.html

Last Sunday's sermon by our senior pastor Steve Turnbull had an interesting take on Mary at the Tomb in John 20, https://youtu.be/YszBm-7Eml4  and her meeting the one she thought was the gardener. What if Mary wasn't wrong.  What if there is a gardener; we long to do something with our lives.  I found an interesting site on the internet that uses art--paintings, woodcuts, tapestry--with that theme--Mary meeting Jesus as a gardener. In the paintings Jesus is often shown with a hoe or spade.  Sometimes a hat and overalls.   Browse and enjoy.  The art is incredible.    https://artandtheology.org/2016/04/05/she-mistook-him-for-the-gardener/  I went back and listened to the sermon again.

Last night we went to our favorite Friday night date restaurant, the Rusty Bucket, with Bill and Joyce, and Joan and Jerry and then back to Joan's for dessert--peach cobbler made by Joyce. All of us have summer homes.  Bill and Joyce leave about mid-May for their home on an island in Lake Erie and we just signed the papers to sell our home in Lakeside. Jerry is recovering from some serious surgery and so we don't know when they'll get to Michigan. We all go to the same church where we met within the last 2 decades.   

What happened to the disciples?

                      

"Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19)

No change in five years

Five years ago, April 28, 2017, I wrote this:

"Why should conservative taxpayers be paying to fund our "everything is hate speech" universities? By far the largest areas of state spending, on average, are education (both K-12 and higher education) and health care. Why should you pay to have the state turn your kids against you and your values?"

I was thinking about that today as the demand to pay other people's college debts grows. Yes, some college graduates have high debts. I don't. Maybe the plumber has debts for his trucks. Or the guy who was sweeping up broken glass from the accident yesterday at Five Points has a second mortgage, or the one on the mower this morning is trying to pay back the coyote who got him into the country, or my newly retired neighbors who moved in two weeks ago will have some debt to redo the 80s decorating of their unit, or the woman with a cane I saw shopping at Aldi's today could sure use an extra $500 a month for live comfortably. Those are the people who will be paying the debts of these primarily young, healthy adults with a bright future ahead of them.  Why do they need these people to pay off their debt? Debt they agreed to. Someone pays, you know. It's not "forgiven." We the taxpayer get stuck with it.  And why should they ask people they don't respect or admire to pay for their rent, nights out, pizza and beer, drugs, football games, travel costs, ripped jeans, and new computers?

A caller to the Dennis Prager show this morning said he fears for the future of our country. His kids (he was divorced in 2017) lived with him during the pandemic lockdown and he got a look at the on-line classes. He was sickened. His 16 year old told him Abraham Lincoln was the most racist of all the presidents. She knows that because her teacher told her.  His college age daughter is learning the same drivel. He asked Dennis Prager what could he do. The show went to commercial, and I arrived at my destination. But paying for these misinformed and silly children to go to college isn't the answer.

Biden's Disinformation officer already accused of disinformation herself

"Nina Jankowicz is President Joe Biden's pick to serve as executive director of the Department of Homeland Security's new Disinformation Governance Board—and her appointment has already met with some controversy."

It seems she thought the Laptop from Hell (Hunter Biden) was disinformation.  Protect Biden at all costs and we may never know what is mis- dis- or fake.  

https://www.newsweek.com/who-nina-jankowicz-head-joe-biden-disinformation-governance-board-1701677

Update: Remember Bagdad Bob from 2 decades ago? "Sahaf's nickname, "Baghdad Bob," now denotes someone who confidently declares what everyone else can see is false--someone so wrong, it's funny. But when read beside the eventual cost of America's decade in Iraq, "Baghdad Bob" isn't so funny anymore."

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/03/baghdad-bob-and-his-ridiculous-true-predictions/274241/

What is a vaccine and why did the definition change?

 Another high official in government has also tested positive for Covid although fully vaccinated with 2 boosters--the Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Bridget McCormack.  https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2022/04/10/michigan-supreme-court-chief-justice-mccormack-tests-positive-covid/9533602002/  The other we know about is Kamala Harris--fully vaccinated with 2 boosters.  https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-kamala-harris-dadf170fbacfd57922cdf51d59e87cdb   Meanwhile, the vaccines are still "emergency use" although President Trump's "Warp Speed" plan became available in December 2020, even though more people died in 2021 under Biden with all the advances and vaccines than under Trump in 2020.  In order to cover for all the misinformation and silencing of other opinions, the language had to be changed. I noticed the second booster isn't being pushed--my doctor says it's optional and the protection seems to be slight.

Here's how the definition has changed, yet many of us older (than 30) people still think of immunity rather than just less severe disease.  Notice the word "protecting" has disappeared as has "produce immunity."

We Bruces got the Pfizer version in February 2021 with great excitement, relief, and awe at the incredible system our local health systems had established in the such a short time.  It was touted, as I recall, at about 90% or higher, had by fall had dropped to 16%. 

The prior CDC Definitions of Vaccine and Vaccination (August 26, 2021):

Vaccine: A product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease, protecting the person from that disease. Vaccines are usually administered through needle injections, but can also be administered by mouth or sprayed into the nose.

Vaccination: The act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce immunity to a specific disease.

The CDC Definitions of Vaccine and Vaccination since September 1, 2021:

Vaccine: A preparation that is used to stimulate the body’s immune response against diseases. Vaccines are usually administered through needle injections, but some can be administered by mouth or sprayed into the nose.

Vaccination: The act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce protection from a specific disease.

See the complete story to follow how "the right wing" was accused of misinformation for pointing this out, and the e-mail exchange in CDC to get a work around. https://technofog.substack.com/p/cdc-emails-our-definition-of-vaccine?s=r  This is how the "misinformation" and fake news becomes a story about the misinformation and was the cause of conservatives being removed from Twitter.

 

Have you been following the Durham investigation?

I'll just put this here so I can find it, or so the Russia, Russia, Russia hoaxers will.

https://technofog.substack.com/p/durhams-latest-he-has-hundreds-of?

Durham states he is in possession of “hundreds of emails in which Fusion GPS employees shared raw, unverified, and uncorroborated information – including their own draft research and work product – with reporters.” (He even filed them under seal with the court.) These include:

Emails with Slate’s Franklin Foer from May 14, 2016 in which Fusion GPS conveys information on a Trump advisor and Alfa Bank.

July 26, 2016 e-mails from Fusion GPS to the Wall Street Journal communicating allegations from Christopher Steele stating “a Trump advisor meeting with a former KGB official close to Putin … would be huge news.”

July 29 and July 31, 2016 emails with a reporter (Washington Post’s Tom Hamburger) concerning Carter Page’s investments and meetings with Russians - of which the reporter said “Its bullshit.”

And many others--check the link.

Twitter as a private company--what does it mean?

Article by Michael Rechtenwald "Elon Musk's Twitter Gambit and What It Means to the "Clique in Power"

"Elon Musk’s bid to take over Twitter and turn it into a private company has apparently been successful. Now the real action begins. Musk’s buyout exposes the Big Digital media complex to unwanted and unwonted competition, while threatening to loosen its near-total control of information and opinion. Twitter has represented a vital component in an information configuration that has barred competitors and participants from the digital sphere by means of progressive criteria, including wokeness, political fealty, and obedience to official state dictates and narratives.

The response to the Twitter takeover by the arbiters of acceptable expression has been as hysterical as it has been swift. The New York Times, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Media Matters for America, members of the establishment professoriate, and other “experts” have rushed to fortify the defensive forces against free speech."

Read the entire article: https://mises.org/wire/elon-musks-twitter-gambit-and-what-it-means-clique-power

Now it's a shortage of crackers?

 I haven't been able to find oyster crackers at 3 different stores, so I figured I'd go on-line and ask.  I didn't know there were forums that report complaints about shortages, but there are.  It seems there is a shortage of both saltines and oyster crackers and soup lovers are complaining. Some report that they can't even get them from Amazon!  I like the oyster crackers for convenience and I eat less of them than saltines, which I tend to load up with cheese.  So I have no idea if it's a supply chain problem, or people cutting back on more expensive snacks and thus creating a shortage among lower priced items. I did check a small Pepperidge Farms Outlet in my neighborhood, and there absolutely is no shortage of the little Goldfish shaped crackers. 

Trans-pasta for lunch

I know it's popular among those watching their carbs, but this trans-pasta thing with zucchini spirals or squash in spaghetti pasta shapes just isn't working for me. It simply becomes a pile of zucchini  with tomato/meat sauce on top. Same with cauliflower that looks like white rice. Vegetables are not flour products or rice. 

And in other trans news: "Matt Walsh’s tale about a boy who pretends to be a walrus was intended as commentary on the debate over transgender children. But Amazon removed the popular book from its LGBTQ list."

Don't look for Captain America

Kirk Cameron on Elon Musk and freedom of speech:

" I like Avenger movies. While we all love a savage superhero… looking to one man with lots of money and power to fix our problems is how people unwittingly enslave themselves. How? By looking to the wrong source for their freedom and protection. While I’m thankful for Elon’s crusade to save free speech, it should have been “we the people,” (all of us) full of faith and character who render bad companies powerless (by holding them accountable) and build good ones in their place (by putting our money and time where our mouth is).

 
Perhaps, and I hope, that is exactly what Elon is doing. But if we want lasting freedom and blessing, we must not look for a Captain America to be our free speech Savior. The Savior position is has already been permanently filled by the only qualified candidate, and “we the people” need to step up our game and self-govern with our combined powers of faith, character and courage or a bigger, badder Thanos will gladly fill the void and do the governing for us."