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✓ NEWS of the WORLD incorporates The Invisible Man XaX
✓ For back posts, see http://cyberianz.blogspot.com and https://invisiblepaul.blogspot.com
✓ The editor does not necessarily agree with opinions expressed on this site, though often he does.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Monday, January 31, 2022
Saturday, January 29, 2022
At least eight spared in bridge terror plunge
as rescuers marvel at lack of severe injuries
Pittsburgh firefighters and other responders were shaking their heads in wonder today at the lack of severe injuries after a local bridge collapsed, sending an articulated bus and five vehicles skidding into a crazy quilt of topsy turvy wreckage.
"I can't imagine how everybody was able to get up and pretty much walk away," was one shared sentiment.
"Think of the sudden terror those people must have felt as the bridge fell from under them," was another common thought. "And then... oh, not too bad."
Jennifer Homendy, National Transportation Safety Board investigator, agreed.
“It certainly takes your breath away when you are there,” she told reporters. “When I look at the position of the bus, and the position of the vehicles, I’m really thankful that no one lost their life in this collapse.”
The bus held a driver and two passengers and the other five vehicles held at least five persons.
One car fell off the broken roadway and into the dirt below, landing on its roof. Four vehicles skidded down to where a road segment broke and hit the ground. A small truck landed at a 90 degree angle to the drive direction. Nearby a subcompact rolled on its side, a front wheel dangling incongruously. Another car was at the bottom of a sharply tilted road segment.
The bus had been nearly off the bridge when it gave way, resulting in the vehicle's rear smashing up against a wall of broken roadway.
Four persons were treated and released from hospitals, officials said, adding that there were a few cuts and bruises among rescuers.
The two-lane bridge collapse in Pittsburgh's East End prompted 28 rescuers to rappel some 100 to 150 feet before forming a human chain in order to rescue motorists from vehicles near ground level or who had scrambled to a trail under the Frick Park span, authorities said.
Stills taken from a DroneBase video and other sources.
Please scroll down or control f the word "excellent" to reach good backgrounder video.
Excellent backgrounder video by a skilled citizen journalist
"I can't imagine how everybody was able to get up and pretty much walk away," was one shared sentiment.
"Think of the sudden terror those people must have felt as the bridge fell from under them," was another common thought. "And then... oh, not too bad."
Jennifer Homendy, National Transportation Safety Board investigator, agreed.
“It certainly takes your breath away when you are there,” she told reporters. “When I look at the position of the bus, and the position of the vehicles, I’m really thankful that no one lost their life in this collapse.”
The bus held a driver and two passengers and the other five vehicles held at least five persons.
One car fell off the broken roadway and into the dirt below, landing on its roof. Four vehicles skidded down to where a road segment broke and hit the ground. A small truck landed at a 90 degree angle to the drive direction. Nearby a subcompact rolled on its side, a front wheel dangling incongruously. Another car was at the bottom of a sharply tilted road segment.
The bus had been nearly off the bridge when it gave way, resulting in the vehicle's rear smashing up against a wall of broken roadway.
Four persons were treated and released from hospitals, officials said, adding that there were a few cuts and bruises among rescuers.
The two-lane bridge collapse in Pittsburgh's East End prompted 28 rescuers to rappel some 100 to 150 feet before forming a human chain in order to rescue motorists from vehicles near ground level or who had scrambled to a trail under the Frick Park span, authorities said.
Stills taken from a DroneBase video and other sources.
Please scroll down or control f the word "excellent" to reach good backgrounder video.
Friday, January 28, 2022
Daring rescuers pull motorists from span crash
as residents flee broken Pittsburgh gas line
Combined dispatches
Racing to reach victims of a Pittsburgh bridge crash in the predawn cold, firefighters and other responders early yesterday rappelled down the side of a steep, snow-swept hillside to assist the stunned motorists. They then formed a human chain up the hill in order to take the shaken citizens to safety.
Simultaneously, rescuers pulled several persons from an articulated city bus that had lurched forward as the span collapsed, coming to a precarious rest on a tilted bridge segment.
No dangerous injuries were reported, officials said. The quick action of the first responders was credited with keeping injuries to a minimum.
The two-lane bridge collapse in Pittsburgh's East End prompted 28 rescuers to rappel some 100 to 150 feet before forming a human chain in order to rescue motorists from the hiking trail area under the Frick Park span, authorities said. A local gas company worker went door to door to urge residents to evacuate as the odor of gas filled the neighborhood.
Whiff of terror
The gas line was eventually shut off and residents allowed to return. Gas explosions have wiped out entire neighborhoods in various locales across America.
Had the span collapsed once rush hour fully commenced, the outcome would likely have been far more unpleasant, officials noted.
At least four persons required hospital treatment. Five other vehicles were also on the bridge at the time. The cause was being investigated, but crews searching under the debris for more victims came up empty-handed.
The Associated Press reports that a large crack showed on the end of the bridge where the bus landed, as if hit by an earthquake. A car landed upside down in front of the bus, which was operated by the Pittsburgh area’s transit agency.
The Forbes Avenue bridge over Fern Hollow Creek in Frick Park came down at 6:39 a.m., city officials said. The loud noise from the collapse was followed by a hissing sound and the strong, distinct odor of natural gas, witnesses said.
Frightening rumble
“The first sound was much more intense, and kind of a rumbling, which I guess was the structure, the deck hitting the ground,” said Ken Doyno, a resident who lives four houses away. “I mean, the whole house rattled at that point.”
A ruptured gas line along the bridge produced the leak, and the supply of gas was shut off within a half-hour, officials said.
By midafternoon, three adults were being treated, and all were in fair condition, according to the University of Pittsburgh Hospital System. A fourth person had received treatment and was released.
A search-and-rescue team sifted the area, with drones deployed to assist the search, according to Mayor Ed Gainey's office.
Some 10 firefighters and other responders were checked for exhaustion and frostbite from working in 18-degree weather.
The bus, operated by the Port Authority of Allegheny County, held two passengers and the driver, said a transit spokesperson.
That driver, Daryl Luciani, told WPXI-TV that as soon as he reached the bridge, he felt something was terribly wrong.
“I could just feel it,” Luciani told a reporter. “The bus was bouncing and shaking and it seems long, but it was probably less than a minute that the bus finally came to a stop, and I was just thankful that nobody on the bus was hurt.”
A welcome sight
The passengers appeared to be uninjured, he said, and so he pulled the air brake, radioed his plight and waited. First responders reached them after descending with flashlights in the predawn darkness and used a rope to help him and other occupants get to safety, Luciani said.
About two hours after the collapse, said a transit spokesman, one of the rescued passengers was riding another bus and began complaining of injuries. That person was taken to hospital. The driver and other passenger were not hurt, the spokesman said.
The bus had started its route in downtown Pittsburgh and had been heading to the suburban community of Braddock.
“Judging by the time of day, had this bus been traveling inbound, toward downtown, there likely would have been more people on the bus and obviously could have been a much, much more dire situation,” said the transit official.
The bus had seven or eight cameras, and any footage they captured of the collapse will be part of the investigation, he noted.
Neighbors said a gas company worker went door to door to get them to evacuate from the immediate vicinity before the gas was successfully shut off.
“Apart from just this abiding noise, we could begin to smell gas and that was the truly frightening thing, then with that smell we both said, let’s get dressed and get out of here,” said Lyn Krynski, whose home is nearest the bridge.
“It sounded like a weather phenomenon more than anything,” said Douglas Gwilym, who was shoveling about an inch of snow when he heard the noise. “It was all I had to compare it to — it was this odd, whooshing sound.”
'Awful, surreal,' says official
The bridge formed an important link between the Squirrel Hill and Oakland neighborhoods and is on a popular route toward downtown Pittsburgh.
At the site of the collapse, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman saw “just an awful, surreal scene,” adding, “I hope it’s a wake-up call to the nation that we need to make these infrastructure investments.” The city owns and operates the span.
The steel bridge, which was built in 1970, carries about 14,500 vehicles a day, according to a 2005 estimate located by the A.P.
A September 2019 inspection of the bridge revealed that the deck and superstructure were in poor condition, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Bridge Inventory.
A spreadsheet on the state Department of Transportation website, A.P. said, listed the bridge’s overall condition as poor, which, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, means “deterioration of primary structural elements has advanced.”
A citizen's photo shows that an important structural component of the span had rusted through.
By coincidence Joe Biden arrived in Pittsburgh yesterday to tout federal infrastructure funding.
Racing to reach victims of a Pittsburgh bridge crash in the predawn cold, firefighters and other responders early yesterday rappelled down the side of a steep, snow-swept hillside to assist the stunned motorists. They then formed a human chain up the hill in order to take the shaken citizens to safety.
Simultaneously, rescuers pulled several persons from an articulated city bus that had lurched forward as the span collapsed, coming to a precarious rest on a tilted bridge segment.
No dangerous injuries were reported, officials said. The quick action of the first responders was credited with keeping injuries to a minimum.
The two-lane bridge collapse in Pittsburgh's East End prompted 28 rescuers to rappel some 100 to 150 feet before forming a human chain in order to rescue motorists from the hiking trail area under the Frick Park span, authorities said. A local gas company worker went door to door to urge residents to evacuate as the odor of gas filled the neighborhood.
Whiff of terror
The gas line was eventually shut off and residents allowed to return. Gas explosions have wiped out entire neighborhoods in various locales across America.
Had the span collapsed once rush hour fully commenced, the outcome would likely have been far more unpleasant, officials noted.
The Associated Press reports that a large crack showed on the end of the bridge where the bus landed, as if hit by an earthquake. A car landed upside down in front of the bus, which was operated by the Pittsburgh area’s transit agency.
The Forbes Avenue bridge over Fern Hollow Creek in Frick Park came down at 6:39 a.m., city officials said. The loud noise from the collapse was followed by a hissing sound and the strong, distinct odor of natural gas, witnesses said.
Frightening rumble
“The first sound was much more intense, and kind of a rumbling, which I guess was the structure, the deck hitting the ground,” said Ken Doyno, a resident who lives four houses away. “I mean, the whole house rattled at that point.”
A ruptured gas line along the bridge produced the leak, and the supply of gas was shut off within a half-hour, officials said.
By midafternoon, three adults were being treated, and all were in fair condition, according to the University of Pittsburgh Hospital System. A fourth person had received treatment and was released.
A search-and-rescue team sifted the area, with drones deployed to assist the search, according to Mayor Ed Gainey's office.
Some 10 firefighters and other responders were checked for exhaustion and frostbite from working in 18-degree weather.
The bus, operated by the Port Authority of Allegheny County, held two passengers and the driver, said a transit spokesperson.
That driver, Daryl Luciani, told WPXI-TV that as soon as he reached the bridge, he felt something was terribly wrong.
“I could just feel it,” Luciani told a reporter. “The bus was bouncing and shaking and it seems long, but it was probably less than a minute that the bus finally came to a stop, and I was just thankful that nobody on the bus was hurt.”
A welcome sight
The passengers appeared to be uninjured, he said, and so he pulled the air brake, radioed his plight and waited. First responders reached them after descending with flashlights in the predawn darkness and used a rope to help him and other occupants get to safety, Luciani said.
About two hours after the collapse, said a transit spokesman, one of the rescued passengers was riding another bus and began complaining of injuries. That person was taken to hospital. The driver and other passenger were not hurt, the spokesman said.
The bus had started its route in downtown Pittsburgh and had been heading to the suburban community of Braddock.
“Judging by the time of day, had this bus been traveling inbound, toward downtown, there likely would have been more people on the bus and obviously could have been a much, much more dire situation,” said the transit official.
The bus had seven or eight cameras, and any footage they captured of the collapse will be part of the investigation, he noted.
Neighbors said a gas company worker went door to door to get them to evacuate from the immediate vicinity before the gas was successfully shut off.
“Apart from just this abiding noise, we could begin to smell gas and that was the truly frightening thing, then with that smell we both said, let’s get dressed and get out of here,” said Lyn Krynski, whose home is nearest the bridge.
“It sounded like a weather phenomenon more than anything,” said Douglas Gwilym, who was shoveling about an inch of snow when he heard the noise. “It was all I had to compare it to — it was this odd, whooshing sound.”
'Awful, surreal,' says official
The bridge formed an important link between the Squirrel Hill and Oakland neighborhoods and is on a popular route toward downtown Pittsburgh.
At the site of the collapse, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman saw “just an awful, surreal scene,” adding, “I hope it’s a wake-up call to the nation that we need to make these infrastructure investments.” The city owns and operates the span.
The steel bridge, which was built in 1970, carries about 14,500 vehicles a day, according to a 2005 estimate located by the A.P.
A September 2019 inspection of the bridge revealed that the deck and superstructure were in poor condition, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Bridge Inventory.
A spreadsheet on the state Department of Transportation website, A.P. said, listed the bridge’s overall condition as poor, which, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, means “deterioration of primary structural elements has advanced.”
A citizen's photo shows that an important structural component of the span had rusted through.
By coincidence Joe Biden arrived in Pittsburgh yesterday to tout federal infrastructure funding.
Globalist elite milk pandemic for more power -- NYT reporter
'Davos Man' author takes skeptical view of billionaire 'financial heroes'
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Is ESP real?
Freud on telepathy
By Paul Conant
Following Kant, I have taken lately to using the terms "noumena" and "noumenal world" to describe the reality behind the phenomenal world of appearances.
If one concedes a noumenal world, does not that open a Pandora's box of delusional thinking from untutored enthusiasts? Unfortunately, that is the case. In fact this is why Ernest Jones, Freud's collaborator, convinced Freud to suppress a discussion of phenomena known under the heading of telepathy. However, Freud eventually did reveal his thoughts in New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-analysis.
Freud points out that if one were to say the earth's core contains carbonic acid, that idea would be viewed with suspicion, but as not altogether inconceivable. However, if one claimed the core is composed of jam, we have a right to dismiss the claim out of hand, jam coming from human actions on fruit. So, though one is entitled to reject some claims prior to examination, Freud is concerned that claims about occult phenomena may sometimes be rejected too quickly. He recalled the negative reaction that greeted his ideas about unconscious influences and sexual impulses.
In this light, Freud cites the scientific derision that greeted those who claimed that certain rocks found on the ground had fallen from the sky or that shells found on mountains implied that that terrain had once been seabed.
Using the term "occult" in the sense of unseen influences without suggesting a spirit domain, Freud sees much of occultist literature as representing a reflection of the anti-rationalism found among humans. Even scientists, after the conference is over, enjoy poking fun at their own activities; serious men enjoying a joke (and, as Freud observed, jokes reflect a need of the unconscious for irrationality, relief from "control"). So Freud is saying that occultist literature often expresses the strong anti-rationalist impulses common to all humans. We like to suspend the cold laws of nature, the machine-side of existence.
He grants that it may be "hard to avoid suspicion that the interest in occultism is a religious" ploy to overturn hard science, whereby the occultists are secretly trying to aid religion, but he argues, "at some point, we must overcome our disinclinations."
A problem is that "we are told that in fact our unbelieving -- that is to say, critical -- attitude may prevent the expected phenomena from happening." Freud is talking here about seances and mediums, most of whom he sees as charlatans. However, as pointed out in my paper, Toward a Signal Model of Perception, the reality construction process described there could very well be limited by negative belief.
Toward a signal model of perception
http://paulpages.blogspot.com/2013/03/toward-signal-model-of-perception.html
At any rate, Freud sees a "real core of yet unrecognized facts in occultism around which cheating and phantasies have spun a veil which is hard to pierce."
In the particular case of telepathy, most reported instances can be dismissed, he says. But a few remain that are hard to wave away. Freud insists he remains neutral on the subject, but it is clear that he is quite persuaded of something odd going on.
He asserts that in a telepathic dream the telepathic element plays the same role as any other residue (dream "trigger") of the day.
Freud gives an example of a man who dreamed his wife had twins; not long after, his daughter, who was some distance away, gave birth to twins (this was in the era before technology might have tipped him off). Freud weighs in with a psychoanalytic explanation, but nevertheless concedes what appears to be a telepathic element, which even so may have a natural explanation.
Freud's discussion of another situation -- his patient P's thought transference with respect to "Dr. Forsyth" -- would be dismissed by many probabilists on the random coincidence idea as discussed in Toward. However, it is often the case that those who have such experiences as described by Freud regard them as meaningful. There is a "shock of recognition" or a "strumming of an inner cord" that in my estimate may sometimes equate to a realization that we are seeing some effect of a noumenal world. Jung gave the name synchronicity to effects of the noumenal world; others describe such effects as the work of the realm of spirits. I could defend the idea of spirit as that part of the personality that inhabits the noumenal world, analogous to a software program inhabiting a mainframe computer. If the software program were conscious, it would not directly relate to the mainframe.
"One is led to the suspicion," maintains Freud, that telepathy is "the original, archaic method of communication between individuals and in the course of phylogenetic evolution it has been replaced with the better method of giving information via signals which are picked up by the sense organs."
Freud relates a report of Dorothy Burlingham, a psychoanalyst and "trustworthy witness." (She and colleague Anna Freud did pioneering work in child psychology.)
A mother and child were in analysis together. One day she spoke during analysis of a gold coin that had played a particular part in one of her childhood experiences. On returning home, her boy, who was about 10, came to her room and gave her a gold coin which he asked her to keep for him. Astonished, she asked him where he had got it. It turned out that it had been given him as a birthday present a few months previously, but there was no obvious reason why he had chosen that time to bring her the coin.
Freud sees this report as potential evidence of telepathy. One might also suspect it as an instance of "synchronicity" or the reality construction process described in Toward..
At any rate, a few weeks later the woman, on her analyst's instructions, sat down to write an account of the gold coin incident. Just then her child approached her and asked for his coin back, as he wanted to show it during his analysis session.
Freud argues that there is no need for science to fear telepathy (though his collaborator, Ernest Jones, certainly seems to have feared the ridicule the subject might bring); he is even open-minded about other paranormal phenomena. His suspicion that such phenomena are occurring via some unknown pathway never convinced him to renounce his atheism.
P. Denise Long:
Biden immigration policy offensive to blacks
P. Denise Long is an articulate, thoughtful advocate for the often-unfulfilled rights of descendants of slaves. She pans slavish devotion to the Democratic Party and urges that black Americans not rely on that party as their default choice. But more must be done to improve black-white dialog if Republicans are to succeed in drawing blacks into their fold. She agrees that, on a number of social issues, blacks are conservative, being on the same wavelength as white social conservatives who are the bedrock of the GOP.
Long's political philosophy is nicely summed up in the headline given to her Newsweek opinion piece:
Systemic Racism Is Real. But We Black Americans Must Heal Ourselves, Too.
https://www.newsweek.com/systemic-racism-real-we-black-americans-must-heal-ourselves-too-opinion-1621162
Long's political philosophy is nicely summed up in the headline given to her Newsweek opinion piece:
Systemic Racism Is Real. But We Black Americans Must Heal Ourselves, Too.
https://www.newsweek.com/systemic-racism-real-we-black-americans-must-heal-ourselves-too-opinion-1621162
The Singing Dogboys
or, A Tale of Pure Moonshine
Why do dogs and wolves howl at the moon?
They don't, is the universal "hip" consensus.
But I offer a counter-proposal:
The bright moonlit night keeps the critter awake. There's nothing much to do. So he (or she?) decides to try to communicate with others of his kind in the vicinity. A canine or human in a very rural area tends to get very little sound pollution, making the howls distinct and far-traveling.
The critter is calling out: "Hey, anybody out there?"
Even if he receives no answer, he gets a charge out of hearing his own voice and decides to sing a fun song.
Don't forget, canines are mammals. Even in the wild, most mammals are sociable and want to commune with their own kind. Also, even wild mammals have a sense of fun, especially the younger ones, which still recall (react to) their playful infancy.
The bright moonlit night keeps the critter awake. There's nothing much to do. So he (or she?) decides to try to communicate with others of his kind in the vicinity. A canine or human in a very rural area tends to get very little sound pollution, making the howls distinct and far-traveling.
The critter is calling out: "Hey, anybody out there?"
Even if he receives no answer, he gets a charge out of hearing his own voice and decides to sing a fun song.
Don't forget, canines are mammals. Even in the wild, most mammals are sociable and want to commune with their own kind. Also, even wild mammals have a sense of fun, especially the younger ones, which still recall (react to) their playful infancy.
The plot against Whitmer was run by FBI
Hmmm... Isn't that what happened on Jan. 6, 2021? Though Robby Soave doesn't think the two incidents are comparable, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tx., has presented irrefutable evidence of FBI incitement of Jan. 6 protesters.
Entertainment news retro view:
McKinney Sisters' 2015 Longford Rodeo concert
A rarefied, but refreshing Kansas breeze.
They no longer perform as a group. But they left a fine legacy.
Mikyl's joke:
They no longer perform as a group. But they left a fine legacy.
Mikyl's joke:
Q. What's the difference between a bluegrass band and a rock band?Daryl, guitar; Mikyl, fiddle; and Randyl, banjo and dobro.
A. A rock band plays all night and never tunes. A bluegrass band tunes all night and never plays.
Shots in the dark?
As I've said in the past, I am barred from Facebook for cracking jokes about masks. Well, that was the lame excuse I was given. That was after Big Tech's keepers turned from the religion of their youth, Libertarianism, to the New Faith: Limousine Liberalism, which they adopted once the Evil Dictator was elected.
Funny how Evil Dictator never did anything unconstitutional, but his successor, the Benign Liberal, has no problem issuing clearly dictatorial decrees.
Well OK. NVM.
Anyway, what this means is that my stuff doesn't officially get around much -- though when I was on Facebook, my ideas sometimes went viral, as long as they somehow became disconnected from me. So even during the Libertarian period, there was a lot of stifling going on. By whom? By the same group of power freaks that expended so much energy trying to "get" Trump. The "Deep State" is as good a name for this bunch as any other. "The Syndicate" or "the Commission" are also accurate-enough tags.
Now that's a lot of politics just to make one point, but I'm feeling even more offbeat than usual today.
Here's the point:
You -- whoever you may be -- help me a lot when you post my links on social media, in particular on Facebook. Even though you'd think it would be easy for FB to stifle those links, Big Tech companies generally don't like not having a figleaf cover story. Plus, you never know what might get through. I am not asking you to necessarily post links that are merely reposts to this site. Rather, post links to News of the World items that have original content.
You might think that my non-political links would breeze through. But that's generally not the case. The Control Crew thinks that ANY visibility goes against their interests (they're at root people who think like Stalinists).
But, YOU NEVER KNOW. That's because political conditions at the White House and Langley, Va., change daily. What doesn't get through on one day might get through on the next.
So if, for example, you'll post, say, some of my Playlist links to social media, at least that might help me by giving me some information. Maybe. Worth a try. See:
Paulie's Playlists
https://play189list.blogspot.com/
I realize it may seem pointless. But take a military example. Sometimes in battle, it's best if your side has ALL guns firing. You, as an ordinary foot soldier, feel like you are not making much difference. But collectively the difference may be between win or lose.
Funny how Evil Dictator never did anything unconstitutional, but his successor, the Benign Liberal, has no problem issuing clearly dictatorial decrees.
Well OK. NVM.
Anyway, what this means is that my stuff doesn't officially get around much -- though when I was on Facebook, my ideas sometimes went viral, as long as they somehow became disconnected from me. So even during the Libertarian period, there was a lot of stifling going on. By whom? By the same group of power freaks that expended so much energy trying to "get" Trump. The "Deep State" is as good a name for this bunch as any other. "The Syndicate" or "the Commission" are also accurate-enough tags.
Now that's a lot of politics just to make one point, but I'm feeling even more offbeat than usual today.
Here's the point:
You -- whoever you may be -- help me a lot when you post my links on social media, in particular on Facebook. Even though you'd think it would be easy for FB to stifle those links, Big Tech companies generally don't like not having a figleaf cover story. Plus, you never know what might get through. I am not asking you to necessarily post links that are merely reposts to this site. Rather, post links to News of the World items that have original content.
You might think that my non-political links would breeze through. But that's generally not the case. The Control Crew thinks that ANY visibility goes against their interests (they're at root people who think like Stalinists).
But, YOU NEVER KNOW. That's because political conditions at the White House and Langley, Va., change daily. What doesn't get through on one day might get through on the next.
So if, for example, you'll post, say, some of my Playlist links to social media, at least that might help me by giving me some information. Maybe. Worth a try. See:
Paulie's Playlists
https://play189list.blogspot.com/
I realize it may seem pointless. But take a military example. Sometimes in battle, it's best if your side has ALL guns firing. You, as an ordinary foot soldier, feel like you are not making much difference. But collectively the difference may be between win or lose.
Monday, January 24, 2022
Read the label
We're always told to read the label. Surprising what you might find, which makes one wonder about the accuracy of labels.
Check the figures at the bottom of Walmart's house brand ginger ale. Yes, there are 67.6 fluid ounces in two liters. Would have been better to put the "2L" before the parentheses.
But never mind. What is going on inside the parentheses? For the longest time now, 2 quarts has always meant 32 fluid ounces, not 3.6. I've tried to discover what was meant by 3.6, but so far the reference escapes me.
Well, maybe the decimal point was misplaced. But then we'd have to have "8" turn into "6" also.
Why doesn't the label read "2 liters (or 2.1 qts or 33.8 liq oz)."
Not very hard.
Check the figures at the bottom of Walmart's house brand ginger ale. Yes, there are 67.6 fluid ounces in two liters. Would have been better to put the "2L" before the parentheses.
But never mind. What is going on inside the parentheses? For the longest time now, 2 quarts has always meant 32 fluid ounces, not 3.6. I've tried to discover what was meant by 3.6, but so far the reference escapes me.
Well, maybe the decimal point was misplaced. But then we'd have to have "8" turn into "6" also.
Why doesn't the label read "2 liters (or 2.1 qts or 33.8 liq oz)."
Not very hard.
Friday, January 21, 2022
Senators bristle at CIA flipflop
on Havana syndrome 'weapon'
Bipartisan indignation erupts as spooks
pooh-pooh much previous testimony on
use of directed energy weaponry
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/20/havana-syndrome-cia-congress-527527
D.C. Marxists clearing fellow Marxists in Cuba?
And isn't it strange how an intelligence agency of such power has no inclination of who has been inflicting these traumatic brain injuries on U.S. diplomatic personnel?
pooh-pooh much previous testimony on
use of directed energy weaponry
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/20/havana-syndrome-cia-congress-527527
D.C. Marxists clearing fellow Marxists in Cuba?
And isn't it strange how an intelligence agency of such power has no inclination of who has been inflicting these traumatic brain injuries on U.S. diplomatic personnel?
Your basic American freedoms
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment III
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Amendment VII
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Amendment XIV
All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment III
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Amendment VII
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Amendment XIV
All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
The 14th Amendment, which was originally designed to protect basic rights of former slaves in the southern states, is viewed as general enough to include all sorts of people and situations. Though the 10th Amendment was meant to ensure that a state had a great deal of sovereignty within its borders, the 14th bars a state from abridging commonly held rights of anyone in the state. Hence, the Supreme Court has determined that the First Amendment not only restrains the federal government, it also restrains state governments from curbing press, speech, assembly or religion. The justices are at present considering arguments that those states that outlaw guns to virtually all their citizens are violating the 14th Amendment, which is seen as upholding the traditional American right of bearing arms. (In fact, one of the reasons for the 14th Amendment was a tendency in the South to forbid black men from bearing firearms.)
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
Will the China Titanic go down shooting?
This apocolyptic video dates to Dec. 8. I may have puzzlements on a few points, but the overall assessment remains hard to blow off.
A very important point that I infer from this analysis: Once China's economic collapse really takes hold, the probability of communist military aggression against the United States increases exponentially.
Consider: the economy crashes and the Chinese can no longer afford to buy food on foreign markets to feed a desperate population. What are the amoral communist leaders likely to do? In consultation with their powerful military, they may seek to take over other countries by intimidation or military force in order to appropriate their farm produce.
Such a maneuver may first require a sudden strike on the United States in order to weaken us sufficiently to neutralize any military help we might give, or even to compel the U.S. to pay tribute to China in the form of farm produce.
All that sounds ridiculous only because you don't know what communists are really like when they fear to lose power.
The image above is not commensurate with the seriousness of the video analysis. Nor do I consider it important that this commentator uses a garage tool set as a backdrop. It's the thought that counts, not the window dressing.
A very important point that I infer from this analysis: Once China's economic collapse really takes hold, the probability of communist military aggression against the United States increases exponentially.
Consider: the economy crashes and the Chinese can no longer afford to buy food on foreign markets to feed a desperate population. What are the amoral communist leaders likely to do? In consultation with their powerful military, they may seek to take over other countries by intimidation or military force in order to appropriate their farm produce.
Such a maneuver may first require a sudden strike on the United States in order to weaken us sufficiently to neutralize any military help we might give, or even to compel the U.S. to pay tribute to China in the form of farm produce.
All that sounds ridiculous only because you don't know what communists are really like when they fear to lose power.
The image above is not commensurate with the seriousness of the video analysis. Nor do I consider it important that this commentator uses a garage tool set as a backdrop. It's the thought that counts, not the window dressing.
Monday, January 17, 2022
Super rich dumping stock
as U.S. inflation ramps up,
real estate bubble wobbles
The video permits us to comment:
✓ The domino effect from China's economic crisis will worsen U.S. pandemic economy.
✓ What is the real inflation rate? Above 10 percent?
✓ Why is there a huge worker shortfall?
✓ If routine wages are up 33%, what does that portend for inflation?
✓ The Biden blockade on American energy independence translates as a major driver of inflation.
The image above may give you the sense that the video is put out by irresponsible hustlers; that image is not commensurate with the content of the video.
Sunday, January 16, 2022
World alert! China's economy is in free fall
Dec 7, 2021 video says or implies: Insane property bubble bursts. Many halt new investments. Major U.S. investment firms are holding the bag, and won't be able to divest fast enough, before they lose your shirt. U.S. big biz China money grubbers are going down the tubes, right now. Their influence in Washington is OVER! The CIA scrambles to stay afloat as anti-communist backlash hits.
A Jan. 13 Bloomberg report notes:
The severity of the Evergrande disaster was seen Dec. 31, when China's central bank leapt into action to try to stem the hemmorhage. Its stock went up briefly a few days later, but despite heroic efforts by the communist government, Evergrande is headed for bankruptcy, kindly characterized as downsizing and restructuring. But clearly the continuing hits taken by investors in China's largest real estate company is not the end of the story. The entire civil economy is linked to the preposterous system caused by bizarre communist regulations.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, "A Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that pays existing investors with funds collected from new investors. Ponzi scheme organizers often promise to invest your money and generate high returns with little or no risk."
This is an organized investment bubble that must someday collapse, either because of market saturation or by red flags setting off distrust.
Another sort of investment bubble follows a similar pattern. Investopedia relates, "Because speculative demand, rather than intrinsic worth, fuels the inflated prices, the bubble eventually but inevitably pops, and massive sell-offs cause prices to decline, often quite dramatically. In most cases, in fact, a speculative bubble is followed by a spectacular crash in the securities in question."
An investment bubble can be driven by an excess of exuberance, in which current investors spread the "good news," thus driving up desirability -- which carries a higher price sticker -- but not intrinsic value. That is, what would the value of the item be based on actual need rather than anticipated investment return?
Real estate bubbles turn out to be a recurring problem because of the ordinary person's belief that real property is "always" a safe investment. Thus demand for properties by investors begins to exceed demand by people who want to buy a house to live in or a building for their small business. (In the 2008 bubble, federal "red line" rules resulted in a market distortion that eventually went catastrophic.)
In China, the communists have made it almost impossible for the ordinary person to invest in anything but real estate. This has led to a supersaturation of the market with eager money. The purported value of property has now shot up to 50 times that of its intrinsic value, say experts. Such overvaluation is unsustainable, which is why a huge, rolling domino effect is wiping out investments, savings and businesses in China. Foreigners with major holdings in China are pretty much out of luck, though there is bound to be an exception or two to that outcome that proves the rule.
How weird is the Chinese real estate market? Weird enough that developers, up until recently, were routinely building sham cities composed of shell buildings lacking electricity, plumbing, elevators or other modern essentials. These shams were thrown up so that sales people could say there was "something there" for a would-be investor. The investors were so confident the value would rise, they put their money down! Only now they aren't, because communism's Ponzi scheme has -- as any noncommunist economist could have forewarned the resolute Marxists running the country -- inevitably hit FAIL!
Wikipedia piece on Cathie Wood, a China disaster soothsayer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathie_Wood
News of the World neither encourages nor discourages the Patreon offers found on the video above.
The image above may give you the sense that the video is put out by irresponsible hustlers; that image is not commensurate with the content of the video.
A Jan. 13 Bloomberg report notes:
“If we call the past decade a golden age for the real estate industry, it is now trapped in the age of rust,” said Li Kai, Beijing-based founding partner of bond fund Shengao Investment, which specializes in distressed debt.The claim that few analysts foresee an imminent crash should be taken with a grain of salt. The U.S. economy nosedived when the 2008 real estate bubble burst. And China's real estate bubble is far more overblown than the U.S. bubble of 2008. What we have here is a Wall Street attempt to wave off the full impact of the current tailspin because so much U.S. investment has been committed to Chinese endeavors.
That transition promises to be especially painful for privately owned developers like China Evergrande Group that have already saddled international stock and credit investors with billions of dollars in losses.
While few analysts are predicting an imminent financial meltdown, risks from the real estate market are growing. Weaker property companies are under immense stress, hit by a double whammy of punishingly high borrowing costs and slumping sales. Lower-rated developers including Evergrande are already defaulting on dollar debt at record rates and contagion is spreading to stronger companies. Shares and bonds of Country Garden Holdings Co., China’s largest developer by sales, sank Thursday following a report it struggled to find demand for a new convertible bond.
The severity of the Evergrande disaster was seen Dec. 31, when China's central bank leapt into action to try to stem the hemmorhage. Its stock went up briefly a few days later, but despite heroic efforts by the communist government, Evergrande is headed for bankruptcy, kindly characterized as downsizing and restructuring. But clearly the continuing hits taken by investors in China's largest real estate company is not the end of the story. The entire civil economy is linked to the preposterous system caused by bizarre communist regulations.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, "A Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that pays existing investors with funds collected from new investors. Ponzi scheme organizers often promise to invest your money and generate high returns with little or no risk."
This is an organized investment bubble that must someday collapse, either because of market saturation or by red flags setting off distrust.
Another sort of investment bubble follows a similar pattern. Investopedia relates, "Because speculative demand, rather than intrinsic worth, fuels the inflated prices, the bubble eventually but inevitably pops, and massive sell-offs cause prices to decline, often quite dramatically. In most cases, in fact, a speculative bubble is followed by a spectacular crash in the securities in question."
An investment bubble can be driven by an excess of exuberance, in which current investors spread the "good news," thus driving up desirability -- which carries a higher price sticker -- but not intrinsic value. That is, what would the value of the item be based on actual need rather than anticipated investment return?
Real estate bubbles turn out to be a recurring problem because of the ordinary person's belief that real property is "always" a safe investment. Thus demand for properties by investors begins to exceed demand by people who want to buy a house to live in or a building for their small business. (In the 2008 bubble, federal "red line" rules resulted in a market distortion that eventually went catastrophic.)
In China, the communists have made it almost impossible for the ordinary person to invest in anything but real estate. This has led to a supersaturation of the market with eager money. The purported value of property has now shot up to 50 times that of its intrinsic value, say experts. Such overvaluation is unsustainable, which is why a huge, rolling domino effect is wiping out investments, savings and businesses in China. Foreigners with major holdings in China are pretty much out of luck, though there is bound to be an exception or two to that outcome that proves the rule.
How weird is the Chinese real estate market? Weird enough that developers, up until recently, were routinely building sham cities composed of shell buildings lacking electricity, plumbing, elevators or other modern essentials. These shams were thrown up so that sales people could say there was "something there" for a would-be investor. The investors were so confident the value would rise, they put their money down! Only now they aren't, because communism's Ponzi scheme has -- as any noncommunist economist could have forewarned the resolute Marxists running the country -- inevitably hit FAIL!
Wikipedia piece on Cathie Wood, a China disaster soothsayer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathie_Wood
News of the World neither encourages nor discourages the Patreon offers found on the video above.
The image above may give you the sense that the video is put out by irresponsible hustlers; that image is not commensurate with the content of the video.
Saturday, January 15, 2022
Isn't RFK Jr. just awful?
He actually has a mind of his own.
You'd think that that would be a good thing for an environmental lawyer. But he has offended his class, which accepts the brainwashing by the ruling elite (whoever they may be).
What are these offenses?
Well, for one, he is a (gasp!) conspiracy theorist! He thinks someone other than Sirhan Sirhan actually killed his dad, Robert F. Kennedy, who had just won the California primary. Oh, dear. WHO would want such an outcome? Maybe the same people who arranged the hit on RFK's brother, John F. Kennedy?
Washington Post piece on why RFK Jr. sees an injustice
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/05/26/who-killed-bobby-kennedy-his-son-rfk-jr-doesnt-believe-it-was-sirhan-sirhan/
Then there is his record as a vaccine critic. He and Robert De Niro promoted the notion that the mercury used in some vaccines was hazardous to some children. They were widely scorned (was Big Pharma behind that putdown push?). But consider that mercury is a heavy metal which is really not something one wants in her or his body. Trace amounts could conceivably trigger bad reactions in small children. Interestingly, vaccines made in this country no longer contain mercury.
And, by the way, should we not give this man some credit based on his specialty: environmental law, which implies he is used to doing his homework on the impacts of heavy metals.
The New York Times recently smeared him as a vaccine misinformer. Why? Because he's going up against the misinformer-in-chief, Anthony Fauci, and Fauci's so-terribly-trustworthy allies, the vaccine makers. Never fear! The fighting Irishman has a new book out: "The Real Anthony Fauci."
The positions Kennedy has espoused on covid mandates and vaccines are in line with those of numerous scientists and medics, including the Republican senator, Dr. Rand Paul. But because these positions do not follow the official line, Kennedy is ranked with the "misinformers."
Gee, how history repeats itself: Experts are intimidated by federal control of grants to maintain silence in the face of a federal propaganda blitz abetted by the often-hidden masters of the media. Courageous, truthful critics are smeared by every means possible. Let's see, when else did that happen? Oh yeah. The JFK assassination, the RFK assassination, the Martin Luther King assassination, 9/11, the anthrax attacks, the runup to the Iraq war (though that propaganda blitz eventually failed), George W. Bush's second "election," and Joe Biden's purported election.
You'd think that that would be a good thing for an environmental lawyer. But he has offended his class, which accepts the brainwashing by the ruling elite (whoever they may be).
What are these offenses?
Well, for one, he is a (gasp!) conspiracy theorist! He thinks someone other than Sirhan Sirhan actually killed his dad, Robert F. Kennedy, who had just won the California primary. Oh, dear. WHO would want such an outcome? Maybe the same people who arranged the hit on RFK's brother, John F. Kennedy?
Washington Post piece on why RFK Jr. sees an injustice
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/05/26/who-killed-bobby-kennedy-his-son-rfk-jr-doesnt-believe-it-was-sirhan-sirhan/
Then there is his record as a vaccine critic. He and Robert De Niro promoted the notion that the mercury used in some vaccines was hazardous to some children. They were widely scorned (was Big Pharma behind that putdown push?). But consider that mercury is a heavy metal which is really not something one wants in her or his body. Trace amounts could conceivably trigger bad reactions in small children. Interestingly, vaccines made in this country no longer contain mercury.
And, by the way, should we not give this man some credit based on his specialty: environmental law, which implies he is used to doing his homework on the impacts of heavy metals.
The New York Times recently smeared him as a vaccine misinformer. Why? Because he's going up against the misinformer-in-chief, Anthony Fauci, and Fauci's so-terribly-trustworthy allies, the vaccine makers. Never fear! The fighting Irishman has a new book out: "The Real Anthony Fauci."
The positions Kennedy has espoused on covid mandates and vaccines are in line with those of numerous scientists and medics, including the Republican senator, Dr. Rand Paul. But because these positions do not follow the official line, Kennedy is ranked with the "misinformers."
Gee, how history repeats itself: Experts are intimidated by federal control of grants to maintain silence in the face of a federal propaganda blitz abetted by the often-hidden masters of the media. Courageous, truthful critics are smeared by every means possible. Let's see, when else did that happen? Oh yeah. The JFK assassination, the RFK assassination, the Martin Luther King assassination, 9/11, the anthrax attacks, the runup to the Iraq war (though that propaganda blitz eventually failed), George W. Bush's second "election," and Joe Biden's purported election.
Medicare patients face even longer waits
as anti-vax docs prepare to drop them
The potential for a massive cutoff of Medicare and Medicaid patients by their anti-vaccine doctors is in the air.
The New York Times gives the example of Dr. Calvin Blount, who has practiced family medicine for more than 20 years in Destin, Fla. He said there are still too many unanswered questions about the long-term impact of the vaccine. Now, he is facing a new federal policy that could undermine his practice. More than half his 420 patients use Medicare.
“For myself and the majority of my patients, the vaccine is a 'hell no',” said the 53-year-old physician. “Quite honestly, I don’t know what is going to happen. We have a federal law that contradicts the state law, and we don’t know which side will prevail. If the federal ruling prevails, my options are to get the vaccination, which I am not going to do, or I will be forced to give up my patients who are on Medicare.”
Despite the court ruling, the Times reported, many nursing homes urged the administration to rethink the requirement and instead allow them the option of testing workers.
“When we are in the midst of another Covid surge, caregivers in vaccine-hesitant communities may walk off the job because of this policy, further threatening access to care for thousands of our nation’s seniors,” said Mark Parkinson, chief executive of the American Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes.
The New York Times gives the example of Dr. Calvin Blount, who has practiced family medicine for more than 20 years in Destin, Fla. He said there are still too many unanswered questions about the long-term impact of the vaccine. Now, he is facing a new federal policy that could undermine his practice. More than half his 420 patients use Medicare.
“For myself and the majority of my patients, the vaccine is a 'hell no',” said the 53-year-old physician. “Quite honestly, I don’t know what is going to happen. We have a federal law that contradicts the state law, and we don’t know which side will prevail. If the federal ruling prevails, my options are to get the vaccination, which I am not going to do, or I will be forced to give up my patients who are on Medicare.”
Despite the court ruling, the Times reported, many nursing homes urged the administration to rethink the requirement and instead allow them the option of testing workers.
“When we are in the midst of another Covid surge, caregivers in vaccine-hesitant communities may walk off the job because of this policy, further threatening access to care for thousands of our nation’s seniors,” said Mark Parkinson, chief executive of the American Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes.
Google Search is worthless; only simpletons use it
Only a very naive person uses it anymore for anything controversial. Google gives you the results it wants you to have and bars or buries results that its elitist and communist friends dislike.
It is not a search engine. It is a brainwash engine. Its job is to make up your mind for you.
A few alternatives:
Dogpile
DuckDuckGo
Gibiru
Bing
There are a number of others, though Google and Bing power them.
No engine is immune from the technique of burying politically unwanted results.
Though Bing tends to be far better than Google about squelching controversial sites, that is not saying much. Bing will stifle results for political reasons.
It is not a search engine. It is a brainwash engine. Its job is to make up your mind for you.
A few alternatives:
Dogpile
DuckDuckGo
Gibiru
Bing
There are a number of others, though Google and Bing power them.
No engine is immune from the technique of burying politically unwanted results.
Though Bing tends to be far better than Google about squelching controversial sites, that is not saying much. Bing will stifle results for political reasons.
Thursday, January 13, 2022
Flawed decision on health worker mandate
The top court agreed today that the government had authority to require most health workers to receive covid vaccinations.
The flaw occurs when the top court accepts that the government is deploying "good faith" expertise, which is clearly not the case. It would have been better for the court to have remanded the case back to a lower court, with the instruction that it use a special master to examine the government's claims that vaccination would do much good under current circumstances.
Forcing people to be vaccinated because "you never know, it might work" constitutes an outrageous abuse of power.
The evidence showing that extra doses (boosters) of old vaccines have much impact against omicron is sketchy.
In a major sign of bad faith, the government is avoiding talking about these important points:
✔ The United States has reached herd immunity for the beta and delta variants. That is, on average every person infected with beta or delta transmits it to less than one other person. Unless you are a lab worker handling live beta and delta samples, once herd immunity has been reached there is no reason at all for vaccination.
✔ The omicron virus -- which is generally milder than the first two variants -- is sweeping the nation so fast that is pointless to rush to mass vaccination, especially when the current vaccines are only mildly helpful, if they are helpful, against omicron.
✔ The administration's claim that the unvaccinated are spreading covid is unproved. Beta and delta are not spreading. Omicron is spreading through vaccinated people at a high rate. That's because the old vaccines are not tailored for omicron. Now if the old vaccines slow down the transmission of omicron, how much hard evidence is at hand to back that claim up? Have you ever heard a government health expert tell you how much old vaccines slow down general transmission of omicron? No, that concept is avoided. That's because there is very little evidence to hand that would verify the government's implicit assumption.
The flaw occurs when the top court accepts that the government is deploying "good faith" expertise, which is clearly not the case. It would have been better for the court to have remanded the case back to a lower court, with the instruction that it use a special master to examine the government's claims that vaccination would do much good under current circumstances.
Forcing people to be vaccinated because "you never know, it might work" constitutes an outrageous abuse of power.
The evidence showing that extra doses (boosters) of old vaccines have much impact against omicron is sketchy.
In a major sign of bad faith, the government is avoiding talking about these important points:
✔ The United States has reached herd immunity for the beta and delta variants. That is, on average every person infected with beta or delta transmits it to less than one other person. Unless you are a lab worker handling live beta and delta samples, once herd immunity has been reached there is no reason at all for vaccination.
✔ The omicron virus -- which is generally milder than the first two variants -- is sweeping the nation so fast that is pointless to rush to mass vaccination, especially when the current vaccines are only mildly helpful, if they are helpful, against omicron.
✔ The administration's claim that the unvaccinated are spreading covid is unproved. Beta and delta are not spreading. Omicron is spreading through vaccinated people at a high rate. That's because the old vaccines are not tailored for omicron. Now if the old vaccines slow down the transmission of omicron, how much hard evidence is at hand to back that claim up? Have you ever heard a government health expert tell you how much old vaccines slow down general transmission of omicron? No, that concept is avoided. That's because there is very little evidence to hand that would verify the government's implicit assumption.
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
NBC: Biden's covid policy in shambles
NBC News: Covid confusion roils White House
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/we-have-gone-backwards-covid-confusion-snarls-biden-white-house-n1287282
Biden group running way behind on covid policy
as omicron surges across nation, say critics
NBC might have asked whether Biden's push in the Supreme Court for a vaccine mandate has already been overtaken by events. Omicron is racing through the country so fast that there is little likelihood that a vaccine can be developed in time that would make any difference. There seems to be little evidence that using boosters of the old vaccines will help much against the new variant.
The old variants are passe for a reason: Herd immunity has been reached for both of them. That is, on average, anyone infected with an old variant is likely to infect less than one other person. In other words, those variants have fizzled out. So what is the point of demanding vaccinations against those variants? Yes, Dr. Anthony Fauci and his flunkies insist that boosters probably help anyway against new variants. Yet the only way he can gather reliable data is to use the American people as guinea pigs.
Yet, do we need a vaccine mandate that gives the federal government the right to make working people guinea pigs?
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/we-have-gone-backwards-covid-confusion-snarls-biden-white-house-n1287282
Biden group running way behind on covid policy
as omicron surges across nation, say critics
NBC might have asked whether Biden's push in the Supreme Court for a vaccine mandate has already been overtaken by events. Omicron is racing through the country so fast that there is little likelihood that a vaccine can be developed in time that would make any difference. There seems to be little evidence that using boosters of the old vaccines will help much against the new variant.
The old variants are passe for a reason: Herd immunity has been reached for both of them. That is, on average, anyone infected with an old variant is likely to infect less than one other person. In other words, those variants have fizzled out. So what is the point of demanding vaccinations against those variants? Yes, Dr. Anthony Fauci and his flunkies insist that boosters probably help anyway against new variants. Yet the only way he can gather reliable data is to use the American people as guinea pigs.
Yet, do we need a vaccine mandate that gives the federal government the right to make working people guinea pigs?
Thursday, January 6, 2022
It's a guy thing
An informal discussion of a likely trajectory of the word 'guy'
Fascinating that the word "guy" gained popularity in early 19th Century America.
Apparently "guy" was a Britishism that stems from the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in which Guy Fawkes was caught planting enough gunpowder to blow sky high the Parliament building, along with the Protestant king, queen and heir to the throne. In an annual national celebration effigies of Fawkes and the other plotters are burnt.
So an informal designation of any effigy was "guy," as in "we need another guy for the bonfire." Of course those guys were always dressed in rags. Who wants to burn good money?
Well, you never know which twist in meaning a word might take. Human language is essentially metaphorical. So it's very natural that the word guy would come to denote any badly dressed man or loutish sort.
Now we come to 19th Century America. In that era, after Jefferson defeated Adams, the newly empowered "common man" was overturning every idea and term that smacked of elitism and privilege (Hamiltonism was OUT). So at some point a group of "lower class" men began referring to each other with friendly disdain as "just another guy." After all, America gained great vigor from these poorer classes.
The phrase "just another guy" is similar to the phrase "just another bozo on the bus," which could easily be rendered in Britain as "just another bloke on the bus." Bozo the Clown was a TV entertainer of the 1950s. "Blok" is/was Dutch for "block" as in "dimwit." "Bozo," "bloke" and "guy" all derive from the idea of "here comes another dummie."
Or think of American infantrymen referring to themselves as "grunts." No grand titles needed when men really talk.
It seems highly plausible that the gallows humor of enlisted men contributed to the popularity of "guy" (War of 1812, Mexican War, Civil War), "bloke" (Crimean War, Boer War and First World War) and "bozo" (Korean War, Vietnam War).
"Bloke/blok" seems to have entered British vernacular via Australians, probably via Australian military contingents used in the wars of the 19th and early 20th Centuries. This makes sense, as Australia was then in close contact with Dutch East India colonies.
Eventually, of course, the humorous origin of the term "guy" was lost and it became an acceptable informal synonym for any grown American male. Children and animals often are tagged as "little guy." Similarly for "bloke." You never know, "bozo" might one day become a vernacular synonym for "man."
It's funny that feminists persuaded everybody that we should not use the word "man" when "man or woman" is meant. But ordinary young women quickly turned the tables, letting "hey guys" mean a mixed group or a group of girls only. Well, they are the equals of men, so I see their point. Guys quickly picked up on the usefulness of the catchall "you guys," which sounds cooler than "you all" or "hey, people" (depending on who is listening).
You know, the paradox really shows two sides of the same coin. In the first case, women want to be recognized as having the same rights and social status as men. In the second case, women are expressing that girls want to be boys or at least to be treated the same as boys -- pretty much. (Please guys, these last two paragraphs are not meant as fightin' words, but only as a feeble male attempt at humor in line with the jocose origins of the word "guy.")
Ladies, what do you say?
Fascinating that the word "guy" gained popularity in early 19th Century America.
Apparently "guy" was a Britishism that stems from the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in which Guy Fawkes was caught planting enough gunpowder to blow sky high the Parliament building, along with the Protestant king, queen and heir to the throne. In an annual national celebration effigies of Fawkes and the other plotters are burnt.
So an informal designation of any effigy was "guy," as in "we need another guy for the bonfire." Of course those guys were always dressed in rags. Who wants to burn good money?
Well, you never know which twist in meaning a word might take. Human language is essentially metaphorical. So it's very natural that the word guy would come to denote any badly dressed man or loutish sort.
Now we come to 19th Century America. In that era, after Jefferson defeated Adams, the newly empowered "common man" was overturning every idea and term that smacked of elitism and privilege (Hamiltonism was OUT). So at some point a group of "lower class" men began referring to each other with friendly disdain as "just another guy." After all, America gained great vigor from these poorer classes.
The phrase "just another guy" is similar to the phrase "just another bozo on the bus," which could easily be rendered in Britain as "just another bloke on the bus." Bozo the Clown was a TV entertainer of the 1950s. "Blok" is/was Dutch for "block" as in "dimwit." "Bozo," "bloke" and "guy" all derive from the idea of "here comes another dummie."
Or think of American infantrymen referring to themselves as "grunts." No grand titles needed when men really talk.
It seems highly plausible that the gallows humor of enlisted men contributed to the popularity of "guy" (War of 1812, Mexican War, Civil War), "bloke" (Crimean War, Boer War and First World War) and "bozo" (Korean War, Vietnam War).
"Bloke/blok" seems to have entered British vernacular via Australians, probably via Australian military contingents used in the wars of the 19th and early 20th Centuries. This makes sense, as Australia was then in close contact with Dutch East India colonies.
Eventually, of course, the humorous origin of the term "guy" was lost and it became an acceptable informal synonym for any grown American male. Children and animals often are tagged as "little guy." Similarly for "bloke." You never know, "bozo" might one day become a vernacular synonym for "man."
It's funny that feminists persuaded everybody that we should not use the word "man" when "man or woman" is meant. But ordinary young women quickly turned the tables, letting "hey guys" mean a mixed group or a group of girls only. Well, they are the equals of men, so I see their point. Guys quickly picked up on the usefulness of the catchall "you guys," which sounds cooler than "you all" or "hey, people" (depending on who is listening).
You know, the paradox really shows two sides of the same coin. In the first case, women want to be recognized as having the same rights and social status as men. In the second case, women are expressing that girls want to be boys or at least to be treated the same as boys -- pretty much. (Please guys, these last two paragraphs are not meant as fightin' words, but only as a feeble male attempt at humor in line with the jocose origins of the word "guy.")
Ladies, what do you say?
Questions for press on D.C. events of Jan. 6
✓ Should the event(s) of Jan. 6 be termed an "attack," a "riot" or a "disturbance"? Note that the first two terms are not, under the circumstances, politically neutral.
✓ Should the events be characterized as a "violent protest" or a generally "vigorous but peaceful protest tainted by acts of individual violence"?
✓ Should the occupation of the Capitol Building be viewed as an "insurrection" or as a protest taking its cue from various occupy-building protests, such as by Occupy Wall Street or by many student protests against the Vietnam war and draft?
✓ Should the the Jan. 6 protest be viewed as an "insurrection" or as a political statement in the tradition of the Boston Tea Party, the faceoff that led to the Boston Massacre, and John Brown's Raid, which enraged the South and won great admiration in the North?
✓ Is it responsible to fail to mention that the Democratic Congress is utterly uninterested in a thorough examination of the BLM riots and disturbances that erupted across the nation with little initial attempt to shut these disturbances down on the part of state and local Democratic officials. How can there be so much attention on Jan. 6 and none on the BLM disturbances that left a great measure of real heartbreak, billions in property damage and a scarred nation?
We note that the press would sometimes fail to distinguish between genuinely violent disturbances and peaceful occupy-type protests in the summer of BLM.
✓ Should the events be characterized as a "violent protest" or a generally "vigorous but peaceful protest tainted by acts of individual violence"?
✓ Should the occupation of the Capitol Building be viewed as an "insurrection" or as a protest taking its cue from various occupy-building protests, such as by Occupy Wall Street or by many student protests against the Vietnam war and draft?
✓ Should the the Jan. 6 protest be viewed as an "insurrection" or as a political statement in the tradition of the Boston Tea Party, the faceoff that led to the Boston Massacre, and John Brown's Raid, which enraged the South and won great admiration in the North?
✓ Is it responsible to fail to mention that the Democratic Congress is utterly uninterested in a thorough examination of the BLM riots and disturbances that erupted across the nation with little initial attempt to shut these disturbances down on the part of state and local Democratic officials. How can there be so much attention on Jan. 6 and none on the BLM disturbances that left a great measure of real heartbreak, billions in property damage and a scarred nation?
We note that the press would sometimes fail to distinguish between genuinely violent disturbances and peaceful occupy-type protests in the summer of BLM.
Sunday, January 2, 2022
Dark Persuasion:
An outline of the techniques of brainwashing
Are social media algorithms rigged by hidden persuaders using surreptitious MKUltra-style methods?
Who is at the door? It's the Thought Police, dear
Rep. Marjorie Greene, R-Ga., was kicked off Twitter for life for repeatedly "spreading misinformation" about covid, the social media firm asserted.
Greene released this statement:
Another strong possibility is that Greene's visceral language -- as in "Communist Democrats" -- made her a target for the "liberal" vigilantes of social media. Can't you hear, "Kick her off! Get rid of that bitch! Now!"
But the problem with Twitter's position is that its brass hats think they must regulate thought. Americans as a whole, they think, are too dumb to weigh words uttered by "demagogues." They must be led by their herders, who have so much more insight than the silly rabble "out there." That is the typical attitude of the monied elite toward true democracy.
Greene released this statement:
Maxine Waters can go to the streets and threaten violence on Twitter, Kamala and Ilhan can bail out Black Lives Matter terrorists on Twitter, CNN and the rest of the Democrat Propaganda Media can spread Russia collusion lies, and just yesterday the Chief spokesman for terrorist IRGC can tweet mourning Soleimani, but I get suspended for tweeting VAERS statistics.I don't have all the facts behind this matter. But judging from the content, she may have been quoting tech entrepreneur Steve Kirsh's untested claims about adverse covid vaccine statistics. Whatever the merits of those claims, I find it interesting that he uncovered the point that the CDC did not notice the effect of elevated heartbeat in a small percentage of injected persons. Apparently, the Defense Department spotted that effect as it vaccinated uniformed men and women and civilians. That seems like quite an oversight by the civil health professionals.
Twitter is an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth.
That’s fine, I’ll show America we don’t need them and it’s time to defeat our enemies. They can’t successfully complete a Communist revolution when people tell the truth.
Social media platforms can’t stop the truth from being spread far and wide. Big Tech can’t stop the truth. Communist Democrats can’t stop the truth.
I stand with the truth and the people. We will overcome!"
Another strong possibility is that Greene's visceral language -- as in "Communist Democrats" -- made her a target for the "liberal" vigilantes of social media. Can't you hear, "Kick her off! Get rid of that bitch! Now!"
But the problem with Twitter's position is that its brass hats think they must regulate thought. Americans as a whole, they think, are too dumb to weigh words uttered by "demagogues." They must be led by their herders, who have so much more insight than the silly rabble "out there." That is the typical attitude of the monied elite toward true democracy.
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