Accompanied by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. and the House Democratic Caucus, Biden addressed lawmakers on the topics of COVID relief and the ongoing vaccine rollout. He closed his remarks by calling on Democrats to help “restore faith” in government.
He then appeared ready to take questions.
“I’d be happy to take questions if that’s what I’m supposed to do, Nance,” Biden told the speaker. “Whatever you want me to do.”
The feed ended seconds later, after a brief pause from the president.
Seriously, the President of the United States asking the Speaker what he should be doing? Way to be in charge Joe. Not.
This was a virtual event, you know man, because Covid, so there were no actual reporters present. So they could do whatever they wanted, in the most ham-fisted manner. And they did.
In the 43 days Biden* has been in power, he hasn’t had a single press conference. There hasn’t been a SOU address either. He’s “called a lid” on the day before 9am at least once so far.
So, who is actually running the country?
Bowling Blogging !!
Sandbagged To Death
We got utterly smeared last night at Old Guys league, losing all 7 by more than 200 pins.
We played Dave and Doug’s team. We’ve known both of them for well over a decade, and they bowl about as good as we do. So we were able to handle them. But after Bruce left their team to bowl with better rollers, and after Mark died, they got a couple of new guys to fill the openings. And I don’t want to say that they’re ringers ... let’s just say that after 5 or 6 weeks of plodding along in the 200 average realm (which is a pretty darn good average for anyone), building up some mitigating momentum, last night they let loose.
The lesser fellow, with a 195 average, threw a 650 series, rolling 65 over for the 3 games. That isn’t completely unheard of, but would be a miraculously good night for anyone else. He didn’t seem too pleased, as if he ought to have done much better.
But the better guy, now their new anchor, is almost literally in a league of his own. So much so that I straight out asked him if he was sure that he was in the right league. With a 200 average in this league, he threw a 767 series. His first game was a 279, which is a perfect game except for 1 frame, where he got a 9/ instead of a strike. The rest of his game was strikes. 11 of them, out of a possible 12. Wow. In game 2 he had 2 spares, which dropped that one to a “mere” 255. Only 10 strikes in that game. For Game 3 he actually left 2 open frames, limping along to a “pathetic” 233, 10 strikes in that game too. Any other bowler on this league would have been super happy to have rolled his low score as their high score. OTOH, with only 15 games on paper at this point, his average is going to jump 9 pins for next week, and the other guy’s will go up 2. But anchor guy threw 31 strikes out of a possible 36. And no one, in the entire 60 year history of that bowling alley, has ever thrown a perfect series, which is 3 300 games, which is 36 strikes. It was actually almost boring watching him bowl. None of the drama, no miracle falls, no horrendous splits or the rare thrill of making them. Just strike after strike. He’s a machine.
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March 03, 2021
Biden Blogging!!
By which I mean, I plagiarized it from elsewhere but won’t provide the links so you think I came up with them. Hey, you know, it’s a thing, man.
Racists here and racists there!
They see the racists everywhere!
Some in syrup, some in rice;
Racists, racists aren’t nice.
Sometimes they feel it in their bones--
This book has racist undertones!
Do not object! Do not say no!
It’s time for Dr. Seuss to go!
And Shakespeare next and Homer, too
Of course you know, they’re far from through!
They start with just some dirty looks;
But soon they’re out there burning books.
They’ll come for you; they’ll come for me.
You’re racist if you don’t agree!
It would be better-- and this I know
If the books would stay and the leftists go!
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March 02, 2021
Damn. It’s Winter again today. Cold system moved in last night with the winds howling for hours. No snow, none even predicted. But it’s 21° with the wind blowing, giving us a face numbing wind chill of 8°. To heck with that. Forecast says it will be in the 50s and 60s in a couple of days. Hurry up already!!
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Life After The Nuclear Winter?
VDH writes a medium length essay on looking forward, weighing in the economy, politics, people’s pent up emotions against the current decline and hopefully end of the ‘rona as vaccinations increase and herd immunity peeks over the horizon. A good 10 minute read, wondering if the pandemic was akin to a neutron bomb.
Yet natural processes are underway that Joe Biden likely will be unable to thwart immediately by his redistributionist policies. So we should imagine that the now labeled “Trump virus” will at some point sooner than later grow dormant. The “Trump quarantine” will then lift, and with it the “Trump recession.” The “Biden vaccination” will help to end the pandemic, along with the number of those previously infected with “Trump antibodies,” as the “Biden recovery” will take off, at least for a few months.
All sorts of known unknowns follow. When will Biden’s tax hikes, new regulations, subsidized green add-ons, gas and oil curtailment, and massive accumulating debt begin to slow things down?
Will a near $30 trillion debt growing at $2 trillion a year, with a progressive laundry list of ever more “essential” entitlements, finally lead to inflation, or stagflation, or permanent zero interest rates—or an abrupt recession, or worse?
random quotation, not on cases, deaths, schools, politics, or the economy, but on the new J&J vaccine -
The way it works
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses a different method to prime the body to fight off Covid-19: a viral vector called Ad26. Viral vectors are common viruses that have been genetically altered so that they do not cause illness but can still cause the immune system to build up its defenses. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines use messenger RNA to do that.
How well it works
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is rated as highly effective at preventing serious illness and death, as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are. It is also very effective at preventing milder illness, though a bit less so than those two. It appears to do well against the highly contagious B.1.351 variant, first identified in South Africa, that has given at least one other vaccine candidate trouble.
If I had to choose one of these vaccines right now, in a get-the-shot-or-go-to-the-gulag situation, I’d take the Janssen-19. I want to keep a sharp eye on upcoming side effect stats, if they’re released.
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Meanwhile, Big Tech, um, I mean Social Media, um, I mean The Ministry of Today’s Approved Truth, continues it’s war against HCQ and IVM, effective treatments being used all around the world, that you aren’t supposed to know about or talk about. Better you should die. Seriously. Budenoside? Never heard of it, no such thing exists.
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March 01, 2021
Signs and Portents
I went to my dentist today. Hadn’t been there since November 2019. The “pandemic experience” there was kind of startling. I know, we all see this every day. And I’m working in a doctor’s office every week, and was just there as a patient the other day. Don’t know why this one just hit me, how weird life has become.
I got there a touch early, and phoned in from the parking lot as instructed. Come on up. They are the only tenant in the two story building, so the elevator goes to their reception area. I press the button with my knuckle. Nobody else is around, so I’ve got the elevator to myself. Inside the door is this sign:
Sweet. A happy golden retriever reminds us how to properly wear a face diaper.
So I go in, and this once swank office is now a plexiglass fortress like everywhere else. I’m immediately instructed to use hand sanitizer. Then I’m given a pen and a form to fill out. I do, and hand it back. The pen goes in the Dirty Pen cup. There are two other people in the waiting room. We sit far apart in the low leather chairs. I’m over on the far side by the calming falling water rock sculpture wall hanging thing. My hygienist calls me in a minute later and it’s down the hall to my exam room. They’re now got an air filter/purifier thing going, and I notice that the HVAC vents are now red lettered with “return air is UV sterilized”. Big time HVAC upgrade. She’s got her mask on behind a face shield, latex gloves, the cap thing doctors wear, a paper gown over her clothes. Wow. Must be a deadly plague going around. Pretty sure I didn’t see any piles of bodies in the parking lot, and not even one carrion vulture anywhere ... and the turkey buzzard ought to be NJ’s official bird. We’ve got billions of them, kept busy eating up all the roadkill deer.
So I suppose it was just another day at any medical office anywhere. But this time it just struck me how warped out the world we live in has become. And I really doubt that any of it is necessary or does the slightest bit of good. But it must meet “the rules”, and makes the sheep more relaxed as they line up in front of the abattoir.
Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine trial results have shown:
The vaccine provided complete protection against COVID-19-related hospitalization and death, as compared to those study participants who received a placebo.
The vaccine demonstrated 85 percent effectiveness overall in preventing severe disease, including across countries with newly emerging variants.
The vaccine demonstrated 72 percent effectiveness in the United States (and 66 percent effectiveness overall) at preventing moderate to severe disease.
...
Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine functions more like a traditional vaccine in that it puts a strain of the adenovirus into the body, according to the CDC. Adenovirus is the virus that causes a common cold.
This is a single dosage vaccine that only needs regular refrigeration, not the dry-ice super cold storage that the two mRNA vaccines have. And it’s pretty much a regular vaccine, not something more akin to gene therapy. So less scary perhaps.
US researchers analysed data from more than 7,000 homes in Boston and found more than 25,000 people lived there between March 4 and May 17, 2020. In this time frame 7,262 people caught Covid but they only passed it on to a further 1,809 people they lived with, a transmission rate of 10.1 per cent. The paper also found the likelihood of passing the virus on to someone you live with was lower for bigger hosueholds. For example, someone in a home with three to five people — one of whom was infected — was 20 per cent less at risk than a two-person house.
A local politician has come out and declared that the spike of cases is the result of “rampant indiscipline” on display by individuals exhibiting “scant regard for the COVID-19 health and safety protocols.” Dr David Stair was on record recently at a ceremony: “This crisis we face, ladies and gentlemen, is real, it is not only a health issue but it also affects the economy even more significantly, and also it has exposed the glaring indiscipline that exists in our society.” The local authority was critical of a certain “looseness” of Jamaican society and “refuses to conform to rules and regulations.”
Until now there hasn’t been much of the ‘rona down Jamaica way. So they haven’t lost all the tourism money like some places have. An outbreak there could cost them that, and of course all the illness and suffering of their population.
Tomorrow is the end of February. It’s warm enough to rain today, lightly so far. At least it isn’t more snow. Or snow yet. We’ve had 7 snow events this month, adding up to 3 feet of the white stuff hitting the ground. Enough already.
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Bowling Blogging !!
Another fun but not spectacular night at Cheap League. We had a good time socializing, yapping it up so much that we were the last teams to finish. Our side didn’t do so good last night. We managed to lose the first two games, one by a hair and one by a little. And while half my team threw nearly as awful in the third game as they did in the first game, I managed to pull out a 208 as the other team was just in play mode, shaving points off their average. So my game gave us the win, and it was enough win to give us the wood. So we went 3-4 for the night. Actually I was above average on all my games. I just missed a 600 series, running up a 595 for the night. That’s a 198 average, 36 over. Good for me.
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I’m considering having a new blog column called Oh Shut Up. It’s pretty easy finding stories to fit that category:
Parents in the La Mesa-Spring Valley, California, school district are calling for the resignation of a school board trustee who referred to plans to return to in-person learning as “white supremacist ideology.”
Reopen California Schools tweeted about trustee and board Vice President Chardá Bell-Fontenot (pictured), who said during Tuesday’s virtual board meeting that plans on how and when to bring children back into the classroom for in-person learning “seems like a very white supremacist ideology.”
A series of substantial changes will be recommended to bolster security at the U.S. Capitol following a review, including adding additional fencing, according to a report.
In addition to the recommendation of “rapidly deployable and removable” walls and fencing around the complex, the draft proposal will advise hiring more than 1,000 additional Capitol Police officers to staff the building and regional offices in members’ districts, CNN reported, citing two sources.
The price tag for the additional officers would be close to $100 million, the network reported. The fencing could be in the tens of millions.
Long-term, the review may suggest building a wall around the Capitol – although one of the sources cautioned it would likely not be permanent.
A government that cowers in fear behind walls and guns is not a legitimate government. So not only Oh Shut Up, but Just Go Away.
Maybe this isn’t the greatest blog idea. Or maybe it’s such an easy, obvious idea that I could just rename BMEWS as Oh Shut Up.
But Luis Arguello Jr. has plenty of N95s for sale — 30 million of them, in fact, which his family-run business, DemeTech, manufactured in its factories in Miami. He simply can’t find buyers.
After the pandemic exposed a huge need for protective equipment, and China closed its inventory to the world, DemeTech, a medical suture maker, dived into the mask business. The company invested tens of millions of dollars in new machinery and then navigated a nine-month federal approval process that allows the masks to be marketed.
But demand is so slack that Mr. Arguello is preparing to lay off some of the 1,300 workers he had hired to ramp up production.
“It’s insane that we can’t get these masks to the people who desperately need them,” he said.
In one of the more confounding disconnects between the laws of supply and demand, many of the nearly two dozen small American companies that recently jumped into the business of making N95s are facing the abyss — unable to crack the market, despite vows from both former President Donald Trump and President Biden to “Buy American” and buoy domestic production of essential medical gear.
I owe 3M an apology. It turns out that they’ve made more than 2 billion N95 masks this past year. But the demand is for at least 3.5 billion, so they’re still in short supply. And even though more than 30 small businesses have stepped up to the plate, government certification takes ages. So much for “war time footing”. And the hospital bean counters get in the way, unwilling to go with new vendors and always looking to save a penny if they can. So they buy from China, where the CDC says at least 70% of the masks made don’t meet spec, and many are fraudulent knock-offs. Plus “re-training” for a slightly different mask would be sooo expensive. Seriously? “Put mask on face, make sure it’s sealed around the edges.” There you go, trained. If you’re smart enough to be a doctor, surely you can figure out how to wear a damn mask.
I’m all for freedom and an open market, but maybe just maybe the government should run distribution. Of course, they’ve made a total mess out of the vaccine channels, so maybe not. But a letter, a web page, a push, a reminder, to hospitals et al to buy local first, even if it costs a tiny bit more, and here’s a list of approved companies? Could it hurt?
30 million masks going unsold? Golly, remember when Cuomo sent in his goons to raid the supplies of small businesses who had stockpiled these things? Because of suspected price gouging? Hey Amazon, how much did they sell for in bulk in 2018? Add 10%. That’s a fair price. So maybe price controls on this one specific item?
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February 25, 2021
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OK, the chicken parms came out just fine. I used an unusual kind of Italian shredded cheese, type unknown, as they’ve moved everything around again in the cheese arena in the grocery store. And the deli next to it is still only doing phone in orders, because the ‘rona. So with a lot of effort I was able to find some sliced provolone and some sliced mozzarella, and this shredded cheese stuff. Could not find the good, freshly grated parmigiana or romano. I could find the cheap Kraft stuff over in the spaghetti aisle, so I got “Italy’s #1 cheese” mystery shred instead. And it tastes pretty good.
Ok, so I’ve got 6 of them left over, so we’re set for a few more meals.
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Late Night Plumbing
Some folks get to relax after dinner and watch TV. Not me. The kitchen sink has been draining slowly the past week or so, and this afternoon it clogged solid. I did the usual plumber’s helper plunging thing, but that might have made things even worse. So do I call the drain guys now, or wait until morning, to see if they can come Friday or on the weekend, when I’m sure I’ll pay double?
First, I have to at least try. So I got out my big plastic bucket, got everything out from under the sink ... and everything lives under the sink, OMG, including a big bottle of rum I haven’t seen in months .. .tried to find my giant jaw ViseGrip pliers, which are the greatest thing ever for unscrewing pipe couplers. Naturally I couldn’t find it. It’s out in the black hole known as The Garage (cue Twilight Zone music). But I could find a medium pair of crappy ChiCom slip joint pliers, and I made that do. Got everything apart, gallons of water pouring into the bucket. Pour that down the toilet. Ok, the down pipe and the P-trap weren’t so bad, so the clog has to be down the line somewhere. Back to the garage to find my medium big electric drill (I’ve got a 3/4” hammer drill in there somewhere, used it once to drive screws into concrete), and what’s left of my homeowner grade power auger. That’s a plumbing snake with a rotating handle. It’s supposed to be 25’ long, but it took a serious kink ages ago and is now only good for about 9 or 10 feet. So I found them, brought them in, and assumed the position. Because working under a sink is the worst, most uncomfortable body position imaginable. Now do it so you can use this auger thing attached to a drill, which requires two hands to hold it and another hand or two to feed the wire. Yeah, comfort. No.
I found about 6 hard spots and carefully worked the wire spring whip back and forth across them, clearing them half an inch at a time. Finally I’d cleared the full usable length of the spring wire, and given the pipes a good internal thrashing to scrape off all the yurk. Put everything back together, ran the water enough to wash my hands 3 times ... plumbing is disgusting, what lives inside your pipes ... and it seems to be cleared. Woo Effing Hoo!! And as I’m drying myself off ... any pipe job will eat half a roll of paper towels, always ... there’s G Cat outside the kitchen slider, patiently waiting by his empty food dish. Seems the hawk ate his food, or perhaps one of those skunks came by earlier to finish off what the big bad bird left behind. So G got a whole can of fishy pate, and he chowed most of it down. Then I had to feed our indoor girls again, who come running to eat because they can tell their brother/cousin is on the other side of the glass. But they ignore him. Typical females. And have their own eats. When he was done, they were done. Cats have ESP or something.
So I didn’t put everything back under the sink. I’ll let it sit for a bit, run the dishwasher tomorrow. No leaks so far that I can find, but let’s see how it holds up. No point putting all that stuff back under only to have to pull it all out again.
So I’m giving myself a pat on the back. Good Dad Task, done. And if it works, I saved a couple hundred bucks for the weekend service call. Because pipes never clog on Monday mornings.
And now that I’ve found the rum ...
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Wish me luck, I’m making chicken parms tonight.
Actually, I’ve done it many times before, but not in a long time. And I have my new iron skillet to try out. I got one of those with the polished interior. Came pre-seasoned with flax oil, but I’ve given it 4 treatments with grapeseed oil this past week, so it should be good. And I’ve got lots of high temperature grapeseed oil to use.
Ok, time to go and beat my meat. Then season it, bread it, dip it in egg, crust it with breadcrumbs and let it chill for a while before going in the frying pan. Brown it, put it in a greased glass baking dish, parm and prov, then some sauce, then mozz on top, bake it. Who needs a recipe for that?
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I need to be faster with my phone camera.
Life In The Friggin’ Jungle, Part Eleventy Seven of The Kibble Khronicles
So I’m sitting here typing away at the PC. CLONK! What was that? CLONK!! Oh God, the lady upstairs is moving stuff around again? But it sounds like something hit the window. CLONK!! Ok, WTF is going on?
I get up to go see, and head to the kitchen to look out the slider. There’s a big red shouldered hawk eating the chunky meaty cat food she put out this morning for Ginger cat. And he sees his reflection in the window and thinks it’s a threat. So he’s grabbing a bite, then slam-pecking at the window in defense. He sees me and flies off. This bird lives in the area; I’ve seen him around for years. It’s pretty cool how such a large winged bird can fly through the tree branches so easily.
Everything that lives outside eats cat food. Except squirrels. And now I can add great big hawks to that list.
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Happy MoneyDay!
It’s not Monday, it’s Thursday. No, not Monday. Money Day. Oh.
Some might see this as a dark anniversary.
On February 25, 1862, the U.S. Congress passes the Legal Tender Act, authorizing the use of paper notes to pay the government’s bills. This ended the long-standing policy of using only gold or silver in transactions, and it allowed the government to finance the enormously costly Civil War long after its gold and silver reserves were depleted.
Soon after the war began, the federal government began to run low on specie. Several proposals involving the use of bonds were suggested. Finally, Congress began printing money, which the Confederate government had been doing since the beginning of the war. The Legal Tender Act allowed the government to print $150 million in paper money that was not backed by a similar amount of gold and silver. Many bankers and financial experts predicted doom for the economy, as they believed there would be little confidence in the scheme. There were also misgivings in Congress, as many legislators worried about a complete collapse of the nation’s financial infrastructure.
The paper notes, called greenbacks, worked much better than expected. The government was able to pay its bills and, by increasing the money in circulation, the wheels of Northern commerce were greased. The greenbacks were legal tender, which meant that creditors had to accept them at face value. In 1862, Congress also passed an income tax and steep excise taxes, both of which cooled the inflationary pressures created by the greenbacks.
Another legal tender act passed in 1863, and by war’s end nearly a half-billion dollars in greenbacks had been issued. The Legal Tender Act laid the foundation for the creation of a permanent currency in the decades after the Civil War.
We did OK last night at Old Guys League, winning 5-2. Took the first game and the last game and total wood. Nothing special from me, but I ran a few points over average for the night. I made a couple of impressive spares, but no miracle one. I did get a reverse domino strike, very rare, which is always fun. You make a lousy shot, but the pins topple slowly, one hitting another hitting another across the deck. My last two pins, the pocket of course, fell forward just as the bar came down, thus the “reverse” part. I had a good time, busting chops and mouthing off with the guys on the other team. My team still sits mostly in silence.
Of course, our wins last night may not be permanent. We bowled the team that was out last week due to the Covid, and only two of them were back last night. It’s the other two who are actually sick, and we hear that one of them is already well and itchy to be done with his quarantine period. Didn’t hear anything about the other guy other than that he’d been in contact last week, was getting treatment, and wasn’t doing so bad. Right, great. But these guys are being allowed to post-bowl indefinitely, an act of compassion because of the pandemic. I guess I’m OK with that, at least a little. But if they’re out for another week and get the same exception, it’s going to start screwing up the standings for everyone. Usually, if you make arrangements, you can post-bowl, but you have to do it before the next week’s regular bowling, or else. And nobody gets an exception for any regular kind of illness. Our guy Val was out for 3 or 4 weeks with a leg injury. We had a sub a few times, but the last time he went down as an absentee score. So let’s bend the rules too far, m’kay? [ “Smokey, this is not ‘Nam, this is bowling. There are rules.” ]
I encouraged Val to keep his hand at the 5 o’clock position instead of his usual 3 o’clock position. He’s a slow roller, more of a hip tosser with a finger jerk, and the full side hand means his ball hooks extremely in the last few feet before the pins. This makes him miss the 10 pin leave very often, and to cross over on his strike ball. I think it helped, as he was throwing in the 150s last night, instead of his usual 130s. He still needs to play a bit more angle across the lanes on his corner spares, and visualize that line, so that he doesn’t plant the ball in the gutter 20 feet before the pins. I made all my 10 pin leaves last night, and most of my 6-10s as well. So at least on spares I can throw an accurate ball.
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February 24, 2021
Yay, routine eye exam this morning. Nothing wrong with my vision, but my glasses lenses are worn out. The coatings last about 2 years, and then it’s like looking through a dirty window screen.
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February 23, 2021
Upon Reflection, It Was All Projection
Every MSM criticism of FL Governor DeSantis was untrue, and actually applied to NY Governor Cuomo. Did you expect anything different?
It never made any sense to lionize Cuomo at the expense of DeSantis, except that one had a “D” after his name, and the other didn’t, and one hated President Donald Trump, and the other didn’t. The national media also labor under the assumption that New York must be competent, while the Sunshine State is the preserve of the embarrassingly boorish “Florida Man.”
Finally, the media loved the way Cuomo talked about the pandemic at his take-charge news conferences. This was taken as the opposite of Trump’s approach, which it was — Cuomo talked a good game, while utterly botching the substance of the response, while Trump talked irresponsibly about the pandemic, while handling the substance pretty well (or, certainly, not as badly as advertised).
All this meant that the press made both Cuomo and DeSantis into something they weren’t — a hero and a villain, respectively — when it should have been obvious all along that this wasn’t remotely justified.
Anyone who hasn’t drunk the blue kool-aide knew 11 months ago that Killer Cuomo was a loudmouth sleazebag thug. And since then we’ve learned that DeSantis has been doing a pretty good job. But the MSM is inside out. If they say the sky is blue, you’d better go outside and check.
Still, it was a great picture, and Melania looked fabulous as always. After the Trumps moved in to the White House, she was swept under the rug. I’d be amazed if she got 1 or 2 covers in the whole time. Whereas Big Mike was on everything, every week.
NASA’s Perseverance rover, which landed on the surface of Mars last Thursday (Feb. 18), just beamed down its first panoramic image of the Martian surface, the agency reported today (Feb. 22).
The car-sized rover snapped the panorama on Feb. 20, 2021, just two days after landing in Jezero Crater, an ancient lake on the Red Planet’s surface, using its onboard Navigation Cameras (or Navcams). The panorama was created here on Earth with six individual images taken by the interplanetary robot’s cameras.
...
Perseverance will continue to take photos and videos on Mars, and the rover will also record, for the first time ever, audio using a microphone on the surface of Mars. The rover, which is slated to last at least two years on the Red Planet (though previous rovers have far outlived their expected end dates), is taking detailed and plentiful images for a number of reasons.
With detailed images of the Martian surface, scientists back on Earth can explore what types of rocks and material are actually in Jezero Crater. They can also use these images to support one of the mission’s primary science objectives: to find evidence of ancient life on Mars.
Scientists think Jezero Crater was once a massive lake and delta system, roughly 3.5 billion years ago. Because of this, and because life as we know it on Earth depends on the presence of things like water, they estimate that if life did exist on Mars at that time it likely lived in this ancient crater. This means that, in the panorama image taken by Perseverance, you are looking at an ancient lake bed where Martian life could once have thrived.
Pretty cool. OTOH, this looks like the worst dried up fill dirt I’ve ever seen. Yeah, 3 billion years without rain or an atmosphere will do that, I’m sure.
#####
Meanwhile, the space programs back here on our blue marble go woke. Woker? Inclusionist? Whatevs.
• Handi-nauts wanted!!European Space Agency announces call for ‘parastronauts’ with disabilities. I suppose this is a good thing, equal access and all that. Pity that they can’t select astronauts based on their abilities, and instead have to choose them based on their disabilities. Oh, sorry, reading the article it seems that candidates will already have all the Right Stuff, and some other significant usually-disqualifying physical attribute.
The European Space Agency is diversifying its astronaut pool with its first call for astronauts that is open to candidates with physical disabilities.
In this call for new astronauts, the agency’s first recruitment drive in over a decade, ESA announced that it plans to accept four to six career astronauts (who will be permanent ESA staff) and about 20 “reserve astronauts,” who could fly for shorter missions to destinations like the International Space Station.
As part of this call for astronaut applicants, ESA Director General Jan Wörner revealed during a recent news briefing that the agency is aiming to bring its first “parastronaut,” or astronaut with physical disabilities, on board, according to SpaceNews.
As part of what it calls the “Parastronaut feasibility project,” “ESA is ready to invest in defining the necessary adaptations of space hardware in an effort to enable these otherwise excellently qualified professionals to serve as crew members on a safe and useful space mission,” the agency said in a statement, adding that it will open up this opportunity for one or more applicants.
I’m thinking ADA-compliant zero gravity bathrooms. Yeah, that’ll work. Hey, no wheelchair ramps needed in zero G. No wheelchairs needed either!! This could be a cool thing maybe.
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February 22, 2021
A Truly Texas Solution: Pickup Trucks Save Lives
Texan uses his new Ford F-150’s built in generator to power his home. Worked so well every dealer in Texas with F-150s with generators rented them out to help.
“I saw myself on Fox News this morning,” he said Friday. “It has created a lot of interest. Amazing. All I wanted was a little comfort.”
As Texans finish up a week of struggling with undependable power supplies, frigid temperatures and uncertainty about clean water as frozen pipes burst, Jones isn’t the only one who sees truck ownership as essential during uncertain times.
“You always have to be prepared,” said the 66-year-old retired refinery worker.
He and others endured a blackout from Sunday to Wednesday with the help of his 2021 Ford F-150 Hybrid truck with Pro Power Onboard. Even later in the week, electricity was still sketchy, residents said.
...
Ford confirmed it had seen an 18% spike in online searches for the F-150 by late Thursday. The F-Series has been America’s bestselling franchise for ages, so seeing a traffic spike from consumers is notable.
...
Ford sent letters to its Texas dealers on Thursday encouraging them to use the hybrid trucks as needed for emergency purposes.
“Due to the urgent and unprecedented weather situation in Texas, a number of our local dealers are using all-new Ford 150s equipped with Pro Power Onboard to help in their communities. Approximately 415 trucks fall within this effort. We’re proud to pitch in to help Texas in this time of need,” Levine said.
So dealers may sell the vehicles as needed or they can qualify for $600 in financial compensation from Ford corporate if the trucks with Pro Power Onboard are used in the community for an extended period of time. It allows dealers to discount the vehicle if slightly used. How the trucks might be used locally is left up to dealers, Ford said.
Ryan Laskowski, 38, general manager of AutoNation Ford Katy in Texas said he has 17 hybrid F-150s in stock and the dealership is ready to support customers with loaner vehicles as needed.
A nasal spray vaccine that needs no dry ice levels of freezing cold would certainly be easier to distribute. That it works directly and firstly on the mucus membranes of your nose, throat, and lungs means it would get to work right away directly at the illness sites.
Altimmune says it expects that these simple and convenient handling requirements, together with the potential ability to block SARS-CoV-2 transmission, could position AdCOVID as a leading intranasal COVID-19 vaccine.
“We believe deployment of intranasal vaccines like AdCOVID will be essential to a successful global response to the pandemic,” said Vipin K. Garg, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Altimmune. “Developing vaccines that can effectively prevent transmission is a growing imperative to block the spread of disease and combat the emergence of new variants.”
FranLund JoomlaFran Lund, Ph.D.Altimmune’s Phase 1 clinical trial will evaluate safety and immunogenicity of AdCOVID in up to 180 healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 55. AdCOVID will be administered as a nasal spray at one of three dose levels.
Now let’s see how it works on people. These things take time. And I’ll see if I can find out how the vaccine works, whether it’s one of these mRNA ones or not.
AdCOVID’s point of differentiation compared to OWS vaccines: [ OWS: Operation Warp Speed. The first Trump vaccines use this mRNA thing, which frightens the daylights out of people. The next vaccine coming along uses it too, but does the mRNA thing in moth cells, not your body ]
1. Only the intranasal route of administration can prevent both infection and transmission. This is because intranasal vaccines can induce mucosal immunity ((IgA)), which is imperative for reducing transmission.
2. Convenience: AdCOVID is a single dose vaccine that may be self-administrable. Patients may not need to visit a clinic, and the vaccine could be mailed to the patient’s residence. This characteristic is well suited for children and senior patients.
3. AdCOVID is stable at room temperature for 3 months to 1 year and does not need a negative 30-70 degree cold chain like other OWS vaccines. This is well suited for developing countries and hot-climates.
4. Strong safety with mild side effects: AdCOVID and T-COVID haven’t published results from the human studies yet, and the safety data is not available. However, we can use Altimmune’s NasoVax as a benchmark; NasoVAX’s Phase IIa trial data released in March 2018 showed that it was well-tolerated at all doses tested. Because AdCOVID shares the same platform, I believe it will likely show a similar level of safety profile to NasoVax. Also, another study showed that intranasal rAd vectored vaccines have no systemic adverse events in humans.
Based on clinical experience with Altimmune’s vaccine platform technology, AdCOVID is expected to provide durable immunity of up to a year or more following a single dose and to have an excellent tolerability and stability profile.
That’s about all I could quickly come up with, although I did see a chart of a bunch of vaccines (link 2 above) and this one was not listed. So it isn’t a mRNA vax as far as I can tell, although that hard to read chart reinforces my support for the NovaVax product, a recombinant protein vaccine that shows a higher level of antibody response than either of the two mRNA vaxes currently available, but the NovaVax PREVENT-19 vaccine is just entering Phase 3 trials, as of today, with 30,000 volunteers in the US and Mexico.
About PREVENT-19, aka NVX-CoV2373
NVX-CoV2373 is a protein-based vaccine candidate engineered from the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease. NVX-CoV2373 was created using Novavax’ recombinant nanoparticle technology to generate antigen derived from the coronavirus spike (S) protein and is adjuvanted with Novavax’ patented saponin-based Matrix-M™ [ a plant based foaming agent ] to enhance the immune response and stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies.
NVX-CoV2373 contains purified protein antigen and can neither replicate, nor can it cause COVID-19.
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Off Again, On Again, Here Again, SNOW
Last week weather report was for a big but short snowstorm today. Over the weekend they changed it, not predicting snow at all. Early early this morning the forecast was for maybe a dusting. Snowflakes lightly fell from the sky beginning around 10am, but by 11 it started to really come down. It’s 1:50 in the afternoon. We’ve had 5 inches so far. And it’s still snowing, hard. I think this is snow event #7 for us this month. And there’s still a whole week of February left.
Crivens.
5pm: Is it over? Seems to have stopped, at least for now. Looks like we had 4.5”, but it’s suddenly warmer, so the snow is compacting rapidly.
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February 20, 2021
Time To Cancel Killer Cuomo
AOC Calls For Investigation
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Friday threw her support behind an investigation into the Cuomo administration’s handling of the coronavirus in New York state’s nursing residences.
Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement:
I support our state’s return to co-equal governance and stand with our local officials calling for a full investigation of the Cuomo administration’s handling of nursing homes during COVID-19. Thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers lost their lives in nursing homes throughout the pandemic. Their loved ones and the public deserve answers and transparency from their elected leadership, and the Secretary to the Governor’s remarks warrant a full investigation.
The Cuomo administration is under investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn following reports the governor’s top aide privately apologized to Democrat lawmakers for withholding the nursing home data, admitting that officials “froze” over concerns that the figures could “be used against us” in a federal investigation. The bombshell admission was first reported by the New York Post.
In the wake of the scandal, New York state lawmakers have called for Cuomo’s emergency powers, granted to him amid the coronavirus pandemic, to be stripped from him.
Autophagy, the act of the body eating itself, is so much fun to watch in politics.
Not to mention that he blamed Trump the whole time, while his pal DeBlasio ignored the hospital ship President Trump sent to NYC and ignored the emergency field hospitals that Trump also built, like the one in the Javits Center.
It’s like he was purposely trying to kill people. Well, duh. Anybody with a brain figured that one out immediately back then. It just took the Democrats ELEVEN MONTHS to catch up.
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Bulgaria joins the Ivermectin team. This makes them the third Balkan nation to get aboard in as many weeks. Slovakia and Macedonia already using in. But in Bulgaria it’s free.
Queues Form In Bulgaria To Get Free Covid Treatment
Health authorities there have accepted the position that this drug has an exceptional effect when used in the early stages of treatment after infection with coronavirus infection. It is no accident that luminaries under the direction of Assoc. Prof. Georgi Popov and Professor Ivo Petrov “Huvemek” gave a positive rating.
...
There is strong evidence that ivermectin blocks the virus’ transport protein from entering the nucleus and makes it difficult to multiply. The drug has helped tens of thousands of men and women recover from COVID.
Ivermectin is currently approved for human use in the United States, France, Austria, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, and other countries.
Let’s see how the numbers run in the Balkans over the next month. I’m also curious about their treatment protocol, as the dosage they used in their trial seemed a good bit heavier than usual. OTOH they reported viral clearance in 4 days.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another reason why we like living here in the rural red corner of NJ. We have so little crime that we’ve consolidated jails with our northern neighbor Warren County, which is even more rural and red than we are. This has saved our county more than 3/4 of a million, compared to the previous jail consolidation we had with our more suburban, more blue, neighbor to the east, Somerset County. 125,000 people live in our county; county lockup usually has 30-45 inmates. That’s around a 0.03% incarceration rate. And more than half of those criminals came from somewhere else.
Hunterdon County Sheriff Fred W. Brown reported, at the February 16thBoard of County Commissioners meeting, that the shared services contract with Warren County to house county inmates approved one year ago has been successful and has resulted in significant cost savings for the County.Sheriff Brown reported, “The first year of the change over from Somerset to Warren County for housing inmates has achieved over $765,000 in savings for the County of Hunterdon. While some of the savings was due to the pandemic with fewer number of inmates on average, the cost reductions were realized in every budget category from monthly inmate charges to inmate medical expenses and medical security costs.”Hunterdon County’s expenditure for jail consolidation”
...
The Sheriff also reported, “There have been no complaints from anyone regarding the handling of inmates. There have also been no COVID-19 positive tests for any inmates.”
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February 19, 2021
Even more bowling blogging!!
We won all 7 tonight in Cheap League. Our team did pretty well, most of us rolling a bit over average most of the time. Out opponents weren’t having that kind of luck; one was absent, two were on average or a bit below, and one was rolling poorly, blaming everything but himself.
I did fairly well. No super high game like in my other league, but fairly consistent in an above average way. So maybe that means I’m actually improving? Time will tell. I threw two 190 games and a 159, giving me a series average a hair under 180. I carry a 162 average in this league. So, happy me.
And the snow stopped around the time we left here to drive up to the alley tonight. And all these hours later, and it’s not snowing. Sweet.
In the past two presidential elections, while Connecticut as a whole was mostly blue and Democratic, Plymouth voters chose Trump by wide margins over Biden (60.4%) and Hillary Clinton in 2016 (64.8%).
Local police, Benecchi said, will protect the flag flyers’ rights as they would the rights of any citizen.
Love those Red pocket zones. We live in one 5 counties wide, and it’s ... normal. Like regular America. Outstanding!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok, today’s snow seems to be over. Ok, not over over, but reduced to light and steady, hardly dusting the sidewalks after hours of it.
And according to this op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, it might be time for the pandemic panic to be over too. It ain’t over over either, but it’s lots better. This is called “herd immunity” and it’s happening.
Dr. Makary is a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, chief medical adviser to Sesame Care, and author of “The Price We Pay.”
Amid the dire Covid warnings, one crucial fact has been largely ignored: Cases are down 77% over the past six weeks. If a medication slashed cases by 77%, we’d call it a miracle pill. Why is the number of cases plummeting much faster than experts predicted?
In large part because natural immunity from prior infection is far more common than can be measured by testing. Testing has been capturing only from 10% to 25% of infections, depending on when during the pandemic someone got the virus. Applying a time-weighted case capture average of 1 in 6.5 to the cumulative 28 million confirmed cases would mean about 55% of Americans have natural immunity.
Now add people getting vaccinated. As of this week, 15% of Americans have received the vaccine, and the figure is rising fast. Former Food and Drug Commissioner Scott Gottlieb estimates 250 million doses will have been delivered to some 150 million people by the end of March.
...
Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. would also suggest much broader immunity than recognized. About 1 in 600 Americans has died of Covid-19, which translates to a population fatality rate of about 0.15%. The Covid-19 infection fatality rate is about 0.23%. These numbers indicate that roughly two-thirds of the U.S. population has had the infection.
In my own conversations with medical experts, I have noticed that they too often dismiss natural immunity, arguing that we don’t have data. The data certainly doesn’t fit the classic randomized-controlled-trial model of the old-guard medical establishment. There’s no control group. But the observational data is compelling.
...
I have argued for months that we could save more American lives if those with prior Covid-19 infection forgo vaccines until all vulnerable seniors get their first dose. Several studies demonstrate that natural immunity should protect those who had Covid-19 until more vaccines are available. Half my friends in the medical community told me: Good idea. The other half said there isn’t enough data on natural immunity, despite the fact that reinfections have occurred in less than 1% of people—and when they do occur, the cases are mild.
...
Some medical experts privately agreed with my prediction that there may be very little Covid-19 by April but suggested that I not to talk publicly about herd immunity because people might become complacent and fail to take precautions or might decline the vaccine. But scientists shouldn’t try to manipulate the public by hiding the truth.
Funny how just a few months ago you could get banned from social media by even trying to discuss herd immunity.
Also funny how within a day or three of creepy sleepy call a lid Biden* occupying the Oval Office, the FDA came out with new guidelines about reducing the number of cycles on the PCR test, which were known to be way too high, resulting in such a huge number of false postives that the media had to invent the term “pre-symptomatic” to keep the fear rolling, as people realized that “asymptomatic” really meant “not sick at all, false positive on the test”. Not that those falsies had any impact on the Official Scary Daily Case Counts.
So to an extent I agree with this doc. Give the vaccine to those who want it who have not had the virus. Encourage widespread usage of prohylactic treatments.
And yes, we have peaked again. Here in NJ cases have been falling since around the start of the year. And we’re STILL one of the hottest spots in the nation. And while the number of cases in our dreaded “second wave” were several times more than the ones in early 2020, the number of fatalities was hardly a fourth as large.
~~~~~~~~~
Surprise! It’s snowing again. ;-(
After 4” yesterday, then a slight bit of misty rain, just enough to make a crust, we got about 15 hours off. And now it’s snowing again, with a couple more inches forecast, followed by a bit more ice. That will last into Saturday, but they’re saying we’ll get Sunday off and it will warm up. Not to worry, more snow is forecast for Monday. Today’s snow is the 6th time this month enough white stuff has fallen from the sky to accumulate.
Global warming my frozen mittens. At least we’re not in Texas. Those poor folks. But I read that Gov Abbot is saying the power is coming back at a really good rate.
An inch of snow in DC and slow Joe “calls a lid”. Which is the dumbest expression ever. I’m old enough to remember when you dropped a lid. Usually of LSD.
An Inch Of Snow And Joe Calls A Lid At 8am
The White House called a lid for Joe Biden on Thursday, after an inch of snow and sleet fell in Washington, DC.
Calling a “lid” informs reporters the president will not appear in public or travel anywhere for the rest of the day.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki plans to hold her daily 12:30 p.m. briefing over the phone, according to staff.
Wednesday night, officials announced they postponed Biden’s trip to a vaccine manufacturing facility in Michigan planned for Thursday.
Biden still has yet to publicly voice his concerns for Americans suffering in Texas, even though his predecessor former President Barack Obama voiced sympathy on Twitter for those affected by the storms.
~~~~~~~~~~
Well, might as well make the best of another snowy day.
Crivens, looks like we might get more than half a foot of snow today. The forecast changes by the minute. This was supposed to be a dusting, followed by slushy sleet tonight. But things changed ...
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Bowling Blogging
What’s This Thing??
My award for a 75 pins over average game I threw back in October
What is that thing? Several of them were handed out last night at Old Guys League. Turns out that it’s a very topical device. It’s a Covid-proof door opener and elevator button pusher, that can also be used to type out text messages. So you don’t touch anything germy, for your protection. Of course, it only works on doors with fixed handles you can pull open. It doesn’t do anything for actual doorknobs. We are living in really strange times. Ok, this one is a cheap Chinese knock-of of the fancy metal kind, but it should work just as well.
I’m glad to see it in a way. There has been a quiet rebellion against the USBC, the national bowling association. A few years ago they stopped publishing their news magazine, and they no longer give out even token awards. But people want these things, so leagues were quitting the USBC in droves. Well, it turns out that $13 of the annual $20 goes to the local branch, so they have started giving out little prizes. And that’s cool. I got a really nice little notepad last season, with an attached pen and little bookmark Post-Its and a small pad of paper. They aren’t spendy prizes, but they’re not gumball machine junk stuff either. So fine.
This new throw I’ve been trying to do worked very well last night, at least for a while. I threw a 248 in the first game. Horry Clap. 7 strikes in the first 8 frames, with a 7/ in the 5th frame. I bowled a clean game, no open frames. Smoking hot, but the rest of my team wasn’t awake yet, so my 84 over average game got us the win but by only 17 pins. I opened the second game with a turkey, XXX. And then it all fell apart. I couldn’t throw it right, I couldn’t get a strike, I couldn’t even get many spared. I rolled a 155 in that game, and we lost. Things went downhill even more in game 3, rolling a horrible 126; I didn’t even break 100 points until the 9th frame, but a spare there and 20 out of 30 in the 10th brought me up. We won that game, but lost overall wood for the night by just 4 pins. So we went 4-3.
Two teams were absent last night. We hear that one or two people on one of those teams tested positive for the ‘rona, and the other team who bowled them last week was isolating pending their test results. No names were mentioned, but I know one of the guys, who has a long list of terrible health conditions, works in a LTC kind of place. I know he gets the saliva test every week. And the other guy works for the school system. I hope it’s neither of them. I don’t know the people on the other team.
I found this news to be deeply disquieting. I know, the virus is everywhere, and this is going to happen. And while I say I don’t believe in masks, because I don’t, everyone bowls without them, although we still do some odd kind of social distancing. So I used the alley’s hand sanitizer when I was done, then used our own when I got home, then threw my clothes in a separate hot wash, scrubbed my face and hands real well, gargled with Listerine, took a heaping pile of vitamins, and did a H202 nebulizing session. I know, closing the barn door after the horse has left, but it made me feel a little better. I know that this virus is really over-hyped, but I’m getting up in years, and I’m sorta-kinda in 2 of the main co-morbidity groups. And this morning I can’t seem to get warm (it’s cold and snowing like mad. Again.) and the coffee tastes weak, even though I’m pretty sure I made it rocket-fuel strong. Ruh roh??
~~~~~~~~~~
Dizzy cat had a small seizure last night. We were on it in 2 seconds, scooping her up and getting another half pill in her. Wifely unit had given the cat her pill while I was at bowling, but not the squirt (Keppra). And she isn’t bold enough when giving the pill, so the cat may have spit it out. Hey, the cat has a mouth full of needles, gets mad, and acts like we’re hurting her. It can be a bit scary. But you have to have confidence. Me, the cat knows I’m the boss of her and am wise to her tricks. I grab her head firmly but gently, open those tiny jaws, and put that little pill halfway down her throat, hold her mouth shut, then open her up again to check that she’s swallowed it. Then she gets her 3cc of squirt, which she hates, but too bad kitteh, and that second med washes down the first one. Yeah, she’s pissed at me at first, too bad, but the cat has a brain the size of a lima bean, so she forgets about it in half a minute. I gave her her meds this morning, so she should be good. I’m not saying anything, but the last 4 times in a row that the cat has had a fit is when I was not the person giving her her medicine.
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February 17, 2021
Sad but not unexpected
Rush Limbaugh, 70, The Voice of Conservatism, Has Passed Away
Rush Limbaugh, the monumentally influential media icon who transformed talk radio and politics in his decades behind the microphone, helping shape the modern-day Republican Party, died Wednesday morning at the age of 70 after a battle with lung cancer, his family announced.
Limbaugh’s wife, Kathryn, made the announcement on his radio show. “Losing a loved one is terribly difficult, even more so when that loved one is larger than life,” she said. “Rush will forever be the greatest of all time.”
The radio icon learned he had Stage IV lung cancer in January 2020 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then-President Trump at the State of the Union address days later. First lady Melania Trump then presented America’s highest civilian honor to Limbaugh in an emotional moment on the heels of his devastating cancer diagnosis.
“Rush Limbaugh: Thank you for your decades of tireless devotion to our country,” President Trump said during the address.
He told Fox News on Wednesday afternoon: “There aren’t too many legends around, but he is a legend.”
Limbaugh is considered one of the most influential media figures in American history and has played a consequential role in conservative politics since “The Rush Limbaugh Show” began in 1988. Perched behind his Golden EIB (Excellence in Broadcasting) Microphone, Limbaugh spent over three decades as arguably both the most beloved and polarizing person in American media.
While Limbaugh made his career on radio, a speech he delivered at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2009 is widely considered one of the most important moments of his career—an explanation of “who conservatives are” that caused the crowd to erupt with chants of “USA! USA!”
“We love people. When we look out over the United States of America, when we are anywhere, when we see a group of people, such as this or anywhere, we see Americans. We see human beings. We don’t see groups. We don’t see victims. We don’t see people we want to exploit. What we see—what we see is potential. We do not look out across the country and see the average American, the person that makes this country work. We do not see that person with contempt. We don’t think that person doesn’t have what it takes. We believe that person can be the best he or she wants to be if certain things are just removed from their path like onerous taxes, regulations and too much government,” Limbaugh told the crowd.
“We want every American to be the best he or she chooses to be. We recognize that we are all individuals. We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence,” he continued. “We believe that the preamble to the Constitution contains an inarguable truth that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, Freedom and the pursuit of happiness.”
He will be greatly missed. God Bless, Rush, may you rest in peace.
The state removed the names from the voter rolls in late January because the voters no longer live in the state or did not respond to the state’s inquiries about their addresses, according to a Tuesday district court announcement. The state performed the post-election audit during a legal battle with the Honest Elections Project, an election watchdog.
Jason Snead, head of the Honest Elections Project, which supported the lawsuit, said the state’s decision to remove the voters will help combat any allegations of voter fraud. “The last thing that we want is to create a system in which you could have widespread voter fraud or where it’s impossible to debunk false allegations of widespread voter fraud because you are undermining or failing to act on the necessary measures that help to prevent fraud and bolster confidence in the democratic process,” he said.
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D.) called the move a victory for transparency.
“Since November, my administration has continued to work with election officials across our state to review and strengthen all our election processes and protocols, in preparation for 2021’s local elections,” Benson said in a press release. “When carried out transparently, accurately and in accordance with federal law, list maintenance is an important element of ensuring Michigan’s election system remains secure.”
Benson also admitted that Michigan’s list of registered voters lacked ”sufficient comprehensive efforts” to maintain its accuracy. Her office did not respond to a request for comment.
The move comes after President Joe Biden won the state by more than 100,000 votes, securing its 16 electoral votes. Benson said the state removed the voters after sending a notice prior to the 2018 elections requiring a response or some sort of voting activity. A Michigan voter who is removed from the list is able to re-register in the state before the next election.
Michigan state senator and former secretary of state Ruth Johnson (R.) said an updated voter registration roll is “the best foundation for integrity in our elections.”
“[I] think it is unfortunate that a lawsuit was needed to finally bring about what should have been routine list maintenance activities,” Johnson said.
Love that “lack of sufficient comprehensive efforts” line. In other words, they weren’t doing their jobs. And they haven’t been doing their jobs since 2018 at least. And they made no efforts to do their jobs, or it wouldn’t have taken a damn lawsuit to make this happen.
This needs to happen in every county in every state every month. Demand this from your representatives.
The process is not that complicated. Whoever is tasked with this is a public employee, and the public should know who they are. These clerks should be required to publish, every month, the latest “deltas”; this many people in our sector died, this many moved in, this many moved out, this many were convicted of crimes serious enough to suspend their voting rights, this many were adjudicated as mentally deficient, this many people have registered to vote. Furthermore, they should also be required to publish an ongoing vetting process metric; this many people, X% of the rolls, have had their records verified, proving that they are alive, that this is their primary address, that they have reached the age of majority, that they are citizens, and are not legally denied voting privileges. State standards, perhaps national standards as well, should require that a certain minimum percentage of roll validation must occur monthly, with a goal of purifying the entire roll in 18 months or less, require that a larger staff be assigned to the task if the rolls are really large, and that a certain percentage of these validations have themselves been validated. Every month. This is called accountability and transparency, and is the absolute least expectation of an honest government. The aboslute least.
This is your government, supported by your taxes. Demand value for your money. Demand an absolutely pure voter roll at all times. But be fair, and give these slackers a chance to do the job that they’ve been drawing a paycheck for, but not doing, for years and years. Um, wait a second, what am I saying? Fire those worthless bastards and find new people to do the job right this time.
One simple approach would be to throw the rolls out and start all over, with states requiring everyone to re-register in person as much as possible, every 5 years. With absolute proof of citizenship, proof of primary residence, and subject to universal background check. Put that gun check thing to work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NYC Federal Court Buildings Now Require Double Masking, Or Actual N95s
The double-mask requirement was included in the federal court district’s COVID-19 “phased re-entry plan” released on Feb. 11.
“You are required to wear either: (i) one disposable mask underneath a cloth mask with the edges of the inner mask pushed against your face; or (ii) a properly fitted, FDA-authorized KN95 (or N95) mask,” the text of the plan states.
“Gaiters, bandannas, or masks with valves/vents are not acceptable face coverings. If you do not have the approved mask(s), a screener will provide one. No one will be admitted without the proper mask(s),” it adds.
OTOH, here’s a pretty large rant against masks by “radical” Dr. Joe Mercola. He doesn’t mention the giant Norway study that showed the “controversial” results that masks had a negligible benefit, nor does he mention the Brownian Motion concept (you know, actual science) that explains why thicker masks (blown foam N95 style or multiple layer cloth and paper ones) which create a longer pathway for the airflow can catch viral particles far smaller than the mask’s actual porosity, as long as they remain fairly dry. It’s like the way static electricity makes cat hair stick to your shirt, only at a much tinier level.
Me? I don’t think masks work for beans. Certainly not the junk that the public uses. And I think the giant effort against the “pandemic” utterly failed the populace, as honest-to-God N95 masks should have been given emergency war-time priority and been churned out by the hundreds of millions. No one should be wearing a fashion mask. They shouldn’t even exist. Nor any ChiCom K95 crap either. Everyone should be able to get USA made, vented N95 masks ( because I’m not responsible for your well being, so I get to exhale comfortably. You’re in an N95 mask anyway, so why worry? ), and they should either be “free” or sold at cost. Which is about 20¢, including distribution costs.
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Daydreaming
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Trying for just a little Covid crap today:
• Macedonia joins Ivermectin wave. The Republic of Macedonia, formerly part of Yugoslavia, along the Dalmatian Coast east of Italy, has accepted Ivermectin as a treatment for Covid-19, at least for early and mild cases. Doctors can prescribe it, and pharmacies will fill those prescriptions. This makes the second European nation to get on board, after Slovakia signed up a couple weeks ago.
• Sarasota Florida starts another Ivermectin study. This one is small, privately funded, but it’s an “official” double blind RCT, the kind that TPTB stamp their feet about and demand. This one will probably be ignored because it’s only 150 patients, not the 10s of 1000s that Big Med loves. But add it to the growing pile, as the total favorable numbers just get bigger and bigger. Plus, this one is done in the USA, not in some icky darky-land, so it will be harder to dismiss out of hand ... for that reason.
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
The Conservative American voice from a red corner of an eastern blue state
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Monday - March 01, 2021 
on 03/01/2021 at 05:41 PM
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