“Get Off My Lawn,” He Shouted

Last night I watched the State of the Union Address. I watched the entire speech and the rebuttal. I learned that to our ‘representatives’ and the elites in Washington, the most most important issues are Ukraine and January 6th. In the rebuttal, I learned that the four things important to Republicans are our southern borde5r, conflicts overseas, inflation, and crime–not necessarily in that order. When the State of the Union Address was over, I felt like someone had yelled at me for an hour and a half. The speech proved that President Biden does have the energy to give an hour and a half speech. It also left many Americans wondering if there were drugs involved.

In his speech, the President needed to allay doubts about his cognitive abilities. He also needed a reset from his image as a tired old man. He did a reasonable job on both counts as long as you ignored the yelling and the slurred speech near the end of the address.

There were a number of lies told during the speech. January 6th was not an insurrection–there were no guns involved and no one has been convicted of insurrection. The President did not inherit a struggling economy–he inherited low inflation, low interest rates, energy independence, and an economy on the rebound from the Covid lockdowns. A large number of the jobs he claims to have created were simply people returning to the jobs they held before the Covid lockdowns. I would also like to note that many of the jobs currently being created are part-time jobs. During the past two months, the number of full-time jobs has significantly decreased. The President also claimed that crime is down under his administration. That is simply not true, although much of the increase in crime is due to Democrat-run cities who have eliminated bail and are not keeping criminals in jail. In New York, the National Guard has been called up to patrol the New York City subways because crime has become a serious problem there.

Also, why was there a fence around the Capitol, but not a wall at our southern border? Do fences and walls work or do they not work? There was also a comment about increasing taxes on corporation and on the wealthy. Corporations do not pay taxes–they pass them on to their customers, fueling inflation. “Taxing the rich” is a proposal that simply feeds class envy. If you want to see the results, look at the Laffer Curve. I would also like to note that during the Obama administration, General Electric paid no income taxes. Why weren’t they sharing the burden?

The speech was loud, inaccurate, and divisive. The tone was not attractive. I do wonder if this speech, which seemed more like a campaign speech than a State of the Union Address, actually won over any undecided voters.

Behind The Jobs Numbers

On Saturday, Zero Hedge posted an honest analysis of the jobs report that recently came out. It may be the only honest analysis out there. All of us know that the Biden economy is a problem for middle America–food inflation is in double digits, gas prices are lower than they have been but still a dollar or so a gallon more than they were under President Trump, and utility bills have increased dramatically in some places. President Biden may tell us that the economy is wonderful, but many of us living in it are not convinced. Just as an example, the total increase in my husband’s and my Social Security this year (after deducting the cost of Medicare) was about $115. I suspect that a lot of retirees didn’t even see that much of an increase. I can assure you that our grocery bill has gone up more than that.

The article at Zero Hedge is complicated and detailed. I suggest that  you follow the link and read it for yourselves. I will try to highlight some of it.

The article reports:

The headline data was stellar across the board, starting with the unemployment rate which once again failed to rise – denying expectations from “Sahm’s Rule” that a recession may have already started – all the way to average hourly earnings, which unexpectedly spiked from 4.1% (pre-revision) to 4.5%, the highest since last September, and a slap in the face to the Fed’s disinflation narrative…

… or it would be if one didn’t think of checking how the average rose: well, it turns out that, since average hourly earnings is a fraction, it did not rise due to a jump in actual wages but – since it is earnings over a period of time – “rose” because the BLS decided to sharply slash the number of estimated hours that everyone was workingfrom 34.3 to just 34.1, which may not sound like a lot until one realizes that the last time the workweek was this low was when the economy was shut down during covid Excluding the covid lockdowns, one would have to go back to 2010 to find a workweek that was this anemic.

The article concludes:

…Said otherwise, not only has all job creation in the past 4 years has been exclusively for foreign-born workers, but there has been zero job-creation for native born workers since July 2018!

This is a huge issue – especially at a time of an illegal alien flood at the border – and is about to become a huge political scandal, because once the inevitable recession finally hits, there will be millions of furious unemployed Americans demanding a more accurate explanation for what happened – i.e., the illegal immigration floodgates that were opened by the Biden admin.

Which is also why the Biden admin will do everything in his power to insure there is no official recession before November… and is why after the election is over, all economic hell will finally break loose. Until then, however, expect the jobs numbers to get more and more ridiculous.

Things The Mainstream Media Left Out

On Sunday, The Western Journal posted an article titled, “Most Damning Detail of Fauci’s 7-Hour Deposition Slips Through Media Blackout.”

The article reports:

During a several hour-long deposition, Republicans grilled Fauci regarding the NAIAD director’s reported collusion with Big Tech companies to censor opinions about COVID-19, according to Fox News.

More specifically, the deposition was part of Republican attorneys general Eric Schmitt and Jeff Landry’s lawsuit filed against the Biden administration in May.

The two allege that information, such as the origin of COVID-19 and the effectiveness of masking, was censored thanks to collusion between the White House and social media companies, Fox News reported.

Perhaps the most notable fact to come out of the deposition has fallen completely under the media radar.

Apparently, Fauci based his lockdown narrative on Chinese propaganda. Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, MD, one of the parties partnered with the two AGs in filing the lawsuit, walked through this revelation on Thursday.

According to Kheriaty, Fauci sent NAIAD deputy Clifford Lane to China in order to represent the U.S. for the WHO.

After meeting with Chinese officials, who falsely claimed their draconian lockdowns had effectively combated the virus, Lane convinced Fauci that the U.S. needed to follow the communist, authoritarian government’s lead.

“From the very beginning, the evidential basis for this global policy catastrophe was always paper-thin,” Kheriaty wrote. “We are now living in the aftermath.”

…Jenin Younes of the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), another partner in filing the lawsuit, explained as much via Twitter as well.

Younes concluded that Fauci was “apparently willing to base his lockdown advocacy on the observations of a single guy relying on reports from a dictator.”

Looking back on this, it seems as if China was able to cripple the American economy with a few words to an American official. The entire Covid pandemic is looking more and more like a biological weapon attack designed to weaken America and bring us closer to The Great Reset and One World Government. Those who pushed the narrative of lockdowns and school closures need to be removed from their positions. Those governors who sent Covid patients into nursing homes need to be put on trial.

Is Anyone Surprised?

Most of us quietly acquiesced to the restrictions imposed by Washington, D.C. during the Covid pandemic. What we didn’t consider, unfortunately, was the Washington, D.C., loves power and would do pretty much anything to maintain increased power, regardless of what the U.S. Constitution says. We are about to see that principle in action.

On Thursday, Legal Insurrection reported the following:

One day, I will no longer write about covid.

But today is not that day.

After two years of covid lockdowns, restrictions, and progressive virtue signaling with promises of being able to contain an uncontainable virus, the country is seeing a surge in covid cases.

Laughably, officials say they “know how to manage it.”

Top U.S. health officials warned Tuesday that a surge of COVID-19 cases driven by the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant BA.5 has arrived, but stressed that the country has the tools — like vaccines and antiviral treatments — to prevent people from getting seriously ill.

“We know how to manage it,” Dr. Ashish Jha, coordinator of the White House’s COVID-19 response, said at a virtual press briefing. “We can prevent serious illness. We can save lives and we can minimize disruptions caused by COVID-19.”

As I predicted, the world will experience wave after wave of covid until we have built up enough immunity so future variants will join the very long list of common cold viruses. In fact, in my personal experience, I know many people who are now recovering from covid infections who did not believe me when I said that we would all, eventually, get the disease.

I predict that by the time of the mid-term election Americans will be so fearful of this new variant that drop boxes for ballots will be absolutely necessary (according to the Biden administration) to protect the health of voters. Signature matching will be waived in order to reduce the number of people handling ballots, and oddly enough, the Democrats will remain in control of Congress. I hope I am wrong, but I am not sure Americans have the backbone to stand up against the Democrat power grab that is being planned to steal the mid-term election.

The article concludes:

Dr. Anthony Fauci returned to lead the White House’s public messaging on COVID-19 this week after his own battle with the disease — urging Americans to again wear masks and get boosted amid the threat of waning immunity against surging new variants.

The administration’s 81-year-old chief medical adviser has been lying low since testing positive in mid-June.

Now recovered, the quadruple-vaccinated infectious disease expert gave a series of interviews Tuesday to warn of surging cases sparked by the latest Omicron variant, BA.5 — and caution Americans that even those recently recovered from an infection are likely still at risk.

“The threat to you is now,” Fauci warned during a White House briefing Tuesday.

After doing it Fauci’s way for two years, how about doing it my way:

    • No testing, unless symptoms warrant identification of virus.
    • Promotion of early treatment options that are inexpensive and readily accessible.
    • Focusing on good diet, vitamins and exercise as preventatives against severe covid.
    • End vaccine mandates, and allow people to make the decision about the vaccine that best suit their own risks.

Finally, end the ridiculous “public health emergency,” which at this point is a “political health emergency.”

Makes sense to me.

A Study Of The Obvious

On Monday, The Conservative Review posted an article about a Covid-related study in Scotland.

The article reports:

While it’s obvious to anyone with a modicum of common sense, it’s nice to see a Scottish government-sanctioned inquiry raise concerns about the way nursing home patients were treated during the pandemic. A new 143-page report published by Edinburgh Napier University on behalf of the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry found that the severe lockdown of senior care home residents “caused great distress and is likely to have contributed in a number of cases to cognitive and emotional decline and even death.”

“The rights of those in care home and their visitors should not have been disproportionately impacted during the pandemic,” observes the inquiry regarding the violation of human rights and the lack of proportionality in attempting to shield seniors in care from the virus. “Any restriction of visiting rights must therefore have been kept under constant review throughout, assessed on an individual basis and in light of the prevailing situation regarding the pandemic in Scotland with clear and updated guidance being provided.”

The article notes:

Given the high rate of senior care COVID deaths, there really is no evidence that any of these measures worked. But the inquiry does note that the extreme isolation likely hastened the deaths of many people. “There is substantial evidence of the harm and distress caused to residents and their families by the restrictions imposed in care homes. This includes concerns that, particularly for people with dementia, being unable to maintain contact with their family exacerbated cognitive and emotional decline, potentially hastening their death.”

The report cites the heartbreaking examples detailed by a petition to the Scottish parliament by families of senior care residents:

    • Daughters were forced to watch from a distance as carers held a dying mother’s hand.
    • Elderly husbands peered through windows to see their distressed wives reaching out for a familiar touch.
    • Children and young adults were left distraught and with no comprehension as to why they were “abandoned” by their family.
    • The use of prison-style screens and intercom communication was cold, unfeeling, and gave no comfort.
    • iPads and online communication were impossible for the many residents with no understanding of Zoom calls or Facetime.

At the same time these draconian measures were put in place regarding visitors and family members, a number of states were sending Covid-positive patients from hospitals to nursing homes when they were still contagious. We need a study of not only the impact of the isolation of the elderly in nursing homeso, but also of the introduction of Covid-positive patients into nursing homes.

The Real Statistics On School Shootings

What happened in Texas this week is horrific. There were a number of mistakes made that allowed the incident to occur, but that will be sorted out later. It was a horrible event, and everyone’s heart goes out to the parents, grandparents and other family members impacted by the incident. The immediate calls for gun control are simply political grandstanding. Until we deal with mental illness among teenagers, we will not have a solution to gun violence.

On Wednesday, John Hinderaker at Power Line Blog posted an article that provides some historical context to what happened this week.

The article posted a list of school shootings where four or more people are killed since 2000. Here is the list:

2022: 1
2021: 1
2020: 0
2019: 0
2018: 2
2017: 1
2016: 0
2015: 1
2014: 1
2013: 1
2012: 2
2011: 0
2010: 0
2009: 0
2008: 1
2007: 1
2006: 1
2005: 1
2004: 0
2003: 0
2002: 0
2001: 0
2000: 0

A school shooting is a serious thing, but it doesn’t look as if it is a common occurrence.

The article continues:

So mass school shootings are rare, a total of 14 incidents in more than 22 years. In a nation of 320 million, many more people die from bee stings, lighting strikes, and so on; yet, for understandable reasons, school shootings command national attention. But their very rarity makes it hard to know what to do about them, especially since most school shooters expect to die, which makes them more or less impossible to deter. How do you prevent something that happens, in crude terms, once every 480 million man-years?

The “solutions” proposed by Democrats are laughable, obviously intended for political gain rather than practical benefit. Banning “assault rifles,” while likely unconstitutional, would do zero good. In close quarters, handguns are better than rifles, even short-barreled rifles like AR-15s. In the worst school shooting rampage so far, at Virginia Tech, the murderer used handguns. And when the ill-fated ban on “assault weapons” expired in 2004, the homicide rate went down, not up.

But there are things we can do. Would-be mass murderers may be crazy, but they aren’t stupid. They nearly always strike in gun-free zones, including schools, because they want to be sure they are the only one with a firearm. Gun-free zones are an idiotic concept and should be abolished. And if every public school in America fired a diversity consultant and hired an armed guard, they would be vastly safer. Who stands in the way of such practical reform? Mostly the teachers’ unions, which bitterly resist improvements in school security, thus selling out, as they consistently do, the interests of American children.

After noting that the number of school shootings increased after the Covid shutdowns, the article notes:

The only plausible explanation for this increase is that covid-related shutdowns of schools and businesses exacerbated mental health issues in vulnerable young people. There is a great deal of data confirming such an effect, and in the extreme case, shutdowns evidently have have led to a dramatic increase in “active shooters.” Let’s not make that foolish mistake again.

Those solutions aren’t perfect, but they are practical and would reduce the already microscopically-low incidence of mass school shootings.

This certainly represents a more rational approach than taking guns away from law-abiding citizens.

Common Sense Arrives In New York

On Monday, The New York Post reported that Nassau County (NY) Executive-elect Bruce Blakeman will not be enforcing Governor Kathy Hochul’s new statewide mask-or-vaccine mandate when he takes office on January 1.

The article reports:

“Come January 1st, my administration will move Nassau forward with a common sense approach that acknowledges the facts, science and progress made by our residents while also protecting businesses and jobs from any further damage created by government mandates,” Blakeman, a Republican, said in a statement on Monday.

“Nassau County is not in crisis, and should not be painted with the same broad brush as the rest of the state. Ninety-seven percent of adults in Nassau County have received at least their first dose of the vaccine and Nassau hospitals have adequate capacity to handle existing demand.”

A spokesperson for outgoing Democratic County Executive Laura Curran said the county will “continue responding to complaints” until she’s out of office on Dec. 31.

On Monday, WND posted an article about the effectiveness of the measures that countries and states have taken against the Covid virus.

The article at WND states:

A former adviser to the World Health Organization and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has compiled a list of more than 400 studies showing that COVID-19 lockdowns, shelter-in-place policies, school closures, masks and mask mandates have failed to curb virus transmission or reduce deaths.

“These restrictive policies were ineffective and devastating failures, causing immense harm especially to the poorer and vulnerable within societies,” wrote Dr. Paul Alexander for the Brownstone Institute in an article in which he lists the studies.

Alexander said that while nearly all governments have attempted compulsory measures to control the virus, the research shows that no government can claim they have had a “discernible impact” on “virus trajectories.”

A study published in January 2021, for example, reported “in the framework of this analysis, there is no evidence that more restrictive nonpharmaceutical interventions (‘lockdowns’) contributed substantially to bending the curve of new cases in England, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, or the United States in early 2020.”

“We’ve known this for a very long time now,” Alexander said, “but governments continue to double down, causing misery upon people with ramifications that will likely take decades or more to repair.”

Obviously, the measures being pushed in New York, California, and some other states are not based on the current information. It is good to see some of our elected officials reacting to the science rather than using the virus as an opportunity to grab more governmental power.