Tag Archives: Townhall

Fake News Gets Even More Blatant

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Yesterday Townhall posted an article about the mainstream media’s attempt to cover up President Biden’s latest gaffe.

The article reports:

When President Joe Biden spoke at Arlington National Cemetery during Thursday’s Veterans Day ceremony, his words once again became the story instead of what he was attempting to highlight. 

As Townhall highlighted on Twitter, Biden — in the course of telling a story — tried to tell an anecdote about Satchel Paige in which Biden referred to him as “the great Negro at the time.”

This is the video:

Mediate decided that the President did not refer to Satchel Paige as a Negro despite the video being available pretty much everywhere.

Mediate tweeted the following:

Generally speaking, people believe what they want to believe, but this is simply over the top. When the media reports an obvious lie that can be easily disproved, it’s time to stop paying attention to that media.

Further Shenanigans In New Jersey

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New Jersey has never been known for election integrity. I recently posted an article about some shenanigans in Essex County. Now there are some serious questions about the election of Republican Edward Durr as New Jersey Senate President.

Townhall is reporting the following today:

Leah has covered this New Jersey race extensively. It’s a state senate seat so it doesn’t get much attention but if you live in the Garden State, this is a huge upset. This is the New York Giants beating the Patriots in Super Bowl 42. New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney appears to have been beaten by a no-name Republican Edward Durr, who spent less than $100 to beat Sweeney. I’m deducting the $67 he spent at Dunkin’ Donuts. I’ve lived in New Jersey for most of my life. Sweeney owns South Jersey. He’s the labor union’s top guy there. He controls that campaign cash. No governor can get much down without his blessing either. To get clipped likes this, really highlights the miserable election night Democrats had this cycle. So, why hasn’t he conceded yet? Well, 12,000 ballots just magically appeared. Sorry, they were “recently found.”

The article concludes:

Now, no matter what happens, there will always be the aura of funny business in this election. And to no one’s surprise, it was the Democrats who started it.

As a child, I lived in Jersey City for a short period of time. I remember my parents telling me that the people walking through the cemetery with clipboards in late summer and early fall were collecting names off of the gravestones to be registered as voters in November. I don’t know if that was true, but it was definitely the urban legend of its time. I suspect there are a lot of major cities in America that would do well to clean up their voter rolls.

The Latest Version Of The Budget Bill

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Yesterday Townhall posted an article about the latest version of the budget bill the Democrats are trying to pass.

The article reports:

New items in the latest budget include prescription drug price-setting by the federal government that’s all but certain to reduce private investment in new lifesaving drugs and spends $500 million in taxpayer dollars to hire new agents for the Department of Justice’s tax division to prosecute Americans in criminal and civil court.

It also cut a previously included a provision to prohibit loans, grants, and funding from going to projects using forced labor in China, meaning the current version of the budget bill would allow taxpayer dollars to fund Uyghur Muslim slave labor.

Reappearing in Pelosi’s latest iteration of the Build Back Better budget bill is a new tax on nicotine which, if passed, would be another strike against President Biden’s promise that Americans who make less than $400,000 per year wouldn’t see a penny more in taxes.

Pelosi also brought back a tax credit for journalists, a $500 million fund for schools of medicine that prioritizes racial and other demographic factors, and the bill institutionalizes divisive language to depict Americans as racist and oppressive by claiming minorities are “denied a full opportunity” at life in America.

Here is a list of some of the things included in the bill:

  • $2.5 billion in taxpayer funding for leftist environmentalists to advance “tree equity.”
  • $900 tax credits for Americans who make less than $150,000 annually and buy an electric bike.
  • $2.5 billion for “community based violence intervention initiatives” that could undermine Americans’ Second Amendment rights without due process.
  • $10 billion for “environmental justice” credits to colleges and universities to push Green New Deal policies.
  • $250 million to procure “culturally appropriate foods” for school lunches.
  • $3 billion in taxpayer funding for “environmental and climate justice block grants.”
  • $80 billion to hire an additional 87,000 IRS agents.

There were a few things the Democrats should have learned from their election losses on Tuesday. I guess they didn’t learn them.

 

Turning A Blind Eye When Convenient

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Yesterday Townhall posted an article about the protest in Washington that few Americans have heard about. It seems odd that few Americans have heard about the protest since 78 people were arrested for obstructing traffic and three of them were charged with assault of a police officer.

The article reports:

Leftists will point to the support for Donald Trump as the right having violated the contract and that, having done so, gave them no choice but to respond with militant resistance. The right will say that five years of violence seems like a bit of an overreaction to a guy whose biggest crime was mean tweets.

And there’s no better example of this than the way the media covers right- vs. left-wing activism. A group of people waving American flags – or parents at a school board meeting! – are labeled domestic terrorists while rioters burning down buildings enjoy the Orwellian label “peaceful protesters.” 

The hypocrisy has been sickening to watch over the last five years. 

The most recent example is the far-left group’s unprecedented five-day protest in DC last week – directly attacking the Line 3 & DAPL through Minnesota. To give their violence the air of legitimacy, the group has fatuously titled their “direct action” the People vs. Fossil Fuels, even though state courts have rightfully ruled in favor of the energy- and job-producing pipeline. 

The violent rioters laid siege to the Department of the Interior’s headquarters, demanding that Biden declare a “climate change national emergency” and end all government projects that use fossil fuels. They attempted to “occupy” the building, clashed with law enforcement, and sent security personnel to the emergency room. (All while doubtless tweeting about how wonderfully tolerant they are.) 

All told, 78 people were arrested for obstructing traffic and three of them were charged with assault of a police officer. Many more were doubtless guilty of similar crimes and slipped through the cracks.

As far of the so-called progressive left’s cultural terrorism, they vandalized the Andrew Jackson statue outside of the White House. (One imagines the vandals don’t know about how the Cherokee Indians owned black slaves before the founder of the Democrat Party sent them on the Trail of Tears, but facts are immaterial at this point.) 

The article concludes:

Furthermore, the Cult of the Woke’s article of faith that pipelines are inherently evil is wrong in every way. Pipeline infrastructure is handled ethically and with as little environmental impact as possible. Transporting fuel via pipeline is greener than with trucks and safer than with ships. And if we’re going to provide for all the social programs that the violent left demands, how will we pay for them if we cripple our commercial base? 

This level of violence by radical leftists can’t be tolerated, and the hypocrisy from our failing fourth estate can’t be forgiven. Our social contract has been fundamentally violated, and if this level of urban warfare continues, then we won’t have a society at all. 

The Democrat party began its downhill slide when it chose to ignore the riots of 2020. Ordinary Americans did not want to see their towns burned down without any police intervention. If elections in the future are honest, they will reflect the fact that most Americans want to live in an orderly society with their property rights protected by the police.

How Many Times Does Someone Give You Wrong Advice Before You Stop Listening?

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Townhall posted an article today about some of the recent advice given by Dr.
Anthony Fauci. It seems as if Dr. Fauci  has gotten a bit out over his skis lately in telling Americans what they should and shouldn’t do.

The article reports:

Since the start of the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci has been preaching about avoiding crowds, so when football season at the NFL and collegiate level kicked off this year, he feared we could be stuck in “outbreak mode” with thousands of maskless fans packed together in stadiums across the country. 

“I don’t think it’s smart,” he told CNN last month. “Outdoors is always better than indoors, but even when you have such a congregate setting of people close together, first you should be vaccinated. And when you do have congregate settings, particularly indoors, you should be wearing a mask.”

Fauci wasn’t alone, of course. MSNBC host Joy Reid, looking at the crowds, told Fauci during an interview that she “thought COVID is about to have a feast.”

“I thought the same thing. I think it’s really unfortunate,” he replied.

The article shares some basic facts that contradict the prediction:

“Covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths now all down nationwide,” Brewster said. “Cases are now in steep decline in every college football state across the south, including Florida, where hospitalizations fell 64 percent last month, even as some 90,000 fans packed the [University of Florida] Gators’ stadium.”

…Last month, Outkick founder Clay Travis also pointed out that packed stadiums haven’t led to surges in Covid-19 cases.

“There’s been a 35% decline in Georgia, 32% decline in South Carolina, 30% decline in Mississippi, 22% decline in Arkansas, 23% in Alabama, 9% in Texas. Every single SEC state where millions of people have gone to college football games has not led to a feast of COVID as Doctor Fauci predicted,” Travis said, reports Fox News.

COVID is a virus. It is probably a man-made virus, which may account for the fact that it doesn’t seem to follow all of the rules that viruses follow. However, it does seem to follow the basic rule of viruses–it seeks its own survival. It is quite possible that COVID is going to be similar to the annual flu–it will be with us indefinitely, it will be serious, and for some people it will be fatal–but it will not remain the pandemic it was last year. It’s time for all of us to come out of our houses, get the shot or don’t get the shot according to our own conscience, and get on with our lives.

The Joys Of Herd Immunity

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Yesterday Townhall posted an article about the Amish community and the coronavirus. I recommend that you follow the link and read the entire article. It has a number of really good points. There is a lot of common sense in the Amish approach to the coronavirus that the rest of America and some of the American medical community has not yet discovered.

Here are a few highlights from the article:

Contrary to assurances that hospitals would be overwhelmed and bodies would be piled up in the street unless everyone locked down, masked up, and got a Covid vaccination, the Amish community – a technology-eschewing Christian group generally distrustful of government – actually managed through the pandemic just fine after a brief shutdown in early 2020.

“There’s no evidence of any more deaths among the Amish than in places that shut down tight,” Attkisson (Sharyl Attkisson, an investigative reporter and host of “Full Measure”) said. “Some claim there were fewer here. That’s without masking, staying at home, or vaccines.”

The article notes that some of the Amish customs may have created herd immunity:

…When they take communion, they dump their wine into a cup and they take turns to drink out of that cup. So, you go the whole way down the line, and everybody drinks out of that cup, if one person has coronavirus, the rest of church is going to get coronavirus. The first time they went back to church, everybody got coronavirus.

The Amish had a remarkable attitude toward the coronavirus:

Even those who believed that they had Covid tended not to get tested. Their approach tended to be, “I’m sick. I know I’m sick. I don’t have to have someone else telling me I’m sick.” Or a concern that if they got a positive test, they would then be asked to really dramatically limit what they were doing in a way that might be uncomfortable for them. So, we don’t have that testing number.

…Yeah, all the Amish know we got herd immunity. Of course we got herd immunity! The whole church gets coronavirus. We know we got coronavirus. We think we’re smarter than everybody. We shouldn’t be bragging, but we think we did the right thing.

The article concludes:

‘Herd immunity.’ The medical establishment will tell you there’s no such thing, yet somehow it’s working for the Amish, who are now thriving while much of the rest of the world still languishes under Covid tyranny.

Maybe it’s time we stop thinking of the Amish as ‘backward.’

 

The Numbers Tell The Story

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Any parent can tell you that young children are very efficient spreaders of disease. It doesn’t matter what disease–they will spread it. It has to do with the fact that they have not yet learned the concept of personal space or some of the basic health rules. There is a reason most of the childhood acquired diseases are acquired in childhood. However, even though the coronavirus does not seem to be focused on the younger Americans, there are those who insist on putting masks on them. There are a number of reasons why that is a bad idea, but let’s just look at the science.

Yesterday Townhall reported the following:

NEW PEDIATRIC CASES:

New COVID-19 cases for children ages 5-17 – the vast majority of the school-aged population – have decreased 79% in the month of September, in the 54 Florida counties where school districts have no masking policy or are following state law by honoring the parental opt-out rule.

For comparison, COVID-19 cases for children 5-17 in the 13 districts that imposed forced-masking in schools have decreased 77%, on average.
 
POSITIVITY RATES:

The 54 districts with opt-outs or no mask policy have seen an average decrease of 65% in positivity from week ending Aug. 19 (when school started) to the week ending Sep. 30.

The 13 districts that broke the law to impose forced-masking have seen an average decrease of 67%.
 
That is to say, the data for this school year to date shows no impact of forced masking in schools on pediatric COVID-19 prevalence. This is not surprising, since there were no statistically significant differences in case rates in forced-masking versus mask-optional schools during the 2020-21 school year in Florida.

The article also notes:

Meanwhile, Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to decline across the state, despite largely maskless schools and no governmental vaccine mandates (via press release).

The article concludes:

As usual, the hard data supports sanity and normalcy not just in America’s schools, but for everyone else as well.

It is quite possible we are seeing the end of this epidemic. I am not so sure we will ever see the end of the government’s quest to use fear as a tool to acquire more power.

When You Leave The Door Open Or Invite Guests You Don’t Know…

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Yesterday Townhall reported that a female soldier in New Mexico was attacked by a group of male Afghan refugees.

The article reports:

“We can confirm a female service member supporting Operation Allies Welcome reported being assaulted on Sept. 19 by a small group of male evacuees at the Doña Ana Complex in New Mexico,” Fort Bliss Public Affairs released in a statement Friday. “We take the allegation seriously and appropriately referred the matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The safety and well-being of our service members, as well as all of those on our installations, is paramount.”

“Task Force-Bliss is also implementing additional security measures to include increased health and safety patrols, additional lighting, and enforcement of the buddy system at the Dona Ana Complex. We will cooperate fully with the FBI and will continue to ensure the service member reporting this assault is fully supported,” the statement continues.

Lawmakers are reacting to the situation and reminding Americans that President Biden’s hasty exit from Afghanistan, when thousands of Afghans were shoved on evacuation planes without vetting, is to blame.

Maybe we should look at the cultural norms of a country before we allow them to immigrate to America in large numbers. Afghanistan culture has a definite lack of respect for women and regards pedophilia as acceptable.

The article also includes the following:

Earlier this week two Afghan men being housed in Wisconsin were indicted on federal charges for domestic violence and child rape.

“In unrelated cases, two individuals have been charged with crimes while at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. Bahrullah Noori, 20, is charged with attempting to engage in a sexual act with a minor using force against that person, and with three counts of engaging in a sexual act with a minor, with one count alleging the use of force. The indictment alleges that the victims had not attained the age of 16 years and were at least four years younger than the defendant,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin released Wednesday evening. “Mohammad Haroon Imaad, 32, is charged with assaulting his spouse by strangling and suffocating her. The indictment alleges that the assault occurred on September 7, 2021.”

How do you do vetting for cultural differences–in Islam, beating your wife and having sex with children is acceptable.

 

When Your False Flag Event Doesn’t Happen

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I firmly believe that the rally held in Washington, D.C., yesterday was supposed to be a ‘false flag’ event. I am sure that those on the political left were hoping a large crowd would show up and act like the ‘protesters’ at Black Lives Matter protests. Despite the fact that the rally was for a good cause–there are people in Washington, D.C., jails that as you read this are being denied their Constitutional rights–the rally was small. Many people who are aware of the situation of the January 6th political prisoners were not willing to take a chance on being part of a ‘false flag’ event. Although that was probably wise, it is obvious that a damper is being placed on the free speech of conservatives.

Today, Townhall posted some tweets about the rally. Below are two of them.

 

 

Is The Uniform Code of Military Justice Still In Effect?

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The media is abuzz with stories about Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Mark Milley and his conversations with the Chinese Communists.There are a few things that need to be emphasized about this story. In America our military is led by a civilian–the President. Our military is answerable to the President as the President is the Commander-in-Chief. In our military there is a chain of command that all members of the military are supposed to honor. In his conversations with the Chinese Communists, General Milley went outside his chain of command. That is the problem.

I have five questions about the uproar over General Milley:

1. Is it true?

2. If it is true, why did Bob Woodward not disclose it before now?

3. Is this a set up to make General Milley the fall guy for the Afghanistan debacle?

4. Does the military still honor the Uniform Code of Military Justice?

5. Is this dust-up being put out to distract us from something else?

Yesterday Townhall posted an article about what General Milley has done.

The article reports:

New reporting from The Washington Post, detailing the contents of a new book, shows General Mark Milley reassured China’s People’s Liberal Army General Li Zuocheng that he would give the communist country a heads up if President Donald Trump launched an attack in the final months of his presidency. He did so in a series of reported phone calls and reassured Li he would stand between Trump and an attack on Chinese assets. 

What would have been the reaction if someone in the Roosevelt administration had told the Germans he would warn them before the allies invaded France? On the surface, this looks an awful lot like treason.

The article quotes The Washington Post:

In a pair of secret phone calls, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, assured his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army, that the United States would not strike, according to a new book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward and national political reporter Robert Costa.

One call took place on Oct. 30, 2020, four days before the election that unseated President Trump, and the other on Jan. 8, 2021. 

“General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay,” Milley told him. “We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you.”

In the book’s account, Milley went so far as to pledge he would alert his counterpart in the event of a U.S. attack, stressing the rapport they’d established through a backchannel. “General Li, you and I have known each other for now five years. If we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise.”

Believing that China could lash out if it felt at risk from an unpredictable and vengeful American president, Milley took action. The same day, he called the admiral overseeing the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the military unit responsible for Asia and the Pacific region, and recommended postponing the military exercises, according to the book. The admiral complied.

Milley also summoned senior officers to review the procedures for launching nuclear weapons, saying the president alone could give the order — but, crucially, that he, Milley, also had to be involved. Looking each in the eye, Milley asked the officers to affirm that they had understood, the authors write, in what he considered an “oath.”

The last paragraph is troubling. That’s not officially a coup, but it sure sounds like one. General Milley was putting himself in a position where the senior officers needed his approval to follow the orders of the Commander-in-Chief. That is not the way it is supposed to work. This is nuts.

Recognizing “Spin” Preparation

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One of things I have recently noticed and wondered about is the recent statement from the Biden administration that all Americans who want to come home from Afghanistan will get home. That’s an interesting wording of the concept of no man left behind. On Thursday, Katie Pavlich posted an article at Townhall that might provide some insight into the wording of that statement.

The article reports:

“Any American who wants to come home, we will get you home.” – President Joe Biden, August 20, 2021 

That’s been the talking point from a number of Biden administration officials over the past week as the situation in Afghanistan continued to deteriorate. If you’re an American who wants to leave Afghanistan, Biden will ensure your departure. This is a lie. 

A close look at the language, combined with the official policy that the United States will be leaving the country on August 31 even as the airport in Kabul is blocked off by miles of Taliban checkpoints, gives away Biden’s strategy. 

Americans can’t safely get to the airport and the administration knows it. They’ve had their passports confiscated and destroyed by the Taliban. They’ve been beaten in their attempt to follow instructions from the U.S. government. 

When the mission to get Americans out of the country fails, Biden will blame the Americans for “not wanting to leave” or for not properly getting in touch with the State Department to file their paperwork. Keep in mind the Taliban has seized cell towers and shut off electricity in a number of areas, making it impossible to receive updated instructions from the U.S. government about how to proceed. 

For days, the State Department has told Americans to go to the airport, not to go to the airport, to go to the airport, and yet, they are already being blamed for their demise. 

“People chose not to leave. That’s their business,” Acting U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ross Wilson told CBS News in an interview this week.  

The article notes:

“The likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely,” Biden said during a press conference on July 8.

This was a lie and Biden told it anyway while Americans stood in harm’s way.

In just a few short days, pointing fingers at stranded Americans will continue to be the cynical, despicable excuse for the administration’s decision to leave our fellow countrymen behind. It will be invoked after President Biden allowed the Taliban to overtake the country in record time, abandoning Americans behind enemy lines.

This is the money statement:

“We will continue to evacuate as many people as we can until the end of the mission,” Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby said, indicating the mission is to leave on August 31, not to get Americans out.

That is not what our mission should be. Our mission should be to remove those Americans and our allies who are in danger.

The article concludes:

By August 31, Americans who can’t make it to the airport due to suicide bombings, Taliban checkpoints and Biden’s incompetence, will be abandoned. Without U.S. troops in the country to get them out, they are all but doomed.

The only hope I see in this is that there are a number of private groups working hard to get Americans and American allies out of Afghanistan. That is not the way it should be, but at least that fact might lessen the number of people who are being killed by the Taliban now or will be killed by the Taliban when we leave.

Lying With Statistics

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Yesterday Townhall posted an article about the recent media hysteria about the coronavirus. The virus is serious, and we need to use common sense in dealing with it, but unwarranted hysteria is not common sense.

The article reports:

There was a COVID death spike last week. Run for your lives! Put your masks back on—and be afraid. That was the narrative the liberal media peddled last week because without Trump around no one watches anything they report. We’ve reached peak hysteria over the Delta variant, which isn’t more lethal, nor does it make you sicker. The reports from an internal CDC memo that suggests otherwise should be ignored; it was rejected by peer review.

The article reports some background information on the death spike as reported  by The New York Post:

A massive 300 percent hike in nationwide COVID-19 deaths recorded Friday by Johns Hopkins University was skewed by states dumping data – that in one case dated back as far as last spring, according to a report.

The university, which has been a trusted source of coronavirus information since the start of the pandemic, reported that US deaths surged from 321 on Thursday to 891 on Friday, as the Delta variant quickly spreads throughout much of the country.

Florida was responsible for a huge chunk of the increase, with 409 of Friday’s death toll coming from that state, according to The Daily Mail. However, Florida only releases weekly data on Friday, making the day-to-day totals reported by the university unclear and overblown, the outlet said.

Figures released by Delaware also added to the surging daily increase, as that state announced 130 new deaths Friday, the tabloid reported. The dramatic figure was misleading because those deaths actually occurred between mid-May 2020 and late last month, and were added after The First State reviewed death certificates, according to the article.

Data from Michigan, which only releases statistics biweekly, also reportedly added to the distorted total.

The true day-to-day increase of nationwide COVID-19 deaths was actually only 2.5 percent, according to the outlet.

Somehow I don’t expect the mainstream media fact-checkers to bother to fact-check the original claim of a 300 percent increase in deaths. Any increase in deaths is not a good thing, but being truthful would help. All of us need to learn to be our own fact-checkers.

Fear Is A Powerful Tool That Government Bureaucracies Use Well

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On Tuesday, Townhall posted an article about the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis. At this point there have been a lot of mixed messages and a lot of confusion about the seriousness of the virus and how the treat it effectively. Actually, the information on how to treat the virus effectively has been pretty much left out of any news you hear about the virus.

The article reports:

Well, take a break from being mad and read what Johns Hopkins doctor Dr. Marty Makary wrote about new studies about natural immunity which is ignored by Fauci and company. He also rehashed an old Fauci statistic that shreds the current push for new mask protocols and possible lockdowns (via WSJ) [emphasis mine]

The news about the U.S. Covid pandemic is even better than you’ve heard. Some 80% to 85% of American adults are immune to the virus: More than 64% have received at least one vaccine dose and, of those who haven’t, roughly half have natural immunity from prior infection. There’s ample scientific evidence that natural immunity is effective and durable, and public-health leaders should pay it heed.

Only around 10% of Americans have had confirmed positive Covid tests, but four to six times as many have likely had the infection. A February study in Nature used antibody screenings in late summer 2020 to estimate there had been seven times as many actual cases as confirmed cases. A similar study, by the University of Albany and New York State Department of Health, revealed that by the end of March 2020—the first month of New York’s pandemic—23% of the city’s population had antibodies. That share necessarily increased as the pandemic spread.

[…]

Natural immunity is durable. Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis reported last month that 11 months after a mild infection immune cells were still capable of producing protective antibodies. The authors concluded that prior Covid infection induces a “robust” and “long-lived humoral immune response,” leading some scientists to suggest that natural immunity is probably lifelong. Because infection began months earlier than vaccination, we have more follow-up data on the duration of natural immunity than on vaccinated immunity.

[…]

Skeptics of natural immunity point to Manaus, capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, where reports in January suggested a wave of re-infections despite herd immunity. But the initial estimate of those infected was incorrect because it was based on antibody testing among those who donated convalescent plasma—an unrepresentative subgroup of the population. A follow-up study debunked the re-infection hypothesis and found only three confirmed re-infections in the entire state, whose population exceeds four million. Other studies have confirmed that re-infections are rare and usually asymptomatic or mild.

Some health officials warn of possible variants resistant to natural immunity. But none of the hundreds of variants observed so far have evaded either natural or vaccinated immunity with the three vaccines authorized in the U.S.

Should the previously infected be vaccinated? My clinical advice to healthy patients with natural immunity is that one shot is sufficient, and maybe not even necessary, although it could increase the long-term durability of immunity. A University of Pennsylvania study of people previously infected with Covid found that a single vaccine dose triggered a strong immune response, with no increase in that response after a second dose. A separate study from New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine concluded that “the antibody response to the first vaccine dose in individuals with pre-existing immunity is equal to or even exceeds the titers found in naïve”—never-infected—“individuals after the second dose.”

[…]

Dr. Fauci said last Aug. 13 that when you have fewer than 10 cases per 100,000, “you should be able to open up safely and clearly.” The U.S. reached that point in mid-May. It’s time to stop the fear mongering and level with the public about the incredible capabilities of both modern medical research and the human body’s immune system.

When was the last time you heard anyone who was pressuring people to get vaccinated talk about the natural immunity that comes from having recovered from the disease? When was the last time you heard anyone who was pressuring people to get vaccinated talk about the inexpensive treatments for the coronavirus? It’s time to have those discussions.

Only Granting Asylum To Future Democrat Voters

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Yesterday Townhall posted an article highlighting the double standard in refusing asylum to Cuban refugees.

The article reports:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was highly critical of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies over the weekend while in Texas, asserting that the administration has a “double standard” on allowing Cuban migrants into the country.

“They have a hundred-times stronger case for political persecution leaving a communist dictatorship than the other migrants who are coming across the border who are basically coming across the border because they want more economic opportunity,” DeSantis told host Jesse Watters Saturday on Fox News’ “Watters World.”

“It’s a double standard, but honest, it’s something we expected because I do think a lot of their border policies are very political in nature in its intent,” he continued.

So what is the difference between the Cubans and the caravans making their way through Mexico? The Cubans are fleeing communism. They understand the dangers of both communism and socialism. The caravans are being financed. Many of the people in them are coming to America to become part of the welfare state. Historically, Cuban immigrants in southern Florida have prospered. They have set up businesses and accessed the ‘American dream.’ Historically South American and Mexican refugees have taken low income jobs and put downward pressure on the wages of lower-income Americans. Which group of people has benefited America more? I am not saying that we should close the door on South American and Mexican migration, but we need to put standards on immigration so that the American safety net is not overwhelmed. It is a reasonable guess that those funding the caravans are hoping for a Cloward-Piven moment in America. For whatever reason, there are a lot of very rich and powerful people who want to end American sovereignty and convert America to a socialist country. The American electorate is an obstacle to their plans, so they are planning to change the American electorate.

Things That Make Democrats Very Nervous

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Yesterday Townhall posted an article about Tuesday’s special election in Georgia.

The article reports:

Georgia Republicans got a big win over Democrats in a special election for a state House seat on Tuesday night. Republican Devan Seabaugh defeated Democrat Priscilla Smith in the election for House District 34 with 63 percent of the vote.

Former Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), who recently launched a nonprofit organization aimed at registering and reaching voters, Greater Georgia, celebrated the GOP’s win. Loeffler’s group played a major role in turning out Republican votes.

The article concludes:

While Republicans saw major turnout and success, failed 2018 gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and her organization, Fair Fight, were handed a loss on Tuesday night.

The 63 percent of the vote is consistent with the 2016 election in that district, when Republican Bert Reeves defeated Democrat Justin Holsomback with a percentage of 63.71 percent to 36.29 percent.

As much as 63 percent is a great percentage, it seems to me that the election simply prevented Stacey Abrams and her organizers from gaining ground.

The Biden Administration’s Policies Could Be Very Expensive For Taxpayers

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Townhall is reporting today that a Canadian company is suing the Biden administration over the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The article reports:

Weeks after TC Energy officially terminated the Keystone XL pipeline because President Biden revoked a key permit, the company announced it is seeking billion in damages from the U.S. government.

On Friday, the company behind the project filed a Notice of Intent with the State Department, Office of the Legal Adviser, “to initiate a legacy North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) claim under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement to recover economic damages resulting from the revocation of the Keystone XL Project’s Presidential Permit.”

TC Energy is seeking over $15 billion due to the U.S. government’s “breach of its NAFTA obligations.”

In pulling the order, Biden said that “leaving the Keystone XL pipeline permit in place would not be consistent with my Administration’s economic and climate imperatives.”

The article concludes:

“Since his first day in office, President Biden has made it his mission to undo all the progress of the previous administration, with complete disregard for the Constitutional limits on his power,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “His decision to revoke the pipeline permit is not only unlawful but will also devastate the livelihoods of thousands of workers, their families, and their communities.”

There are also 21 states suing the Biden administration for the cancellation. Unfortunately, if these lawsuits are successful, American taxpayers will be paying the bill.

Elections Matter In Economics

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Townhall posted an article today about the economic recovery in America after the coronavirus.

The article reports:

The U.S. economy added 850,000 jobs in June while the unemployment rate rose to 5.9 percent according to the latest data released Friday morning from the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Among the industries with the most notable growth — as more states lift restrictions put in place due to the Wuhan coronavirus — were leisure and hospitality, public and private education, and professional and business services.

The article notes the impact of the increased unemployment benefits:

The stronger-than-expected job growth is due in part to states that have ended expanded or extended federal unemployment benefits that often incentivized citizens to stay out of the workforce. As the Wall Street Journal noted recently, the number of Americans taking unemployment benefits is “falling at a faster rate in Missouri and 21 other states canceling enhanced and extended payments this month, suggesting that ending the aid could push more people to take jobs.”

As June’s employment data demonstrates, ending the extended benefits did push more people to enter the workforce because, for some, it was no longer more financially beneficial to avoid returning to work. 

The article concludes:

These states, unsurprisingly, are almost all led by Republicans. Even Politico noted that, when it comes to the 15 states that have already returned to pre-Wuhan coronavirus economic activity, “12 are led by Republican governors.” On the flip side, “the 10 states reporting the lowest levels of activity since January 2020, seven — including New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois — are run by Democratic governors.”

The data from these states, along with today’s jobs report for June, suggest conservative leadership and policies are a significant predictor of a strong economic recovery.

The Republican National Committee recently heralded the economic growth in GOP-led states based on Labor Department data that found 18 of the top 20 states for jobs recovered since COVID hit have Republican-controlled legislatures, as do 17 of the 20 states with the lowest unemployment. 

The workforce participation rate is unchanged from May–it is holding at 61.6 percent.

About That Mask Thing

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On Tuesday, Townhall posted an article about the use of facemasks on children, a practice that has been common during the coronavirus epidemic.

The article reports:

We’ve been told for well over a year that widespread forced public masking should be implemented because, even if only moderately to slightly to negligibly effective at curbing the spread of COVID-19, there are ZERO drawbacks. 

“What’s the harm?” they ask.

“It’s only a minor inconvenience,” they bleat.

“If it saves ONE LIFE, it’s worth it!” they implore.

Meanwhile, we on Team Reality have not only continued to point to real-world data that shows masking to be entirely ineffective, we’ve also maintained that forced public masking, especially long-term, has negative societal and even health ramifications that the powers-that-be are all-too-happy to ignore in subservience to their newfound face mask god. 

…Well, one group of Florida parents sent a batch of masks worn by their children to a lab to find out. And yeah, you’ll probably need to make sure you aren’t eating dinner anytime soon before you digest THESE results.

They reported the results of their efforts in the form of a press release:

Gainesville, FL (June 16, 2021) – A group of parents in Gainesville, FL, concerned about potential harms from masks, submitted six face masks to a lab for analysis. The resulting report found that five masks were contaminated with bacteria, parasites, and fungi, including three with dangerous pathogenic and pneumonia-causing bacteria. No viruses were detected on the masks, although the test is capable of detecting viruses.

The analysis detected the following 11 alarmingly dangerous pathogens on the masks:

• Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumonia)

• Mycobacterium tuberculosis (tuberculosis)

• Neisseria meningitidis (meningitis, sepsis)

• Acanthamoeba polyphaga (keratitis and granulomatous amebic encephalitis)

• Acinetobacter baumanni (pneumonia, blood stream infections, meningitis, UTIs— resistant to antibiotics)

• Escherichia coli (food poisoning)

• Borrelia burgdorferi (causes Lyme disease)

• Corynebacterium diphtheriae (diphtheria)

• Legionella pneumophila (Legionnaires’ disease)

• Staphylococcus pyogenes serotype M3 (severe infections—high morbidity rates)

• Staphylococcus aureus (meningitis, sepsis)

Half of the masks were contaminated with one or more strains of pneumonia-causing bacteria. One-third were contaminated with one or more strains of meningitis-causing bacteria. One-third were contaminated with dangerous, antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens. In addition, less dangerous pathogens were identified, including pathogens that can cause fever, ulcers, acne, yeast infections, strep throat, periodontal disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and more.

The face masks studied were new or freshly-laundered before wearing and had been worn for 5 to 8 hours, most during in-person schooling by children aged 6 through 11. One was worn by an adult. A t-shirt worn by one of the children at school and unworn masks were tested as controls. No pathogens were found on the controls. Proteins found on the t-shirt, for example, are not pathogenic to humans and are commonly found in hair, skin, and soil.

The article included the following graph:

I have no idea how to handle this information if you have a child in a school that requires them to wear an mask all day, but the data is frightening. What happens to a child with a weak immune system that is forced to wear a mask all day?

This Would Be Funny If It Were Not Tragic

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Townhall is reporting today that Secretary of State Antony Blinken has asked the United Nations not to give the $75 million in aid America is giving them for aid in the Gaza Strip to Hamas. Where does he think the money to build the terror tunnels into Israel came from? Some of it came from Iran, but much of it came from international humanitarian aid that was never used to help the people of Gaza.

The article reports:

“There’s a recognition we need to continue to discuss and have conversations with our key partners in the region, who played an instrumental role in getting to the point we reached last Thursday, and also to discuss the path forward on rebuilding Gaza,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki recently said. “And as you noted, Mike, we know that won’t be easy, in part because we want to prevent funding from going to Hamas.”

While the West lines up to write “relief” checks, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is boasting about endless support from Iran.

“We have our own funds. We have our own income. We don’t need to take any of the money from the fundings that come for reconstruction. In this case I’d also like to say we need to thank the Islamic Republic of Iran which also has not stopped at any point of assisting Hamas and other Palestinian factions with money and arms, with experience and support,” Sinwar said during a press conference this week in Gaza. “They were with us. Really although they weren’t present in person, they were with us. Through that capability that they gave us, we were able to hit the enemy and terrorize the enemy.”

Is Secretary of State Blinken really naive enough to think that the humanitarian aid will actually be used for humanitarian purposes?

When You Want To Change The Political Climate But You Don’t Want To Move

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On Wednesday The Epoch Times posted an article about a recent vote in several counties in Oregon.

The article reports:

Several counties in Oregon on May 18 voted to consider joining the state of Idaho, which is part of a long-shot movement to break away from the state that has long been dominated by politicians in Portland.

Voters in Malheur, Sherman, Grant, Baker, and Lake counties approved various measures that require county officials to take steps to look into moving the Idaho border west to incorporate the counties.

The grassroots group Move Oregon’s Border for a Greater Idaho is aiming to have the eastern counties—which are mostly rural—join Idaho because they believe they would be better off with Idaho’s more conservative political leadership.

“This election proves that rural Oregon wants out of Oregon,” lead petitioner Mike McCarter said in a statement to local media outlets on May 18. “If Oregon really believes in liberal values such as self-determination, the Legislature won’t hold our counties captive against our will. If we’re allowed to vote for which government officials we want, we should be allowed to vote for which government we want as well.”

McCarter told the Oregonian last year that the bid to join Idaho is more of a “lifestyle/values judgment” that separates rural and urban residents.

The timing of this is very interesting. On Wednesday, Townhall posted an article about some of the items contained in President Biden’s infrastructure bill.

Townhall reports:

If you saved your money and bought a house in the suburbs, your investment and lifestyle are under attack. President Joe Biden is pushing to end single-family zoning. The biggest item in Biden’s infrastructure bill, now being negotiated with Congress, is $213 billion he claims will to increase affordable housing. Biden wants to put the federal government in charge of zoning and distribute apartment buildings throughout single-family home neighborhoods.

That $213 billion is nearly twice the spending on roads and bridges. It will change towns everywhere and torpedo the American dream of a house with a patch of lawn.

Biden’s plan should be called “hypocrisy housing.” Its backers are hypocrites. Biden himself owns a four-acre lakefront home in upscale Greenville, Delaware, where there is absolutely no public housing, affordable housing or rentals that accept housing vouchers. And don’t expect any to be built next door to the Bidens.

Democrats realize that people who live in the suburbs do not vote for them, so they are planning to dilute the suburban vote by moving people from the city, with the mindset of city residents, there. This would dramatically change America.

The article at The Epoch Times concludes:

Throughout the history of the United States, changing state lines has been a rare occurrence—all taking place before the 20th century. In 1792, Kentucky was created from Virginia’s territory, Maine was created from Massachusetts in 1820, and West Virginia in 1863 was admitted into the United States when Union states and counties separated themselves from the Confederate ones during the Civil War.

Voters in Oregon’s Harney and Douglas counties will hold a vote on similar measures in upcoming elections.

McCarter told media outlets that Idaho state Reps. Barbara Ehardt and Judy Boyle, both Republicans, are planning to introduce a bill about a possible relocation of the Idaho–Oregon border in January 2022.

I wonder if we will see more of this in the future.

 

Fudging The Numbers (As Usual)

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Townhall posted an article today about President Biden’s plan to pay for his massive spending programs. He plans to close the gap between what taxpayers legally owe and what the IRS actually takes in.

The article reports:

Commissioner Rettig’s testimony appeared to provide groundbreaking new information that the tax gap has reached $1 trillion, with major media outlets like the New York Times taking this statement as gospel — even though it’s nearly three times what had been previously estimated by the IRS. Rettig’s statements were soon followed by a plan from Biden to raise $780 billion over the next decade by spending $80 billion on increased enforcement.

But the context of Rettig’s statements show that it was not a new agency estimate. Rettig was asked by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) to state his “personal opinion” on the size of the tax gap, and responded by saying that “it would not be outlandish to believe” that the tax gap “could approach or possibly even exceed $1 trillion.” Note also that the IRS Commissioner made this statement while trying to secure increased agency funding.

While this statement may be interesting, to portray it as equivalent to an official IRS estimate is absurd. Less than two years ago, the IRS estimated that, after factoring in enforcement and late payments, the net tax gap was $381 billion. Clearly the gap hasn’t more than doubled in just over 18 months.

The article notes that increased funding of the Internal Revenue Service would bring in some additional revenue, but nowhere near what is needed:

The government’s official budgetary scorekeeper, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), does believe that some additional revenue could be raised by increasing tax enforcement spending. But the CBO estimates that increasing IRS funding by $40 billion would increase collections by just $103 billion over ten years. Based on that, the Administration’s claim that it could raise $700 billion on net is ludicrous.

The article concludes:

All of this means that closing the tax gap is not as simple as grabbing revenue the IRS thus far simply has not bothered to collect. It would cost money and would end up targeting a broad swath of taxpayers, not just the wealthiest. That means auditors combing through the lives of thousands of Americans, many of whom would be lower income. And it would probably yield far less than Americans are being led to believe.

Biden’s promises of easy revenue from tax cheats are overblown at best. While enforcing owed tax payments isn’t inherently bad, throwing more money at the problem than the IRS would know what to do with is impulsive and wasteful.

Has anyone considered that the way to cut the deficit might be to examine the budget for wasteful spending (and end earmarks again)?