New York Governor Kathy Hochul Is Delusional

January 6th, 2022

This caught my eye:

The Democratic Governor of New York declaring that she’s going to make New York “the most business-friendly State in the nation” is like Danny DeVito declaring that he’s going to become an offensive lineman for the New York Jets; nothing in the rules actually forbids it, but everyone involved knows it’s not going to happen.

New York is generally ranked as the second most business-hostile state in the nation behind California. Texas is generally ranked as the most business-friendly, followed by Florida.

New York is one of the most tax-unfriendly states in America, always in a race with California and Illinois to see who can put the biggest bite on breadwinners. New York state income tax starts at 4% on the first dollar earned, and goes up to 10.9%. No wonder wealthy New Yorkers are fleeing the state as quickly as they possibly can.

Texas and Florida have no state income tax.

Texas and Florida are also both right-to-work states, but in New York workers can still be required to join a union. Hochul will never agree to make New York a right-to-work state because money from unions is the lifeblood of the increasingly bankrupt Democratic Party.

Texas has a minimum wage of $7.25. New York has a minimum wage of $13.20, third highest in the nation behind California and Massachusetts. This hardly entices labor-intensive industries to set up shop in your state.

New York ranked second to last (again behind California) for net out-migration in 2020, with 352,185 leaving the state. Florida and Texas ranked 1-2 in net in-migration.

New York citizens and companies are fleeing her failing, high-tax, high-regulation state in droves, and Kathy Hochul thinks New York can be “the most business-friendly State in the nation?”

That’s not happening. And it’s not happening not because it’s impossible, but because Hochul’s Democratic Party (which currently controls the state senate and the assembly in addition to the governor’s mansion) doesn’t do “business friendly,” unless the businesses in question are writing big campaign checks for crony favors. Democrats treat businesses as pinatas, something to bash until they dispense treats. The Democratic Party’s business model isn’t economic growth, it’s managing decline to rakeoff all the graft and kickbacks possible from an ever-expanding welfare state. Economic growth isn’t a low priority, it’s not a priority at all, and a significant fraction of its increasingly radical base thinks that capitalism itself is evil.

Hochul should probably aim for New York not being the worst state in the union for business for starters. It’s less a case of “you have to walk before you run” than “you need to climb up out of the grave before you can even start to crawl.”

Texas Files Suit Against Biden Administration Over National Guard Vaccine Mandate

January 5th, 2022

Another day, another lawsuit against the Biden Administration over unconstitutional federal overreach, in this case issuing a vaccine mandate for Texas National Guard troops that aren’t under federal control.

Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter on Tuesday to Texas Military Department (TMD) Adjutant General Tracy Norris stating his intention to sue the Biden administration over its effort to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for members of the Texas National Guard.

In August, Abbott issued an executive order prohibiting governmental entities from mandating “any individual to receive a COVID-19 vaccine,” but mandates over the Texas National Guard have been unclear.

Following a military-wide order in August from U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin mandating the vaccine, Norris issued a directive to members of the Texas National Guard that service members must meet the requirement or submit a request for a medical or religious exemption.

On November 30, 2021, Austin issued a memorandum that further stipulated “all members of the National Guard must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 [. . .] in order to participate in drills, training and other duty conducted under title 32.”

In December, Abbott responded to Austin’s memorandum in a letter, saying, “If the federal government keeps threatening to defund the Texas National Guard, I will deploy every legal tool available to me as Governor in defense of these American heroes.”

TMD public affairs staff previously stated that guardsmen “serving on Title 10 orders” — those who have been called on active duty at the national level — were required to be in compliance with the vaccine mandate or request an exemption by December 15, 2021.

Unvaccinated members of the Texas National Guard could potentially lose drill and training pay as those funds come from the federal Department of Defense (DOD).

In his new letter, Abbott specified that it “addresses all Texas guardsmen who are serving in a Title 32 or a state active duty status,” rather than those under Title 10 orders.

“Unless President Biden federalizes the Texas National Guard in accordance with Title 10 of the U.S. Code, he is not your commander-in-chief under our federal or state Constitutions. And as long as I am your commander-in-chief, I will not tolerate efforts to compel receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine,” said the governor.

Abbott said that the “federal courts have the power to decide whether President Biden violates the U.S. Constitution’s Second Militia Clause by undermining my commander-in-chief power, instead of federalizing Texas’s guardsmen to use his own commander-in-chief power.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sent out a Tweet confirming the lawsuit:

The text of the lawsuit itsself can be found here.

1. There has long been a clear and distinct line between when National Guardsmen are governed by state authority and when they are governed by federal authority. When National Guardsmen are serving the State, the federal government has no command authority. Neither the President nor federal military officials can order the Governor of Texas and state officials how to govern the Guardsmen under their command. Under the Constitution’s carefully crafted balance between federal and state sovereignty, only the State, through its Governor, possesses legal authority to govern state National Guard personnel who have not been lawfully federalized.

2. Defendants unilaterally severed the division between state and federal authority over the Army National Guard and Air National Guard by attempting to impose a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy (“Military Vaccine Mandate”) on Guardsmen under state control, and in violation of Texas state law. Rather than exercise their own authority and lawfully activate the President’s chain of command, Defendants have attempted to force state officers to do the work for them, in violation of both the U.S. Constitution and federal laws.

3. This is not a case demanding a position of pro- or anti-vaccine, nor is it a case that challenges any aspect of the federal government’s authority over National Guardsmen once that federal authority has been properly established. Instead, this case seeks protection from the federal government’s unconstitutional action to force Texas, through its Governor, to submit to federal orders and impose federally dictated disciplinary action on its National Guardsmen. “There is no military exclusion from our Constitution.” U.S. Navy Seals 1-26 v. Biden, No. 4:21-cv-01236, slip op. at 2 (N.D. Tex. Jan. 3, 2021). Therefore, Plaintiff Greg Abbott, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of Texas, and as Commander in Chief of the Texas National Guard, brings this suit to enforce rights guaranteed to the Governor and the State of Texas by the U.S. Constitution and federal statutes.

The Roberts Court has tended to show considerably deference to state rights and prerogatives, so expect Texas to prevail in this suit if it reaches that level. But who knows how lower courts will rule, or how long it will take the case to wind its way to the Supreme Court…

“Inflation Is Our Friend!”

January 4th, 2022

Ted Cruz posted this classic Saturday Night Live skit to his Facebook page, and since I had been looking for an embeddable copy for a while, I’m passing the joy onto you:

For younger viewers: Yes, once upon a time, Saturday Night Live was willing to make fun of Democratic presidents…

Joe Rogan Joins Gettr, Achieves Critical Mass

January 3rd, 2022

I’ve been supportive of attempts to craft alternatives to Twitter. I have accounts on Gab and Parler, though both now seem little better than moribund.

The Twitter-alternative space looks like it’s heating up rapidly, as Joe Rogan, in the wake of having podcast guests Dr. Peter McCullough and Dr. Robert Malone banned from Twitter for questioning The Holy Covd Narrative, announced that he’s joined Gettr.

As Twitter continues to ban users from its platform, podcast superstar Joe Rogan announced on Sunday that he has set up a GETTR account.

“Just in case shit over at Twitter gets even dumber, I’m here now as well. Rejoice!” Rogan wrote on his GETTR account Sunday afternoon.

Most recently, Twitter has banned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from their platform, citing multiple violations of the social media giant’s COVID-19 policies.

One of Rogan’s most recent interviews on his podcast was with Dr. Robert Malone, who was recently banned from the platform as well for his stance on the COVID-19 vaccine.

“They removed you for not going along with whatever the tech narrative is, because tech clearly has a censorship agenda when it comes to COVID in terms of treatment, in terms of the— whether or not you’re promoting what they would call vaccine hesitancy, they can ban you for that, they can ban you for in their eyes, what they think is a justifiable offense,” Rogan told Malone.

“I try really hard to give people the information and help them to think, not to tell them what to think. Okay? But the point is if I’m not — if it’s not okay for me to be part of the conversation, even though I’m pointing out scientific facts that may be inconvenient, then who is who can be allowed?” Malone said later in the conversation.

Gettr launched earlier this year as a competitor to Twitter. Jason Miller, a former senior adviser to the Trump administration and CEO of Gettr, said in July that the platform will remain open to opinions from any end of the political spectrum.

Is Rogan’s account popular? Look for yourself:

So theoretically Rogan already has more Gettr followers than Twitter followers. (Caveat: I read somewhere that number wasn’t real, they just add Gettr users to Twitter users for famous people.) Rogan also seems to be importing older Tweets into Gettr.

Following Rogan’s move, lots of people on Twitter announced they were opening Gettr accounts. Possibly enough to provide critical mass viability.

Given that momentum, I went ahead and created an account myself. Feel free to follow me over there.

Having just had a week-long timeout on Twitter, my working assumption is that anyone who commits heresy against The Holy Narrative is going to get banned sooner or later, so it’s best to have backups.

Dave Barry’s 2021 End-Of-Year Roundup

January 2nd, 2022

As he does at the end of every year, Dave Barry has produced an end of year roundup for your amusement and edification.

Is there anything positive we can say about 2021?

Yes. We can say that it was marginally better than 2020.

I disagree with this premise. As I suspect people who have to regularly buy gasoline and milk would disagree. And the 400,000 who died of Flu Manchu, or would object if they weren’t bleeding demised.

Granted, this is not high praise. It’s like saying that somebody is marginally nicer than Hitler. But it’s something.

What was better about 2021? For one thing, people finally emerged from their isolated pandemic cocoons and started connecting with others. Granted, the vast majority of the people who connected with us this year wanted to discuss our car’s extended warranty. But still.

Another improvement was that most stores got rid of those one-way anti-COVID arrows on the floor. Remember those, from 2020? You’d be halfway down a supermarket aisle, and you’d realize that you’d gone past the Cheez-Its, but you couldn’t turn around and go back because you’d be going AGAINST THE ARROWS, which meant YOU WOULD GET COVID.

Ha ha! Was that stupid, or what? Fortunately in 2021, we followed the Science, which decided that the coronavirus does not observe floor arrows. On the other hand, the Science could not make up its mind about masks, especially in restaurants. Should everybody in the restaurant wear them? Should only the staff wear them? Should people who are standing up wear them, but not people who are sitting down, which would seem to suggest that the virus can also enter our bodies via our butts? We still don’t know, and we can’t wait to find out what the Science will come up with for us next.

Anyway, our point is not that 2021 was massively better than 2020. Our point is that at least it was different. A variant, so to speak. And like any year, it had both highs and lows.

No, we take that back. It was pretty much all lows.

Snip.

The spotlight now shifts to incoming President Joe Biden, who takes the oath of office in front of a festive throng of 25,000 National Guard troops. The national healing begins quickly as Americans, exhausted from years of division and strife, join together in exchanging memes of Bernie Sanders attending the inauguration wearing distinctive mittens and the facial expression of a man having his prostate examined by a hostile sea urchin.

Snip.

MARCH

… Congressional Democrats pass the Biden administration’s COVID-19 relief package, which will cost $1.9 trillion, which the United States will pay for by selling baked goods to foreign nations. In a prime-time address after signing the bill, President Biden says there is “a good chance” that Americans will be able to gather together “by July the Fourth.” He does not specify which one.

Meanwhile, as millions more Americans are being vaccinated every day, medical experts on cable TV unanimously agree on the following facts:

— The situation is definitely getting better.

— Or not! There are all these “variants.”

— If you are vaccinated, you may resume leading a normal life.

— NOT SO FAST, BUCKO.

— At least we can stop wearing these masks pretty soon.

— Or maybe we should keep them on! For years!

— Although nobody knows why, since — to quote the CDC — “most of you morons are wearing them wrong anyway.”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose leadership during the COVID-19 crisis has been (Just ask him!) so excellent that he was able to publish a book about how superbly he handled the crisis way before the crisis was anywhere near over, comes under intensified scrutiny over allegations of sexual harassment and under-reporting of nursing-home deaths. Cuomo resists calls for his resignation, but puts a temporary hold on development of a “Hamilton”-style musical based on his life (working title: “Cuomo”).

Snip.

On the wokeness front, Dr. Seuss joins the lengthening list of individuals who are deemed to be Problematic, which also includes George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Pepe LePew and Mr. Potato Head. Also people are starting to take a hard look at the Very Hungry Caterpillar, and if you have to ask why YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM.

International shipping is seriously disrupted when the Suez Canal, which a lot of us totally forgot about after ninth-grade history class but apparently is still a thing, is blocked by a massive container ship that became wedged sideways after the pilot attempted to take a shortcut suggested by Waze. After six days of frantic efforts, tugboats are finally able to free the ship, aided by an unusually high tide and what maritime experts describe as “a really big jar of Vaseline.”

Meanwhile the situation at the nation’s southern border rages out of control. We are referring here to Miami Beach, although things are also not great on the Mexico border. The big debate in Washington is whether or not to describe the border situation as a “crisis,” which is a solid indication of how likely Washington is to actually do anything about it.

Snip.

There is some welcome news on the COVID-19 front as the CDC declares that it is not necessary to wear a face mask “provided that you are fully vaccinated, and you are outdoors, and you are part of a small gathering, and everybody in this gathering has also been fully vaccinated, and all of you periodically, as a precaution, emit little whimpers of terror.” The CDC adds that “we, personally, plan to spend the next five to ten years locked in our bedroom.”

President Biden, in his first speech to Congress, promotes his infrastructure plan, which would cost $2.3 trillion, and his American Families plan, which would cost $1.8 trillion, with both plans to be funded by what the president describes as a “really big car wash.”

Snip.

In Congress, a group of Democratic legislators introduce a controversial bill that would add four justices to the Supreme Court. This bill is expected to be hotly debated, especially since, under a provision inserted by Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) it would also permit the New England Patriots to have 15 players on the field.

The Census Bureau announces that some states will lose seats in the House of Representatives because of a nationwide population shift toward what demographers categorize as “regions with Waffle Houses.”

Snip.

MAY

…the CDC further relaxes its COVID-19 guidelines in response to new scientific data showing that a lot of people have stopped paying attention to CDC guidelines. At this point these are the known facts about the pandemic in America:

— Many Americans have been vaccinated but continue to act as though they have not.

— Many other Americans have not been vaccinated but act as though they have.

— Many of those who got vaccinated hate Donald Trump, who considers the vaccines to be one of his greatest achievements.

— Many who refuse to get vaccinated love Donald Trump.

What do these facts tell us? They tell us that we, as a nation, are insane. But we knew that.

In a chilling reminder of the U.S. infrastructure’s vulnerability to cyberattack, Colonial Pipeline is forced to shut down a major East Coast fuel pipeline after suspected Russian hackers break into the corporation’s computer system and obtain naked photos of top executives with a duck.

We’re kidding, of course. The duck was fully clothed. In any event, the pipeline is reopened after Colonial pays the hackers a ransom of nearly $5 million, thereby sending a stern warning to any would-be future hackers that this is an excellent way to obtain money.

President Biden proposes a fiscal 2022 federal budget of $6 trillion, to be raised by what the White House describes as “an exciting new partnership with Herbalife.” In other administration news, Major the former White House dog escapes from his rehabilitation facility and robs a convenience store.

Snip.

New York City holds a mayoral primary featuring several thousand Democratic candidates and an estimated one Republican. The big issue for voters is the rising crime rate, as exemplified by the discovery that Staten Island is missing. In an effort to make the election more exciting, the city decides to use a new “ranked choice” voting system scientifically designed to eliminate the possibility that anybody will ever know for sure who actually won. The Democratic front-runner is believed to be either (a) former police captain Eric Adams, who is the Brooklyn borough president as well as possibly a resident of New Jersey, or (b) the late Ed Koch.

Snip.

JULY

…as COVID-19, which we thought was almost over — this is like the eighth or ninth time we have thought this — appears to be surging again in certain areas because of the “Delta Variant,” which gets its name from the fact that it is spread primarily by fraternities. The problem is that many Americans have declined to be vaccinated, despite the efforts of pro-vaccine voices to change the minds of the skeptics by informing them that they are stupid idiots, which is usually a persuasive argument. In response to the surge, the CDC issues new guidelines urging Americans to “do the opposite of whatever we said in our previous guidelines, not that anyone is paying attention.”

Snip.

In other sports news, major NCAA rules changes allow college athletes to cash in on name, image and likeness for the first time ever, wink wink. The biggest beneficiary, signing a sponsorship deal estimated to be worth more than $100 million, is the University of Alabama’s highly touted incoming freshman quarterback, Tom Brady.

Meanwhile the Cleveland Indians, responding to mounting public pressure, announce that they are officially changing their name to the Washington Redskins.

The month ends with the Delta-variant surge worsening, bringing back mask mandates and social-distancing requirements as health experts, government officials and the media join together to convey the following clear, consistent and reassuring message to the public:

— You should get vaccinated, because the vaccine will make you safe.

— But remember that even if you get vaccinated, you can still get infected.

— Also you can infect others and kill them.

— So just because you’re vaccinated, don’t go around thinking you’re safe.

— NOBODY IS SAFE YOU FOOL.

Snip.

AUGUST

… is the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan, a country that, thanks to 20 years of our involvement, has been transformed — at a cost of many lives and more than $2 trillion — from a brutal, primitive undemocratic society into a brutal, primitive undemocratic society with a whole lot of abandoned American military hardware lying around. Most Americans agree that we have accomplished our mission, which is the same mission that the Russians had in Afghanistan before us, and the British had before them; namely, to get the hell out of Afghanistan.

The Biden administration, noting that the president has more than 140 years of experience reading Teleprompter statements about foreign policy, assures everyone that it has a Sound Exit Plan allowing for Every Possible Contingency, and insists that the withdrawal is going well. This assessment is confirmed by observers on the ground, particularly Jen Psaki, with the ground in her case being the White House Press Briefing Room. Observers who are actually in Kabul paint a somewhat darker picture of the withdrawal, more along the lines of what would have happened if the Hindenburg had crashed into the Titanic during a soccer riot.

It is a tragic time for America, particularly our military, but it is also a time when we are reminded that when things go bad, we are a nation whose leaders can be relied upon to step up and not take personal responsibility. The Biden people blame Trump, for naively making a bad deal with the Taliban; the Trump people blame Biden, for botching the exit.

So in the end — this is the beauty of our current political environment — everybody has somebody else to blame, and nobody is responsible. American leadership has come a long way since the days of Dwight Eisenhower, who, on the eve of D-Day, wrote a short, plainly worded letter, to be published if the invasion failed, in which he said that the blame was his alone.

What a loser.

Snip.

The month ends with major drama in Washington, where Democrats are locked in a vicious ideological battle with… OK, basically with themselves, over how to pass two spending bills, one for infrastructure costing $1 trillion and one for miscellaneous items costing $3.5 trillion, which sounds like a lot of money until you understand that the entire amount will be funded by leprechauns. It’s an exciting time to be alive if you’re the kind of person who enjoys — And who doesn’t? — interminable slogs through an incomprehensible legislative process.

The excitement continues to build in …
OCTOBER

… as the Democrats spend the entire month engaged in increasingly frantic efforts to reach some kind of budget agreement with themselves, even going so far as to consider reducing the $3.5 trillion to only $1.75 trillion, which in Washington is viewed as barely enough for gratuities. Meanwhile the Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, sit around getting pedicures. President Biden, for his part, takes several trips to Delaware. Vice President Harris also engages in important activities.

But the big story is the worsening economy, which is showing a number of disturbing trends:

— Inflation continues to be a pesky problem, with food prices soaring and gasoline approaching $4 per gallon everywhere in the nation except California, where, for environmental reasons, it is $137.50.

— The labor shortage has become so severe that for the first time since it began keeping records, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which produces a monthly report on the nation’s employment situation, does not have enough workers to produce the monthly report.

— U.S. consumers are seeing more and more empty store shelves caused by disruptions in the supply chain from China, which despite being our global arch-enemy currently manufactures every product consumed by Americans except Zippo lighters. Economists warn that the supply-chain problems threaten to put a damper on the holidays, a time when Americans traditionally gather together in big-box stores to fight over TV sets.

Speaking of threats: American military and intelligence officials express concern over reports that China has tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile, although a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson states that it was “probably a bat.”

In other disturbing developments, Facebook suffers a worldwide outage lasting several harrowing hours, during which billions of people are forced to obtain all of their misinformation from Twitter. Later in the month Facebook Chief Execudroid Mark Zuckerberg announces that, to better reflect Facebook’s vision for the future, the parent company is changing its name to the Washington Redskins.

Snip.

In federal-budget news, congressional leaders, facing what we are required, by the rules of professional journalism, to describe as a Looming Deadline, work feverishly to prevent an unprecedented partial shutdown of the government for the 27th or 28th time. Finally they hammer out a deal under which the government will be temporarily funded via a loan from an individual named Vinny, to be repaid in cash by Feb. 18 or else Vinny takes legal possession of the nuclear aircraft carrier of his choice.

No, that would be insane. Although not as insane as the way we actually fund the federal government.

The big economic story continues to be inflation, which is the worst it has been for decades, with the hardest-hit victims being low-income consumers and major college-football programs, which are being forced to pay tens of millions of dollars to obtain the services of even mediocre head coaches. In another disturbing economic development, the Federal Reserve Board issues a formal statement admitting that it has no earthly idea what a “bitcoin” is, and it’s pretty sure nobody else does either.

Snip.

Finally, mercifully, the troubled year nears its conclusion. As the nation prepares to celebrate New Year’s Eve, the mood is subdued and thoughtful. People are still getting drunk and throwing up, but they’re doing this in a subdued and thoughtful manner. Because nobody knows what 2022 will bring. Will it suck as much as this year? Will it suck more? Or will it suck a LOT more? These appear to be our choices.

Read the whole thing.

Happy New Year!

Excerpts From Joe Rogan’s Interviews With Dr. Peter McCullough and Dr. Robert Malone

January 1st, 2022

Two Joe Rogan interviews with two different doctors appear to be key to understanding how the United State and various national government and international agencies have embraced counterproductive Covid Theater policies:

  • Dr. Peter McCullough
  • Dr. Robert Malone
  • Tiny problem: I don’t have Spotify*, and even if I did, I haven’t yet had time to listen to all of two 2.5+ hour podcast episodes, especially given the end-of-year crunch. The world being what it is, I suspect several of my readers are in the same boat, here are some abstracts from other people who have, some quick and dirty video snippets, etc.

    Over at Podcast Notes, they not only have the audio of the McCullough interview up (started listening, haven’t finished yet), they also have a super-handy summary of what was discussed. Some high level points:

    • We are not attempting to treat COVID-19 at home to prevent hospitalizations and deaths as an outcome
    • Early treatment of COVID-19 is the key to survival because you take the edge off viral replication, reduce inflammation, and prevent thrombosis
    • 50-85% of COVID-19 deaths could have been avoided if we adopted early treatment
    • “The 800,000 deaths we have right now, I can tell you to a one they’ve received either no or inadequate early treatment.” – Dr. Peter A. McCullough
    • “We’ve had a giant loss of life…It seems to me early on there was an intentional, very comprehensive suppression of treatment in order to promote fear, suffering, isolation, hospitalization, and death. It seemed to be completely organized and intentional in order to create acceptance for and promote mass vaccination.” – Dr. Peter A. McCullough
    • If this was just about COVID (instead of power) we would’ve seen four pillars to the response: reduce the spread of infection, early treatment, improvement of hospital treatments with monthly updates from officials, vaccination (it has a role but not the silver bullet)
    • Reputable hospitals (e.g., Harvard) STILL do not have COVID-19 treatment protocols
    • Vaccines are a piece of the puzzle but are not treatment
    • While most people are going to be fine, the vaccine has caused death and adverse outcomes in organ systems for a large number of people with higher susceptibility
    • A young boy is more likely to be hospitalized of myocarditis post-vaccination than ever be hospitalized from COVID-19 respiratory illness
    • We are not transparent on vaccines: we should be regularly reviewing safety, revisiting efficacy, and creating a profile of who it is or isn’t recommended for
    • COVID-19 false narratives: asymptomatic spread & testing, you can get COVID repeatedly, take a vaccine every 6 months, you should still wear a mask if you had and recovered from COVID, vaccines are fully FDA approved
    • A person is not science! Science is ever-changing and evolves with better and more well-informed data
    • The idea that people in positions of authority are presenting information without a fair balance of risk versus benefit is a dangerous precedent

    There’s a lot more there about Ivermectin, Hydroxychloroquine and monoclonal antibodies. And the parts about the powers that be supressing preventative treatment in favor of pushing vaccines as the only solution are pretty damning:

    • “We’ve had a giant loss of life…It seems to me early on there was an intentional, very comprehensive suppression of treatment in order to promote fear, suffering, isolation, hospitalization, and death. It seemed to be completely organized and intentional in order to create acceptance for and promote mass vaccination.” – Dr. Peter A. McCullough
    • There is evidence of extreme collusion on the part of Pfizer, Moderna, NIH, and many more “public service” agencies
    • Moderna was working on the vaccine before the virus ever came out of the lab
    • A Johns Hopkins 2017 symposium called the SPARS Pandemic outlined that we would face a coronavirus related to MRSA and SARS that would devastate the United States, shut down cities, induce confusion, and railroad people into mass vaccination
    • The average death certificate takes 6 weeks to produce – how did the media get numbers so quickly? At some point, we essentially had a COVID death scoreboard
    • The number of COVID-19 deaths and testing has been padded to some degree: deaths padded by underlying factors that contributed more to death than the COVID; testing from duplicates
    • Check out: “COVID-19 and the Global Predators: We Are the Prey by Peter Roger Breggin & Giner Ross Breggin – this book has thousands of citations as to how this was coordinated and planned

    He also talks about “Mass Formation Psychosis”

    • It’s clear there are a lot of people not acting well and unable to have normal conversations and discussions about COVID-19
    • Mass formation psychosis: group think that has developed so strong, it leads to something horrific (such as mass suicides in religion, walking into gas chambers in Germany, etc.)
    • Key components of mass formation psychosis: (1) period of isolation (lockdowns); (2) withdrawal of things taken away people used to enjoy; (3) incessant free-lowing anxiety (constant news of deaths, tally, spread); (4) must be a single solution offered by an entity in authority (vaccination)
    • In mass formation psychosis, it doesn’t matter the absurdity of the solution
    • People were so far in the trenches, they didn’t want to accept the research (read more here and here) that COVID-19 was not spread asymptomatically – it’s only spread from sick person to susceptible person
    • Check out: “The United States of Fear by Tom Engelhardt

    I would add that Flu Manchu Madness followed closely on the heels of (and blended into) Trump Derangement Syndrome.

    Anyway, there’s a lot to chew on, even from just the summary.

    Given that the Malone segment isn’t up anywhere but Spotify yet, here are some snippets from Twitter:

    And here’s a bit of inception:

    That’s all I’ve got time for right now, some excerpts of excerpts. But it will help you get up to speed on the conversation around these two important podcasts.

    *Yeah, I know it’s free to sign up for. No, I haven’t done so, because I’ve developed an aversion to signing up for anything I don’t have to. But if Rogan’s show is the certain of serious coronavirus conversation in America, I may have to…

    LinkSwarm for December 31, 2021

    December 31st, 2021

    Greetings, and welcome to the last LinkSwarm of 2021!

    Remember how all those media pundits opined that 2021 couldn’t help but being better than 2020?

    Yeah, not so much.

    Assuming the official death tolls are accurate (probably not, but I doubt the methodology has changed from 2020 to 2021), there were approximately 375,000 deaths in the United States of America in 2020 from Flu Manchu. With some 821,000+ total deaths, more people have died this year than last year. So much for Joe Biden shutting down the virus…

    Joe Rogan’s interview with Dr. Robert Malone has evidently dropped, but I haven’t watched it yet. Maybe Saturday.

  • Ghislaine Maxwell has been convicted of sex-trafficking girls for Jeffrey Epstein in a story the Democratic Media Complex has done it’s best to pay as little attention to as possible.
  • Ron DeSantis vs. Critical Race Theory.

    Over the past year, DeSantis has emerged as one of the most articulate political spokesmen for the anti–critical race theory movement. His new policy agenda builds on successful anti-CRT legislation in other states but goes two steps further. First, it provides parents with a “private right of action,” which allows them to sue offending institutions for violations, gain information through legal discovery, and, if they win in the courts, collect attorney’s fees. Second, it tackles critical race theory in corporate “diversity, equity, and inclusion” training programs, which, DeSantis says, sometimes promote racial stereotyping, scapegoating, and harassment, in violation of state civil rights laws.

    At heart, the battle against critical race theory is a fight against entrenched bureaucracies that have used public institutions to promote their own racialist ideology. “This is an elite-driven phenomenon being driven by bureaucratic elites, elites in universities, and elites in corporate America, and they’re trying to shove it down the throats of the American people,” DeSantis said. “You’re not doing that in the state of Florida.”

    Following his speech, DeSantis invited me to address the crowd. I explained that the reason critical race theory has upset so many Americans is that it speaks to two deep reservoirs of human sentiment: citizens’ desire for self-government and parents’ desire to shape the moral and educational development of their children. Elite institutions have attempted to step between parent and child.

    DeSantis has deftly positioned himself as a protector of middle-American families. One of the guest speakers, Lacaysha Howell, a biracial mother from Sarasota, said that left-wing teachers tried to persuade her daughter that the white side of their family was oppressive. Another speaker, Eulalia Jimenez, a Cuban-American mother from the Miami area, said that left-wing indoctrination in schools reminded her of her father’s warnings about Communism in his native Cuba. Both believed that critical race theory was poison to the American Dream.

    As they begin their next session in January, Florida legislators have the opportunity to craft the gold standard for “culture war” policy. The governor’s team has worked with a range of interested parties, including the Manhattan Institute, which has crafted model language for prohibiting racialist indoctrination and providing curriculum transparency to parents. The battle is ultimately about shaping public policy in accord with public values. “I think we have an ability [to] just draw a line in the sand and say, ‘That’s not the type of society that we want here in the state of Florida,’” said DeSantis yesterday. The stakes are high—and all eyes are on Florida to deliver.

    (Previously.)

  • How the Democratic Media Complex managed to destroy what was left in the public’s trust in it:

  • “Washington State Democrats Want Decreased Penalties for Drive-By Shooters.” Because too many shooters are black. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • All the Republican candidates in Texas Donald Trump has endorsed for 2022. Including incumbents Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, Ken Paxton and Sid Miller, plus Dawn Buckingham for Land Commissioner.
  • Speaking of Texas:

  • China’s Xian locks down over Mao Tze Lung.
  • “Houston Grand Jury Indicts Four More Defendants in $35 Million CARES Act Fraud Conspiracy.”

    Earlier this month, a federal grand jury in Houston indicted four men on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering in a scheme to rip off the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) by submitting over 80 false applications for forgivable loans and writing checks to relatives and fictional employees, among other fraudulent activities.

    The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) stated in a press release on December 15 that 29-year-old Hamza Abbas of Richmond, 55-year-old Khalid Abbas of Richmond, 55-year-old Abdul Fatani of Richmond, and 53-year-old Syed Ali of Sugar Land could be sentenced to up to 20 years on each count of wire fraud.

    The indictments against them are the most recent in an apparent scheme that prosecutors say involved 15 defendants from Texas and Illinois, all of whom are accused of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

    The DOJ stated that Khalid Abbas, Fatani, Ali, and another defendant, Houston resident Amir Aqeel, 53, have been charged with money laundering in the superseding indictment. The money laundering counts carry potential sentences of up to 10 years.

    Last year, a grand jury also indicted Aqeel on a charge of aggravated identity theft. The government accuses Aqeel of using stolen identities to apply for the PPP loans.

    According to the DOJ, several of the accused have already pleaded guilty for their involvement, including Siddiq Azeemuddin, 42, of Naperville, Illinois, Richard Reuth, 58, of Spring, and Raheel Malik, 41, of Sugar Land, all of whom entered their pleas in October. Houston residents Abdul Farahshah, 70, Jesus Perez, 31, and Bijan Rajabi, 68, pleaded guilty in late November.

    Rifat Bajwa, 53, of Richmond, Pardeep Basra, 52, of Houston, Mayer Misak, 41, of Cypress, and Mauricio Navia, 42, of Katy were also indicted last year on charges of participating in the conspiracy and committing wire fraud.

    Why, it’s almost like just about all the defendants share some characteristic in common. If only I could put my finger on it…

  • Speaking of criminals, did mentioned that a second CNN employee was being investigated for child sex allegations? “The allegations against Rick Saleeby, a former senior producer for Jake Tapper’s “The Lead,” appear to be connected to reporting by Project Veritas. Saleeby resigned from CNN this month.” It’s hard to keep the media pedophiles straight without a scorecard…
  • When does Biden apologize to Trump?
  • Aluminum is up 40% this year.
  • “Austin Office of Police Oversight Violated Department Contract, Arbitrator Rules.”

    The City of Austin’s director of the Office of Police Oversight (OPO), Farah Muscadin, abused her authority, a third-party arbitrator decided this week.

    In a 31-page decision, Lynn Gomez, the arbitrator, ruled that Muscadin and the OPO violated Article 16 of the Austin Police Department’s employment contract that was negotiated in 2018. Article 16 governs the parameters of civilian oversight of the department, which progressive groups lobbied hard for during the labor standoff.

    “Contrary to the city’s claim, Director Muscadin was not acting within the scope of her authority…[she] clearly was seeking to dictate some future outcome rather than simply making a recommendation as Art. 16 permits,” Gomez ruled.

    “[T]he evidence and arguments raise[d] by the city indicate that the city does not consider itself or OPO bound by Article 16’s provisions.”

    You may remember Muscadin from such hits as “I’m spending taxpayer money to push Critical Race Theory” and “defund APD and give the money to my radical leftwing cronies.” She should resign.

  • Has the Biden Amdenistration tipped its hand that considers Taiwan too strategically important to not defend it in the case of a Chinese attack?

    Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of defence for Indo-Pacific security affairs, told a Senate hearing three weeks ago that Taiwan was “critical to the region’s security and critical to the defence of vital US interests”. In words strikingly similar to MacArthur’s, he emphasised the island’s location “at a critical node within the first island chain, anchoring a network of US allies and partners”.

    This may well be remembered as the moment Washington came clean on its intentions regarding Taiwan. In Beijing at least, the statement is being read as dropping all pretence that the US could acquiesce to a unification of Taiwan with China.

    Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in China, believes that US strategic thinking regarding Taiwan has always followed the lines laid out by MacArthur.

    Even after establishing diplomatic relations with China, the US “worked to ensure the continuation of a state of separation across the Taiwan Strait”, Wu said. “When we ask the US if they do not hope to see the unification of China, they deny that. But judging from the US’s concrete actions, it is clear that they indeed do not hope to see China unify. Ely Ratner has now said this out loud.”

    In Washington, too, some observers think the testimony allows little conclusion other than that the US should not allow Taiwan to become part of China under any circumstances.

    Hopefully true, but betting on Joe Biden’s stalwart fortitude is putting your hopes on an extremely weak horse…

  • Alexandria Ocasio Cortez spotted in Miami Beach while New York City Flu Manchu cases hit alltime highs. As always, Covid Theater rules are for the little people.
  • Incoming New York City mayor Eric Adams is keeping Bill De Blasio’s private employer vaccine mandate. Because even nominally sane Democrats still hate you and your freedom to say no.
  • Family Guy sticks it to China:

  • Everything we know about famous psychological testing is wrong.
  • Sometimes the inevitable does happen: Betty White dead at age 99, just 18 days shy of 100. Still a hell of a run…
  • Remembering that we also lost Norm Macdonald this year, here he is slamming Carrot Top.
  • For those who didn’t get enough Harry Reid bashing in my obituary, here’s a classic Dennis Miller rant on the late senator.
  • A Twitter thread on electronic warfare during The Battle of the Bulge. Why yes, this is relevant to my interests. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
  • The challenge of moving a 17 ton magnet.
  • Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia gets a new tower.
  • I really should have bought this for Dwight for Christmas.
  • The Critical Drinker is not thrilled at the latest Matrix film:

    Ultimately The Matrix Regenerations fails on just about every level possible. It fails to properly honor the past by leaving it well enough alone. It fails to tell a compelling new story, or add new ideas to the world it created. It fails to establish interesting new characters, or take old ones in a new direction. It fails to surpass the spectacle, energy and originality of a 20 year old film. And most of all it fails to deliver a compelling reason for its own existence. The Matrix Retaliations is a film that never should have been made in the first place.

  • Left-wing sponsors vs. right-wing sponsors:

  • “Pfizer Assures That Vaccine Is Almost As Safe For Kids As COVID.”
  • “After Conviction For Sex Crimes, Ghislaine Maxwell Announces New Job At CNN.”
  • Abandoned Christmas puppies find homes.
  • Happy New Year, everyone!

    The Case of the Disappearing Doctor

    December 30th, 2021

    What does it tell you about the Democratic Media Complex’s “Official Covid Narrative” that mRNA technology inventor Dr. Robert Malone has been banned from Twitter?

    After months of providing valuable Covid-19 information that runs counter to the official narrative, Twitter has finally banned Dr. Robert Malone, inventor of mRNA technology.

    Malone, who will appear on the Joe Rogan show Thursday according to associate Ed Dowd (one of four contributors to the Malone doctrine), had more than 520,000 followers. He has been an outspoken critic of both mRNA vaccines, as well as the abysmal failures of policymakers worldwide in responding to the pandemic.

    He was not warned or provided an opportunity to delete any offending tweets – instead he was “just suspended,” Dowd continued.

    Here’s Malone’s last tweet – sharing an article which claims that the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine does ‘more harm than good.’

    Boy, sure seems like criticizing Pfizer or The Holy Coronavirus Narrative is one of the fastest ways to get banned these days, despite the fact that same narrative is visibly falling apart before our eyes. Also might suspicious how they banned him right before he went on Rogan. Makes you wonder what they’re trying to hide.

    Maybe this:

    Yikes!

    Some more tweets:

    (And yes, I’m still working on that giant “Lots of the official Flu Manchu Narrative seems to be wrong” roundup post. There’s just so many links to wrangle…)

    Obit Watch: Harry Reid

    December 29th, 2021

    “Leaving a trail of slime behind him-”

    Start over.

    “A repugnant, repulsive reptile-”

    Try again.

    “What can be said about him that hasn’t already been said about bubonic plague?”

    Strike that.

    Man, I’m really having trouble staying on the high road for this Harry Reid obit.

    It’s pretty much the job of the Senate Majority Leader to be the Bad Cop and hated by the opposition, but there was just something repugnant and unpleasant about late Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who just died at age 82. Certainly Chuck Schumer is no improvement, but still…

    Democrats probably love him for ramming through ObamaCare and the initial 2009 Porkulus. Reid (like all Democrats) supported lots of horrible legislation (remember SOPA/PIPA, possibly the first and last time the Internet as a whole rose up to slap down bad legislation?), but that’s not it. Nor is it his hatred of the Tea Party or gun owners. Or his proud manifest lies about Mitt Romney’s tax return. Or even his reported Mafia ties.

    There simply seemed something sinister and unpleasant about the man. Harry Reid made Kamala Harris look likeable and genuine by comparison. And his drive to change the rules to help Democrats changed the tenor of the senate and paved the way for the current political moment.

    Reid went nuclear to eliminate the filibuster on judicial appointments, and got three Republican Supreme Court justices for his trouble.

    That’s his most enduring legacy.

    Border Wall?

    December 28th, 2021

    I get a lot of fundraising emails from Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s reelection campaign, sometimes three or more a day, a lot of which tout his support for Texas building a border wall, which he announced back in June. From an email June 19:

    The Biden Administration has abandoned its responsibilities to secure the border and Texans are suffering as a result.

    If the federal government won’t do its job, Texas will.

    Through this comprehensive public safety effort, we will secure the border, slow the influx of unlawful immigrants, and restore order in our border communities.

    Since then, Abbott seemed to talk a lot more about building the border wall than actually getting it done (Texas state bureaucracy may be more efficient than the feds, but it’s still a bureaucracy), but that may finally be changing.

    Gov. Greg Abbott recently held a press conference debuting the construction of the Texas border wall in Rio Grande City — just six months [!] after he announced Texas would build its own border wall. The press conference took place in front of the first phase of the wall being built on state land managed by the Texas General Land Office (GLO).

    The governor was joined by GLO Commissioner George P. Bush and Texas Facilities Commission (TFC) Chairman Steven Alvis, who spoke of the progress made to secure the southern border by building the Texas border wall. Sen. Kelly Hancock, Rep. James White, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw, Texas Military Department Adjutant General Tracy Norris and Deputy Adjutant General Monie Ulis also were in attendance.

    On June 16, Abbott announced the state of Texas’ plan for the border wall and authorized the transfer of $250 million as a down payment to launch construction. He also directed the TFC to hire a program manager to oversee its construction.

    In September, a program manager was selected to lead the process of planning and executing the border wall. Gov. Abbott also signed House Bill 9 into law that month, providing an additional $1.8 billion in state funding for border security, including border wall construction.

    This is a good start. Texas has some of the biggest gaps in the existing wall, and it will help border communities to start getting those gaps filled. (I think this USA Today interactive map is several years out of date.)

    The border wall is not a panacea, and it’s no substitute for the Biden Administration actually enforcing federal border control laws, something it has steadfastly refused to do. Democrats would rather try to sneak illegal alien amnesty in while no one is looking. Though now the Biden Administration has said (no doubt reluctantly) that it will close “a few gaps” in the wall, mainly in Arizona.

    A border wall will help, but ranks third among strategies that would actually secure the border, behind enforcing existing laws and passing universal E-Verify, which would dry up a lot of illegal alien migration by cutting off employment opportunities.

    Funny how you don’t hear much about E-Verify these days, almost as if Republican business interests have killed it off behind the scenes to keep an endless supply of illegal alien labor coming…