bnuckols

James Baldwin debates William F. Buckley, Jr., 1965

James Baldwin is still pointed used as an example in efforts  to accuse the current US of subjugation of Black Americans and other minority groups. This happened to me just last  week on Twitter – for some reason,  in support of elective abortion on demand.

So, I’ve done some research.

This debate took place at Cambridge University in the UK, in 1965. In the US, the March on Selma, and the arrest of Martin Luther King, has just occurred. Dr. King was still imprisoned. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was slowly taking effect.

In contrast to  Mr. Baldwin’s dismissive comments, a Black man was elected President of the US in 2008. We’ve not eliminated prejudice, but our progress against discrimination has more closely mirrored the predictions of Robert Kennedy than those of Mr. Baldwin. 

No, I don’t believe that the American dream has been at the expense of the American Negro and I don’t believe that race discrimination in 2021 can  be  compared to  Mr. Baldwin’s (or Martin Luther King’s) 1965.

Debunking COVID Vaccine myths (mRNA)

Vaccines work to decrease infection &/or severity of infection. All vaccines have failure rates, dependent on the immune status of the patient and the mutations of the virus or bacteria.

Half of the Covid vaccines types used in the US (Moderna & Pfizer) are MRNA vaccines that stimulate production of an antigen protein for a short period, certainly not in every cell in the body, nor do they cause the disease or induce even a mild form of the disease – as the measles, smallpox, and the oral polio vaccines do.

Most current vaccines use either an attenuated virus, a killed virus, or an antigen protein produced by recombinant DNA in bacteria or yeast. These last have never been part of a virus or bacteria. And, in fact, recombinant DNA is used to produce the human insulin to treat diabetes.

The mRNA in the Maderna & Pfizer Covid vaccines aren’t continously replicated by the vaccinated person and isn’t incorporated into the DNA. They are present in the human body about 2-3 days, mostly in the local muscle tissue and lymph system, with some in the spleen, more rarely in the liver.

Yes, you more than likely had an attenuated form of those infections when you were vaccinated. Current measles vaccines can cause infection that can be spread to immune compromised contacts. One way polio was all but eradicated was because people who came into contact with the babies who received the oral vaccine feces would also be infected – effectively receiving a booster unknowingly. We stopped using the oral polio vaccine in the 90s because 1 in 20 million children got a polio like disease after the 1st ( only the 1st) dose. We warn families to avoid contact with immune compromised people for a time after a child gets the measles vaccine.

The process was used years ago in the vaccine against ebola, so there’s history for use in humans.

For more, https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/ema-recommends-covid-19-vaccine-moderna-authorisation-eu

Newly created artificial wombs in mice raise concerns among abortion supporters

https://righttolife.org.uk/news/newly-created-artificial-wombs-in-mice-raise-concerns-among-abortion-supporters

Shouldn’t everyone should be concerned that anyone could object to saving the life of a human,  at any stage of life? How telling that  the  major  concern here seems to be. “Any unborn child could be considered to have a right to life”.

The eugenic and social  implications  go further than  the right to life, alone, according to thid op-ed from the  UK Guardian,

“”Many tech and media companies, including Apple, Google, Facebook, VICE and Buzzfeed, already offer to cover the cost of freezing their employees’ eggs so they don’t have to worry about dwindling fertility during the most productive years for their careers. Gestating a baby in an artificial womb may one day be a choice open to elite women whose companies will pay for it, or who can afford to cover the cost themselves. “Natural” pregnancy could be seen as a sign of poverty, of unplanned pregnancy, or a chaotic lifestyle.””

I sincerely doubt that there would be a stigma attached to natural,  in utero, gestation. Couldn’t the decision to gestate be seen as a mark of wealth and leisure? Or rebellion against technology as breast feeding and natural birth were, back in the  mid- to late- 1900’s?

Science fiction authors have addressed these issues. Yes, there are potential ethics problems in any future technology that allows human gestation outside of the mother’s body. However, validation of the right to life should not be a “concern.”

Normal & reality: a proposed definition for discussion

On one of the Facebook groups I follow, the conversation about the recent Arkansas law protecting conscience was diverted from the law itself by a sensational headline that reflected only the worst accusations of opponents & the reactions of group members to that headline. 

During the  conversation,  I was questioned about my use of the term “normal” for healthy bodily functions.  At the least, “normal” is that which doesn’t itself injure tissues & organs and doesn’t require technological intervention to produce or to prevent morbidity & mortality.

We are hearing & reading about demands that legitimate research results should be suppressed,  watching physicians and scientists who express heterodox opinions be censored. Then we’re told that there’s a “consensus,”  since none of the “objectionable” research is published, much less popularized, and the outliers are demonetized and covered with warning boxes.

Science  isn’t a “consensus.” In science, true hypotheses are testable,  with valid results capable of being confirmed by different observers under similar conditions in different labs. 

That’s also a good definition of reality or “normal.” One that  could be applicable to medical subjects like COVID or vaccines, as well as social and legal  matters.

We’re  being manipulated for reasons that have nothing to do with actual health, physical or mental.  I can’t fathom a reasonable explanation. It looks like an exertion of power – social, financial, then legal.

Patients won’t be helped at all by forcing moral injury by requiring medical professionals to act against their conscience and we all lose when rational discussion is suppressed in the  public sphere.

Planned Parenthood’s “Watchlist,” false report about pro-life activists to local police

LiveAction reports that Planned Parenthood sent “watchlist” to Lubbock police before the January March for Life, including photos and
date if birth, other personal informatiion, and designating some of the men and women as “aggressive.”

Apparently, some”central” office of PP made up the list, which makes is wonder how many other local police departments received such lists & what they’ve done with them.

What did PP hope to achieve? Threats against activists by police? Before a pro-life event?

Reporting people who have not committed crimes to the police goes beyond “cancel culture.” Isn’t there a law against false reporting in Texas?

Healing Spinal Cord Injuries By Reprogramming Cells | Worldhealth.net Anti-Aging News

“[W]e may not need to transplant cells from the outside.” 

Good news from Texas medical researchers!

It appears that specific stimulating factors may prove more useful in harnessing the body’s own ability to heal and regenerate than stem cells, whether from my the patient or someone else. This research into regeneration of nerve cells mirrors the use of epogen and nupogen long used to induce blood cell production.

https://www.worldhealth.net/news/healing-spinal-cord-injuries-reprogramming-cells

EDITED TO ADD:

Here’s a longer online article from “EurekaAlert!,” from the American Assocation for the Advancement of Science, publishers of the journal, Science.

South Africa COVID Variant and the AstraZeneca Vaccine

CNN & NYT  coverage of events in South Africa concerning the AstraZeneca vaccine that’s being given in the British Virgin Islands are very poor.

The new study doesn’t come out until today, so the “news” reports are based only on press releases. 

ONE variant. ONE country.

And the actual data isn’t even available yet, even as preliminary information…

From what is available information in these reports about South Africa: About 1500 young people, average age 31,  were studied in South Africa, half received the vaccine, half a placebo. This study only evaluated one strain, and only mild to moderate infections, because this age group doesn’t tend to get sick.

All we really know is that in the South Africa study, similar numbers became infected with that particular strain and the serum from their blood didn’t do a good job of neutralizing that strain in the lab.

From the BBC news reports:
“Data from the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine team suggests their vaccine protects just as well against the new UK variant, but offers less protection against the South Africa variant – although it should still protect against severe Covid-19 illness.”

The vaccine *does* have high efficacy protection for the older strains & the UK variant. Not only that, but if vaccinated, the infectious period is shorter for these varieties.

There’s evidently no safety concern about the AstraZeneca vaccine from either study.

Beverly B Nuckols, MD

Time Magazine article about the election conspiracy

Time Magazine published their attempt at re-writing history,  pure one-sided propaganda, admitting to a conspiracy on the Left, beginning in 2019.

Not a word about the illegal changes in voting procedures by non-legislative, unconstitutional means, the doxxing of Michigan Republicans on Detroit’s certification boards.  I nstead there are unproven accusations that poll watchers who were placed behind barriers at the Detroit vote counting center were “crowding” poll workers.


The conspiracy held meetings about the possibility of Trump having illegal meetings.




The author is obviously a conspirator – and proud of it. He couldn’t resist noting that the “Architect” of the conspiracy texted him on the morning of 6 January.

Quotes from the opinion piece, focusing on the efforts of Trump, the “autocratically inclined President”

: 

“…the forces of labor came together with the forces of capital to keep the peace and oppose Trump’s assault on democracy.””

“”…saw Trump as a dangerous dictator.. “_

“” “It took pushing, urging, conversations, brainstorming, all of that to get to a place where we ended up with more rigorous rules and enforcement,” says Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, who attended the dinner and also met with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and others. (Gupta has been nominated for Associate Attorney General by President Biden.)”

“[ “Protect the Results” coalition ]The group’s now defunct website had a map listing 400 planned postelection demonstrations, to be activated via text message as soon as Nov. 4. To stop the coup they feared, the left was ready to flood the streets.”

Jordan B Peterson makes a mistake (Times article)

Dr. Jordan B Peterson has a new blog up in response to the publication of a hit piece disguised as an interview in the UK’s Sunday Times.

I’m a big fan of Peterson, as is my husband. I first noticed his online videos of his college lectures on philosophy & psychology, then became aware of his activism and, finally, his “Rules for Life” which became the base of his book of the same name. Larry and I were lucky enough to attend Dr. Peterson’s conversation with Sam Harris, moderated by Douglas Murray, in London a couple of years ago.

The Times‘ recent published interview is even worse than Peterson describes, with gratuitous remarks about toxic masculinity & unflattering, skewed and unexplicable comparisons to Donald Trump.

He’s posted the audio of the entire unedited interview on YouTube and has links in this blog post to the article published 31 January, 2021.
Here are a few of the hostile remarks by the author, Decca Aitkenson, from that article:

“I don’t know if this is a story about drug dependency, or doctors, or Peterson family dynamics — or a parable about toxic masculinity. Whatever else it is, it’s very strange.”

…

“After 80 minutes on Zoom, the one thing of which I’m certain is that, were I as close to death as she assures me her father repeatedly was, this is not the person I would entrust with saving my life.”

…

“The more he talks, though, the more I wonder whether toxic masculinity might have been a culprit, too. His family history of depression might tell us something about the price to be paid for his bootstrap philosophy; that when life became excruciatingly stressful, Peterson’s stand up, man up, suck it up mentality didn’t work.”

And, finally,

“Parallels with Donald Trump come to mind; another unhappy man closed off from his emotions, projecting strong man mythology while hunkered down in a bunker with his family against the world.”

If there’s anything I’m certain about Dr. Peterson it’s that he isn’t “closed off from his emotions.” Aitkenson is delusional or a biased liar. She’s no “reporter.”

Life, art, sureal (“Divided We Fall”)

Sureal to see the Tweets by Andy Ngo after just finishing “Divided We Fall, ” which is available for free to those subscribed to Kindle Unlimited.

The Baen Books Publishing anthology features short stories by Sarah A. Hoyt, Brad Torgersen, and Jon Del Arroz, among others. We’re told by the authors that Science Fiction writers aren’t popular with the new Powers That Be. Although there’s been a lot of “woke” SF in the last few years, there’s also a long tradition of military and libertarianism. Then, there’s the [T]Ruth and [S]cience problem, not to mention that the scion of Sci-Fi, John W. Campbell, called the genre, “future history.” Campbell wasn’t sufficiently prescient and has himself been cancelled by the “woke.”

Prescient? Although mistaken about an early concession by President Trump, “Divided We Fall,”  makes quite a few accurate predictions, at least up to the point I’m living in: the 2020 election and, to a lesser extent, through the inauguration and first week of the Biden (or what the White House news releases call the “Biden-Harris” administration). The early stories could have been reports from the last two months.

Not bad for a book that was published the week before the election, on October 31, 2020.

I hope and pray it’s not as accurate about the year(s) after.

The excellent story tellers – many with a military background – outline a dystopia that reads like the news from tomorrow if the French and Russian revolutions are to be repeated in the post-2020 election period. With a heavy dose of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution.

Rather than the Great Leap Forward, rural life is suspicious, too independent of the Federal government. Politically conservative or libertarian, gun owning, religious citizens are suddenly and mysteriously “disappeared” or publicly killed. Any dissent results in being fired, at least. Imagine convicted felons, terrorists, and antifa activists released from prison, with the latter put in charge of emptying libraries of “problematic” books (including most science fiction), or the military forced to assist with gun confiscation, beginning with Marines, but rapidly shifting to the other branches.

(A couple of stories point out that the Navy and Marines, aren’t covered by the Posse Comitatus Act.)

The characters all live in the same universe, with the same basic timeline and major events.

If the “Resistance” from the Right not only becomes necessary, imagine the the different ways people from all sorts of backgrounds find themselves managing to stand strong against chaos like what we’re seeing in Seattle. Portland, and, now, Tacoma.

Am I going to be disappeared for having read and liked this book?

Inauguration

“Buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!”




President Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States, said ” See you later,” rather than goodbye, but he (peacefully) left the White House and Washington, DC this morning – “for the last time”, according to headline after headline. Number 46 will be sworn in at noon.






While I’m certain that Donald Trump absolutely wanted to bring about changes in the Federal government, especially in regulations and the “unfair” deals with other nations, I think he might have been just as surprised as Hillary that he won. (My husband hates it when I compare the Trump victory to “The Mouse That Roared.”)

I was a “Never-Trumper’ through the 2016 Republican National Convention. After the Democrats chose Hillary Clinton, I knew there was no chance I wouldn’t vote against her.
While at first simply being ABC (Anybody But Clinton), the more I fact-checked and explained the misconceptions about Republicans and Trump, I first became anti-anti-Trump, then okay with him, to a supporter. I’m definitely in support of his policies, if not of his behavior.





Before noon four years ago today, the “Resistance” started breaking laws as well as windows. Every day, someone, somewhere in the US, burned a car or business or vandalized a building. A minority went beyond destroying property,  mobbing and harassing anyone associated with the Trump Administration. The media published leaked documents, transcripts and quotes from anonymous sources about the President and it was nearly impossible to find any positive coverage of anything Trump.

 Then, there was legal challenge after legal challenge. The heads of the Democratic Party, chairs of Congressional Committees, the FBI and CIA publicly distorted and – I believe – lied to the public and sometimes, to Congress.





Things are going to change under the new Administration. 

Our whistleblowers will be vilified, anyone who dares leak will be prosecuted as a spy, media will cooperate with the Powers That Be , as Social Media has in China. They’re already championing the turning in of family members & friends. 
But (using a few more metaphors and in spite of January 6) this time, the barbarians are within the gates. Outside, are those of us who believe in the rule of law, the Judeo-Greco-Christian legacy. Rather than topple statues and pain disfiguring and profane graffiti on monuments. We understand that we stand on the shoulders of giants, even as we recognize and acknowledge that virtually all of our predecessors were human, with human flaws. I hope we remember history, and try to learn from it, reform, rather than revolution. 
I believe that Conservatives will prevail.






As President Trump implied in his speech this morning, we’ll be back! 

Impeachment or instigation?

Well, the House voted to impeach President Trump. Again. 7 days before Inauguration Day. Ten Republicans joined every Democrat.

I watched bits & pieces of the House debate about impeachment, often turning it off when the rhetoric became especially inflammatory. Calls to “Fight like hell?” Repeated accusations of racism? How is that not the exact thing the Democrats claim the President is accused of?

The move to impeach is wrong in my opinion, and there’s certainly no evidence that would stand up in a just Court.

Unfortunately, the House (& possibly, the Senate) isn’t a just deliberative body.

We are forced to depend on essentially the same body whose leaders repeatedly claimed to have evidence of collusion and obstruction, evidence that couldn’t be supported by years of investigation by a several investigators who were assisted by people that we’ve since learned bent policy and withheld evidence. Some actually – broke laws, like FBI lawyer Klinesmith and several who lied under oath to Congress. So far, only Klinesmith has been charged.

Frustration built among even non-supporters of President Trump for nearly a year as we watched riots, assaults on Federal buildings, as well as violence and deadly attacks on law enforcement officers & private citizens and businesses. Several times, guillotines were used to decapitate stuffed animals and effigies of the the President, fires were set outside the White House and the President was mocked for the actions of the Secret Service.

Democrat legislators, even House Chairpersons like Maxine Waters, gave speeches and Tweeted encouraging personal attacks and harassment. Last August, 2020, Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the President the “Enemy of the State.” The future Vice President, Kamala Harris, helped raise funds for bail for the “fiery, but mostly peaceful, protests.” No one censured, much less impeached or moved to expell, any of these people.

Many deaths resulted from the earlier violence, many more injuries and undetermined amounts of property destroyed. Yet, when did we witness nearly the horror and recount of events in the news or on the part of Democrats that we’ve seen this week? A Google news search only yields conflicting reports of numbers. The on-the-ground videographers like Andy Ngo were just about the only reports we have and they have been ignored by the mainstream media and suppressed by social media tech. We were emphatically told that we objected to “a myth,” “an ideology, ” and were called “conspiracy theorists” for calling it violence.

There were documented irregularities in the election, with eye witnesses swearing out affidavits. Again, even some who admit to the irregularities, tell us that the numbers of votes weren’t enough to change the outcome, then accuse us of not thinking, of blindly following some narrow line of media commentators or “conspiracy theories.”

I’m sorely disappointed in the lack of insight about the possibility of more unrest if Trump’s supporters perceive impeachment as further evidence of corruption. Author Michael Malice said it best: Trump wasn’t the river. Trump was the dam against reaction to DC corruption.

“No fly list,” Social Media purge, and personal witnesses of 6 January.

Two of the YouTube video bloggers I follow have posted interviews and first-hand descriptions of events at the Washington, DC Capitol building on 6 January, noting the consequences. It’s almost as though they describe three totally separate events.

Kash Kelly describes his experience, beginning about 39 minutes in. He says that his group left the Trump speech early to walk to the Capitol lawn in order to avoid the rush when everyone walked. They were standing still on the lawn, chanting “USA”when men in SWAT gear began firing  paintballs and flashbangs.

One older man evidently had a heart attack because of the effects of the flashbangs.

Eventually, the police ceased firing when the crowd moved back. Some of the officers waved them onto the exterior balconies, some fired mace at them, others waved them into the building and even directed them to the offices and legislative chambers.

Kash says there were three different areas of entry, where police were alternately waving them in, spraying mace and beating them. Before entering the building, When he witnessed another group banging on a window. The patriots he was with demanded that the vandalism stop. The violent men seemed to know where thhey intended to go, went through a window and began handing out what appeared to be batons and other weapons to others waiting outside the window.

Once inside, his group of patriots saw police laughing what he believes were antifa and decided to leave but we’re trapped. The police guided them outside through a window.

(Note: Kash calls the bad guys “angwifwa,” because he’s lost his Instagram page and believes he will soon lose his FB page because of calling them out.)
https://youtu.be/FSdwxnNbEKA

Dave Rubin interviewed 3 people, two who were at the DC rally and have had their FB accounts arbitrarily removed from FB and have learned that they’re on a “no fly” list simply for being present. 

One, a journalist named Elijah Schaeffer, is certified to work in the Capitol and works with The Blaze.  The other is a woman, Dr. Karlyn Borysenko, an organizational psychologist who works with the organization, “#Walk Away.”

Neither took part in the riots or protest. Schaeffer was reporting & recording with the cooperation of the Capitol police, and Borysenko said she arrived late, never went into the Capitol and never saw any violence at all.

Shaffer’s professional and private FB page and Instagram accounts have been removed. FB has “banned” Borysenko and the leaders of her entire organization have also been permanently removed, according to a Tweet by Brandon Straka.

Borysenko’s photos of the event were removed from Instagram:

“Instagram just deleted my pictures from the capital that show that people were peacefully there and threatened to delete my account.”

https://youtu.be/M2qmsW0haE8

Conservatives on Twitter are losing “Followers” by the thousands, making it obvious that the site is purging conservatives. Dave Rubin says that at least, we know who’s really in charge:

BTW, I’m @bnuckols on Parler as well as Twitter

Edited: to make the 1st paragraph clear & to fix the spelling of “angwifwa.” BBN

“Nightmare” over?

Never before have we had a media that is so unbalanced. The opinion pieces and editorials that are being published about the events in Washington, DC on 6 January, 2021 as though they are objective news have left least one of my long-time friends to claim that the newly elected US government “came from God to save us from this nightmare!”

Watch & see. I doubt much will change.

First, of course, remember that political, violent “nightmares” have happened before:

The beginning of yesterday’s events could be said to originate in 1990. Members of the Weaver family, including a mother & a 14 year old boy were murdered at Ruby Ridge by Federal agents. Two men, Weaver and Harris, charged with killing a Federal agent during the shoot out that resulted in the boy’s death, were aquited after agents testified that they fired first and that Weaver, at least, never shot at anyone. No charges were brought against the shooters or others involved in the cover-up that followed.

In 2000, we endured a solid month of hanging chad’s followed by the attempted obstruction of the counting of overseas military votes.

During the Obama Administration, there was Occupy Wall Street & its off-shoots, the Fast & Furious gun running. This, paralleled with the weaponization of the IRS against conservatives and pressure on banks to close accounts of gun retailers, resulted in findings of Contempt of Congress against the US Attorney General & the head of the IRS. The local DA and judges in DC had jurisdiction to enforce the Contempt charges, but refused to prosecute.

Obama’s Administration also actually spyed on journalists, even naming one an “unindicted co-conspirator.”

On 1 August, 2008, Pelosi ordered the lights & air conditioners turned off in the House of Representatives chamber, to prevent Republican Congressmen from giving speeches and speaking to the media. Capitol police ordered the Press to leave.

Contrast that last to the “sit in” by Democrats in June, 2016.

And, of course, the evidence is clear that Presidential candidate Trump & his Administration were investigated by the CIA & FBI. Kevin Clinesmith, an FBI lawyer, actually lied to obtain a FISA warrant against Carter Page.

Official documents exhonorating General Flynn are still being discovered, 3 years after his court case. Judge Sullivan is well known for censoring officials who withheld exculpatory evidence. Not this time.

Amazingly, future Vice President Kamala Harris, helped raise bail money for anarchist rioters last summer.

And, last night, the violence including weapons, fires, and attacks on police, in Portland continued.

So don’t expect that we all relax or that the “nightmare” is over. It’s certainly not the work of God. Just the opposite, I think.

Absence of evidence

I’ve been avoiding tackling a post to WingRight, waiting for the Georgia Senate runoffs to pass before ranting. As of now, at 6:30PM, Georgia time, 4 January, 2021, we don’t know the outcome – or when we will know the outcome – but my little blog definitely won’t make a difference, now.

The “news” is virtually all one-sided, claiming to “debunk” any complaints and dismissing any and all claims of fraud or cheating in the 3 November, 2020 election. Yet, I am absolutely convinced that something illegitimate happened in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Others point to possible manipulated votes in Arizona, Minnesota, and Nevada.

Yet, none of the suspicious activity has actually been laid out in Court. No one has ruled on the many sworn testimonies from witnesses who claim to have observed irregularities. There have been a couple of victories in Pennsylvania to but the rest of the lawsuits have been dismissed without trial or hearings involving those witnesses, all on technicalities.

The Republican challenges themselves have sometimes looked like the efforts of the Resistance. For instance, how to explain a lawyer who forgets to pay filing fees, or the case after case dismissed for lack of “standing.”

I’m afraid that even the planned objection by Republicans on January 6th is simply theater. It will be interesting, but has little chance of passing in either the House or the Senate. And, just what would be the result of Congress overturning the apparent vote?

I can’t think of anything that will prevent Joe Biden from being sworn in on 20 January. But, if I’ve learned anything from watching the results of the “Resistance,” the FBI, and the CIA over the last four years, it’s to anticipate a slow trickle of information about the validity of at least some of the suspected fraud.

Something to remember: absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence.

Edit: the Republican Legislators from Pennsylvania sent this letter, today:

Threats to “deprogram” Trump voters

Perhaps the 79 Million should begin by not threatening the 75 with “deprogramming.” The fact that lists are being made, that there was at least one (now “inactive”) website dedicated to a “Trump Accountibility Project, & a DNC delegate, regional California Democrat Director published this idea is an autocratic threat worse than any “conspiracy theory” in circulation.

https://twitter.com/DavidOAtkins/status/1328898661569363969?s=09

“”No seriously…how do you deprogram 75 million people? Where do you start? Fox? Facebook?

““We have to start thinking in terms of post-WWII Germany or Japan. Or the failures of Reconstruction in the South.””

Why Georgia matters

Even failed “progressive” actions by US legislators are rarely, if ever, reversed. Often, they enable broader progressive changes.

As I write this, it’s nine days after the 2020 election and we still don’t know who will be inaugurated as President of the United States. In spite of the precipitous “calling” of the election by the AP an other media for Joe Biden, the actual result is not a given due to close votes in several States. Lawsuits and recounts will likely play out at least until the day of the Electoral College vote, December 14, 2020, if not beyond.

Georgia officials have announced that they will conduct a recount and audit of the vote in that State because the difference in the Presidential election votes is about 0.2%. There’s a chance that the State will determine who will be sworn in on January 20, 2021.

But the biggest impact for the State may be as a result of another election. (Or, technically, two elections.)

On January 5, 2021, the State of Georgia will hold a run off election to determine both of their Senators. Currently, it appears that both races can be handily won by the Republicans if they turn out as they did on November 3, 2020.

(Each race had several candidates and Georgia requires a majority to win. Republican John Purdue beat Democrat Jon Ossof 49.7% to 48%.

While Republican Kelly Loeffler only received 25.9% of the vote in the Special Election compared to the 39.2% won by Democrat Raphael Warnock, the other Republicans in the race bled off Loeffler’s votes have endorsed her, including Doug Collins, who had 19.9% of the vote.)

In the event that Joe Biden wins the Presidential election each of us, regardless of Party affiliation, should ask ourselves whether the current crop of Democrats can govern without turning our Nation over to the chaos that is the status quo in many of the cities they already govern.

In addition, it’s imperative to remember the consequences of compromises and the influence of the Left on policies of the future.

Take an example from my profession: 1993’s “HillaryCare” debacle. Hillary Clinton’s plan to centralize health care to impose universal, single-payer government financed health insurance failed due to closed door meetings and a chaotic lack of political planning. It still resulted in SCHIP, HIPAA, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 that removed all privacy from medical records and forced utilization of mid-level medical personnel as employees of “providers,” the ridiculous idea that cutting numbers of physicians by restrictions on funding for residencies would save money for Medicare, and ultimately, ObamaCare.

The Republicans have already won 50 seats, at least, but that is no majority and ties would be settled by the vote of the “President of the Senate,” the Vice President of the United States. In the event that Biden is the final winner of the Presidency, those ties would go to Kamala Harris – or her VP after Joe resigns or is unseated.

It’s a cliché that we’re likely to hear slot in the next 2 months, but do keep Georgia on your mind.

Update on “Armed men” & fake ballots

CNN has corrected its headline and printed a corrected story in typical fashion: down at the bottom of the page, they note that they might have made a mistake.

“According to our information at this very early stage of investigation, it appears these individuals were operating under the belief that ‘fake ballots’ are being counted at the Convention Center — a completely unsupported claim — and that belief may have been what drew their attention to Philadelphia.” Roh told CNN in an emailed statement.

But it wasn’t their fault.

CNN affiliate KYW had earlier reported that the men were “coming to deliver a truck full of fake ballots” to the city, citing prosecutors.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the presumed motive for why Antonio LaMotta and Joshua Macias had come to the Philadelphia Convention Center armed with guns. They may have believed fake ballots were being counted there, according to Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Jane Roh. The headline and story have been corrected.

So what apparently happened was the two men drove to Philadelphia to check out the counting of ballots while unaware that Pennsylvania doesn’t recognize any other State’s license to “keep and bear arms.” (Or the Constitution.)


None of the articles report that the men possessed any ballots – fake or otherwise.

They were arrested, their names and personal histories published, then arraigned on the possession charges. The judge ordered them held on $700,000 bond. Each.

If only they had chanted “Black Lives Matter” or “No Justice, No Peace” & thrown a few rocks. Then, they would have been released with no bond.

(Other than that, the story was accurate.)

CNN.

Sorry, @TheBabylonBee, even you aren’t this good!

(Update, here 7 PM AST)

Do you believe this one? It’s either a (dare I say “CIA?” “Deep State?”) Left-wing attempt to implicate “QAnon,” the result of a HUGE overdose of testosterone and anabolic steroids sufficient to cause psychosis, or a spoof.

I prefer the latter, but let’s face it: one guy worked for the City of Chesapeake, Virginia.

I’d arrest them on suspicion, based on displaying the flag, alone!

Reported by CNN, based on a local TV news story,

Investigators say Lamotta was wearing a Beretta handgun in plain view and Macias was concealing another.

“He had a Beretta .40 caliber pistol under his jacket and a Virginia conceal and carry permit. The state of Pennsylvania does not recognize handgun permits from Virginia, so he was also taken into custody,” Outlaw said.

The article hits every boogey-man Right-wing myth the Left tell their parents (Lord knows they don’t have kids to terrify) to justify antifa.

1. Guns
2. Silver Hummer
3. Guns!
4. US Flag attached to the Hummer
5. Guns and a flag!
6. “Heavily armed“
7. Guns!
8. Reporter quoted Philadelphia Police Commissioner “Outlaw“
9. Three (3) Guns!
10. QAnon hat found in Hummer
11. Guns!
12. QAnon sticker on rear window
13. More than one gun!
14. The Hummer is parked in front of “Big Brother!”
15. Handgun guns!
16. Attempted Delivery of Fake Ballots
17. “AR-type rifle” Gun!
18. Did I mention that the men were ” heavily” armed?

Twitter report here,

Evidence enough.

I love the BabylonBee, @TheBabylonBee, but even they can’t make stuff up that’s this good!

Election Day Ad And Political Video

Woke after 28 years

Proof once again that our most important elections are decided by the least knowledgeable. – the “undecideds.”

The Christian Post has an editorial explaining why the author is voting for the first time in 28 years: she has decided she must vote against President Trump because she blames him for the deaths of black men at the hands of police officers.

I’d like to challenge the author to fact check her assumptions by taking a look at the issue from President Trump’s side. I wonder whether she’s even considered arguments from the other side. (Or whether she can even find any.)

A good place to start is to identify who is responsible for the looting, vandalism, and violence against police officers and civilians.

How could President Trump be responsible for the riots in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014?

Or, take a look at this week in Philadelphia. Who caused business owners to scramble to board up their stores in the middle of the night – President Trump & the Proud Boys or Harris/Biden, antifa, & BLM?

For the rest of us, it should be our mission today to educate & edify at least one unknowing undecided.

Scott Atlas, MD, in his own words

You’ve probably heard about the new doctor, Scott Atlas, MD who is advising President Trump on health policy during the last couple of months.

Here’s a video in which he describes his views and recommfations. You might be surprised!

Dueling Statements by “Experts:” More COVID-19 politics

Why the fuss about Amy Coney Barrett?

Politics are heated, these days. One hot spot is the imminent confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court of the United States after the unanticipated (yet expected) death of Ruth Nader Ginsberg last month.

A lot of us have expressed our concerns about what has been called “social eugenics,”experimenting with basic societal institutions and our children’s future. (Example: the unexpected problems of forced single parent homes and racial disparity in prisons from the way we pay aid to families and “the War on Drugs.” )

Huge changes were mandated by SCOTUS, rather than State by State, or even at the Federal legislative level, through legislation by our elected representatives. Controversial social change – either direction – is better accepted if it comes socially, then politically.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett has demonstrated the ability to rule based on law, separating religious matters from the meaning of the law. The ABA isn’t adverse to withholding approval for judges, yet gave a glowing recommendation of “Very qualified” and testified about their deliberative process and in favor of confirmation at the Judiciary Committee this morning.

“If you like your (money), you can keep your (money).”

Joe Biden doesn’t believe we have a right to know his plans before the election, but we do know he plans to take more (tax) money from high earners, surviving businesses and successful investers. Why not punish the “rich?”

Perhaps Biden can raise the $4Trillion he wants to spend by only raising Income tax (to 40%) & Social Security tax (12.5%)on the 1.8% of people who earn 25% of the income in the US & who pay 40% of the US’ income taxes.

“Fair share,” right?

But we also know he plans to increase corporate taxes (to 28%), capital gains taxes (to 40%) and increase the estate tax.

Selling your home or investment real estate? Part of the profit is capital gains tax & Biden plans to raise the maximum tax to 39% from 20%.

Currently, most profit on your primary residence for most people is exempted. Will Biden pledge to save the exemption? (Would he answer that question before the election?)

How many small businesses that managed to hang on through COVID would survive paying an increase in corporate taxes from 21% to 28%?

“No one earning under $400,000.”

Paraphrasing a couple of Biden’s role models,
“It depends on what the meaning of is, is”
or,
“If you like your (money), you can keep your (money).”

On Blame

Amid sanctimonious reassurance that they don’t wish bad things on the President – or his “cronies” – Facebook, Twitter, and, certainly, the media are claiming that the President is responsible for each and everyone of the US deaths due to COVID-19.

(I won’t link to the sites, giving them more traffic. It’s easy to find samples.)

What would you have done? Scare tactics? Usurp State & local government with Federal force?

How would you shut down the economy and our kids’ education even more severely without imposing martial law, forbidding even “mostly peaceful” protests, using military guns to enforce your edicts?

The people getting sick aren’t just “Trumpsters” running around in MAGA hats at the White House.

In fact, most cases are nursing home patients and household contacts, people who necessarily live together.

And just as many, if not more, have died of suicide, overdoses and homicide – in addition to the increase of deaths due to heart attacks, strokes, and Alzheimer’s because of the lockdowns and lost jobs and businesses.

From Milwaukee, “[D]eath tolls would amount to 514 overdoses, 455 COVID-19 deaths, 193 homicides, and 120 suicides.”

And, no, the President hasn’t “lied” about the serious nature of the virus. In my opinion, he has chosen to give the best case, rather than worst case scenario whenever possible.

About the “Born-Alive” Debate

For those interested in the Born Alive issue, here’s a “pro-choice” leaning “FactCheck.org” article that generally has the details right. It’s the conclusion that is flawed.

We don’t know the specifics of President Trump’s Executive Order, but there’s quite a bit of controversy in social media and the news media.

The Fact Check article claims that neither the 2002 Act nor the 2019 (failed) Bill are necessary due to homicide laws in the States as well as Federal law.

However, there has always been a very real debate about both the babies on the cusp of viability and babies born alive in the process of an induced abortion.

The latter was addressed in the 2019 Bill that failed to pass. Specifically, that Bill (would have) mandated standard of care medical attention.

75th Anniversary of the WWII Victory for the West

How did the 75th Anniversary of VE (Victory in Europe day, May 8) & VJ (Victory over Japan day, August 15) pass with so little acknowledgement, no celebration?

My mother was 8 years old in 1945, Daddy was 9. They each told us about the celebrations, the relief, the joy that accompanied the end of the War.

Thank you to all the men and women who sacrificed and died to protect our inalienable human rights from being infringed by demagogues and tyrants who dehumanized innocents as well as combatants.

A modest proposal for COVID-19 response (Or, I’m not King, but)

REFERENCES

Treatment dosing (always allowing treating physicians who prescribe determine need & frequency of alternate doses & monitoring)

This isn’t a prescription!

Hydroxychloroquine: 400 mg. twice on day one then 200 mg. twice a day for either 5 or 10 days;

Azithromycin: 250 mg. tablet, 2 on day one, 1 on day 2 to 5;

Budesonide: unit dose via hand held inhaler or nebulizer twice a day. (I’m looking for references for this one. )

Zinc 150 mg. to 250 mg. a day indefinitely. (Best evidence for lozenges or syrup multiple times a day. See references.)

Vitamin D, 1000 IU a day, up to 4000 IU is safe

Vitamin C, No set dose, but extra will be excreted in the urine or feces, can cause diarrhea.

References

Journal of the American Medical Association review. Published August 11, 2020. (Free, with Tables)

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2769443?guestAccessKey=53b2b8ec-df1a-4ca4-88ce-abf6c4fa470c&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=081120

CDC recommendation on cloth masks:

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/10/20-0948_article

John’s Hopkins recommendation:

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-face-masks-what-you-need-to-know

Zinc:

https://www.uchealth.org/today/zinc-could-help-diminish-extent-of-covid-19/

Journal article on treatment for the common cold: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/0003-4819-125-2-199607150-00001

Unpublished, non-peer reviewed: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/47794995_Zn_Inhibits_Coronavirus_and_Arterivirus_RNA_Polymerase_Activity_In_Vitro_and_Zinc_Ionophores_Block_the_Replication_of_These_Viruses_in_Cell_Culture

Hydroxychloroquine/azithromycin protocols

International Journal of Infectious Diseases (Henry Ford or Ashad report):

https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(20)30534-8/fulltext

https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(20)30600-7/fulltext

On synergistic effect of hydroxychloroquine plus steroids:

https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(20)30613-5/fulltext

Budesonide

Description of study in progress on treatment for loss of smell in patients without severe symptoms:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7370627/

Vitamin C safety:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/vitamin-c/faq-20058030#:~:text=For%20adults%2C%20the%20recommended%20daily,Nausea

Note: comments are off. Please comment on my Facebook page, Beverly Nuckols.

Edited 31/08/20 12:30 for mis-spellchecked word. BBN

Answering Trump Derangement Syndrome

A long post written for Facebook, pretty much self explanatory:

Friday, as I often do, I wrote a blog for WingRight about (and posted an additional link to an informative interview with) Dr. Scott Atlas.

Although I seriously considered tagging you, I decided not to. I certainly don’t add the heading, “to my Democrat friends.”

I enjoy discussing ideas, ethics, and politics, but try to avoid disharmony and criticising personalities as much as possible. I’ve muted your posts because the hostile tone and – frankly – the rude and sometimes obscene posts from your other friends.

Did you hear about the peace deal brokered by President Trump between Israel and the United Arab Emirates? The expectation is a domino effect among other Middle East nations.

As to the new Postmaster General: Mr. DeJoy ran a successful and profitable freight and supply chain business for 35 years.

The mail delivery horrors you list are pure politics and distraction. We have a PO Box in the USVI, but, as with our businesses in the US, we have always used FedEx for time-sensitive mail. Even Amazon had slowdowns over the last 5 months, due to volume, staffing difficulties, and the practical matter of barriers to product delivery from (China) foreign manufacturers.

The collection box removals have been going on for years. The changes in the USPS are reportedly being made to improve productivity, but politics…

Assume Democrats that oppose the President, as well as Republicans that support him, work for the post office and that Republicans want every one of their ballots properly and efficiently delivered, too.

For the response to COVID-19, I recommend the interview between Dr. Atlas and Peter Robinson on Stanford University’s Hoover Institute “Uncommon Knowledge.”

The facts are that most virus mitigating measures were State responsibilities and there is no legal way for Federal involvement.

It’s not “all age groups.” Under 60 years old, the risk of severe illness is equal to the risk from influenza.1/2 of cases are asymptomatic or very mild symptoms. 99% of deaths are in people over 25 years old.

2/3 of deaths in many states were nursing home patients. 80% in Michigan. (The latest rumor is that it was *intended* by the Democrat Governors to cut the elderly population.)

The “killing” happened due to 1.) failing to protect our elderly and forcing nursing homes to accept COVID-19 positive patients and 2.) lost lives and years due to the lock downs, closing schools, and destruction of the economy. Excess deaths are greater than those explained by the virus. (Deaths due to delayed treatment for strokes, heart attacks, cancer, but as high as a 35% increase in some areas of Michigan, in ER visits for severe child abuse.)

California served as a lab for testing draconian methods like prolonged lock downs, chained parks & banned beaches, even requiring masks while exercising out doors, i.e., running and cycling! Yet, the hospitalizations, and deaths equal or exceed States that reopened, like Texas.

I had hoped that naming Harris as nominee for VP candidate would stop the Democrat talking points about adultery. At least no one claims that Trump built his career by an affair with a married power broker.

And, since you bring it up, “bullying” should be off the table, too. Harris put people in jail for marijuana, blocked possibly exonerating DNA evidence in a death row case and kept people in jail after they should have been released. This fact check from January, 2019 about Accusations made by Biden and others, is actually very fair,

The Epstein talking point conveniently skips the history: Trump banned Epstein from his properties back in the early ’90’s, after the sexual predator was exposed. The one woman who claimed to connect Trump & Epstein filed and dropped 3 suits in 2016, using a fraudulent address in the first.

Trump explained the comment about Maxwell: his 1st thought, like that of many of us, was that Epstein didn’t kill himself.

My politics focus in ethics and defending inalienable human rights and the Constitution. Abortion infringes the right not to be killed and mocks the concept of all the rest.

Even the 2nd Amendment goes beyond defending and enforcing the 1st Amendment and the rest of the Constitution: the right to self defense is a corollary to the right not to be killed.

You should really lose the accusation about children in cages since those pictures were from 2014, Obama’s ICE. The result of the huge caravans.

The rest of your comments are pure opinion, even going so far as to ask whether Melania is happy.

Ending on a positive note: Trump isn’t racist!