the back story behind the election

World leaders praise Trump as he claims US election win https://t.co/BxmCECHMNq

— Inquirer (@inquirerdotnet) November 6, 2024

 

....

david vs goliath

hopefully this will break the government harassment of pro life people as terrorists, and allow an investigation into gain of function research in Wuhan lab funded by US taxpayer funds via Ecohealth.

and those around Trumpieboy remind me of the 1970s Democrats. 

and kudos to Musk for breaking open the government manipulation of science covering up the Wuhan virus origina and vaccine problems. And then showing giving us a way to break through the propaganda war of the MSM and deep state.

If Elon hadn’t bought Twitter, who knows what would’ve happened tonight. Enabling the American people to exercise our first amendment rights may be the most consequential event which led to Trump’s win. The fake news media couldn’t spread their hoaxes, lies, and propaganda as…

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 6, 2024

not in the headlines: corruption rules

City Journal article discussing fraud in the global warming scam:

 to quote a Bloomberg headline, “The World Bank Somehow Lost Track of at Least $24 Billion.” 

In fact, that may understate the reality: the World Bank’s “accounting gap” could be as big as $41 billion. The missing funds in question were for “climate finance” projects, “financed by taxpayer dollars from its member countries, the biggest being the US.”

According to the Oxfam report that was the source for the Bloomberg story, “There is no clear public record showing where this money went or how it was used, which makes any assessment of its impacts impossible.” It is possible that much, maybe even most, of the missing money went to the intended people and purposes. But only the hopelessly naïve would dismiss the probability of rampant waste, malfeasance, graft, and outright theft as explanations for that “gap.” Spending of such magnitude and velocity with sloppy oversight is an invitation to thieves.

well, duh. Everyone knows that aid money tends to get stolen. So does profit from oil and mining projects in Africa. Al J expose here. So what else is new?

headsup via Instapundit.

Tuberculosis? We haz that

from LegalInsurrection:

In a recent report on the respiratory disease tuberculosis (i.e., “TB”), an incident involving an illegal Chinese immigrant with a rare form of tuberculosis sparked concern and legal action in Louisiana. Now approximately 200 students and staff members at a Georgia high school have undergone tuberculosis testing after a possible exposure on campus.

the article then quotes a local public health doc who says that TB is treatable, so hopefully it is not a case of drug resistant TB.

On my medical blog, I have a long discussion of how members of my family has been affected by TB, which we all have been infected but never developed the disease... but the skin test showed prior infection which could reactivate in the future, so we all got treatment to prevent this......

My husband had developed active TB during World War II (and was saved by Streptomycin which had just been discovered to stop the infection).

How serious could cases of undiagnosed Tuberculosis be?

well. in 1970, a worker in the US congress cafeteria was found to have open TB,

  NYTIMES

:WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (UPI) —Arrangements were made to day to test members of Congress and about 14,000 Capitol employees for tuberculosis. The action was taken after health officials learned that two Senate restaurant workers died of TB in recent months and that four other active cases of the contagious disease had been found in the Capitol complex.

This incident is another argument against allowing unscreened migration into the USA... Usually if you want to immigrate to the USA, you need to get a Chest X ray (Note: I was required to get a Chest X ray to get a long term visa to live here in the Philippines).

some educational lectures here: First the history of TB, the second on treatment.

FAMILY NEWS: PUPPIES AGAIN

Here, Mamadog's puppies are eating, and usually here they are given away at this point. 

Usually I try to keep them a few weeks and get them baby shots and dewormed first, but maybe not: I am not up to doing this right now, so their new owners will be advised they need the shots.

But now,  Mamadog's oldest puppie, Blackie, just had two puppies behind my easy chair in the bedroom. 

We knew she was pregnant but she was not very big, but then  I heard puppy cries. Two puppies, one tan and one brown. I wonder who is the dad, since Blackie is black and her mom is white. But the dogs do sneak out the garage door late at night to go courting.

In the meanwhile, I have the stomach flu. Joy stayed with me last night until I stopped vomiting but I still feel lousy. 

 the US election seems to be crazier than normal: and no I didn't vote.

The mail is so slow that in the past my vote never arrived in time (regular mail takes about a month to get to our rural area from the USA), so I just figured never mind. 

There are geopolitical aspects to who wins the election for those of us in the Philippines: the worry is that China will go nuts and invade Taiwan and the Philippines will be caught up in that fight. 

However StrategyPage seems to say probably not: corruption has made them weak. 

If Trumpieboy gets in, he's so crazy no one will want to test him. If Harris gets in, she is weak: but as the Instaprofessor notes, it will just mean the deep state who is running the US for a popular but senile Biden will decide what to do. sigh.

Internet archive: Back on line

Internet archives is back on line, so I can download classic books and films again.

But was the hack by those pushing copyright claims, or was it to interfere with those seeking knowledge of the past, or was it a way to destroy the Wayback Machine?

 

Download Vanishing Culture: A Report on Our Fragile Cultural Record

Cyber attacks, like those against the Internet Archive, British Library, Seattle Public Library, Toronto Public Library and Calgary Public Library, are a new threat to digital culture, disrupting the infrastructure that secures our digital heritage and impeding access to information at community scale.

 

The Vanishing Culture report arrives today at a critical moment: While @internetarchive recovers from a cyberattack, it’s a reminder of how fragile our access to knowledge can be. Preserving culture & history requires resilience—and collective action.

🔗 https://t.co/IcGMa396TJ pic.twitter.com/I1BBGh6a3f

— Internet Archive (@internetarchive) October 30, 2024

pop art in churches Bah humbug

when I attended a church built by donations from the local Osage Catholics, locals told me that after Vatican II, when the priest started tearing out the beautiful altar in the name of liturgical reform, the local Catholics told him to stop, since the church was built with their money.

The art work was chosen by the locals and is beautiful.

The destruction of art work in Catholic churches after Vatican II was opposed by the people, who had no say in the matter, leading to the quip: What is the difference between a liturgist and a terrorist? You can negotiate with a terrorist.

 

But the Vatican is still busy trivializing things beloved by ordinary believers in the name of inclusion, (by which they mean obeying the latest fad), ignoring Gresham's law, that bad money art drives out good money art.

What is this rant about?

this.

The Vatican has unveiled the official mascot of the Holy Year 2025: Luce (Italian for Light).

Archbishop Fisichella says the mascot was inspired by the Church's desire "to live even within the pop culture so beloved by our youth." pic.twitter.com/hVU2CmYA3O

— CatholicTV (@CatholicTV) October 28, 2024

 

 ARTNET article notes:

Is the Vatican’s New Anime-Inspired Mascot a ‘Major PR Victory’ or ‘Deeply Evil’?...

The Vatican has debuted a new anime-style mascot for children ahead of its Jubilee 2025 celebrations. Wide-eyed Luce, whose name is the Latin word for “light,” wears a yellow hooded raincoat with a beaded rosary and carries a staff in a contemporary twist on the event’s theme of “Pilgrims of Hope.”

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the Vatican’s chief organizer of the Jubilee, unveiled the official mascot earlier this week during a press conference about next year’s cultural program. He said the mascot will guide younger audiences through the festivities and that she was “created from the desire to enter into the world of pop culture, so beloved by our young people.”

On October 30, Luce was debuted at Lucca Comics and Games, a popular convention for video games, comic books, and fantasy in Tuscany. There, the Dicastery for Evangelization hosted “Luce and Friends,” which introduced visitors to more characters from the mascot’s world including her pals Fe, Xin, Sky, and her dog Santino. Luce will also take the global stage in the Holy See pavilion at the next World Expo taking place in Osaka in 2025.

so what do the droll commentators on EWTN think of this? Fast forward five minutes:

I laughed when one guy pointed out that this seemed to be a way to make money by merchandizing the image.   Heh:

"Spaceballs Luce, The T-Shirt!

Spaceballs Luce, The Coloring Book!

Spaceballs, Luce, The Lunchbox!

Spaceballs Luce, The Breakfast Cereal!

Spaceballs Luce, The Flamethrower!"  

but this is not anime as much as a blue haired androgenous lady trying to be inspiring you to... exactly what?

use her own powers to fight evil? 

or putting herself in an attitude to obedience to Jesus? Uh, no Jesus here folk. Even wearing a cross on a beaded necklace doesn't make it a Christian symbol (lots of rock stars wear crosses etc in mockery of religion).

The usual idiots love it of course. llink2 Cute. Not beautiful. Not inspiring. Nothing about Jesus here, folks, just move along,

and a lot of people who see Luce as a Lucifer symbol, they are wrong. Even Cardinal Vigano points out she is actually a clone of a anti semetic modernity hating cultural icon of the NWO.

,,,,,,,,

#Luce #synod pic.twitter.com/Figxl9AsaN

— Arcivescovo Carlo Maria Viganò (@CarloMVigano) October 29, 2024

.. hmmm...maybe instead of anime they might want to consider St Michael the Samurai:

...

the good news? While the Vatican is chasing away believers by promoting pop culture trivia, the ex atheists and vloggers are the ones preaching the message of Jesus:

.....

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Family news: Getting old

 I had a birthday last week, and we had a big party: Slow roasted beef with baby potatoes and baked Salmon from a local take out place that makes gourmet meals, and we also had Pizza, Spaghetti and fried chicken from Jollibee (the best in the world according to Anthony Bourdain), and chocolate cake. 

Party was attended by the staff who lives here, and we also invited the ladies who were cleaning up our conference room and preparing it for the Baptists who meet there on Sunday.

Kuya loves his superduper smart phone, so gifted me one. (I had been using a small tablet that could make phone calls, but it is on it's last legs). Joy gave me a medium size tablet without a phone that she got with her cellphone last week which I plan to use for reading: both internet and ebooks.  So I have been busy cloning my information to these places and trying to figure out how to use the phone.... I have been avoiding putting my face etc on line, but now my new phone recognizes me so I guess its too late to worry about such things. The good news is that I can have it read stuff to me: I have developed cataracts and can't read small print. When they get worse I'll have surgery, maybe after the holiday.

Kuya slipped and fell getting off the elevator in the mall so they took him to the local hospital and he had a CT scan which was okay so he refused to stay at the hospital. It was probably a blessing, because they found that his Blood pressure which had always been borderline when I checked it,, was sky high. So I put him on medicine and now it's back to a safer level. 

Joy fell two weeks ago and tore a ligament in her knee: pain pills, and a brace might work, but she is on her feet a lot and could end up with surgery. Sigh.

We are all getting old. 

Medicare doesn't pay for health care here, but the company has us all on PhilHealth which pays about half the bill. And things are cheaper than in the USA.

When I had Mohs surgery for a small lesion on my face, I ended up paying 20 thousand pesos of the total bill (about 400 dollars out of a total that would have been about 1000 dollars US)... but it would have been ten times that in the USA.  

I had developed the lesion when Lolo was dying so there was a delay in getting it off. The second lesion I later developed I had a surgeon take off here: it was in an area where the scar would not show.

People who talk about moving overseas have to remember about health care. Many expats are married to local ladies so have family around, and other move to areas what cater to expats not just from the US but also Europe and Asia: and there is a special retirement visa for us. Unlike the US, the Philippines respects elders and so shops etc often will help me when I go there.

Medical standards in Manila is equal to that in the USA, so is a potential medical tourism spot. And we are getting more sophisticated here: I could even get a specialized retinal scan in the next city, and we now have dialysis and heart surgery, but also there are places for the poor to get subsidized medical care. Our local public hospital is often understaffed now so many folk have to go to the next town for specialized care at the public hospital, or pay extra at two local private hospitals.

The town has already started to put up the Christmas lights: the Christmas season here starts as early as October.

But the big holiday today is not Haloween (although some are starting to celebrate it in Manila) but Undas: All Saints day which is November 1st. That is the day when people return to their home villages to visit the graves of their loved ones. 

Usually you go to the cemetary, clean the grave site, place flowers and light some candles, and then stay awhile and visit with family and friends while you eat a small meal. Usually there are vendors there selling snacks and candles and small toys for the kids who get bored. 

So today we visited Lolo's grave. I sent the maid and her brother to clean it up yesterday, and today we brought the candles and flowers. Yes, it was early, but  on Oct 31 and Nov 1, the crowds are so great that usually you aren't allowed to drive to the gravesite, but have to leave the car on the street and walk. Since I had Dengue two years ago, I have trouble walking more than a block or two, especially in the afternoon heat. 

yes, I saw a couple of doctors about this, but after all the negative tests I asked them what was the problem: and they laughed and essentially said: it's old age.

 

AH! I INTENDED   NEVER NEVER   TO GROW OLD ... LISTEN: NEW YEAR'S BELL!
JOKUN

Sigh.

Dengue and Malaria? We haz that

 Malaria in Arkansas and Dengue in Calfornia.

short discussion on my medical blog.

the CDC is doing investigation of contacts  while doing spraying to kill mosquitoes: ironically, although both these diseases are spread via mosquitoes, the mosquitoes are different. Luckily, the way to kill mosquitoes is the same: Get rid of standing water and spray high risk areas.

there is a dengue vaccine but not a good one, and the malaria detected is the lower grade Ovale, which can hide in asymptomatic patients but doesn't kill as often as the more virulent Falciparum version which is becoming resistant to medicine.

With all the criticism of the public health service, you might want to remember that malaria was once common in the Southern USA, 

a different mosquito spreads Dengue, and although Dengue was not a problem, the same mosquito spread Yellow fever, which was a major problem in the USA.

History lesson here:

...

the election is crazy in the USA

 my son is worried that no matter who wins, there will be violence. Given the horrid rhetoric by Trump against illegal migrant criminals, one does worry that vigilantes will start attacking anyone who is an immigrant: Both legal and the peaceful ones who fled to work at an honest job.

He lives in elderly housing gated community so he should be okay. But things tend to be getting crazy.

On the other hand, as the saying goes: Only Nixon can go to China, and that is why I suspect that Trumpie boy will deport high risk gangs but give an amnesty to those who find jobs and are not criminal (similar to the Reagan amnesty, which by the way is how my son's wife became a US citizen back then)...

Harris is blowing things by making this about Trumpieboy as Hitler: I mean he was president before, and didn't even take Hillary to court for her illegal email server or the Russia hoax.

She should be telling us how she plans to tackle the growing debt, put rules in place to screen migrants (not just criminals but for disease like TB) etc. 

Actually she lost my vote by saying that she not only will pass a federal law to legalize all abortions up to nine months, but will not allow exemptions for those who refuse to do abortions for religious reasons. Since one abortionist tried to fail me in medical school for refusing to do abortions, I take this personal. (by the way: The Civil Rights act of 1964 protected me. Presumably this law is still on the books).

And this law might force Catholic hospitals to close. Alas, too many nuns who run these hospitals are getting woke, so they would probably ignore the bishops and let abortions (and later euthanasia) be done.

You know, this is not just a right wing Christian issue: when I was in training and a hospital tried to force their residents to do abortions, the Muslim doctors refused, and when they were threatened with loss of their job,, all the other Muslim residents said: You fire them, we all leave. 

But seeing how easily my fellow medical students changed their mind when Roe was passed, I have no trust that the Christian docs would do the same, especially now that medical school is woke, and medicine pushes following guidelines if you want to work and get paid.

As for Trumpieboy: I had to laugh when I listened to this:

Trump as in charge of the X men team with Musk as Tony Stark?

heavy rain continues

the tropical storm is passing into the west of the Philippines but it has been pouring rain all day. Wind not bad but we lost a couple of banana trees and some branches of our palm trees.

Ruby is calling us from Thailand: She had a bad cold and fever and now that she is over that, has stomach upset and LBM. Sigh. She is adjusting to the new germs in her environment, so nothing serious. That is why docs usually are healthy: We get exposed to all the germs early in training and then have resistance.