The WAGD of the week

I haven't listened to the video yet (about the Mandan tribe which was wiped out by smallpox).

I brought her book PoxAmericana with me for my library here in the Philippines...the book traces the epidemic along trade routes to the upper part of North America. And it notes how small pox changed history: Canada stayed Canadian because smallpox wiped out the American invaders, but Washington innoculated his army to protect it...but the blacks who joined the British hoping to gain their freedom were not innoculated (out of ignorance) so many of them died in the camps before they could be used as soldiers.

and at Scribd, I am busy reading this book about epidemic disease in the Philippines in the late 1800's/ early1900's, and how the displacements of war and revolution made things a lot worse.

In disasters and war, people flee, and need shelter, clothing, and food. The weak die, and epidemics from bad water etc. can kill thousands (much of the mortality of the wars of Central Africa is from disease, not guns).

Which is why the 4 horsemen are famine, disease, war, and anarchy.

Someone on one of the midnight conspiracy talk shows mentioned that if an EMP or solar flare wiped out the power grid could kill 90 percent of the American population...I won't link to the prepper sites, but a solar flare could do a lot of damage too....

But although ebola gets a lot of publicity, at least that disease can be stopped by washing and strict isolation: the real danger would be an air release of smallpox or a similar air borne virus into a population (like younger Americans) who have not been vaccinated. And if bird flu evolves we could see another "spanish flu" epidemic similar to that of 1918...

There was a lot of worry about smallpox after 911, and our federal clinic was even sent a memo on how to vaccinate everyone and isolate cases (using schools, churches etc). A bioterrorism wargame on this back in the late 1990's was called DarkWinter.

the National Guard, along with the military and the USPHS commissioned corps would be tasked for the policing, for setting up clinics, for providing clean water and electricity, and for cleanup.

the "good" news is that the Mullahs of Iran are corrupt, and wouldn't want to destroy the earth for fear of losing their filthy lucre (/s). Russia realizes this, which is why they are backing Iran in the fight.

The "bad" news is that ISIS etc. are crazy enough to do such things.

But the "good" news is that they don't have the expertise to do too much damage so far. That is the reason for all those drone strikes that the pacifist bemoan: They are trying to get rid of the smart guys who make the complicated bombs etc.

So they killed a lot of folks with guns in Paris at a rock concert with poor security, but they didn't get into the stadium to kill people because they were stopped by a security guard...

so for all the hysteria against refugees, it might be smarter to arrest the Saudi trained imans preaching jihad in Saudi funded mosques and those funding the hate media, instead of stopping refugees. And maybe healthy young men who claim to be refugees should get at the back of the line, and let the lower risk older men, women, and children in first.

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Here in the Philippines, there were quite a few bombings by various bad guys (Some Islamoterrorists but also ordinary Islamic "militants", theNPA, or simply gangsters taking revenge on those who didn't give them bribes.)

Churches, stores, ferries, and even a mall have been bombed, so now if you go into a mall, you get frisked, wanded, and your bag searched. When reports are up, we even see the military around (although they are usually chasing the NPA). However election year is coming, so there is a "headsup" for political killings in our area.

Hmm.. wonder if the bishop will have all those running for office sign a "no aggression" pack like they did a couple years ago?

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sort of related item: The Oct31 edition of the NEJournal is up and has lots of photos of the flooding in our province.

who needs a terrorist threat when a lot of the mudslides and excessive water run off is from illegal logging which is enabled by corruption?