Two in a million. ignore the headlines

 the hysteria about the covid vaccine is over the top.

The risk of severe allergy is 2.5  in a million. 

and it is interesting that both these severe and the less severe allergic reactions occured mainly in women. And of course in people who have had allergic reactions before.

Duh. I always get sick with vaccines, so that would be me.

Is this because more women got the vaccine? 

and now there are questions of how long did the virus appear in China before the epidemic started big time: they are still covering up and stopping outsiders from investigating the origin of the virus. And they continue to lie through their teeth and pretend it was from the USA: Because China lies about everything.

and I agree with the good doctor that this was not a biological weapon: As he notes (fast forward to five minutes) there are lots of bad bugs out there, and a biological weapon would have a higher death rate. 

One of the reasons that few countries would use a bioweapon is that it would spread back to you.  This of course does not apply to terrorists, who wouldn't give a damn who they killed... 

lots more in the video about information and disinformation...

and yes, the vaccine does work in the elderly.

------------------

update: Roger Simon

How the Hydroxychloroquine Scandal Wrecked America and the World Along With It.

via Instapundit.

I accuse—in no particular order—Time’s ‘Person of the Year’ nominee and frequent Wuhan, China visitor/collaborator Dr. Anthony Fauci; the Democrat Party (aka the “party of science”) and their nauseating, self-congratulatory leadership; the mainstream media and all their pompous, even more self-congratulatory “ships at sea” from the New York Times to CNN; Dr. Birx and whatever bureaucrat from the CDC was showing his/her face this week; the endless echo chamber in practically every health department in all fifty states; the foreign health departments that largely echoed that echo chamber; Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York (more of him in a moment); Governor Whitmer of Michigan; that atrocious governor of Nevada whose name I can’t remember or bother to look up….

I could go on… all of whom participated in what has emerged to be what is indisputably the greatest national, no, international, health disaster of our time—the Hydroxychloroquine Scandal.

This shameful distortion of medical science was emblematic of how politics not only crept into the treatment of the CCP virus, it bludgeoned that treatment and resulted in untold thousands, perhaps millions, of deaths while simultaneously making life unbearable for an even greater number across the globe—in fact, for practically everyone. All of those mentioned above either dismissed or heavily downplayed “hydroxy”—a cheap anti-malarial drug, also used for lupus, that had been around for decades and is known to have minimal side effects—for the treatment of COVID-19. Why? As most of us are aware, a man they thought an ogre, whom they despised, who knew nothing of science, recommended it—President Donald J. Trump—so it had to be disdained.

And yet hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) apparently did and does work in many instances, if taken early in the illness. This was known way back in June 2020 when the esteemed British medical journal Lancet retracted its support of a dubious study it had published opposing the use of HCQ. “We all entered this collaboration to contribute in good faith and at a time of great need during the COVID-19 pandemic. We deeply apologise to you, the editors, and the journal readership for any embarrassment or inconvenience that this may have caused.”

This apology, made eight months ago, was largely ignored by the mainstream media because it didn’t fit their narrative. And, worse yet, it might have benefited the nefarious Trump.

At the same time, many independent doctors were insisting that HCQ was working for them with real patients. They were similarly dismissed by a rabid press that had neither the inclination nor skills to investigate. (Laura Ingraham, to her credit, featured several of these doctors on her cable show.) Meanwhile, thousands, if not millions, died across the globe who needn’t have.

Yes, it's from the Epoch Times (an anti China news source with ties to the FalunGong), but Roger Simon is a leftist Hollywood screen writer turned conservative political commentator,

this drug, like other anti viral drugs (i.e. anti virals that we use to treat influenza and herpes Simplex) has to be taken very early to work...often before people got around to seeing physicians. And like these other anti viral drugs, it is not an instant cure, nor does it work for everyone. But it does decrease the course of the illness, and maybe decrease the number needing hospitalization and who go on to die.

Several other medicines pushed as a cure and then debunked similarly only helped lower the death rate and shortened the length of the illness...but again these have to be given early, so there is self selection for patients who are pushy enough to do this! I.e. the healthy 

 But the "anecdotal" studies were either ignored or downplayed by the MSM and the medical establishment. Often the "studies" that showed no effect were on patients already days into their infection and very very sick... 

And the myth about HCQ toxicity does happen, but is exaggerated. 

One reason for the "toxic" problems in "medical" reports on this was because the dosage given in those reports to very sick hospitalized patients was several times the usual dosage for malaria etc. (toxicity is dose related).

Then there was the "fake news" story about it killing ordinary people:  the "fishtank" hydrochloroquin death was trumpeted by the press to show how dangerous this medicine was (without the press noticing that using hydrochloroquin was suggested as a means to suicide by pro euthanasia activists years ago, and that these articles even suggested obtaining the drug from the fish tank cleaner. This was becoming a common form of suicide, but then some French docs found an antidote so it fell out of favor... This was my first impression of what was going on when I first heard the story. So did any of the cops actually look to see if this was a homicide? quick: How many people know what is in their fish tank medicine).

it's sort of like the nursing home scandal: That Governor Cuomo and others, including the "trans" heroine from Pennsylvania that Biden just appointed to some highfalutin post, decided to follow guidelines that said it was okay to send still infectious post hospitalized patients back to nursing homes. Why? Because on paper, it was possible to safely quarantine them there, as long as you had protective equipment properly used by trained staff. Ignoring the reality of lack of protective equipement and that these understaffed nursing homes often did not have well trained people working for them.

For Cuomo and the governors, they have an excuse: They were advised it was okay. But the trans doctor has no excuse: She knew it was a bad policy, and took her own mom out of a nursing home and placed her into a hotel room to stay safe. But for the rest of Pennsylvania's elderly in nursing home, well, regulations outweigh reality. but followed it anyway (Because you don't get to work in the Federal or State bureaucracy if you don't go along with what is written down in some arcane regulation, reality be damned). 

Family News: Elder care edition

 the weather is cool, and it is the best time of the year to visit the Philippines: no typhoons, no very hot weather, etc.

Kuya is worried about his mother, who is in a senior housing facility in the USA, but has deteriorated enough that she can't care for herself and will have to transfer to a nursing home. Alas, she doesn't want to give up her home and all her possessions/hobby supplies inside, but she also is unable to live alone, let alone keep the place clean. So it is a matter of getting her to agree to be cared for by family or else the local senior protective services will intervene and take over her care by calling her incompetent and force her into a nursing home, sell her home to pay the bills and then move her to a facility that takes care of the indigent..... 

she is not senile, just stubborn, sigh. 

Her daughter lives a couple hours drive away, but her house is not wheel chair friendly, (split level house) and everyone in the family tends to be away on and off on trips that often last days or weeks so there would not be anyone to keep an eye on her unless they hired a full time caregiver, which is very expensive.

We have frequently suggested she move here where we have a wheel chair friendly house (used by my husband after he got sick) and help is cheap:

we can hire caregivers and keep an eye on her, but she has always said no... It's not that she dislikes the Philippines: she has lived here in the past, both with her ex husband and in Manila her son was in college here, so she knows the language and culture. But she loves to be independent, and tends to quarrel with those who want to help her. A common problem with the elderly.

We were hoping to arrange her to move here two years ago, when she was still independent and could walk but was having trouble cleaning herself and the house, but she said no using the excuse of poor medical care here (not true, but it is true that Medicare won't pay for it here, so you have to pay for it yourself, but the care level is okay and of course specialty care in Manila is up to US standards).

She then said she didn't like our cook's cooking because she is dirty. Duh. True... 

But the real reasons is that the cook is a gossip, and she doesn't like stories of her going around to the relatives of her ex husband who she hates. 

She also likes western style food, which was not available here until about five years ago when the Philippines started becoming prosperous.

but the real reason is that she wanted to remain independent in her own home with her own "stuff".

All of these arguments became moot once the virus hit... so after hospitalization for her latest minor problem she was transferred to independent living facility to recover long term, as she had done in the past, but unlike the past, this time she can't go home because she is too weak.

Luckily, the virus didn't hit their facility and she has gotten one shot so our fingers are crossed until the second shot is given and starts to work.

Ah, but with the virus, even if she agrees to come, travel is restricted, and so it means not only coping with immigration but with the numerous travel restrictions that change constantly.

The best scenerio would be for her son to bring here here, but since he is low risk and the vaccine hasn't started being given out in our low risk area, so Kuya can't go there and accompany her here. The alternative is to have our granddaughter accompany her in the plane: But our granddaughter is about five foot tall and 100 pounds, and Grandmom is 300 pounds. We had hoped our other granddaughter, a nurse, could help but alas she might not be able to get off since she is so busy with the virus epidemic in her rural hospital. And the 24 hour trip is daunting to anyone, let alone an incontinent elder who has trouble walking to the ladies' room.

Sigh.

Here she could live in my husband's room, which is wheelchair friendly, and I'd move to one of the other bedrooms. The maid could help with day time care, and if needed, a caregiver could sleep in the spare bedroom that we are now using as storage room, as one did when Lolo was sick.

Joy and her business office could move upstairs to the rooms there: It is fixed up for a BNB and we would rent rooms out to visitors at times, but then the virus hit so there goes that investment.

It would be awkward for me, since I am wifey number two, but hey, they divorced years before I met my husband, and as a doctor I tend to have a thick skin to insults and manipulation, so no problem there.

But the big problem: We need our dogs for protection so they sleep in the house, (actually two of them in my bedroom) so that may cause a problem. Luckily, unlike George, our cat killing Labrador, the present batch of dogs don't bite visitors, but it could be a problem if she dislikes dogs (and cats... we have lots of outdoor cats that keep the mice population down).

Oh well: one day at a time.

now they are coming after Mommy Bloggers.

First they came for the knitters, and now they are coming after the Baby Bloggers.

from Beyond the Black

(a blog about space, who will probably be canceled next):

They’re coming for you next: A neonatal nurse named Cara Dumaplin, who for years has run very successful website called Taking Care of Babies, is now considered a “racist” and “hater” because she and her husband committed the unforgivable act of donating to the campaign of Donald Trump.

MamaBirdLosAngeles drew attention to Dumaplin’s political donations on Instagram, setting off a flurry of denunciations.

MamaBird identified herself as “part of the #babypeople who are actively using our platforms to speak out about hate, and give you the information you need to not only raise your babies, but to raise them anti-racist. So with that, I recommend y’all consider unfollowing and stop giving your support and $$$ to @TakingCaraBabies, who along with her husband, has been actively donating to Trump and his campaign.”

“We need to out these people, especially because they are profiting off of photos of BIPOC [black, indigenous, people of color] families,” MamaBird added. “I encourage you to share this far and wide!”

This bigot, who automatically assumes, based on no evidence, that Trump is a racist and then slanders anyone with the same lie should they have supported him, is bad enough. She wants to boycott and blacklist anyone who dared back an opponent of the Democrats. You won’t get much freedom of expression under any society that she runs.

Goodbye peace, hello WWIII

...LINK.............China released a threat against any ship that travels through their "territory"... a threat to Pinoy fishermen and the US Navy but also to Japan and Korea, whose shipping passes through here.

.............

it starts with the West Philippine sea but the plan is to take over the sea route to the east, that goes through Singapore area. And this threatens India, where this video comes from.

Why china want to occupy Southern sea ?The South China Sea is a vast area measuring 3.6 million square kilometres,More than double the size of the Gulf of Mexico.

In this video Brigadier Dr. Vijay Sagar Dheman have stated how China's claims to the ocean is put together both with respect to the Law of the Sea Convention and its purported "nine-dash" line.

This line reaches out for 2,000 kilometres from the Chinese territory,,,.One of the reason of occupying this area is that this sea bed in this area is rich in minerals and rare metals. It is full of energy and it has plenty of oil and natural gas.

60% of World Trade and 80% of energy trade from Middle East come from this sea bed , also the trade from European Union through Indian Ocean passes from this area.

All of the imports and exports to china happens through the Malacca strait of nature oil import from the Persian gulf Venezuela and Africa. Malacca strait which is so much closer to the Indian territory to the Andaman and Nicobar islands already

India has a military logistics pact with Indonesia in the Malacca strait region. The country which control this area will also control the entire trade in this area that is why China want this part of Southern sea. 

and this video is from Australia, which has faced bullying from China. 

 

update: The real question no one in the US MSM wants to discuss: (via AustinBay)

But can the Biden administration continue "the tougher approach" with Hunter Biden's China investment scandal lurking in the diplomatic and criminal background?

The mainstream media and social media magnates who stifled preelection public examination of the Biden family's involvement in what looks like and smells like a multimillion-dollar political payoff racket may have gotten Joe Biden elected.

However, until the Biden-China scandal is fully vetted, we won't know if Beijing has inside information (blackmail leverage) that might soften Trump's tougher approach. Knowing matters.

Given China's documented record of pervasive spying, global intellectual property theft, a huge military expansion program, imperialist seizure of territory, bullying of neighbors, violations of treaty commitments, police-state terror and genocide of Muslim Uighurs, a softer approach at this moment in history ultimately puts American security at risk.

--------------------

update: More here from StrategyPage. Biden intends to use "Strategic patience":

Translation: Look the other way while doing diplomatic stuff that doesn't mean anything. 

that is what President Obama did when the Chinese started digging up the sea bed to make artificial islands near the Philippines, and of course, it is how President Obama ignored the Chinese hack of the OPM files of millions of Americans, including mine.

----------------

Xi pushes Globalism with China as the boss. 

Tales of foreign lands

 I have been pretty well off line due to rain and bad internet connection, but also because the news is so full of propaganda that one doesn't know what is going on. 

Also, here the confusion about getting the vaccine is absurd.

So I am busy reading books on line, old books that are of course out of date and biased, but do give some insight into history.

I began reading Isabella Bird's travel books about the Rocky mountains and then went on to read (actually listen to) her book on Japan (in Manga form here for those who don't want to read through her geological and botanical discussion).

She traveled in the interior of Japan at a time when Japan had only recently opened to the west, and her reports are more like a reporter than a travel writer, with both western bias and sympathy.

Professor Kanasaka has written a book about her travels (in Japanese of course) and has an assessment of her book and prejudices in a lecture about her here, VIDEO, but is so poorly recorded I couldn't get through it.

Ah, but then I looked around for her book on travels in Korea, which were a bit harder to find. Archive has them but pdf and bad epub rip, but I found a good reprint of it on Scribd that I am reading now.

Korea also had been closed to the outside, but she visited several times in the     1890s, and included stories of her travels in nearby Manchuria and Siberia in the books (usually there are several versions published, often the scientific stuff edited out for general interest)... she traveled overland to China after the Japanese coup and after the Japanese/Chinese war in the north of Korea, where the Japanese tried to remove Chinese influence; 

... she did not see the battles, which were over before her travels in Korea, but reported on the horrific debris of war that she found. Her descriptions resemble those of Mrs. John Quincy Adams, who traveled overland through central Europe after Napoleon's defeat: destruction of towns that had not yet recovered, and the bones of the unburied soldiers who died in battles years before. Sigh. most war stories leave such things out.

During her visits to Korea she met the last king and queen, and then later relates the horrific story of the Queen's assassination which she states was at the hands of the Japanese. Not something one expects to read about in a travel log...

She observed the need for reform in Korea at that time: and how the corruption by officials prevented people from working hard (because if you looked rich, the officials would "ask' for a loan or tax you or worse). Her criticisms of poverty, laziness and dirt are often moderated by her observations that the Koreans under the (less corrupt) Russians were hard working and prosperous...observing that Korea needed reform to prosper, because corrupt officials would insist on "gifts:...

I was bemused at her description of a Korean marriage she observed, that actually mirrored the marriage scene in the KDrama Samidang.. a K drama series that we are still in the midst of watching. Ms Bird also mentions the wonderful variations of Korean paper, which was the subplot of Samidang. 

another historical story I read was about Ranald Mac Donald, a Metis Canadian whaler who got off his whaling boat and went to visit Japan, and ended up teaching English to their translators, which was a big help when the US sent in ships to "open" the Japanese ports a year later.

The book (Borrow here) has lots of background on whaling off the coast of Japan, which is why the Yanks wanted access for water and food supplies, and does a good scholarly job on trying to sift the story from the various sources.

more here

And HERE.which has links to the books in Japanese and in English.

 What is missing however is insight into the personality of Mr MacDonald: so why did the Japanese like him, and why did they ask him to tutor the local translators, instead of the more numerous American whalers that they also had in the local jail?

But at the end of the book, it describes him as sitting around telling tales of his adventures in the evening. So the picture of the stoical Native American of "Anglo" stereotype quickly morphed in my mind into the laid back, sardonic and humorous Native American who resembled those I worked with (but who often, to outsiders, kept these friendlier traits hidden, hence the myth of the "stoical Indian"...). 

The story would make a good movie, if they had more input from his family's tribe and the Japanese to get the cultural nuances right... indeed, it might be more "accurate" if it was a novel, because novels and stories change the history to give insight into the reality behind the "facts".... indeed, there is a Japanese novel about his friendship with the students he taught, especially with Moriyama Eintosuke

,,,,,,,

longer version that includes his life as a gold miner and his other travels:

Know your enemy

via RealClearPolitics:

Brennan was back on MSNBC yesterday, contending that American intelligence agencies "are moving in laser-like fashion to try to uncover as much as they can about" the pro-Trump "insurgency" that harbors "religious extremists, authoritarians, fascists, bigots, racists, nativists, even libertarians."

Libertarians.? WTF? But he forgot to include those dangerous Methodists...

sounds like ex CIA director Brennan is channeling his inner Mel Brooks

 

Senator Frank Church call your office: They are at it again.

Musical interlude of the day

 

Multiverse? Nice theory but....

 Scientific America discusses the problem of the "multiverse" theory. They also mention string theory, which was the big theory a couple years ago but is now falling out of favor.

Mainly posted for later reading.

The reason some scientists take seriously the possibility of a multiverse in which the constants vary in different universes is that it seems to explain the fine-tuning. But on closer examination, the inference from fine-tuning to the multiverse proves to be instance of flawed reasoning. So, what should we make of the fine-tuning? Perhaps there is some other way of explaining it. Or perhaps we just got lucky. ------------------- update: LINK.............. ,,,

the alternative way of explaining all of this is to posit a God as the watchmaker: this could be either pantheism or a personal God of monotheistic religions, neither of which are allowed in materialistic scientific thought.

Ah, but it does explain why there is a fringe theory out there that we live in a computer simulation... 

Scientific American article from 2016 discusses the computer simulation theory. 

Like the "Watchmaker" idea, this is not new: some Eastern religions posit that reality is not real, just an illusion; But the modern version of this posits super intelligent E.T.'s behind this, so they don't have to use the "G" word, although they do admit those super intelligent E.T.'s might be seen as gods.

in case you are wondering, these discussions are not really science: Science is a method of exploring reality, not reality. You posit a theory then do experiments to see if your theory is true or not, and discard the theory if the experiment fails.

The entire discussion is philosophy. And the failure to include the concept of a deity (personal deity of the monotheistic religions, or the pantheistic theory of the world as deity e.g. mother gaia of the new agers) or the theory that reality is an illusion (Eastern religions like Buddhism) means they are censoring input from the world's major religions. And that in itself shows a bias.

all of this is above my head. Father Spizer has a lot of discussions of the subject, and here is one very short one.

 

---------------------

update:

Explanation of today's news

which explains how, after having grossly inadequate security for the Trump rally, we now see an overkill with thousands of NatGuards types in the streets of Washington. Because if the powers that be are wrong and no one shows up, hey, no problem. But if they stop a real threat, hey they will get lots and lots of beautiful votes and the applause of the MSM.

well, actually if you tried to get rid of the evil ghosts invading the US and causing havoc, you just might lose your job, as Father Z learned when he was punished for telling people to pray an exorcism prayer  and actually saying it himself. (not doing an exorcism, as the article says: it's different. anyone can say a prayer of deliverance using the power of Jesus. Father Z was asking people to pray against the diabolic chaos that erupted over the election. And mentioning the election fraud is of course taboo in today's world, even though 40 percent of Yanks think it was there)

------------------

update: One wag posted this photo:

where in the world is Jack Ma?

,,,,,,

 that's Carmen Sandiego for those of you who don't have kids.

 here in Asia Jack Ma is the hero: alibaba is a mixture of ebay and Amazon and has revolutionized on line sales here in Asia.

when I moved here, we could only get some supplies in Manila. Recent prosperity gave us a mall so we now can get a lot locally, but with the virus, again on line buying is jumping by leaps and bounds... not just Alibaba but Lazada....now if I only could TRUST them I might even do it myself.

and it also will help us: Joy is looking into making our gourmet organic rice brand on line...because, like Amazon and Ebay, these companies sell from small vendors.

Jack Ma has promoted his way of selling not just in Asia, but in Africa where reports say it is growing by leaps and bounds.

there was once a "cheap computer" initiative in Africa that I supported 20 years ago, but since then what has happened is the smart phone revolution, where you can buy and sell and do your bank transfers on line. Jack Ma is one of those at the forefront of this revolution.

when Covid hit, and we needed test kits, Jack Ma donated quite a few to the Philippines to help screen folks so they could go in and out of Manila (which was very hard right after the virus hit... our food deliveries were hard to do because it might take hours to get screened. Now it only takes an hour or two, and the screening is done locally and you get an official paper pass).

So where is he now and why was he canceled?

NPR link. points out their cash system was replacing cash. So the excuse is "corrupution investigation" (cough cough cough /s) but the real problem is that he told off some big shots.

And then he ... not only he initially launched into an attack on the global financial regulatory system of banking, but then he kind of moved his topic to China and said ... that he thought they were out of touch and that, you know, there was a new revolution coming. It was actually almost a call for revolution in terms of the finance sector.

read the whole thing which explains why he is so important.

and then remember: Corruption is rampant in China.

----------------

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Xi-Jinping-strengthens-party-control-and-his-own-authority-52084.html

update: This was discussed on John Bachelor's podcast a few days ago.

Update...Ma appeared in public a few days ago giving a talk to some teachers.  

Dog blogpost of the day

 

Cat video of the week

 

.....

I've been flat in bed with the stomach flu for the last two days

So watch kitties and enjoy.

as soon as the feds okay it, we'll get the vaccine

 

the big question is which vaccine.

Pfizer has been approved:

and the Inquirer says that local governments are arranging their own agreements with various drug companies:

Previously, 2.6 million vaccines were already secured from AstraZeneca by the national government and private sector. The government is expected to sign a deal for an additional 20 million doses, according to vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. The national government already announced securing 30 million doses of Covavax vaccine developed by Novavax and the Serum Institute of India. The country is also in final stages of negotiations with Moderna for up to 20 million doses, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Romualdez said. Some 25 million doses developed by China’s Sinovac have also been secured, 50,000 of which expected to arrive in the country by February. 

remembering past epidemics

 

.....

when you hear about a side effect of vaccines, you need to put things into perspective.

and here in the Philippines, the Dengue vaccine kerfuffle resulted in mini epidemics of measles and even polio.

Now that everyone is afraid to go to hospitals and clinics, I wonder how many kids (and adults) will die for lack of getting basic care.

....

Audiobook of the week

False flag or just a naive lack of basic security procedures?

We are 12 hours difference from the USA and I rarely watch TV news, but when I heard about protesters "invading" the Congress, I wondered what was going on.

My first thought was not "bad protesters", as the MSM meme seems to be pushing. My question was: Who was doing security? I mean, what if one of the protesters had a weapon or smuggled in a bomb? 

You see, there is a lot of anger about illegalities in the election, yet when someone (i.e. Trumpie's minions) ask to get these problems reviewed by a non political third party, not only is it not done but the MSM refuses to take the evidence seriously, ridicule you as crazy, and the social media will pull your tweet.

The local officials who are supposed to be professionals and politically neutral deny their wishes, the courts refuse to even allow the evidence to be reviewed (turn down the review on procedural grounds, not on lack of evidence). 

in other words, instead of a calm investigation by a trusted media to assure people that the problems were not severe, the complaints were ignored, censored, or even ridiculed without presenting evidence to the contrary.

So when there was a protest rally scheduled, who stopped the National guard or outside help. (and remember when the White House was attacked and many fires started nearby, and Trump called out the National guard and he was accused of being bad for doing this). 

So someone decided that minimal routine security would be enough... DUH....

So some protesters got in (or in some reports, some side doors were opened to let in protesters). (and not just Trumpie's crazies, but some were antifa: I say this because a known antifa organizer gave an interview to the UKMail... wtf was he doing there?)

Excuse me: we have lots of demonstrations in Manila, some spontaneous, some with true believers, and a lot with paid for demonstrators (at 500 pesos per day). Some of these demonstrations are in front of the US Embassy, and the local Manila cops, and sometimes the local military, protect the embassy from being invaded.

so my question is why was there a lack of basic security at the Capitol? 

I mean, what if one demonstrator brought in a gun, or (worse) an explosive vest? (italics mine).

 but hey, what do I know? But you know, I was in the National Guard, and the National Guard is trained in crowd control and riot control. 

So when there is an estimated 100 thousand demonstrators a couple blocks down in the mall, someone should have anticipated a problem from a couple of hot heads or crazies like the guy in the fake horned helmet.

So was the lack of security just due to the stupidity of the mayor and Capitol police, or was it a Machianavelian plan: i.e. a way to encourage the hotheads to invade the Capitol to destroy their political opponents?

I'd say this was a conspiracy theory, but given the hysteria from the MSM and many media outlets, banks, and corporations (many of whom backed BLM related riots that destroyed inner cities), it make me wonder....

so who is an expert on peaceful and not so peaceful demonstrations who can analyze what went on, and whose word I trust? 

Here is an interview with Michael Yon. 

I am most familiar with Mr Yon as an independent reporter who reported on the ground during the Hong Kong demonstrations on the John Bachelor podcast.

In this interview, Mr Yon analyzes films of what happened, using his expertise.

This interview comes from the Epoch Times website (a news site sponsored by the FalunGang, so has an anti China bias).

(headsup Instapundit, a libertarian blog, where you can find a lot of links about the modern left's censorship of free speech.)

...................

related link: Max Taibbi on media manipulation inspired by love of money and ratings.

Noam Chomsky call your office...

..........

Update WaPost reports FBI aware of danger, did nothing.

https://www.wvnews.com/news/wvnews/washington-post-fbi-report-warned-of-war-at-capitol-contradicting-claims-that-there-was-no/article_f02b0e87-e8e3-5940-b8c2-ae3f57afc3fb.html

https://www.gnews.org/749126/

.........update jan 30. The police union condemns the leadership of the local police for not being prepared, and not even issuing ptrotective equipment to lhe city cops. There is mention of rhe threat from the right but no mention that the antifa types were planning to infiltrate the crowds.

https://justthenews.com/government/local/capitol-police-union-condemns-leadership-over-us-capitol-breach

And now we find the FBI knew of the threats, that the leader of the proud boys was an FBI informant, and one antifa instigator inside the congress was arrested and released without bail. Oh yes...the pipe bombs they found had been placed several days before,

Musical interlude of the week

Allergies? Yes but rare

 the headlines and anti vaxxers are screaming about allergy reactions, but the CDC report puts this rare event (but something we do see now and then which is why we insist patients stay for a half hour after they get a shot).

During December 14–23, 2020, monitoring by the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System detected 21 cases of anaphylaxis after administration of a reported 1,893,360 first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (11.1 cases per million doses); 71% of these occurred within 15 minutes of vaccination.

usually the press leaves out that part about this was of almost two million vaccinations given.

it might be the vaccine, but it also might be the plastic allergy or an allergy to the preservatives in the vaccine. 

this is bad reporting, similar to the earlier headlines about deaths after getting the vaccine that ignored that most of the deaths were in the placebo group.

Social media users have been sharing a post that makes several claims of serious negative health effects from the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, including that 6 people died during late-stage trials. These claims are partly false.

Six people did die during the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine trials, but only two of them were given the vaccine. The other four were given a safe placebo solution of salt and water. No causal relationship was established between the vaccine and the two deaths, which occurred in line with the normal death rate for the general population.

......

update: This is why Kamela Harris and others who said they didn't trust the Vaccine for political reasons, and the anti vaxers who are busy exaggerating the side effects of the vaccines out of hysteria etc. have blood on their hands:

the dirty little secret is that the economic shutdown has been a disaster, and people are dying of treatable diseases (cancer not getting treated, people not able to afford their Blood pressure medicine or their diabetes medicine, people dying of infections because they have low grade malnutrition).

on the other hand, unless you have a relative who is a caregiver or nurse, you probably don't know anyone who died of covid... 

I suspect that those who have to work will get the vaccine because they need a paper to go to work. 

Family news

 Kuya is still taking it easy because he pulled his back out at the farm last week.

Joy is busy as usual...she visited her mom, who has Parkinson's disease but is a bit better after her medicine was adjusted.

The big fiesta here is for the Three Kings: Instead of a parade with lots of folks walking in the parade, and beautiful girls on floats, we had closed cars and floats with statues of the saints etc. 

the mayor is quite popular, because he is investing in the city.

out neighborhood/barangay has lots of beautiful old houses and shops, some of which were in good shape and others which were not kept in good repair. But the mayor has invested in the city to restore an area near the church to make a open air mall for shoppers and socializing. Here is a local vlog about this.

.....

no, I haven't visited there yet.

Like the huge Christmas tree in the plaza (which had been blown down by the typhoon but is now back) and the ferris wheel, and the kiosks/night market for buying street food and tables that let you do open air dining, the idea is to invite tourism here, especially since we have a lot of ex pats who are coming home to retire. It also helps keep the kids off the street: one reason to take drugs is boredom, and hey, if you can go out at night and party (with a mask of course) this will help.

In the meanwhile, a lot of people are hurting and out of work, or their OFW family members lost their jobs, so are asking for help with their medicine etc. One distant cousin, who I often gave money to help her buy her BP medicine, died of a heart attack last night, age 49 with three kids. Sad. 

Yes, there is an international link to the leaky lab in Wuhan

 there is increasing evidence that not only was the Covid virus an accidental leak from the Wuhan lab, but the USA may have helped fund research in biowarfare there because their ethical standards were lower.

PJMedia link

Writing in New York Magazine, Baker reveals a horror story about an accidental release of the coronavirus deliberately created in a lab funded by U.S. tax dollars. With meticulous research and some shocking interviews with scientists involved in the project, Baker crafts a narrative both frightening and convincing that includes the direct role Dr. Anthony Fauci had in pushing for the creation of the specific SARS-2 coronavirus.

the back story on this is that China's bio labs have had several "leaks" including a leak of the SARS virus from a high level biolab near Bejing. 

This 2017 article from Nature has more information on the leak problem in Chinese labs  (and has a LOL disclaimer in a banner above the article denying any problem might be behind Covid... nothing to see here, folks just move along, and don't you dare discuss this please we're scientists).

Aug 2019 article on Canadian link of viral pathogens to Chinese labs.

Scientists from Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) have also said the highly lethal bug is a potential bio-weapon. But this March that same lab shipped samples of the henipavirus family and of Ebola to China, which has long been suspected of running a secretive biological warfare (BW) program.

italics mine 

China strongly denies it makes germ weapons, and Canadian officials say the shipment was part of its efforts to support public-health research worldwide. Sharing of such samples internationally is relatively standard practice. But some experts are raising questions about the March transfer, which appears to be at the centre of a shadowy RCMP investigation and dismissal of a top scientist at the Winnipeg-based NML.

and then the "experts" wonder why ordinary folks are becoming suspicious and starting to believe all those conspiracy theories. 

 update 

The Good news: less terrorism; the bad news: Corruption still rules

 the bad news: Tribal and criminal gang related deaths, and corruption is still big in a lot of countries.

transcript here.

the article notes that lot of corruption goes with tribalism and stress on "us vs them": So if you steal or take a bribe, it is justified to help your family/clan. 

And of course that includes killing those who try to stop you. (e.g. a lot of the political murders in our area of the Philippines was over who got to stay in office to have access to all that lovely money. 

That's how our nephew was killed in the crossfire of a targeted hit. (and even though the Catholic church is pretending to be horrified at Duterte's trigger happy cops killing drug pushers, ironically the guy who paid for the hit was buried with full Catholic honors, including a KofC honor guard....The bad news is that the virus has weakened Duterte's hold on rogue cops and hit men: because he hasn't gotten to the root of things (i.e. getting rid of crooked politicians) there have been several murders over land grabs over the last few weeks, so it looks like things are going back to the "OK Corral" type murders of the past. LINK 

LINK2

Sigh.

as SP notes: it's hard to change a culture.

A major misunderstanding many political and military leaders make is to underestimate the amount of time it takes to fundamentally change a nation from a source of war and disorder to one of peace, prosperity and unity.

 

The fundamental misunderstanding is that the lack of civil society, as in a widely accepted set of cultural and political practices that create widespread trust, means that there is no quick fix for a chaotic area mired in war and mayhem. It takes decades or generations of sustained effort to achieve a civil society. Without a civil society to work with the best you can do is pacify. That’s why so many peacekeeping efforts never seem to end. 

On the other hand, nations with a civil society, like Japan and Germany after World War II, can change swiftly and effectively. That is why nations with lots of corruption and not much human development are so prone to violence and wars that never seems to end.

they also describe the concept of Empires: Something that keeps happening over and over again. It is easier to understand Russia, Iran, the Caliphate, Turkey, and China if you know a bit about their history. 

again, from the SP article:

In the east there is China, where the current dynasty is actually a bunch of communist party leaders trying to stay in power using the appeal of lost, several centuries earlier, imperial glories. Just as Hitler described his imperial effort as the “Fourth Reich (empire)” in the tradition of ancient Rome followed by the Holy Roman Empire and the 19th century German Reich, so does China claim legitimacy because of ancient claims by earlier Chinese empires.

and like the Germans, they think the Han are superior to the rest of us peons. Which explains the Chinese aggression against the Philippines in the West Philippine sea. The Philippines is unlikely to fight back, although Viet Nam, who once suffered as one of their colonies, has fought at least two minor wars over their aggression over the last 40 years.

But SP points out that two of their neighbors (India and Russia) have nukes and might not submit without fighting back. 

Why is China jailing a Wuhan whistleblower?

 as they say the coverup suggests that there is something to cover up.

------------------

in other news: WHERE IS JACK MA?

Jack Ma invented AliBaba, which is the Chinese equivalent of Amazon or Ebay, and which allowed Chinese outside of cities to order goods on line.

China’s highest-profile entrepreneur has not appeared in a public setting since a late October forum in Shanghai where he blasted China’s regulatory system in a speech that put him on a collision course with officials, resulting in the suspension of a $37 billion IPO of Alibaba’s Ant Group fintech arm.

UPDATE:

HongKong Publisher Jimmy Lai is also in jail.
 and this podcast discusses what that means.

-----------------

the gov't didn't do the paperwork to get first in line for the Pfizer vaccine this month, and the government has yet to approve of the use of any vaccine here.

 and now there are reports of "illegal" vaccine being given out: The Inquirer quotes a Chinese/Filipino as saying 100 thousand Chinoys and Chinese working here (mostly in Casinos) have gotten the shot so far, starting in November.

this will not make these Chinese workers popular (who are resented since Filipinos were originally sold in allowing these casinos as a way to lower local unemployment).

it also will not make the Duterte regime more popular.

In the meanwhile, some mayors and local government officials are thinking of just importing the vaccine themselves. The federal gov't says hey they can't do that it's illegal.

but Duterte made sure his guards and some military personnel got the vaccine, (some of which was smuggled into the country) and is trying to stop the Senate from investigating him for doing so.

Of course, what the senate should be investigating is why they haven't started giving out the vaccine, but hey, here politics is even more partisan than in the USA.

the "let the wookie win" plan

there is a lot of fraud in the US election, but the MSM and the courts are ignoring it.

But as a result, people are going to alternative media.

and you read things like this that suggest if the courts and governors won't correct corruption and fraud then Congress might step in:

PJMedia:

GOP Senators to Object to Electoral College Certification, Demand Emergency Audit

and also via instapundit: BookwormRoom: where he explains if the states and the Supreme court and the House of Representatives refuse to examine the evidence of fraud, maybe the Senate can and should do it. 

And cites the 14th amendment. And the 1887 Electoral Count Act.

The problem is something called rule of law.

Half the country is aware that fraud probably should negate the official election results. 

Ah, but will anyone do it?

The dirty little secret is that lawabiding citizens don't count. Despite the hysteria about right wing racist militia groups, these groups are small and have little support.

And ordinary people have lives to live and families to care for. Will they be willing to try to stop this, especially since Biden has a reputation for being a centerist and dull but honest... (and the MSM has pretty well ignored the Hunter corruption story, or mention that "his" announced plans and appointments are essentially the left wing and globalists that ruled under President Obama.)

Well, anyway, the conspiracy site rumor said that the Supreme court doesn't want to touch anything about fraud because A: they got criticized for doing that in 2000, and B: the rioters are intact (i.e. never jailed for destroying property) and ready to go, and that Roberts and other Supreme court justices don't want to "take sides" and maybe be responsible for massive rioting and maybe even a descent to civil war.

and one suspects the Congress will similarly decline to make trouble.

a government elected by fraud can be tolerated, but destablization of the republic cannot be tolerated.

so a lot of people fear being hurt if rule of law is followed and Trump is officially re-elected: So many will just say: Let the wookie win.(to quote one meme)

Tiberius Gracchus, call your office: Your brother is on the line.

--------------------

update: How to make a hoax: By Dilbert:

full podcast here

PJ Media link analyzes

more here with links

the Hill discusses how the press deliberately ignored the Hunter Biden laptop story by not reporting it, and also by ostracizing those who dared say that the king had no clothes.

TEOTWAWKI post of the day

 the world seems to be committing hari kari with it's overresponse to the covid virus (here in the third world, the economic shutdown and economic collapse will kill more people from hunger and poverty than any damn virus that mainly kills the elderly and sick, but never mind.)

(and I am not being sarcastic about killing the elderly, since I am at high risk here: it's just that people do die of old age you know).

so here is John Bachelor discussing a new book about who will survive a major catastrophe and how they will do it.

....................

one of my areas of interest is the Bronze age collapse in the Aegean. 

Study of Antiquity has a couple interview on their youtube site about why that happened and how folks coped. here is one:

.........and the book 1177 is classic study of this (and soon to be followed by a post 1177 book. Here is Prof Eric Cline discussing:

what will help people survive is not the lone survivalist, but communities of helping each other. 
Which is why the real sign of societal collapse in the west is the demographic crisis the the rejection of the traditional family/

here the family is still strong, but a globalism that pressures parents to work overseas to support their families is not a good thing

(because corruption prevents investments here and because it's hard to break into the oligarchy)

And I shudder to think how the same globalists who planned all of this will decide how ordinary folks should live after the "Great Reset".

and no, the globalist plans are not conspiracy theories, unless you consider Robert Reich and  Thomas Barrett, whose books described the plans 20 years ago, as conspiracy wackos.

Why the slow rollout of the vaccine

The federal government delivered 14 million doses of covid vaccine, but hey, it was holiday season so the state health departments only managed to give out 2.6 million shots.

Why? the state health departments didn't bother to prepare adequately for the immunization program. And then they blamed the feds, of course. 

Passing the buck to the feds will work because the MSM hates Trumpieboy: And once Biden is in, the MSM will ignore the problems and pretend everything is going hunky dory. 

from NBC news 

While the federal government has helped to coordinate the distribution of vaccine doses from manufacturers to the states, the coordination of administrating the vaccines has fallen to the states, many of which have been short on money, staff and other resources to smoothly schedule and give doses. 

wait a second: This is routine public health. If they knew they would need money, they should have gone to the governor. There was plenty of time to hire and/or train staff to give out the vaccine (after all, this is done every year for influenza, although at a lower level).

As for logistics, well, the logistics for immunizing the population in an epidemic should have been "war gamed" and written in detail long before this epidemic by the states, in the same way they do emergency planning for disasters: tornado? Flood? pull out the plans that should be there waiting to give you guidelines on what to do.

The dirty little secret is that the public health departments of states do not have a lot of experience in handling epidemics. They are observers and bean counters, not generals who plan a fight.

If they needed money, the governor of the state should have arranged to transfer funds to them for this. But of course it's easier to blame the feds and Trumpieboy (but of course, two minutes after Biden takes over, you won't hear any complaints about this in the MSM..)

another reason for delay of giving out the vaccine according to several reports was the "holidays"... uh, in an emergency you don't take a holiday. 

then they claim staff need to take a day off after getting the shot. But most folks don't get sick after the first shot except for maybe a sore arm. (most fever and flu symptom reactions, which area also rare, are after the second shot).

And then the showstorms were to blame. But usually snow is cleared from the major streets in one or two days, so that can't be the reason.

they all complained to the MSM that it was Trumpieboy's fault... because the feds needed to send them money. 

But the money was in the stimulus bill, which that Nancy Pelosi could have passed long before the election but didn't let it go through because it might help Trump. 

Now it has finally passed (it could have been passed in September) and Trump is delaying it a few days to take out pork and other stuff that have nothing to do with helping American cope with covid epidemic. So the MSM will point to Trump for a few days delaying the bill, not the political shenanigans behind the real delay of weeks if not months that actually occurred..

The MSM quoted Biden's team who blamed Trump's 'amateurs" in charge of the roll out, ignoring that he had tasked the military to do the planning, partly because the CDC and FDA took so long to authorize a test early in the epidemic. One should know that the Military does have expertise in such logistics and indeed the National Guard and other units have helped in tracing contacts in rural areas.

sigh.

One of the big lessons of the Covid epidemic is the failure of the public health establishment. 

and alas one reason that people don't trust the vaccine and are ignoring masks etc. is that they see the failures and no longer trust the system.

sigh

The press seems to imply that absolutely everyone will need a shot (and maybe get a paper saying they had the shot). But is that true?

The dirty little secret is that the majority of deaths is in the old or in those with other diseases, so if these people and the frontline workers (who are at risk because they are exposed more heavily) are vaccinated first, then the rest of the population might not need a vaccination immediately because they won't get too sick and the death rate for them is very very low. This is why some countries are hoping for "herd immunity": let everyone get it and the epidemic will stop. 

Do those who have had Covid  have immunity? Yes. But it is not certain how long the post infection immunity lasts. That is why The experts are saying they need to be vaccinated, but this may not be true.

In summary: to stop the deaths, the vaccine needs to be quickly given to those who are at risk of dying.

I have been pretty hard on the public health authorities, but I should point out that when they actually do their job, they can stop disease from spreading.

The state health departments are not always at fault and have done wonderful jobs in the past when tasked to fight epidemics: 

I am thinking of the hepatitis epidemic in California homeless in San Diego, that took them two years to stop... the epidemic was was ignored for months but when they finally decided to stop it, they did manage to get it done despite a lot of logistical problems and a population with many comorbidities (homeless, drug and mental health problems, uncooperative patients who thought the vaccine was a conspiracy to hurt them, etc.). And this was funded, not by the feds but by the city.

So it can be done if there is a will to do it.

------------------------

update:

Was the release of the virus from China just the result of bureaucratic inertia, or was it a planned attack to increase China's status by spreading the infection?

China's dictatorship concealed its callous decision to infect planet Earth. It quickly deployed a propaganda and narrative warfare campaign utilizing its worldwide political, economic, academic and intelligence agency assets.

China's communist dictatorship decided to wage a new form of bio-economic war on human beings worldwide.

Pay careful attention (for bribed critics and ChiCom trolls will not). I'm not arguing the virus was a bio-weapon in the military and medical definition of a biological attack on animals or plants. I am arguing the CCP leadership allowed the virus to spread beyond China so every other nation would suffer the disease's medical, economic and social consequences.

no, not from a conspiracy site but from military analyst Austin Bay.