A more realistic survival story

 one comment called this the "anti Lord of the Flies".

Most survivalist stories are about the need for guns to survive and people just attacking each other. But in reality, if you want to survive the collapse of civilization, you need a community, and if there is not one, you need to build it yourself. 

Yes, it's Heinlein.

a lot of modernity is about freedom of the individual, but there is a moral blindness about the human need for a social ecology.

Most of the arguments about gender are about this blindness: Because if you remove the biological/evolutionary/theological plans behind sex, mating, love, and family, you get anarchy: divorce, broken families, women and men growing old and lonely, drug use to make life bearable, partly because the stress on individual freedom means you feel entitled to be happy, and so you self medicate when you are miserable. This is not a new problem, as anyone familiar with Buddha's teaching know.

and the presence of feral street children, child survivors after wars, etc. is an example of what happens when wars or economic problems or a society that tolerates social pathology destroys the family.

The immigration problem, like the need for millions of Filipinos, Indians, Nepalese, Chinese, etc. to leave the children behind so parents can migrate to cities or overseas to support themselves and their families is one of the major problems of the modern economic system.

Cardinal Sarah remarked that maybe investing in these countries so that there would be no need to migrate elsewhere to find jobs would be the best solution. Ah but that means preaching the ten commandments and reforming lives: Ironically, the Catholic officialdom in the USA loves to help immigrants, and God bless them for this, but you know, in Latin America and in the Philippines, it is the Evangelical sects that preach solutions on reforming lives so that the family can stay intact and people can refuse to cooperate with corruption that is one of the major reasons behind the unwillingness to invest in many countries.

But as even the hedonist libertarian like Heinlein knows: the social ties are needed if people are to survive.

And often it is the grandmothers who were brought up in the age of self sacrifice and family love who are caring for the children whose parents are absent, due to divorce, due to migration because of the economic need to work, or due to drugs, or due to war.

And now they are coming for composers

 This is now banned music:

.......

why? 
Quilette has an interview with the composer LINK

On May 30th, 2020, amid an anti-police-brutality protest in Nashville, TN, several white protesters allegedly attempted to burn down the city’s Metro Courthouse. In response, choral music composer Daniel Elder, who lives nearby, wrote an Instagram post that read, “Enjoy burning it all down, you well-intentioned, blind people. I’m done.”

As Robby Soave recently reported in Reason, this single post resulted in Elder being mobbed on social media, and effectively cancelled as a composer

yes.  Criticism of rich white kids playing brownshirts is now taboo and of course sarcasm is not recognized as sarcasm by SJW, as the satire site Babylon Bee has found out.

more at NatReview.

Elder has stopped writing music and explains that he is hoping for changes in America that will restore the artistic environment. He says, “There are some principles vital to the healthy artistic environment that I have seen under increasing threat—polluted by intolerance and groupthink. This [is] why I’ve claimed I do not currently compose music: I’m waiting for [a] healthy environment of free thought to return, since it’s necessary for deeply communicative art

Yes.

so essentially the USA, founded on free speech, is allowing a small number of Red Guard to censor anyone who has a bad thought... via the social media pressure on private corporations, and maybe in the near future, via the courts, as Rudy Guilliani found out.

But maybe the public is starting to push back. 

EdDriscoll at Instapundit points out that the many Hispanic and Blacks  voted for Eric Adams, a law and order candidate from the Bronx running for mayor of NYCity.

From the Times:

In a contest that centered on crime and public safety, Eric Adams, who emerged as the leading Democrat, focused much of his message on denouncing progressive slogans and policies that he said threatened the lives of “Black and brown babies” and were being pushed by “a lot of young, white, affluent people.” A retired police captain and Brooklyn’s borough president, he rejected calls to defund the Police Department and pledged to expand its reach in the city.

Black and brown voters in Brooklyn and the Bronx flocked to his candidacy, awarding Mr. Adams with sizable leading margins in neighborhoods from Eastchester to East New York.

John Elder's webpage is here.

Who is funding US foreign policy

 This blogpost from the US Naval Institute discusses the problem of think tanks:

Not only are a few of them influencing US policies by providing most of the information to congress, but there is a question who is funding them.

They note Adm McMaster resigned because of the Koch brothers funding about a report that said human rights violations should be ignored, but somehow no one resigned over foreign countries who give oodles of money to think tanks to influence their reports, some of which go against US interests.

A small number of think tanks dominate the witness table, and they happen to be institutions that are particularly opaque about their funders. Four think tanks accounted for about one-third of all expert witnesses at the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the past two Congresses, … …three (of the) think tanks most frequently invited to House Foreign Affairs Committee hearings provide incomplete, or no, information about their funding.

It is, of course, an old problem: they also cite this Seattle Times article from 2014. that cited the NYT article complaining about foreign countries (mainly Europe and the Middle East) doing this.

the Wash FreeBeacon reported China's funding back in 2018.

and the Chinese People's daily complained that some American think tanks are making baseless charges of human rights violations about the Uighars and Tibet against China. of course.

as for the Philippines, I suspect a lot of politicians and news media sites are getting rich from both the USA and Chinese sources.

Rappler has an article about ABS-CBN being used to promote Chinese Philippine friendship. But Rappler once accepted funds from a guy who was suspected to be CIA connected, so although they are accurate, they do tend to hate Duterte and China.

as Lolo used to say: They're all crooks.

as for the USA... sounds like Trumpieboy might have stirred up the bees nest when he started outing such things in the FBI/CIA etc. Yes, he lies, but so do they.

Hunter, call your office. Even MSNBC is finding your laptop interesting.=====================

update (July 1)

Austin Bay on Chinese buying influence in the USA.

and goes into details about Hikvision lobbying and the Chinese corruption of WHO that kept the world in the dark so the Wuhan virus could get everyone sick.

Go Nuclear?

 If Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima haven't scared you away from nuclear power, then just wonder what will happen if the greens manage to destroy the "fossil fuel" industry without a cheap replacement.

but there are new technologies out there.

such as a small neighborhood nuclear plant. Yes, the idea has been around awhile, but hey one of these days we might be able to buy one.

From SciTechDaily:

This cut-away rendering of the MIT nuclear battery concept shows important components such as the instrumentation and control module, the reactor, and the power module. Credit: Courtesy of the researchers

This nuclear battery concept is really a different thing because of the physical scale of these machines — about 10 megawatts. It’s so small that the whole power plant is actually built in a factory and fits within a standard container. The idea is to fit the whole power plant, which comprises a microreactor and a turbine that converts the heat to electricity, into the container.

ah, but like solar panels or lithium batteries, one worries about what happens when it gets old and discarded. 

and then there are plans for super batteries in the future.

The fire hazard of lithium batteries is known but as there are more and more cars out there, the danger of the car fire that can't be put out might become a reality. (note: the risk of fire is lower in these vehicles but if that happens, it is a major hazard to firemen etc.

But there are many ideas for newfangled batteries that are cheaper and work better.

more studies show Ivermectin works (but not a silver bullet)

 Dr. C analyzes the data

reading the crazies on the internet, they refuse the vaccine because of a tiny risk of side effects because news articles cite the absolute numbers without analyzing them or putting the numbers into context for the huge number of people who had vaccine without problem.

And of course the MSM and anti vax types also push breakthru covid cases after vaccines, without analysis.

The public/antivax/MSM want a "magic bullet"that works 100 percent of the time, not 99.9% of the time. And they want one with zero side effects (did you know giving placebos have side effects? not really: but people have symptoms and diseases normally, so you have to check the rate after the vaccine compared to how many would have the problem without being given a medicine/vaccine).

the vaccines prevent infection (or in break thru cases, lower death rate) in 50% (Sinovax) to 80-90 percent (Russian, UK and US vaccines).

In other words, the bias of the media coverage is driving the anti vax hysteria.

But on the other hand, drugs that help but not well (e.g. Hydrocholorquin) are being stopped by the establishment, without any analysis.

Those who say: "and yet it moves works" have even lost their medical licenses, been banned from youtube and other social media sites. 

True, a lot of the anti vax hysteria is manipulated by Russian and Chinese bots, and paranoia from the social shutdown that gives people too much time to worry about minor things, but nevertheless, the censorship of professional voices is worrisome.

But now many studies of Ivermectin are coming out. Dr. C analyzes the data: It works great, but not 100 percent, and one problem is that the studies are not perfect:

from the Youtube video:

Ivermectin verses no ivermectin in hospital patients Ivermectin, 2.3% No ivermectin, 7.8% Ivermectin prophylaxis reduced COVID-19 infection 3 trials, n = 738 Average reduction 86% Low-certainty evidence (due to study design limitations and few included trials) Clearly favored ivermectin use

so using Ivermectin works, but it is not a "magic bullet" either (80 percent).

and another fact that is not part of the "take the vaccine" propaganda: That mild cases of covid give natural immunity. So low risk people should be tested and not given the vaccine if they are immune. 

It's called a "risk benefit" Ratio.

Already the WHO said don't give it to small children because the risk is higher than the disease. Of course, small children fuel the epidemic (as they do for influenza etc.) but if the high risk and elderly are covered with the vaccine, then no problem.

as for me: I got the AstraZeneca shot, because it was being given out here, and the risk is only for young women, not old ladies or even men. 

The vaccine roll out here has been slow, and Duterte is following the DOH advice, but the DOH stopped the delivery of the Pfizer vaccine in January because they didn't sign the paperwork. Put conspiracy theory here.

and no, Duterte is not going to put everyone in jail who refuses the vaccine: he uses irony/hyperbole when he talks: it's a Filipino thing, which everyone except the MSM understands.

but the DOH have been mimicking the USA hysteria and haven't let us use Ivermectin yet.

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

the Crazies on the internet  are not just hysterical about the vaccine: there is the mask hysteria: the critics are correct in saying that the routine masks don't stop a tiny virus. 

But as our professors told us 50 years ago: The mask just prevents the surgeon from spitting into the patient's wound: i.e. prevent tiny drops of saliva from getting into the air from talking/sneezing/coughing, and of course stop you from touching your face. and the mask does stop you from spreading tiny saliva droplets to those around you.

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

Rice farms and global warming

 for later reading:

Farming techniques to lower greenhouse emissions (including NO and methane).

LINK (PhysOrg)

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory participated in a study that shows innovation in technologies and agricultural practices could reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from grain production by up to 70 percent within the next 15 years.

LINK for full document

a lot of this is about using new strains of seeds, less fertilizer (instead of dumping it, where excess fertilizer runs off into the environment, micromanage small amounts as needed). 

A lot of American farmers already do this. But a lot of what they propose requires computerized farming that is not available for poor third world farmers, and of course, it requires a lot more work to get out the crop. So does this mean robots? Electric motor tractors/tillers etc.? 

They just posit these as green, no emission, but forget that the electricity has to come from somewhere, and the pollution from the batteries to run them. Not to mention that they are too expensive for small farmers in much of the third world. 

Our farmers are subcontracted with us because we help with getting seedlings, (we still plant seedlings by hand, but automized planters are the future), with their tillers (evolving in recent years from waterbuffalo to handplows, a large rototiller), with the harvester/thresher for harvest that is still being done by hand in a lot of places. If you are a small farmer, you need a coop or a subcontract with a larger farmer/corporation for farmers to do this.

We had land reform a couple of decades ago, where our family's traditional land was given to the families who had long worked the land. But as things changed, the more affluent farmers now sent their kids to finish school, and the kids migrated to the city or overseas to get jobs. Now some of the older farmers are retiring and none of their kids want to go back to living a traditional way. But since there is a legal limit on how much land each person can own, we are limited in how much land we can buy back and much of our land is farmed from people from the Visayas, a poorer area, where we have family ties to recruit them.  

But essentially the future might be consolidating the fields and using machinery and more modern techniques: GM seed, herbicide, fertilizer.

But since we are organic, we still use labor intensive weeding/tilling, meaning more work for the farmers, organic fertilizer, and analyze the soil to supplement minerals that are lacking in some areas. So our rice is more expensive than cheap imported rice. This is important fact to realize, since cheap rice is important if the poor are to have food to eat in the large cities. (the government imports a lot: a problem because if they import too much, it lowers the price and hurts local farmers, and sometime when too much is imported, the stored rice isn't sold and has to be disposed of).

And yes, we have started the dry technique on our fields.

Actually, rice farmers here in the Philippines (including our farmers) already have implemented some of these policies, i.e. dry rice farming, where less flooding of the rice paddies means less methane from rotting vegetation.

the flooding is a traditional way to keep down the weeds: the rice seedlings are planted in the mud, but the water prevents new weeds from growing, and by rotting the vegetation and weeds produces both a way to fertilize the fields and lots of evil methane that causes global warming.

so stop natural rotting vegetation for fertilizer? 

The trick is to micromanage flooding to get fertilizer but not methane.

by flooding off and on, you can cut the methane production.

That is how China cut their greenhouse emissions.

Paddy fields account for around 20% of human-related emissions of methane — a potent greenhouse gas.

Farmers normally flood rice fields throughout the growing season, meaning that methane is produced by microbes underwater as they help to decay any flooded organic matter... 

(scientists) found that draining paddy fields in the middle of the rice-growing season — a practice that most Chinese farmers have adopted since the 1980s because it increases rice yields and saves water — stopped most of the methane release from the field.

the bad news? it increased the release of another greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide. 

China has done this in much of their rice land, and as I noted, the Philippine Rice institute is also teaching farmers how to do this.

So far the covid hasn't affected our ability to farm, but it has made it more expensive to ship and sell our rice in Manila. For awhile it was slow and chaotic, but things are improving

yum. Kimchee

 Kimchee, pinoy style:

....

we have a new Korean restaurant in town, around the corner from us.

No, I haven't eaten there yet. 

I avoid extra spicy foods, and much of Korean food is spicy.

No, although kimchee is traditionally used as a flu prevention, and now for covid, there is no good proof that it helps. LINK

however, the health benefits of kimchee is from vitamins (especially vitamin C) and that it is a fermented food, meaning it is full of good bacteria, similar to the healthy benefits of yogurt and other probiotic foods.

And yes, there are reports that probiotics do help with covid infection.

Audiobook of the week

I am listening to the Librivox version of Isabella Bird's visit to Japan on Librivox. Actually the reader is good and so I have it on when I go to sleep. They have several of her books there: LINK

and for those who prefer the comic book version of her Japanese trip, check this out.

She also visited Korea, and although the book is on internet archive, I read a new released epub version of it on Scribd.

Much of the earlier part of the book is full of complaints of Korea being dirty (she does a lot of complaining about this in all her books...and this includes western countries, including Scotland and the slums of London so it's not just anti Asian sentiment) and she points out the corruption; but as she visits more, her attitude changes. Alas, unlike Japan, she had to travel with a westerner to translate/interpret what was going on, but as the book progresses, there are many observations of the country, the last monarchs, and the pros and cons of the Japanese take over, which at first she supports as a way to reform but then notes their cruelty and bad policies.

She also took Photos:

But now Librivox has released an audiobook version of the book.

From their description of the book:

Isabella's sojourn coincided with a time of great turmoil in Korea. Shortly after her arrival, the Japanese occupied the country, ostensibly to protect their expatriate community. But when relations worsend further, Isabella was forced to flee, first to Manchuria, and, after the outbreak of the first Sino-Japanese War (1894 - 1895), to Russia.

She returned to Korea only days after the assassination of Queen Min in October 1895, and saw King Gojong reduced to a mere "salaried automaton" until he fled to the Russian Legation in 1896.

Isabella, having had several audiences with the monarchs throughout her stay in Seoul, gives a first hand account of the political and governmental changes throughout this time. Altogether, this is a fascinating account of Korea at a time when the country was not only torn between tradition and modernisation, but also found herself a pawn of Japan, China, and Russia, all vying for control in the Far East. (Summary by Availle)

more here:

 

....no, I do not know much about Korean history, and am posting this as I learn about it.

Movie of the week

 

.......... I have linked to this before, but this is an English language dub.

--------------update: Sorry, the copyright cops must have removed it.

Happy Father's Day

 

herd immunity due to mild/subclinical infections

herd immunity plus vaccine immunity in the USA means the epidemic is pretty well over. 

.....

this is good for populations like in the USA, where most people are low risk.

But after a year of no jobs, lock down and malnutrtion due to no money, the herd immunity might not work in the poorer countries.

today's videos are about South America "despite high vaccination numbers"

....

.the problem is the new variants, which are more infectious but most vaccines stop them. (i.e. meaning keeping a distance and masks won't work as well).

the reports of "numbers of cases" ignores that there are fewer deaths because most cases are in low risk younger people in the west, who don't die.

this is not true in poorer countries, where poor nutrition (made worse by unemployment from the economic shutdown) is common, and often these countries were given the Chinese Sinovax as part of China's "vaccine diplomacy". (in above video this is discussed starting at about 14 minutes into the video ).

and Singapore's Straits Times notes that the Sinovax has weaker protection, as shown in an Indonesian study.

The Catholic problem

Long but important for Catholics. Watch before Youtube pulls it...

the timing of this is that the Catholic bishops are meeting again, and many want to compromise with the world's ideas: Can't we just all get along, fellas?

GetReligion blog discusses some of the issues which pertain to US politics. LINK

but it is interesting that it was McCarrick, now known to be a sexual predator, who promulgated the idea  in the USA that it was okay to allow people promoting sin in politics to receive communion.

Unlike Protestants, Catholics believe that the Eucharist is Jesus. And Paul stresses that those unworthy should refrain from receiving.

This is about ignoring the reality that abortion destroys a child: by changing the language used in the discussion, it allows them to pretend abortion is about "choice" and freedom (something actually celebrated at the Democratic convention, even though most Americans see it as a form of taking life, albeit they would allow it in hard cases). And now the US is pushing abortion aggressively: Trying to force medical personnel and institutions to do abortions and surgery on transsexuals.

And the US (and the UN and NGOs funded by millionaires who want to limit population) have long been pressuring countries to promote sexual freedom, including homosexual rights, on conservative countries such as the Philippines, Muslim countries, and in Africa. This pressure is now getting stronger in the Biden administration.

And although I did read that the US Supreme court did just say that when Philadelphia ordered Catholic adoption organizations to let gays adopt that this was against the first amendment, one should note that the court cases still are coming against institutions that prohibit certain behaviors (not sexual orientation, but behaviors).and as GetReligion points out, you won't find an unbiased coverage of this in the MSM. LINK

as for the priest's discussion. 

Father Z says he knows of such priests (many of whom support the Latin mass). Strict priests often cause liberal activists to complain to the bishop: but you know, when ordinary folk complain about twisting or ignoring dogma, nothing usually happens.

I lived in Altoona a few years before that horrible report about the diocese came out.

But we all knew what was going on. Many stopped going to church, others drifted over to the local Orthodox church. 

Bishop Wuerl, who is now a bigshot in the church, was working then in Pittsburgh didn't notice any problems. (while promoting a "sex ed" class in Catholic schools that many parents objected to).

And yes, one priest who was a whistleblower was pressured to leave the priesthood, and the article notes he was the second priest in two years hounded out. alternatelink

I have written about this before: LINK.

As for the story of the priest that he was molested as he slept: male rape is notoriously under reported. LINK

We had two employees abused this way at the farm, and the abuser claims it was okay because they were gay and probably wanted it.

Sigh.

as a female physician, I saw girls who were abused, and yes, it is much more common than male abuse. But most victims here were men, and that is the elephant in the room.

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

update: Father Z discusses the heart of the problem: 75 percent of self defined "catholics" don't believe that Jesus is in the Eucharist. 

and 25 percent of the bishops don't think this is a problem.

For those of us who believe, we can only lament the problem and remember how Flannery O'Connor once sarcastically corrected a non believing cradle Catholic:

...she thought of it as a symbol and implied that it was a pretty good one. I then said, in a very shaky voice, 'Well, if it's a symbol, to hell with it.' That was all the defense I was capable of but I realize now that this is all I will ever be able to say about it, outside of a story, except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable."

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

update: GetReligion summarizes the press coverage of this, citing the history of what is happening, the history of bishops actually excommunicating those who oppose them and the  (proud unrepentant) Democrats who say they will diss the bishops and defund the church for not receiving the sacraments. 

Uh, what part of "Non Serviam" do you not understand.

I am old enough to remember that JFK went to mass but didn't receive the sacraments.

You can be a sinner and go to church, as do many divorced folks, gays struggling with SSA, drug abusers, or just plain grumpy people with a bad temper do...because they are seeking God but unable to overcome their sins...  but here they want to tell the church how to run things, and this is wrongheaded.

lots of confusion but fewer deaths.

 There are breakthrough cases of covid after the vaccine (and some people with immune problems probably will not get immunity).

But it seems that partial immunity from the vaccine might mean you don't get a bad case:

LINK

No vaccine is 100% effective at preventing Covid-19. The ones we have, though, are very effective at preventing severe illness, death, and reducing viral load in people unlucky enough to contract post-vaccination breakthrough infections. 

family news

 Ruby has arrived in Manila from her college in the USA and is now in quarantine until Friday, when her parents will pick her up.

then presumably it will be wall to wall parties with her friends.

The monsoon/rainy season has arrived: with thunderstorms every afternoon.

The roof is being fixed: Alas, yesterday the thunderstorm hit suddenly before the temporary plastic could be replaced, so Joy's bedroom got flooded a bit. Once the roof is fixed, we will fix the ceiling in the dining room and in my bathroom, where a cat fell through the ceiling a couple months ago.

The dog who guards the business section of our property died: Presumably they will replace him with a puppy. But the secretary and her husband live there so it does have a guard.

A couple of deaths in the neighborhood, but all old with cancer, diabetes or blood pressure, none from covid.

time wasting videos of the week

 just doing my job. 

,,,

tear jerker of the week:

,,...

Biology lesson of the week:

..........

the movie that made Australia famous.

..

.and part 2 is fairly good too.

.....

Puppy Cam! all the cuteness without the poo.

Miscellaneous things * to read later

 Better Homes and Gardens magazine from 1940 to 1960 LINK

Lots of recipes, and the ads are interesting.

_______________

Dr. C wonders if Ivermectin caused the drop of Covid in India. 

We can't get Ivermectin here because the experts are stopping it, but in the USA, that crazy Jeramiah Ann Barnhardt has instructions on getting the correct animal version. LINK

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

China shuts down the city of Guangzhou because of a couple of cases of covid.  Blaming the Indian variant of the virus. Hmm.. how did that get into the city? Who knows. The SCMP used to be independent, but now is probably gov't propaganda.

read the comments

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one good side effect of the epidemic: Hugs from strangers are out.

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Everybody is getting hacked: Tax files of rich guys were hacked and leaked.

Good. Now the Chinese can file it next to my hacked OPM file.

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

Move over Ripley: Muslim warrior women in medieval literature:

Sarah Hoyt would be proud.

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

Wired on mRNA vaccines.

warp speed Scottie

....

... 

more here about how MRna vaccine was made.

 

i.e. the Pfizer and Moderna Vaccines used this technology.

the vaccine was made with an idea that came out of Darpa. 

Place conpsiracy theory here.

But the dirty little secret is that there are diseases out there that could turn into a world wide epidemic.

DARPA was trying to figure out how to develop a vaccine in a hurry, just in case of an epidemic, or even if the US/French/African troops fighting Islamicist and other terrorists in Africa were infected with a new disease. Think Ebola and HIV for "recent" infectious diseases that caused epidemics, not to mention Yellow Fever, which actually made it from Angola to China before it was wiped out via vaccines.

You might know about that Ebola epidemic a couple years ago in West Africa, but do you know there is an ongoing epidemic there

They are keeping it under control with a new vaccine, and by contact tracing, isolation, and giving out the vaccine, 

The story of how that vaccine was quickly made and sent out to stop the epidemic can be found HERE.. Nature article discusses the details of this technology.. This vaccine  is based on an adenovirus base, which is also a new technology and is being used for some covid vaccines, including the British AstraZeneca, the JandJ and the Russian vaccine. and a newer Chinese vaccine.

The Sinovax is based on an attenuated (weakened) vaccine has been developed and sent to a lot of countries as "vaccine"diplomacy, but the dirty little secret is that it doesn't work very well:

AsiaNews (and Italian Catholic news agency) reports that both Turkey and Bahrain have found so many break thru cases that they are considering giving a third booster shot to their populations by using a western vaccine.

the Philippines news reports that the gov't is planning to do a study if mixing vaccines will work. The dirty little secret is that although a lot of people are getting the "Chinese"vaccine, a lot of people, especially those in lower risk groups, are waiting for the western shots to arrive.

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

update: Wired magazine on mRNA vaccine

You mean the nutcase conspiracy types were right about covid?

 

.........

from PJMedia:

One person who feels vindicated by the content of the emails is President Trump. “After seeing the emails, our Country is fortunate I didn’t do what Dr. Fauci wanted me to do,” Trump said in a statement. Trump went on to explain various actions he took in spite of Fauci.

the article goes on to list when Trumpieboy ignored Fauci: He closed the flights from China and then Europe. He started "Operation Warp Speed" and funded it by guaranteeing he would buy the vaccine from them. 

He supported masks when Fauci flip flopped on them. He then points out:

Finally, Trump addressed the NIH funding of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was conducting gain-of-function research. “The funding of Wuhan by the U.S. was foolishly started by the Obama Administration in 2014 but ended under the Trump Administration. When I heard about it, I said ‘no way.'” “What did Dr. Fauci know … and when did he know it?” Trump asked.

actually, if I remember correctly, it was Obama who stopped it. However, the order had a small loop hole in it that let the NIH bypass the ruling so Fauci sent them money to continue the research. Then he officially restarted the funding when Trump got in then see correction below: it was restarted in 2017 in January, by Obama, a week before Trump took over.

 Trump stopped it when he figured out what was being done. 

more on Fauci emails here.

then there is this PJMedia story about the Defector who was spilling the beans on the Chinese bioweapon program.

and the article questions of how and why the various US government security agencies stonewalled the release of this information; and what was more curious was that MSM stonewalled the story and the social media actively censored it.

Remember the Sherlock Holmes story about the dog who barked in the night?

the Wuhan lab leak story has been perculating on conspiracy sites for at least a year, but mentioning this would get you canceled. 

so was this story stopped because it might help Trumpieboy get elected ? Instead, all of Trump's anti China policy was attributed to "racism".

 Yes, it was political by the US MSM, but what is disturbing is how major scientific journals essentially censored the story even after later scientific articles questioned this.

 (fromOneIndia):

The first, dated February 19, 2020, was published in the medical science journal The Lancet. This article, signed by 27 scientists, highlighted the efforts of Chinese experts to identify the source of the pandemic and share the results. The authors deplored "rumours and misinformation" about the origins of the virus, and stated that they "strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that Covid-19 does not have a natural origin"...

In March 2020, another article published in Nature Medicine provided a series of scientific arguments in favour of a natural origin.

To me as a physician, this is disturbing: 

You can publish your opinion, but to call those who oppose that opinion a conspiracy theory goes against the ethics of science.

True, this is not the first time major medical stories have lied to push a political agenda:(The NEJM lies about euthanasia in numerous articles the early 1990s come to mind, as does the death count in Iraq published in a British journal that happened to be published right before an election, even though a survey by one of Saddam's experts). 

The politicization/corruption of medical journals will now get worse, since a major editor of JAMA has been canceled by BLM activists, something I wrote about awhile back.

So what major news media broke the story? What major medical journal pointed out that the Emperor Winnie the Pooh had no clothes?

Vanity Fair? Yes. THAT Vanity Fair.

Sigh.

The US had a bioweapons program (made illegal in the past, but who knows what is hidden) and it is suspected that when left wing activists tried to stop this type of research in the USA, that Fauci outsourced it, using the excuse that they needed to figure out how to prevent epidemics: maybe at the instigation of the deep state types. 

the fact that such research was made illegal by President Obama was beside the point: (covered up by the loophole in Obama's executive order, and then covered by claiming the money was sent to Wuhan to do other things, ignoring that it meant Wuhan could cook the books and use it for the program).

A lot of this makes one wonder why the truth is now being exposed now? Was it all part of a manipulation to make Trumpieboy look bad? Was China paying off folks? 

China plans to take over the world: and even if the release of the virus was an accident (or even "natural" release) the real story is that they covered it up, lied until late January 2020 that it could be spread person to person, and of course, blocked all non biased outside investigations of the source of the virus.

everyone in the Philippines knows that China lies.

But one does expect truth and openness from the west, especially in the MSM and in the scientific journals.

Right now, I am watching Vincenzo (you can see it on Netflix) and a lot is about corruption in corporations, in government and in the press, and how Vincenzo is using mafia like tactics to bring them down because the honest folk trying to fight them are either killed or subverted by threats or money.

And at the same time I am reading the old novel "Captain and Kings" by Taylor Caldwell, which also has a subplot of such shenanigans by European bankers, set in the 1880s. 

It makes one wonder when similar things that are being done in the USA and Europe, and are now being exposed. Why are they being exposed now? 

is there an honest man out there who are releasing the story? or a crook who wants to take down another crook and is letting the stories out now?

Or is it to distract the public from the riots, crime, inflation, and marxist indoctrination in public institutions like schools and the military?

Or is the public being manipulated to want a war with China? Of course, given Chinas aggression against the Philippines etc. One could say the manipulation is by China with its ties to the media etc. And someone just noticed.

who knows. 

In the meanwhile: From Instapundit:

LOL.

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

update: From Instapundit:

THIS JUST KEEPS GETTING WORSE: 

The Pentagon gave $39 MILLION to Dr. Peter Daszak’s EcoHealth Alliance – the charity that funded coronavirus research at the Wuhan lab accused of being the source of the outbreak, federal data reveals. “The charity, EcoHealth Alliance (EHA), has come under intense scrutiny after it emerged that it had been using federal grants to fund research into coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. The U.S. nonprofit, set up to research new diseases, has also partly funded deeply controversial ‘gain of function’ experiments, where dangerous viruses are made more infectious to study their effect on human cells. A political storm broke when former president Donald Trump canceled a $3.7 million grant to the charity last year amid claims that Covid-19 was created in, or leaked from, the Wuhan lab funded by EHA. But federal grant data assembled by independent researchers shows that the charity has received more than $123 million from the government – from 2017 to 2020 – and that one of its biggest funders is the Department of Defense, funneling almost $39 million to the organization since 2013. Exactly how much of that money went toward research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology is unknown.”

 

hmm... Peterdaszak. that name sounds familiar:

from the UKMail (June 5 2021):

How Facebook's 'independent fact checkers' cited letter secretly organized by Wuhan lab funder Peter Daszak to 'debunk' leak theory and punish news outlets that explored it

Article used by Facebook to 'debunk' lab leak theory cited Daszak's Lancet letter His non-profit, EcoHealth Alliance, funneled U.S. grants to Wuhan virology lab

Facebook cracked down on 'debunked' lab leak theory for nearly a year

Punished news publishers by limiting the reach and spread of their articles

Late last month, the social media giant reversed its stance as evidence mounted

 the UKMail also has this to explain what is being discussed:

Controversial gain-of-function research boosts the infectivity of pathogens and makes them more LETHAL 

Gain of function is controversial research that involves boosting the infectivity and lethality of a pathogen. PROPONENTS SAY: It helps researchers spot potential threats to human health and allows them to figure out ways to tackle a new virus. Dr. Fauci has advocated for gain-of-function research in the past, including a 2011 op-ed he co-wrote that promoted it as a means to study influenza viruses. CRITICS SAY: It's a risky endeavor that puts human lives at stake. In 2014, the US government paused new funding of gain-of-function research on influenza, MERS and SARS to address concerns about risks and benefits. The pause was backed by over 300 scientists called the Cambridge Working Group. In December 2017, the US government lifted the pause and announced a new framework called 'Potential Pandemic Pathogen Care and Oversight' for evaluating whether funding should be granted. Research for 'enhanced potential pandemic pathogens' would be allowed if it was 'essential to protecting global health and security.' The review process is highly classified, and names of reviewers or details of the experiments are not released.

 

I should add a contrary opinion: Scott Adams (Dilbert) notes that the research is a good thing, and outsourcing it so that a release wouldn't kill Americans might be the lesser of two evils. But listen to the whole thing because it's a bit nuanced..........

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

Correction. I assumed the articles saying the gain of function rules were changed in 2017, that it was Trump who changed te rules.

Actually it was President Obama who changed the rules in early Jan 2017, before Trump became president.

LINK

headsup CTreehouse

China continues to steal the Philippine resources.

 Strategypage has a nice summary of Chinese aggression against the Philippines.

For China the South China Sea campaign is mainly about internal Chinese politics. China presents the South China Sea operation to Chinese as a necessary effort to regain control over lost (to Western imperialists) territory and secure China’s economic future. That’s a lie but so far China has sold it internally to Chinese eager to regain lost glory. 

China realizes it cannot afford an actual war over the South China Sea, because that would most definitely disrupt Chinese foreign trade and risk permanent damage to China ...

While the South China Sea combat is non-lethal, the economic damage to other nations with legal claims to portions of the South China Sea is very real. As this shoving match escalates, other major trading nations, especially the United States, Japan and South Korea, as well as more distant industrialized nations, are lending military support. While everyone is under orders to not open fire (unless facing a lethal threat) the risk of the shoving match turning into a shooting match increases.

and then there is an ongoing cyberwar going on. 

TimeOfIndia article from 2016 notes it was going on back then.

AustinBay notes: China is pushing 5G all over the world, and the one who controls the internet controls the world.

5G "next generation" wireless communication systems are an information battlespace. 5G has the ability to connect cellphones, the internet, the internet of things -- all digital devices, which could include controls on a hydroelectric dam (SCADA, in the lingo). What if a terrorist or a saboteur were to open the floodgates of a major dam in, say, Egypt, or, heaven forbid, California? If the saboteur were a Chinese agent, would this be an act of war waged by China? The dam scenario isn't hyperbolic. Western defense and intelligence services believe equipment and software provided by Huawei and other Chinese companies are potentially covert weapons. Attack example: The controlling power taps a keypad or activates an embedded "hidden trigger" and -- well, the Colonial Pipeline shipping gas to the U.S. southeast shuts down. Or Californians drown. China's shady tech can cause grievous economic damage and seed social disruption on a nationwide or even continental scale.

We have 5G antennas in our area (Kuya, worried about health problems related to 5G, refused to let them put one on our fields, but hey, lots of other folks need money so said yes).

Sigh

China's tactics are stealth and slow "Push, hold and stop and pretend that's all they want", and this is being done against VietNam, the Philippines, India, and Japan.

If you are a student of history, all this might sound familiar:

hmm... can you say: Sudetanland, children?

or sing along with Winnie the Pooh:

Of course, now that Biden appears to be a weakling, one simply assumes nothing will be done, unless Korea and Japan move in.

Duterte has been burned by China in many ways. He was suspicious of the US because "human rights" activists got GMA out of jail and went bonkers over the drug war (where a lot of the murders counted by them weren't drug war related: True: Some were from bad cops but a lot were crude justice by cops and some were pay back murders by victims who never got justice).

But how deep is the Chinese influence in the Philippine government? I have no idea. But remember the proverb: In the Philippines, bribes are taken over the table, under the table and with the table.

So when one reads of how someone in the DOH just never got around to signing off paper work so the Pfizer vaccine could be delivered in January, it does make one wonder.

Especially since hey, lots of lousy Chinese vaccine was being pushed. 

One small problem: a lot of folks are refusing to get the Chinese vaccine, even when the gov't is bribing them with a gift of free rice, because they are waiting for the good vaccine.

from the Inquirer:

I should note that both our lawyer and Joy's father got the Chinese vaccine, because it was the only one available, while I waited for the western vaccine which only arrived last week in our town.

-------

Our granddaughter should be arriving in a week or two from the US: She has had the vaccine, but will probably have to stay in Quarantine in Manila for a week anyway. 

Sigh.

in other news: Another day, another tropical storm causing rain and floods.

Actually this is good for the farmers, who will now be able to plow and prepare the fields for sowing.

as for our town: The traffic is a lot heavier in the last two weeks. So things might start opening up.

History of the Uganda martyrs

 June 3 is the feast day.

Anglicans celebrate the feast too.

The Britannica article gives the G rated version.

Here is the X rated version.

and the problem continues in the various wars in that area.

UKGuardian article on the problem in South Africa.

UKSun article on Gambian "Tourists" who target children.

Manila street kids. Article2.

but you don't have to go to Africa to see the problem.

CDC survey of teenagers: underage children abuse  link2 link3

a UN article says half of the migrant women and children coming in the US face sexual abuse,

NPR report from 2019

Confucius taught to rebuild society, you must start by rebuilding the family.

something to remember when the US government pushes the wonderfulness of sexual freedom as a human right as opposed to restraining the sexual impulse.

One is reminded of what Camus wrote in the Plague:

“All I can say is that on this earth there are pestilences and there are victims– and as far as possible one must refuse to be on the side of the pestilence.”