Post modernism and mental problems

mainly posted for later listening.

The cult like beliefs of the left are obvious, and the left mainly points to the cult like Trumpieboy followers.

..................... 

another podcast for later consideration:

backstory about election take two

Ramaswami gets it right:

Here’s the reason why Donald Trump won by the largest margin of any President in modern history. He’s not an ideologue. He’s not a policy wonk. He’s an American badass. They tried to DQ him, jail him, kill him (twice). None of it worked. Our self-appointed “betters” in the media…

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) November 6, 2024

......

WHen I pointed out to my son that I couldn't vote for Harris because of her extreme pro abortion policies (abortion up to nine months, forcing doctors to perform abortions, something I fought when I was in medical school) he agreed, saying she talked about abortion and Gender issues but not about the economy, food prices etc. (We are both registered Democrats and minorities)

In other words, her emphsis on manipulating society to allow her social agenda, which the privacy of ordinary Americans would not tolerate, was a mistake, and her failure to address the problems that most ordinary American were worried about was probably why she lost a lot of votes.

.....

For all the talk of DEI, people forget that this is something that benefits elites, not ordinary folk. Ironically, DEI would benefit Harris, the daughter of two professors, over Vance, the son of a nurse and from a broken family who worked his way up from his bootstraps.

All the DEI policies at college level admissions works against Asians of course, while letting people ignore the real problem: Crappy public schools. School choice? might help. It says a lot that both Bill Clinton (who like Vance came from a dysfunctional family), and Clarence Thomas (raised by his grandfather) were educated in Catholic schools.

Alas, the Vatican II reforms persuaded nuns that they should do social work instead of teaching kids, so lots of nuns quit. So Catholic school enrollment went down as prices went up, but on the other hand, homeschools and small Protestant church schools helped fill in the gap for alternative education that was cheap enough for ordinary folk.

Which brings me to another possible change:

if the deplorables are changing governments, will the next change be against the Pope and his minions who like the uniparty in the US are trying to manipulate a fake consensus to change things by a very unpopular synodality scam ?

restoring democracy in the USA?

 Newsweek has a long editorial by Jonathan Tobin discussing the implications of the Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency.

He puts it into the context of stopping the power grab by the unelected administrative state that has been overstepping the law. Read the whole thing:

If the USA is not to sink into a civil war, the first step might be to actually allow input by it's citizens instead of special interest groups who have an agenda. 

This means stopping courts (as in RvW) and the bureaucrats (in the latest EPA expansion by unelected bureaucrats) from making laws without the messy input of democratic discussion and input. 

Yes, there is a need for expertise (which is why the US is a republic, like ancient Rome (which lasted 500 years) and not a democracy like Athens, where demagogues took it over by manipulating public opinion within a century).

What is interesting in the Newsweek editorial is why it was opposed by some justices in the SC and of course most of the MSM: the idea that climate change is too important to be left to the voter.

...With respect to the EPA, the Left is fully convinced that the urgency of climate change means that the Constitution and democracy can be thrown out the window.

As even Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent after a lengthy dissertation on the horrors of global warming and the theories about it leading to planetary doom, "Whatever else this court may know about, it does not have a clue about how to address climate change." She's right about that, but the Supreme Court's purpose isn't to make or approve environmental policy.

italics mine. 

Hmm... this argument sounds more like Alex Jones, Glenn Beck, or other right wing conspiracy nuts who see both covid and Climate change as either hoaxes or as real problems that are being exaggerated so the New World Order can take over....

As in the Great Reset... link2.

... 

Ironically, although most of the whistleblowers on the WEF tend to be right wing nuts, I am so old that I remember when such theories were believed by the Left. 

Maters of Mankind indeed...

Professor Chomsky, call your office. They are still at it, but under a different name...

when Rules result in deaths: Yup. It's the bureaucratic mindset.

 A relative of ours was in a personal care facility in Pennsylvania when Covid hit and it meant our family couldn't visit her, and we were very worried since she was high risk (obesity and diabetes).

Many nursing home patients had a poor immune system due to cancer, age, obesity, diabetes, renal failure, etc. (which is why many die despite having the vaccine).

But early in the epidemic, isolation was the most important way to stop the spread. So visitors, who are much needed to keep up the morale of the elderly in these homes, were restricted.

So why did so many states push to allow post hospital covid positive patients to be readmitted?

It's complicated but it amounts to thinking that regulations make it safe, even when regulations are not followed.

The rational was that hey, the nursing homes could keep them safely isolated. 

Yup. That's what the regulations and documents stated, but anyone who knows about nursing homes knew that, not only did many lack PPE early in the epidemic (blamed on Trumpieboy but actually because the administrators didn't want to spend money to stock up on these, and took their time in ordering more), but the staff didn't use them properly.

Indeed, the authorities knew that this was a problem: From March 2020:

In the initial wave of surveys during the week of March 30, CMS found that 36 percent of facilities inspected in recent days did not follow proper hand washing guidelines and 25 percent failed to demonstrate proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE). Both of these are longstanding infection control measures that all nursing homes are expected to follow per Federal regulation. 

The background to this is that many of the staff were poorly trained and overworked. 

So why insist that post hospitalization infectious covid patients be placed back into their nursing homes?

The regulation behind this is not new and the idea is to get long term patients out of expensive hospital beds into cheaper nursing home beds.

and the problem didn't start with Covid.

One of our nursing homes in Minnesota back in the late 1990s had an ongoing fight with the authorities who insisted we admit a patient with Vancomycin resistant Staph aureus, meaning that the germ was resistant to all antibiotics. 

Now, this nursing home had many patients with diabetic ulcers who were there mainly because they couldn't travel during the wintertime to get daily treatment. If these wounds were infected with a resistant germ, it could lead to amputation or death. 

But never mind: On paper the patient could be isolated and kept safe.

and that is the real problem: rules vs reality.

or as the scientist who cracked the facade about the Challenger disaster noted:

Regulations matter, but regulations not connected to reality are essentially CYA lies, meant to protect the bureaucrats, not the patients. So why didn't doctors or nurses working for the government point this out? Yes, it's hard to fire a government employee, but they can make your life hell until you quit.

I know: because I worked as a physician for both the state and the federal (IHS) systems and was always in trouble because I put the patient's welfare before the regulations.

But not everyone does this, which is why I suspect Dr. L managed to get her job: I suspect she was a team player. And of course, being a team player, she decided not to object to these dangerous regulations when it came to covid.

The governors could plead ignorance, because hey they are politicians, not doctors.

But what about doctors who go along with the regulations even though they knew it was nonsense? And indeed, their actions proved that they knew the practice was dangerous.

As this Newsweek article from May 2020 pointed out:

Pennsylvania Health Secretary Moved Mother Out Of Nursing Home As Coronavirus Death Toll Increased In State....

Yup. She put your relatives into danger while making sure her own mother was safe in a hotel.

Again from that May 2020 article in Newsweek: 

Outbreaks in Pennsylvania long-term care facilities make up nearly 70 percent of the state's coronavirus-related deaths and 21 percent of the state's positive cases of the virus. In a Wednesday press conference, Levine announced that of the 58,698 confirmed cases statewide, 12,408 cases are among residents of long-term facilities, including nursing homes and personal care homes. Of the total 3,943 deaths in Pennsylvania, 2,705 have occurred in residents in long-term facilities....

In this article from a small town Pennsylvania newspaper in June 2020, she defends the policy:

Levine defends returning nursing home residents to facilities after coronavirus treatment: 'The virus was already there,' she says....

Pennsylvania Department of Health Secretary Rachel Levine on Monday downplayed a point that critics of the state’s coronavirus response in nursing homes and long-term-care facilities regularly make: that returning residents who had been treated in hospitals for the virus to their homes at the facilities helped speed its spread.

She said that the state followed federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services guidelines that if a resident has tested positive for COVID-19 at a facility and then required hospitalization, that when they recovered, they were returned home to their facility.

Italics mine. Has any reporter found out who in the vast Medicare bureaucracy put out that regulation? 

She said the state instituted guidelines provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in early in March when the first cases were detected in Pennsylvania, including limiting outside visitors from entering long-term-care facilities. “They contracted the virus in the facility. So it doesn’t mean they were bringing it to the facility. The virus was already there,” she said Monday during her daily press briefing.

 again italics mine. 

This is an untrue statement, since the possibility of spreading infection goes higher with the increase in the number of people with the infection.

But it does recognize that many people with covid weren't sick enough to be placed in hospitals, so yes, they could spread it within the institutions, who did not have adequate PPE or isolation rooms or staff to handle these cases.

the smart thing would have been to designate one facility to handle these patients in proper isolation in a different facility in order to protect the other patients. In the past, this was done with TB, for example, and I am old enough to remember when Philadelphia had a TB hospital and an infectious disease hospital to isolate cases that needed care.

Putting covid positive post hospital patients in these homes should have been a viable option: but the dirty little secret is that the paperwork and regulations stopped that from becoming reality.

Hey, that would mess up the protocols of insisting they return to their usual nursing home bed.

So place the "Republican pounce" headline here.

However, others see it differently. State Sen. Doug Mastriano, a Republican from Franklin County, called for Levine’s resignation May 11, saying her actions were a major factor in the large number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the state’s nursing homes. “These failings are compounded by being complicit in the virus spreading through our elder care homes, triggered by unscientific and illogical directives, forcing them to readmit COVID-19 patients,” he said in part, adding, “Let me state this clearly, this order by Secretary Levine is responsible for the deaths of approximately 2,500 of our citizens, and displays the gross incompetence of someone unfit for office. The bottom line is Secretary Levine has failed to protect our most vulnerable population.”

The failure of the CDC and regulatory bodies in the covid epidemic are legion, but hey the press just blamed Trump for the bureaucratic mindset that put following regulations as more important than fixing things.

So why is a physician who obviously put cooperation with regulations as more important than patient's lives being placed as head of the nation's public health service?

Partly because, as someone with a history of being a team player, one doubts she will do the needed firing and reforms needed to make the America public health system do their job.

But as you can see from the ecstatic headlines, the job was given to her, not for her competence (?/S) but because she used to be a man.

And to make things worse, it was nominating an outsider despite the fact that the PHS Commissioned Corps has many many well qualified minority physicians who could do the work, but I guess if you are a trans activist, it doesn't matter if you are white.

 And it is politically correct to push trans rights, even if the nominee has been shown to be willing to let people die in order to be a team player.

I won't put up her photo: The right makes fun of her all the time for her appearance, but my only comment is that she needs a fashion makeover by Vice Ganda.  

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 day

I am waiting for heads to explode because Trumpieboy included this among the operatic songs toward the end of last night's songs.

Yet, it is not so much a "Catholic" song but is a "catholic" i.e. universal song, because it is one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

and of course Mary is beloved not just by Catholics and Orthodox Christians, but also Wiccans and Muslims.

but there is another subliminal, dare I say Jungian suggestion from the song: Mary is the mother symbol, to contradict the wrathful image of God that is part and parcel of the religious right. (yes, I know: Jesus meek and mild. The effeminate helpless Jesus of the modern church, but that is an essay for another day).

and of course, the usual icon of Mary is one holding her son: The ultimate symbol of the loving mother.

And Trumpie boy was open about his support of life, even in the womb, whereas the Democrats push abortion under the meme of "freedom and liberty: not as the lesser of two evils for women in distress because of a pregnancy, but as a
core value":  a way of being free of family ties and responsibility so you can get an education and a job and be successful in the world.

It's a dirty little secret, but many women who had abortions did it under duress and have a bitter self hatred for doing it, even when they were pressured into it by family, partner, or economic circumstances. Often they regret it but it's taboo to say so. (a lot of the terrible anger against the pro life movement is projection of their self hatred for having an abortion). And of course, many feel that God cannot forgive them, so they seek solace in Wicca or other non judgemental religions.

Mary is not only reminding one that motherhood is sacred, but as a mother, she is the type who will not condemn sinners, but welcome back her sorrowful children, including mothers who rejected their own children.

Did China set up Bannon?

the only thing I know about Steve Bannon is that he was dissing Pope Francis awhile back by buying an empty monastery  for "an Academy for the Judeo-Christian West which would offer courses in history, philosophy, theology and politics".

heh. You can almost hear the exploding heads of the modernists who are busy hijacking the Vatican and forgot to check for a "hail mary pass" from the end zone. (/s).

Locally, it caused a kerfuffle after the bureaucrats figured out what he was doing. Artnewspaper article here.

The ministry’s attempt to revoke the group’s lease was launched after Steve Bannon and Benjamin Harnwell announced that they intended to use the monastery to launch an Academy for the Judeo-Christian West which would offer courses in history, philosophy, theology and politics... a revelation which sparked public protests and parliamentary questions from Left-wing parties.

Italics mine...

the whole thing sounds fishy to me, but there is a lot of money in the "trad catholic" community floating around, and I wonder about this because the "trad Catholic" types are naive and vulnerable for fraudsters to bilk them out of their money.

Bannon seems to be a bit nutty, in a "happy warrior/breitbart/oldversion of drudge" way, and I think he's nuts, or at least a little off in his judgement, which is probably why Trumpie boy fired him quite a long time ago.

but all the headlines will link him to Trumpieboy, because it's election year.

The press made a big thing that he was arrested on a yacht of a Chinese millionaire, hinting to those who don't read beyond the headlines that he was a minion of Xi's China. (backstory: this would neutralize lots of stories about Hunter Biden and other politicians kids hired by Chinese companies that might be an issue in the next election).

one problem: That "Chinese Billionaire" was Guo Wengui, a well known opponent to the present Chinese government.

He runs his own news site: GNEWS, and posts youtube stuff in Chinese and English debunking their propaganda.

their take on the matter?

“Fake news”, I said. That is my reaction when I heard from my friend for the first time that there’s a breaking news on Chinese websites said Steve Bannon was arrested.

Ten minutes later, BBC report the same news, and then CNN, FOX, and then it spread to everyone. It took them only 21 minutes to do these things from writing to editing to publishing the news after the things happened. How efficient the China’s propaganda system this time is! Does CCP involve it? I have no idea. All I know is CCP is mad with joy now. Because Mr. Bannon is one of the most threatening people to CCP. From now on, The U.S. judicial system will drag Bannon into the quagmire of litigation.

So is Bannon's arrest due to manipulation of the federal Jusitice system as a result of Chinese interference, in order to influence the American election?

Nah, it would never happen (just ignore that story about the Houston Consulate).

actually, I doubt it: more likely the federal attorney figured Bannon was a "low hanging" fruit so they arrested him as a way to smear Trump.

and indeed, one wonders if others in the wall scheme did siphon a bit of money off into their own pockets and Bannon got caught in the kerfuffle... or maybe they just didn't keep their books tidy so open to be arrested (however, not for a yacht as some stories claim: even Snopes says this is fake news.)

a more nuanced evaluation of all of this can be read at this essay by Spengler, who writes for PJMedia and used to have a column at the Asian times, and worked with Mr Bannon on Ted Cruz' campaign but has major disagreements with him.

Note the part about the shadowy Mr Guo, the billionaire mentioned above. Mr Guo is in trouble with the feds over money too, and the little I read about big finance makes me remember what Lolo used to say to me about politicians and the oligarchy in Manila: They're all crooks.

Family news

Raining again, and Kuya reports the irrigation water has now been released so they can start planting.

the bad news? The roof is still leaking, although not as badly as before.

Some checks sitting in the bank for months because there was no courier service to take them to the Manila office for processing, have cleared, so I now have money in the bank. Except for one check from the US that had the ink deteriorate so much that it can't be read. The bank told me to send it back to them, but there is no mail service or courier service for me to do this? WTF? I've talked to them twice and emailed them a copy showing the problem but they won't replace it or do an electronic tranfer until I send the check itself back. WTF? Oh well...

yes, I understand the banks worry about fraud, but when you hear about hundreds of thousands or even billions of dollars disappearing from banks, one does wonder when they hyperventillate and won't approve to clear a simple pension check.

After my personal checks cleared, I had enough money to replace the heater for my shower. For the last two months,  I have had to take a shower in Joy's room or just wash from a bucket with a "tabo" to rinse off.

this type of heater will heat only water you are using, and this one, unlike the one in Joy's room, has the shower on a hose so I can take a shower sitting down and move the water to where I actually need it. it is similar to the old heater put in by Lolo 20 plus years ago. This one is Chinese made, so I hope it lasts: It has a five year warranty, meaning it will die in five years and one day from now.

The puppies are all alive and opening their eyes, but not eating yet: Kuya's dog has six and our dog has five.

Here, dogs don't live very long so it is always easy to give them away. Even our dogs have died at a young age of various reasons; Heat stroke, distemper, various infections, kidney failure, etc. especially the dogs we got from the farm (who tended to be malnourished as puppies) but since we now have a vet and I have an income, I can afford to get them their baby shots, so the dogs that Lolo and I took care of lived over 10 years of age and died of old age/cancer.

The present batch of dogs in our house are all descended from a puppy I found crying in the drainage ditch after she fell in there: She had been poisoned either from eating trash or from the toxins in the ditch, and it cost a bit to have the vet treat her. She belonged to a neighbor, but he said he couldn't afford to treat her, and that I could have her.

She is a small dog and had three sets of puppies before I got her fixed. Luckily most of her puppies took after their father, so only 2 of our dogs are short (think Corgi), two others are tall and thin and resemble the thin dog from down the street who herds sheep who wander around eating grass in the vacant lot, and the third generation dog Goofus, resembles the secretary's dog: medium sized with longish hair and floppy ears.

None of them are as vicious or frightening as George, the cat killing Labrador, but when they attack in tandem, they can be dangerous, so we have to herd them away into the back yard when we get visitors.

we also have a bunch of cats who migrated here; they tend to live in the bodega where there are mice and lizards to eat, and just come out to steal dog food. Several live in the house, but I had to banish Petunia from my bedroom after she had kittens on my bed (and now she's pregnant again). The bad news? I now have a mouse in my room who sneaks out at night to eat the dog's food. Sigh.

Churches are now "open" but old folks are told to stay home or stay outside of church during the service. Sounds okay to me. 

By the way: Numbers of cases of the batflu are not accurate, since that relies on testing, but the death rate does give a clue. 

The USA numbers are going up, but the death rate is stable: does this mean the virus is weaker or that more mild cases are being diagnosed? I don't know. 

I do know that I am not going inside stores right now.

Ruby is in the US on school break: The ICE regulation that she has to attend classes, not just streaming classes, won't affect her since her college will have regular classes. Sigh. I understand the reason for the rule, which long predates Trumpieboy but is being blamed on him: It's to prevent students from claiming they are attending class but they are not, they are simply trying to immigrate illegally.

Actually immigration illegally doesn't bother me too much, but when my son in Colombia can't get a visitor visa to visit his family in the USA, it sort of bothers me that others just ignore the law.

Ditto for importing workers: My neighbor in Oklahoma learned to code and was hoping to get a job; but then you hear about a lot of these companies bringing in workers who work more cheaply... not to mention the outsourcing of telephone help.

on the other hand, importing hard working people is an asset to the USA, but when people can't get jobs you can see why they resent illegal immigrants, who by the way are often exploited by their employers by underpaying them and not getting benefits.

Trumpieboy is talking about legalizing DACA but unless there is a compromise (build the wall?) it won't go through. And with the toxic politics in the USA nothing will get passed by congress.

Reminds me of Mike Duncan's book on the fall of the Roman Republic: The Gracchi brothers who used mobs and violence against a Senate who protected the rich, and things didn't work out very well.



Full audiobook here.

of course, one of the problems is outsourcing jobs, which was done deliberatly so big corporations could make money. Hey, it lifted a billion Chinese etc out of poverty, so what could go wrong?

Here in the Philippines, a lot of people work in the telemarketing etc. type jobs, including one of our neighbor's daughters.

On the other hand, ten percent of the population of the Philippines work elsewhere: immigrants, OFW, on ships etc. and that is bad for families, but is one way to get the entire family out of poverty. With the backlash against China, some suggest to move factories to the Philippines. But wages are a bit higher here, and there is a lot of corruption (albeit Duterte is trying to get it under control). 

The good news? there are a lot of people with the needed skills who can work: and might be willing to come back to the Philippines if there were jobs here. And the improvement of roads and rail mean jobs to places outside of metro Manila, all the way up to Pampanga (Clark) or even Subic (a freeport that has now reopened).

One does hope China won't decide to start a war here to distract their people from all their problems. 

Keep the people affected by the terrible floods in your prayers. 



a story about telemarketers:

I used to fix my old Dell computer, and once when I needed to order a part (under warranty), I told the Indian telephone helper what I found what was wrong by opening my computer and she gasped: but you can't open your computer it breaks the warranty. Duh. I asked for an American, got a guy with a Texan accent and he laughed and approved it for me. Another time, I got a lady with a Filipina accent, and when I asked if she was in Manila, she told me snappily she was in Las Vegas thank you. Oh well.

Conspiracy theory time

There seems a full court press to get "white" people to kneel in front of "people of colour".

(Hmmm... the last time I did that I was giving Lolo a blow job. Does that count?)

actually, that story is fake news, since it was done by a comedian to ridicule the obedience of the demonstrators, similar to the suggestion white women cut off their hair, which also started out as a joke but was taken seriously.

Cops killing suspects in such an egregious way demands a bit of outrage, but the rage is so overblown it makes one wonder if there is someone manipulating the peaceful demonstrators, encouraging violence and also pushing those who are justly angry to influence them to embrace a much larger agenda.

Who dares to say "the Emperor is naked"? And who dares to oppose Big Brother? Indeed, Anyone daring to point out that the hysteria is overblown, oppose it's excesses, or even hint that there may be a larger agenda behind the constant drum beat of propaganda will be silenced by calling them "racist".

Usually at this point, the court Jester steps in a makes a joke that cools down the king's anger.

There are a few satire sites out there in these days of political correctness: 

The BabylonBee has a lot of satires on today's absurdities, but  I will only post the one that I have noted before: That suddenly the need to keep a distance to stop the spread of the Bat virus is no longer needed, according to "experts", prompting this tweet:

well anyway, if you object to "police brutality" by a cop from a Democratic state who should have been removed by a former Democratic DA/Senator (who was head DA but is now blaming someone under her for this) you have to embrace the entire NYTimes slavery meme, complete with Marxist interpretation of history, including the rejection of any and all aspects of western Civ. 

Several prominent people who suggested a nuanced approach to the matter have been fired, link 

One of the few who are troubled by this is Glen Loury,  who has noted that the Brown university "solidarity" letter has troubling aspects to it:

They speak of “deep-rooted systems of oppression; legacies of hate.” No elaboration required here? No specification of where Brown might stand within such a system? No nuance or complexity? Is it obvious that “hate”—as opposed to incompetence, or fear, or cruelty, or poor training, or lack of accountability, or a brutal police culture, or panic, or malfeasance—is what we observed in Minneapolis?

We are called upon to “effect change.” Change from what to what, exactly? Evidently, we’re now all charged to promote the policy agenda of the “progressive” wing of American politics. Is this what a university is supposed to be doing? I must object. This is no reasoned ethical reflection. Rather, it is indoctrination, virtue-signaling, and the transparent currying of favor with our charges.

hmmm...

A lot of this indoctrination is being promoted by the Democratic party, who has an election to win in a few months.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was instructed to join the protest by an email from Democrats Abroad, and instructed to post my photo and their banner on my social media sites (which I don't use by the way: Too toxic on many levels).

The basic causes of the incident would find that  the Democratic party runs Minnesota (and many other cities where the riots are going on). LINK:

“Here’s the juice: urban police unions who block accountability for bad cops contribute to Democratic politicians running cities who haven’t elected Republicans in 50 years … yet somehow the cause of the problem is thrown at the feet of a President who’s only been in office 3-1/2 years?!?”

So why is Trumpieboy the scapegoat?
place conspiracy theory here...

But then I remember the 1960s, and how eager students swallowed the propaganda hook line and sinker.

Ah, but will these excited and self righteous demonstrators be there to help clean up the damage? will they donate to food banks or deliver groceries because the local grocery store was burned down?One doubts it. Any more than the "anti war" demonstrators of the 1960s help resettle the hundreds of thousand of refugees fleeing the communist take over that occurred thanks to their "anti war" activism.

Which is why I am cynical.
---------------------------

 I am waiting for the "Democrats abroad" to tell me that we have to go out and demonstrate against racism and Trumpieboy, complete with "rent a crowd" types (cost 500 pesos plus lunch). Why not? They've done so in other countries in the past,

One small problem: People are afraid of being infected.
So why risk your life for a demonstration against the US president who, unlike President Obama, is willing to defend the Philippines from Chinese aggression?

Chinese aggression in the West Philippine sea has increased while the world is distracted by Batflu.

China is being blamed for the local covid epidemic:  and maybe they are still behind the continued spread of the disease, because a recent raid found illegal clinics that treat Chinese patients are enabling them to get around quarantine laws,

 the Anti Chinese feeling is why the US Navy is now being welcomed back to Subic Bay: which is a big deal, since ordinary Filipinos love Americans but their pride objects to the idea that Big Brother (Kuya) America might still be needed to help them out.





Experts in the Philippines are pushing the idea not to open up and not restart schools until a vaccine is available, No vaccine no school says Duterte.
more on vaccine development here.

I am pro vaccines and fight the anti vax hysteria on line all the time. 

the many articles touting the Philippines as a testing ground for the new vaccines make me wonder.

yes, the Filipinos will be guinea pigs again, just like they were for the Dengue vaccine that killed some kids. (and the rumor in the street is that some politicians were bribed to approve the experimental vaccine). 

Like BCG, some forms of the new vaccines might result in a scar, so locals are spreading the rumor it is the mark of the Beast that the bible says will be required to let you buy food.

Another rumor is that the vaccine will be a microchip that lets you be tracked by Big Brother. This probably comes from the news that the government is putting a micro chip on the new ID card that it is promoting (but this NYTimes article suggests extreme tracking of civilians in the near future is not a paranoid fantasy)

then you have the claim that a lot of VIPs are saying that it's time for a global reset  or when the pope calls for new "reality"  it makes you wonder about the puppet masters.(Conservative Treehouse: part one part two), Globalists? Bankers? 

There are even scary hints that retired generals and CIA types are planning an October surprise against Trumpieboy before the next election/

Crazy, no?

Enter the Great Satan: 
 the Cardinal from the Vatican diplomatic corps who was a whistleblower to expose the Vatican sex scandals, and had to go into hiding...and he now says there are puppet masters behind a lot of this.

We will also discover that the riots in these days were provoked by those who, seeing that the virus is inevitably fading and that the social alarm of the pandemic is waning, necessarily have had to provoke civil disturbances, because they would be followed by repression which, although legitimate, could be condemned as an unjustified aggression against the population.

The same thing is also happening in Europe, in perfect synchrony. It is quite clear that the use of street protests is instrumental to the purposes of those who would like to see someone elected in the upcoming presidential elections who embodies the goals of the deep state and who expresses those goals faithfully and with conviction

full PDF here.

well, well, well.

Dan Brown, call your office.

Quotation of the day

If . . . the President must step down ... a disgraced man and a political outcast . . . upon insufficient proofs and from partisan considerations, the office of President would be degraded, cease to be a coordinate branch of the government, and ever after subordinated to the legislative will. It would practically have revolutionized our splendid political fabric into a partisan Congressional autocracy. . . . This government Lad never faced so insidious a danger . . , control by the worst element of American politics.

..Edmund G. Ross (R Kansas).

quoted in Profiles in Courage 

about the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. ---

Trump in a mullet

Guess who had a new hair cut.

Via Drudge

this style haircut is called a Mullet: Wikipedia article:

I didn't realize the style goes back to ancient Rome:

In the sixth century, Byzantine scholar Procopius wrote that some factions of young males wore their hair long at the back and cut it short over the forehead. This non-Roman style was termed the 'Hunnic' look.

and is banned in Iran.

more at the link.

Personally, I think it makes him look stupid, but then his orange bouffant makes him also look stupid: which is why it is his trademark. (make them underestimate you and you can win more easily). 

So why get rid of it? He wants to see the Queen. Or maybe Melania wants him to get a new hairdo. This one makes him look like a 19th century statesman.


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update: Annalthouse says this isn't true: He was golfing and decided to attend a church service in honor of the recent shooting victims, and didn't have time to fluff up his hair.

For later reading

Suicide prevention:

What you’re not seeing is the guy up on the overpass who had intended to jump.

so while trying to talk him out of it, the cops asked truckers if they would park under the overpass. to shorten his fall if he did. They finally persuaded him to come down peacefully.

Headsup Dustbury.

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Roger Simon, the screenwriter and blogger, discusses moral narcissism, where saying the PC thing is more important than what you actually do....the idea if you echo the politically correct meme you are good.

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LAT thinks the increased rate of autism spectrum diagnosis is a "good thing".

why is autism more common in whites?

but I am old enough to remember when these kids were diagnosed as "retarded" and institutionalized. Then they started "deinstitutionalization" and the parents were confronted with trying to care for a disruptive child.

"retarded" is a bad word, but since "RainMan", being autistic is considered more PC. So people with severely mentally disabled kids with autistic symptoms would just insist he was autistic... as if he was like the Rainman character and really a savant so how dare you notice his low IQ.

The dirty little secret about autism no one seems to notice:

Of the 75 children with ASD, 55% had an intellectual disability (IQ<70 16="" 28="" average="" but="" disability="" had="" intellectual="" intelligence="" moderate="" only="" severe="" to="">IQ>85) but only 3% were of above average intelligence (IQ>115).

Those children with normal IQ should be able to fit into society, so deinstitutionalization is good.

But in today's world of bullying, it can be hard for them to try to fit into society: and rejection can cause anger: the Toronto killer, the Conneticut shooter, and probably others were angry Aspergers.

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tourists find a sick bat, take it to the vet. Bat had rabies. Tourists disappeared back to Switzerland, and the CDC is worried they might catch rabies, so contacted the Swiss gov't.
Folks got treated for rabies exposure.

Bats who bite folks are probably rabid. 

I once blew the public health budget for our town when we had to give 24 shots to a girl bitten by a bat. By the 15th shot, she was getting terrible allergic problems from the shots but it was better than risking rabies.

Now it is three shots over three weeks and here it costs 600 pesos a shot....And you also get a 4th shot of anti rabies antibodies if the risk is high.

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

A rapper sort of said he liked Trumpieboy?

Maybe he knew about this: at a time when Palm Beach clubs excluded Jews and Blacks, Trump didn't.
pol
a history of Maralago includes this snip (originally published Nov 2015).

In 1998, Trump invited Sean Combs, the rapper then known as Puff Daddy. But Combs scandalized Palm Beach when he was caught on a beach in the "middle of his midnight romp with a long-legged stunner," according to the Page Six account in the New York Post.

and then there is this:

Palm Beach has a lot of rules: No whistling allowed on public streets after midnight. No "Missing Dog" — or any sign — posted on a tree. And no flag poles taller than 42 feet. In late 2006 Trump put up a giant American flag on an 80-foot pole. That led to a $1,250-a-day fine against him, drawing national headlines that Trump basked in.

yes, a publicity scam. But it worked.

of course, I am old enough to remember when country clubs were "restricted", meaning no Jews, no Catholics, and no minorities. This was especially hard on the doctor community, who had the money to join the club to golf and eat at the restaurant, or so their kids could swim, but they were not welcomed.



Trumpie boy is not Jewish but he is from the Bronx, so think of him as a gentile version of Rodney Dangerfield and Comey et al as Ted Baxter.

and who is the Gopher? Discuss, class.




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

Garrison Keillor says Comey has jumped the shark, and that the real issue should be Canadian Illegal immigrants.

LOL


He was thrown out of PBS but is back to doing essays...not all of them full of hatred as they were for awhile.

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

and yes there are illegal Canadians in the USA (and illegals from everyplace else). and the dirty little secret is that a lot of countries are deporting those without documentation:

RIYADH – A total of 253,086 people have been arrested in five weeks since the start of the ongoing crackdown against violators of residency and labor regulations in the Kingdom.

not only Saudi but nearly everyone else is doing this: for example, the Gulf States, Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong kong have been deporting OFW without proper papers. Even the Philippines suspects they have one million plus without proper papers.

But most of them are Chinese, Filipino, Indian, or Pakistani.

But you only hear about the US or Israel when they do this, of course.

Me? I'd be happy if they just let anyone live where they wanted to live. But then the poor without proper papers will be exploited by employers, lowering the wagers for locals. And who pays for them when they get sick or retire?
 Sigh.
----------------------

Headline in the Inquirer:

North Korea's Kim crosses border to talk to South Korean president.

is it Trump, or is it because their nucleara testing site just collapsed?

Beijing is particularly concerned about the North’s nuclear tests, since the Punggye-ri site is less than 100km (60 miles) from the border with China.

North Korean nuclear tests have caused seismic events in Chinese border towns and cities, forcing evacuations of schools and offices, sparking fears of wind-borne radiation and leading to a backlash among some Chinese against their country’s unpredictable traditional ally.

Chinese authorities have said they’ve detected no radiation risk from the tests. Kune Yull Suh, a professor of nuclear engineering at Seoul National University, warned last year that further tests could threaten to cause a volcanic eruption at Mount Paektu, which is about 100km away. 

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

the US deep state hates Duterte. 
Who wudda thot?

They tried their best to get the CIA's American girl elected and they have been pushing back on Duterte since then.

The Philippines was in danger of becoming a major narcostate, and a place where drugs could be distributed all over Asia. Most of the cartels were Chinese, but even the Mexican cartels were starting to establish a base here at the time Duterte took over.

 Not to mention the increase of crimes by druggies that was threatening the middle class. (the upper class, of course, has body guards and live in gated communities, so the small businessmen and middle class were at the most risk).

Never mind that Duterte's fight against drug cartels has a much much lower death rate than the murder rate by drug cartels in Mexico, which tends to be ignored.

and compare and contrast Duterte to the dictatorship in Thailand, the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingye.

but I guess the CIA carries grudges.

To paraphrase: This is how you get China.

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

Death and taxes

I am not commenting on the so called "big story" of the day, the tax cuts for the rich. Why?

Because:

A. I know nothing about economics

B. Anyone rich enough and smart enough to make money probably hides their income in overseas tax shelters (legal or illegal) so they don't have to pay taxes anyway. Panama Papers anyone? Anyone?

C. Companies facing a high tax will move elsewhere to make a profit. Low tax states already know this in the US, But it also means maybe moving overseas.

I haven't read this being discussed anywhere, but then I haven't bothered to read the blather on the news anyway.

when we moved here, we filed taxes for years, until Lolo's IRA died so our income was just below the level to pay (we filed to get a refund of the automatic deductions).

Do you know a couple years ago, they passed a bill requiring us to pay taxes on our bank accounts here?

Luckily for Lolo, he reverted to Philippine citizenship when he moved here, so only paid local taxes on his savings. (I kept my money in the US so no problem.)

Now, if my husband did that to save double paying taxes, why do the blather mouths think that huge corporations with smart lawyers won't do the same thing?

just wondering...

Stories below the fold

Dilbert explains Trump's actions about the immigration problem.

Pacing and Leading: Pacing refers to matching your subject in some way, either physically, verbally, or in terms of philosophy. Candidate Trump paced (matched) his base on immigration until he got elected. Now the base trusts that he is philosophically aligned with them. So if he finds he can’t do all the things they demand, they are likely to let him lead to whatever is practical and doable simply because they trust him on the topic.

People don’t expect a politician to be magic, or to do the impossible. But they do want politicians to “get” them and to care about them and to fight for what they want. President Trump paced his supporters by understanding their needs and fighting for them. That group is likely to trust him when he says some form of “This is the best we can do for now.”

sounds about right.

The anti Trump Rep establishment is in a hissy fit that he dared to talk to Democrats, and the Democrats are spinning it as a win for them, but ironically the rabid Freepers trust him, figuring if he screens immigrants already here and then permits the law abiding dreamers stay, but builds a wall to stop the unregulated flow of undocumented, uneducated, unscreened and sometimes criminal types, it's okay with them.

Don Sturber's take says the same thing.

Remember: the backstory is that a lot of greedy businesses want to hire illegals so they can underpay them, not pay their taxes/social security, and fire them if they  complain.

So it's not just about illegals stealing jobs from Americans, but about treating one's employees justly. And that used to be a Democratic party policy.

=================

Pride and Prejudice podcast from NatReview.

Sorry, guys, but although Ruby loves Jane Austen, I don't: Because I don't exactly sympathize with her heroines.

Part of this is because my ancestors would have been the faceless servants cleaning and cooking for her poor "middle class" family back then.

Notice she never bothers to even notice the help in her novels?

As for marriage: well fine, but I tended to identify with independent women. Yes, they were even around back then.

No, I think Mary Wollstonecraft was a hypocrite (read about how she groveled and did thing for the guy who made her pregnant and then left her...) but there were real independent women back then. Like Florence Nightingale and/or Sister Blandina...

I prefer Jane Eyre, who worked for a living... and when she found Rochester was lying to her, refused him and ran off and managed to survive (this part is usually glossed over, but she almost died before she was rescued by a family of a clergyman)...then she got another job teaching instead of groveling and feeling sorry about herself.

Of course, she ended up marrying Rochester, but on her own terms.

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the dirty little secret of the birth control pill: Women often forget to take it.

Percentages are based on women who used oral contraceptive pills in the past 4 weeks and had sexual intercourse in the past 12 months, who were asked the question “Still thinking about the past 4 weeks, how many pills that you were supposed to take did you miss? Would you say you never missed a pill, missed only one pill, or missed two or more pills?”

of course, a lot of this is they "forgot" to take it: i.e. they really knowingly or subconsciously desired to get pregnant.

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A lot of kids "want" to be the other sex... or to be a Disney princesses, My Little Pony, Darth Vader, etc.
No one got their knickers in a knot when the Famous five had a character named George, for example. It was seen as part of growing up.

Most of these kids, even those whose desires are not transient, change their mind (hormones often have a part in this) but only an expert psychiatrist who has worked with people with this problem dares to say: here are the facts.
And of course, tart tongued social critic Camille Paglia  also dares to question the meme.

The PC meme right now is that even Very very young children who say they want to be the opposite sex must be applauded and immediately transitioned (which essentially is pressuring them not to change their mind for what in most is a transient phase).

I suspect a lot of the activism here is not really to help these kids as to push the idea on an unwilling society that there is no such thing as biological gender: gender is merely a social construct. This is part of a very of the militant gender ideology that has little hard data to support it, of course, but never mind.

In psychiatry, we know a small number of adults can have this problem, and for some it is deep and genuine.

If you study anthropology, or live in other cultures, you know that a small number of men decide they want to follow the female role model after they hit puberty, and (like here in the Philippines, where they are just seen as part of society and accepted), a lot of third world societies have various ways to accommodate what we in the Philippines call the "third gender".


  but often one wonders when a grown married man in western cultures, often one who has married and has children and who managed for years to fit in, suddenly decides they were actually a woman. And then expects/pressures his spouse and kids to go along with it (hmm... sounds a lot like "male privilege to me).

In the past, you might get criticized for such things, and decide to hold off and suffer silently. But now with the "transgender" craze of the elite opinion makers, even a convicted traitor can be celebrated for his "honesty" by them (and get a "get out of jail free" card from the president, just ignore those who died from his treachery).

As for Brucy: Wonder how many hospitals could I build in Africa for 4 million dollars?

This is not the same as for women, because, hey, being a man has so many advantages I am surprised more women don't cross dress....

But when you hear about 2 year olds or 5 year old kids, whose "desires" are celebrated by their pushy parents, usually a mom, who then gets into the newspapers for her two minutes of fame: I wonder how many cases are Munchhausen by proxy syndrome?

and no: I have no problem if a transgender type who has been "fixed" uses the lady's bathroom. The problem being ignored by the PC is that perverts who are fully equipped could use this excuse for getting inside and doing their thing.

Whoops: Now should I worry that the speech police will get Google to erase my blog as a purveyor of hate speech.

Brendan O'Neil call your office...

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in other celebrity news, Selena Gomez, who has Lupus, just got a kidney transplant... donated by one of her friends.

and LadyGaga has fibromyalgia.

Women speaking truth to power

Sigh.



 

Here’s Mia Love’s speech. Here’s Madonna.

Instapundit ((libertarian/prochoice blog) links to the reason that the press actually covered the march:

 The women’s march organizers blew it, and even the media realize it. “ . . .

Of perhaps more significant interest, however, is the fact that Keilar and CNN were forced to put the March for Life on the same political footing as the Women’s March on Washington.

well, yes. It has been ignored because it didn't fit the narrative.

and no, I never attended, but my son (with his pregnant teenage girlfriend, later his wife) did. That child is now in her 20's and has two kids...

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

oh yes: Professor Reynolds of Instapundit lost his father last week. Remember him and his family in your prayers.

The important stories behind the headlines

An Asian "herbal" medicine is being abused by kids as an opiate substitute:

CDC Report. suggests the problem is with overdoses and when mixed with alcohol or other drugs.

more on Mitragyna at wikipedia.
It is commonly used in Thailand and Malaysia

==============

Darth Vader: A role model for Navy Commanders?

... (In The Empire Strikes Back) Darth Vader solves all the biggest bureaucratic problems that face our Navy today. In fact, we should all strive to be more like this Dark Lord of the Sith. 
 After reviewing constant Galactic Internet content about why his Imperial Officers were leaving service early to go be nerf herders or moisture farmers, Darth Vader made it fun to be in the Imperial Navy again. 
 Despite his unnatural inclinations towards the Dark Side of the Force, Darth Vader leaves us with valuable lessons on how to properly solve problems facing today's Navy.

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LATimes reports many homeowners are trying to be "Green" by replacing their lawns with gravel and desert plants.

UH OH:

some experts warned that Angelenos’ zeal to use less water in the backyard would ultimately make the city warmer.

“Gardens and lawns act as air conditioning for L.A., which is only getting hotter with climate change,” landscape designers Mia Lehrer, Claire Latané and Margot Jacobs wrote in a 2015 op-ed in the Los Angeles Times. “Plants and trees provide shade and transpire moisture to cool the air; gravel and artificial turf don't.

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Follow the money: BLM is not about justice, it's about the activists who supervise the program getting rich.

Of course, maybe the money won't be funneled through the "activist" organizations: it might merely be another huge bureaucracy handing out money.

Given that the BLM (bureau of land management) stole almost a billion dollars from Native Americans, from the compensations to Native Americans, maybe the BLM (black lives matter) activists should notice such a program might not help those who are supposed to get the loot.



Ironically, President Obama shouldn't be eligible: His African ancestors never were slaves in the US, but both his American and African ancestors did own slaves...

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My nasty comment of the day:

Yes, I'll pay slavery reparations as soon as I get back the family farm in County Mayo...

related comment: Did I tell you that when I visited County Mayo, that much of the area has gone back to oak forest. So I guess the greens are happy. Just ignore the one million deaths from disease and starvation.

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

and forget the threat that Russian hackers or Isis terrorists might shut down the power grid:

The real enemy is hiding in plain sight:

Dave Barry notes:

THEY ARE OPENLY MOCKING US As of July of this year we squirrels (and our fellow animal operatives) have conducted over 1,400 unclassified operations that have resulted in aggregate of more than 67 days without power, affecting over 3.6 million people.