Why are some planning a revolution?

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

That is John Bachelor talking with a professor from Johns Hopkins.

the plans are already out there, hidden in plain sight.

Hillary says Biden should not concede no matter what.

more HERE. (Right wing American Mind):

WaPost report on the meeting doing a "wargame" on the election.

full report HERE.

although the part about generals telling Trump not to invoke the insurrection act might not be a political take, since Kurt Schlichter says the same thing:

----------------- 

 hmmm... sounds like the fall of the Roman republic: because some wanted reforms but were willing to destroy the customs and rules of the republic to do so, and encouraged violence.

 

full audiobook: link

remember Kobe Bryant

So Atlantic magazine released a hit piece on Trumpieboy saying that awhile back he refused to visit a cemetary in France because he didn't want to get his hair wet....and voila, a day later there were veterans groups in a Tv ad condemning Trumpieboy.

Coincidence?

The claim is so easily refuted that one worries about amateurs running Biden's campaign.

The problem? Even John Bolton, who wrote a book that criticizes the President, said it is a lie, and in his book he pointed out it wasn't the rain, but the low ceiling and low visibility that led to the visit being cancaled. In an emergency, a pilot would risk it, but not for a routine photo op.

Remember Kobe Bryant and his daughter died because the pilot took a chance they could land before the weather deteriorated?

(So why not drive? Again, security ...going on back roads that hadn't been secured and where you had to drive slowly ).

Helicopters are life saving and air evac is becoming more common (my son in law flies an air evac helicopter)

As a doc in isolated rural hospitals, we knew about weather...sometimes we could not helicopter out patients and had to send them 30 miles to the local airport to be evacuated via a fixed wing airplane. We lost a baby and a car accident victim due to the delays.

But the dirty little secret is that helicopters sometimes crash, but so do fixed wing small planes.

I lost a patient in a small fixed wing aircrwaft because the local airfield was a soybean field with emergency lights.

We had a rainstorm and although the pilot did drain the water from the tank, apparantly not all the water was drained...after stopping to refuel, he stalled and crashed.

So ground ambulance is safer, but sometimes you might lose the patient due to the delay.

Sigh.

russia vaccine

https://youtu.be/82OV9YA-u_M

Discusses the Russian vaccine  at the start of the video

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/russian-vaccine-trials-show-strong-immune-response-the-lancet/story-vKpraD2DskoinjE0lSF9qI.html

It is an adeno virus derived vaccine that works against the covid spikes.

In other words, using technology that has been used in other vaccines and known to work.

The US, UK, China vaccines use a similar technology.

These vaccines all induced antibodies and T cell response,

The article is about the sucess of the phase 2 trial of the Russian vaccine (the article points out the UK vaccine saw similar results inteir phase 2 trial, results released in July)..

Giving it out to increase it's geopolitical influence. Before phase 3 testing, but never mind.

People in poor countries are dying, and there is a big worry that the US and Europe will use the vaccine first for their own people.

Better a questionable vaccine from Russia than watching your people die waiting for the west.

Mexico might use it for example

As for the Philippines? They prefer the US vaccine but are also considering the cheaper more easily available Russian vaccine, or even the Chinese vaccine if there is no other alternative.

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/philippines-talking-to-pfizer-russia-on-covid-19-vaccine-supply

Covid the vaccine: some good news

Discussing the various vaccines being developed for covid: The US and EU and UK vaccines seem to be working well in the phase three trials.

so might be released in October for the US and in Europe.

The Russian and Chinese vaccine will be used without phase three vaccines (translation: They will use them without full screening if they work or have side effects because it is urgent to get something to use, and because the phase II studies look good).

No recent news if the Philippines will be able to get a vaccine to use, except older news articles suggest the Philippines will be used for the phase III of the Russian vaccine (but since the Philippines was harmed by the Dengue vaccine problems, it is a problem since the government officials and politicians might stop it's use)

Remember: Both Brazil and India have pharmacutial companies who are able to produce vaccines if given the instructions.

When you read "ain't it awful" stuff about the vaccines, I agree with the good doctor: None of the anti vaxers have seen the diseases that are prevented by vaccines. I have seen some of them both in the USA (I predate measles vaccine) and in Africa. So their paranoia will kill people: but probably not the anti vaxers here, because usually healthy people who aren't too old don't get die with Covid, 

except for health care workers... the reason? How sick you get depends on the dosage you are in contact with. Two of our relatives in the UK who work in respiratory therapy (nurse anesthetists) got it, one a mild case and one was very sick but recovered. But that explains why the death rate of health care workers is so high.

a lot of the lecture is technical: about different approaches to the vaccine,  the description gets a bit technical.

One problem is the US vaccine might need two injections to get an adequate antibody level. 

Antibodies help, but the real test is if the vaccines enable the T cell lymphocytes to work for cellular immunity. 

What I did find interesting was that the different vaccines are using different approaches: one is based on adenovirus vaccine, and another uses an RNA appraoch. Not in the lecture is that the Russian vaccine uses an approach similar to the Ebola vaccine.

Dr. C points out the really good news is that Covid has not killed a lot of people )(One to four percent of all infected patients  i.e. the level of severe influenza) but essentially is not very very bad (as in bird Influenza or SARS or MERS or Ebola, which kill  one third to over half of those infected).

this epidemic has done two things: 

One: Notified countries they need to be prepared for the next epidemic, (not just keep supplies for PPE available, because hey, most hospitals etc had stockpiles of PPE, but they didn't have the HUGE amounts that were needed).

Second: maybe countries won't try to coverup outbreaks: e.g. so the one month delay by China to notify the world won't happen again, and there will be less negative feedback when folks shut down border (as look at the racism attacks when Trumpieboy shut down flights from China, although that fact is constantly denied i.e. gas-lighted by the MSM).

And three: the basic science in developing this vaccine will enable other vaccines to be produced for a new disease more quickly.

Dirty little secret: disparities in medical care

NDY explains what minorities face in the medical system.

and points out the dirty little secret: That "assisted suicide" will be used against the disabled, especially if they are minorities, either by coercion, by denying them adequate pain medication, or  by stealth euthanasia  denying them proper care in the hospital.

Black people like me with chronic pain avoid the emergency room because we are treated like drug addicts.

Black people, particularly women, get sent home to die because we are not believed. COVID-19 lays bare the racism and ableism behind rationing and so-called medical futility decisions.

Black quadriplegic Michael Hickson was denied COVID-19 treatment because reportedly it was determined that he had little quality of life...

Assisted suicide endangers seniors, sick people, disabled people, poor people, and Black and brown people. As long as racial disparities and disability discrimination exist in health care, assisted suicide cannot be the answer.

and yes, a lot of physicians look down on minorities, a lot of medical personnel don't understand the many cultures of our patients, and the business idea of efficiency makes it worse because we don't have time to actually talk to them about trivia, which is one way to actually get to know the person you are treated.

Sigh.

Education videos to expand your mind

in the lockdown, here are some suggestions for your watching pleasure.

The Great courses have a lot of stuff there for you to watch: They post a couple a week (and if you like them, try buying some to watch at home).

Today's video:



I have discussed UV light in the past. Here is a TED video discussing this:



this channel, Free High Quality Documentaries, has lots of wonderful documentaries.

today's video is about kids in Siberia taking a bus to go to school, but actually about how their families live.



Oxford Professor of Mathematics John Lennox discusses AI and the future from an evangelical point of view, trying to separate the hype and hysteria from reality.



there are lots of cooking videos on line.

for example, when you watch K Dramas, did you ever wonder what is kimchee and how to make it? wonder no longer:




and finally, don't forget the cat videos:

History of Dogs

Fatima..another b quality religious film

yes, there are good religious films. 

But too many of these religious films suffer from the problem that the makers approach the subject with such reverance that they make everyone in the film a plaster saint: it's almost as if they think a flat affect (flat unemotional exprerssion) and raising eyes to heaven mean you are holy.  

Attention: It isn't. I've worked with missionaries who risked their lives treating people, and I've seen people who bear suffering and trials that would put ordinary folks into a hissy fit. 

Holy/saintly people are not plaster saint or "church lady" types: they are folk who pray hard and work hard, and would fit right in the family gathering or having a beer after work and relaxing. True saints are, (how can I put this?) wholesome and warm.

Think Mother Abigail in the original "The Stand", and you get the idea.

well anyway:
On the Catholic websites, there has been some buzz about the newest "Catholic" film Fatima, 

and alas, this film also suffers from the "visionaries as schizophrenics with flat affects" as "holy" problem. To put it bluntly, none of the people act as real people, and you just don't care about what happens to any of them.

and it also suffers from the problem of a bad script: that if you didn't know the story, you will get lost in the details about what is going on. 

this is unfortunate, because this story literally changed history: it stressed prayer for the conversion of Russia, and inspired many to pray for the conversion of Russia (when I was a child, the housewives in our neighborhood met once a week to pray the rosary for peace).

and one of the people who believed that prayer, not bombs, would cause communism to fall was a Polish factory worker who later became Pope. And indeed, he was one of the three people behind the peaceful fall of the Berlin wall..
Story HERE.

or for the full story, get the book:

In summary, just another B film touted with a "religious theme" being pushed at believers.

there are good religious films, and it says a lot that "non believers" tend to make better films. 

The best film about Fatima is a  "Fictionalized" version of the story, but you know, sometimes fiction is closer to the truth. and in this case, it's actually a good film, even for non believers to watch (i.e. good acting, humor, a well written plot).

alas, the the film is no longer on Youtube but can be watched here on Gloria TV.

Feeling discouraged? Watch these

When the world seems to be falling apart, the Philippines tends to stress togetherness. So if you are feeling discouraged, try watching a Filipino commercial

 

paper lanterns

https://youtu.be/IMpwvQhZR6A

Sky lanterns

https://youtu.be/mHyAefvWpXA

brainwashing

Using military brinwashing in an election?

Fox news:

An anti-Trump Democratic-aligned political action committee advised by retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal is planning to deploy an information warfare tool that reportedly received initial funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon’s secretive research arm -- transforming technology originally envisioned as a way to fight ISIS propaganda into a campaign platform to benefit Joe Biden.

Dilbert (Scot Adams) discusses: note his background is business, advertising and persuasion techniques.

Summary...news is fake...not just fake but deiberate propaganda.
------------
update: Related essay by Scifi writer (and immigrant from Portugal who lived there under a socialist dictatorship) Sarah Hoyt:

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

Don't ask me...I live in the Philippines, where the elites and CIA manipulate the social media to bash Duterte, but ordinary folks know we are safer and support him.

it's sort of a big tent opposition: The CIA wants him removed because he is was sympathetic to China, the elites want him removed because he is against corruption, and the "yutes" join in on the social media because the universities and Catholic schools are taught by socialist/liberation theology types. and Catholics want him removed  because to them getting rid of drug dealers is a civil rights violation (whereas a politician who sends a hit squad to kill his rival that kills a bunch of bystanders including our nephew can die in bed and get a Catholic funeral, complete with KofC bodyguard). 

Ah but is Duterte being manipulated in continuing the lockdown to lower his popularity? He just extended the Manila lockdown to the end of September.

On the other hand, Filipinos tend to ignore the law if it is stupid.

How to do propaganda

summary: Take a quote, remove part of it so that it sounds like it's saying the exact opposite to what a person means, and then spread it all over Twitter and the MSM without context until even good people believe it is true.

I believe this used to be called the Big Lie.

more propaganda: Pretend that an essentially white crowd didn't attack a US Senator who is at the forefront of prison and police reform. 

he wasn't attacked, says the MSM: they just shouted at him. Well, maybe the reason he wasn't physically attacked is that the mostly black cops prevented that attack.



so now, Rand Paul wants to check out if they are being funded by an outsider.

You know, when I hear that the three guys with police records attacked a pudgy white teenager who looked like an easy target  (until he shot back.), it makes me wonder if they were doing this for free or for fun.

The dirty little secret (only mentioned by Dilbert) is that demonstrating is fun. (so is looting). I am old enough to remember the 1960s. All those demonstrators really didn't care if folks were being killed in VietNam: You know why I say this? Because they never lifted a finger to help the boat people (who were attacked by pirates), the victims of Pol Pot, or even to resettle them into the USA.

the churches helped. The USPHS helped. Lots of ordinary people helped. The activist groups? Nada. (the only anti war activist I remember trying to help was Joan Baez.).

By the time these things happened, they were all into fitness and making money. And yes I'm speaking about you, Jane Fonda.

and quick: How many "activists" who are willing to go to Washington or other cities to have fun demonstrate changed their mind and went instead to help the cleanup from the hurricane on the Gulf Coast, or to help fight the fires or those fleeing the fires in California.

last time I looked, there are a lot of minorities in those places who are hurting and need help.

Movie of the week

the story of people forced off their island home, who later returned. And the story of the Selkies and a lost child.

a film by John Sayles.

Soundtrack here.



this is about an island off the coast of Ireland, but the BBC has a real story about the Island of St Kilda, with photos of those who once lived there...

Early on the morning of 29 August 1930, the last 36 residents began the evacuation from St Kilda, a group of islands 110 miles off the west coast of Scotland that had been lived on for thousands of years. Three hours later, 13 men, 10 women and 13 children were aboard the ship that would take them away from their homes forever. They left because they were concerned they would not last another winter on the barren North Atlantic archipelago, which was virtually cut off from the mainland for nine months of the year by rough seas and winds.

all very sad: A way of life gone. Families broken up by the move to the cities and small towns of the mainland or emigration overseas.

But as one who has lived in the poorer areas of the USA and in various countries in the third world, I am a little less nostalgic about the wonderfulness of such a hard, primitive life where TB, accidents, and childbirth could kill you, and hunger was a danger every winter.

Sigh.

Conspiracy anyone?

Shadowgate conspiracy theory is on Bitchute.

most of it is over my head (I have a life and prefer not to waste time trying to keep track of such stuff: Usually I play it in the background while doing other things, fast forwarding to skip the boring points). Very scary: Big brother is watching you.

Uh, duh. No kidding. 

And of course, not just Big Brother is spying on you because the CIA has it's hands deep into such things (no I'm not paranoid, just old enough to remember the Church committee), but China is doing a lot of hacking, both of personal data (to build a data base of military and business people) and to steal intellectual property.

why do I post this? Because I heard them mention the hack of OPM Personnel records (fast forward to 26 minutes).

This includes my personnel records, since I was both UPHS commissioned Corp, and civil service for the IHS.

We were told the hackers were unknown, and even told we could have insurance if the hackers tried to steal our identity and steal money, implying it was a criminal hack for money. 

 Later various groups mentioned the hack was done by Chinese hackers so they could make a database on military and other personnel.

This movie implies that there was a CIA/ Brennan connection to the hack.

ah, so is the movie only another conspiracy theory about the US government and deep state spying on you, or is it a Russian or Chinese backed conspiracy theory to get you to ignore the spying which they are doing, and to undermine trust in the US government at a time when the election is splitting the country apart?

who knows?

and usually I would just shrug it off as another "conspiracy theory", except that it has been banned from Youtube: not for racism or hate speech but why? Youtube has lots of conspiracy stuff there,(lizard people taking over the world, aliens, pedophiles in government, although that last one seems to have a few reasons to believe it might have a grain of truth in it). so why take this one off? Maybe because it is true?

as Lolo would say: Crazy.

Philippine news

more news from StrategyPage:

the quarantine is threatening the economy, not just because of the shut down of shops, malls, etc. but because of the many OFW coming home and/or not being able to send money home to help their families.

in the meanwhile, they note that China is pushing the Philippines around. Why? Because they can. But now the Philippines is starting a mild push-back after years of trying to "make nice" and getting screwed by China's lies and slow moving but steady aggression.

August 24, 2020: The Philippines has become more aggressive in sending its ships and aircraft to challenge Chinese ships within the Filipino EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) which extends 380 kilometers from the coastline.

In the last two decades China has aggressively asserted its claimed ownership of most of the South China Sea. This claim was first made after World War II but not often acted on, except in the 1970s against Vietnam. In the last decade China has more aggressively asserted its claims om the South China Sea but has not opened fire on anyone “illegally operating in the South China Sea.”

the Chinese lost their claim to the area in an international court, but are ignoring this.

why should the Philippines worry if one of their major trading partners shove around a couple dozen locals?

Because there are hints it won't stop there.

One of the more absurd headlines in the local paper (Manila Bul): a Chinese firm in the Philippines is selling beauty products labled "Manila, Province of China":

Mayor Isko shuts down establishments selling products labeled ‘Manila, Province of China’

Nograles also identified the distributor of the product in the country as Elegant Fumes Beauty Products, Inc., a Binondo-based establishment reportedly owned by a Chinese national...

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque brushed off the mislabeling of the Philippine capital and said no one would believe that it is a province of China.

or would they?

and the UKTelegraph (May2012) reports that a Chinese news station said just that:

He Jia, anchor for China Central Television's (CCTV) nationally televised news broadcast, made the claim during a late Monday broadcast that has been repeatedly replayed on the internet....

"We all know that the Philippines is China's inherent territory and the Philippines belongs to Chinese sovereignty, this is an indisputable fact," He said in the broadcast, which has since disappeared from the CCTV website but is available elsewhere on the web.

after the internet showing the video of this claim there was pushback, and they backpeddled the story as an "accident'.

The presenter apparently meant to say that the Huangyan islands – known in the Philippines as the Scarborough Shoal, and claimed by both nations – is China's territory.

Really?  An accident?

and if you think that was an accidental slip of the tongue, you are wrong: it's been said in other places too.

article from 2018 in National Interest discusses a Chinese take over of the Philippines. This could lead to a war with the USA, so another scenerio is for Duterte to push a "revolutionary government" backed by a Chinese communist party here.

In the words of Philippines news site Rappler, "Gonzales also suspects that China will be forced to use the 'military option' after apparently seeing that there are no other means to extend the term of President Rodrigo Duterte – the most powerful man in the country, and their frequent defender...

The former defense chief said the only way Duterte can extend his term is through a revolutionary government, and the only organization apparently qualified to earn China's nod is the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)."

Old news of course, since even Duterte, who hated the CIA and was sympathetic to the local communists while wanting to increase ties with China,  is now pushing back against China because of too many broken promises.

but one reason I brought this up is that such a "revolutionary government" is again being discussed. From the PhilStar.

Two years before his term ends, Duterte maintained he was not interested in efforts to prolong himself in power.

“You know, there are reports about people calling for a revolutionary government. I have nothing to do with it. I don’t know them and it’s not my strategy,” he said during a taped public address aired yesterday.

On Saturday, the People’s National Coalition for Revolutionary Government and Charter Change assembled at the Clark Freeport in Pampanga to push for the establishment of a revolutionary government and the adoption of a new federal Constitution.

the group seems to be Duterte supporters trying to get him to stay in office (presidents are limited to one term), but hint at a plan to evolve into a stronger dictatorship to solve the problems here in the Philippines.

the move to rewrite the constitution, called "ChaCha" is discussed here... a similar Cha cha to Con Ass  (Charter change to a constitutional assembly) was proposed when President Arroyo held the office.

(and yes, the vulgar acronyms are a typical Filipino way to ridicule the pomposity of politicians)

the problem? Lots of rumors about Duterte's poor health. 

so local politics will distract locals from Chinese increased aggression against Filipino fishermen.

ah, but will they limit their aggression to the West Philippine sea?

One wonders: becauseChina's threats are now being expanded to non Filipino ships and planes.:they have started shooting missiles in the area,  hinting that these missiles could be used against the USA, but not mentioned in the article is that these missiles could destroy civilian shipping in a major shipping lane to Japan and Korea.

China released the Covid virus on the world, either deliberately or because of a "Chernobyl" type bureaucratic mindset that made officials deny what was going on.

but instead of repenting, they seem to be expanding their aggression against their neighbors who are being weakened by the epidemic. Coincidence? Sinister plan of  China? Place conspiracy theory here.

the irony is that this is not a time China should be risking war.

China also is suffering major population displacements due to flooding, and loss of both manufacturing infrastructure and more importantly, the loss of much of the rice crop in this area. LINK/

so what does Emperor Xi decide to do? Maybe start a war to distract his people.

AustinBay of SP has an essay on China's recent aggression against several of their neighbors (i.e. not just the Philippines).

the most dangerous is against Taiwan, which could spark a war with the USA. But there are other scenerios that could lead to a major war:  China vs VietNam, China vs Japan, China vs India.

and one "war" that no one is talking about: a revolution in China.

One reason for taking down HongKong was because their pro democracy demonstrations threatened to spread the virus of democracy to mainland China.

Sigh.
-----------------

update:

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.

Covid notes: Hydrochloroquin, UV and ozone might help too

so hydroxychloroquin works?

the good doctor discusses the studies in detail. 

not a miracle cure, but the Belgium study suggests that if you use it early and correctly, the mortality is lowered 30 percent. 

The dosage and timing is the key:
the problem seems to be that they gave a very high dosage and that is why there were so many side effects. (italics mine).

and the good doctor wonders why all those experts used the wrong dosage... i.e. why did the Brits and WHO get the dosage wrong?



listen to the whole discussion if you want the details.

A Yale Epidemiologist also noted that the ability of the drug to cut the fatality rate
  LINK


one is reminded of stories that some of the high mortality of the 1918 influenza epidemic was due to overdose of aspirin...-----------------------

update: more discussion here: and also discusses the possibility of reinfection, and what it means for a vaccine stopping the epidemic. Note: The reinfection was from a different version of the virus, and at least one person had a bad immune system.



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


Another related topic: one wonders about the slowness by the experts in checking out the old fashioned methods to stop viral spread.

Instapundit links to an article about UV light stopping the virus, something I noted a couple of months ago since we still have such UV lights in our hospitals here over doorways (presumably to stop TB spread) and we used to have them in hospitals back when I started working in hospitals back in the 1960s.

however, to kill covid you need a special frequency and high dosage: this will sterilize surfaces, but can cause sunburn and eye damage if used in high dosages in public areas.

But you know, my hepa air filter has UV light inside it to kill mold etc... so I wonder, so will adding UV light, maybe in higher doses than being used now, to air conditioners and heaters that circulate the air kill the virus so that indoor spread will be limited?

this is important, since air conditioners/ air flow indoors are known reasons that the virus spread inside buildings.

ChicagoTrib discusses here.

The best combination to cut down the chances of spreading the virus is a HEPA filter and a UV light, Myers said. HEPA filters, used in hospitals, can remove 99.7% of particles as small as 0.01 micron. That’s efficient enough to capture the COVID-19 virus, which is said to have particles approximately 0.125 micron in size.

and what about ozone? LINK link2

not my area of expertise but again might help in surface sterilization. 


Finally, there will be an investigation into the nursing home kerfuffle, where governors ordered recovering (but still infectious) Covid patients back into nursing homes.

nothing will come from it, of course, because the regulations said it was okay, and the governors were only following the regulations: (italics mine).


The experts who wrote the regulations insisted that infection wouldn't spread if you had adequate PPE used by personnel correctly and you isolated the patient.

The problem? 

Reality. 

Nursing homes often lacked PPE, but the bigger problem is that many are understaffed (money money money) and often the number of staff is estimated for ordinary patients, not for such isolation which takes caregiver's time. 

And I won't even go into the poor quality of staff in many nursing homes (because it pays lousy for hard work, often the staff is not high quality. Duh).

One does not expect a governor to know such things, so one doubts they will be charged because hey, they were only following regulations devised by experts.

However, since the Pennsylvania public health expert who agreed to the policy took her mom out of a nursing home and placed her mom into a hotel for safety reasons, one does suspect that there were some in the state governments who knew the advice was faulty but, this being government, just went along with the policy because hey, if you make waves you get harassed out of your jobs (been there, done that, long story).

and as I noted yesterday: Sweden had the same policy and many of their deaths were also in nursing homes.

so the problem was not just in the USA... 

Archbishop Cruz R.I.P.

Sigh. Archbishop Cruz has died from Covid virus. He was 85.

I used to post stuff from his blog, calling him the old lefty bishop, not as a criticism but as a complement, because he did not follow the party line of the liberation theology types, but worked for issues that affected the average Filipino...against corruption that was destroying the Philippines, including gambling, casinos, drugs, divorce, and crooked politicians, including all those good politicians whose corruption got overlooked because they opposed contraception.

more HERE

Retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz Manila Bulletin

And the press loved him, because he would comment on issues that other bishops preferred to stay silent about, but also because he could explain things in language that ordinary folks could understand.

One favorite story that I remember was when he was sued for libel.

During the reign of the lovely President Arroyo, there was a party to celebrate the birthday of the First Husband....sponsored by companies etc. And instead of hiring professional waiters/waitresses, the companies had their lovely employees volunteer to do this for free.

The bishop wrote a blistering blogpost condemning this, since it exploited these poor girls., but mainly because (according to unverified rumors) the party could be a way to coverup gifts to Gentleman Mike, who by some rumors was the one to go to if you wanted a favor from his wife.

Well. A few of the lovely ladies promptly sued him for libel, saying the blogpost implied they were prostitutes, and took him to court. (we have strict libel laws here). He lost the court case, but ended up being fined a small amount of money...

But he continued to condemn corruption in his blog, but using hints and quoting others, which is how the regular reporters write here, figuring their readers can read between the lines, but makes it hard for outsiders like myself to figure out what is really going on.

The good bishop's blog posts stopped 2 or 3 tears ago and he has not been active recently.

An example of a good bishop.

nursing homes covid deaths ...not just NYC

The video I posted a few days ago mentioned Sweden seemed to have neglected their elderly, leading to a high death rate.

This article discusses Sweden's approach to push herd immunity, which led to a high death rate but may stop the resurgence we are seeing all over the world as quarantines get lifted, so in the long term may come out about the same.

But they also note not using protection in nursing homes unless the person was diagnosed, and therefore the epidemic "ripped through the country's nursing homes"  ..

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200501/sweden-sticks-with-controversial-covid19-approach

This April article from theUK Guardian discusses the problem

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/19/anger-in-sweden-as-elderly-pay-price-for-coronavirus-strategy

And this article crom the BMJ from June also notes the lack of worry about the elderly, not only lack of equipment, but anecdotal stories of physicians giving a "palliative cocktail" to some nursing home patients, i.e. sedating them instead of trying to save them...(we give this to terminal cancer patients but not to people who are merely old and who might have a 30 percent chance of life if properly treated in a hospital

https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m2376

excuse the lack of decent links: I am on my tablet again

the invisible heroes

Right now there are 14000 fire fighters risking their lives to stop the infernos in California. 

The governor is asking outsiders to help, from as far away as Australis.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53828150

I lived in New Mexico when that state had a lot of fires, including in our area. It is scary. And many of our Apache were trained to fight these fires and went all over to where they were...but when the fires hit closer to home, others joined in as volunteers. Hot, dirty and dangerous work.

So who gets into the headlines and lots of money from the usual useful idiots? Yup.

Trained rioters who are setting fires,