"The Global Consciousness Project, also known as the EGG Project, is an international multidisciplinary collaboration of scientists, engineers, artists and others continuously collecting data from a global network of physical random number generators located in 65 host sites worldwide. The archive contains over 10 years of random data in parallel sequences of synchronized 200-bit trials every second."
Archive for the ‘– Lost In Space: TOTALLY Discombobulated’ Category
This belongs… somewhere I do not know. But not in the sense that you don’t know where, but that you don’t KNOW where – because you’ve never experienced it. That is to say, not knowledge itself, but rather comprehension.
MORE COVID-19 Deaths than all deaths in WWI – 116,516.
Last week, we eclipsed all deaths from the Korean and Vietnam Wars combined.
We are in a very Public Health war.
And so far, testing continues to lag with only 4.6037% of the entire American public tested – 15,192,481.
Meanwhile, South Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan, Vietnam – along with their economies – are returning to normal with no new cases reported, while stupid Americans cry, whine, moan, groan, gripe, bitch, and complain about not being able to get haircuts, their nails done, eat out, or go to the gym.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Some have wondered how other diseases’ mortality (death statistics) compares with COVID-19.
To illustrate, their questions can be stated somewhat like “on an annualized basis, how many deaths have historically occurred because of “X” disease when compared to COVID-19?”
Such a comparison examines ONLY death.
It does not examine risk.
“Death as a Strangler”; “Death playing the violin at a Masquerade during a cholera outbreak in Paris in 1831.” 1845, by Alfred Rethel (1816-1859)
It’s akin to asking “who will die?”
Answer: Your death is a 100% certainty.
Or, if you prefer, we know for a hard, cold fact, that you will die. The corollary operative Latin phrase is “memento mori,” translated literally “remember die,” and which translates functionally as “remember death,” or loosely as “remember that you must die.”
Death rates do NOT examine how quickly hospital or healthcare systems have been or could be overwhelmed with “X” disease.
In some localities, New York City most notably, COVID-19 has overwhelmed the healthcare resources of America’s most populous city.
Death rates do NOT examine the disease’s ease of transmissibility.
COVID-19 is spread by breathing. Cancer is not. Heart disease is not. Accidents are not. Cerebrovascular disease is not. Alzheimer’s is not.
Cancer, diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, etc., are typically chronic (long-term) conditions.
COVID-19 is not, and has often killed in a matter of days.
Death rates do not consider the insidious nature of COVID-19, i.e., that it hides in the body, often not even making its presence known (at least 30-50% of those infected are asymptomatic, i.e., show no signs of infection – not even one, including fever), even after an incubation period that ranges from 2-14 days.
Starving Rats Are Reportedly Turning Into Cannibals And Attacking One Other As Their Restaurant Food Supply Disappears
By TPorter@businessinsider.com (Tom Porter)
• The CDC has warned that rats are growing increasingly aggressive amid the coronavirus epidemic, and advised on what people can do to stop infestations in their neighborhoods.
• The rodents usually feed on rubbish in restaurant bins, but with many outlets closed or only offering takeout they are empty.
• Videos have been posted on social media of rats swarming deserted streets in New Orleans and New York streets.
• Pest control officials say that some rats are resorting to cannibalism and infanticide to survive.
Rats are growing increasingly aggressive in their hunt for food as restaurants across the US Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, May 16, 2020
Good news, America!
As of today, we’re only 6,069 body bags, and 3 days away from our goal!
Let’s review:
Yesterday, Friday, 15 May 2020, we closed out the day with 85,884 COVID-19 Deaths in America.
Today, we close out the day with a total of 88,754 COVID-19 Deaths – a 3.3417% increase, only slightly above our projected 2% daily increase.
As we had earlier written, “Again, a friendly reminder that by June 2, at the current rate, we’ll have a total of 115,781 COVID-19 related deaths. In fact, at the fairly constant increase of 2% per day, in 5ive days (May 19), we’ll have MORE COVID-19 related deaths than ALL the DEATHS from the Vietnam War & Korean War COMBINED – 94,823!!”
If we continue to keep up what we’re doing (and there’s no indication that we’ll do anything any differently – why mess with success, eh?), at our projected approximate 2% Daily Death Rate increase, we’ll be Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, May 14, 2020
So… the Bullshitter in Chief went to Allentown, PA today – to Owens & Minor, a PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) manufacturer’s distribution facility, no less – and REFUSED to wear that Made in America product, and had the audacity to say in part, that:
“You know, we’ve been doing testing at a level that nobody has ever done it before. We cannot get any, and we cannot get the press to write about it or write fairly about it. And nobody has ever done. We’ve done double what anyone else — if you add up all of the countries in the world, we’ve done more testing than all of the countries in the world added up together. Nobody has ever done anything like that. And we have the best tests.”
Look, Americans aren’t dummies.
And he’s just blowing smoke. Purely.
Just because someone doesn’t have a university degree doesn’t make them a complete blithering idiot.
Seriously.
And you don’t have to be a brainiac to know that America (330,000,000) has MANY MORE people than Spain (46,752,506).
And the UK Read the rest of this entry »
“You know, we’ve been doing testing at a level that nobody has ever done it before. We cannot get any, and we cannot get the press to write about it or write fairly about it. And nobody has ever done. We’ve done double what anyone else — if you add up all of the countries in the world, we’ve done more testing than all of the countries in the world added up together. Nobody has ever done anything like that. And we have the best tests.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Editor’s annotation appears in the conclusion.
GREAT job, Mister President!
Way to go, Republicans!
We’re Number 1!
Trump has made America GREAT AGAIN!
Now, let’s Keep America Great Again!
COVID-19 Morning Update May 12
We can’t let the Democrats get in the way of Republican success!
Over 1,347,936 Confirmed Cases of COVID-19, and increasing daily!
In fact, MORE than ANY OTHER NATION in the world!
And the best part?
COVID-19 Nightly Update May 11
More deaths than any other nation, as well!
In fact, now, with 80,684 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, soon America is on track, and will soon have MORE than the TOTAL Deaths of the United Kingdom (32,141), Italy (30,739), and Spain (26,744) COMBINED – 89,624!
And face it… a few folks will have to die to KEEP AMERICA GREAT!
COVID-19 Morning Update May 11
But their sacrifices will NOT be forgotten!
They’re PATRIOTS and HEROES on the FRONT LINES of the ECONOMY!
They’re Warriors for Wall Street!
We can’t let the Made in Wuhan Chinese Virus stop us!
We’re NUMBER 1!
Dow Jones Industrial Average 12-31-1970 to 5-12-2020
And the precious Stock Market is STILL HIGH!
Even with the present minor downturn and slight course correction, it’s HIGHER THAN IT’S EVER BEEN!
Trump hasMADE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
And we MUST KEEP ON MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
WHO CARES ABOUT UNEMPLOYMENT!?!
Just more FAKE NEWS by Never Trumpers!
FOUR MORE YEARS!
“We are gonna win, win, win. We’re going to win with military, we’re going to win at the borders, we’re going to win with trade, we’re going to win at everything. And some of you are friends and you’re going to call, and you’re going to say, ‘Mr. President, please, we can’t take it anymore, we can’t win anymore like this, Mr. President, you’re driving us crazy, you’re winning too much, please Mr. President, not so much, and I’m going to say I’m sorry, we’re going to keep winning because we are going to make America great again. I will not let you down.”
— Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump Friday, May 20, 2016, 145th annual NRA convention, Louisville, KY
“We’re going to win. We’re going to win so much. We’re going to win at trade, we’re going to win at the border. We’re going to win so much, you’re going to be so sick and tired of winning, you’re going to come to me and go ‘Please, please, we can’t win anymore.’ You’ve heard this one. You’ll say ‘Please, Mr. President, we beg you sir, we don’t want to win anymore. It’s too much. It’s not fair to everybody else.’” Trump said. “And I’m going to say ‘I’m sorry, but we’re going to keep winning, winning, winning, We’re going to make America great again.”
–– Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump, Thursday, May 26, 2016, Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark, Billings, Montana
“We’re gonna’ win with trade, we’re gonna’ win with health, we’re gonna’ win at so many levels! We’re gonna’ WIN! WIN! WIN! You’re gonna’ get so tired of winning, you’re gonna’ say, ‘Mr. President, PLEASE! We don’t wanna’ win anymore! It’s too much!’ And I’m gonna’ say, ‘I’m sorry! We’re gonna’ keep winning! Because we’re gonna’ make America great again!’”
— Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump days before the November 2016 General Election
“Total nonfarm payroll employment fell by 20.5 million in April, and the unemployment rate rose to 14.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The changes in these measures reflect Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, May 10, 2020
8,709,630
That’s how many Americas have been tested for COVID-19.
(As of Saturday, 9May2020; as of Sunday, 10May2020 the figure is 8,987,524 – an increase of 277,894, or 3.1906%. At that rate, it’d take 1,187.5031 days, or 3.25 years, to test every American.)
330,000,000
That’s how many Americans there are.
(The U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Clock reports 1 birth every 9 seconds, and 1 death every 12 seconds, and 1 immigrant every 47 seconds, with a net gain of 1 person every 19 seconds, making the rolling total 329,632,650… and counting).
0.026392818181818
That’s the percentage of Americans who have been tested.
(As of Saturday, 9May2020; as of Sunday, 10May2020 the figure is 0.027234921212121, or 2.72349% – an increase of 0.0842103030303%, or almost 1/10th of 1%.)
2.6392%.
United States
1,329,203 ÷ 330,000,000 = 0.004027887878788
Reported Infections ÷ Population = per capita Infection Rate
0.004027887878788 × 100,000 = 402.7887, or 403 per 100,000.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, May 10, 2020
Even our spooks see it.
Why?
It’s a matter of National Security.
Period.
End of conversation.
“Long-term problems for the US include stagnation of wages for lower-income families, inadequate investment in deteriorating infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an aging population, energy shortages, and sizable current account and budget deficits.”
“But the globalization of trade, and especially the rise of low-wage producers such as China, has put additional downward pressure on wages and upward pressure on the return to capital. Since 1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20% of households. Since 1996, dividends and capital gains have grown faster than wages or any other category of after-tax income.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Your Money, or Your Life… You Choose.
Presently, there are increasing calls clamoring for our states’ and nation’s economies to be returned to a state of “normalcy” (whatever that may be, or look like). Those voices are largely cacophonous, often belligerent, threatening with violent, even lawless displays, such as in Michigan recently, when renegades and insurrectionists stormed the State Capitol building armed with loaded assault weapons, and battle accouterments such as helmets, flak jackets, and bullet-proof vests, threatening to kill the Governor, and attempted to seize the Legislative floors.
In response, some states’ Governors are “reopening” their states’ economies, which have been largely shuttered for the benefit, and protection of the Greater Good, preservation of Public Health, and the prevention of loss of life, through unwitting dissemination of a particularly insidious and occult disease for which we have no cure, neither validated, nor verified treatment, nor vaccine – the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, aka COVID-19.
It seems to me that, in essence, what is being done – not merely said – is presenting a “your money, or your life” robbery type scenario, a practical sacrificing of human life upon the altar of filthy lucre to the god of mammon, through the high priests of Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, May 5, 2020
This information, which was reported just yesterday (Monday, 4 May 2020), is turning the entire understanding of this disease on its ear.
Previously thought to have originated in China, COVID-19 is now thought to have been spreading globally long before the outbreak in Wuhan, China ever occurred.
An interesting observation:
This individual –and– “Patient Zero” in Wuhan were BOTH fishmongers.
A germane question:
Could this virus be related to, or capable of being transmitted in aquatic wildlife?
Who: 42 year old man born in Algeria, lived in France for many years, worked as fishmonger
What: retrospective investigation for SARS-COV2 (novel coronavirus, aka COVID-19) in respiratory samples collected
Where: intensive care units (ICUs) of hospital north of Paris, France
When: December 27, 2019
Why: Presented to emergency ward with hemoptysis (coughing up blood/bloody sputum), cough, headache and fever, evolving for 4 days
How: RT-PCR test (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) the most sensitive technique for mRNA (genetic) detection and quantitation currently available
Additional Facts: Last trip was in Algeria during August 2019. One of his children presented with ILI (influenza-like illness) prior to the onset of his symptoms. His medical history included asthma, type II diabetes mellitus. Had not visited China.
See also: French hospital discovers country’s first known Covid-19 case, from December A French hospital which has retested old samples from pneumonia patients discovered that it treated a man who had Covid-19 as early as Dec. 27, nearly a month before the French government confirmed its first cases.
(https://www.france24.com/en/20200505-france-s-first-known-covid-19-case-was-in-december)
• Covid-19 was already spreading in France in late December 2019, a month before the official first cases in the country.
• Early community spreading changes our knowledge of covid-19 epidemic.
• This new case changes our understanding of the epidemic and modeling studies should adjust to this new data.
Abstract
The COVID-19 epidemic is believed to have started in late January 2020 in France. We report here a case of a patient hospitalized in December 2019 in our intensive care, of our hospital in the north of Paris, for hemoptysis with no etiological diagnosis and for which RT-PCR was performed retrospectively on the stored respiratory sample which confirmed the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection. Based on this result, it appears that the COVID-19 epidemic started much earlier.
SARS-COV-2 was already spreading in France in late December 2019
Introduction
After its onset in December 2019 in China, the new coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) spreads widely in several countries, causing COVID-19 illness.1 World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020.3 France reported the first cases of SARS-COV-2 related infection on January 24, 2020.5 Both cases had a history of travel to Wuhan.6 To the best of our knowledge, these 2 cases are believed to be the first confirmed cases in France. COVID-19 most commonly present with influenza-like illness (ILI).7 While China was facing COVID-19 outbreak, European countries were struggling with seasonal influenza.8 Clinical symptomatology between COVID-19 and ILIis similar,we therefore decided retrospectively to look for SARS-COV2 in respiratory samples collected in the intensive care units (ICUs) of our hospital near Paris.
Methods – Retrospective analysis
Selected records
We reviewed medical record of ICUs patients admitted for ILI between December 2, 2019 and January 16, 2020, with a negative RT-PCR performed at admission. Every respiratory sample collected in our hospital are Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, May 3, 2020
Based upon recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Governor of your state, or mayor of your town orders numerous businesses and activities to be temporarily paused, halted, or ceased. (Take your pick of the choice of words, which essentially mean the same thing. Although “temporarily paused” sounds more palatable, in my estimation.) That includes practically every type of operation, ranging from retail to warehouse, to factory, to office… including corporate worship services.
Suddenly, people lose their jobs, their health insurance, their income, maybe even their residences, either rented, or mortgaged, and their private transportation.
It seems as if the world has come to a virtual, if not practical, standstill. Many grocery stores remain open, albeit with modified hours and operations, as do gasoline and diesel fuel stations, and hardware stores because they’re considered “essential” businesses. Barber shops, beauty salons and their suppliers, however, are shuttered. Restaurants and bars have closed, some which face certain bankruptcy. Yet banks and other financial operations remain open… including the stock markets, because they too, are considered “essential.” Suffice it to say, numerous sports games are cancelled.
Other “essential” businesses, such as farms and the plant facilities that process the animals and milk, are suddenly in a bind, because the low-wage employees who work there have become infected with COVID-19 coronavirus disease, and have “spread the love” to their co-workers, most of whom were not provided with either adequate safety equipment by their employers, nor were given any modifications to provide for adequate distancing to ameliorate the chance of spreading, or contracting the disease. The President can “order” them to remain open as long as he likes, but if there’s no one to work the lines… and I sincerely doubt the suits know how to do it.
Farmers in some states, notably New York, have complained that their milk supplies are suddenly becoming stockpiled, and they are being reduced to wasting it, and other products made from it. In response, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has told farmers of that state that the state will take all of their present “excess” product, and distribute it to needy families, which have suddenly become almost too numerous to count. The farmers consented.
Idaho potato farmers are giving away their crops as well, since critical links in the food supply chain have been broken, and left them unable to deliver their products to market. It remains to be seen what the pork, poultry, egg, and beef producers will do. Fisheries will simply stop collecting their stock for harvest. Pregnant sows (female pigs) will be administered abortifacients. Fowl will be fed, eggs will be laid, cattle will be fattened, and cows will be milked.
A note on the concentrated industrialization of American farms:
That’s NOT a good idea, and inherently, not only is it a violation of anti-trust laws which promote competition, but it’s a bad idea managerially because if one hiccups or sneezes, the whole industry gets sick. There’s STRENGTH in diversification, and as the old adage goes,
“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
But for all the good that many, if not most, are doing, there remain a few crybabies, whinos, and belligerents whose cacophonous voices rasp the ears of those who have the misfortune of hearing them.
Colloquially, through our nation’s Federal laws governing business practice and ownership, etc., we’ve “put all our eggs in one basket.” As a result, when one factory or industry hiccups or sneezes, the entire system gets sick. The same principle is true for many other businesses and aspects of our economy.
You’ve probably read my expressions on a topic very much like this before.
“The concentration of America’s meat packing industry is ultimately a symptom of its weakness, rather than its strength.”
Despite being the world’s second-largest meat consumer after China, the U.S. slaughters almost all of its annual production of meat in just 835 facilities.
Five decades ago (in most American’s lifetimes) there were OVER 10 times as many such facilities. Anecdotally, an Epidemiologist friend share that, “Growing up in the 50’s there were dairy farms all over the South. There are very few now.”
That’s:
🐖130 million pigs
🐄33.6 million cows
🐑2.3 million sheep
If anything, those figures significantly understate how extremely concentrated the slaughter industry is.
In fact, about 66% of America’s pork is processed through 24 giant facilities owned by just 4 companies:
1.) Smithfield Foods Inc.; 2.) JBS SA; 3.) Tyson Foods Inc., and; 4.) Clemens Family Corp.
Over 80% of beef comes from just 12 abattoirs owned by 4 companies:
1.) Tyson; 2.) JBS SA; 3.) Cargill Inc., and; 4.) Marfrig Global Foods SA.
And of the two groups of meat processors which represent 50% of the meat categories consumed in America, pork and beef, 2 companies – Tyson, and JBS SA – own or control a significant portion of that market, 25%, based upon the number of competitors in the 2 categories, pork and beef.
Tyson, which is headquartered in Arkansas, is American-owned, unlike Smithfield which is headquartered in Virginia, and owned by Chinese interests. However, a full 66% of Tyson’s operations are overseas, and the company boasts that they control 20% of the entire American market share of meat by writing that “1 in 5 pounds of chicken, beef, & pork in the U.S. is produced by Tyson Foods.”
Chicken farmers are modern-day sharecroppers, and Tyson acknowledges as much by writing that, “We supply the birds and feed, and provide technical advice, while the poultry farmer provides the labor, housing and utilities.”
The North American Meat Institute (NAMI), a Washington, D.C. based lobbying organization for the major players in the corporate-owned industrialized meat industry – NOT mom & pop-owned Family Farms, which are increasingly rare – writes this on their website about the meat industry in America: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, April 28, 2020
No surprise there.
There’s a reason why Fox News is monikered Faux Noize.
The Republican party is NO LONGER the “Grand” Old Party.
It’s NOT the “party of Lincoln,” and hasn’t been for quite some time.
Since circa 1964, it’s been the party of the Ku Klux Klan, the John Birch Society, libertarians, and other radical elements. And, it was seriously ushered in during the Reagan administration when in his first inaugural address, the B-movie actor and longtime GE mouthpiece said in part that, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
It’s easy to understand that if “government is the problem,” the solution to that problem is elimination of it. And that is anarchy. And yet, in his carefully crafted address, that was precisely what he was intimating – the abolition of government. For in his next sentence, he said, “From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule…”
It’s not difficult to see that his slashing of the Top Personal Income Tax bracket for the wealthiest Americans from 70% to 50%, and then to 28%, in conjunction with reductions in Capital Gains tax rates, and the “Paris Hilton Tax Cuts,” also monikered as the “Death Tax,” which is properly known as the Estate Tax, which only wealthy Americans have ever paid, was purposely designed to eliminate government, rather than to refine its operations, increase efficiency, or reduce fraud, waste, and abuse at any level.
When he said, “It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed,” it could not have been made any more clear that his was a “starve the monster” approach to an alleged, though imaginary, and non-existing problem, that government was too big and the “monster” was the government.” And that was despite what he said in that same address that “Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it’s not my intention to do away with government,” because it couldn’t have been made more clear what his ultimate objectives were.
He again clearly identified government as being an evil monster when he said, “It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government.” Hardly anyone could have done a better job of setting up a Straw Man Argument, for afterward, he beat that government straw man to a pulp.
Again, it is beyond the scope of the pale to imagine that a more populous nation would need fewer laws, or fewer people to efficiently and effectively conduct operations to provide for the demands and needs of more people. For that would be an inversely proportional relationship, that somehow a larger (more populous) nation, with more inventions, more businesses, more works of art, science, and other forms of creativity, would need fewer laws to govern their behavior and operations, and at some point in time, would eventually disappear.
The contradictions in his speech were blatant, and his intentions were fully uncloaked. Bluntly stating that “It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment,” he set about using his skills as an actor reassuring the people in a grandfatherly way that he had their best interests at heart, despite what he said otherwise.
The notion of “self-rule” is one which is emphasized by the ultra-radical group headquartered in Auburn, Alabama known as the Mises Institute, which promotes a heterodox economic world view, which includes anti-government sentiment, and the belief in the idea of anarchy – a world without government – and a “free market only” solution to everything as a one-size-fits-all solution to all problems.
Again, while Reagan was a B-movie actor, he was an actor nevertheless, and in his years on the stump for General Electric nationwide, he honed his public persuasion speeches to a fine edge, and was able to parlay that into a run for the White House which he won twice being monikered as the “Great Communicator.” But the language he used, while delivered quite well, was “dog whistle” language for anti-governmental radicals, all whom he welcomed into the GOP’s “Big Tent.”
The ground had earlier been ploughed at the 1964 Republican National Convention at Cow Palace in Daly City, CA (immediately adjacent and SOUTH of San Francisco) when then-NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller was granted 5 minutes to address the delegates to request adoption of language in the official party platform which would “repudiate here and now any doctrinaire, militant minority, whether Communist, Ku Klux Klan or Bircher which would subvert this party to purposes alien to the very basic tenets which gave this party birth.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, April 27, 2020
If you, your loved ones, or someone you know, needs, or wants to be tested for COVID-19, GO GET TESTED AT NO COST TO YOU!
THIS IS A MATTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH!!
And, EVERYONE IS AT RISK – not just the elderly, infirm, or those with other health conditions – EVERYONE!
Representative Porter questioned Dr. Redfield in committee on Capitol Hill March 12, and as a long-time consumer advocate attorney, discovered the law provides that CDC Director has FULL AUTHORITY to “authorize payment for the care and treatment of individuals subject to medical examination, quarantine, isolation, and conditional release…”
(a) The Director may authorize payment for the care and treatment of individuals subject to medical examination, quarantine, isolation, and conditional release, subject to paragraphs (b) through (h) of this section.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, April 26, 2020
Much of the media has focused upon the raw numbers for COVID-19 infection cases in the United States, and, that’s just one way of examining data. Of course, it doesn’t look good, and some may try and put a “spin” on the information as they whistle past the proverbial graveyard – it’s a type of denial… which is not just a river in Egypt.
So in that sense, I sought to examine population, population density, global population comparison, national area (in square miles) in psuedo-randomly selected nations throughout the world, and THEN to post their Infection Rates. By so doing, it gives a more clear understanding of the nature of the problem, at least in some sense.
Copper engraving of Doctor Schnabel [i.e Dr. Beak], a plague doctor in seventeenth-century Rome, with a satirical macaronic poem (‘Vos Creditis, als eine Fabel, / quod scribitur vom Doctor Schnabel’) in octosyllabic rhyming couplets.
For example, consider India.
With 1,361,462,965 people, it is the 2nd most populous nation in the world, with 17.5% of the global population. Its population density is 1,051.3 people per square mile, and it has 27,890 COVID-19 cases, with an infection rate of 2 per 100,000 people.
But, some may protest saying that the population dilutes the figures. So, let’s examine another nation.
Mozambique, an African nation on the south eastern coastal horn of that continent, has 30,066,648 inhabitants, with a population density of 74.3 people per square mile. It comprises only 0.386% of the global population. And with only 76 confirmed COVID-19 cases, its infection rate is 0.2527 per 100,000.
Again, some may protest and say that heat and sunshine are the primary reason why that nation’s infection rate is so low. So again, let’s examine another nation.
With 34,218,169 people, Saudi Arabia has 0.440% of the world’s population, is largely a Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, April 24, 2020
Friends, this just boggles my mind.
Seriously.
It’s mind-numbing to even imagine what the 45th White House Occupant Moron in Chief said yesterday.
In the daily COVID-19 briefing, POTUS suggested that injecting disinfectants and light into the body would cure COVID-19.
Here’s the transcript from the White House website:
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Bill.
Q Mr. Bryan —
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. So I asked Bill a question that probably some of you are thinking of, if you’re totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light — and I think you said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that too. It sounds interesting.
ACTING UNDER SECRETARY BRYAN: We’ll get to the right folks who could.
THE PRESIDENT: Right. And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injectioninside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. So, that, you’re going to have to use medical doctors with. But it sounds — it sounds interesting to me.
So we’ll see. But the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute, that’s — that’s pretty powerful.
Steve, please.
In response, the Food and Drug Administration issued a Tweet which stated
“Do not use disinfectant sprays or wipes on your skin because they may cause skin and eye irritation. They are intended for use on hard, non-porous surfaces.”
As well, Reckitt Benckiser, the British company that makes Lysol® and Dettol®, issued a Tweet and press release which warned the public that Read the rest of this entry »
• United States population is very nearly 330,000,000
• COVID-19’s incubation time ranges between 2 to 14 days.
• 4,466,559 have been tested
• At least 30%–50% of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic carriers (show no signs or symptoms of infection, i.e., no fever, no chills, no loss of taste, no loss of smell, no muscle aches, no nausea, no vomiting, no upset stomach, no loss of appetite, no diarrhea, no cough, no runny nose, no sore/scratchy throat, no headache, no tiredness, no shortness of breath, no difficulty breathing, no feeling of hotness {subjective fever}, etc.)
Extrapolating, what that means is:
• Only 1.3535% of the American population has been tested for COVID-19.
• 120,932 Total have been Hospitalized
• Potentially 421,160 MORE, or AT LEAST 1,263,479 people could be infected – 50% more than have been diagnosed
• The U.S. COVID-19 Death Rate is 5.5084%
Globally, there are:
• 2,623,231 Total Confirmed COVID-19 cases
• 182,740 Total COVID-19 Deaths
The COVID-19 Global Death Rate is 6.9662%.
At this juncture, there are 707,331 known Total Recovered COVID-19 cases globally.
These figures are by no means final; they are merely preliminary good estimates, because the scenario is changing daily, and more diagnoses are being made, and autopsies which are showing COVID-19 infection as a cause of death.
The Santa Clara County California Medical Examiner’s Office recently reported that following autopsy results, TWO deaths occurred in that county February 6, and 17, both related to COVID-19, which put the dates of the first known deaths in the United States back by at least two weeks, instead of the case in Kirkland, Washington on February 29 which to date, was thought to be the first COVID-19 related death in the United States.
Essentially, the implications are precisely in keeping with what we know about COVID-19, that it is insidious – progressing inconspicuously, but harmfully – stealthily and seriously damaging before it makes its presence known with symptoms.
The experts (not the POTUS) from the CDC, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, MD, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, tell us that Read the rest of this entry »
“We now know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus lack symptoms (“asymptomatic”) and that even those who eventually develop symptoms (“pre-symptomatic”) can transmit the virus to others before showing symptoms.
The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 dashboard now shows that in the United States, there are presently 121,478 ACTIVE CONFIRMED cases of COVID-19 novel coronavirus.
This morning, Saturday, 28 March, I had written that, “If that pattern continues to hold, we could expect to see at least 127,902 cases by Sunday, 29 March 2020.”
It appears that we’ll surpass that long before the dawn of the next day.
The difference between the 2 figures is a 15.8732% INCREASE… and we STILL have 12 more hours to go to make it to 127,902 – a 21.9162% INCREASE – by Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, March 28, 2020
Yesterday (Friday, 27 March 2020), at 7:20 AM CST DST, there were 85,991 Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the good ol’ USA.
That’s an INCREASE of 21.9162%.
If that pattern continues to hold, we could expect to see at least 127,902 cases by Sunday, 29 March 2020.
In stark contrast to China, or even Italy, the United States today has 21.7871% MORE cases than does China, which yesterday, had 81,894 confirmed cases. Today, China’s 81,996 morning figure is a mere 0.1245% increase.
Some experts attending the Hospital Association of America have predicted that America could see 96,000,000 US coronavirus Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, March 27, 2020
I can hear it now –– the chants of the Faux Noize talking head dingbats saying loudly in unison… “We’re number 1! We’re number 1!”
According to information as of 0600 CST DST Friday, 27 March 2020, provided through Johns Hopkins University Dashboard, the United States has 85,991 active and confirmed COVID-19 coronavirus cases, while China – which has 1 BILLION MORE PEOPLE, has NOT reported any additional, or new cases – experienced 81,894 such cases.
Chinese Population is estimated to be 1,389,618,778 – that’s 1 BILLION, 389 million, 618 thousand, 778.
India’s Population is estimated to be 1,311,559,204.
The US Population is only 23.7475% that of China.
Or, expressed another way, China has 321.0965% MORE people than the United States.
So… WHY is it that the United States has 5.0028% MORE COVID-19 infection cases than China?
Seriously…
WHY!?!
WHAT has been done, or what has happend which has led us to this point?
Well… that’s an EXCELLENT question!
The POTUS – that’s Donald John Trump – has killed, slashed and burned, many biosecurity programs which would have helped protect American Public Health.
“On his second full day in office President Trump instituted a federal hiring freeze that stayed in place for nearly 90 days. In the weeks after the freeze was lifted, nearly 700 positions sat vacant at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to researchers and officials interviewed in May 2017, the freeze affected “programs supporting local and state public health emergency readiness, infectious disease control, and chronic disease prevention.
“Many of the unfilled jobs are high-level positions, at least GS-12 and above… Several positions are in the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, which regulates some of the world’s most dangerous bacteria and viruses and manages the nation’s stockpile of emergency medical countermeasures. Others include positions in the director’s office, infectious disease offices and the office for noncommunicable diseases, injury and environmental health.
”To make matters worse, the Trump administration took months to fill numerous senior positions that are critical to responding to an outbreak. A permanent Director of the CDC was not appointed until July 2017, six months after taking office, and the top position at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) remained empty for nearly eight months. Second-in-command positions also remained empty across health-related agencies: Within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), there was no Assistant Secretary for Health for over a year, no Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response for eight months, and no Director of the Office of Global Affairs for five months. USAID just received its first permanent deputy administrator last year, in 2019!
“In addition to the dissolution of global health security units, the NSC has experienced unprecedented turnover during Trump’s administration. There have been four National Security Advisors (in addition to two acting NSAs) in Trump’s three years in office. This is compared to Barack Obama’s three NSAs in eight years and two in George W. Bush’s eight years. Trump has had five Deputy National Security Advisors in 3 years, while Obama had four in eight years and W. Bush had three in eight years. Trump has had four Homeland Security Advisors (plus one acting HSA) in three years compared to two in Obama’s eight years and four in W. Bush’s eight years. “
But WAIT!
THAT’S NOT ALL!
Yeah… you guessed it.
It’s POS45’s fault.
The BUCK STOPS with him.
Or… does it?
“Yeah, no, I don’t take responsibility at all, because we were given a set of circumstances and we were given rules, regulations, and specifications from a different time. It wasn’t meant for this kind of an event with the kind of numbers that we’re talking about.”
–– POTUS Donald John Trump, Friday, 13 March 2020, White House Rose Garden news conference
POTUS Harry Truman succeeded to the Office of the President upon the death of POTUS Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who died in his FOURTH term in office.
“The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Every period of change in human history has been preceded by chaos and upheaval.
COVID-19 novel coronavirus is exposing our weaknesses, our strengths, where changes are needed and must occur, and where we are performing well.
This illustration reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by the COVID-19 novel coronavirus. Note the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically. Image credit: CDC.
There will be positive outcomes, of course, one of which will be that it is no longer necessary for some people to assemble, or congregate in one place to work. It is being proven that work which can be performed remotely, i.e., from one’s residence, will be increasingly utilized, and that will be a net positive outcome in several ways.
Here’s a list of…
10 GOOD Things COVID-19 Will Cause.
• One, it will reduce going-to, and coming-from work-related commuting traffic volume.
• Two, it will increase employee satisfaction, insofar as one will not fight traffic in order to get to work, or home from work.
• Three, because fewer automobiles will be on the roadway, it will reduce automobile emissions, and therefore yield an environmentally net positive result.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, March 23, 2020
With COVID-19 cornoavirus proliferating in the United States, and abroad, some grocery shoppers have begun panic purchasing. That behavior is not limited to Americans. Shoppers in other nations have also begun to panic purchase, which in turn, makes it difficult for those who genuinely need groceries to obtain them.
And at least one story has been published about people not being able to purchase much-needed food items, including one about a 51-year-old Critical Care Nurse in England who, after a 48-hour shift, wasn’t able to find any groceries for herself.
Top Out of Stock Categories of grocery store items
There are other readily-observable phenomenological (def. a “method of inquiryconcernedwiththeperceptionandexperience of objectsandevents as thebasisfortheinvestigation of reality”) matters, and events, at work. One such matter is the “80-20 rule.”
Also known as the Pareto Principle, after the Italian economist and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) who first described it, the rule, or principle certainly applies in this scenario.
Simply put, as it applies to consumption, the rule states that 80% of your product sales will come from 20% of your customers – or, if you prefer, 80% of consequences come from 20% of the causes, which thus asserts an unequal relationship between inputs (cause), and outputs (effect).
The 80/20 rule is borne out also by anecdotal observation, in which an Assistant Grocery Store Manager recently remarked to me that, “There are others who can’t buy things, because the same people are lining up at 6AM when the truck arrives and are buying basketfuls of the same things every time,” adding that, “It’s obviously way more than they need.”
Or, to put it another way, the suffering of 80% of the people who don’t have access to regularly-purchased items, is caused by 20% of the population. Things like that kinda’ gives you pause for thought, doesn’t it?
Further anecdotal evidence may be found among shoppers themselves, who report similarly, which is that a relatively small number of people are purchasing an inordinate quantity of select items, whatever they may be, and thus rapidly depleting available stock and inventories.
“Food supplies are plentiful throughout the supply chain and are being replenished continuously to meet the demand. Although some consumers may experience temporary out of stocks in some categories or brands, such as hand sanitizer and paper goods, stores are re-filling shelves as quickly as possible. Supermarket associates are working diligently to quickly restock shelves and clean stores. And, while consumers may find purchase limits on some products that are in high demand, such as toilet paper and cleaning supplies, this is simply to ensure as many customers as possible are able to purchase what they need.”
But since when do people give heed to sound advice, eh?
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, March 21, 2020
Dear Fuckwits,
STOP BUYING EVERY GODDAMNED THING ON THE SHELVES!
What’re you… stupid?
Oh… wait.
That’s a rhetorical question.
Look you selfish dimbulbs, this week I’ll need eggs, milk, flour, peanut butter and some meat – it makes no difference the type, beef, pork, fowl, etc. I would just like to have some protein in my diet, and I’m not a vegetarian.
So, I go to the grocery store, and what do I NOT find?
Meat – of every type – poultry, beef, pork, including seafood
Toilet paper – trees must be extinct
Flour – wheat must be extinct
Peanut butter – same song, second verse, second verse same as the first
NEVER in my life have I ever panic purchased anything… EVER!
And thanks EXCLUSIVELY to your unthinking, unkind, selfish stupidity, I will not have meat for the foreseeable future. That’s because I don’t stalk the grocery stores to purchase every goddamn thing just because I think that chickens, pigs, cows, trees, and wheat are, or will be suddenly extinct.
Fortunately, I don’t need toilet paper, because YOU ASSHOLES have purchased EVERY goddamn sheet on EVERY shelf in EVERY store EVERYWHERE!
You know, one gets the impression that you bunch of living, breathing tadpole-brained troglodytes have just discovered that you have rectums, and colons which experience peristalsis. I mean, after all… you must be shitting your brains out since you’ve purchased every goddamned sheet in every mother-fucking store.
And as for hand sanitizer and soap, one distinctly gets the impression that you have JUST NOW discovered Personal Hygiene and Public Health. You sons of bitches will probably re-elect POS45, too, won’t you?
Of course, the corollary to that, is that, by your behavior, you are obliquely acknowledging that you were – and probably still are – pig-ass nasty, to begin with.
You all are a collective shit-for-brains bunch of assholes, who aren’t worth the goddamned time of day.
It’s not just me who feels that way, either.
A RN friend needs toilet paper for her family.
You fucktards also made a Critical Care RN in England break down in tears because of your thoughtless selfishness. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, March 21, 2020
I did some research into the origins of such a thing as the “Toilet Paper Shortage,” and found it originated with a Republican, and Johnny Carson, the long-standing “Late Night” host on NBC, who, in December 1973 on The Tonight Show, made a joke that toilet paper was going to be in short supply.
His joke was based upon a little-known November 16th, 1973 press release by a Republican Representative from Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District – whose constituents complained Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, March 16, 2020
If, like me, you were hoping for more with the 11th Democratic debate which was to feature a 1 on 1 with Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, you were abysmally disappointed.
This Sunday’s 11th Democratic Candidate Debate featured only Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders in a 1 on 1, after every other candidate dropped out, and was nothing more than an opportunity for each candidate to rehash what they’d already said seemingly countless times earlier – on the stump, and on “debate” stages.
Previously scheduled to be held at Arizona Federal Theatre, 400 W Washington Street in Phoenix, AZ 85003, the debate was relocated and held at CNN’s Washington D.C. studios, before moderators only, with no live audience members, in order to limit possible exposure to COVID-19 coronavirus, which is now sweeping the country and world. Only 3 Moderators – Dana Bash, and Jake Tapper of CNN, and Ilia Calderon from Univision, who replaced Jorge Ramos, who had self-quarantined following possible COVID-19 exposure – were present.
The debate started out slowly, and even though there were only 2 candidates, the “rules” were just as before, that each candidate was allotted 90 seconds to respond to a question. I had hoped that there would be more interaction between the 2 candidates, and was only briefly satisfied with by their more free-wheeling interactions which Jake Tapper allowed, while Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, March 13, 2020
POTUS “Give ’em HELL!” Harry Truman (1884-1972) succeeded to the Office of the President in 1945 upon the death of POTUS Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945), who died during his FOURTH term in office.
Speaking at the White House Rose Garden for over an an hour, Trump was also asked if he took responsibility for the lag in making tests available for the coronavirus COVID-19… despite the fact that he dismantled government-spending programs related to fighting the spread of global diseases.
Trump replied,
“I don’t take responsibility at all.”
Remember when there was accountability, responsibility, ethics, honesty, and even virtue in the White House?
Yeah.
It was a Democrat – Harry Truman – FDR’s VP, whose desk sign read,
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, March 5, 2020
Take notice of this text of the upper area of the note:
“Why are we sending you a Notice of our Privacy Policy?
“Federal law permits banks, investment companies, and insurance companies to provide all their services under one organization. This same law requires State Farm to share our Notice of Privacy Policy in writing with you each year you are insured with us or maintain an account with us.”
Let me re-emphasize this point: “Federal law permits banks, investment companies, and insurance companies to provide all their services under one organization.”
This law – the Glass-Steagall Act – since its inception in Great Depression era America in 1933, FORBADE the incestuous fiscal orgy under which this nation now suffers.
The Glass-Steagall Act was the subject of intense lobbying efforts by Banks, Insurance Companies and Stock Brokerage Houses to repeal the law, and especially intensified circa 1960’s, climaxing in the late 1990’s under a Republican-controlled House and Senate.
The 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act allowed commercial banks, investment banks, securities firms, and insurance companies to consolidate, or commingle, their business.
Previously, it prohibited any of those institutions (banks, insurance companies, and stock brokerage houses) from acting as any combination of an investment bank, a commercial bank, or insurance company.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO YOU and ME, AND HOW DOES THIS AFFECT YOU and ME?
The recent financial melt-down in this nation – now being called “The Great Recession” – is due in large part to the elimination of the Glass-Steagall Act, because the banks that made bad loans, the insurance companies that insured the real estate and commercial paper, and the stock brokerage houses that traded the stocks of both, and owned both, were greedy for more gain, and eventually began to invent complex mechanisms and artificial commercial paper which came to be known as “derivatives.”
In essence, those “derivatives” were based upon Credit Default Swaps – another complex and inherently evil type of financial thing/device – which was described by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in March 2010 as “Credit-default swaps, where you insure your neighbor’s house just to destroy it and make money from it, that’s exactly what we have to curb. We must succeed at putting a stop to the speculators’ game with sovereign states.”
The types of investments that most people tend to be familiar with, such as stocks and bonds, involve betting that a company or government will do well. In stark contrast, a credit default swap (CDS) allows an investor to bet that a certain bond issuer will do poorly, or fail – not be able to meet its obligations. In financial markets, the CDS is sometimes thought of as a form of Read the rest of this entry »
Last Saturday, 22 February 2020, Elleen Kane, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, announced the plans to quarantine the evacuees which have been planned for transport this week.
Located on the site of the former Army training base Ft. McClellan, the CDP has a full training hospital on site which is
“The Noble Training Facility at the CDP is the only hospital facility in the United States dedicated solely to training hospital and healthcare professionals in disaster preparedness and response. The facility includes classrooms, exercise and simulation areas, an emergency operations center, emergency department, clinical ward, and an isolation ward for ‘patients’ with highly infectious diseases.”
The CDP is the nation’s only such training center, and has numerous trainings, for several classifications of personnel, including licensed Medical/Healthcare Professionals, system administrators, First Responders, Law Enforcement, Fire Fighters, and more.
Coronavirus is the novel type now being called Covid19, which is highly contagious, and airborne. The virus, which has caused tens of thousands of deaths worldwide, and continues to spread globally, is proving not only difficult to eradicate, but unpredictable, as well.
First thought to have emerged from the so-called “wet markets” in which live animals are slaughtered alongside prepared foods, in Wuhan, in Hubei Province, China, the virus is classified as a “zoonotic,” meaning it can spread from animals to humans.
Most images found in news stories show people wearing simple dust masks in the mistaken belief that the mask will help prevent them from inhaling the airborne pathogen. However, nothing could be further from the truth. The microscopic virion so small, it can easily pass through the pores of such masks. In fact, the N-95 respirator, which is used to prevent inhaling other airborne contagions like tuberculosis, is ineffective. That’s why its common to see folks in “space suits” treating patients.
At first blush, theories about the virus circulated on Social Media which blamed bats as the cause of the outbreak, and images and video of a woman eating “bat soup” (literally, eating a bat in a bowl of broth), were discovered to be a travelog writer and were not made in China. Then, based upon disinformation, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Should you want what your enemy wants for you?
That’s essentially the question that many should be asking themselves.
Our enemies, America’s enemies, the enemies of freedom, desire our destruction.
That’s a given.
Knowing that they desire to see America destroyed, they all have various tactics and strategies which they hope will accelerate, and prove successful in their effort to destroy America.
Should America do what our enemies want us to do?
Should America cower and coalesce to them?
Or, perhaps, should America stand firm in the beliefs and practices which made us strong?
The answer, I think, is obvious.
We should stand firm in the in the beliefs and practices which made us strong.
If it had been Hillary Clinton, I would’ve been against it.
But it wasn’t.
But the thing is, is that, the Russians have achieved what they wanted to do – and that is to get the President elected. And when you acknowledge that fact, you have to come to the conclusion that, for that reason, he is an illegitimate President regardless of how many Electoral College votes he got. And the Electoral College should be abolished. Because it was designed for a country 250 years ago.
And the problem with that – not bashing the Constitution – but the idea is, “it’s time for a change,” because right now, when you can communicate with someone on the opposite side of the globe, when you can talk to someone in Hong Kong, when you can talk to someone in London, England, when you can talk to someone in Sydney, Australia, when you can talk with someone in Banff, Canada, when you can talk with someone in Switzerland, and in Mumbai, India, SIMULTANEOUSLY, and have a conference call, you KNOW that worldwide global instant communications has revolutionized the way that we are able to think about things. That is a transformation of UNPARALLELED proportion! When one person can have a voice and speak around the world – globally, in an instant – our forefathers never dreamed of anything like that. They certainly didn’t dream of an automobile. And they could not have dreamt of satellites. They certainly couldn’t have dreamt of rockets. They didn’t even have electricity, for heaven’s sake! And they came up with this idea of the Electoral College.
Why?
Because communications was not instant n 1776, or in 1787 when the Constitutional Convention was established. They had to wait WEEKS, or even MONTHS, before people could be able to hear about what was going on. And now, we can have it in an instant. You have it on your cell phone.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, February 8, 2020
1872 Currier & Ives print, First Colored Senator & Representatives
Here is an 1872 Currier and Ives print depiction of the first African American GOP U.S. Senator and Representatives:
[LEFT to RIGHT] Sen. Hiram Revels (R-MS), Rep. Benjamin S. Turner (R-AL, 1), Robert DeLarge (R-SC, 2), Josiah Walls (R-FL, at large & 2), Jefferson Long (R-GA, 4), Joseph Rainey (R-SC, 1) and Robert B. Elliott (R-SC, 3).
Note that they’re ALL from the Deep South (MS, AL, FL, GA, SC).
Today, Blacks in the GOP are as scarce as hen’s teeth – particularly, and especially in the South.
It begs the question:
What happened politically since that time so that there were essentially NO Blacks after them in the U.S. House, or Senate (Congress), and today are especially absent from the GOP?
At the GOP’s 2000 Philadelphia convention, only 4.1% of the 2,066 delegates gathered in the City of Brotherly Love – 85 conventioneers – were African American.
And, according to a June 1 email from Telly Lovelace addressed to undisclosed recipients, the National Director for African American Initiatives and Urban Media for the Republican National Committee wrote that only 18 of the 2,472 delegates at the GOP’s 2016 Cleveland convention would be Black – 0.7281553398058253%.
Not even 1%.
And, in our nation’s 244-year history – since its 1776 founding to 2020 – there have ONLY been 10 African American Senators – 10.
Just ten.
The United States Senate website states this about African American Senators:
“To date, 10 African Americans have served in the United States Senate. In 1870 Hiram Revels of Mississippi became the first African American senator. Five years later, Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi took the oath of office. It would be nearly another century, 1967, before Edward Brooke of Massachusetts followed in their historic footsteps. Carol Moseley Braun broke new ground in 1993, becoming the first African American woman to serve as U.S. senator. In 2005 Barack Obama of Illinois became the fifth African American to serve and third to be popularly elected. Upon Obama’s resignation to become the nation’s first African American president, Roland Burris was appointed to fill the vacancy, becoming the sixth African American senator and the third to occupy the same Illinois Senate seat. Tim Scott of South Carolina was appointed to fill a vacancy in 2013, becoming the first African American since Reconstruction to represent a southern state in the Senate. He won a special election in 2014 to complete the term and was elected to a full term in 2016. The appointment of Massachusetts senator William “Mo” Cowan on February 1, 2013, marked the first time that two African Americans have served simultaneously in the United States Senate. Cory Booker of New Jersey became the ninth African American senator when he won a special election to replace Senator Frank Lautenberg on October 31, 2013. Booker won election to a full term in 2014. Kamala Harris became California’s first African American senator on January 3, 2017, bringing the number of African Americans serving simultaneously to three and the total number of African American senators to 10.”
Hiram Revels was a Republican.
Mr. Blanche K. Bruce was a Republican.
Edward Brooke was a Republican.
Carol Moseley Braun is a Democrat.
Brack Obama is a Democrat.
Roland Burris is a Democrat.
Tim Scott is a Republican.
William “Mo” Cowan is a Democrat.
Cory Booker is a Democrat.
Kamala Harris is a Democrat.
What has happened to cause the GOP to become the party of xenophobia, racists, and bigots?
It didn’t help things that the now-infamous Three-Fifths Compromise in the 1787 Constitutional Convention – Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 – ensconced into law that all non-White people were legally sub-human.
“Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul today read his disallowed question from the Senate Impeachment Trial of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States.
His pertinent comments while on the Senate floor are excerpted, in part, below.
The essence of what he is saying, is alleging by questioning (asserting, would be more like it), is that, there was an impeachment conspiracy being cooked up by governmental officials against the President, long before the President’s now-infamous July 25th phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He points to several faults with the FISA Court system, and what was very likely FBI abuse of that court system to “spy,” as he puts it, upon American citizens, and extrapolates from there.
To further bolster his case, Senator Paul points to open testimony given to the Senate by then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on March 12, 2013 in response to a question by Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat.
Senator Wyden asked, “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?”
Mr. Clapper replied, “No sir … not wittingly.”
We knew that Mr. Clapper lied because he later obliquely stated that he did in an interview with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell who asked him why he answered the way he did.
Clapper answered saying, “I thought, though in retrospect, I was asked ‘when are you going to … stop beating your wife’ kind of question, which is … not answerable necessarily by a simple yes or no. So I responded in what I thought was the most truthful, or least untruthful, manner by saying, ‘No.’”
Senator Wyden had also earlier given Mr. Clapper advance notice that he would ask that question, so in a sense, he was “putting him in a box,” and expecting him to either deny it, or admit it in his testimony. Senator Wyden is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, so he was regularly briefed on Top Secret programs, and knew the answer would be ‘YES’ before he asked it. He was simply giving Director Clapper an opportunity to be forthright about the matter. Director Clapper could have answered more circumspectly, or even use more finesse in his response, though he did neither.
But more to the point, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul does raise some interesting questions, although, on the whole, it certainly seems as if he’s Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, February 3, 2020
United States Senator from Tennessee, Lamar Alexander
Tennessee’s United States Senator, Lamar Alexander (b.1940), a 3-term Republican who is retiring this year, recently said of his decision to vote to acquit the President in the Impeachment Trial of Donald J. Trump, that, “I’m going to vote to acquit. I’m very concerned about any action that we could take that would establish a perpetual impeachment in the House of Representatives whenever the House was a different party than the president. That would immobilize the Senate.”
“It was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation. When elected officials inappropriately interfere with such investigations, it undermines the principle of equal justice under the law. But Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, February 1, 2020
What do Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Angela Merkel of Germany, Brigitte Macron of France, Aung San Suu Kyi of Indonesia, and Sonia Gandi of India have in common?
If you guessed that they are subjects of Italian artist Alexsandro Palombo, then you’d be correct.
In the images, all the women all have black eyes, numerous additional wounds to their face, cuts and bruises to their neck and upper torso, including fresh blood… it is explicitly clear that they all have suffered at the hands of an abuser.
Fortunately, the pictures are pure fiction.
In each of the images of the women, the artist digitally altered photographs of them to make it appear as if they all have been victims of savage assault.
The artist Alexsandro Palombo‘s work is on display in Milan, Italy, and his FaceBook site is linked to his name.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Wikipedia: The repository for all things stoopid.
Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder.
Those who regularly edit the site are called “Wikipedians.”
But, not to worry!
Because, yes… you TOO can edit Wikipedia!
And, best part of all?
One does NOT need to be a Subject Matter Expert to write about ANY given topic!
Seriously!
Someone without any knowledge of science, or mathematics, i.e., a total blithering idiot, could write about Astrophysics, String Theory, Calculus, Microbiology, and Jet Propulsion.
AND IT WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE!!!
But that’s far from its only problem. Take a look at this statement from an entry about “toast.”
Yes, toast.
“Though many types of bread can be toasted the most commonly used is “sliced bread”, referring to bread that is already sliced and bagged upon purchase and may be white, brown, multigrain, etc.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, January 17, 2020
Abby Phillip, CNN
To anyone watching, it was as plain as the nose on your face.
I’m neither a CNN fan, nor a CNN hater.
But this is blatant, and inexcusable.
It demonstrates an utter lack, and wholesale abandonment of professional journalistic integrity.
It wasn’t merely the Democrats or Progressives who noticed, either.
In fact, voices from the Conservative Right Wing were the loudest to decry the moderator Abby Phillip’s action.
I mean to refer to the 7th Democratic Debate held at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa this past Tuesday evening, 14 January 2020.
For some, it was analogously like the 7th Level of Hell in Dante’s Inferno, which was also full of violence toward individuals, and the Earth.
Though there were no fisticuffs, no bomb threats, no armed shooters, and no physical violence of any kind, there was another killing – two, in fact.
One, was CNN, which along with Moderator Abby Phillip, burned her journalism career, and the last shred of respectability or integrity CNN had remaining.
The other was Bernie Sanders.
It was obvious from the get-go.
Corporate interests in America do NOT want to see him win the Democratic Nomination for President.
Brianne Pfannenstiel, Chief Politics Reporter, The Des Moines Register, Iowa
“During the seventh round of Democrat debates Tuesday, CNN moderator Abby Phillip asked a shameful question that accused Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., of saying a woman could not win the 2020 election.”
The Chicago Tribune’s John Kass, another conservative columnist, also laid into CNN and Abby Phillip over her unethical journalistic behavior.
His remarks from his column, in part, are found below.
Even Rolling Stone magazine’s Matt Taibbi found Abby Phillip’s disrespectful treatment of Bernie Sanders to be not merely a cheap shot, but a calculated and active interference to sway viewers’ opinion.
The 24-hour network combines a naked political hit with a cynical ploy for ratings.
“This time, the whole network tossed the mud. Over a 24-hour period before, during, and after the debate, CNN bid farewell to what remained of its reputation as a nonpolitical actor via a remarkable stretch of factually dubious reporting, bent commentary, and heavy-handed messaging.
“The cycle began with a “bombshell” exposé by CNN reporter MJ Lee. Released on the eve of the debate, Lee reported Warren’s claim that Sanders told her a woman couldn’t win in a December 2018 meeting.
[These banal meanderings] “continued during the debate, with the chryon featuring questions like, “How will [Sanders] avoid bankrupting the country?” Or: “Does Sanders owe voters an explanation of how much his health plan will cost them and the country?””
CNN’s Chief Political Correspondent, Dana Bash, carried the ball over the line for the anti-Bernie Corporate Democrats – who were all assembled at CNN, including former DNC chair and commentator Terry McAuliffe, Clinton communications person Jess McIntosh, and former senior adviser to Barack Obama David Axelrod – and immediately after the debate concluded she said, “Do [voters] want a Bernie Sanders anti-interventionist, or do they want somebody who has experience and who has — as I’m sure you will hear behind us — voted for things like the Iraq war and maybe has made other decisions that he doesn’t regret and has been a leader on national security, but also has some that he does?”
Then McIntosh said this: “I think what Bernie forgot was that this isn’t a he said/she said story. This is a reported-out story that CNN was part of breaking. So, to have him just flat-out say no, I think wasn’t — wasn’t nearly enough to address that for the women watching.”
In her story for the Examiner, Breaking News Reporter Madison Dibble wrote in part that, “A moderator from the CNN/Des Moines Register debate sided with Elizabeth Warren in the he-said-she-said dispute over whether Bernie Sanders said a woman couldn’t be president.
“Abby Phillip, a CNN reporter, phrased her questions in defense of Warren, who claimed that Sanders told her he didn’t think a woman could be president during a meeting in 2018. The Vermont senator has denied that he ever said such a thing, but Phillip worded the questions as though there were evidence backing up Warren’s claim.”
Even POTUS Trump sees it.
They are rigging the election again against Bernie Sanders, just like last time, only even more obviously. They are bringing him out of so important Iowa in order that, as a Senator, he sit through the Impeachment Hoax Trial. Crazy Nancy thereby gives the strong edge to Sleepy…
POS45’s follow-up Tweet read, “….Joe Biden, and Bernie is shut out again. Very unfair, but that’s the way the Democrats play the game. Anyway, it’s a lot of fun to watch!”
Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile, who helped Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, was later discovered to have been pilfering debate questions ahead of time, and sharing them with Hillary, with the intent to defeat Bernie. Like Roger Stone, she remains unrepentant for her misdeeds. CNN also fired her for that activity. But CNN wasn’t the only one.
Fox News also showed Brazile the door with the left foot of fellowship.
Vice-President of Fox Ethics, Satya Martin, described Brazile’s firing:
“Donna Brazile is the worst reporter or commentator or whatever she is that I’ve ever known.
Her only goal, it seems, is to be contrary.
She literally claims opposite supposed ‘facts’ to everything that we report in the news. And her opinions are over the top in their opposition.
She’s like a child who just screams in tantrums against us for attention.
“She was fired from CNN for fabricating stories so she was already known as a purveyor of fake news.
The brass had their reasons for taking a chance on her.
I’m sure they wanted to attract a liberal audience just to show that we mean it when we say we’re fair and balanced.
But there’s fair and balanced and then there’s off her rocker crazy train journalism.
That’s Brazile.
Nuts.”
It wasn’t long after she was fired by CNN that Donna Brazile quickly wrote a tell-all which fingered Hillary as the brainchild behind an unethically-appearing fundraising bargain with the Democratic National Committee, in which the DNC was rigged in Clinton’s favor because her campaign was largely financing the party early on in the presidential election. And Donna Brazile, who knew about it from the get-go said the agreement “was not illegal, but it sure looked unethical.”
Of course,
as Bernie has long said,
it’s all about the Benjamins,
and a
Corporate System
legally rigged
AGAINST
the
Average American.
“What CNN did to Bernie Sanders in the Iowa Democratic presidential debate — stabbing him with the gender card on behalf of a weakened Elizabeth Warren — was cheap and unfair.
“And it was shameful.
“I’m probably the last guy to defend Sanders. He is a man of the far left and I most certainly am not.
“But even a conservative like me can see that Sanders was cheated out of the Democratic presidential nomination the last time, with the Democratic National Committee rigging the whole thing for Hillary Clinton. And now it’s happening again.
“No wonder the Sanders supporters are angry.
“What happened on CNN in Iowa was bad for journalism. But it sure was good for Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden.
“Sanders, the authentic candidate on the left in this cycle, as he was in the last, was surging in the Iowa polls. Warren, also on the left, was fading, desperate and in full panic. She began waving her gender card on that dangerous Intersectionality Highway where Democrats, addicted to identity politics, often crack up.
…
“And Joe? With Bernie on Trump jury duty in Washington, Biden is left to wander around Iowa with (former) Mayor Pete — who also was not challenged by CNN — and that radical billionaire environmentalist who made his gold in fossil fuels.
“No wonder Sanders’ supporters are upset. They’ve seen this before. They watched the same game play out three years ago, when the Democratic nomination was almost his, and establishment media handmaidens of the Democratic National Committee protected Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump.
“A Sanders vs. Trump campaign in 2016 would have been a clash of populist titans. Sanders could have won. We might see this matchup in 2020. Establishment Democrats are panicked, and conventional wisdom suggests Trump would smash him, but I’m not so sure.
“The electorate has been primed by relentless media attacks on Trump, who attacks them back. Americans are unsettled and worried about their future in a world undergoing economic upheaval. Bernie could win.
“The Democratic base is energized for 2020. Sanders, who suffered a heart attack weeks ago, looks positively vital when compared to Biden. Conventional wisdom also once said Republican Jeb Bush couldn’t be beat. How did that turn out?
“Joe is the new Jeb.
“I suppose it would be much easier to focus instead on Trump impeachment theater in Washington. But the script has been written, the Senate won’t convict Trump. It’s all posture and gesture and fundraising.
“I disagree with Sanders’ policies, but at least he’s honest about what he wants to do. Establishment Democrats see Sanders’ base as full of energy and know they must stop him in Iowa and New Hampshire.
“They feed Warren so Sanders doesn’t defeat Biden. And they’ll use friendly media to shape a stiletto and slip it between Bernie’s ribs.
“Sanders’ voters have seen this one before.”
And that is precisely what Bernie has been saying all along.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, January 12, 2020
For breakfast, I ate a Russet potato which was steamed in the pressure cooker for about 10 minutes. It was kept out of the water by placing it in a basket placed atop a trivet inside the stove-top cooker.
Most often, in any pressure cooker, the food being cooked rests in the water. However, I wanted to find out what the food would be like if it did not.
The potato had been thoroughly cleansed and rinsed in the usual manner some weeks earlier, which for me, includes a capful of common, unscented, household bleach in addition to Dawn® brand liquid dishwashing soap.
My general rule is, all fresh fruit and vegetables get that treatment because:
1.) You don’t know how many people handled it at the store having not washing their hands after toileting, and;
2.) You don’t know about the conditions in which it was grown, if e.coli or other really bad cooties might have been present, or if it “picked up” something in transit.
While recalls of vegetables tainted with e.coli or other pathological bacteria are neither rare, nor common, per se, they are ONLY on the outside of the food, never within. So, every vegetable – including green leafy ones – tubers, and fruits of all kinds – are all Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, January 9, 2020
Reproduction of an original photograph of Prince George of Greece and Denmark (1869-1957) and Princess Marie Bonaparte (1882-1962). Prince George is sitting to the right wearing military uniform. Princess Marie is standing beside him to the left with her right hand resting on her hip. She is wearing a pale coloured dress and strings of pearls. There is a wooden wall behind them. The photograph is signed and dated. Prince George of Greece and Denmark was the second son of George I, King of the Hellenes. Princess Marie Bonaparte was a descendant of Emperor Napoleon I, an heiress and a psychoanalyst. They married in 1907.
Identify the TRUE statements about Marie Bonaparte (1882-1962), great grand-niece of Emperor Napoleon:
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, December 30, 2019
Where in America can you, I, or anyone, go to be immune from the law?
It’s a “trick question,” or… is it?
And yes, it’s a VERY serious question; in fact, it is an argument of which – believe it, or not – Federal Appeals Court Judges are considering the merits.
POTUS John Adams (1735-1826) c.1800-1815, painting by Gilbert Stuart (175-1828)
One simply can’t imagine the notion – that in our nation, a nation of laws, and not of men, that anyone could be above the law – and yet… here we are.
In February 1775, John Adams published a collection of essays entitled “Novanglus” – popularly known as the Novanglus Essays – where the idea that foundling nation which became “The United States of America” was a nation of laws, and not of men – was first known to be expressed.
James Harrington, oil on canvas, feigned oval, circa 1635, on display at Gawthorpe Hall, Burnley
Historians argue that the idea, or thought, was almost certainly derived from James Harrington (1611-1677), an English political philosopher, whose most renown work, “The Commonwealth of Oceana” (1656) was owned by Adams (3rd edition-1747), contains his signature on the title page, and is found in The John Adams Library of Boston Public Library, and may found online here: https://archive.org/details/oceanaotherworks00harr/page/n5
On page 38 of the work, in the essay entitled “Oceana,” Harrington wrote in part that,
“Government, according to the Ancients, and their learned Disciple Machiavelli, the only Politician of later Ages is of three kinds: The Government of One Man, or of the Better Sort, or of the Whole People: which by their more learned names are called Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy. These they hold, though their proponents to degenerate, to be all evil. For whereas they that govern, should govern according to Reason, if they govern according to Passion, they do that which they should not do. Wherefore as Reason and Passion are two things, so Government by Reason is one thing, and the corruption of Government by Passion is another thing, but not always another Government: as a Body that is alive is one thing, and a Body that is dead is another thing, but not always another Creature, though the corruption of one comes at length to be the Generation of another. The Corruption then of Monarchy is called Tyranny; that of Aristocracy, Oligarchy; and that of Democracy, Anarchy. But Legislators having found these three Governments at the best to be naught, have invented another consisting of a mixture of them all, which only is good. This is the Doctrine of the Ancients.”
So it seems almost certain that Adams derived that idea from James Harrington, but it was Adams’s use of the phrase which popularized it. Of note, Adams also wrote the clause “government of laws, and not of men” in the Declaration of Rights drafted for the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780.
“If Aristotle, Livy, and Harrington knew what a republic was,
the British constitution is much more like a republic than an empire.
They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men. [emphasis added]
If this definition be just,
the British constitution is nothing more nor less than a republic,
in which the king is first magistrate.
This office being hereditary,
and being possessed of such ample and splendid prerogatives,
is no objection to the government’s being a republic,
as long as it is bound by fixed laws,
which the people have a voice in making,
and a right to defend.
An empire is a despotism,
and an emperor a despot,
bound by no law or limitation but his own will;
it is a stretch of tyranny beyond absolute monarchy.
For,
although the will of an absolute monarch is law,
yet his edicts must be registered by parliaments.
Even this formality is not necessary in an empire.
There the maxim is quod principi placuit legis habet rigorem,
even without having that will and pleasure recorded.
There are but three empires now in Europe,
the German or Holy Roman,
the Russian,
and the Ottoman.”
George Santayana
The aphorism written in 1905 by philosopher/author George Santayana in The Life of Reason, vol. 1: Reason in Common Sense, seems apropos here:
“Those who cannot remember the past
are condemned to repeat it.”
And so, that begs the question…
How could we have possibly gotten to this so very corrupted point?
Samuel Johnson
Again, let the words of the wise guide us, because when ideas or thoughts are repeated, it re-emphasizes their importance.
Renown lexicographer Samuel Johnson (1709–84) expressed that idea as much in Rambler No. 2 (24 March 1750) when he wrote in part that,
“Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.”
It is of unimaginable necessity that it is incumbent upon us to recollect this saying made by a GOP Presidential nominee candidate upon the campaign trail heading toward the Republican national convention:
“I could
stand in the middle of 5th Avenue
and shoot somebody,
and wouldn’t lose any voters…
okay?
It’s, like, incredible.”
POS45
–– Donald J. Trump, then-candidate for the Republican nomination as President, at a campaign rally 23 January 2016 at Dordt College, in Sioux Center, Iowa
On October 23, 2019, WilliamS.Consovoy, an attorney defending Trump against a suit filed by the House of Representatives seeking his tax returns, told the three-judge panel (en banc) of the Second United States Circuit Court of Appeals that Trump was LITERALLY immune from ANY type of prosecution.
Judge Denny Chin asked Mr. Consovoy, “What’s your view on the Fifth Avenue example? Local authorities couldn’t investigate, they couldn’t do anything about it?”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, December 20, 2019
Imagine… being seated at an exclusively small underground club, with a polished onyx table, reflecting a chandelier with 1500 Swarovski crystals, and being served some of the finest cabernet sauvignon wine which sells for $900 a bottle, with only your closest 20 to 30 billionaire and multi-millionaire friends present.
If that sounds too far-fetched, think again.
That was a recent closed-door Pete Buttigieg fundraiser in Napa Valley, California.
No, it’s not a joke.
Here are a couple screenshot images of an Instagram posting which has now been removed which shows the South Bend, Indiana Mayor rubbing elbows with the filthy rich and powerful.
THIS was the reason “wine caves, $900-dollar-per-bottle wine, and $5000 selfies” were mentioned in the Democrat’s December debate.
And, no, it’s NOT a joke when he’s called “Wall Street Pete.”
Turns out, there’s a good reason for it.
According to Fortune magazine’s October 4, 2019 article entitled “Pete Buttigieg Takes Lead as Big Business Candidate in 2020 Field,” “Buttigieg caused controversy this week when Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that he had emailed the mayor and his team resumes for campaign positions. The pair overlapped during their time at Harvard and have a number of mutual friends.
“In Silicon Valley, the former McKinsey consultant has attended fundraisers hosted on his behalf by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Nest Labs co-founder Matt Rogers, and Chelsea Kohler, director of product communications at Uber.
“Buttigieg has also racked up donations from a number of top Facebook executives, as well as Scott Belsky, chief product officer at Adobe, and Wendy Schmidt, the wife of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. He leads the 2020 field in the amount of online donations he’s received online from California tech employees. Biden, meanwhile, didn’t crack the top five.
“Buttigieg, meanwhile, has been making himself known to the Wall Street set. The combat veteran out-raised all of his political rivals in Connecticut during the third quarter of this year, according to Federal Elections Commission filings. Connecticut is the wealthiest state in the U.S., largely because of its large concentration of Wall Street and Hedge Fund luminaries.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Hardly a day goes by without at least one story about firearm violence in America.
Senator Joe Biden as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee when he helped write the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act, which overturned 6 Supreme Court rulings, popularized the modern gun show, created the “Gun Show Loophole,” and facilitated mass shootings by allowing guns to be sold through the U.S. Postal Service and Internet.
It would be darkly funny only if it weren’t so true.
But, on the day after Friday the 13th, this past Saturday, December 14th, 2019, while shoppers thronged the Cumberland Mall in search of Christmas gifts in the Atlanta, GA area, the Cobb County Police Department said that, at 1:18PM EST (local time), following an argument, 18-year old Ethan Green was shot in the neck and shoulder while in the food court by 18-year-old Zaire Dhanoolal and accomplice 19-year-old Joweer Ponce.
Both the accused young men are from nearby Marietta, GA, and Dhanoolal was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, while his accomplice Ponce was charged with reckless conduct and carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.
Police relied upon surveillance video to identify the suspects, which showed that the suspects first pointed their pistols at 21-year-old Anthony Ezell who wasn’t injured, but was considered a victim of aggravated assault because the suspects pointed a gun at him before Green was shot.
That is nothing but purely shameful. Firearms are killing us.
“But,” counter some people, “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”
Yes, that’s true, but we don’t have to ignore the “elephant in the room” which is the alarming number of injuries and deaths from firearms – deliberate and accident – including mass shootings. It’s nothing short of inexcusable.
Firearm-related violence is at catastrophic proportions in our nation, and gun sickness is the root cause.
In 1981 Gil Scott-Heron prophetically sang a song entitled simply as “Gun,” from his album “Reflections” which lyrics are in part as follows:
“Everybody got a pistol, everybody got a .45
And the philosophy seem to be,
At least as near as I can see,
When other folks give up theirs, I’ll give up mine.
This is a violent civilization;
If civilization’s where I am.
Every channel that I stop on
Got a different kind of cop on
Killing them by the million for Uncle Sam.
Saturday night just ain’t that special.
Yeah, I got the Constitution on the run.
‘Cause even though we’ve got the right
To defend our home, to defend our life,
Got to understand to get it in hand about the guns.
Everybody got a pistol, this mosty be the NRA
Yeah ’cause when it’s time to line up
You know damn well they’re gonna shine up
Everybody…
Point being, that it wasn’t always like this.
And, sad to say,
then-Senator Joe Biden had a direct hand in
relaxing and eradicating hundreds of laws, and
vacating at least 6 Supreme Court decisions by
his advocacy of the
Firearm Owners’ Protection Act (FOPA).
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, December 18, 2019
It has begun.
Debate will last 6 hours – 3 hours each for Democrats -and- Republicans.
This is SERIOUS stuff.
It is NOT a “witch hunt,” “fake news,” or any other absurd claim which Trump, his GOP sycophants, or his other blind supporters have made.
AND… “YES!”
Michigan’s U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib (13-D) said, “And when your son looks at you and says, ‘Mama, look, you won. Bullies don’t win,’ and I said, ‘Baby, they don’t’ – because we’re gonna go in there and we’re going to impeach the motherfucker.”
Why would she ever say such a thing?
Because our nation’s Intelligence and Investigative services ALL KNEW that the Russians had interfered in our election to aid Trump and get him elected.
Her remarks were made AFTER the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, the CIA, and ALL 17 Intelligence Services concluded the exact same thing – Russians directly interfered in the 2016 General Election to elect Donald Trump.
They – the Russians – were successful.
And WHY?!?
Why did the Russians do that?
Precisely to bring about division and confusion in our nation which is now painfully present.
The Russians have won Phase One of their War Against Freedom – destroy your enemy from within, get them to destroy themselves. Bullets need not be fired, troops need not be dispatched.
The only bomb that been dropped is not just Trump’s election, but the revelations that the man who has long been known to be a skilled and chronically habitual liar – Donald John Trump – lied about what he did, despite overwhelming testimony to the contrary from numerous honorable men and women who have faithfully served in various offices – ranging from our Armed Services, Intelligence Services, to the Diplomatic Corps, and more – in our nation for decades.
Some say that the “Cold War” is over, since the Communists are now apparently gone from Russian government. They claim that since Russia is no longer called the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), that Vladimir Putin, who for many years was the head of the KGB – their Secret Police – (now known as the GRU) and is now “President” of Russia, is some benign benefactor or friendly power to which we should bow.
The lyrics of British rock group “The Who” in their 1971 song “Won’t Get Fooled Again” perfectly and succinctly express the present condition in Russia:
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, December 13, 2019
Recently, the Washington Post published the results of a lengthy, in-depth, years-long investigation into the War in Afghanistan, which were published only after even more years of prolonged court battles.
See: The Afghanistan Papers A secret history of the war
At war with the truth
U.S. officials constantly said they were making progress. They were not, and they knew it, an exclusive Post investigation found.
“A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.
“The documents were generated by a federal project examining the root failures of the longest armed conflict in U.S. history. They include more than 2,000 pages of previously unpublished notes of interviews with people who played a direct role in the war, from generals and diplomats to aid workers and Afghan officials.
“The U.S. government tried to shield the identities of the vast majority of those interviewed for the project and conceal nearly all of their remarks. The Post won release of the documents under the Freedom of Information Act after a three-year legal battle.
“It took three years and two federal lawsuits for The Post to pry loose 2,000 pages of interview records.
“In the interviews, more than 400 insiders offered unrestrained criticism of what went wrong in Afghanistan and how the United States became mired in nearly two decades of warfare.
“With a bluntness rarely expressed in public, the interviews lay bare pent-up complaints, frustrations and confessions, along with second-guessing and backbiting.
News of the Washington Post’s news was widespread, and numerous news reporting outlets and agencies reported on and shared the Post’s findings. One such outlet was The Guardian.
See:
Afghanistan papers reveal US public were misled about unwinnable war
“Hundreds of confidential interviews with key figures involved in prosecuting the 18-year US war in Afghanistan have revealed that the US public has been consistently misled about an unwinnable conflict.
“Transcripts of the interviews, published by the Washington Post after a three-year legal battle, were collected for a Lessons Learned project by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar), a federal agency whose main task is eliminating corruption and inefficiency in the US war effort.
“The 2,000 pages of documents reveal the bleak and unvarnished views of many insiders in a war that has cost $1tn (£760bn) and killed more than 2,300 US servicemen and women, with more than 20,000 injured. Tens of thousands of Afghan civilians have died in the conflict.” …
Imagine that… ONE TRILLION dollars wasted down a rat hole, and being lied to about it all. What could we have done with that money? What would an extra $20 Billion looked like to each of the 50 states? That’s how much they would’ve had were it divvied up that way. Or, expressed another way, that’s a little over $3000 for every man, woman, and child now residing in the United States.
Oh… how about improved our national infrastructure?
Or, how about improved delivery of healthcare to our citizen-residents, their families, children, and elderly?
Or, how about improving and shoring up Social Security Trust Fund? That one could be more easily and readily accomplished by making it a “HANDS OFF!” account, and forbidding use/disbursement of its money for any other purpose than for claims upon it, thus making is solvent into perpetuity. But, Congress likes to use that money as a practical “slush fund” to pay for things that they don’t have the guts to raise taxes to pay for. THAT MUST CHANGE!!
But, nearly 20 years ago, exactly one day BEFORE the now-infamous day of September 11, 2001, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld delivered an address which was broadcast live throughout all DOD installations worldwide, was published on the DOD website, and was entitled “Bureaucracy to Battlefield.
Article 1 – Abuse of Power: 23 Ayes, 17 Noes
Article 2 – Obstruction of Congress: 23 Ayes, 17 Noes
As expected, based upon the evidence, the Democrats have voted to impeach POS45, and the GOP denies anything ever happened.
To be reported to the House.
Committee is adjourned.
The House, with 235 Democratic members, has the majority over Republicans’ 199. Presumably, all Democrats will vote to approve the Articles of Impeachment.
From there (the House), if approved by the House, the Articles of Impeachment would go to the Senate for a Trial, which would be presided over by SCOTUS Chief Justice John Roberts.
Senate votes to watch:
1.) Mitt Romney-UT, R
2.) Cory Gardner-CO, R, Class 2, up for re-election
3.) Tim Scott-SC, R,
4.) Susan Collins-ME, R, Class 2, up for re-election
5.) Angus King-ME, I
6.) Rand Paul-KY, R
7.) John Kennedy-LA, R
8.) Lisa Murkowski-AK, R, Class 2, up for re-election
9.) Martha McSally-AZ, R, up for Special Election in 2020, appointed to fulfill John McCain’s (Class 3) term, following John Kyl’s resignation. General Election will be in 2022.
10.) Lamar Alexander-TN, R, Class 2, retiring
Senator Alexander issued a written statement about impeachment October 8, 2019 as follows:
“It’s inappropriate for the president to be talking with foreign governments about investigating his political opponents, but impeachment would be a mistake. An election, which is just around the corner, is the right way to decide who should be president. Impeachment has never removed a president. It will only divide the country further.
“If the House impeaches the president, the Senate would be the jury. There would be many twists and turns between now and a Senate trial. Therefore, as a potential juror, I will have nothing more to say about impeachment until all the evidence is presented and all the arguments are made.”
All are GOPers, save Angus King, who defected from the Democrats to become independent in 1993, though like Bernie Sanders, he caucuses with them.
There are 53 GOP Senators, and to convict, and thereby remove from office, requires a Constitutionally-mandated ⅔ vote of members present (Article I, section 3). The VP CANNOT participate.
I sincerely doubt the Senate will vote to convict
– even on Obstruction of Congress charges –
despite overwhelming open evidence that he did,
and his own public admissions that he did.
The Constitution requires a 2/3 vote of all Senators present to convict. If all 100 are present, that’s 67 votes.
There are 53 GOPers in the Senate (and 2 Independents, who caucus with the 45 Democrats), which would mean that, in order to obtain the 67 necessary votes, 20 GOPers would have to vote with the Democrats and Independents (who presumably will vote to convict). And, there are 4 GOP Senators retiring in 2020 – which is important, because they could vote their conscience to convict, and not be concerned about re-election.
Even if all 10 votes to watch (as mentioned above) voted with the Democrats, there’d still be 10 more GOP votes needed to convict, and that most likely ain’t gonna’ happen.
This is STRICTLY a power play, and the ONLY reason the GOP tolerates Trump is because of a line in the Bob Seger song “Night Moves”:
“I used her, she used me; neither one cared.”
However, come November, there’ll be several Senators up for re-election, and five announced retirements, and in at least one Read the rest of this entry »
