Lessons Learned, and Not Learned

What lessons could we learn from nicotine chewing gum?

You might be surprised.

Read on.

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Having never been addicted to anything (or, anyone), the craving for a substance, other than food & water for sustenance, it interests me to understand the strong cravings that some have for non-food substances, including, for example, tobacco, spiritous beverage, or narcotics abused, or other illicit substances, including cocaine, methamphetamine, etc.

For years, I have, on a personal level, maintained that addiction was not what many were saying that it was, some years ago. And in the interim, from then until now, indeed, the definition, and our understanding of addiction has substantially changed, precisely because of our increased understanding of physiology, in conjunction with improved recognition of cause-and-effect patterns of human behavior.

For example, with smokers, they almost always fall into habituation through association with routine. Wake up, toilet, smoke, bathe, smoke. Drink coffee, smoke. Drive to work, smoke. Work a couple hours, smoke break. Work a few more, lunch break, smoke. Work a bit, smoke break. Off work, drive home, smoke. Get cleaned up, smoke. Watch teevee, smoke. Eat supper, smoke. Have cocktails/nightcap, smoke. And it all repeats itself the next day. That’s significantly serious behavioral reinforcement.

Those who make effort to quit, frequently forget the association of routine with smoking, and when determined to quit, they sometimes

American Healthcarers Pushed To The Brink May Never Recover

Things aren’t looking good for those working in American healthcare.

American healthcare will likely never be the same again. But, that matter aside, if folks are quitting en masse, who’ll “call the shots”?

As I have sadly maintained, MANY MORE need to die from COVID-19 — MANY, MANY more. Perhaps at least 3 to 4 times more, or even more, because apparently, at least 766,232 known COVID-19 related deaths in America are hardly enough, and more likely in excess of 900,000 still isn’t nearly enough. Folks don’t “believe” enough. When death touches very close to home, it will make a believer out of many of those foolish deniers.

And in fact, researchers from:
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), from the
• University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), and
two independent researchers from
• Medical Development and Scientific/Clinical Affairs, Pfizer Vaccines, Collegeville, Pennsylvania and Center for Observational and Real-World Evidence, Merck & Co Inc, Kenilworth, New Jersey,
have all independently found that reported deaths from COVID-19 in the United States, and globally, have been significantly under-reported and underestimated.

The essence of what they all independently did was to compare the typical average, to-be-expected death rate, to the presently reported death rate from COVID-19, and added the two figures.

January 5, 2021
Estimation of US SARS-CoV-2 Infections, Symptomatic Infections, Hospitalizations, and Deaths Using Seroprevalence Surveys
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2774584

May 6, 2021, 12:58 PM ET
NEWS ITEM:
New Study Estimates More Than 900,000 People Have Died Of COVID-19 In U.S.
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/05/06/994287048/new-study-estimates-more-than-900-000-people-have-died-of-covid-19-in-u-s

Published online May 13, 2021
Estimation of excess mortality due to COVID-19
http://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/files/Projects/COVID/2021/Estimation-of-excess-mortality-due-to-COVID.pdf

July 1, 2020
Excess Deaths From COVID-19 and Other Causes, March-April 2020
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2768086

July 1, 2020
NEWS ITEM:
COVID-19 Death Toll Underreported, Study Finds
VCU/Yale study published in Journal of the American Medical Association
July 1 2020 Last revised: 22 Aug 2021
https://www.virginiabusiness.com/article/covid-19-death-toll-underreported-study-finds/

Behavioral Dynamics of COVID-19: Estimating Under-Reporting, Multiple Waves, and Adherence Fatigue Across 92 Nations
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3635047

October 15, 2021
Estimation of total and excess mortality due to COVID-19
http://www.healthdata.org/special-analysis/estimation-excess-mortality-due-covid-19-and-scalars-reported-covid-19-deaths
(This page was updated on October 15, 2021 to reflect changes in our modeling strategy. View our previous methods published May 13, 2021 here.)

Researchers have independently found that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused at least 6.9 million deaths worldwide, twice the number officially reported.

The IHME estimated total COVID-19 deaths by comparing anticipated deaths from all causes based on pre-pandemic trends with the actual number of all deaths caused during the pandemic.

In the United States, the analysis estimated over

Republicans Are In Trouble

79.

That’s the current number of Congressional resignations from the House, and Senate which will be replaced soon.

The House has 73 resignations, while the Senate has 6, of which 60 are Republicans, and 19 Democrats.

Alabama’s Special Election in which Democrat Doug Jones won was a bellwether (he’s the first Democrat to represent Alabama in the Senate since Howell Heflin retired in 1997, and the first Democrat elected statewide since 2008), and Democrat Conor Lamb’s win in Pennsylvania’s highly gerrymandered 18th Congressional District was confirmation. Lamb, whose district voted for Trump by nearly 20 points and wasn’t supposed to win (The Cook Political Report rated the district R+11), was sworn in April 12. Pennsylvania’s State Supreme Court also ruled that such gerrymandering was unconstitutional.

Here’s another Special Election to watch.

April 24 is the date of Arizona’s Special Election to replace Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ, 8) who resigned amidst claims that he asked at least two female staffers to be surrogate mothers for him and his wife.

The Democratic candidate is Hiral Tipirneni, a former Emergency Room Physician who now works as a cancer research advocate.

Her Republican challenger is Republican AZ state Sen. Debbie Lesko.

Arizona Central newspaper reported from the candidates’ Campaign Finance disclosures, that

Thoughts Upon Hearing Minnesota U.S. @SenFranken’s Resignation From The Senate

Someone says

“I kissed your wife/husband,”

versus

“I raped your wife/husband.”

Which is more severe, and therefore, significantly more worthy of investigation?

It ~OUGHT~ be plainly evident to any rationally-minded individual.

Minnesota U.S. Senator Al Franken (D), official portrait

There ~are~ degrees of wrongness… which is precisely why there are degrees of severity of crime – including misdemeanor, and felony – including First Degree, Second Degree, Third Degree, etc.

By NO means am I defending Sen. Franken against any allegations of impropriety, nor am I negating the claims of his female accusers, who, that as he said in his resignation speech from the Senate floor, “all women deserve to be heard, and their experiences taken seriously.”

It is to acknowledge, that, again as he said, “This decision is not about me – it’s about the people of Minnesota. It’s become clear that I can’t both pursue the Ethics Committee process, and at the same time, remain an effective Senator for them.”

I concur with his decision.

He may be down now, but by NO MEANS is he out. And, he said as much in that same brief speech.

Franken will not be absent long from the political process. Some have supposed that Franken may shortly run for the US House, and or MN Governorship.

And when he returns, to whatever office, or in whatever capacity, it will be with an increased fervor, reinvigorated vision, and significantly greater intensity.

His brief speech from the U.S. Senate floor, Thursday, 7 December 2017.

#Breaking #News – #ALpolitics Corrupt, Scandalized Republican @GovernorBentley To Resign Later Today

Update: Saturday, 20 February 2021
NOTE: TO THE READER: As you read any story mentioning, involving or written by Donald V. Watkins, Sr., it must be borne in mind that he is now a Federal Convict, and along with his son, Donald V. Watkins, Jr., was found guilty of numerous charges. “Donald Watkins Sr. was convicted of seven counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy. Donald Watkins Jr. was convicted of one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.” As of the date of this note, he is in Federal Custody at Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center, an administrative security facility, having been relocated away from the minimum security Federal Prison Camp on Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

DONALD V. WATKINS
Register Number: 36223-001
Age:	72
Race:	Black
Sex:	Male
Located at: Oklahoma City FTC
Release Date: 01/10/2024

Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Alabama
FATHER AND SON SENTENCED TO PRISON IN MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR INVESTMENT FRAUD SCHEME
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndal/pr/father-and-son-sentenced-prison-multimillion-dollar-investment-fraud-scheme

Here also is the SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT dated December 2018 entitled as:
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA SOUTHERN DIVISION, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. DONALD V. WATKINS, SR. and DONALD V. WATKINS, JR. – 2:18-cr-166-KOB-TMP
https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1116081/download

See also: Donald Watkins, Son Sentenced For Federal Fraud Convictions
Updated Jul 16, 2019; Posted Jul 16, 2019
https://www.al.com/news/2019/07/donald-watkins-son-to-be-sentenced-for-federal-fraud-convictions.html

See also: Donald Watkins’ $1.5 Billion Question: Was It Ever Real?
Updated Feb 23, 2019; Posted Feb 23, 2019
https://www.al.com/news/2019/02/donald-watkins-15-billion-question-was-it-ever-real.html

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No love lost.

See also: http://www.al.com/news/montgomery/index.ssf/2017/04/alabama_gov_robert_bentley.html

http://whnt.com/2017/04/10/governor-robert-bentleys-office-in-negotiations-to-set-terms-of-his-resignation-sources-say/

www.alreporter.com/2017/04/10/gov-robert-bentley-reaches-agreement-resign

By Josh Moon and Bill Britt
Alabama Political Reporter

MONTGOMERY — Gov. Robert Bentley has agreed to resign later today, several sources have confirmed to the Alabama Political Reporter.

The Governor reached an agreement with state lawmakers and law enforcement officials early Monday morning to step down. The terms of the deal were not immediately available.

Bentley’s resignation comes after a tumultuous weekend following the release of a salacious report from the House Judiciary Committee’s special counsel, Jack Sharman.

Sources told APR on Sunday that a steady stream of Bentley’s friends and confidants have spoken to the governor since the Friday release of Sharman’s investigative report. That report and its supporting documentation revealed embarrassing details about Bentley’s relationship with former aide Rebekah Mason and provided evidence of potential criminal misuse of state resources…

 

–BREAKING NEWS—

Governor Robert Bentley Is Resigning

By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on April 10, 2017
Used with permission

It started with a special series of exclusive investigative articles published on this Facebook page. This first series of articles was titled, “Forbidden Love – Robert Bentley’s Secret Love Affair”. This historic four-part series was published on September 4, 9, 11, and 13, 2015. It detailed Governor Bentley’s secret love affair with