Evangelicalism Poisons Christians’ Pool

The late, renown musician Greg Allman, with his Southern Rock group “The Allman Brothers Band,” recorded and performed a song entitled “Angeline,” which was written by band members Dickey Betts, Mike Lawler, and John Andrew Cobb. Greg had no part in the song’s creation, other than to sing, and record it, where is appears as Track 1, Side 2 (Track 5 on CD) of the band’s first Arista Records, Inc. label release, on their August 1980 album “Reach for the Sky.”

The song’s chorus contains the partial lyric “I never seen a woman who could look so good, and be so doggone mean. Yeah.”

I had forgotten the song’s title was Angeline, rather than Evangeline, but the point is, that the name “Evangeline” is a feminine one, and in a couple places in the New Testament, and in modernity, the “church” is frequently referred to as a feminine subject, a “virgin bride” which will “marry” Jesus Christ. And, I had not forgotten the song’s lyric “I never seen a woman who could look so good, and be so doggone mean.” 

That is a sadly perfect picture of the church today: Alleged to be beautiful (“a woman who could look so good,”) but whose attractiveness is marred to the point of repulsion, i.e., “be so doggone mean.”

The song’s final verse is:

Whoa, just a game that she loves to play,
leavin’ broken hearts all along the way.
She’s got friends that she ain’t never used.
She’s winnin’ now but she’s bound to lose.
Oh, Angeline.

Again, a picture perfect illustration of a very sad situation: Selfish use and abuse, then, abandonment, and ultimately, loss.

What many folks don’t realize (and, by “folks,” I specifically mean to refer to those who name Christ, or claim to be Christian), that many of the researchers and historical figures of importance in the history of healthcare and immunology were Christians.

Edward Jenner (1749-1823), considered widely as the “father,” or discoverer of vaccination, was himself a son of a Christian vicar, the 4th son, and 8th of 9 children, whose both parents died in 1754. But what is equally ironic, is that in his era, when he was actively developing a treatment and cure for smallpox, “Jenner was widely ridiculed. Critics, especially the clergy, claimed it was repulsive and ungodly to inoculate someone with material from a diseased animal. A satirical cartoon of 1802 showed people who had been vaccinated sprouting cow’s heads. But the obvious advantages of vaccination and the protection it provided won out, and vaccination soon became widespread. Jenner became famous and now spent much of his time researching and advising on developments in his vaccine.”

Religious-minded people of the era, Christians, specifically, were widely opposed to the concept of disease prevention by inoculation.

Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn’t it?

Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753). Portrait by Godfrey Kneller, 1716. Copyright © The Royal Society.

And yet, in the time since Jenner’s era,

Dog Came to Me in a Dream and Said…

…and Dog said, “Don’t get the vaccine.”

I was going to vaccinate Dog against rabies.

So, I asked Dog, “Dog, do you want to get the vaccine?”

Dog said, “I’m worried that it’ll make me sterile.”

I reminded Dog that she’d been spayed since shortly after she adopted me, about 5ive years.

Dog then said, “I need to be free to make my own decision.”

I reminded Dog that

Research: Moderna’s mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine MORE EFFECTIVE Than Estimated

Scientists and researchers have released their findings of the effectiveness of Modern’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. Initial scientific estimates were that the vaccine would have an effectiveness of 68.5%. But after the lengthy process of laboratory analysis of large groups of participants, scientists found that the vaccine is 96.1% effective after both doses have been given. And, only about one-half of one percent of the recipients had any serious side effects – a phenomenally low rate.

The long-awaited results of an immunity effectiveness study of Moderna’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine have been released.

And, there’s GREAT NEWS!

In part, laboratory test findings of  30,415 individuals who participated in the study from July 27, 2020 to October 23, 2020, have shown that the Vaccine is

MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE THAN PREVIOUSLY ESTIMATED!

Sneak Preview

The paper entitled “Immune Correlates Analysis of the mRNA-1273 COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy Trial” – on the preprint server (a “sneak preview” before being officially published in a scientific journal) – may be found here: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.09.21261290v1

Pertinent excerpts in red from the paper follow. 

Effectiveness First Estimated At 94%

Background — In the Coronavirus Efficacy (COVE) trial, estimated mRNA-1273 vaccine efficacy against coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) was 94%. SARS-CoV-2 antibody measurements were assessed as correlates of COVID-19 risk and as correlates of protection.

How do we identify correlates of protection?

• “Correlates of protection are generally identified by comparing the immune response of those protected by the vaccine and so called ‘breakthrough cases’, where clinical disease manifests despite prior vaccination. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, the numerous vaccines developed have proven very effective with low incidences of breakthrough cases making the identification of potential correlates of protection a slow process. As a result, comparisons with previously published data relating to both natural infection and vaccine studies have been drawn.”

Blood Levels Checked 3 Times

Methods — Through case-cohort sampling, participants were selected for measurement of four serum antibody markers at Day 1 (first dose), Day 29 (second dose), and Day 57: IgG binding antibodies (bAbs) to Spike, bAbs to Spike receptor-binding domain (RBD), and 50% and 80% inhibitory dilution pseudovirus neutralizing antibody titers calibrated to the WHO International Standard (cID50 and cID80). Participants with no evidence of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection were included. Cox regression assessed in vaccine recipients the association of each Day 29 or 57 serologic marker with COVID-19 through 126 or 100 days of follow-up, respectively, adjusting for risk factors.

Neutralizing Antibody Levels Highly Predictive Of Immune Protection

• Vaccine 96.1% Effective
• Vaccine EXTREMELY Safe — under ½ of 1% had serious side effects

Results — Day 57 Spike IgG, RBD IgG, cID50, and cID80 neutralization levels were each inversely correlated with risk of COVID-19: hazard ratios 0.66 (95% CI 0.50, 0.88; p=0.005); 0.57 (0.40, 0.82; p=0.002); 0.41 (0.26, 0.65; p<0.001); 0.35 (0.20, 0.60; p<0.001) per 10-fold increase in marker level, respectively, multiplicity adjusted P-values 0.003-0.010. Results were similar for Day 29 markers (multiplicity adjusted P-values <0.001-0.003). For vaccine recipients with Day 57 reciprocal cID50 neutralization titers that were undetectable (<2.42), 100, or 1000, respectively, cumulative incidence of COVID-19 through 100 days post Day 57 was 0.030 (0.010, 0.093), 0.0056 (0.0039, 0.0080), and 0.0023 (0.0013, 0.0036). For vaccine recipients at these titer levels, respectively, vaccine efficacy was 50.8% (−51.2, 83.0%), 90.7% (86.7, 93.6%), and 96.1% (94.0, 97.8%). Causal mediation analysis estimated that the proportion of vaccine efficacy mediated through Day 29 cID50 titer was 68.5% (58.5, 78.4%).

 

See also:

Antibody Levels Help Predict Immunity After A COVID Shot 

: Shots – Health News 

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/08/23/1029827996/new-evidence-points-to-antibodies-as-a-reliable-indicator-of-vaccine-protection

 

Terms to help understanding:

• cID – Culture Infective Dose, the amount of an infective agent which will produce infection in 50% of the cultures

• CI – Confidence Interval, statistical term indicating a range of values, and the probability at which a certain value will be found in that range

• IgG – Immunoglobulin G, also known as antibodies, a protein component of blood & body fluids, produced by immune response cells called plasma cells, is a defensive response to bacteria, viruses and exposure to other harmful antigens to prevent infection; is the most common type of antibody; IgA (15%), IgD, IgE, IgG (70-80%), and IgM are the types; each one has a different role; IgM responds first, increases, then gives way to IgG; IgA is found in tears, saliva, gastric secretions, breast milk, protects mucosal areas, including sinuses & lungs; IgD role not completely understood, not typically measured; IgE associated w allergies, allergic diseases, parasitic infections. The body has a “catalog” of IgG antibodies that can be rapidly reproduced whenever it’s exposed to the same antigen.

• mRNA-1273 – scientific “shorthand” for Moderna’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine

• titer – a lab test measuring the concentration of any particular substance, such as antibodies, in a given volume of fluid (blood); used to determine immunity

• inverse correlation – a mathematical relationship between two things, in which when one is high, the other is low, and vice versa

• efficacy – the ability to produce desired results, as “effectiveness,” i.e., does it work?

• hazard ratio – the chance of an event occurring in the treatment, or control, group of a study

• immune correlates – a shortened form of “immune correlates of protection,” refers to immunity, asks the question “has immunity been obtained?” and is determined by a measurable immune response to a vaccine, statistically proven to protect against a particular disease

• serologic marker – refers to serum, the non-cellular component of blood, which includes antigens, antibodies, etc.; a measurement of findings associated with disease, or treatment

• SARS-CoV-2 – Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome COronaVirus 2, the scientific name of the pathogenic (disease causing) virus that causes COVID-19

• Cox regression – statistical term named for prominent British statistician Sir David Cox (b.1924), for a predictive model which determines the time is takes for a specific event to happen

• causal mediation analysis – mathematical test determining: 1.) Total effect of X on Y; 2.) Relationship between X and M; 3.) Relationship between M and Y, controlling for X, and; 4.) Determining if M is a full, or partial mediator. Mediation is the process through which an exposure causes disease.

COVID-19 Vaccination Resistance: Let Them Die — So Close Yet So Far Away

Let them die.

I’m sick and goddamn tired of their INSANE conspiratorial bullshit.

LET THEM DIE.

“Actions have consequences,” they’re frequently fond of saying, and then perversely take some sense of pride in portraying themselves as “victim” — a role which they have gleefully derided and mocked over the years as they attempt to justify their various perverse positions.

Now, they want to assume that very role.

LET THEM DIE.

They mistakenly think that they’ll be some kind of pretend political “hero” for their imaginary “lost cause.” Heroes almost always end up dead.

LET THEM DIE.

Everyone has a proverbial and practical expiration date, and just like milk and other dairy products, which can be soured relatively quickly or ruined prematurely if not properly cared for by refrigeration, so can the human body be ruined if improperly cared for by smoking, excessive consumption of food and/or beverage alcohol intake, sedentary lifestyle, lopsided dietary intake, regular consumption of nutritionally deficient foods, and other forms of improper and inadequate care, including deliberate neglect, and wanton failure to prevent malfunction and disease.

LET THEM DIE.

Physicians cannot, and will not, treat patients who refuse to cooperate with the course of treatment.

LET THEM DIE.

Engrave upon their headstones “s/he wanted, and chose to die from a preventable disease.”

LET THEM DIE.

LET THEM DIE.

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In The Last Mile Of Our Battle Against COVID, The Enemy Is Us

Time may have come for more aggressive tactics on vaccinations.

In a scene from the movie “The Matrix,” revered by conspiracy theorists, the hero is offered a choice between the blue pill of comforting illusions and the red pill that offers nothing more than the truth.

The correct answer, of course, is the red pill that reveals the hidden forces that control the world.

These days, Americans are being offered an even more fateful binary choice.

Do you maintain the comforting illusion that

Smart Phones and Dumb People

Recently, I got to wondering about why some folks haven’t fully embraced the COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States. “Fully embraced” as in a significant majority of folks who have received it nationwide. That includes the naysayers, most folks in the South, certain Republicans, and some others… including — believe it, or else — some healthcare professionals. Anti-vaxxers are excluded, of course, because they’re against every vaccine. Idiots.

Would that there were one for stupidity. It should be mandatory at birth, and for everyone. Maybe if it were called a “smart pill,” that’d help. We have “smart phones,” and plenty of dumb people. It just isn’t right.

But I digress.

Some folks have said that they don’t “trust” the vaccines, for one reason, or another. So far, no one’s been abducted by aliens after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, and that I’m aware, no one’s hair has tried to call Bill Gates after they received a COVID-19 vaccine. But Congress and the Department of Defense have released videos of what we once called “UFOs” – Unidentified Flying Objects. Now they’re called UAPs — Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. But I still like UFO. Still, no one knows what they are. Hence, the name. And quite fortunately, there’ve been no reports of folks growing tails and swinging from trees afterward, either. But doubtless, some have eaten bananas. Point for lower primates: 15 – love.

So we’ve moved from the known (stupid folks who don’t get vaccinated), to the unknown (mysterious video imagery of UFOs making some very impressive maneuvers).

But what is it that we don’t know? And how do we know what we know? As the late Donald Rumsfeld, then Secretary of Defense once said

COVID-19 Update: More Need To Die

Update Sunday, 04 July 2021: Martha Raddatz, co-host of ABC’s “This Week” news program, interviewed Democrat-turned-Republican West Virginia Governor Jim Justice about his state’s low vaccination compliance rate which aired today. The following dialogue occurred:

Raddatz: “Do you really think those people who aren’t vaccinated — who as you said may be more conservative, may not want anybody in their business — are really ever going to get vaccinated? What could actually put them over the edge to want it at this point?”

Justice: “Well, Martha, I hate to say this, is what would put them over the edge, is an awful lot of people die. The only way that’s going to happen is a catastrophe that none of us want.”

Raddatz: “Let’s go back to who’s not getting vaccinated. The statistics will show it’s poverty, race and you just look at the map — it’s a lot of red states.”

Justice: “Well, I mean, there’s some truth to that and everything. Because, you know, the red states probably have a lot of people that, you know, are very, very conservative in their thinking. And they think, ‘Well, I don’t have to do that.’ But they’re not thinking right.

“When it really boils right down to it, they’re in a lottery to themselves. We have a lottery, you know, that basically says, ‘If you’re vaccinated, we’re going to give you stuff.’ Well you’ve got another lottery going on, and it’s the death lottery.”

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The “Angel of Death” has much more work to do
—
with children, teens, and adults.

With at least 33,677,411 confirmed cases – the most in all the world – at least 605,010 known U.S. deaths – again, the most in all the world – untold numbers of hospitalizations, and the perilously close collapse of the U.S. healthcare system, human suffering from the novel Coronavirus Disease-2019 (SARS-CoV-2) has not nearly reached its apex in the United States.

MORE people – particularly, and especially children – need to suffer and die.

It’s difficult to feel any scintilla of sorrow, or even scant sympathy for stupid people wantonly negligent and abusive parents who willingly expose their children and themselves to diseases and other preventable dangers.

That big ol’ knot at the end of your neck is supposed to be used for something else other than a hat rack. And for those who claim faith, especially the so-called “Evangelical” community, you dishonor your Maker when you refuse to exercise any brainpower – which is a gift to you, to Creation, and all of humanity, even though you don’t act like it, and wastefully squander it.

And, your fatalistic fait accompli that your “God will provide,” or surreptitious claims that infection and/or resultant death “is God’s will” is not merely baneful, pernicious, and malignant, it is wholly, fully, and entirely contrary to good and common sense, and orthodox theology.

In other words, you’re AFU – All Fucked Up. Soon enough, you’ll be FUBAR’d – Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition.

So-called “American exceptionalism” isn’t so “exceptional” – especially among Republicans, Trump voters, and other such idiots morons.

So, please…whatever you ilk decide to do, PLEASE, DO NOT GET VACCINATED – not yourself, not your children, and BY ALL MEANS, NOT just against COVID-19, but against ANY disease.

“Actions have consequences,” I believe is the saying.

Yet so do inactions.

And “tough love” to you.

Thoughts and prayers…

Thoughts and prayers.

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Nearly 100 Teens & Adults COVID-19 Positive At Illinois Church Summer Camp

Crossing Camp, a Christian summer camp operated for children and teens in west central Illinois near Rushville, in rural Schuyler County, has been forced to close prematurely this year following a COVID-19 “outbreak” which has so far infected very nearly 100 children, teens, and adults across 3 states.

Crossing Camp is owned and operated by an independent Protestant, Evangelical multi-campus church called “The Crossing” which main campus is in Quincy, IL, and has attendance of approximately 10,000 members weekly on several campuses in Illinois, Missouri and Iowa.

The entire camp, their staff, and all guests are now considered “super spreaders” after at least 50 COVID-19 cases were first confirmed June 23 by Pike County Public Health officials with the Health Department after camp members’ traveled to a nearby conference, which became the super spreader event.

The day prior, Tuesday, June 22, 2021, the Schuyler County Health Department notified the public about a super spreader exposure event to the COVID-19 virus at the camp which occurred from June 13 through June 17.

Two days later, on June 24, the Adams County Health Department was alerted to a COVID-19 super spreader exposure event in Adams County where a conference sponsored by The Crossing church was held on June 18th and 19th. It was the second such public health warning directly associated with The Crossing church.

USA Today was among the first to report the massive infection that spread among children and has left one teen hospitalized so far, news which has since “gone viral” and been reported by numerous news outlets.

The Schuyler County Health Department told CNN that their Public Health officials had worked with camp staffers “to provide guidance and mitigate the situation.”

The Illinois Department of Health (IDPH) first found that 85 attendees and volunteers at Crossing Camp tested positive for COVID-19, and that only a “handful” of campers and volunteers had received any vaccine against the disease. Since the first report, the number of infected people has since increased to 96, and public health officials expect an untold number more.

State Public Health records indicate that Indiana’s Schuyler and Adams counties, where Crossing Camp and The Crossing conference are located, only have a 40% COVID-19 vaccination rate, while statewide in Illinois, only 46.1% of the population is fully vaccinated.

IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike, MD, issued a Public Health statement addressing the spread of Coronavirus Disease among children and teens which stated in part that,

Houston, TX Hospital System To Fire Employees Who Refuse COVID-19 Vaccination

Houston Methodist Hospital, a not-for-profit 8-hospital system – 4 of which are ANCC Nursing Magnet status accredited – and academic medical center, with over 2502 beds in the Houston, Texas metro area, has publicly announced that they will fire any employee who refuses to get a COVID-19 vaccination.

The Houston Press and Houston Chronicle reported today, Thursday, 22 April 2021, that Bob Nevens, the hospital chain’s Director of Corporate Risk and Insurance, and Jennifer Bridges, a Houston Methodist Registered Nurse at the system’s Baytown facility, are on schedule to be fired soon if they don’t comply by obtaining a COVID-19 vaccine within the hospital system’s deadline of June 7, 2021.

Dr. Marc L. Boom, MD, the hospital system’s CEO, had the idea to require all employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to keep their jobs, and offered $500 incentive bonuses to any employee who demonstrated proof of vaccination. Houston Methodist was the first hospital system nationally to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for employees.

Houston Methodist Hospital

And to this point, a clear majority – 84% – of the hospital system’s 26,000 employees have received at least 1 COVID-19 vaccine dose as of Tuesday this week, according to Houston Methodist’s Director of Public Relations Stefanie Asin.

Houston Methodist’s Human Resources Department has stated that the hospital system will consider requests from employees who don’t want to be vaccinated for medical or for religious reasons.

However, neither Mr. Nevens nor Nurse Bridges are refusing COVID vaccination on those grounds. And neither Mr. Nevens, who is a 10-year hospital system employee, nor Nurse Bridges, who is a 7-year employee, consider themselves “anti-vaxxers,” and both have for many years received the annual influenza vaccine.

Mr. Nevens and Nurse Bridges have both said that their reluctance to receive COVID-19 vaccinations arises fromtheir concerns with the vaccines’ emergency approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, rather than the more well-known and much lengthier standard, traditional, and much more well-known approval process.

Nurse Bridges said that as a Registered Nurse, “I’ve taken every vaccine you’re ever supposed to take. We just want more

How To Quickly Vaccinate Everyone

This morning, bright and early around 0300 (that was the timestamp upon it, I was blissfully asleep then), I received an email from a friend and his better half whom are expats in Kitahiroshima on the island prefecture of Hokkaido, in northernmost Japan, near where her parents reside.

He wrote in part that “Vaccinations for coronavirus have started here but only for those with the highest priority (which makes sense).”

In that message, he also included a copy of an email communique from the United States Department of State which read in part, “The United States Government does not plan to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to private U.S. citizens overseas.”

In my reply, I wrote in part,

Like Jesus, I wept.

It was one of the few times I have wept over others’ misfortunes – especially my patients.

I went into a closet to weep very bitter tears.

The thought of others seeing me so heartbroken was unconscionable, one which I simply could not bear.

Why?