Just a reminder – power corrupts

NOTE: This was supposed to be a commentary that didn’t deal directly with the Beer Flu Panic (COVID-19 Pandemic). But it seems to be impossible to avoid it.

Power corrupts. And the more power, the more corruption. A process we are seeing literally DAILY in DC, in virtually EVERY state capitol, and in most counties and municipalities – even the smallest – here in the Fifty States.

The process is worse overseas. Starting with China, which has exceeded its past actions at least back to the Great Cultural Revolution, to India, to Hungary, to Germany and Italy and Canada. Power is being snatched at an incredible rate – faster indeed than the novel coronavirus is spreading!

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Guam endangered by COVID-19 – but not in the usual way

According to Johns Hopkins, Guam (as of 1 April 2020) has 77 cases of Beer Flu and 2 deaths. But that is about to change.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt, with more than 4,000 sailors, has at least 300 corona-ill on-board, and apparently the US Navy plans to evacuate nearly ALL of those to sites on Guam. The Roosevelt is currently floating in one of Guam’s harbors.

Once can scarcely believe the incredible stupidity and forgetfulness of the Navy brass-hats. Their stupidity no doubt exceeds that of George Bush – their forgetfulness worse than that of Joe Biden (at least for now).

Congress must act now to save the 168,000 people who live on Guam, for surely they will die. Congress realizes this – after all, Representative Hank Johnson of Georgia pointed out that frightful event way back in 2010, when the Pentagon brass sent 8,000 Marines there. Although that did NOT tip over and capsize the island, adding another 50% surely will. And everyone not able to make it to a boat or a plane in those few crucial moments as the island turns turtle will die.

Of course, maybe the House Speaker wants to add another 172,000 deaths to Trump’s credit.

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Business as usual – for some thugs

The Seattle Police Department has some serious problems: although Washington State has fallen out of the headlines for COVID-19 illness and death, it is still a major problem. As with any large city, the crimes continue, and the homeless problem takes on new facets. 9-1-1 operators (as in many places) are overwhelmed, and lives are on the line. You’d think that Seattle Police have more to do that is IMPORTANT than investigating name-calling.

According to Breitbart, that’s not the case. The Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best, working with mainstream media (KING Channel 5), has just released an urgent “COVID-19 Response Update #19” which tells views to call 9-1-1 over “racist name-calling.”

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The hammer comes down in New York City

“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” (Lord Acton’s dictim) This has proven true time and time again, and once more we are seeing that in the “Land of the (Once) Free” (TM) and the “Home of the (No-longer) Brave.”

Specifically, in New York City, and in New York State. Kaylee McGhee, in a column in the Washington Examiner, reports on very strong evidence of the mad, totalitarian and tyrannical behavior of Mayor de Blasio. Actions and words apparently fully supported by the bitter hatred and guilt-ridden Governor Cuomo.

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Musing about populism

My recent commentary, “The Bloomberg File,” prompted Tom Knapp and I into a brief discussion regarding populism. (Or if you prefer, “Populism.”)

Tom pointed out that the only true populist was a libertarian; implying that true populism is libertarianism.

I understand his point, but don’t fully agree with it. That is not how the term is used, in the Fifty States and especially in the “Midwest” where Populism and its derivatives remain popular and actually quite powerful. Or how it was used in the past. At least as I understand it. (Which I can describe as a really bad equation; “We, the People” = Government = Control”) Just as prosecuting attorneys claim that their accusations are coming from “The People versus” whoever is in the defendant’s box.

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Are we reaching the end of “The United States of America” now?

Old Mutual break-up begins | Insurance Business

Over the weekend, the panic over the novel coronavirus has continued to ramp up.

Among the current trends: more governors are starting to close the borders of their states. Here is a list of those claimed to be doing so:

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The cost of panic

The news this last week has been filled with Congress passing a “stimulus and disaster response bill” that has a price tag of $6.2 TRILLION dollars (admitted by Trump, although Congress claimed it to be “merely” $2.2 trillion). The entire national debt didn’t hit that astronomical level until the Bush II administration.

It seems that every dream of spending by both parties and every politician in Congress is being fulfilled. The national debt, already at 23.6 billion dollars may hit $30 trillion within THIS fiscal year (which ends in September) because it is already growing by more than a trillion dollars a year.

This is also the classic case for massive, even runaway, inflation: more and more money chasing fewer and fewer goods and services. Businesses are closed – more are closing, either because governments are ordering them to or because their suppliers are being shut down, or their customers are cowering in fear. (And out of work!)

Money isn’t the half of it. Panic reigns in the United States and elsewhere.

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Good news on Beer Flu

Bad as the novel coronavirus and the pandemic are, government actions and the panicked reaction of millions of people are making matters worse.

At the same time, there is good news:

The coronavirus IS destroyed by ultraviolet light.

Coronavirus is ALSO destroyed by many household items:

  • Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) – 60-75% concentration in water
  • Ammonia, included in such products as Lysol
  • Chlorine bleach (Chlorox or other brands)
  • Other chlorine compounds (hypochlorites) including both sodium and calcium
  • Methanol (wood alcohol)
  • Hydrogen Peroxide (commercial 3% grade)
  • Ethanol (60% (120 proof) or better)
  • Iodine and iodine solutions (commercially available)
  • Phenolic germicides

Note: Pure (denatured) alcohols MUST be diluted to be effective. Usually a mix of 4 to 1 (4 parts alcohol to 1 part water) can be done.

NOTE: These various disinfectants ARE poisonous, sometimes due just to skin contact. Always wear impermeable gloves when using AND triple rinse (with pure water) all surfaces AFTER disinfecting unless the disinfectant label specifically states rinsing is not needed. Always refer to the Safety Data Sheet for the chemical you are using.

All of these chemicals are pretty common here in the Fifty States. And the methods for using them are all pretty straightforward. Nothing that a farm or ranch wife in the 1900s did not do, to keep her family alive and well.

MORE GOOD NEWS:

It is becoming more and more obvious that China has been lying big time about the extent of the Beer Flu infections AND deaths. Evidence for this:

  • Numbers as reported to WHO are obviously very low compared to what we are seeing in Italy, Spain, and even the Fifty States.
  • Photographs of urns for ashes in far larger quantities than normal deaths and deaths reported for Wuhan are turning up.
  • The delay in reporting and taking action to isolate and lockdown the urban areas do NOT match the experience in Italy, Spain, and elsewhere.
  • Multiple reports and even photos of large numbers of people, many dead, left on streets or in the hallways of hospitals, despite low numbers of seriously ill and fatalities in those communities.
  • The fact that Red China lies about even more than western governments due, even in times without a crisis.
  • The continuing lack of export shipments of manufactured goods and a slowdown in raw materials imported.

All of these are circumstantial and may be never proven (or disproved) until the Communist government falls, as was the case in Russia, Poland, and elsewhere.

Why is this good news? Because that means that mortality rates are different and potentially much lower than reported. We don’t have nearly as much to fear, as this NPR story tells us. And because it will be harder for us (the West) to be fooled by China during the next wave. (And nations like Iran and Italy and Spain will realize that accepting visiting medical personnel from China is just asking for more serious trouble. Forewarned is fore-armed. It also means that with massive internal problems made worse by the Beer Flu, China is far less likely to be aggressive in the South China Sea and elsewhere.

Still more good news:

South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan all have significantly lower rates of infection AND serious disease and illness than China, the Philippines, and the West. Even though those countries have continued to have a functioning economy and NOT imposed the tyrannical lockdown and “social distancing” practices which are destroying the West’s economy and may have already destroyed China’s economy. Or so NPR reports, in a rare story that is NOT full of doom and gloom and Trump-beating.

In other words, what is left after the Fifty States’ economy after this panic (and the first wave) subside, we MIGHT be able to imitate them and nip the next wave in the bud. If we are willing to learn. (By the way, I don’t think China is capable of learning enough, and there maybe some of our States who are, also. Though there are indications that Cuomo has learned the lesson. Too late for thousands of New Yorkers.)

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Extinguishing the light

Friday, 27 March 2020 – indeed a day of shame, for which we will pay for a very long time, both figuratively and literally.

Concealed Carry Reciprocity Bill to Get Full House Vote ...
Though not quite as empty as in this photo, nevertheless the House irresponsibly acted today.

For years, I have believed and stated that the American Republic is dead. Those who disagreed with me now can point to this date as the day that many more people agreed with me. Many will date the fall from this day.

If indeed today is the day, the end came not with a bang, but with a whimper. Or more accurately, with sniveling and whinging. The United States House of Representatives, as a group, an organization, has demonstrated its cowardice and collectively betrayed its oath to uphold the Constitution.

That “light on the hill” which was once the American Union, that beacon of freedom and liberty, is been extinguished. The democracy into which the republic had devolved and decayed has become a government of mob rule and tyranny, in which the voters (through their representatives, admittedly) have voted themselves “free money.”

This regime (I don’t know what to call it, really) has codified virtually every aspect of a police state: businesses are closed (or increasingly, in threat of seizure) on the whim of un-elected bureaucrats or executives acting like dictators. Or in fear of such action. People are unable to travel in more and more places: the public roads completely closed or literally requiring travel papers to demonstrate they are privileged enough to travel. People are being detained and dispersed and arrested for daring to assemble – sometimes as few as five or ten. Medical care is being rationed in more and more places, as is even food. Hundreds – no, thousands – of governmental activities that were “absolutely, critically essential” just a few days ago have now ceased. All done without any approval of elected representatives or due process, and often without any basis at all in law. Trillions of dollars in wealth have been destroyed; trillions more created out of thin air; and MORE trillions paid to virtually anyone and everyone by government.

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The planetary lockdown

Weep for the once-numerous and mighty human race, now ruled by fear and panic.

Photos of the Planet under lockdown can be viewed here.

Thanks to Margaret for sharing these. The impact is terrible. War was not enough, we must strive to bring pestilence and famine to fall in behind it. No doubt to be followed by more war; death is always present.

Is the the world without humans?

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