Friday, July 10, 2020

Round-Up Time

In no particular order, some things that caught my eye:

Trump's action to keep online-only foreign students from getting a visa - well played, sir! Foreigners playing the American university systems to get access to jobs is long-standing, and a disgrace. We who are the American public pay a lot for the colleges and universities - either directly, through state subsidies, or indirectly, through the colleges taking advantage of their tax-free status to amass a HUGE endowment, while continuing to charge Americans ridiculous tuitions. Yet, foreigners take up many places in those schools, because they can be charged double for the privilege of attending.

What you see is not always "the truth". This is a lucid and clear explanation of why we need to wait until the trial to make our decisions about the policeman's culpability. Too many people, including some public officials, are arguing for summary execution - what is commonly called lynching. Which, generally, USED to be considered a very bad thing.

I guess it depends on who the lynchee is.

What the hold on Floyd was, apparently, a restraint, that kept him from injuring himself or others, and kept the officers from being in a position where the only way to stop him would be use of a gun. Why do I say that?

Look at the position of his hands while he was restraining Floyd; his hands were in his pockets. That's a position that you would take if you wanted to make sure that you weren't accused of abuse.


So, was Floyd smothered? Read an explanation of the technique, and others, here. Police Magazine has information about the technique, and when it might be dangerous to use.

I swear, the Zman and I must have been separated at birth. He's wondering some of the strange things I've also been asking about. 

Why is debt reduction suddenly up? 

Why are the media talking about how important the Sports Monopoly is to us, when we can clearly see that attendance in person, and interest in any medium, is WAY down? 

Why are people buying even more guns than when Obama was president? (Well, I have my suspicions, but...)

And, speaking of buying binges, there are a LOT of people stocking their pantries and putting in gardens.

Why is trust in Media, "recognized authorities", and the Important Ones That Tell Us What to Think, so drastically down?

Yeah.

I'm thinking it, too.

Soon, very soon, All Hell is Going to Break Loose. It's already begun. It's reached the point that others - those not normally aware of the oncoming storm, are seeing it.

It's not even necessarily a conscious awareness. But, like the restless birds and animals before a storm, they are showing that they FEEL it coming.


To HELL with the term "The New Normal".

No. It's the New Abnormal. And, most of us are WAY past heartily sick of it. Expect increasing levels of resistance. And, THAT'S when the Real Revolution starts - not because of these manufactured riots in big cities - ho-hum, same old.

No, it's when the average person gets a load of pissed-off circulating in his system, and begins to think, and act, like an outlaw. Outside of the law. Contemptuous of the law. Ready to toss the law, and it's enforcers, over.

The teachers - elementary, middle, and high school - had better stop talking on FakeBook, and start listening to regular people. Most people are not so afraid of C-19 as to consider keeping their kids out of school for another year, or even part of one. And, they will NOT see why the teachers should keep collecting their full pay for not being in the classroom with those kids.

Right now, many are 'sharing' their concerns, and talking bravely about refusing to return. Like that's gonna stop the schools from opening. Or, the parents in those few systems that don't from coming into the school board meeting, pitchforks in hand.

I do realize that many teachers have valid reasons for not wanting to return to the classroom:
  • Personal concerns about health; family members who are at high risk for complications
  • Pregnancy
  • Old age/being in that group that, if infected, is more likely to die
  • A realistic assessment that their life, if they return, is likely to be more difficult, loaded down with a huge number of tasks that HAVE to be done properly, or else, and including covering for classes without teachers (and no subs - many of them are in the critical age range)
For those folks, taking time off - a year or two, or even leaving permanently, might be best for them.

But, the actual risk for most is low, the procedures they will be using should reduce even that risk, and the exposure to others will likely result in a sweep of illness for a few weeks, then - nothing.

Followed by the protection of the herd having become immunized. End of problem.

5 comments:

  1. I heard that the police officer was wearing black gloves and it made it LOOK like his hands were in his pockets. I have no way of knowing if that is true.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Linda:

    Much of what you say is correct, and I agree with it. On one idea however, you are not. With regard to immunity, the more infectious the disease, the more people have to have it and DEVELOP ANTIBODIES to it for the R0 to drop below one. There are several problems with this idea related to the Chinese Communist Party virus outbreak:

    -This is not one disease. Like most other coronaviruses, this one is extremely mutable, and as of 2 months ago, there were over 30 known major clades or variants of the original genetically engineered version. I have no idea how many clades are actively circulating now, but I'd guess that there are more than there were two months ago. Some may be milder, but at least two were known to be more virulent than the original. Infection and recovery from one variant is known NOT to confer immunity to another. Some unfortunates have apparently been infected multiple times. Just like the "common cold" it is possible to get this more than once, and you cannot know what strain you will get. Many diseases evolve to be less lethal, but this is not always the case. I prefer not to be the lab test animal.

    -While some people develop antibodies to one particular strain, some do not. Those percentages are not reliably documented in any study I have seen to date, but the data available do not support the idea of "population immunity"; in fact, the data available suggest that such may not be possible. We shall see, but it is too early to tell whether population immunity can be had.

    -Just as "Men are not potatoes" (Juan Rico, 'Starship Troopers' by RAH,) men are also not cattle, and groups of men are not a "herd". This is the language of the Left, of Communism, not Freedom. Don't fight the enemy on his ground; if you want to speak about reduction of R0 through development of immunity in a population, use the proper language. Cattle get milked and eaten, and I am nobody's meal, nor are any of my friends or family.

    On a different note, I've read articles that suggest that as many as 1/3 of parents are considering home schooling in the wake of this pandemic, which is a positive development to contrast with the widespread unrest that I agree is coming, courtesy of the inevitable economic crash that will result from decades of currency debasement and theft from the productive and from future generations. Not caused by the epidemic, but by the looting and tyranny employed by TPTB for decades prior, and in response to it. This will really start to boil when the benefits run out at the end of July, and I agree that we haven't seen the end of the unrest by any means.

    With regard to all who seek the Light,
    Historian

    ReplyDelete
  3. Home schooling is only better if the parents are on top of the lessons themselves. I fear the mandate for ALL families to follow the same curriculum may be coming (assuming the Dems are in charge). We have to worry, not only about National elections, but - even more importantly, at the state and local level.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Recent research seems to say that lethality and severity of associated virii is lessened with repeat exposure. But, you may be right. I'm basically of the mind that those with robust immune systems will survive. Those without - we'll miss 'em.

    ReplyDelete
  5. One further variable known to affect the severity of a given infection is the infectious bolus, that is, how much virus you get all at once. It appears that with this virus, as with other viral infections, the initial viral load is an important factor in how sick you get, or whether you get sick at all.

    Another point is that different clades have different after-effects; a colleague of mine lost her husband after he had been hospitalized in an ICU for 6 weeks and released, having beaten the virus. He acquired a bacterial pneumonia which killed him in short order shortly after being released to rehab. Dreadful business.

    bottom line- there is still a great deal we do not know about this disease, and those who pretend to certainty demonstrate only that we can be certain that they base their pronouncements in fantasy, not fact. In addition to the normal confusion and Sturm und Drang inevitable in any epidemic outbreak, here we have vicious political maneuvering fomented by the Deep State and the Marxist media, making it very difficult for anyone to determine a rational path forward.

    It is encouraging, that as many suspected in the beginning, that improved access to testing shows a lower CFR than initial data showed, and also encouraging that there is a proven low-cost treatment available that is known to be effective when administered early in the progression of this disease. But facts are still thin on the ground, and you do not want to wind up in any ICU with this bug.

    With regard to all who seek the Light,
    Historian

    ReplyDelete

Comments are moderated. I am entirely arbitrary about what I allow to appear here. Toss me a bomb and I might just toss it back with interest. You have been warned.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.