Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Futureworld

Posted: October 17, 2020 by datechguy in Uncategorized

Falling asleep in front of the TV the other night, talking heads in my ears, yabbering about the polls — a grim Election Day for Trump and the Republicans in the apparent offing — a vision from the future then seeped into my mind. It came in the form of a news article, dateline: June 19, 2023.

“Former President Donald Trump celebrated Juneteenth today by announcing his candidacy for the Republican nomination, throwing the 2024 presidential race into chaos.

“After barbecuing spare ribs at rapper Ice Cube’s Bel-Air estate in celebration of the newly established federal holiday, Trump took to the mansion’s rooftop to make his big announcement before being whisked away by helicopter, a banner emblazoned with the nascent campaign’s slogan, “Put America Back Together Again,” trailing behind in the wind.

“’It’s time we dump that loser broad in the White House,’ Trump said, in apparent reference to President Kamala Harris. ‘All she’s done is lose, ever since she kicked my ass – which, really, she kicked Pence’s ass, if you wanna get technical. And she’s done nothing ever since, absolutely nothing, it’s really quite remarkable,’ he said. He then listed several things Harris did that he would immediately reverse, ‘Starting on Day One, or before, even,’ he promised.

“Among Trump’s proposals was to divide California into five separate states, a single state along the coast, and four states carved out of its more rural, more conservative interior. This, Trump promised, would cancel out the admission of North Puerto Rico, South Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C. by the Democrat-controlled Congress in 2021. ‘The coast is iconic, you know, the California coast, I didn’t really think it should be broken up, so we’re keeping it as one state,’ Trump explained.

“Trump promised to increase the Supreme Court by twelve new Justices, and presented a list of forty judges he promised would be considered. ‘Twelve’s a good number, you know, twice as many as Kamala’s,’ Trump said, referencing the six new Justices Harris and the Democrats added to the Court in the spring of 2022.

“The reaction among Trump’s Republican rivals for the nomination was swift. Texas governor George P. Bush, who had been a frontrunner for the nomination once sought by his father, Jeb Bush, immediately announced he was withdrawing from the campaign. ‘I would not sully the good name of political campaigns by continuing to run for the same office as him,’ he intoned.

“Florida Senator Marco Rubio was more diplomatic. ‘I believe competition makes us all stronger,’ he insisted. ‘And no matter what office I may have in the future, I look forward to doing the work of the American people.’

“When asked about Trump’s announcement, President Harris laughed awkwardly. ‘As an American, he can do and say whatever he wants, and I’ve asked the FBI to put an immediate tap on his phone, as he is a known security threat,’ she said to reporters. The reporters had no follow up questions for her.

“In his announcement, Trump also promised to re-open all churches, which the Democrats had deemed ‘dangerous to science,’ free all Republican political prisoners currently housed in the federal prison at Alcatraz, and to review the status of former President Joe Biden, admitted to Walter Reed Medical Center in February 2021 and rarely heard from since.”

After waking up, I felt a little warm, and had to take my temperature. Can’t be too careful, what with the Wuhan floating around. Yeah sure, catching it’s unlikely, but in this world, anything’s possible.

The science behind Coronavirus lockdowns is far from settled

Posted: October 15, 2020 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,

Far too many individuals blindly accept the freedom and economy destroying lockdowns that governors have forced upon us because they believe that the lockdowns are based on science.  That is the narrative that has been crammed down the throats of all of us by the dangerously corrupt liberal news media.  The truth is far different but few are aware it.  That is why I’m writing this article.  On social media I share the truth, however, so many of my liberal friends dismiss the truth because it comes from right wing websites such as Breitbart, American Thinker, and the Federalist.

I was shocked to see actual truth in this New York Times article, which I immediately shared on Facebook and Twitter.  As you can see, Coronavirus is no where as prevalent in the United States as the media trumpets because the most often used test is far too sensitive.

Some of the nation’s leading public health experts are raising a new concern in the endless debate over coronavirus testing in the United States: The standard tests are diagnosing huge numbers of people who may be carrying relatively insignificant amounts of the virus.

Most of these people are not likely to be contagious, and identifying them may contribute to bottlenecks that prevent those who are contagious from being found in time.

Here is the scientific explanation behind the overly sensitive tests:

The PCR test amplifies genetic matter from the virus in cycles; the fewer cycles required, the greater the amount of virus, or viral load, in the sample. The greater the viral load, the more likely the patient is to be contagious.

This number of amplification cycles needed to find the virus, called the cycle threshold, is never included in the results sent to doctors and coronavirus patients, although it could tell them how infectious the patients are.

The PCR tests uses too many amplification cycles.

Most tests set the limit at 40, a few at 37. This means that you are positive for the coronavirus if the test process required up to 40 cycles, or 37, to detect the virus.

Tests with thresholds so high may detect not just live virus but also genetic fragments, leftovers from infection that pose no particular risk — akin to finding a hair in a room long after a person has left, Dr. Mina said.

A more reasonable cutoff would be 30 to 35, she added. Dr. Mina said he would set the figure at 30, or even less. Those changes would mean the amount of genetic material in a patient’s sample would have to be 100-fold to 1,000-fold that of the current standard for the test to return a positive result — at least, one worth acting on.

There has been a mini-serge of Coronavirus cases here in Massachusetts which has resulted in Governor Baker halting his tortuously slow reopening plan.  This serge is based on a big lie.

 In Massachusetts, from 85 to 90 percent of people who tested positive in July with a cycle threshold of 40 would have been deemed negative if the threshold were 30 cycles, Dr. Mina said. “I would say that none of those people should be contact-traced, not one,” he said.

A large number of medical experts have recently condemned the Coronavirus lockdowns. Those who rely on the mainstream media for news are completely unaware of this development.  Here is a description of the group from this Breitbart article

The internationally known experts, who identify themselves as “coming from both the left and right, and around the world,” have produced what they call the “Great Barrington Declaration,” which, to date, has been signed by nearly 4,700 medical and public health scientists, 8,900 medical practitioners, and 123,300 members of the general public.

Here are the opening paragraphs ofThe Great Barrington Declaration

As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies, and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection. 

Coming from both the left and right, and around the world, we have devoted our careers to protecting people. Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health – leading to greater excess mortality in years to come, with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice. 

The Great Barrington Declaration recommends a must better approach for dealing with the  Coronavirus Pandemic.

As immunity builds in the population, the risk of infection to all – including the vulnerable – falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity – i.e.  the point at which the rate of new infections is stable – and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity. 

The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection. 

Instead of placing all of us under house arrest and shuttering all of our businesses we should:

Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures, such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities, such as sports, should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally, rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts, music, sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish, while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.

The lockdowns are so not backed by science that the World Health Organization has recently reversed course on them,

I’m Old Enough to Remember When People Thought Twitter Banning Stacy McCain wasn’t a test run for this stuff

Posted: October 15, 2020 by datechguy in culture, News/opinion, politics, Uncategorized
Tags:
https://twitter.com/OverTheMoonbat/status/710935863664844800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E710935863664844800%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3%2Ccontainerclick_0&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheothermccain.com%2F2017%2F07%2F28%2Ftwitter-is-losing-nearly-40-million-a-month-and-still-banning-conservatives%2F

Way back when my friend Robert Stacy McCain was banned for “targeted abuse” he asked the following:

Well, what is “targeted abuse,” what constitutes “participating” in this behavior, and what are the “rules around” it? Where is the evidence that I have been “violating the Twitter Rules”? Who was “targeted”? What was the nature of the “abuse”? Questions like this multiply, you see, if we can be permitted to ask questions of the arbiters of “Twitter Rules,” but that’s just it: No questions allowed!

“It’s as if the grown-ups left for the weekend,
and the SJW interns are in control.”

This morning, again without explanation, the @SexTroubleBook account — which I created last year to promote my book — was suspended.

Everybody is shocked, shocked!

“Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant,
then it tries to silence good.”

Feminism is evil. But you knew that, right?

The story actually reached Twitchy where the question was asked:

@instapundit @SexTroubleBook Considering this is an election year, how far can this go before it becomes a partisan FEC violation?

Well now we know:

IT’S COME TO THIS: White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany locked out of Twitter for sharing the New York Post’s Hunter Biden story.

But what’s really interesting is not that they are banning people like JtLOL for tweeting out the NYPost story on Hunter Biden or even that they are banning NYPOST editors or even that Facebook is trying to kill this story as well.

What I find interesting are reactions like this from people on the left:

https://twitter.com/MarySkerr/status/1316676757089468417

Ladies and Gentlemen this is how far the left has fallen into Marxism. That Americans in America would consider this behavior as acceptable and complement it speaks volumes about who and what they are, and perhaps always were.

China would be proud

One can not shame such people. One can only defeat them.

NOTE I’ll be talking about this on my Livestream at 11 AM EST Friday DaTechGuy off DaRadio, Twitter & Facebook Cross the Rubicon edition (moved from 3 PM due to me picking up a shift at work.

Report from Louisiana: Hodgepodge

Posted: October 12, 2020 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,

By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – Some loose thoughts from Louisiana this morning.

STORMS: Hurricane Delta blew through Acadiana last week, making landfall in the community of Creole, Louisiana in Cameron Parish, less than twenty miles from where Hurricane Laura hit six weeks ago.

When I tell you that people in that part of the state are weary of storms, well, that barely touches how weary they are.

Across Acadiana right now, there are of course trees down all over the place, families are displaced, power is being restored, and linemen are working long, long hours. Overhead video from Lake Charles before Hurricane Delta hit showed a huge percentage of the homes there covered in blue tarps. After Delta, tarps have been blown all over the place, debris piles blown all over the place, and power is out once again across the city. It’s just bedlam.

That being said, communities are pulling together; this is not their first rodeo and they will all rebuild and survive. But please, no more storms for a while.

COVID: Covid is not done with Louisiana. Our hospitalization numbers are rising again, but are still nowhere near where they were over the summer. Little outbreaks are popping up in schools – go figure. At the high school where I teach, the entire football team is in quarantine along with five coaches. But, who didn’t see that coming, right?

Experts expect numbers to climb again as cooler weather moves in, and some believe all of this hurricane displacement and movement has contributed to rising numbers. People in shelters and whatnot.

Around town, here in Shreveport, we are still under Governor Edwards mask mandate, but I’m seeing a lot of mask-fatigue. One popular diner in town is simply not using masks. None of the employees are wearing them. Ever. Yet people keep eating there, so they are apparently not concerned about it.

Last week, Governor Edwards extended Phase 3 until November 6. Some are calling it Phase 2.5 because it is still pretty strict.

BOOKS: I’ve been reading like a madwoman, and my taste in books is all over the place. I’m one of those people that will read several books at once. I read on NetGalley a lot, and write reviews for publishers for books that are not yet released.

Currently, I’m reading Michael Connelly’s The Law of Innocence (November 20, 2020) and it’s really good; typical Connelly, very tight, very suspenseful. It’s one of the Haller mysteries. It’s everything you want in a Connelly book.

I just finished Margreet’s Harbor by Eleanor Morse (April, 2021). This is a beautifully written, evocative novel that will make you wish you could call your mother one more time.

When Margreete sets her kitchen on fire, Liddie realizes her mother can no longer live alone. Liddie uproots her family and they all move in with Margreete in her coastal Maine home. The novel covers nearly two decades; we watch Liddie’s children grow up, we track the ups and downs of Liddie’s career and marriage, and we fall in love with Margreete.

Eleanor Morse is adept in writing from the perspective of a frustrated husband, a thirteen-year old boy, and a dementia addled woman. All are equally engaging and convincing. We are drawn into the family dramas and are touched by the sweet moments such as when daughter Gretchen can’t bear to hear the neighbor’s mother cow lowing mournfully for her separated calf.  Morse’s writing is never heavy-handed, always on point, and lovely in its simplicity. I really enjoyed this one.

I also read The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (April 2021). It is historical fiction set in Oxford and follows Esme who we meet under the sorting table at the Scriptorium where her father works as part of the team compiling the Oxford English Dictionary. Esme’s mother is dead, and she and her father have a loving, nurturing relationship. The Scriptorium is a shed of corrugated iron in the garden of the home of Sir James Murray, team leader. Esme is fascinated with words and as one word, bondmaid, flutters to the ground, Esme scoops it into her pocket and a lifetime of collecting lost words begins.

The novel is populated with rich, well developed characters. I loved Lizzie, a “bondmaid” in the Murray home, and Mabel, from the market. Tilda and her brother Bill, both irascible, are intriguing characters; Tilda becomes deeply involved in the women’s suffrage movement and Esme flutters around the edges, resisting Tilda’s attempts to become more radical.

We follow Esme from childhood to womanhood and the Dictionary follows pace. Esme remains fascinated with words and collects “lost words” that never make it into the dictionary. We experience her joys and her heartbreaks and more than once I found myself crying with Esme and celebrating her joys. This is a book to be savored.

Not to leave out nonfiction, I’m reading a 2009 book, Last Days of Last Island by Bill Dixon which tells the story of the monster 1856 hurricane that obliterated a popular barrier island on the Louisiana Gulf Coast which was the summer playground for sugar planters, important politicians and businessmen. It’s well researched and the narrative structure reads much like a David McCullough book. 

Me and my stack of books are packing up tomorrow and heading to Acadiana to sit on the bayou for a week and recharge. I won’t be paying attention to any confirmation hearings, presidential races, or anything at all for five days. Glorious!

Pat Austin blogs at And So it Goes in Shreveport and is the author of Cane River Bohemia: Cammie Henry and her Circle at Melrose Plantation. Follow her on Instagram @patbecker25 and Twitter @paustin110.

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