Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Dr. Birx: Any Lack Of Preparation Due To ‘Significant Amount’ Of Missing Data From China

Via Billy

Response coordinator for White House Coronavirus Task Force Deborah Birx (L) speaks as US Vice President Mike Pence listens during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House on March 31, 2020, in Washington, DC.

White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx indicated on Tuesday that any lack of preparation from U.S. officials on dealing with the coronavirus outbreak happened because we were likely “missing a significant amount of the data” from China.

 More @ The Daily Wire

*************

A Washington Post analysis from last week cautioned against viewing the numbers out of China as being accurate. The Washington Post reported:
An article in the journal Science estimates that 86 percent of Hubei’s cases were undocumented by the time authorities extended the lockdown to Wuhan and other cities on Jan. 23.
It is also likely that officials reported lower numbers of deaths from covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Especially once the central government’s propaganda mission to win the “people’s war” against the virus became clear, numbers shifted to achieve that vision. Such shifts would probably be subtle — not hundreds or thousands of hidden deaths, but instead excluding deaths that could be attributed to other types of pneumonia or heart failure, for instance.

MY MEMORIES OF FIREBASE ILLINGWORTH ON APRIL 1, 1970

Via Reborn

 

We then went out to look at some of the dead gooks.  I looked at one that had his left arm blown off.  You could see the socket where the ball joint had been.  Surprisingly, the guy had about three rounds of gauze wrapped around his shoulder.  He had been wounded when we fired on them for an hour.  They put a bandage on him and sent him on the attack.  I never knew any of our guys who would have done that.  (Because one of ours would not have been asked to do so and the commie knew he would have been shot in the head if he had refused)

*************************

We moved in to build Illingworth during March.  The site was a grassy clearing. We arrived late in the day and started building gun pits for our mortars, hooches for sleeping, and storage for our ammo.  We had our mortars, 105’s, our radar unit, a line company, and our battalion headquarters (TOC).  We were told that we could not go to sleep until we had 3 layers of sandbags on our sleeping hooches.  It started raining about sundown.  Filling sand bags became very difficult. Around 11:00 pm we gave up on the sandbags.  I laid down on a cot and placed a sheet of plastic over me.  I woke up at first light the next morning and thought I had lost my hearing. Then I realized the cot was holding water which was up over my ears.

Fire Support Base Illingworth was named for John Illingworth who died on or about March 14, 1970. Dan Boettcher sent a picture of Jack Illingworth, Dan, and Pat Coode. Jack Illingworth was in Co. A of 2/8 1st Cav. In the book “Incursion” Jack was described as an exceptional soldier.

Belmont Playboys


With our first documentary Lies of Omission finally making its way to Amazon (not quite yet released) and other streaming services, we are encouraged to take the next step in filming a more mainstream documentary about the Belmont Playboys. How this rockabilly band came to our attention is a story in itself, but suffice it to say that we had other interests in common and the revelation of their talent and resiliency as a top performing band was indeed a pleasant surprise.

More @ 12 Round

Reconstruction and the Rise of the Ku Klux Klan

 Nathan Bedford Forrest, Confederate Cavalry general most feared by Union generals.


Few nations in the last millennium have been so devastated by loss of life and property as the South in 1865. Perhaps only the Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Serbians, and in turn the Germans themselves in the Second World War endured such suffering. A Union general bragged that crows flying over the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia would need to pack their own lunches. The Union conquerors then proceeded with the Reconstruction of the South by laying on heavy taxes, confiscating much of their remaining wealth in cotton and other goods, and forcing the sale of land under tax duress.

They gave the right to vote to blacks, but took it away from Confederate veterans.  They removed from Confederate veterans and their families all recourse to civil law and justice.  They sent in swarms of Northern school teachers to teach their children to be ashamed of their fathers and their Southern heritage. They released upon them a reign of terror with a constant threat of depredations and outrages at the hands of the Union League.  Political opportunists from the North constantly promised blacks that the properties of whites would be confiscated and given to them, if they voted Republican.  Many of them also promised that Republican voting blacks would be given political and racial hegemony over the whites.  The Union League regularly promised to hang blacks that did not vote Republican. Many blacks were, in fact, beaten or murdered for resisting Union League political objectives.  These circumstances made forceful underground resistance to Radical Reconstruction inevitable.

The Seven Blackbirds Return

 
 
(Pam's (Lizzie) husband T died last year and he wrote and performed the Seven Blackbirds. (Sitting on a Fence) Above
 
Lizzie Wren ..........The other day, I saw seven blackbirds in my tree! I thought of you both....it was a very touching moment.
 
Lizzie Wren Honestly, that's the FIRST song of T's that I've listened to since he passed. I just wasn't ready......not sure I was now, but I listened. Thanks for posting!
 
 Brock Townsend If you saw exactly 7 Blackbirds the other day, I don't think it was a coincidence.
 
Lizzie Wren I didn't think it was a coincidence either, Brock! And then when they started flying away and 5 of them were left, they formed a perfect triangle. I'm not sure what that means, but as more left the tree, the last three to leave were the three points of the triangle!
 
 Brock Townsend Wow and right out of the song!
 
 Lizzie Wren For sure!

LA Sheriff Forced To Reverse Gun Store Closure Order After Federal Government Gets Involved

Via Billy

 Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva speaks at a news conference on Jan. 27, 2020, in Calabasas, California.

The National Rifle Association immediately responded with a lawsuit, according to Fox.

Facing a lawsuit over his controversial decision to shutter gun stores amid the coronavirus pandemic, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has now changed his mind, citing a federal ruling that gun stores are considered “essential.”

Last week, the sheriff insisted gun stores had to be closed.

More @ WJ

Dr. Fauci Anticipates Another US Coronavirus Outbreak In The Fall

 Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, right, speaks as U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a Coronavirus Task Force news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, March 30, 2020. Trump said he would now extend social distancing measures until at least April 30. Photographer

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, has some more bad news to share with Americans.

The nation’s top infectious disease expert says he anticipates the U.S. will likely suffer through another coronavirus outbreak in the fall. But he offered a bit of hope, too, saying by then, the country will be better prepared to handle the virus.

Coronavirus could travel 27 feet, stay in air for hours: MIT researcher

Via Billy

https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/coronavirus-spread-85.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&strip=all
Social-distancing guidelines to stay 6 feet from others may be woefully inadequate, one scientist warns — saying the coronavirus could travel 27 feet and linger for hours.

MIT associate professor Lydia Bourouiba, who has researched the dynamics of coughs and sneezes for years, warns in newly published research that the current guidelines are based on outdated models from the 1930s.
Rather than the assumed safety of 6 foot, Bourouiba warns that “pathogen-bearing droplets of all sizes can travel 23 to 27 feet.”

More @ WND

Extraordinary Voice



This is Elsie she is totally blind. She has never been to school, never learned English. (Maybe but many Filipinos speak English.) She listens to songs and learns the song. She has one of the most Amazing voices I have ever heard. She lives in a small fishing village in the Philippines.

UK’s Boris Johnson ‘Furious’ With China, Says There Could Be A ‘Reckoning’ For China’s Coronavirus ‘Disinformation Campaign’

Boris Johnson, U.K. prime minister, pauses while speaking during a daily coronavirus briefing inside number 10 Downing Street in London, U.K., on Friday, March 20, 2020. Johnson ordered pubs, restaurants and leisure centers across the country to close from Friday night in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Photographer: Julian Simmonds/The Daily Telegraph/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The United Kingdom’s government, led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, is reportedly “furious” with China, and has pledged a “reckoning” for the country’s “disinformation campaign,” which U.K. officials believe downplayed the number of Chinese coronavirus cases by “15 to 40” times.

Business Insider reports that Johnson’s government is the first to suggest that China could face economic consequences for the coronavirus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Monday, March 30, 2020

Richard Weaver, the Coronavirus, and the Strenuous Life

 

In Ideas Have Consequences (1948), Richard Weaver described comfort as the god of modern man.  Even in our post-modern times, mass man continues to kneel at the altar of comfort though he occasionally does obeisance to lesser gods such as equality and wokeness.  Weaver’s writings challenged man to exchange the ease promised by technological advancement for a strenuous and romantic life that existed in non-materialist societies of days gone by.  Specifically, Weaver pointed to the Old South as “the last non-materialist civilization in the Western World” and touted its virtues.

Mass man has shown little inclination to heed Weaver’s advice, but the coronavirus panic of 2020 is shaking people. Indeed, the god of comfort does not look so vigorous today. Comfort resembles the Philistine fertility god Dagon who had the Ark of the Covenant placed at his feet in the temple located in Ashdod. (1 Samuel 5:1-5) The Philistines had captured the Ark after the Israelites, without consulting Jehovah, impiously attempted to use it as some sort of magic box to give them victory in battle. Dagon did not fare well when alone at night with the Ark and was found by his priests toppled from his throne and later decapitated. One can assume the look on the faces of the pagan priests who found the mistreated Dagon to be akin to that of so many Westerners confined to high-rise apartments and surrounded by supplies of toilet paper and packaged meals snatched up as shelter-in-place orders issued.

Don't Be Responsible for Other's Deaths: Stay At Home: Country Folk Musician Icon John Prine in Critical Condition with Coronavirus


Country-folk singer-songwriter John Prine has been hospitalized after being infected with the coronavirus and is currently in critical condition, according to his family members.

John Prine’s family said that the 73-year-old “Angel From Montgomery” singer-songwriter entered the hospital on Thursday and was intubated on Saturday. They described his condition as “critical.”

More @ Breitbart

WaPo/ABC Poll: Trump 57% Approve on Handling Economy Highest Point in Presidency in Midst of Coronavirus

Via Billy

Crisis Surge: Trump Hits New Highs in WaPo/ABC News Poll

Amid the coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying economic freeze, the 2020 presidential election cycle continues to churn forward. Though presidential politics are on the back burner for the most part, it's still interesting to track how voters may be thinking about the overshadowed race as it develops. On that front, I'll remind you of what I wrote last week regarding the 'rally around the flag' effect that is surely boosting President Trump's image at the moment. Despite the media's incessant negativity, Gallup's latest numbers show 60 percent of Americans approving of the president's handling of the crisis. Pew also shows positive movement. It's impossible to predict how public opinion will shift if and when the pandemic worsens, then eventually dissipates. But for the moment, the incumbent is enjoying a ratings bump:

More @ Townhall

Pure BS: WaPo Op-Ed: ‘Homeschooling’ During Coronavirus Crisis ‘Damaging’ to Children

Via David

Really, now you attack homeschooling? I’d wager the average homeschooled kid in America fares better in virtually any metric that the average public/leftist indoctrination school kid. You should do a story in it... but you won’t because you would never expose the racket. https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1243727020984619008 
“If students can so easily forget what they have learned over a few weeks away from school, did they ever really learn it at all? Or were they just taught and tested, memorizing and regurgitating information but not really learning it? And if learning loss is so pervasive during school breaks, then what happens after students graduate from high school? Does all the knowledge just disappear, or did they never really learn the content adequately?”:
A former education commissioner of Tennessee said in an op-ed published Friday that children who are away from their public schools during the coronavirus crisis will suffer “damaging” effects with “iPads and parents” serving as their new teachers.

“Homeschooling during the coronavirus will set back a generation of children,” reads the headline of an op-ed at the Washington Post Friday by Kevin Huffman, now a partner at the City Fund, an education nonprofit that says it “partners with local leaders to create innovative public school systems.”

More @ Breitbart

CAMERA HISTORICA: THE SEAN FLYNN LEICA M2

Mind jog by Harry


This is a story about a camera, a rather special camera. Every camera has a history, so they say. But it is not all that often that one has such a rich and documented history. One that was thought to be lost but has been found again. This is the story of the Sean Flynn Leica M2.

Fashion Fatale: The Assassination of Gianni Versace & The Taurus PT-100 & Beretta 92

 

A guy like me penning commentary on fashion would be like Chuck Schumer discussing ballistic coefficients. However, in the brutal murder of fashion icon, Gianni Versace, we get a peek into a particularly dark and sordid world.

The Victim

 More @ Guns America

How Wuhan Residents Are Estimating the True Death Toll...And It's Much Higher Than the Official Number & ‘We KNOW China Is Lying’: Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio Torch MSM’s Uncritical Acceptance of China’s Wuhan Virus Stats

Via Billy

 How Wuhan Residents Are Estimating the True Death Toll...And It's Much Higher Than the Official Number

Residents of Wuhan, China, even know the government is lying about the death toll from COVID-19, and they’ve figured out as much based on the number of urns funeral homes have been returned to families.

The city has seven large funeral homes, and each has been returning the cremated remains of approximately 500 people to their families every day, and yet, the official government figures put the total death count around 2,500.


*****

This Too Shall Pass…

Via David


Thankfully as a nation this crisis is causing us to reevaluate our priorities: faith, family, community and freedom; and seeing the easy dispatch of liberty also reignites that oft forgotten flickering flame…

Journalists are less important than janitors. Our nation’s best athletes are healthcare workers rushing to assist those in need.  The true heroes are not celebrities, but rather farmers, truck drivers, stock clerks, and supermarket cashiers.

The most valuable businesses do not glitter or present themselves with self-congratulatory award shows; they do today what they have always done to keep our food supply flowing.  Perhaps now, at least for a few short weeks, we stop taking them for granted.

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Chinese markets are still selling bats and slaughtering rabbits on blood-soaked floors as Beijing celebrates 'victory' over the coronavirus

Via Billy

 Boycott China and Products Made in China - Home | Facebook

Cats, dogs and other domesticated and wild animals freely available to buy 

One sources says that: 'the markets have gone back to operating in exactly the same way as they did before coronavirus' despite the outbreaks links to bats 

Wild animals still for sale as food and traditional medicine in Chinese markets

More @ Daily Mail

Igniting John Brown and Fred Douglass

 The Secret Six : John Brown and the Abolitionist Movement: Otto ...

Wealthy Northern agitator Gerritt Smith collaborated with John Brown as did Frederick Douglass, who last met with Brown at Christmas, 1856 in Rochester, New York. As soon as news of Brown’s failed 1859 Harper’s Ferry uprising reached Douglass, he fled to Canada and was hidden by black families. Fearing extradition for treason and certain to be hung, he sailed for England to be welcomed by British abolitionists.  

More @ Circa1865

Manifesto of Old Men and Simple Preachers

 the fugitives
“It is strange, of course, that a majority of men anywhere could ever as with one mind become enamored of industrialism: a system that has so little regard for individual wants. There is evidently a kind of thinking that rejoices in setting up a social objective which has no relation to the individual. Men are prepared to sacrifice their private dignity and happiness to an abstract social ideal, and without asking whether the social ideal produces the welfare of any individual man whatsoever. But this is absurd. The responsibility of men is for their own welfare and that of their neighbors; not for the hypothetical welfare of some fabulous creature called society.”
Over time a man, if he is perceptive, comes to certain conclusions.  The most startling is that the greatest truths were spoken to him throughout his life by ordinary men, simple preachers, old men sitting around drinking soda and eating peanuts, his father.  These men, if beneficiaries of a culture and community that embraces common-sense as a virtue, know truths that philosophers for centuries have tried in various ways to express.  Common-sense is something all men should know; common- sense informs us of certain natural laws, common-sense is God’s gift of understanding.

Progressivism is based upon perceived empirical or scientific knowledge.  One wonders what the ultimate cost of our fast-paced, progressive materialistic, industrial/post-industrial, consumerism will ultimately be.  Over the course of history time and again philosophers, theologians, poets, historians and ordinary men of exceptional commonsense have written, spoken and preached against the various outcomes incumbent in unrestrained progressivism absent a human connection to nature and nature’s God.

Lindsey Graham: ‘Shameful, Disgusting’ Pelosi Said Trump Contributed to People Dying

 Graham: ‘Shameful, Disgusting’ Pelosi Said Trump Contributed to Deaths


Sunday on Fox News, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said it was “disgusting” that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said President Donald Trump’s delay in the handling of the coronavirus pandemic caused deaths.

Graham said, “She’s blaming the president of the United States for people dying because of the way he has lead the country. That’s the most shameful, disgusting statement by any politician in modern history.”

He continued, “She’s the first politician to blame another politician for people dying. This is the same Speaker of the House who held up the bill in the Senate for days because she wanted same-day voting, she wanted carbon neutrality for the airlines, she wanted $75 million of the Endowment for the Humanities and $25 million for the Kennedy Center. She is the one that held up the package in the Senate for days to get the Green New Deal put in a recovery package, so it’s the most shape full disgusting thing I’ve heard yet, and it needs to stop.He added, “We took most of the garbage out, but for her to blame this president for causing loss of life after she held up the relief package for days to get a liberal special interest shopping list in the bill is pretty disgusting.”

Venezuelan General is Extradited to US – Second General Surrenders After US Puts Bounty on Leaders of Criminal Socialist Maduro Regime

 

On Thursday US Attorney General William Barr along with the DEA and prosecutors from the Justice Department filed charges against the Maduro regime. The US Department of Justice accused the Maduro regime of narco-terrorism, drug trafficking, corruption and money laundering. The charges were made against Maduro, Diosdado Cabello and 12 members of the Venezuelan cartel. 

Attkisson lists false claims made by Jeremy Peters in New York Times article


  • New York Times and Peters publish multiple false statements
  • At least two subjects have demanded retractions, corrections
  • Peters changes Attkisson quote to suit a false narrative
  • Peters objects to reporting of factually correct, complete list of U.S. coronavirus deaths
UPDATE: March 20, 2020: See legal letter sent to NYT.

UPDATE March 19, 2020: The New York Times finds its article needs no correcting. See graphics below that explain.

The JFK Arts Center Dems Fought So Hard for Plans To Stop Paying the National Orchestra: Report

Via Billy

Italian conductor Gianandrea Noseda conducts the National Symphony Orchestra

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts told members of the National Symphony Orchestra it would no longer be paying them hours after President Donald Trump signed a $25 million bailout for the center.

According to an email obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, the musicians will no longer receive paychecks after April 3.
“The Covid-19 Advisory Committee was broadsided today during our conversation with [Kennedy Center President] Deborah Rutter,” the email read. “Ms. Rutter abruptly informed us today that the last paycheck for all musicians and librarians will be April 3 and that we will not be paid again until the Center reopens.”

More @ WJ

Veterans can attend virtual events for National Vietnam War Veterans Day

Via John


National Vietnam War Veterans Day is March 29. Organizers canceled or postponed many events to slow the spread of COVID-19 through social distancing. Veterans are encouraged to stay connected and participate in virtual events.

More @ VA.gov

100K to 200K Could Die in US

Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Sunday that "We're going to have millions of cases" of coronavirus
  • More than 2,100 have died in the U.S.
  • Deaths have been reported in 47 states and the District of Columbia.
  • The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has assessed 114 sites to be used as makeshift hospitals.
  • A horse racing track in New York is being converted into a hospital.
The United States hit yet another grim milestone in the fight against the coronavirus as the death toll surpassed 2,100 this weekend.

New York had more than 53,000 confirmed cases by Sunday morning. There have been 672 deaths in New York City alone, which has become the epicenter of the health crisis. Overall, there are nearly 125,000 cases in the U.S., according to data tracked by Johns Hopkins University.

There were more than 684,000 cases globally as of Sunday. More than 32,000 people have died and some 145,000 have recovered.

More @ Weather.com

Event 201: A Global Pandemic Exercise October 18, 2019

Via Richard

Event 201 logo

The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in partnership with the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hosted Event 201, a high-level pandemic exercise on October 18, 2019, in New York, NY. The exercise illustrated areas where public/private partnerships will be necessary during the response to a severe pandemic in order to diminish large-scale economic and societal consequences.

Statement about nCoV and our pandemic exercise

Saturday, March 28, 2020

#TakeEmDown Comes to Yankeetown

 

From Dylann Roof to Harvey Weinstein

Many of us predicted it.  The war on American monuments and memorials wouldn’t stop with just stop with Confederate ones.  It wasn’t hard to figure out, but the answer was always, ‘yeah, but they’re not going after Northern “civil war” monuments.

And of course we said, “what about the 54th MA Infantry monument” which was vandalized in Boston with the usual red paint, and an extra touch of the breakage of the white officer’s sword on the bronze relief monument.

And their response was always “yeah, but that was blacks”.  And we thought “that makes no sense, are you a racist?”

But NOW, we’re getting onto the track that led to a slippery slope in Florida resulting in the removal of 4 of the state’s most historic and most prominent Southern veterans memorials, two of which were in HISTORIC DISTRICTS.

“What is happening, now?” you may ask?  The State of  New Jersey is considering  removing one of its two honorees in Statuary Hall in the Capitol in Washington, D.C.  Which one?  Another old white guy – Gen. Philip Kearney, Jr., a Federal general who died at the 2nd Battle of Manassas.

‘Off the charts’: Virus hotspots grow in middle America; Illinois infant with virus dies

Via Billy

Social distancing impacting families saying goodbye to their loved ones

The coronavirus continued its unrelenting spread across the United States, pummeling major cities like New York, Detroit, New Orleans and Chicago, where an infant that tested positive for the virus died Saturday. It made its way, too, into rural America, where hotspots erupted in ski havens in the Rockies and small towns in the Midwest.

Elsewhere, Russia announced a full border closure while in parts of Africa, pandemic prevention measures took a violent turn, with Kenyan police firing tear gas and officers elsewhere seen on video hitting people with batons.

Worldwide infections surpassed the 650,000 mark with more than 30,000 deaths as new cases also stacked up quickly in Europe, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. leads the world in reported cases with more than 115,000, but five countries exceed its death toll of around 1,800: Italy, Spain, China, Iran and France. Italy alone now has more than 10,000 deaths, the most of any country.

More @ WBRC

GOA and GOC Thank the Trump Administration for Designating Firearms Industry as Essential

 Gun Owners of America

President Trump’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has revised its guidance of critical infrastructure to include the firearms industry as part of the Essential Critical Infrastructure.

This revision comes shortly after Gun Owners of America (GOA) and Gun Owners of California (GOC) sent a letter to the administration urging inclusion of the firearms industry.

The guidance specifically includes “[w]orkers supporting the operation of firearm or ammunition product manufacturers, retailers, importers, distributors, and shooting ranges” as part of the Essential Critical Infrastructure.

More @ GOA

An officer-involved shooting in Newburgh resulted in rioting after a city councilman lied.

Via Shannon

 
Newburgh City Councilman Omari Shakur posted a video on Facebook right after the incident that said “an unarmed black man” had been shot and killed by police, Mid Hudson News reported. Shakur referred to the officers as “pigs” and said they are “killers.”
 The City of Newburgh released bodycam images Saturday from an officer-involved shooting after a city councilman incited rioting by claiming the suspect was unarmed.

“Normally in an investigation of this type of incident we would not be releasing images this early in the investigation,” District Attorney David Hoovler said, according to Record Online. “However, to allay community concerns, which quite frankly have been stoked by misinformation coming from a city official, we are releasing these images showing the armed man discharging his gun.”

The images clearly show that the suspect had a pistol in his hand.