How Big a Problem is Covid?

 

Does Neo-Liberalism Now Mean "To Hide the Truth"?

 Matt Margolis, "Johns Hopkins Study Saying COVID-19 Has 'Relatively No Effect on Deaths' in U.S. Deleted After Publication"

Conventional wisdom is that COVID-19 has caused thousands of deaths in the United States and nearly 1.5 million worldwide. This perception has been directly challenged by a study published by Johns Hopkins University on November 22.

Genevieve Briand, assistant program director of the Applied Economics master’s degree program at Johns Hopkins University, critically analyzed the impact that COVID-19 had on U.S. deaths. According to Briand, the impact of COVID-19 on deaths in the United States can be fully understood by comparing it to the number of total deaths in the country.

According to the study, “in contrast to most people’s assumptions, the number of deaths by COVID-19 is not alarming. In fact, it has relatively no effect on deaths in the United States.”

Wait, what? Really?

That’s what it says. And, it should come as no surprise that the study was deleted within days.

Luckily, a back-up copy remains on The Wayback Machine, and we can still read the study.

So, how exactly did the study conclude that COVID-19 has had “relatively no effect on deaths”? Here’s how the study made this determination:

After retrieving data on the CDC website, Briand compiled a graph representing percentages of total deaths per age category from early February to early September, which includes the period from before COVID-19 was detected in the U.S. to after infection rates soared.

Surprisingly, the deaths of older people stayed the same before and after COVID-19. Since COVID-19 mainly affects the elderly, experts expected an increase in the percentage of deaths in older age groups. However, this increase is not seen from the CDC data. In fact, the percentages of deaths among all age groups remain relatively the same.

According to Briand, “The reason we have a higher number of reported COVID-19 deaths among older individuals than younger individuals is simply because every day in the U.S. older individuals die in higher numbers than younger individuals.”

Briand’s analysis found that the range of deaths amongst the older population has remained within the range of past years.

So, if COVID-19 has actually had no significant impact on U.S. deaths, why does it not appear that way?

To answer that question, Briand shifted her focus to the deaths per causes ranging from 2014 to 2020. There is a sudden increase in deaths in 2020 due to COVID-19. This is no surprise because COVID-19 emerged in the U.S. in early 2020, and thus COVID-19-related deaths increased drastically afterward.

Analysis of deaths per cause in 2018 revealed that the pattern of seasonal increase in the total number of deaths is a result of the rise in deaths by all causes, with the top three being heart disease, respiratory diseases, influenza and pneumonia.

“This is true every year,” explained Briand. “Every year in the U.S. when we observe the seasonal ups and downs, we have an increase of deaths due to all causes.”

Here’s where things get interesting.

When Briand looked at the 2020 data during that seasonal period, COVID-19-related deaths exceeded deaths from heart diseases. This was highly unusual since heart disease has always prevailed as the leading cause of deaths. However, when taking a closer look at the death numbers, she noted something strange. As Briand compared the number of deaths per cause during that period in 2020 to 2018, she noticed that instead of the expected drastic increase across all causes, there was a significant decrease in deaths due to heart disease. Even more surprising, as seen in the graph below, this sudden decline in deaths is observed for all other causes.

 The study found that “This trend is completely contrary to the pattern observed in all previous years.” In fact, “the total decrease in deaths by other causes almost exactly equals the increase in deaths by COVID-19.”

Briand concludes that the COVID-19 death toll in the United States is misleading and that deaths from other diseases are being categorized as COVID-19 deaths.

There have been reports of inflated COVID-19 deaths numbers for months. Patients who never tested positive for the disease had COVID-19 as their cause of death on their death certificates. In May, Jared Polis, the Democrat governor of Colorado, disputed official coronavirus death counts, saying even those of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were inflated as the result of including people who tested positive for the coronavirus but died of other causes. In July, a fatal motorcycle accident victim was listed as a COVID-19 death.

On Thursday, Johns Hopkins University explained that they deleted the article on the study because it “was being used to support false and dangerous inaccuracies about the impact of the pandemic.”

The article “A closer look at U.S. deaths due to COVID-19,” published in the Science & Technology section on Nov. 22, has been deleted.

— JHU News-Letter (@JHUNewsLetter) November 26, 2020

They did not, however, challenge the accuracy of the data or its conclusions. In other words, the article was deleted because it didn’t fit the proper narrative.

Thanksgivings, American Style...

 

By Michael T. Flynn

By Almighty God’s grace and with the love and courage of my wife Lori, the strength and fortitude of our families, and the inspiration of our friends and every single patriot who circled me with their prayers, wisdom, and kindness, I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. For the first time in more than four years and because of my fearless attorney, Sidney Powell, the Guardian Angel of American Justice, and thousands of good people with endless energy rallying together on my behalf, I breathe freedom and liberty today.

We are a nation founded by leaders who fought tyranny and oppression to ensure that all American citizens be treated fairly and equally across this land. These constitutional and God-given rights should never be denied or disguised behind false prosecution or political persecution out of fear, hate, or an opposing voice. Those who scowl at the very core of our Republic and act from vengeance or revenge against one of us, threaten the safety and security of all of us.

Never again should any family or individual be so viciously targeted, maligned, smeared, and threatened such has been the experience of my family and I. Not you and your loved ones, not me nor President Trump, our First Lady, and the Trump children. Stand with me today in renouncing this betrayal of trust that has burdened our nation and proclaim with one united voice across this land that we will never again allow the rightful power of the citizens of this country to be uprooted, undercut, usurped, or held hostage by a coup against our nation, a duly elected President or any future president of these United States.

For over three decades, it has been my honor and privilege as a Soldier and public servant to fight for the rights of American citizens and for citizens of the world. I have fought alongside the bravest men and women on distant battlefields in the midst of the fire and fury of war. In this fight for my life and liberties on the battlefield of justice and truth, my faith in God and the love and support of my wife Lori have seen me through.

Along our journey together, we have been blessed to have the trust and support of millions of Americans across our great country and around the world. These are our Digital Army of Patriots who inspired us to keep fighting, uncovered secrets we would otherwise have not known, and shared with us their thoughts, dreams, and wisdom throughout this ordeal.

Many months ago, one patriot wrote to me, “I only recently learned of you. I’ve been willfully ignorant of this world and the level of evil in it. God is moving in our lives and I know my purpose now is to raise my five patriots to love God, fight for truth, and defend the United States of America, One nation under God!” We are so deeply and sincerely appreciative for the force of light brought into our lives to battle on and we will never forget the trust placed in us to never give up the search for truth.

I am forever grateful to my legal team of warriors – a team that came into our lives during the most difficult time. Ms. Sidney Powell entered the Flynn family’s lives like an Angel sent from heaven with the fighting spirit of David, ready to slay Goliath—and she did.

Each member (of our small defense team), assembled by Sidney, fulfilled unique and difficult roles with a warrior’s spirit. Mr. Jesse Binnall, a brilliant leader, and polished legal street fighter possessed an expert grasp of the law and a common-sense approach to discovering the truth. Ms. Molly McCann, who is an intense scholar with a superb mastery of the law, a true warrior, and someone of great faith. Molly spent tireless hours researching, reading, and writing all the while helping her Mother’s fight with cancer. Mr. David Warrington’s steady hand and advice on navigating the minefields of the Washington, D.C. legal circuit were always on the mark. Lindsay McKasson and Abigail (Abbie) Frye are two determined legal professionals who were relentless in piecing together a million-piece puzzle allowing our team to find the truth.

A special thank you goes to my warrior sister Barbara, who took on managing my legal defense fund and between her and my youngest sibling and brother, Joe, did countless interviews to help raise necessary and important funds to fight this fight. And finally, my sister Clare Eckert and her daughter (my God-Daughter and niece), Alicia Kutzer, rounded out our team. My oldest sister Clare is a tough but superb legal and business professional and Alicia is a remarkable lawyer. Without a doubt, we could not have won this fight without their counsel, exceptional research and writing abilities, as well as their unwavering love.

I can never thank them all enough for taking on this monumental challenge to win. Because of them, my eyes are brighter and my heart is filled with love for my sons, their wives, my grandchildren, and for all members of our extended family of Flynns and Andrades and so many, many others who kept me going and gave me strength through their prayers and messages of hope for the future.

Together, we have overcome this enormous hurdle. Now we will get back up on our feet, dust ourselves off, and not fear what lies ahead. We may be tested again with false accusations and untruths and hatred for our beliefs and for raising our voices but we cannot be deterred and we cannot stop.

Time does not always heal all wounds, but discovering the truth has a funny way of shaping the scars.

To all Americans, what we choose to do in this life should never be stopped by fear. Instead, we need to embrace the uncertainty and accept the risk that comes with sacrifice and then work to overcome the sheer magnitude of life’s challenges, especially during this crucible of our nation’s history. Our very survival as a nation is at stake.

The Flynns will never stop being the fighters that our parents, Charlie and Helen, taught us to be. Through generations of military in our past, and with many of us still serving our nation in one capacity or another, we will “rise up” to the next set of challenges together and defend our families, our homes, our honor, and our nation.

Even today, perhaps more than ever before, America requires tried, true, and tested patriots to ensure the future of our children and grandchildren. And in the end, there is only ONE who is the judge of our ultimate destiny.

God Bless America.

Michael T. Flynn

Muh Russia, Redux?

Kim Klacik to Continue in the Fight

The Fears of Swampy Feely Things

The Re-Education of America Begins....

The DNC "Progressive" Con

Mayor Pete Feeds at the Trough...

What's Next for Kim?

...and so, it begins!

The Tragedy Which the American Voting System Has Become...

 

Garrett Hardin, "The Tragedy of the Commons"

 THE TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS (SELECTED EXCERPTS)

The tragedy of the commons develops in this way. Picture a pasture open to all. It is to be expected that each herdsman will try to keep as many cattle as possible on the commons. Such an arrangement may work reasonably satisfactorily for centuries because tribal wars, poaching, and disease keep the numbers of both man and beast well below the carrying capacity of the land. Finally, however, comes the day of reckoning, that is, the day when the long-desired goal of social stability becomes a reality. At this point, the inherent logic of the commons remorselessly generates tragedy.

As a rational being, each herdsman seeks to maximize his gain. Explicitly or implicitly, more or less consciously, he asks, "What is the utility to me of adding one more animal to my herd?" This utility has one negative and one positive component.

1. The positive component is a function of the increment of one animal. Since the herdsman receives all the proceeds from the sale of the additional animal, the positive utility is nearly + 1.

2. The negative component is a function of the additional overgrazing created by one more animal. Since, however, the effects of overgrazing are shared by all the herdsmen, the negative utility for any particular decision­making herdsman is only a fraction of - 1.

Adding together the component partial utilities, the rational herdsman concludes that the only sensible course for him to pursue is to add another animal to his herd. And another.... But this is the conclusion reached by each and every rational herdsman sharing a commons. Therein is the tragedy. Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit -- in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.

ASSUMPTIONS NECESSARY TO AVOID THE TRAGEDY OF THE AMERICAN COMMONS...

...(3) that the administrative system, supported by the criterion of judgment and access to coercion, can and will protect the commons from further desecration."

EROSION OF THE MYTH OF ADMINISTRATORS OF THE COMMONS

"Indeed, the process has been so widely commented upon that one writer postulated a common life cycle for all of the attempts to develop regulatory policies. The life cycle is launched by an outcry so widespread and demanding that it generates enough political force to bring about establishment of a regulatory agency to insure the equitable, just, and rational distribution of the advantages among all holders of interest in the commons. This phase is followed by the symbolic reassurance of the offended as the agency goes into operation, developing a period of political quiescence among the great majority of those who hold a general but unorganized interest in the commons. Once this political quiescence has developed, the highly organized and specifically interested groups who wish to make incursions into the commons bring sufficient pressure to bear through other political processes to convert the agency to the protection and furthering of their interests. In the last phase even staffing of the regulating agency is accomplished by drawing the agency administrators from the ranks of the regulated."

 

What Broken Election Pledge Do You Want to Hear from Joe Today?

Source

During the first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Chris Wallace of Fox News asked Biden if he would “pledge not to declare victory until the election is independently certified,” to which the former vice president answered, “yes.”

“Will you urge your supporters to stay calm while the vote is counted, and will you pledge not to declare victory until the election is independently certified?” asked Wallace of Biden at the first presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio.

“Yes,” answered Biden.

So what is Joe Biden's solemn pledge worth? 

FRAUD!

Time to Take Joe Biden at His Word...

...and the words of Democrats who would know.

It's High Time to Address and Deal with Election Fraud

Now is NOT the time to "Go Along to Get Along"

American Gracchi

MacAoidh, "Corruption Without Consequences Is Killing America"

I spent all afternoon and all evening yesterday disengaged, as best as I could, from the disgraceful circus surrounding America’s failed election Tuesday. I had to, because after a pretty relentless two-week grind and a near all-nighter covering the election returns at The Speakeasy, I had hit my limit and couldn’t go any further without a break from the carnage they’ve turned our political process into.

Tuesday I noted a bit of Roman history in that post which included the video of Tucker Carlson’s monologue on Monday. Specifically, it was a comparison between Donald Trump and Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, the famous tribune who, seeing deep flaws in what the Roman Republic had become, embarked on an effort at aggressive societal reform, starting with redistributing land from the corrupt elite back to the people. Gracchus’ aim was to give ordinary, “deplorable” Romans more access to the fruits of the burgeoning empire.

For his trouble Gracchus was beaten to death in the street. And when his brother Gaius attempted a similarly aggressive reform program as tribune 10 years later, he was hounded from power by a mob ginned up by the elites and ultimately committed suicide.

There were no consequences for the Roman elites for what was done to the Gracchus brothers. None. And without any consequences, the corruption in Rome only grew – so much so that the Republic died a few decades later, replaced by an empire run by a succession of more and more depraved dictators.

Everyone saw it coming. Nobody did anything to stop the corruption. Corruption without consequences, and an unfettered elite which no longer represented the virtues of the republic but rather its vices, led to the decline of Rome and its devolution into a wicked, depraved, tyrannical society destined for the ash-heap of history.

And we are where the Romans were when the reform-minded Gracchus brothers were hounded out of Roman politics.

I had friends who are with the Trump campaign tell me yesterday that this is all going to work out, that the Democrats are cheating like madmen but that Arizona ultimately goes to Trump despite Fox News’ corrupt call of the state to Biden, and that Trump will hold Pennsylvania. They’re even declaring victory in fraud-torn Michigan, though that seems more bombast and defiance than a real claim.

Hey, I’m willing to believe it. I’ll take plausible good news over bad news any day, and I can be persuaded of the plausibility of Trump hanging on with 278 votes even after the absolutely brazen efforts to steal the election virtually everywhere Democrats are in control.

My mood isn’t the result of despondency that the election is lost. I don’t think it’s lost. At least, I’m not sure it’s lost.

What I’ve recognized, what that late night on Tuesday taught me, is that the election is just a symptom of something a whole lot worse.

At the end of the day, it’s this: the game will continue until the Left says it’s over. And the Left will only say it’s over when the Left wins.

And once the Left has won, there will be no more game.

In the last century, there was a phrase for this which described the march of communism through the Third World: one man, one vote…one time.

Another way to say this is that you might vote your way into socialism, but you’ll have to shoot your way out.

And the Democrat Party in America now has assumed the mantle of those atrocious 20th century totalitarians and Third World socialist kleptocrats for whom the corruption of the political process in search of raw power was the end-all and be-all of their existence.

They will never stop. And there are no limits.

The old Democrat Party at least recognized a limiting principle. Yes, the urban political machines they built and maintained were pitifully corrupt and grasping, but there were at least some things they recognized they couldn’t do. They shared some respect for the preservation of our institutions.

None of that is true now. We’ve seen how they’ve corrupted and politicized everything they’ve brought under their control, to the point that very little of it works anymore. Schools and colleges turn out inferior products, the news media has squandered its credibility, Hollywood’s offerings are mostly unwatchable and don’t sell, everyone hates the social media platforms the Left weaponizes. And on and on.

All that’s left for them is to expand the roster of things they control and therefore stamp out competing ideas and activities. To spread their power out to every corner of society. The girl scouts, the NBA, the church down the street. They can’t stop, won’t stop.

They won’t stop because there are no consequences.

Were there consequences to the theft of the 1960 election? No. Were there consequences to the attempted theft of the 2000 election? No.

Does anyone expect consequences to the theft, attempted or completed, of this election? Why would you? There were no consequences to Hillary’s emails or the Clinton Foundation treason/influence-peddling scam. Or to FISAgate. Or to the fraudulent impeachment. Or to anything having to do with Hunter Biden’s laptop: Burisma, Bohai Harvest, Sinohawk or any of it.

The Trump campaign is making noises along the lines of finally attempting to address the corruption and imposing consequences as a result. But talk won’t get it done. One reason Trump is in the fix he’s in is that his administration allowed itself to be maneuvered into playing defense against a Deep State fraud the Obama administration put on its doorstep, and did nothing effective to dissolve the Trump-Russia-Mueller witchhunt for three years.

And now even if the President manages to survive this attempt to steal this failed election from him, the past four years will have been a Swedish massage compared to the next four. Because when there are no consequences to the corruption, the corruption only grows.

He’ll be impeached again. The “Resistance” will grow more aggressive. The cities will burn. And anything he does to put a stop to it will be evidence he’s a “fascist” or a “racist” or whatever other epithets are applied to him already.

Which means there’s a little bit of freedom Trump has if he’s willing to actually do something to retaliate. To impose consequences on the corrupt elite who have conspired to steal this election.

Among his many weaknesses, Joe Biden has a very pronounced specific one. His son Hunter is that weakness.

To date, out of a sense of what we might call Christian charity, little attention has been paid to the more salacious items on that laptop – specifically the sexual misconduct purportedly on it. The specific videos the laptop contains haven’t been released, one reason supposedly being that they contain unmistakable child pornography involving Hunter as a participant.

Well, if – if – that’s true, then Hunter Biden ought to be arrested without delay on federal charges of child pornography, child molestation and sex trafficking, not to mention anything else that an enterprising federal prosecutor might pull off that hard drive with which an indictment could be cobbled together.

Forthwith. Before the weekend.

The thing is this: anyone willing to examine the evidence already in the public domain will be convinced that Hunter Biden was the front man in a racketeering, money laundering and bribery scheme involving his influence-peddling father, but it takes a bit of attention and brainpower to go through a complicated case like that. But if the scuttlebutt is true about the illicit sex videos on that hard drive, there’s no analysis involved. If he’s on those videos and those are underage kids he’s with, and if the acts involved are as advertised, then it ain’t complicated. It’s simple.

So go get a warrant, go get him and stick him in a federal detention center, in solitary confinement, and on suicide watch. If it was good enough for Paul Manafort, it ought to be good enough for Hunter. Such circumstances were established for Manafort in an effort to induce him to rat on Trump, after all. He never broke. It’s fascinating to speculate what Hunter might choose in similar circumstances.

And then let’s watch Joe Biden decide how much he really wants to be president.

Does he really want to take office with his only surviving son languishing in a federal detention center, without bail as he’s surely a flight risk, charged with kiddie porn? What’s Biden going to do after his inauguration? Quash the prosecution? That’ll look good for the public and get his presidency off to a shiny start, won’t it?

Or, it might be offered to him via a back-channel, the electoral shenanigans could end. No more fraudulent mail ballots, no more blocs of votes magically appearing on the vote tallies, no more stolen election. He could concede. At that point there would be no consequences. No federal charges surrounding what’s on that laptop, no recriminations for the attempted theft of the election. The Bidens could skate back to Delaware and enjoy the spoils of a half-century slobbering on the public teat.

That’s just a sliver of what could, and maybe should, be done in order to impose consequences on these corrupt wannabe oligarchs who simply cannot relent in trying to impose themselves on us. The real question is, does our side have what it takes to fight this battle? Or are we content to let Gracchus fall victim to the beating in the street as our republic bleeds out next to him?

 ....as history repeats itself...the "simple" answers present themselves.

Simple Answers in Search of Complex Problems...

...like Human Activity is responsible for the climate differences and changes of the past 150 years.

...or that Covid-19 could be prevented with masks and a six-foot space bubble.

Open for Business!

Election Day!

Coming Soon to a Town Near You...

Bringing the Charm BACK to Charm City

The American Gaslighting Company, aka The DNC....