Author: Californiacontrarian

 In February, 2022 Russia initially attacked Ukraine, and Joe Biden decided to embark on a proxy-war. This war has been going on ever since. 

Way back before the fighting actually began, I opined that Biden should do something to try to avoid war. To my way of thinking in a matchup of Biden vs Putin, Putin would always win. The only way to avoid the upcoming embarrassment to Biden (USA), was to do the utmost to avoid war. Back then there were some of my readers who thought that I was much too harsh on Biden, but let’s look at what we have after eighteen months. 

The devastation has been enormous as has been the cost.

From the Council of Foreign Relations, the cost to the U.S thus far has been $7.71 billion …humanitarian = $3.9B, financial = $26.4 B, military = $46.8 B.

But more important has been the devastation that has been wrought on the people of Ukraine.

From Reuters · Updated 7 days ago

Deaths

At least 62,295 people

Non-fatal injuries

At least 61,000 people

Missing

At least 15,000 people

Displaced

Approximately 17M people

Buildings destroyed

At least 140,000

Property damage

Approximately $411B

And these stats do not include what has happened to the children of Ukraine. How many orphaned? How many displaced? How many homeless?

As was succinctly stated in a recent opine from the Washington Times:

“You have to give President Biden credit for consistency. Unfortunately, he has been consistently wrong. As Robert Gates, former defense secretary in the Obama administration, once put it, Biden has ‘been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.’”

At this point one might ask, “What is the after? How does this Ukraine debacle end?

Apparently, many many months ago there was the potential for a peaceful resolution, but rumor has it that Joe Biden said no to the peace proposal, and kept his foreign policy streak intact!

As best I can tell there is no end in site. 

Mea culpa! There may actually be an end on site, as there is an upcoming election, and while Joe Biden is far from a foreign policy guru, he and his handlers are first and foremost politicians. Going into an election with a seemingly non-ending war is not a winning strategy.

8/24/23

Sometimes when I write a blog I am tempted to use the same title that I have used once before. Almost always I decide not to plagiarize the old title, even though I don’t think that ‘plagiarism’ is technically correct when you steal from yourself. However, today I am reusing a title that I used back in January, 2021 because I thought it was a perfect fit to describe Joe Biden’s speech in Lahaina, Maui on 8/21/23. 

Really Joe, how low can you go?

After joking about the ground being hot and a cadaver dog’s boots, Biden then delivered a speech in Lahaina in front of the devastated town’s ancient banyan tree, which survived the worst of the fires.

First of all, this was certainly not the time for a single joke. When the tragic Lahaina fire killed well over one-hundred with hundreds still missing

to say anything that would even crack a smile is far, far from apropos … “how low can you go?”

But just when I suspected that Joe had bottomed out, it got worse! His spiel about how his house fire fifteen years before was somehow comparable to Lahaina’s devastation was beyond the pale, well outside of respectable.

“To make a long story short, I almost lost my wife, my ’67 Corvette, and my cat,” said our President.

How is almost losing anything comparable losing your house, your car, your town, and most likely friends and relatives? It’s hard to believe that anyone could empathize with Joe Biden after his horrific and disrespectful speech.

Predictably those in Maui did not appreciate Biden’s visit.

From BlazeMedia:

A restaurant owner in Kihei, Maui, told the Daily Signal that Biden’s comparison was “the most despicable thing this president has ever said,” adding, “How do you compare almost losing your f****** Corvette to the children burned in their f****** homes, man?”

Newsweek reported that other residents who confronted Biden along the way held signs that read “F*** Biden” and “Trump Won.” Others held signs near Kapalua Airport, where the president touched down, that read, “It’s too late.”

The New York Post noted that there were additional signs amid the ash and ruin in Lahaina that said, “Action speaks louder than words” and “FJB,” as well as “No comment,” in reference to Biden’s Aug. 13 refusal to address the tragedy while vacationing in Delaware.

Kristen Goodwin, a former teacher on the island, similarly expressed contempt for Biden, noting, “I’m not voting for him again — that’s for sure. I’ll vote for Trump. I will never vote for him again.”

Goodwin characterized Biden’s visit as nothing more than a “photo op.”

Hopefully, when it’s time to vote again, Hawaiians will think back to how low Biden went in Lahaina.

8/23/23

I am going to start out today with the complete generalization that older people are more conservative than liberal. At this point I cannot prove that to be the case, but it would seem that with experience comes wisdom, and the older one is, the more experience one has, and ergo, someone with increased age and experience would be more likely to view things as they really are (logically) and not how ideally they could be (emotionally).

Youthful individuals often think how nice it would be if we had zero pollution, but do not envision a workable plan on how to get there. They just go along … La-de-dah!

They never consider either how to actually achieve this ideal zero pollution goal, or what it would be like, if and when that is attained. 

The dichotomy here is that those among us who are older will not have to deal with the discord and chaos that will occur when the pie-in-the-sky consequences of these ideal, but non obtainable, plans hit the fan.

From Issues and Insights:

While campaigning in 2019, Joe Biden guaranteed “we’re going to end fossil fuels.” What he didn’t say is that eliminating fossil fuels will create a troublesome scarcity of electricity.

Output cuts that will be required under the proposed regime “are so stringent,” says the Committee To Unleash Prosperity (CTUP) that “fossil fuel plants – which supply around 65% of America’s power – would be technologically incapable of complying.” The only way they will be able to stay open and generating power is if Americans’ utility bills are raised “dramatically.” If not, they close, and the power they produce is gone.

Similarly in California, where progressive politicians are committed to an unachievable target: As 2045 expires, all retail electricity sold in the state and used in government buildings must be produced by renewable resources, which are effectively limited to solar and wind.

The White House’s plan isn’t the same as California’s mandate, which bans the sale of new internal-combustion engine cars and trucks beginning in 2035. Biden is instead placing emissions limits on car makers that are so strict that they will have no choice but make sure that two-thirds of their sales by 2032 will be EVs.

Interesting ideas, but not achievable! However for many of us older folk … “no me importa,” (“to me, it is of no importance”) as most of us will not be around in 2032, 2035, and certainly not in 2045!

Perhaps some of us who are older, wiser, and experienced should remind the younger folk that Ida Auken, the Social Democrat member of the Danish parliament, who in a World Economic Forum essay insisted that in the future we will own nothing and be happy. The headline – “Welcome to 2030: I own nothing, have no privacy and life has never been better.”

8/22/23

Throughout the Covid saga, I just could not understand why “those that know best” were advocating for children to get the vaccine. It made little sense to me! The chance of an otherwise healthy child dying from Covid was minuscule, and yet many were demanding that they be vaccinated. The same very good odds persisted through the age of college students, and yet colleges wanted proof of vaccination in order for them to set foot on the campus. As I repeatedly said, “in the long run, the best thing that could happen to an el-hi student was for him/her to get Covid, be sick for a few days, and then have the advantage of natural immunity” … and that was back when “those who knew best” thought that the vaccine was safe and effective.

Recently I read about someone whose thoughts on this subject were close to mine … Dr. Renato Moon. She is a board certified pediatrician and Pediatric Hospital Medicine  physician in Spokane, Washington. She has over twenty years of experience, and was fired from her job at Washington State Med School, because she had the audacity to speak out!

Form Intellectualtakeout.org:

Dr. Moon’s unique family background has informed her decision to speak out: Her parents grew up under communism in the country formerly known as Czechoslovakia.

“My parents were new immigrants, and I grew up a proud, freedom-loving American,” she said. “As a kid I traveled to behind the Iron Curtain (to what is now the Czech Republic). The way my relatives and others were living under communism was awful. Every aspect of their lives was controlled by their communist government. There is a reason that millions of people have fled from communism—these horrible systems never work.”

So, when the pandemic and forced masks and mandated vaccines happened, Dr. Moon recognized the rising authoritarianism.

“The pandemic and masks and vax mandates was all pure communism,” she said. “My family were tracked back then—you had to sign in with the village police just to visit relatives 60 kilometers away. I saw how they were living under communism: terrible lives.”

The red flags started to fly on the COVID-19 vax for Dr. Renata Moon in 2021. She’d been watching the data on the vaccines, and then she watched the hearings on the vaccine being used in children.

So different that she spoke out at the risk of her employment. And in December 2021, despite a clean history of caring well for patients, she was fired from her job. Her employer wanted to know if she’d gotten the vax, and when she wouldn’t tell them, she was fired.

“I pulled out the Nuremburg Code to remind myself what it says—because this vaccine is a medical experiment. It’s unethical to force people to undergo medical experimentation,” Dr. Moon said. “And if an employer mandates what you have to do with your personal health care, you have become a modern-day slave. I said, ‘No,’ and they pulled me from a fully booked clinic.”

Keep in mind that she was fired because she resorted to “the science!” The death rate from Covid in the pediatric population is near zero, and Dr. Moon began noticing an increased number of myocarditis cases in her practice. The risk/benefit ratio favored not giving the Covid shots to children. (BTW, A recent study demonstrated an elevated troponin level [a cardiac enzyme that is released into the blood stream with myocardial injury?]  in 1 out 35 patients that had received the Covid vaccine.)

“I took an oath to ‘do no harm,’” she said. “As the data rolled out on the vaccine and COVID-19, it became clear that children had basically a zero risk of death from infection by COVID. They have potential serious risk from taking the COVID-19 shots.”

“Ronald Reagan said [that] we’re one generation away from losing our freedom,” Dr. Moon said. “We are Americans, and we are tough—we have to peacefully fight and overcome this. We are fighting for a meaningful future for our nation’s children.”

Amen to that!

8/21/23

As some of you may know, on Sunday I write about someone that we can all look up to and admire. This Sunday I have a double feature. When you read this story, you will agree that person A, Themba, is certainly someone we can look up to and admire. In that same light when you hear what person B, Dwayne, did for Themba, you will likewise be blown away.

First the story of Themba Gorimbo, who is a UFC fighter from Zimbabwe. 

From BlazeNews:

ESPN about Themba Gorimbo, a fighter from Zimbabwe, that showed a Bank of America statement of just over $7 along with a comment from Gorimbo saying, “This was the money left I had before the fight and now God granted me a good win.”

“If it wasn’t for the free UFC meals I started to receive after I signed the fight I would probably be singing a different story,” the fighter wrote on Twitter.

Gorimbo had been sleeping: on the second-floor couch of his mixed martial arts gym. On the wall in front of the couch, the fighter wrote a list of inspirational reasons to fight. “I fight for my kids smiles.” “I fight for hope & change.” “I fight for those who believe in me,” and “I fight for my village” were among a lengthy list.

According to the Daily Mail, after a May 20, 2023, victory in the UFC, Gormibo sold his fight gear and made $7,000.

“Instead of using the money to find a place to live, he built a bush pump so his village back in Zimbabwe can have clean water,”

Then steps in person B … Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Johnson said. “He never asked me for anything, but I just wanted to help the guy out. $7 Bucks ya know.”

Not only did the actor surprise Gorimbo at his gym, he had another shocking reveal for him. Johnson took the 170-pound fighter to a house in Miami that was secretly stocked with signature clothing, shoes, food, and even photos of the fighter’s family.

He then handed Gorimbo the keys and told him he will pay for all expenses relating to the home for as long as Gorimbo wants to live there.

Johnson added, “The guy works his ass off. He has such a singular focus and a goal, and he’s sleeping on the couch in the gym. He’s so committed. I am lucky and blessed to be able to shake that man’s hand and be a very small part in his seven bucks journey.”

So there you have it. The story of Themba and Dwayne. 

Should one be admired more?

Does it really matter?

8/20/23

Three days after uploading a backyard video performance of his protest anthem “Rich Men North of Richmond,” Anthony read from the book of Psalms before an overflow crowd gathered to hear him sing.

This is how Oliver Anthony opened a free concert on Sunday, 8/13/23 in Currituck, North Carolina:

“The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them,” Anthony said, Bible and guitar in hand. “But the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.”

Jason Whitlock (“Fearless”) implores us to pray for Oliver Anthony. A month ago, he fell to his knees and asked God to deliver him from drinking and depression. He cried out for a purpose. It appears God gave him one: speak truth to power.

In just a few days, Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond” has racked up millions of views on YouTube, Twitter, and other streaming services.

Rich Men North of Richmond” shot up the iTunes music chart, reaching No.1. The video has nearly 9 million views on a tiny West Virginia radio station YouTube page. In a matter of days, his social media following exploded. He has 425,000 Instagram followers and 300,000 followers on Twitter.

“Rich Men North of Richmond” calls out our nation’s political elite, the politicians in the nation’s capital, just a two-hour drive up I-95 from Richmond, Virginia.

Oliver Anthony is from nowhere, a small farm in Farmville, Virginia. He knows he’s picking a fight with the devil. You wonder if he truly understands all the different ways Satan seduces.

We better pray for Oliver Anthony.

His walk with God is just beginning. By his own admission, he’s been dancing with the devil for much longer. The music industry will offer him the best drugs, alcohol, and women the world has to offer. If that doesn’t work, the industry will loose its puppets in corporate media to comb through every aspect of Anthony’s personal history.

He goes on to explain the meaning and purpose of “Rich Men North of Richmond.” He feels the working class has been forgotten. The song is directed at the political elite on both sides of the Democrat-Republican divide. Anthony believes in the uniparty. He sees himself as neither left-wing nor right-wing. He’s also bothered by the normalization of sexualizing kids.

He sounds like someone who finally realized America’s problems and solutions are spiritual, not political.

Whitlock continues:

“Not by choice or design, he’s the Donald Trump of folk music. Anyone, regardless of color, geography, or economic standing, who speaks or sings on behalf of the average American risks persecution.

The wicked shall plot against Oliver Anthony. Let us pray that his enemies vaporize into smoke as the fat of lambs.”

As this was written a few days ago, here is the latest update on Oliver Anthony:

The big news was Oliver Anthony is his grandfather’s name. The viral sensation is actually named Christopher Anthony Lunsford. He published a long Facebook post this week providing a lot more biographical information, including dismissing any interest in a music contract:

People in the music industry give me blank stares when I brush off 8 million dollar offers. I don’t want 6 tour buses, 15 tractor trailers and a jet. I don’t want to play stadium shows, I don’t want to be in the spotlight. I wrote the music I wrote because I was suffering with mental health and depression. These songs have connected with millions of people on such a deep level because they’re being sung by someone feeling the words in the very moment they were being sung. No editing, no agent, no bullshit. Just some idiot and his guitar. The style of music that we should have never gotten away from in the first place.

Based on his autobiography, the singer seems to be exactly what he advertised, a blue-collar Appalachian struggling to make ends meet. It says a lot about the state of our culture that, despite his economic struggles, he already isn’t interested in what the music industry is peddling.

Wow! Quite a story!

8/19/23

Just last week I again thought about Ron DeSantis, the present Governor of Florida. He is obviously a smart guy … Yale undergrad, Harvard Law, a Naval officer who served in Iraq, an elected member of the U.S. House, before serving as the elected Governor of Florida since 2019.

He is obviously a very smart man.

During his Republican primary, back in 2018, DeSantis emphasized his support for Trump by running an ad in which DeSantis taught his children how to “build the wall” and say “Make America Great Again”. Asked whether he could name an issue on which he disagreed with Trump, DeSantis declined.

President Trump had said the previous month that he would support DeSantis should he run for governor

In April, 2020 Governor DeSantis was in the White House discussing Covid with then President Trump.

It sure seemed that DeSantis and Trump were on the same page.

DeSantis was masterful at managing Florida during Covid, and consequently in May, 2023 he announced that he was running for President.

But here recently I have been surprised that this political thoroughbred appears to be more like Beetlebomb. He has gone though two changes to his campaign staff, and from my point of view, is not acting like the smart person that I thought him to be.

Let’s think about the present situation logically. In “losing” the 2020 election, Donald Trump got over 70 million votes. A lot of those 2020 Trump voters will indeed vote for him again. At present in the polls Trump is leading DeSantis by a very large margin. The other Republicans who are “running for President” have actually entered themselves in the VP derby, as none of them will beat out either Trump or DeSantis to be the Republican nominee for President.

Now it is possible that something will change after all of these ludicrous legal charges have worked the way through the system. But I’m from Missouri.

What I cannot understand is why the DeSantis campaign sometimes says things that I find offensive when referring to Donald Trump. Let’s be clear. At the time that DeSantis declared that he was running, to me, it was clear that basically he was entering into the aforementioned VP derby. Okay, I get it … if for some reason Trump is not the Republican candidate, DeSantis is positioning himself to be the pinch hitter. But is he forgetting that Trump garnered 70 million votes back in November 2020. I wonder, “Is DeSantis’s campaign purposely trying to p.o a fair number of those 70 million?”

Why would such a smart guy be doing such dumb things?

After the recent Trump indictments in Georgia, DeSantis had to opportunity to come out strong, but instead  made a milquetoast statement. Why be La-de-dah! when he had to opportunity to be strong? 

8/18/23

By now we are all well aware of the tragedy that occurred with the wildfire in Maui. At this point there has been close to 100 deaths, and the death count is guaranteed to go higher. It’s hard to imagine anybody not being aware of this catastrophe.

From Newsweek:

“This past weekend President Joe Biden was cycling on vacation at the seaside in Delaware.

According to Bloomberg correspondent Justin Sink, after spending a few hours sunbathing on the beach near his home, when asked about the death toll on the island, Biden replied with a ‘no comment,’ before leaving.”

“No comment.” Here this would have been a despicable illustration of an “I do not really give a s**t” feeling from anybody, but even more despicable when coming from the President! I realize that he did not have a teleprompter available, and that he did not have time to get the okay from his handlers, but any heartfelt comment would have been appropriate. “No comment” was clearly inappropriate. 

Still from Newsweek:

“Asked by several reporters camped outside earlier in the day whether he could stop riding his bike to talk about the devastating blazes, Biden responded: ‘We’re looking at it.’”

Again a totally inappropriate comment as scores of people, mostly Americans, have died! My guess is that here he wanted somehow to blame global warming, but was hesitant because no one had told him that the party line was going to be that global warming was the cause.

Again from Newsweek:

“The president has since faced criticism online for appearing uncaring, with some critics comparing his reaction to the disaster over the past week to his response to the toxic spill following a train derailment near East Palestine, Ohio, earlier in the year, for which he also faced a backlash.

“Even Medhi Hasan, a journalist and MSNBC anchor, commented that ‘unforced errors” like the lack of a response on the death toll in Maui “will hurt him’”

I do not really give a hoot whether or not this “will hurt him,” as he is clearly an uncaring old geezer! Was he really thinking,” Maui? Where’s that? Fires? I really do not give a s**t!”

8/16/23

For a while now Germany has been a leader in “going green” as far as energy is concerned. As of now it’s better than even money that the U.S. will be following in Germany’s footprints, meaning that what is happening in Germany today will be happening in the U.S. within a few years. So, what is actually happening in Germany today?

FromCatholic Vote:

The CEO of RWE, Germany’s largest energy company, warned in an interview that Germans can expect soaring energy costs in what he called “the first signs of deindustrialization.”

“Germany’s wealth is based on strong industry,” said CEO Markus Krebber, adding that the surge in prices will lead companies to relocate outside of Germany unless the government allows for greater investment in renewable energy. “We don’t have as much energy as we need (…) this gap leads to high prices and thus to justified concerns about competitiveness.”

His warning comes after Germany powered down its last three nuclear power plants in April as part of its “green energy” commitment. 

As reported by CatholicVote:

Germany leads the way in [European green energy] regulatory efforts, boasting the most aggressive green energy regulations in Europe. The progressive government aims to make Germany entirely free of nuclear energy by the end of this year (2022) and coal-free by 2030. By then, Germans will be getting 80% of their energy from “renewables,” or so the plan promises. 

The problem is that the regulations are not working. 

In 2021, the share of nuclear and coal energy in the power mix actually increased. Even as coal and nuclear plants are shutting down their operations, they are seeing increases in demand of over 7% due to “low output from renewables, and the development in energy and CO2 prices.” 

Just before the plants closed, Krebber reassured Germans that there would be no energy shortage. 

From Mark Nelson on Twitter:

Weeks before Germany’s nuclear closed, utility giant 

@RWE_AG CEO Markus Krebber rejected calls to save them:

“There is still enough electricity”

The reactors close. Six weeks later Krebber says:

“Germany has a serious problem: We don’t have as much energy available as we need”

How much longer before the U.S. also has a serious problem, not having enough energy available as we need?

My bet … not very long!

8/15/23

californiacontrarian

It’s almost like the FDA has suddenly had whiplash when it comes to my old friend, Ivermectin.  Perhaps it would be better said that the FDA is now doing its best to play CYA! As detailed in both the Epoch Times and Coffee and Covid, last week the attorney for the FDA came out with an amazing statement that “FDA explicitly recognizes that doctors do have the authority to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID.” 

Hmmm!

The shocking statement arose during a hearing in a lawsuit against the FDA brought by Drs. Mary Talley Bowden, Paul Marik, and Robert Apter. The doctors allege that the FDA interfered with their free speech rights and their medical ability to prescribe ivermectin for covid treatment. “We’re suing the FDA for lying to the public about ivermectin,” explained Dr. Bowden.

Under U.S. law, the FDA “may not interfere with the authority of a health care provider to prescribe or administer any legally marked device to a patient for any condition or disease within a legitimate health care practitioner-patient relationship.”

But in various statements, the FDA repeatedly told Americans that ivermectin “isn’t authorized or approved to treat COVID-19,” and on its website’s Q&A, warned against such use: “Q: Should I take ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19? A: No.”

Who can forget this nonsensical FDA tweet?

As those of you who view my pieces regularly are well aware, I have been very pro-Ivermectin from the very beginning. I have written multiple blogs detailing the success of Ivermectin in other countries. To me not using Ivermectin made little sense, as its side-effect profile is negligible. At one point I asked multiple liberal and RINO friends if they would take Ivermectin if it were available … unanimously, they said, “No!”  … They probably all knew that they were not horses or cows!

At this point one might say … “for all intents and purposes Covid is over, so who cares?” 

I CARE!! And America should care for a multitude of reasons:

First – Here big government imposed its will on Americans, many of whom did not know better. Back then the FDA was obviously following directions from somebody. But who and more importantly, “Why?”

Second – Who’s to say how many lives may have been saved if the FDA had just kept its mouth shut? Maybe one … maybe ten … maybe hundreds … or conceivably thousands or even way more!

Third – Now that the FDA has changed its tune about Ivermectin, how many physicians who were punished by liberal medical boards will have redress? Hopefully, those on various medical boards will now be punished for their unconstitutional “we know best” dictums.

Fourth – Perhaps most importantly, when a similar thing happens again … and it will happen again! … will the physician-patient relationship prevail, or will we again be subjected to some sort of FDA whiplash?

8/14/23