Author: Californiacontrarian

As many of us recall the Covid vaccine was rolled out in mid-November, 2020, and was initially made available to us common folk in February, 2021.

A lot  of what follows is from a piece by Jeffrey A. Tucker in the Epoch Times:

“On Nov. 13, 2020, just as the vaccine was being rolled out the World Health Organization (WHO) made a hugely significant change to its website.

It pertained to the section on herd immunity—the concept theorizing how a new pathogen goes from pandemic to endemic, from socially disruptive to manageable. It is about how a society gets back to normal. Previously the website said it happens with immunity upgrades through exposure plus vaccines.

On this day, the WHO changed its website. The science had not changed. But the body presuming to guard and govern world health changed anyway. The website suddenly struck out natural immunity and even put it down. The new text said: “Herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus, not exposing them to it.”

Back in the day when I was in med school, I was initially leaning toward being a pediatrician. However after a few pediatric rotations, I decided not to become a pediatrician because during those months I was constantly sick with one cold after another. No way could I go through the rest of my life being consistently sick. How could pediatricians do it? They exposed to sick kids with viral runny noses and coughs all the time? … the answer is “natural immunity.” Basically, natural immunity is that protection that an individual develops against a virus after that individual has already had that particular virus.

In other words, practicing pediatricians are not constantly sick, because they develop a natural immunity to certain viruses through exposure to those viruses. For many years since med school, I have been aware of the concept of natural immunity. The question is why were all of the so-called experts, Dr. Fauci, the CDC, the WHO, etcetera not aware of this. As many of my regular readers are cognizant, I have been steadfastly questioning why Dr. Fauci, the CDC, the WHO, etcetera have never alluded to natural immunity. 

To me the answer to this relatively easy question is basically simple … either they were not aware of the concept of natural immunity … balderdash!

or

they purposely avoided the topic of natural immunity … but why?

More from Jeffrey Tucker:

“On 11/13/20, the WHO announced that now scientists and their potions would protect the whole of humanity from everything! Astounding. And unbearably false. It just so happened that this grand reveal happened just as COVID vaccines were about to hit the market.

The month before the WHO came out with its preposterous claim, British medical journal, The Lancet had more-or-less trumpeted the same blather. The Memorandum in question was supposed to be a response to the Great Barrington Declaration. They called it the John Snow Memo. Today it is nothing if not embarrassing.

Of course the evidence rolled in from all over the world over the coming months that natural immunity to this pathogen works exactly as one would expect. It is robust and broad and lasting.”

So was this avoidance by “experts” to the possibility of natural immunity with Covid due to their incompetence or to some other more devious reason? I have my opinion … what’s yours?

Jeffrey Tucker closes his piece with:

“Will you ever regain your trust in public health? You should not, not until there is full accountability and open admissions of wrongdoing.”

2/16/23

The Super Bowl has been completed and thus the football season is now completed for this year. Even though a controversial call from a zebra played a significant role in possibly determining the outcome  of this season’s final game, it was a great season. It was an especially great season for Damar Hamlin, because he is still alive. As most everybody is aware in January, 2023, Damar Hamlin died on the football field, and was resuscitated on the football field. A miracle of modern medicine as Damar Hamlin was in the right place at the right time.

However, in Hamlin’s first interview since the incident, it just keeps getting more bizarre! Hamlin was interviewed on ABC News’ “Good Morning America” by Michael Strahan, who is himself a retired NFL football player.

Strahan asked, “You’re 24. Peak physical condition [that] could run circles around me right now. How did the doctors describe what happened to you?” 

[So are we finally going find out what happened? Actually, NO, … as it just keeps getting more bizarre.]

Hamlin stated that he would not comment on what doctors told him. “That’s something I want to stay away from,” Hamlin said in response, which was not included in an ABC News article about the interview.

[Is there some sort of ‘gag order’ in play here? It sure sounds like it … but by whom?]

Strahan then asked: “I know from my experience at NFL, they do more tests than anything. And in the course of you having your physical, did anybody ever come back with any, say, you had a heart issue or anything that was abnormal?”

“Honestly, no. I’ve always been a healthy, young, fit, energetic human being, let alone athlete. So it was something that [we’re] still processing, and I’m still talking through my doctors to see what everything was,” Hamlin said in response.

[So here Hamlin basically confirms that he has no underlying structural cardiac abnormality. Hmmm!]

Strahan then asked Hamlin what he remembers before he collapsed during the game. He took a long pause before responding.

“That’s something I don’t really want to get too deep in the details of,” Hamlin stated. “That’s something I’m still trying to work through, you know, why that happened to me.”

[This is even more incredulous and more bizarre. Why the long pause? The details in this case are the key to his diagnosis!]

When asked, Hamlin said that he “eventually” wants to play professional football again.

“Eventually. That’s always the goal. Like I said, as a competitor, I’m trying to do things just to [keep] advancing my situation,” Hamlin said. “But I’m allowing that to be in God’s hands. I’m just thankful he gave me a second chance.”

[A nice answer … what sounds like a nice scripted answer.]

I challenge anyone to explain why Damar Hamlin does not have a defibrillator (AICD). In everyday medical practice if someone young suffers a cardiac arrest, he/she gets an AICD. Although no one has specifically stated, Damar Hamlin does not appear to have a defibrillator. [Bizarre, again!] 

In some circles the rumor is that the cause of Damar Hamlin’s sudden death episode was “Commotio Cordis.” (Commotio Cordis refers to the sudden arrhythmic death caused by a low/mild chest wall impact. Commotio Cordis is seen mostly in athletes between the ages of 8 and 18 who are partaking in sports with projectiles such as baseballs, hockey pucks, or lacrosse balls.)

Even though Commotio Cordis is possible, think of all the hits to the chest a football player gets during the course of a single game. Think of the number of hits to the chest an entire football team gets during a full season … during a full season with daily practices. Certainly while Commotio Cordis is possible, the odds against this having been the cause of Hamlin’s cardiac arrest are infinitesimal. 

Furthermore Damar Hamlin said that he wants to play football again. 

[Again a very bizarre statement, as he died once on the field. Apparently, some medical authority must have told him that it might be safe for him to play football again in the future.]

Does anyone know if Commotio Cordis recurs? To me this is an unanswerable question as most individuals that have a sudden death episode due to Commotio Cordis are either dead or have a defibrillator placed. I can find no medical studies that address this issue.

In conclusion, let’s think about this situation logically:

Damar Hamlin basically died on the football field on a nationally televised  Monday Night Football game.

He was resuscitated and had a multitude of cardiac tests, the results of which are seemingly being kept secret.

As best we know, no fixable cardiac issue was found. Again for whatever reason this continues to be “hush-hush.”

If any abnormality was found on cardiac testing it can be presumed that it must be a possibly temporary thing, because Damar Hamlin did not receive a defibrillator, and is considering playing football again.

Could it be that Damar Hamlin had something possibly temporary … like myocarditis? As most myocarditis resolves, further future testing could indeed document that his myocarditis had or had not resolved. At that point it could be safe for Damar Hamlin to play football again. The most common cause of myocarditis is a viral infection. As best we know, Damar Hamlin did not have a symptomatic viral infection. If he was feeling poorly prior to that game, he would have remembered it, and possibly would not have even played.

Using only logical thinking, could it be that Damar Hamlin had myocarditis due to his Covid vaccine/booster? As that myocarditis will probably resolve with time, he did not need a defibrillator, and in the future could possibly be cleared to play football again? If this were the case, there would be multiple entities that would want this kept quiet , very quiet.

I am aware that many are tired of my harping on this same subject. However, there is a very simple resolution … Have the cardiac doctors, Damar Hamlin, and the NFL open up and tell the truth!

2/15/23

Until I read an article by Anders Corr, I was not aware that China was involved in the competitive field of Electric Vehicles. On the surface, in a rational world the concept of China producing EVs seems oxymoronic, as China is one of the world’s worst polluters.

Why is China increasing its footprint in the present field of EV production? If you think that Beijing has only the good of mankind in mind, then your middle name might be either “Naivé” or Robinette. … Anders Corr’s middle name is neither. (FYI, Anders Corr has a bachelor’s/master’s in political science from Yale University (2001) and a doctorate in government from Harvard University (2008). He is a principal at Corr Analytics Inc., publisher of the Journal of Political Risk.)

Most of the following is from Anders Carr’s article in The Epoch Times titled: “China’s Electric Vehicles Could Destroy America”:

“China uses its weak environmental regulations and lousy labor policies to outcompete U.S. car manufacturers on price. 

In 2021, Japan led in passenger vehicle exports, Germany and China were neck-in-neck for second place, and the United States and South Korea trailed behind.

Since 2020 as the EV revolution hit, China is gaining fast. The output of all its competitors is either stalling or, in the case of the United States, falling.

Japanese car companies are slow off the block from hybrid vehicles to pure electric. According to Reuters on Jan. 23, ‘Lapping them are Chinese firms, which appear best-positioned to keep their pole position, both at home and internationally.’

On Jan. 24, The Wall Street Journal reported that Ford was in talks to sell one of its plants in Germany to BYD, China’s biggest EV maker. BYD outsold Tesla in 2022, and already sells electric cars and buses in Europe. Buying the Ford plant in Germany “would give BYD a stronghold for further expansion on the continent,” according to the Journal.

The tightest choke point in the EV supply chain is battery manufacturing. BYD has it covered. China manufactures 56 percent of all EV batteries, and the CCP will put China’s EV makers first in line.

An added advantage to Beijing from the world moving away from oil is that China has very little of it. The United States has a lot, so the shift is particularly painful for relative U.S. economic strength.

China’s defeat of America’s oil and vehicle industries, after so many others have already gone, will put downward pressure on good American jobs.”

Think about it … every dollar that China makes can be turned by Beijing into military aggression and human rights abuse, up to and including genocide of the Uyghurs.

The next time you consider buying an EV to save the planet from global warming, keep in mind that China is taking advantage of the present EV situation, but not for the good of mankind. A lot of the future China profits from EVs will only serve to further weaken the U.S, and in practical terms will contribute the the killing of another Ugyhur.

2/14/23

Let’s say that for the sake of discussion there is a new potentially deadly disease. A disease that we have not seen before. A disease for which there is no known treatment. If you were a physician, what would you do? … nothing or something? If you do nothing, nothing changes, and people will continue to die. If you try something like using a drug off-label that has a proven safety profile, you may help some. In fact you may help many. To me, as long as the side-effect profile is good (safe), you obviously need to try this drug off-label. This is a no brainer! … a no-brainer apparently except to Dr. Fauci, and to those on multiple state medical boards.

Many months back when the “esteemed” Dr. Fauci was asked about using a certain combination of meds to treat the coronavirus, he responded that any treatment modality would need to be validated by controlled studies. 

(BTW his answer was a totally impractical answer! Think about it … at that point were there controlled studies on masks, lockdowns, social distancing, or a vaccine? No. No. No, and No!)

How many people died in the USA, because Dr. Fauci refused to give a reasonable practical answer? How many people died in various states because the state’s medical boards acted like sheep? … acted like vindictive sheep, no less. Threatening physicians with taking away their medical licenses if they did not kowtow to those non-elected state medical boards.

At present there are multiple legal cases in many states involving medical boards who inserted themselves into what is supposed to be a personal physician-patient relationship.

“There have been a lot of medical boards harassing physicians over ivermectin, also hydroxychloroquine. Also, some of their public statements against mask mandates and questioning the vaccine,” Andrew Schlafly, a lawyer who’s filed several lawsuits on behalf of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, told The Epoch Times.

On Feb. 11, 2022, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson released a statement saying doctors in his state have the authority to treat COVID-19 by prescribing “off-label” drugs. Off-label prescribing is a legal and widespread practice among doctors.

Despite that on Feb. 1, 2022, Dr. Yusuf Saleeby, a medical doctor in South Carolina with over 30 years of experience, received a letter from South Carolina’s medical board detailing that it’d received a complaint that he prescribed ivermectin to one of his patients. The board stated it was opening an investigation.

What Saleeby experienced is typical of many state medical boards’ behavior across the country.

“Medical boards know that if they discipline a physician based solely on ivermectin, that may cause political problems,” Schlafly said. Some state legislators are proponents of patients having access to ivermectin.

“So, what medical boards do instead is find the target physician who prescribes ivermectin, and they look for some other basis to discipline their physician,” Schlafly said.

“So, they go on a fishing expedition, and they’ll try to find some other graph to discipline that physician. And the real reason is they’re retaliating against the physician for using ivermectin.”

Chambers agrees. “If you’re turning over the complete medical history of patients, there’s probably going to be other places where you didn’t dot all your I’s and cross all your T’s. That’s the nature of human record-keeping.”

So who are the “bad guys?” The experienced practicing physicians like Dr. Saleeby, who are actually on the battle field, or Dr. Fauci and the vindictive members of state medical boards, many of whom have little or no practical experience treating patients?

I have made my choice … have you?

2/13/23

As is my pattern on Sunday I bring attention to someone we can all admire. Nineteen-year-old Delivontae Johnson, is an East Arkansas Community College student. He had hit a pothole in Memphis on the way to church 11 days prior and on 1/12/23 had pulled into the Walmart parking lot in his hometown of Forrest City, Arkansas to use the ATM en route to the mechanic. That’s when he spotted something in a shopping cart.

That something happened to be a wallet belonging to Dee Harkrider.

What to do?

From Epoch Bright:

“After seeing the name on the license, I searched it up on Facebook, and let Miss Dee know that I had her wallet,” said Delivontae. However, when he didn’t get an immediate response to his message, he went through her photos, found a picture of Elaine Keown, and texted her to let her know about the missing wallet.

Ms. Keown then contacted Dee Harkrider to let her know that her wallet had been found. At this point the sixty-one year old grandma had not even realized that her wallet was missing, and was in the adjacent town of Palestine.

Learning that Harkrider was not at home in Wynne, but in Palestine, Johnson took a detour and drove over 20 miles out of his way to reach her. He called Harkrider on the way and met her in a CR Smalls and Company restaurant parking lot.

“He told me he wanted to make sure I got my wallet back,” Harkrider said. “Everything was in it! I was so grateful for what he had done, so I had a $20 bill tucked in my wallet, and gave that to him to show my appreciation. I wish I had had more to give him.”

The grateful grandmother took a selfie with Johnson and shared their story on Facebook. The post went viral.

She told The Epoch Times: “I wanted him to be recognized for what he had done, plus wanted to share the goodness of God … I do believe God puts people in our lives, and in my case, it was for good that Delivontae came into my life … at only 19 years old he showed honesty, compassion, and integrity for another human being.”

I agree! Delivontae Johnson is certainly someone we can admire for his honestly and his willingness to literally go the extra mile. Kudos to Delivontae and his single mother of four, Rachel, who had obviously instilled these virtues in her four children.

From BlazeNews:

“Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who delivered the Republican address to the nation on the heels of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday 2/7/23, asserted that the president and his party have ‘failed’ Americans and that the divisions in the nation today are ‘between normal or crazy.’”

With Biden’s approval numbers in the tank, it appears that those that are “normal” disapprove of Joe, and those who are “crazy” approve of Joe’s performance. If Joe was a businessman, he would soon be an out-of-business businessman. You just can’t piss off a lot of the population with “woke” nonsense, and expect them to like you. … and that segues to Disney. Over the last few years it appears to me that Disney has done its damnest to try to alienate a large portion of the population with its woke nonsense. 

I just read a piece by Karol Marcowicz that pointed out the insanity of what Disney is doing to itself. The major difference between the actions of Biden and Disney, is that if Biden tanks, no me importa to him as already over 60% of the crazies do not want him to run again, whereas if Disney tanks, the revenue tanks which makes its stock price tank, which makes stock holders unhappy, etc. a continuing cascade.

In the last year or so, Disney inserted itself into the political debate over Florida’s Parental Right’s Law, and then they were caught discussing “adding queerness” into children’s programming. Both were just downright stupid. Why would any business purposely piss-off half of its potential customers? Disney even continues to still try to placate its woke critics with disclaimers before many of its classic films, e.g. Dumbo and Peter Pan. 

So guess what happens  when the California Disney execs push their “woke” agenda on  “the normals?” … The CEO was replaced. The Disney stock price dropped about $25%, and Disney just announced that it was laying off 7,000 workers. Recently the Magic Kingdom closed Splash Mountain, because it offended some “woke” individual or group.

As Karol Marcowicz pointed out in her op-ed, if Disney continues to try to please the woke (the crazies), we may be witnessing the collapse of Disney as the normals take their entertainment dollar elsewhere. As we are witnessing the continuing collapsing of Joe Biden’s approval numbers, the Magic Kingdom is no longer “magic!” The question is “can Disney change course?”

2/11/23

Blast From the Past – XVII

(This was written before the 2020 election … on 8/13/20.)

Diktats . . .Constitutional ?

The “COVID police” continue to try to enforce arbitrary diktats made up by  . . . who? . . . based on what? . . . with exceptions seemingly pulled out of thin air.

The following was spoken earlier this week by the mayor of a coastal town north of San Diego, “Local laws need to be consistent with state and federal constitutions, and should not infringe on anyone’s freedom.” 

Wow, now that is a novel idea! Follow the constitution . . . why didn’t someone else think of that?! Why are those who are arbitrarily pronouncing these diktats apparently choosing to follow some arbitrary “made-up” sets of rules. What Constitution, they ask? Here in California, there are a gazillion rules on just about everything, the the next stages of reopening are being defined by some arbitrary rules. For instance: A county can end up on the Governor’s watchlist if the number of new COVID cases is above 100-per-100,000 residents. The esteemed Dr. Fauci is constantly talking about controlled studies … can anyone show me a controlled study defining this arbitrary tipping point?

 My gym cannot be opened because apparently a single gym was the source of “an outbreak,” which is defined as three cases not from the same family, from a single source somewhere in the county. In this situation if a single gym is the source of three cases, then close it down. That at least makes some sense, but to close down hundreds of gyms because three cases were found to stem from one gym, utter insanity!

There are also other “pull-the-rabbit-out-of-the-hat” hocus-pocus examples … for instance, fourteen day moving averages, used magically to place people, churches, parks, and businesses on or off some list. . . abracadabra!”

All arbitrary . . . formulated by whom?

Businesses are going under. Suicides are up. Mass masking is begetting chaos, as Karens are all in a tizzy. All because of some arbitrary criteria and lists. Have any of these mambo-jumbo dictums been validated by a Fauci double-blind controlled study?  . . . Not a spatial-distancing chance!

Soon we will start to see more cases about infringement of our constitutional liberties, and these cases will eventually make their way to the Supreme Court. So far the only case that I am aware of is one from Nevada where a church wanted the same spacing rules, etc. as casinos. The church lost that case because John Roberts for some inexplicable reason, voted to squash religious freedom. Now you might say “who cares about some hodunk-podunk church in Nevada?” We should all care because this case points out that Justice John Roberts is merely a pseudo-conservative, and certainly should not be thought of as one who will reliably follow the Constitution. This becomes even more critical since, if Biden wins the presidency, the Supreme Court will again be a non-Constitutional left-leaning quagmire. Another reason to “vote Trump!”

( My upcoming novella, “The Keneally Chronicles” will deal with some of these non-constitutional diktats, and their impingements on our Constitutional liberties.)

8/13/20

2/11/23

These Dems are trying to figure out way to pay for their cockamamie ideas, and so they are trying to get more taxes from those who earn the least … minimum wage food servers.

The Internal Revenue Service announced it is proposing a new voluntary tip reporting program to improve tip reporting compliance by employers of service industry workers, such as servers.

The IRS requires employees who earn at least $20 a month in tips to keep a daily record of their tips to give to their employer. All of those tips are then required to be included on tax returns.

Employers are then required to withhold taxes on income earned from tips.

On the other hand, according to established IRS rules, every taxpayer can gift up to $17,000 per person, per year. This is called the annual gift tax exclusion amount. A married couple filing jointly can each give $17,000 ($34,000 total) to the same person in one year with no gift tax reporting consequences as of Jan 1, 2023.

So let me make sure that I understand … I can give an individual up to $17,000 per year with no tax consequences for anybody. Yet, if I give a waiter/waitress at a coffee shop a tip of $1.00, he/she must report this to the IRS, especially if he/she receives more than $20 per month in tips. If I always go to the same coffee shop every day, and give the same $1.00 tip to the same server each day, then in a month that server would have to pay taxes on that $30. 

What if I say that I am not tipping, but rather I am gifting that server $1.00 each day? So in a full calendar year, I would gift that waiter/waitress $365, which is well short of $17,000, and thus would not be taxable. Of course, the IRS would frown on this. Perhaps the way around it would be for the coffee shop to put up a sign saying:

NO TIPPING.

HOWEVER, 

GIFTING IS ENCOURAGED!

2/10/23

Q: During Covid did masking make a difference?

Many of us asked this same question, and there has not been a definitive answer up till this point. However, a Cochrane Review just came out on this very subject.

(FYI: A Cochrane Review is a systematic review of research in health care and health policy that is published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Cochrane Reviews are considered the gold standard of systematic reviews.)

To cut to the chase … from Townhall:

“The analysis, which examined 78 studies featuring more than a million people around the world, found that community masking made “little to no difference” to either Covid death or infection rates.”

From the section on medical or surgical masks:

“Ten studies took place in the community, and two studies in healthcare workers. Compared with wearing no mask in the community studies only, wearing a mask may make little to no difference in how many people caught a flu‐like illness/COVID‐like illness (9 studies; 276,917 people); and probably makes little or no difference in how many people have flu/COVID confirmed by a laboratory test (6 studies; 13,919 people). Unwanted effects were rarely reported; discomfort was mentioned.”

The study’s section on N95/P2 respirators was ‘also devastating,’ according to Dr. Vinay Prasad, a hematologist-oncologist and health researcher who is a professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco. It found that such masks made ‘little to no difference’ when compared with medical or surgical masks.

Writes Prasad: ‘Here is the big summary finding. With 276,000 participants in RCTs or cluster RCTs, masking does nothing. No reduction in influenza like or Covid like illness and no reduction in confirmed flu or COVID. That’s stone cold negative. See those effect sizes and confidence intervals.’”

These findings have not yet come out in the Main Stream Media. But don’t hold your breath, as they probably never will.

Not to be a braggart, but I am glad that Cochrane Review agreed with what I have been saying for a long time about masking in general. I must admit that I was surprised concerning the benefit of N95s … as perhaps N95s are only beneficial if they are individually form fitted.

2/9/23

My original title for this piece was going to be “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” a 1985 song by Cindi Lauper, but because this is such a serious topic, I just could not do it.

I recently heard a story about a transgender first grader. This individual is a genetic girl (XX) who knew that she should be a boy. She is six years old and the story goes that she knew that she should be a boy at age two. (Now just to be clear my wife and I babysit for two young granddaughters, age five and seven, and transgenderism is not in their bailiwick.) What is even more incongruous than a six year old girl knowing that she should be a boy, is saying that she knew it at age two! I would guess that it was the parents who “knew” that their two-year old girl should really be a boy. OMG! … two-year old girls think about eating, sleeping, and cuddling with Mommy and Daddy. They DO NOT think they should be  boys! Going out on a limb, I would postulate that the parents of this young girl are the ones who think she should be a boy! How else could their two year old daughter know that she is really a boy!

Did this two year old girl like to do things that are typically thought of as things that boys like to do? For instance, at age two did she like to play with cars and trucks? And at age five did she take an interest in baseball? 

Back in the day, we might have called this girl a tomboy. For those not cognizant of this term, a tomboy is an energetic, sometimes boisterous girl whose behavior and pursuits, especially in games and sports, are considered more typical of boys than of girls.

At this point I might ask, “is being a tomboy such a bad thing?” 

My answer is “absolutely not … in fact it can be quite a good thing.”

I am friends with a woman who freely admits that as growing up she was a tomboy. She later became a mother to two boys and a girl, and now is a super- grandmother to her three grandsons. At this point my rhetorical question is “could tomboys potentially make better mothers?” They know what young boys like, just as they know what young girls like. Perhaps when a mother/father sees their young daughter playing with cars and trucks, or taking an interest in baseball, they should encourage her to do what she likes to do, instead of convincing her that she is the wrong gender.

2/8/23