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Let’s briefly review the logic of lockdowns. In the beginning there was actually some logic involved. In case you don’t recall the logic of locking down everybody and just about everything was to insure that there were enough ventilators and ICU beds available to care for those who were very ill as a consequence of Covid 19. However, after that initial deluge of cases, things changed. (BTW: whenever you read an article about Covid and you see that the number of cases “surged,” or are now “surging,” you already know that the article is of the “woe are we” genre. Angry mobs can surge, waves can surge, but the number of Covid cases can increase or climb, but not surge.)

At present there are plenty of ventilators and  plenty of ICU beds . . . so why are we still in some sort of lockdown? The reason is because the strike zone has changed, and appears to continue to change often. In the guise of appearing scientific. Here in California those ‘who know best’ have made up four different levels of alarm . . . four different tiers with color codes and scary words like “widespread,” “substantial,” etc. As best I can tell these tiers are all arbitrary, err all “made up!” (I am still searching for any scientific data that actually backs up these tiers.) For example, a case rate of >7.0/ 100,000 county residents for two weeks in a row automatically drops that county down a tier with the accompanying closure of some businesses. Why 7.0? Why not 7.1 or 7.5?  Did someone throw a dart at a dartboard to come up with this hard and fast cutoff?

Here in San Diego County(SDC), there is an interesting left-hand, right-hand dichotomy occurring before our very eyes. The most recent stats indicate that the last measured incidence rose to 7.9 cases per 100,000 residents in SDC. OMG – a “surge!” If this case rate sustains at >7.0 for another week, then according to the arbitrary tier criterion, SDC will drop from “substantial” to “widespread,” with the accompanying dire re-closures of more businesses. (ICU beds are still okay, and ventilators are in surplus . . . remember these were the original concerns that led to lockdowns.)

So what is the dichotomy? SDC case rates are “surging,” so, I guess, too bad for all of the consequent economic hardship. The fly in the ointment, so to speak, is that the recent increase in the number of county cases is due to the recent cases in students returning to San Diego State University. Thus far SDSU has 676 definite plus nine probable Covid cases . . . perhaps more precise to say 676 positive tests, as the vast majority of these “cases” have minimal or no symptoms. These student “cases” do not put our ICU beds or our ventilators at risk, as these young 18-22 year olds very rarely get sick enough to require hospitalization. The case rate in SDC if SDSU students are not counted is 6.0/100,000 county residents . . . oops! Let me get this straight . . . the state government is on the verge of instituting a more severe state ordered economic lockdown on SDC, because college students are having more positive tests.

What makes this situation bordering on the even more absurd is that “the left hand,” SDSU is planning on a “surge” of mandatory testing of the 2400 students living on campus over the next few days . . . this occurring while “the right hand” is potentially going to be punished because “the left hand” is going to discover a bunch of positive tests in low risk individuals, most of whom have little or no symptoms.

Does anybody recall who “Scut Farkus” was ? I would guess that everybody has seen the movie, “Christmas Story,” a lot of us more than once. At one point in the movie the protagonist, Ralphie has had enough of Scut Farkus, the bully. Farkus is the prototypical bully always beating up on Ralphie, his brother, and his friends. At one point after getting hit in the eye with a Farkus thrown snowball, Ralphie proceeds to beat the sh*t out of Scut in a blind fury (which Ralphie, who narrates the film, describes as saying that “a fuse blew” and he had gone “out of his skull.”)

I think pretty much we can all sympathize with someone who is being bullied. In fact I think that everyone who has witnessed someone being bullied, hopes that  the victim rises up and beats the crap out of the bully. 

On September 13, 2020 the Atlantic tried its best to be a Scut Farkus. (Yes, that same Atlantic that tried to snooker Americans into believing the un-believable, when they published some fantasized story of Trump saying a bunch of disgusting things about the military. No one with an ounce of sense, believed what was said in the far-left Atlantic’s article. They did however manage to get a lot of publicity, mostly in the form of ridicule.)

So for the Atlantic . . . if lying doesn’t work, might as well try bullying. 

The following is from a very recent article by Shadi Hamid in the Atlantic on 9/13/20:

“I find myself truly worried about only one scenario: that Donald Trump will win, and the Democrats and others on the far left will be unwilling, even unable to accept the result.” (So far a very realistic scenario.)

The article continues, “I struggle to imagine how millions of Democrats will process a Trump victory. (Actually somewhat of an oxymoron as Democrats do not really “process” very much or very often.)

But then out comes the Scut Farkus-like bullying threat. To paraphrase Mr./Ms. Hamid . . . A loss by Biden will result in more social unrest and street battles that cities . . . have seen in recent months. 

He concludes, “For this reason law-and-order Republicans . . . have an interest in Biden winning.”

OMG! 

I then googled that scene from the Christmas Story and twice watched Ralphie pummel Scut Farkus.  I cheered each time.

I cannot believe that Hamid thinks that Americans can be bullied into voting for Sleepy Joe by threatening riots in response to a possible Trump victory. When I read this latest tomfoolery from  the Atlantic, I just became more determined to beat the crap out of the left in the upcoming election . . . just like Ralphie!

Are any of you non-medical readers aware of the Zelenko Protocol? Are any of you that are/were involved in medicine familiar with the Zelenko Protocol? When my next book, The Keneally Chronicles, comes out, you can read how the Zelenko Protocol saved many lives in a small fictitious college town in the American Southwest.

Drumroll please: The Zelenko Protocol is a triple therapy that is purportedly  very helpful in treating patients in the early stages of their Covid infection. 

Dr. Vladimir Zelenko describes himself as “just a simple country doctor” from Kiryas Joel, a small village of 35,000 north of NYC. Since early March, his clinic had treated people with coronavirus-like symptoms, and he had developed an experimental treatment consisting of an antimalarial medication called hydroxychloroquine, the antibiotic azithromycin and zinc sulfate.

After testing this three-drug cocktail on hundreds of patients, some of whom had only mild or moderate symptoms when they arrived, Dr. Zelenko claimed that 100 percent of them had survived the virus with no hospitalizations and no need for a ventilator.

“I’m seeing tremendous positive results,” he said in a March 21 video, which was addressed to President Trump and eventually posted to YouTube and Facebook.

Okay, so what’s the big deal? 

An county family doctor claimed wonderful results in treating a few hundred patients with his own made-up triple therapy. It was not a “randomized controlled trial,” that the American guru of Covid had recommended. It was just a non-randomized treatment that Dr. Zelenko used in his office on his own patients. (Yes, this middle-aged physician, who has had cancer himself, does actually see patients, as opposed to the American guru who does not.) His was not a scientific study. It was never meant to be a scientific study. Dr. Zelenko was merely reporting his own anecdotal experience.

Okay, so what’s the big deal ?

Well to me, the big deal was the over-the-top reaction to the Zelenko Protocol.

Both Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine soon published studies that trashed the benefit of the Zelenko Protocol. Both of these prestigious medical journals later retracted these stories, as the data was bogus. What was the rush to publish these studies? While the retractions went virtually unnoticed, the harm to the Zelenko Protocol had been done.

Governors of some states dictated that pharmacists in their states should not fill prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). To me that is a BIG DEAL! On August 17, 2020 the American Spectator published a long article by George Parry, entitled “Questions for Dr. Fauci,” which to the best of my knowledge have never been answered. This article expressed opinions by a group of pro-HCQ physicians, whose videos had been taken down by Facebook and Google! Why the over-the-top reaction to a differing opinion?

The anti-HCQ mob then next published articles saying how dangerous HCQ was, albeit at some absurd dose. This despite its use for 60 years in the treatment of malaria, and its use for decades in treating rheumatoid arthritis and lupus . . . ? All of the sudden this drug was now unsafe!?  (What’s the Big Deal? . . .  Something is rotten in Denmark!)

I then looked at the Covid stats on “worldometers.” I wanted to compare the incidences and the deaths rates/ million in African nations and in the US. Logic would dictate that the death rate/million population would be less where the medical care was better. NOT THE CASE!

Also one would expect that the incidence of Covid/million population would be less in that country with better hygiene, lockdowns, and masks. NOT THE CASE . . . in fact, NOT CLOSE!

The four African nations that I chose atrandom, . . . Nigeria(N),Kenya(K),Zambia(Z), and Senegal(S), had dramatically less of an incidence of Covid/million population [N=271, K=666, Z=733, S=849] than did the US [20,000].

These African nations also had dramatically less Covid deaths/million population. [N=5, K=11, Z=17, S=18] compared to the US [598].

Is it possible that these unbelievable and certainly not anticipated stats could reflect the fact that many many people in Africa take HCQ for malaria and malaria prophylaxis?

I have not heard Dr. Fauci mention this African dichotomy. 

Come-on, Dr. Fauci, “What’s the big deal?”

Is the recent Atlantic farce this year’s October surprise? Typically in October, the Dems pull something out at the last minute to “shock” the Independent voter. Could the Atlantic’s anonymous fabrication be this year’s September surprise? If it is there a few questions that need to be addressed.

Why now? Why so early? Why hold on to this for twenty-two months and spring it before October? One logical explanation is early voting. This, however, makes little sense. If the Dems are looking to convince someone who is on the fence, this is way too early, as that undecided voter is going to still be on the fence after reading that article because it stretches credibility way past the point of believability.

Again I ask, “why now?”

Could it be that the Dems are starting to get more than just a little worried about the upcoming election, perhaps closer to panic. So they decided that they could not afford to wait any longer as the momentum has started to shift.

Are there any other clues as to whether or not the Dems are worried? From my point of view, the more outlandish the things they are claiming, the more likely that they are panicking. 

For example:

From Mollie Hemingway: Resistance figures signaling that they are prepping for violent resistance to 2020 election if they lose. All while claiming that what they’re actually doing is preparing for, uh, widespread GOP violence. Really. Some interesting projection and propaganda here.

From Michael Dougherty: There’s no talk whatsoever among mainstream or even Breitbartian Republicans of putting on displays of force on the streets around election time. But there’s a TON of it among elite Dems! 

So the Dems are saying that those on the right will go to the streets if Trump loses. Again this stretches credibility way past the point of believability. Isn’t it much, much, much more likely that those on the left will take to the streets if Biden loses? Of course it is! 

Why would the Dems be making these audacious statements? 

Only a few possibilities: 

1. They are trying to justify their own behavior when Trump wins . . . “we’re doing exactly what those on the right would have done if Biden had won.” 
2. They are getting more into panic mode . . . “you Independents better vote for Biden; we will keep you safe!”   

The other even more outlandish threat has to do with the Dems saying that they will use the power of the military to forcibly remove President Trump from the White House when he loses. This is so far out that to me it implies that they are really in a major frenzy. (Let’s call it what it is . . . “Panic!”) 

Why now? Could it be because they are staring to see the writing on the wall?

In some areas of the country there has already been a Zoom boom as schools have started back . . . err, an attempt is being made for have children return to school from the confines of their bedroom, dining room, kitchen, etc. To many this seems like an oxymoron as although children are returning to something, this something is far from school.

This past week our ultra-liberal “newspaper” had a community forum of sorts on the topic of “Virtual Learning.” There were four 500 word essays from ordinary people scattered around San Diego County. I read every one of these word for word. There was not one positive comment in all of these essays, even though each essay focused on different aspects of this issue. The only hint of a positive came from a teacher in a large, public charter school. She expressed hope that this form of “schooling” would provide some benefit in the future . . . and this was the closest to anything positive that I could see. The best essay describing “the horror of distance learning” (the authors exact words, not mine) had to do with the lack of socialization, which he described as not a luxury, but a necessity for small children. The other essays had to do with the poor design . . . “the system is poorly designed and seriously flawed,” as well as the stress virtual learning puts on parent-child relationships.

One online comment on this topic summed it up in a nutshell:

“When I hear of a positive experience, I will post it. The entire experience has been negative . . .” He further added that hopefully after the election when no one cares about it anymore, this silly business will be over. (“silly business” -again the writer’s words, not mine.)

From my point of view the saddest part about all of this school silly business is that those among us who are the least fortunate are suffering the most right now and they will also pay the highest price over the long term.

From the Delaware News Journal another example of Trump Derangement Syndrome in spades. This on the final night of the DNC in Wilmington, Delaware. 

The incident started when Camryn Amy and Olivia Winslow began to verbally taunt the woman and her son over the political signs they were holding and attire they were wearing, according to court documents. Amy then “forcefully snatched” a political sign from the woman, documents say. The sign was ripped to shreds, and at least two punches were thrown by the depraved young women. Those accused are both 21 year old Biden supporters.

Actually, this despicable behavior is more than just hearsay as the episode was captured on video! 

Worse than merely the outlandish behavior is the fact that a seven year old little boy was involved. Can you imagine what must be going on in the mind of a person with so much unbridled and unreasonable politically-based hate that they’d go out and rob/assault a seven-year-old child? The hat was snatched. The boy taunted with it, before one of the miscreants threw it over a fence.

Luckily Delaware’s Attorney General  is not a “Soros appointee.”

After an investigation, a grand jury in Biden’s home state just indicted Olivia Winslow and Camryn Amy, both 21, on felony charges of robbery, conspiracy, and hate crimes, as well as a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child. Amy was also indicted on an extra charge of assault.

The video, posted by Students for Trump on Twitter, has been viewed more than 4 million times and was later shared by Trump’s son Donald Jr.

Another pro-Trump viral video! Strong work, Camryn and Olivia!

From the Daily Caller:

A private Illinois university announced on Tuesday that it is quarantining all of its nearly 6,000 person student body after a COVID-19 outbreak on campus.

Officials at Bradley University, in Peoria, Illinois, said they have linked the 50-case viral outbreak to off-campus parties, according to CBS. Students will continue taking classes online during the two-week quarantine period.

Bradley’s response mirrors that of other universities pausing in-person instruction while linking outbreaks to students violating social distancing policies.

There have been over 51,000 reported cases at 1,000 universities nationwide, according to The New York Times.

San Diego State has approximately 7000 students living on/ off campus, and presently at SDSU about 444 students have tested positive. Of the 444 students who tested positive and 4 who are symptomatic, only one has required hospitalization (0.2%). This means that these 18-22 year olds are, in fact, tolerating their infections quite well.

The response of many of these universities is to blame the students for partying, although not all cases are related to partying. Many of these 1000 universities are now acting vindictive. (we will be spying on you, and if you are caught going to a party, you can be expelled). This sort of punitive response by many of these universities, including SDSU, can predictably be expected to fail, as the parties will not cease, but will just move further away from campus. The other thing that new infections are going to continue to occur in drips and drabs. There will continue to be cases, and these individuals will continue to spread the virus around the campus and the dorms.

I drove through the SDSU campus twice today. The sidewalks and the streets were virtually empty (I figured that all of these rebel students were either studying, or asleep recovering from a night of partying!) I saw only two young mask-less students, one jogging, and another sipping on a soda. I wonder if either of them are going to be reported to the campus gestapo?

Finally, it seems to me that one university, Bradley, is using a modicum of common sense in dealing with this expected problem by quarantining the entire student body. This is a step in the right direction. At least Bradley University has a reasonable approach.

My basic question for SDSU is what’s going to happen to those 444 students who have tested positive thus far. Will they still be restricted from gathering with other Covid positive students? If this number rises to 1000, will those 1000 students then be able to attend Covid+ parties. Will these 1000 students still have to wear face masks? Perhaps after one gets the virus (positive test),he/she should get an identifiable special tattoo.

As I stated back in my book, The Quirky Contrarian, back in 2016 after Trump’s election, I felt that Trump’s unique ability to appeal to multiple small groups was the key to his success. Back then he had the uncanny knack to appeal to different small groups, each of which had one key issue upon which they were basing their vote.

This time what I see is his appeal again to multiple smaller groups and hence, another victory. I am especially confident of a victory after the Democratic depressing pseudo-convention and Sleepy Joe’s pick of Kamala Harris as his VP pick. 

First of all this pseudo-convention had no spunk. No excitement. Poor TV ratings, and no real plan of how they proposed to govern.

Second, KA-maal-la Harris was a poor choice, because she is unlikable and she is not African-American. She is a combo of Jamaican father and an Indian mother (a minority Indian sect called the Tamil Brahmins.) Also she does nothing to insure a Biden vote in her home state as California will go blue no matter what.

Again I see a bunch of small groups going for D.T. There about four million people from India in the U.S. Trump went to India to meet with Modi and when Modi came here, they pow-wow-ed in Texas.(No pun intended as I am not referring here to American Indians.) Like I said there are about 4 million naturalized people from India living in the U.S and only about 50,000 are Tamilbrahs.

The 250,000 motorcyclists at the recent Sturgis Motorcycle in South Dakota are predominately Trump supporters . . . not a large group, but an energetic one. “Boaters for Trump”. . . again certainly not a large group, but multiple small groups in multiple places. I recently went to a “Boaters for Trump” parade  on San Diego Bay. I was totally unprepared for what I saw. Unbelievable enthusiasm from the crowd lining the shores as the approximately 2000 boats paraded for about one hour. Enthusiasm, personified!

President Trump can add another police union boss to his list of supporters.

“Donald Trump has our back. President Trump has supported us when so many people have turned against us,” New York State Troopers PBA President Thomas Mungeer told the New York Post this past weekend.

The union represents 4,000 state police troopers and is overseen by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, an outspoken critic of the president.

This is just another small group of 4,000, but I predict that this group is a harbinger of more police unions going for Trump.

In a bit of a short change from the theme of Trump attracting many small groups, KA-maal-la Harris is doing her part by insulting small groups, like she did in 2018 when considering the nomination of Brian Buescher to sit on the U.S. District Court in Nebraska. Ms. Harris objected to the fact that judge Buescher had been a member of the Knights of Columbus since 1993 The Knights are a Catholic men’s fraternal organization . . . Horrors!! 

It didn’t matter to KA-maal-la that the KoC focuses on fund raising and charitable giving. The Knights have some two million members, councils around the world, and no political affiliation . . .but that didn’t really matter to the Senator from California, as Catholic = bad! I hope that Mr. Trump finds a way to bring out KA-maal-la’s antagonism to the Knights, as that would be another small group that could solidly go in his column.

In this same light, the Dems are far from insistent on keeping “one nation, under God,” in the pledge of allegiance (see evidence at the Dem pseudo-convention), whereas Trump is insistent that “under God” will not be deleted from the pledge on his watch. As a consequence, add Evangelical Christians to the Trump column!

Mark my word . . . there will be multiple small groups added to the Trump column before the upcoming election.

By pure serendipity this afternoon while searching for an old email, my wife found my old blog from July, 2018. One thing that’s amazing is “that no matter how much things change, some things remain the same.” 

Read to the end and remember that this was written over two years ago:

Home Goods – “Thankful”

Yesterday my wife went to Home Goods, her favorite place. I can spend ten minutes in there on a good day, and she can easily spend hours. Whatever it is that attracts women to Home Goods . . . bottle it and sell it! Anyway while at Home Goods she bought a a white plaque that said, “Thankful” in nice black cursive on a white background. I liked it, and by serendipity she hung it on a wall that I look at literally a hundred times a day!

When I look at this sign, I reflect and ask myself, “What am I thankful for?” 

Of course, I am thankful for all of the usual stuff . . .  health, family, living in the U.S.A.,etc., but I am also thankful for a lot of other things that are going on these days.

I am thankful that the stock market  is at near record levels, and is sustaining there.

I am thankful that over 1.7 million new jobs have been created.

I am thankful that the nationwide unemployment rate is at near record low levels for all races, and I am especially thankful that the unemployment rate in California is at its lowest level since 1976 when this statistic initially began to be recorded.

I am thankful that the Gross National Product is humming along at levels not seen recently. Gross domestic product grew at a solid 4.1 percent pace in the second quarter, its best pace since 2014!

I am thankful that ISIS in the Middle East is all but eliminated.

I am thankful that the fiery rhetoric from North Korea has ceased, and I am thankful that it appears that North Korea is dismantling its test sites.

I am thankful that a conservative judge, Neil Gorsuch, was appointed to the Supreme Court, and I am hopeful that I will soon be thankful that Judge Kavanaugh, a jurist who believes in following the Constitution, has been confirmed to the Supreme Court.

I am thankful for the newly expanded Veteran’s Affairs health-care program just recently signed into law.

I am thankful that there has been a marked increase in the number of MS-13 gang members have been rounded up, including a recently arrested El Salvadorian national who is a high ranking member of MS-13.

I am thankful that there is now a National Public Health Emergency on opioids, and that  $500 million was added to fight the crisis.

As I go back and read over my “thankful” list, I realize that in essence I am thankful that Donald Trump is our president!

7/30/18

www.californiacontrarian.com

,When they are all saying the same thing, often using the same words in unison be suspicious . . . be very suspicious, because their philosophy is “if you say the same thing all in unison often enough, the people will believe it to be true.”

The latest all in unison chant has to do with how President Trump is somehow responsible for Covid and it’s economic consequences.

From the Daily Caller:

First it was the Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Biden said the economic downturn was the result of the President’s leadership back in July, according to CNBC.

“The depth of economic devastation our nation is experiencing is not an act of God, it’s a failure of presidential leadership. Had President Trump taken immediate and decisive action, tens of thousands of lives and millions of jobs would never have been lost.”

Next was ABC’s Chief Political Analyst Matthew Dowd, “It is a verifiable fact that through commission or omission president trump made the economy worse, made the pandemic worse, made racial strive worse, made the deficit worse and worsened our foreign relations with nearly every other country,”

Next, none other than B.O. 

Again from the Daily Caller:

During his speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), former President Barack Obama bashed Trump’s economic performance.

“Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t,” Obama said. “And the consequences of that failure are severe. 170,000 Americans dead. Millions of jobs gone while those at the top take in more than ever.”

What most of these “all in unison” comments fail to consider is that states with the highest levels of unemployment and greatest job loss are states in which Democratic leaders instituted draconian lockdown measures. 

Hmmm!

Roughly one-third of New York City’s 240,000 small businesses may never reopen due to the financial burden of having been forcibly closed, according to the New York Times. At least 2,800 businesses in the city have permanently closed since March 1, a higher number than any other large American city, per the same report.

Further, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed New York had a July unemployment rate of 15.9%, well above the July national average of 10.2%.

In March, Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy also issued an executive order instituting  a state-wide lockdown, shutting down what he deemed “non-essential businesses,” similar to the list of those shut down in New York. Date from the BLS shows New Jersey had a July unemployment rate of 13.8%, also well above the national average.

The “all in unison” response to these facts about New York and New Jersey is something along the lines of . . . “blah, blah, blah, it’s not the fault of these Democratic governors, because . . . blah, blah, blah.”

However, as we look into this issue further there appears to be a significant difference between the blue and the red states’ responses to Covid, and this is something that President Trump had nothing to do with.

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Democratic trifecta states — where Democrats control both state legislatures and the governorship — have a higher level of unemployment than their Republican counterparts. Democrat trifectas had an average unemployment rate of 11.3%, while Republican trifectas had an average unemployment rate of 7.7%.

Hmmm! Where is the “all in unison” response to this?