lewrockwell--2020-05-21--The Current State of Emergency in California

Health educator Peggy Hall ( YouTube posted on May 6 , 2020 , 15:50 minutes ) is an Orange County resident who decided to investigate the numbers involved in the COVID-19 epidemic in California by calling the State Department of Health and the local Orange County Department of Public Health , who have authority over matters of health in her locale .
Hall explains that health issues like a flu or coronavirus outbreak must meet certain criteria to legally justify a lockdown and quarantine to be called .
Here is what Peggy Hall found during her investigation .
Under federal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of public health are delegated to the most local agency , in this instance the Orange County Department of Public Health that oversees a county of 3.3 million people .
Their charter is to safeguard the public health .
They have the legal jurisdiction to issue public health warnings .
JUST IMAGINE ... : A SEC ... Holmes , Dr Joel S Buy New $ 7.95 Hall cites the California Emergency Services Act 2015 section 8558b that defines and confines a “ state of emergency ” in California , as defined as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that includes a number of catastrophes that includes epidemic , which , “ by reason of their magnitude , are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services , personnel , equipment , and facilities of any single county , city and county , or city and require the combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to combat.
” OK , one of the legal grounds to call a public health emergency is an epidemic .
What is an epidemic ?
Any disease outbreak beyond the “ normal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flu season runs from October to May .
California has a population of 40 million people .
In a typical flu season there are ~6000 flu-related deaths ( 6917 flu deaths in 2018 ) in California according to the State Department of Health .
This year there have been 88 COVID-19-related deaths and an additional 600 flu-related deaths in Orange County .
“ Therefore , in California COVID-19 is not an epidemic , ” says Hall .
( Hall shows 38 COVID-19 related deaths on a placard she holds up on screen , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ related deaths have risen to 88 by May 20 , 2020 ) .
These are underwhelming numbers .
Above the Law : The Ins ... Whitaker , Matthew Buy New $ 26.09 From the standpoint of morbidity , as I write on May 20 , 2020 , the total number of COVID-19 coronavirus cases in Orange County cumulatively number 4,500 ( out of 3.2 million , that is a risk for infection of 0.0014 or 1.4 people in 1000 ) .
So , 1.4 people among 1000 in Orange County got a cold @ @ @ @ @ @ @ never experienced any symptoms .
If you worked in a university or company with 1000 students or workers , less than 2 would have come down with a COVID-19 related coronavirus infection that produced symptoms .
There may be many , many other undiagnosed cases of COVID-19 coronavirus infections that were undiagnosed and which produced such mild of no symptoms to cause individuals to see a doctor .
The number of COVID-19 related deaths in Orange County , cumulatively 88 on May 20 , out of a population of 3.2 million that represents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2.7 deaths per 100,000 ) .
COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS CAUSING A SHORTAGE OF BEDS QUESTIONED ( primary reason given for a lockdown ) There are ~5376 hospital beds in Orange County and the number of beds filled by COVID-19 coronavirus patients during this flu season runs about 200-250 on any given day with about a third of those in intensive care unit beds .
The number of ICU beds in Orange County is 673 .
So , there has been no bed shortage during this flu season .
In Orange County , and there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 related deaths .
The total number of flu-related deaths + COVID-19 related deaths in Orange County this flu season is ~600 for the flu and 88 deaths for COVID-19 = 688 total deaths .
The Stakes : The 2020 E ... Anton , Michael Buy New $ 28.99 What do these numbers mean ?
This means this is not a state or local crisis that is overwhelming public health agencies .
According to California law any health emergency requiring a lockdown or quarantine must be terminated at the earliest date .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ long ago .
There never was justification for restrictions such as social distancing , closure of beaches and demands to wear masks .
The governor has no legal standing to extend the state of emergency .
It is illegal and unlawful .
That authority belongs to the State Legislature .
Peggy Hall suggests every American contact their local public health agencies to find out if there was just causes to call for a lockdown and to protest with local state and county authorities to demand the lockdown be halted .
The Governor of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emergency on March 4 .
The State of Emergency says the emergency must be terminated at the earliest possible date .
Only the State legislature can extend the emergency in California .
By law the state of emergency terminates in 60 days .
The governor of California has extended the lockdown for another 90 days .
Peggy Hall is doing what the news media should be doing in California .
As FOXNEWS reporter Tucker Carlson reports , Big Tech censors online dissent over coronavirus lockdowns .
When you have a dominant political party @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , politicians know they have license to do what they please .

Health educator Peggy Hall (YouTube posted on May 6, 2020, 15:50 minutes) is an Orange County resident who decided to investigate the numbers involved in the COVID-19 epidemic in California by calling the State Department of Health and the local Orange County Department of Public Health, who have authority over matters of health in her locale.
Hall explains that health issues like a flu or coronavirus outbreak must meet certain criteria to legally justify a lockdown and quarantine to be called. Here is what Peggy Hall found during her investigation.
Under federal law under US Code Title 42 issues of public health are delegated to the most local agency, in this instance the Orange County Department of Public Health that oversees a county of 3.3 million people. Their charter is to safeguard the public health. They have the legal jurisdiction to issue public health warnings. JUST IMAGINE...: A SEC... Holmes, Dr Joel S Buy New $7.95 (as of 11:28 UTC - Details)
Hall cites the California Emergency Services Act 2015 section 8558b that defines and confines a “state of emergency” in California, as defined as a “disaster of extreme peril,” that includes a number of catastrophes that includes epidemic, which, “by reason of their magnitude, are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of any single county, city and county, or city and require the combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to combat.”
OK, one of the legal grounds to call a public health emergency is an epidemic. What is an epidemic? Any disease outbreak beyond the “normal range.”
EPIDEMIC LEVEL OF DEATHS QUESTIONED
As Hall explains, the flu season runs from October to May. California has a population of 40 million people. In a typical flu season there are ~6000 flu-related deaths (6917 flu deaths in 2018) in California according to the State Department of Health.
This year there have been 88 COVID-19-related deaths and an additional 600 flu-related deaths in Orange County. “Therefore, in California COVID-19 is not an epidemic,” says Hall. (Hall shows 38 COVID-19 related deaths on a placard she holds up on screen, but that was May 6 and
COVID-19 related deaths have risen to 88 by May 20, 2020). These are underwhelming numbers. Above the Law: The Ins... Whitaker, Matthew Buy New $26.09 (as of 05:57 UTC - Details)
EPIDEMIC LEVEL OF CASES (INFECTIONS) QUESTIONED
From the standpoint of morbidity, as I write on May 20, 2020, the total number of COVID-19 coronavirus cases in Orange County cumulatively number 4,500 (out of 3.2 million, that is a risk for infection of 0.0014 or 1.4 people in 1000). So, 1.4 people among 1000 in Orange County got a cold virus and most recovered, and many never experienced any symptoms. If you worked in a university or company with 1000 students or workers, less than 2 would have come down with a COVID-19 related coronavirus infection that produced symptoms. There may be many, many other undiagnosed cases of COVID-19 coronavirus infections that were undiagnosed and which produced such mild of no symptoms to cause individuals to see a doctor.
The number of COVID-19 related deaths in Orange County, cumulatively 88 on May 20,out of a population of 3.2 million that represents a death rate of 0.000027 which is 2.7 deaths per 100,000).
COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS CAUSING A SHORTAGE OF BEDS QUESTIONED (primary reason given for a lockdown)
There are ~5376 hospital beds in Orange County and the number of beds filled by COVID-19 coronavirus patients during this flu season runs about 200-250 on any given day with about a third of those in intensive care unit beds. The number of ICU beds in Orange County is 673. So, there has been no bed shortage during this flu season.
In Orange County, and there have been 600 flu-related deaths and 88 COVID-19 related deaths.
The total number of flu-related deaths + COVID-19 related deaths in Orange County this flu season is ~600 for the flu and 88 deaths for COVID-19 = 688 total deaths. The Stakes: The 2020 E... Anton, Michael Buy New $28.99 (as of 03:16 UTC - Details)
What do these numbers mean?
This means this is not a state or local crisis that is overwhelming public health agencies.
According to California law any health emergency requiring a lockdown or quarantine must be terminated at the earliest date. The lockdown and quarantine should have been cancelled long ago.
There never was justification for restrictions such as social distancing, closure of beaches and demands to wear masks.
The governor has no legal standing to extend the state of emergency. It is illegal and unlawful. That authority belongs to the State Legislature. Peggy Hall suggests every American contact their local public health agencies to find out if there was just causes to call for a lockdown and to protest with local state and county authorities to demand the lockdown be halted.
The Governor of The State of California called a state emergency on March 4. The State of Emergency says the emergency must be terminated at the earliest possible date. Only the State legislature can extend the emergency in California. By law the state of emergency terminates in 60 days. The governor of California has extended the lockdown for another 90 days.
Peggy Hall is doing what the news media should be doing in California. As FOXNEWS reporter Tucker Carlson reports, Big Tech censors online dissent over coronavirus lockdowns. When you have a dominant political party in California and a complicit news media, politicians know they have license to do what they please.


lewrockwell--2020-05-21--Ought Christians To Hate the State?

Ought Christians To Hate the State?

Murray Rothbard famously argued that the libertarian ought to “ hate the state , ” that he should have “ a deep and pervasive hatred of the State and all of its works.
” For Christians , this presents interesting questions : should we ever “ hate ” and if so , should that hate be directed toward the State ?
First , let ’ s address the question of whether Christians ought to ever “ hate.
” The basic definition for hate is an “ intense and extreme dislike.
” Scripture clearly conveys to us that God does , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 6:16 lists “ things the Lord hates ” and finds “ detestable.
” Not only does the Bible tell us that God hates sin , but also that “ those who love the Lord ” ought to “ hate evil ” ( Psalm 97:10 ) .
Thus , we are instructed by Scripture to hate evil and wickedness .
Why ?
“ For I , the Lord , love justice ; I hate…wrongdoing ” ( Isaiah 61:8 ) .
Our Lord is a God of justice and therefore , One who hates injustice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New $ 11.99 Now we must address the question of whether our hate ought to be directed toward the State .
In order to do this , we must examine the nature of the State .
In order for the State to exist , it must “ tax ” its citizens , which means it must take their money by force .
Since this is not voluntary , it is by definition theft .
In fact , since it involves the threat of the use of force , it qualifies as robbery .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ In Isaiah 61:8 , the Lord declares “ I hate robbery.
” Thus , this means that the only way for the State to even exist is by committing acts that God hates .
But this is certainly not the only act the State commits that our Lord detests .
Psalm 5:6 says that the Lord detests “ the bloodthirsty and deceitful ” and it is undeniable that the State consistently lies and commits mass murder .
In fact , the Bible says that the Lord “ hates with a passion ” “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 11:5 ) .
There is no organization in history that can compare to the State in terms of initiating violence so consistently and on such a massive scale .
Essentially , then , the government is a collection of people committing these acts and , in Psalm 26:5 , the Lord has declared “ I abhor the assembly of evildoers.
” Thus , we need not enter the discussion of whether or not God hates any individual , as we are told emphatically that He hates the assembly of wicked people who commit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ certainly ought to hate the State because our Lord hated it first .
The Best of Derek Dobalian

Murray Rothbard famously argued that the libertarian ought to “hate the state,” that he should have “a deep and pervasive hatred of the State and all of its works.” For Christians, this presents interesting questions: should we ever “hate” and if so, should that hate be directed toward the State?
First, let’s address the question of whether Christians ought to ever “hate.” The basic definition for hate is an “intense and extreme dislike.” Scripture clearly conveys to us that God does, in fact, “hate.” Proverbs 6:16 lists “things the Lord hates” and finds “detestable.” Not only does the Bible tell us that God hates sin, but also that “those who love the Lord” ought to “hate evil” (Psalm 97:10). Thus, we are instructed by Scripture to hate evil and wickedness. Why? “For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate…wrongdoing” (Isaiah 61:8). Our Lord is a God of justice and therefore, One who hates injustice. Nativity Gift Shop Pra... Buy New $11.99 (as of 01:47 UTC - Details)
Now we must address the question of whether our hate ought to be directed toward the State. In order to do this, we must examine the nature of the State. In order for the State to exist, it must “tax” its citizens, which means it must take their money by force. Since this is not voluntary, it is by definition theft. In fact, since it involves the threat of the use of force, it qualifies as robbery. What does Scripture say about robbery? In Isaiah 61:8, the Lord declares “I hate robbery.” Thus, this means that the only way for the State to even exist is by committing acts that God hates. But this is certainly not the only act the State commits that our Lord detests. Psalm 5:6 says that the Lord detests “the bloodthirsty and deceitful” and it is undeniable that the State consistently lies and commits mass murder. In fact, the Bible says that the Lord “hates with a passion” “those who love violence” (Psalm 11:5). There is no organization in history that can compare to the State in terms of initiating violence so consistently and on such a massive scale. Essentially, then, the government is a collection of people committing these acts and, in Psalm 26:5, the Lord has declared “I abhor the assembly of evildoers.” Thus, we need not enter the discussion of whether or not God hates any individual, as we are told emphatically that He hates the assembly of wicked people who commit detestable acts.
In conclusion, Christians certainly ought to hate the State because our Lord hated it first.
Jerusalem Cross Olive ... Buy New $22.50 (as of 01:47 UTC - Details)
The Best of Derek Dobalian


lewrockwell--2020-05-21--Exceptionally Cruel and Insensitive Health Officials

Not only are they cruel and insensitive but they are outright liars ( they love scary predictions that do not come true ) and do not want to listen to anyone who disagrees with their insensible plans to destroy human civilization .
They are destroyers of human existence , human activity , human happiness and even human health .
To be in favor of lock-downs is to be for death of the world economy , increased death by suicide , increased death by over a million from tuberculous , vastly increased homelessness , and for millions to die of starvation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ However , if you are into a cleaner planet then lockdown madness sounds like a good thing .
It has not completely sunk in yet but the real nightmare is just getting started .
More than four out of five people in the global labor force of 3.3 billion have been hit by full or partial workplace closures , according to the International Labor Organization , which says 1.6 billion workers in the informal economy “ stand in immediate danger of having their livelihoods destroyed.
” How a few men got the politicians @ @ @ @ @ @ @ something that history will have to eventually answer .
More than 36 million have filed for unemployment in the United States since mid-March .
It is not a depression we are entering but a collapse that could halt most human activity .
Sodium Bicarbonate : Na ... Mark Sircus Best Price : $ 7.25 Buy New $ 10.32 If the coronavirus pandemic continues to drive unemployment levels as high as predicted , homelessness will increase 40 % to 45 % by the end of the year , according to an analysis by a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mean 250,000 more people in the US would experience homelessness compared with last year , bringing the total number of those experiencing homelessness to above 800,000 .
How can we possibly measure the human suffering as a consequence of what is being done following the orders of health care officials ?
For those who oppose the orders it might be a good time to revisit the teaching of Martin Luther King Jr. “ Martin King , was a minister who exposed the truth that obedience keeps us in chains .
His crucial synthesis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ His crucial work ( and this is greatly under-appreciated ) was to hold disobedience and goodness together.
” There is open lockdown rebellion in Pennsylvania and demonstrations in England and German .
Political leaders have shown their true colors as they pretend to understand vital pandemics and what to do about them .
They have clearly overstepped their bounds but I guess they love getting to be , more than ever before , the boss .
The toll for families is hunger , poverty and higher incidences of disease and death from all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ride out the crisis isn ’ t an option for many , because securing the next meal means hustling to find a way to sell , clean , drive or otherwise work , despite the risk .
As numerous prominent experts have warned , the lock-downs will also end up causing more deaths than the coronavirus due to a horrific spike in poverty and people with other serious illnesses being unable to get treatment .
World health officials are not practicing medicine or public health they are practicing cold-hardheartedness .
They along with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and fascists who believed that their way was the only way , killing or censoring anyone who disagrees .
Certain epidemiologists have said there is very little sturdy evidence to base lockdown policies on , but this has not prevented politicians from acting as if everything they say or do is based on solid science .
“ For 16 years , we ran a thriving and happy business , gone in a matter of weeks based on the decisions of one man with too much power.
” China has arrested and imprisoned hundreds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outbreak in any context that strays from the communist party narrative on the epidemic , according to a report from a US based Chinese organisation.Fox News pointed to the report by China Digital Times containing statistics that show between Jan. 1 and April 4 , nearly 500 hundred people were arrested and charged , merely for talking about the virus .
Nearly 1.5 Million More Tuberculosis Deaths are Expected Due To Coronavirus Lock-downs .
Who are we going to blame these deaths on ?
And are we really saving lives with our lock-downs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the virus with lock-down or not but we know now that millions will die of other causes because we are stopping human activity and confining people to their homes where most can not work .
Will we blame health officials with these deaths like we blamed Hitler , Stalin and Mao for the millions of deaths they wrought on the world ?
Healing With Iodine : Y ... Sircus , Mark Best Price : $ 14.87 Buy New $ 11.89 When heath officials promote the benefits of “ flattening the curve , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ account the actual costs of imposing business closures and of forced social distancing : the coming economic depression will lead to mass unemployment , rising poverty , suicides , domestic abuse , alcoholism , and myriad other potential causes of death and suffering which could be considerably worse than the harms of the pandemic itself Brazil ’ s health minister resigned on May 15th after less than a month on the job in a sign of continuing upheaval over how the nation should battle the coronavirus pandemic , quitting a day after President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to expand use of the antimalarial drug chloroquine in treating patients .
Anti-Inflammatory Oxyg ... Mark Sircus Best Price : $ 9.81 Buy New $ 10.09 Health officials are at odds with politicians who are bucking the lockdown or who are insisting that appropriate treatments be applied instead of waiting for the holy grail vaccine that might or might not come and might or might not be affective .
Millions worldwide will likely be permanently impacted before a vaccine arrives and we have no assurances that a rushed vaccine will be safe .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ forced down our collective throats .
A long , drawn-out economic recovery will lead to a “ significant number ” of indirect deaths from coronavirus , the UK ’ s chief statistician has warned .
Amid fears that the economy could take five years to return to pre-crisis levels under a worst case scenario , Sir Ian Diamond said the effects of the pandemic would be far-reaching as people are “ pushed into poverty ” .
While many European cities begin the process of reviving their economies , the Big Apple — America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as authorities fear sparking another wave of COVID-19 infections .
So let the city die and long live fear !
Sweden never closed down in the first place and they are not having more difficulties with the virus than countries that have lockdown their people .
We have let the fears of health authorities choke the world and create a form of hysteria never seen before .
Transdermal Magnesium ... Mark Sircus Best Price : $ 8.61 Buy New $ 12.95 Dr. Fauci , an internationally respected expert on infectious diseases and a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pandemic , testified in Congress that ending the lockdown too quickly could bring “ really serious ” consequences .
What does he think continuing the lockdown will bring or does he not care .
The media and even politicians who disagree with him continue to communicate that he is respected but many are calling for him to step down in disgrace .
A vast literature connects economic downturns to a number of psychological issues , including anxiety , stress , and depression , which often spur on various high-risk behaviors .
One user @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recently posted , “ I am going absolutely insane battling with my mind and being locked up in my house.
” Another said , “ Lockdown is making my depression the worst it ’ s ever been….I ’ d rather be dead than stuck in my house alone with my thoughts.
” The Best of Dr. Mark Sircus

Not only are they cruel and insensitive but they are outright liars (they love scary predictions that do not come true) and do not want to listen to anyone who disagrees with their insensible plans to destroy human civilization. They are destroyers of human existence, human activity, human happiness and even human health.
To be in favor of lock-downs is to be for death of the world economy, increased death by suicide, increased death by over a million from tuberculous, vastly increased homelessness, and for millions to die of starvation. That is the short list. However, if you are into a cleaner planet then lockdown madness sounds like a good thing.
Medical Nightmare Turning Apocalyptic
It has not completely sunk in yet but the real nightmare is just getting started. More than four out of five people in the global labor force of 3.3 billion have been hit by full or partial workplace closures, according to the International Labor Organization, which says 1.6 billion workers in the informal economy “stand in immediate danger of having their livelihoods destroyed.” How a few men got the politicians of the world to do this is something that history will have to eventually answer.
More than 36 million have filed for unemployment in the
United States since mid-March. It is not a depression we are
entering but a collapse that could halt most human activity.
Sodium Bicarbonate: Na... Mark Sircus Best Price: $7.25 Buy New $10.32 (as of 10:37 UTC - Details) If the coronavirus pandemic continues to drive unemployment levels as high as predicted, homelessness will increase 40% to 45% by the end of the year, according to an analysis by a Columbia University economics professor. That would mean 250,000 more people in the US would experience homelessness compared with last year, bringing the total number of those experiencing homelessness to above 800,000.
How can we possibly measure the human suffering as a consequence of what is being done following the orders of health care officials? For those who oppose the orders it might be a good time to revisit the teaching of Martin Luther King Jr. “Martin King, was a minister who exposed the truth that obedience keeps us in chains. His crucial synthesis was to combine disobedience with goodness. His crucial work (and this is greatly under-appreciated) was to hold disobedience and goodness together.”
There is open lockdown rebellion in Pennsylvania and demonstrations in England and German. Political leaders have shown their true colors as they pretend to understand vital pandemics and what to do about them. They have clearly overstepped their bounds but I guess they love getting to be, more than ever before, the boss.
The toll for families is hunger, poverty and higher incidences of disease and death from all causes. Hunkering down at home to ride out the crisis isn’t an option for many, because securing the next meal means hustling to find a way to sell, clean, drive or otherwise work, despite the risk. As numerous prominent experts have warned, the lock-downs will also end up causing more deaths than the coronavirus due to a horrific spike in poverty and people with other serious illnesses being unable to get treatment.

World health officials are not practicing medicine or public health they are practicing cold-hardheartedness. They along with politicians are acting like the original communists and fascists who believed that their way was the only way, killing or censoring anyone who disagrees. Certain epidemiologists have said there is very little sturdy evidence to base lockdown policies on, but this has not prevented politicians from acting as if everything they say or do is based on solid science.
“For 16 years, we ran a thriving and happy
business, gone in a matter of weeks based on
the decisions of one man with too much power.”
China has arrested and imprisoned hundreds of people for merely discussing the coronavirus outbreak in any context that strays from the communist party narrative on the epidemic, according to a report from a US based Chinese organisation.Fox News pointed to the report by China Digital Times containing statistics that show between Jan. 1 and April 4, nearly 500 hundred people were arrested and charged, merely for talking about the virus.

Nearly 1.5 Million More Tuberculosis Deaths
are Expected Due To Coronavirus Lock-downs.
Who are we going to blame these deaths on? And are we really saving lives with our lock-downs from the virus? People are dying from the virus with lock-down or not but we know now that millions will die of other causes because we are stopping human activity and confining people to their homes where most cannot work. Will we blame health officials with these deaths like we blamed Hitler, Stalin and Mao for the millions of deaths they wrought on the world? Healing With Iodine: Y... Sircus, Mark Best Price: $14.87 Buy New $11.89 (as of 09:06 UTC - Details)
When heath officials promote the benefits of “flattening the curve,” they fail to properly take into account the actual costs of imposing business closures and of forced social distancing: the coming economic depression will lead to mass unemployment, rising poverty, suicides, domestic abuse, alcoholism, and myriad other potential causes of death and suffering which could be considerably worse than the harms of the pandemic itself
Brazil’s health minister resigned on May 15th after less than a month on the job in a sign of continuing upheaval over how the nation should battle the coronavirus pandemic, quitting a day after President Jair Bolsonaro stepped up pressure on him to expand use of the antimalarial drug chloroquine in treating patients.
Anti-Inflammatory Oxyg... Mark Sircus Best Price: $9.81 Buy New $10.09 (as of 10:37 UTC - Details) Health officials are at odds with politicians who are bucking the lockdown or who are insisting that appropriate treatments be applied instead of waiting for the holy grail vaccine that might or might not come and might or might not be affective. Millions worldwide will likely be permanently impacted before a vaccine arrives and we have no assurances that a rushed vaccine will be safe. Odds are great that it will be forced down our collective throats.
A long, drawn-out economic recovery will lead to a “significant number” of indirect deaths from coronavirus, the UK’s chief statistician has warned. Amid fears that the economy could take five years to return to pre-crisis levels under a worst case scenario, Sir Ian Diamond said the effects of the pandemic would be far-reaching as people are “pushed into poverty”.
While many European cities begin the process of reviving their economies, the Big Apple — America’s coronavirus epicenter — remains shut as authorities fear sparking another wave of COVID-19 infections. So let the city die and long live fear! Sweden never closed down in the first place and they are not having more difficulties with the virus than countries that have lockdown their people. We have let the fears of health authorities choke the world and create a form of hysteria never seen before.
Transdermal Magnesium ... Mark Sircus Best Price: $8.61 Buy New $12.95 (as of 01:48 UTC - Details) Dr. Fauci, an internationally respected expert on infectious diseases and a key advisor to President Trump throughout the pandemic, testified in Congress that ending the lockdown too quickly could bring “really serious” consequences. What does he think continuing the lockdown will bring or does he not care. The media and even politicians who disagree with him continue to communicate that he is respected but many are calling for him to step down in disgrace.
A vast literature connects economic downturns to a number of
psychological issues, including anxiety, stress, and
depression, which often spur on various high-risk behaviors.
One user in a depression support group on Reddit recently posted, “I am going absolutely insane battling with my mind and being locked up in my house.” Another said, “Lockdown is making my depression the worst it’s ever been….I’d rather be dead than stuck in my house alone with my thoughts.”
Reprinted with permission from Dr.Sircus.com.
The Best of Dr. Mark Sircus


lewrockwell--2020-05-21--Television Wartime Messaging: for the Love of Unity

In today ’ s episode of COVID fakery on rye and hold the apocalypse , we begin with a bevy of quotes from Edward Bernays ( 1891-1995 ) , the acknowledged father of modern public relations , aka propaganda .
I include his statements as a warm-up backgrounder— “ This is an age of mass production .
In the mass production of materials a broad technique has been developed and applied to their distribution .
In this age , too , there must be a technique for the mass distribution of ideas.
” ( 1928 ) “ The engineering of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ democratic process , the freedom to persuade and suggest.
” ( 1947 ) “ It is sometimes possible to change the attitudes of millions but impossible to change the attitude of one man.
” ( date unknown ) Propaganda Bernays , Edward Best Price : $ 36.00 Buy New $ 15.23 “ When I came back to the United States , I decided that if you could use propaganda for war , you could certainly use it for peace .
And ‘ propaganda ’ got to be a bad word because of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did was to try and find some other words .
So we found the words ‘ counsel on public relations ’ .
” ( date unknown ) “ When Napoleon said , ‘ Circumstance ?
I make circumstance‚ ’ he expressed very nearly the spirit of the public relations counsel ’ s work.
” ( 1923 ) “ Domination to-day is not a product of armies or navies or wealth or policies .
It is a domination based on the one hand upon accomplished unity , and on the other hand upon the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a high degree of disunity.
” ( 1923 ) “ The public relations counsel , therefore , is a creator of news for whatever medium he chooses to transmit ideas .
It is his duty to create news no matter what the medium which broadcasts this news.
” ( 1923 ) “ The only difference between ‘ propaganda ’ and ‘ education , ’ really , is in the point of view .
The advocacy of what we believe in is education .
The advocacy of what we don ’ t believe in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ HM241 1080P ... Buy New $ 199.99 “ The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society .
Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country .
We are governed , our minds are molded , our tastes formed , our ideas suggested , largely by men we have never heard of .
This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.
” ( 1928 ) “ Propaganda is the executive arm of the invisible government.
” ( 1928 ) “ If you can influence the leaders , either with or without their conscious cooperation , you automatically influence the group which they sway .
But men do not need to be actually gathered together in a public meeting or in a street riot , to be subject to the influences of mass psychology .
Because man is by nature @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a herd , even when he is alone in his room with the curtains drawn .
His mind retains the patterns which have been stamped on it by the group influences.
” ( 1928 ) The news heads and the talk show heads and the sports heads and the advertisers and bureaucrats and politicians and public health flacks and celebrities are assuring television viewers , with no shame : We ’ re all in this together .
Over and over .
Night and day .
On every channel .
This was the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for disagreement or dissent ; there must be a unified response and effort ; otherwise , we could lose .
We ’ re all in this together means : fall in line .
Crystallizing Public O ... Bernays , Edward Best Price : $ 9.20 Buy New $ 11.97 If that ’ s share and care and love , it ’ s robot love .
Advertisers , despite their studies and their sophistication and their wall-to-wall profiling of consumers , still believe in the first principle of propaganda : repetition .
Get the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there and don ’ t stop .
Do it a thousand times , a million times .
As long as you have money to pay for ads , do it .
Look at the insurance company commercials .
Progressive , State Farm , Liberty , Geico .
The little vignettes they lay on are really the occasion for pasting their company name on the screen .
Make these 30-second stories friendly and funny and crazy , but the money shot is the company name .
Pandemic ads and messages follow the same rule @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s TOGETHERNESS .
UNITY .
Pounded on and on .
Why ?
If cooperation and love and togetherness are basic human impulses , why do people need to be reminded of that 24 hours a day , on television ?
Does a husband who loves his wife need to see his face and his wife ’ s face on a screen , on every channel , without let-up , along with a message urging him to adore her ?
AIDS Inc. Rappoport , Jon Best Price : $ 33.29 Buy New $ 18.89 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who ’ s been thrown out of a job , who can ’ t find work , who sees his government checks fading down to zero…he needs pacification .
That ’ s a tough sell .
That sell-job requires a whole lot of repetition… …In order to produce SHAME in him , if he feels cheated and exiled and screwed .
The repetition of togetherness and fake love informs him that the collective citizenry isn ’ t on his side .
It tells him his righteous anger has no place in the relentlessly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ keeps him feeling isolated .
Now we ’ re getting down to it .
Don ’ t let the people who are economically devastated believe they can find each other .
Shut them out .
Pump them full of television public service ads that paint an “ uplifting ” picture from which they ’ re excluded .
They may be devastated , but television tells them they aren ’ t on the team if they give their own concerns first priority .
If they do , they ’ re non-persons .
After all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ TV , do they see a cropped video of another unemployed worker sitting in a dark room saying , “ THIS IS CRAZY .
I WANT TO WORK .
I NEED FOOD .
MY BOSS CLOSED HIS COMPANY .
HE ’ S BANKRUPT .
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON ?
” Are they offered that kind of unity ?
Togetherness ?
“ Hi .
I ’ m an NFL cornerback .
I ’ ve made thirty million during my career .
Here I am at home with my kids .
We ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ’ m enjoying my family .
We ’ ll get through this .
All of us .
Stay safe .
Use the time to bring your family closer together.
” Major news outlets are under strict orders to keep “ disturbing human interest stories ” off the front page and away from their broadcasts .
This is also part and parcel of the wartime effort .
It would have to be , since economic devastation is what this fake pandemic is actually all about .
No one in the mainstream will let @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It would be more than a mistake .
It would be a confession .
It would be suicide .
How about these headlines ?
VACCINE KINGS WANT TO SOFTEN UP POPULATIONS FOR A NEEDLE IN THE ARM .
A RUINED POPULACE IS READY TO BE LED INTO A NEW WORLD ORDER .
Propagandists know that a one-two punch of fear and then assurance works .
Scare them with the virus , comfort them with togetherness .
But still , it ’ s a tough sell .
It has legs for a while , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ especially in the hinterlands .
People who aren ’ t jammed together in big cities , who live in open spaces , tend to develop immunity to lies .
Coiffed press hookers on television dispensing so-called news carry less punch .
Farmers know if they can ’ t plant their crops on time , with workers side by side , they ’ ll go broke .
Generally speaking , people who don ’ t see other people who are sick , and don ’ t hear ambulance sirens , start wondering what ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ obedience turns into the real day of rebellion .
It turns out that a story about an invisible virus isn ’ t quite the same as a line of enemy tanks approaching .
All promoted wars are not equal .
Fauci knows this .
Birx knows this .
Bill Gates knows this .
Mayors and governors know this .
The CDC and WHO know this .
They don ’ t really care whether you survive , but they know you care .
So , for them , it ’ s a race against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the lid on ?
How long can their preposterous messaging work ?
Stage magic is an odd game .
The performer has to run his tricks quickly , so people don ’ t have the luxury of sitting back and thinking about how he is fooling them .
However , the public health magicians and the politician magicians and the news magicians are hemmed in—they ’ re basically one-trick ponies .
Virus , virus , virus=together , together , together .
It looks good , but it wears out .
I ’ ll @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gems from Edward Bernays—to urge you to keep your eye on the ball .
The real ball .
“ If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind , is it now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it ?
” ( 1928 ) “ A single factory , potentially capable of supplying a whole continent with its particular product , can not afford to wait until the public asks for its product ; it must maintain constant touch , through advertising and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ order to assure itself the continuous demand which alone will make its costly plant profitable .
This entails a vastly more complex system of distribution than formerly.
” ( 1928 ) “ No serious sociologist any longer believes that the voice of the people expresses any divine or specially wise and lofty idea .
The voice of the people expresses the mind of the people , and that mind is made up for it by the group leaders in whom it believes and by those persons who understand the manipulation of public opinion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and symbols and clichés and verbal formulas supplied to them by the leaders.
” ( 1928 ) “ Propaganda is of no use to the politician unless he has something to say which the public , consciously or unconsciously , wants to hear.
” ( 1928 ) The Best of Jon Rappoport

In today’s episode of COVID fakery on rye and hold the apocalypse, we begin with a bevy of quotes from Edward Bernays (1891-1995), the acknowledged father of modern public relations, aka propaganda. I include his statements as a warm-up backgrounder—
“This is an age of mass production. In the mass production of materials a broad technique has been developed and applied to their distribution. In this age, too, there must be a technique for the mass distribution of ideas.” (1928)
“The engineering of consent is the very essence of the democratic process, the freedom to persuade and suggest.” (1947)
“It is sometimes possible to change the attitudes of millions but impossible to change the attitude of one man.” (date unknown) Propaganda Bernays, Edward Best Price: $36.00 Buy New $15.23 (as of 01:49 UTC - Details)
“When I came back to the United States, I decided that if you could use propaganda for war, you could certainly use it for peace. And ‘propaganda’ got to be a bad word because of the Germans using it, so what I did was to try and find some other words. So we found the words ‘counsel on public relations’.” (date unknown)
“When Napoleon said, ‘Circumstance? I make circumstance‚’ he expressed very nearly the spirit of the public relations counsel’s work.” (1923)
“Domination to-day is not a product of armies or navies or wealth or policies. It is a domination based on the one hand upon accomplished unity, and on the other hand upon the fact that opposition is generally characterized by a high degree of disunity.” (1923)
“The public relations counsel, therefore, is a creator of news for whatever medium he chooses to transmit ideas. It is his duty to create news no matter what the medium which broadcasts this news.” (1923)
“The only difference between ‘propaganda’ and ‘education,’ really, is in the point of view. The advocacy of what we believe in is education. The advocacy of what we don’t believe in is propaganda.” (1923)
HeimVision HM241 1080P... Buy New $199.99 (as of 01:49 UTC - Details) “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.” (1928)
“Propaganda is the executive arm of the invisible government.” (1928)
“If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway. But men do not need to be actually gathered together in a public meeting or in a street riot, to be subject to the influences of mass psychology. Because man is by nature gregarious he feels himself to be member of a herd, even when he is alone in his room with the curtains drawn. His mind retains the patterns which have been stamped on it by the group influences.” (1928)
The news heads and the talk show heads and the sports heads and the advertisers and bureaucrats and politicians and public health flacks and celebrities are assuring television viewers, with no shame: We’re all in this together. Over and over. Night and day. On every channel.
This was the strategy during older wars. No time for disagreement or dissent; there must be a unified response and effort; otherwise, we could lose.
We’re all in this together means: fall in line. Crystallizing Public O... Bernays, Edward Best Price: $9.20 Buy New $11.97 (as of 04:13 UTC - Details)
If that’s share and care and love, it’s robot love.
Advertisers, despite their studies and their sophistication and their wall-to-wall profiling of consumers, still believe in the first principle of propaganda: repetition.
Get the name of your product and company out there and don’t stop. Do it a thousand times, a million times. As long as you have money to pay for ads, do it.
Look at the insurance company commercials. Progressive, State Farm, Liberty, Geico. The little vignettes they lay on are really the occasion for pasting their company name on the screen. Make these 30-second stories friendly and funny and crazy, but the money shot is the company name.
Pandemic ads and messages follow the same rule. In this case, it’s TOGETHERNESS. UNITY. Pounded on and on.
Why? If cooperation and love and togetherness are basic human impulses, why do people need to be reminded of that 24 hours a day, on television?
Does a husband who loves his wife need to see his face and his wife’s face on a screen, on every channel, without let-up, along with a message urging him to adore her? AIDS Inc. Rappoport, Jon Best Price: $33.29 Buy New $18.89 (as of 03:34 UTC - Details)
On the other hand, a person who’s been thrown out of a job, who can’t find work, who sees his government checks fading down to zero…he needs pacification. That’s a tough sell. That sell-job requires a whole lot of repetition…
…In order to produce SHAME in him, if he feels cheated and exiled and screwed. The repetition of togetherness and fake love informs him that the collective citizenry isn’t on his side. It tells him his righteous anger has no place in the relentlessly upbeat messaging of “unity.” It keeps him feeling isolated.
Now we’re getting down to it. Don’t let the people who are economically devastated believe they can find each other. Shut them out. Pump them full of television public service ads that paint an “uplifting” picture from which they’re excluded.
They may be devastated, but television tells them they aren’t on the team if they give their own concerns first priority. If they do, they’re non-persons.
After all, when they sit at home watching TV, do they see a cropped video of another unemployed worker sitting in a dark room saying, “THIS IS CRAZY. I WANT TO WORK. I NEED FOOD. MY BOSS CLOSED HIS COMPANY. HE’S BANKRUPT. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?”
Are they offered that kind of unity? Togetherness?
“Hi. I’m an NFL cornerback. I’ve made thirty million during my career. Here I am at home with my kids. We’re playing games on the floor. I’m enjoying my family. We’ll get through this. All of us. Stay safe. Use the time to bring your family closer together.”
Major news outlets are under strict orders to keep “disturbing human interest stories” off the front page and away from their broadcasts. This is also part and parcel of the wartime effort.
It would have to be, since economic devastation is what this fake pandemic is actually all about. No one in the mainstream will let that cat out of the bag. It would be more than a mistake. It would be a confession. It would be suicide.
How about these headlines? VACCINE KINGS WANT TO SOFTEN UP POPULATIONS FOR A NEEDLE IN THE ARM. A RUINED POPULACE IS READY TO BE LED INTO A NEW WORLD ORDER.
Propagandists know that a one-two punch of fear and then assurance works. Scare them with the virus, comfort them with togetherness.
But still, it’s a tough sell. It has legs for a while, but then the natives become restless, especially in the hinterlands. People who aren’t jammed together in big cities, who live in open spaces, tend to develop immunity to lies. Coiffed press hookers on television dispensing so-called news carry less punch. Farmers know if they can’t plant their crops on time, with workers side by side, they’ll go broke.
Generally speaking, people who don’t see other people who are sick, and don’t hear ambulance sirens, start wondering what’s happening.
Protests begin. Protests expand.
The fake night of obedience turns into the real day of rebellion.
It turns out that a story about an invisible virus isn’t quite the same as a line of enemy tanks approaching. All promoted wars are not equal.
Fauci knows this. Birx knows this. Bill Gates knows this. Mayors and governors know this. The CDC and WHO know this. They don’t really care whether you survive, but they know you care. So, for them, it’s a race against time. How long can they keep the lid on? How long can their preposterous messaging work?
Stage magic is an odd game. The performer has to run his tricks quickly, so people don’t have the luxury of sitting back and thinking about how he is fooling them. However, the public health magicians and the politician magicians and the news magicians are hemmed in—they’re basically one-trick ponies. Virus, virus, virus=together, together, together.
It looks good, but it wears out.
It’s wearing out now.
I’ll close this piece with a few more gems from Edward Bernays—to urge you to keep your eye on the ball. The real ball.
“If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it?” (1928)
“A single factory, potentially capable of supplying a whole continent with its particular product, cannot afford to wait until the public asks for its product; it must maintain constant touch, through advertising and propaganda, with the vast public in order to assure itself the continuous demand which alone will make its costly plant profitable. This entails a vastly more complex system of distribution than formerly.” (1928)
“No serious sociologist any longer believes that the voice of the people expresses any divine or specially wise and lofty idea. The voice of the people expresses the mind of the people, and that mind is made up for it by the group leaders in whom it believes and by those persons who understand the manipulation of public opinion. It is composed of inherited prejudices and symbols and clichés and verbal formulas supplied to them by the leaders.” (1928)
“Propaganda is of no use to the politician unless he has something to say which the public, consciously or unconsciously, wants to hear.” (1928)
Reprinted with permission from Jon Rappoport’s blog.
The Best of Jon Rappoport


lewrockwell--2020-05-21--The Only Thing Morbidly Obese in DC Is the Government

So House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues to prove the observation as true that the “ Left Can ’ t Meme ” by going on TV to decry President Trump prophylactic use of hydroxychloroquine and zinc to fend off COVID-19 by calling him “ morbidly obese.
” What ’ s so sad about this exchange isn ’ t the obviously awkward set up by Anderson Cooper , the unctuous virtue signaling by Pelosi or the pathetic pandering to her base it is that Pelosi gets everything exactly wrong .
If Trump is morbidly obese , which would be a co-factor in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it make sense then for him TO be taking whatever precautions he and his doctors deemed helpful ?
Obsession : Inside the ... York , Byron Buy New $ 28.99 I guess Nancy would know all about morbid obesity because that ’ s the only kind of legislation she ’ s capable of sponsoring .
Her latest legislative fiasco was a new $ 3 trillion stimulus bill with precious little ‘ stimulus ’ in it whic was rejected by members of her own caucus ( because truly who at this point could be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pelosi ) .
Since the outset of the Coronapocalypse , I ’ ve been arguing that everything done to date has been the wrong approach .
We should have been deregulating , allowing deflation to force debtors and debt-holders to figure things out themselves and put governments themselves on a massive diet .
My last article addressed this very issue .
The Hat Depot Exclusiv ... Buy New $ 14.95 But all we have seen to this point is pointless theater from the pols in D.C. who still think the rules haven ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s ass about their schtick .
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and FOMC Chair Jerome Powell had to sit through grandstanding by Elizabeth Warren this morning to defend their actions during the worst of the crisis .
And that ’ s fine for what it is ; blatant positioning by people who need a political win .
Having Warren go after someone as odious as Mnuchin is like watching two rival teams you hate playing .
The best you can hope for is a tie and lots of injuries .
But what ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is stepping up the pace against his tormentors .
He ’ s begun the attacks on Obama and his holdovers in the Justice Department through his acting Director of the ODNI , Richard Grenell .
If Posobiec is correct about this and not over-stating the change , this is the biggest move to drain the swamp in decades .
It makes it perfectly clear that Trump no longer trusts the FBI and that it is an agency that has far exceeded its mandate .
That it took them working overtime for years to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should be a huge wake up call to Americans of all political stripes .
But Trump isn ’ t done accelerating things yet .
Now he ’ s signed an executive order to radically deregulate the U.S. economy and get rid of all the bottle-necks they engender .
Donald Trump 2020 Pro ... Buy New $ 19.99 We don ’ t know the extent this will occur and what Trump ’ s really thinking at this point , but anything in this direction is welcome .
What ’ s important is that this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but is exactly what the pols there are deathly afraid of .
Because what happens when people get used to NOT having to comply with moronic rules .
The bureaucracy will find out that they aren ’ t needed .
And that ’ s a real threat to them .
Removing bottlenecks even by temporarily not enforcing ridiculous mandates that are nothing more than barriers to commerce is enough to change the dynamic .
It is going to get harder and harder to justify big , bloated bureaucracies that just shuffle money around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And Trump knows how to do this .
This is a skill right in his wheelhouse as this is the greatest skill one has to have to get buildings built in the epicenter of corruption , New York City .
He knows that nothing will undercut the permanent bureaucracy more thoroughly then removing the rules which create the local fiefdoms that empower the petty and politically motivated in every city in the U.S. And he also knows this is where the entrance into the hearts of those precious swing voters lies .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Producers while Pelosi was still protecting the Tax Consumers .
He just doubled down on that and she has no answer but to call him fat .
Bestify Products Donal ... Buy New $ 12.99 Early in his response to COVID-19 Trump quietly got rid of barriers for doctors to practice across state lines and suspended prosecuting doctors for HIPAA violations that were not a result of gross negligence .
He freed doctors up to mobilize them to lend expertise when and where it was needed .
Now he wants to do that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of the way of people trying to rebuild a society flattened by a draconian lock down which worsened an already terrible financial crisis .
I ’ m not surprised by this move at all .
Trump understands what he ’ s up against this fall .
Obama has entered the 2020 election in a way no former President ever has .
For the U.S .
Deep State and the chattering class in D.C. the real existential crisis is the realization that a second Trump term means we figure out just how unnecessary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to flex our muscles at the local level , disobeying brutal orders from Governors and local petty tyrants but it ’ s not enough .
The swift moves to implement contact tracing via outsourcing to restaurants and business owners is a prelude of what comes next in the land of the not free , controlled by Karens .
Unpersoning those not willing to submit to will be in full flower by the end of the year if not sooner .
And the quicker Trump moves to disempower the administrative state the better .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a diet is government .
And those that need to be starved out are those that think that we work for them .
The Best of Thomas Luongo

So House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues to prove the observation as true that the “Left Can’t Meme” by going on TV to decry President Trump prophylactic use of hydroxychloroquine and zinc to fend off COVID-19 by calling him “morbidly obese.”
Nancy Pelosi calls Trump “morbidly obese” pic.twitter.com/NEBc0kqMwC — Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) May 19, 2020
What’s so sad about this exchange isn’t the obviously awkward set up by Anderson Cooper, the unctuous virtue signaling by Pelosi or the pathetic pandering to her base it is that Pelosi gets everything exactly wrong.
If Trump is morbidly obese, which would be a co-factor in falling to COVID-19, wouldn’t it make sense then for him TO be taking whatever precautions he and his doctors deemed helpful? Obsession: Inside the ... York, Byron Buy New $28.99 (as of 03:14 UTC - Details)
I guess Nancy would know all about morbid obesity because that’s the only kind of legislation she’s capable of sponsoring.
Her latest legislative fiasco was a new $3 trillion stimulus bill with precious little ‘stimulus’ in it whic was rejected by members of her own caucus (because truly who at this point could be stimulated to anything other than nausea by Pelosi).
Since the outset of the Coronapocalypse, I’ve been arguing that everything done to date has been the wrong approach. We should have been deregulating, allowing deflation to force debtors and debt-holders to figure things out themselves and put governments themselves on a massive diet.
My last article addressed this very issue.
The one single thing that would be of the most use to what’s left of the middle class, lowering payroll taxes, is the one thing they will not countenance. Payroll taxes lowered, corporate taxes lowered, useless regulations cut, these are all good starts. But the real problem is the multi-trillion dollar elephant in the room, the cost of all levels of government that are a net drain on the real economy.
The Hat Depot Exclusiv... Buy New $14.95 (as of 01:50 UTC - Details) But all we have seen to this point is pointless theater from the pols in D.C. who still think the rules haven’t changed and anyone gives a rat’s ass about their schtick.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and FOMC Chair Jerome Powell had to sit through grandstanding by Elizabeth Warren this morning to defend their actions during the worst of the crisis.
And that’s fine for what it is; blatant positioning by people who need a political win. Having Warren go after someone as odious as Mnuchin is like watching two rival teams you hate playing.
The best you can hope for is a tie and lots of injuries.
But what’s really surprising here is that Trump is stepping up the pace against his tormentors. He’s begun the attacks on Obama and his holdovers in the Justice Department through his acting Director of the ODNI, Richard Grenell.
BREAKING: New DNI instruction removes FBI from cordeword SIGINT briefings and products that contain sources/methods. They have been ordered to return to core LE/CT work — Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) May 18, 2020
More: The FBI will no longer receive raw or refined sources and methods COMINT/SIGINT product, only sanitized analyst product — Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) May 18, 2020
If Posobiec is correct about this and not over-stating the change, this is the biggest move to drain the swamp in decades. It makes it perfectly clear that Trump no longer trusts the FBI and that it is an agency that has far exceeded its mandate.
That it took them working overtime for years to bring down a sitting president and failing should be a huge wake up call to Americans of all political stripes.
But Trump isn’t done accelerating things yet. Now he’s signed an executive order to radically deregulate the U.S. economy and get rid of all the bottle-necks they engender.
The president said to his Cabinet members as he signed the order, “I want you to go to town and do it right. It gives you tremendous power to cut regulation.”
Donald Trump 2020 Pro ... Buy New $19.99 (as of 01:50 UTC - Details) We don’t know the extent this will occur and what Trump’s really thinking at this point, but anything in this direction is welcome.
What’s important is that this kind of response never happens in D.C. but is exactly what the pols there are deathly afraid of. Because what happens when people get used to NOT having to comply with moronic rules.
The bureaucracy will find out that they aren’t needed. And that’s a real threat to them.
Removing bottlenecks even by temporarily not enforcing ridiculous mandates that are nothing more than barriers to commerce is enough to change the dynamic.
It is going to get harder and harder to justify big, bloated bureaucracies that just shuffle money around and waste people’s time. And Trump knows how to do this. This is a skill right in his wheelhouse as this is the greatest skill one has to have to get buildings built in the epicenter of corruption, New York City.
He knows that nothing will undercut the permanent bureaucracy more thoroughly then removing the rules which create the local fiefdoms that empower the petty and politically motivated in every city in the U.S.
And he also knows this is where the entrance into the hearts of those precious swing voters lies. I told you Trump would target the Tax Producers while Pelosi was still protecting the Tax Consumers.
He just doubled down on that and she has no answer but to call him fat.
Bestify Products Donal... Buy New $12.99 (as of 01:50 UTC - Details) Early in his response to COVID-19 Trump quietly got rid of barriers for doctors to practice across state lines and suspended prosecuting doctors for HIPAA violations that were not a result of gross negligence. He freed doctors up to mobilize them to lend expertise when and where it was needed.
Now he wants to do that for the entire economy by getting government out of the way of people trying to rebuild a society flattened by a draconian lock down which worsened an already terrible financial crisis.
I’m not surprised by this move at all. Trump understands what he’s up against this fall. Obama has entered the 2020 election in a way no former President ever has.
For the U.S. Deep State and the chattering class in D.C. the real existential crisis is the realization that a second Trump term means we figure out just how unnecessary they are.
We’re beginning to flex our muscles at the local level, disobeying brutal orders from Governors and local petty tyrants but it’s not enough. The swift moves to implement contact tracing via outsourcing to restaurants and business owners is a prelude of what comes next in the land of the not free, controlled by Karens.
Unpersoning those not willing to submit to will be in full flower by the end of the year if not sooner. And the quicker Trump moves to disempower the administrative state the better.
Because what truly needs to go on a diet is government. And those that need to be starved out are those that think that we work for them.
Reprinted with permission from Gold Goats ‘n Guns.
The Best of Tom Luongo


lewrockwell--2020-05-21--Does God Exist? Look into the Eyes of a Dog

Last night , after my customary evening prayers and climbing into bed , my cocker spaniel Jasper jumped on the bed with me , as he is apt to do , and , then hovering over me like some special guardian surveying his charge , his legs on my chest , looked directly at me with his two adoring brown eyes .
It was as if to say : “ It ’ s bed-time , and I wanted to ‘ say ’ to you ‘ please keep safe , ’ ‘ good night , ’ ‘ my love and devotion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I know—dogs don ’ t speak , but they do communicate in so many other ways…in their movements , in their barking and whining , by wagging their tails or moving their paws , but perhaps most effectively with their eyes .
Jasper ’ s eyes were lit with warmth and contentment , but also with a kind of fealty and intimate comradeship that only a person who has had a close canine companion for any length of time can understand and fathom .
As I looked back into those golden globes , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of God ’ s little creatures , a kind of little barking Guardian Angel , a creature whose ancestors began to faithfully accompany man thousands of years ago , at the very origins of civilization.
” Dean Spanley : The Novel Sharp , Alan Best Price : $ 17.36 Buy New $ 12.53 Here in this adoring face was in fact a representation of the goodness of the Creator—in a sense , the Face of God Himself exemplified by this canine , composed of an intricate pattern of muscle , organs and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sum of his physical parts .
Yes , a creation of Nature , the result of a very long line of other canines , but issuing forth in a living being with a unique personality all his own .
For me—and I realize to those with a scientific bent this may seem a bit naïve—that Jasper exists is , in a very special way , a definite sign that not only does God exist , but that He has taken very special effort in devising His creation .
Consider the essential : here @ @ @ @ @ @ @ breathes , moves , eats , plays with and accompanies me , has emotions ( which on close inspection over time I can detect ) …and shows them .
Here is a creature of extreme complexity physiologically , less so than humans , but still complex .
Millions of minute cells programmed to work in harmony , and over them all a distinct , motivating , life-giving personality , and indeed what St. Thomas Aquinas called a living “ animal soul.
” I was put in mind of that superb English film , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , starring Jeremy Northam , Sir Peter O ’ Toole , Sam Neill , Judy Parfit , and Bryan Brown ; it ’ s one of my favorite—perhaps my all-time favorite—movies .
Based on a short novella by British writer Baron Dunsany it is both whimsical and deeply moving in it message .
And it uses dogs to represent the kind of spiritual bond that exists between mankind and canines , but also , more importantly , between Man and other human beings .
That bond is ineffable , it is spiritual , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ something which can not be created in the most advanced , the most modern scientific laboratory .
It is , if I may be so bold , something that can not be explained fully by evolutionary biology .
Years ago , when I was studying in Spain , one of my professors was Dr. Wolfgang Strobl , without doubt the most brilliant man I ’ ve ever met or had the privilege to know .
Dr. Strobl was born in Bavaria and a shell-shocked veteran of World War II , which gave him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a cane ) .
After the war he earned his first doctorate at the University of Munich in philosophy , mathematics and physics ( 1952 ) “ summa cum laude , ” with a mammoth work , titled , “ The Fundamental Problems of the Philosophy of Nature in the Ontological Sense of the New Physics.
” A second earned doctorate came in 1967 ( Pontifical University of Navarra ) : “ Scientific Reality and Its Philosophical Criticism.
” Fluent in a dozen languages , guest professor at numerous universities in every part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fordham , and St. John ’ s in the United States , translator of Werner Heisenberg and other German philosophers into Spanish , he was amazing .
In his lectures at Navarra it was if someone just pushed a button and out flowed a perfectly organized ( and for me , diagrammed ) fifty minutes of brilliance .
The Art of Raising a P ... Monks of New Skete Best Price : $ 15.89 Buy New $ 15.73 I recall back then—in 1973—we took up the work of French scientist/philosopher Jacques Monod , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Le Hasard et la Nécessité : Essai sur la philosophie naturelle de la biologie moderne ) .
Monod ’ s work was all the rage at the time , and not just in France , but also in the United States .
Basically , and not to do him an injustice , Monod posited that “ the combined effects of chance and necessity , which are amenable to scientific investigation , account for our existence and the universe we inhabit , without the need to invoke mystical , supernatural , or religious explanations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a human need for explanatory myths , in the final chapter of Chance and Necessity , Monod advocates for adopting an objective ( hence value-free ) , scientific worldview as our guide to assessing truth .
He describes this as an ‘ ethics of knowledge ’ , which disrupts the older philosophical , mythological and religious ontologies that claimed to provide both ethical values and a standard for judging truth.
” As Monod summed up his work : “ …man at last knows he is alone in the unfeeling immensity of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emerged only by chance .
His destiny is nowhere spelled out , nor is his duty.
” For a number of sessions Strobl lectured about—and profoundly critiqued—Monod ’ s work and his assertions .
And he did so not only from biological science and the standpoint of physics , but also from mathematics and the philosophy of logic .
On various occasions I was privileged to visit him and his wife for lunch and continue those discussions .
I recall distinctly him describing the inadequacy of Monod ’ s ( and other ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ left out , noticeably and fatally , essential ingredients in the make-up of Man .
Like some other critics , Strobl contended that Monod failed in his attempt to banish “ mind and purpose from the phenomenon of life ” in the name of science .
And , venturing into the foundations and philosophy of mathematics—if I may call it that—Dr .
Strobl added that the study of probabilities , alone , made the commonly-held belief in biological evolution , as currently conceived , a practical impossibility .
After one reaches a certain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a happening , an event , an occurrence is considered not just improbable , but , practically speaking , impossible .
Distinct and widely disparate amounts of time are required for something to occur depending on the level of probability—the chance , if you will—that it might happen in nature .
The chance that I get stung by a yellow jacket this summer while working in my yard can be calculated roughly using a number of factors : where the yellow jacket nests are , how many of them exists , where exactly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I take , how many times I work in my yard , and so on .
Depending on these conditions , I could , if I knew them all , estimate my chances , maybe 5 % , maybe more , maybe less .
A Dog ’ s Purpose : ... Cameron , W. Bruce Best Price : $ 1.25 Buy New $ 10.99 But let ’ s take something much more extensive and far more improbable : the example of a monkey sitting in front of key board and pecking out the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Of necessity it would require millions—perhaps billions—of years ( of trial and error ) , and then what are the percentages ?
Would it actually ever come to pass ?
As Dr. Strobl explained , after reaching a certain level of improbability , a happening becomes in effect impossible .
Despite the billions of years for that monkey to type out Shakespeare by chance , if at all , at a certain point mathematically such a calculation is essentially impossible .
Thus , if we posit that a one cell amoeba somehow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ companion Jasper , not only does that evolutionary process demand millions , perhaps even billions of years , but from a mathematical viewpoint is dead on arrival , impossible .
Without something more than the cold theories of evolutionary science , stripped of all other considerations and ignoring ( or refusing to examine ) the insights of other disciplines which offer a more rounded and fuller picture of life , we are left bare , tiny meaningless specks in an inscrutable and unforgiving universe .
I recall an interview with the late Southern @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from Esquire back in 1977 .
In it Percy was asked why he was a Christian , and he responded : “ What else is there ?
” And the follow-up question : So it was when I looked into those two loving orbs , those two golden brown eyes of Jasper last night , and he communicated to me his love and companionship and care , far , far beyond any consideration of what amoeba he might have supposedly come from billions of years ago .
And as I reached out and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ affection , yes , I stared into the face of one of God ’ s creatures whose very existence signaled to me , to echo Walker Percy , “ What else is there ?
” Scientific humanism and atheism won ’ t do .
“ Life is a mystery , love is a delight .
Therefore I take it as axiomatic that one should settle for nothing less than the infinite mystery and the infinite delight ” —God .
The Creator once more demonstrated His love last night through His little creature on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ end the day and take one more step towards eternity .

Last night, after my customary evening prayers and climbing into bed, my cocker spaniel Jasper jumped on the bed with me, as he is apt to do, and, then hovering over me like some special guardian surveying his charge, his legs on my chest, looked directly at me with his two adoring brown eyes. It was as if to say: “It’s bed-time, and I wanted to ‘say’ to you ‘please keep safe,’ ‘good night,’ ‘my love and devotion’ for you.”
I know, I know—dogs don’t speak, but they do communicate in so many other ways…in their movements, in their barking and whining, by wagging their tails or moving their paws, but perhaps most effectively with their eyes. Jasper’s eyes were lit with warmth and contentment, but also with a kind of fealty and intimate comradeship that only a person who has had a close canine companion for any length of time can understand and fathom.
As I looked back into those golden globes, I thought: “Here indeed was one of God’s little creatures, a kind of little barking Guardian Angel, a creature whose ancestors began to faithfully accompany man thousands of years ago, at the very origins of civilization.”
Dean Spanley: The Novel Sharp, Alan Best Price: $17.36 Buy New $12.53 (as of 01:51 UTC - Details) Here in this adoring face was in fact a representation of the goodness of the Creator—in a sense, the Face of God Himself exemplified by this canine, composed of an intricate pattern of muscle, organs and tissue, but far more than the sum of his physical parts. Yes, a creation of Nature, the result of a very long line of other canines, but issuing forth in a living being with a unique personality all his own.
For me—and I realize to those with a scientific bent this may seem a bit naïve—that Jasper exists is, in a very special way, a definite sign that not only does God exist, but that He has taken very special effort in devising His creation.
Consider the essential: here is this animal, this creature who breathes, moves, eats, plays with and accompanies me, has emotions (which on close inspection over time I can detect)…and shows them. Here is a creature of extreme complexity physiologically, less so than humans, but still complex. Millions of minute cells programmed to work in harmony, and over them all a distinct, motivating, life-giving personality, and indeed what St. Thomas Aquinas called a living “animal soul.”
I was put in mind of that superb English film, “Dean Spanley” (2008), starring Jeremy Northam, Sir Peter O’Toole, Sam Neill, Judy Parfit, and Bryan Brown; it’s one of my favorite—perhaps my all-time favorite—movies. Based on a short novella by British writer Baron Dunsany it is both whimsical and deeply moving in it message. And it uses dogs to represent the kind of spiritual bond that exists between mankind and canines, but also, more importantly, between Man and other human beings. That bond is ineffable, it is spiritual, but it exists. And it is something which cannot be created in the most advanced, the most modern scientific laboratory. It is, if I may be so bold, something that cannot be explained fully by evolutionary biology.
Years ago, when I was studying in Spain, one of my professors was Dr. Wolfgang Strobl, without doubt the most brilliant man I’ve ever met or had the privilege to know. Dr. Strobl was born in Bavaria and a shell-shocked veteran of World War II, which gave him a permanent limp (he walked with a cane). After the war he earned his first doctorate at the University of Munich in philosophy, mathematics and physics (1952) “summa cum laude,” with a mammoth work, titled, “The Fundamental Problems of the Philosophy of Nature in the Ontological Sense of the New Physics.” A second earned doctorate came in 1967 (Pontifical University of Navarra): “Scientific Reality and Its Philosophical Criticism.” Fluent in a dozen languages, guest professor at numerous universities in every part of the world, including Columbia, Fordham, and St. John’s in the United States, translator of Werner Heisenberg and other German philosophers into Spanish, he was amazing. In his lectures at Navarra it was if someone just pushed a button and out flowed a perfectly organized (and for me, diagrammed) fifty minutes of brilliance. The Art of Raising a P... Monks of New Skete Best Price: $15.89 Buy New $15.73 (as of 01:51 UTC - Details)
I recall back then—in 1973—we took up the work of French scientist/philosopher Jacques Monod, Chance and Necessity (published first as Le Hasard et la Nécessité: Essai sur la philosophie naturelle de la biologie moderne). Monod’s work was all the rage at the time, and not just in France, but also in the United States. Basically, and not to do him an injustice, Monod posited that “the combined effects of chance and necessity, which are amenable to scientific investigation, account for our existence and the universe we inhabit, without the need to invoke mystical, supernatural, or religious explanations. While acknowledging the likely evolutionary origin of a human need for explanatory myths, in the final chapter of Chance and Necessity, Monod advocates for adopting an objective (hence value-free), scientific worldview as our guide to assessing truth. He describes this as an ‘ethics of knowledge’, which disrupts the older philosophical, mythological and religious ontologies that claimed to provide both ethical values and a standard for judging truth.”
As Monod summed up his work: “…man at last knows he is alone in the unfeeling immensity of the universe, out of which he has emerged only by chance. His destiny is nowhere spelled out, nor is his duty.”
For a number of sessions Strobl lectured about—and profoundly critiqued—Monod’s work and his assertions. And he did so not only from biological science and the standpoint of physics, but also from mathematics and the philosophy of logic.
On various occasions I was privileged to visit him and his wife for lunch and continue those discussions. I recall distinctly him describing the inadequacy of Monod’s (and other’s) theories of human evolution that left out, noticeably and fatally, essential ingredients in the make-up of Man. Like some other critics, Strobl contended that Monod failed in his attempt to banish “mind and purpose from the phenomenon of life” in the name of science.
And, venturing into the foundations and philosophy of mathematics—if I may call it that—Dr. Strobl added that the study of probabilities, alone, made the commonly-held belief in biological evolution, as currently conceived, a practical impossibility. After one reaches a certain level of (im)probability, a happening, an event, an occurrence is considered not just improbable, but, practically speaking, impossible. Distinct and widely disparate amounts of time are required for something to occur depending on the level of probability—the chance, if you will—that it might happen in nature.
The chance that I get stung by a yellow jacket this summer while working in my yard can be calculated roughly using a number of factors: where the yellow jacket nests are, how many of them exists, where exactly I work and step, the care I take, how many times I work in my yard, and so on. Depending on these conditions, I could, if I knew them all, estimate my chances, maybe 5%, maybe more, maybe less. A Dog’s Purpose:... Cameron, W. Bruce Best Price: $1.25 Buy New $10.99 (as of 01:51 UTC - Details)
But let’s take something much more extensive and far more improbable: the example of a monkey sitting in front of key board and pecking out the entire works of William Shakespeare by chance. Of necessity it would require millions—perhaps billions—of years (of trial and error), and then what are the percentages? Would it actually ever come to pass?
As Dr. Strobl explained, after reaching a certain level of improbability, a happening becomes in effect impossible. Despite the billions of years for that monkey to type out Shakespeare by chance, if at all, at a certain point mathematically such a calculation is essentially impossible.
Thus, if we posit that a one cell amoeba somehow evolves and has evolved into my canine companion Jasper, not only does that evolutionary process demand millions, perhaps even billions of years, but from a mathematical viewpoint is dead on arrival, impossible.
Without something more than the cold theories of evolutionary science, stripped of all other considerations and ignoring (or refusing to examine) the insights of other disciplines which offer a more rounded and fuller picture of life, we are left bare, tiny meaningless specks in an inscrutable and unforgiving universe.
I recall an interview with the late Southern novelist and writer, Walker Percy, from Esquire back in 1977. In it Percy was asked why he was a Christian, and he responded: “What else is there?” And the follow-up question:
“Would you exclude, for example, scientific humanism as a rational and honorable alternative?” And he answered: “Yes…It’s not good enough…This life is much too much trouble, far too strange, to arrive at the end of it and then to be asked what you make of it and to have to answer ‘Scientific humanism.’ That won’t do. A poor show. Life is a mystery, love is a delight. Therefore I take it as axiomatic that one should settle for nothing less than the infinite mystery and the infinite delight, i.e., God. In fact I demand it. I refuse to settle for anything less. I don’t see why anyone should settle for less than Jacob, who actually grabbed aholt of God and wouldn’t let go until God identified himself and blessed him.”
So it was when I looked into those two loving orbs, those two golden brown eyes of Jasper last night, and he communicated to me his love and companionship and care, far, far beyond any consideration of what amoeba he might have supposedly come from billions of years ago. And as I reached out and scratched his floppy ears with my returned affection, yes, I stared into the face of one of God’s creatures whose very existence signaled to me, to echo Walker Percy, “What else is there?” Scientific humanism and atheism won’t do. “Life is a mystery, love is a delight. Therefore I take it as axiomatic that one should settle for nothing less than the infinite mystery and the infinite delight”—God. The Creator once more demonstrated His love last night through His little creature on my bed, as I prepared to end the day and take one more step towards eternity.
Reprinted with the author’s permission.