We Need 'Demo Day' Now!!

Demo day. Unleashing the power of a sun, here on the face of the earth. We need one today, just to remind the unwashed Over There not to fuck with us.

Go, RTWT:

From Gerard's American Digest.

Billionaire Space Race

 So Branson beat Bezos.

But neither has hidden a body.

Link List: Wuhan Virus Articles

(Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

This is a collection of links to articles on the various aspects of the Wuhan Lab leak issues (newest at the top).

I'll pin this, and update it as I find new stories.

6.7.2021:

Daily Mail, Genome Sequencing Proves Virus Man-made 

Hudson Institute, A Just Response

As of 6.6.2021:

Daily Mail. Patient Zero

New York Post, Fed Money for Bat Study  

Vanity Fair, Lab Leak Theory

The Bulletin, Virus Origin, People or Nature 

Memorial Day

As I've gotten older, I've dabbled in family history, mostly my Dad's. I have copies of the pictures below, but they are in the original monochrome.  

One of my cousin's sons has taken up the colorizing bug, I got copies.

Dad and Uncle Jordan survived the war, which I guess makes their holiday Veterans' Day, but they are both gone, so I think Memorial Day is fitting.

Thank you to my Dad, all of my uncles, and everyone who served.

SSG George Webber

CPT Jordan Webber

Jordan and Dad

I did a little mental math to get a swag on when these may have been taken. Jordan didn't enlist until '43, so I'm guessing '44 at the earliest, maybe '45.

That would make Dad about 26 or 27, Jordan about 19 or 20.

Dad was a supply sergeant somewhere in the Pacific Theater, Jordan trained to fly P-38 Lightnings for areal reconnaissance in Europe.

No guns. The idea was the P-38 was faster than anything the Germans could put up.

The war was over before he completed training.

Thumper (and Me)

 Just before Jen left for home last month, we noticed Thumper was limping. Our working theory was that, in digging into the compost bin and bouncing it up and down with his snout, he had managed to guillotine his paw and injure it. I got him some doggo aspirin, which seemed to take care of the issue. 

He would go for a few days without limping, then start again. Give him aspirin, limping stopped. Lather, rinse, repeat until this past Monday.

He suddenly became a tripod dog, not using the injured paw to walk on at all.  Aspirin did nothing. So, Friday (yesterday), we went to the 24 hour emergency vet (our regular one was booked up and waitlisted). We did the intake, a tech came out to the car and got Thumper, and home I went. 

Calls back and forth, talked with the vet. Basically, the x-rays showed no breaks, but one of the bones in the 'elbow' looked fuzzy. We didn't get the radiology report, so the vet released him, along with doggo Ibuprophen and gabapentin. I was instructed to get some Pepsid to make sure he wouldn't get an upset stomach from the ibuprofen. I was chuckling during his lecture, and finally told him that I've been on nsaids and gabapentin for quite a while, and was confident I could handle this. 

Thumper was pretty well stoned when we got home. The idea is to give him 10 days of rest, followed by 10 days of slowly bringing him back up to speed, assuming the limp is gone. The 10 days of rest is what the gabapentin is for.

So, that is Thumper, in a nutshell. 

I wound up not sleeping in this morning. In fact, I think I was awake at about 6:30 - 7:00. I gave up and got up, and started the day. Got Thump out to the back yard for a bit, then took him around the corner early afternoon. At about 2:30, I decided to go up for a nap.

When I woke up, it looked like early morning light. My phone said it was about 5:30, so I was expecting to get up and face the new day, in a while. Read my mail fiddled around on my dating site, and decided to get up.

So here I'm thinking it's Sunday AM. My phone told me it was still Saturday evening. And down the rabbit hole I went. I honestly was worried that something had happened to the internet clock, but the timeline as I remembered it didn't make sense either. I was confused. 

I bounced around with it for a while, until I realized that it was way too dark for 8:30 in the morning, even with the rain clouds overhead. It slowly dawned on me that I had taken a nap at 2:30, and a) either I'd slept for almost 30 hours, or b) it was in fact 8:30 on Saturday night.

Occam's razor prevailed, and so here I am, sharing this at (now) 9:30 Saturday evening.

I'm pretty sure this is another reminder that I don't have as much stamina as I did before my surgery. 

And, as any IFR pilot will tell you, "You gotta trust your instruments."

Fauci Knows

 He always did.

Wade leaves it to the reader to draw conclusions. 

The case for 'escaped virus from the lab' is certainly more presuasiven the 'it came from the jungle.'  It has a couple of particular features that haven't been found in the wild, that can partricularly target humans.

Yes, Fauci knew they were doing 'gain of function  work' (making new, more virulent virii). It was the whole point of our funding.

We've been using cheap chinese labs to do our virus research. Not up to standards, and cutting corners.

He's covering his tuchus.

Don't believe me - here's the whole thing.

God. One possible scenario

Once again, I find I am merely transcribing what Gerard has written. This comes a couple of day after  my retired flight attendant friend asked me if I'd gone back to a church yet. I tried to explain that I hadn't because I wasn't sure if my peculiar perspective on things would fit into the Catholic framework. That's probably a conversation I need to have with a friendly Jesuit.

Anyway, this popped up this morning, and since it answers my friend's question better that I did, I felt the need to post it, and send her a link. So here we go:

 The Spark Gap

I’ve long had a theory about why prayers are answered but answered rarely. I think that God, for all his omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience is pretty much nailed to the present as far as humans go.

Yes, I know all the arguments for predestination and preordination but those strike me as a one-way street to Dullsville even for God. If, as God, You let Yourself know everything that was going to happen everywhere for all time (Not that You couldn’t if You wanted to.), what’s the entertainment value in that proposition? Slim to none, if you ask me. 

RTWT: Sunday sermonette: While You Were Out

Absolute Swagger

 

From Gerard's 'Ka-Ching - Things That Go Boing in the Brain'

Shamelessly Stolen...

 ...one of my two favorite posts by Gerard. (The other is World Demo Day.)

How Beautiful We Were

by VANDERLEUN on JANUARY 20, 2021

A short list. In no particular order.

We had car shows, boat shows, beauty shows, and dog shows.

We ran robots on the surface of Mars by remote control.

Our women came from all over the world in all shapes and sizes and hues and scents.

We actually believed that all men are created equal and tried to make it come true.

Everybody liked our movies and loved our television shows.

We tried to educate everybody, whether they wanted it or not. Sometimes we succeeded.

We did Levis.

We held the torch high and hundreds of millions came. No matter what the cost.

We saved Europe twice and liberated it once.

We believed so deeply and so abidingly in free speech that we protected and honored and, in some cases, even elected traitors.

We let you be as freaky as you wanted to be.

We paid you not to plant crops and not to work.

We died in the hundreds of thousands to end slavery here. And when that was done continued to fight to end slavery for a century and a half after all around the world.

We invented Jazz.

We wrote the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Gettysburg address.

We went to the moon to see how far we could hit a golf ball.

We lifted a telescope into orbit that could see to the edge of the universe.

When people snuck into the country against our laws, we made parking lots and food stands off to the side of the road so they wouldn’t get hurt, and we let them use our hospitals for free, and we made their children citizens.

We didn’t care what God you worshipped as long as we could worship ours.

We let the People arm themselves at will. Just to make sure.

We gave everybody the vote.

We built Disneyworld. Just for fun.

We had a revolution so successful it was still going strong two and a quarter centuries later.

We had so many heroes, even at the end, that we felt free to hate them and burn them in effigy.

We electrified the guitar.

We invented a music so compelling that it rocked the world.

We had some middling novelists.

We had some interesting painters.

We had some pretty good poets.

We had better songwriters.

We ran our farms so well we fed the globe.

We made the automobile and the airplane.

We let you get rich. Really, really rich.

We didn’t care who you were or what you were or where you came from or who your parents were. We just cared about what you made or what you did.

We had poor people who, even at their most wretched, were richer than any other poor people on the face of the planet.

We were the noblest nation the world had ever known.

We had so much freedom that many of us voted to just throw it all away.

Even towards the end, as we dissolved into the petty bickering and idle entertainments that come with having far too much leisure and money, many among us were still striving to make it higher, finer, brighter, better, and more beautiful.

Even towards the end, the best of us declined to give up and pressed on. “Where to? What next?”

Merry Christmas

BUMPED for this year.

So, I have my wish list for Christmas/birthday parsed out over at Amazon, as I promised my daughter. The first round of shopping is done. Reminds me, I met a young woman the other day, as she was signing for a package. I asked her last name for my delivery app. She responded:

"Bezos. But I pay for Prime."

I'm once again posting the egg nog recipe, and this year, adding a bit of humorous parenting advice:

Ike's egg nog:

Parenting advice:

Cardinal Vigano's Letter to President Trump

The election tomorrow is about more than Trump vs. Biden, according to the Cardinal:

From Gerard's American Digest.

Easy, Simple Voting Decision Tool:

 Why Did it Have to be … Guns? by L. Neil Smith

Over the past 30 years, I’ve been paid to write almost two million words, every one of which, sooner or later, came back to the issue of guns and gun-ownership. Naturally, I’ve thought about the issue a lot, and it has always determined the way I vote.

People accuse me of being a single-issue writer, a single-issue thinker, and a single-issue voter, but it isn’t true. What I’ve chosen, in a world where there’s never enough time and energy, is to focus on the one political issue which most clearly and unmistakably demonstrates what any politician — or political philosophy — is made of, right down to the creamy liquid center.

Make no mistake: all politicians — even those ostensibly on the side of guns and gun ownership — hate the issue and anyone, like me, who insists on bringing it up. They hate it because it’s an X-ray machine. It’s a Vulcan mind-meld. It’s the ultimate test to which any politician — or political philosophy — can be put.

If a politician isn’t perfectly comfortable with the idea of his average constituent, any man, woman, or responsible child, walking into a hardware store and paying cash — for any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything — without producing ID or signing one scrap of paper, he isn’t your friend no matter what he tells you.

If he isn’t genuinely enthusiastic about his average constituent stuffing that weapon into a purse or pocket or tucking it under a coat and walking home without asking anybody’s permission, he’s a four-flusher, no matter what he claims.

What his attitude — toward your ownership and use of weapons — conveys is his real attitude about you. And if he doesn’t trust you, then why in the name of John Moses Browning should you trust him?

If he doesn’t want you to have the means of defending your life, do you want him in a position to control it?

If he makes excuses about obeying a law he’s sworn to uphold and defend — the highest law of the land, the Bill of Rights — do you want to entrust him with anything?

If he ignores you, sneers at you, complains about you, or defames you, if he calls you names only he thinks are evil — like “Constitutionalist” — when you insist that he account for himself, hasn’t he betrayed his oath, isn’t he unfit to hold office, and doesn’t he really belong in jail?

Sure, these are all leading questions. They’re the questions that led me to the issue of guns and gun ownership as the clearest and most unmistakable demonstration of what any given politician — or political philosophy — is really made of.

He may lecture you about the dangerous weirdos out there who shouldn’t have a gun — but what does that have to do with you? Why in the name of John Moses Browning should you be made to suffer for the misdeeds of others? Didn’t you lay aside the infantile notion of group punishment when you left public school — or the military? Isn’t it an essentially European notion, anyway — Prussian, maybe — and certainly not what America was supposed to be all about?

And if there are dangerous weirdos out there, does it make sense to deprive you of the means of protecting yourself from them? Forget about those other people, those dangerous weirdos, this is about you, and it has been, all along.

Try it yourself: if a politician won’t trust you, why should you trust him? If he’s a man — and you’re not — what does his lack of trust tell you about his real attitude toward women? If “he” happens to be a woman, what makes her so perverse that she’s eager to render her fellow women helpless on the mean and seedy streets her policies helped create? Should you believe her when she says she wants to help you by imposing some infantile group health care program on you at the point of the kind of gun she doesn’t want you to have?

On the other hand — or the other party — should you believe anything politicians say who claim they stand for freedom, but drag their feet and make excuses about repealing limits on your right to own and carry weapons? What does this tell you about their real motives for ignoring voters and ramming through one infantile group trade agreement after another with other countries?

Makes voting simpler, doesn’t it? You don’t have to study every issue — health care, international trade — all you have to do is use this X-ray machine, this Vulcan mind-meld, to get beyond their empty words and find out how politicians really feel. About you. And that, of course, is why they hate it.

And that’s why I’m accused of being a single-issue writer, thinker, and voter.

But it isn’t true, is it?

Permission to redistribute this article is herewith granted by the author — provided that it is reproduced unedited, in its entirety, and appropriate credit given. lneil@lneilsmith.org

(HT:  Gerard at American Digest on OCTOBER 15, 2020)

Justice Ginsberg

I never really followed the goings-on at the Supreme Court. The last confirmation hearing whs quite the to-do and I followed it, but that wasn't so much court, as Congress. I know very little about any of the Justices, except what I read news.

I gather Justice Ginsburg tended to vote Liberal, which I suppose is why the Democrats are in Yet Another Meltdown over what President Trump may do. 

That said, I have raised, as a resource, my very own lawyer in the family, and she has put together her thoughts at Justice Ginsburg's passing.They are up on her new blog, to which I kindly refer you: 

I know I'm her Dad, but, in my humble opinion, the kid can write.

Buy A Nun A Book Day

...is approaching again - September 17.  Once again, I will be sending books to the good Holy Names Sisters who taught me in my callow youth.

It's a nice way to say "Thanks"!

Kamala Harris, Before After, and After After

This photo of Ms. Harris that is making the rounds has me a bit ticked off. Not because it is making fun of her, which I'm very OK with, but because the picture itself is so obviously not a good, publication grade pic.

The story is that sometime in the last month or so, she had 'some work' done. No bi deal. But many Tweeps are passing this pic around, claiming that this is her 'new' face.  (A face only The Joker could love, IMHO.) But it stinks to high heaven.  Her face is significantly out of focus.

In particular, look at the colors below her right cheek. The transition from light to darker (shaded) skin is way too grainy to have come directly from a studio camera, or, for that matter, a decent phone camera. Ether the image was captured with a 640x480 camera, or it has been 'de-rezzed', i.e., the pixle per inch value reduced somehow. 

(I make no call about the' how', just the 'what'.)

This one was taken over Joe Biden's shoulder, as he is calling Harris to offer her the VP job.  It looks like a real person's face. His res image of a high res image.

My point isn't to go off about 'poor Kamala'. She's a big girl, and should be able to take care of herself. Both sides do this - find a pic of a candidate that makes them look goofy, dumb, or evil, and run with it.  How many times have we seen the picture of AOC with her mouth in the bid 'O'? Ms. Omar looking smugly like the cat who just swallowed the proverbial canary. Or Ms. Talib just looking plain evil?  

I know that's done to support the story and the narrative. But the editorial decision to use such a bad quality image and promote it as ac accurate representation is editorial malpractice.

Our side, we, need to be better.

Newsweek Article on Hydroxychloroquine

The Newsweek article on hydroxychloroquine:

This, plus I've seen too many write-ups by local physicians who say uneguivocally that hydroxychloroquine, with the zinc adjunct works. Just about 100% overall.

Liberty or Death

From Gerard:  (Warning - a bit NSFW...)

Coronavirus Prep

UPDATE: Due to the uncertainty of the virus'  incubation period, there are recommendations to be prepared for four weeks of staying home. This means no grocery shopping, and I doubt the grocery delivery services will be available. Check the Coalition and CDC web sites below, for a thorough lesson on being prepared. (2/25)

I've been keeping an eye on the progression of the coronavirus of the Johns Hopkins map:

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus map

It focuses on Mainland China, but you can scroll the list on the left to select another country.

Meanwhile, over on Twitter, @BryanDeanWright is (rightfully) grousing that the CDC is saying "Get prepared" without saying about the 'how'!

So, as a public service, I am posting a link to @TreeHuggingSis' blog post on hurricane prep. While you don't need to board up the house, it's got tons on infor for all of your prep needs.

Coalition of the Swilling Disaster Prep

I did mention to Bryan that the CDC does have prep info on line, at the Zombie Apocalypse page. So here is a link to that:

CDC Zombie Apocalypse Page

Because you never know!

Family

I just got the following from my daughter. Please, prayers for her uncle.

Hi Dad,
IMPORTANT NEWS.
In the last two weeks, my Uncle Kevin has been in and out of the hospital. He had a stent put in for a other than heart organ issue and went home. During that time other issues were found and he was in pain and weak. As of the other day, he is currently back in and is facing a diagnoses of pancreatic cancer. As you know, that is what my Grandpa was diagnosed with, and passed from, in 1995.
He is at Hoag Hospital where both Grandma and Grandpa were at before they passed.
As of news today, Kevin is in good spirits and joking, much better than the last few days. More tests to happen this week. Due to his health, chemo and radiation versus surgery are his options.
Please keep Kevin, and all of us in your prayers. We will know more this week to know what's possible but it is pretty scary and devastating.
I especially ask for your prayers and kindness for strength for my Mom. She is the go to sibling. And, as I imagine, very difficult to be again at Hoag where she lost her parents.
I ask for your prayers and strength for me as well.
Love,
Jennie

Thank you all.

Project Veritas vs Google

Both Google and Vimeo have taken down James O'Keefe's video on Google's manipulation of results so that someone like Trump is never elected again.

Video:



Story:

Project Veritas