Done

If you leave, I won't cry
I won't waste one single day
But if you leave, don't look back
I'll be running the other way
--OMD

I'm off Twitter (TWTR). While it has been a useful resource for news and info, TWTR's censoring policies and left leaning political antics are unacceptable to me.

I've joined Parler which certainly is a lot...quieter. Am also beginning to visit a couple of alternative news sites to stay updated on current events.

no position

Why Now?

We better stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down
--Buffalo Springfield

Using the Ireland situation as context, Ivor Cummins presents data that reinforces the lunacy of lockdowns.

His primary question is one I've been wondering for weeks? Why the emphasis on lockdowns now?

The answer is almost surely political.

Twitter the Censor

I'm wide awake
And I can see the perfect sky is torn
You're a little late
I'm already torn
--Natalie Imbruglia

A few years back I quit Facebook in part due to FB's questionable practices regarding sharing of user data. I am now having similar thought regarding Twitter. Twitter, along with Facebook and Google, has been engaging in blatant censoring of speech that they do not agree with.

BREAKING: Twitter has suspended the account of White House coronavirus advisor Scott Atlas. https://t.co/H2xwTnJoUG

— David Marcus (@BlueBoxDave) October 18, 2020

My dilemma is that Twitter has been a good source of news, info. But their blatant censoring practices conflict with my sense of liberty. And am I reinforcing Twitter's sense of legitimacy by continuing to patronize their site?

I will decide soon.

Give God Everything

Balian of Ibelin: How much is Jerusalem worth?

Saladin: Nothing...everything!
--Kingdom of Heaven

In today's gospel (Matthew 22:15-21), Jesus is once again confronted by the Pharisees seeking to trick Him. Like today's intellectuals, the Pharisees sought to trap people in their words.

Approaching Jesus with Roman representatives in tow, the Pharisees asked Jesus opinion about the lawfulness of paying taxes to Caesar.

Jesus reprimanded them for being the hypocrites that they were, and then asked to see a Roman coin. "Whose image is this?" Christ asked. "Caesar's," they said.

"Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."

Today many people, modern day Pharisees assuredly, hold up this passage as proof that Jesus condoned taxation and statism.

No way. Christ understood the sticky situation that he was in and that he needed to choose his words carefully.

To His followers, Christs words are easily construed to mean this: Give nothing to the state that it does not rightfully own (which is very little, if anything). Give everything that you own to God.

Disguises

It's easy to deceive
It's easy to tease
But hard to get release
--Billy Idol

Nice article discussing mask mechanics in the context of virus protection. Simply mind-boggling how far we've veered from true science.

Article should serve as nice future reference.

Is It Time?

"Their prophet says 'submit.' Jesus says 'decide.'"
--Sybilla (Kingdom of Heaven)

The Judge's 'what ifs' are centered around the idea of let the people decide. Free will.

But at the end, he asks a particularly interesting series of what ifs:

"What if when government tramples our rights, we alter or abolish it? What if the time to do that is coming? What if that time is here?"

I have been wondering that myself.

Crimes Against Humanity

"This trial has shown that under the stress of a national crisis, men--even able and extraordinary men--can delude themselves into the commission of crimes and atrocities so vast and heinous as to stagger the imagination."
--Judge Dan Haywood (Judgment at Nuremberg)

The president's new health advisor is beginning to assert himself. Not only are lockdowns unconscionable and reckless,

#FactsMatter Lockdowns are a luxury of the rich. It is the working class and the poor whose lives are destroyed by prolonged lockdowns. Unconscionable and reckless to ignore that in order to naively focus on eliminating asymptomatic "cases". https://t.co/1Yrt7CPXxP

— Scott W. Atlas (@SWAtlasHoover) October 14, 2020

they can be seen as crimes against humanity.

This lockdown IS a crime against humanity. I can’t wait to watch the class action litigation unfold. https://t.co/YTaYPQs2ie

— Stacey Rudin (@stacey_rudin) October 14, 2020

Let's hope that those crimes are properly litigated.

Wear Mask, Get Virus

Soldier in gas mask: Are you ok, sir?
Roy Neary: Yeah, I'm fine. And the only gas around here is from you guys farting around!
--Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Study recently posted on CDC site reports that masks are not effective at preventing positive CV19 cases, even among those who consistently wear masks. The July study conducted in the US compared the reported habits of 154 patients who tested positive for CV19 to a control group of 160 non CV19 patients from the same health care facility.

Over 70% of the case patients tested positive despite reporting that they 'always' wore a mask in public. About the same percentage of control patients also reports that they always wore a mask in public.

An additional 14% of CV19 positive patients reported that they 'often' wore a mask in public, implying that about 85% of positive case patients wore masks all or most of the time.

Only 4% of the case positive patients reported that they 'never' wore a mask. As shown in the table above, the p-value associated with the difference in reported face mask use between CV positive patients and control group is insignificant (p = 0.86).

Relatively small sample at a single facility to be sure, but another brick in the wall of evidence against mask efficacy.

Unfortunately, most who favor superstition over science certainly will.

Ultimate Disruptor

"They've got a lotta trouble on that ship."
--Admiral Bates

During the CV19 shutdown this past spring, the local Reds TV affiliate replayed the great 1975 World Series vs the Red Sox. 

I was watching Game 5 with the Reds up 2-1 in the bottom of the 6th. Joe Morgan led off. Sox starter Reggie Cleveland got ahead on the count. Morgan, who had the best eye in the game, took a couple of close ones for balls--the last one on a 3-2 count that had both Cleveland and catcher Carlton Fisk complaining about a missed strike call.

Down at first, Morgan took his characteristic huge lead off the bag with his right foot far out of the sliding pit onto the astro turf carpet. Cleveland picked to first, again and again--a couple of times almost uncorking wild ones. Completely distracted, Cleveland served a fat one to next hitter Johnny Bench, who promptly lined a hit to right center field. Challenging RF Dwight Evans' cannon arm, Morgan rounded second and headed for third--which he took with a headfirst slide and a cloud of dust. Bench went to second on the throw.

Clearly rattled, Cleveland now looked in at Tony Perez, who had already homered earlier in the game. A couple pitches later, Perez deposited a Cleveland fastball into the seats in left centerfield, blowing the game open.

Watching the inning unfold, I was thinking one thing: that was consummate Joe Morgan. He could wreak havoc in so many ways. The ultimate disruptor. The true driving force of the Big Red Machine.

Joe Morgan passed away today at age 77. We'll miss you, Little Joe.

WHOs Next

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
Though I know that the hypnotized never lie
--The Who

After waffling back and forth over the past few months, the World Health Organization (WHO) appears to be taking firm stand against lockdowns. The organization's concern is the economic consequences of shutting production and trade.

W.H.O. Condemns Coronavirus Lockdowns, Just 'Doubling' Global Poverty https://t.co/X6nZU3klcQ

— Bill Cunningham (@Willie700WLW) October 11, 2020

Although excessive costs of lockdown should have been obvious from the get go, it is good to see this influential agency going public with something truthful for a change.

Who might be next?