One of the most important things I learned while becoming a Vietnamese linguist was that one doesn’t really speak a language until one is able to think in that language. Most of us speak English, which is also considered a Romantic language. If you compare romantic languages to Latin, the grammar is remarkably similar:

But an oriental language has very different grammar. When speaking, they think different than those who speak English. When I was in Vietnam, many of my fellow Americans said racist things about the Vietnamese. They considered them to be ignorant and inferior. I knew better. I knew that they were very smart, honest, and hardworking. It has been no surprise to me that so many Vietnamese who were able to get to the U.S. have been so successful.

I also knew why so few Americans figured out to speak Vietnamese. It is far harder for an American to learn Vietnamese than for a Vietnamese person to learn English. I often listened to Americans try, and fail, to speak Vietnamese. Sometimes this was hysterical. A large part of the problem is that Americans literally cannot hear Vietnamese. That is because they use sounds that are never used in English and Americans don’t even hear them. Vietnamese is also a monosyllabic and tonal language. But another problem was the difference in grammar which is also reflective of how they think.

This is impossible for me to explain. But one of the things I learned was the importance of face. It is very easy for us, as Americans, to be very insulting to someone who is Asian, without even realizing it. That is because we put people in positions where if they do what we want, they lose face. Even today, as an insurance agent, I see this all the time. There have been several times when I have talked to someone from an Asian country or even someplace like India with very different results than when they talked to someone else from the agency. Sometimes my associate will say, “I don’t understand, you said the same thing I said, and they accepted it, but they didn’t accept it from me.” I cannot really explain this very well, but part of it is that I am very sensitive to not causing someone to lose face.

We just saw this play out on our televisions this morning and it is stunningly bad for the U.S. First, the U.S. tried to scold China for human rights abuses. If China had tolerated that, they would have lost face. As a result, China responded by insulting us. They threw the Democratic claims that we are a racist nation with systemic abuse of minorities right back in our face. Democrats clearly fail to recognize the enormous harm done when they trash their own country. Then China simply said that the U.S. was not serious enough to matter. This was a public slap in the face of the Biden administration. Failure to deal with this will create huge problems. The only thing worse than causing someone else to lose face is to lose face yourself. The Biden administration did both, during one brief session televised around the world.

Previous Presidents understood this. But Democrats, including Biden, have morphed into self-righteous, hypocritical, arrogant, patronizing jerks. Professing themselves to be wise, they are instead proving themselves to be fools. They often lecture other people harshly criticizing things they do themselves. This may or may not impress the impressionable here in the U.S. It absolutely does not play overseas.

Biden did the same thing with Putin, when he directly insulted him. The result is an immediate deterioration in U.S. Russian relationships.  More importantly, Russia responded by commenting on Biden’s obvious mental deterioration. To make things worse, Biden literally fell while foolishly trying to run up the stairs to Air Force One. Remember how Biden criticized Trump for walking down carefully. That was because Trump knew that falling on your face on national TV is not all that inspiring.

Ironically, the man who lectures us about restoring U.S. prestige around the world is instead becoming an international embarrassment. This is obvious to everyone not working for the DNC or the subservient MSM.

We will all pay a price for this, but the people who will pay the highest price are those who foolishly rigged an election to put someone so obviously incompetent into the White House.

TDM

I used this headline over 10 years ago, to discuss the myth of Barack Obama’s stellar performance at Harvard. The phrase originally came from a bumper sticker I had on my car, years ago. It said: “Imagine whirled peas.” It was aimed at the anti-war protestors who thought they were fighting for world peace when they were enabling war and terrorism. Those who opposed the Vietnam war had zero understanding of what was involved. A little research would have explained this. The communists in North Vietnam were willing to sacrifice at least one million people to obtain total political power. They managed to do exactly that.  According to some sources, there were 1,353,000 civilian deaths, 444,000 PAVN and VC deaths and 282,000 U.S. and allied military deaths. The military deaths by the PAVN and VC were much higher, and the U.S. military deaths were much lower. Unfortunately, the civilian casualties were all too real. The official report by Hanoi published in 1995 reported 1.1 million communist fighters had died during the war. There is no official number of U.S. military killed in Vietnam, but it is estimated to be over 58,000.

To put this in perspective, 58,000 Americans died tried to stop 1.1 million communists from taking control. They actually won, and then Democrats in congress gave it away. If it weren’t for Democrats in congress during 1972, South Vietnam would probably look a lot like South Korea.

Now the Biden administration, creeping closer to the Harris administration is repeating the same mistakes that cost so many lives in Vietnam. The disaster on our Southern border is bad enough, but it pales in comparison to the real danger. Biden just insulted Putin by claiming he told Putin face to face that he had no soul. Since Biden is famous to exaggerating everything, this was probably a lie. But Putin was not amused. He immediately recalled the Russian Ambassador to the United States. Biden imposed sanctions on Russia because of alleged interference in the U.S. election. What a joke. Does anyone really believe Russia did much regarding this election? But Russia is not amused. They pledged retaliation on the principle of reciprocity though not necessarily symmetrical. This means Russia does not fear Biden and they are going to take us on. The good news is that Russia is unlikely to go to war with us, the bad news is that they will find other ways to cause serious problems for us all over the world. Putin respected Trump, he does not respect Biden.

China, on the other hand, is a far more serious threat. Never underestimate the willingness of a communist regime to sacrifice millions of their own people in their lust for power. The only reason China may delay becoming extremely aggressive is that they are getting everything they want anyway. Numerous experts say that China is determined to become the world Superpower and Biden is ignoring the risk.

In many ways this is remarkably similar to the way the establishment in Great Britain viewed Germany prior to World War II. One of the few people who recognized the risk was Winston Churchill and that was because he saw a repeat of what was happened during the late 1600s and early 1700s. Fortunately, his ancestor, the Duke of Marlborough, defeated Louis XIV of France.

Churchill saw how the world had ignored the danger from France and recognized the same thing happening in Germany. Everyone one else in the British establishment though Churchill was nuts. They felt he lacked the sophistication to deal with diplomacy. The entire world paid a terrible price for that miscalculation.

Iran is also likely to create mischief, but they are a far less serious threat than China.

Incredibly, the good news is that Biden-Harris is mucking up domestic policy even faster than world diplomacy. They are already on a path to certain defeat in 2022 and in 2024. Their dream of fixing every future election is disappearing even faster. The same courts who did not want to get involved in 2020, don’t want a repeat in 2022. The fiasco on the border is too obvious to ignore, gas prices are already soaring, and Biden is talking about increasing taxes. Even liberals hate paying high gas prices and seeing their paychecks confiscated by the greedy federal government. In addition, some of their pet projects, like transgender males competing against biological females in sports is certifiably insane.

The damage being done is undeniable. But in some ways, that is the best possible outcome under the circumstances, because the more obvious the damage the faster they, like other socialist experiments, will be thrown out of power.

TDM

All of us know someone who is not happy unless they are unhappy. This also describes the MSM. It is often said if it bleed it leads. Every broadcast, local and national, usually leads with bad news. At the local level it is a shooting, car crash or weather emergency. At the national level, it is often political. Hence, the problem. The MSM is very hesitant to report anything negative about Joe Biden and Donald Trump is stunningly absent. The result is that the MSM is running out of things to report. That made a lot of people unhappy. Ratings are in the tank; people are literally getting fired.

This could not continue. While the MSM is populated with irrational progressives, the real power lies with the owners and the owners think solely in terms of green and I don’t mean energy. They will put up with the nonsense if the nonsense draws viewers. For the past four years, dumping on Donald Trump guaranteed high ratings. All the late-night comedians rejoiced over the easy laughs. It didn’t matter if it was accurate or not or even if it was funny. If you slammed Donald Trump, you were an instant hit.

Well slamming Trump doesn’t work anymore, he is so yesterday, and slamming Biden is against the rules. What’s a mother to do? You are already seeing the results. When you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with. Remember that love and hate are very closely related. The opposite of love is not hate, it is apathy. This means it is time to start trashing the Biden Administration.

For four years, trashing any Democrat was against the rules. One could not risk making Trump look good. But those days are already gone. It started with Andrew Cuomo. Everyone and I do mean everyone is trashing him. He has gone from the media darling to the target of opportunity.  This is made easier by the fact that in real life he apparently is a total jerk. The kind of person people tolerate only if it benefits their career. Secretly, they despise him, but fear prevents them from speaking out. The fear is gone, and people are lining up for the opportunity to take a shot at Cuomo.

The MSM is also starting to notice that Biden is making a total mess of things. Even the hard-core radical lefties realize that the vaccines, only here because of Trump, are changing everything. When Biden tries to take credit for the vaccine(s) even liberal reporters aren’t buying it. But the biggest change is the reporting on the crisis on our border. Although Democrats are typically trying to blame this on Trump, no one is buying that either. This is a huge problem, and the ineptitude of the Biden Administration is on full display. No one, other than Jen Pataki, is pretending this is anything other than a crisis. A crisis literally created by the Biden administration.

They are also recognizing something else. Biden is just so not up to the job and this is becoming increasingly impossible to ignore. Jen Psaki was gushed over by the MSM, until they realized she was playing dodge ball and telling them absurd lies.

The protective shield protecting Biden and other Democrats is rapidly disappearing. One problem is that the false narrative about Trump supporters trying to overthrow the government is getting laughed out of court. Several stories promoted by the MSM have not only been proven wrong, but they have also been embarrassingly wrong. Just yesterday the Washington Post had to issue a full retraction for a story that has been completely discredited. But the stories about people like Cuomo and Newsom and Biden all have the ugly odor of truth. These stories are now too juicy to ignore, particularly when it is no longer possible to play the Trump card.

If the MSM wants to be happy again, they need only look out their window at the obvious. Biden is mucking things up to faire thee well and this is making a lot of people unhappy. If you can’t trash Trump, you must focus on the people now in charge. But here’s the good news. These clowns are providing the MSM with tons and tons of material. It is becoming too irresistible to ignore. For example, while Gavin Newsom is blaming the recall on QAnon and Proud Boys, the reality is that 34% of the people who signed the recall petition were, gasp, Democrats.

Unhappy days are here again and the MSM will be more than happy to beef up reporting on this.

TDM

Joe Biden promised to reverse all of Donald Trump’s policies regarding immigration on day one. He succeeded. He just made one mistake. He failed to realize that what Trump was doing was necessary and appropriate and was consistent with what Americans want and need. The result is that Biden has already blundered into a monumental disaster, less than 60 days after he was inaugurated. Never, in the history of the U.S. Presidency, has a new President harmed so many people in such a short period of time and cared so little.

This is so bad that even the New York Times has noticed:

On Mexico’s Border With U.S.,Desperation as Migrant Traffic Piles Up – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

“Biden promised us!” wailed another woman.

Many of the migrants said they had spent their life savings and gone into debt to pay coyotes — human smugglers — who had falsely promised them that the border was open after President Biden’s election.

Still, the migrants keep coming, and many officials believe the numbers could be bigger than those seen in recent years, after the pandemic and recent natural disasters in Central America wiped away livelihoods.”

The real problem is not what Biden promised them, it is what he promised himself. Apparently, Biden believes that doing the opposite of Donald Trump, on any subject, is a brilliant strategy. If he had done nothing, the results would be better.

Biden did inherit the vaccine, that he warned was dangerous when he was running for President. As soon as he was elected, he decided that he and he alone was responsible for the vaccine and he and he alone deserved all the credit. The sad truth is that this is the only thing Trump did that Biden did not change and it is the only thing that is actually working.

But even the vaccine which is working miracles is being offset by what is happening on our borders. Biden is doing absolutely nothing to quarantine illegal immigrants who have either not been tested or have tested positive for COVID 19. Instead, they are just being sent somewhere else. It is extremely likely that this will result in some spread of COVID 19. It is absolutely certain that if this happens, Biden will blame it on Trump, blame it on Republican Governors and use it as an excuse to continue lockdowns, social distancing and mask mandates. The only thing more certain is that Biden will soon try to raise taxes.

In an attempt to cover-up this disaster, the Biden administration is making things worse:

“Over the past week, Mexican officials and shelter operators like the International Organization of Migration said they had been surprised by the Department of Homeland Security’s new practice of detaining migrants at one point of the sprawling border only to fly them hundreds of miles away to be expelled at a different border town.

The United States is doing this under a federal order known as Title 42. The order, introduced by Mr. Trump but embraced by Mr. Biden, justifies rapid expulsions as a health measure amid the pandemic. But cramming migrants into airplanes and overcrowded detention facilities without any coronavirus testing defeats the purpose of Title 42, observers say.”

The Biden strategy is to mumble a speech, written by someone else, on a TelePrompter and beg people to unite in his idiotic strategy for dealing with COVID 19. If we follow the rules, we may be able to have small parties as soon as July 4^th.

The good news is that even the MSM is figuring out some things. One is that once they stopped covering Donald Trump, people stopped listening to them. They are now desperately trying to find some way to keep Trump in the news. The second is that while they considered Trump to be chaotic, things ran pretty well when he was in charge. Now that Biden, or whoever is pulling his strings, is in charge things are going to hell in a handbasket. The only thing that separates us from total meltdown is the vaccine, developed under the leadership of Donald Trump, years ahead of any prediction and the U.S. is doing far better than any other country as a result.

The real problem with borderline insanity is that it isn’t limited to our southern border. King Biden has been trying to solve every problem by issuing executive orders he probably has not even read in a failed attempt to sign away all our problems. They aren’t going away; they are getting worse and that is becoming so obvious that even the New York Times noticed.

TDM

Charles Maxwell played for the Detroit Tigers between 1955 and 1962. His nickname was “Paw Paw” because he was from Paw Paw, Michigan. He was famous for hitting homeruns, usually on a Sunday. In 1959, Charlie Maxwell was benched for Larry Doby. It didn’t go well, and the Tigers started 2-15. Tiger Manager Bill Norman was fired and replaced by Jimmy Dykes. The first decision Dykes made was to bench Dolby and put Paw Paw back in left field. He was rewarded with four consecutive homeruns and a sweep of the hated New York Yankees during a double header.

Maxwell went on to hit 13 homeruns that May, and 12 of them were on Sunday. When he retired from baseball, he went back to Paw Paw and became an executive in a plant that produced automobile parts.

How Detroit Tigers’ Charlie Maxwell became ‘Sunday Charlie’ (freep.com)

No one, including Charlie Maxwell, knows why he hit so many homeruns on a Sunday. He hit 27% of his home runs on Sunday, so this was a more than a myth.  If someone plays seven days a week, then one would expect about 15% of his homeruns to happen on Sunday.

Charlie Maxwell is still around, and the Paw Paw Brewing Company recently produced “ Mr. Sunday” an amber ale that includes Maxwell graphics on the label. He now belongs to the ROMEO club in Paw Paw. That is a group of friends who get together for breakfast regularly. ROMEO stands for “Retired Old Me Easting Out.” Paw Paw is still entertaining.

For the past year months, Sunday has been the day when you didn’t go to church.  One of the first places shut down due to COVID was churches. Then, when they were allowed to open with ridiculously small numbers, they were restricted from chanting or singing. The Supreme Court recently ruled, again, that these restrictions were unconstitutional. I often wondered if the motivation for these restrictions were more about silencing Christians than they were about protecting anyone from COVID. Many of the things proposed by the modern day Democratic Socialist Party are very unpopular with churches.

We can soon expect churches to start opening up again. One wonders how attendance will compare with pre-COVID days. Perhaps absence will make the heart grow fonder. Perhaps not.  While many people got used to not attending church, they also got used to not attending baseball games either. This will be interesting to observe.

Some are wondering if things will ever return to normal. Some changes, such as working from home, are likely to continue. If Governor Newsom has his way, normal will mean a more equitable society. What he means by that is a complete inequitable society. One where the color of one’s skin and gender identification is more important that character, accomplishments, or talent.

I suspect church attendance will be surprisingly high. Unfortunately, a lot of the growth in recent years has been with mega churches that are increasingly good at putting on a show, less spectacular at holding themselves accountable. But people will also go to church because when things are going south, a little prayer goes a long way.

I made me realize something else. I was wondering why Democrats are so anti-Christian and anti-church. Then I realized something. Democrats really have no clue how to govern responsibly. The longer they are in power, the more people realize why they should never be given power. Democrats are terrified that people will see the truth. Perhaps Democrats are afraid of church, because once people see the truth, Democrats don’t have a prayer.

TDM

It is increasingly difficult to watch Joe Biden try, and fail, to even read a TelePrompter. His 20-minute speech regarding COVID was absolutely insane. His eyes were black and the words he was reading were absurd. First, he lied and said Trump ignored COVID, then took full credit for the vaccine program that was in place before the election. But incredibly, after saying millions of people have been vaccinated, he insisted we all socially distance and wear masks and maybe, just maybe, we can celebrate the 4^th of July, at a backyard BBQ with a handful of friends.

In the meantime, Republican Governors in Red States had said enough already and fully reopened. In Texas, you can now go to a baseball stadium with about 40,000 other people. In California, you maybe can go to a game, if you wear a mask, and there will be about 8,000 people in a stadium designed for 40,000 fans. Unless those red states suddenly start losing a lot of people because of new COVID cases, freedom will quickly spread throughout the land.

Governor Newsom is on his way to a recall election, unless the Secretary of State decides that more than 25% of signed recall petitions are invalid. This is remarkable, because the same Secretary of State made zero attempt to see if all those absentee ballots were valid. But they now have well over 2,000,000 signatures and the recall is now inevitable.

Governor Cuomo is hanging on by the scum on his teeth. This is now so bad that impeachment efforts are being led by Democrats. Cuomo remains his arrogant self, and fellow Democrats are desperate to distance themselves.

The problem for Democrats is that while they succeeded in destroying our economy and our freedom and getting rid of Donald Trump, the American people are not actually blind. The Biden administration is a complete disaster. Today Kamala Harris spoke about the COVID relief bill, that had zero Republican support and had little to do with COVID, while Joe stood behind her staring into space. Soon and very soon even hard-core liberal Democrats will have to recognize that Joe simply is not up to the job. This isn’t funny anymore. That is why the White House is already shoving Kamala Harris out front, so she becomes the face of this administration. The problem is that this is an unlikeable face.  She is even more prone to gaffs than Biden, she has this horrible cackle, and she can’t blame this on senility. A lot of people were tricked into thinking Joe Biden is a nice guy. No one even pretends that Kamala Harris is likeable. There is a reason she was the first candidate to drop out of the 2020 Primary. The more you know her the less you like her.

Today we also saw the City of Minneapolis give the George Floyd family $27 million. This means that every black person, harmed during a police encounter has George Floyd’s attorney on speed dial. Some may even try to get shot because the money is worth the pain. In the meantime, crime rates will soar and the people most impacted will be minorities already victimized by black-on-black crime.

But although this is admittedly bad, very soon the American people are going to give an Aye for an Eye. Democrats aren’t fooling anyone anymore. The 2022 election is already underway, and the results will be felt sooner rather than later. Democrats in congress know that they barely held on during the rigged 2020 election. There is zero chance these insane rules will be in play in 2022. That means at least some Democrats, in a desperate ploy to stay in office, will start to distance themselves from disaster. That is already happening with Democrats in New York. There are reports that 34% of the signatures voting to recall Gavin Newsom are from Democrats. This means it is happening in California too. Soon it will be happening everywhere. Oh, the Democrats in solid blue districts will still carry the unlit torch, but other Democrats who actually have to earn re-election will have a very different opinion.

Republicans are already gearing up for 2022. They are going to ask people to give an Aye for an Eye, and vote to end the nonsense. The election won’t be until November 2022, but the campaigning for 2022 is already underway and things will change faster than you can imagine. Certainly, faster than Joe Biden’s predictions for the 4^th of July.

TDM

Gavin Newsom, well on his way to being recalled, is digging himself a deeper hole, if that is even possible. Here is what he said during the “State of the State.”

“We’re not going back to normal after pandemic because normal accepts inequity.”

It would be hard to find a better example of white privilege, than Gavin Newsom. When he talks about inequity, he is not talking about himself, he is talking about you. None of this equity is aimed at Democratic politicians. They do occasionally discuss this, over dinner at the French Laundry, but they never consider the little people their equals.

What this really means is that Democrats, again, are seizing the day to use a crisis to push through their liberal agenda. This agenda is not designed to help anyone, other than Democrats in retaining power. In my opinion, Newsom can’t even spell equity, yet understand it. This is totally about identity politics, without regard to the actual impact on people.

What makes this so disturbing is that it is so destructive. I often wonder if the minorities who are the target of these program recognize the insult. “Here, let me help you, you little people.” It is arrogance, self-righteous and incredibly insulting. The inevitable result is damage to those it pretends to support. If people survive based on handouts or one-time gifts, they may be setting themselves up for disaster. It is really this simple, at some point liberals always run out of money and the handouts are replaced with handcuffs.

This explains the signs posted near a local pond saying please don’t feed the geese. The reason is that the geese need to learn how to find their own food. If they fill up on easy food handed out by someone thinking they are generous, they become dependent on that food. When that food goes away, the geese die.

There is an old saying. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Once again, Democrats are planning on giving massive handouts, with money borrowed from us, as part of a strategy guaranteed to fail. What Newsom is proposing, by making this a more equitable state, is certain to do the exact opposite. At the same time his idiotic lockdown policies based on zero science are destroying jobs and our economy, he is planning on fixing the problem by redistributing income.

We do need to redistribute income, but not by taking money from the hardworking middle class and giving it to people unwilling or unable to work. We need to take it from the super rich, like Gavin Newsom, and give it to be ready, willing, and able to work for it.

It is critical to understand the difference between tax rates and tax paid. If you raise tax rates on the middle class, they will pay more in taxes. But if you raise taxes on the rich, they will just spend more money avoiding tax. That is why the super rich are so willing to propose a tax on the rich. They know they won’t pay it. The reason is quite simple and easy to understand if you are not a Democrat. Most of us need income to pay for food and housing and transportion etc. We have some, but limited, disposable income. But rich people only need a small portion of their “income” to pay for these things. So they can distribute assets and income to avoid paying tax. If you raise the tax rates on these people, they may pay less tax, because they will just spend more money on consultants, accountants and tax attorneys.  If we just required the rich to pay a simple but collectible tax, we would probably get a lot more money.

The proposal by Newsom is gruesome because it benefits no one, encourages people to do things that increases the cycle of poverty and it is funded by money he is borrowing from people like you and me.

TDM

I am not exactly a fan of the Monarchy. I guess it is nice that Britain wants to keep on with the tradition. It is sometimes fun to see the pageantry of the Monarchy. But the facts get in the way of the narrative. For example, the royal family is not all that British. Queen Victoria was about 25% English and 75% German. She was raised by her German mother and English was not her first language. When she and Prince Albert conversed, it was in German. The Royal family called themselves the House of Hanover, then the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1901. That didn’t change until 1917, when Great Britain was at war with Germany. Since Germany was not exactly popular in Great Britain at the time, King George V decided something must be done. So, he changed his name to “look” more British.

“Now, therefore, We, out of Our Royal Will and Authority, do hereby declare and announce that as from the date of this Our Royal Proclamation Our House and Family shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and that all the descendants in the male line of Our said Grandmother Queen Victoria who are subjects of these Realms, other than female descendants who may marry or may have married, shall bear the said Name of Windsor.”

The one thing certain about the royal family is that there is a definite pecking order. Anyone who watched Downton Abbey understands the way things work among the Landed Gentry in the British Aristocracy. Now enter Meghan Markle, a “b” list actress who marries Prince Harry and friction is guaranteed. If Meghan had been kind and gentle and humble, or at least entertaining they might have eventually pretended to accept her. But if the reports are true, she did the exact opposite. She apparently tried to out snob the snobbiest people on this planet.

It has been reported that 17 million people watched this self-aggrandizing interview with Oprah. It is hard to have faith in our collective judgement if that is true. It is bad enough that we elect people like Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer, but why would anyone consider Meghan Markle’s opinion about anything to matter? Are we really this desperate? The few times I accidentally watched her being interviewed it only took about two minutes to realize she is one of the most self-absorbed narcissistic people around. When she adds in the victim card, it is just plain unbearable. Seldom in the history of the world has one person been handed so much literally on a silver platter and appreciated it less. She probably considers the $7 million allegedly paid for this interview to be bargain pricing.

So far, people have been throwing money at them, because they used to be royal. That is beyond pathetic and borders on delusional. A classic case of someone being famous because they are famous, with zero regard to character or accomplishment.

Perhaps the only joy comes from realizing that even the Queen of England, who gets up each morning deciding which castle to visit next, still must deal with someone like Meghan Markle. She is definitely a royal pain, that hopefully will fade from public display sooner rather than later.

TDM

While I was on a shopping trip to Sam’s Club last weekend, I noticed that several shoppers were not wearing masks. This is the first time I have noticed that in months. Several states have already ended mask mandates. This is very likely to spread rapidly. The CDC just published a report verifying that masks don’t matter, but then ignored the results. Here is the link to the CNBC article:

CDC study finds easing mask mandates led to higher Covid cases and deaths (cnbc.com)

This has a scary headline, showing that easing mask and restaurant rules led to more COVID cases and deaths. But if you read the actual study, it becomes obvious that the opposite is true.

“Daily case and death growth rates before implementation of mask mandates were not statistically different from the reference period.”

Daily death growth rates before restrictions were lifted were not statistically different from those during the reference period, whereas significant differences in daily case growth rates were observed 41–60 days before restrictions were lifted.

In other words, neither masks nor limiting indoor dining had any statistical difference in results. In addition, this was not really a scientific study:

The findings in this report are subject to at least three limitations. First, although models controlled for mask mandates, restaurant and bar closures, stay-at-home orders, and gathering bans, the models did not control for other policies that might affect case and death rates, including other types of business closures, physical distancing recommendations, policies issued by localities, and variances granted by states to certain counties if variances were not made publicly available. Second, compliance with and enforcement of policies were not measured. Finally, the analysis did not differentiate between indoor and outdoor dining, adequacy of ventilation, and adherence to physical distancing and occupancy requirements.

There are studies in Switzerland that reached the same statistical conclusion as the CDC report. Here is the truth. Most of us have changed our lifestyles drastically during the last year. We don’t go anywhere, and we don’t socialize with anyone which makes it less likely that we catch anything, including the common cold. But this comes at a high cost.

Let me put the CDC report in perspective. It is like a college football coach talking to the media after his team lost 48-0. He says that he thought his defense did well, because they held the other team under 50 points. The CDC has been preaching mask mandates and restricting indoor dining. If it admitted that this really had little if any impact, it would be the height of embarrassment. It had to say they worked, regardless of results, or they look like idiots.

At worst, 81 to 100 days after implementing the mask mandates and banning indoor eating, the number of cases grew by 1.1% and the number of deaths grew by 3%.  In addition, there are so many other factors that it is not clear that masks mandates or banning indoor dining had any impact at all.

If we assume there are 500,000 COVID deaths, which is clearly overstated, then according to this report if there had been none of these restrictions, the death count may have increased to 515,000. When one considers how many people died from other causes, because of these restrictions the results are staggering. We know that people died because they postponed cancer screening and, in some cases, surgical operations. We will never know exactly how many people died because of these restrictions, but it is certainly higher than 15,000.

There are now several states who have totally lifted mask mandates and limitations on attendance at sporting events and concerts. A lot, if not most, people over age 65 have been vaccinated. This means that the death rate will continue to decline, even if COVID spreads. In fact, if it spreads among people who are unlikely to get seriously ill, it will just speed us on the path to herd immunity. Unless those states that are open experience a catastrophic increase in cases, hospitalizations and death, the demand to lift restrictions everywhere will soon become a political tsunami.

My wife and I went out to dinner last Thursday and dined indoors. Just as we walked in, my wife turned to me and said: “free at last.” Contrast that with Dr. Fauci who said even if we are vaccinated, we should wear masks. Why? If I have been vaccinated, I am not a threat to anyone. Neither is anyone a threat to me. What is the concern here? That I will touch someone or something that was touched by someone who had Covid and then touch someone or something else. Seriously? Is anyone buying this? Most recently he said we could even have some people come over, who are not vaccinated, if they are all from one family and no one has COVID. This is literally insane. Soon and very soon this will be obvious to everyone. Even Governor Newsome is saying professional teams can now have fans if they are limited to 20% of capacity. Where did that come from. Has anyone shown that 20% of capacity is safer than 30% of capacity? Did anyone ever try to yell with a mask on?

Try this yourself. Trust me, this will make you feel better. Go outside, wearing a mask, and yell “Newsom Sucks!” Now take your mask off, and yell “Newsom Sucks!” I guarantee you will feel better, and this will have nothing to do with increasing your risk of catching COVID.

TDM

March 4^th, 2021 was supposed to be a day of terror. The theory was that because President’s used to be sworn into office on March 4^th, that all those right-wing white supremacist terror groups adored by Donald Trump would once again gather to try and overthrow the government once again. The threat was so serious that the House cancelled the session scheduled for Thursday, March 4, 2021. Capitol Police said they’d uncovered intelligence regarding a possible plot by a militia group on that day. This was one of the reason thousands of National Guard Troops are still stationed in Washington, D.C. It is why Capitol Hill is surrounded by security fences and public access is extremely limited.

Newsweek talked about this on February 16, 2021:

As QAnon Predicts Donald Trump Reinstatement on March 4, D.C. Police Prepare for Threats (newsweek.com)

This was so serious that the FBI listed this as a domestic terrorist threat. This was based on one person who wrote: “Happy President’s Day Mr. President! We love you!! Can’t wait until March 4^th. A beautiful day for the history books and to restore American. I cannot come soon enough.”

Since this was on QAnon, it was considered proof of a terrorist plot. There are some weird conspiracy theories on QAnon, but I am not sure who QAnon is or whether this is anything more than a website where people exchange posts.

CBS absolutely hyperventilated over this:

House scraps Thursday session after intel warns of potential violence at Capitol – CBS News

“Washington — The U.S. Capitol is the target of a potential plot by a militia group to attack Democratic lawmakers on March 4 and remains a target for domestic violent extremists, according to a new intelligence bulletin issued by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security obtained by CBS News.  

“As of late February, an unidentified group of militia violent extremists discussed plans to take control of the U.S. Capitol and remove Democratic lawmakers on or about 4 March and discussed aspirational plans to persuade thousands to travel to Washington, DC, to participate,” the bulletin reads. 

It also notes that Acting U.S. Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said militia groups have expressed a desire to blow up the Capitol when lawmakers are attending the President Biden’s first presidential address to a joint session of Congress, which has yet to be scheduled.”

Wow! This was spot on. Remember all the violence that happened yesterday. As far as I can tell this massive insurrection consisted of 4 retirees with signs supporting Trump. The problem is that a lot of people, who should know better, believed this nonsense. That includes the FBI which has been tracking down anyone near the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Not only that, but they have also charged people with trying to overthrow the government without a shred of evidence. This is so bad the judge just ordered the “Proud Boy” released without bail.

Judge Orders Release of Proud Boy Charged in Capitol Riot | Washington, D.C. News | US News

He was charged with: “aiding and abetting an injury or depredation against government property, obstructing or impeding an official proceeding, knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.”

Frankly Nordean should have been charged with CSSitist. That is thinking you are like Andrew Cuomo, Adam Schiff, or Eric Swalwell, all self-absorbed self-righteous arrogant fools. Norden probable did little more than shout rants, ignored by almost everyone, while carrying a bullhorn. He may have liked to think of himself as commander of a major militia force but has less credibility that Andrew Cuomo or Gavin Newsom pretending, they are competent governors.

But there are militia’s out there, who will perform violent acts. They are associated with BLM and Antifa. We will soon see them in action, as the weather warms up. Probably starting in Minneapolis regardless of how the trial of Chauvin ends up. If he is convicted, they will riot in celebration. If he is acquitted, they will riot in outrage. Either way the FBI will ignore this and continue to search for people who stupidly posed for selfies on the Capitol grounds convinced these are the real threat to society.

The good news is that the truth is rapidly becoming obvious to almost everyone. Their day of reckoning is already on the way. The bad news is that these clowns are temporarily in power and their stupidity threatens us all.

TDM