Time on My Hands

My first trip (tomorrow to the Midwest) was scrubbed this after due to the evolving situation with the coronavirus (CV). I had my bag packed and ready to go, checked the airports that I would be traveling through for CV stats, locked and loaded with hand sanitizer and totally mindful of "social distancing" and here I sit. Oh well. Spit happens. As I sit here and contemplate what is in all likelihood an overblown response, several thoughts occur. 

First, there may be a silver lining in this dark cloud. We are already seeing that our country's emergency response assets are not ready. The CDC did not have enough test kits ready, slowing down diagnosis and treatment for many. We discovered that 97% of U.S. antibiotics and much of our medical equipment comes from China. What could possibly go wrong? Information has been slow to be disseminated in some cases. We have seen panic buying in stores. Toilet paper stocks getting cleaned out? Seriously? In short, I think we have become greedy and sloppy and if we got hit with a really serious situation - say an EMP strike, or serious pandemic, we could get clobbered. We need to fix these things and many others to avoid that.

Secondly, just as a hypothesis, the U.S. has been putting a world of hurt on the Chinese economy. What if the Chinese were looking for a way to knock the U.S. economy down a notch or two? Perhaps engineering a virus like COVID-19 that would not necessarily be traceable back to them might be a way to strike back. It might also be beta test to see how America's systems would handle a test like this. But the Chinese got hit too, so it can't be. Maybe, but they are not overly concerned with losing someone here and there, so if Wuhan gets drilled - oh well, spit happens. Maybe a scientist working with the virus went out for lunch unknowingly contaminated and spread it through contact. Spit happens. But what have the Chinese gained in watching how we have responded in terms of their future strategy? 

These are reasons for us to get busy. If we get hit with a considerably more lethal agent or action, we had better be a lot more ready than we are now. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Sanity Sighting

My first post for 2019 and we're on the last lap of the year. My how time flies! I have been fed up with politics and the general social stupidity playing out in so many areas of American society. Here and there, though, glimmers of sanity are peeking through. 

South Park is a cartoon of social commentary that punctures about every pompous idea and blowhard on the social landscape. China has been throwing its weight around among U.S. bigwigs recently for daring to criticize China for anything, especially its heavy-handed tactics in Hong Kong against protesters who simply want the The Mainland Borg to do what they previously agreed to in the treaty with Britain turning over the city to Communists. In response, NBA owners, the biggest U.S. tech companies, politicians, etc. have all groveled at the Red Borg's displeasure, not wanting to interrupt the warm flow of cash from the Chinese teat. South Park too was chastised by the Chinese Borg for a satire against Emperor Xi and the two guys behind the cartoon, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, also assumed the position and "groveled" - well, not so much:

Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts. We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn’t look like Winnie the Poo at all. Tune into our 300th episode the Wednesday at 10 p.m. Long live the great Communist Party of China. May the autumn’s sorghum harvest be bountiful. We good now China?

You dare defy the Emperor Xi and the Red Horde!!! Well done, fellas; so unlike the jellyfish masquerading as American business and political leaders. It is so refreshing for a little sanity and American chutzpah to peek through the daily crap.

www.dailywire.com/news/china-bans-south-park-after-critical-episode-south-parks-creators-troll-them-hard

Thoughts About Life

Andrew Klavan is a very good author, political commentator, and genuinely funny guy. But in his youth he seriously thought about killing himself. His article here considers whether medications are the answer to the conundrum of suicide, but goes in a different direction. An excellent psychiatrist helped him out of the pit, but in retrospect he realizes that it was the fact that the doctor cared, that he loved him enough to stick with him, that made the difference. He finishes:

"The poet Auden once wrote: "We must love one another or die." It's said he wanted to change that line later because it was untrue in the sense that we die whether we love one another or not. But no, he got it right the first time. Love is our only truly effective tool in curing the deeper sorrows of the soul. Love from therapists, from strangTers on hotlines, from friends and parents, siblings and spouses. These people are not responsible when love is not enough. Only the sufferer can choose to stay his hand. But if anything is going to work, it will be love. No medicine can imitate it or even come close."  

Amen.

pjmedia.com/andrewklavan/a-modest-observation-about-suicide/

Another Christmas Story

Her mother was the head of a Planned Parenthood clinic when she became pregnant. She almost aborted Ashley. Almost. Here's another Christmas story.

www.dailywire.com/news/39583/watch-actress-new-pro-life-movie-says-mom-decided-paul-bois

Matthew 25:35-40

A Christmas Story. 

www.dailywire.com/news/39524/class-george-h-w-bush-anonymously-supported-hank-berrien

DIY too?

www.africanewlife.org

Quotes Without Comment

"Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) said on Tuesday that Democrats have a hard time connecting with voters because of how "smart" Democrats are and because Democrats 'know so much.' "

www.dailywire.com/news/39038/senator-hirono-democrats-struggle-relate-voters-ryan-saavedra

"As reported by Reuters, Obama was howdying a crowd in Beaverton, Ore., on May 9, 2008, when he said: "It is wonderful to be back in Oregon. Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states. I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."

www.politifact.com/texas/article/2011/nov/30/perry-recaps-obamas-57-states-remark/

"If we work our butts off to make sure that we take back all three chambers of Congress — uh, rather, all three chambers of government: the presidency, the Senate, and the House," she said Saturday in a call with Justice Democrats, a progressive political action committee."

townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2018/11/19/ocasiocortez-we-need-to-make-sure-that-we-take-back-all-three-chambers-of-congress-n2536164

"CNN "State of the Union" anchor Jake Tapper asked where that estimated $40 trillion -- which would include the costs for Medicare for all, jobs guarantees, student loan forgiveness, free college programs, paid family leave, and Social Security expansion -- would come from. Medicare for all would be the costliest initiative, coming in at about $32 trillion ...

But asked again where that $40 trillion would come from, aside from her proposed increase in taxes on the wealthy and corporate taxes, which she has said would raise $2 trillion over the next 10 years, Ocasio-Cortez said the taxpayer-funded programs would free people up to increase economic activity in other areas, adding that the Medicare for all program is part of "a broader agenda."

"We do know and acknowledge that there are political realities," she added. "They don't always happen with the wave of a wand, but we can work to make these things happen."

www.cnn.com/2018/09/16/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-40-trillion-cnntv/index.html