The Covid vaccination is 95% effective against infection.
That is what we were told by every public health official and media outlet in order to persuade us to get the shots.
95%.
It has been so effective we should get a booster. And another booster. And now there is a brand new fifth booster, because the previous four worked so well.
This is the first in a series of posts explaining the effectiveness statements were not only false, but were known to be false at the time.
We start with a survey of how incredibly effective the vaccine has been in 2022:
CDC director
10/31/22 – Center for Disease Control – Update on CDC Director and COVID-19 – I cannot describe this more lastingly than merely quoting the straight line offered by the CDC press release:
It is imperative we remember what our political, public health care, and education leaders did to us and our children during the Covid shutdowns. Please remember what their sycophantic worshippers in most media outlets did as well.
Remember the economic, social, and educational damage they caused.
Remember the devastation to our spiritual, physical, and emotional health.
Remember especially those religious leaders who were thrilled to close churches, stop communion, and end fellowship. Some leaders tried to minister to their flock while they reluctantly followed mandatory government dictats. Some faithful pastors decided today is not the day for prison.
Others however, were thrilled to aggressively follow every whim of political and health-sector officials whose visible desire was to shut down worship.
My family worshipped in a church where local leadership was quite pleased to shut down tight. Regional and national leadership was oh so ready to bend the knee.
Remember those religious leaders who bowed down to Caesar (first century AD), or the Emperor (1500s), or the governor (today). Also remember those whose focus was bowing to Christ instead of Caesar, the Emperor, or the governor.
(This discussion cross-posted to my other blogs because it is time to stand for religious and political freedom.)
A recent thread on Twitter compiled a partial list of what these leaders did. Please remember.
Source: Legislative Analyst’s Office, California Legislature
As I have long been predicting, the legalized marijuana industry in California is struggling. The illegal market is still dominant. Tax collections are far below projection.
Articles for your consideration today:
Legal-marijuana executives report their industry is on verge of collapse.
Tax collections fall short of projection.
Actual tax collections in state of California.
Previous articles on burdens the state of California has placed on the legalized industry can be found by clicking on the regulation experiment tag.
Modern Cargo container ship giving an idea of the amount of cargo that can be carried. Each of those containers is one semi-load on the freeway. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
Seems like most industries have a tangled supply chain. The entire transportation system is sorely distressed.
The elitists in federal and state governments have a staggering level of hubris. They think waving their hands, clicking on their laptops, issuing press releases will make the entire economy bend to their will. What they accomplish is willfully causing disruption in your life and in my life.
Here are merely a few of the recent articles describing the tangled impact of Covid dictats and sundry government policies:
Lots of cargo ships are waiting to unload off the California coast.
Large port operator expects disruptions to last into 2023.
Workers in transportation sector warn of possible system collapse.
Chip shortage for carmakers will last into late 2022.
Looks like it might take another 15 or 18 months to untangle the worldwide supply chain.
A tweet I saw this morning (10/9/21) from someone flying out of Long Beach indicated the individual counted 50 ships waiting to unload.
At around 10,000 containers per ship that is somewhere around 370,000 containers waiting to be unloaded back in the middle of August and is now currently somewhere in the range of half a million containers sitting off the coast.
Article says a few months ago it was only nine. Normally it is zero.
Random stock outages are still common. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
The supply chain in most industries is tangled up somehow somewhere.
The people in federal and state governments with the staggering level of hubris to think they can wave their hands and make the entire economy do their bidding are willfully causing disruption in your life and in my life.
I am struggling to figure out what’s going on around us in the economy. These are confusing times.
That is why I blog. Digging into news reports and statistics deep enough to write something coherent (hopefully) pushes me towards understanding. At least that’s the concept.
The next several posts I have lined up will explore some economics aspects of this confusing world.
Above video is parody of the song “Imagine”, showing the actual results from communism every time it has been ever been tried: empty store shelves, hunger, poverty, repression, political prisons, and death.
Heavy bomber crewman, U.S. Army Air Force, World War 2. Photo from Legacy Flight Museum in Rexford, Idaho by James Ulvog.
Our freedom is under rapidly increasing assault by many politicians who think they are kings and queens appointed by divine right instead of having merely won a few more percentage points of the vote than their opponent in the last election. In the last year public health officials at the federal, state, and county levels who lack self-awareness of how often they beclown themselves have joined in the efforts to shred our liberty.
As a result of these attacks, it is ever more important that on this Memorial Day we remember those who shed all their blood so that we may be free.
A ‘thank you’ from me is so trivial, yet that is all I have.
I will demonstrate my appreciation for freedom purchased by others by exercising freedom.
Yesterday I exercised my freedom of religion. Tomorrow I will exercise my economic freedom, also called pursuit of happiness, by running my business the way I choose.
I have posted variations of the following ideas several times before. I will continue to make these points routinely.
Union Infantry private, U.S. Civil War, 1961-1865. Photo from Legacy Flight Museum in Rexford, Idaho by James Ulvog.
While touring the U.S.S. Midway Museum in San Diego early this month, I wore a “U.S. Air Force” ball cap with various stuff pinned to it, such as the rank I wore, a missile badge (“pocket rocket” for those who know), SAC logo, and a rectangular piece of metal that declares “Combat Crew.”
During the course of walking around, I got lots of glances and several comments of “thank you for your service.”
Also got some joshing comments from the retired Navy guys about them ‘allowing’ me on their ship. Since we were all on the same team back in the day, the kidding was pure fun.
I was on active duty for only four years and that was decades ago. I never got within 3,000 miles of hostile action. (Of course if the flag had gone up, I would have been radioactive dust at 20,000 feet altitude about 40 minutes later.)
As a result, I was uneasy for a long time when someone said “Thanks for your service.”
It took me a few years to get to get comfortable with those comments.
I now graciously and proudly accept those expressions of appreciation from my fellow Americans, but not because of what I did so long ago.
Navajo code talkers by United States Marine Corps is courtesy of the U.S. Government. These heroes from Navajo reservation were honored on 2/19/10, the 65th anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima. I was unable to find a picture of Lakota code talkers.
In June 2010 America and the Lakota Sioux people lost a hero.
Clarence Wolf Guts was born and raised on the Rosebud Reservation in the south-central area of South Dakota. During World War II he served as a code talker with other men from the reservation. There were about a dozen code talkers using the Sioux language.
Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe. Photo courtesy of U.S. Army.
While his clothes were on fire after an improved explosive device blew up the vehicle he was riding in, Army Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe returned to the burning vehicle, pulling out a soldier, then another, then another.
Ultimately he pulled six Americans and one national translator from the burning vehicle. Did I mention that his clothing was on fire as he removed each of the soldiers?
Sgt. Cashe is credited with saving the lives of six American soldiers. The national translator, working to free his people, died from the attack. Ten American soldiers were injured, seven seriously.
With 2nd and 3rd burns spread over 72% of his body, Sgt. Cashe died from his wounds a few weeks later.
America is so blessed that we keep finding men like Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe.
He was awarded the Silver Star. It took a while for the chain of command to fully understand the depth of his heroism. He will now finally get an even more appropriate award.
“Three very definite propositions were set out in its (the Declaration of Independence) preamble regarding the nature of mankind and therefore of government. These were the doctrine that
all men are created equal,
that they are endowed with certain inalienable rights, and that
therefore the source of the just powers of government must be derived from the consent of the governed.” (emphasis added)
He explained these issues are settled, resolved, final.
We can expand on those ideas. We need to bring them into further fruition. We can dive deeper into their meaning.
Setting them aside or replacing them means we go backwards. Declaring they are no longer true is regression to the ancient past.
More eloquently than I could ever describe, the president said:
“About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.”
