Opuscula Immunization: Caught between Hammer & anvil1

IT IS A QUANDARY, caught between the hammer and the anvil (rock and hard spot).

Who gets vaccinations against the Chinese virus (and its mutations)?

Seniors or working people.

Hard choice.

 

The case for protecting seniors before working age people is the seniors’ general inability to recover from the virus.

Senior, more than working age people are more likely to be less resilient and to have more “underlying” health conditions.

On the other hand, retired seniors can sequester in their homes. If they must go out — and most “must” go out — for food and necessities, to doctors’ offices, to government offices (e.g., post offices, Social Security), the trips usually are specific and brief.

This assumes the seniors have an income from pre-paid sources (e.g., Social Security, retirement plans, securities).

Many merchants have “early hours” for seniors, but the merchants’ doors are open for anyone who wants to enter. Besides, not all seniors are early risers. Again, a quandary.

The case for working-age people has two prongs.

One, these people must have an income.

They have bills to pay, families to (help) support.

The work they do is sometimes more, sometimes less, necessary.

The workers interact with seniors from time to time.

Another plus for “sticking it to seniors” is that many seniors do volunteer work with younger folk.

Mentoring, tutoring, generally volunteering at schools, libraries, and similar venues. (As much as their help is needed in medical environments, the danger may be too great even for those who have been “stuck.”)

Even if seniors are prioritized, younger people — including teenagers and, possibly, pre-teens — with “underlying conditions” are supposed to be inoculated early.

Step up

When I was a young enlistee (c 1960), I was introduced to “shot lines.”

Borrowing from Henry Ford’s production line experience, the recruits walked from medic (corpsman) to medic, each medic inoculating the recruit with one of the many medicines needed to assure the recruit’s health.

Later, the medics put down the needles and syringes and picked up “guns” to inject more people faster.

In order to immunize more people faster, rather than have people come in and be seated, let those who can walk, walk to a medic, receive the immunization, and then go to an observation area for 15 to 30 minutes (to assure there are no adverse reactions). Geezers, such as this scrivener, can “roll up” with a walker, rollator², or mobility scooter.

Mobility options: no-wheel walker, 2-wheel walker, rollator, mobility scooter

At least those people on rollators or mobility scooters have their own seats. 😁

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Sources

1. Hammer and anvil image by Alina Oleynik
    (https://tinyurl.com/y9uxw3vf)

2. Rollator: walker with four wheels. (See image, above)

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Comment on Immunization

Opuscula Interim POTUS Doing exactly What Trump said

INTERIM PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN’s plans to combat the Chinese or Wuhan SARS Covid-19 virus seem to be an echo of President Trump’s announced, and now in action, plan.

Expect the igNoble Committee to give Biden and future president Kamala Harris-Emhoff the Nobel Peace Prize for doing what Trump started.

The Committee gave a Prize to Obama after a few months in office as a means of supporting the man, albeit he did nothing to deserve the prize. It refused to give President Trump the prize, even though under his administration “normalization” agreements were made between Israel and several Muslim countries — and more signing on — and arranged a peace agreement between two warring European nations (Serbia and Croatia).

 

UNLIKE THE DEMOCRATS who loudly proclaimed that “Trump is not MY president,” whether or not Biden-Emhoff won fairly — this scrivener has serious doubts — Biden “won” the election and Emhoff soon will move into the Oval Office. He, and later she, will be my president; I’m an American citizen (who voted), but I am — unlike the “progressive” Democrats — acknowledging that, by hook or by crook, the Democrats won the White House and I will not treat these people as the “progressives” treated Trump from before the primaries to his final days as president.

I will not lower myself to the name-calling and abuse the “progressives” heaped on Trump.

Not MY President Cartoon by Yaakov Kirschen

Let’s compare

Trump, who was not even considered by the Nobel Committee, managed “normalization” agreements between several Muslim nations and Israel.

Trump, who was not even considered by the Nobel Committee, managed to arrange a peace agreement between two European countries.

Trump, who was not even considered by the Nobel Committee, started troop draw-downs from conflict zones.

Trump, who was not even considered by the Nobel Committee, increased sanctions on Iran, a nation that threatens America, Israel, and many Muslim nations.

Trump, who was not even considered by the Nobel Committee, reduced funding to UNRWA which is infamous for its corruption, nepotism, and support of terror.

ON THE OTHER HAND

Obama brought the Muslims’ the destabilizing “Arab Spring”

Obama failed to slow Iran’s race to develop a nuclear weapon and delivery system.

Obama on his last day in office gifted millions to the PLO/PFLA to continue its attacks on Israeli civilians.

Obama’s Secretary of State (Hillary Clinton) allowed a planned “spontaneous” attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that resulted in the deaths of four Americans. (This despite consulate personnel asking State to send more protection.)

Obama did nothing to reduce the number of Americans in danger in foreign lands.

BUT Obama received the Nobel shortly after moving into the White House.

It is worth noting that the incoming, albeit probably interim, president was Obama’s VP, a trusted confidant and counselor.

Recap

Trump arranged normalization and peace agreement. Obama encouraged PLO/PFLP intransigence.

Trump eliminated funding to a terror-supporting, badly managed UNRWA. Obama supported it.

Trump drew down troops in Afghanistan. Obama did nothing.

Trump forced NATO to pick up more of the tab. Obama kept paying the moochers.

Seems to this scrivener the Nobel Committee ought to hang its collective head in shame.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Echo

Opuscula WARP SPEED: Getting vaccine Delivered quickly

Warp Speed

YOU MIGHT NOT BE A “TRUMPER,” but as president he usually kept his promises.

He promised “warp speed” for the development, testing, and distribution of a vaccine against the Chinese virus.

He delivered.

Could Biden or Harris-Emhoff done better? They DID claim they could have delivered a vaccine in record time, but neither was POTUS so it was all “just talk.”

 

TRUMP’S PLAN WAS for the military to deliver the vaccine. While Army General Gustave Perna, chief operating officer for the Defense Department's Operation Warp Speed, is supposedly in control of vaccine distribution, civilian resources are being used to transport and inject the vaccine.

When I was a young lad in the flyin’ corps, the Air Force took innoculations seriously and “shot up” hundreds of airmen every day.

This was before the “gun” came into use; each injection was with a new syringe and needle. The medics had to be quick.

The Air Force had its new recruits line up — EVERYTHING was in a line — an as we moved forward, a medic had his “weapon” in hand.

The medics did not come to us; we came to the medic.

We did not sit down — no reason to sit since we were advancing at a good speed.

We did not get boo-boo bandages, either.

Wipe (alcohol) on, stick, wipe (alcohol) off and keep moving.

Same situation for small pox vaccinations.

In fact, before the vaccinations were healed, we were back for a second round of “preventive medicine.”

I told the guy in front of me that the medic would stick him in his vaccination. He didn’t like that idea. The medic missed the vaccination, but when MY turn came, his “aim” was better. I never felt the needle.

Later, working at an Air Force hospital (Orlando AFB, c 1960), we did the same thing when mass inoculations were required.

Efficient.

Fast.

Warp speed.

Minor changes

Now, being a senior citizen who moves with a “mobility scooter,” I get to sit as I wait in line for my vaccination. (Yes, Virginia, I will get vaccinated as soon as it becomes available to normally healthy geezers.)

I see no reason why military medics (“corpsmen” to sailors and Marines) should not give the injections. They are pros. (Never let a doctor give an injection; most rarely do this and are out of practice.)

Let those of us who are “mobility impaired” and in scooters or wheelchairs pass by seated medics. Those who are ambulatory may walk past standing medics.

It is FASTER if the “patient” comes to the medic than the way it is being done by civilian nurses now.

The above is NOT a knock on the nurses and technicians administering the vaccine. They are skilled and, by all accounts, doing excellent work.

This IS a knock on the process where the needle pusher goes from patient to patient, even those lucky enough to be fully mobile (e.g., other critical care staff).

Although Trump allowed Pfizer to sell Made-in-the-USA vaccine to other countries before all Americans had a chance to be vaccinated, there are (at last) two other vaccines in the pipeline.

When these become available, and all the critical personnel (medical staff, cops and fire “personnel”) are inoculated, then perhaps the POTUS will “call out the Guard” (or encourage governors to do so) for mass vaccinations “the military way.”

Step right up.

To paraphrase the Laugh-In “Sock it to me” line, “Stick it to me.”

There are those who refuse the vaccine. Cartoon by Shlomo Cohen for Israel HaYom 15 DEC 2020

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Comment on Warp speed

Opuscula A stupid offer I gladly DELETED

A scammer claiming to be The Bank of Missouri is offering me a MasterCard if I will pay said bank a “processing fee” of only $89.00 !

There IS a Bank of Missouri. (https://tinyurl.com/y2xyb4w6)

I have had bank cards for decades. I never paid a fee; the cards were issued by institutions with which I was doing business.

 

Screen capture of email

 

Since I was curious to know about this Bank of Missouri, I read the offer's small print.

I learned that the spam came from a marketing company in Buffalo NY.

That put me in mind of an old hot sauce commercial when a cowboy can’t believe the competitor’s sauce is “Made In New York City!”

Are there no marketing companies in Missouri? Not even St. Louis?

At the very bottom of the email, there was, in the same small print, a line that read:

To be removed from our list, simply click here or write to us at:

Naturally I “clicked here” and was taken to the web site that presented me the image below:

 

Scammer uncovered

 

Because I did not just fall off the turnip truck, I decided to look at the email’s trail, its bona fide.

The email actually was posted from support@enjund.eclaitt.org.uk.

 

Tail and trail of email

 

I looked for eclaitt.org with and without “.uk.”

I failed to find any description of WHAT the company does, but I did see its disclaimer. (http://eclaitt.org.uk/disclaimer.html)

I asked The Bank of Missouri twice over two days if it even issued MasterCards.

I know there IS a “Bank OF Missouri,” but I’m not sure anyone works there as I failed to receive a response to my twice-submitted query.

I also know the bank, the Buffalo NY marketing company, and the U.K-based organization that apparently sent the email (on the bank's or the marketing company's behalf) will not get my business; not for $89 or for any amount.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Stupid offer

Opuscula I know what you Wrote, but what Do you mean?

For several decades I had the pleasure of working in newspapers, first as a hot type printer, then as a reporter-photographer, and finally as an editor.

Depending on the size of the newspaper, I might have been all of the above.

For the most part, the pay was nothing to write home about, but most of the time the work was enjoyable … and educational. I helped create the first edition Gannett’s first TODAY newspaper, in Cocoa Florida, c1966.

Blame it on my time on mostly good newspapers and working with generally superior copy editors, but over the course of the years I became a pedant about the language.

UNFORTUNATELY, the trait remains long after I turned in my pica pole and sleeve garters. Faux pas — a/k/a “fox paws” — still catch my eye and raise my dander.

 

Real printer’s pica pole

 

Following are a few recent examples.

Israeli Blackhawk makes emergency landing with IDF chief for second time

World Israel News 3 NOV 20 https://tinyurl.com/yx9jvwo5

Israeli Blackhawk, with IDF chief, makes second emergency landing.

ACTUALLY, it was the SECOND Blackhawk that made an emergency landing while the IDF chief on board. Two helicopters, two emergency landings, one IDF chief.

Minneapolis to consider bringing in outside police officers amid shortage

Minneapolis MN Star-Tribune 10 NOV 20 https://tinyurl.com/yxaowlzf

If the mayor and City Council approve the plan, officers from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and Metro Transit Police would temporarily work with the city, primarily helping to respond to violent 911 calls.

Were the calls really "VIOLENT" or where they ABOUT violent crime?

Trump Reportedly Discussing 2024 Presidential Run

National Review 10 NOV 20 https://tinyurl.com/y55a3cg5

More than 71 million voters cast their ballot for Trump this election cycle, a record number of votes for a sitting president. U.S. presidents are limited to serving two terms, but the terms are not required to be consecutive.

This is correct according to the 22nd Amendment. Pity the writer failed to site the source. The Amendment was ratified on February 27, 1951 after Democrat FDR ignored Washington's precedent. https://tinyurl.com/uyfz8om

Netanyahu calls for Jewish-Arab unity at Knesset meeting on violence in Arab society

JNS 11 NOV 20 https://tinyurl.com/y2qkrs7a

The regional “revolution” in Arab-Jewish relations must extend within Israel’s borders, and “the first component is personal security—defeating crime, defeating the rule of fear,” says the Israeli premier.

Israel has a PRIME MINISTER and a PRESIDENT. It does not have a "PREMIER" (although Netanyahu would be "king for life").

Man injured at South Side rail yard sues Norfolk Southern, claiming it intentionally puts workers at risk

Chicago Tribune 17 NOV 2020 https://tinyurl.com/y68z2c28

“I don’t think anyone is alleging that they wanted to see Ernest get hurt, that they wanted to see any of the Black employees get hurt,” Herbert said. “But the fact remains that they were certainly treated with little disregard because of who they were."

I THINK the workers were DISREGARDED. "treated with little disregard" means "almost no disregard."

IDF hits targets in southern Damascus area, claims Syrian media

JNS 25 NOV 2020 https://tinyurl.com/y5lcdaut

Did the IDF REALLY claim (destroy) the Syrian media OR, is the Syrian media MAKING the claim?

"claim": "To take in a violent manner as if by right: a hurricane that claimed two lives" https://tinyurl.com/y6dkwypn

Second Temple period dice found in Beit El

27 NOV 2020 https://tinyurl.com/y4ayh3mv

An ancient die was discovered at the Khirbet Kfar Mor archaeological site in Beit El.

The headline was wrong; the body correct. "Die" is singular; "dice" is plural. Ask any crap(s) shooter.

Now, the organization’s (Times Up) website says its mission is to pursue “safe, fair and dignified work for women of all kinds."

Daily Wire https://tinyurl.com/y2rxh6jh

"women of all kinds" ?

Who are these "women of all kinds?" Straight, LGBTQ?; blondes, brunettes, red heads; tall ones, short ones, thin ones and fat ones; white, "women of color," U.S. citizens, those who have work visas, illegal immigrants? Pick an attribute.

What I'm (reasonably) sure the writer intended was "safe, fair and dignified work for *all* women." Fewer words, no ambiguity.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on What you meant

Opuscula Ripping off Medicare

BOTH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES talk about lowering the cost of pharmaceuticals, but neither is talking about Over The Counter (OTC) meds.

I buy a small bottle of 81 mg coated aspirin at a “dollar store” for $1.

My Medicare Advantage plan claims the same bottle of aspirin costs SIX TIMES AS MUCH; $6.

My plan providers “gives” me $n/month for OTC products. Assume for a minute that the provider pays $1 for a bottle of 81 mg coated aspirin bought in bulk. Does the provider bill Medicare $1 or does it bill Medicare $6 when a client orders from the provider?

More than “just” over-priced OTC products, my Advantage plan provider sends multiple copies of the same information via the USPS.

Why?

Because the federal government generously reimburses the plan provider for every cent (America doesn’t have “pennies”) the Medicare providers claim to have spent on their clients.

 

I DID NOT identify the Advantage plan provider since most are alike.

While each plan may offer slightly different benefits, but when it comes to ripping off the taxpayer, they are all about the same.

Who cares?

Apparently not the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (a/k/a, CMS; no, I don't know why there only is one "M" — a cost saving measure?)

Medicare Advantage plans are a wonderful thing for their clients; geezers such as this scrivener.

If the geezer — OK, “senior citizen” by another issue — lives in an area with a lot of others of the same status, plan prices usually are fully covered by the geezer’s monthly Medicare payment. Competition keeps a lid on some plan charges; e.g., in some areas, visits to a Primary Care Practitioner (PCP) are $0; in less geezer-populated areas, the charge can be $10 or greater. Likewise specialists. In areas with lots of seniors, the charge typically is $5 to $15; elsewhere, the charge may be $20 or more.

The idea that undocumented immigrants, a/k/a illegals (and, therefore, criminals) should receive Social Security and Medicare benefits — benefits for which they have paid not a sous¹ — galls this scrivener, more so since I have been paying into Social Security since 1957 and into Medicare since Lyndon Johnson introduced it in 1965.

If a person is seen by a doctor or a nurse, Medicare is billed the same.

It does no good to complain to CMS that the patient was seen by a nurse rather than a licensed physician; Medicare foots the bill — to my mind, that encourages less-trained nurses to diagnose and treat patients rather than a physician.

Caveat: I know some nurses who are far better diagnosticians than some doctors.

Bottom line: Medicare doesn’t care; it’s taxpayer money, after all.

A taste of “socialized” medicine?

Medicare is socialized medicine for practitioners (and insurers) profits.

Granted, the providers — physicians, hospitals, etc. — don’t get what they want from the insurance companies or Medicare; but they often don’t get what they bill private, uninsured patients. (No worry, local taxes will make up the difference — again, the taxpayer pays; the indigent — and those claiming to be indigent — and illegals get a free ride.)

It is a pity that the medical and hospital bills for the illegals can’t be placed on the people who HIRE the illegals; if there were no employers (exploiters) and the jobs they provide, there would be fewer illegals for the taxpayers to support. I have no problem funding services for people who simply lack the resources and the capability to acquire resources; e.g., people unable to work.

Two sides to the ℞ coin

Presidential hopefuls an a few other politicians repeatedly tell Americans “when I’m elected, your drug prices will go down.” These politicians will allow U.S. insurers, hospitals, etc., to buy medicines from across the border or overseas.

Americans already are taking medicines all or part of which come from China.² The safety, potency and efficacy of the imports has repeatedly be challenged.

While it sounds nice, but U.S. ethical pharmaceutical companies pour millions of dollars into the development of new medicines.

If the U.S. stops developing new remedies, will foreign manufacturers pick up the slack? If they DO “pick up the slack,” will the medicines be tested as thoroughly as in the U.S. (anyone remember Thalidomide?³).

While there are arguments that the U.S. takes too long to get a medicine to market, this has to be balanced against the risks of another harmful medicine.

How can a foreign government sell the same medicine for a drastically lower price is beyond my ken unless the government is somehow cheating the pharmaceutical company that developed the medicine.

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Sources

1. Sous: https://tinyurl.com/y3e3s2wm

2. Chinese Medicines: https://tinyurl.com/wqulbka

3. Thalidomide: https://tinyurl.com/y28msfra

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Medicare rip off

Opuscula Network comedies No longer funny; Cops demeaned on tv

I CONFESS. I LIKE comedies.

I don’t watch a lot of tv anymore. There is plenty on, albeit most shows are copies (rip-offs) of other programs that have lasted a full 13-episode season. (Are “seasons” still 13 weeks? It seems shorter; rather like the weight of products “sold by weight, not volume.” A pound is now, maybe, 12 ounces.)

Anyway . . .

 

MONDAY EVENING I was all set to watch two programs I found interesting during the previous season:

• The Neighborhood, and
• All Rise

Both programs dealt, last season, with race as a non-issue. Blacks worked with whites, browns, and Orientals. People treated one another with common courtesy.

In “The Neighborhood,” set in in the black area Pasadena CA, the white neighbor and the black neighbor traded generally good natured barbs.

In “All Rise,” filmed in Los Angeles, the black judge’s confidant is a white prosecutor she knows from law school days. Her clerk is Oriental — and definitely in control — the public defender is a Latina who has a black sheriff’s deputy boyfriend and a white female roommate.

But Monday, 16 November 2020, everything changed.

“The Neighborhood” story line was about a black man who was beaten up by white cops.

No reason why the cops behaved the way they did. (At the end of the program, we learn that the cops were brought up on charges.)

There was nothing — repeat, nothing — funny in this episode. The father did make a point of telling one of his adult sons that the son should use his brain, not his fists, to make his point. Good advice, but this was hardly a comedy.

No one should deny there are bad cops — of all ethnicities — that need have their guns and badges confiscated, but to automatically condemn all cops for the behavior of a few is worse than stupid. “All generalities are lies.”

“All Rise” had the judge jumping out of her car while BLM (only black lives matter?) marchers filled the streets to challenge a white cop who stopped a young black woman. When the woman reached into her purse, the cop justifiably drew his until-then-holstered weapon and the judge stepped between the cop and the woman.

The judge did tell the cop she was a judge, but offered no ID.

She could have pointed out the man still in the car was a DA. She did not.

At that point I left the room.

What prompted the confrontation between white cop and black women (the judge also is black) may have been discovered later. At this point, the show was all BLM. Since no one was breaking store windows or looting — at least none was shown, but the program is set I Los Angeles, so … )

Cops were bashed in both programs.

At least I was spared the obnoxious laugh tracks Hollywood deems necessary to “prime the audience’s laughter pump” when something supposed to be funny isn’t.

When I am expecting a comedy, I want to laugh (without the aid of laugh tracks).

Didn’t get the message

One program managed to keep my attention for the full 24 minutes.

“Bob ❤ Abishola” spared me the racial politics, perhaps because the lead characters are white (Bob) and black (Abishola).

The program is not really “funny,” but it has its moments.

The show is set in Detroit where blatant racial tension would be appropriate, but thankfully the writers dodged the issue.

My Spouse and I will apply our “restaurant rule” to “The Neighborhood” and “All Rise.”

The rule is: if we enjoy our first meal, we’ll probably return. If the second meal is not up to par, we’ll give the restaurant a third try.

Whether we return or not is a 2-out-of-3 possibility.

If cops are bashed or someone put down for the color of their skin in next week’s episodes, I will find something else to watch or read a book, probably the latter.

I expect comedies to be funny.

I don’t expect a “judge” to be making laws in the street or on the bench. (Again, the show IS set and filmed in Los Angeles.)

To be fair, I DO know good judges in California Superior (County) Courts; I knew one in Tehama county where I worked as a newspaper reporter.

Cast of "The Neighborhood"

Cast of "All Rise"

Stars of “Bob ❤ Abishola”

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Comedies

OpusculaBiden/Harris-Emhoff Plans for the World Are just speculation

NO MATTER WHAT YOU READ OR HEAR about what a Democrat president (Biden or Harris-Emhoff) might do with (pick a country), it all is just speculation.

Depending on the audience’s point of view, the speculation is tailored to match that preferred view.

 

IF, and with all the claims of fraud and apparently some evidence of fraud, that is a big IF/WHEN Harris-Emhoff becomes president, will she

• Restore Obama’s failed foreign policy that
• Gave the world the “Arab Spring”
• That got Americans murdered in Benghazi
• That subsidized the PLO/PFLP and Hamas/Islamic Jihad

• Supported attacks on Israel citizens and visitors (regardless of religion or nationality)

• That failed to gain peace agreements in
  • Europe (See History repeats, below)
  • The Middle East(See History repeats, below)

or will she

• Follow a foreign policy dictated to her by The Squad, Bernie Sanders, and others on the far left?
• Continue the socialist direction started by Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)

It makes no difference what Biden might want to do. There is a general consensus that he will be removed from office — by physical or mental health reasons — or by death during the first year in the Oval Office.

Bottom line: No matter what Biden says he will do, IF he prevails, the leftists represented by The Squad and their ilk will control both domestic and foreign policy.

Biden and the Democrats (except members of The Squad who admit to being anti-Israel) tell the world that they are “pro-Israel,” yet Biden’s 47-year history in D.C., especially as VP under Obama, belies that.

Like FDR before him, Biden always checks the political wind before making a decision; that never precluded him from changing a position if the “wind” shifted.

Many of Biden’s votes came from the far left, and as long as the wind blows from the far left, Biden will set his sails with it — until he is pushed out and Harris-Emhoff becomes America’s first

• female
• woman of color

president representing, if not America, then the far left in the (dis)United States.

Packing the Court

The Democrats either, depending on your point of view, promised (leftist Democrat) or threatened (average American) to “pack the court”; to increase the number of justices from nine to to ? Perhaps 15.

This follows in the Democratic party’s tradition.

FDR, the man who would be king, tried to pack the court with his loyalists. He didn’t exactly try to increase the court; he simply wanted to replace sitting justices.

FDR Packing the Court
(History on the Net.com @ https://tinyurl.com/yxpr8bju)

History Repeats

In digging around the internet for this entry, I stumbled across Theodore Roosevelt Facts (https://tinyurl.com/y4ggaozp). It seems that Donald Trump is TR reincarnated. The following will infuriate leftist Democrats, but according to the cited site:

Theodore Roosevelt, President of the USA, received the Peace Prize for having negotiated peace in the Russo-Japanese war in 1904-5. He also resolved a dispute with Mexico by resorting to arbitration as recommended by the peace movement.

Roosevelt was the first statesman to be awarded the Peace Prize, and for the first time the award was controversial. The Norwegian Left argued that Roosevelt was a "military mad" imperialist who completed the American conquest of the Philippines. Swedish newspapers wrote that Alfred Nobel was turning in his grave, and that Norway awarded the Peace Prize to Roosevelt in order to win powerful friends after the dramatic dissolution of the union with Sweden the previous year.

In domestic policy, Roosevelt was a radical within the Republican Party. He went in for social reforms and for state control of big capital. Roosevelt's term as President ended in 1908. During World War I he tried in vain to be allowed to serve as an officer, and in 1919 he opposed US membership of the new League of Nations.

Trump, of course, never received the Peace Prize, despite arranging peace between Kosovo and Serbia, and the deals between Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel. And he never fired a shot. Like TR, the treaties were negotiated; no one lost and everyone gained.

Neither Obama nor Biden received a Peace Prize for bringing peace to anyone, anywhere.

Indeed, according to Geir Lundestad, former non-voting secretary to the Nobel Committee (https://tinyurl.com/yarclup4)

The committee hoped the award would strengthen Mr Obama.

Instead, the decision was met with criticism in the US. Many argued he had not had any impact worthy of the award.

Mr Lundestad, writing in his memoir, Secretary of Peace, said even Mr Obama himself had been surprised.

"No Nobel Peace Prize ever elicited more attention than the 2009 prize to Barack Obama," Mr Lundestad writes.

"Even many of Obama's supporters believed that the prize was a mistake," he says. "In that sense the committee didn't achieve what it had hoped for".

What Mr. Lundestad’s book, Secretary of Peace , makes abundantly clear is that the Nobel is given NOT for accomplishments, but strictly for political gain. The book might be worth checking out once it’s on the local lending library’s shelf. (I failed to find it for sale online.) Snopes notes that Lundestad said that nowhere does he write in the book “that it was a mistake to give Obama the Peace Prize.”

It is interesting to note that Menachem Begin (with Anwar El Sadat) won the Peace Prize for “for the peace treaty concluded between Israel and Egypt”

Peres and Rabin and the terrorist Arafat shared the prize "for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East. (We know how THAT worked out.)

Bottom line

Anyone, other than perhaps Harris-Emhoff, who claims they know what Biden, if he prevails, will do is just guessing. Everything by everyone, possibly even Biden, is strictly speculation.

Biden never has been a leader. Most VPs lack any real authority so Biden cannot honestly be blamed for Obama’s actions or inactions.

If the fraud allegations can be dealt with to Trump’s satisfaction, than Biden can move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

In the meantime, this scrivener believes it right and proper to assist Biden in setting up a transition team. Team members always can go home when/if the fraud claims are validated.

After thought

Thousands of Trump supporters rallied in D.C. and none of them broke into and looted stores, tore down statues, or otherwise caused havoc.

The LA Blade (https://tinyurl.com/y39bv9h8) which bills itself as "America's LGBT News Source" cited

Reports indicate there was at least one scuffle between march participants and counter-protesters near Freedom Plaza.

Additional clashes took place a few hours later near Black Lives Plaza and outside the Capitol Hilton on 16th Street, N.W.

One incident involved fireworks thrown at a group of Trump supporters who were sitting in a nearby restaurant.

The Washington Post reported a man was hospitalized after he was stabbed in the back during a melee that broke out a few blocks east of the White House.

The Metropolitan Police Department in an email to the Washington Blade said 10 people were arrested for firearm violations, simple assault, no permit, assault on a police officer and affray/disorderly. NBC Washington reports at least 20 people have been arrested.

The Blade conveniently did not identify if the arrested were Trump supporters or anti-Trump protesters.

The Blade DID report that

Members of the Proud Boys, a white nationalist group the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated as a hate group, and Gays for Trump participated in the event. Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert is among those who spoke.

Tell me again that the Proud Boys deserve the SPLC’s label as a “hate group.”

---

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Comment on Speculation

Opuscula Have we reached The end of the Great Experiment?

I am almost 77 years old.

I have been paying attention to presidential elections since Truman-Eisenhower.

I have NEVER seen any election so rife with fraud and criminal interference as Election 2020. Even if only HALF the charges are true, that is shameful.

I have NEVER seen people attack any candidate as they attacked Trump. Not agreeing with his policies, considering his tweets and language unpresidential -- no problem. But the name calling: nazi, indeed!

Maybe the fraud and destruction of ballots would have made no difference.

We never will know.

I worry that America has lost its sense of decency; surrendered to the extremists.

This bodes ill for the nation.

Is the Great Experiment over?

* Biden will be removed from office one way or the other before his first years as president is completed.

Opuscula Characterizations Of Mohamed banned But others promoted?

WHY IS IT “OK” TO DEPICT JEWS with hooked noses or blacks as simpletons or Orientals aS subservient but it’s forbidden to make a caricature of Mohamed.

Moses is caricaturized. Jesus caricaturized. Buddha is caricaturized

No one runs to kill the artist or the publisher.

But Mohamed …

Caricaturize Mohamed and the Muslims will kill you.

Moses with cell (Richard Codor @ https://tinyurl.com/yx9bs4os)

Water vs. wine (Reismueller @ https://tinyurl.com/yydx4p9k)

Buddha in a sombrero (Bodin Sterba @ https://tinyurl.com/y2oob335

TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE, neither Moses nor Buddha is (a) god or claimed to be a god. Paul claimed Jesus was Part 2 of a trinity of god, Jesus, and a holy spirit, but — I am not a scholar of Jesus — I don’t know that Jesus himself claimed to be god.

Mohamed, worshiped by Muslims on a level with Jesus, claimed only to be a prophet of god, although he elevated himself above both Jesus (whom most Muslims claim as a prophet) and Moses.

So what sets Mohamed above all others? What makes a caricature of Mohamed sacrilege worthy of death?

What religion allows, encourages, its followers to murder others simply because they object to a cartoon?

Is Mohamed such a minor entity that he is offended by such things — and given that he has been dead for centuries, how could he care?

Granted, the Roman Catholics were no better: the Inquisition, the Crusades as but two examples.

The early Protestants were equally bigoted.

Neither followers of the “peaceful” Jesus tolerated non-believers. In early America, people who failed to “toe the line” were branded as witches and, in New England, drowned in “dunking chairs.”

Even today, there are Protestants who fear any Catholic in any position — the recent clash over a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Still, Paul’s followers now rarely murder someone “in Jesus’ name.”

Has anyone heard of a Buddhist killing people in Buddha’s name? Not recently, anyway.

IT IS UNFORTUNATE for thinking Muslims that a few of their coreligionists are so extreme that they take it upon themselves to slaughter non-believers and not a few believers who had the temerity to do something the fanatics oppose (e.g., wear modern clothes, drive, have social intercourse with non-believers).

It is human nature to tar with a broad brush anyone who is “different” from ourselves for any reason: religion, dress, skin color (or lack thereof), education, etc.

One (pick an attribute) does something against society’s standards and all people of a similar attribute are, if not guilty, then at least suspect.

As for cartoons about Mohamed — I find nothing funny about the man or the religion founded on his name.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Mohamed

Opuscula Author ruins tale By citing sites That aren’t real

I JUST STARTED READING Got the Look by James Grippando.

According to the blurb on the jacket, Grippando “lives in Florida where is was a trial lawyer for 12 years.”

If his courtroom efforts were as sloppy as his book’s siting (vs. citing), then he probably lost more cases than he won.

 

Some of the action in Got the Look takes place in Miami.

This scrivener spent many of his adolescent years in Miami; all over Miami.

Bottom line: the discrepancies in his description of Miami locations is disconcerting, at best.

I could understand if Grippando — and his editors at HarperCollinsPublishers — lacked access to information about Miami, but the mistakes are pure laziness.

Setting the mood, Grippando puts the hero on a bench at the intersection of Miami Avenue and Flagler Street. According to 311 Transit (miamidade.gov), there is no bench at this intersection. (It took one email exchange to discover this.)

For anyone who knows Miami, it is divided into quadrants: NE/SE, NW/SW. Flagler is the north-south divider; Miami Avenue is the east-west divider.

Miami Avenue and Flagler Street intersection (https://tinyurl.com/y2sz79zm)

Grippando is not the first writer, and HarperCollinsPublishersis not the first bookseller to commit a geographic faux pas.

Another writer put the University of South Florida in Miami.

A logical mistake; Miami IS in “south Florida,” but the University of South Florida (USF) is mostly in Tampa FL (with branches in neighboring communities).

How do I know this? My First Born holds a degree from USF in Tampa.

By the way, Disney is not in Orlando; not even in Orange County. The major airport’s call letters, MCO, do NOT represent Mickey’s COuntry but McCoy. The flying field once was McCoy AFB, a Strategic Air Command (SAC) base.

To be fair, Grippando’s tale is “OK.”

Not all that believable,” but “OK.”

It is hard to suspend belief when known locations are incorrectly sited.

Perhaps I am simply a curmudgeon. Not perhaps; I am.

When I worked as a reporter, I had to describe things accurately. If I failed the accuracy test, either my editors or the readers would correct me. Readers can be hard on a young reporter.

That may somewhat explain why I take umbrage when something that easily can be checked is allowed to go unchecked.

Television and films are not much better, despite continuity editors.

It was funny when the mole on a face moves from place to place as it did for Richard Lewis as “Prince John” in Robin Hood: Men in Tights (right), but it is not funny when a character’s wardrobe varies from frame to frame in the same scene. It doesn’t happen often, but it happens.

Fortunately for tv and movies, the faux pas usually is quickly forgotten.

Not so with printed matter.

I’ll finish Grippando’s yarn, but I’m afraid I’ll be looking for more “sins of laziness.”

---

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Citing sites

Opuscula Curmudgeon retired To recliner & tv

I AM A GEEZER, AN OLD MAN, a curmudgeon.

I like shoot’em ups, Westerns.

Nothing new.

I was a fan of Tonto (Jay Silverheels nee' Harold Jay Smith, right) and his partners (two) as a youngster. I’ll still watch the program — only for the snippet of the William Tell Overture, of course. 😀

 

BUT, BEING A CURMUDGEON and being a former honest newspaper reporter, I pay attention to (selected) details.

For the record, I’m still honest, but I traded my press card for other work.

Learning from the Lone Ranger

The opening scene to most of the Lone Ranger (tv) movies showed the Lone Ranger firing his six shooter, raising his hand, then lowering it and firing again.

As a child I gave it little thought.

As an adult owning SA/DA revolvers, I understood WHY the guy did what he did.

Revolvers in the era the Lone Ranger represented were single-action (SA).

Translation: the shooter had to first pull the hammer back and then pull the trigger.

Many revolvers today are double-action (DA); pulling the trigger raises the hammer and then allows it to fall on the cartridge.

Most of my target practice is single-action; thumb back the hammer, acquire target, pull trigger.

Double-action can pull the barrel off the bulls eye.

That doesn’t mean I NEVER fire DA, but not often.

Six shooters were not

Smart cowboys knew that their six shooters should have one empty cartridge chamber.

Revolvers of the day lacked safety features of today’s pistols.

The hammer — and firing pin — was over the empty chamber.

If the gun fell, there was minimal chance it would discharge.

On the other hand, as soon as the hammer was pulled back, the cylinder advanced and a live round was now ready to be fired.

Some gun manufacturers today still recommend an empty chamber for revolvers, even with modern safety features.

Bottom line: Cowboy’s six-shooters actually were five shooters.

Safe Carry recommendation from modern revolve

Hollywood can’t count

Both Hollywood cowboys and other gun-totters — good guys and bad ones, too — seem never to reload their weapons.

They never seem to run out of cartridges already in the weapon.

It makes no difference it the gun is a revolver with five, six, or seven rounds in the cylinder, or a semi-automatic with “n” rounds in the magazine.

Hollywood guns almost never run out of ammunition.

I often watched Paladin (Richard Boone) fire an over-under Derringer and never reload the two-shooter.

Likewise, I recall seeing Matt Dillon (James Arness) load a revolver once — after Chester (Dennis Weaver) cleaned the marshal’s revolver and forgot to load it.

Lever (repeating) rifles also seemed never to be reloaded.

The 1860 Henry did hold an amazing sixteen (16) .44 caliber cartridges. (https://tinyurl.com/y522dp9g) The Winchester 1876, by comparison, held 10 rounds. (https://tinyurl.com/y3ty7tr8)

James Arness (Matt Dillon), left, and Richard Boone (Paladin), right)

Bullets vs. Cartridges

Bullets sit on top (or in front, depending on perspective) of a cartridge.

The cartridge contains a cap to ignite the propellant that sends the bullet on its way.

There are many bullet types, as there are many cartridge sizes. A .22 caliber cartridge and a 75mm Howitzer shell basically are the same design. (Size, of course, does make a difference.)

A magazine holds cartridges in a rifle or semi-automatic pistol. (A “pistol” may be a revolver, a semi-automatic, or by most accounts, a Derringer.) Clips hold cartridges that will be inserted into a magazine. The exception to that are “clips” designed to hold cartridges to be inserted into a revolver’s cylinder.

Cartridge components (https://tinyurl.com/yxgmcv7g)

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Curmudgeon

Opuscula Nobel presidents: Some for nothing, Nothing for some

Dry Bones by Kirschen for 26 Oct 2020 (https://tinyurl.com/y6yqdj43)

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO WONDER: Are prizes worth the paper on which they are printed?

For example: A former U.S. president receives the Nobel Peace Prize early in his term, according to the Nobel committee (https://tinyurl.com/y5wb4uf7) “"for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

Mind, (citing the Nobel award, ibid.) “Barack H. Obama, the 44th President of the United States, had been in power for less than eight months when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009. Among the reasons it gave, the Nobel Committee lauded Obama for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". Emphasis was also given to his support – in word and deed - for the vision of a world free from nuclear weapons.

Rhetorical Question: Did he accomplish any of those things during eight years in office?

For example: Another U.S. president managed to forge peace agreements between

Israel and
*  United Arab Emirates
*  Bahrain
*  Sudan
Between Kosovo and Serbia
Reduced tensions between North Korea and the world.
Reduced contributions to organizations that promote hatred and terrorism.

Never mind that the previous administration — led by a Nobel Peace Prize winner —

*  Failed to manage a peace agreement with ANY antagonists
*  Exacerbated conflicts
*  Refused to deal with North Korea despite its on-going threats to world peace
*  Bolstered Iran’s capability to make a nuclear weapon, ignoring Iran’s threats to all nations in the Middle East
*  Encouraged and provided financial support to terrorists (PLO/PFLP, Hamas/Islamic Jihad) by keeping U.S. taxpayer aid flowing to the terrorist “leadership.”

 

FOR THE RECORD, the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize went to the UN's World Food Program.

According to Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/yy6fjhwf),

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the food-assistance branch of the United Nations. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization, the largest one focused on hunger and food security, and the largest provider of school meals. Founded in 1961, it is headquartered in Rome and has offices in 80 countries. As of 2019, it served 97 million people in 88 countries, the largest since 2012, with two-thirds of its activities conducted in conflict zones.

Most assuredly the UN’s program — largely funded by U.S. taxpayers under the current administration — is a worthwhile function.

But compared to peace making? Compared to reducing the chance that people will be murdered in the name of religion or race or any other excuse?

As my Second Born, a computer wizard, would opine: “That doesn’t compute.”

Not the first Nobel embarrassment

According to both the BBC (https://tinyurl.com/yarclup4) and the New York Post (https://tinyurl.com/y264flh7),

Geir Lundestad told the AP news agency that the committee hoped the award would strengthen Obama.

Instead, the decision was met with criticism in the US. Many argued he had not had any impact worthy of the award.

Lundestad, writing in his memoir, Secretary of Peace, said even Obama himself had been surprised.

"Even many of Obama's supporters believed that the prize was a mistake," he says. "In that sense the committee didn't achieve what it had hoped for".

Some Obama’s advisers decided the honor could not be refused. But as ridicule rained down on the committee for handing a peacemaker’s award to a man who was ordering drone strikes on civilians overseas, the White House grew increasingly hesitant, dithering for weeks over how much of the traditional three-day awards gala he would attend.

Bottom line: the Prize committee had “high hopes” that failed to develop.

The Prize committee also gave the 1994 Peace Prize jointly to Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. It ignored Wm. Jefferson Clinton (Dem) who brokered the deal.

Rhetorical Question: How did that work out?

Is the Prize committee showing bias?

Democrat presidents get it.

Republican presidents don’t get it.

President Nixon, who opened China and got the U.S. out of Vietnam was nominated, but Henry Kissinger got the award. Only the Prize committee knows why a subordinate (Kissinger) won the prize while the boss (Nixon) was ignored. (Kissinger did deserve a Frequent Flier award.)

According to ThoughtCo. (https://tinyurl.com/y6gjgk9z) , three presidents and one vice-president were honored by the Prize committee:

Theodore Roosevelt (GOP), who was in office from 1901-09, was awarded the prize in 1906 "for his successful mediation to end the Russo-Japanese war and for his interest in arbitration, having provided the Hague arbitration court with its very first case.”

Woodrow Wilson (Dem), who was in office from 1913-21, was awarded the prize in 1919 for founding the League of Nations, the predecessor to the United Nations.

Jimmy Carter (Dem), who served one term from 1977 to 1981, was awarded the prize in 2002 "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development."

Vice President Al Gore (Dem) won the prize in 2007 for his work in researching and disseminating information about climate change.

Consider for a moment how the UN, nee’ League of Nations, has prevented conflicts; the “international conflicts” avoided by Carter, and the great progress made combating climate change during Democrat administrations.

Teddy (Roosevelt) won the prize for “successful mediation” of one war (that the Japanese actually won with their surprise attack on Port Arthur — a tactic they would use again on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor.)

In comparison, President Trump managed to arrange peace or “normalization” agreements between multiple countries in the Middle East and in Europe. To paraphrase the “Soup nazi” from Seinfeld (https://tinyurl.com/zwblsg9), “No prize for you (Trump).”

Here’s a thought: In how many peace — or even “non-aggression” — treaties has Joe Biden been involved in his 47 years in Washington, including eight as Prize winner Obama’s vice president?

Republican Ronald Reagan did not garner the Peace prize, but Communist Mikhail Gorbachev won the honor for “for his leading role in the peace process which today characterizes important parts of the international community.” (https://tinyurl.com/yxsgab25)

Dry Bones by Kirschen for 25 Oct 2020
(https://tinyurl.com/y6yqdj43)

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Embarrassed

Opuscula Fact checking? Only check facts That favor Biden

Thursday’s debate between the president and his opponent was — thanks to a MUTE button threat — more “civilized” than the previous debate between the two men. (I cannot bring myself to key “gentlemen.”)

The confrontation was limited to topics that should have put the opponent in good stead.

Topics that would highlight the president’s accomplishments, e.g., foreign affairs, were deliberately off the table.

The moderator, Kristen Welker, NBC News’ White House reporter, managed to, more of less, keep control of the event.

But it was AFTER the combatants left the stage that the bias became blatant.

 

Immediately following the face off, Norah O'Donnell and friends — Gail King and John Dickerson — trashed the president and promoted the contender.

Then the trio of obviously left-leaning “news” people called on Major Garrett to “check facts.”

The “fact checks” can be seen at https://tinyurl.com/y6a5npob — BUT FIRST, viewers must watch at least one advertisement for the contender. Does that suggest bias to anyone?

Garrett picked three facts to check.

Two for the incumbent; he ruled that those were false.

One for the contender; he ruled that one true.

This was, basically, a continuation from the first “debate” after which Garrett cherry picked the facts to check assuring the contender looked good at the incumbent’s expense.

Who said the media is biased?

As an aside, the only thing “major” about Major Garrett is his name. There is zero indication in his Wikipedia bio (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Garrett) that he ever served in any military organization or even volunteered for any public service (e.g., Peace Corps or AmeriCorps VISTA). “Major” is a “rank” given by his parents.

Foreign experience

Kirschen Dry Bones for 21 OCT 2020 (https://tinyurl.com/yxh62wmp)

Although the incumbent never served in the U.S. armed forces, during the current administration, he managed:

*  Peace with at least two of Israel’s Muslim neighbors was achieved and trade opened

*  Sudan is preparing to sign a normaliation agreement with Israel

*  (In the wings): Qatar, Oman, Muscat, Saudi Arabia

*  A peace agreement was inked between Kosovo and Serbia

*  Tensions with rogue North Korea were reduced (albeit not eliminated)

*  NATO European members were obliged to pick up a greater portion of the tab to protect the members

*  Iran sanctions, canceled by the previous administration, were reinstated

*  The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East had is budget cut, reducing some war-mongering, xenophobia in text books, and the amount of funds flowing into the pockets the PLO/PFLP and Hamas/Islamic Brotherhood leaders.

The peace agreements will help keep Americans out of harms way.

The contender, also lacking any military experience — although he suggests otherwise in a video at https://youtu.be/TM9dlqEdmp0 — should be promoting peace. He his son, Beau, was a major in the Delaware Army National Guard and served in Iraq.. He died of brain cancer at the age of 46 on May 30, 2015 after more than a week receiving treatment at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he spent his final moments. (https://tinyurl.com/y38qgon4)

Son Hunter managed to enlist in the Navy Reserve as an officer. He lasted less than a year, being released from the service in February for cocaine use. (https://tinyurl.com/yy45aj8p)

Hunter Biden, twice married, dated his brother’s Beau’s widow, Hallie Biden. (https://tinyurl.com/y4po9xax) According to Wikipedia, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_Biden) Beau's widow was Hunter's "domestic partner" from 2016–2018, A period during which he was married to Kathleen Buhle (1993; 2017)​.

The contender’s foreign relations activities involve him and son Hunter.

According to Fox News' Jesse Watters (https://tinyurl.com/y5m2vzk6),

Hunter was on the Board of Directors of a Chinese investment firm called BHR that was funded by the Chinese government and what did they do? They started acquiring companies that were beneficial to the Chinese military.

They were an anchor investor in something called China General Nuclear, which ended up being charged by our FBI for stealing nuclear secrets in the United States. They ended up buying part of an American dual-use technology company, meaning it produces technology that has civilian and military application. They ended up buying that for the benefit of the Chinese military.

Son Biden served on the board of Burisma Holdings, a major Ukrainian natural gas producer, from 2014 to 2019. (https://tinyurl.com/y4s9g7jl)

According to one newspaper,

A Ukrainian natural-gas company that employed Joe Biden’s son Hunter allegedly paid the former vice president $900,000 in lobbying fees.

Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, cited as evidence claims made by Andriy Derkach, a member of Ukraine’s parliament. Derkach held a press conference earlier Wednesday in Kyiv where he claimed to have documents showing how Burisma Holdings paid Joe Biden the lobbying fees.

“Biden, his son and his brother had a 30-year-long scam to make money, millions, selling his public office,” Giuliani claimed.

Hunter Biden worked for Burisma while his father served as vice president and acted as the point man on US effort to stamp out corruption in Ukraine. Hunter was paid $50,000 a month. (https://tinyurl.com/y26fxagk)

In Thursday’s face-to-face, the contender said he told the Chinese U.S. ships and planes could, and would, enter the China Sea at will. The contender’s boss refused to deal with North Korea, setting the stage for renewed conventional and possibly nuclear warfare.

It took a Republican (Richard Nixon) to open China to U.S. trade (perhaps Nixon’s greatest mistake). Nixon also got the U.S. out of Vietnam.

It took a Republican (Ronald Reagan) to bring down the Berlin Wall.

Xenophobia and racism

The contender accused the incumbent of xenophobia because the incumbent

*  Banned Chinese entry into the U.S. due to the Chinese Virus

*  Banned Muslims only from select countries known for exporting terrorism

*  Banned everyone coming to the U.S. from countries experiencing Covid-19

Unlike a previous U.S. president, the incumbent did NOT put U.S. citizens in prison camps (https://tinyurl.com/yahl2s3g).

Unlike a previous U.S. president, the incumbent did NOT send refugees back to their deaths (Medoff, R (2019). The Jews Should Keep Quiet, Chap. 5, ISBN 9780827614703)

Blacks are better off economically than under the previous administration. (https://tinyurl.com/yxvfb2dw, https://tinyurl.com/y43av4gc)

Latinos are better off economically than under the previous administration. (https://tinyurl.com/y5mwd3gd, https://tinyurl.com/yas7pkhg)

Chinese virus and Chinese trade

The contender said if he is elected he will

*  Have PPE made in America

*  Have medications made in America

*  Will reduce the U.S. dependence on China

All of the above are what the incumbent already is doing.

The incumbent does rashly claim that there will be a vaccine before the elections.

That is highly unlikely as the election only is days away. Spring is a more realistic time frame according to multiple government and non-government sources.

The challenger makes no claim when a vaccine will be available.

Does anyone care?

In truth, I suspect no one reading this cares about facts and fancy.

They made up their minds and many of us already cast our ballots.

The contender’s fans must be exceedingly confident that their candidate will prevail. I have not heard as many “name” personalities threaten to leave the country if the incumbent wins a second term.

Even when they promise to leave the United States, they don’t do it.

The contender promises to be president for ALL Americans, yet it is his party’s supporters (and a few in Congress) that has caused much of the nation’s division.

It is the opinion of some that if the contender prevails, he won’t last a year in office (https://tinyurl.com/y6elzo5g). The husband of the contender’s vice president choice already is announcing that “I am married to the next president of the United States” (https://tinyurl.com/y2vlvvz2). What does he know that the voters should know? For whom are they REALLY voting?

 

We live in interesting, albeit troubling, times.

---

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Fact checking

Opuscula College: Who needs it? Not the voters

The Democrats said they wanted to eliminate the Electoral College.

The Republicans said they wanted to eliminate the Electoral College.

Yet, the Electoral College still exists.

Why?

 

According to History.com (https://tinyurl.com/y27u3wz9)

Five times in history, presidential candidates have won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College.

History.com continues,

Among the many thorny questions debated by the delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention, one of the hardest to resolve was how to elect the president. The Founding Fathers debated for months, with some arguing that Congress should pick the president and others insistent on a democratic popular vote.

Their compromise is known as the Electoral College.

As with most compromises, rather than everyone winning, everyone — in particular five politicians — lost.

The fear

Still citing History.com,

First, they thought 18th-century voters lacked the resources to be fully informed about the candidates, especially in rural outposts. Second, they feared a headstrong “democratic mob” steering the country astray. And third, a populist president appealing directly to the people could command dangerous amounts of power.

While that could happen in 2020, given the presence of extremists on all sides and the number of unsolicited absentee ballots — blame it on Covid-19 — that may, or may not, be cast by unregistered persons or persons who are registered but not citizens — being able to register on-line without having to prove citizenship actually is no worse than registering in person and not having to prove citizenship.

Actually, in some states more proof of citizenship is required to get a driver’s license!

Knowledge of issues

Newspaper, tv, radio — all carry advertisements promoting candidates and issues.

That is not to claim that the advertisements are truthful or that either the candidates or those supporting them or specific issues are honest. Even “fact checkers” can be biased and check facts that best support their position.

Yes, I believe the media is biased; some more blatantly than others.

There is a plethora of information available. There is no excuse for a voter to claim ignorance of a candidate. Have email? The candidates’ supporters will find you. Have text messaging? Ditto. It doesn’t matter if you are a registered Republican; the Democrats still will try to get your vote. I’m sure the Republicans are no better.

Perhaps there should be a test before a voter is handed a ballot to see if he or she actually KNOWS who and what is on the ballot.

Yes, I know that would immediately be declared unconstitutional.

Technology

Today, October 2020, most voting at precinct places is electronic.

Voters show up at the polling place and prove they are registered to vote by providing some evidence; often a driver’s license. The poll worker compares the evidence to a list; if they match, the voter gets a ballot.

Voters mark their ballots and carry them to a scanner that records their votes.

The scanners are “dumped” into a computer at the Supervisor of Elections (SOE) or similar office and added to the output of other scanners at other polling places.

Mail-in and drop off ballots are scanned at “Election Central,” the Supervisor of Elections’ office.

As with polling places, there are supposed to be “poll watchers” to assure everything is on the up-and-up; kosher.

The biggest weakness in the mail-in ballots is the U.S. Post Office (USPS).

There is no guarantee that a ballot stuck in a voter’s letter box will be collected by the carrier; there is no guarantee that a ballot dropped in a USPS drop box or a Post Office branch will be delivered to the SOE, especially if the ballot is handled by a mail sorting facility between the time it is collected at the drop box or Post Office branch and the time is it supposed to be delivered to the SOE.

This scrivener has particularly bad mail service; despite complaints, Civil Service and the union protect the carrier.

Voters with mail-in ballots have the option of dropping them off at a local polling place once early voting commences, or taking the ballots to an SOE secure drop box. Both ways avoid putting the ballots into USPS hands.

Vote early and often

Incumbents generally are more concerned with cheating by their opponents’ followers.

With lax — sometimes non-existent — requirements to prove citizenship, the suspicion is that illegals will be casting ballots.

The Heritage Foundation Election Fraud Database (https://tinyurl.com/ycyn6t2z) presents a sampling of recent proven instances of election fraud from across the country. This database is not an exhaustive or comprehensive list. It does not capture all cases and certainly does not capture reported instances that are not investigated or prosecuted.

The database lists 1,298 “proven cases of voter fraud,” but fails to specify WHEN the fraud was discovered making is less useful.

History, unfortunately, has some (in)famous voter fraud.

The City Journal site (https://tinyurl.com/y3y45euf), records that

Nowhere did voter fraud have a more notorious record than in Tammany-era New York. Tammany Hall's ruthless efficiency in manufacturing votes—especially during the zenith of its power in the second half of the nineteenth century—is legendary. At the time, America didn't yet have privacy-protecting voting machines or official government ballots, so Tammany fixers could ensure that voters would cast ballots as promised. Vote riggers would simply give people pre-marked ballots and watch as they deposited them into the voting box.

The people of Chicago might dispute that.

The Block Club Chicago site (https://tinyurl.com/y654l7m7) offers

Chicago is famous for its history of people voting from the grave and for helping President John F. Kennedy “steal” the 1960 election. (JFK beat Richard Nixon by 9,000 votes in Illinois by capturing what some considered a suspiciously high 450,000 advantage in Cook County.)

Mayor Anton Cermak, the first in an unbroken stream of Democratic mayors since 1931, created what would became known as the infamous “Democratic Machine,” said Bob Crawford, a now-retired journalist who covered city politics for decades. The Machine ensured voters picked the right candidates, and the people who worked in it weren’t shy about using money, bribes or fake identities to get votes for Democrats.

Tactics may have changed, but the prospect of voter fraud is once again a significant consideration. Instead of registering names from tombstones, illegal aliens may be voting thanks both to unsolicited ballots and voter registrars who don’t demand proof of citizenship.

Both WUSA9 (https://tinyurl.com/y4mh8hbp) and WTOP (https://tinyurl.com/y59nympj) report that A half-million unsolicited absentee applications cause confusion in Virginia. That’s just one state. Similar situations have been reported elsewhere.

House decides

If neither presidential candidate receives the required 270 votes, the House of Representatives elects the president.

For the 2020 election, given the House’s Democrat majority, Harris-Emhoff will become the first female president of the United States.

I predict that Joe Biden will not complete a full term in office. His age and health are an issue and if that doesn’t force his capitulation, his party will drum up a way to get him declared unfit for office. I could be wrong.

The question is: WHEN will the House get the job, if ever?

There is so much speculation that voter fraud will be rampant that who ever looses the election likely will challenge many votes. At this point, it seems likely that the winner will be named sometime in December.

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