July 13, 2018
Friday 13 Ammo Girl
Dana Mathewson
And I recommend clicking the link to the article of hers that's included,
where she writes about the Terrified Jewish Nebbish who had to hire a plumber.
It's hilarious.
Happy Friday the Thirteenth, all y'all!
more...
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:30 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 156 words, total size 2 kb.
NY Times liked Trump before they Hated him
Dana Mathewson
Steven Hayward posts this VERY INTERESTING article in Power
Line. Back in 1984, the NYT had no reason to be totally negative on Donald
Trump, so it wasn't. Hayward begins:
I recall seeing Larry Kudlow, whom I know a bit, on the Sunday morning
network news shows a few weeks back and thinking that he looked terrible, like
he'd aged 10 years in just the month he'd been working for Trump. A few
hours later he was hospitalized for a heart attack. It was a minor heart attack
(if there is such a thing), and he was out of the hospital and back in form in
just a few days. But I asked a mutual friend how Larry was faring, and this
person, who also talks often to Trump on the phone at all hours of the day and
night, said "Look, you have to understand that Trump is a force of nature.
Even though he's 71, he's hard to keep up with.
This is preface for noting how the
New York Times thought
of Trump in
this largely positive feature about him from 1984. It's a
long read, but there are some interesting and familiar-sounding parts of
this story:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/07/the-ny-times-on-trump-that-was-then.php
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:25 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 214 words, total size 2 kb.
Cuomo thinks he can sue SCOTUS
Timothy Birdnow
Here is a wonderfully idiotic example of how liberals think - or fail to think, I should say. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to sue if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade!
.@NYGovCuomo on abortion, at a rally in Poughkeepsie: "I will sue when the Supreme Court acts, and I want the New York State law in place."
— Jimmy Vielkind (@JimmyVielkind) July 11, 2018
"We have a better legal case when the Supreme Court acts because I will sue when the Supreme Court acts,†he promised
End excerpts.
Sue who? SCOTUS?
I guess he doesn't know that ultimatly SCOTUS would hear the case.
I suppose Cuomo thinks he can have the state police arrest the Secret Service, or call out the state National Guard against the Marines.
What a fool!
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
08:48 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 141 words, total size 1 kb.
July 12, 2018
Slavery - What they didn't teach Larry Elder in High School
Larry Elder nails the history of slavery in a summary of what was not taught to Americans in high school, a history that preceeded the Middle Passage of slaves to the New World. And even that had millions going to Brazil.
Slavery: What They Didn't Teach in My High School
A man I have known since grade school changed his name, years ago, to
an Arabic one. He told me he rejected Christianity as "the white man's
religion that justified slavery." He argued Africans taken out of that
continent were owed reparations. "From whom?" I asked.
Arab
slavers took more Africans out of Africa and transported them to the
Middle East and to South America than European slavers took out of
Africa and brought to North America. Arab slavers began taking slaves
out of Africa beginning in the ninth century -- centuries before the
European slave trade -- and continued well after.
In "Prisons
& Slavery," John Dewar Gleissner writes: "The Arabs' treatment of
black Africans can aptly be termed an African Holocaust. Arabs killed
more Africans in transit, especially when crossing the Sahara Desert,
than Europeans and Americans, and over more centuries, both before and
after the years of the Atlantic slave trade. Arab Muslims began
extracting millions of black African slaves centuries before Christian
nations did. Arab slave traders removed slaves from Africa for about 13
centuries, compared to three centuries of the Atlantic slave trade.
African slaves transported by Arabs across the Sahara Desert died more
often than slaves making the Middle Passage to the New World by ship.
Slaves invariably died within five years if they worked in the Ottoman
Empire's Sahara salt mines."
END OF QUOTE
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
05:37 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 302 words, total size 2 kb.
July 11, 2018
The Anti-Trump Conservative Firing Circle Is Wildly Out Of Touch With The American Electorate
Dana Mathewson, with hat tip to David Dickinson
There's a huge amount (should I say YUGE, in this Age of Trump?) of political commentary being written these days. Of that written on the side of the Right, there is quite a bit of variation. One thing in short supply is self-awareness on the part of the writer.
but I will include a few pithy excerpts to (hopefully) whet your appetite. It's a long article but very worth your time.
In a democratic culture, the pundit is not a philosopher. He exists
to inform and guide like-minded voters, which is only possible if they
trust him to be thinking along with them.
I know what it feels like to be out of touch with the electorate. In
the last presidential election I worked on the campaign of Wisconsin
Gov. Scott Walker. After he conceded defeat, I joined the foreign policy
team of Sen. Marco Rubio. About a week before Rubio bowed out of the
race, Nate Silver, the election analyst, published an article analyzing
the senator’s dilemma.
Rubio, Silver explained,
was almost every Republican’s fallback candidate. He was the first
choice of only one group: "cosmopolitan conservatives.†Silver’s label
hit me with a jolt of self-recognition. I have degrees from Stanford and
Princeton universities, spend many weeks of every year abroad, and live
and work in uber-liberal Washington DC, which I love. I am a social
conservative, and I identify wholeheartedly with Red America. Silver had
me cold: I am a cosmopolitan conservative.
Referring to an article attacking Trump's conservative critics written by Emerald Robinson, Doran goes on to say:
The intellectuals Robinson attacks are also members of my clan. We
may not live, as she suggests, in mansions, but we do breathe a rarified
air—and we are very small in number. If we were to hold a national
conference, we might fill a large bistro on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
Thanks, however, to the work we do in the policy world and media, we
have a public profile out of proportion to our numbers.
Cosmopolitan
conservatives have mistaken their outsized visibility in the media for
indispensability to the conservative cause. The prevailing opinion among
them during the election was not just that Trump was going to lose, but
that he was going to deliver an historic defeat to the Republican
Party.
In summer 2016, I became a traitor to my clan, breaking with this
consensus and publicly supporting Trump. Some of my associates let me
know they considered my move morally indefensible. It soon became
obvious that they saw themselves as valiant knights manning the ramparts
on the citadel of true conservatism, guarding the one true creed until
Trump self-destructed.
It's a great article, among other things pointing out that the group's present worship of Ronald Reagan is at odds with the way they viewed him at the time of his presidency.
For my money, the kicker is the last paragraph, "throwing some shade" upon Jonah Goldberg himself by saying;
The Jonah Goldberg who in 2008 published "Liberal Fascism†would have
recognized the FBI’s surveillance of Trump and the Robert Mueller probe
for exactly what they are—outrageous abuses of power designed to smother
the Jacksonian voice of the American people. The Jonah Goldberg of
yesteryear wryly observed that if fascism ever came to America, it
wouldn’t arrive dressed in brown shirts and jackboots. It would come
instead wearing shirts emblazoned with big smiley faces. For some
inexplicable reason the Jonah Goldberg of today fails to realize that
those shirts would also say, "Impeach Trump!â€
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:07 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 634 words, total size 5 kb.
Devil's Advocate on Kavanaugh
Timothy Birdnow
So now the Orange Peril has chosen his nominee to stand athwart history and shout "stop" (or shout Yipee! depending on how this nomination turns out) and the big C Conservative movement - compromising the Innermost sanctum of the District of Columbia and the big monied class - has collectively interjected "Huzzah!" or "good show old boy!{ or the other acceptable jubillant ejaculations that do not bespeak low breeding - we must ask if the newly nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh is really the second coming of Scalia or is he the David Souter redoux. Well, maybe not Souter, but is he going to be the accolyte of the Founding Fathers or just another tinhorn tyrant with a gavel. While almost all of the conservative movement - including almost all of the radio talk show hosts and online authors - think this is Scalia II, son of Scal, and while I hope it is true, I am going to look at this with a critical eye. In point of fact I see a lot of red flags with this guy, and I want to throw a little cold water on the inebriated conservative mvement lest we all wind up weeping in our morning after alkaseltzer.
more...
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
06:14 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 1012 words, total size 6 kb.
The Dept. of Veterans Affairs - National Cancer Institute Alliance, a double edged sword
Jack Kemp
Recently the co-founders of the veterans' charity Backpacks for Life sent me information about the Dept. of Veterans Affairs getting involved with "giving veterans access to the latest anti-cancer treatments." The glowing press release states, in part:
https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=5082
VA Partnership with National Cancer Institute Will Boost Veteran Access to Clinical Trials
WASHINGTON — Today the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that it has formed a partnership with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) which will provide more access to the latest treatment options for VA patients with cancer.
"Strategic partnerships, such as this one with the National Cancer Institute, allow VA to leverage the strengths of both organizations to the benefit of all stakeholders, especially our Veterans,†said VA’s Acting Secretary Peter O’Rourke. "By increasing enrollment in these trials, VA and Veterans will contribute to important cancer research — this will not only help our Veterans, but also advance cancer care for all Americans and people around the world.â€
The NCI and VA Interagency Group to Accelerate Trials Enrollment, also known as NAVIGATE, is launching at 12 VA sites: Atlanta, Georgia; Bronx, New York; Charleston, South Carolina; Denver, Colorado; Durham, North Carolina; Hines, Illinois; Long Beach, California; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Palo Alto, California; Portland, Oregon; San Antonio, Texas; and West Haven, Connecticut. Boston, Massachusetts, will also serve as a coordinating center for the effort.
END OF QUOTE
This has an optimistic tone. But, as they say, "the Devil is in the details."
I don't want to be negative but I've had some indirect life experiences and know the problems involved with what they call in the computer business as "beta testing" and in the medical field as "candidates for first versions of experimental drugs." Both of these situations mean the test subject is the first person getting access to the latest devices or treatments. This can be good, bad or a mixture of both outcomes.
Big tech companies big reputations like IBM or Microsoft are famous for selling its customers on the idea that they will be fortunate to get the first version of a new product - before all the bugs have been worked out. These customers are called "beta testers." What often happens is the customer finds some flaws in the design of the software or hardware and the big company gets the customer to be their testing department for free. After receiving improved suggestion designs (also called "complaints") come in, the big company later introduces "Version 2.0" with fixes made to the mistakes in the original one. The Version 2.0 is called the "new, updated version" - and it is. If the first version didn't have too many flaws, this is a win-win for all people at the customers' companies and for the big manufacturer. And often times this is a mixed bag of good and bad.
As for testing new medicines, the situation is more complicated. As a small boy, I, along with many of my classmates, was one of the test subjects in the 1950s for both the early versions of Dr. Salk's and Dr. Sabin's (anti) polio vaccines. The risk of getting that horrible disease caused many parents to grant permission for their children to become test subjects for the first version of both these medicines designed to fight a dreaded childhood disease. You can read more about those 1950s tests at https://amhistory.si.edu/polio/virusvaccine/vacraces2.htm
The U.S. has had a history of using prisoners as test subjects for new medicines, often (but not always) receiving reduced prison time for their participation. Many adults with serious illnesses that have not responded to other treatments - or for which no other treatment exists but that of the experimental medicine offered - have voluntered to try something untried. As Bob Dylan once sang, "When you ain't got nothin', you got nothin' to lose."
And then there is a history of the military using service people as medical test subjects with vaccines. It has been speculated that the vaccines given to U.S. Veterans of the 1991 Gulf War were possibly a contributing factor in a condition known as Gulf War Syndrome. The Department of Veterans Affairs own website states that:
https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/gulfwar/sources/vaccinations.asp
Research on vaccinations and Gulf War Veterans
The Health and Medicine Division (formally known as the Institute of Medicine) of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concluded in its report Gulf War and Health: Depleted Uranium, Sarin, Pyridostigmine Bromide, and Vaccines (2000) that there is inadequate or insufficient evidence to determine whether an association does or does not exist between multiple vaccinations and long-term adverse health problems.
END OF QUOTE
Anne Linscott, an attorney with Hill and Ponton (Disability Attorneys) writes at her firm's website that:
https://www.hillandponton.com/vaccines-and-gulf-war-illness/
The Anthrax Vaccine
Of the vaccines that Gulf War veterans received, one of the most controversial one is the anthrax vaccine. Concerns were raised over the effectiveness of the vaccine against protecting against inhalation of anthrax, quality control in the production of the vaccine, the vaccine’s short and long-term health effects, the components of the vaccine, and policies of the military that required mandatory vaccination.
A major concern, and one of great debate, is the side-effects of giving the anthrax vaccine. There is still a lot of research that needs to be done to determine the long-term side-effects of the anthrax vaccine. Adding to the lack of information is that many of the Department of Defense’s studies on the safety of the vaccine do not include long-term follow up. All vaccines pose risk of adverse side effects. Common side effects of vaccines include soreness and swelling where the vaccine was administered, and fever. However, there is always a risk that a vaccine can produce more serious side-effects. In 2002, a study of approximately 900 veterans found a strong correlation between the anthrax vaccine and subsequent health problems. Known side-effects of the anthrax vaccine can be mild, moderate, or severe. The following are examples of such side-effects:
Mild/Moderate: reactions on the arm where the vaccine was given such as tenderness, redness, itching, development of a lump or bruise, muscle aches; headaches; joint pain; fever; and fatigue.
Severe: signs that a reaction to the anthrax vaccine is severe include difficulty breathing, weakness, hoarseness, wheezing, a fast heartbeat, hives, dizziness, paleness, or swelling of the lips and throat. Serious reactions involving the skin and nervous system have been reported, but a direct link to the anthrax vaccine has not been conclusively proven.
Another concern regarding the anthrax vaccine is the components used to make the vaccine. One of these components is squalene. Squalene, a banned chemical additive, was found in blood tests of hundreds of sick Gulf War veterans. Squalene is not approved for internal human use other than in highly controlled experiments, but it has been studied for use as a tool to boost the body’s immune systems against certain diseases. In a study of Gulf War veterans suffering from Gulf War Syndrome, conducted by Tulane University, 95% of the veterans had high levels of squalene antibodies in their blood. Researchers believe this may suggest a possible link between the anthrax vaccine and Gulf War Syndrome.
In Closing…Although there is a lot of research showing a link between vaccinations and Gulf War Syndrome, the VA does not officially recognize that link. However, many different research organizations continue to evaluate possible causes of Gulf War veteran’s health problems. As part of the effort to learn more about how Gulf War service affected veterans, the VA established the Gulf War Registry.
END OF QUOTE
The Backpacks for Life website recently had an article on how the malaria medicine mefloquine, given to U.S. troops in the most recent middle east wars, mirrored the effects of PTSD. A doctor, writing in the Huffington Post in 2013, claimed mefloquine could lead to much worse. This became part an article at the Aviary. http://tbirdnow.mee.nu/_malaria_medicine_ptsd_suicides_
Former U.S. Navy psychologist Dr. Heidi Squier Kraft was deployed to the more recent middle eastern war in Iraqi. She wrote a powerful book about her experiences called "Rule Number Two: Lessions I Learned in a Combat Hospital," a book endorsed by, among other notables, U.S. Marine General (Ret.) Anthony Zinni, former commander of the U.S. Central Command.
Starting on page 18, in a chapter called "Fever," Dr. Kraft states:
Before the dawn of my third morning in country, I emer seat-soaked from vivid, disturbing dreams. I felt disorientd and nauseated, and a searing pain ripped across my shoulders and left arm....The pain radiated frm my left deltoid muscle, and suddenly I knew: it was the site of my smallpox vaccination, adminsitered in Kuwait five days before our flight to Iraq.
END OF QUOTE
The Dr. Kraft goes on to tell of her having a temperature of 103 and a Marine physicians' assistant writing her a perscription for antibiotics and ibuprofen. Her fever didn't subside for two days, long after her first "request" from her Marine Commanding Officer to minister to the emotional needs of some Marines whose vehicle had hit a land mine.
So in conclusion I have to say my knowledge of medicine and specifically those medicines used in the U.S. military is more general and not that detailed. Even as a non-medical doctor, and a "citizen blogger" with no travel expense account and no medical background, it is difficult for me to gather more detailed information because I do not have both a travel budget and a press pass from a major news outlet, i.e., a paid job there with an expense account. And all the facts in the Dept. of Veterans Affairs press release point to only one partial conclusion: their optimistic version of the situation. The press release is, ironically, inconclusive and needs a lot more investigation to find out how this partnership between the VA and the National Cancer Institute will work on a practical level and what type of impact it will have on veterans. I suspect there will be glowing stories coming out of this partnership - and some not so glowing.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
04:28 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 1682 words, total size 11 kb.
July 10, 2018
Why Socialists Like Soccer
Editor's note; I disagree with Daren's categorization of football as unthinking brutishness. While football is rough and fast, it requires immense amounts of strategy and careful thought, more I think than baseball. Clock management, for example, is a crucial part of football and there is nothing remotely comparable in baseball. Every play involves numerous variables that have to be taken into account by all of the players. In baseball there is far less of that. But Daren makes awesome points here otherwise!
Daren Jonescu
Spectator
sports often teach us a lot about the people, or rather peoples, who
make them popular. There is nothing new about this, of course. Seneca
taught us as much about the state of Roman society in his time as about
his own Stoic sensibilities, when he wrote, in his Moral Letter "On Crowdsâ€:
more...
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:32 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 2003 words, total size 13 kb.
El Toro Marine Air Base contamination
Jack Kemp
From
the website for "The Few The Proud The Forgotten" (the Camp Lejeune
toxic water main info website) there are also details of toxic water at
the historic Marine Corps Air Station El Toro near Irvine, California
(opened in 1943, closed in 1999).
You can read all the information, plus links to other articles, at
Here are some import topics in the article:
While
MCAS El Toro is a separate issue from Camp Lejeune, TFTPTF felt that it
was important to let our membership know about the situation. I hope
that when you speak about Camp Lejeune that you also mention and think
about El Toro. Here is a synopsis from Robert J. O’Dowd with www.mwsg37.com:
MCAS El Toro
Marines take great pride "in taking care
of their own." Marine and Navy veterans who were stationed at former
MCAS El Toro are at risk for exposure to toxic chemicals as a result of
the contamination of the soil and groundwater. Very few know of their
exposure.
Marines have been exposed to trichloroethylene (TCE)
and tetrachloroethylene (PCE), suffered serious health consequences, and
have no idea of what hit them.
A number of Marines report serious illnesses linked to toxic exposure. Some of the emails are posted at
www.mwsg37.com.
Others have asked to withhold their names. Neither the Navy nor the
Marine Corps made any attempts to notify El Toro veterans.
SECTION OMITTED
EPA traced the "hot spot" to MWSG-37's maintenance
hangars: "the primary VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) source is
present beneath Buildings 296 and 297, extending to the south with
decreasing concentrations to the southern Station boundary. Several
smaller source areas exist in the soil beneath Site 24, including a PCE
soil gas plume located west of Building 297. The VOC concentrations in
soil gas generally increase with depth, and the highest concentrations
occur near the water table. VOCs in the area of Buildings 296 and 297
extend to groundwater directly beneath those buildings." How much
TCE/PCE was used at El Toro? It's anybody's guess. El Toro kept no TCE
usage records.
SECTION OMITTED
The risk of serious illness for
those who worked in MWSG-37 in or near the maintenance hangars was high
because of exposure to toxic vapors from open containers and from vapor
intrusion. Others on the base were at some risk for exposure from vapor
intrusion from the contaminated soil and groundwater. If contaminated
well water was used in swimming pools and for irrigation, the risk for
exposure to these carcinogens through dermal contact is evident. In the
words of one toxicologist El Toro "was a toxic waste dump.†At least one
national law firm has taken an interest in injuries from toxic exposure
at El Toro.
Tim King, reporter for Salem-News (
http://www.salem-news.com/tgsearch.php?tag=marine_corps),
continues his series of investigative reports/videos on El Toro. Tim
King’s reports raise more questions about the base's contamination, the
impact on the local community and the significant amount of money
changing hands in the sale of the base to real estate interests.
Semper Fi,
Robert J. O'Dowd
www.mwsg37.com
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:02 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 513 words, total size 5 kb.
Technical Difficulties
Timothy Birdnow
Dear readers,
Apologies but we are experiencing technical difficulties, or I am at any rate, My e-mail crashed and I can't get it fixed properly. Articles by your favorite contributors may be a bit slow to appear for a while. Please be patient. I can still post myself, though.
This post will remain at the top for a while.
Thanks!
Tim
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
07:26 AM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 65 words, total size 1 kb.
1
Good post, thanks for nice sharing
Posted by: smith at July 10, 2018 03:46 PM (6GeH2)
2
The number of potential technical problems is huge not because airplanes are prone to technical problems they aren't but because the safety procedures for airplanes are extraordinarily strict compared to what you might do with a car or bus Online Essay Help UK.
Posted by: elianahermione at July 12, 2018 04:05 AM (elkWa)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
July 09, 2018
July 08, 2018
The RINO Empire Strikes Back against Jim Jordan
Timothy Birdnow
A vile campaign of lies and innuendo has been launched against Jim Jordan, the conservative candidate to take Paul "Pee Wee" Ryan's job as House Speaker.
Jordan is being accused of ignoring complaints about sexual harassment of 2 wrestlers against a physician going back twenty years - to his days as a wrestling coach at OSU. The two accusers both have rather shady histories, one having been convicted of fraud.
According to Conservative HQ:
more...
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:19 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 674 words, total size 5 kb.
NARAL Mad they couldn't Abort Illegal Alien Children
Timothy Birdnow
The National Abortion Rights Action League is indignant over the Trump policy of putting minor children in resorts, er, protective custody until their gate crashing parents can have their asylum cases adjudicated.
According to Life Site News:
more...
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:39 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 497 words, total size 3 kb.
July 07, 2018
The Fix is in - but should it be?
Dana Mathewson
Good article. If you asked me, I'd say the Democrat Party (or every member thereof) needs to be "fixed," as in, what we often do to dogs and cats.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
01:12 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 40 words, total size 1 kb.
69kb generated in CPU 0.0183, elapsed 0.779 seconds.
35 queries taking 0.7678 seconds, 197 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
