January 21, 2022
- Covid-19 vaccines and treatments: we must have raw data, now
- Data should be fully and immediately available for public scrutiny
- The lack of access to data is consistent across vaccine manufacturers.
- Underlying data for covid-19 therapeutics are similarly hard to find.
We are left with publications but no access to the underlying data on reasonable request. This is worrying for trial participants, researchers, clinicians, journal editors, policy makers, and the public.
"The journals that have published these primary studies may argue that they faced an awkward dilemma, caught between making the summary findings available quickly and upholding the best ethical values that support timely access to underlying data.
In our view, there is no dilemma; the anonymised individual participant data from clinical trials must be made available for independent scrutiny."
Among regulators, the US Food and Drug Administration is believed to receive the most raw data but does not proactively release them. After a freedom of information request to the agency for Pfizer’s vaccine data, the FDA offered to release 500 pages a month, a process that would take decades to complete, arguing in court that publicly releasing data was slow owing to the need to first redact sensitive information.
Governments are spending trillions of dollars without access covid-19 vaccines and treatments based on questionable research summaries.
The research data needs to be able to be scrutinized by independent players.
covid 19 vaccine and treatments; we must have the raw data now
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
12:22 PM
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Overall COVID cases plunge by ONE THIRD in US over last 24 hours: Only 15 states have seen daily virus cases jump by 100% or more over the past two weeks
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12:11 PM
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Snow a thing of the past because of Global Warming?
I don't think so.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
12:10 PM
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Solar: an Example of Grassroots Opposition
"Without exception, in every locale where solar power has been introduced as a major source of power, electricity costs rise, usually by about 50% over conventional power.â€
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
11:35 AM
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I am wondering if our current administration is in the middle of a "Wag the Dog" (1997 film) moment.
Merriam-Webster definition of "wag the dog:" "superfluous (military) action in order to
Tim adds:
Absolutely. It's why all the saber-rattling with Russia over Ukraine. Biden could take steps to prevent an invasion by Russia - he could arm the Ukrainians the way Trump was doing, and he could squeeze them economically via low energy prices, but Biden wants those high to promote "green" policies. Russia's entire economy is based on oil and gas. Biden greenlighted the Russian gas pipeline to Europe, making them more dependent on Russian gas for heat. Now the Europeans probably won't support a major energy boycott. "Renewable" energy in Germany and other places in Europe have made them dependent on Russian fuels. I suspect Biden wants an invasion. His poll numbers are down at 35%, numbers that are generally guaranteed to end badly for any President. He has to do something to get them up, and a war would be wonderful from his dementia-laden perspective. That is the only way to shore up his numbers - and to save the day for the Democrats who stand to lose their shirts come November. Putin likes to move during the Olympics, I might add. He invaded Georgia during the '08 Olympics, Crimea during the Olympics, and now probably Ukraine proper. And if China moves on Taiwan at the same time we will be uttterly powerless. Biden's weakness has made all this possible.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
11:32 AM
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"What is at stake... therefore, is much more than Ukraine itself or Russia's geopolitical ambitions; it is ultimately about the lessons that China and Iran will take away on what to expect in the future from the US and its NATO allies over Taiwan, the South China Sea, or in the Middle East.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18157/europe-weak-response-russia?fbclid=IwAR3RsoJe8TnPVmcPzT7aePaAROV7kf5KuSR8uYJXrWouK01-1ldnVGzYrHI
None of this would be happening if we had a strong President and kept the price of oil and gas down by ramping up our own production. Biden's pursuit of the dream of "green energy" empowered Putin. Russia's economy is all based on energy. He couldn't afford to do this if prices were down. I wrote about this very thing back in '08 and the Georgian invasion. It is entirely pertinent to today's problem.And of course the Charlie Foxtrot in Afghanistan shows the U.S. military can't fight it's way out of a paper bag. BTW the Olympics have always been a time when Putin likes to make aggressive actions. He did in during the Olympics in his invasion of Georgia, and again when he invaded Crimea. There is every reason to believe it will happen again. And Biden needs a war, so may let this situation drift until we are in great peril. Otherwise the Democrats are going to lose Congress. That can't be allowed.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
11:29 AM
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Unquestionably. This is nothing but a power grab. I get very angry when I hear media people call it "voting rights legislation". Voting rights for whom, precisely? They are forcibly removing voting rights by implementing policies that negate the rights of registered legal voters. It should be called Vote Suppresion legislation. That is what it is.
The Democrats Voting Rights Agenda isn't for U, it's for Them
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
11:25 AM
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Here is the continuing saga of my argument with a liberal named Mike Reynolds.
Mike's a good guy by and large but a typical young person without the wisdom to know how badly he's been duped over the years. I do my best to educate him.
See part I here.
Mike replies:
It is an evasive argument that they condemned abortion, that is not the issue in question. The issue is that they did not condemn abortion as murder because they adhered to the doctrine of late ensoulment, not ensoulment at conception. There was always a minority of church fathers who adhered to ensoulment at conception but they were did not come to dominate until the mid 19th century.
I reply:
"The issue is that they did not condemn abortion as murder because they adhered to the doctrine of late ensoulment, not ensoulment at conception. There was always a minority of church fathers who adhered to ensoulment at conception but they were did not come to dominate until the mid 19th century." Then why did they condemn abortion early on? The fact is the Church has pretty much always agreed that abortion is murder Mike. Those who did not were the ones outside the norm. And the way the Catholic Church works is it enshrines a principle into cannoon law only after it has been debated over decades. I would add that now, with modern technology showing clearly how a fetus develops, there is even more reason to doubt the "late ensoulment" theory.
The Catholic Church has always considered abortion a grave sin. https://www.hli.org/resources/has-the-catholic-church-always-condemned-abortion/ Claims to the contrary are revisionism. https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/religion-and-philosophy/apologetics/church-has-always-condemned-abortion.html
Mike says:
I retort:
Mike, yoy say "It is an evasive argument that they condemned abortion, that is not the issue in question." Who is being evasive? On what grounds did they condemn abortion? Was it because it was messy? Uh, yes, I went to college. And you make my point for me; the DOD and others funded much of our modern technology, which shows that yes indeed academia is a government thing.
He admitted he lied about Romney solely for political reasons Mike. It's one thing to color the truth but to openly lie and solely to defeat an opponent makes him a liar.
Mike, if the number of third trimester abortions is so low then Mr. Reid and his party should have had no reason whatsoever to not oppose them. But he and they did. And in fact some of them supported partial birth abortion, which is infanticide. At what point do you consider a fetus worth saving Mike? Discussion about finding birth defects hardly invalidates the fact that you have a viable fetus which will be a viable child. If we start killing off the inconvenient where does it end?
Oh, and Mike women were punished for having abortions on occasion. The men were punished more often. Your argument is falling of it's own weight; you admit it was illegal but then excuse it as not punished, as though that made everything better. Well, if that was the case, why was Roe v. Wade before Scotus in the first place? BTW there were only two cases where women were prosecuted for abortions in the early 20th century, when it was illegal. That was in Pennsylvania in 1911 and in Texas in 1922. So your claim that the early America was somehow different doesn't make much sense. In New York in 1219 Anna Maria Cockin was sentenced to thirty lashes for aborting her baby, so there WAS punishment in colonial America. But it was indeed rare, and all through American history we've seen abortion laws targeting abortion providers, or the men who impregnated the women then demanded they abort. It has almost never targeted women.
Again, Harry Reid was a strong pro-life candidate early in his career who switched when it became politically convenient for him to do so. And he did so despite it being a strong tenant of his avowed faith.
BTW Studies by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute suggest that your reasoning about why women get late-term abortion is incorrect. Most simply want to end a pregnancy, according to them. https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/truth-about-late-term-abortions/
The Turnaway Study was conducted at UC San Francisco and found that a majority of late term abortions was younger women who delayed the procedure for a variety of reasons - disagreement with the father, lack of money, or an unwillingness to accept the situation. NOT because the child had a birth defect.
If we are looking at abortion as a purely pragmatic thing then we must accept that there is considerable evidence the fetus feels pain at least in the third trimester. That makes it cruel and unusual punishnment, to put it mildly.
BTW the Turnaway Study was solidly pro-abortion, and would thus have little reason to promote this notion of choice by the women so inclined.
As to abortion in the olden days, all 13 colonies banned it in 1776. And it went back to colonial years; in 1652 a woman was convicted for aborting her fetus, for example, according to records. One Captain William Mitchell impregnated a young lady and forced her to drink a substance to induce abortion. He was tried and, though acquitted, was sentenced for other crimes in the case (there was insufficient evidence he forced her to drink the potion.)
There are mulitiple other stories of this nature. Colonial America was hardly abortion-friendly.
But back to Harry Reid; I stated quite plainly in one of my posts that I thought it terrible to wish the man eternal damnation. I would not wish that on anyone; no matter how bad a thing they did, eternity is not a fit punishment. I think Mr. Reid was an awful person (so much of the hyper-partisanship we see today goes back to Reid's bare-knuckle approach to politics) but it's not my place to judge the man, nor is it anyone else's. Speculating that he might be in the 'tarnal flames is a different matter, though.
I would say a great many politicians are probably there, sadly.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:21 AM
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January 20, 2022
Had an argument with a usually polite liberal over Harry Reid.
Mike Reynolds says:
I got a stomach flu after which I could tell this was going nowhere and never looked at the last round of replies. Also, I saw your post where all your friends agreed vehemently agreed that Harry Reid is in Hell or is in grave danger of damnation. I don't know what makes him different from any other Democrat, he was a rather bland person. So, you must think all Democrat's salvation is in jeopardy. Despite your veneer of civility and manners, that is a very deep level of contempt and a profound a priori bias against which it is impossible to rationally debating much of anything. And you all think you know better than scientists. I think you should use that approach with lawyers and refuse to ever hire good lawyers! lol...
Here is a fascinating interview by an ultra-conservative (Steven Crowder aka Louder w/ Crowder) of a psychologist widely respected by conservatives for his pervasive and vituperous anti-feminist arguments.https://Âwww.youtube.com/Âwatch?v=eHyDW8-X9Pg
I retort:
Mike I don't necessarily agree with my Facebook friends, but I will say this; Harry Reid violated the tenants of his religion repeatedly, most notably by supporting abortion in direct violation of Church teaching. That is a huge thing. He also SOUNDED bland but was anything but. And he had ties to the Mafia. I don't presume to judge where he is but I wouldn't want to have to answer for so much of what he did. (True of most politicians, on both sides of the aisle, granted.)
Oh, and "know better than scientists". Which scientists? You assume a scientist working for a government agency is SCIENCE and that is the end of it. I can quote scientists who disagree, but you give them no credence. Science isn't about a consensus anyway. It's about logic and truth. I don't know which particular post has you so wound up, but you seem to be accusing me of being a closed-minded bigot and I could say the same would apply in your case since you ignore the science that disagrees with your interpretation.
I wouldn't hire a lawyer advising me to plead guilty to a crime I did not commit because it would make him richer, or accept his advice if it would bankrupt me. Why should my standards for a scientist be any lower?
I would also add to the litany of Mr. Reid's sins, he knowingly lied about Mitt Romney and when asked said "well, it worked". Yes, politicians lie, but he had absolutely no problem trying to smear Romney with what he knew was a lie.
Thou shalt not bear false witness... more...
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02:17 PM
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Biden Approval Rating Plunges to Lowest Gallup Rating Ever
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12:07 PM
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Director Joss Whedon Breaks Silence About Film Set Abuse Allegations, Waves Them Off
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12:06 PM
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From the Wall Street Journal:
"Highly selective universities have benefited from free-flowing federal loan money, and with demand for spots far exceeding supply, the schools have been able to raise tuition largely unchecked. The power of legacy branding lets prestigious universities say, in effect, that their degrees are worth whatever they charge.â€
Imagine if this were, say, a Christian ministry. What do universities
do? They trick gullible parents and students into forking over massive
amounts of money with a promise it will pay off handsomely, but it
rarely does. It is money for a promise. And they charge whatever they
wish and they provide a poor product, generally one aimed at political
indoctrination rather than preparing the student for his or her future.
And they oppress the students with all sorts of codes and demands. If
this were a Christian ministry the DOJ would be all over them. But it's
not; it's something that cranks out the people running our government
so they are never investigated, nver prosecuted, never touched.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
11:42 AM
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Calif. Finally Agrees to Stop Forcing Kids to Pray to Aztec Gods in Schools
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
11:32 AM
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https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-airport-network-shutting-down-twitter-rejoices?fbclid=IwAR3TJ6RQPeW3Gr0CfCW0bvKUDEIq9TNOMvAR9sjaXRvD5voqt683UZkozQw
Well, well, now we can work on eliminating the second-worst thing about air travel (the TSA).
With the Counterfeit News Network having lost literally 80 percent of its audience during the last year, and 90 percent of its target audience, what will this move bring its viewership down to? I've a feeling only Jeff Zucker and his wife will be watching it.
I'm being facetious, of course. I can't imagine the woman fancying marriage worth that kind of sacrifice.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
11:25 AM
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Elon Musk Warns of Population Collapse; Not Enough People for Earth Let Alone Mars
Tim adds:
I think that is where we are headed. The drive to reduce the population is going to set into motion a depopulation event that could wind up leading to human extinction. Or at least to massive problems as there won't be enough people to run a civilization (I don't think God will allow us to become extinct). But we could collapse from declining populations. We've seen that happen to civilizations in the past. The Mayan are a prime example. So too are the Mound Builders in the Midwest. Cahokia was bigger than London in the tenth century, but by the time Columbus arrived in the New World it was abandoned. It just withered away. There are other examples. I fear we are trying to go the same route.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
11:18 AM
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https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/01/19/two-more-contributions-on-the-impossibility-of-electrifying-everything-using-only-wind-solar-and-batteries/?fbclid=IwAR01DPNDJmerN9AVP--j8UIhDpZQHIh8l9Ny5L58_MAr8o86im3Uq-pgaMY
"It appears that solar’s low energy density, high raw material input and low energy-Return-On-energy-Invested (eROeI) as well as large storage requirements make today’s solar technology an environmentally
Solar produces little or no power 75% of the time.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:58 AM
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January 19, 2022
THIS is the Liberal Plan: MyPillow's Mike Lindell Says Bank Refusing His Business Because of His Politics
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12:26 PM
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"A global rush to go electric could make cars too expensive for the middle classes, said Carlos Tavares, chief executive of the world’s fifth-biggest car maker – and it may even fail to significantly reduce carbon emissions because the vehicles are so much heavier than petrol ones.â€
Is this the elites plan for you and your family. Wake up!
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
12:23 PM
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Bidet is the one who attacked our country with his unAmerican executive orders upon taking office:
'Attack on our democracy is real': Biden slams the 'onslaught of Republicans' anti-voting laws' and the Jan 6 riot during Martin Luther King Jr. Day address as he vows to stand against 'election subversion'
What a disgusting human he is.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
12:13 PM
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Monday night was mousapalooza.
I have had a mouse problem for over a year, but I thought I had it about licked. Mouse activity was rare, and they seemed to be going after the poison I kindly left out for their enjoyment. I thought by spring they would be kaput.
But all hell broke loose on Monday.
It was one giant rodent party. Mice were everywhere! My traps were springing every twenty minutes, and I soon amassed pounds of mouse flesh in a ziplock bag I was using to store them (until morning when I could get them out to the dumpster). I was catching all kinds of mice - big mice, small mice and everything in between.
But I didn't catch the really BIG mice (some of which I saw); there were several times the traps were set off but empty. And one trap simply disappeared; I suspect the mouse got it stuck to its foot and wandered off with it.
I was out of poison, I might add. I guess they didn't like that.
So yesterday I went and loaded up; more snap traps, some glue traps (I hate to use those because they are inhumane but at this point my humanity is suffering) and lots more poison.
It was warm yesterday, I might add, and the mouse activity quieted. It led me to suspect many of them went outside.
I found it. I had left the air conditioner in the widow and they had worn a hole in the side of it. It's obvious they were coming and going through that. There was mouse poop all over the top of the air conditioner.
So I pulled it and closed the window. Now, when it gets bitterly cold as it is supposed to get today they will be SORRY!
It was very quiet last night.
So here's hoping I got the problem under control. I am not a man to wish ill on any creature, but I have come to despise those little pests. They are like the Viet Cong, only smaller and faster and sneakier.
A pox upon them!
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
12:07 PM
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