It’s roundup time again
(1) I think that anyone paying attention has known almost from the first couple of months that there was a very good chance that COVID started with a Wuhan lab leak. Now the authorities seem to be saying that was likely, but in the meantime the coverup was long and widespread. Here’s Jonathan Turley on the subject:
…[F]or my part, the most alarming aspect was the censorship, not the science…
For years, the media and government allied to treat anyone raising a lab theory as one of three possibilities: conspiracy theorist or racist or racist conspiracy theorist…
Others in academia quickly joined the bandwagon to assure the public that there is no scientific basis for their theory, leaving only racism or politics as the motivation behind the theory. In early 2020, with little available evidence, two op-eds in The Lancet in February and Nature Medicine went all in on the denial front.
The Lancet op-ed stated, “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that Covid-19 does not have a natural origin.”
I wonder why it’s even being allowed to come out now. After all, the MSM is still controlled by the left, and the lab leak theory was gaining more credence even before the GOP took control of the House.
(2) This medical development is certainly good news:
A stroke left Rendulic with little use of her left hand and arm, so she volunteered for a first-of-its-kind experiment that stimulates her spinal cord in spots that control upper limb motion. Credit: Tim Betler/UPMC and Pitt Health Sciences via AP
A stroke left Heather Rendulic with little use of her left hand and arm, putting certain everyday tasks like tying shoes or cutting foods out of reach.“I live one-handed in a two-handed world and you don’t realize how many things you need two hands for until you only have one good one,” the Pittsburgh woman told The Associated Press.
So Rendulic volunteered for a first-of-its-kind experiment: Researchers implanted a device that zaps her spinal cord in spots that control hand and arm motion. When they switched it on, she could grasp and manipulate objects—moving a soup can, opening a lock and by the end of the four-week study, cutting her own steak.
Arm and hand function is more difficult for stroke victims to recover than leg function, so this is potentially groundbreaking.
(3) John Hinderaker discusses Scott Adams cancellation. I agree pretty much with Hinderaker here:
More newspapers say they are dropping the “Dilbert” comic strip after creator Scott Adams this week advised white people to “get the f–k away” from Black people…
So in [a Rasmussen survey Adams was referencing], 47 percent of blacks didn’t subscribe to the idea that it is OK to be white. That is the number that Adams picked up on…
I think it is indisputable that the 47 percent of blacks (as well as others) who don’t think it is OK to be white are racists; or, more accurately, expressed a racist opinion in this particular poll. Is it racist to react negatively to racism? Or, as in this case, to over-react to racism?
In his video podcast, Adams certainly does over-react. He calls blacks a “hate group” and recommends that whites simply stay away from them. He says he is going to “back off” on helping Black America, since it “doesn’t seem like it pays off.”…
I disagree with, and disapprove of, some of the things that Adams said, although I don’t think anything he said was as extreme as “It’s not OK to be white.” No one seems to have a problem with that particular bit of racism…
The question whether an artist should be canceled (or shunned, or ignored) on account of opinions or behavior not relating to his or her art is one that comes up over and over. Generally, the consensus has been that no, an artist should not be so canceled.
I don’t think that’s the consensus anymore. It’s certainly not the consensus on the left, anyway.
(4) The NY Times newsroom bears a resemblance to a “Maoist struggle session.” Of course it does.
(5) Men in drag seem to be more numerous lately on lesbian dating sites. Of course, men in drag are not necessarily identifying as transgender, but there’s long been a verbal war between many lesbians and the trans movement.
(6) An interesting take on Kevin McCarthy.
And from the wonderful land of AZ…
‘ Katie Hobbs accused of receiving Sinaloa cartel bribes;
‘ “Katie Hobbs and Runbeck election services have been named as recipients of Sinaloa cartel bribes via deeds of trust and phony mortgages in AZ senate investigation.” ‘—
https://thepostmillennial.com/katie-hobbs-accused-of-receiving-sinaloa-cartel-bribes?utm_campaign=64466
H/T Blazingcatfur blog.
This should be rather interesting…even if it clearly belongs in the “Nothing to See Here, Move Along” Files…
Who’s Sinaloa? you ask?
Apropos of (5): There’s a new post over at Quillette by a gay man who a) is a drag queen; and b) argues that “the female impersonators reading stories to children aren’t ‘groomers.’ They’re just needy gay men desperate for validation from straight society. . . . Drag Queen Story Hour represents the sad, absurdist denouement of a doomed campaign to present gay men and their unique forms of cultural expression as safe, respectable, and bourgeois. The children will be fine. It’s the gay-liberation movement that’s dying.”
It’s an incoherent article, as several commenters point out, but the author makes an interesting point about progs toward the end: “Meanwhile, straight progressives have their own kind of desperate aching—an aching to be seen as so abundantly tolerant that they will sit their kid down in front of a man dressed in what is clearly a sexualized imagining of a woman. In other words, these two communities, both needy and full of self-deception, have become weird co-dependents.”
https://quillette.com/2023/02/26/the-sad-spectacle-of-drag-queen-story-hour/
Your link to the spinal cord zapping article is very interesting, and could be of benefit to more than just individuals who have suffered a stroke, such as those paralyzed, or severely nerve damaged, by transverse myelitis. Interesting to juxtapose rushing mRNA jabs to market versus a treatment such as this which will in all likelihood take years to come to full fruition, let alone the market.
Musk, to his credit, is defending Adams, while the hysterical SJWs on Twitter and in the mendacious MSM are caterwauling and howling. Anyone who doubts that Musk is correct in his assessment of the level of animus, from our ruling and absurdly-privileged Neo-Bolshevik elites (consisting of both white and non-white members), against ordinary and traditional white Americans need only consult the demographics of the Class of 2026 (at Stanford, the Ivies, and many other universities) or consider the favoring by Biden and his administration of corrupt Ukraine over the suffering of East Palestine.
Hannah-Jones with another impressive demonstration of the degree to which she is entirely devoid of understanding, honesty, and now, empathy.
“…NYT journo, ‘1619 Project’ creator lectures survivor of China’s Cultural Revolution on oppression”—
https://nypost.com/2023/02/27/nikole-hannah-jones-lectures-survivor-of-chinas-revolution/
The analysis of McCarthy and the January maneuvering is interesting. He has so far done well. Keep it up, Kevin.
At one time I may not have agreed with Scott, but when I constantly see Black’s saying being White is Evil and other such dreck my opinion has changed. Stay away from me and I will stay away from you.
Sinaloa is the northern most province of mexico fiefdom of sean penns bff guzman loera (shorty in thr vernacular)
The only difference between Scott Adams’ opinions about blacks and those of most affluent leftists is that Adams stated his out loud. As Joe Sobran once said “In their mating and migratory habits, liberals are indistinguishable from members of the Ku Klux Klan.”
Scott Adams is staging a very large scale public persuasion event. He is attempting to provide a public service by forcing an acknowledgement that the national conversation on race is broken. I don’t know what he is planning, but he is not finished maneuvering. It is an interesting show that is not yet in the final act. (Daily podcast on Youtube)
Now it is upon black Americans to counter Adams by vociferously claiming it is definitely ok to be white.
If they don’t, they are validating their racism. Start with the Obama’s, Al Sharpton, and the prominent black entertainers and talk show/news hosts.
Brilliant.
I nearly always agree with Hinderaker and Neo. Two great conservative intellects.
Scott Adams is staging a very large scale public persuasion event.
Matthew M:
Yes! I don’t follow Adams regularly but I know he’s an NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) guy and he’s all about persuasion, which isn’t rational persuasion but Zen-like maneuvers to trick people into persuading themselves.
At least, I hope that’s what he’s doing. Because he really could have boned himself here. Next stop, coffee dates with Milo Yiannopoulos.
Very hopeful wrap-up on McCarthy:
Finally, on the fifteenth vote, the deal had the elements that McCarthy wanted but did not let on to the liberal wing. He’s “forced” to set up committees on “Weaponization of the Federal Government,” “actual investigation of January 6,” and so on. He even agrees to only needing a single representative to move to declare the Chair vacant. Every one of these “concessions” was pulled out of him by force. And the single vote for the motion remains a sword of Damocles over the Speaker, threatening to start the whole thing over again.
Imagine that. A truly conservative Speaker who is “forced” to be conservative. It’s exactly what he wants, and his actions have suggested that he’s actually being conservative. Of course, if you asked him, he’ll deny it, because that would give up the game, and the RINO wing would be livid. Until then, I think I’m willing to be pleasantly surprised.
We fervently hope it’s true. The wildcard is Kali Yuga, which allows only so much truth and virtue at a time (approximately 25%). McCarthy and Trump have a working awareness of it. Thus they make deals and compromise. Higher yugas beckon like distant but unreachable worlds. Yet we sense their existence and attainability.
Navigational/negotiating skills have served Mr Speaker well. We wish him God speed.
OR: McCarthy has revealed that he IS a RINO by choosing the debt limit as the hill he wants to climb. It used to be that the budget passed just before the fiscal year began on 10/1. The debt limit bill would follow shortly to up the limit to accommodate the new spending. Now the debt limit bill comes WAY AFTER the spending has occurred. And for several years under Obama the debt limit was ignored. The true battle imo is the spending. And McCarthy is not trying to climb that hill. He won’t cut NPR or Planned Parenthood, nor education, nor FBI, nor Census Bureau, nor CSC, nor ANY OTHER ENEMY DEPARTMENT. This article is nothing more than propaganda from the GOPe. And as far as PowerLine goes, is there a bigger group of RINOs than this group of weakling lawyers?
JackWayne:
Your suspicion of McCarthy is also the hope of RINOs, Democrats, and the Deep State. Needless to say, their suspicions require gestures in their direction.
True enough, NPR is a malignant tumor that needs cutting out. But it is cherished by RINOs and their social circles. So McCarthy travels the path of enigma.
We could do worse.
Ladies and Gentlemen:** The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!
“Biden says ‘I may be a white boy, but I’m not stupid’ at Black History Month event”—
https://nypost.com/2023/02/27/biden-says-hes-white-boy-but-not-stupid-at-black-history-event/
** Of ALL 73 genders…
https://blazingcatfur.ca/2023/02/27/school-suspends-sex-education-after-drag-queen-told-11-year-olds-there-are-73-genders/
“I may be a white boy, but I’m not stupid”—soon to be a classic line, if there ever was one—(continued)…
https://youtu.be/WxXepkdJHko
H/T Blazingcatfur blog.
+ Bonus:
“This billionaire college dropout has some advice for Gen Z”—
https://nypost.com/2023/02/27/this-billionaire-college-dropout-has-some-advice-for-gen-z/
Short version: Get off the couch.
If anyone had any doubts that “Biden” is NOT at all interested in your health…
‘ Not just ivermectin: New FDA authority to ban off-label uses alarms doctors;
‘ Provision is buried in omnibus appropriations bill after FDA kept losing in court. “Potentially catastrophic for use of antibiotics,” says former Public Health England director. ‘—
https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/not-just-ivermectin-new-fda-authority-ban-label-uses-alarms-doctors
Key word:
“buried”
Opening graf:
“Doctors are speaking out against a new law that arguably paves the way for the FDA to prohibit treatments for purposes it hasn’t expressly authorized, going far beyond highly politicized subjects such as treating COVID-19 with ivermectin…”.
Yep, for “Biden” it’s ALL about the POWER, about CONTROL…
…and soon, the guvmint (such as it is) may cede all authority over the health of Americans to the WHO….
(And one shouldn’t forget what happened—what’s happening—to/in East Palestine…..)
Apparently, not enough people have been killed; not enough people have been allowed to die; not enough lives have been ruined….
No wonder Sec. Pete was uncomfortable when he was put on the spot: he would have had to pretend to express sympathy, concern, care, responsibility…and to his credit, he was honest about it: Nope, I don’t give a ^%%#
Per (1): Why “science” has the reputation of propagandists and witch doctors today..
It’s Round Up time.
https://babylonbee.com/news/white-house-announces-all-conspiracy-theories-are-true-except-for-the-one-about-biden-stealing-the-presidency
On a roll.
https://babylonbee.com/news/to-catch-up-on-todays-news-man-just-reads-conspiracy-theorists-2-year-old-blog-posts
Neo,
Given your interest, FYI. From VDH
https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/26/refighting-the-vietnam-war/
“Triumph Regained shows that America’s war in Vietnam could have been won earlier at far less cost, and in fact almost was, even belatedly by 1968.”
Speaking of old news breaking as though new,
…if the US media had swung behind the evidence in this story and pressed where did this virus come from, then it’s at least potentially conceivable that scientists in the United States would have forced the government of China to release the information they had about the genetic makeup of COVID. Maybe we would’ve had a vaccine that worked, for example. Or a medical response that saved Americans’ lives, but they didn’t. None of them did.
Meanwhile,
Would Vitamin D Have Saved Half of COVID Deaths?
Per peer-reviewed studies,
Vitamin D supplementation cut risk of death from COVID-19 by 51% and reduced risk of admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) by 72%
The results were deemed “conclusive” and suggest “a definitive association between the protective role of vitamin D and ICU hospitalization” from COVID-19
Vitamin D may protect against COVID-19 by maintaining pulmonary barrier function, boosting the innate immune response and reducing the production of proinflammatory cytokines
In another study, none of the patients with severe COVID-19 who received high-dose vitamin D died; instead, 100% of the group improved
Regulatory agencies around the world are largely industry-funded, which is likely why they aren’t recommending vitamin D — a “dirt cheap” intervention — for COVID-19
A more serious observation of subject of the Bee’s satirical post.
https://redstate.com/brandon_morse/2023/02/27/when-a-conspiracy-theorist-isnt-a-conspiracy-theorist-n709270
No complaints about the first clause, but although gut instincts are a good way of signaling you need to do further research, they are not data, or even anecdotes.
They are, in some views, the result of a subconscious evaluation of whatever data or anecdotes one has encountered, processed though one’s own lived experiences.
Some people’s guts are more reliable than others’.
https://theconversation.com/is-it-rational-to-trust-your-gut-feelings-a-neuroscientist-explains-95086
Basically, our brain is a big AI, learning recursively from both random and deliberate inputs.
Well, maybe a bit more complex than that.
https://blog.i-nexus.com/data-driven-decision-making-choosing-gut-instinct-vs-data
(Basically an extended advertisement, but makes some good points.)
Back to the first article:
“…feel free to trust your intuitive thinking.”
Of course this is far easier to do once you realize, understand, KNOW—since they tell you early and often…and PROUDLY, with a supercilious glint in their arrogant eye—that they’re lying.
ALL THE TIME.
RE: NY Times – Maoism Re-education
I have zero sympathy for anyone at the NY Times that, metaphorically speaking, is sent off to the basement of the Lubyanka prison, forced to sign confession and then shot in the back of the head.
They had it coming – good and hard.
It’s just a micro version of the Stalinist show trials in which Lenin’s inner circle of advisors were murdered by Stalin’s stooges. They too had it coming.
If you decide to work for the NY Times, it’s no mystery that you will be expected to adhere to their Stalinist, leftist agenda.
Really now, what is so hard to understand about this ?
Re: Scott Adams
I pretty much agree with everything Scott Adams said; sorry about that and I really am sorry about that because it makes me out to be a racist but I am not.
I have just had it with the white guilt bullshit.
I used to work with several blacks (one was my boss) and they were nothing like those blacks promoting the “woe is me – the “man” is holding me back,” rubbish.
When black folks of means have the opportunity to move away from mostly black areas, guess what ?
They do.
And where do they move? To mostly white areas.
I guess that’s considered racist; black flight from blacks.
Look where the Obama’s moved to: Martha’s Vineyard (near oceanfront) and an OCEANFRONT home in Hawaii, notwithstanding Michelle Obama’s comments about how white folks fled the neighborhood where she grew up because blacks were moving in (and totally contrary to barry Hussein’s climate change agenda).
Does anyone think that Oprah Winfrey, Eric Holder, Al Sharpton, black Hollywood millionaires, Maxine Waters , et. al., live in black neighborhoods?
Maxine Waters does not even live in the black district she “represents.” She lives in a lily white neighborhood in a home worth millions of $$$.
Is Maxine Waters a racist because she eschews living in a black neighborhood?
But if Scott Adams says that he would not live in a black neighborhood or says he would move away from blacks, well, that’s considered racist. Blacks are “allowed” to do what Scott Adams stated, but if you are white, well, that’s racist.
If Scott Adams were black, nobody would flinch because his statement would just be a description of what blacks-of-means routinely do; move away and avoid black neighborhoods.
Recently finished reading the autobiography of Frederick Douglass and am half way through reading his “Great Speeches.”
If he were alive today he most certainly would be looked upon (or more likely, totally ignored) by the mainstream media, black “leaders,” and white liberal progressives in the same way they view Tom Sowell or Clarence Thomas or
Dr. Marilyn Singleton (see here: https://marilynsingletonmdjd.com/ )
Re: Wuhan
Of the many thousands ( I assume) of wet markets all around China, it was just a coincidence that Covid first appeared in a town that had a virology research lab.
Yep, nothing to see here folks.
If Anytown USA had an outbreak of a new, previously unknown virus, and people started dropping dead from it, AND it just so happened that nearby there was a virology research lab, who thinks that anyone on planet earth would believe that the outbreak had nothing at all to do with the lab??
Oh, that’s right, aside from perhaps the CDC’s Il Duce, Anthony Fauci.
What I do not understand – maybe someone can help me out here – is why there was a concerted effort by Fauci and many others, to deny / deflect the notion that the Chinese lab was the source of the virus.
I still don’t understand this.
Barry Meislin on February 28, 2023 at 2:46 am
New FDA authority to ban off-label uses alarms doctors.
Very shocking. I knew that when Obamacare began to convert doctors from being small businesspersons to corporatized employees, it wasn’t good. But this is a whole other level.
_______
Banned Lizard on February 28, 2023 at 5:35 am
Wow. The docs over at MedCram were telling us about vit. D early on. Someone here pointed me towards MedCram; I forgot who.
_______
AesopFan on February 28, 2023 at 5:54 am
In order to compensate for cognitive biases, you’ve got to know what they are. David Foster posted an article that listed them a while ago. It’s nice and succinct. Maybe a little too succinct for the uninitiated like myself.
They updated that article on cognitive biases above. At the bottom they mention:
Apophenia is the tendency to perceive patterns in random occurrences.
I’m guilty of that one.
Because they funded an unethical perhaps even illegal experiment
“What I do not understand – maybe someone can help me out here – is why there was a concerted effort by Fauci and many others, to deny / deflect the notion that the Chinese lab was the source of the virus.
I still don’t understand this.”
Because we funded it:
https://nypost.com/2021/10/21/nih-admits-us-funded-gain-of-function-in-wuhan-despite-faucis-repeated-denials/
Indirectly perhaps, through EcoHealth Alliance, but still. NIH (taxpayer) money. Consider the, as they say, optics. And the liability angle.
P.S. Apologies to Miguel above, who was there first.
5) trans/social
EcoHealth, it appears, was the cut-out.
Not stupid, Fauci.
Just a cold-blooded, lying bast*#d with a lot of blood on his hands.
Who really believed he would never get caught. (Wrong!)
Or if he was caught, nothing would come of it. (Right! At least, so far…—it certainly helps to have the right friends in the right places…!…and the corrupt media at your back.)
Most important of all, he helped deliver the WH (as he twisted the country around his dirty, slimy fingers and tied them up in grotesque knots.)
As “Biden” said when asked, “Fire Fauci”; are you kiddin’ me?”…the clear message being, “We gotta protect our own”…
Apophenia is the tendency to perceive patterns in random occurrences.
Inferential logic is the modern model of science.
More Faucimania…
‘ Cruz: “Abominable” Fauci Has “Hurt Millions Of Kids” ‘—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/cruz-abominable-fauci-has-hurt-millions-kids
…While “Biden” ‘s Brazilian squeeze falls in line, as expected, with the sinister WTF.
(What a consequence!)
“Brazilian President And WEF Member Lula Da Silva Pressures Population Into Total COVID Vaccination”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/brazilian-president-and-wef-member-lula-da-silva-pressures-population-total-covid
(Coming soon to a North American country near you…)
Should be “(What a coincidence!)”
}}} Arm and hand function is more difficult for stroke victims to recover than leg function, so this is potentially groundbreaking.
It is noteworthy that there are at least two types of strokes (I suspect you are aware of this, Neo, but others may not be).
An elderly friend of mine (he was 85 in 2012, and passed away the next year) had a stroke when he went to a restaurant to eat (this was about 2010). Before getting escorted to the table, he went to the bathroom. After washing his hands, he went to reach for a paper towel, and could not lift his arm. He went out to the lobby and asked them to call him an ambulance, as he felt sure he’d had a stroke. Other than the mobility of his right arm (IIRC) he was otherwise unimpaired.
Somewhat luckily for him, he was in probably the best possible place to have a stroke outside of the hospital… because he was just outside the hospital. The best hospital in the area was literally across the street from the restaurant.
So he was there in the ER within about 20m of having the stroke. They had a drug back then that had already been available for a couple years, and, if the stroke is the “correct type” (don’t ask me), it can often reverse most of the side effects of the stroke. His stroke was determined to be that type, and indeed, he was able to lift his arm about 2h afterwards, and was nominally “fine” within a couple more. They (of course) kept him for some extra time before releasing him to PT in a convalescent home, and he was (mostly) fully functional from that point on.
He did, however, lose some of his spatial perception. He did not tend to be able to drive after that as it became clear pretty quickly that he did not reliably judge the lane he was in, and, in the final case, accidentally ran over a lane separation. He tried to pass another driving test a couple times after that, but never managed it, mostly on parking, he’d hit the cones on the lane markers too often.
So I wound up driving him around after that (it was convenient, my car needed expensive work so it gave me the use of his, in return for driving him when/where he needed, which wasn’t too bad.
in 2013 he had another, similar stroke (I was with him. They took him to the same hospital, same treatment, and he was doing ok…) but when he was getting PT, he fell over one night and broke a couple ribs while going to the bathroom. So he was bedridden for a couple weeks, and he never walked again after that and steadily faded. It was sad to watch, as he was a very nice guy, worked at the Smithsonian as an entomologist for decades, and was one of the world’s top 5 experts on “Bruchids” (seed beetles). He’d retired in 1990 and lived for another 20 years.
But the main thing is, if you even think you’ve had a stroke, get to the hospital as quick as possible and make sure they consider whether you are a good candidate for this drug… it can save you a lot of pain and suffering, as it works quite well, and I believe that, for it to work, you need to get it within a few hours of the stroke.