Eco-Disasters: Paper Straws and Masks

Published August 30, 2023August 31, 2023 by Papa Giorgio

PAPER STRAWS

Paper straws are more toxic than plastic straws?

LEGAL INSURRECTION has this perfectly times story to throw in the face of the world Western “do-gooders.”

A new study from Europe suggests those paper straws may contain “forever chemicals” that are harmful to both humans and the environment and were observed more often than in a sample of plastic straws.

Belgian researchers tested 39 straw brands from restaurants and retailers for synthetic chemicals known as poly and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The study found that the majority of straws contained those chemicals, but they were most common in those made from paper and bamboo.

The chemicals are referred to as “forever chemicals” as they can remain for thousands of years in the environment. The chemicals have been associated with health issues including thyroid disease, increased cholesterol, liver damage and kidney and testicular cancer and can harm the environment as well.

Of the brands tested, 90% of the paper straws contained PFAS, compared to 80% of bamboo straws, 75% of plastic straws and 40% of glass straws. None of the steel straws contained the chemicals.

I had a perfectly lovely “Lava Flow” cocktail ruined by a paper straw that disintegrated on me during my last vacation. I, for one, will encourage a return to sanity and plastic straws.

Next, a new study suggests substituting single-use plastic cups with their paper counterparts is not the environmentally friendly solution that was once believed.

Findings from the University of Gothenburg published in Environmental Pollution reveal that paper cups, once discarded in the environment, can cause harm due to toxic chemicals. In their study, researchers examined the impact of disposable cups crafted from various materials on butterfly mosquito larvae, discovering that paper and plastic cups exhibited comparable levels of toxic damage.

…The researchers explained that paper used in food packaging lacks resistance to fats and water, requiring the application of a surface coating to enhance its performance. This coating, typically made of plastic material, safeguards the paper from contact with substances like coffee.

In contemporary packaging, this plastic film is frequently composed of a bioplastic known as polylactide (PLA). Unlike conventional plastics derived from fossil fuels, bioplastics like PLA are sourced from renewable materials, such as corn, cassava, or sugarcane. While PLA is often considered biodegradable, indicating its ability to break down more rapidly than traditional oil-based plastics under specific conditions, recent research suggests that it can still possess toxic properties.

“Bioplastics do not break down effectively when they end up in the environment, in water. There may be a risk that the plastic remains in nature, and resulting microplastics can be ingested by animals and humans, just as other plastics do. Bioplastics contain at least as many chemicals as conventional plastic,” said lead researcher Bethanie Carney Almroth, professor of Environmental Science at the Department of Biology and Environmental Science at the University of Gothenburg.

Personally, I find plastics greatly contribute to my quality of life. I am very skeptical of the dangers associated with “microplastics,” especially when such analysis fails to consider the benefits of plastic…..

MASKS

An article titled, “The world is throwing away 3 million face masks every minute — and the growing mountain of waste is a toxic time bomb” explains the impact on our environment from masks:

…Scientists and environmental advocates expressed alarm about this tsunami of waste from the jump. They foresaw the dire ecological ramifications of our mask waste — especially once those masks made their inevitable way into the earth’s waterways. Elastic loops pose entanglement hazards for turtles, birds, and other animals. Fish could eat the plastic-fiber ribbons that unfurl from a discarded mask’s body. Then, there is the untold menace to human health that would likely present, at the microscopic level, once masks began to disintegrate.

Now, two years into the pandemic, governments have had ample time to grapple with this serious conundrum: How do we keep people safe from a highly communicable pathogen without unleashing an environmental catastrophe? But instead of heeding the chorus of expert warnings and pouring money into biodegradable and reusable alternatives, world leaders have ignored the problem. And once the immediate public-health emergency superseded ecological concerns — the heads of Big Plastic made sure it stayed that way.

“The plastics industry saw COVID as an opportunity,” John Hocevar, the oceans campaign director at Greenpeace USA, told me from his office in Washington, D.C. “They worked hard to convince policymakers and the general public that reusables were dirty and dangerous, and that single-use plastic is necessary to keep us safe.”

Stateside, Big Plastic’s PR campaign may have hit its apex in July 2020, when the president and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association testified before Congress to argue that single-use plastic was a pandemic health necessity, stating that “plastic saves lives.”

The fear-mongering worked. The global consumption of single-use plastics has increased by up to 300% since the pandemic began, according to a 2021 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report. The plastic industry’s canny COVID strategy also provided a plausible cover for government inertia in funding sustainable solutions to disposable masks.

[….]

The need to address the growing pile of discarded masks has only grown over the course of the pandemic. A December 2021 study reported a 9,000% rise in mask litter in the UK during the first seven months of the pandemic. And as more transmissible variants like Delta and Omicron led public-health officials to promote the use of heavy-duty disposable masks and respirators like KN95s and nonsurgical N95s — instead of the less-protective reusable cloth models that were encouraged earlier in the outbreak — it is clear that companies will be cranking out disposable masks for months to come.

As we enter our third year of COVID-19, research not only supports environmentalists’ early fears surrounding mask pollution in waterways but has introduced new concerns. Sarper Sarp, a professor of chemical engineering at Swansea University in Wales, led a contamination study that tested nine readily available single-use masks. After submerging the masks in water and letting them sit, Sarp and his team discovered both micro- and nanoplastic particles released from every single one. The leachate from those masks — that is, the particles they emitted into fluid — amounted to a sort of toxic tea.

The masks were also found to expel nanoparticles of silicon and heavy metals like lead, cadmium, copper, and even arsenic. Sarp says that he was astonished by what he and the team found after a relatively brief period of submersion, and by the quantity of particles released by each mask. The masks released hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of toxic particles — particles that can potentially disrupt entire marine food chains and contaminate drinking water.

The presence of silicon nanoparticles was of particular concern. Silicon is a common material in healthcare products, easy to sterilize and maintain. “But when it comes to nano size,” said Sarp, “it’s a whole different story.”

Microplastic particles are shed by all sorts of single-use plastics, from water bottles to grocery bags. While hardly ideal for marine ecosystems, Sarp explains that these particles can be filtered to a significant extent by our digestive systems and lungs. But nanoparticles — of plastic, silicon, or other materials — are so minute in size that they can breach cell walls and damage DNA, affecting both human and nonhuman life-forms at the cellular level. Recent research on silicon nanoparticles, in particular, has shown that if a particle is very small in nano scale, it can act almost as a tiny, carcinogenic bomb. Multiply that by a minimum of several hundred per mask, at a rate of 50,000 masks disposed per second, and the scope of the dilemma grows vivid.

“I think this is a bit of an urgent situation, as both a scientist and as an environmental expert,” Sarp said….

A few recent studies have revealed that there are toxic chemicals in paper straws and N-95 masks that are unsafe for humans and the environment. My advice is simple: just be normal. Fox News contributor Dr. Marc Siegel reacts to a South Korean study in mice finding that N-95 masks could cause cancer and says mandates could cost more lives than COVID.

On my Facebook I linked a story from LIFE SITE quoting a DAILY MAIL article about harmful chemicals from masks worn to “combat” covid.

Here is the gist of my Facebook post:

New study finds extended use of ‘best’ COVID masks may cause cancer, liver damage

South Korean researchers found that KFAD and KF94 disposable masks, South Korea’s equivalent of N95 masks made out of the same material, release eight times the EPA’s recommended safety limit of toxic volatile organic compounds.

As some institutions in the United States begin to reimpose COVID-19 mask mandates, a new study suggests that the types of masks billed as most effective may actually contain dangerous and potentially even cancer-inducing chemicals.

The Daily Mail reports that according to a study by researchers from South Korea’s Jeonbuk National University, published in the journal Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety and on the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) website, KFAD and KF94 disposable masks release eight times the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) recommended safety limit of toxic volatile organic compounds (TVOCs).

It was immediately “fact-checked“, and this is the reason for this post.

What does the “fact-check” say?

Misleading check

This is the Facebook FACT CHECK

The study also wasn’t published by the NIH, but by a scientific journal unaffiliated with the NIH.

[….]

In the wake of this news, a Daily Mail article published on 27 August 2023 claimed that a “mask study published by NIH suggests N95 Covid masks may expose wearers to dangerous level of toxic compounds linked to seizures and cancer”.

[….]

Finally, the study was published in the journal of Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, not by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), as the Mail claimed. The journal is part of the MEDLINE database, which is maintained by the U.S. Library of Medicine. That the study is made available on the NIH website doesn’t mean the NIH published it, just as a book being part of a lending library’s collection doesn’t mean it’s published by the library.

Firstly, all the articles I have seen clearly state the NIH wasn’t the author of the study, but merely shared it. Here is this portion of the “fact-check”

What did the DAILY MAIL article say?

But a study quietly re-shared by the National Institutes of Health in spring

[….]

The study was published in the journal Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety and on the NIH’s website.

[….]

The NIH said: ‘Inclusion in an NLM database does not imply endorsement of, or agreement with, the contents by NLM or the National Institutes of Health.’

N o w h e r e in the Daily Mail article do they say the NIH was the origin of the study, nor did they even hint at it. Everything the “fact check” said the Daily Mail article said. On to the next part. No matter the link you post on Facebook, you get the same dumb “check”:

But a study quietly re-shared by the National Institutes of Health in spring [….] The study was published in the journal Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety and on the NIH’s website, but the NIH pointed out that didn’t mean they accepted its conclusions: The NIH said: “Inclusion in an NLM database does not imply endorsement of, or agreement with, the contents by NLM or the National Institutes of Health.” — RED STATE
…published in the journal Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety and on the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) website [….] The NIH website contains a disclaimer that it does not necessarily endorse studies it publishes… — LIFE SITE

So the “fact-check” misses the truth embedded in all these articles.

Another point they note is this regarding the study the “check” says:

While KF94 and N95 masks are considered to be functionally comparable, it’s important to note that the study’s results suggest that VOC levels differ depending on the material used to make the mask. Based on the study’s Table 5, the KF94 masks tested in the study were composed primarily of polypropylene and polyurethane nylon. Most N95 masks use polypropylene, according to Meedan’s Health Desk. The study didn’t test any N95 mask, so it doesn’t offer data about N95 masks that allows us to objectively compare VOC levels between N95 and KF94 masks.

What is laughable is that the “check” acts like this is a big difference. That is between the materials used in KF94 (polypropylene and polyurethane nylon) and the N95 (polypropylene). NEW YORK MAGAZINE below that both “are made of the same synthetic material and [also] filter out and capture 95 percent of particles in the air”. And REUTERS also likewise says, “[t]hese masks and their international counterparts known as KN95s and KF94s are often made of multiple layers of polypropylene, a synthetic fiber.”

KF94

N95

They are essentially the same exact mask, one has an extra layer, almost like a second mask, across the front. It is disingenuous for this “fact check” to say “we don’t know because this exact mask “model number” wasn’t tested.

Going to breathe through one of these now? #Idiocy pic.twitter.com/xI5okvaoxe

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) August 31, 2023

At any rate, the conclusion of study everyone is talking about has this… I will emphasize the part that caught my eye:

As the number of problems that require mask wearing (including air pollution and COVID-19) grows, masks are increasingly important. Now that masks are all but required, the harmful chemicals that can be released from them must be evaluated. In this study, VOCs generated from various types of masks, including commonly used KF94 disposable masks, were assessed. The types and concentrations of VOCs that humans are likely to be exposed to from these masks under various conditions (i.e., emission time, temperature, and mask types) were calculated and compared. This study demonstrated that disposable masks (KF94) released higher concentrations of TVOCs in comparison to cotton masks, with values of 3730 ± 1331 µg m–3 for KF94 and 268 ± 51.6 µg m–3 for cotton masks. The concentrations of TVOCs in KF94 masks are high enough to pose a concern based on indoor air quality guidelines established by the German Federal Environment Agency. However, when KF94 masks were opened and left undisturbed for 30 min at room temperature, TVOC concentrations significantly decreased to 724 ± 5.86 µg m–3 (a 78.2 ± 9.45% reduction from levels measured immediately upon opening). It is clear that particular attention must be paid to the VOCs associated with the use of KF94 masks their effects on human health. Based on our findings, we suggest that prior to wearing a KF94 mask, each product should be opened and not worn for at least 30 min, thereby reducing TVOC concentrations to levels that will not impair human health.

FLASHBACK | Old Posts

August 2nd, 2018

In light of the moonbat jihad against drinking straws (see here, here, and here) having reached the point that providing customers with straws is now punishable with jail time in Santa Barbara, see if you can guess whether this is a legitimate story or fake news from the Babylon Bee…. (MOONBATTERY)

MOONBATTERY has more on the origin of this “500-million” number:

You may have heard that Starbucks — ever at the vanguard of moonbattery — has proclaimed that it will eliminate all single-use plastic straws by 2020. You may also have heard that the lids it will use that allow drinking without a straw require more plastic than if they just stuck with the straws. You may be aware that the liberal jihad against plastic straws is reaching critical mass:

In July, Seattle imposed America’s first ban on plastic straws. Vancouver, British Columbia, passed a similar ban a few months earlier. There are active attempts to prohibit straws in New York City, Washington, D.C., Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco. A-list celebrities from Calvin Harris to Tom Brady have lectured us on giving up straws. Both National Geographic and The Atlantic have run long profiles on the history and environmental effects of the straw. Vice is now treating their consumption as a dirty, hedonistic excess.

But did you know that the anti-straw jihad is the brainchild of a little kid?

It began with a 9-year-old boy named Milo Cress and his 2011 campaign, “Be Straw Free,” which launched to raise awareness about plastic waste.

His big finding? Americans use more than 500 million drinking straws daily, enough to fill 125 school buses. That figure has become highly touted since, referenced in straw ban coverage from The New York Times and National Geographic to reports from the National Park Service (and USA TODAY).

Young Milo came up with the outlandishly improbable 500 million straws per day stat himself. Adult moonbats ran with it…..

August 26, 2018

I combine two different segments of John and Ken discussing California’s #FakeNews regarding straws and the environment. (The first segment is from Thursday’s show, the second is from Wednesday’s show [starts at the 7:15 mark]) Some funny and frustrating stuff.

FUNNIES

Most of these are from the 2018 straw ban… as a quick background to the AR-15 “bayonet” one, USA Today ran a story about assault weapons where they literally had a chainsaw modification in their graphics. So someone added the straws. Lol.

Hospitalized “With” or “Due” to Covid

Published January 21, 2023January 21, 2023 by Papa Giorgio

No one expressed it more clearly than Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor at Yale University, epidemiologist, and AIDS activist. On March 23, Gonsalves tweeted: “As a friend of mine said this weekend: ‘There are no natural or social laws preventing us from remaking the economy for the next 18 months, the next years, or forever…. There are only political and cultural barriers, barriers we must overcome’….“

Similarly, Michael Hiltzik, a left-leaning columnist for the Los Angeles Times, wrote in May that the coronavirus could boost plans for universal basic income-government provided welfare payments for all. (In October, actress and liberal activist Jane Fonda would express an even blunter take: “I just think Covid is God’s gift to the left.”)

Alex Berenson, Pandemia: How Coronavirus Hysteria Took Over Our Government, Rights, and Lives (Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2021), 113.

This will be an entirely ACE OF SPADES repost here. If you are not familiar with ACE’S website, I suggest you spend a week or two going over it. Books, gardening, tech, DIY projects, culture, and politics are the norm. Heavy on the politics please. But this post is an excellent 2023 follow-up to what we all know. What I was already pointing out in March of 2020:

UNITED STATES CORONA NUMBERS (ESTIMATED)

(There are probably 25 to 50 people who have the virus for every one person who is confirmed. [Dr. Makary BIO | YAHOO])

LOW # 3,607,000 (0.07% death rate with known deaths);
HIGH # 7,214,000 (0.03% death rate with known deaths).

(That 86% of infections went undocumented [SCIENCE | NEW YORK POST])

1,030,571 (0.25% death rate with known deaths).

UNITED STATES FLU NUMBERS (ESTIMATED)

56,000 (estimated high death rate) | 38,000,000 (estimated infections) = 0.14%

Or others also pointing out around the same time (like POWERLINE):

…Here are some details I got from a friend at UNC-Chapel Hill this morning: “Less than 373 hospitalized with COVID as of yesterday. More than 800 empty ICU beds in the state & more than 7000 empty hospital beds overall. Close to 2000 ventilators not in use. Approximately 40% of deaths in the state have been in nursing homes/retirement homes/prisons.”

Again, the likely cause is that the disease is not nearly as deadly as was originally expected. Thinking about that study showing that 13.7% of pregnant women presenting for delivery at NYC hospitals in March-early April tested positive for COVID-19 AT THE TIME of admission. Unless one thinks pregnant women are more likely to have been exposed to the virus than other people in the population, surely must mean that ~15% of NYC has been exposed. (Recall also that the NYC study was only of active infections not of antibodies.) If so, then 10,000 deaths out of 15% of NYC (1.2 million) points to an infection fatality rate around .008, very much in the ballpark of seasonal flu.

[….]

LIKEWISE, the trend holds true:

Ace of Spades!

This is by Leana Wen, former Planned Parenthood executive, who was among the biggest covid fear-mongers out there, before executing a face-turn to begin talking sense on the issue.

She notes that hospitals are now distinguishing between those who are in the hospital primarily for covid symptoms and those who merely have covid, but are in the hospital for other reasons.

And those in the hospital for covid are small minority of the total.

Counting anyone with covid as being in the hospital for covid hugely overpadded covid stats. And it’s important to know the real stats.

Unless our officials want to continue peddling false statistics to us, for some reason.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States is experiencing around 400 covid deaths every day. At that rate, there would be nearly 150,000 deaths a year.But are these Americans dying from covid or with covid?

Understanding this distinction is crucial to putting the continuing toll of the coronavirus into perspective. Determining how likely it is an infection will result in hospitalization or death helps people weigh their own risk. It also enables health officials to assess when vaccine effectiveness wanes and future rounds of boosters are needed.

Two infectious-disease experts I spoke with believe that the number of deaths attributed to covid is far greater than the actual number of people dying from covid. Robin Dretler, an attending physician at Emory Decatur Hospital and the former president of Georgia’s chapter of Infectious Diseases Society of America, estimates that at his hospital, 90 percent of patients diagnosed with covid are actually in the hospital for some other illness.

Emphasis added.

That doctor points out that gunshot victims who test positive for covid are still counted as “covid-related deaths” if they bleed out from the gunshots, which obviously is stupid AF.

Another doctor, Shira Doron, realized that a good proxy for determining if someone was in the hospital with covid or for covid is whether the patient is being administered the steroid dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory given to covid patients to mitigate the low oxygen levels caused by that disease. Given that this drug is routinely given when someone is really suffering from serious, hospitalization-level covid, it’s a good way to separate the “withs” from the “fors.”

She says that while sometimes the fraction of patients who were in the hospital for covid reached as high as 30% of those diagnosed with covid, on many days, it fell as low as 10%.

If that is too abbreviated, she’s saying that in Denmark, they concluded in 2022 that in deaths that could be attributed to covid and another factor (“Covid+”), in 60% to 70% of the cases, covid was incidental — it was due to the other factor.

The Brownstone Institute details how many obvious non-covid-deaths were classified as covid deaths — are still being classified as covid deaths, in, “How to Die of Covid Accidentally.”

The CDC recently confirmed over 800 “accidental” Covid-19 deaths in 2021 for people under 60. These are deaths which obviously had little to do with Covid — but they logged them that way anyways. Here are 46 of those deaths from 2021 many just related to “falls” and others to events described.

There’s a big chart showing the “covid” deaths broken down into “covid” categories, such as covid falls, covid poisonings, covid motor vehicle accidents, etc.

Here are a few. First, some of the many, many Covid-related Falls.

A 32-year-old white male died in December from an unspecified fall that resulted in an unspecified injury of the head, mental and behavioral disorders related to alcohol use, convulsions, and a kidney tumor. He also had COVID-19.

A 57-year-old white male died in November from an “other fall on the same level” that resulted in a rib fracture, injury of the liver or gallbladder, malaise and fatigue, syncope and collapse, and COVID-19.

A 56-year-old white male died in March from an unspecified fall that resulted in cardiac arrest, stroke, other intracranial injuries, COVID-19, hypertension, and diabetes. He also had mental and behavioral disorders related to tobacco use.

A 56-year-old white male died in January from a fall on and from stairs and steps that resulted in an unspecified injury of the neck, pneumonia due to food and vomit, hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia. He also had COVID-19.

A 58-year-old white male died in February from a fall on and from stairs and steps that resulted in an unspecified injury of the head, intracranial injury, and accidental poisoning from alcohol. He also had hypertension and COVID-19.

A 56-year-old black male died in February from an unspecified fall that resulted in an unspecified injury of the head, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, hypertension, and a surgical operation. He also had COVID-19.

It’s those “falls with unspecified injury to the head” that read as especially covid-y to me.

Next, some covid-related suicides.

A 38-year-old white female died in April from suicide by intentional self-poisoning with antiallergic and antiemetic drugs, ethanol, and benzodiazepines. She also had COVID-19 and unspecified depressive and anxiety disorders.

A 31-year-old white male died in August from suicide by intentional self-harm with an unspecified means, resulting in intracranial injury. He also had COVID-19, pneumonia, and unspecified drug poisoning.

A 27-year-old white male died in January from suicide by intentional self-harm with a firearm, resulting in open wounds to the head. He also had COVID-19, severe depression, and unspecified anxiety disorder.

A 22-year-old white male died in September from suicide by handgun discharge, resulting in open wound to the head. He also had COVID-19, unspecified anxiety and depression, and unspecified mental disorder.

A 55-year-old white male died in August from suicide by firearm discharge, resulting in open wounds to the head. He also had COVID-19, unspecified depression, diabetes, obesity, and hypertension.

Finally, a covid-related murder:

A 19-year-old black male died in February as a result of homicide by handgun discharge, resulting in multiple open wounds. He also had COVID-19 and unspecified infectious diseases.

END OF ACE’S POST

Of course I have noted waaay back similar items [by date] in my “Funny Covid-19 Numbers By Date (Why Many Are Skeptical)”

[….]

And as states are going over death certificates, they are dropping by at least 25% in deaths by Covid-19. And some independent groups are helping “catch” the inflated number, like Pennsylvania’s “Wolf administration was caught this week adding up to 269 fake deaths to the state totals on Tuesday” (CITADELPOLITICS). Or this short example (PJ-MEDIA)

On Thursday, the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) confirmed a report by the Freedom Foundation that they have included those who tested positive for COVID-19 but died of other causes, including gunshot injuries, in their coronavirus death totals. This calls into serious question the state’s calculations of residents who have actually died of the CCP pandemic.
Last week, after it was reported that, like Washington, Colorado was counting deaths of all COVID-19 positive persons regardless of cause (which had resulted in the inclusion of deaths from alcohol poisoning), the Colorado Department of Health and Environment began to differentiate between deaths “among people with COVID-19” and “deaths due to COVID-19.”

Just one more of the many examples I could share is the New York Times getting 40% wrong of their “died from Covid-19 under 30-years old” front page news story. Mmmm, no, they didn’t die of Covid. As states figure this out, the inflated counts (like when Colorado did this — fell by 25%: lots more on this below).

The WASHINGTON EXAMINER notes the disparity in what has been a change in how deaths are categorized as guidelines by the CDC:

Two Minnesota state lawmakers are calling for an audit of death certificates that were attributed to the coronavirus, saying COVID-19 deaths could have been inflated by 40%.

State Rep. Mary Franson and state Sen. Scott Jensen released a video last week revealing that after reviewing thousands of death certificates in the state, 40% did not have COVID-19 as the underlying cause of death.

“I have other examples where COVID isn’t the underlying cause of death, where we have a fall. Another example is we have a freshwater drowning. We have dementia. We have a stroke and multiorgan failure,” Franson said in the video.

She added that in one case, a person who was ejected from a car was “counted as a COVID death” because the virus was in his system.

Franson said she and a team reviewed 2,800 “death certificate data points” and found that about 800 of them did not have the virus as the underlying cause of death.

Jensen pointed out that he gained attention back in April when he criticized the Minnesota Department of Health for following federal guides on recording coronavirus deaths.

“I sort of got myself in hot water way back in April when I made the comment that I was, as a physician, being encouraged to do death certificates differently with COVID-19 than with other disease entities,” Jensen said.

“For 17 years, the CDC document that guides us as physicians to do death certificates has stood, but this year, we were told, through the Department of Health and the CDC, that the rules were changing if COVID-19 was involved.”

“If it’s COVID-19, we’re told now it doesn’t matter if it was actually the diagnosis that caused death. If someone had it, they died of it,” he said…

[….]

I do have much more over the years.

Here are but a few examples:

Who’s More Pro-Choice: Europe or America?

Published June 27, 2022June 27, 2022 by Papa Giorgio

You never hear the Left denounce Europe or renounce their citizenship to Europe (or whatever European country they are from):

Are abortion laws more conservative in America or in Western Europe? Would a pregnant woman seeking an abortion have an easier time getting one in Texas or in…Germany? The answers, as talk show host Elisha Krauss explains, may just change how you think about America’s abortion laws.

RED STATE mimics my thought on this:

….You had radical left-wing pro-abortion groups threatening violence in the streets – and carrying through in some instances. Democratic members of Congress like Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) urged their supporters to get “into the streets” and “fight” in “defiance” of the ruling, using inflammatory rhetoric we’ve been assured over the last 18 months or so was designed to deliberately “incite” political extremists to commit violence.

And then there have been the unhinged celebrity responses, as predictable as they usually are, including the one from actor Samuel L. Jackson, who stupidly and ignorantly tweeted “How’s Uncle Clarence feeling about Overturning Loving v Virginia??!!” – apparently not realizing that SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife Ginni is white.

Another celebrity who made headlines over the weekend for their sizzling hot take on Roe v. Wade being overruled was “Green Day” frontman and California native Billy Joe Armstrong, who told a London crowd during a Friday performance that he was renouncing his American citizenship in an expletive-filled rant where he trashed America:

“F— America, I’m f—ing renouncing my citizenship,” the “American Idiot” singer told the crowd. “I’m f—ing coming here.”

“There’s just too much f—ing stupid in the world to go back to that miserable f—ing excuse for a country,” Armstrong added. “Oh, I’m not kidding. You’re going to get a lot of me in the coming days.”

Armstrong continued berating the U.S. during his band’s show in Huddersfield, England the following day, saying “f— the Supreme Court of America” and calling its justices “pricks,” according to the Daily Mail.

[….]

The Buffalo Shooter was an “Authoritarian Left Winger” (Updated)

Published May 15, 2022May 21, 2022 by Papa Giorgio

Buffalo shooter Payton Gendron is a far-left activist who vowed to ‘seek justice for Ukraine’ and expressed hatred for conservatives opposed to war, according to his leaked manifesto. (bottom line!)

Sigh, people are often surprised to find out that many racist (almost all) ideologies are socialist in their make-up (see HERE and HERE). This shooter is no exception — see one example (in-depth… sorry, I am not known for my brevity on certain topics) from my long series of covering shooters the media say are right wing: “Right-Wingers Kill More Than Islamists or Leftists? (Bios)“

So here we are, after another shooting but one seemingly that truly targets minorities.

Three additional POINTS/UPDATES I believe are worthy via TWITCHY and the LIBERTY DAILY. And the first is made by CHICKS ON THE RIGHT, and is made often by common sense thinkers. Which is, if everything is racist, nothing is racist:

We have reached peak absurdity. The word means nothing anymore. The left has devalued the term to the point that it has no power — and those wielding it are worthy only of ridicule. (AMERICAN THINKER)
When everything is racist, nothing is. When every single thought, act, landmark, cultural touchstone, and tradition are defamed as “white supremacy,” regardless of origin or context and irrespective of fact, the term “racism” has lost all meaning. (RED AS HELL)
If you think everything you don’t like is racist, then of course the election of a president you don’t like has to be racist. (NEW YORK POST)
The word “racism” is no longer a description, and hasn’t been for some time. Now it’s simply a political tool with no meaning. The word doesn’t need context to be used, and you need not worry about dissecting nuance in order to toss it around. Just find something you don’t like and apply liberally. No pun intended. (RED STATE)

And so, even though this was a young man in his boredom influenced by white supremacism and socialism… meh. People like Chicago Mayor think they are changing the world with stunts like these, while, her fellow brothers and sisters die in droves. Sad.

And here is another wonderful observation made as well:

(Mr. Martin’s thinking and common sense skills are to be read, BTW) And here is another “counter-narrative” Common sense gentleman that should be at the center:

So here are the early discussions of his manifesto (CD MEDIA):

The Buffalo shooter published a manifesto which showed support for the same symbols used by the Nazi Azov Battalion in Ukraine. He also expressed hatred for those against US military involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

In other words, he supported the globalist agenda in Ukraine and showed sympathy for Nazi elements in-country.

He also expressed hatred for Fox News, which is opposite what mainstream reporting is putting out.

“On the political compass I fall in the mild-moderate authoritarian left category…”

In other words…. what CD MEDIA is pointing out flies in the face of comments like these:

Three things. One, Joe Lockhart (and others) either “a” doesn’t know tucker Carlson’s position on this issue… or “b” is saying because Tucker opposed the U.S. financial support of the war in Ukraine — THIS opposition drove the shooter to kill people? At any rate, the Left often does not know that which it speaks of. Or “c” people like this just see an opportunity to attack conservative’s and FOX NEWS that they use lies to do it.

Here for instance is some input on Tucker’s position from the LEFTIE site, Crooks and Liars headline:

Tucker Wants Republicans Who Voted For Ukraine Aid Primaried: Continuing his support of Russia, the Fox News host denounced all Republicans that vote and will vote to approve aid to Ukraine.

Of course Crooks and Liars misapply Tucker’s position… but the point is that Tucker (and FOX NEWS) was hated by the shooter because of their position of skepticism about the monies spent there and not domestically in our country.

Many conservatives I follow disagree with the funding of the war in Ukraine. For instance, Daniel Horowitz notes the reason in one of his bullet points as follows:

Where are the money and arms going, and how are they not going toward the neo-Nazi Azov brigade that will, in the small chance they defeat the Russians, continue persecuting the ethnic Russians and fuel an intermittent conflict with Russia in perpetuity? (THE BLAZE)

Back to Fox and the MSMs position on this tragedy. The shooter created or used a large infographic that had people marked as Jews from CNN, the New York Times… and… wait for it… FOX NEWS. The largest Star of David was on 21st Century FOX infographic of Rupert Murdoch.

Soo, as any National Socialist, he see Jews EVERYWHERE. And much like the Left, hates Mr. Murdoch.

And the shooter also said he was influennced, not by TV, but by the interwebs:

Before I begin I will say that I was not born racist nor grew up to be racist. I simply became racist after I learned the truth. started browsing 4chan in May 2020 after extreme boredom…. From there, I also found other sites, like worldtruthvideos […] dailyarchives […] dailystormer…

The “boredom” thing caught my attention. DENNIS PRAGER:

Just as physicists look for equations to explain the natural world, I have always thought it useful to look for equations to explain human nature. For example, in my book on happiness, I offer this equation: U = I – R. Unhappiness = Image – Reality. The difference between the images we have for our life and the reality of our life is one way of measuring how much unhappiness we experience.

Here, I offer another theorem, this time to help explain leftism.

A + S = B = L

Affluence + Secularism = Boredom = Leftism

The search for an equation to help explain leftism (as distinguished from traditional liberalism) emanates from these facts:

Most leftists come from the upper and upper-middle class. This was true for the two founders of leftism, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marx was supported by his family and by Engels, who was a wealthy businessman and the son of a very wealthy businessman. All the Western spies for the Soviet Union were economically secure. And the great funder of radical causes today is a billionaire — George Soros.

Nearly all leftists are irreligious people. And the breeding place of leftism, the university, is the most secular institution in modern society.

These two facts produce a problem: Many people lack meaning in their lives. And lack of meaning is another way of stating “boredom” — a boredom of the soul.

People need meaning. After food, that is the greatest human need. As important as sex is, there are happy people who go without sex (loss of a partner, never having found a partner, vows of chastity), but there are no happy people who go without meaning (no matter how much sex they have).

This need for meaning has traditionally been met by four things: religion, family, providing for oneself and one’s family, and patriotism. And all are fading…..

Even Michael Cernovich (also hated by the Left) was noted by the killer to be a “Jew troll”

But as with our other shooters the Left claims to be right=-wing… they hold very far Left positions and politics. CHRISTINA PUSHAW notes after Cernovich’s Tweet:

“Authoritarian left wing” = National Socialist = Nazi.

(Click on graphic for an excellent, excellent article)

(See HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE)

Stolen from a TWEET that made me laugh:

Means of production/exchange to be regulated by the central government. That sounds right-wing to you? (w/ The Dude)

Yep, which is why I pointed out how 3 of the 4 largest white supremist orgs told their voters to vote for Obama:

Tom Metzger: Director, White Aryan Resistance; Career Highlights: Was Grand Dragon of Ku Klux Klan in the 70s; won the Democratic primary during his bid for Congress in 1980…
Ron Edwards: Imperial Wizard, Imperial Klans of America; Career Highlights: Sued in 2007 by the Southern Poverty Law Center for inciting the brutal beating of a Latino teenager; building the IKA into one of the nation’s largest Klan groups by allowing non-Christians to join.
Erich Gliebe: Chairman, National Alliance; Career Highlights: Turning white-power record label, Resistance Records, into a million-dollar-a-year business juggernaut; an 8-0 record as a professional boxer under the nickname, “The Aryan Barbarian.”
Rocky Suhayda: Chairman, American Nazi Party; Career highlights: Being widely quoted bemoaning in the fact that so few Aryan-Americans had the cojones of the 9/11 hijackers: “If we were one-tenth as serious, we might start getting somewhere.”

Because they are Authoritarian Left Wing.

PJ-MEDIA sums up their post as follows:

….Later in the manifest, the shooter insists, “I would prefer to call myself a populist. But you can call me an ethno-nationalist eco-fascist national socialist if you want, I wouldn’t disagree with you.” He also repeatedly attacks capitalists, and rejected the conservative label because, he wrote, “conservativism is corporatism in disguise, I want no part of it.”

But let’s not pretend that, assuming the manifesto is legitimate, the rhetoric espoused in its pages means the shooter cannot be legitimately aligned with either major political party or political movement. While I would argue that the views expressed in the manifesto echo rhetoric of radical leftism, the manifesto is full of nonsense and garbage that is at times inconsistent. The people who were quick to exploit the situation to attack Fox News and conservatives were wrong and should be ashamed of themselves.

And RED STATE’S end to their post on this is good as well:

…Further in the manifesto, the person who wrote that manifesto claims that he considered himself a communist but has since moved further right to be a “mild-moderate authoritarian left category.”

But hey, why wait for facts? The left never cared about facts in the past, why would they begin caring now? They don’t care about the tragedy and the people who died–except how they can use it to attack their political enemies, and that is despicable.

PJ-MEDIA puts the nail in the coffin:

….That didn’t stop them from blaming Fox News, of course. Leftist narratives never get tripped up by pesky things like facts.

As we all know, Tucker Carlson has replaced Sean Hannity as Public Enemy Number One at Fox News for the left, so he was getting a lot of the blame too. In their telling, this kid’s warped brain was fully formed by Carlson.

More bad news on that from the manifesto:

A search of the entire manifesto also yields no mentions of Tucker Carlson and specifically mentions “the internet” as where he got his beliefs.

Putting the final nail in the “right-wing extremist” narrative coffin, Cray-Cray says he got into communism young, uses a variety of leftist labels to describe himself, and rejects conservatism.

Oops……

BLACK SUN

See more at my NAZI OCCULTISM post:

The Black Sun has been symbolized and used by various alchemists and occultists for well over 500 years. As I explained in my article, Black Sun Rising, this symbol is also known as the “Invisible Sun” and called by its Latin name, Sol Niger, and the German Schwarze Sonne, and the Sonnenrad German for Sun Wheel.

High-ranking Nazi officials eventually chose the symbol of the Black Sun to symbolize the force or energy they would channel to spread their ideologies around the globe and conquer their enemies.

However, the Nazis would use a modified version of the symbol of the Black Sun (German: Schwarze Sonne), adding twelve radial sig runes rather than the Traditional symbology, which did not contain the sig runes up until that time.

It has been theorized that the development of the Nazi Black Sun symbology was due to several SS leaders who were very much deep into the occult and esoteric studies. People like Rudolph Hess, Wilhelm Landig, and Karl Maria Miligut whose research influenced Hitler’s #1 man, Heinrich Himmler, and the German National Socialist ideologies who used this unseen force to fuel their war campaigns.

The NAZI Black Sun first appeared in Nazi Germany during World War II in 1933 when Heinrich Himmler created the central meeting place and spiritual home for the Schutzstaffel (SS) at the Wewelsburg Castle…..

I haven’t posted these in a while, but I think in regard to the shooter’s manifesto where he calls himself an “authoritarian left winger and green nationalist” — I think Melanie Phillips (see her SUBSTACK for the latest in really good writing) seems appropriate right about now:

Tucker Notes Biden’s “Pandemic of the Unvaccinated” (Updated)

Published January 7, 2022January 7, 2022 by Papa Giorgio

Tucker Carlson demolishes Biden’s “pandemic of the unvaccinated” canard. 🔥

“We looked at the science today and every available piece of it contradicts flatly what you just heard.” pic.twitter.com/5b3ekiJA6K

— Scott Morefield (@SKMorefield) January 5, 2022

(DAILY WIRE) Leaked Airline Memos: Majority Of Employees With Omicron Are Vaxxed

On Monday, The Daily Wire’s “Morning Wire” podcast revealed that in wake of massive absences due to COVID-19, major airlines such as United and Spirit Airlines are reportedly offering employees more pay to help cover shifts for colleagues out of commission due to the illness. In a memo obtained by The Daily Wire, United specifically cited Omicron as having caused a “significant” increase in pilot illness, making the higher pay necessary to keep flights on track. Despite the airline industry being heavily vaccinated, the Omicron variant has caused an uptick in COVID-19 absences.

As the Morning Wire reported, more than 4,000 flights were canceled just this past weekend. While a massive storm in Chicago was partly to blame, it appears the main driver has been amongst pilots.

Likewise, Delta has bragged that more than 90% of its 80,000 employees are vaccinated. Yet, a Delta memo recently acknowledged that when it comes to “confirmed Omicron cases, including those among airline workers, the majority are occurring in fully-vaccinated individuals,” according to the Morning Wire’s Georgia Howe.

“Not only is omicron making more vaccinated employees sick vs. the unvaccinated, but putting those unvaccinated employees on the street without pay means the airline doesn’t have much wiggle room when their schedules start to fall apart,” Jason Kunisch, co-founder of U.S. Freedom Flyers and a pilot for a major airline told the Morning Wire.

As The Daily Wire’s John Bickley observed, COVID-19 was called the “pandemic of the unvaccinated” just a short while ago but that term may now be obsolete given the latest news…..

RED STATE Update

First Story via RED STATE:

CNN politics reporter and editor-at-large Chris Cillizza has been having some revelations of late when it comes to COVID.

Last month, Cillizza said he was finally realizing, with the onset of the Omicron variant, that the vaccines don’t prevent you from getting the virus.

INSERT TWITTER REALIZATION:

Cillizza is supposed to be a “journalist.” But somehow this basic reality just went right over his head, when it’s been public knowledge for months. What does that say about his ability to judge the facts and report them honestly, that he’s only getting around to this now?

But yesterday, Cillizza invited a ton of new mocking with his latest realization thread on Twitter — sharing that he realized that people had been afraid of admitting they had COVID out of fear of being shamed earlier but that, suddenly, that had changed.

“I’ve noticed something amid this Omicron surge that’s made me reconsider the first 20 months of this pandemic,” Cillizza wrote. “For months and months, no one I came into contact with admitted they had Covid. Not neighbors. Not co-workers. Not friends. Not acquaintances. No one.”

Cillizza noted that now it was different, with the arrival of Omicron.

Except that, with Omicron surging and lots and lots of people now getting it, I’ve found some of these same people telling me they had it last fall or at the start of the pandemic or whenever. Which is fascinating to me. Because it suggests that they were embarrassed or scared to say they (or their family) had it before.

Why? Probably not one reason for everyone, honestly. But I do think societally we unknowingly turned having Covid into some sort of judgment on your character. Like, getting Covid was a sign you weren’t being responsible or careful enough. Not being a good member of society. The ubiquity — thanks to its contagiousness — of Omicron has changed that dynamic. Some of the stigma of getting Covid has worn off, and made people more comfortable acknowledging that they’ve had it before.

Which is a good thing! We need to recognize that getting Covid isn’t a moral failing! It’s a super infectious disease that you can protect against, sure, but can’t guarantee you won’t get it.

Okay, let’s back up here. “Unknowingly?” No, it was very knowingly. This is a CNN editor — the very network that has been demonizing people with COVID — and just had a guest on demonizing the unvaccinated. CNN has constantly painted the vaccinated as the “good” and the unvaccinated as the “bad,” and acted as though only the unvaccinated can spread the virus. If Americans have been deceived into believing a virus is a moral failing (and many on the left have), media like CNN shares a big part of the blame for that. The only reason that the CNN editor and others are coming to these realizations now is to address the fact that it’s apparent now that the “good” people are getting it, too.

It’s not just CNN the network, but Cillizza himself who played these games that he is now decrying. Who wrote all this, Chris?

[…..]

Most Americans, except Joe Biden and those deluded by media like CNN, knew that it wasn’t a “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” that the vaccinated could spread it, too. It’s one more reason most Americans no longer trust the media and despise it.

People justifiably let Cillizza have it……

(READ THE REST)

Here is RED STATE’S second story (linked in the above story) getting back to the OP:

….Then, of course, there’s this out-and-out lie, where Biden says it “continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”

BIDEN: “This continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated.” pic.twitter.com/6bxLfbZfJo

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 4, 2022

If anything, the increase of the Omicron variant hitting so many prominent vaccinated and boosted people shows how untrue that claim is.

Now, this is a dumb comment, even for Joe. “Surround your kids with people who are vaccinated,” Biden urges.

Biden to parents: keep your kids away from unvaccinated people pic.twitter.com/SSvbWOB0xZ

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 4, 2022

Most kids are unvaccinated. So, your kids should never be around other kids? Is that rational? What is he thinking? Not to mention that it’s least transmissible among young kids.

What the heck is he even saying here about social distancing from a bus? The “actual bus”?

BIDEN: “Social distance in classrooms, even larger classrooms, on buses, and, uh, everything from bus drivers to buses, the actual bus.” pic.twitter.com/XrmruEVY0n

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 4, 2022

Is the bus going to give the kids COVID now? How far gone is this man? Not to mention: how are you social distancing much on an enclosed bus that you have to walk through?…..

CDC Dir. Rochelle Walensky Admits Truth About Death Numbers

Published August 11, 2021August 12, 2021 by Papa Giorgio

UPDATED TODAY! (Originally posted May 16th, 2021)

Hit My Head On Keyboard! (HMHOK)

(The following is Via RED STATE!)

If you’ve been paying attention to the Biden administration’s and the CDC’s handling of COVID the last week, you’ve probably gotten a bad case of whiplash. The same people who just weeks ago were insisting masks were still needed after vaccination are now patting themselves on the back for reversing course, making clearly false claims that the science has somehow changed in that short period. It hasn’t, but what has changed is the politics surrounding all this.

Today, CDC Dir. Rochelle Walensky, in an attempt to bolster her agencies failing credibly, made the Sunday show rounds. While speaking to CNN, she made an astonishing admission.

All I can do is shake my head at this. What Walensky is doing is trying to draw a distinction between those who died directly because they got COVID and those who may have tested positive, but ultimately died of another comorbidity or condition. Now, to most people, that would seem like common sense. After all, why would you count someone with terminal cancer or an already failing heart as a COVID death — just because they had the virus when they died?

But what’s so astonishing about this is that what Walensky is saying has previously been declared to be completely off-limits for over a year by the powers that be. In fact, it’s the kind of thing that has often gotten right-leaning sites in trouble with the social media censors. Yet, here is the Biden administration saying what was previously labeled as taboo, just because it fits their narrative. Meanwhile, the media don’t question it, and the social media overlords just shrug.

Obviously, what Walensky is saying is true, though. What we know about COVID — and who is hit the hardest — says that co-morbidities, including heart problems, lung problems, and morbid obesity, are the top factor. If someone is otherwise terminally sick, even a mild case of COVID could expedite matters…..

Most important in this post is this, WHERE CAN I GET Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin? AMERICA’S FRONTLINE DOCTORS has a consultation sign up HERE! See also FLCCC ALLIANCE (Click Pic)

Court Cases – Election 2020

Published February 6, 2021December 4, 2022 by Papa Giorgio

2020 Presidential Election Lawsuits — the Facts (February 03, 2021); see also – The Continuing Democrat-Media Narrative That There Is “No Evidence of Election Fraud” Is a Bald-Faced Lie ( January 28, 2021)

Here is the skinny, well laid out by RED STATE:

…..The Left’s message to the public is that there were no consequential 2020 Presidential election malfeasance, irregularities or illegalities — supposedly because the courts objectively and thoroughly investigated those claims, and ruled them to be unfounded.

Neither element of that assertion is even remotely true.

To counter the later part of that false narrative, a team of independent volunteer (unpaid) scientists and engineers recently put together a List of Lawsuits involving the 2020 Presidential election. In it we identified the issues at stake, how each case was treated by the courts, what evidence was objectively analyzed, who won and lost, etc.

We tried to walk a narrow line of not only having a comprehensive list, but also information easy enough for the public to understand. (For example, since none of us are attorneys, we consciously tried to avoid unnecessary legal jargon.)

To further assist in the understanding of this important list, we simplified 20+ pages of filings and decisions on each case into a one or two sentence summary. (If we didn’t do justice to any of these, please let me know and I’ll issue an update.)

Another idea we implemented was to color-code the decisions — to make it easy for the reader to segregate the various outcomes.

Lastly, we passed this list by over a dozen lawyers involved with election-related lawsuits. The typical response we received was “Excellent!”.

So what are the takeaways?

To begin with our list shows that there have been seventy-five (75) lawsuits filed that are relevant to the 2020 Presidential election. (Note 1: we are counting an original filing, plus additional appeals as one single case. Note 2: other lawsuits are possibly undiscovered.)

The results to date are:

a) Eight cases have been withdrawn or consolidated. (These are not wins or losses to either side.)

b) Twenty-five cases have been stopped from proceeding (dismissed) due to legal technicalities (standing, timing, jurisdiction, etc.). These have nothing to do with the merits of the case and should also not be considered wins or losses for either side. That more than a third of the lawsuits were not allowed to proceed to an evidentiary hearing is more of an indictment that many judges appear to be afraid of opening this pandora’s box. Considering the importance of election integrity to our country, it’s a shame for them to hide behind subjective legal technicalities. How is that in the interest of the citizens in our country?

In any case, this leaves us with forty-two (42) lawsuits relevant to the 2020 Presidential election where a judge has ruled (or hopefully will rule) on the merits. The results so far are:

c) Nineteen cases are completed (adjudicated). These are where the court heard arguments, considered evidence (where applicable), and then formally ruled on statutory issues (e.g. the legality of a state’s election process), etc. Of these:

i) Eleven cases were WON by Trump, et al, and

ii) Eight cases were lost by Trump, et al.

d) Twenty-three cases are still active and have not yet been decided — so the ultimate winner and loser of these cases has not been determined.

So, Trump (et al) have WON the majority of 2020 election cases fully heard, and then decided on the merits! Is that what the mainstream media is reporting?…..

Gavin Newsom’s Shady Deal Could Equal Criminal Charges

Published July 30, 2020 by Papa Giorgio

(Hat-tip, Danny W.) New details are emerging that appear to indicate California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new $3.7 million mansion was gifted to him under highly questionable circumstances. One America’s Pearson Sharp has more on the deal that legal experts say could amount to money laundering.

Here are some bullet points that start out a detailed article via RED STATE:

Gavin Newsom’s $3.7 million, 12,000 square foot mansion, on 8+ acres along the American River in Sacramento, was the area’s most expensive home sale in 2018
The gated estate consists of a 6 bedroom/10 bath home, a guest house, a pool, a tennis court, and a wine cave
An LLC registered to Newsom’s cousin, long-time business partner, and Co-President of PlumpJack, Jeremy Scherer, paid cash for the estate in December 2018
Newsom’s spox, though, claimed in Jan 2019 that it was Newsom who’d paid cash for the home – puzzling, since Newsom still carried a $3.2 million mortgage on his prior home
In Oct 2019 the LLC gifted the home to the Newsoms free and clear, claiming Newsom was a member of the LLC to avoid a $4,000 Transfer Tax
In January 2020 the Newsoms received $2.7 million tax-free when they obtained a cash-out refinance
Newsom’s financial disclosure forms don’t mention the LLC or the gifts, which far exceed the $500 limit
In 2003, Newsom was cited for failing to disclose $11 million in real estate and business loans

…read it all…

Wuhan Virus: Deaths and Polls

Published March 14, 2020March 20, 2020 by Papa Giorgio

Attkisson shares that, “Almost all of the reported coronavirus deaths in the U.S. happened in long-term care facilities in Washington State. And almost all of those occurred at the same facility.” (GATEWAY PUNDIT)

ALSO:

RED STATE has an excellent short article of which I clip most from:

…Journalist Sheryl Atkinson has put together information about the ages and underlying health conditions of the victims and the locations of their deaths.

The most noteworthy fact is that 37 of these deaths occurred in the state of Washington and “25 of the Washington deaths occurred at the Life Care Center nursing facility in Kirkland, where a serious outbreak occurred.” The ages of those who died is not available, but generally, healthy people don’t wind up in nursing homes.

The ages of the other victims in Washington state and the conditions of their health are known and are included in the conclusions below.

Of the remaining eleven, there were four in California, two in Florida and one each in New Jersey, South Dakota, Georgia, Kansas and Colorado.

The youngest victim was in his 40s and had underlying health issues.
Four were in their 60s, and all had underlying medical conditions.
Seven were in their 70s. Five either had underlying health issues or were in assisted living facilities. The other two were a couple who had just returned from overseas.
Six were in their 80s and either had medical conditions or were in assisted living facilities.
Three were in their 90s and were in assisted living facilities.
One was listed only as “elderly” and in an assisted living facility.
The only people on this list where an underlying condition is not specified had been traveling overseas where they likely contracted the virus.
Everyone else had health problem to begin with or was in a nursing home or other type of assisted living facility.

Atkinson’s full article can be viewed HERE.

Before posting, New York just announced the state’s first coronavirus death. A woman, 82, with emphysema had been admitted to a Brooklyn hospital on March 3 and officials say she contracted the virus inside the facility.

I’m not sure if this woman had been a smoker, but it is said that the high rate of smoking in China may have increased the number of deaths. According to Fortune Magazine, “the country’s sky-high smoking rate among men” may add to the “severity of symptoms and the number of coronavirus deaths in China.”…

Some Examples of NYTs Faux Pas’

Published January 28, 2020 by Papa Giorgio

DAILY CALLER zeroes in on the first claim:

The New York Times has issued an absurdly written correction to a story about President Trump and Russian meddling.

White House reporter Maggie Haberman falsely claimed in her report that 17 intelligence agencies all agreed Russia tried to interfere in the presidential election, reiterating a thoroughly debunked liberal talking point.

[….]

Haberman’s story repeated a claim liberals began circulating following a declassified report from the Director of National Intelligence in October on the Russian influence campaign. Since the DNI heads up 17 agencies, it was easy to frame the declassified report as a consensus built on 17 separate assessments. In fact only the three agencies who reviewed the matter signed off on that consensus.

The former director of national intelligence, James Clapper, said as much in a May Senate hearing. The assessment was a “coordinated” product from the FBI, the NSA and the CIA, he said, working under the “aegis” of the DNI. It was not signed off on by 17 agencies. That makes sense, as some of the agencies — Coast Guard intel perhaps most obviously — would have little to do with election hacking.

The Daily Caller News Foundation also addressed the claim in a fact check of a Hillary Clinton interview in May where she again repeated the phrase. Certainly, none of the other agencies disagreed on the record, but that’s to be expected if they didn’t conduct a separate analysis…..

(See also THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER)

MY PAST POSTS ON THE MATTER:

More on the second claim regarding the Steele Dossier being Russian propaganda — even though it was touted for over 2-years in the pages of the NYT:

Who knew? …On Saturday, the New York Times published a story about how the “Mueller Report [was] likely to renew scrutiny of the Steele Dossier.” The Times reports that the dossier’s contents could even have been a Russian disinformation operation aimed at then-candidate Trump. Which comes as no surprise to conservatives who have been following the story.

Remember, the Steele dossier came about because the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC paid a law firm, which then hired Fusion GPS to dig up dirt on Trump. Fusion GPS then paid a former British intelligence officer, Christopher Steele, who leaned on contacts close to the Kremlin to get information that was used in the preparation of the dossier.

Is it any wonder that those Russians, who wanted to sow discord in the United States, would jump at the opportunity to provide misinformation, knowing that the media would eat it up?…

(THE BLAZE)

ALSO (hat-tip RED STATE):

As it turns out, back in January 2018, New York Times reporter Scott Shane, the lead reporter on this story, was a member of a panel that somewhat resembled the Star Wars cantina scene at the International Spy Museum titled “Unpacking the Russia Story with the Experts Who Have Covered It.” The video is cued up to the appropriate cut for your convenience:

And regarding the New York Times correction to a story about Trump’s tax plan:

The New York Times issued an embarrassing correction after a report that attacked President Donald Trump’s recently passed tax plan got the numbers about as wrong as could be.

The lengthy Feb. 23 feature, headlined, “Get to Know the New Tax Code While Filling Out This Year’s 1040,” sought to detail how Trump’s tax plan would hurt middle-class families. A hypothetical couple — christened Sam and Felicity Taxpayer — would see their tax bill rise by nearly $4,000, according to the story.

Then came the correction saying the family would actually see taxes go down.

The Wall Street Journal’s James Freeman mocked the Times piece before the Old Gray Lady issued the correction.

“Even perennial tax-increase advocate Warren Buffett is now acknowledging the economic benefit of the Trump tax cuts, but The New York Times newsroom still won’t concede the point,” Freeman wrote on Feb. 27. “Will criticism from a liberal law professor persuade The Times to reconsider?”

Well, The Times did reconsider — but it may still not be 100 percent accurate…..

(FOX NEWS)

A FEW MORE

The New York Times had to issue an embarrassing correction to its story about another decades-old accusation of sexual misconduct against US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh — because it failed to tell readers that the alleged victim doesn’t even remember the incident.

As The Post reported in its front-page story Monday, the Times piece omitted that crucial fact.

The Times article had been adapted from a book on Kavanaugh by two of its reporters, Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly. The newspaper claimed that Max Stier, a former classmate of the justice years ago at Yale University, had allegedly seen Kavanaugh pull his pants down at a party, and his friends then pushed his penis into the hands of a female student….

(NY POST | See also the NEW YORK INTELLIGENCER)

5 Biggest Screw-Ups by The New York Times So Far This Year

Corrects Claim That 17 Intel Agencies ‘Agree’ on Russia
Mistakes Parody Twitter Account for North Korea’s Official One
Flubs Story on Food Stamps and Soda—Twice
Editor Forced to Correct Statement on Attorney General
Corrects Editorial Attacking Sarah Palin With Debunked Conspiracy Theory

(DAILY SIGNAL)

The New York Times was forced to issue four corrections to a failed hit piece against Foundation for Defense of Democracies founder Mark Dubowitz.

Last week, the Times published a piece aimed at portraying Dubowitz as corrupt, unethical, and incompetent because he opposed former President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran and applauded President Donald Trump for withdrawing the U.S. from the horrendous pact.

The embarrassing article falsely claimed that a GOP donor with financial ties to the United Arab Emirates gave FDD $2.7 million to fund an anti-Qatar conference; that Dubowitz “paid himself” twice as much as others who head think tanks; that Dubowitz created his own salary to far exceed his peers in the industry; and that the FDD is connected to Israel’s Likud Party.

Every single one of those claims is completely false, and the Times was forced to issue a lengthy correction admitting that its error-ridden piece had to be updated.

As noted by the correction, here’s the truth: Dubowitz’s compensation is determined by a board of directors, meaning he doesn’t arbitrarily create his own salary; his annual salary is almost identical with other think tank leaders; the FDD is not directly tied to the Likud Party in any way; and GOP donor Elliott Broidy gave $360,000 for the FDD conference, not $2.7 million….

These weren’t minor errors where someone’s name was misspelled or the date of an event was wrong. This was intended to be a disgusting, salacious, hit piece against Dubowitz because he gave credit to Trump for pulling out of the Iran deal.

The piece is uniquely embarrassing because of the volume of the embarrassing errors and how easy it should have been for editors to catch the erroneous claims.

In fact, the errors are so egregious it appears like the Times deliberately inflated figures and peddled falsehoods to ramp up the heat on Debowitz….

(I LOVE MY FREEDOM)

ETC., ETC., ETC….

Whistleblower and Schiff Staffer In 2017 Coup Talks (UPDATE)

Published January 23, 2020January 26, 2020 by Papa Giorgio

(UPDATE: I had to edit out the name of Eric Ciaramella in the description in order for YouTube to publish this audio. The monolithic thought is amazing to me, and the 1984 beginnings are unmistakable. Obviously no Federal or State law says a person’s name cannot be used… and, in fact, the “whistleblower” statute merely protects the person from on the job harassment by superiors. Not to nix his name from the public. Weird.)

Real Clear Investigations and Red State (linked below respectively) have great stories on these two colleagues (comrades?) discussing how to remove Trump from office 2-weeks after he was inaugurated — insurance policy 2.0 two-weeks after Trump was inaugurated (!):

RED STATE:

……Source 1 said, “Just days after he [Trump] was sworn in, they [Ciaramella and Misko] were already talking about trying to get rid of him. They weren’t just bent on subverting his agenda. They were plotting to actually have him removed from office.”

Sources told Sperry that Misko had been the Schiff staff member whom Ciaramella had “reached out to” for “guidance” before submitting his complaint with the Intelligence Community Inspector General, Michael Atkinson.

Sperry writes:

The coordination between the official believed to be the whistleblower and a key Democratic staffer, details of which are disclosed here for the first time, undercuts the narrative that impeachment developed spontaneously out of the “patriotism” of an “apolitical civil servant.”

Two former co-workers said they overheard Ciaramella and Misko, close friends and Democrats held over from the Obama administration, discussing how to “take out,” or remove, the new president from office within days of Trump’s inauguration. These co-workers said the president’s controversial Ukraine phone call in July 2019 provided the pretext they and their Democratic allies had been looking for.

[….]

Source 1 said, “They were popping off about how they were going to remove Trump from office. No joke.”

[….]

He had also heard Ciaramella tell Misko, “‘We can’t let him enact this foreign policy.’“

Source 2 said he reported what he’d overheard to his superiors. “It was so shocking that they were so blatant and outspoken about their opinion,” he recalled. “They weren’t shouting it, but they didn’t seem to feel the need to hide it.”

The co-workers, [sources 1 and 2] didn’t think much more about the incident…..

Red States vs. Blue States (Supply-n-Demand)

Published May 12, 2019May 12, 2019 by Papa Giorgio

I wanted to share two articles to exemplify and introduction to a HERITAGE FOUNDATION article about competition between states. The first is this article found over at HOT AIR, and it shows the damage that distortions to supply and demand for some sort of egalitarian or environmental concern can have on productive endeavors that increase the wealth of the common man. Wealth creation in other words:

If you know anything about New York in the modern era (both the state and the Big Apple), you’re likely aware that it’s not exactly a friendly landscape for the oil and gas industry. The “Keep it in the ground” crowd has a lot of influence with the Democrats who control the government. That[‘s] why, back in 2013, when the new Constitution Pipeline was proposed to carry natural gas from Pennsylvania’s rich shale oil fields to New York, activists were able to block the construction despite it already having been approved by federal regulators. Similarly, when National Grid (the local energy consortium) requested an extension to the Williams Co. Transco pipeline, they were also tied up because of the outcry from environmental activists.

Here comes the surprise that nobody could have possibly seen coming. The city and its surrounding downstate region are still expanding with new construction projects, but their energy suppliers have told them that they will not be able to supply natural gas to any new customers because they’re already at capacity. (NY Post)

Long Islanders were recently hit with bad news. National Grid, which provides natural gas for nearly 600,000 Long Island residents, announced it won’t be able to provide fuel for new customers if the proposed Williams Co. Transco pipeline expansion isn’t approved by May 15.

Earlier this year, energy company Con Ed imposed a similar moratorium on new natural-gas service in parts of Westchester County due to limited capacity on existing pipelines. These crises are completely avoidable…

For too long, politicians like Gov. Andrew Cuomo and their ill-considered energy policies have hampered the development of safe, efficient energy infrastructure, subjecting American consumers to unnecessarily high energy costs and unreliable service.

So you don’t want pipelines, eh? But you say you’d like to build more houses, apartments and office buildings? Well, you’d better figure out how to cook your food and heat your living spaces with solar panels pretty quickly because (to borrow a phrase from GoT) winter is coming. And so is lunchtime…..

The second article deals with on the one hand a Utopian [mis]understanding of alternative energy and it’s own “supply-and-demand” features built into the environmentalist hypothesis (that in the end do not fit reality). I have said for years that the supply of heavy metals and lithium which are the main ingredient to make power cells for cell phones and laptops (small/reasonable), to a whole swath of them in rows in electric cars (unreasonable).

Let me explain why I just said “unreasonable.” These ventures with Tesla and other manufacturers of electric vehicles are not a “supply-and-demand” by the free market. These ventures into wind, solar, and electric vehicles ONLY EXIST because our government has funded their “viability” in a world that if left to stand on their own would go out of business. The technology is old and never really worked, and the only people that buy Teslas, as an example, are the rich, and they are given a form of welfare to do so. (In other words, the rich are getting a form of bailout by environmentalists that say the rich are ruining the environment.)

Here is POWERLINE’S article in part:

“Green” advocates aspire to power the entire U.S. electrical system with wind and solar energy. How are they going to do that, given that wind turbines produce electricity only around 40% of the time, and solar panels produce electricity, in most areas, less than 25% of the time? The truthful answer is that whenever utilities build (or contract with) a wind farm or a solar installation, they also build a natural gas plant to provide electricity during the majority of the time when the “green” resources are idle. This is why wind and solar energy, unlike nuclear power, actually lock us into fossil fuel use for the indefinite future.

Of course, green power advocates don’t admit that they plan on using natural gas forever. They hold out hope that electricity produced by wind and solar facilities will be stored in batteries–giant ones, I assume–so that it can be used when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. No such batteries exist, of course, which is why they are not already in use. And any existing or foreseeable battery technology would rely on vast amounts of lithium, which must be mined.

Currently, the Chinese are “rush[ing] to dominate the global supply of lithium.” We do have lithium deposits in the United States, notably in the Panamint Valley of California. The Los Angeles Times reports: “A war is brewing over lithium mining at the edge of Death Valley.”

Recently, the Australia-based firm Battery Mineral Resources Ltd. asked the federal government for permission to drill four exploratory wells to see if the hot, salty brine beneath the valley floor contains economically viable concentrations of lithium. …

The drilling request has generated strong opposition from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club and the Defenders of Wildlife, who say the drilling project would be an initial step toward the creation of a full-scale lithium mining operation.

That is the idea, I suppose.

[….]

Does it matter? There is great demand for lithium used in existing technologies–phones, laptops, electric vehicles, and so on. But the idea that batteries of any foreseeable design will combine with wind turbines and solar panels to satisfy America’s need for electricity is a fantasy. For one thing, batteries of the requisite capacity would be prohibitively expensive. It has been calculated that, using the most advanced battery technology on the market, Tesla’s 100 MW, 129 MWh battery in use in South Australia, it would cost $133 billion to store the electricity needs of my state, Minnesota, for 24 hours. That is more than one-third of the state’s annual GDP…..

AGAIN, the immutable law of supply-and-demand will come into play in rising prices of “alternative energy” and scarcity of availability… based on egalitarian environmental concerns. N O W, here is the intro to the HERITAGE FOUNDATION article noting the differences between blue-state policies and red-state policies… much of which is based on supply-and-demand regarding energy needs:

The competition among the states is becoming more intense as businesses become more mobile. Toyota and Boeing are two high-profile employers in America that have crossed state borders because of the policy advantages of one state over another. Toyota moved from high-income-tax California to no-income-tax Texas, and Boeing, based in Washington, a forced-union state, opened a new plant in South Carolina, which has a right-to-work (RTW) law. Texas Governor Rick Perry and California Governor Jerry Brown have openly sparred in recent years about which state is more pro-business. Interstate competition allows governors and legislators to learn from each other about which policies create wealth and which policies diminish wealth inside their borders.

In recent years, governors have generally divided into two competing camps, which we call the “red state model” and the “blue state model,” raising the stakes in this interstate competition. The conservative red state model is predicated on low tax rates, right-to-work laws, light regulation, and pro-energy development policies. This policy strategy is now common in most of the Southern states and the more rural and mountain states. Meanwhile, the liberal blue state model is predominantly found in the Northeast, California, Illinois, Minnesota, and, until recently, Michigan and Ohio. The blue states have doubled down on policies that include high levels of government spending, high income tax rates on the rich, generous welfare benefits, forced-union requirements, super-minimum-wage laws, and restrictions on oil and gas drilling.

In no area are the effects of these competing models more evident than in tax policy changes of recent years. California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, and Oregon have raised their income tax rates on “the rich” since 2008.[1] In four of these states, the combined state and local income tax rate exceeds 10 percent, reaching 13.3 percent in California and 12.7 percent in New York.[2] Meanwhile, the “red states” of Arizona, Arkansas,[3] Kansas,[4] Missouri,[5] North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Idaho[6] have cut their tax rates. This has widened the income tax differential between blue states and red states for businesses and upper-income families.

Similarly, red states such as Oklahoma, Texas, and North Dakota have embraced the oil and gas drilling revolution in America. Blue states such as New York, Vermont, Illinois, and California have resisted it. Blue states have raised their minimum wages; red states generally have not.

In this study, which is a summary of our recent book with Rex Sinquefield and Travis Brown, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of States: How Taxes, Energy, and Worker Freedom Will Change the Balance of Power Among States, we examine whether these policy differentials matter and, if so, by how much.

The answer is that the states’ policy choices on taxes, regulation, energy policy, labor laws, educational choice, and so forth have a large and in most cases a statistically significant impact on the prosperity of states over each 10-year time frame examined on a rolling basis from 1970 to 2012. There are always exceptions to the rule, but in most cases the red state model is substantially outperforming the blue state model.

We find in particular that two policies matter most. Right-to-work states substantially outperform non–right-to-work states, and states with no or low income taxes have a much better economic record than high-income-tax states…..

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"I never discuss anything except politics and religion. There is nothing else to discuss." ~ G.K. Chesterton

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Whistleblower and Schiff Staffer In 2017 Coup Talks (UPDATE)