Author: Papa Giorgio

Ivermectin vs. Water (Babylon Bee and Veterinary Drugs)

Published by Papa Giorgio

…TO WIT…

AMERICAN THINKER has a very good article… while I will quote a large swath of it — I recommend going there and reading it in total:

As a physician, I am certainly aware of ivermectin but don’t recall ever writing a prescription for it in my 30+ years’ medical career. Ivermectin is an anthelmintic, meaning it cures parasitic infections. In my world of ophthalmology, it is used on occasion for rare parasitic or worm infections in the eye.

Ivermectin was FDA approved in 1998 under the brand name Stromectol, produced by pharmaceutical giant Merck, approved for several parasitic infections. The product label described it as having a “unique mode of action,” which “leads to an increase in the permeability of the cell membrane to chloride ions.” This suggests that ivermectin acts as an ionophore, making cell membranes permeable to ions that enter the cell for therapeutic effect.

Ivermectin is one of several ionophores, others including hydroxychloroquine, quercetin, and resveratrol, the latter two available over the counter. These ionophores simply open a cellular door, allowing zinc to enter the cell, where it then interferes with viral replication, providing potential therapeutic benefit in viral and other infections.

This scientific paper reviews and references other studies demonstrating antibacterial, antiviral, and anticancer properties of ivermectin. This explains the interest in this drug as having potential use in treating COVID.

Does ivermectin work in COVID? I am not attempting to answer that question, instead looking at readily available information because this drug has been the focus of much recent media attention. For the benefit of any reader eager to report this article and author to the medical licensing boards for pushing misleading information, I am not offering medical advice or prescribing anything.  Rather, I am only offering commentary on this newsworthy and controversial drug.

What’s newsworthy about ivermectin? A simple Google search of most medications describes uses and side effects. A similar search of ivermectin provides headlines of why it shouldn’t be taken and how dangerous it is.

[….]

The Guardian describes ivermectin as horse medicine reminding readers considering taking the drug, “You are not a horse. You are not a cow”, saying it’s a medicine meant for farm animals. The FDA echoed that sentiment in a recent tweet, adding “Seriously, y’all. Stop it,” their word choice making it obvious who the tweet was directed to.

Perhaps the FDA didn’t realize that Barack and Michelle Obama often used the term “y’all” and that some might construe the FDA tweet as racist.

The FDA says ivermectin “can be dangerous and even lethal,” yet they approved it in 1998 and have not pulled it from the market despite it being “dangerous and lethal.” Any medication can be “dangerous and lethal” if misused. People have even overdosed on water.

It is true that ivermectin is also used in animals, as are many drugs approved for human use. This is a list of veterinary drugs with many familiar names of antibiotics, antihypertensives, and anesthetics commonly used by humans. Since these drugs are used in farm animals, should humans stop taking them? That seems a rather unscientific argument against ivermectin, especially coming from the FDA.

And healthcare professionals are not recommending or prescribing animal versions of ivermectin as there is an FDA-approved human formulation.

Does ivermectin work against COVID? That is the bigger question and worthy of investigation, rather than reminding people that they are not cows.

A study published several months ago in the American Journal of Therapeutics concluded,

Meta-analyses based on 18 randomized controlled treatment trials of ivermectin in COVID-19 have found large, statistically significant reductions in mortality, time to clinical recovery, and time to viral clearance. Furthermore, results from numerous controlled prophylaxis trials report significantly reduced risks of contracting COVID-19 with the regular use of ivermectin. Finally, the many examples of ivermectin distribution campaigns leading to rapid population-wide decreases in morbidity and mortality indicate that an oral agent effective in all phases of COVID-19 has been identified.

To my knowledge, these 18 studies have not been retracted, unlike previous studies critical of hydroxychloroquine which were ignominiously retracted by prestigious medical journals like The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine.

Yet the medical establishment refuses to even entertain the possibility of some benefit from ivermectin, castigating physicians who want to try it in their patients. 18 studies found benefit. Are they all wrong?

[….]

This is anecdotal and could have other explanations but the discovery of penicillin was also anecdotal and observational. Good science should investigate rather than ignore such observations.

The Japanese Medical Association recently endorsed ivermectin for COVID. The US CDC cautioned against it.

There is legal pushback as an Ohio judge ordered a hospital to treat a ventilated COVID patient with ivermectin. After a month on the ventilator, this patient is likely COVID free and ivermectin now will have no benefit, allowing the medical establishment to say “see I told you so” that it wouldn’t help.

By this point, active COVID infection is not the issue; instead, it is weaning off and recovery from long-term life support. The early hydroxychloroquine studies had the same flaw, treating patients too late in the disease course to provide or demonstrate benefit.

These drugs have been proposed for early outpatient treatment, not when patients are seriously ill and near death. Looking for treatment benefits in the wrong patient population will yield expected negative results.

Given how devastating COVID can be and how, despite high levels of vaccination in countries like the US, UK, and Israel, we are seeing surging cases and hospitalizations among the vaccinated, we should be pulling out all the stops in treating this virus.

Medical treatment involves balancing risks and benefits. When FDA-approved medications are used in appropriate doses for appropriate patients, prescribed by competent physicians, the risks tend to be low, and any benefit should be celebrated. Instead, the medical establishment, media, and regulatory authorities are taking the opposite approach. One has to wonder why.

Objectivity Is Impossible And It Is Also Undesirable — Zinn

Published by Papa Giorgio

CALIFORNIA POLICY and AMERICAN GREATNESS has this quote that I wish to add to my Howard Zinn vault:

…..The irony here is that the planned protests were hosted by the Zinn Education Project, whose approach to history is based on Howard Zinn’s best-selling book A People’s History of the United States. Published in 1980, the book became extremely popular and still dominates our nation’s classrooms. Zinn maintained that teaching history “should serve society in some way” and that “Objectivity is impossible and it is also undesirable.” When called on the carpet for writing a history book that played very fast and loose with the facts, the author freely admitted it, saying that his hope in writing the book was to cause a revolution.

At least Zinn was honest enough to admit that he was a liar. There’s no indication that the union troofers will go that far. Or perhaps they really believe that their lies are the truth. Either way, the troofers’ actions are very much akin to those of the Big Bad Wolf, and the nation’s children are Little Red Riding Hoods. That story had a happy ending, but the current version has yet to reach its climax.

Dr. Peter McCullough Lecture On The State Of COVID Treatment

Published by Papa Giorgio

Rumble — Dr McCullough is a world renowned authority on COVID and editor-in-chief of two major medical journals. He discusses how most deaths are due to CDC refusing to permit pre-hospital treatment, which would keep most people out of the hospital. He also discusses how the “vaccines” don’t prevent infection but do cause major problems. Recorded at the Andrews University Village Church, Berrien Springs, MI, August 20, 2021. (One resource – if in L.A. – can be found here: Emergency Medical Services-MAb)

John Ziegler Regrets Position Position on Vaccines (+RSV Update)

Published by Papa Giorgio

This is with a hat-tip to PECKFORD42, Originally posted at FREE WEST MEDIA.

  • John Ziegler, a conservative American journalist and once a vaccine advocate, has admitted that he had been wrong about the injections against Covid-19, especially seeing the alarming data from Israel.

I will post his TWEETS along with the larger graphics under the associated Tweet:

TWEET on ISRAEL

CASES

DEATHS

TWEET ON SWEDEN

CASES

DEATHS

TWEET

Noted in the story is this common sense position:

Berenson added: “A rational response to their plunging effectiveness would be – at the least – to stop encouraging their use while scientists investigate why they have stopped working so quickly. Instead Fauci is pressing Americans to take a third mRNA dose in the hope it will work better and longer than the original two.

“But no clinical trial data shows a third dose will reduce infections, much less hospitalizations or deaths. And a research preprint released Monday (Aug. 23) in Japan suggests the Delta variant could evolve in a way that could produce vaccine antibody-dependent enhancement, a nightmare scenario.”

So, What is antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE)? RIVER CITY MALONE (RCM) has a wonderful article explaining this well enough for myself, and hopefully the audience here:

In reacting either to an infection or a vaccine, your body makes antibodies of various types to a variety of proteins on the surface of the virus. Some of the antibodies will be neutralizing, meaning that when they bind to the virus they prevent the virus from getting inside human cells. Other antibodies can likewise bind to the virus, but not make any difference to the virus’s successful functioning. These are non-neutralizing antibodies.

The problem is that both types of antibodies can also bind with loose viral proteins, especially from a vaccine, or a subsequent exposure to another virus, or with proteins of similar shape on or in human cells themselves. When antibodies bind to a loose protein, this triggers what’s called an immune complex reaction.

Immune complexes tend to deposit in certain parts of the body, such as the joints and kidneys. Antibody Dependent Enhancement (ADE) appears to be a damaging inflammatory reaction of one’s own antibodies against one’s own tissues or cells, again, provoked by antibodies binding to one’s tissues or by immune complexes being deposited.

The antibody/antigen reaction triggers other inflammatory cells in a cascade effect, leading to tissue and organ damage which can be very serious.

RCM then links to two studies. You can view them yourselves when there. As noted in a previous post, Stephanie Seneff has said the following:

STEPHANIE SENEFF

Stephanie Seneff, a senior researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL), says that the situation is reminiscent of a phenomenon seen among other vaccines called antibody dependent enhancement (ADE).

According to a study published in September 2020 in the Nature Microbiology journal, “One potential hurdle for antibody-based vaccines and therapeutics is the risk of exacerbating COVID-19 severity via antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE). ADE can increase the severity of multiple viral infections, including other respiratory viruses such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and measles.”

In another study published in 2012, lab animals injected with experimental coronavirus vaccines developed enhanced lung diseases. As a result, the researchers concluded, “Caution in proceeding to application of a SARS-CoV vaccine in humans is indicated.”

According to Seneff, several studies have shown that coronavirus vaccines can alter how human immune systems respond to infections. In addition, the vaccines can activate dormant infections such as herpes, resulting in symptoms of Bell’s Palsy or shingles.

“It is conceivable to me that the laser-beam specificity of the induced antibodies is offset by a general weakening of innate immunity… I also suspect that massive vaccination campaigns may accelerate the rate at which the vaccine-resistant mutant strains become dominant among all the SARS-CoV-2 [coronavirus] strains,” Seneff said.

I highlighted this portion: including other respiratory viruses such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) BECAUSE I have noted the rise in RSV cases filling our ICU beds in a previous post… let me update this a bit.

RESPIRATORY SYNCYTIAL VIRUS (RSV)

The CDC even notes the new cases in young and old: Increased Interseasonal Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Activity in Parts of the Southern United States

  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is issuing this health advisory to notify clinicians and caregivers about increased interseasonal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity across parts of the Southern United States. Due to this increased activity, CDC encourages broader testing for RSV among patients presenting with acute respiratory illness who test negative for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. RSV can be associated with severe disease in young children and older adults. This health advisory also serves as a reminder to healthcare personnel, childcare providers, and staff of long-term care facilities to avoid reporting to work while acutely ill – even if they test negative for SARS-CoV-2…… Due to reduced circulation of RSV during the winter months of 2020–2021, older infants and toddlers might now be at increased risk of severe RSV-associated illness since they have likely not had typical levels of exposure to RSV during the past 15 months. 

There is now a renewed push to find a vaccine for RSV. RSV is a life-threatening, hidden epidemic for growing population of adults 60+ with over 177,000 hospitalizations — and 14,000 deaths — every year. I am sure that with the new CDC guidelines on Covid death categorizations (April 2020), I am positive a majority of these “Delta cases” are in fact RSV cases.

NBC KSN.COM (WITCHITA) has this:

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – While COVID-19 cases are rising, so are cases of RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus), and it’s not just children getting infected.

Doctors are also seeing more people aged 65 and older come down with the virus. “

We know that 2.5 million cases a year happen in that age group, we also know it causes hospitalization and death,” said Dr. Terry Klein, a physician at Family Medicine East. “14,000 they estimate, could be more, in fact, likely more because the truth is we don’t test for RSB very often.”

Increase in RSV cases forces Sierra View to restrict visitations (THE SUN-GAZETTE)

  • PORTERVILLE – An increase of off-season cases of the Respiratory Syncytial Virus has forced Sierra View Medical Center to put age restrictions on visitations to the hospital. Sierra View will begin implementing Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) restrictions to prevent the spread of this virus to those who are more susceptible beginning today, Sept. 1.

Not just COVID: NC hospitals also seeing unusual spike in winter respiratory illness (THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER)

  • As North Carolina hospitals struggle with rising numbers of COVID-19 patients, they’re also seeing a surprising number of people, particularly children, sick with another respiratory illness that’s usually a problem in the winter. Hospitals say they’re not used to seeing summertime cases of respiratory syncytial virus or RSV. The viral illness has symptoms similar to COVID-19 and influenza and is usually hardest on children under 5 and adults 65 and older.

RSV is Spreading This Summer Concerning Infectious Disease Doctors (NBC 7 – SAN DIEGO)

  • The virus typically spreads in the winter, months before tapering off in the early spring, but this year it has begun to spread in the summer months. In 2019, there were 5 cases of RSV at Rady Children’s Hospital over the months of June, July, and August. In 2021, there have been 16 cases in one week of August and 70 known cases so far. Many cases of RSV in both adults and children aren’t a cause of concern, but some severe cases lead to hospitalization.

Are colds and flu coming back? (MEDICAL EXPRESS)

  • But the hints early this summer weren’t about the flu; rather, they were about respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), an illness that has been known to cause severe sickness and sometimes death in older adults and young children. First Australia reported high spikes of RSV. Last winter, there were only a handful of cases of RSV in the U.S., but in early June, the CDC issued a health advisory about an uptick in interseasonal RSV activity across parts of the Southern United States.

“Parts of the Southern United States,” coupled with “could be more, in fact, likely more because the truth is we don’t test for RSB very often.” What do you have? This nonsense via R.T.:

  • And our least vaccinated states are our current problem, Sean.

R.T. is trying to say Texas and Florida. He is no better than the MSM looking for anything to stick on whom they think are deniers.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

 

More Straight Talk About Covid-19 Prophylactics

Published by Papa Giorgio

Just another response to a topic regarding Ivermectin:

R.T. [Ross T.] SAID:

  • It’s an anti-parasitic used in humans to kill roundworms in the intestines. Cows and livestock get bigger doses. Not an anti-viral. Does nothing fighting Covid. Got the crazy anti-vaxxers excited, though. Just like Hydrochloroquine, it’s anti-parasitic. Panama Canal could never have been built without it. Anti-malarial. Killed so many Frenchman they gave up and went home. The U S. went in with the anti-mesquito bite drug. It worked.

TO WHICH I RESPOND:

Z.L., Ross T. has no idea what they are talking about. Nor does he actually step outside the boobtube to find out. Some African countries have handed out Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as well as Ivermectin yearly to it population. You can see these countries doing very well. This is part of the reason Tokyo’s Medical Association Chairman (Haruo Ozaki) recommends Ivermectin has again recommended it. He first recommended it in February, but just recently said Japan has not heeded his warning.

While Delta IS way less deadly than its parent (the UK is about 3-weeks ahead of us, see their total numbers), you would think that India would be way up on the death list per million…. they fall at the 96th country in deaths. (I say Delta is less deadly because India’s first round was with Delta; not only that, but many provinces with lower numbers handed out Ivermectin.)

Israel dropped Pfizer’s effectiveness from the 90s to 64% effectiveness, to just recently 39% effectiveness. How do we know they are failing and are creating what Stephanie Seneff, a senior researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory says is looking to be reminiscent of the ADE (antibody dependent enhancement) phenomenon that has been seen for other vaccine and that has been expressed as a point of concern among many scientists for the COVID vaccines. (And if the healthier younger population were “allowed to” or be able to chose to get infected naturally, studies have shown that natural anti-bodies are stronger a year later than people who received the vaccine 3-months ago.

In all studies of Ivermectin where it was used in control groups as either a prophylactic or early onset combined, we see a 72% IMPROVEMENT over non-Ivermectin patients in fatality. (64% with HCQ)

Almost the entirety of hospitalizations in almost fully vaccinated countries (like Israel and Iceland) are by vaccinated people. Some 96 per cent of all Icelandic women over 16 have received at least one vaccine dose. The figure for men is about 90 per cent. In total, 86 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated. Yes the vaccines reduce serious illness, but so do other, cheaper, prophylactics.

In other words, medication that has been used for so long there are no patents, and they are dirt cheap — which is why BIG-PHARMA through lobbying has caused doubt in the West from using these — and are safe enough that they are over-the-counter in a majority of countries…. THESE have a better effective rate than the “vaccines.”

I look at all the above as being prophylactics… not “vaccines.”

Which is why leaders in medicine recommend them (as already noted). Another example to support my generality: Dr. Harvey Risch (MD, PhD , Professor of Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health).

BOTTOM LINE? Even Fauci said, scientists are hoping for a vaccine that is 75 percent effective — but even a 50 or 60 percent success rate would be considered a win. It is worse than that… but using his logic, the Vaccines, Ivermectin, and Hydroxychloroquine are considered a win. The vaccines are just a “win” for Big-Pharma. Which is why they are lobbying for companies and governments to mandate their profit margins.

POST-SCRIPT: the rejection of cheaper and proven to be safe prophylactics and “vaccinating” our healthy young population IS making the death and seriousness illness rise dramatically. Blood is on the hands of the AMA and others who push unfounded rejection of these products.

See some of RPT’S posts for more media and links:

RPT POSTS

Trying to Cut Through Bias To Talk Ivermectin (Didn’t Work)

The Effectiveness of Ivermectin via The Wall Street Journal

Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin Saves Lives (The Left Kills)

Hydroxychloroquine Effective and Safe (Mark Levin UPDATED)

Dr. Harvey Risch | Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and the MSM

Big-Pharma Pressured Journals Regharding HCQ: Philippe Douste-Blazy

Some Hydroxychloroquine Straight Talk

Lives Saved With Early Treatment of Hydroxychloroquine

Hospitals Overwhelmed (Bonus: Florida Follies)

 

 

Trying to Cut Through Bias To Talk Ivermectin (Didn’t Work)

Published by Papa Giorgio

Here is a recent “Ivermectin Facebook conversation” I had.

M.B.

  • [taking Ivermectin to treat Covid in the early stages] personal choice – agree. just like a company’s business choice not to employ you if you are not vaccinated. but there is that horse worming medicine that cures it. I saw a clip of Tucker promoting it. must be true

CONTEXTUAL DETOUR…
…A regular tactic by Lefties…

For context, this shows you where he gets his news from. Rachell “left of Mao” Maddow. She said Tucker pushed a “Horse Dewormer” – see here. Of course he did no such thing.

The picture to the lower right is my HUMAN prescription…. next to the “Народный куб.” (BTW, to deal with Covid you do not take 6 a day, you take 1 on the first day and 1 on the third day.)

But this is classic M.B. who once told me that Trump told people to take fish tank cleaner, saying Trump told people to take chloroquine phosphate when he was talking about hydroxychloroquine. Which has been used for many decades; and is handed out for free in many malaria ridden countries.

Similar changes can be seen how the Left [not just Twitter in these next examples] change what someone is thinking/saying:

…CONTEXTUAL DETOUR OVER

ME – RPT

M.B.

  • hopefully you never have to use it

ME – RPT

  • hopefully.

M.B.

  • PS – WSJ was an opinion piece not an article with research behind it. I just read what I could w/o being a subscriber. It really isn’t an endorsement

ME – RPT

  • Database of all ivermectin COVID-19 studies. 113 studies, 73 peer reviewed, 63 with results comparing treatment and control groups. [To wit]
  • You do realize, first, I wouldn’t make a choice on “a” opinion piece. Right? I look at quite a few factors, probably way more than you. I weigh them, and make a decision. And both Iver and Hydroxy are safe for proper use. In fact, they are over the counter medications in most places and have many decades of use to prove it. NOT TO MENTION that in the mix of all sources are also people like this: [AUTHOR’S BIO]

M.B.

  • That’s a choice – just like getting vaccinated. And just a data point on Trump – when caught he didn’t get either of those treatments. He recovered pretty quickly

ME – RPT

  • right, he could afford a crazy expensive treatment. But you act as if that sways the data points of evidences.

M.B.

  • Henderson is a professor of economics. Likely a smart guy, but no medical credentials

ME – RPT

(Don’t miss the question) Sigh… this is the problem with ppl like yourself, you do not read well. Ross has the same malady. To repeat:

[Already stated above]

I look at QUITE A FEW FACTORS, probably way more than you. I WEIGH THEM and [THEN] make a decision. And both Iver and Hydroxy are safe for proper use. In fact, they are over the counter medications in most places and have many decades of use to prove it. Not to mention THAT IN THE MIXOF ALL SOURCES ARE PEOPLE LIKE THIS [AUTHOR’S BIO]

A question[s]. Considering the graphic I added, would a person feel good that Tokyo’s Medical Association Chairman (Haruo Ozaki) recommends Ivermectin?* Or Dr. Harvey Risch is Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Yale School of Public Health and Yale School of Medicine recommends Hydroxychloroquine? (See RPT, here and here)

* Japanese medical chairman doubles down on ivermectin support after early calls went ignored

IF NOT, why not? Can you explain why other than you dislike Trump? How do you weigh cost benefit issues? No input from well-known and trusted economists?

I always ask:

1) compared to what?
2) at what cost?
3) what hard-evidence do you have?
Do you?

SOME… Some of the Panoply of Evidence I use

  • I have been following African nations for a year that to fight various illnesses they hand out Ivermectin and or Hydroxychloroquine to the population. Those countries have a provably lower death rate.
  • The studies (by specialists and medical professionals) again prove an aspect of trusting it. (see pic)
  • (an example) One retirement home that had 83 people contracted [alpha] Covid used Hydroxychloroquine as an early treatment… and all lived that chose to take it versus the others.
  • Medical Professionals, scientists.
  • Decades of use.
  • COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS.

Etc., Etc.

M.B.

  • does Trump support it. I thought this was just a Fox News thing. And I’m not anti something just because trump wanted something. I am 100% for his call to get us out of Afghanistan. I was 100% against him felating Putin and the North Korea guy

ME – RPT

  • Obfuscation is thy moniker

POSTSCRIPT

Just as a follow up trump was tougher than Obama and previous presidents on Putin. Just one of my MANY examples:

…“There’s never been a president as tough on Russia as I have been,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday.

That might sound like hyperbole, but in this case, there’s actually some basis for the president’s boast.

“When you actually look at the substance of what this administration has done, not the rhetoric but the substance, this administration has been much tougher on Russia than any in the post-Cold War era,” said Daniel Vajdich, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council….

(NPR | see more at real clear politics: Meet the Heretics: Not Every Liberal Has Trump Derangement Syndrome)

The only ppl “felating” Putin is the Democratic Party,

[….]

— in other words, our energy policy, under Trump, is anti-Putin. By contrast, ALL of the Democratic 2020 candidates’ energy policies will enrich Putin.)

In fact, President Joe Biden continues to be the best thing that ever happened to Vladimir Putin.

Sky News Dropping Truth Bombs on “Team” Biden

Published by Papa Giorgio

Sky News host Andrew Bolt says it is “hard to exaggerate” how dangerously bad US President Joe Biden is. Mr Bolt said,

  • “the world is at a dangerous tipping point”.
  • “You’ve got America – leader of the free world in obvious decline.
  • “You’ve got China, the biggest dictatorship in history, on the rise – wanting to be top dog.
  • “And now, at this dangerous moment, the US gets a president who’s obviously senile.
  • “It’s hard to exaggerate just how dangerously bad Joe Biden is”.

Sky News host Rita Panahi says the mental decline of the “utterly deplorable and inept” US President Joe Biden, can no longer be ignored. Ms Panahi said President Biden’s mental decline can no longer be ignored, “not by the Democrats, not by his handles and not even by his media allies who steadfast refused to cover his cognitive issues during the election campaign”.

  • “Anyone who has observed Joe Biden in recent years could attest to his cognitive decline, his incoherent rants, his inability to answer the simplest of softball questions”.
  • “This is a man who has been in public life for decades. He used to be an elegant, authoritative speaker.”
  • Ms Panahi said President Biden seemed to be “inattentive and fatigued” during recent public events.
  • “It’s clear that the leader of the free world isn’t even free to decide when to answer questions,” she said.
  • “How many monumental screwups will Biden oversee before he is impeached.”

A Coyote Castration Joke via Ace of Spades

Published by Papa Giorgio

This joke is via ACE OF SPADES‘ Saturday Overnight Open Thread (8/28/21) Limited Content Edition:

The Sierra Club and the U.S. Forest Service were presenting an alternative to the Wyoming ranchers for controlling the coyote population. It seems that after years of the ranchers using the tried-and-true method of shooting or trapping the predators, the Sierra Club had a “more humane” solution to this issue. What they were proposing was for the animals to be captured alive. The males would then be castrated and let loose again.

This was ACTUALLY proposed by the Sierra Club and by the U.S. Forest Service.

All of the ranchers thought about this amazing idea for a couple of minutes.

Finally an old fellow wearing a big cowboy hat in the back of the conference room stood up, tipped his hat back and said:

“Son, I don’t think you understand our problem here… these coyotes ain’t fuckin’ our sheep… they’re eatin’ them!”

The meeting never really got back to order. 

After seeing this in the joke:

  • This was ACTUALLY proposed by the Sierra Club and by the U.S. Forest Service

I had to find out if this were true, and if so, catalog it…. at 6am on Saturday morning. Because I have some thorough “bug” in me that loves the political enough that I simply cannot move on after a laugh.

Here is a PDF paper by The University of Wyoming’s Neurobiology Program, the Zoology and Physiology Department, at the AZA Wildlife Contraception Center, Saint Louis Zoo, St. Louis, Missouri: “Chemical Castration of the Coyote”

Coyotes have been and continue to be significant predators of livestock, mainly domestic sheep. Primary control of depredating coyotes has been by lethal removal. This method has been met with mixed reviews mainly due to both public opposition and limited effectiveness of lethal control.

[….]

Therefore, controlling reproduction may be a more socially acceptable and effective tool for managing predatory behaviors of coyotes.

BTW, I paid a buck to get past a “pay-wall” for the following [effin] story. Grrrr.

Coyote Contraception A Potential Alternative (BILLINGS GAZETTE)

(Associated Press, Sep 8, 2012) JACKSON, Wyo. — A University of Wyoming research team is exploring using contraception as an alternative — and possibly more effective — solution to controlling coyotes.

The group, led by zoology doctoral candidate Marjie MacGregor, displayed its research at the International Conference on Fertility Control in Wildlife held recently in Jackson.

The technique uses deslorelin, a hormone that renders coyotes sterile.

Coyotes tend to prey on larger animals, including domestic sheep, pronghorn antelope and mule deer, more heavily when they have pups, MacGregor said. Because coyotes quickly fill territory left empty when their counterparts are gunned down, contraception has potential to reduce depredation better than killing, she said.

“The whole issue of coyote control is somewhat off the radar in Jackson Hole, where there’s limited animal agriculture,” MacGregor said.

“I’m not sure if Jackson Hole people think about how we manage coyotes across the state of Wyoming,” she said. “They are overshadowed by the larger predators.”

Numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services show coyote depredation across the state is a major issue.

From 1998 to 2008, Wildlife Services killed more than 77,000 coyotes in Wyoming — the second highest state total, trailing just Montana. The carnivore comprised some 94 percent of all the mammalian predators the agency killed in Wyoming during those 10 years.

A small percentage of the total coyote population, estimated at 50,000 to 80,000 in Wyoming, is killed each year, Wildlife Service’s state director Rod Krischke said.

Wildlife Services hasn’t removed coyotes from Teton County “in many years,” Krischke said.

The agency director was familiar with the research and agreed with MacGregor’s premise that contraception could be an effective means of reducing depredation.

“Basically, if you reduce the reproduction capabilities then you have fewer mouths to feed,” Krischke said. “The hope’s that the territorial coyotes would maintain their territory even though they’re not having pups.”

According to MacGregor’s paper, “Chemical Castration of the Coyote,” studies conducted in Utah and Colorado confirm that lamb and pronghorn fawn survival rates are higher in sterile versus intact coyote territories.

However, surgical sterilization programs — the only proven method — are not cost effective, the paper said.

Chemical sterilization is intriguing because of its lower cost and because it could potentially be used on a large number of coyotes, MacGregor said.

“The most important step is making sure the drug works — that we can stop the animal from reproducing,” she said.

While looking at all this, I came across a funny idea for making light of fender benders… enjoy, lol:

Is Natural Immunity Better Than Vaccination Immunity?

Published by Papa Giorgio

An August 12th, 2021 study, “Neutralization Of VOCS Including Delta One Year Post Covid-19 Or Vaccine“ (here is the PDF) noted that if someone got Covid a year ago they have stronger anti-bodies than someone vaccinated 3-months ago. (See more at my post HERE)

Commenting on the same study is CONSERVATIVE TREE HOUSE:

The original claim of the scientific medical community, in their advocacy for “vaccine passports”, was that vaccinated persons were less likely to transmit the virus.

That narrative only lasted until studies showed that vaccinated persons carried a much larger amount of viral load and shed the virus at a more significant rate….

…So they shifted the vaccine passport narrative goalposts, and said everyone needed to show proof of vaccinations because, safer, or something.

Now, in another collapse of the vaccine passport narrative, a large study comparing vaccinated immunity to non-vaccinated natural immunity shows:

CONCLUSION – “This study demonstrated that natural immunity confers longer lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease and hospitalization caused by the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, compared to the BNT162b2 two-dose vaccine-induced immunity.

Individuals who were both previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 and given a single dose of the vaccine gained additional protection against the Delta variant.” [Data Link Here]

[….]