Spring into Summer

Here in the northern hemisphere it is short nights and long days for the near term. It's funny to me how our sense of time changes. When the COVID-19 isolation was begun, it seemed like time was dragging, but now in the height of garden season and homestead maintenance, time flies. I can't keep up. The corona virus continues with more conundrums, cases, and deaths. The political kabuki theater continues to entertain and perplex. Racism continues to be endemic in our culture. The war drums continue to beat. And the Fed continues creating currency and transferring it to the wealthiest among us. At the same time the planet continues to rotate, revolve around our star, and travel with our solar system around our galaxy, as the galaxy itself speeds through space.

I was talking with an old friend in Austin this morning. He mentioned a newly published study in the British Medical Journal regarding the use of famotidine to treat infected patients.

COVID Conundrums

This new corona virus, known for only a few months, has thrown the world into disarray. Here in the States, we have been particularly inept... with massive disparity between states and class in both the economic and health response to this challenge. Ever the optimist, I wonder if this doesn't present us with opportunity amidst the tragedy of death and disease. If we can create unlimited amounts of currency to prop up the market, failed fracking industry, and banks bad loans, we can pay for M4A, free college, a debt jubilee, mass green transit, and almost anything else we can dream. The excuse of "we don't have the money" is gone. Additionally, I'm feeling more hopeful about the falling disease progression and simple ways to control it by wearing masks and distancing. There's clever new study on the effectiveness of masks.

Fed Up?

I began this with the intention of writing about the oligarchs dream come true...the Federal Reserve. And that will be one focus, but I realized I'm fed up about lots more...like: US imperialism, self serving corrupt corporate controlled congress critters, imprisoning and torturing journalists who report about war crimes, propaganda paraded as the press, the charade of our elections, the failure of the US to adequately deal with COVID, and on and on. Perhaps I'm grumpy because I haven't been to play music with friends, nor visit, nor hug, shake hands, and give a pat on the back ... all those things that kinda define our humanity and appreciation of one another. Another layer is my increasing understanding of our situation which suggests we are just at the beginning of this mess.

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. Winston Churchill

At least the garden is doing well. This time of year it is the salad bar special.

Many mysteries remain about the nature and origin of the virus and the best ways to combat it. Somehow things that are known are not widely said, the benefit of Vitamin D, selenium, zinc, and the promise of hydroxychloroquine among them...all pretty inexpensive preventatives. There's the effect (benefit or harm) of diet. Another inexpensive treatment, intravenous Vitamin C is rarely mentioned. Blood thinners are also being used as blood clots are problematic. Doctors have developed a COVID protocol which is updated regularly. It is as though the pandemic is being managed to maximize profit for big pharma. Everyone is in a race for an effective vaccine. Additionally, COVID certainly has provided cover for a massive transfer of US treasuries to the elite.

I've been puzzled by the amount of anti-China propaganda, until I read this.

The following calculations are rough and do not use any fancy epidemiological equations. The poor availability of testing and flaky reporting of outcomes make it difficult to know exactly what the numbers are.

According to Johns Hopkins on April 16, 2020:

Case fatality rate 4.5%
Confirmed cases 636,350
Deaths 28,326
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/cumulative-cases

Stanford's John Ioannidis, who really knows his stuff, has released a preprint of an article that analyses mortality rates of Covid-19 in folks > 80 years of age versus folks < 65 years of age. I found the preprint because it was referenced from a site that BlueRepublic had linked to in his COVID-19 Deep Dive - Swiss Propaganda Research essay.

The Federal Government has failed us remarkably with regards to COVID-19. Not only were they not prepared for any pandemic; they purposefully did not act. They did not ramp up testing, they did not provide the essential PPE, they lagged on guidelines for social distancing. And now there are reports of the feds “reallocating” medical supplies for political purposes.

Remember that the first confirmed case of coronavirus was Nov 17. That’s five months ago. The WHO shipped their first tests on Feb 4, the same day that the first faulty CDC test kits were sent out.

Under the Cover of COVID-19

Never let a good crisis go to waste. TPTB are using the pandemic to fulfill their dreams of ever more power. Primary among the scams is the union of the Fed and Treasury to buy all the corporate debt and bail out the world's central banks. But so much more is at play. War ships are sailing to Venezuela's coasts, Sabres are rattling in Iraq aimed at Iran. Fracking on public lands is being ramped up, and financed by bail out funds. Wildlife refuges are to be opened to fishing and hunting. Not to mention the staggering number of judicial appointments, and the imprisonment of journalists who tell the truth about US war crimes. It didn't have to be this way. Just think about the relationship of arms trade and the corona virus. (4 min)