So How Much is a Trillion?!?: If only Democrats could count. The guys at @trumedia on Tik Tok made the following observation.
How may days, in SECONDS, would it take you to count to 1Trillion?
1 Million Seconds = 12 Days
1 Billion Seconds = 31 Years
1 Trillion Seconds = 31,688 Years
So when Democrats tell you spending an extra $3.5 Trillion (or $5+ Trillion), will actually cost the American taxpayer ZERO…don’t forget to ask them about buying the Brooklyn Bridge as well.
COVID: A friend of mine has compiled some interesting statistic and information about COVID. He had one line in his email that hit me hard…so I asked him for permission to share his information below. Please take the time to read it.
The line that gave me pause…
“And regardless of the sensationalism, the risk of Covid death for those under age 65 remains less than the probability of being hit by lightning. This is a mathematical fact which too many caught up in the emotion of their selfish perspective refuse to acknowledge.”
–Saul Anuzis
Click Here for Past Commentary from Saul
60 Plus Weekly Video Rewind
The Washington Post suggests that we lower our expectations when it comes to Joe Biden, Terry McAuliffe can’t take the heat during an interview, and an emotional story of a DC Honor Flight that you don’t want to miss!
Links to the articles discussed in the video:
https://www.foxnews.com/media/terry-mcauliffe-abruptly-ends-interview
https://wsvn.com/news/local/72-south-florida-veterans-welcomed-back-at-mia-after-honor-flight-to-dc/
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Why Biden, a Senate success, is a White House mess
President Biden’s 36 years in the Senate define his political style. That’s a plus when it comes to the inside-baseball negotiating that produces legislation. It’s a huge minus, however, when it comes to displaying the consistent, public leadership that defines successful presidencies. It’s increasingly obvious that Biden does not possess that crucial skill.
The most successful presidents have a few things in common. They build their public careers around a core idea, such as Thomas Jefferson’s vision of agrarian republicanism or Franklin D. Roosevelt’s belief in a strong, compassionate national government. They use rhetoric to rally the public behind them so that there’s no mistake what electing them will bring. Their earliest legislative proposals flow from that core, and they are consistent in pursuing their aims even if the final details are subject to negotiation. Look at the presidents who changed the country — Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan — and each displays the same characteristics.
Biden is nothing like these men. He has been in the national eye for nearly 50 years, and one simply cannot identify a single, defining core principle. Biden instead shifts with the tides — he was a moderate Democrat opposed to abortion rights when that was the center of Delaware public opinion, and a mild progressive opposed to any abortion regulations when that’s what the national party desired. He is a political Zelig, able to materialize in whatever image Democrats want to project.
This is a good skill to have in the Senate. Staying relevant to political debates means you’re positioned to help craft solutions. The clashing factions in a debate trust you to some degree, enabling someone such as Biden to broker compromises that excite none but satisfy all. It’s the type of skill set that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) uses to devastating effect on his caucus’s behalf. Every party needs people like Biden.
The gap between the roles of senator and president is why Biden is so ineffectual — and why his agenda is on life support. He did not campaign on an overarching goal or core idea. Instead, he presented himself as the return of stability and normalcy after four tumultuous years of Donald Trump.
Biden playing a deadly game using secret flights to move migrants
There’s a reason the Biden administration is using secret flights to small airports to move unaccompanied minors who illegally crossed the border.
They don’t want voters to know just how many people are being waved right into the country, because President Biden understands that open borders might be the policy of progressives, but it’s not popular among the majority of Americans.
But you know who does realize these flights are happening? The people of Central and South America. Word travels fast that no one is getting deported, and that’s why they are paying money to smugglers to take their children on a perilous journey north.
That’s why there are so many heartbreaking images of toddlers literally being dropped over the wall, abandoned in the wilderness.
There were a staggering 18,958 encounters between the Border Patrol and unaccompanied children in July. In August, the figure was 18,847.
That’s up 655.6 percent from the previous year.
New Immigration Numbers Prove Biden Border Crisis Is Worst In History
New data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) show the severity of the Biden border crisis reaching a new milestone with more than 1.73 million arrests made in the 2021 fiscal year, the highest ever recorded. More than 1.1 million were single adults.
“I’ve been there before,” President Joe Biden said of the southwest border in a CNN town hall Thursday when pressed whether he’d plan a visit. “I guess I should go down.”
Biden however, hasn’t been to the border in more than a decade. On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki could only point to a “drive through” on the 2008 campaign trail.
The escalating crisis of overwhelming migration has led Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott take matters into his own hands. On Wednesday, the Center for Immigration Studies reported Abbott gave some 3,000 Texas National Guard troops the authority to arrest illegal immigrants for the first time ever under “Operation Lone Star.” Guard members were granted arrest powers this week after completion of “40 hours of traditional police training in the use of deadly force.”
“Nobody’s ever really used the guard before in this capacity,” said Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw in an interview with CIS. “We’re going to use them to actually secure the border. The governor, the legislature, and the citizens of Texas have made it very clear; they want the border secure. It is good for our federal partner as well. The federal government should be thanking the state of Texas, and it’ll make the rest of the country safer as we increase the level of security.”
10 Absurdly Wasteful Items Tucked Into Democrats’ $3.5 Trillion Tax-and-Spend Monstrosity
House Democrats a few weeks ago released the full text of their big-government socialism $3.5 trillion tax-and-spend package.
Many important elements were already clear. It would recklessly boost federal spending at a time of already high inflation, impose ruinous tax hikes when the post-pandemic economic recovery is still vulnerable, and impose an anti-work welfare state.
However, due to the incredible length of the bill—2,465 pages, or about the length of two King James Bibles—there are thousands of separate provisions, far more than can be properly analyzed by legislators or the public.
The following are just 10 of the ridiculous things buried in the bill…
Report: 176 Americans Still Trying to Escape Taliban Rule in Afghanistan
Any withdrawal is going to be difficult. There is an unthinkable number of loose ends and personnel to take care of. No one should have expected a nice and clean departure from Afghanistan.
But the tragic chaos of the American withdrawal in August was astounding. The disorder was so complete that the government continues to deal with problems, especially now that it is clear that hundreds of Americans are still in Afghanistan and want out.
On Thursday, CNN reported that the State Department had informed congressional staff that it is in contact with 363 U.S. citizens still in Afghanistan and that 176 of them want to leave the country. The number of Americans still there is significantly more than was originally estimated.
“We believe there are still a small number of Americans, under 200 and likely closer to 100, who remain in Afghanistan and want to leave. We’re trying to determine exactly how many,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Aug. 30, according to CBS News.
The fact that they were still trying to determine the numbers as the withdrawal was in motion should be considered catastrophic.
White House not stolen, but bought with Zuckerberg’s money
Nearly a year has passed since the 2020 election, yet there has not been a clear, satisfactory answer to the central mystery: How did a dull, declining Joe Biden manage to get more than 81 million votes and win the presidency?
After all, Biden spent most of the pandemic-laced campaign in his Delaware basement and his appearances were marked by sparse crowds and signs he had lost more than a step. Yet he flipped five states Hillary Clinton lost in 2016, including Georgia and Arizona, and racked up 306 electoral votes to Donald Trump’s 232.
Trump offers his own answer, of course, declaring incessantly that the election was stolen. His efforts to get then-Vice President Mike Pence to block certification of results and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot have made his arguments out of bounds for most Americans.
Numerous courts rejected claims made by Trump lawyers involving manipulation of voting machines, bags of secret ballots emerging and other kinds of alleged fraud.
But rejecting Trump’s claims is one thing, solving the riddle of Biden’s triumph is another. Lacking any other explanation, two-thirds of Republicans still believe “the election was rigged and stolen from Trump,” while only 18 percent believe “Joe Biden won fair and square,” according to a recent Yahoo News/YouGov survey. It found that 28 percent of independent voters agree Biden’s victory is illegitimate.
Such wide suspicions are corrosive, which makes the findings of a new book all the more important.
In “Rigged,” author Mollie Hemingway lays out what amounts to a fascinating alternative to the “stolen” charge. She presents a strong case that the $419 million that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg ostensibly spent to get out the vote was actually used by Democrat activists to infiltrate local election operations and take over jobs government workers were supposed to do.
Leftist Shadow Governments Control A Lot More Than Our Elections
This kind of tax-exempt political interference is now standard practice for the world’s far-left ultra-rich, and it’s affecting a whole lot more than elections.
Many Americans are awakening to the fact that we seem to have no local control of a lot of local things: public schools, our terms of employment, local governments, local elections. That last one popped again recently with the release of my colleague Mollie Hemingway’s deeply reported 2020 election investigation book, “Rigged.”
That book, and some great corroborating independent reporting, show that 2020 election chaos was part of an effective and well-funded plan to help Democrats win by rigging the playing field. One key strategy deployed to that end has become default on the left yet still often goes unremarked and unchallenged. It’s called “advocacy philanthropy.”
In the 2020 election, Facebook zillionaire Mark Zuckerberg used this strategy to deploy nearly half a billion dollars to help Democrat activists infiltrate local government election apparatuses, literally paying for election equipment and the salaries of partisans who counted ballots. This kind of tax-exempt political interference is now standard practice for the world’s far-left ultra-rich, and it’s affecting a whole lot more than elections. It’s constructed essentially a shadow government that pits elected officials against their voters on behalf of moneyed interests.
How the Rich Influence Politics With ‘Philanthropy’
In the past two decades, large foundations have begun to “engage more directly with the political process by supporting advocacy organizations, investing in the implementation of major policy reforms, and ensuring that their research investments are targeted to advance specifc policy priorities,” document politics professors Sarah Reckhow and Megan Tompkins‐Stange in a 2018 paper. These large foundations are predominantly run by leftists, including Bill and Melinda Gates, Zuckerberg, and George Soros.
Their “advocacy philanthropy” strategy is a departure from the traditional philanthropy still largely practiced by the “local gentry,” more modest donors close to local communities and causes.
Dave Chappelle May Help Tame Wokeness
Captain Kirk was in space. “I hope I never recover from this,” William Shatner said after the capsule set down in scrub near Van Horn, Texas. He’d seen the blueness, the thin ribbon of earth’s atmosphere, the delicacy and majesty. “I hope I can maintain what I feel now, I don’t want to lose it,” he told Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos. What a triumph at age 90 to be still so hungry for life, to yearn to be in its thick, even its uncertainty. What a great man. I watched the launch and touchdown on TV, was surprised to be moved, and near the end walked toward the screen to miss nothing. “I got a little choked,” I said to a friend that afternoon. “I got choked,” she said.
The night before, in the theater for the first time in two years with a friend whose hand I hadn’t touched in 22 months, I saw “The Lehman Trilogy,” which surpassed all praise thrown its way. So spare and modest in its presentation—three actors, one set—and yet so theatrical and transporting. Over 3½ hours I checked my watch only once, at 10:05, hoping there was more time and it wasn’t about to end. I used to do that when “The Sopranos” first aired, hoping there were 20 minutes left and not eight. It’s a masterpiece when you don’t want it to end.
Art and human aspiration abide: autumn 2021.
Maybe this mood is having an impact on my thinking on what is actually my topic. But I think I see something good happening in the woke wars.
Why China’s Hypersonic Missile Tests Are So Concerning And what it means for the balance of power between the United States and China
This weekend, the Financial Times reported that, back in August, China successfully tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that went into space and orbited the globe before reentering earth’s atmosphere and landing within a couple dozen miles of its intended target. The article’s authors, Demetri Sevastopulo and Kathrin Hille, also claim American intelligence agencies were “surprised” by the test and that it “showed that China had made astounding progress on hypersonic weapons and was far more advanced than U.S. officials realized.”
Now nerds like me are all speculating about the implications of this development. What does this capability mean for the balance of power between the United States and China? Are the two nations now officially in a “cold war?” Are U.S. companies and technologies assisting China’s military rise? And, why were our intelligence agencies “surprised?”
I’ll take each of these questions in turn.
First, the capability that China demonstrated in August is not unique, but it is important. The United States, Russia, China, and other nations have been researching hypersonic missiles for quite some time. The United States has been pursuing these weapons since at least the early 2000s—with the Pentagon seeking to spend nearly $4 billion on hypersonic R&D in 2022. In 2019 Russia said it had already deployed a regiment of hypersonic nuclear-capable missiles. Likewise, American officials have known that Beijing is pursuing hypersonics and putting real money into these efforts. But apparently, we did not appreciate the progress of these programs (more on that later).
The appeal of hypersonics is that they are more likely to overcome strategic missile defense systems and to hit their targets with very little warning. While nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMS) actually fly faster than hypersonic missiles (about 15,000 miles per hour versus 3,600 mph), ICBMS have to fly a parabolic trajectory that is relatively easy to predict and to intercept. Hypersonic “glide vehicles” like the one tested by the Chinese, however, are able to maneuver and change their flight path while still going very, very fast. This makes them much more difficult to detect, to predict, and to intercept. Strap a thermonuclear warhead to one of these things and you’ve got a very serious problem.
There is now reason to believe that China may actually be leading the U.S. in the development of these weapons. While hypersonics are not the only way that China could deliver a nuclear warhead, they are a formidable threat in and of themselves and a potent reminder the American military superiority is not inevitable.
Understanding China’s Military Spending
Where China’s military build-up is concerned, adding some context to make up for the lack of transparency in its annual budget provides us with a better—albeit still limited—appreciation of the People’s Liberation Army budgetary allocations.
A YEAR into the global pandemic, China’s Two Sessions declared that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government was increasing the country’s official defense budget by 6.8 percent in addition to declaring a gross domestic product (GDP) target of plus 6 percent for 2021. At a time of increasing Sino-U.S. tensions, it was reported that China’s top generals also called for greater military spending in order to confront the “Thucydides Trap” with the United States.
As usual, most of the media attention was focused on the increase in the official defense budget—now approaching $209 billion—compared to last year’s rise of 6.6 percent. Given these continued increases in military expenditure, many have inferred that Beijing is becoming more and more inclined to utilize force (or threaten the use of force) to realize its national ambitions.
What is missing in these unsettling inferences that “war is on the horizon” is the larger context. Recent trends in Chinese military expenditures, along with the CCP’s other contemporary pronouncements on national defense, make it clear that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) sees the present period more as a strategic window whereby it can reorganize and restructure its forces.
CHINA HAS been engaged in an aggressive, multi-decade effort to modernize its armed forces and upgrade its capabilities. On paper at least, the PLA expects to achieve mechanization and make “major progress” toward “informatization” by the early 2020s, achieve “complete military modernization” by 2035, and become a “world-class” military by 2049.
Stanford Epidemiologist Says COVID Vaccination Is Primarily a Matter of Personal Health, Not Public Health
An abundance of scientific data undermine justifications for COVID vaccination mandates, which violate long-standing principles of bodily autonomy and individual rights.
As one-size-fits-all COVID vaccine mandates sweep government, academia, and corporate America, new data are emerging that undermine the public health justifications for these policies. Studies from multiple countries now indicate that vaccination alone is less effective than the acquired immunity many already possess and unable to prevent transmission in the medium-to-long term.
Since the pandemic began, more than 100 million Americans have recovered from the virus. Many are workers deemed “essential” just last year. While the government paid others to sit at home, essential workers were required to continue working, exposing themselves to the coronavirus in a pre-vaccine world.
One of these individuals is my friend, Adam, an occupational therapist and rehabilitation director treating patients at a small nursing home in Aroostook County, Maine. He never worked from home. His patients needed him there in person. Like many healthcare workers on the frontlines, Adam was infected by the coronavirus while on the job, stayed home until he tested negative, and then went back to work.
As far as COVID is concerned, Adam is among the safest people in America to be around. Multiple studies (including one out of Israel that has received global attention) now indicate that those who have recovered from infection possess a natural immunity more robust than what current vaccines provide. Further, three epidemiologists at Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford have specifically recommended in the Great Barrington Declaration (now co-signed by nearly 15,000 medical and public health scientists, as well as 44,000 medical practitioners) that “nursing homes should use staff with acquired immunity” to protect patients.
So why have both President Joe Biden and Governor Janet Mills (D-ME) issued mandates threatening Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to all healthcare providers unless they fire people like Adam? Mandates that make no exception for those with demonstrated acquired immunity make little sense for public health.
Additionally, in light of recent studies and documented “breakthrough infections,” the public health basis for mandatory vaccination is increasingly shaky for even those without any degree of natural immunity.
Some Facts about Covid….from a friend who put some good Information Together
Some Facts about Covid….from a friend who put some good Information Together
From January 21, 2021 to present, more Americans have died of Covid than prior.
Yesterday, 46 Michiganians died from Covid. While cases and deaths decline nationally, Michigan is once again 3rd or 4th worst state in the nation (depending upon the day).
And regardless of the sensationalism, the risk of Covid death for those under age 65 remains less than the probability of being hit by lightning. This is a mathematical fact which too many caught up in the emotion of their selfish perspective refuse to acknowledge.
The fear of Covid – coupled with the government’s unscientific response – has a growing causality count. And unlike natural selection, those harmed in this regard are the victims of a choice made by elected and unelected “officials” alike.
Our Courts have created – out of thin air – the concept of governmental immunity. Reminding us, that what is legal is not always a proxy for what is moral, virtuous or right.
And this harm inflicted upon Americans by their government is another blackeye for our Republic. The fact that I can speak this truth freely is an ongoing testament to why we cherish our imperfect union.
Officials of both partisan affiliations have failed to follow the data and science; albeit, one side fueled by media alignment seems to relish its “authority” at the expense of fidelity to a truth-seeking process more than the other side.
Hopefully, you will find this of interest and enlightening: A compilation of studies on the impact of government’s (globally) response to COVID and how it failed to balance the whole health and harm reduction for the public’s health:
People Suffering from Other Diseases
· 1.4 million additional tuberculosis deaths due to lockdown disruptions
· 500,000 additional deaths related to HIV
· Malaria deaths could double to 770,000 total per year
· 65 percent decrease in all cancer screenings
· Breast cancer screenings dropped 89 percent
· Colorectal screenings dropped 85 percent
· 75 percent decrease in suspected cancer referrals in the UK
· At least 1/3 of excess deaths in the U.S. are already not related to COVID-19
· Widespread disruption of access to health care in the UK, disproportionately for poor individuals
· Increase in cardiac arrests but decrease in EMS calls for them
· 38% decrease in heart disease-related treatments
· 33% drop in heart attack patients, 58% drop in stroke patients
· Significant increase in stress-related cardiomyopathy during lockdowns
· 15,000 additional non-COVID Alzheimer’s deaths (as of June – likely much higher now)
Starvation and Food Insecurity
· 168k child hunger deaths predicted in Africa
· As many as 12,000 additional hunger deaths expected per day globally due to lockdown disruptions, up to 6,000 children
· World Food Programme sees an 82% increase in food insecurity
· UNICEF is having to feed UK children for the first time
· 2 million Filipino families are starving because of lockdowns, at levels “never seen before”
· UN warns that the famine and lockdown fallout in 2021 will be catastrophic
Effects on Children
· Study estimates up to 2.3 million additional child deaths in the next year from lockdowns
· Up to 104% increase in new HIV infections among children
· FGM increases in Africa, setting back previous widespread efforts to end FGM
· Lockdown impact: an estimated 13 million more child marriages
· Teen pregnancy up in many countries
· Low-income students are suffering in online classes, widening inequality
· School closures in the US decreased reported child abuse by 27 percent
· Billions of days of lost education worldwide
· Decreased access to healthcare
· Anxiety and stress from stay-at-home orders
· Sharp rise in eating disorders among children
· Child abuse reports increased 34% in Ireland between March and December
Domestic/Sexual Abuse
· 250,000 cases of child abuse or neglect may have gone
· Domestic violence reports have skyrocketed (another source here)
· Up to 70% decrease in reports of child abuse to CPS early in lockdown
· Male victim domestic abuse calls increased by 60% in the UK
· Domestic abuse becomes more severe during lockdowns
Economy and Poverty
· 150 million people forced into extreme poverty
· 8 million Americans pushed into poverty – largest increase in US history
· Half of lower-income Americans report household job or wage loss due to lockdowns
· Shutdowns cause disproportionate number of evictions for Black and Latino tenants
· School closures are causing many detrimental second-order economic effects
· Lockdowns drive homelessness in NYC to record levels
· Over 110,000 US restaurants permanently closed
· Unemployment tripled among young Americans, 52% now live with their parents
· 2 million UK families have been pushed into poverty
· NYC bankruptcies are up 40% compared to a year ago (as of September)
· Half of European small and medium businesses say they will face bankruptcy in the next year
· New Zealand lockdowns pushed 70k children into poverty
· 90% of New Zealanders who lost their jobs were women
· The end of 2020 brought the sharpest rise in the U.S. poverty rate since the 1960s
· The equivalent of 225 million full-time jobs lost in 2020 according to the UN
· Lockdowns created a “lost generation of unemployed” as those over 50 lose careers
Mental health
· 1 in 5 U.S. adults developed mental disorder
· 1 in 4 young adults have seriously considered suicide
· Severe consequences from isolation of the elderly – increased mortality, worsening cognitive abilities, accelerating dementia, mental health consequences, failure to thrive, etc.
· Isolation of children significantly increases their risk of poor adult health – both mentally and physically
· Half of young adults showing signs of depression
· Half of students say their mental health has declined
· Cases of depression and prevalence of depression symptoms have tripled in the U.S.
· 70% increase in referrals of patients with serious suicidal thoughts in Israel
· A survey of college students showed ~85% experienced high to moderate levels of distress
· In New Zealand, cases of depression and anxiety rose substantively in the wake of lockdowns
Suicides and Substance Abuse
· Suicide-related calls to crisis hotline in Canada increased 66 percent
· Projected increase in suicides in Canada
· Suicides up sharply in Toronto
· Canadians in quarantine twice as likely to have suicidal thoughts
· Suicides increasing among children in Dallas metro area
· Male suicides at highest level in two decades in England
· Suicides rising in Japan for the first time in over a decade
· Three times as many fentanyl deaths in Clark County, NV compared to 2019
· Overdose deaths have spiked in San Francisco during lockdowns
· Substance Abuse
· Overdoses and overdose deaths are at their highest point ever for a 12-month period in the U.S.
· Canada seeing record number of opioid deaths (Alberta, British Columbia, Winnipeg, Saskatchewan)
· More people are needing drugs to cope with anxiety and depression
· Fentanyl overdoses increased 60% in Georgia since lockdown
· Every week of lockdowns increases binge drinking by 19%
And then of course, there is this Harvard paper reviewing the public health failure of current vaccines (private benefit yes – protection against severe illness/death, public benefit no – impacting transmission):
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10654-021-00808-7.pdf
Or how about those parents who sent 6 student masks to a lab for evaluation of the pathogens growing on them after one days’ wear:
https://rationalground.com/mask-reports-from-lab/ Learn & grow
