I Feel Like Typhoid Mary

Nov. 20 - I'm coughing. That's an artifact of my asthma, aggravated by a recent cold.

I'm not contagious. The only damage is to my lungs, which have become irritated by this extended attack.

I'm currently on a round of steroids. That, along with consistent meds and lots of vitamins, should bring me through this mess.

However, a cough causes genuine fear in people today. They pull their masks up, back away, and look at me as though I was a serial killer looking for a new victim.

It's a cough, people! It is meant to clear my respiratory system of any remaining mucus and enable me to breathe freely. I can't control it, I can't stop it, and it will NOT send you to the hospital.

It's 2 years since this all started. When will it end?

Update: it’s the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 25, and my respiratory issues appear to be about over.

I found this article on Front Page Magazine. It’s worth reading. I knew the rough outlines of he Pilgrim’s story, but had never heard of the Pilgrim-Wampanoag Peace Treaty that was signed on April 1, 1621, by Massasoit and leaders of the Plymouth colony.

It All Started With Horrific Videos of Chinese People Walking Down the Street…

 …groceries in hand, and basically stopping, and falling straight down, never to move again. I remember those, widely circulated during the first days of the Wuhan infections, but since hard to find online. 

Here’s one of them 

Now, I can hardly believe that we took the Chinese government’s word for the truthfulness of these rather obvious pieces of propaganda. The many lies that came out of that region, coupled with the lies of much of our own government, have changed the ways that citizens view official sources.

Where We Are Today:

• Masking is less common, but many will NOT give up the covering. Masked "Peaceful Protesters" are common, despite public safety concerns about not being able to identify those committing crimes.
• Kids are back in school, but too few school systems have been forced to back off on CRT and DIE education. This is despite both literacy and math scores hitting the lowest point in years. Too many teachers are more concerned about pushing their personal agenda, than in teaching the subjects/grades they are being paid to teach.
• Social Media is as awful as ever. Blatant bans/deplatforming/abuses are probably down, but the undercover squashing of 1st Amendment rights continues. Project Veritas is doing an extraordinary job in exposing abuses, but many more underhanded actions are escaping notice.
• The recent midterm elections were, in some states, a not-funny joke. The outright fraud was in-your-face, unapologetic, and unashamed. And that fraud was made possible by the massive increase in absentee ballots, 'justified' by COVID. If not for that, there would have been some other excuse, however, the fears of the American public made is easier.
• Welfare, EBT, housing subsidies, and other forms of government support of allegedly not working adults and their minor children have skyrocketed. What might have been expected - people flooding the job market to apply for jobs that were now available in abundance - did not happen. Those who were given money to sit on their a$$, continued to do so. A FEW took advantage of increased opportunities - kudos to them - but most did not.

And, Trump has announced he is running.

Eh. 

It's a long time until the next election, and I don't believe that his presence - or absence - will make the difference in the 2024 election.

What WILL make a difference is tightening up the election infrastructure:

• No more absentee ballots, without a doctor's note on file at the election board. That excuse is ONLY good for 1 year. After that, another note will be needed. The exception will be for serving military and their families. Other than that, a person who will be out of town on election day may vote - in person, with ID - at the election office, not more than 1 month early.
• Any resident in institutional care must have a DOCTOR willing to swear that person is mentally competent to vote. No votes may be collected from any person without that certification on file at the election office.
• Votes must be counted at the location they were cast. If there is a discrepancy between the voter book/ballots, votes from that precinct will not be counted without an audit, on site, in front of observers of any party that chooses to participate.
• No ballot may be scanned except at the local election site. Any absentee ballots must be scanned and counted before being moved to another location. All signatures must be verified before being scanned.
• If rejection rates exceed at certain percent, the ballots must be hand-counted before poll observers.
• No counting site may close down, or eject observers, before the final count is complete. No person may leave and return to the site. No vehicles may approach the site before the count is complete.

These are just a few ideas. The point is, this needs to be changed at the local level. No more transporting ballots before counting them/scanning them, or otherwise giving nefarious people access to them.

With the state-level GOP having made inroads into government, this should be a priority. Rather than enact "comprehensive" changes, it would be better to do it a few changes at a time. Better to get a few improvements through the legislative process than to make compromises that water down the effect of the changes.

It's a CON, Jake!

We have the ILLUSION of fair and open elections.

Not the reality.

This post at the Gates of Vienna says what I've been saying.

By the time I woke up this morning, the great Republican tsunami had turned into a little ripple in the bathtub.

The exception, of course, was Florida. But that was a planned exception.

Florida is allowed to be a dissident state, because Ron DeSantis is being set up by the power brokers in the Republican machine to be the alternative to Donald Trump in 2024, in order to make sure that the MAGA movement is effectively gelded. It’s a similar process to what was done to the Tea Party ten or twelve years ago.

It’s important to remember that the modern Republican Party, backed by Wall Street and global Capital, is not designed to be an alternative to Democrat rule. It’s intended to complement it, to provide voters with the illusion that they have a choice, and thus siphon off the votes of people who might otherwise coalesce into a force for true dissent.

It's a con. And we are the rubes on the fairgrounds. 

The Left has decided that they don't want to take a chance leaving in their escape pods to a foreign country. Too great a chance of falling victim to Ruthless 3rd World Bandits in Charge (see this story on Chinese billionaires taken out by their own government to understand).

Instead, Florida has been prepared as a place for the wealthy/influential/connected to land, after the rest of America has been turned into a hellhole. It will have all the comforts of a tropical paradise, with the addition of a fair judicial system, and protections the Entitled Elite need from the political hacks they installed.

Is Happiness the Answer to Tolerance of Fanatics?

It does seem as though the most fervent nutcases are also the most dissatisfied with their lives.

The fanatics do not appear to have fulfilled lives, it is true. It has been pointed out that the most committed of those in the Women's Movement of the 70s were those females who had experienced less joy in their personal lives, whether that disappointment was personal (Bettye Friedan) or professional (Gloria Steinem), to give just two examples.

The women - and it's largely women who work in high numbers in these organizations - are either unhappy with their personal lives, or miffed that they cannot break into the top tiers professionally. That last group includes those who, like Sheryl Sandberg, "achieved" their position through connections with powerful men. Lawrence Summers was an early mentor, and, later, Mark Zuckerberg took a personal interest in her career at Google.

Few of the fanatics have children. Children, by their inborn tendendency to soak up all their parents' free time and attention, generally preclude an intense involvement in time consuming activism. Worse, because they function as  course of amusement and joy, children can lead to outbreaks of happiness.

I'm on the sidelines this election season. I failed to get moving on my driver's license soon enough, and was not able to get my voter registration done in time. That's a first for me EVER.

I had to make a choice - either get my insurance certifications completed on time, or work on Driver's license and voting. I chose what would make me money. I have no regrets.

I have gradually come to realize that I can't do everything. I have to make the most of the important things in my life, and learn to walk past time-wasters. 

Frankly, I'm beginning to think OH is a lock. People may not be all that enthusiastic about JD Vance, but they really distrust Ryan. There are enough 'Normals' in OH - to use Kurt Schlichter's phrase - to tip the election, if they are motivated.

There are aspect to election that I have NO control over - for example, voter fraud and bloated registration lists. I'm willing to put SOME time into adding my influence to clean up the lists - write letters, sign petitions, support efforts that have the possibility of real change, such as this one.

Where is the Coverage?

Of the protests in Europe, against the soaring price of fuel?

Against the massive abuses against the Constitutional Rights of Americans?

Against Leftist Power Bumbles?

Not the Bee has it right - there SHOULD be coverage of the anti-Leftist protests.

Instead - crickets.

They are all over the protest in a London museum that had "Climate Protesters" throwing soup at a Van Gogh.

And, a protest that vandalized a luxury car.

But, SOMEHOW, the media just doesn't see the many citizens in the streets, furious that their Leftist leaders' international fumbling has led them to be facing freezing to death this winter? 

In the words of Rogers and Hammerstein's King of Siam, "It's a puzzlement!"

I Guarantee This Will Make You Cry...

...but it should also inspire you to LIVE while you can.

Is Anyone There?

I've been blogging for years (nearly 20!), although I've been less active during some of those years. At times, I've blogged with others (Right We Are!, Liberty's Torch).

But I've been noticing lately that a substantial chunk of the blogging world has quietly just - vanished.

The ones that stayed were:

• Group blogs - Instapundit, Townhall, Liberty's Torch. It helps to be able to take time off without worrying about losing readers.
• Transitioners - from blogs to podcasts and videos. Some stayed with their original blog, others transitioned to YouTube, Rumble, or Spotify.
• Authors and other Creators - their blog was always considered to be their 'side job'. They used their blogs to promote their other work (which got them PAID).
• Linkers - very little original content, mostly annotated links to other sites. Yes, most of us have some of our posts fitting this description, but some became like Lucianne, which mostly provides links to others.

So, is it worth my keeping up with this blog? I'm not sure, and will take some time over the next few months to think about it.