The Mask Debates Mean More

As if this country needed another topic to divide us, nevertheless we find ourselves at odds over the subject of masks.  You know the arguments; masks stop the spread of the China Virus, they protect others from the wearer, why not show care for others, better safe than sorry and so on.  Others think; are we being played by an over-reaching government attempting to control us?  If the masks protect the stranger from the wearer, how is it that apparently that doesn’t work the other way around?  We have been given conflicting information about the effectiveness of masks.  Some medical experts have disagreed with the pro- mask crowd and they have been vilified and silenced, making those already suspicious of government even more skeptical.

So who do you believe?

The particle size of the China Virus is approximately 80nm.  A human hair is approximately 100,000 nm wide.  The NCBI, (National Center for Biotechnology Information) measured the effectiveness of surgical masks for particles of this size and found, depending on breathing rates, between 20% and 85% penetration levels.  So isn’t this building on a sense of false security?

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) tells us that the virus can remain airborne for perhaps 30 minutes before settling on surfaces where it can live for many hours or even days, depending on the surface type.  That means that everything we touch can be a potential infection point and remain so for days.  People reuse their masks; shove them into and out of their pockets or purses where their hands contaminate and then re-contaminate them.  We all touch hundreds of surfaces in a typical day.  We all rub our eyes, scratch an itch, and touch our faces to adjust our masks and the only way to avoid contamination would be to wash our hands after every contact we made with any surface.

No one knew what this virus was until it began infecting people.  Predictably officials and decision-makers reacted first with little real knowledge, relying on what they thought they knew based on the past; social distancing, shutting down, masks, gloves, hand-washing, etc.  As infection rates went first up then down then up again, many in government immediately assumed direct correlation between mandates-behavior-and infection rates.  Yet situations we see in Sweden for example suggest that our assumptions about cause-and-effect are not correlated.

So instead of admitting they don’t know enough, (let alone everything,) those in authority and those in authority craving more of it blame behavior thereby providing to them the moral authority to impose greater and even farer-reaching sanctions on people.  Those in charge mustn’t be wrong, so it has to be the uncooperative citizen that needs to be more controlled, a classic shift-the-blame tactic of tyrants.

And so we find our way back to the skeptic, unconvinced of the wisdom and even the motives of government however, let’s examine likely outcomes.  Social distancing makes the most sense, but it can’t actually be accomplished unless you live in the Alaskan bush and even then, certain food stables need to be brought in and with them come the potential for the virus.  Even if you get your groceries delivered, on those surfaces may lie the virus.  The fact is that we can’t live for long in our own bubble and all of the other means of protection are even less of a real solution outside of a vaccine or an outright cure.

Even a casual observation of the entirety of the situation concludes that the most liberal of governors in the most liberal of places, imposed the most restrictive and even draconian social measures on citizens.  The sanctions, impositions and decrees were directly proportional in severity to the liberal philosophies of those governors, ditto for all levels of more local governance right down to mayors.  Those who embrace individual choice, freedom and the least amount of government intrusion possible took the opposite approach, starting with the President of the United States.

While the conservatives considered the bigger picture of social isolation, depression, substance abuse, well-care and health screening delays, educational disruption, business decay, entrepreneurial decline and the possible demise of a world-class economy that was pre-virus roaring at a pace never before seen, it strains all credulity to place the blame for this virus at the feet of our President.  Obviously no world leader, or governor, or mayor, or anyone else in their right mind wanted to see a single death from this pandemic.  Yet as the dust settles and we put back together a society and economy the likes of which had never been accomplished before, we need to look to the broad-based optimism that conservative philosophy brings to real solutions and to real problems if we are to survive as the exceptional nation on God’s earth.

Had this virus never happened, Trump would win re-election in a landslide equal to or greater than that of Ronald Regan in 1980.  This virus becoming the deciding factor in this presidential election would be the greatest hope of the Chinese Communist Party and might well explain why they released it into the world in the first place.

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The Swamps Grand Wizard Needs To Be Dispatched

The following accomplishments demonstrate why Trump needs to be re-elected.  All measures of success, (pre-China virus,) were not only positive, but many were record-setting.  The stock market; historical new highs.  Unemployment; historical new lows, (especially for blacks and Latinos.)  The US military; best equipped and readiness at an all-time high.  NATO members finally paying their fair share for defense.  China being forced to stop ripping us off.  We are out of NAFTA and have new and better trade deals that favor our interests.  Strict and meaningful sanctions on Iran and stiff tariffs on China.  We squelched North Korea.  We are out of the Paris Climate Accords.  Trump is dismantling the regulatory state and appointing federal judgeships left empty by Obama.  Three Supreme Court picks, all Constitutional originalists.  Prison reform, moving our embassy to Jerusalem, permanent funding for historically black colleges, manufacturing is back and growing, 4 million off food stamps since the election, the largest tax cuts in history, the end of the individual mandate for Obama care, fixed the broken VA and turned the US into the biggest natural gas producer in the world.

Trumps quick and decisive actions post China-flu saved thousands of lives by shutting down entry into the US. He has brokered the most meaningful modern peace deal in Middle East history between Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

Trump is an Iron-willed promise keeper, essential to preserving America as founded and hell-bent on draining the swamp, beholding to no one.  The Left can’t control him and their fear of that foments in them visceral hatred.

Why Biden should never be near the levers of power.  The former Vice-President is obviously suffering from significant cognitive decline.  He has said, “150 million killed by guns…120 million dead from Covid”, Biden can’t complete a sentence without a teleprompter and the protection of his staff.  He hides in his basement and shuts down before noon most days.

Biden is a pervert.  View any of the dozens of video-montages showing Biden interacting with young girls and grown women and one cannot help but cringe.  During a party in 2016, he reportedly cupped the breast of the girlfriend of one of his security-detail staffers and was saved from being pummeled by others nearby.  Sniffing hair, rubbing shoulders, kissing necks, Biden is a creep and a casual Google search produces a montage of visual proof.

Biden has never worked outside of government.  Although in elected office for 47-years, he has no notable accomplishments, with the exception of his push for the Crime Bill of 1994 which put tens of thousands of black men in prison for lengthy terms. 

Biden is a serial plagiarist, first in law school and then, forcing him out of the 1998 presidential race when he stole large portions of a speech from British politician Neil Kinnock.  Plagiarists suffer from lack of original thought and struggle to find their conviction because they have neither.  Taking it from someone else lends them the veneer of authenticity.  This won’t do in a President.

Biden is a habitual embellisher/sometimes out-and-out liar.  He recently claimed he attended Delaware State University when he did not.  He told supporters in New Hampshire that he went to law school on a full scholarship, had 3-undergraduate degrees, graduated in the top half of his law class, and won awards as the outstanding student in political science.  He actually graduated 76th in a class of 85 in law school, was not awarded any kind of awards and does not have 3 degrees nor a full scholarship.  In impolite society, one would call Biden a classic bullshit artist.

 He said this about then candidate Obama.  “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.  That’s storybook man.”  Biden seemed attracted to racists.  He was mentored by former KKK Grand Wizard and Senator Robert Byrd whom he eulogized.  Bigoted racist Senator Strom Thurmond also mentored Biden whom he joined in opposing the integration of schools as a junior senator in the 1970’s. 

Biden has used his office to enrich his family.  The saga of his son Hunter, and the massive amounts of money he and others in the Biden family have acquired for seemingly no other reasons than their last names are well documented.

Biden is the poster-boy for the Swamp and everything it represents.  Elect him and America as founded is over.  A Trump victory drains the swamp and with it, the swamps Grand Wizard, Sleepy, (and sleazy) Joe Biden.

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Unpacking Platitudes

These yard signs are popping up and I thought it useful to unpack some of the crap espoused therein.

Titled “WE BELIEVE”, the 29-word manifesto outlines seven distinct positions, (opinions), expressed as facts from those smarter than us, the true believers.  These self-anointed smug and superior beings are here to help the rest of us know what to think.

It makes sense to assume these seven truths to live by are naturally expressed in order of importance, so they begin with today’s favorite buzz phrase:  BLACK LIVES MATTER.  Also important to note, of these seven positions, four are printed using all capital letters, (which denote shouting), and the BLACK LIVES MATTER line is not only first, it is in caps.  So we can conclude, from all things these wizards of knowledge could proclaim, first on their list is shouting the fact that black lives matters.

If you are a thoughtful person that scratches even softly on the surface of what passes today for news coverage, you undoubtedly understand that the plain meaning of the phrase, “black lives matter” is a truism, as opposed to the organization Black Lives Matter, (BLM), which is a hate-group governed by racist, misandrist lesbians that don’t believe in the traditional family as a model for societal success.  Sort of like Planned Parenthood sounds like a nice place for parents instead of the abortion mill that it is, BLM is actually a vile hate group.

Support BLM endorses communism, the destruction of the traditional family unit and the abolition of the police.  Read their statements for even more disturbing aspects of their goals.  BLM is a scourge on humanity that needs to be defeated by decency.

Next in line from these brain-trusts of yard-sign wisdom is the statement, again all in caps, NO HUMAN IS ILLEGAL.  Let’s unpack this little 4-word beauty.  Illegality pertains to the actions and activities of humans, not a proclamation against the person per se.  We have a legal system.  If your conduct, i.e.: your actions and activities fall outside of the limits of that legal system, (the system, by-the-way, which we all agreed upon via our governance system of representation that elected those lawmakers to office), then your actions are found to be illegal.

What the yard-wizards are really trying to say, but they don’t dare do so because the position is so radical, is that the United State should have open borders and everyone and anyone should be allowed in.  These cowards just don’t possess the fortitude to say it directly, so they emote to an empty phrase like NO HUMAN IS ILLEGAL.  Unmitigated crap.

Next we have LOVE IS LOVE.  This is a platitude so evident and so stupid it will not be addressed further.

The 4th position, (and the first to revert from shouting to normal English) states that, “Women’s rights are human rights.”  Again, another platitude that essentially reminds us that women are human.  Thank you.

5th on the hit-parade of lawn wisdom is the deep-deep statement, “Science is real”  Again, afraid to actually say it out-loud, what this actually is is the proclamation that global warming is settled science, enough said, no more debate, good-night and sleep tight.  Once again, liberal nonsense that is not settled science but hyperbolic opinion.

Second to last is the almost biblical sentiment saying, “Water is life”  I’m sure this near-biblical reference was completely unintentional given the lack of any reference to God in the WE BELIEVE selections, however, once again what they can’t quite muster to say outright, they sat in code:  Embrace the Green New Deal.  Knowing that this has yet to take hold in a meaningful way, instead these intellectual cowards couch their positions in code-speak, so as not to have to defend themselves if called out.  How convenient.

And finally, the Omnipotent geniuses leave us with, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”, the only cogent, understandable and reasonable statement they make, albeit taking it for themselves without the proper attribution to the author, Martin Luther King.

The company producing these sign is called Signs of Justice, based (predictably) in Portland.  This mixed-race married couple that owns the business says this on their website, (in part.)

“Hello, we are Jameesa and Bryan Oakley of Portland, Oregon.   Like many others on election night 2016, our family was left in shock and disbelief. How could a man who campaigned on hate become President of the United States?  What would this mean for our values of love, decency and inclusion? How could we rise above the oppression and make an impact?  

With inspiration from some like-minded friends we realized we could utilize our professional skills and resources.  Our family already owned and operated a small commercial sign printing business.  Why not use our vocation to benefit social justice?  Through visual displays of art and solidarity, we can inspire resistance and action.  Love will win!”

What could be better than a mixed-race couple from Portland, brave social justice warriors, pumping out nonsensical signs, (at a capitalistic, motivated profit I presume?), to the mind-numbed robotic liberal zombies so thirsty for thought, seeing they can muster so little on their own.  The American Dream of making money from morons is alive and well.  Good job Mr. and Mrs. Oakley, (wait, isn’t the institution of marriage blatantly patriarchical?)  Never-mind.

Here is my version of a lawn sign using only 29 words:

WE BELIEVE

GOD IS GREAT AND HEAVEN AWAITS THOSE WHO BELIEVE

THE UNITED STATES IS EXCEPTIONAL

OUR CONSTITUTION IS DEVINELY INSPIRED

FREEDOM AND LIBERTY ARE GOD-GIVEN RIGHTS

GOD BLESSES AMERICA

After reading and considering both signs, decide in which country you are going to live, one inspired by feckless platitudes that all but expel God from public life while celebrating anarchy, unrest and discourse, or a traditional America that recognizes that without God nothing is possible and with Him anything is.  I believe that the United States was indeed formed divinely and remains today exceptional.  I know that God Almighty won’t allow that to change.

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Cheap Shot

This is representative of the level of hatred and visceral animosity coming from the Left.  The text below is an excerpt of a Facebook exchange I had with a family-member after something they posted that made light of the fact that the President and First Lady had contracted the China-virus.  As a point of reference, the timeframe for this outburst was Friday evening, just after the President of the United States had been admitted to the Walter Reed Medical Center for precautionary care.

Another family member posted a picture of the first lady with a caption that said, “Nation Shocked To Learn That Melania Has Been Within Six Feet of Trump.”

This is how our exchange progressed, after I said that the comments made were low-brow and cheap shots given the timing.  This is the response from my otherwise smart and articulate, (albeit liberal) relative.

“Seriously, I believe to my core that he, (Trump) is a psychopath, a deeply evil man, and the greatest threat to American democracy in history. I can’t debate that without compromising the basic definitions of morality I’ve had all my life. I have never seen any evidence of human empathy in him, or any emotion other than rage or glee at the misfortunes of people he doesn’t like. I really don’t care if this man is the victim of a cheap shot on Facebook. Sorry, but that’s where we are in these horrible times.”

The only response I offered to this was “Wow.”

Totally lost on this relative, is his own obvious lack of, “any evidence of human empathy…”, even as he levels the accusation.

In order to edify my relatives, here are excerpts of what columnist Liz Crokin had to say about Donald Trump a few months ago, specifically addressing Trump’s empathy.


In 1986, Trump prevented the foreclosure of Annabell Hill’s family farm after her husband committed suicide. Trump personally phoned down to the auction to stop the sale of her home and offered the widow money. Trump decided to take action after he saw Hill’s pleas for help in news reports.

In 1988, a commercial airline refused to fly Andrew Ten, a sick
Orthodox Jewish child with a rare illness, across the country to get medical care because he had to travel with an elaborate life-support system. His grief-stricken parents contacted Trump for help and he didn’t hesitate to send his own plane to take the child from Los Angeles to New York so he could get his treatment.

In 1991, 200 Marines who served in Operation Desert Storm spent time at Camp Lejune in North Carolina before they were scheduled to return home to their families. However, the Marines were told that a mistake had been made and an aircraft would not be able to take them home on their scheduled departure date. When Trump got wind of this, he sent his plane to make two trips from North Carolina to Miami to safely return the Gulf War Marines to home.
In 2000, Maury Povich featured a named Megan who struggled with Brittle Bone Disease on his show and Trump happened to be watching. Trump said the little girl’s story and positive attitude touched his heart. So he contacted Maury and gifted the little girl and her family with a very generous check.

In 2008, after Jennifer Hudson’s family members were tragically murdered in Chicago, Trump put the Oscar-winning actress and her family up at his Windy City hotel for free. In addition to that, Trump’s security took extra measures to ensure Hudson and her family members were safe during such a difficult time.

In 2013, New York bus driver Darnell Barton spotted a woman close to the edge of a bridge staring at the traffic below as he drove by. He stopped the bus, got out and put his arm around the woman and saved her life by convincing her to not jump.

When Trump heard about this story, he sent the hero bus driver a check simply because he believed his good deed deserved to be rewarded.

In 2014, Trump gave $25,000 to Sgt. Andrew Tamoressi after he spent seven months in a Mexican jail for accidentally crossing the US-Mexico border. President Barack Obama couldn’t even be bothered to make one phone call to assist with the United States Marine’s release; however, Trump opened his pocketbook to help this serviceman get back on his feet.

In 2016, Melissa Consin Young attended a Trump rally and tearfully thanked Trump for changing her life. She said she proudly stood on stage with Trump as Miss Wisconsin USA in 2005. However, years later she found herself struggling with an incurable illness and during her darkest days, she explained that she received a handwritten letter from Trump telling her she’s the bravest woman, I know. She said the opportunities that she got from Trump and his organizations ultimately provided her Mexican-American son with a full-ride to college.

Lynne Patton, a black female executive for the Trump Organization, released a statement in 2016 defending her boss against accusations that he’s a racist and a bigot. She tearfully revealed how she’s struggled with substance abuse and addiction for years. Instead of kicking her to the curb, she said the Trump Organization and his entire family loyally stood by her through immensely difficult times.

Two decades ago, Oprah asked Trump in a TV interview if he’d ever run for president. He said: “If it got so bad, I would never want to rule it out totally because I really am tired of seeing what’s happening with this country.'”

While my relative has plainly laid-out his opinion that Trump is a, “psychopath, a deeply evil man, and the greatest threat to American democracy in history  …” it is my opinion that the people in this country who hold opinions like this are themselves that threat.  To them I say, God help you if conservatives retain power and God help you even more if your side manages to steal it.

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