In the wake of the highest nationwide unemployment numbers since the Great Depression, the Governor has threatened to withhold State money from Modoc, Sutter, and Yuba counties because they dare to go back to work. Please remember that Modoc has had exactly ZERO CASES of Covid-19 and is operating under the same rules as Los Angeles County which has half the cases in the State.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is warning three counties that they could lose disaster funding if they continue to defy his stay-at-home order.
Officials in Yuba, Sutter and Modoc counties have all allowed businesses to reopen because they have fewer coronavirus cases than other parts of the state.
The director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services sent a letter to the three counties on Thursday warning they might lose their eligibility for the funding.
A spokesman for Yuba and Sutter counties said local leaders are working to do what is best for the overall health of their communities.
But that’s not all. Newsom has deployed every regulatory agency at his disposal to threaten businesses in these counties that dare to open without permission regardless of what precautions these people are taking or what their working conditions may be. In fact, nobody is actually checking up on them or determining the facts on the ground, state agencies are simply going thru their Rolodex and cold calling everyone and making threats.
YUBA/SUTTER COUNTIES (CBS13) – A number of businesses in Yuba and Sutter counties are rethinking their reopenings after being contacted by state agencies that could revoke their licenses.
Hairdresser Amy Johnson believes she may be one of the few cosmetologists still working in the surrounding area. Many, including some of her own staff at Rockabetty Salon in Yuba City, are afraid of sanctions the state could impose.
“Everyone is scared to open because of the vague statement and the phone calls from the board,” Johnson said.
“I just note there’s 33 salons that shut down in two counties in the last couple days similarly because they got a call from some of our state officials saying, “Is this the best thing for your employees? Is this the best thing for public health and your community?” Newsom said.
Johnson got those calls, too, but explained all the steps she was taking to protect her customers and staff.
Her clients must wear masks, disinfect their hands and shoes before entering her salon, answer COVID-19 related questions at the door, sign a waiver and space out once inside. Johnson says she’s operating under local county guidelines, and all of her customers are out within 30 minutes.
“Lots of haircuts and lots of people walking out with wet hair having to come back for a second appointment,” she said. “Our county order is lifted so I feel confident in working.”
Krankin Hanks owner Henry Stuevie feels that confidence, too. But he chose to close his bar down, once Alcohol Beverage Control came knocking.
“Gavin Newsom got mad at Yuba-Sutter so he sent out what he has control over, the liquor license,” Stuevie said. “We were allowing to come in, sit down order dinner, have a beer. Have a drink if you want.”
He was ready to let the liquor flow at his Marysville bar when Yuba and Sutter counties decided to reopen some businesses again at the beginning of the week until ABC came by. He said the conversation was friendly, but the ordinance he was delivered by them had a different tone, calling them disorderly and saying he could lose his liquor license if he continued on.
“Just the threat of taking my liquor license was enough for me to say I can’t lose it,” Stuevie said. “It took me two years to get it, and this would be a useless building without it.”
When you live in a one-party state, and that Party thinks government is their god, they will compel obedience or else. To them, politics is simply an exercise of raw power. Their job is to make rules for us which somehow, they tend to be exempted from, funny how that part works. We end up with tyrants and tyranny every time we exchange liberty for security, even from a virus.
Folks, after my post on Romans 13, I found one that hits some points that mine did not, so I wanted to share it with my readers.
The issue of Romans 13 and obeying authority has been something that throughout church history Christians have struggled with.
Let me put this into perspective.
When we take a look at the Bible, we see throughout scripture those who disobey unfair and unjust government commands.
Moses disobeyed the Pharaoh as we see in the book of Exodus.
Paul was constantly in jail because he was violating customs and laws that interfered with spreading the gospel. He lost his life because of it.
Peter was told by the authorities to cease teaching and preaching in the name of Jesus. He said to those in authority over him, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20). After being arrested a second time and questioned about his disobedience, Peter declared emphatically, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
We see it with Gideon, Ehud, Jepthah, Samson, and Deborah – all were charged explicitly by God to resist the rulers who were practicing injustice against the people and interfering with God’s people.
We see it in church history with Martin Luther and John Calvin.
We see it in those who fled oppression throughout the world and came to America.
We saw it in abolitionists such as Harriet Tubman who defied the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 by helping slaves escape from the south and flee to northern states.
We saw it in Corrie ten Boom who hid and protected Jews from NAZI government forces in Germany – and lied to NAZI officers when they came looking for Jews.
We saw it with Martin Luther King, Jr. standing up against the oppression of people simply based upon their skin color.
Go back to the American Revolution. In the American Revolution, Christians were often divided, but we were fighting for our freedom against oppression.
That’s where Patrick Henry said: “Is life so dear or peace and safety so sweet as to be purchased at the price of slavery?”
Were all these examples violations of scripture? No.
Those who say Christians are in violation of scripture if they are opposed to today’s tyrannical government officials telling us not to worship are not considering the entirety of God’s word. They are reacting in fear of man.
“The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted.” (Proverbs 29:25)
When we look at Romans 13, we need to understand that the principle of being in subjection to governing authorities has to be balanced with the rest of scripture. When we see God opposing injustice and resisting oppression and abuses of government authority, is this a contradiction of Romans 13? No, it isn’t.
To a man, every minister that I have heard, justifies the reason for closure of his church and all worship services citing Romans Chapter 13. Before I go further, let’s look at the passage.
1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. 6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. Romans 13: 1-7 KJV
In summary, the passage states:
God appoints all rulers, (this is a basic tenant of God’s sovereignty)
Rulers are not a terror to good but evil, they punish law breakers
Christians should obey rulers, for this cause you pay taxes (tribute)
Thus, when government authorities asked churches to close indefinitely, their pastors willingly went along with the request. Folks, this happened no matter what denomination you look at. Now these pastors are awaiting permission from these same authorities to resume their services. They are unwilling to do this without their approval. This is true, not only in all 50 States in our country but most of the other nations in the West and beyond. Think about it, north of one billion believers have not been attending worship services lately based on fear not faith.
In his ministry, Walter Martin would frequently say, “A text without a context, is a pretext; usually for error.”
Dear readers, this certainly applies in this application of the cited passage of Romans.
Historical Context
Paul likely wrote this book while in Corinth to a church meeting in Rome, a city he had not yet visited. This passage was addressed to Christians about a decade before Nero sat on the throne. This book was written when worshipping Jesus was treason and punishable by imprisonment and possible death. Christians met to worship in people’s houses at great risk; they faced loss of life, liberty, and property.
My point is that, in proper context, Christians are being told to obey the government at a time when they were lawbreakers for believing in Jesus or gathering to worship him. So how can these verses mean what your average minister thinks they do? Paul told the believers in Rome to obey the government and did not see a conflict that they were embracing treasonous and illegal beliefs and flaunting the government by both their beliefs and meeting for worship. How do you square these verses in context with current interpretation that God demands that we shut churches and cease worship if the secular authorities forbid it? Folks, there is no clearer example of Scripture twisting than this interpretation behind which thousands of clergymen are hiding.
But why? Simple, they fear men more than God. If standing for Christ has a cost, most are unwilling to pay it. Whether they fear the loss of their tax-exempt status, or fear tort lawyers suiting them for wrongful whatever, or fear running afoul of local police, city council, etc., I don’t know; but these guys are a fearful and timid lot.
The truth is they want to maintain good relations with the magistrate and hide behind Romans 13 to justify a decision that they already made. Guess it’s easier to go with the flow than swim upstream. Only in a world where the State establishes the Church can you get such twisted excuses for this interpretation of Romans 13.
Paul, however, can only be correctly interpreted when you understand that the government needs to stay in their lane and the church needs to stay in hers. Biblically speaking, the government has no legitimate power over such decisions of the church. Or as Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Mark 12: 17
Any government or political system that tries to dictate doctrine or practice of Christians in their midst is a tyranny. As I said a few days ago, we are commanded to gather as believers and any government order to prohibit worship is an illegal and unconstitutional one. I cannot envision a scenario where banning all worshipping in a nation of 330,000,000 million is legal Constitutionally, biblically, in Common Law, or any other way you wish to examine the question. Only in a nation ruled by tyrants can you find such edicts being enforced by civil government.
Government Dictates Worship
Look at these articles about Christian worship that have been published in the last few days. The governments: federal, state, and local in the United States claim all the same powers to regulate Christian worship as Communist China, the Soviet Union, Cuba, Nazi Germany, and every other tyranny you can name. Thus, the church serves not God but at the pleasure of the State.
Government Says Not to Meet
LEICESTER, United Kingdom – According to the leaders of Ireland’s main Christian denominations, “at this time it would not be appropriate to consider a full return” to regular worship services.
Government asserts the right to dictate what churches may or may not do in their worship.
Germany reluctantly allows congregations to meet, but they are not allowed to sing.
Germany allowed church services to resume in a limited capacity on Sunday following a six-week hiatus during a countrywide coronavirus lockdown – but worshippers won’t be able to sing just yet.
A set of strict rules prohibits worshippers from singing in the church over fears the COVID-19 virus could spread more easily that way, German broadcaster Deutsche Welles reported. The congregation must wear masks and must follow social distancing rules, which have prohibited the traditional handshaking that is part of Catholic ceremonies.
In the Tennessee, churches can meet for worship but not Christian instruction. Furthermore, they are prohibited from celebrating communion, taking an offering, using Bibles, or hymnals.
In addition, “The physical taking of communion/sacrament should not be performed due to the serial breaking of physical distancing across a congregation.” Churches are urged to “consider guiding parishioners in how to connect with the spiritual aspects of these practices during this phase.” Never mind that for Christians, Communion is a requirement, not an optional activity that can be transmitted over the internet.
Not only that, but church attendees are also banned from physically embracing or shaking hands with one another. And singing, while not banned, “is discouraged as it is thought to be an activity that expels significantly more virus than talking.”
Also banned by the Knox County order: “communal items (for example, tithe plates, hymnals, bibles, etc.).” Churches are told they should use a donation box in lieu of an offering plate. “Only core worship services are permitted in Phase One,” the order reads. “Activities such as groups and classes, youth services, social events, potlucks, communal snacks or food, and nursery, are not permitted in Phase One.”
The good news is that a few intrepid people are seeing the light and wanting to resume worship without waiting for government permission.
The pastor of an Orrington church announced Sunday that next week he will open the doors of Calvary Chapel to in-person worship in defiance of an order issued by Gov. Janet Mills to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Ken Graves also said during a drive-in worship service in the church parking lot that the evangelical congregation would be the lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit — expected to be filed by the end of the week — challenging the constitutionality of Mills’ executive order that has shuttered houses of worship throughout Maine and limited gatherings to 10 people.
Folks don’t expect your pastor to come to the same conclusion that I have about this interference of the State in the affairs of the Church. Somehow, my pastor is ok with the closure and plans to stay shutdown until he is given permission to open his doors again. He thinks that the Covid-19 scare will result in a revival of people in his community. Based on what I don’t know. His congregation is as frightened as your average MSNBC viewer. Since the Church is not radiating salt and light in this situation but willing to hide it under a bushel basket until told to do otherwise by the civil magistrate, I don’t see that happening.
The good news in this shutdown is not coming from people of faith but people in dire financial straights that are starting to push back by opening their businesses without permission, something that churches that shutdown should consider too.
After leaving his gig as lead singer for Kansas, John Elefante and his brother Dino composed a song which begins
“This world is goin’ crazy and I’m ready to scream”
Love Inhalation (1989).
Folks that about summarizes my view of the madness of Covid-19; especially, here in California.
Folks, nobody is listening to our Governor. No, I’ll get to the protesters in a minute. What Newsom actually says in his press conferences about a timeline is unreported by the media. Take this from the beginning of his remarks on April 27th.
The likelihood of having a virus-free world is not realistic in the next number of months. We’ll look forward to that day as herd immunity comes into effect and we have a vaccine that we can distribute and make available to hundreds of millions of people across this country, billions around the rest of the globe.Until then, we have to manage it. We have to manage risks. We have to manage and augment our behavior.
Folks, Governor Newsom keeps saying this each time Covid-19 comes up. Read the quote again carefully this time especially “We’ll look forward to that day as herd immunity comes into effect and we have a vaccine that we can distribute and make available to hundreds of millions of people across this country…”
Herd Immunity
Folks, Gavin is redefining terms here so let me explain. Herd Immunity is when enough people in a population have had a disease that it is no longer able to keep being passed to new hosts. Depending on what you read, this number is believed to be between 40 to 60 percent of the population. If enough people get an illness, it will die-out on its own. Please note that in many places, as we have reported previously, antibody testing for Covid-19 is showing that about 35 percent of people are positive for the antibodies. Can we say they are within a short span of claiming herd immunity in their communities?
Back when Barack Obama was President, H1N1 infected 60.8 million people (range per CDC: 43.3-89.3 million) before it died-out in 2009. Folks, the math is that about 20 percent of the population had H1N1 during this pandemic. Just to be sure it was stamped-out, the following flu season 2009-2010, people were encouraged to get the vaccine.
Oh, as I’m writing this, look at this nugget from Wikipedia.
By April 2010, it was apparent that most of the vaccine was not needed. The US government had bought 229 million doses of H1N1 vaccines of which 91 million doses were used; of the surplus, some of it was stored in bulk, some of it was sent to developing countries and 71 million doses were destroyed. The World Health Organization is planning to examine if it overreacted to the H1N1 outbreak.
When you read, “The World Health Organization is planning to examine if it overreacted to the H1N1 outbreak.”Does it ring any bells given the current overreaction?
No, I didn’t forget about Gavin. My point is that it takes an incredible amount of time and effort to come up with a vaccine. In the case of H1N1, which did see the successful development of a vaccine, mutations from the original strain were few and occurred in later years. Two mutations to H1N1 were found in a 2015 outbreak of H1N1 in India. These mutations decreased the effectiveness of the vaccine.
By contrast, as we documented here previously, in the relatively short period of time that Covid-19 has been outside the Wuhan laboratory (about 6 months), 30 mutations have thus far been documented. Again, here in the United States, the West Coast strain is different than the one ravaging New York. Oh, this may be an outlier, but a British newspaper is reporting that we may not have a vaccine for Covid-19 until 2036.
Three possible outcomes exist for the current pandemic: either the Covid-19 flu goes away by itself which makes it possible that it may reemerge in the fall, enough people get it that herd immunity develops on its own, or we shelter in place until a vaccine is created. Newsom is defining herd immunity as the point when a vaccine is able to be mass produced and deployed worldwide and advocating that we hide in our homes until then. Yep. This will go on for many more months if he has his way. Look at my original quote.
Until then, we have to manage it. We have to manage risks. We have to manage and augment our behavior.
The key phrase is “augment our behavior.” i.e. no business as usually until a vaccine.
Lest you think I’m overreacting look at this poorly publicized nugget from KOVR TV.
More than 50 days in, California is still in what’s considered phase one of the governor’s four-phase plan. That means if pacing continues, the shelter-in-place order won’t be lifted until October.
Do you believe that we will willingly shelter in place until October? Nonessential workers can you go 8 months without working and paying your bills? That is what you are expected to do. Once the November election is over and Donald Trump is voted out, California will them magically return to “normal.” Color me suspicious but welcome to the 2020 campaign.
I know that skeptics occasionally read the blog and give my staff trouble about what they think are our tin foil hat ideas, but these folks need to open their eyes. The cost benefit ratio does not justify the economic pain our ruling class is inflicting on their citizens in the name of safety. California has a reputation for lavishly giving out goodies to people on the fringes of society like free hotel rooms for the homeless and welfare to illegal aliens, but they have shutoff the tax money spigot to the State coffers and want to double down on this nonsense? California’s biggest tax revenue streams are personal income taxes and sale taxes. Both require economic activity that has been banned in our State.
Counties are Rising Up
Can you see why people are starting to protest and defy the Governor? Thank God for Modoc County.
One California county has had enough of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order.
Modoc County, a rural area that borders Oregon, announced that they will be reopening businesses and churches despite the Democratic governor’s orders. The county has had no cases of the coronavirus since the outbreak began, prompting the county health officer, sheriff-coroner, chair of the Board of Supervisors, and other county officials to announce that it would be reopening Friday.
Following on the heals of Modoc, two other counties are doing likewise. The pioneer to take the lead in this region of California was the Upper Cut barber shop.
Despite county and state stay-at-home orders, Randy Mitchell decided to keep his Marysville barbershop Upper Cut open.
“I told them (police) take me to jail because that is the only way you are going to stop me from operating,” Mitchell said.
On Friday, there were no empty chairs inside his barbershop. Booked with customers, there wasn’t much room for social distancing. Mitchell recently received a $1,000 fine from Marysville police after being cited for not following orders.
“If another American chooses to do business with me that’s that American’s choice. I’m not going to tell somebody that they have to stay six feet apart from me, that they have to wear masks and gloves,” he said.
Mitchell feels he had no other choice but to stay open, fearing closing would shut his business down for good. Customers in the packed barbershop said they are happy to support him.
Because this man was willing to endue the citation for $1,000, other businesses in the region are opening starting Monday May 4th.
More businesses in Yuba and Sutter Counties starting Monday could follow the shop’s lead. The Yuba-Sutter Heath Officer, Dr. Phuong Luu, announced Friday businesses like malls, salons, gyms and restaurants can reopen starting next week.
Businesses who are considered “low risk” by Dr. Luu can reopen if they follow social distancing recommendations. The new local order conflicts with Governor Newsom’s plan to wait to reopen similar businesses.
Yuba City Mayor Shon Harris told CNN Friday, reopening is essential for his city that is struggling to feed their families.
“We don’t want to defy anything but with the statewide order. The numbers are quite different here locally. We would just like to have some local control and make our decisions for our local folks here,” Harris said.
Folks, here’s the choice you have, wait to be taken care of by the government until at least October or man-up and get to work now. God gave you skills, will you use ‘em or lose ‘em?
Please note that last week, seven counties in northern California wanted to open. Modoc decided it was better to seek forgiveness than permission while the other six counties that asked the Governor for permission got no response. Of these two have decided to open.
Officials from six rural Northern California counties and 14 small cities have urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to let them reopen their economies, marking the most significant push-back yet from local leaders of a mandatory stay-at-home order in its second month that has left 3 million people out of work.
Of the 500,000 people who live in Sutter, Yuba, Butte, Colusa, Tehama and Glenn counties, only 69 have confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
Oh, for you political types out there, here’s my suggestion for a way to hit Newsom in a political ad.
One of the counties that Newsom has not allowed to reopen is Butte. You all know Butte County because guess what city is in that county? Paradise. Remember the one that burned to a crisp in a matter of hours? The one Governors Brown and Newsom promised to move heaven and earth to rebuild. Yep that Paradise is shutdown and not allowed to reopen. How’s them for optics? How can you proclaim, “Rebuild Paradise” and then tell a community without houses for their citizens to “shelter in place?”
Paradise Fire 11-08-2018
Then there are the beach protests and others around the State. Gavin is losing his grip.
Closing Thoughts
Note to Gavin, we will put up with a lot of crap from you politicians but when you directly threaten our livelihoods and families, you better brace for pushback. Many of us are beyond the point to further enduring this nonsense. Dr. Fauci, W.H.O., et al., were wrong. It’s time to end this and get back to work. The at-risk folks know who they are and what to do so quit punishing the rest of us. Recess is over, everybody back to work.
Final and random thought: Isn’t wearing a mask now a days like wearing a ribbon on your lapel was 20 years ago?It doesn’t do anything except make you feel better because you care more than people without one.Symbolism over substance.
I decided to spend the last few days binge watching HBO’s Westworld. As my family will attest, I like a good Sci-Fi story, especially one that can explore questions about reality and human nature. In this post, I wish to share my overall comments on the program. I promise what you are about to read will not be a regurgitation of whatever IMDB may say about the show.
Westworld is just wrapping-up its third season on HBO. This is a television show with an A-list movie budget and has lots of special effects and CGI throughout.
Insiders tell The Hollywood Reporter the overall budget for the first season of the 10-episode project is in the $100 million range… Sources peg the budget for the 90-minute Westworld pilot alone in the $25 million range, including reshoots, with some costs rolled to episode two as parts of the series debut were moved out of the premiere. (For context: HBO scrapped the entire original Game of Thrones pilot, which had a price tag of $20 million.) The per-episode budget is said to be anywhere from $8 million to $10 million.
Created by husband-and-wife duo Jonathan Nolan (Person of Interest) and Lisa Joy and executive produced by J.J. Abrams, Westworld features a cast of A-listers including Anthony Hopkins as the head of an ultra-realistic amusement park where visitors come to live out their most outrageous desires. The cast also includes Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton and Ed Harris. (Hopkins and Harris are said to have scored $175,000 per episode each, with the latter potentially having only a two-year deal.)
Folks, each episode of Westworld is like a part of a tent pole movie. It may harken back to the original movie with Yul Brenner but has been completely redone.
The good news is the J.J. Abrams is the director and not the one that wrote the story line, thus the show is expanded and reimagined but in ways that are more watchable than recent Star Wars and Star Trek movies which J.J. botched badly in my opinion. My complaint with J.J. is that his first act in any franchise is to blow-up the cannon (or mythology of the show) and do whatever he wants after that.
Johnathan Nolan and his group wrote the story arc which supposedly will end with the upcoming fourth season. Nolan has done many projects for movies and television. Some of the themes in Westworld, especially starting with the third season, are much like the back half of Person of Interest. In fact, the last episode that I watched prior to beginning to write this blog post included one of the recurring characters that appeared in Person of Interest. I will mention this program again later in this post.
FYI: both Westworld and Jurassic Park were novels by Michael Crichton.
I wish to mention a few of the characters in the show without spoiling any plot lines. Spoilers will come in a few minutes and with fair warning.
Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins portrays the creator of Westworld, Dr. Robert Ford. (Think Mr. Hammond from Jurassic Park.) Dr. Ford, and his now deceased partner, created and refined the androids that inhabit the amusement park. Since creative people need money to finance their ideas, this creates the opportunity for an evil corporation to voluntarily fund the Park in exchange for certain marketing opportunities. Dr. Ford is allowed to continue tinkering with his creations, as long as he keeps the Park running which he has done for 35 years now.
An android, or “Host” in this show, named Dolores played by Evan Rachel Wood is also an important and reoccurring character in the show. When you first meet her, she is clearly designated as Westworld’s damsel in distress.
Yule Brenner Westworld (1973)
Then of course is the legendary Man in Black—Yul Brenner in the original movie—is player by Ed Harris. This character is most certainly dark and evil, but I promised no spoilers… yet. I will say that his character has been given a complete rewrite by Nolan and company.
The show is lavish in every sense of the word. As I watched, I wondered where in the world would you put a place this big, certainly not a corn field in Iowa. If you recall the original movie, there were other theme parks in the same area besides Westworld. This is touched on occasionally in the HBO series.
This show has lots of violence and naked people. Most nude bodies are being reconditioned and prepared for return to the Park but since one of the main characters runs a brothel, there is some of that other stuff too. As the seasons go by, the nudity decreases in frequency. This program is not for children or teens either. Frankly, I don’t think they are ready for some of the questions that such a program can ask or the amount of mutilation and violence.
Folks, I don’t plan to give away the whole show, but from now on, I may be giving away some plot points as I continue.
I really want to like the show and do, to a point but… I have two gripes: continuity and philosophy.
Continuity
Continuity is the flow of the story and is related to consistency both of plot and the visuals of the show.
Folks, how does a Park like this even exist? No, not the technology but the economics. The amount of damage inflicted on the androids, and their subsequent repair, would not make such a park cost effective, even in a fictional world. As much as each android costs and considering the number killed in a single episode—such as the origin story of the Man in Black—I think the expense would outright bankrupt Disney, Apple, and Microsoft combined and the Man in Black is just one guy causing mayhem in an amusement park that has seen 4 million visitors since opening 35 years ago. Seems like by the time you meet him in Westworld, the Man in Black has killed everybody in the park at least once.
Then there are all the underground access points to the park which all seem to be accessed by… walking? No way. Except for elite security guys, nobody seems to have horseless carriages to run them from point A to B.
How many floors is the main facility? Also, how come nobody knows about all the auxiliary labs in the Park full of expensive equipment. Also, if the top floor is outdoors (top of the mesa), how is it that the oldest part of the facility is in the bottom floors farthest from the surface. Why does a multibillion-dollar complex in the desert have water leaks everywhere and power but somehow no standing water or working electric lights? I kept waiting for Sigourney Weaver’s Alien or Jonesy the cat to jump out every time somebody went into the bowels of the complex and started poking around.
Lastly the park is big enough to have pine trees, deserts, snowstorms, Mt. Fuji, and jungle. No effort to explain is ever made. Like much in the show, it just is, and viewers are supposed to believe.
As far as technology goes, when is any computer hardware or software still considered cutting edge 35 years after it was created? We’re talking in terms of computing power and artificial intelligence. Yet, in Season 3 we see no robots that could pass for human—even at a glance—except for the ones from Westworld. What happened to imitation and flattery? Or Moore’s Law. In our world, after 35 years, whatever people had seen at Westworld would have been copied like crazy and due to innovation, the old technology—both hardware and software—would be obsolete. The other out the writers could take to explain this away was that the technology was outlawed but that option is not mentioned in the show.
Ed Harris The Man in Black
Where are backup datacenters and sources of energy for the Park? When they finally “lift the curtain” on park operations as the show goes on, they just ignore that stuff or get it really wrong. As much as the Park and its technology costs and they have no redundant systems? Destroy one bank of computers and I’m supposed to believe all the data is gone forever with no backups. Yet, this is the cornerstone of much of the action in Seasons 2 and 3.
The computers that are created by the opponent in Season 3 are big blackballs with reds lights suspended in the air—one is hanging publicly in the middle of his headquarters building and the other in a warehouse. Seems like using an RPG or the EMP weapon could have ended the whole plotline and saved HBO millions in storytelling.
The story writers just bombard you with stuff and hope you don’t dwell on it too much as they move to the next shiny object. I guess this is ok for television writing but with a blockbuster movie budget, it seems like Nolan and Abrams would pay more attention to continuity.
Lastly, each season is full of time jumps that make following the story purposely difficult. This is done in order to introduce surprises to the viewers but don’t let the show keep running if you take a potty break or you may be asking when is it.
Philosophy
Folks, I’ve saved this section for last and feel most passionately about it. I would like to grab Mr. Nolan by the shirt collar and tell him to wake-up. While many of the right questions are asked in various places in the program, the answers offered are not only insufficient but totally wrong.
Note: From here on I beat-up on Nolan but darn it, this is more of the same worldview I get from every other program originating from entertainment corporations. Why is it that in movies and television, every corporation is evil except the one that brought us the movie/TV show that somehow deserves every dime that they can earn from royalties and ticket sales?
On the HBO website for the program, Westworld claims that they “will explore questions about the nature of our reality, free will and what makes us human.”
How can Jonathan Nolan do not one but two television shows on artificial intelligence and the question of what it means to be alive and not believe in a Creator? Talk about a logical disconnect! The thesis of all the elites in Nolan’s Westworld is that we are here as the result of not one mistake, but a whole series of them. His characters espouse evolution by chaos theory in a program dedicated to exploring the idea of artificial life designed and created by humans.
In a story with the scope of Westworld, I can understand different characters believing different ways about God and origins just like the real world but in Westworld all the discussions—more like monologues—are all from the same point of view no matter which character has the dialogue. Ed Harris and Anthony Hopkins go on ad infinitum about no purpose to our existence which is simply the result of errors. In these monologues, we also get a dose of Marxism claiming that those who believe in God are the unenlightened, ignorant, stupid, masses who use the opiate of theism to stay ignorant of the world around them. Those of us that believe in God are just waiting for the slaughter.
In Jurassic Park, we hear Jeff Goldblum’s character Malcolm espouse the virtues of evolution but in the book, Malcolm goes on the mock the arrogance of humans that think they control the planet. Malcolm opposed the idea of the park tinkering with genetics. As you read the passage, it is clear that at this point in the book, Michael Crichton is both providing a warning about what follows and also giving you his opinion at the same time.
In contrast, after watching three Seasons of Westworld, there is zero indication that Nolan is using science to teach a parable about the hubris of mankind. Thus far, Nolan is just a storyteller with a big budget. To me, it’s like Nolan—thru his characters—is having a tantrum and thinks if he yells loud enough then he won’t have to listen to God’s voice. However, I keep holding out a tiny measure of hope that he sneaks in “a still small voice” by the resolution of season 4 but I’m skeptical.
Instead of God, Westworld introduces the idea that a simple algorithm can be discovered to predict all human behavior. Frankly, as the idea is developed, it seems like L. Ron Hubbard is the unsung hero of this tale. The androids get the algorithm and can then predict the entire course of a human’s life down to the words coming out of their mouths in any given situation. Oh, and who they will marry, how they will die, etc. Several times thus far, one-character hands another a piece of paper or a computer pad with the dialogue typed on it before the other character has even spoken the lines. The other character is amazed that their life is that predictable.
L. Ron Hubbard
Person of Interest had “the machine” versus Samaritan, likewise in Westworld, host Delores and her allies versus evil trillionaire’s IA computer. The trillionaire wants to control everyone on the planet and anyone that falls outside the parameters that he can control is eliminated—after they are given the obligatory opportunity for conformity at a reeducation facility.
The faction of the Hosts has the algorithm from Westworld and thus have the answers to the human condition but limited resources. They desire to remake the world of humans and dominate them—how has not been explained other than they want to replace the current order with something else. Dolores at one point did proclaim that she wanted to burn down the human’s world. I think this story sounds like a thinly veiled version of Scientology bringing salvation to both men and machines, but we won’t know until they roll-out Season 4.
Just so you know, Nolan is the product of a nominally Roman Catholic upbringing and he has the reputation of using colorful metaphors when interviewed. However, at a casual search, I can’t tie Nolan to the scientology mafia that has dominated Hollywood for the last few decades. (John Travolta, Tom Cruise, etc.)
Evan Rachel Wood–Dolores
I wish to circle back to the issues that the show promises to explore, the “…nature of our reality, free will and what makes us human.”
Westworld claims to explore reality but rejects that we are made in God’s image. They have reduced man to a predetermined and even fatalistic organism that just runs in their “loop.” The hosts deny that man has any free will but the AI faction thinks that while man is just following his programming, every once in a while, free will might actually be exercised by an individual; however, such behavior is rare and might even be a bad thing.
Why can’t Nolan and company allow that we have a Creator? Even Richard Dawkins, the supposedly great leader and advocate of evolution, doesn’t really believe it is a sufficient explanation. When cornered, Dawkins finally resorted to saying that life on Earth is due to seeding of the planet by aliens and not evolution. In other words, he will accept any intelligence from anywhere as long as it’s not God. Find the video of Dawkins in Ben Stein’s Expelled (2008) if you don’t believe me.
Jonathan Nolan
I’m not demanding that Nolan agree 100 percent with me, just that he show a little humility when dealing with such issues. Men of various faiths and cultures have debated these ideas since the beginning and for Nolan to summarily toss it all aside and say a pox on all of you is disingenuous. By rejecting that God is our creator and we his creatures, Nolan lacks any basis for evaluating reality.
Having erred on the first point, he then falls short of understanding free will and what it is to be human. Truth is most people can’t wrap their minds around these ideas. So, while we might be entertained by the sandbox Jonathan Nolan is playing in, we will end up with just another entertainment show that ultimately tells us more about what Hollywood thinks than a critique of the dystopian future that he has created. Nolan may think he is making a veiled commentary on our world—which is what all good science fiction has been in the past—but I’m doubtful whether it will hold up well over time. Westworld is worth a look but I’m not sure it has enough in it to warrant many repeat visits to the Park. Maybe when the tale is completed, I will change my mind but right now it’s not encouraging.
Season 1 & 2 are 10 episodes each while season 3 is 8 episodes, the last of which will be broadcast in the next few hours.
We are writing to you to express our concerns about the church’s unwillingness to hold any kinds of services or gatherings because of fear.
Embedded in both the history of the Christian Church and our country is the need, dare we say imperative, to meet.
As believers, if there is a crisis in our society then the best place that God’s people can be is in the Church. I’ve never heard of shepherds scattering their sheep as a strategy to protect them from the devil, the flesh, or the world. If you truly believe that Covid-19 rises to the level of an existential threat to our society then we should be before the throne of God begging for mercy not hiding in our homes waiting for the end.
Our country is based on a Constitution that holds freedom of worship and assembly in very high regard. From both a biblical and Constitutional point of view, giving up this right at the request of a civil magistrate is a dubious proposition; one which may be beyond the authority of a civil magistrate to either legally request or enforce; unless you believe that the Church is established and recognized by the State and not by God.
While I do know that certain Reformers did allow in dire situations for churches to be closed or not to meet such as war and pestilence, this was regarded as an extreme measure that might be invoked occasionally in a handful of communities. The idea that such an action could disband all worship in a land of almost 40 million souls or a country of 330 million would be incomprehensible to them.
Several weeks ago, when predictions were most dire and fear was at a high mark, most Churches did decide to suspend all activities. Whether we agree with this or not, it was done.
Later word went out that some Church leaders was considering small group gatherings where worship and Communion would be offered. As the appointed time drew near, the pastoral staff cancelled the proposal. I’m bringing this up because recently I heard clergy say that cancelling any small gatherings was the right call. One minister commented I couldn’t live with myself if I knew that someone had gotten sick as a result of gathering to worship in my congregation.
We cringed when we heard that. First, one could never know if anybody got sick from them in the first place. Covid-19 is the flu not Ebola. It takes up to two weeks to get the illness after exposure. Second, most people never even know they have the illness. Third, where is God in this. Some clergy were considering offering His Sacrament to His people and planning to take extreme precautions to boot but most bailed on the idea altogether.
Dear pastors, the only place the Bible talks about people getting sick from partaking of Communion is when they do so unworthily. A medical doctor one told us that even with a common cup, the transmittal of disease was almost unheard of in medical literature, if the common cup was lined with silver. I would think individual disposable cups would be even more sterile.
Next is the issue of “essential” or “nonessential” work. I was taught long ago that all labor—sacred or secular—is God’s calling on our lives. How does it feel to know that the civil authorities that you are allowing to direct the closure of your church are also calling your ministry “nonessential” and instruct you to remain closed indefinitely but these same magistrates call killing babies at the local Planned Parenthood “essential” work.
Staying home for the sake of “flattening the curve” is not about saving lives or preventing people from being exposed to Covid-19. Flattening the curve is just prolonging the infectious period so the healthcare system doesn’t get overwhelmed. Something which has not happened. Furthermore, many people that work in the healthcare field have lost their jobs or been furloughed as a result of the panic about Covid-19.
If you listen closely to what the civil authorities in California are saying, you’d learn that the church will be shut down for most if not all of the summer. The idea that come May 15th, we all go back to the way it was is not going to happen. In southern California, they have already cancelled large gatherings, like church, for the rest of the year, regardless of whether this action is warranted or not.
If you want to obey the spirit of the closure and still get the church back up and running, then you need to get the entire staff tested for Covid-19 antibodies and then put people to work. Start opening the church and quit waiting for permission.
Depending on which studies you look at, and where they were done, many millions of people in the United States have already recovered from the Corona virus. Given the timeline that this illness has been active in California and your occupation, you likely had it several months ago anyway.
The point is that folks get it, they recover, and life goes on. Which circles back to the fear issue again. We’ve heard a lot from scared and fearful people in our congregations. Sadly, most pastors are right there with them. We, as Christians, are commanded not to fear but to hold fast to Christ. For God has not given us a spirit of fear…
Dear pastor, who lives and who dies is God’s decision and always has been. When your time is up, it won’t matter if you wear a face mask and gloves or nothing at all.
How is it that in ages past great men and women left the comfort of their homes and went to work with the sickly and diseased. We as Christians should not fear men or microbes but only almighty God. Whether David Livingston, Mother Teresa, Eric Liddell, or any of the rest, these folks trusted God for their safety and went about his work. I don’t understand why American pastors can’t do likewise.
Jesus said, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
It just seems to us that we can stand for Christ, worship our God as he has commanded, and still show deference and respect to the elderly and at risk in our midst.
The primary article that I will be quoting today is hidden behind a pay firewall at the financially troubled SacBee however I copied and pasted the title and found an archived copy on the Internet.
I wish to look at a few parts of the clearly labeled opinion piece by Bee editor Gill Duran. I wish to look at it in terms of his accusations and what we know now as opposed to when he posted it a mere two weeks ago on April 10th.
Much of this is a hit piece on Congressman Devin Nunes. I guess nobody at the Bee’s Fresno outlet was equipped to take on the Congressman, Fox News, and the First Amendment so they had to import a heavy hitter from outside of the area.
The setup of the article basically this:
Yet the Republican congressman continues to downplay the coronavirus threat in his regular Fox News appearances. Now, an activist group is suing Fox for its campaign to mislead viewers about the virus.
Ok, so a Congressman (Devin Nunes) says something people in the other party don’t believe and therefore they must sue to silence him. Clearly no Constitutional issues with this logic.
Also, we learn that the Liberal group is suing Fox News “for its campaign to mislead viewers about the virus.” Please note that the word campaign implies that Fox News is purposely setting out to mislead their viewers about the severity of the Corona virus. (This also implies that the mainstream media are truth tellers and anyone espousing a different point of view is thus a liar.)
As proof for this thesis, the author invokes the Orange Man as his star witness.
A week ago, Nunes went on Fox News to blast Gov. Gavin Newsom’s efforts to slow the virus’ spread. Nunes labeled California’s dramatic measures as “overkill.”This happened on the same day that the Trump administration said COVID-19 could kill 240,000 Americans.
Even President Donald Trump is urging Americans to stay home, but Nunes appears to think the pandemic is a joke.
OK, so the model generated by Bill Gates and company—that has never been right throughout the epidemic—proves Fox is lying. Boy, at the time that assertion was thin, and now it is ridiculous.
Oh, the logic is something like this: Orange Man quotes the current model (which Dr. Fauci approved of). Nunes challenges said model when he appeared on Fox (as have Hannity and others). By challenging the orthodoxy of the model which Trump also quotes as authoritative, Nunes and Fox are guilty of journalistic heresy. Implied is that Fox News viewers are ill informed and mind-numbed robots (since they are conservatives). If viewers believe what they see on Fox, they will surely die. Thus, Nunes and Fox have blood on their hands and need to be held accountable. Clearly Liberals must defend the masses from Fox and conservatives. That in a nutshell is the alleged basis of the lawsuit.
The lawsuit by the Washington League for Increased Transparency and Ethics says “defendants acted in bad faith to willfully and maliciously disseminate false information denying and minimizing the danger posed by the spread of the novel Coronavirus, or COVID-19,which is now recognized as an international pandemic.”
Folks, I just want to look at the last phrase of this paragraph because I keep hearing it over and over from those on the Left. “…COVID-19… is now recognized as an international pandemic.” Somehow the fact that Covid-19 is a pandemic is the trump card (no pun intended) of the Left. It seems that in the Liberal lexicon “pandemic” is a big word meaning “its gonna kill all ya’ll.”
Sorry guys. Nice try but no cigar. Pandemic means that this Corona virus is in a lot of places all at once. Declaring it a pandemic is not a commentary on whether said microbe is lethal to the existence of humanity.
But the author has more to say:
For months, Fox’s hosts have downplayed the coronavirus, denying that it poses a serious threat and casting the pandemic as a Democratic ploy to undermine Trump. Guests like Nunes have mocked public health orders to slow the virus’ spread.
Now, Fox may face consequences.
While two weeks ago, the author might have believed this (I’m being very charitable) does he believe it now? Clearly, the virus was much more widespread than initially reported—as skeptics at the time said it was—and therefore Covid-19 is much less lethal than initially reported. In the early days of the panic, there were reports that about 4 to 5 percent of those infected would die and in those over age 70, up to 18 percent would not recover. Remember, “Italy was only two weeks ahead of us…?”
Again equating “threat” and “pandemic” is not the same thing. Also, “flattening the curve” is a measure not to keep anyone from getting sick but designed to prevent overwhelming the healthcare system which again never happened. As my wife likes to point-out, it’s the same number of people under the curve.
Here are two more paragraphs to ponder:
Ecarma reports that Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman said on MSNBC that Fox insiders felt “real concern…that their early downplaying of the coronavirus actually exposes Fox News to potential legal action by viewers who maybe were misled and actually have died from this.”
“The misinformation that reaches the Fox News audience is a danger to public health,” wrote a group of over 100 American journalism professors in an open letter to Murdoch and Fox. “Indeed, it is not an overstatement to say that your misreporting endangers your own viewers.”
Noticed the logic of the argument, Fox viewers didn’t panic as much as viewers of the Liberal media, therefore, Fox has killed people? How does any business other than Planned Parenthood thrive by killing their customers?
Towards the conclusion of this piece by a highly compensated editor of the McClatchy flagship newspaper, we read:
Can COVID-19 victims successfully sue Fox “News” for its consistent stream of misinformation about the coronavirus?
Again, I don’t subscribe to cable but I do read the Fox News website which features many points of view, something not usually found anywhere else in mass media, and I would not describe Fox’s Covid-19 coverage as a “campaign” or monolithic or predetermined. I think they generally do a better job of separating fact from emotion. On this topic, I think they are very inconsistent in their point of view. I find their radio news coverage to be different than their website or even their high dollar opinion/entertainment programs.
As Johnnie Does said here yesterday, affirmation or information?
Pandemic Panic
Folks, I’ve been having trouble for the last two months with the Liberal fixation on the idea of Corona being a pandemic. Clearly H1N1 was much worse than Corona and we didn’t shutdown anything. Is it the typical Liberal hypocrisy that Sean Hannity loves to rail about or the old saying, “ignorance is bliss?” Or something else?
I think the underlying issue is something more primal. I think the Liberal folks are panicking more because they fear death and the thought of dying, especially in a seemingly random and unknowable way. People are treating Corona as if it were a biblical plague.
Liberals think this life is all that there is. No Heaven or Hell, just this. I think Corona has hit a nerve in these folk’s souls. Think Pascal’s God shaped vacuum.
On the other hand, I’m not worried about it and neither is my wife. The wife asserts that she already had it in January or very early February and based on her occupation and symptoms, she probably did. Whether it’s been thru our family or not, I’m not worried. Folks, stuff like this is God’s department not mine. If I get it, I get it. If I don’t, then that’s life. I just need to trust in God and not be bothered about Corona. Jesus told us not to fear what kills the body but he who kills the body and casts your soul into hell. That’s the one you need to fear.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7
Yes, I am conscience to keep more space between me and elderly people, but I will shake hands with anybody that is willing. I don’t fear others or hoard food and supplies. When shopping, I take what I need, just like I always do. My staff here at the blog and I are in agreement that this whole thing is a function of people watching the 24/7 news cycle and our current situation is not based in reality. Most changes to my life, as a result of Covid-19, have been forced on me by others reacting out of their fears and are not by my own choosing.
Covid-19 is a tiny blip on the pandemic scale. Lots of people have had it and most of them never even missed a day’s work. OK, they didn’t miss work until their governor took their job away. Why this guy from the Bee thinks its Armageddon is a mystery.
Final Thoughts
Oh, per today’s news, 20 percent of New York City residents have had the Corona virus.
One of every five New York City residents tested positive for antibodies to the coronavirus, according to preliminary test results described by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday, suggesting the virus had spread far more widely than known.
The results also provided the tantalizing prospect that many New Yorkers who never knew they had been infected — possibly as many as 2.7 million, the governor said — had already encountered the virus and survived. Cuomo also suggested the death rate was far lower than believed.
So, two weeks after the rant in the Bee, Fox News and Congressman Nunes have been vindicated in their skepticism for like the millionth time in the last week.Oh, and the vindication is also coming from CNN and California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Gov. Gavin Newsom during Wednesday’s daily news briefing said he has called upon coroners and medical examiners to “go back as far as December” and perform autopsies on others who may have died from COVID-19 complications before the spreading coronavirus was detected in the state, “to ultimately guide a deeper understanding of when this pandemic really started to impact California directly.”
Note to readers: Nope, I haven’t been sneaking a sip of the wife’s Fireball whiskey stash in our freezer. No, it’s more like when the stopped clock is right twice a day. But, nevertheless, it happened and it’s a big deal.
Buckle-up cable news viewers because CNN has officially destroyed the CDC narrative of the Covid-19 timeline. Sorry 90-day guy but you lose again. Here’s the story.
New autopsy results show coronavirus killed two Californians in early and mid-February — up to three weeks before the previously known first US death from the virus.
These deaths now stand as the country’s first two attributed to the novel coronavirus, a development that may change the understanding of how early the virus was spreading in the country, health experts told CNN Wednesday.
Two deaths in Northern California’s Santa Clara County happened February 6 and February 17, the county said in a news release Tuesday. The previously understood first coronavirus death happened in Kirkland, Washington, on February 29.
Ok, let’s break this down for those of you that need this in small bites.
CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) has maintained that the first Covid-19 death in the United States was on February 29. CNN’s report is that this is untrue.
Santa Clara County’s earliest death is now confirmed as February 6th. The person who died did not go to China or any other country; therefore, he was infected here in California. With an incubation rate of about two weeks, this person was exposed to Covid-19 in mid-January by someone else in California. If you trace back, then this unknown person must have been exposed to Covid-19 in early January or late December. Thus claims of cases in California during January and February—which are confirmed by antibody testing—are confirmed also by this person’s death.
It is safe to conclude that Covid-19 was spreading beyond China in December. This agrees with other media reports this week that Covid-19 began spreading in China during a timeframe between mid-September and late November.
Last thought is why check for Corona virus where it is presupposed not to exist? Stanford researchers must be making a difference in Santa Clara County. Thanks to whoever went above and beyond the conventional wisdom in search of the truth.
We are gratified that CNN has proven yet again that we are Really Right.
Covid-19 is a Classic Hydra
Oh, while we’re bragging, take a look at this story that confirms what I said yesterday that there will be no vaccine for this virus—or rather family of viruses.
A new study in China has found that the novel coronavirus has mutated into at least 30 different variations.
The results showed that medical officials have vastly underestimated the overall ability of the virus to mutate, in findings that different strains have affected different parts of the world, leading to potential difficulties in finding an overall cure.
More than 30 different mutations were detected, of which 19 were previously undiscovered.
“Sars-CoV-2 has acquired mutations capable of substantially changing its pathogenicity,” Li wrote in the paper.
The team discovered that some of the mutations could lead to functional changes in the virus’ spike protein, the South China Morning Post reported. Spike protein is the protein that the coronavirus uses to attach itself to human cells.
Li ‘s team infected cells with COVID-19 strains carrying different mutations, of which the most aggressive strains were found to generate as much as 270 times as much viral load as the weakest strains. The aggressive strains also killed the human cells the fastest.
The results indicated “that the true diversity of the viral strains is still largely underappreciated,” Li wrote.
The study could have future implications on the treatment of coronavirus, as several different strains have been found throughout the world. The United States, which has the world’s worst death toll at 42,897, and 799,515 overall cases, has been struck by different mutations.
New York, which itself had the worst death rate in the US, and the eastern coast show a strain of coronavirus similar to that found in Europe, whereas the western US has shown similarities with strains found in China.
Coronavirus has so far been treated in hospitals worldwide as one disease and patients receive the same treatment regardless of the strain. It has been suggested by the team at Zhejiang University that defining mutations in different regions may change the way we approach combating the virus.
Note that Covid-19 in New York is a different strain than that found in California, bet you didn’t know that. Perhaps this is why you can have Coivid-19, be pronounced cured and then get it again? Or do antibodies stop all variations? Oh the depths that we could plumb on this topic…
CA to Test Asymptomatic People
Our last told ya, is this story about California planning to test people by risk of exposure and not symptoms.
California public health officials say local authorities should test people for the coronavirus in “high risk settings” even if they don’t have symptoms, a change aimed at health care workers, prisoners and the homeless.
State officials believe the new guidelines are the first in the country to prioritize testing for people who don’t have symptoms. Until Monday, California followed guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that only those with symptoms should be prioritized for testing.
Please note that California is breaking with CDC guidelines to test this group of people. The article is mute on whether testing asymptomatic people will be done via antibody testing but that will eventually follow.
Folks more and more evidence is coming forth that the party line on Covid-19 is BS. Now that a flurry of antibody tests are hitting the market, the government is loosing control of the narrative. It used to be popular to say that facts are stubborn things…but only if you stop watching 24/7 news and pay attention to them.
Folks the trendline is unanimous and unmistakable, Covid-19 is just another flu. It has spread like crazy and not affected most people. I am aware that I’m not using “herd immunity” in the textbook definition of the word but I’m using the term to make the point that a huge number of people have “been there, done that” without any harm. Covid-19 has infected at least five percent of everyone in the country and in some populations, maybe as many as half.
Boston, MA
We in California have heard our Governor express concern for the homeless. Look at the statistics of homeless people in Boston.
A small cluster of coronavirus cases at a Boston homeless shelter prompted broadscale testing at the facility, and officials were shocked by the results.
Of nearly 400 people tested at the Pine Street Inn earlier this month, 146 people tested positive for the virus.None of those who tested positive showed symptoms, leading the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to begin “actively looking into” the results.
“It was like a double knockout punch. The number of positives was shocking,but the fact that 100% of the positives had no symptoms was equally shocking,” said Dr. Jim O’Connell, president of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program.
Oh, 146 of 400 is 36.5 percent positive for Covid-19 with no symptoms.
Los Angeles
An estimated 320,000 adults in Los Angeles County may have been infected with coronavirus, according to preliminary results of a study that suggests the illness is far more widespread than current testing shows and the death rate is much lower.
The study conducted April 10-11 by the county and the University of Southern California estimated that approximately 4.1% of the county’s adult population of 8 million has antibodies to the virus. When adjusted for margin of error, the infection rate ranged from 2.8% to 5.6%, or about 220,000 to 440,000 adults.
The novel coronavirus has infected roughly 4.1 percent of the population in California’s Los Angeles County, suggesting the region’s outbreak is far more widespread than previously thought,between 28 and 55 times higher than the number of confirmed cases, new research shows, echoing the findings of a similar study elsewhere in the state.
However, the new data, if accurate, also indicates that the coronavirus death rate in L.A. County, the most populous in the country, is lower than initially predicted.
As I’ve shown over the last few days, many places that have tested for Covid-19 antibodies show about 36 percent of the sampled population has been infected and recovered.
Thoughts on Vaccine
So, will the antibody tests help speed-up reopening businesses and getting back to our normal life? I’m currently skeptical on this. If you listen to Governor Newsom and other governors in his political party, they keep holding out the narrative that things won’t go back to normal until there is a vaccine for Covid-19. Such thinking is tilting at windmills. Here’s my proof.
Me: When was the last time that you got the cold vaccine?
You: Never!
Me: Really? Why not?
You: Because there isn’t such a thing.
Me: Exactly my point.
The governors are holding out for something that may never exist in the real world. A few questions need to be asked.
Is this virus really worth developing a vaccine?
If so, does everyone need it?
Will side effects be worse that the disease?
On this question, I am being serious. Back in our history, when some strain of swine flu was a thing, a new shiny vaccine came out that was fast-tracked and untested but given to the masses with an “everybody needs to have it urgency.” Well, my aunt was one of the first to get it. As a result of receiving the vaccine, she experienced paralysis and other side effects for about ten days. Knowing this, do you still want to be first for the Covid-19 vaccine?
Other note on side effects, the government will indemnify (grant immunity of product liability) to whoever gets the contract to manufacture and distribute said vaccine, if one is ever created. So, if the vaccine has side effects including death, you have no legal recourse. Do you still want to be the Guinea pig and get it first?
Re-Opening California
From the snippets of Governor Newsom’s press conferences that I’ve listen to lately, he plans to maintain status quote—hiding in place and business closures thru at least June. Can we really afford such a shutdown? Yes, he uses weasel words but a shutdown thru May is a certainty and June is looking like more of the same. Truly the cure is far worse than the disease.
With such timidity, this guy will squander any hopes of running for the White House and being a serious contender. Gavin needs to show leadership instead of hiding behind unelected public health officials. And please don’t fall for the line that “if it saves just one life…”all you need to blow-up that sentimental BS is remember that the churches are closed and Planned Parenthood is open for killing—even via mail order.
Oh, as of last week, the State of California is unwilling to recognize any antibody tests as valid for diagnostic or statistical purposes. In short, they want to ignore their existence or validity because it hurts their narrative. However, once they find a way to use such testing to political advantage look for this policy to flip on a dime. Given the magnitude of what’s happening, its bad when the FDA is out in front of the states claiming to be the leaders of the best academic and research schools in the nation.
As Newsom ponders what to do, here’s one for you to ponder. What if Apple or some other tech giant says, we’re moving to Austin to work until California decides to reopen then we’ll evaluate our options?Does a Hollywood studio dare to re-open in Vancouver because they can’t work in California? Do you see what a problem this is? Many jobs can be moved where they’re wanted. Being in California is nice but not a necessity for many.
If you live in California, New York, Massachusetts, or some other liberal state just remember that those deciding your fate now are in government because they couldn’t succeed in the private sector. Figuring how to un-ring the bell and get America working is a tough knot for those in a political party that thinks the government exists to create jobs.
Yep, here is third study in a third area of the country showing once again that a large portion of the population has had Covid-19 and most never knew it. This one from Chicago.
A phlebotomist working at Roseland Community Hospital said Thursday that 30% to 50% of patients tested for the coronavirus have antibodies while only around 10% to 20% of those tested have the active virus.
Sumaya Owaynat, a phlebotomy technician, said she tests between 400 and 600 patients on an average day in the parking lot at Roseland Community Hospital. Drive-thru testing is from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. each day. However, the hospital has a limited number of tests they can give per day.
Owaynat said the number of patients coming through the testing center who appear to have already had coronavirus and gotten over it is far greater than those who currently have the disease.
“A lot of people have high antibodies, which means they had the coronavirus but they don’t have it anymore and their bodies built the antibodies,” Owaynat told Chicago City Wire.
Antibodies in the bloodstream reveal that a person has already had the coronavirus and may be immune to contracting the virus again.
If accurate, this means the spread of the virus may have been underway in the Roseland community – and the state and country as a whole – prior to the issuance of stay at home orders and widespread business closures in mid-March which have crippled the national economy.
Also, in the article is this mention of a fourth study in Germany that agrees with the three in the US that I have cited over the last week.
A recent study of 1,000 people in the Heinsberg District of Bonn, Germany found that 15% of the population had contracted the virus, many unknowingly and without symptoms.
Of those, only 0.37% died from COVID-19, a figure much lower than those previously cited.
Folks, the stay at home order is a failure and this virus is way less dangerous than advertised by the experts—of course basing actual public policy on data from China has been one of the big failures of this whole exercise.
