Official Lies From The Ministry of Scientific Ministrations

 

“This is another cautionary tale about suppressing scientific debate. Now consider the other things we aren’t allowed to talk about.” 

Well, imagine that, lockdown was a bad idea for kids – for more reasons than anyone can count, but starting with thwarting their immune systems:

“We may have stacked up some immunity debt in the system where children have not been mixing with friends, and so they may be more susceptible to some of the illnesses we traditionally see.”

“We are also aware that there is a harm that builds up from not being able to have social interaction that leads to the development of barrier immunity from exposure to other infection diseases.”

Which is precisely what happened in the US. this summer, although if you were tuned into MSM they would have you believe that it was the incredibly scary Delta variant causing all the ruckus.

The southeastern U.S. experienced this during a recent off-season spike in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Unfortunately, this spike coincided with the surge in the Delta variant, so the media and doctors on TV implied that the hospitalization of children was due to COVID-19. The CDC data on hospitalizations by age show COVID-19 was not the culprit. In the week of the surge, when the most children were in the hospital, the total on COVID-NET was 117.

This is what happens when science is treated as an institution rather than a rigorous process full of nuance and trade-offs.

So let me repeat:

This is another cautionary tale about suppressing scientific debate. Now consider the other things we aren’t allowed to talk about. Scientists who asserted there was a possibility that SARS-CoV-2 came from the Wuhan lab got censored. Now it looks like the most likely origin. Doctors promoting FDA-approved repurposed medications for outpatient COVID-19 treatment now have their licenses threatened. There is also censoring taking place in the ongoing debate about who should be receiving vaccines.

Indeed, when you allow “science” to operate with “close enough for government” standards rather than actual scientific rigor you end up with bad decisions based on cherry-picked data hand fed to a bunch of government functionaries sans experience who have been given the authority to dictate how we must live – or more to the point, curtail – our lives.

You’re Going To Get Tired of Losing

“It’s easier to fool people than to convince then that they’ve been fooled.” – Mark Twain

Glenn Greenwald, who along with Matt Taibbi is one of the last two honest liberal journalists in America, reports what we all knew to be true.

Rumble — New evidence on Monday proved what has long been clear: that documents about Joe Biden from the Hunter Biden laptop were authentic. Big Tech censorship in the weeks before the 2020 election of these genuine documents is one of the most severe assaults on free speech and a free election in years. That the corporate media was their key ally by endorsing and spreading a CIA lie -- that these documents were "Russian disinformation" -- makes this episode even more grave.

A commenter questions the “brazen hypocritical asymmetry” between this story and the Trump Russiagate hoax. I presume he’s addressing this to those who have been fooled as it’s certainly not news to us. We’ve known for a long time that all the media has to do to kill an off-narrative story is to label it disinformation or claim it has “already been debunked.” Then nobody relying on CNN, MSNBC, NY Times, WaPo, LA Times. etc. for information will believe it even if it bites them in the face.

But just to be clear: this is what media bias look like.

Children of Orange-Man-Bad Trump

The three eldest Trump kids; all were engaged in legitimate, successful business enterprises – for which they were educated and apprenticed - prior to their Dad entering politics. Vilified far and wide by CNN, MSNBC, NY Times, WaPo, LA Times, and every other leftist outlet in the country. Simply because they were Trump’s kids.

Biden’s second son, Hunter: kicked out of the Marines for using cocaine, fathers a hooker’s child and abandons them both, takes selfies using crack, bangs his dead brother's wife, scores lucrative jobs in the energy and finance business that he’s conspicuously unqualified for, loses 3 laptops filled with incriminating information that the MSM is determinedly NOT interested in, decides to become an artist at age 50 and becomes an overnight success.

To quote somebody famous, “I mean, that’s a storybook, man!”

The Bidens prove the implausible: that you can indeed be clueless, corrupt and cocky all at once.

The Truth Won’t Come Out On Its Own

Well now, that’s curious.

In a world that grows curiouser and curiouser by the day, the class paid to be curious grows less curious with each passing year. I remember when every would-be journalist enrolled in J-school aspired to be the next Woodward and Bernstein, investigative journalists par excellence.

Just a couple of lucky punk-azz kids in wide ties willing to follow a lead anywhere for fame and fortune

Somewhere around the time of the ascension of Obama the Lightbringer the investigative furor went dormant. Since then the curious class has gone strangely quiet about any subject not pre-approved for investigation. For example, here is a handful of stories that once would have been guaranteed Pulitzer Prize winning material for some hot-shot investigative reporter to pursue in-depth. But oddly, the curious class exhibited no curiosity about any of these things that I find curious.  Not.One.Single.Journalist.

Operation Fast and Furious: The DOJ’s gunrunning scandal

The great “stimulus” heist: in which a trillion dollars was spent without creating one private sector job

Government spying on journalists: several constitutional violations there

IRS scandal: Selective targeting of conservative groups

Benghazi: In a failed attempt to send arms to Syrian rebels, four Americans died because Obama and Clinton refused to send help

Hillary Clinton’s secret server:  a secret email and a home-bathroom-based server used for top secret email, good idea?

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl: why did Obama trade 5 high-level terrorists for one traitor?

Solyndra: “crony capitalism” writ large and “green” energy exposed as fraud

The “Wiretap” of Trump’s offices: not even mildly interested, the media simply pretended Trump was lying. Side note: spying on the opposition is exactly the story on which the investigative journalism cult of Woodward and Bernstein was based. Also the story that ultimately brought down a sitting president.

Russian Interference in the 2016 Election: the media’s only interest was in proving it was true. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t, but it took 5 years for that to slip out.

The Ukraine story: the non-scandal request Trump made of the Ukrainian President to launch an investigation of an actual scandal involving Biden and his son Hunter. Used as the basis to impeach Trump after the Russian Collusion story didn’t pan out, nobody was interested in pursuing if this contained more veracity. Odd.

Hunter’s Laptop: Why would this be a thing? Just because he’s a Presidential nominee’s President’s son?

Wuhan Flu origin: let’s just take the Chinese’s word for it, it was a naturally occurring bat-virus outbreak, OK? Case closed. Or is it?

Then of course there is that little issue of a stolen election. The media has fact checked all allegations of election fraud and found them to be bogus. “Debunked” is the term they like to use when they’ve decided it’s time to shut down further discussion. At that point any non-approved position on said topic will be banned on social media and violators will be deplatformed if they don’t comply. Because that’s the way “journalists” like to apply the First amendment these days.

Nor has any member of the curious class at anytime appeared the least bit curious about how a man who is clearly in some stage of dementia - who alternately yells and whispers inappropriately and is incapable of taking questions off the cuff - got elected in the first place.

So naturally when the infamous J/6 “Insurrection” took place it was just assumed to be Trump’s fault. Not one whit of curiosity regarding who actually might have engineered it and to what purpose.

Hint: It wasn’t Jake, from State Farm

To this day there is no curiosity of non-approved topics in the Fourth Estate. For example, they don’t wonder, as we do, what happened to approximately 10,000 invaders from south of our border who were there last week and now are gone.

All of these “issues” just fall down the memory hole and we are sent packing. Or Psaking, as the case may be.

On why “migrants” don’t need to be tested/vaccinated for COVID: “It’s not the same thing, they’re not intending to stay here for a lengthy period of time”

It’s quite a rabbit hole we’ve got here, and the truth won’t be coming out on its own. Too bad we no longer have a curious class willing to go in after it.

Welcome, Autumn 2021

Autumn Equinox 2021 in the Northern Hemisphere arrives at 3:20 PM today.

One day the summer storm is gathering,

Golden Summer Evening – Barry Hilton

the next thing you know the Autumn Equinox has arrived

Autumn Glows – Barry Hilton

and with it the passing of the dusty greens of late summer. At first they are replaced by autumn’s radiant display of hues.

This season of ever shortening days and longer nights requires a sorting down, a retention of bare essentials. Thus all that finery is tossed to the wind, left to crinkle, brown, decay and nourish the barren earth. Their hosts tuck themselves down for a long, restorative rest in order to enable their triumphant emergence, once again, come that forever hopeful spring.

Be like that.

Taco Tuesday Roundup

I’ve personally had it with Tacos for awhile. They’re messy, refuse to stay in their shell, always require more cheese

and have no respect for boundaries.

I guess our “Border Czarina” has had it with Tacos too. I see she had time to toss a coin at a football game (to the “roar” of the non-existent crowd) on Saturday and will be visiting with the gals on The View set for some in-depth political banter later this week, but still can’t manage to visit the mess of Tacos that she and her boss ordered for delivery on the Texas border.

There were more people crammed under one bridge in Texas than there were in the stadium where Kammie flipped us off.

Meanwhile, just across our northern border, another white supremacist pulls off a victory,

allowing Trudeau Liberals To Win Another Minority Government in Canada’s Federal Election.

Trudeau’s ‘minority’ government, celebrating victory

So all in all, this Taco Tuesday finds the Biden administration fit as a fiddle, with everything pretty much under control.

Here’s an idea: maybe we can contract with the Taliban to run security for us on the southern border, now that they have adequate fire power (including shoulder mounted surface to air missiles).

FYI: these are real pictures, not photoshopped. I know, hard to believe.

They seem to have commandeered their own Navy of Swan boats as well. Clearly they have plenty of time on their hands since the American withdrawal.

Somebody should explain to Old Joe that “A well regulated militia, being the best security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed,” applies to our citizens, not our lethal enemies.

Invasions and Insurrections: The Lies Continue Unabated

In Washington this weekend the FBI Threw an Insurrection and Nobody Came, other then themselves.

Capital Police arresting undercover FBI agent. Good to note all are properly masked-up.

The memes will likely continue for at least another week, as everyone likes to make fun of the FBI.

That IS a lot of White Boyz, but then who else would you sent to a White Supremacist insurrection? 

The “boyz” might have been put to better use in Texas where there is a real insurrection going on.

Haitian migrants recreating the Haitian shanty towns they left behind 

Then again, I doubt any of them know how to ride a horse,

which looks to be the only way Texas is currently allowed to deal with their vermin invasion.

And speaking of vermin, even the bees have had it with these migrating hoards: Border Patrol agents had to  rescue a group of migrants from a swarm of bees on Wednesday, shortly after crossing the Rio Grande.

Bee sting victim down! Thank goodness she was wearing a mask.

Meanwhile, some people are still brave enough to call a spade a spade:

Former President Donald Trump said the country is becoming a “cesspool of humanity” as the Biden administration scrambles to handle the more than 14,000 mainly Haitian migrants living in a makeshift camp [i.e. “cesspool of humanity”] under a bridge in Texas. 

“​Our Country is rapidly becoming a cesspool of humanity. Murderers, drug dealers, and criminals of all shapes and sizes are a big part of this massive migration​,” the former president said.  - NYP

Pretty much looks like a cesspool to me.

It’s not like Mr. Trump didn’t try to warn us back in 2015, when he rode down that escalator. Of course the lies began at that very moment and have not abated since.

Pasta Siciliana Mezzogiorno

Fruits of the Midi, Renoir, 1881

‘Tis the harvest season: eggplant, peppers, tomatoes – all at their peak. Here’s a dinner idea using some of them. It’s a concept more than a recipe and can be modified to taste and ingredients on hand. It’s a bit of a mashup of two of our favorite pasta dishes - garlic sausage linguine and penne with eggplant - from The Earle in Ann Arbor. It’s been our go-to favorite since 1980 and until last year was still headed by the original chef and sommelier. But hey, 40 year years on and I guess you have to expect some changes, yes?

We actually made this last Sunday but with another perfect deck dining day on the radar it would be perfect for today as well. For some reason I can no longer recall why we call this pasta dish ‘Siciliana Mezzogiorno’ but is sounds romantic. It requires a lot of ingredients and a fair amount of prep work but if you do all that ahead of time execution is quite swift. 

Let’s start with the mice-on-plates (Mise en place), for the sauce, in no particular order:

Hot Hungarian pepper slices, 1 small tomato, chopped, 1 small roasted red pepper (jarred is fine) cut in thin strips, 1/2 lb. garlic/Italian sausage – I cooked mine ahead of time, but you don’t have to, just drain most of the fat after browning, 1 small cubed eggplant, peeled or not. Two cloves of garlic or so, minced, pitted Kalamata olives, halved or quartered, sweet red pepper slices, sliced, fresh basil leaves. Raj likes to throw some diced capicola in too if we have them, but we didn’t.

You will also need 1/2 lb. (for two diners) of pasta of your choice, we used spaghetti. Romano cheese and  bread crumbs, I use panko, toasted with a bit of olive oil in small frying pan.

Once you’ve done the prep work you can go play for awhile. When hunger strikes put a large pot of salted water on to boil for cooking the pasta and get out a large skillet.

If you haven’t precooked your sausage, do it now, and drain the grease (or not). Add a bit of olive oil and the garlic and stir around with the sausage for about a minute then add a bit more olive oil, the eggplant and sauté for a minute or two longer, adding additional olive oil if needed. Add the tomatoes, peppers, a bit of wine or pasta water to keep it moist and cook for a couple more minutes, stir in the olives. Salt, pepper and additional olive oil to taste.

Drain the pasta well, reserving a bit of water, and add it to the sauce in your skillet. Stir to coat the pasta, adding a bit of water if needed, and finish up with the basil leaves, torn roughly or sliced.

 

Serve, topping with grated Pecorino Romano cheese, crumbs (and maybe another little drizzle of olive oil because why not?) and you have yourself a dish fit for royalty.

  

And because there aren’t enough carbs here, why not serve it with a nice panzanella salad while homegrown tomatoes and cukes are still available? Toss in a few cubes of fresh mozzarella to up the protein content and all’s good.  

You can modify to taste: zucchini instead of or along with eggplant, sweet peppers subbed for hot (or sautéed and served on the side if not everyone is a chili-head). It’s a concept, not a recipe. But if it’s nice today in your part of the world just get outside and enjoy it, even if you just pick up a pizza.

As with all good things, it is fleeting.

ETA: Along with a salad this actually made enough for dinner with enough leftovers for another dinner. If however, you are still in the hunger years, it makes enough as they say to serve 2 generously. Oh, and it’s really much better than it looks.