HOW THE INTERNET CAUGHT COVID!

Everything went down at our city house for five days: no Internet, no phone, no TV, no anything, due to a broken FIOS box at our house. Our home network was still operational, but not much useful could be done with it. Alexa didn’t work, Ring doorbells were out, thermostats weren’t transmitting, etc. etc. Then it really hit me. Why the hell are we so dependent on the Internet for all this stuff? Why can’t it work locally and give us  control over what is functional in our own homes?

The lame excuse is that using the web enables you to control things outside of the home, but which would you rather have- personal local control or the convenience of turning up your thermostat remotely from your car? I’m not going to speculate about motives as to why things are the way they are, but right now it clearly gives large companies a huge amount of access to your information, how you live, what you do, etc.  and, more disturbingly, they can control things the same way you do. There is no reason why things should be this way. 

Before all these protocols became established I thought of rigging my house up with a character named Max, who spoke like Arnold Schwarzenegger. He would have resided in the home and would have taken care of things locally like a sort of virtual valet. Then Alexa came along and I became an early user. But at this pont  I would rather have my Max processing my information than Amazon.  It should be possible for all of these devices to work locally, independent of the Internet. There is absolutely no reason why you at least can’t have both options.

More ominously, suppose that the big boys started sharing the information in concert, or even worse, with the government. As things stand all of them are currently on the same page in sweet harmony (with the potential exception of Apple) and it is not unreasonable to be concerned about the possibilities without getting paranoid. Whatever the case this kind of power concentration ought to be unacceptable, and the time has come to liberate Americans from this electronic yoke. 

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Anyway we were still able to do some things via our cell phones by establishing a Hotspot, so we could, to some extent, access the Internet, but none of the other stuff since it is on a different network. Now the fun part arose when we contacted Verizon for service. They responded right away and scheduled a repairman within a reasonable length of time. But at the appointed hour no one showed up, so I called to find out why. The response was that we hadn’t answered a Covid question properly and they wouldn’t send a repairman unless we answered a couple of questions confirming that we weren’t Covid positive and agreed to wear a mask in our own home! 

Now unbeknownst to me my wife had actually spoken to someone at tech support and had answered all the questions appropriately, so that should have sufficed. But somehow they decided to cancel because someone supposedly responded “Yes” instead of “No” to a text message with the same stupid questions. Neither of us ever got it, and although I don’t pay much attention to text since my phone is constantly flooded with Trump messages ever since the NRCC gave it out to everyone. I certainly never answered “Yes” to anything, so it is possible the boys just wanted to goof off. In any case they came two days later after we carefully answered the questions; twice, and yet again just before they would enter the house. So we compliantly masked up when they finally came and quickly replaced some sort of broken doodad. 

Things have really gone completely jabberwocky over Covid. It is the height of absurdity to make an urgent repair dependent on answering a couple of text messages, (and text messages only) confirming that no one in the house has a disease and that everyone is masked. This is just the pinnacle of paranoia in a city where you have to carry a card confirming you’ve been vaccinated just to eat in a restaurant, which is yet another burden on an industry that already has been decimated by government regulations. If all of this isn’t overkill I don’t know what is. Our lives are being run by screwballs and if we don’t revolt soon we are going to be transformed into corporate state run automatons.

THE ENDLESS COVID CRISIS

 No wonder people in Covidland  are confused by ever shifting pronouncements on the pandemic. A few weeks ago when I went to a supermarket on Long Island virtually no one was wearing a mask. Today everyone was sporting one, so I had to go back to the car to search for a mask. There is no point in rocking the boat about this sort of thing. 

A few weeks ago I also had Covid despite having been vaccinated three times. I was sick for a few days and then it went away, but to be on the safe side I quarantined at my country house in order to avoid infecting anyone else. My latest bloodwork now shows I have the antibody. It is quite possible that had I not been so vaccinated it could have been far worse, and I might have wound up in the hospital, or on my way to the Covid underworld.

The Omicron variant is apparently quite contagious, and some sort of response is required. The question is whether extreme regulations are necessary, while also upending various rights. There is no easy answer to this, but clearly this administration is clueless and its vacillation and shifting positions have both confused and alienated the public. If this continues, if you know the Greek alphabet we will soon be nearing Ωmega, or the end, period. 

They came into office blaming the previous administration for the number of apparent Covid deaths, notwithstanding the fact that vaccines were developed in record time and travel restrictions put in place. Yet at the same time they were imposing heavy controls on Americans, in terms of testing, vaccines, and protections, they have allowed a continuing flow of illegal immigrants to enter the country without testing any of them. This is insanity. They claimed they would get control of the epidemic and mitigate its impact, yet last year under their watch the number of deaths exceeded the previous year. 

But the numbers may be exaggerated by other conditions at the time of death, and its attribution to Covid may have something to do with reporting incentives. No one really knows. What the people do know at this point is that very few “leaders” and “experts” really  know what they are talking about, and no one trusts the government any more. 

The severe disruption of many lives due to government policies is incalculable. But few of the people making and supporting these decisions are affected by them.  Those who work for the government, in academia, the media, big corporations, finance, etc. haven’t paid any price. The burden has been born by the working people and industries they are employed in, which have born the brunt of all the attempts to ameliorate the effects of the pandemic. These are mostly small businesses such as restaurants, as well as the hospitality and travel industries. Meanwhile some big businesses have actually benefited. Clearly the effects have been uneven.

In a rational world the government would have targeted expenditures to those actually hurt by the pandemic, like the ones mentioned above. They had real costs and losses due to government policies that were designed to stem the spread of the disease. Instead the government passed out money to everyone, over and over, at far, far greater cost than an intelligent approach would have required. The consequences of this mindless beneficence will be heavy going forward. 

Yet simultaneously this same regime went out of its way to punish people who refuse to comply with its mandates. Not only have a vast number of people lost their jobs as a result, they have even been denied unemployment insurance! Meanwhile the regime’s client teachers union member have continued to be paid in many areas without doing any work.  Different standards for different people; and don’t forget our pampered illegal aliens. This is obscene and is indicative of an administrative state out of control. 

There are some states that have managed to maintain the constitutional freedoms we have inherited, but the federal government is hopelessly incompetent, arbitrary, inconsistent, wasteful, and destructive. 

There is much to be undone here and entire agencies that must be upended and reconstructed, and people needlessly punished must be compensated. That is certainly just and only the beginning steps necessary to restore legitimacy and confidence in this government. Too many of the ruling circles are clueless as to the revolutionary situation they are fomenting on the ground, while at the same time sending out an army of agents to monitor and harass “domestic terrorists” like parents and veterans. 

The people have lost confidence in all our institutions across the board, so what is left? The upcoming election tsunami will be the last chance to address these conditions and urgently implement reforms, for if they fail again this time, life as we have known it in this great republic will be over. 

WHAT REALLY MATTERS ABOUT JANUARY 6, 2021

When Biden and Harris spoke this morning my jaw dropped in disbelief. It is apparent that the Democrats are going to use the riot of last Jan.6 as a new holiday of sorts to obscure their utter and complete failure on every single problem this country faces. No doubt it stirred emotion among Democratic partisans and the gullible, and anger among Republicans, but it all seems blind to the most significant to occurrence that day, which to me seemed obvious at the time, and still resonates, which was the failure to maintain security at the Capitol. So we need to look at the facts and get past the emotion.

Joe Biden gave a terrible divisive speech devoted largely to attacking Donald Trump, who, it must be said, provides a target-rich environment, mostly consisting of remarks he should have addressed a year ago. Apparently someone woke him up, wound him up, and sent him out to the podium to deliver a bitterly partisan speech, largely beating a dead horse in attacking Donald Trump, instead of uttering a single unifying word. That is why it was completely disingenuous, at best designed to motivate Democrats, and at worst to confirm him as absolutely the worst president in the history of the USA.

To be clear, I do not for a minute believe the overall presidential election last year was stolen. I find that suggestion to be untenable, and Donald Trump’s behavior since the election bizarre and sadly self-destructive, following a highly successful term of accomplishment against daunting odds. But any honest assessment of the past few years will find the most  egregious “threat to democracy” to have occurred during and after the Obama administration when the security services of the county were compromised and debased into partisan weapons against the incoming administration; (never mind the endless and worse “big lie” that the Russians were really in control, ultimately found to have emanated from the Hillary Clinton campaign and buried by the dishonest media). This was substantively far worse than a disorganized mob milling around the Capitol that was shockingly and poorly secured. It was a passing event, as opposed to deep and lasting damage to the state that has not only compromised  its legitimacy but only gotten worse, as we see these now comical security services unleashed against parents concerned about the poisonous ideology being imposed upon school children, or chasing phantom white racists while adversaries around the world are laughingly eating our lunch. 

There have been other instances in the past where “sacred” government facilities have be debased. When Andrew Jackson was elected president a mob was invited into the White House that became unruly and caused a great deal of damage. As far as January 6th goes, if there in fact had been any controlling conspiracy (yet to be found) to seize the Capitol it would have succeeded given how abysmally poor the security was. Now who actually had controlling responsibility over the Capitol police? None other than Speaker Nancy Pelosi herself. Yes, what became a mob was fed a lot of misinformation, and a handful actually destructively breached the facility (which allowed most to just wander around aimlessly taking selfies) but the lesson to take away from this is not the grave “threat to democracy” that occurred but the astonishingly unprepared, clueless security that day, which was just  inexcusable. It could easily have been a more organized attack by foreign enemies of the country, domestic radicals, or any bad player you can think of. 

Thus, it is false and misleading nonsense to suggest that foreign adversaries saw democracy as unworkable and under siege, when what actually registered with them was how bad the security was and how easy it was to breach. What they are still seeing is a bumbling, disorganized, dysfunctional security apparatus that can be penetrated compromised in a myriad of ways, thanks to the idiots in charge. They just don’t take this government seriously any more with its penchant for “stern warnings,” and “serious consequences” that never materialize. 

For Joe Biden to stand there and obfuscate the situation with canned rhetoric and dark fantasies about the terrible and apparently ongoing threat to democracy is preposterous, and worse a lame and devious attempt cover over the disastrous incompetence and failure of his administration across the board. It will no doubt stir the blood of partisans and pompous, gullible, and just plain stupid media mavens, who solemnly will continue the performance, and dutifully carry water for the Big Fool, but the real truth is that this country is in deep trouble, and hopefully enough people will be smart enough to see through the ruse, and respond accordingly at the ballot box. 

THE ENDLESS COVID PANDEMIC

 I've been pretty sick since a little before the end of last year. Once I stopped throwing up and got my temperature down I was able to function, though very lethargically. I am better now but I've been isolating myself at my summer house because it is almost certainly COVID,  and one of my doctors is ordering the antibody test to confirm. 

I was vaccinated three times, and it is possible it was either not so effective or it prevented me from coming down with something far worse. I don't know, and I think nobody really knows. That is a big problem. This whole thing has degenerated into a disastrous situation where trust has been further lost and clumsy attempts to stop the free flow of information have only made it worse. We need to see things in the light of day with verifiable facts in order to make an informed judgement. But that judgement is, and should be our own and not dictated by some higher authority, especially when it is one we do not have full confidence is. Everyone is an individual with different physiologies and accordingly must be addressed as a unique individual human, not via a heavy handed, dictatorial directive putting everyone in the same box, and worse sanctioning them if they do not comply with the order. There is no possible justification for throwing healthy people out of work, and worse denying them unemployment. 

It is going to be years before anyone can sort out the truth on this due to all of the obfuscation. Are hospital death counts accurate, or is more being attributed to COVID than is warranted? What is the definitive utility of masks? Of vaccinations? Of treatments? The administration has botched the distribution of tests so that demand now exceeds supply, and has done very little on what is probably the more important element here, namely cures for people that have come down with it instead of just ordering vaccinations. This is just incomprehensible. The application of cures has been largely left to individuals, doctors, hospitals and states, and has resulted in an unnecessary ball of confusion rolling through social media. Furthermore, it is now increasingly obvious that the vaccine is not enough, nor totally effective so the present crisis is the people who re currently suffering, which mean prioritizing cures.

I still think it is prudent for older folks to be vaccinated, given the inevitability of declining health, but there is no reason whatsoever to force it on small children and others, where there is no evidence that requires, perhaps outside of nonscientific demands from the Teachers Unions. 

Meanwhile China has paid no price for infecting the whole world unnecessarily, and I mean a substantive price, not lame gestures like boycotting the Olympics, which should never be done under any circumstances. It is unfair to the athletes, and contrary to the Olympic spirit, which involves bringing everyone, especially enemies together. No there must be a stiffer price, and we should begin to act in concert with our allies to develop one. I tend to suspect that this was in fact created and leaked from a lab. It has spread and mutated like nothing we have ever seen before. 

The real question is intent. Was it some sort of accident or did the Communists deliberately spread it. On the one hand it is highly unlikely that they would first inflict this on their own people. But we are talking about hard-line communists in power now, who see everything in collective terms and care nothing about individual lives. Any sacrifice is fine in order to build communism, which is why over 100 million people were killed in the last century. For that matter, given their indifference to human life it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they would, by the same lights, launch a nuclear war or greater plague on the assumption that given their huge population enough will survive to build the golden era of communism while eliminating all their enemies. After all, on a lighter note Reagan once asked for people to be free to leave China and come to America if they wished. So Chou En-Lai replied, how many Chinese do you want? 10 million, 20 million, 30 million, or something to that effect. 

We must get to the bottom of this one way or another. The West now faces a ruthless adversary intent on pushing us all aside any way they can. They steal our secrets, compromise our sports, Hollywood, and corporations that no longer have any loyalty to the USA, and for this there must be, there will be a reckoning. 

MORE FUNNY MONEY

The government is going to be sending out another round of "stimulus" checks to some, but no all people that will be exceedingly generous. I'm not miffed because I'm not eligible to get anything, but because there is no rational basis whatsoever for this action at this time. This money, or should I say "funny money" is either created out of thin air by printing it, which means that the money you have is worth less (i.e. inflation), or it will be based on yet more debt that coming generations will have to pay, or out of higher taxes for those that can still pay. This Covid bonus is illegitimate and ill conceived. It should have been targeted only to those who have actually been hurt by government policies, i.e. the restaurant industry, at a far lower cost. The future of this country is being squandered by an incredibly wasteful array of ill-conceived spending, and this really tops it off. The spoils may be shared broadly but the cost will be born narrowly.

Furthermore this is a terrible precedent we are now, apparently getting used to. It does nothing but encourage dependency with a nod from your friendly Democratic Party representative. More and more the message from the Biden administration is clear: do what we tell you to do and we will take care of you. It is clearly a case of trying to entrap more people into dependency, and therefore into Democrat voters. It is a brilliantly insidious maneuver. Who is going to say no to free money?

The problem is that free money becomes funny money and the inflation we are seeing now will only get worse until the whole system collapses, unless we reverse course, which is going to be harder and harder to do. This kind of spending will only usher in 1970s level inflation, and nobody wants that.