Beware The Illusions Of Truth

I think most people now understand that the mainstream media does not present objective news or analysis.

There is a slant or bias in everything it does based on the political views of the people who run the networks and those who cover the news.

The pervasive effects of this bias are difficult to overstate.

However, very few understand how pernicious this bias is in shaping the attitudes and views of our society.

Repetition is the first lesson of propaganda. 

The drumbeat of repetition engages the "illusory truth effect" in humans. Simply stated, the more often we hear something the more likely we are to believe that it is true---even if it is a complete fabrication.

One of the key principles in any successful attempt to influence is lots of repetition by repeating your points over and over again to engage the "illusory truth effect" in us.

The substance of what this means is that mainstream media have become propaganda factories.

I wrote about this in 2019 in pointing out the astounding number of stories The New York Times had written involving President Trump his first two years in office.

Look at this comparison of the percentage of articles in the entire paper that mentioned Trump compared to his predecessors.

It is almost as if there was no other news that was "fit to print."

Of course, 90%+ of those articles were negative.

It was the same with the major network news outlets.

Trump bad. Trump bad. Trump bad. Trump bad. Trump bad. Trump bad. Trump bad.

Credit: https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/rich-noyes/2019/01/15/networks-trashed-trump-90-negative-spin-2018-did-it-matter

If you recall, a good portion of the negative coverage of Trump involved constant reporting about "Russian Collusion."

Of course, we know now that this was a story that was entirely fabricated.

It did not matter. 

It became "the truth" as it was repeated over and over.

Many still believe the story is true today although innumerable credible sources have completely debunked the Russian Collusion narrative

We are now finding out as well about the massive role that social media companies have also had in shaping the attitudes and views of the public.

We are discovering that Twitter was not much more than a haven for left-wing activist employees that considered it to be their mission in life to amplify views that they agreed with and censor views and people they disagreed with.

In a sane and objective world the Twitter disclosures that have been made since Elon Musk bought the company should be capturing every news media outlet.

In particular, the lengths Twitter personnel took to bury the Hunter Biden story before the election, the efforts to ban Trump from the platform and the censorship of any dissenting opinions by doctors and others that questioned the Covid policies pertaining to lockdowns, school closures and vaccine mandates.

To that point, look at this analysis of how much time the major mainstream media outlets have spent covering the disclosures regarding the Twitter files.

These are the number of mentions of the story per an analysis by Grabien Media over the 11 day period after the disclosures were first made.

Source: https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1603029824934649856

Source: https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1603029824934649856

Source: https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1603029824934649856

Source: https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1603029824934649856

Source: https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1603029824934649856

Compare to the mentions by Fox News and Newsmax.

Source: https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1603029824934649856

Source: https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1603029824934649856

Are people really getting "the news" from the mainstream media outlets?

I thought this chart from Grabien was also interesting in comparing the number of mentions by CNN relating to various threats to society that they have reported on---climate change (blue line), Covid (red ), Democracy/Trump (yellow), January 6th insurrection (green) and Ukraine (orange).

This is for the period January, 2019 to the November, 2020.

Source: https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1602782333723189249/photo/1

We tend to think we were inundated with Covid news for most of 2020 and 2021.

However, CNN viewers heard much more about Trump and/or the threat he was to democracy (even when he was no longer President) than they ever heard about Covid.

What I found even more remarkable is the number of mentions about Ukraine that dominated the news of CNN in 2022. Those mentions outnumbered anything regarding Covid even compared to the height of Covid craziness in 2020.

You wonder why you saw Ukraine flags everywhere in 2022?

My favorite was what used to be a Russian market near my house. A Ukraine flag in the lower right window and tape crossing out "Russian" that captured in this photo last April indicated the owners were no longer identifying their store as having anything to do with Russia.

( Postscript--the store now has a new sign that refers to it as an Eastern European food store. The sign is (you guessed it) blue and yellow.

That huge spike in stories occurred in March/April and has continued at a higher level the remainder of the year than Covid ever did did.

What followed?

Do you think this reaction was all a coincidence?

Source: https://www.fox21news.com/news/businesses-deal-with-high-demand-for-ukrainian-flags/

Source: https://www.fox13news.com/video/1057401

Source: https://specialtyfabricsreview.com/2022/05/01/ukrainian-flags-in-demand-after-russian-invasion/

Yes, we know Vladimir Putin is a bad actor.

We know Russian had no business in invading Ukraine.

However, do we really know what kind of actor Zelensky is?

Do we know where the $100 billion taxpayer dollars we have sent this year to Ukraine has gone?  For context, that is about twice the total annual Russian military budget.

Are there facts we are missing in all of this?

Are we getting the full story?

The lesson here is to be wary of any story or narrative that is repeated endlessly.

Beware the illusory truth effect.

The truth in most things does not require someone else to report it to you.

Your own observations, analysis and critical thinking should suffice.

This is an especially important lesson to teach our children and grandchildren.

They are particularly vulnerable to propaganda which dictators and authoritarian leaders have understood for centuries.

Truth is not hard to discern if facts are not hidden and there is a free exchange of opinions and views where dissent is not censored or silenced.

Unfortunately, that is not the world we are living in today.

Understand it and adjust your thinking accordingly.

Long Covid or Something Else?

We hear a lot about Long Covid.

Here's an article that says Long Covid is distorting the labor market due to the number of workers who have chronic disease and disability.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/08/long-covid-is-distorting-the-labor-market-hurting-the-us-economy.html

Here's another that says Long Covid could be the next public health disaster.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/30/why-long-covid-could-be-the-next-public-health-disaster.html

Here is an article from earlier in the year from the UK that claimed that the Covid vaccines may not protect you from being infected but they would protect against Long Covid.

Source: https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/covid-19-vaccination-protects-against-long-covid

Other studies I have seen suggest that there is little reduction in risk for Long Covid in those who have been vaccinated.

Dr. Marty Makary of Johns Hopkins had a guest opinion column in The Wall Street Journal this week in which he argues that Long Covid has been vastly exaggerated  He agrees that some cases are legitimate but diagnosing fatigue as Long Covid five weeks after a viral infection is the medicalization of ordinary life.

Long Covid is real. I have reliable patients who describe lingering symptoms after Covid infection. But public-health officials have massively exaggerated long Covid to scare low-risk Americans as our government gives more than $1 billion to a long Covid medical-industrial complex.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims that 20% of Covid infections can result in long Covid. But a U.K. study found that only 3% of Covid patients had residual symptoms lasting 12 weeks. What explains the disparity? It’s often normal to experience mild fatigue or weakness for weeks after being sick and inactive and not eating well. Calling these cases long Covid is the medicalization of ordinary life.

As usual with Covid, who are we to believe?

Whatever the facts are it is clear that we hear an awful lot about Long Covid and its effects.

Considering all of this, I recently came across a cohort study published at jamanetwork.com I found to be very interesting. 

It studied patients with symptomatic illness who had been given a Covid test.

The study then followed the patients in two groups between those who had tested positive for Covid and those who did not and checked with them after three months to determine how they were doing in their physical, mental and social well-being.

A comparison was then done between those patients who had tested positive for Covid and those who had not.

Did the Covid positive patients exhibit residual symptoms after infection at a higher degree than the Covid negative patients?

The surprising answer was that the Covid positive patients actually reported fewer residual symptoms long term than the Covid negative patients even though both clearly had symptomatic illness to begin with.

39.6% of the Covid positive patients reported residual symptoms after three months.

53.5% of Covid negative patients reported residual symptoms.

Credit: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2799116?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

It is an interesting finding. It supports the conclusions of Dr. Makary.

It seems to suggest that being sick with any symptomatic virus can have lingering effects.

What might be different with Long Covid?

Is it different because we have given it a name and amplified all of this in people's minds with the amount of attention it has received?

Did we ever talk about "Long Flu" before? 

This study suggests that Long Flu might be real as well. However, it was never given a name or became "a thing."

Putting all of this aside, it is true that we have seen substantial increases in the numbers of people with a disability in the United States over the last two years.

This chart from the Federal Reserve of St. Louis database tracks the population of those age 16 and over with a disability over the last two years.

I have placed a blue line at the beginning of 2021 as that is the point it seems we reached an inflection point and disabilities began increasing very rapidly.

Source: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNU00074597

Is this the result of Covid or Long Covid?

Could it be something else?

You will notice during the first year of Covid during 2020 (red arrow on left) the population of those with a disability was actually going down.

This suggests that Covid was not driving higher disability.

It is possible that Long Covid is a driver of increased disabilities based on what we see beginning in 2021.

However, why were the visible effects delayed so far past the onset of Covid?

Disabilities did not start to spike until over a year after Covid was widely circulating.

Is there anything else that might have contributed to the rise in disabilities beginning in January, 2021?

Could this be a factor?

Source: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-trends

It is a question that needs to be answered. However, there are not many willing to even consider the question let alone look for answers.

Another question that needs to be examined is what has caused the higher number of excess deaths that were not Covid related (particularly among those age 15- 45) we have experienced since the beginning of the pandemic?

This is a chart from the CDC's Wonder database that shows excess deaths above a 2019 baseline after Covid deaths are removed.

This analysis was done by Kyle Lamb who is a researcher/data analyst for the state of Florida. I found Lamb to one of the more reliable sources of data on Covid throughout the pandemic.

Each line on the chart represents a month since March, 2020.

Source: https://twitter.com/kylamb8/status/1601283434806026241

Why has this occurred?

Is it just a coincidence that Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida announced shortly after that data was published by Lamb that he was calling for a grand jury investigation of potential "crimes and wrongdoings" related to the Covid vaccines in Florida?

Source:https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3773773-desantis-calls-for-grand-jury-investigation-of-covid-vaccines/

I wrote about the concerning number of non-Covid excess deaths in 2020 among those in the age 15-44 age group in a blog post in June, 2021 titled "The Road Not Taken". I questioned what effect Covid policies (lockdowns, school closures etc) might have had on deaths in this age group.

What was causing these excess deaths if it was not Covid?

The most obvious answer is that non-Covid excess deaths in these age groups are lockdown related.

Suicides? Drug abuse? Delayed treatments for cancers and other serious conditions?

For example, Dartmouth College had three suicides among its freshman class this year.

Three! These students were the cream of the crop. Why?

What is the societal cost of the deaths of so many young people during 2020---not due to the virus but our public health response to the virus?

It is clear now that in addition to the economic cost of the lockdowns there was also a huge human cost in populations that were not very vulnerable to the virus

The chart above shows that non-Covid excess deaths not only continued into 2021 but they got even higher.

They have also continued into 2022. The graph above shows that the excess may be declining recently but some of that undoubtedly relates to reporting lags. This will need to be followed closely as time unfolds.

Most of the severe lockdowns and school closures were lifted in 2021. However, non-Covid excess deaths among the young still grew between 2020 and 2021. 

We are not talking about slightly elevated death levels. The CDC data is showing increases in the order of 15%-35% over 2019 levels for much of the last two years

Is there anything that might have contributed to the additional non-Covid excess deaths in 2021 and 2022 in the age 15-44 age group besides drug deaths and suicides?

Is it Long Covid?

Is it something else?

Another question is why non-Covid excess deaths in the 55+ age group are lower than the young over the last two years. These generally are up around 10%. That is still a large percentage increase when it comes to death statistics but it is lower than what we are seeing in the 15-45 age groups. 

Is that due to increased suicides and drug deaths in the young that were not as prevalent in older age groups?

Note that non-Covid excess deaths still spiked to 15-20% over 2019 levels in most older age groups in mid-2021.

Why?

So many questions.

So few answers.

Cause or Candidate?

I received an excellent comment on BeeLine's last blog post from reader Sharon J. in Georgia.

In my last post, I argued that the Republican loss in the Georgia Senate race between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker had more to do with what is "Baked In The Cake" in that state from a demographic and identity politics perspective than any other factor.

I said that it was fair to cast blame at Walker, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell or RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel for the loss but the demographic and identity politics in the state made it unlikely that any other Republican could have won this race against the incumbent Warnock.

This is Sharon J.'s comment.

It is an excellent comment and one that may very well be correct.

The problem is we will never know one way or the other.

What I do know is that any other Republican candidate would not have had Walker's name id to start with. 

That would have cost any other candidate millions of dollars to buy.

Any other Republican candidate would have also faced the fact that they would have been outspent by over $100 million like Walker was.

Any other Republican candidate would have also been attacked viciously and made out to be a monster as the Democrats do in any consequential campaign.

Sharon J. makes one other comment that is 100% correct.

"Candidate quality matters." "I hope we can start recognizing that we need leaders of character on both sides of the aisle."

I would not stop at character. We need candidates that demonstrate the ability to do the job. Candidates that are mentally and physically fit and have the energy to represent us. Candidates that are willing to earn the vote of the electorate. Candidates who do not misrepresent who they are and what they really believe in order to get elected.

On both sides of the aisle.

Unfortunately, this is another factor in elections today that is baked in the cake.

There are a significant number of Republican voters who apply these standards.

It is rare that you will find any Democrat voter do the same.

Democrat voters value the cause as more important than the candidate.

They have proven that they will overlook almost any flaw in a candidate in favor of the overall cause of electing Democrats.

That is not true of a share of Republican voters. They are willing to sacrifice the candidate for the cause.

The problem is that when one side follows one set of standards and the other side a different standard, you are going to get asymmetrical results.

For example, if we were following the standard that Sharon advocates it should be no surprise that Walker lost. Questions were raised on whether he was fit for the job.

However, John Fetterman should have surely lost to Dr. Oz based on the same standard.

Fetterman was barely able to string a sentence together during the campaign. His one debate performance (he only did one reluctantly) was judged by many to be the worst in recent political history.

Here is an example of what I am talking about.

This opinion column admits that Fetterman's debate showed he was not up to the job. However, the writer state that it doesn't matter because "on the merits" he is better than Oz. 

What "merits" are those? It is the liberal/progressive cause.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/27/john-fetterman-dr-oz-pennsylvania-senate-midterms

In addition, there is no way that Katie Hobbs should have beaten Kari Lake in Arizona's gubernatorial race base on a candidate standard.

Hobbs refused to debate Kari Lake and was invisible to the media and most of the voters for a good part of the campaign.

Even The New York Times published an article titled, "Where's Katie'? two weeks before the election.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/21/us/az-governor-katie-hobbs-kari-lake.html

That race was reminiscent of the Trump-Biden race in 2020 where Biden hid in his basement and Trump crisscrossed the country at large rallies asking for the voter support.

It did not matter in Arizona and it did not matter in 2020 with Biden.

Biden's deficiencies are in full view now but it does matter a whit to the Democrats.

The cause is more important than the candidate.

This is baked into the cake and will continue to put Republicans at an advantage in general elections contests as long as these asymmetrical standards continue.

I wish this was not the reality.  Unfortunately, it is.

Sharon J, is correct about what should matter to voters.

However, as long as Democrats keep prioritizing the liberal/progressive cause above the candidate, or the cause of the country, my suggestion to Republicans is that you have little choice but to focus on the cause rather than the candidate in all general elections.

Primary elections are useful in that they allow you to vote for the candidate that will best represent you and what you want to be your cause in the general election.

However, in the general election, you realistically only have a binary choice.

Do you support their cause or your cause (or some variation of your preferred cause)?

What is clear in today's political environment is their cause is going to be miles away from your cause.

This is the way Democrats think and vote today.

The cause is all that matters. The candidate matters not one bit.

This is also baked in the cake.

Ignore it at your own peril if you are a Republican or independent that still thinks the country is worth saving.

 

It's Baked In The Cake

As Republicans look to assign blame in the wake of the Georgia Senate race between Raphael Warnock (D) and Herschel Walker (R) there are fingers pointing in numerous directions.

Donald Trump

Mitch McConnell

Herschel Walker 

RNC Chairman Ronna McDaniel

The Warnock victory also meant that the Democrats held every incumbent Senate seat.

Every Republican incumbent Senator also won reelection.

To put that in historical context, there has never been a Senate election that every incumbent won in over 100 years.

All of this occurred despite a backdrop of high inflation, an uncertain economy, increasing questions about the place of the United States in the world and a Democrat President with a low approval rating.

This also was the result despite only 21% of Americans approving of the way Congress is handling its job. 75% disapprove.

Source: https://news.gallup.com/poll/1600/congress-public.aspx

How do you explain it?

With any loss there is always plenty of blame to go around. You can make an argument that all the names above deserve some of it.

However, what really comes to mind to me is the old adage "It's baked in the cake".

It seems that political views and preferences are so set right now that almost nothing is going to change the voting patterns of most Americans.

It is convenient to blame the candidate, or Trump, McConnell or the RNC chair but it appears to me that most of the American electorate is immovable.

They have put a stake in the ground (or planted a flag in the cake) on who and what they believe is best for the country and no person or persuasion is going to change their minds.

It's baked in the cake.

If they did not move in this election, despite bad news all around them, they are not likely to move unless their world literally starts crashing down on them.

Let's look at the Georgia Senate race.

The latest results show that Walker lost to Warnock by 2.8 points in the runoff.

In the 2020 Senate runoff in Georgia, Kelly Loeffler lost to Warnock by 2 points.

It is a rounding error's difference.

Interestingly, Warnock only received 79.3% of the votes he got in the 2020 runoff which was hotly contested in that the control of the Senate rested on that race. The stakes were not quite as high this year as Democrats already knew they were in control even if Warnock lost.

Walker got 78.3% of the vote total that Loeffler did. That 's another rounding error difference.

However, it also shows that the Democrats did a slightly better job of turning out the vote than the Republicans did and that was all it took.

Donald Trump got 743,000 more votes in 2020 than Walker did in the runoff. 

If only 15% of those voters had showed up for Walker he would have won.

Turnout is that important. 

Could another candidate have done better than Herschel? 

It's possible but unlikely when you consider what is already baked in the cake in Georgia.

For example, in DeKalb County, in Atlanta's eastern suburbs, Warnock beat Walker 87%-13%. Trump lost to Biden 83%-16%. It's baked in the cake in DeKalb with a population that is 55% African American.

Trump lost to Biden 73%-26% in Fulton County. Walker lost 77%-23%.

Perhaps another Republican could have picked up a percent or two more in those two counties but unless bigger turnouts could have been achieved in rural Red counties it still would not make a difference in the statewide results.

You also have to face the fact that almost any other candidate that would have replaced Walker would have had a fraction of the name ID that the former Georgia football star did. Name ID matters a lot in politics.

Some argue as to how could incumbent Republican Governor Brian Kemp win reelection by 7 points while Walker lost?

First, Kemp was the INCUMBENT. We have seen evidence of why that is so important.

Second, Kemp's opponent, Stacey Abrams, had picked up considerable baggage over the last four years due to her whining about the last election.

Third, you also have to consider the money advantage that Warnock had over Walker.

 

Source: https://twitter.com/DavidGiglioCA/status/1600326688948490240/photo/1

An extra $100 million buys a lot of attack ads.

When you have that type of money advantage in politics a victory is also usually baked in the cake.

As long as identity politics continues, Georgia is a tough state for a Republican to win.

33% of the population of Georgia is African American.

10% are  Hispanic.

Only 51% are White.

If 90% of African Americans automatically cast their ballot for the Democrat in every election it's baked in the cake.

If 70% of Hispanics vote for Democrats it's baked in the cake.

If you do the math, a Democrat candidate has 37% of the vote starting out before the Republican even gets started in Georgia trying to earn votes.

White voters have to back the Republican candidate by almost 75% just to offset that advantage out of the box.

However, White voters do not vote anywhere near those numbers as a homogenous identity group (despite what the mainstream media and liberal pundits want you to believe).

That is especially true for White women college graduates. 

Could there have been a Republican candidate in Georgia that appealed more to White women college graduates?

Perhaps a couple more points could have been gained in the election results with another candidate.

However, putting Dr. Oz on the ballot in Pennsylvania (who seemed to be the ideal candidate to appeal to White college educated suburban women) did not turn out well.

White women with a college degree in Pennsylvania supported the barely functional John Fetterman 62%-37% over Oz. White women without a college degree supported Oz 55%-44%.

Oz lost overall by 5 points in a state Trump only lost by 1.2%. 

It is difficult to ignore the obvious impacts that the education system has had over the last 30 years in shaping the hearts and minds of young voters with progressive propaganda.

That reality is also baked in the cake.

The fact is that there is so much baked in the cake today that it suggests a difficult road ahead for Republicans in Georgia and other swing states based on the 2022 midterm results without placing blame on any one person.  

I had some optimism before the election that we might see some movement in some of the hardened political views because of how quickly the nation has spiraled downwards the last couple of years.

The 2022 election suggests to me those views are baked in the cake pretty firmly right now.

It can change.

However, it is clear that it is going to take much more pain and disruption in the lives of voters for this to occur. 

That is not a prospect I look forward to but it may have to occur before all is said and done as we live through The Fourth Turning.

(If you are not familiar with the term "The Fourth Turning" I suggest you read the first of several blog posts I have written about it in these pages here.)

Covering Up The Cover Up?

Cover ups are bad enough.

How bad is it when the cover ups are being covered up?

That is where we find ourselves today with the mainstream media in the wake of the disclosures by Twitter that it actively worked to cover up the Hunter Biden laptop story in the lead up to the 2020 election.

You may recall that the mainstream media and the major social media companies all refused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story that was first published by The New York Post on October 14, 2020. The argument  was that the story could not be verified and was most likely a Russian disinformation operation.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/media/msnbc-cnn-cbs-hunter-biden-laptop-russian-disinformation-media

Twitter and Facebook blocked users from sharing the New York Post story about Hunter's laptop.

Twitter also suspended The New York Post's Twitter account and locked it down because the newspaper would not delete the original tweet about the laptop.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/jack-dorsey-ny-post-remains-locked-out-twitter-hunter-biden-2020-10

50 former intelligence experts warned that the laptop had all the earmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign which was then repeated and amplified by the media for the last two weeks of the campaign.

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/521823-50-former-intelligence-officials-warn-ny-post-story-sounds-like-russian/

In the last debate, Joe Biden used those "experts" to laugh off any possibility that that the laptop story was credible after Trump challenged him with defending some of the revelations therein (including evidence indicating that Joe Biden was a silent partner in at least one business deal with the Communist Chinese).

This is how Biden responded to the laptop claim in the debate.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/factsfirst/politics/factcheck_036fb62c-377f-4c68-8fa5-b98418e4bb9c

A bunch of garbage? Joe Biden clearly knew it was not a bunch of garbage. That was a flat out lie.

Trump also tried to bring up the Hunter Biden laptop in an interview with Lesley Stahl of CBS News  in the days leading up to the election.

She retorted that the laptop could not be verified. 

Trump appeared on CBS’ "60 minutes" where he addressed Hunter Biden's laptop, which he called "one of the biggest scandals" he’s ever seen. But, anchor Lesley Stahl was insistent that there was no way to conclude the laptop or its contents were real. 

"Excuse me, they found the laptop. Lesley. Listen," Trump said, as Stahl repeatedly interjected that the laptop could not be verified. 

"What can’t be verified?" Trump asked.

"The laptop!," Stahl exclaimed. 

Of course, we now know that the FBI had the actual laptop in its possession since December, 2019.

This fact was known as the computer repair shop owner had given the laptop to the FBI after Hunter Biden had failed to pick it up after being repaired in April, 2019.

CBS could have easily verified its authenticity with the FBI.

In fact, it did independently verify the Hunter Biden laptop contents were legitimate in late November, 2022  more than two years after it said it could not be verified.

Source: https://www.dailywire.com/news/cbs-finally-admits-hunters-laptop-is-real-more-than-two-years-after-the-fact

Of course, The New York Times had already admitted that in March of this year.

Source: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/almost-two-years-after-2020-election-the-new-york-times-discovers-hunter-biden-laptop-and-corruption-investigations-are-real/

 

Twitter, under the ownership of Elon Musk, has now come clean and released a number of internal files showing the lengths that Twitter employees went through to censor and hide the laptop story and the truth.

It was clearly done with the intent to protect Joe Biden.

Evidence is also accumulating that one of the reasons that Twitter did so was due to continual warnings from the FBI to social media companies to beware of attempts at Russian collusion, disinformation and attempts to influence the election.

Is it merely a coincidence that the FBI warned Twitter about a "hack and leak" operation about Hunter Biden before the New York Post story broke?

This is from a New York Post editorial this week.

Talk about spreading “disinfo”! As The Post’s Miranda Devine reports, the FBI specifically warned Twitter to expect a “hack-and-leak” operation by “state actors” involving Hunter Biden, likely in October 2020, a key Twitter official says in a sworn declaration — even though the agency knew very well that info floating around about him was 100% legitimate.

Could evidence of an FBI coverup be any stronger?

Words do not describe how corrupt all of this is.

Watergate was nothing compared to this.

This is a coverup on top of a coverup.

The FBI had the laptop in 2019.  It had to know its contents were legitimate by October, 2020.

The FBI suggests to social media and mainstream media companies to be wary of foreign actors peddling disinformation.

The New York Post breaks the Hunter Biden story and it is immediately discredited by everyone including 50 former top intelligence experts.

The laptop story is called a lie.

Joe Biden also knew it was a lie.

And the FBI clearly knew it was a lie at the time as they had been in possession of the laptop for over 9 months and had plenty of time to verify its contents.

What does the FBI do knowing the real truth?

NOTHING. 

IT SITS SILENTLY AND ALLOWS THE LIE TO BE PERPETUATED OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

It allows an election to be conducted without disclosing the truth.

An election in which a subsequent poll showed that one is six BIDEN voters stated they would have changed their vote if they had known about the Hunter Biden scandal and others.

Source: https://thefederalist.com/2020/11/24/poll-one-in-six-biden-voters-would-have-changed-their-vote-if-they-had-known-about-scandals-suppressed-by-media/

The FBI has remained silent over the intervening two years.

The FBI appears to have covered up everything.

Mind you this is part of THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE of the United States of America.

This is the chief law enforcement agency in the nation which proudly displays the equal scales of justice in its seal.

This is the agency which is supposed to be committed to fidelity, bravery and integrity.

What is the reaction of the mainstream media and liberal pundits to all of these revelations?

It is almost as if it did not happen.

If any of this is mentioned at all it is positioned as a "nothing burger" or "snoozefest'.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/media/msnbc-liberal-analysts-complain-hunter-biden-twitter-story-snoozefest-m-meh

Let's recap.

The Hunter Biden story was originally covered up by mainstream news and social media.

The FBI appears to have facilitated the coverup.

At a minimum, it could have come forward two years ago and made clear that the laptop was not a Russian disinformation plant. It had the evidence. It did nothing.

The media and FBI stay silent about all of this for another two years.

The facts come out that the Hunter Biden laptop story was legitimate.

The media gives almost no coverage to the story thereby covering up the cover up.

If it is covered, it is termed a "nothing burger" which then allows them to bury the story and insure it is covered up.

The FBI continues to remain silent and has not made public anything to do with the Hunter Biden laptop (or potential criminal acts exposed therein) although it has been in its possession now for three years.

Is this not covering up the cover up?

The Babylon Bee satirically puts all of this in context.

Of course, the best satire always has a lot of truth in it.

"DNC, Media Collude To Suppress Story About DND, Media Colluding To Suppress Story".

I think that sums it up pretty well. 

Bad does not begin to describe where we are today on fairness, free speech and equal justice under the law in the United States of America.

To have to think about this on December 7, which marks the day that so many men and women embarked on a journey 81 years ago with so much sacrifice to protect these values against authoritarian rule, makes it even worse.

Confusing, Confounding and Contradictory

We all are familiar with the popular narratives that were repeated over and over regarding the Covid vaccines.

Two years ago as the Covid vaccines were just about ready to be rolled out we were told that the vaccines would prevent infection and transmission of the virus. We were promised that the end of the pandemic was at hand if enough people got vaccinated.

A year ago as cases were beginning to rise to unfathomable levels we were told that the vaccines were never intended to stop infection but getting the Covid vaccine would prevent serious disease and hospitalizations.

Do you remember last winter's surge?

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html

We were told that our hospital systems would crash if people did not get the vaccine.

We don't hear as much about Covid these days.

CNN, MSNBC and the mainstream media do not display Covid counters continually on their screens.

You would think that life for the most part has returned pretty much to normal based on news reports and our everyday lives.

For example, look at these college students at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio packed in to watch the USA play in the World Cup.

However, if you actually look at the data not much has changed with Covid compared to last year insofar as hospitalizations are concerned.

For example, look at hospitalizations for Covid in New York last year at this time compared to where we are right now.

Covid hospitalizations in New York are actually 55% higher in those age 70+ (the most vaccinated age cohort) than they were are at this time last year.

The all ages average is also higher this year than it was at this time last year in New York.

This is in a state in which 88% of everyone 18-64 has been fully vaccinated and 95% of those age 65+ are.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/new-york-covid-cases.html

The same is true in Florida in which 93% of those over age 65+ have been fully vaccinated and 74% of those 18-64 are.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/florida-covid-cases.html

The national numbers also show that new hospital admissions for Covid for those age 70+ are higher now than they were at this time last year although the all age average is down slightly.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html

How do you explain it based on everything that was "sold" to the American people on what the Covid vaccines would do?

The good news is that Covid deaths have not followed the upwards trajectory that hospitalizations have.

In fact, the 7-day average of deaths (250 per day) is near the lowest level it has been since the beginning of the pandemic.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html

This could be due to the vaccines.

It also might be due to better treatment protocols, a less virulent variation of Covid circulating or improved natural herd immunity.

Whatever the cause it is good news.

What is also interesting is looking at the current Covid deaths (7-day average) in the least vaccinated state (Alabama) compared to Puerto Rico that has a higher overall vaccination rate than any state.

Puerto Rico has over 3 times the death per capita than Alabama has right now. It also has over 3 times the cases per capita and 3 times the test positivity. Hospital rates are about the same.

81% of the population is fully vaccinated in Puerto Rico compared to 52% in Alabama.

Puerto Rico is also first in booster shots and Alabama is last.

The numbers tell a different story than the narrative would suggest.

How is this possible with what we have been told?

As far as the hospital system collapsing because of Covid, look at the chart from HHS below.

Total inpatient hospital beds utilized over the last two years have been remarkably stable.

What is most interesting is that staffed inpatient beds have declined by 100,000 (13% reduction) over the last two years in the midst of the Covid pandemic.

Note that hospitalizations for influenza is making a comeback after practically disappearing over the last two years.

Credit: https://twitter.com/kerpen/status/1599114096082767873/photo/1

A few data points to further prove that this has surely been the most confusing, confounding and contradictory pandemic in human history.

Comedian Ben Glieb sums it up pretty well in this monologue.

(Click here if the video above does not play in your browser)

(Hat tip reader Michael D.)

This and That---December 2, 2022 Edition

A few random observations, charts and factoids to provide some context on what is going on in the world.

Personal Savings

The personal savings rate is in free fall as a result of the expiration of Covid relief programs and inflation that has squeezed the household budgets of Americans.

The personal savings rate has never been lower.

Things were great two years ago as government checks filled bank accounts while no one had anywhere to spend the money due to lockdowns.

It is a different story today.

Personal savings of $4.85 billion was registered in 2020's second quarter. Last quarter the personal savings of Americans had dropped to only $685 million according to the Federal Reserve.

Personal savings has disappeared as real personal disposable income has gone negative like nothing we have seen.

How is the consumer still spending?

Credit cards to the rescue.

How long can this continue?

Home Sales

U.S. pending home sales are also in the midst of their biggest decline in over 20 years.

The declines have been faster and deeper than what was witnessed in the 2009-2011 financial crisis.

Credit: https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/us-pending-home-sales-plunge-biggest-annual-drop-ever

Unemployment

The unemployment rate has not nudged up yet but that might be about to change.

Challenger (an executive recruiting specialist) maintains a database that tracks job layoff announcements. This index typically is ahead of the actual unemployment claims that follow the layoffs.

The Challenger index is forecasting bad news over the next few months.

Credit: https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/continuing-jobless-claims-hit-10-month-highs-layoffs-exploded-november

 

In addition, the latest ADP jobs employment report shows that 100,000 manufacturing jobs were lost last month. Professional and business services lost another 77,000 jobs.

The good news is that there were a lot more bartenders, waitress and hotel hospitality jobs being filled.

All will be good for them until the credit cards max out.

Credit: https://twitter.com/DontWalkRUN/status/1597976685487738881

Overall net employment growth is slowing according to ADP.

Credit: https://twitter.com/CortesSteve/status/1598026014701268993

How long before it goes negative?

It's About the Environment?

In order to transition away from fossil fuels, and rely on solar, wind and electric vehicles, is going to require a tremendous amount of copper. This is a key resource in all of these so-called "green energy" initiatives.

For context, over the last 5,000 years, humans have mined 700 million tons of copper.

To meet the energy transition targets that have been established by the climate change lobby, it will require another 700 million tons of copper to be be mined over the next 22 years.

It also takes, on average, 16 years of lead time to open a copper mine in the United States considering regulatory and other issues.

Cobalt, graphite, lithium, nickel and vanadium are other metals that are required for green technologies.

Compare the requirements for these key minerals to known reserves.

It seems that something does not add up in all of this.

Credit: https://twitter.com/BrianGitt/status/1595063248092819456

I have no doubt that tremendous innovations and advancements will be made in the future.

More reserves will be found. Better extraction techniques will be discovered. Alternative metals will be utilized.

However, to have any government mandating the abolition of energy sources that work well today for things that are unproven is a recipe for disaster.

What is the greater potential disaster?

Climate change?

The response to perceived climate change?

Climate Change?

What is going on right now with temperatures around the world?

The United States.

These charts compare actual temperatures compared to averages (green/blue colder, orange, yellow warmer).

Europe.

India.

Australia.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/30/australia-weather-second-wettest-spring-ever-coldest-in-decades

Remember that all of the alarm about climate change was originally supposed to be because increased carbon emissions were going to raise temperatures, melt the ice caps, flood coastal areas and cause droughts that would curtail food supplies.

Now these same charts are used by many to argue that climate change is occurring.

Yes it is. As it has since the dawn of time with man or without.