Aaron Rodgers and the Covid Double Standard

I have watched with interest how the mainstream media has covered the Aaron Rodgers Covid story over the last week.

Rodgers tested positive for Covid and it was disclosed that he was unvaccinated.

This resulted in an endless string of media types stating what a miserable, irresponsible human being Rodgers was for doing his own research and making a choice on what he believed what best for his body.

Rodgers has been of accused of endangering people's lives, being a dumb jock, being a crackpot, spreading misinformation, taking a cattle dewormer, promoting conspiracy theories, being divorced from reality and someone who doesn't care.

View this clip for a sampling of the vitriol directed at Rodgers.

Never mind the fact that Rodgers, like almost every other young, healthy individual, had almost no symptoms of the illness and appears to have fully recovered in a couple of days.

Also ignore the fact that Aaron Rodgers is anything but the uniformed ignoramus he is being accused of being.

Does anyone remember Rodgers on Celebrity Jeopardy a few years ago?

He defeated both Kevin O'Leary of Shark Tank fame and astronaut Mark Kelly (now a U.S. Senator from Arizona) in his celebrity appearance.

My bet would be on Rodgers should there be a debate on Covid and the vaccines versus Terry Bradshaw or some of the other media types who have attacked him.

Contrast the media attention on Rodgers with a string of other reported Covid positive results in which you barely hear a whisper of news.

The only difference is the fact that the assumption in all these cases is that the athletes were vaccinated.

Why spread that inconvenient news?

For example, Cleveland Browns running backs Nick Chubb and Demetric Felton both tested positive on Tuesday two days after Chubb ran for 137 yards on 14 carries and scored two touchdowns on Sunday.

Source: https://www.nfl.com/news/browns-rb-nick-chubb-tests-positive-for-covid-19

In fact, every NFL team has had players out with positive tests this year with the exception of the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The Dallas Cowboys and Tennessee Titans have both had 13 on the Covid list at some point in the season. Almost all have been fully vaccinated.

NHL star Sidney Crosby, his coach and another Pittsburgh Penguins teammate tested positive for Covid last week.

Source: https://theathletic.com/news/penguins-mike-sullivan-joins-sidney-crosby-brian-dumoulin-in-covid-19-protocol/rnJjzAGhwW2G/

Before the season began the NHL said all active players were fully vaccinated.

The NHL St. Louis Blues have also had five players that were fully vaccinated test positive for Covid recently.

 

The list of Blues players to hit the COVID list overall this season has grown to five, as Torey Krug and Niko Mikkola joined that list this week. It’s a big hit to the Blues’ defense, and their cap issues are prevalent considering they could be playing shorthanded if another player either gets injured or hits the list.

These cases are small potatoes compared to the the 44 cases of Covid that surfaced among the Cal-Berkeley football team this week that has caused postponement of its game on Saturday with USC.

Source: https://abc7news.com/cal-game-cancelled-football-covid-arizona/11221773/

By now, you've probably heard that Cal's football game against USC has been rescheduled after more than 40 players and staff tested positive for coronavirus. These seem to be breakthrough cases, since Cal says 99 percent of the team is fully vaccinated.

I might add that the University of California-Berkeley required that all students, faculty and staff had to be fully vaccinated by August 4, 2021 in order to be at any physical location on campus.

These are the current stats from the Cal-Berkeley Covid dashboard on those fully vaccinated among students.

Source: https://coronavirus.berkeley.edu/dashboard/immunization/

Considering the facts, how was this outbreak the result of the unvaccinated?

What I also find interesting in all of the stories about these breakthrough cases are statements like these which appeared in this article about the Cal outbreak.

None of the players or staffers have been reported as seriously ill, which is line with the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines.

It's a testament to the efficacy of the vaccines that members of Cal's football program have thus far avoided serious illness.

Why can't the same be said about Aaron Rodgers?

Rodgers must have also been doing something right. He had mild symptoms. He avoided serious illness. He seems to have had the same result of those who were vaccinated.

A double standard?

At the same time that all of this is going on, several new studies indicate that all of the attention focused on shaming and marginalizing Aaron Rodgers and others who are unvaccinated is misplaced.

For example, consider this study from UC Davis that was released this week.

The viral loads carried between vaccinated and unvaccinated people are similar and both can potentially spread the virus to other people based on the viral loads.

Source: https://www.ucdavis.edu/health/covid-19/news/viral-loads-similar-between-vaccinated-and-unvaccinated-people

A new study from the University of California, Davis, Genome Center, UC San Francisco and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub shows no significant difference in viral load between vaccinated and unvaccinated people who tested positive for the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2. It also found no significant difference between infected people with or without symptoms.

Although vaccinated people with a breakthrough infection are much less likely to become severely ill than unvaccinated, the new study shows that they can be carrying similar amounts of virus and could potentially spread the virus to other people.

Another study from the UK published in the Lancet medical journal stated that while the vaccines accelerated viral clearance once someone was infected they did not inhibit transmission of the infection.

"..fully vaccinated individuals with breakthrough infections have peak viral load similar to unvaccinated cases and can efficiently transmit infection in household settings, including to fully vaccinated contacts. Host–virus interactions early in infection may shape the entire viral trajectory."

The study found no real difference in the transmission of the virus within household settings between those vaccinated and unvaccinated.

25% of household members exposed to a vaccinated family member who had Covid became infected.

This compares to 23% of household members who became infected from an unvaccinated family member.

This argues completely against the use of vaccine mandates. A vaccinated person can spread the virus just as easily as an unvaccinated person according to the study.

The study did indicate that the vaccine may provide some protective benefit to those vaccinated.

38% of unvaccinated household contacts got the virus compared to 25% who were fully vaccinated.

However, those numbers suggest a vaccine efficacy that is far from the 95% effectiveness that was claimed when the vaccines were authorized.

In looking at the interviews that Aaron Rodgers has done on the subject it is evident that he has done a lot of research on Covid and the vaccines. As he stated, this is more about politics than anything else.

Considering his high profile status it is clear he did not come to his decision lightly. He evaluated his risks from Covid as well as the benefits and risks of the vaccines to his health. He made what he believed what the best decision for him overall. It is what everyone should do.

No one should blindly get in line to take the jabs just as no one should decide that the vaccines have no value in combating the virus.

Each person needs to weigh the benefits and risks of the vaccine individually. For many, the benefits will outweigh the risks, especially those at highest risk. However, many will not benefit from the vaccine and some number will undoubtedly be harmed.

It seems to me that Rodgers should be respected rather than rebuked for his stance.

Other news out of Europe this week puts a finer point on all of this.

Are the vaccines really as safe as stated, especially to healthy, young athletes?

This is from an article in Zero Hedge.

The German newspaper had a list of soccer players in Europe who have had various heart issues that culminated in sudden collapse on the field or death.

Are all of these just random events that Aaron Rodgers should not give a thought to?

Perhaps none of these cases have anything to do with the vaccines. 

The mainstream media seems willing to accept that premise without even a question.

Elsewhere in the world more and more countries are also advising against vaccinating people age 30 or under with the mRNA vaccines.

The list now includes France, Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Taiwan.

Is the science different in these other countries?

Has anyone noticed that most of the athletes in the NFL, NBA and NHL are under 30 years of age? Aaron Rodgers is an elder statesman at 37.

However, in the United States, it is apparently not enough to coerce young athletes to get the vaccines.

We now are focused on making sure those as young as 5 years old get the shots as well.

A double standard?

You decide.

The Disaster That Wasn't, The Disaster That Is

The entire time that Donald Trump was running for President we were told that he would be a disaster for America.

It was a constant refrain.

He was going to wreck the economy.

He was going to round up people on the streets and deport them.

He was not going to be able to build a border wall and stop the stream of illegal immigrants.

He was going to cause a climate disaster.

He was going to start a war in the Middle East or with North Korea.

He was not going to be able to confront ISIS. ISIS terrorists would soon be attacking our homeland due to Trump's threats.

He was not going to be able to renegotiate NAFTA or impose tariffs on China.

He would not be able to make America energy dependent. We would be dependent on the Middle East forever.

He would appoint far-right judicial extremists to the Supreme Court that would quickly overturn any number of prior judicial decisions.

The list went on and on.

You may recall this statement from Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman on election night when it became apparent that Trump was going to win in 2016.

It really does now look like President Donald J. Trump, and markets are plunging. When might we expect them to recover?

Frankly, I find it hard to care much, even though this is my specialty. The disaster for America and the world has so many aspects that the economic ramifications are way down my list of things to fear.

Still, I guess people want an answer: If the question is when markets will recover, a first-pass answer is never.

In January, 2017, shortly before Trump took office, I wrote about all the fear mongering that the Democrats had been doing (and which the mainstream dutifully repeated) and concluded there was a simple reason for it.

They did not fear that Trump would fail. They feared that Trump would be successful.

I could go on and on about the fears the Democrats state they have about Donald J. Trump.

Of course, how rational is any of this fear?

They exhibited no fear whatsoever when Barack Obama was taking office despite the fact that he had absolutely no managerial experience, he had no foreign policy experience, he had served but four years in the United States Senate before taking office and he had been in the public eye for less than five years.

Compare that to Donald Trump's nearly 50 years of business experience and over 30 years where he has been consistently in the public eye.

I think the answer is very clear as to why Democrats really fear Trump.

It is the most awful fear imaginable for the Democrat party and the media elite.

However, you will never hear this fear spoken aloud.

Their greatest fear is that Trump will be successful.

Were the Trump years a disaster?

Nothing the fear mongers warned about came true.

It was the disaster that wasn't.

In fact, aside from effects related to the Covid pandemic, it was a period of one success after another. 

High job growth. Reduced poverty levels. Higher income levels. Low inflation. Low energy prices. Increased economic opportunities for minorities. Historic tax cuts. The resurgence of manufacturing in the United States. The defeat of ISIS. Energy independence. New trade deals with Mexico, Canada and China. Peace accords in the Middle East. Peace talks with North Korea. The most stable southern border situation in decades.

The Covid pandemic in his last year did end up overwhelming everything else Trump did.

However, Trump did successfully push the vaccines forward in less than one year which was thought impossible to almost everybody when the initiative began. In fact, Trump's optimism on the development of the vaccines was constantly derided.

That includes Joe Biden who said this in the last Presidential debate at the end of October, 2020.

“We’re about to go into a dark winter. A dark winter,” Biden said. “And he (Trump) has no clear plan, and there’s no prospect that there’s going to be a vaccine available for the majority of the American people before the middle of next year.”

"No prospect there's going to be a vaccine available for the majority of the American people before the middle of next year"?

What actually happened?

By June 30, 2021 (the middle of the year), 336 million doses of the Covid vaccines had been administered.

Source: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-trends_vacctrends-total-cum

The fact is that the vaccines were not only available, they were administered by the middle of the year for everyone who was eligible and wanted them.

At the same time, Covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths have all been higher in 2021 with Biden in office than they were in 2020 with Trump.

This is despite the fact that vaccines have been available the entire year starting with those at highest risk.

There have been about 1/3 more confirmed cases in 2021 than there were in 2020. (10 months in each reporting period).

Similarly, Covid deaths are 15% higher thus far this year than they were in 2020.

How come most people are not aware of this?

Could it be because the mainstream media no longer is publicizing the case counts and deaths each day?

Trump was a disaster on Covid but Biden isn't?

Of course, the list is long when it comes to the disasters we are seeing in 2021.

Afghanistan.

Energy prices.

The supply chain.

Empty shelves.

Worker shortages.

Chaos at the border.

Inflation.

Crime.

Cancel culture.

Authoritarianism

Covid arrived in in the United States but Trump had nothing to do with it. In fact, Trump was about the only public figure who had been warning us about trusting and relying on China for years.

Almost every one of the disasters we are seeing right now is the direct result of actions Biden has been responsible for.

Let's take energy for example.

Biden is the guy who campaigned by saying oil executives should be jailed if they don't take accountability for helping to doom the environment.

He has actively done everything in his power to stop oil and gas exploration in the United States.

It should not be a surprise to see soaring gas prices at the pump and heating oil and natural gas prices going through the roof as winter approaches.

What is Biden's answer?

He is desperately appealing to OPEC and Russia to boost oil production.

It is ok for OPEC and Russia to produce oil but not U.S. producers?

If it is truly global warming Biden is worried about how come it is not a problem if the oil comes from the Middle East rather than the United States?

Of course,"the disaster that is" becomes more apparent every day to more and more Americans.

A Suffolk/USA Today poll released this week shows Biden with a 38% approval rating.

Kamala Harris has a 28% approval rating.

How does a VP get a 28% approval rating? That is not an easy task.

For context, Jimmy Carter had a 31% approval rating when he left office after losing the electoral college vote 489-49 in 1980 to Ronald Reagan.

Nixon had a 24% approval rating when he was forced to resign under threat of impeachment in 1974.

Yes, Donald Trump had a similar approval rating as Biden about the same point in his Presidency. However, this was at a time that he was being bombarded daily with allegations that he colluded with the Russians to get elected. Allegations that continued throughout his four years.

Slowly but surely the facts are coming out that the Russian collusion allegations thrown at Trump by the Democrats and the media were nothing more than a political hit job that could be one of the biggest crimes in the history of the United States.

Special Counsel John Durham has started making arrests more than two years into the probe.

Everything points to Clinton and the Democrats being behind it all.

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/durham-theory-of-case-appears-to-be-trump-russia-collusion-was-largely-a-clinton-fabrication/ar-AAQsYvg

This is a headline from the Times in London today.

The Brits are beginning to understand. How long before many more Americans do as well?

Trump has plenty of detractors. 

I know many Republicans who would like him to go away.

I personally think he would much better served by just standing by and watching the disaster unfold right now. 

There is no need for him to comment or insert himself into the debate.

Biden, Harris and the Democrats are burying themselves. Trump does not have to pick up a shovel with any additional dirt.

Time is on his side.

Trump's record of competence in comparison to the chaos we see right now also looks better with every passing day.

For example, look at these net favorables ( positives less negatives) in the Suffolk poll.

Source: https://twitter.com/PollsandOdds/status/1457727256252592139

Trump is -4 but Biden and Harris are -19 and Pelosi is -35!

Only 20% think the direction of the country is on the right track.

64% of voters (28% of Democrats) are already saying they don't want Biden to run for another term.

58% of voters (24% of Republicans) don't want Trump to run again.

The irony of it all.

Biden has become more unpopular than Trump (even in his own party) in less than 10 months.

We were told by Democrats that Trump was a disaster every day for five years.

It was the disaster that wasn't.

We were told how great everything would be once Trump was out of office.

Biden and the Democrats would make everything better.

They are going to "build back better".

We are now seeing how deep and devious their lies have been.

It has led us to "the disaster that is".

If this is better, I don't want to see what "worse" looks like.

Could we see Biden or Harris sink below Nixon's approval rating if it gets "worse"?        

Boosters Not Lifting Off

Covid booster shots were generally authorized over six weeks ago in the United States. They had been available to the immunocompromised since early August.

How many are agreeing to the additional jab?

The boosters do not seem to be getting much uplift in the United States right now.

This is particularly evident in the last week or so where the trend has almost flat-lined.

Note the stark difference in Booster uptake in the U.S. compared to the U.K. and Israel.

It is also interesting to note that the U.K. and Israel both saw significant spikes in Covid cases right after booster doses were introduced.

Iceland and Singapore are two other countries that have vaccinated a much greater share of their populations than the United States.

This chart shows the share of the fully vaccinated in these countries compared to the U.S.

Singapore and Iceland have also administered many more booster doses per capita than the United States.

Notice the enormous spike in cases in Singapore and Iceland despite 80% vaccination rates that occurred right about the same time that Boosters were introduced.

Both have far more confirmed cases of Covid in the last several months with 80% vaccinated and boosters being used than they ever had before the vaccines were introduced.

Yes, deaths are lower in both countries than in the United States but Singapore's mortality statistic may soon surpass the U.S. number based on current trends.

If you did not have the data from these other countries you could look at the falling cases in the United States over the last eight weeks and might attribute it to the introduction of the booster shots.

However, could the fact that the United States is doing comparatively better right now actually be due to the fact that the number of those taking booster doses have not taken off? Do the vaccines somehow cause cases to spike in the short-term. There is evidence of that pattern around the world since vaccines were introduced.

I don't know, but it is another example where not enough questions are being asked about why we are seeing higher cases along with higher vaccination rates.

What do I make about the lagging booster lift off?

Could it be that more Americans are beginning to ask questions about all of this?

Are they beginning to wonder whether they are getting the full truth?

Do the public health authorities really have their best interests in mind?

Why are so many who ask questions or have a differing view being silenced?

What I do know is that the next three months are going to tell us a lot more about the vaccines.

We are heading into the seasonal period in the populous northern states where respiratory viruses spread the most easily.

Will the vaccines provide a clearly defined protective advantage compared to our experience last year when we did not have the vaccines?

Will booster uptake improve?

How many children 5-11 will take the vaccine? Will it have any positive effect? Will we see any negative effects in the near term?

To this point, 2021 looks worse with the vaccines than 2020 did without them.

There have been more Covid cases in 2021 thus far than in all of 2020.

There have been more Covid hospitalizations in 2021 than in all of 2020.

There have been more Covid deaths in 2021 than in in all of 2020.

You don't hear these statistics on the evening news.

The second 2021 Covid wave has swept through the Sunbelt and is now centered in the Upper Midwest.

A big reason the national numbers have come down recently is that there are few big population centers in the Upper Midwest states compared to the Sunbelt.

However, what happens when Covid challenges Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Boston and other large population centers in the coming months?

Based on what I have seen previously, I am not confident the vaccines are up to the task. I hope I am wrong.

Many countries in northern Europe are now seeing significant spikes in cases despite high vaccination rates.

Cases are higher now than they were in early February when the vaccination programs were just starting in these countries.

It is interesting that Sweden, the country that placed the biggest bet on natural herd immunity early in the pandemic, appears to be faring best right now.

Compare Sweden to the United States and the UK since February 1, 2021.

Are we going to see trends similar to Northern Europe in the next few months in the U.S. when Covid challenges the Midwest and Northeast population centers?

If things don't go well I would expect the blame game will get louder.

I don't expect any of the experts taking a step back and reflecting on what they may have gotten wrong.

It will be the public's fault.

Not enough wore masks.

Not enough got vaccinated.

Not enough got the booster. 

Not enough parents were willing to get their children vaccinated. Mandates are necessary.

We need to start vaccinating 2 year olds.

Last year Joe Biden told Americans during the last Presidential debate in October to expect a "dark winter".

Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/22/biden-dark-winter-america-431399

“We’re about to go into a dark winter. A dark winter,” Biden said. “And he (Trump)  has no clear plan, and there’s no prospect that there’s going to be a vaccine available for the majority of the American people before the middle of next year.”

It turned out there was a vaccine available for everyone age 12 and over by the middle of the year.

In fact, boosters were being pushed out just after the middle of the year to most who needed or wanted it.

Despite that, it wasn't just a dark winter. It was a dark year. In many, many ways beyond Covid.

We can only hope and pray that the coming winter is not darker still.

We need a boost in spirits. 

The question remains whether the Covid vaccine and the boosters can provide it.

The Power of the People

The election results this week should remind everyone of a few truths about the power of the people in governing the United States of America.

These are truths I have written about a number of times in these. pages.

The people are sovereign in our system. Their power is absolute.  Unfortunately, too many people don't believe it. The simple fact is that politicians have no power unless the people provide it.

Laws that do not have public backing do not survive over the long term. Lawmakers who make laws that people do not support do not stay in office very long. Politicians who do not do the will of the people soon need to find other employment.

This seems to be lost on too many people who complain that they have no influence or power in the affairs of state. It may seem that way when you are just one vote. However, those votes add up quickly.

We saw clear evidence of that on Tuesday in a number of election contests across the nation.

The election getting the most media attention was the Virginia gubernatorial contest in which Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe.

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/election-results-2021-governor-virginia-youngkin-new-jersey-murphy/

It was notable because just 12 months before Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the state by 10 points.

That translates into an enormous 12.5 point shift from Democrat to Republican in Virginia in one year.

The Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General and a majority of the state House of Delegates also were won by Republicans.

Of the previous five Governors in Virginia, only one has been a Democrat.

The Democrats have also carried Virginia in every Presidential election since 2008. 

A major factor in the race is when McAuliffe stated this is in a debate with Youngkin at the end of September.

It is undoubtedly one of the biggest political gaffes in my lifetime.

There is no doubt in my mind that it was a deciding factor in this race.

However, even more stunning were the results in New Jersey, where a little known former Republican State Assemblyman who had been out of office since 2018, almost unseated the incumbent Democrat in one of the most reliable blue states in the country.

Joe Biden won the state in 2020 by 16 points.

Incumbent Phil Murphy appears to have won with a margin of 40,000 votes out of almost 2.5 million cast.

Source:https://www.cbsnews.com/news/phil-murphy-wins-reelection-new-jersey-governor/

Unlike Virginia, there was not one big gaffe that provided fuel for the challenger. In New Jersey it seems that voters have become dissatisfied with a number of issues tied to the Democrat party---harsh Covid policies, high taxes, inflation, rising crime rates etc.

It all translated to an astonishing 14 point swing in one year from Democrat to Republican. 

New Jersey was also where one of the greatest political upsets in my lifetime occurred this week when a  political novice, a truck driver by the name of Edward Durr, has apparently defeated the incumbent State Senate President Steve Sweeney who had been in that role since 2010.

Durr, a 58-year-old father of three and grandfather of six who grew up in South Jersey, estimates he spent less than $10,000 on the race. By contrast, the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, spent about $5.4 million on a 2017 effort to unseat Sweeney, yet he still won by 18 points.

 

Source: https://ballotpedia.org/Edward_R._Durr

What magic formula did Edward Durr have that allowed him to defeat one of the most powerful politicians in New Jersey?

It was not money. Durr did not even have a campaign website. He did have a campaign page on Facebook.

However, Durr did have an (R) after his name on the ballot. That appeared to very important this year.

Durr also made it clear that Sweeney and the state legislature had continually let the people of New Jersey down. They did not lift a finger to stop Governor Murphy's onerous Covid mandates and lockdowns that had forced 1/3 of the state's businesses out of business. They have done little to improve the state's business climate and to stop the steady outflow of New Jersey residents opting to leave the state.

You can see the campaign video that Durr filmed with an iPhone here.

The people understood the message. Perhaps the people also now better understand their power.

There were example after example of that same people power showing up this week at the ballot box around the United States.

Much to the surprise of the mainstream media and those who live in Manhattan, San Francisco and D.C., there still seem to be a lot of people who have some common sense remaining in the country.

In Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in suburban Philadelphia, Republicans swept county offices for sheriff, district attorney, recorder of deeds, prothonotary and county controller.

The Republican wave extended over much of that swing state.

In Pennsylvania, the GOP also appeared to be on the verge of possibly sweeping all four Pennsylvania statewide judicial elections in voting that tellingly reflected a surge in Republicans' turnout. From Bucks County to Erie, Republicans also won big in local elections.

In Minneapolis, voters rejected a "defund the police" initiative.

Voters in Minneapolis have resoundingly rejected a proposal to reinvent policing in their city, 17 months after the killing of George Floyd by police sparked massive protests and calls for change.

Approximately 56% of voters rejected a ballot question that would have removed the Minneapolis Police Department from the city charter and replaced it with a "public-health oriented" Department of Public Safety.

A Texas House seat on the south side of San Antonio, in a district with primarily Hispanic voters that went for Joe Biden by 14 points a year ago, flipped to a Republican. 

In ultra-liberal Seattle it appears that a Republican has won the City Attorney race. However, it might take a awhile to get the final result because of Seattle's crazy mail-in ballot rules. See the article below that refers to "early returns". The numbers are as of 4pm Thursday, November 4,  two days after Election Day!

Ann Davison was leading Nicole Thomas-Kennedy 58% to 41% according to early returns in a race for City Attorney which attracted national attention because it pitted a self-described abolitionist and a Democrat-turned-Republican. Seattle city attorney

What is an abolitionist?

I learned in my History classes that it was someone who was fighting to end slavery.

No more.

The new definition seems to be someone who wants to ignore most crimes and do away with prisons.

Thomas-Kennedy believes in the abolition of the criminal justice system — or, in other words, completely overhauling how Seattle prosecutes low-level crimes and doing away with prisons. Her leftist views will be difficult to carry out in an office that primarily represents the City in civil legal battles such as when landlords yell about tenant protections or when businesses fight business taxes. 

The city attorney also prosecutes low-level crimes such as misdemeanors. Thomas-Kennedy doesn’t believe most misdemeanors should be prosecuted. Holmes and his office had already started diversion programs for these crimes to limit recidivism.

In other words, this Democrat wanted to be the City Attorney but not prosecute anyone for most crimes or to protect anyone's property rights.

There comes a point that even a Republican can get elected when you get that radical.

However, keep in mind that Thomas-Anderson defeated the incumbent Democrat in the primary. And she is still pulling 41% of the overall vote. Keep that in mind before you travel to Seattle.

Will the election results cause the Democrats to make any changes in direction from their far-left ideas?

You would think that would be the case for any rational thinking person. However, that remains to be seen. The first reaction Democrats seems to be that all those who voted for Youngkin are racists and all will be well if the Democrats spend another $3 trillion on social spending programs.

Keep your eye on how those big spending plans proceed in Congress.

What does all this mean for 2022 and 2024?

I have already seen political pundits make all sorts of claims.

This could set up the GOP to flip 50 or more House seats next year.

This makes the Republicans heavy favorites to regain control of the Senate.

This shows that Trump is done. His policies are popular but he is not.

I even saw someone already say that Glenn Youngkin would be a strong candidate for President in 2024.

The reality is that it is much too early to make any predictions.

Look how much voters views have changed in one year.

There are times that a month is a lifetime in politics. Ask Terry McAuliffe.

No one knows what the future holds and voters respond to what is happening around them when they vote.

We could be in a very different place in a year.

It might be better. It might be far worse.

That is even truer looking at 2024.

A lot of people I talk to believe that this election spells the end of Donald Trump's future in politics. They point to the results in Virginia and New Jersey and say his policies are popular but he can't be the one who sells them.

In July, I wrote a post entitled Trump 2024?

I raised the same point at that time.

One thing is for sure. 

The Trump policies are enormously popular among the party faithful.

It is less clear whether Trump is considered to be the right person to advocate for those policies in a general election.

In politics there is often something to be said for the fresh new face like a DeSantis or Youngkin. It is easy to project optimism on them. Potential is boundless, especially on the upside. Hope really does spring eternal. Their warts and weaknesses are yet to be revealed.

All in all, my view is that the 2021 election did not help Trump's chances for 2024.

However, we are still over two years before the primaries begin and three years before the general election.

A lot can happen.

The Donald's trump card is that people know what they are getting with him---warts and all.

If things continue to deteriorate, I would expect Trump to look better and better to people who may get increasingly pessimistic about the direction of the country and their own circumstances.

There comes a point when people don't care as much as about comportment as they do competence.

The people of the United States have been given a unique power that few who have ever have inhabited the earth have been privileged to receive.

It is the power to choose those who they want to REPRESENT them.

Edward Durr said one thing in this interview on Fox News that sums it up very well.

Durr said that people do not elect someone to LEAD them.

They don't choose political leaders, they elect public officials to be their VOICE.

Too many politicians have decided their role is to TELL the people what to do.

They have it backwards.

The people are supposed to TELL the politicians what to do.

That is the power of the people.

I would hope that a few more people understand that power today.

And a few more politicians are LISTENING.

Much To Do About Nothing In Glasgow

25,000 of the world's political and business elites are gathered in Glasgow, Scotland to discuss climate change and develop plans to limit future temperature increases.

The first problem is to see if everyone has a place to stay as Glasgow is a city that only has 15,000 hotel rooms.  Room rates for average hotels are over $800 per night. A night at the Argyle Hotel is $9,000 for a standard room. That is 50 times the normal rate. 

Reports are that some have had to book hotel rooms as far as 200km (125 miles) away. Many are staying in Edinburgh which is about 50 miles away. It makes me wonder how much concern there is about the carbon emissions required to commute back and forth to the climate summit site each day?

It must be about the same level of concern as those who travelled to Scotland on some 400 private jets.

Or from Joe Biden who absolutely had to tour Rome with a 85 car motorcade before he headed to Scotland on the climate summit.

Of course, Joe Biden is also the guy who owns a beach house in Delaware while he is spinning tales of doom that our coasts are going to be under water in a few short years if we don't ban all fossil fuels and stop eating meat.

If that is true why did he just allow the Department of Homeland Security to spend half a million dollars on a fence around his property if it is soon going to be underwater?

Source: https://nypost.com/2021/10/22/dhs-455k-for-security-fencing-around-bidens-beach-home/

Also, why is a fence around HIS property necessary for HIS security but a fence at the southern border is not necessary for OUR security?

Let it also not be forgotten that one of the major purchases that Barack Obama made after leaving office (which for eight years he continuously warned of rising temperatures, sea levels and impending climate doom) was a $12 million home on Martha's Vineyard.

The Obama House on Martha's Vineyard
Source: https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2019/12/04/president-obama-buys-home-edgartown-great-pond

We are often told that New York City, Hoboken, NJ or Miami Beach, FL are going to be underwater because of climate change. A handy website (whatismyelevation.com) provides the answer for any location on earth on what your risk is. One Wall Street in New York City is at 33 feet above sea level. Hoboken is at 23 feet. The Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, FL is at 13 feet elevation.

What about Obama's house at 79 Turkeyland Cove Rd., Edgartown, MA?

It sits only 3 feet above sea level!

Let's get real here.

If you really believed what you were telling other people would you spend $12 million on a house 3 feet above sea level?

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/us/politics/obama-climate-change.html

The fact is that I have been paying a lot of attention to the "climate change" claims for a long time.

I have written about the claims in these pages for over ten years.

There has been no politician who has made more outlandish claims about the climate than Al Gore.

Gore has been making dire predictions about the climate for over 30 years. He started claiming that we were on the verge of catastrophic climate change in his book, Earth in the Balance, in 1991.

In 2006 Gore made his catastrophic climate change warnings into a movie, An Inconvenient Truth.

In that film Gore predicted that we had but ten years to get things right on earth or face catastrophe. He stated that our weather would get increasingly warmer. That our climate would become more severe with more hurricanes and tornadoes. And that by the summer of 2015 the Arctic sea would be ice-free.

I debunked all of these predictions with the actual facts in my post "An Inconvenient Truth +10" on the tenth anniversary of the release of the film.

Let's look at Gore's biggest claim that he made in 2006---that by the summer of 2015 the Arctic sea would be ice-free.

This is what the Arctic daily sea ice extent looked like in September, 2006 when he first made his claim that by the summer of 2015 the Arctic would be ice-free.

Source: https://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2021/07/

This is what the Arctic sea ice extent was in July, 2016 when Gore predicted it would be ice-free.

It was not. 

Source: https://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2021/07/

This is what it was in July, 2021.

Source: https://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2021/07/

Is it melting away?

If anything, it has grown marginally since Al Gore made his prediction 15 years ago.

At the same time, Antartica has just had its coldest winter on record.

 

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/09/weather/weather-record-cold-antarctica-climate-change/index.html

What about the rising sea levels?

Here are the actual measured sea levels at The Battery in New York City compared to various predictions based on models. Note that actual sea level changes are running below the lowest predicted levels.

Source: https://twitter.com/Tony__Heller/status/1455311779790131201/photo/1

What about rising temperatures?

Yes, it is not wise to look at just one country in the entire world. However, most who read this blog live in the United States.

Here are the average maximum temperatures in October for all U.S. historical climatology network stations from 1895-2021.

Does it look like it has gotten warmer since the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's?

I don't think so.

Source: https://realclimatescience.com/2021/09/declining-october-temperatures-in-the-us/

What about summer heat with extreme temperatures over 100 degrees?

Again, extreme temperatures in June and July are a lot less prevalent today than it has been in years past.

Source: https://realclimatescience.com/2021/07/record-heat-of-2021/

In 1936, 78% of all network stations registered a 100 degree day at some point in June and July.

What about all of the "unprecedented" forest fires we hear in the media in the western half of the United States?

The fact is they are not unprecedented.

Compare the 2021 year to previous years.

Source: https://twitter.com/Tony__Heller/status/1454457579380240389

The problem is that most young people in schools over the last several decades have been indoctrinated to believe in the "Climate Change" narrative.

They are told that it has never been worse.

They are told that we have any only ten years to solve the problem or there will be no future. Of course, we have been hearing some version of that for the last 25 years. It is always ten years in the future.

They don't know anything about the Dust Bowl in the Midwest in the 1930's.

They don't seem to make the connection that there was an Ice Age in which a good part of North America was under ice. It got cold and then it got warm. Humans had nothing to do with it. How did that occur? What makes anyone believe that man can overwhelm nature?

Source: https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/7012-post-apocalyptic-ice-age/ooc

We are told that the answer is to cease the use of all fossil fuels. That is are only hope.

They want us to rely on solar, wind and other renewables for future energy needs.

However, there is a new problem to be aware of in the climate change narrative that I just became aware of.

Global Stilling.

It seems that the wind has not been blowing as strongly as it should in Europe and those wind turbines are not generating enough power.

Of course, it is caused by climate change. What else could it be?

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2425775/Climate-scientists-told-cover-fact-Earths-temperature-risen-15-years.html

When we see what comes of anything out of Glasgow the only thing that really matters is to what extent can we rely on China to do anything.

China always says the right things about their commitments to reduce carbon emissions.

However, they never really follow through.

And the reality is that if China does not do something, nothing else matters.

China is producing twice as much in carbon emissions as the United States.

The United States is producing fewer carbon emissions than it did ten years ago.

China is producing 31% more.

Unlike the United States and Europe, China is not phasing out coal, it is building more coal-fired electric generating plants. Hundreds and hundreds more.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10087059/China-makes-mockery-climate-targets-plans-build-coal-power-stations.html

Who is the one big foreign leader that is not attending the Glasgow summit?

China's President Xi.

Who is another?

Vladimir Putin of Russia.

Source: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/xi-putin-will-be-no-shows-un-summit-dubbed-humanitys-last-best-chance-fight-climate

What more do you need to know about what will come out of Glasgow?

Xi and Putin are smart enough to know that it is all a charade. Xi did send a written statement of support of the effort. Of course, he did. The check is in the mail. 

Putin is not going to stop drilling and producing oil and gas.

Xi is not going stop burning coal for energy.

They are not going to commit economic suicide.

I would be worried if I thought that there was anything that could really be done with these major countries not participating at Glasgow. 

What I don't understand is why Biden and other Western countries don't understand that affordable energy is inextricably tied to growing economic health.

When in human history have we ever abandoned affordable and workable energy sources without a practical solution to replace them with?

If the climate is really changing (which is still not clear to me looking at the data), it is even less clear what role humans have to do with it, and it should be absolutely clear we can't do anything significant enough to change it. To think otherwise seems to be the height of human arrogance when balanced against the power of nature and God the Almighty.

The only thing that is certain to be accomplished at Glasgow is that those Scottish hotels will have made a tidy profit while catering to those attending a summit which is nothing more than a political show promoting a scientific sham.

Why do so many continue to believe the "Climate Change" narrative?

I quoted John Hinderaker of Powerline ten years ago in these pages on in my first post on climate change and global warming in, "I'll Take Hot Rather Than Cold Any Day".

It was true then. It is even truer today.

"The global warming hoax survives only because most people do not take the trouble to learn the facts for themselves."

Thanks for taking the time to learn a few facts.

Pass it on to someone else who might learn something. 

What A Difference A Year Makes

Election Day 2020 was exactly one year ago.

That is, it was supposed to be one year ago based on federal law.

Over 101 million votes were cast early out of 158 million total votes in the Presidential election.

66 million of those were mail ballots that were cast before Election Day.

That is double the number of mail ballots cast four years earlier.

Those mail-in ballots undoubtedly determined the election. The question still remains a year later about how many of those votes were legitimate.

Substantial questions have been raised in at least three states--Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin--that have raised doubts about the integrity of the votes in those states.

In Georgia, the Secretary of State who repeatedly stated there were no problems in the vote in the weeks after the election, has now called for the firing of Fulton County election officials as it has been shown definitively that there were double-counted ballots in the county.

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/brad-raffensperger-demands-firing-of-fulton-county-georgia-election-officials-after-double-counted-ballots/ar-AAMciM0

Mail-in ballots are much more subject to fraud than in person voting. Mail ballots do not require an actual, living and breathing human being to physically show up at a polling place, show an ID (in some states) and sign the voter roll that can then be compared to the registration record signature.

In order to prevent fraud and insure the integrity of the ballot it is critical that safeguards be applied to mail-in ballots in order to be sure that the voter casting the ballot is the same as the person on the voting rolls.

In August, 2020 I predicted that the mass use of mail-in ballots in the 2020 election was inviting fraud and chaos in a post titled "Magnets for Fraud". 

Moving to mail-in ballots when the entire voting system and infrastructure is geared to in-person voting is an invitation to fraud.

To insure the integrity of the election it would be necessary to have scores of people opening the mail, tabulating results and verifying signatures and voter id's against the registration rolls. It would be many times more laborious than the current system and require more time.

It would also almost guarantee that we would not have election results for days or weeks after the election day.

Mail-in voting (or something more sophisticated technologically) is something that may make sense in the future.

However, it must be accompanied by changes in the systems and election infrastructure that have been developed to service in-person voting over a period of years. It is not realistic that it could be changed in a matter of a couple of months without confusion and chaos occurring. I can think of nothing worse happening in a year when the integrity of the vote is so important to gain public trust.

Due to the traditional requirements for mail-in ballots it is not uncommon to have a fairly high number of rejected mail-in ballots in that voters do not follow the rules.

At least, that was the case before the 2020 election.

All of the rules were "relaxed" in 2020 because of the threat of Covid. The requirements and safeguards were disregarded. Almost every mail ballot was accepted without question.

Most of this was done by unelected election bureaucrats without any constitutionally required legislative approval.

It was predictable that election boards would be overwhelmed. The election systems in almost every state were not designed to capture and certify 100 million mail-in ballots.

As a result, very little was done to prevent fraud and insure that the mail-in ballots were valid.

In Georgia, 1.3 million mail-in votes were counted. That was over 6 times what the count was in 2016.

6.4% of the mail-in ballots were rejected in 2016 for deficiencies.

In 2020, only 0.2% were.

All of this was supposed to be necessary due to the threat of Covid.

However, where are we today?

What is interesting to me is that if we compare new Covid cases in the United States between October 19, 2020 and 2021 (two weeks before November 2) the 7-day average of Covid cases is 33% higher in 2021 than in 2020.

Hospitalizations are 32% higher this year. 

Deaths are 114% higher!. The 7-day average on October 19, 2020 was 729. It was 1,557 in 2021.

This is with vaccines available and 69% of all those voting age (18+) fully vaccinated.

Why aren't all of the mail-in rules being relaxed in 2021? The threat of Covid is much higher this year than in 2020 looking at the numbers.

The reality is that time and experience always allows one to gain better perspective. 

People thought Covid was bad last year. They had no idea things would be worse in a year.

A majority of people also thought that Donald Trump had to be removed from office for the terrible job he and the Republicans were doing on Covid and other issues.

It seems that the last 365 days have given people some additional perspective on that score as well.

This is from an NBC News poll that was released over the weekend on the question of "which party would do a better job"?

When I first saw this graphic on Twitter I thought it might have been photoshopped. It was not.

It is not often in American politics in which we see voters agree by double digit margin spreads on anything.

Biden's job approval is 42% in the same poll.

71% of Americans in the poll say America is headed in the wrong direction. That opinion is shared by 48% of Democrats and 70% of Independents. It should come as no surprise that 94% of Republicans agree.

A year ago Joe Biden told that American people that he was exactly the person we needed to unite the country.

How is "good ole Joe" doing on that score?

Only 28% see him as someone that is doing a good job in uniting the country. 

He scores lower on that trait than any other characteristic that voters were asked to judge his performance.

What a difference a year makes.

Most people waved 2020 good bye thinking things couldn't get any worse.

2021 was going to be so much better.

I have to think there are a fair number of people who might like the chance to turn back the clock right now.

What a difference a year makes.

Truer words were never spoken.