The President Doesn't Have a "Right of Visit and Search"

 The "right of visit and search" that President Trump is declaring he has to search innocent vessels is a right only extended during a war. The U.S. Congress is the only American entity that can declare war on a nation, and it has not declared war on Iran. It could be argued NATO also has this right, but most of the NATO countries do not support a war with Iran. Any visiting and searching of vessels that our Navy does will be done illegally. Oh, and although pirate ships also fall under this right, if we board any ship and it isn't a pirate ship, we have to make compensation to that ships owners and nation.

Some Americans have jumped on the "no nuclear enrichment for Iran" without apparently realizing that this would mean Iran can't use nuclear power. It would also mean Iran could not establish data centers, among other things--but presumably if they did this they would be more intelligent and limit theirs, unlike the U.S., which has 4000+ (no other country has 1/10 that). 

When will other countries realize that this is all about money and stock manipulation (see my other post). Leaders like Netanyahu and Trump, who have no hope of being re-elected are grasping at straws and hoping to at least make themselves a nice nest egg before they must permanently leave politics. The U.S., unfortunately, has no laws against our elected leaders dabbling in the stock market and doing insider trading--it's only those under them. 

The U.S. didn't want Russia to get nuclear bombs either. Our leaders told us it would be the end of the world because those crazy Russians would kill us. Thus, the decades long Cold War. 

Ironically, of the nine countries who have nuclear bombs, the United States is the only one to use one and they some how have justified the fact that they only used it on civilian populations who were completely unsuspecting and who had no bomb warnings or shelters that could protect them. This is similar to how we convinced Americans that it was a great thing we were able to destroy an Iranian ship--their best ship, without expanding on the fact that the only reason that ship was there was because it was participating in war games with the United States and was there under a peace treaty. No, we shot them in the back as soon as they were heading home, while they were completely unsuspecting. We are just like Epstein--we play a simple war game and make other countries think we're just a friendly country before screwing them. 

In actuality, the only thing Russia getting nuclear weapons did was stop us from using them again. Granted, with our trigger happy President and his henchman Hegseth, we may start bombing everyone again. We are already only hurting civilians in Iran, just as Israel is primarily targeting civilians in Palestine and Lebanon. Israel is absolutely correct in that the world has forgotten the history of WWII. Now, just as then, Hitler was allowed to do what he wanted and took over SEVERAL countries before the rest of the world even told him to stop!! That is exactly what Israel and the United States are doing while everyone looks the other way. 

The Real Reason for the U.S/Israel-Iran War

Many people like to approach this as a Zionist thing--and it certainly appeals to Zionism. But the truth of the matter is that Netanyahu wants Israel to be the tollbooth for all the oil in the region. Israel wants the power to shut the world's oil on or off and effect world markets, and it wants other Gulf Countries to pay for this. By forcing Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz, they can go to those who were dragging their feet and get them to seal this deal. 

If the other countries were smart, they would understand that pipelines are pretty easy to blowup. None of the Middle East has been able to protect itself from Iran. Personally, if I had a neighbor who could beat me up, I wouldn't go picking fights with him/her all the time. 

My questions are twofold: Why is the United States helping with this? Is it (as some have hinted) because our President is scared of even more things that Israel agents have on him beyond Epstein? He shouldn't be since former President Clinton showed you won't be impeached for sexual immorality or lying on the stand. I think that the President is helping Israel manipulate markets. On April 1, everyone in the news knew that President Trump was going to make an announcement at 8 pm--an odd time. That he was going to make this announcement was known for over 24 hours and promoted. In the morning of April 1, while markets were opened, it was rumored throughout the news that he was going to announce an end to the war in Iran. Gas prices were affected accordingly. Then, the announcement came and it said nothing except we were absolutely not ending the war. 

Most people think stocks have to go up to make money on the stock market. This is not true. Stocks can go down and people can make money on them by short selling. Short selling works best, of course, when you know what the market is going to do and you can guarantee it is going to drop. 

My second question is: Why does the world ignore that the U.S. and Israel are obliterating citizens, just as Israel did in both Palestine and is doing in Lebanon, but when Iran attacks civilians in retaliation, they are committing war crimes? Ever since the United States decided to drop to atomic bombs on civilian cities in Japan, war has shifted from two armies fighting each other to one army wiping out the civilians of another country. In Korea, we killed refugees. In Vietnam, we attacked unarmed civilians and dropped Agent Orange on them. How can any American complain about war crimes when we measure our own actions with a different stick? 

Today's warfare is even worse. People are not making the decisions as to what targets to hit in Iran, Palestine, or Lebanon. The 4000+ AI centers scattered throughout the U.S. are doing it for our military. They are choosing what to target, and they are choosing to target girl's schools, universities, and pharmaceutical companies. Many troops following orders end up scarred for life because of the evil things they are told to do. When will Americans put a stop to this and execute any commanding officer that authorizes a civilian target?

(AI was used to help generate this image, and hours were spent by the author editing it.)

Everyone Should Be Very Worried About the Interest Rate Drop

 I have long complained that CPI is not a real measure of inflation. About 15 years or so ago, I looked into what was in the actual "market basket" when it was first invented and researched--back in the 1950s--and then went to the store and priced it. If I just did math and relied on the CPI as adjusted by the FED, that market basket should have cost around $250. It actually would have cost $400. 

This should be no surprise for people living in the USA today. In 2019, we could go to McDonalds and get a chicken sandwich for $1. Now it is $2.59. That is 259% inflation. However, the cumulative rate of inflation according to the FED is about 25%. 

If you are wondering how I can price the exact same things the FED says it's pricing and come up with a much larger inflation rate, that's because I am really reporting the price changes. After the FED prices things, it frequently decides they are too expensive and instead of simply reporting the new cost of say a car, it decides to fudge its numbers. It makes a subjective but "research based" estimate of how much more value a car today is than a car from ten years ago. There is a good breakdown of this here. 

Cars supposedly last longer these days, but the average car on the road today is 12.5 years old with 169,000 miles according to the Department of Transportation. The average car on the road in the 1970s based on what the online consensus seems to be is that they lasted 10 years and 100,000 miles. Now, I had a 1981 Honda Civic with over 200,000 miles, and it was still running when I got rid of it in 2000. There are tons of problems with the logic that modern cars are more technologically advanced so they last longer. In 1950, the average new car cost about $1,600. Now, $48,000 is the average price--for 2.5 more years of life. That's a straight CPI of 3000% but after the FED adjusts their CPI, its only 1206%. Since cars make up a decent amount of the overall percentage of CPI, "adjusting" or as I like to say "fudging" the numbers is not good. This is not a real "cost of living." And of course this is only one of many ways the CPI is "adjusted."

All poverty levels and state programs including disability and social security are based on these numbers. So, a person living on social security in 1950 might have been able to afford a new car, but they could not today. This also means that poverty is a lot worse in the US than what is reported, which is 12.5% or about 1:10. However, 36% of people are skipping meals because they cannot afford to eat or 1:3 people. Not being able to buy food because you can no longer afford it is, to me, living in poverty. 

Ironically, inflation isn't really going down even with the interest rate increases. So why is it going down? I bet you can figure that out--the FED changed how they were calculating CPI and did one of their subjective "adjustments." Everyone rejoiced and the stock market was confused why they didn't immediately cut the rates again. Well, the FED obviously knew its new numbers were fudged. Now inflation numbers are down where "normal" is supposed to be. With all these investors and politicians complaining--because in America we hire the dumbest of the dumb to represent us in Washington (i.e. they can't do basic math and will just give themselves a pay raise if they start to struggle with groceries), the FED just slashed our interest rates. 

The problem here is obvious. Inflation didn't stop when they raised interest rates. Inflation is higher than what the numbers say. A large portion of Americans can't afford food, and our idiot government keeps printing money to send to Ukraine and Israel so they can massacre people we don't like and to pay our overpaid weapons dealers and banknote holders. Our GDP gets fudged--I mean "adjusted"--for inflation based on the inflation numbers that were fudg--I mean "adjusted." That means our GDP looks a whole lot bigger than what it actually is because our inflation adjustment is not as big as what it should be. Our current GDP is probably overinflated by more than 200%. With a national debt of 28 trillion and growing astronomically by the minute, the fudged GDP, which is ironically called "real GDP" has us at about 23 trillion right now. 

Japan has been able to maintain a much higher debt ratio, but their people have large savings accounts that the government can borrow from cheaply. We do not. If we are fudging our inflation, we are spending as much as we need to be spending on our people, and we are not giving accurate information to our creditors. Further, our inflation is still raging out of control and our government has not done much to reign it in. The only real thing it did was increase interest rates and now we are lowering them. I don't think this will last long. Inflation is not just a result of interest rates. It is a result of debt and money printing. As long as we keep doing that, more and more Americans will go hungry. With the government fixing the books, fewer and fewer of them will be able to get any aid. 

Ukraine Idiocy

 

Long before Tucker Carlson decided to speak out against the war with Russia our current government encouraged, I was speaking out against our idiocy. In fact, I started speaking out back when President Obama was in office and the United Stated funded the overthrow of the rightful UkrainianPresident who had been elected in a U.N. supervised election. We overthrew that leader just as we have helped to overthrow numerous leaders in sham “elections” throughout the world—and when our behind the scenes dirty deeds don’t work, we use military force.

I spoke out because we started this thing with Russia and then conveniently gave Hunter Biden a job. (He is unemployable in the United States because he was dishonorably discharged under an officer’s “general” discharge since he had done cocaine a few months after manipulating the system to ignore his previous cocaine use and age and let him into the military.) However, while in office, it seems the Former President Trump, who was trying to dig up dirt on Hunter and the current President, discovered that many upper-level officials were making dirty money in Ukraine. Unfortunately, the former President didn't see the danger or his precarious position because he had all this dirt--perhaps until it was too late. 

Just as COVID-19 “miraculously” appeared on the scene and gave the government a chance to make former President Trump look like a fool by contradicting him in an Orwellian manner: CDC et al.-don’t wear masks they can’t protect you…Trump-Don’t wear masks … CDC et al.-Wear masks! …Trump: But I thought masks can’t protect me from it, that’s what you just told me… CDC et al.: They protect others, not you, you idiot! President Trump will kill us if he stays President!

Now, I never liked President Trump, although I admit he did some good things, he also did some bad things. But replacing one big-mouthed idiot with another one is not a change. Unfortunately, Democrats made certain third party candidates did not have a chance in the 2020 elections.

The thing is that those in higher up positions who have dirty Ukrainian hands have realized that they have to destroy Ukraine if they want to cover their tracks… or at least let the Russians get the data hidden there so they can say the Russians faked it. But the problem is that they are willing to destroy America to protect their own skin. That is unacceptable. People need to vote for third parties and ONLY third parties this fall. We need to return our current feudalist society to a democracy. Keep money at home for those who need it instead of spending $40 BILLION on weapons we are giving to Ukraine under the guise they will "pay us back." You don't give away money to someone when your own children are hungry. You don't help another country fight a war when your own country is falling apart.

It Has Only Taken Two Years for Scientists Today to Start to Figure Out What They Knew Right After the Spanish Flu

 Well, look at that, our modern scientists finally figured out what they knew right after the Spanish flu—lockdowns failed to stopCOVID-19 deaths and spread, and limiting gatherings might have increased COVID-19 deaths. Some scientists are also finally admitting that COVID-19boosters don’t help, either. Granted we have known for decades that mRNA shots are only effective for about 3 months in humans and we knew that although large numbers of antibodies were produced right after vaccination but those numbers did not effectively stop the virus after about 1 month—Guess what? we are working on our fourth booster one year on here in the West. With the serious side effects now finally being reported, we have to ask if these experimental non-vaccines that don't prevent you from getting or giving COVID-19 are worth it. I am not an alarmist or a conspiracy theorist. I never have been. But from the beginning, I have said and continue to say that what we are doing—lockdowns, masks, fake vaccines—is making the COVID-19 problem worse based on hundreds of years of science that we have thrown out the window—and now science is finally being able to publish the truth—albeit in a limited manner. Not that the world is listening--Kiribati just enacted lockdown and others are still in lockdown mode or just now coming out of it. The persons and countries who first suggested lockdowns should be made to pay the rest of the world for their un-scientific sins.

You want COVID-19 to go away, well, there is a simple answer—stop testing. If we tested for flu as much as we tested for COVID-19, the numbers and deaths from flu would be 10 times higher than what we have. But we don’t test everyone who walks into a doctor’s office for flu or mandate everyone who shows up to work with flu symptoms get tested for it before being allowed back to work. And that is what is really killing our economy and supply chains and hospitals and every other place. The problem is that the available jobs we have are being falsely created temporarily to meet demand while people are out sick with COVID—whether they are sick or not. Our actually job situation is in a much worse place than what they are telling us. In addition, stopping testing will make COVID-19 and the money and power that came with it disappear.  April is the next spike, let’s see if the CDC decides to relinquish its power over the world or not.

I knew all this was bunk from the beginning and questioned why the CDC, which I completely trusted prior to March 2020, was lying or at least misleading people from everything to the concentration of their bleach water to masks—but I have lost too many friends because of their bunk to say I told you so. Now, I know that a lot of people made money off of us—the poor who couldn’t afford to rent out an entire hotel during lockdowns or throw a party on their yachts or buy the best foods or get moved to the front of the health care line and get a private room in a hospital. The problem is that they have done it at the cost of our lives. I really don’t mind rich or privileged people having more things or opportunities than me. But when those people are getting their money by inflicting more suffering on the poor, I have a serious problem with that. It takes great restraint to not curse them as more of my unvaccinated friends are being denied medical care after getting COVID-19 from some hapless,vaccinated sheep who believed he or she could go out with COVID-19 symptomssince they received these fake “vaccines.” And frankly, I don’t really care if you are vaccinated or not—if you are sick, whether its from “vaccine” side effects or a minor cold—stay home. Also, keep in mind that mRNA vaccines were not used because they could be quickly developed- China developed 2 traditional vaccines in the same time it took us to pump mRNA and adenovirus vaccines out. They are being used because they are cheap. Name one time when something "cheap" worked as well or better than the real thing.

Hitler's Big Lie and the COVID-19 Pandemic

I have written a new book, filled with citations to help clear up the mystery surrounding all the COVID-19 misinformation. Here is the description:

 The misinformation surrounding COVID-19 has possibly been the largest since the propaganda created in Nazi Germany. With even the CDC first telling everyone not to wear masks and now telling everyone to wear them, it can be extremely difficult to discover just what is right and what is wrong. Who do you trust? This book, filled with more than 300 cited references, was written to help you find the truth. It is a must-read if you are confused or if you want to find out if you have been able to sort through all the lies successfully. 30% of all the profits from the sale of this book will be divided equally and donated to a local YMCA and a summer camp that have been hit hard financially because of the COVID-19 business closures.

You can find the book on Amazon at the following links:

Full color version paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Big-Lie-COVID-19-Pandemic/dp/B08FP5V3JN/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1597677713&refinements=p_27%3AJennifer+J.+Reinoehl&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Jennifer+J.+Reinoehl

Color E-book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08G56JQVB

Black and white version paperback & black and white large print paperback--links to be posted within the next week or so. 

I am also going to be running some Goodreads Giveaways and will post those links as soon as they are ready. 

33.5 Million on Unemployment and People Are Whining About Sweet Tomatoes Closing Permanently

I truly don't understand America. The disconnect between reality and the fantasy they seem to live in is vast. COVID-19 wasn't deadly. My husband tested positive, and the rest of my family, including me, probably have it, too. We are fine. It is somewhere between a bad cold and a mild flu. For me, it is more like a bad sinus infection, and I have heart problems, so based on all the hype I am still expecting to end up in the hospital. But we put people out of work. 33.5 million people have lost their jobs... for this. Did we stop the spread? No. Millions of people have had it in NY and LA without any or very mild symptoms. Or, they thought they had a sinus infection and pushed through it. People who stayed inside and isolated themselves as told were more likely to end up hospitalized in NY. Not the people who went about their business as best they could. It's over. The military is packing up and heading home without treating one patient in their makeshift hospitals. Trillions of dollars have been spent-- not on improving healthcare or access to health care for the poor, but on buying unused ventilators and paying unemployment benefits for people who had jobs. Still, people following the doom and gloom of the news ignore Georgia's real numbers that have drastically decreased since they fully opened, and cry about the second wave. These are the people who have been getting paychecks--the ones that find it easy to ignore the fact 15 million people still haven't received unemployment benefits after 2 months and some people are not getting anything or only fractions of what they were once getting. People are facing foreclosure and financial doom because the government forbid them to work. Worse yet, many of these people are still so terrified about COVID-19 that they will never come out of their homes and do not care that they are not buying food or meds they need because to them, dying of hunger and their current diseases is better than a small chance of dying from COVID-19. Our economy contracted by 4% in the first quarter, and people are brushing that aside as insignificant--despite the fact we were only closed 2 weeks in the first quarter and we are going to have been closed almost 2 months or more in the second quarter. They ignore that our ability to spend all those trillions on useless things is dependent on our GDP.

But, Sweet Tomatoes, the rich person's buffet, is closing. For that, they are all sad. Not one tear was shed when food bank lines extended down the street as far as could be seen. Not one "Wow, we will miss them" for the 7 million mom and pop businesses that may never reopen. No, a rich person's buffet is the only thing to get sad sentiments. We are sick, America, and it isn't with COVID-19. It is with apathy toward our fellow man.

Trump: The First President with the Audacity to Decrease Tax on the Rich While Increasing Tax on Poor with No Added Benefits for the Poor and then puts the Poor out of Business

So Donald Trump has big cojones. First, he decided to decrease the tax on the rich while increasing the tax on the poor. Had the poor people gotten expanded Medicaid or had HSAs (a rich person's extra retirement fund parading as health insurance) been made illegal or had mental healthcare been improved, I wouldn't be complaining. However, poor people don't even get relief from the nasty school lunches Michelle Obama felt were necessary to implement. Many of our children get to starve throughout the school day and come home to binge on unhealthy foods because of it, which is probably why obesity took a sharper climb upward after her "healthy" measures. Where our kids might have once eaten broccoli covered in cheese, they now toss their plain broccoli in the trash. But I digress.

After raising our taxes, the coronavirus hit. Now, for those of you who are hyped out on media, the facts are this: (1) Neil Ferguson should have his college degrees removed and his job at the Imperial College taken away. He created a model that did not use COVID-19 data, but that he recycled from his swine flu predictions. This was the model they are relying on when they say quarantine will help us. You remember the hundreds of millions that died during the swine flu epidemic? He predicted that. He also predicted tens of thousands would die from mad cow... So, he's an idiot, and all the governments of the world went with it. (2) Coronaviruses are NOT new. We have been dealing with them for about 50 years. (3) COVID-19 cannot be spread by asymptomatic carriers-- really. Look up scientific research on it in peer reviewed journals (not pre-publish sites). Hint: to officially declare a disease capable of infecting others, you need to do animal experiments to see if they can contract the disease from people who test positive but have no symptoms. One or two "case" or "observational" studies have been published with a handful of participants, but these amount to poor circumstantial evidence and many of them admit the "asymptomatic" carriers had symptoms. (4) Household transmission is the number one way coronavirus spreads. It is also the number one way ANY infectious disease spreads. AND THE GOVERNMENT LOCKED YOU IN YOUR HOMES. Understand now why numbers go up drastically and never go back down once a country locks down? (5) Quarantining healthy people was developed in the 1300s to combat diseases. It is the only preventative health care measure that we still use. (Didn't see anyone burning massive bonfires in the streets now, did you?) Because of this, there is much research behind it. Guess what? It has never worked. Think about it. Bubonic plague spread across Europe. Didn't matter what they did. Yellow Fever-same. Cholera--same. Doesn't "flatten the curve" either. There is absolutely NO scientific evidence for that. It is just one of those cutesy catch phrases to psychologically manipulate you.

So, the short is, you are not sacrificing yourself for your neighbor. True sacrifice would be overcoming your fear and allowing the 1/3 of the workforce that was laid off without ANY income for more than 6 weeks now, to go back to work. But everyone seems to want 60 million people and their families to die. I don't get that. Why would anyone be okay with that?

The big thing is that those 60 million people are the ones President Trump was taxing more by fiddling with personal exemptions. That's right: He increased our taxes and then put us out of work an decreased our income. Rest assured, the rich still got their paychecks through investments while the rest of us were laid off. He also reduced corporate taxes, causing more than 60 large businesses like Amazon to get tax credits!!! That's right, these rich companies actually get money back and end up with a zero tax bill regardless of how many billions of dollars in profit they make each year. This should be a further sore spot for all those small businesses that were forced to permanently close.

For kicks and giggles, you can check out some of these to see just what the government is spending money on while it ignores the fact poor people need useful programs to keep them from becoming destitute:
https://www.forbes.com/pictures/ejde45i/in-pictures-15-silliest-uses-of-taxpayer-money/#8c515f5374f2
https://reason.com/2019/04/15/happy-tax-day-here-are-6-infuriating-ways-the-government-spends-your-money/
https://www.rd.com/funny-stuff/wasteful-government-spending/
https://moneyminiblog.com/lists/stupidest-things-u-s-government-spends-money-on/
https://americansforprosperity.org/5-outrageous-ways-the-federal-government-has-wasted-your-money-part-iv/
https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/12/top-10-wasteful-government-expenses/

Our country was founded on capitalism--a capitalism where the best companies survive. However, we have become more of a socialist hybrid where the rich and the big companies get government handouts and the government makes more laws, like the executive orders that closed down small business during COVID-19, to force small companies to close. We complain about the high cost of healthcare, but then the government looks the other way when healthcare becomes a business so large it is traded on the stock market. Capitalist societies can only survive when they don't abuse their citizens and selectively favor those big businesses who need financial help the least. And if those businesses do need financial help to stay afloat, well, true capitalism lets them fall because we all know the small guy doesn't get a handout when he or she struggles.

Why Italy and the USA have failed the Covid-19 test (part 2)

The USA has also failed. Our CDC did not enact early testing. Testing from case 1 has taken a minimum of 3 days, unless you are rich. For some reason, rich people can still go on vacation and travel throughout the country, they can get tests even when they are not sick or seriously sick (which increases the chances of a false negative), and they can get the best healthcare if they do fall ill.

However, the fact is that the average American and his or her doctors must wait up to two weeks for test results. Covid-19 usually lasts 12-15 days. People are forced out of their jobs simply because they have been "exposed." It is a bit late for this. If you have mild symptoms, you are refused a test and told you "probably have it." This is a "precaution" but illogical. If, for example, almost 12,000 people in the state of Indiana have been tested because they had serious symptoms of the illness, and only about 2000 of them ACTUALLY HAVE IT, then our prediction rates are estimating 6x more cases than what we really have.

This is why we have run out of medical supplies. The lack of testing kits and testing ability has made it so that doctors err on the side of caution and wear protective gear 6x more often than necessary. It is still forcing doctors and nurses to use gear more than needed.

Now, we have rapid tests. This means that the number of cases will drastically increase, but we are still 1-2 months out before we will be able to test anywhere near the number of people we need to test each day (at this point). The WHO has stated repeatedly that the way to contain this disease is early detection--not mass quarantine, not more ventilators. The USA created an "emergency" situation by not testing and now is continuing to play on that emergency by enacting everything they can for "support" without actually doing what is really necessary: increase testing. The state of Indiana released information that one of its many universities was going to begin testing and expected to soon be testing up to 2,500 patients each day. Two weeks later we are testing less than 2,000 statewide. If students were back at their colleges instead of holed up at home, perhaps more universities could test. Although anyone can get Covid-19, I have found no reports of anyone under the age of 30 dying in the United States, yet, so this would be a wiser use of our resources.

On top of mass shelter-in-home orders and poor testing, the US has been putting out conflicting orders and statements that do not help calm the public. In some cases it is better to say "We don't really know yet, but we are working on it" instead of saying "We know this..." and then later saying "Wait, that wasn't right." A few states have responded well to calming the panic, for example, Georgia's Covid-19 website clearly shows that about 80% of the people who have died had pre-existing conditions. In another 15%, the status of preexisting conditions is unknown. Out of the current 102 deaths that are recorded, only 4 did not have a pre-existing conditions and all of these were over the age of 55. This isn't reassuring for the sick population over 55, but for the rest of us it should be. They also report the number of cases that are hospitalized, letting people know that everyone does not end up in the hospital. The neutral, calming, blacks, blues, and grays, make it more a page for statistics than sensation. The only thing I could complain about is that there could be a few more pie graphs.

On the other hand, you have Indiana, which gets an F in webpage design. At this time, they have the number of deaths in bigger font that is blood red. The yellow and blue fonts for number of tested and number of confirmed cases fade into the background. They do not report whether the people who have died had pre-existing conditions, and they break down newly confirmed cases by age, without any reference to whether the cases are mild, moderate, or severe. Instead of the light blue Georgia used in reporting the counties with only a few cases, which puts them in the background. Indiana again has opted for a light, reddish-brown that makes counties with even 1 case stand out on the map. How much did they pay for this fear inducing visual? Probably a lot more than Georgia's basic display. Of course the governor himself says the numbers should "put the fear of God in you." As someone who has studied pandemics, they don't. Nor should they make anyone afraid if they are looked at objectively in terms of other more deadly illnesses.

Increasing fear and panic across the USA instead of quieting it means that more people are going to commit abuse, more people are going to commit suicide, and more people are going to be casualties of Covid-19 than just those who contract and die from the disease. Issuing "emergency stay-at-home" orders instead of closing state and locality borders to prevent the spread, failing to test people quickly who go to the doctor with symptoms will increase spread and continue the lack of medical supplies, and failing to diagnose and treat people early will increase the deaths. If this virus were truly a threat, the USA would be in trouble.

Why Italy and the USA have failed the Covid-19 test (part 1)

If Covid-19 was Smallpox, Bubonic plague, or Polio, Italy and the USA would see over 30% of their population dead because of their poor handling of Covid-19.

Italy went on lockdown over 21 days ago when they were seeing 1,400 new cases each day. Now, they are seeing 5000-6000. Why? Because Covid-19 is spread primarily in hospitals and in households. Yes, 1/3 of its spread can be attributed to community settings such as the workplace and stores, but anyone who thinks we can lock an entire nation in its home with no access to food, services, or sunlight in 2020 is an evil dictator in the making. But we have just increased the number of household transmissions since people are forced together.

Covid-19 is also spread through droplets and things you touch. The only time it is spread through the air (aerosol) is during the process of someone being put on a ventilator and in the rooms where ventilators are used. We believe that the more virus a person is exposed to, the less likely they will survive with Covid-19. This is called "viral load." When you look at images from Italian hospitals, you soon realize that not only do they not have private rooms with people on ventilators, they sometimes have more than people in the same room on a ventilator. Each of those ventilators is spreading the virus throughout the room and increasing the number of viruses the people, including the healthcare workers, are exposed to. Even if you have a hospital solely dedicated to the care of Covid-19 patients, if viral load is a factor, these patients will all be exposed to a higher viral load and will have an increased chance of dying.

WHO has said from the beginning that early detection is the key. Although I completely disagree with mass quarantined/shelter-in-place/and stay-at-home for healthy people, I have long been an advocate for isolating sick people. If you have been following me, this was one of my biggest complaints about the way former President Obama dealt with the ebola outbreak.

In this case, the USA is now falling under the same out-dated methods of mass quarantine like Italy. Historically (even during the SARS outbreak), mass quarantine does nothing to change the final results beyond hurting children's education and the economy. Every time mass quarantine has been implicated in the past 700 years, its failure is always attributed to "those who don't listen." The problem is that if for 700 years people have never 100% listened to quarantine instructions, then why do we suddenly think it will happen now? Instead, we choose to hurt poor people economically, increase the chances of violence against people who are supposedly spreading the virus, and increase the risk you will catch it when a loved one comes down with it. Conveniently, no mathematical model includes the chances of these things happening.

What do you do when you are powerful and your son has a drug issue?

Hunter Biden (Vice-President Joe Biden's son) wanted to be in the military. It seems he gets whatever he wants because it took two waivers (one for his 40+ age and one for his previous drug history). Well, in June of 2013, he tested positive for cocaine and was discharged. No one knows if it was dishonorable or honorable. Normal people would have gotten a dishonorable discharge, but then most normal people over the age of 40 with a drug history would have never gotten into the military in the first place. Out of about 35 applicants, Hunter was one of 6 chosen for his naval commission.

Conveniently, the Ukrainian revolution (the one the U.S. supported despite the fact the previous president of Ukraine had been legally elected in an election that the U.N. oversaw) began in November of 2013. This was extraordinarily lucky for Hunter because once the dust settled, he was able to get a job with a Ukrainian company. Apparently, being a lawyer doesn't require random drug testing... too bad being President, Vice-President, Senator, or Congressman didn't require random drug testing.

The thing is, it would have been easy for the West to take half Ukraine so that Hunter would have a job and give the other half to Russia. But we can't accept that. In fact, we stirred up so much trouble that the U.S. was not invited to the Minsk agreement that has held for so long.

However, we did know what that agreement said- that no foreign troops were allowed in the combat zone. Well, that gave us a loophole to stir things up again- After parading our troops around Russia's boarder and generally ticking off the population in several countries- not just the Czech republic, but Germans were caught protesting U.S. troops as well. Well, we decided to really stir things up by sending troops into Ukraine to train the new U.S. backed Ukrainian government's Neo-Nazi mercenaries. Hope that one doesn't come back to bite us like Vietnam, Osama bin Laden, and Fast and Furious.

So, Russia is moving into Eastern Ukraine, too. If the U.S. has troops in the West, why shouldn't Russia have troops in the East especially since everything was going so nicely until the U.S. started flexing its muscles.

Even more disturbing to me is the fact that Europe- which is filled with scars from the last world war, is blindly looking the other way. Our economy is shot. If we can't get a war going somewhere, we are through. Granted, we are through if a war takes place on our turf- we need other people to buy our lousy F-35s to help support our spending habits. I don't know anyone in
America who thinks things are peachy keen here - even though the papers are constantly talking about how our jobs numbers look great, or the only reason we stopped spending in the winter was because it was exceptionally harsh (sorry, Europe, our winter was pretty normal and I am located in the MidWest). Yes, I realize you have linked your economy to ours, but really we are a sinking ship- are you really falling for all the camera tricks.

Anyway, it used to be our newspapers that were biased. After all, the president promised them special information if they would agree to only print what he told them to print. So far, they have done a pretty good job of following the rules. Now, however, it seems this writer in Scotland has figured it out. The rich ruling class (if you are American and don't believe we are only ruled by the rich, you really need to check out the backgrounds of those in power- like Mr. Biden) has screwed up the world economy through dirty deals. The economic collapse will be covered by a war- this time with the East. Sad, yes, but even sadder is that it is the only theory that makes sense. Why else would world leaders WANT a war with Russia and China?

Why do we keep buying, supporting, and reading news media that lies to us? Part I

The trend has been increasing over the past years, but I think it has reached its ultimate low (or high depending on how you look at it). Lets take the "budget reducing" ACA (Obamacare). Now, common sense would say that if you are implementing a widespread healthcare plan filled with subsidies, your budget would increase. However, everyone in the government has been telling news agencies: Oh no, this will "reduce the deficit." Now, Republicans have made their stand that it wouldn't do this- but really, did they say so because of research or because they just wanted to argue with Democrats?

The news could have taken the time to read through the entire act. They could have consulted numerous independent accountants (who also read the act) as to their opinions. Instead, they just printed: The ACA will reduce the deficit. And the people believed them. And the news media has continued to report on this consider these as examples: 2012-2013, 2013, and 2014. Oh, they stick the words in quotes (as I have done), but does that make them any less accountable when they do not present a balanced view and when they ignore doing any research or fact checking to support the presented view? Not in my book.

And look at what happened this year- exactly one year after the ACA required everyone to get health insurance or pay a penalty. Well, our deficit increased in March (when the IRS was probably paying out a lot of subsidies) by 54% over last year. In fact, even news agencies are beginning to print a slightly altered story. For example, this one says that Obamacare is costing less than projected (because fewer people signed up and because the insurance offered on the exchanges costs less than expected because it isn't as good as what employers used to offer); however, the DEFICIT IS STILL RAISING at a higher than expected rate. In addition, two of the major items contributing to this are Medicare and Medicaid. (Um... sorry but those are BOTH part of the ACA - did they suddenly forget about the Medicaid expansion and all the ACA battles over reducing the "doughnut" in Medicare?)

I continue to question- why do people believe this? Where are the facts?

Keystone Pipeline safe for a little while

This morning, the Senate voted not to do the Keystone Pipeline.

Remarkably, President Obama seems to have switched party sides (Kerry is the one who is pushing for the pipeline) and the president hints that he would have vetoed it. He also said earlier that if it wouldn't significantly impact the environment, the he would approve it. Well, although the State Department investigation was performed by people employed by the oil company in charge of the pipeline, it did find that there would be no significant impact. Of course, then they removed the bios of the people involved in the investigation from their website "for privacy reasons."

Why should we see this as good news on two fronts? First, lets talk about all the jobs this would supposedly create. Right now, oil prices are low. OPEC refuses to stop pumping, and we in the West are only increasing our production. Adding more oil into the mix will make prices them lower. Already, some oil companies have been taking losses. How long before they begin cutting jobs? In addition, the part of the Keystone that is already in place will get less oil to process as its redirected to Louisiana. That means jobs will be lost in the MidWest (Illinois unemployment rate 6.6%) and gained in Louisiana (unemployment 6.0%).

Then there is the environmental impact. Now, I don't think carbon emissions cause global warming. But, I do see the dangers of an oil pipeline that runs across a fault line, one of the world's largest natural aquifers, and several large rivers. Not to mention the national parks and wildlife preserves. I also respect the rights of states to forbid the pipeline from crossing their boarders.

Scary for Anyone Who Reads Revelation...

Okay, 1,500 people in the world have embedded a Bitcoin wallet in their hand...

Bitcoins, for the uninitiated, are a virtual digital currency not backed by any government. Do not let the photos of the actual coins in this article throw you off - there are a few, but Bitcoins are "mined" digitally by donating computer power to oversee encrypted transactions. Hence the reasons the "wallets" are on data chips.

Although it is 888 bits and not 666 - this is still quite scary for anyone who reads Revelation. The mark of the beast will be something in the hand or eyebrow that will allow you to carry out financial transactions in a time when the world has become a cashless society.

Right now Bitcoins are extraordinarily valuable and although they can buy normal things they are the preferred method for conducting illicit business - drugs, sex slaves, hitmen, etc. The only way you can currently get a Bitcoin is through mining (which becomes progressively difficult and has a programmed cutoff date when it will no longer be able to take place), buying a Bitcoin outright with the government currency of your choice, or selling something to someone and allowing them to pay you in Bitcoins.

Do the math

So, our "overall" inflation rate is 2% - higher than expected and actually increasing sharply every month here in the US. Food and energy, which have no voice in the "official" inflation rate increased 2.5% and 3.3% respectively - all these prices are based on a year 2013 - 2014 ending in May.

Considering that payrolls (what people are making) only increased by 1.9% over this same period, it doesn't take an idiot to see there is a problem. People are losing their buying power. As one economist predicted, unemployment rates are dropping because companies are paying less for their workers comparatively. They are not even paying them the same amount, they are actually paying less. Perhaps this is why the poor people are getting poorer and the rich people have actually increased their wealth over the past several years.

I will say that since Congress hasn't voted itself a pay raise since 2009, it is close to putting itself on par with inflation. In 2009 it made 174,000 and that is the amount of inflation from 1914 until 2014. Yes, they were a little ahead of the rate then. However, they did propose pay raises that would have kept them well ahead and making 186,000 if they hadn't down voted them.

My husband hasn't had a raise in years and he doesn't get a vote on it. In fact, this year he had a $1200 decrease in salary because his boss decided to stop giving the May bonuses that replaced salary increases. Instead of making 2% more to keep up with inflation, this year we will be making 4% less. Too bad we can't take 4% away from Congress salaries - then perhaps our economic problem would get truly fixed.

I think I am going to barf...

Yes, I am sick. Sick of the way the news is constantly delivering what I find to be horrible news about the economy and then saying how wonderful it is.

"Oh look, there's a giant tornado that just took out the neighbor's house heading this way. Isn't that wonderful? I think everything is going to be okay, now."

No. It's not okay. The entire world is probably going to have to scrap it's monetary system and restart with the gold standard at a level of poverty we probably haven't experienced since the middle ages.

Let's look back at some of the articles over the past few months, starting with the horrid quarter 1 economic results:

First, we learned that the US economy was contract - BUT - stocks hit a record high. Of course, the latter wouldn't have anything to do with inflation giving prices a boost. The FED also overlooked the fact the economy shrunk and although things weren't rainbows and pearls, they said they aren't going to change anything. Wall Street rejoiced and went up - hey, when you have an inflation boulder rolling down a hill, why try to kill yourself stopping it? At least I can appreciate the stoic tone BBC reporters use.

In fact, Reuters US was almost exuberant about the decrease in the first quarter economy - after all few people lost their jobs and applied for unemployment for the first time. Of course, maybe that is because there are so few left to lose their jobs. I have to raise my eyes at the end statement of how Obamacare brought health care to so many. For some reason, a generously estimated 7 million people out of a population of 316 million, seems pitiful. And while I am perhaps cynical when I say 0.02% of the population is not expanding "coverage to many Americans," I find it very depressing contemplating how it can be all that affordable if Reuters says it increased economic activity by 0.1%. That, in my mind, is a lot of economic activity for such a small number who have only paid a few months of their premiums.

Granted, when the housing market again dipped in June, Reuters was less jubilant, they stuck to only reporting, briefly, the facts in this one. They quickly recovered in time to report a wonderful gains despite the bad housing market and even a "glimmer of hope" for it because confidence ratings about housing were increasing. Well, Reuters, I am also confident about the housing market. I am confident I can't sell my house which has lost 5% of its value since we bought it 12 years ago. I am confident I can't take that much of a loss and still have enough for a down payment on a home that will be big enough for my family. I am also confident that the assessment people who put their down payment money into an average performing money market account and rent will have more money in the end than anyone who sinks it into a house.

Then there is what I see as completely amazing bias journalism. On Jul 3, three articles were released - one stating that the DOW had jumped up because so many jobs were added in June (or maybe they were the standard jobs that college kids take up for the summer and employers frequently reserve for them - not really new, just dealing with vacation rush), and of course there was the fact our trade deficit lowered, which in my mind could be because Americans can't afford to buy anything, so of course our export spending is going to decrease. But in between those two rainbows was a real pot of gold that Wall Street seemed to miss. Jobless claims rose. More people filed for unemployment and more people stayed on unemployment beyond the first week. It amazes me how small and sparse this article is compared to the others. The title of the article is also very optimistic without much footing.

New European Concept: Pay the bank to keep your money in a savings account!!

Wow, negative interest rates in Europe. After reading this article, the only reason I think the entire world economy has not tanked with this foolishness is because the economies are linked. What will happen if China and Russia pull out (two of the stronger economies in my opinion because of their little debt)? I am hanging on my seat to find out...

Russia China U.S.

Really, are any of us surprised that Russia has been sending troops into East Ukraine? In a prior post, I said that based on the accuracy of the "separatists" I had no doubt they were trained Russian troops. However, when I heard about the attack on the Donetsk airport had heavy casualties for the separatists, I have to wonder - has the West also joined the war privately?

Sorry if I am a little cynical in my belief that the election of a new president can suddenly make Ukrainian troops better - much, much better. I also am a little curious about the death toll on the side of the Ukrainians. I would love a link to an article by a reputable news source discussing that. I would also like to know what percentage of the population in Eastern Ukraine actually voted in this election. All I have seen is the margin the current president won by out of votes cast.

Meanwhile, we continue to provoke China.  As I have stated before, this is going to be an economic war first before it turns to WWIII. Right now, as a world, we are linked together through our economies. At the least, this altercation will separate Asia's economy from the rest of the world.

How long until gas prices really skyrocket now?

Not surprisingly, China and Russia finally made their gas deal. Americans should wonder how long it will be before we start paying for it at the pump. This deal means that Russia won't need the EU to buy its gas in order to keep its economy going.

In further ways the US is trying to irritate these two superpowers, the US has accused five Chinese officials of cyber-spying. I have to agree this is like the pot calling the kettle black. The Chinese media is having a great time talking about how annoying we are. And the Chinese government has issued a veiled warning about how Asian countries should stick together and not listen to the US.

Russia is also supposed to be pulling out of the Ukraine. However, this won't stop the violence because most of it is Kiev initiated.

I was very impressed that Forbes finally posted an article that tells you what I have been saying on here for a while. Western media is not giving you the full story. Russia is not driving this - the West is. For whatever reason, Germany decided it wanted to pull the Ukraine into the rest of Europe and got the US to help blow this up.

How can you hold "peace talks" between two arguing parties without inviting one of them to the table?

It disturbs me that the Ukraine is claiming to hold "peace talks" with the protesters and not inviting leaders from the Pro-Russian separatists to join. Yeah, most of the separatists are probably Russian military, but the leaders at least seem to be real Ukrainians like the one taken to Russia to treat his wounds. Instead of talking with him, they capture him?

It also is puzzling why our side continues to push this war. "Russian troops are near their border." And our troops are just near Russia's border because we are defending NATO nations. Excuse me? Russian troops are officially still in Russia and our troops are next to Russia (not still in the US) and yet Russia is starting a war?

And, oh, sorry if I don't buy that Vietnam is rioting against China on its own conveniently after our President went to SE Asia and stirred up trouble there, pledging to support SE Asian nations against China. Thankfully, Vietnam seems to be the only one that took the bait (well and the Philippines because they are allowing more US troops there).

So, what can we expect by this? Higher gas prices for one.  Many people think that once Russia supplies China with gas and pulls the rug out from supplying the EU, the US will get all that business. Actually, if you have been following the Keystone Pipeline phase 4, you will realize that Canada (not the US) is being primed to provide it. However, that won't be in effect for several years - they have to put in a pipeline over the world's largest natural aquifer and a fault line first. Hope people like a little oil in their water...

Anyway, in that time when Russia stops providing gas to the EU and Canada can being supplying it, we can expect our gas prices to skyrocket even higher. Why the democrats and republicans alike (primed by promises of a German President who has been in a little longer than I like) have decided this China/Russia standoff is going to help us (I can practically see the dollar signs in all our politicians eyes) I don't know. I am sure most of them are betting that Russia won't fight back.

I certainly hope that Russia won't fight back, but if they just roll over and take it, I think Putin will deserve the next Nobel Peace Prize. Maybe we should take President Obama'a away from him and offer it to Russia? But I'm not holding my breath on this. Putin has shown he works strategically. He will only use as much force as necessary to get what he wants. Unfortunately, if he doesn't go the Peace route it will only destroy the rest of the world.