Let's Talk About WH Plan For "Herd Immunity"

theweek.com
Pandemic adviser with no epidemiology background reportedly pushes White House to adopt herd immunity strategy"Neuroradiologist Scott Atlas, a top medical adviser to President Trump, has urged the White House to implement a pandemic strategy of trying to protect vulnerable groups while letting COVID-19 spread through most of the country so that healthy people can build up immunity to the virus..."

I've read quite a bit on the subject but I'll make this simple as possible. There is no such thing as a 100% herd immunity protection. The commonly accepted figure is when around 80%-90% of the population resist catching a virus or disease. Meaning it still always around and at best 30 million Americans could still be susceptible to infection. That's assuming we can obtain the best numbers through vaccines. Not just gambling on people's antibodies alone to achieve such a goal.

Now here's why this kind of idiotic talk has been grinding my nerves for months. Think about it. The first known HIV infections was recognized as occurring in humans in 1920 (100 years ago). We still don't have a vaccine nor sure as hell a herd immunity built up against it. The first "recorded history" of dozens of STDs was found in 1550BC.(3,570 years ago). Nope still no herd immunity. There are 14 vaccine recommendations for the first 2 1/2 years of baby's life. The reason is they aren't born with herd immunity against those infections either.

Yet the White House offers somewhat along the lines a bubonic plague (it peaked in Europe 1347 D killing an estimated 75-200 million people) as a solution. One which recurred again and again sporadically as recently as 2017 in Madagascar. Yep still no herd immunity for this everlasting bacterial disease. At least we could treat that disease with today's drugs. Instead this WH suggest we take a dive into potentially infecting everyone having no means to treat effectively or vaccinate against.

But hey, if you want to follow the advise coming from the WH might as well drop your mask and go out and have unprotected sex, eat raw pork and drink sewer water until you acquire "herd immunity". What the hell do the epidemiologists know anyway. Go ahead. Show those mask wearing ' libitards' you're not going to take their BS anymore.

Airline Pricing Scam

When it comes to scams it never ends, does it?

When we went on our cruise years ago some guy went all about the ship asking what people paid for the same cruise we were on. The price varied by over $1,000 for the week. We paid $700 each for our round trip air transportation. A week later our kid paid $300 for the same flight on the same airline. I really get sick of this shit!

Why Credit Cards Are A Scam

See my prior post as well concerning student loans.

When we took out a mortgage under the original terms it would have cost us over double with the interested added in. What we did instead is pay double and sometimes triple when we could. This allowed us to payoff a 30 year mortgage in a little over 7 years. Saving us over $92,000 in interest payments. So what I did was take much of the money we were saving on mortgage payments and increased my 401k contributions. Not all of it, but some of it so we could live a little bit better then the first 7 years.

We did this because it didn't make any sense to save a whole lot of money in the 401K only to end up spending it on the mortgage payments after we retired. Yes we could have had a more expensive home. BUT we both are happy we didn't so we could have a more financially secure retirement. Now that we're both retired we're mostly a pay-as-you-go couple. Whatever we charge during the month we pay off in full at the end of the month. Meaning we haven't paid interest on any of our credit cards in years. So far, so good.

BTW, this is why I stopped playing the lottery years ago.


I kept track. I spent $950 over the years to win only $91. It didn't help either when I saw the father-in-law finally win $2,000 after spending his crossing guard money of $35 a week for years. It was then his wife saw fit to put that towards a new $8,000 kitchen even though she hadn't played one time. She said at the time how happy "we won". Who's this "we" BS :-)

Course he did win $300 one other time. That's when the mother-in-law decided to put it towards a new washer and dryer costing $800. Fortunately my wife left me keep my $91 winnings over several years. As I recall I reinvested it buying more lottery tickets which didn't win anything. When they passed out the brains I thought they said trains. I took a pass since I wasn't planning on going anywhere at the time. Explains a lot doesn't it?

The Student Loan Scam

I admit, I have been pretty ignorant about the realities of student loans. This video made me SO MAD 😡. I had NO clue it was like this and I wish I had looked into it sooner. pic.twitter.com/o7JBBwwKUZ

— Linz DeFranco (@LinzDeFranco) August 28, 2020

Any wonder why kids can never afford to own a home and many times are forced to live with their parents long after graduation.

WHAT A COUNTRY!

"The Boss Groover" - 1980

WALN Stereo92 Allentown - Bruce Gregory


Listening to anything longer then 15 minutes would have made my ears bleed :)

From The Weather Channel Graphics Department

The National Hurricane Center has forecasted "unsurvivable storm surge" from Hurricane #Laura in parts of Louisiana and Texas. Do NOT underestimate this storm.

This is what that kind of water height looks like: pic.twitter.com/ik7EtpFTzn

— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) August 26, 2020

If that doesn't get people's attention, nothing will.

Here is some more of their coverage.

WATCH: Jaw-dropping footage from our live crews last night as #Laura made landfall. pic.twitter.com/psxgyM18tl

— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) August 27, 2020

PBS Programming Better Then Networks'

For the last several months we've been more entertained (sometimes better informed) with the programs on WHYY and WLVT then all the networks combined. Here's a few of the shows we've been recently watching. Doc Martin, Frankie Drake, Father Brown, Railroad Journeys, Lighthouses Of Ireland and Shakespeare & Hathaway. About the only exception on the networks is CBS Sunday Morning (and we watch that on YouTube). It sure beats all the highly annoying overly loud canned laughter and faked applause on what amounts to junk TV.

Couple that with all the great stuff we find on YouTube and we have found little reason to watch anything else. Whether it be news, documentaries, DIYs, music of all kinds (new or old), comedies or vBlogs, YouTube has it all. Some of my YouTube channel subscriptions include Jeff Dunham, Brien Foerster (explorer). CBS Sunday Morning, Country Road TV, Grand Ole Opry, Great Big Story, Jenny's Covers, Puddles Pity Party, Star Talk (Neil deGrasse Tyson), TED-ED, The Holderness Family, The Howard Stern Show, The Late Late Show With James Corden, Trina Minnich (The Large Flowerheads), TruthSurge, VOX, When The Cowboy Sings, Wildwood Video Archive to name a few. There's also a bunch of streaming LIVE videos of all kinds imaginable we watch from time to time from all over the world.

For local news I find blogs and Facebook are a better source for information and opinion. As for national news I rely on unedited clips and some news program clips on YouTube. Never the cable news channels which feature nothing but a bunch of blabber mouths talking politics. For the rest of the news I have 29 RSS headline feeds. Sometimes these can be as many as 600 a day I quickly glean over. Clicking only those which attract my attention. And finally 22 Twitter accounts of all kinds I visit briefly as well. So as you can see this is why I'm not posting everyday. Only those which seem to attract my attention the most and seem worth sharing.

Out of all of this I feel I'm very well informed as to the news and what's on people's minds the most (which seems to be uninformed trash talking). Since I'm retired I now have chance to catch up on all the stuff I missed too busy working. I learned a great deal about our history, past politics and a great deal more about educating myself on all kinds of subjects most kids won't even learn in school and college. This is an amazing age to live in and have the opportunity to listen directly to some of the greatest minds throughout history and today. All this unedited by biased writers of textbooks like they were in the past.

There much more I want to say but I've gone on too long already. Most blog readers won't spend the time to go beyond a paragraph or two. If you have made it this far give yourself a pat on the back. You are the exception.

Inspiring Words From The RNC

Well if that doesn't unite our country I don't know what will. Truly comforting and uplifting words were never more well spoken.

When I Die I Hope Heaven Is Like This

Hard Rock Calling Festival In London 2013

Nothing but happy people.
Full of bountiful joy and
countless souls in never ending harmony.


London Calling: Live In Hyde Park, 2009

Baby Got Mask Song Parody

Shoutout to all the amazing teachers who
are going back to teach in-person this school year

A Tip For Parents

This is good advice if your kid's college gets shut down early AND for after they graduate.

My Quick Impression Of The DNC Convention

Putting who and what everyone said aside, I love the format. Without all the delegates screaming and applauding every few minutes remarks could be made in far less time without interruption. Maybe they should think about doing it this way in the future even without a pandemic. It allowed speakers to stay focused on their timing with their delivery remarks. Also people were given the opportunity to either stream or watch it without interruption on C-Span. The major networks on the other hand decided it was a better idea to host a bunch of their star explainers around a table. Screw that. Never watched their coverage once.

Next up the RNC convention. The committee has been tight lipped about who is going to speak. They withheld the list like it's some sort of secret. WHY?

Some of those we do know who will be speaking are Patricia and Mark McCloskey, the couple who wielded guns at Black Lives Matter protesters in St. Louis. Nick Sandmann, the fromer Covington Catholic High School student whose interaction with a Native American elder in Washington was captured on video and Vice President Mike Pence. Somehow I don't think they will be sending a positive message. We shall see. Mitch McConnell is on the list. I'd also be quite surprised if we wouldn't see almost the complete Trump family as well. Melania for sure on Tuesday. I also expect to see a bunch of supporters in attendance unlike the DNC's.

Overall neither of these conventions are must-see-TV. I've never been a big fan of any of them.

How Someone Spent Their Time Self Isolating

Check out this AMAZING outdoor Rube Goldberg machine 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Rs6qR4LE6x

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) August 21, 2020

What Will Be Sorely Missed This Fall

Just thought I’d send this out. Damn. pic.twitter.com/7W0KPFne0J

— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) August 21, 2020

Penn State SHUT IT DOWN!

After living 30 years in a college neighborhood I predicted 100% this is what we'll see happening everywhere. Does anyone seriously believe for one second colleges will be able to stop these parties?

Putting this in stark terms.. these kids don't give a crap. They're not about to change their ways for anyone. Never did. Not now. Not next month. Not ever. I guarantee one by one colleges will be left with no other choice then keeping their campuses empty. Any parent who has any kind of brain will send their kids to a local trade school instead. I've seen year after year parents dropping their little innocents off. After they leave nearly all of them begin to party hardy. Not all, but far more then most parents could ever imagine. I'm familiar with some of the staff and you wouldn't believe some of the stories I've heard.

USPS Sorting Machines Thrown Away

WOODTV8 (Wisconsin)
Some USPS machines dismantled"The day after the postmaster general said he would hit pause on massive changes within the U.S. Postal Service, News 8 learned a sorting machine was being dismantled in the downtown Grand Rapids post office."

.@USPS GR Patterson location has pieces of the mail sorting machines out in the parking lot. @WOODTV pic.twitter.com/OuugjhTbfE

— Heather Walker (@_HeatherWalker) August 19, 2020

We have no idea how many others were thrown out across the country. It sure would be nice if we had investigative reporters left who could report our situation here in the Lehigh Valley. This is what can happen when the watch dogs of the press have been all but eliminated.

Imagine how many millions of dollars it would cost to replace these machines. The damage has already been done. This has been going on since June. Somebody at the top needs some hard jail time. There must be a clear message sent this kind of stuff won't be tolerated. However, I wouldn't hold my breath. The press and congress both have been relegated to become almost a distant memory as to the power they both once possessed. What a damn shame.

Stupidest Thing YouTube Has Ever Done

THEY'VE TURNED OFF EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS FOR YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS

Checkout the link. People are really pissed off. I, like so many others, have been trying to figure out why I wasn't getting them since August 13, 2020. They didn't even have the courtesy to notify anyone. If you go to that link I agree 100% with almost everything said there. Especially the one that said it's apparent they only allow the stupidest people to get promoted to the top where decisions are made. There's no point in someone going livestream if no one is getting notified. Like I said check out the comments. This is truly maddening.

I suppose it's their football. They get to make the rules. But it still sucks!

Verify You're Registered To Vote In Pa. (Here's The Link)

https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/Pages/voterregistrationstatus.aspx

Back To College Not Going Well

Honestly I think educators will have less problems with elementary grade kids then colleges known for their hard partying geniuses. I predict within a few weeks we'll see colleges shutting down their campuses all over the country. I never seen a single year where there wasn't large parties. Telling them not to is a waste of breath. Guess they'll have to learn the hard way like every other fool who flouts these common sense rules.

Another Voter Suppression Concern

huffpost.com
The Eviction Crisis Could Compound Voter Suppression "Over 20 million Americans could be evicted by the end of September due to the current economic crisis, with 30 to 40 million facing eviction by December... Voters may have to figure out how to re-register to vote in a new area, ensure that they don’t miss the registration deadline, figure out which polling place they can vote at and get themselves to that polling place, where they could be turned away if the address on their ID doesn’t match their voter registration. If they want to vote by mail ― a practice that has exploded in popularity due to the COVID-19 pandemic ― they will have to change their address.... Voters who are evicted could be effectively disenfranchised as a result"

As if 2020 didn't present enough problems already.

Need Another Reason To Use A Mail In Ballot?

WHYY
Constraints gone, GOP ramps up effort to monitor voting"The GOP is recruiting 50,000 monitors, typically party activists and specially appointed volunteers, across 15 battleground states... The Pennsylvania lawsuit seeks to overturn state law that says poll watchers may serve only in the counties where they live. Republicans are asking a judge to allow monitors to be present any place votes are cast, including any locations where absentee or mail ballots are returned."

As far as I'm concerned I don't want a greater number of biased overseers potentially questioning my presence at the poll I also question whether everyone of these over enthusiastic supporters will follow the rules to the letter. They may or may not, but why should I have to deal with them if I don't have to.

Hence both the wife and I have already requested mail in ballots. This will also resolve the problem we may face with the possible combined polling places due to (what is predicted to be) having less volunteers available to serve this year at same number of polling sites as once before.

Forgotten History- When Pat Paulsen Ran For President

If only...
Who knows how things might have turned out differently.


I wonder why he didn't win?
He seemed all inclusive.

This Fella Got Dating Problem (Humor)

Kinda Makes Me Wonder

Should I adopt this as the music theme for this blog?

3,665 posts to date with few responses.

No matter the topic.

Must be because everybody agrees with me :-)

Statement from U.S. District Judge Esther Salas

Allentown BLM Protests Are A Deflection

Allentown's problems far exceed policing policies. The city and school district are facing massive revenue shortfalls. Future revenues to each will not have enough money to fully fund not just police but nearly every other aspect of the residents living in Allentown. Rather then dealing with these massive tax shortfalls some local leaders choose rather to go after low hanging fruit. Ones which enrage people rather then engage people.

Meanwhile the school district and city is headed towards bankruptcy.
It seems to me if we really care about black lives (or white ones for that matter) we'd be focused on what inevitably is going to happen. Things like program cuts, layoffs and without a doubt a urgent need to raise taxes substantively. Things that will far more affect each and everyone's lives directly. None of which can be solved by inciting further division by some of our local so-called social justice leaders. A few which are demanding more money for themselves promising more disruptions if they don't receive it.

What we need now more then ever are those who have ideas to come up with city and school funding fixes. What we have instead are flame throwers unable or unwilling to solve the truly tough problems our schools and city faces in the coming days. Either we can continue banging on doors and windows while running around shouting on city streets or chose to actually solve the greatest needs this city faces. Things like housing, education, continued city services at the present level, more jobs to provide decent income. To name a few.

We need to get our priorities straight. The greatest challenge we are facing is to make our city a more peaceful, desirable, financially viable place in which people seek to live. Can anyone honestly say these protests move us closer to these goals?