Brian Setzer

Mystery Train

So How Do You Feel About Guns Now? Dallas Police Say They Will No Longer Respond To Calls about Theft

Mitch McConnell's Historic Speech On Senate Democrats Blocking of Phase 3 of COVID19 Relief

This @SenateMajLdr speech on Senate Democrats blocking Phase 3 of #COVID19 relief will go down in history. pic.twitter.com/u1BSbpE66Z

— Ken Farnaso (@KLF) March 22, 2020

UK Calls In Army And Warns People To Stay Home Or Face Lockdown

UK Calls In Army And Warns People To Stay Home Or Face Lockdown

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain sent in the army to deliver protective equipment to hospitals on Monday and told people to stay at home and heed warnings over social distancing or the government would bring in more extreme measures to stop the coronavirus spread. 

With some doctors saying they felt like “cannon fodder”, the government said the military would help ship millions of items of personal protective equipment (PPE) including masks to healthcare workers who have complained of shortages. 

So far, 281 Britons have died from coronavirus and, in the last few days, British authorities have rapidly stepped up action to try to limit the spread of the disease and prevent a repeat of the death toll seen in other countries where thousands have died. 

However, there have been complaints from frontline medical staff about shortages of kit, saying they did not feel safe at work. 

In a letter pleading with Prime Minister Boris Johnson to increase PPE supplies, more than 6,000 frontline doctors said they were being asked to put their lives at risk with out-of-date masks, and low stocks of equipment.

Japanese flu drug ‘clearly effective’ in treating coronavirus, says China

Japanese flu drug ‘clearly effective’ in treating coronavirus, says China

Medical authorities in China have said a drug used in Japan to treat new strains of influenza appeared to be effective in coronavirus patients, Japanese media said on Wednesday. 

Zhang Xinmin, an official at China’s science and technology ministry, said favipiravir, developed by a subsidiary of Fujifilm, had produced encouraging outcomes in clinical trials in Wuhan and Shenzhen involving 340 patients. 

“It has a high degree of safety and is clearly effective in treatment,” Zhang told reporters on Tuesday. 

Patients who were given the medicine in Shenzhen turned negative for the virus after a median of four days after becoming positive, compared with a median of 11 days for those who were not treated with the drug, public broadcaster NHK said. 

In addition, X-rays confirmed improvements in lung condition in about 91% of the patients who were treated with favipiravir, compared to 62% or those without the drug.

JUST FUCKING INCREDIBLE: Schumer and Pelosi Try to Add Fuel Emission Standards For Airlines, More Wind and Solar Tax Credits to Coronavirus Stimulus Package

Schumer and Pelosi Try to Add Fuel Emission Standards For Airlines, More Wind and Solar Tax Credits to Coronavirus Stimulus Package

If 6 of 7 COVID-19 Cases Are Not Being Reported as One Study Suggests — The Current Mortality Rate Sinks to Flu-Like Levels

If 6 of 7 COVID-19 Cases Are Not Being Reported as One Study Suggests — The Current Mortality Rate Sinks to Flu-Like Levels

Trump Tweets Suggests the Destruction of the US Economy Over the Coronavirus Is Not in His Plans

WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2020

From Gateway Pundit:

This is the first signal that President Trump is not willing to force the US into a depression over the COVID-19 outbreak. T 

he US coronavirus mortality rate dipped to 1.25% on Sunday using deaths (396) divided by confirmed cases (38,167). 

That number is actually SIGNIFICANTLY lower if you factor in ALL OF THE CASES that are not being reported, where people are not feeling sick enough to be tested. 

That number could be 6-7 times higher than the current number of 35,070. 

This means the current mortality rate could be as low as 0.2% or about like a harsh flu.

GO READ THE WHOLE THING. 

Shades of Iran

“Congratulations on Epidemic in the US!” – Banner at China Restaurant Cheers Spread of Coronavirus in US and Japan

Where Do Our Rights Come From - Are They Derived From Truth or Power?

This was originally posted in October of 2010. 

As you are reading this, replace the 1st Amendment question of "Freedom of Speech", with the 1st Amendment question of "Freedom of Peaceable Assembly."

--------

Culturist John and I once had a beer-sodden, knock-em-down, drag-em-out bar fight over this question.

I say our rights exist, because they came from God. I also accept the idea of Natural Law, which Wikipedia defines thusly,

Natural law or the law of nature (Latin: lex naturalis) is a theory that posits the existence of a law whose content is set by nature and that therefore has validity everywhere.

Both ideas co-exist for me. I believe God Created the Universe, so it is no surprise to me that he built a law code into nature itself. The Bible says that His Law is written in our hearts, and that unbelievers, who do according to the Law written in their hearts, show that they are a law unto themselves, and that their faith (in that Law) will be judged in the same way as Abraham's faith was, which is to say, their faith will be judged as Righteousness. (Many Christians will argue this point with me. Hey, just remember, my Philosophical fights turn into bar fights.)

Culturist John's perspective is that we get the rights we fight for, and only those rights. Now, this seems to be a truism. Obviously, here in America, for instance, we have only those rights we fought for in the Revolutionary War. Sure, they are enumerated in a Constitution, but we had to fight for the right to govern ourselves before we were able to write that Constitution.

And, the world over, people only have the rights they fought for.

But, the question is, can a government, with their inherent authority, take away your Freedom of Speech, by voting it our of law? Sure, they can do that. But, if they do, is it Right? Or, is it Wrong?

Let's further the question. Let's say the elected government votes Freedom of Speech out of Law, and then uses Martial Law to ensure that any ensuing rebellion in favor of Free Speech was quashed (think Iran of late).

If the elected government did this, they did so in all fairness. After all, it was within their authority, as elected Representatives, to Legislate and enact Law, right? And, it is the governments responsibility to ensure the peace, by putting down rebellion against law, right?

So, the elected government would have, effectively, taken away the right to Free Speech, by their elected authority, and they would have used Power to have effected this change in the Rights of the people.

All's fair, right? Is that ok with you? Is it Right, or is it Wrong?

Let's go even further. Let us say, some Left-wing dictator comes into power and wants to enact strict PC standards against Freedom of Speech. Let's say 60% of the people in the nation agree with this dictator, and willingly give up their Freedom of Speech. Let's say a rebellion ensues, and that rebellion is put down by a combination of Martial Law, and the will of the people, who agree with the dictator, that PC standards are the standards for speech, and that Freedom of Speech is no longer viable in a multicultural society.

It would seem to me that, according to Culturist John's philosophy (and, of course, I can not speak for him), this would have been an effective, and even righteous, revolution against Free Speech. After all, rights are only those things we fought for?

Those who would protest would do so with no moral authority, right?

So, the question is, do our Rights come from some source outside of ourselves, either nature, or God? Or, are our Rights merely those laws which we derive through a show of force?

The Next Revolution

The cure may kill far more than the virus itself.

Top 10 Lies About Trump's Coronavirus Response

Top 10 Lies About Trump's Coronavirus Response

Eroica Trio

Beethoven Opus 11 1st Movement

Why Are So Many People Dying In Italy

The Word Of The Days Is "COMORBIDITY" 

Of all the locations with clusters of kung flu infections, Italy is the most active. Astonishingly so, with (as of 3/22/2020 @ 12:13 PM Eastern Daylight Time Z-4) 53,578 confirmed cases, and 4825 deaths. (As always, go to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard for up to date numbers.)  

There was a story yesterday asking this very question in The Telegraph. They identified several things that might be contributing to this: 

• Demographics: Italy is, on average, a country full of old people. According to the CIA World Factbook, Italy is the 5th oldest country in the world. We know that COVID-19 is more likely to cause death in older people. 
• Comorbidity, that is, association with other diseases: Italy's aging population, as well as being old, also has lots of old people with heart disease, COPD, long histories of smoking, high blood pressure, and diabetes. 
• There's a geographic factor here as well: most of the deaths are coming from heavily industrial Lombardy, which also has a long history of bad airpollution. 
• The most interesting one is that the Italian National Institute of Health thinks cause of death is being over-identified as COVID-19. This one is sure to start an argument in the comments, but heres the direct quote: 

“On re-evaluation by the National Institute of Health, only 12 per cent of death certificates have shown a direct causality from coronavirus, while 88 per cent of patients who have died have at least one pre-morbidity - many had two or three,” he says. 

GO READ THE WHOLE THING.

Chloronique: "False Hope" When Trump Introduces It, "Remarkable Leadership When Cuomo Talks About It

Would you look at that. @CNN’s @brianstelter calls it “Remarkable Leadership” when Cuomo does it but its “False Hope” when President Trump talks about experimental drugs..

pic.twitter.com/X7ICW8FzwY

— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) March 22, 2020