swordfish

SF has a lot to be thankful for this year. I hope everyone else can say the same thing as well. Still alive, breathing and able to take nourishment. Able to be cranky about the state of political affairs, and able to complain about them, but still able to smile and carry on. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone on the GID.

Hate to be an "I told you so" but..... In order for this pandemic (experiment) to get any major attention the maximum loss of life had to occur - noticeably and fast. Enter the "Granny Killer" team(s). (s) - because I think more Governors are going to be found to have aided Dr. Fauci in this "entity of excitement" event. https://nypost.com/2021/11/22/cuomo-team-talked-lowballing-covid-19-nursing-home-deaths/ Cuomo team talked lowballing COVID-19 nursing home deaths By Bernadette Hogan and Sam Raskin November 22, 2021 5:48pm We don’t want to say we told you so, but … After disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo spent more than a year blaming everyone but himself for the nursing home controversy – including The Post — the state Assembly’s damning impeachment probe revealed both Cuomo and his top aides hid nursing home data from the public while negotiating his $5.1 million book deal. According to a report released Monday, Cuomo was aware as early as March 2020 that nursing home deaths were being undercounted, and a special Department of Health team was assigned to reevaluate the figures following discussions with DOH and COVID-19 Task Force officials. In addition, the report shows Cuomo was directly involved in editing and reviewing the DOH’s supposedly exculpatory July 2020 report on the COVID-19 count in nursing homes in order to “strengthen” his defense of the notorious March 25 directive that required nursing homes to readmit residents who tested positive for the coronavirus. The infamous COVID-19 readmission policy was adopted March 25 and detailed in a Health Department directive that reads, “No resident shall be denied readmission or admission to the [nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19.” Notably, that July 6 report claiming the policy was not responsible for increasing COVID-19 deaths among medically vulnerable patients was released the same day Cuomo and an Executive Chamber official met with reps from Penguin Random House. Four days later, the $5.1 million book deal for what became the then-gov’s pandemic memoir “American Crisis” was finalized. The deal that was sealed in July 2020 began to take shape nearly four months earlier, as COVID-19 spread across the tri-state area. The Assembly report states that Cuomo began engaging with Penguin Random House employees on March 19 — just three weeks after New York identified its first COVID-19 case, and one day before Cuomo announced a shutdown of so-called “non-essential” businesses. The March 20 announcement followed days of the then-governor belittling and scoffing at Mayor Bill de Blasio when Hizzoner called for shutting down schools and non-essential businesses. In April and May 2020, after the Health Department had been publishing fatality data for “several weeks,” investigators found that Cuomo’s Executive Chamber staffers were aware that “certain fatalities in nursing home facilities due to COVID-19 were not included in the published data.” The lowballing was the topic of “multiple discussions” among Cuomo’s top staffers and members of the governor’s COVID-19 Task Force. Those high-level government employees exhibited a “reluctance to admit error” when their number-fudging was discovered, lawmakers say. The Assembly report shows the governor’s aides and task force members deliberately opted to publicize the smaller figure of 6,000 deaths — which included only fatalities in care facilities — instead of the larger number of 10,000, which represented all COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents. Witnesses told investigators that the same Executive Chamber official who was the “key point person” for Cuomo’s book deal also made the call that only in-facility deaths would be included in the health department report. Sources identified that “key point person” as Melissa DeRosa, a former top Cuomo aide who the report found “sent and received at least 1,000 emails” about the book between July and December 2020. While Cuomo claimed to be working 24/7 on managing New York State’s COVID-19 pandemic response, he and his employees were in fact spending time and resources to earn a profit for himself by authoring the memoir, which the Assembly investigators determined “detracted from their state duties during the intense period.” Meanwhile, an unnamed “senior DOH” official — who sources identified to the Post as state health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker — attempted to release the true number of nursing home resident deaths to the state Legislature in August 2020 and even prepared a letter with the figure in it. But that letter was not allowed to be released by the Executive Chamber. Also in August 2020, DeRosa attempted to coerce Zucker into testifying that the Chamber was not involved in the controversial March 25 directive, but the DOH boss refused to do so. “The evidence obtained in our investigation indicates that the former Governor and his senior staff were not fully transparent with the public regarding the number of COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents,” the Assembly probe concludes. Cuomo has blamed “politics” for the scandals, despite DeRosa’s acknowledgement that the administration “froze” and refused requests from the US Department of Justice to make the nursing home data public because they feared retribution from then-President Donald Trump, The Post exclusively reported in February. Andrew Cuomo has blamed “politics” for his scandals. Mark Lennihan/AP Photo/Bloomberg via Getty Images Cuomo himself blamed The Post for the backlash he faced, writing in “American Crisis”: “On April 25, conservative columnist Michael Goodwin published a piece in Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post aimed at New York with the headline, ‘State lacked common sense in nursing homes’ coronavirus approach” … It was an orchestrated strategy and a Fox News drumbeat.” But independent reports, including those authored by the Empire Center for Public Policy, have found the March order did in fact contribute to an increase in nursing home facility deaths. A January report by state Attorney General Letitia James found that the nursing-home death toll from COVID-19 may have been more than 50 percent higher than state officials had claimed. Since March 2020, more than 15,000 nursing home residents have been confirmed or presumed to have died from COVID-19 in facilities or hospital. Cuomo and his former aides are being investigated by the FBI and the Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office in connection with both the nursing home scandal and the book deal. The probe’s executive summary notes that “several law enforcement agencies” are undertaking investigations of Cuomo “that overlap with the Committee’s mandate.” The Assembly Judiciary Committee, which released the report, promised that it is “cooperating with law enforcement with respect to these issues.”

Why is the President opening the SPR to other nations? After cancelling the Keystone Pipeline and nixing getting more oil out of the US all in a push to accelerate the move to electric vehicles, this idiot is going to open the SPR. smh https://nypost.com/2021/11/23/biden-approves-release-of-50m-barrels-of-oil-amid-rising-gas-prices/ President Biden on Tuesday announced the release of 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help combat rising gas prices across the country. The announcement was made jointly with several other nations including China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom. Out of the 50 million barrels, 32 million will be an exchange over the next several months, the White House said Tuesday. The other 18 million will be an acceleration of an oil sale already authorized by Congress. “The President stands ready to take additional action, if needed, and is prepared to use his full authorities working in coordination with the rest of the world to maintain adequate supply as we exit the pandemic,” the White House said. The announcement comes one week after Biden asked the Federal Trade Commission to look into whether oil and gas companies are involved in “illegal conduct” in order to keep prices up, noting “mounting evidence of anti-consumer behavior by oil-and-gas companies.” https://nypost.com/2021/11/17/schumer-biden-offer-utter-bull-to-fix-the-high-gas-prices-theyve-intentionally-given-us/ Democrats are admitting they have a pump-price problem — but their “answers” are utter bull. Sen. Chuck Schumer devoted his usual headline-seeking Sunday press conference to positioning himself as pro-lower-gasoline prices. But he dragged up the same answer he always offers: the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. As we’ve noted before, opening the reserve is a Band-Aid on a chest wound: At best, it offers brief relief without addressing the fundamental supply problems. But President Joe Biden sank even lower on Wednesday, calling for the Federal Trade Commission to probe supposed “illegal conduct” by large oil and gas companies who he argues are the real villains driving up your per-gallon pain. What garbage: The FTC lacks the power to do anything fast, and the issue is straightforward supply and demand. If prices didn’t soar, gas stations would rapidly see shortages, and we’d be back to the days of long 1970s lines at the pump (lines the prez is certainly old enough to remember). All this, because they won’t face the simple fact that Democrats’ own policies are creating the supply shortage and driving up prices. They want this to happen. The prez canceled he Keystone XL pipeline and nixed new oil and gas leasing on federal property. He’s seeking new taxes on fossil-fuel industries as Democrats aim to end all carbon-fuel use in the name of saving the planet. They don’t dare own up to it, though, when the public is furious. So instead they offer bogus solutions and phony villains. Pathetic.

SF finds the Sagarin predictor ratings which are normally spot-on this time of year a little troublesome for the Raiders. I do question the Strength of Schedule being as close as it is for the 2 schools, yet the Marauders are ranked so high in the Class. They did however dispatch the Roncalli Royals and the EM Tigers to earn their spot at LOC which by itself is a pretty tall task. Best of luck to both teams and congratulations for making to the big game, especially my hometown Raiders - great job guys.

Try this - The director of Engineering at my company WAS scheduled for a heart by-pass surgery last week that was pushed to next week (11/23) because of staffing issues at the hospital. He tested Negative for Covid for the prior, but today just got the results back for his pre-surgery test as "Not Positive, but Not Negative"???? He is fully vaccinated since spring. His question is - WTF is "Not Positive, but Not Negative" and why (TF) do I have to now wait for another 3 weeks to re-schedule and then be re-tested? (The abbreviations were actually spoken in a raised tone of voice) He is sure glad he spent the past 2 weeks wearing a mask everywhere.

Main Stream Media begins printing defamation settlement checks under the name Kyle Rittenhouse. Starting now. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10191575/Rittenhouse-walks-does-reputation-smears-Biden-Libs.html The liberals who acted as Rittenhouse's judge and jury before hearing a word of evidence: How Joe Biden, 'The Squad' and liberal media smeared Kyle Rittenhouse by branding him a white supremacist and domestic terrorist Then-Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden tweeted a campaign video depicting Rittenhouse as a white supremacist Politifact inaccurately reported that the teen violated the law by carrying a rifle in Wisconsin Esquire described Rittenhouse's behavior as 'terrorist tourism' The Intercept referred to the former youth police cadet as one of several apparent, 'white supremacist defendants' Rep. Ayanna Pressley accused Rittenhouse of being a 'white supremacist domestic terrorist' 'The View's' Joy Behar echoed the oft-repeated falsehood that the teen illegally crossed state lines with a weapon Rep. Ilhan Omar declared Rittenhouse 'executed two people' in Kenosha The chairman of the House Democratic Caucus called to 'lock up' the Illinois teen even as his trial was still underway MSNBC's Joe Scarborough falsely claimed that the then-17-year-old's mother drove him 'across state lines' to Kenosha

SF agrees with the jury....... https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/11/19/us/kyle-rittenhouse-trial Kyle Rittenhouse Acquitted on All Counts: Live Updates The jury deliberated three and a half days in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot three men, two of them fatally, during demonstrations in Kenosha, Wis. Image Credit...Pool photo by Sean Krajacic Key Updates: Nov. 19, 2021, 1:15 p.m. ET5 minutes ago 5 minutes ago Kyle Rittenhouse is found not guilty on all counts.

SF is wishing the Raiders good luck tonight - YOU GOT THIS!! Have a great game and as I always say to both teams - Play hard and stay safe!!

When the absurd or unbelievable becomes reality - Remember - this "universal flu vaccine" experiment was planned.

Source: While explaining that his administration (FTC) is going to monitor US companies for "illegal conduct" that might be contributing to increases at the pump he also signals to OPEC that "The cuts in production during the pandemic" should be "reversed". Here's an idea - maybe OPEC cut production when the US became a major exporter in the market..... Just in case anyone forgot - Bidens "Bold" climate steps when he shreds the US oil industry earlier this year.

I happen to agree that a 17 year old kid shouldn't have been there in these circumstances, but he was. I disagree with the statement He is a callow boy who didn't understand how to handle a gun He clearly knew HOW to safely carry that weapon and he also knew WHEN and HOW to use it most effectively. Perhaps those (mostly peaceful according to the media) rioters and protesters burning and looting the town, terrorizing the citizens should have heeded these words from the op-ed as well: Don’t you ever do something so stupid. You stay home and stay out of trouble. But they didn't either....and a couple of them paid the price. Correct - Mr. Rittenhouse is not a hero, I agree, but he legally (see item 4 below) and effectively defended himself in this situation. Now the ever-trusted media of today is constantly reporting (propaganda) labeling this guy as a racist militia member: https://nypost.com/2021/11/17/10-debunked-heinous-lies-about-kyle-rittenhouse-devine/ Of all the willful lies and omissions in the media’s coverage of the Steele dossier, Brian Sicknick, the Covington kids, Jussie Smollett, the Wuhan lab, Hunter Biden’s laptop and so on, nothing beats the evil propaganda peddled about Kyle Rittenhouse. They try to make the Rittenhouse case about race, but it’s about class, punching down at the white working-class son of a single mother because they don’t see him as fully human, and it makes them feel good. They lie about him because they can. The central media narrative is that Kyle Rittenhouse is a white supremacist whose mother drove him across state lines with an AR-15 to shoot Black Lives Matter protesters. All lies. “A white, Trump-supporting, MAGA-loving Blue Lives Matter social media partisan, 17 years old, picks up a gun, drives from one state to another with the intent to shoot people,” was typical from John Heilemann, MSNBC’s national affairs analyst. So, let’s go through 10 lies about Rittenhouse, debunked in court: 1. He killed two black BLM protesters. All three of the men he shot in self-defense during violent riots in Kenosha on Aug. 25 last year were white. 2. He crossed state lines. He lived 20 miles from Kenosha in Antioch, Ill., with his mother and sisters. But his father, grandmother, aunt, uncle, cousins and best friend live in Kenosha. He had a job as a lifeguard in Kenosha and worked a shift on Aug. 25 before helping clean graffiti left by rioters at a local school. There, he and his friend were invited to join other adults who had been asked by the owners of a used car lot in Kenosha to guard the property after 100 cars had been torched the previous night, when police abandoned the town to rioters. Kyle took his gun to protect himself, since the rioters were violent and armed, including, for instance, Antifa medic Gaige Grosskreutz, who lunged at him with a loaded Glock pointed at his head before he was shot in the arm. 3. Rittenhouse took an AR-15 across state lines. Esquire accused him of “terrorist tourism.” False. His rifle was kept in a safe at his best friend’s stepfather’s house in Kenosha. 4. The gun was illegal. Wrong. Under Wisconsin law, he was entitled to possess the AR-15 as a 17-year-old. The judge dismissed the gun charge, which the prosecution never should have brought. 5. Rittenhouse’s mother drove him across state lines to the riot. Wendy Rittenhouse, 46, never went to Kenosha. She slept late the morning of Aug. 25 after working a 16-hour shift at a nursing home near her home in Antioch, she told the Chicago Tribune. Kyle had already gone to his job in Kenosha when she woke up. 6. He was an “active shooter” who took his gun to a riot looking for trouble. “A 17-year-old kid just running around shooting and killing protesters,” said MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, “who drove across state lines with an AR-15 and started shooting people up.” On Friday, after evidence in court already had debunked his talking points, Scarborough called Rittenhouse a “self-appointed militia member … unloading 60 rounds.” When the defense called out the lie in closing arguments, Scarborough had the gall to tweet that he was “embarrassed” for the lawyer. 7. Rittenhouse is a “white supremacist,” as then-candidate Joe Biden labeled him in a tweet showing the teenager’s photograph. When White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked to explain why recently, she slyly slimed Rittenhouse again, without naming him, as a “vigilante.” In one story, the Intercept used the term “white supremacist” 16 times. The accusation has become holy writ, but there is zero evidence. The FBI scoured Kyle’s phone and found nothing about white supremacy or militias, the court heard. All they saw were pro-police, “Blue Lives Matter” posts from a kid who had been a police and fire department cadet, wanted to be a police officer or paramedic and once sat near the front of a Trump rally. That was enough for the media to brand him a white supremacist. 8. He “flashed white power signs” with Proud Boys. After spending three months in jail, Kyle was freed on $2 million bail two days after his 18th birthday last year, and went to a bar for a beer, with his mother and other adults, which is legal in Wisconsin. He posed for selfies with strangers at the bar, who the media say are Proud Boys, and was pictured making the OK sign with his thumb and forefinger. The false claim that this is a white supremacist sign comes from a 2017 hoax on the website 4chan, to punk liberals, who keep falling for it. Biden uses the gesture frequently. It was unwise to pose for the photo, but it does not mean Kyle is associated with white supremacists. 9. He wore surgical gloves “to cover his fingerprints.” This pearl was spread by Matthew Modine, another celebrity bigmouth. Kyle wore gloves because he was giving first aid to protesters. His face was bare, so he was hardly hiding. Wendy Rittenhouse, Kyle’s mother, was not present with her son when he traveled to Kenosha, Wisconsin. Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, Pool 10. Judge Bruce Schroeder is a “Trumpy” racist biased toward the defense. This slur is based on the fact he would not let the prosecution use the term “victim” — common practice when the jury has not ruled on a case. He told a lame joke about Asian food for lunch being held up by the supply-chain crisis, and his phone’s ring tone sounds like a 1980s ditty played at Trump rallies. Ridiculous. In fact, Schroeder is a Democrat, has run as a Democrat for the Wisconsin Senate and was first appointed by a Democratic governor. Bias was also perceived in what the Chicago Tribune said was his “highly unusual” decision to allow Kyle to draw names randomly out of a container at the end of the trial to determine which 12 of the 18 jurors would decide his fate. It’s something this judge always does, he told the court. On the second day of jury deliberations Wednesday, the judge railed against media distortions, although he seemed most aggrieved about attacks on his reputation, rather than Kyle’s. He threatened to stop trials from being televised, but that’s exactly the wrong solution. Only because the public was able to hear the evidence for themselves did they become aware of the malevolent dishonesty of the media coverage, which has threatened a fair trial and ensured riots if Kyle is justly acquitted.

"When the defendant provokes the incident, he loses the right to self-defense. You cannot claim self-defense to a danger you create." In other words, Rittenhouse was asking for trouble and got it. So if a woman is dressed provacativly, and is walking in a public park after dark and gets raped, she was asking for it? Here are some other "narrative adjustments" from the MSM during this trial......

Keep in mind this picture captured the first time Kyle was chased/knocked down, kicked in the face, stomped and hit in the head with a skateboard. He did not fire his weapon, he got up and ran again. He only fired after the 2nd and 3rd time he was knocked to the pavement by a child raping lunatic and 2 armed felons who had their weapons pointed at his head. If this isn't a cause to use lethal self-defense, I don't know what else is..... This is from testimony in court. That the mainstream press hasn't reported on for some reason....

DE: So when Joe Biden calls for the rest of the world to up their production of oil but not America you know it's not about the environment it's about collapsing the American economy Tell me I'm wrong - and explain how.

QE - One of the most famous "World Dictators".....😅

So it doesn't occur to anyone on the left (DE) that the FACT that more fuel efficient vehicles on the road are actually bringing the use of fossil fuels lower (as demonstrated by the lower revenues being collected)? Or maybe it doesn't fit their narrative that we all need to be driving EV's? (Without the consideration of how much this move will pull from an electric grid already taxed pretty hard in many locations) AND - in case you are wondering - we are not "running out of "Fossil Fuels"..... https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/we-are-not-running-out-of-oil-earth-produces-crude/ Ever since M. King Hubbert in the 1950s convinced a lot of people with his "peak oil" theory that production would collapse and we'd eventually exhaust our crude supplies, the clock has been running. And running. And it will continue to run for some time, as technology and new discoveries show that there's still an ocean of oil under our feet. Engineering and Technology Magazine reported this week that BP — the company that once wanted to be known as "Beyond Petroleum" rather than "British Petroleum" — is saying "the world is no longer at risk of running out of resources." "Thanks to investment into supercomputers, robotics and the use of chemicals to extract the maximum from available reservoirs, the accessible oil and gas reserves will almost double by 2050," Engineering and Technology said. A BP official told the magazine that "energy resources are plentiful. Concerns over running out of oil and gas have disappeared." Things are so good, in fact, that Engineering and Technology says "with the use of the innovative technologies, available fossil fuel resources could increase from the current 2.9 trillion barrels of oil equivalent to 4.8 trillion by 2050, which is almost twice as much as the projected global demand." That number could even reach 7.5 trillion barrels if technology and exploration techniques advance even faster. This information backs up the idea that Earth is actually an oil-producing machine. We call energy sources such as crude oil and natural gas fossil fuels based on the assumption that they are the products of decaying organisms, maybe even dinosaurs themselves. But the label is a misnomer. Research from the last decade found that hydrocarbons are synthesized abiotically. In other words, as Science magazine has reported, the "data imply that hydrocarbons are produced chemically" from carbon found in Earth's mantle. Nature magazine calls the product of this process an "unexpected bounty " of "natural gas and the building blocks of oil products." So don't feel guilty about exploiting this "bounty." There seems to be plenty to go around — and there will probably still be a lot left when technology, not hurried by government mandates and subsidies but guided by market forces, produces practical and affordable renewable energy. But for now, enjoy our cheap, abundant and efficient "fossil" fuels. OR - Invest in lithium company stocks.......(The new crude oil) https://www.forbes.com/sites/danrunkevicius/2020/12/07/as-tesla-booms-lithium-is-running-out/?sh=54355c951a44

See Impartial Observer's post from 11/4