NY Times: Vaccines And Natural Immunity Keep COVID Deaths Low

By William Teach June 20, 2022 – 10:30 am

In case you didn’t know, COVID has surged under Biden yet again, but, it’s typically a lower news priority because a) they were focused on Ukraine, b) they were focused on Jan 6 (which people do not care about. Only 9% are watching it closely), and c) Americans are over it, and refuse to allow all the restrictions and mandates and such. They let us in on something interesting

Covid Cases Surge, but Deaths Stay Near Lows

For two years, the coronavirus killed Americans on a brutal, predictable schedule: A few weeks after infections climbed so did deaths, cutting an unforgiving path across the country.

But that pattern appears to have changed. Nearly three months since an ultra-contagious set of new Omicron variants launched a springtime resurgence of cases, people are nonetheless dying from Covid at a rate close to the lowest of the pandemic.

The spread of the virus and the number of deaths in its wake, two measures that were once yoked together, have diverged more than ever before, epidemiologists said. Deaths have ticked up slowly in the northeastern United States, where the latest wave began, and are likely to do the same nationally as the surge pushes across the South and West. But the country remains better fortified against Covid deaths than earlier in the pandemic, scientists said.

Because so many Americans have now been vaccinated or infected or both, they said, the number of people whose immune systems are entirely unprepared for the virus has significantly dwindled.

It is great that the death rate is so low, but, did you notice the NY Times mentioned natural immunity? Weren’t we told that natural immunity is no good? That it really wasn’t in play? That it meant nothing? That unless you took the vaccine you were doomed and weren’t allowed to go in public? Couldn’t work your job? Couldn’t be part of the military? Couldn’t travel?

Of course, being the NY Times, they still want to pimp vaccination and downplay natural immunity

With the country’s resources for fighting the virus drying up and many Americans forgoing booster shots, the decoupling of cases and deaths may not last. Immunity will wane and a more evasive variant could cut into people’s residual protection against severe disease.

Vaccination is not a bad idea, but, really, it’s essentially a flu shot, which do not mean you don’t get the flu, it’s just typically not as bad. The COVID vaccines do not seem to be stopping people from getting it, just minimizing the effects. And they do not seem to last, which means you need more and more. And the new variants seem to be evading vaccination

The country paid a staggering price: Some 200,000 people were killed by Covid this winter and large numbers beyond that were seriously sickened. But those who survived infections emerged with immune systems that had learned to better deal with the virus.

And back to natural immunity. Funny how they do not mention who was president, when more were dying of COVID, even with all the vaccines and mitigations. Also, notice how deaths are so low despite almost no mask mandates, and Biden’s vaccine mandate being killed off.

Read: NY Times: Vaccines And Natural Immunity Keep COVID Deaths Low »

Posted in Bat Soup Virus | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

What Does Net Zero Mean For The U.K. Or Something

By William Teach June 20, 2022 – 7:00 am

This looks like some very serious gaslighting going on

Climate change: What net zero transition will mean for UK’s 1.3m workers

The UK’s net zero push will force 1.3 million workers in more polluting sectors to adapt as the decarbonisation drive will involve major changes across the economy, a think tank has said.

A report by the Resolution Foundation and LSE shows decarbonisation will disproportionately affect the UK’s 1.3 million ‘brown job’ workers who are most exposed to the impacts of the transition, as they are most prevalent in emissions-intense sectors. (snip)

The net zero race will involve major change across the economy but won’t destroy jobs in the way that deindustrialisation did in the 1970s and 1980s, the think tank suggested.

“This has led some to warn that decarbonisation could be as damaging as deindustrialisation in terms of job destruction. Some transitions into new jobs will be required, but the reality is most workers will feel the net zero transition through changes to the jobs they already do, rather than redundancies and completely new types of work,” Kathleen Henehan, senior research and policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said.

In other words, this is going to cause major workplace problems

“Securing a ‘green job’ is likely to lead to higher wages, but entry into those jobs is dominated by those with higher skills. Rather than focusing on misplaced forecasts of huge jobs losses, policy makers should prioritise supporting workers to adapt to new technologies and tasks, either in their current jobs, or by moving to ‘green’ jobs through an expansion of skills and training. That will hold the key to ensuring that decarbonisation can lead to better jobs and pay for as many people as possible,” she added.

Yeah, don’t worry about the potential for huge job losses, people will just need to learn to do something else!

The report said the real challenge is to ensure that low and mid-skilled workers can benefit from the net zero transition with most areas of job growth being higher skilled.

Low skilled jobs are going to be crushed. You know these folks are going to have to put out story after story saying everything will be fine, because they know it won’t.

Read: What Does Net Zero Mean For The U.K. Or Something »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 12 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach June 19, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is an evil fossil fueled vehicle, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is A View From The Beach, with a post on politics on Father’s Day.

It’s ladies with glasses week.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach June 19, 2022 – 9:12 am

Patriotic Pinup

Happy Sunday! Another fantastic day in the Once and Future Nation Of America. The Sun is shining, the ducks are quacking (like, loud), and it’s a great day to call Dad. This pinup is by Pearl Frush, with a wee bit of help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. Jihad Watch covers Biden giving Mozambique $140 million to clean up after Obama’s junior varsity ISIS (which Trump ended)
  2. Legal Insurrection highlights the CDC’s very silly guidance on avoiding monkeypox
  3. Moonbattery notes a Catholic school excommunicated for worshiping Woke
  4. Newsbuster covers the Woke NY Times saying the Woke Washington Post is in trouble
  5. Pacific Pundit says erecting a rather large afro pick in New Orleans could be rather racist
  6. Powerline says that Democracy dies in dumbness
  7. White House Dossier notes that job losses are on the way
  8. The First Street Journal covers the journolism of the Philly Inquirer
  9. The Gateway Pundit notes Chinese companies accessing private TikTok info (who’s surprised?)
  10. The Lid features states striking back against Biden’s Ministry of Truth
  11. The O.K. Corral says it’s a bad idea to bring a rake to a chainsaw fight
  12. The Other McCain notes the problem with red flag laws
  13. This ain’t Hell… highlights an anti-Trump car driving into a pro-Trump store
  14. Weasel Zippers notes Adam Schiff let Colbert’s staff into the capitol
  15. And last, but, not least, No Tricks Zone covers the reality of green energy growth

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page (nope, that’s gone, the newest Apache killed access, and the program hasn’t been upgraded since 2014). While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your Pinups for Vets calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts and things that interest me. I’ve also mostly alphabetized them, makes it easier scrolling the feedreader

Don’t forget to check out all the other great material all the linked blogs have!

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. And do you have a favorite blog you can recommend be added to the feedreader?

Two great sites for getting news links are Liberty Daily and Whatafinger.

Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »

Posted in Patriotic Pinup | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

You Know, You Can Totally Save Gas Money By Just Not Driving Or Something

By William Teach June 19, 2022 – 7:00 am

See, the Biden economy is so great that you just have to change your behavior

Three steps you can take to fight soaring gas prices: Morning Brief

Of all the financial foibles to come to the fore this year — stock market meltdown, higher mortgage rates and recession fears — none has hit the average American more forcefully than rising gasoline prices.

The price of a gallon of gas hit $5.00 for the first time ever this week, up more than 60% year to date.

Anyhow, the smart idea would be for the feds to greenlight fastrack construction of refineries, along with getting so many closed refineries up and running. Signal to the market that drilling is totally allowed. Which should have been done last year

One problem, three solutions

So what’s an American to do?

Well, the first suggestion is to drive less. Yup, I mean it.

We’re a bit entitled in the U.S., aren’t we? Our gas prices are low relative to many countries. In Hong Kong, gas costs $11 a gallon, in Norway more than $10 per gallon, and the rest of Europe pays $7-$8.

Number two, buy an EV. The math here changes when the price of gas goes from $2 to $5.

First off, there aren’t many available. If you can even get on a list, you’ll wait for months and months and months. Second, you’ll pay a heck of a lot more for an EV vs the car you have now. Also, insurance is 10% to 25% higher.

Point three, buy Exxon stock.

And by that I really mean various energy investments, including other oil stocks or ETFs. (Hint: Biden’s letter went to Exxon, Chevron (CVX), BP (BP), Shell (SHEL), Marathon (MRO), Valero (VLO) and Phillips (PSX).)

Even including this week’s 14% slide, shares of Exxon are up 40% this year; the S&P 500, in contrast, is down over 20%.

Of course it’ll take time to see that return. And it doesn’t help that

Deutsche Bank now expects ‘an earlier and somewhat more severe recession’

The first economist on Wall Street to predict a U.S. recession in 2023 is moving up his timeline for an economic contraction.

“More than two months ago we forecasted that the U.S. economy would tip into a recession by end-2023,” Deutsche Bank Chief U.S. economist Matt Luzzetti wrote in a note to clients on Friday. “Since that time, the Fed has undertaken a more aggressive hiking path, financial conditions have tightened sharply and economic data are beginning to show clear signs of slowing. In response to these developments, we now expect an earlier and somewhat more severe recession.”

No worries, Joe will be at the beach

Inflation: Grocery prices are ‘hitting everyone hard,’ and shoppers aren’t happy

The rising costs of food has forced Rick Romero to change his shopping habits.

“Between the cost of food, the cost of fuel — it’s hitting everyone hard, and we’re not getting any compensation at work to try to balance it out,” the L.A. resident told Yahoo Finance. “I buy the same items pretty much every week and it’s gone up, $70 bucks or so a week now.”

His experience is being shared by shoppers across the country who are facing sticker shock on almost all types of groceries. According to the Labor Department’s U.S. Consumer Price Index report, the index for eggs increased 10.3 percent in April alone.

“We have to rebalance [our] budget,” Romero added. “We have to constantly redo a budget every time. It’s not like before where you set a budget and you’re good. You have to rework it now.”

Remember when the media said this was a blip? Transitory? When they blew off the concerns of citizens last year in an attempt to protect Biden? Do they think Americans give a flying shit about January 6th?

Read: You Know, You Can Totally Save Gas Money By Just Not Driving Or Something »

Posted in Economy, Joe Biden | 23 Comments | Trackback URL

Eco-Weenies Super Excited To Use Pee For Farming

By William Teach June 18, 2022 – 3:00 pm

You know, just like it’s 1099

Meet the Peecyclers. Their Idea to Help Farmers Is No. 1.

When Kate Lucy saw a poster in town inviting people to learn about something known as peecycling, she was mystified.

“Why would someone pee in a jug and save it?” she wondered. “It sounds like such a wacky idea.”

She had to work the evening of the information session, so she sent her husband, Jon Sellers, to assuage her curiosity. He came home with a jug and funnel.

Human urine, Sellers learned that night seven years ago, is full of the same nutrients that plants need to flourish. It has a lot more, in fact, than Number Two, with almost none of the pathogens. Farmers typically apply those nutrients — nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium — to crops in the form of chemical fertilizers. But that comes with a high environmental cost from fossil fuels and mining.

The local nonprofit group that ran the session, the Rich Earth Institute, was working on a more sustainable approach: Plants feed us; we feed them.

This is in the straight news section of the NY Times, believe it or not (I’m using the Yahoo News version to avoid the paywall)

Efforts like these are increasingly urgent, experts say. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has worsened a worldwide fertilizer shortage that is driving farmers to desperation and threatening food supplies. Scientists also warn that feeding a growing global population in a world of climate change will only become more difficult.

 

Now, more than 1,000 gallons of donated urine later, Lucy and her husband are part of a global movement that seeks to address a slew of challenges — including food security, water scarcity and inadequate sanitation — by not wasting our waste.

At first, collecting their urine in a jug was “a little sloshy,” Lucy said. But she was a nurse and he was a preschool teacher; pee did not scare them. They went from dropping off a couple of containers every week or so at an organizer’s home to installing large tanks at their own house that get professionally pumped out.

Now Lucy feels a pang of regret when she uses a regular toilet.

Read: Eco-Weenies Super Excited To Use Pee For Farming »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Enviroweenies, Global Warming | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach June 18, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible mansion for rich people, who contribute to ‘climate change’ more than anyone else, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Hogewash, with a post wondering how he can afford an EV.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 12 Comments | Trackback URL

Biden Advisor Says You Dumb People Just Don’t Realize How Great Biden’s Policies Are

By William Teach June 18, 2022 – 10:30 am

I mean, on one hand, advisors do not want to go up and be all sorts of negative, right? On the other hand, there’s being positive and there’s utter gaslighting. Living in a different reality

Biden Adviser Sperling on Recession Fears: ‘Too Many People’ ‘Not Realizing’ How Successful Our Policies Were

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Chris Jansing Reports,” Senior Adviser to President Joe Biden Gene Sperling responded to a survey showing that a majority of CEOs expect a recession in the next 18 months by stating that “we think that too many people are not looking at the more reassuring elements of resilience in this economy right now and they’re not realizing that the American Rescue Plan put a historic number of people back to work.”

Host Chris Jansing asked, “So, look, because of fuel prices, it’s fueling inflation, there are concrete fears of a recession. There was one survey recently that said 60% of CEOs expect a recession in the next year or year-and-a-half. The president believes a recession is not inevitable. Is that his natural optimism or based on something you can share with us?”

Sperling responded, “I think we think that too many people are not looking at the more reassuring elements of resilience in this economy right now and they’re not realizing that the American Rescue Plan put a historic number of people back to work. People have called it the great return to work. You know, today, we just got out state unemployment numbers. There are 30 states in the United States where their unemployment rate is already below [what] it was before the pandemic hit. That’s remarkable progress and 15 of those states are at the lowest level of unemployment ever.”

Most of those jobs are simply companies hiring back to fill the positions they axed during the pandemic, combined with a lot of people just staying out of the job market, which brings that rate down. But, it matters little, because what people are focusing on is the continuing rise of food, fuel, energy, and consumer goods. In terms of the American Rescue Plan, it just pumped money into the economy that wasn’t needed, helping to increase inflation. A lot of it had little to do with COVID relief, and a lot of it hasn’t even been spent yet. There are few measures of where the money is specifically going. As for consumer goods

(Conservative Treehouse) We have been waiting for the non-essential durable goods side of the manufacturing sector to start showing evidence of demand side contraction in consumer purchases.  There have been subtle sector-by-sector indicators of consumer spending shifts for several months; however, today we get the direct evidence from Samsung.

Samsung is one of the leading manufacturers of consumer electronics and products that require chips.  For three months the electronics sector has shown background signals that inventory was not moving.  One of the more recent indicators of a demand side contraction was the lack of upward price pressure inside the electronics sector.  Essentially, consumers are not purchasing the current inventory, so prices are actually dropping in this segment.  [SEE TABLE 2, CPI Chart]: (chart at the story)

Despite overall inflation of 8.6% within the CPI, deep inside the category indexes you will note that electronic prices are actually dropping.  Televisions -9.5%, Video equipment -4.3%, etc.  Video and audio products overall dropped in price 1.4% for May, and dropped 5.2% year-over-year.

The supply chain in this sector is lengthy. Meaning inventory builds slowly as consumers stop purchasing in the USA.  Retail store inventory turns slow, store inventory climbs, then warehouses inventories climb as stores do not need product. The negative boxcar effect travels back to the manufacturer overseas over the course of several purchase cycles.  Eventually, everyone within the sector is telling the supplier we do not need product.  Then the manufacturer has to quickly slowdown raw material.

Due to lengthy supply chains, including trans-pacific shipments, the process to stop deliveries in this electronic goods sector is around 90-days before the drop in retail sales reaches the manufacturer to stop production.  Here is the announcement from Samsung:

Has anyone looked to purchase non-essential goods recently? I told you I bought a soundbar the other week and returned it. Amazon had it $50 off, down from $499. Right now I tried an LG SP8YA, normally $799, ordered it for $390 (BTW, sound is great, if you like 3.1. I don’t. Do not like all the voice coming from the center channel. The left and right sound awesome, as do the upfiring speakers). The 2.1 soundbars I’m seeing are on big sale. Many other products I see are going on sale, the sales you did not see since the economy started reopening in 2020.

Were you like me and expected some great sales on products, thinking that companies would want to move some serious product after months and months of lagging sales? And didn’t see those sales? That’s because companies needed to make money, and they saw that wiping out inventories would cause problems later. And now it’s later, and they’re seeing demand crash, because people are seeing their money dry up on essentials.

The Biden people and the Congressional critters do not see the pain average Americans are feeling. They won’t acknowledge it, because they do not feel the pain, being in a bubble and living high off the hog on the American dime. Biden can helicopter off to the beach in Delaware and not pay a cent. His food is covered. His food and power bills at the White House are paid by you. He can have a fancy meal and not worry a bit.

Read: Biden Advisor Says You Dumb People Just Don’t Realize How Great Biden’s Policies Are »

Posted in Democrats, Economy, Joe Biden | 8 Comments | Trackback URL

Your Fault: Sriracha Is In A Nationwide Shortage

By William Teach June 18, 2022 – 7:15 am

If only you had given up your modern lifestyle and allowed government to control your life

There’s a nationwide Sriracha shortage, and climate change may be to blame

Sorry, Sriracha fans, your favorite hot sauce is running out nationwide.

The company that makes Sriracha, Huy Fong Foods, wrote in an email to customers in late April that it will have to stop making the sauce for the next few months due to “severe weather conditions affecting the quality of chili peppers.”

The spicy sauce has something of a cult following, and so when the news filtered through, some fans took to social media to express their dismay and post about panic buying (with varying degrees of irony.)

Grocery stores in some parts of the country have already started running low on stock, and restaurant owners have been facing higher prices.

Michael Csau, co-owner of the restaurant Pho Viet in Washington D.C., has been paying much more in recent weeks for his Sriracha orders.

“Usually when I bought one case, it was roughly around $30 to $32. Now it’s up to $50, almost double the price. If it keeps going up, we cannot afford it,” Csau said.

Because Bad Weather never happened before fossil fueled vehicles. And the price has nothing to do with inflation at all, right?

“The already difficult conditions were pushed over the limit by two consecutive La Niña events. And the dry season has not only been intense, but also remarkably long,” Murray Tortarolo said.

As a result, the spring chili harvest was almost nonexistent this year. Murray Tortarolo thinks it’s very likely that climate change is a factor, although it requires further study to confirm.

See? La Nina’s never happened before CO2 was over 350ppm. And “very likely” is not “anthropogenic climate change IS the cause.”

“This has been the driest 22 years in the last 1,200 years,” UCLA hydroclimatologist Park Williams said. Williams recently led a study of the megadrought, published in Nature Climate Change.

What caused it 1,200 years ago? Hmm.

Read: Your Fault: Sriracha Is In A Nationwide Shortage »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

Shocking: Biden Gets Another Really Bad Poll

By William Teach June 18, 2022 – 7:00 am

Publishing this has to really, really, really hurt the Credentialed Media

Poll: Biden disapproval hits new high as more Americans say they would vote for Trump

Biden Brain SuckerAs inflation keeps rising and recession fears loom, a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows that Joe Biden is currently in the worst shape of his presidency.

The survey of 1,541 U.S. adults, which was conducted from June 10-13, found that if another presidential election were held today, more registered voters say they would cast ballots for Donald Trump (44%) than for Biden (42%) — even though the House Jan. 6 committee has spent the last week linking Trump to what it called a “seditious conspiracy” to overturn the 2020 election and laying the groundwork for possible criminal prosecution.

Since Biden took office, no previous Yahoo News/YouGov poll has shown him trailing Trump (though Biden’s most recent leads have been within the margin of error, like this one is for Trump). One year ago, Biden led Trump by 9 percentage points. In 2020, Biden won the White House by more than 7 million votes.

Yet Biden’s job approval rating has been atrophying for much of the last year, and the new survey shows that it has never been weaker. A full 56% of Americans now disapprove of the president’s performance — the highest share to date — while just 39% approve. Three weeks ago, those numbers were 53% and 42%, respectively.

On average, Biden’s job approval scores are now a few points worse than Trump’s were at the parallel stage of his presidency.

Can it get worse? There are always those who will stick with a turd like Biden no matter what happens. Leave Americans behind in Afghanistan (there are still some stuck there)? They’ll stick with him. Can’t find baby formula, feminine hygeine products, and gas is averaging over $5? They’ll still support him.

Read: Shocking: Biden Gets Another Really Bad Poll »

Posted in Joe Biden | 1 Comment | Trackback URL
Pirate's Cove