Defending our Civilization

Scott Adams, American cartoonist and commenter on events with a particular view to persuasion and narrative dominance seems to agree. Transcript of key comments: I think I’ve been telling you for some time the obvious way that these protests/riots/looting episodes were going to go. There was only one way that these would go under the assumption that the police would not get more aggressive and that the local government would not let the federal government come in and take care of the violent stuff. There was going to be no adult supervision and that was intentional. The local leadership decided to not have any adult leadership during the protests/riots/looting. So it was obvious that the locals would end up arming Read More ›

One of the key steps in dismissing evidence of efficacy of hydroxychloroquine-based cocktails in treating early stageCovid-19 for patients in vulnerable groups on an outpatient basis is the use of the premise that such evidence is of low quality as it does not match the “gold standard” of placebo-controlled, randomised tests (often. RCT’s). However, observations are observations, natural regularities are often observable from the first few trials, evidence is evidence, ethical and practical considerations are real, and valid scientific methods do not reduce to applied statistics. It is in that context that we should attend carefully to remarks by Dr Thomas Frieden, writing in NEJM 3 1/2 years ago, in terms that uncannily anticipate our current woes: Despite their strengths, Read More ›

As a FYI, we need to understand the pattern of such diseases, so courtesy Yandex Image search (Google did an obvious results suppression): This leads to the simplified U/L trajectory description. If a vulnerable patient catches, things tend to get worse over several days, potentially leading to a crisis from immunity system over-reaction and/or secondary infection (“complications”). That can lead to flat-lining, the L, death. But if one makes it through the trough, a recovery period extends the disease process, the U trajectory. BTW, to see the U/L, invert the black line that rises with severity on the chart. Shouldn’t a deterioration lead to sinking? U/D, HT Jerry and MedCram/Mina: Let’s look at a plot of viral load vs time Read More ›

Thirty years ago, “Socialism” collapsed in utter disgrace. What lies behind the seeming resurgence in C21? (Apart from Alinsky style “community organisers” beavering away, Frankfurt School “Critical theory” and linked “Deconstructionism,” all tied to the smear that those who seriously challenge Marxist notions and linked policy agendas are crypto-fascists at best?) Here is a Prager U video discussion with Ms Candace Owen: (Here’s hoping it does not get mysteriously deplatformed.) I again point to a framework for understanding political dynamics: . . . thus, a re-thinking on political spectra: With a warning on Red Guards: Let me add (July 31), given the comment by BR on a victim of a Stalinist show trial, a telegram from Albert Einstein on the Read More ›

Here is an image from Portland, of the “wall of moms” human shield; one, that is NOT being prominently featured in the major media that are busily trying to paint Federal officers defending a court house after 50 days of rioting as Nazi-style storm troopers: U/D, Jul 24: It seems, I need to show typical logos of the Antifa, to make a point clear: Let me further add, from redspark dot nu, evidently a pro-Antifa site: Since its original emergence in the early 1920s, fascism as an ideology and a movement has been met with fierce opposition. From the very beginning, communists (along with other leftists) have taken up the cause to not simply resist, but to actively oppose and Read More ›

Longtime UD commenter Vividbleau: Eugene“Cancel culture (along with BLM, LGBTQ and other similar activism) is ultimately a creation of some think-tank, payrolled by Davos crowd. “ [Vivid:] Actually it’s Critical Theory and it’s sub theories ( Critical Race Theory, Critical Social Justice Theory, Critical Whiteness Theory, etc) that is responsible for “cancel culture” [–> we can add a long list from law to watermelon environmentalism, and more] My response: Vivid, include post modernist deconstruction, targetting our civilisation. Critical theories are culture form marxism, and so called community organisers of the Alinsky Chicago school are literally trained small-c communist agitators playing with the fire of low kinetic 4th generation insurgency war. Those who play with such hell-spawned fire are responsible for Read More ›

Seminal Christian thinker, Francis Schaeffer, often said that “ideas have consequences.” The issue of course, is that good/bad ideas have similarly good/bad consequences. So, we face a familiar dilemma, especially when a culture or community or civilisation is on a dangerous path: This helps us to focus the issue: we are looking at alternatives in a community where balances of power tend to lock in business as usual and tend to marginalise alternatives. So, we will have to look at power structures, polarisation and prudence in decision-making at policy level. Which, as a fairly simple framework, raises the concept of seven “commanding heights” mountains/pillars of influence that uphold and in turn are protected by a dominant worldview and cultural agenda: Read More ›

The American Revolution was a catalyst that showed that a sustainable modern, representational, Constitutional Republic of significant “we the People” democratic character was feasible. It served as a beacon of hope for the world, nowhere better captured than in key words from the American Declaration of Independence, 244 years ago today: When . . . it becomes necessary for one people . . . to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident [cf Rom 1:18 Read More ›

Overnight, we noted a certain Mr Sean King, aka “Talcum X” who has perhaps 1.1 million Twitter followers: I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down. They are a form of white supremacy. Always have been. In the Bible, when the family of Jesus wanted to hide, and blend in, guess where they went? EGYPT! Not Denmark. Tear them down . . . . Yes. All murals and stained glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends should also come down. They are a gross form white supremacy. Created as tools of oppression. Racist propaganda. They should all come down. Of course, immediately, Egypt c. 7 – Read More ›

IHU- Méditerranée Infection, Marseille, is a significant French research institute that has continued its work on CV 19. For the record, here are excerpts from some recent work, headlined from threads where such would be buried: EXH 1: >>COVID-IHU #15 Version 1 du 27 Mai 2020 Early diagnosis and management of COVID-19 patients: a real-life cohort study of 3,737 patients, Marseille, France Abstract Background: In our institute in Marseille, France, we proposed early and massive screening for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Hospitalization and early treatment with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin (HCQ-AZ) was proposed for the positive cases. Methods: We retrospectively report the clinical management of 3,737 patients, including 3,054 (81.7%) treated with HCQ-AZ for at least three days and 683 (18.3%) Read More ›

A video: Of course, in a day of revisionism and anti-Westernism, it is sometimes said that this was not a decisive event for the course of WW2. It is pointed out that after Stalingrad and Kursk, Germany was on the retreat, never mind the huge disparity in casualties. That’s true. Instead, it was a Geostrategically decisive event for the course of C20 history, for it meant that the Iron Curtain ran through Germany rather than the English Channel. And that’s a lot bigger than WW2. END

The kairos concept is, in a nutshell, that there are seasons in life and in community, so that there are times that are opportune or even simply pivotal and trend-making. At such times, we are forced to decide, for good or ill. And yes, carry on with business as usual . . . especially on a manifest march of folly . . . is a [collective, power-balance driven] decision; ill advised though it may be: More formally: With that in mind, I now draw attention to Chenyuan Snider’s expose of some of the more terrifying Red Guard-like group-guilt, stereotyping and scapegoating tactics of the totalitarian government she grew up under; here, targetting a particularly revered group in historic, Confucius- influenced Read More ›

Vid: Ponder the exacting systems engineering, reliability testing, required qualifications and multiple i/o instrumentation and control involved. Observe the precise, corrective jets to keep the process under control. This, is how a good future is going to be built: near earth colonisation and Lunar colonisation are the first stages to Solar system colonisation. (Note, they are expected to remain on the ISS for 30 – 119 days.) Blue Danube is extra, but it speaks to the cultural patterns that lie behind that precise docking exercise and all the rich promise it reflects. END

I forgot, today is a terrible anniversary, the Battle of Jutland: Had the Royal Navy managed to win here decisively (as 110 years before at Trafalgar), it might have ended WW1 before it spun utterly out of control across the next 18 months that wrecked the old order and ushered in a century of unprecedented horrors. As it was, it preserved the strategic situation of blockade, at the cost of a terrible battering. While this, Verdun. Then, the Somme as the French pleaded desperately for relief. Then, collapse of Russia, Mutiny in France’s Army, ultimately collapse of Germany, The Ottoman Empire, and much more. 1939, round 2. Lessons to ponder aplenty as we see Arab Spring attempted in the USA. Read More ›

Dr Zelenko expects to be in publication along with some German colleagues, in about two weeks. In the following video (pardon quality issues): . . . he asks, in effect, isn’t it standard to treat a disease as early as possible, so why the strange difference here? He makes a comparison to how a fire can flash over into a much more dangerous stage and notes how much easier it is to hit it while it is small. He expresses a measure of anger with medical and political establishments, /do allow for that. He identifies that by the time people are at a Doctor’s office they are likely to be about day 5 in the disease process, on the verge Read More ›