We now live in a world where nonsense takes center stage.
 
As small players amongst forces beyond our control, we can feel hopeless. Such despair and the fear that attends it are very unhealthy states of mind.
​

Truth is the only solution.
 
To that end, here are more eclectic thoughts, facts, and resources to add to previous posts on the unfolding events.
 
COVID-19 (C19)
 
>Substitute C19 for atomic bomb in the following quote from C. S. Lewis.
 
"In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. "How are we to live in an atomic age?" I am tempted to reply: "Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents." In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world that already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty. This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.— "On Living in an Atomic Age" (1948) in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays.
 
> Life is a matter of odds. We are all going to die at some time. The odds of us dying from any particular cause can be calculated. With regard to C19, looking at the whole world, at present there is about one chance in 250,000 of dying with the virus present.
 
Remember, the presence of the virus does not mean causation. But assuming it does, there is a greater chance of dying from a lightning strike or dog attack. For that risk, governing agents are doing their best to destroy livelihoods and lives.
 
>Taiwan has a population of 24 million, no lockdown, and 6 deaths from C19.
 
>"But what I do believe an educator needs to stress is the way in which a controllable pandemic has been transformed into a totally unnecessary pandemonium; a horrifying illustration of the diabolical disorientation accompanying all of the ravages of modernity, and one that has allowed a painfully hollow modern society to titillate itself with the 'feel' of living through the Bubonic Plague without actually doing so." https://edwardpentin.co.uk/john-rao-virus-lockdown-is-a-horrifying-illustration-of-the-diabolical-disorientation-accompanying-ravages-of-modernity/
 
>There is no proof a lockdown has saved even one life, but tons of proof it has created incalculable suffering and devastation that will continue for years to come.
 
>There is no proof that lockdowns helped at all in Europe. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.24.20078717v1
 
>Sweden had no lockdown and has had a mortality rate in the middle of the European pack that did lockdown.
 
>In this map, detailing C19 attributed deaths in relation to New York, it is clear that locking down a majority of the country had no justification at all.

⌕ Click to enlarge

> Library of informative links on C19 and lockdown: https://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2020/05/a-library-of-useful-links-on-the-virus-panic-for-thinking-people.html
 
> In the past, pestilences were mysterious. Leaders killed cats, tortured witches, and self-flagellated. Religions blamed sinners. Everyone was forced to wear certain clothes. Sinners, said to be the cause of the pestilence, were locked up. There was massive starvation, disease, and misery that had nothing to do with the pestilence. Today, we are repeating the ignorance and self-inflicted damage under the direction of all-knowing medical high priest bureaucrats and government rulers. The media is the dancing witch doctor scaring everyone senseless.
 
>Keep in mind that the virus primarily targets the elderly and those with preexisting health conditions. Nursing homes are particularly susceptible due to the close quarters and shared caregivers increasing the contact and dose of the virus. Obviously, these are the people who should have been locked down, not an entire world.
 
>Although George Floyd is being heralded as a martyr, he is actually more like a hero. Only with his death are people, including tyrannical political leaders, defying the irrational lockdowns, mask-wearing, and social distancing in their marches. In effect, the protests prove the lockdowns were political and not about saving lives.
 
Immune Enhancement
 
>The elderly, even with no co-morbidities, suffer senescence of the immune system, just like for every other physical and mental function. Optimal doses of vitamins C, D (by way of sunshine is best, or supplement), A, niacin (NAD precursor), and zinc assist immunity. These, along with other multiple vitamins and minerals are protective for everyone. Quercetin, as a supplement or from elderberry, is immunostimulatory. Drink lots of pure (not bottled) water, alkalinized, even up to a gallon per day if ill. Quality protein, particularly for the elderly, is needed by the immune system. Collagen and glycine, abundant in bone broth and gelatin are particularly beneficial. Dramatically reducing sugar and starches (which convert to sugar when digested) and converting the diet to as much fresh and raw natural food as possible is critical. Exercise helps immunity, mental state, and every other bodily function.
 
Economic Devastation
 
By and large, ignored by the media and government are the economic consequences of the destruction of jobs, populace dependence on government payments, the endless printing of fiat money by the Federal Reserve, and escalating government debt to cover the profligate spending by government. Looming on the horizon is the collapse of stock, bond, real estate, and debt bubbles and resultant recession, inflation, deflation, and depression. See Peter Schiff podcasts #574 forward, in particular.
 
The Potential EMP Event
 
At the same time, the country is consumed by concerns about a flu that is less dangerous than many others we have lived with, the possibility of an EMP event from a solar flare or atomic blast high overhead has been largely ignored. Such an event could disable the grid. That would stop all computers, locomotion, industry, and communication. Planes would fall out of the sky, food disappear, and utilities stop. Some estimate that 90% of the US population would die before anything could be done to remedy it.
 
In 1859 a solar flare with the energy of 10 billion atomic bombs, known as the Carrington event, burned electrical wires and disrupted telegraph communications. That was in the horse and buggy days. Imagine the damage today when virtually everything is electrified and interconnected. https://www.history.com/news/a-perfect-solar-superstorm-the-1859-carrington-event
 
We have the ability to protect the grid against this. There have recently been some legislative efforts. But special interests stand in the way. Politicians dally and worry about pleasing donors and how to muster votes with bogus issues. The public needs to become aware of this danger and insist action be taken now, not later. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/new-emp-warning-us-will-cease-to-exist-90-of-population-will-die
 
Social and Political Perspective
 
> In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Heather MacDonald provides data showing that there is no systemic racism by police. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/wall-street-journal-op-ed-hold-officers-accountable-who-use-excessive-force-but-theres-no-evidence-of-widespread-racial-bias
 
> Slavery was and is an abhorrent practice. Arguably, the greatest sin against another human is to rob them of their freedom. Ashamedly, all people, at one time or another in their history, have both enslaved and been slaves. For example, at the time of Jefferson when slavery was practiced in America, over a million Americans and Europeans were enslaved or ransomed by North African Barbary pirates.
 
1816 illustration of Barbary enslavement.

⌕ Click to enlarge

>Notable killings by police for which no protests occurred:
 
Daniel Shaver. https://www.tmz.com/videos/0-6a1i76cy/
 
Tony Timpa and others. https://youtu.be/H1toK3ODe9U
 
>How can it be explained that police who were arresting a father playing with his children in a vacant park, people opening up their businesses to feed their families, and people walking on a beach were ordered to stand down and let violence, murder, arson, looting, and destruction occur? How can it be explained that at one moment a virus paralyzed the nation with fear and tyrannical control, and in the next moment masks and social distancing were forgotten in favor of riots?
 
>Thinkers who give perspective on current issues:
 
Thomas Sowell— https://www.hoover.org/profiles/thomas-sowell
 
Walter Williams— http://walterewilliams.com
 
Larry Elders— https://larryelderado.com

Jesse Lee Peterson— https://tunein.com/podcasts/Conservative-Talk/Jesse-Lee-Peterson-Radio-Show-p57448

>The divide between those who want a free America and those who don't has deepened to the point that there appears to be irreconcilable differences. Cities are burning, violence and looting go unimpeded by government and police. There is every reason to wonder whether America is on the brink and freedom is at risk. But the ideals of America that hundreds of thousands have given their lives for will not be set aside easily.
 
This is what has happened in communities when the citizens rose up. As police continue to withdraw or quit, this could be the new norm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26ah1Tz6m, ​https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/timcast/tim-pool-daily-show/e/71332099
 
This is the government's civil war analysis if push comes to shove. https://podcast.app/civil-war-in-america-who-would-win-in-depth-analysis-e98860299/