The 2020 Election | Armstrong Economics
Listen to the truth
Friday, October 9, 2020
Sunday, June 14, 2020
It's 1968 all over again
There is nothing new under the sun! (Ecclesiastes 1:9) We’ve been here before:
Protest—Pandemic-more Protest. The difference this time is there is more money and organization on a global scale involved.
IT’S 1968 ALL OVER AGAIN
PANDEMIC
The first recorded instance of the outbreak appeared on 13 July 1968 in Hong Kong. There is a possibility that this outbreak actually began in mainland China before spreading to Hong Kong, but this is unconfirmed.[6][7] By the end of July 1968, extensive outbreaks were reported in Vietnam and Singapore. Despite the lethality of the 1957 Asian Flu in China, little improvement had been made regarding the handling of such epidemics. The Times newspaper was the first source to report this new possible pandemic.
By September 1968, the flu had reached India, the Philippines, northern Australia, and Europe. That same month, the virus entered California, carried by troops returning from the Vietnam War, but did not become widespread in the United States until December 1968. It reached Japan, Africa, and South America by 1969.[8]
In Berlin, the excessive number of deaths led to corpses being stored in subway tunnels, and in West Germany, garbage collectors had to bury the dead due to insufficient undertakers. In total, East and West Germany registered 60,000 estimated deaths. In some areas of France, half the workforce was bedridden, and manufacturing suffered large disruptions due to absenteeism. The British postal and train services were also severely disrupted.[9]
The outbreak in Hong Kong, where population density was greater than 6,000 people per square kilometer, reached maximum intensity in two weeks; it lasted six months in total from July to December 1968. Worldwide deaths from this virus peaked in December 1968 and January 1969. By that time, public health warnings[10] and virus descriptions[11] were widely issued in the scientific and medical journals.
In comparison to other pandemics of the 20th century, the Hong Kong flu yielded a low death rate.[8] The disease was allowed to spread through the population without restrictions on the economic activity until a vaccine became available four months after it started.[9]
The H3N2 virus returned during the following 1969/1970 flu season, resulting in a second, deadlier wave of deaths.[1] It remains in circulation today as a strain of the seasonal flu.[1]
Clinical data[edit]
Flu symptoms typically lasted four to five days but some persisted for up to two weeks.[8]
Virology[edit]
The influenza viruses that caused the Hong Kong flu (magnified approximately 100,000 times)
The Hong Kong flu was the first known outbreak of the H3N2 strain, though there is serologic evidence of H3N1 infections in the late 19th century. The virus was isolated in Queen Mary Hospital.
Both the H2N2 and H3N2 pandemic flu strains contained genes from avian influenza viruses. The new subtypes arose in pigs coinfected with avian and human viruses and were soon transferred to humans. Swine were considered the original "intermediate host" for influenza because they supported the reassortment of divergent subtypes. However, other hosts appear capable of similar coinfection (for example, many poultry species), and direct transmission of avian viruses to humans is possible. H1N1, associated with the 1918 flu pandemic, may have been transmitted directly from birds to humans.[12]
The Hong Kong flu strain shared internal genes and the neuraminidase with the 1957 Asian flu (H2N2). Accumulated antibodies to the neuraminidase or internal proteins may have resulted in many fewer casualties than most pandemics. However, cross-immunity within and between subtypes of influenza is poorly understood.
The reproduction rate of the flu in this period was estimated at 1.80.[13]
Mortality[edit]
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that in total, the virus killed one million people worldwide,[14] from its beginning in July 1968 until the outbreak faded during the winter of 1969–70.[15] The CDC estimated that about 34,000 to 100,000 people died in the U.S; most excess deaths were in those 65 and older.[16][17] However, fewer people died during this pandemic than in previous pandemics for several reasons:[14]
1. Some immunity against the N2 flu virus may have been retained in populations struck by the Asian Flu strains which had been circulating since 1957;
2. The pandemic did not gain momentum until near the winter school holidays, thus limiting the infection spreading;
3. Improved medical care gave vital support to the very ill;
4. The availability of antibiotics was more effective against secondary bacterial infections.
For this pandemic, there were two geographically distinct mortality patterns. In North America (the United States and Canada), the first pandemic season (1968/69) was more severe than the second (1969/70). In the "smoldering" pattern seen in Europe and Asia (United Kingdom, France, Japan, and Australia), the second pandemic season was two to five times more severe than the first.[18]
PROTEST/RIOTS
The protests of 1968 comprised a worldwide escalation of social conflicts, predominantly characterized by popular rebellions against the military and the bureaucracy.
In the United States, these protests marked a turning point for the civil rights movement, which produced revolutionary movements like the Black Panther Party. In reaction to the Tet Offensive, protests also sparked a broad movement in opposition to the Vietnam War all over the United States as well as in London, Paris, Berlin, and Rome. Mass movements grew not only in the United States but also in most European countries. The most spectacular manifestation of these was the May 1968 protests in France, in which students linked up with wildcat strikes of up to ten million workers, and for a few days, the movement seemed capable of overthrowing the government. In many other countries, struggles against dictatorships, state repression, and colonization were also marked by protests in 1968, such as the beginning of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the Tlatelolco massacre in Mexico City, and the escalation of guerrilla warfare against the military dictatorship in Brazil.
In countries in the Soviet Union, there were protests against lack of freedom of speech and violation of other civil rights by the Communist bureaucratic and military elites. In Central and Eastern Europe, there were widespread protests that escalated, particularly in the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia, in Warsaw, in Poland, and in Yugoslavia.
History[edit]
The Chicago Police riot[edit]
Chicago Police helmet and billy club circa 1968 (photographed 2012)
On August 28, 1968, around 10,000 protesters gathered in Grant Park for the demonstration, intending to march to the International Amphitheater where the convention was being held.[18] At approximately 3:30 p.m., a young man lowered the American flag that was there.[39] The police broke through the crowd and began beating the young man, while the crowd pelted the police with food, rocks, and chunks of concrete.[57] The chants of some of the protesters shifted from "hell no, we won't go" to "pigs are whores".[58]
Tom Hayden, one of the leaders of Students for a Democratic Society, encouraged protesters to move out of the park to ensure that if the police used tear gas on them, it would have to be done throughout the city.[59] The police soon gained the upper hand after firing tear gas and chased the demonstrators down the streets, beating them with clubs and rifle butts before arresting them.[18] The amount of tear gas used to suppress the protesters was so great that it made its way to the Conrad Hilton hotel, where it disturbed Hubert Humphrey while in his shower.[58] The police sprayed demonstrators and bystanders with mace and were taunted by some protesters with chants of "kill, kill, kill".[60] The police responded by shouting "Get out of here, you cocksuckers!".[37] The police indiscriminately attacked all who were present, regardless if they involved in the demonstrations or not.[37] Dick Gregory, the comedian who attended the protests, told the crowd that the police were merely following the orders of Mayor Daley and "the crooks downtown".[37]
The MOBE leaders then decided to march down Michigan Avenue to the Conrad Hilton hotel where many of the Democratic delegates were staying.[37] The Illinois National Guard guarding the hotel fired tear gas while the police moved in to beat the demonstrators.[37] The police assault in front of the Conrad Hilton Hotel on the evening of August 28 became the most famous image of the Chicago demonstrations of 1968. The entire event took place live under television lights for 17 minutes with the crowd chanting, "The whole world is watching".[58] Samuel Brown, one of the organizers for Senator McCarthy, lamented the violence, saying: "Instead of nice young people ringing doorbells, the public saw the image of mobs shouting obscenities and disrupting the city".[18] Brown stated the demonstrations at Chicago had been a disaster for the anti-war movement, as the American people saw the protesters as the trouble-makers and the heavy-handed police response as justified.[18] The general feeling at the time was the hippies were intent upon destroying everything good in America and the Chicago police had acted correctly in beating such dangerous anti-social types bloody.[21]
In a telephone call to President Johnson on Saturday 7 September 1968 Chicago Mayor Richard Daley described some of the activity undertaken by the elements of the protesters, which he described as "Professional Trouble Makers", these activities included the burning of the American Flag, raising of the Viet Cong Flag and throwing both manure and urine at the police.[61]
In its report Rights in Conflict (better known as the Walker Report), the Chicago Study Team that investigated the violent clashes between police and protesters at the convention stated that the police response was characterized by:
unrestrained and indiscriminate police violence on many occasions, particularly at night. That violence was made all the more shocking by the fact that it was often inflicted upon persons who had broken no law, disobeyed no order, made no threat. These included peaceful demonstrators, onlookers, and large numbers of residents who were simply passing through, or happened to live in, the areas where confrontations were occurring.[62][63]
The Walker Report, "headed by an independent observer from Los Angeles police – concluded that: “Individual policemen, and lots of them, committed violent acts far in excess of the requisite force for crowd dispersal or arrest. To read dispassionately the hundreds of statements describing at firsthand the events of Sunday and Monday nights is to become convinced of the presence of what can only be called a police riot.”"[64]
Illinois delegates (including then-Mayor Richard J. Daley and his son future mayor Richard M. Daley) react to Senator Abraham Ribicoff's criticism of the Chicago Police. Reports differ as to whether the elder Daley shouted "You faker!" or "Fuck you, you Jew son of a bitch."[65][66]
Connecticut Senator Abraham Ribicoff used his nominating speech for George McGovern to report the violence going on outside the convention hall and said that "With George McGovern as President of the United States, we wouldn't have to have Gestapo tactics in the streets of Chicago!"[67] Mayor Daley responded to his remark with something unintelligible through the television sound, although lip-readers throughout America claimed to have observed him shouting, "Fuck you, you Jew son of a bitch." Defenders of the mayor would later claim that he was calling Ribicoff a faker,[65][66] a charge denied by Daley and refuted by Mike Royko's reporting.[68] Ribicoff replied: "How hard it is to accept the truth!" That night, NBC News had been switching back and forth between images of the violence to the festivities over Humphrey's victory in the convention hall, highlighting the division in the Democratic Party.[69]
According to The Guardian, "[a]fter four days and nights of violence, 668 people had been arrested, 425 demonstrators were treated at temporary medical facilities, 200 were treated on the spot, 400 given first aid for tear gas exposure and 110 went to the hospital. A total of 192 police officers were injured."[70]
After the Chicago protests, some demonstrators believed the majority of Americans would side with them over what had happened in Chicago, especially because of police behavior.[70] The controversy over the war in Vietnam overshadowed their cause.[47] Daley shared he had received 135,000 letters supporting his actions and only 5,000 condemning them. Public opinion polls demonstrated that the majority of Americans supported the Mayor's tactics.[71] It was often commented through the popular media that on that evening, America decided to vote for Richard Nixon.[72]
After the convention, which had very publicly exposed the fault-lines between hawkish and dovish Democrats, Humphrey was 22 points behind Nixon in the polls.[31] By contrast to the violence and chaos in Chicago, the Republican Convention in Miami had been a model of order and unity, which made Nixon appear better qualified to be president as even Humphrey himself conceded in private.[31]
On 30 September 1968, Humphrey gave a speech in Salt Lake City that he had intended to deliver at the convention in Chicago, saying he was willing to unconditionally stop the bombing of North Vietnam to break the deadlock in the peace talks in Paris.[73] (Which put him at odds with President Johnson.)[28] At this point, Humphrey who was behind in the polls saw his numbers began to rise, and Nixon was certainly concerned in October 1968 that he might lose the election.[74] By late October 1968, Humphrey had a slight lead with 44% intending to vote for him compared to 43% for Nixon.[75] The election of 1968 was one of the closest ever in American history with Nixon winning 31.7 million votes, Humphrey 31.2 million votes, and Wallace 10 million votes.[75]
The Chicago Eight[edit]
Main article: Chicago Seven
After Chicago, the Justice Department meted out charges of conspiracy and incitement to riot in connection with the violence at Chicago. This created the Chicago Eight, consisting of protesters Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden, David Dellinger, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Jerry Rubin, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale.[76] Demonstrations were held daily during the trial, organized by the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, the Young Lords led by Jose Cha-Cha Jimenez, and the local Black Panther Party led by Chairman Fred Hampton. In February 1970, five of the remaining seven Chicago Conspiracy defendants (Seale's charges had been separated from the rest) were convicted on the charge of intent to incite a riot while crossing state lines, but none were found guilty of conspiracy.
Judge Julius Hoffman sentenced the defendants and their attorneys to jail terms ranging from two-and-a-half months to four years for contempt of court.[77] In 1972, the convictions were reversed on appeal, and the government declined to bring the case to trial again.[76][78]
The two bookends of destruction by the anti-war and race riots along with the Hong Kong Flu in 1968 were:
SUMMER OF LOVE
Before the Hong Kong flu hit and the political riots broke out there was the Summer of Love (Spring-Summer 1967) where a group of the young idealist wanted to show the world peace and love in the Haight district of San Francisco and Golden Gate Park.
WOODSTOCK
Hopefully, this all ends with an event like Woodstock (Aug 15-18, 1969) where thousands converged to listen to music and have fun and care for each other.
It's too bad that we can't get rid of the bad stuff in the middle and just "get along". Where does all the hate come from?
Protest—Pandemic-more Protest. The difference this time is there is more money and organization on a global scale involved.
IT’S 1968 ALL OVER AGAIN
PANDEMIC
The first recorded instance of the outbreak appeared on 13 July 1968 in Hong Kong. There is a possibility that this outbreak actually began in mainland China before spreading to Hong Kong, but this is unconfirmed.[6][7] By the end of July 1968, extensive outbreaks were reported in Vietnam and Singapore. Despite the lethality of the 1957 Asian Flu in China, little improvement had been made regarding the handling of such epidemics. The Times newspaper was the first source to report this new possible pandemic.
By September 1968, the flu had reached India, the Philippines, northern Australia, and Europe. That same month, the virus entered California, carried by troops returning from the Vietnam War, but did not become widespread in the United States until December 1968. It reached Japan, Africa, and South America by 1969.[8]
In Berlin, the excessive number of deaths led to corpses being stored in subway tunnels, and in West Germany, garbage collectors had to bury the dead due to insufficient undertakers. In total, East and West Germany registered 60,000 estimated deaths. In some areas of France, half the workforce was bedridden, and manufacturing suffered large disruptions due to absenteeism. The British postal and train services were also severely disrupted.[9]
The outbreak in Hong Kong, where population density was greater than 6,000 people per square kilometer, reached maximum intensity in two weeks; it lasted six months in total from July to December 1968. Worldwide deaths from this virus peaked in December 1968 and January 1969. By that time, public health warnings[10] and virus descriptions[11] were widely issued in the scientific and medical journals.
In comparison to other pandemics of the 20th century, the Hong Kong flu yielded a low death rate.[8] The disease was allowed to spread through the population without restrictions on the economic activity until a vaccine became available four months after it started.[9]
The H3N2 virus returned during the following 1969/1970 flu season, resulting in a second, deadlier wave of deaths.[1] It remains in circulation today as a strain of the seasonal flu.[1]
Clinical data[edit]
Flu symptoms typically lasted four to five days but some persisted for up to two weeks.[8]
Virology[edit]
The influenza viruses that caused the Hong Kong flu (magnified approximately 100,000 times)
The Hong Kong flu was the first known outbreak of the H3N2 strain, though there is serologic evidence of H3N1 infections in the late 19th century. The virus was isolated in Queen Mary Hospital.
Both the H2N2 and H3N2 pandemic flu strains contained genes from avian influenza viruses. The new subtypes arose in pigs coinfected with avian and human viruses and were soon transferred to humans. Swine were considered the original "intermediate host" for influenza because they supported the reassortment of divergent subtypes. However, other hosts appear capable of similar coinfection (for example, many poultry species), and direct transmission of avian viruses to humans is possible. H1N1, associated with the 1918 flu pandemic, may have been transmitted directly from birds to humans.[12]
The Hong Kong flu strain shared internal genes and the neuraminidase with the 1957 Asian flu (H2N2). Accumulated antibodies to the neuraminidase or internal proteins may have resulted in many fewer casualties than most pandemics. However, cross-immunity within and between subtypes of influenza is poorly understood.
The reproduction rate of the flu in this period was estimated at 1.80.[13]
Mortality[edit]
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that in total, the virus killed one million people worldwide,[14] from its beginning in July 1968 until the outbreak faded during the winter of 1969–70.[15] The CDC estimated that about 34,000 to 100,000 people died in the U.S; most excess deaths were in those 65 and older.[16][17] However, fewer people died during this pandemic than in previous pandemics for several reasons:[14]
1. Some immunity against the N2 flu virus may have been retained in populations struck by the Asian Flu strains which had been circulating since 1957;
2. The pandemic did not gain momentum until near the winter school holidays, thus limiting the infection spreading;
3. Improved medical care gave vital support to the very ill;
4. The availability of antibiotics was more effective against secondary bacterial infections.
For this pandemic, there were two geographically distinct mortality patterns. In North America (the United States and Canada), the first pandemic season (1968/69) was more severe than the second (1969/70). In the "smoldering" pattern seen in Europe and Asia (United Kingdom, France, Japan, and Australia), the second pandemic season was two to five times more severe than the first.[18]
PROTEST/RIOTS
The protests of 1968 comprised a worldwide escalation of social conflicts, predominantly characterized by popular rebellions against the military and the bureaucracy.
In the United States, these protests marked a turning point for the civil rights movement, which produced revolutionary movements like the Black Panther Party. In reaction to the Tet Offensive, protests also sparked a broad movement in opposition to the Vietnam War all over the United States as well as in London, Paris, Berlin, and Rome. Mass movements grew not only in the United States but also in most European countries. The most spectacular manifestation of these was the May 1968 protests in France, in which students linked up with wildcat strikes of up to ten million workers, and for a few days, the movement seemed capable of overthrowing the government. In many other countries, struggles against dictatorships, state repression, and colonization were also marked by protests in 1968, such as the beginning of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the Tlatelolco massacre in Mexico City, and the escalation of guerrilla warfare against the military dictatorship in Brazil.
In countries in the Soviet Union, there were protests against lack of freedom of speech and violation of other civil rights by the Communist bureaucratic and military elites. In Central and Eastern Europe, there were widespread protests that escalated, particularly in the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia, in Warsaw, in Poland, and in Yugoslavia.
History[edit]
The Chicago Police riot[edit]
Chicago Police helmet and billy club circa 1968 (photographed 2012)
On August 28, 1968, around 10,000 protesters gathered in Grant Park for the demonstration, intending to march to the International Amphitheater where the convention was being held.[18] At approximately 3:30 p.m., a young man lowered the American flag that was there.[39] The police broke through the crowd and began beating the young man, while the crowd pelted the police with food, rocks, and chunks of concrete.[57] The chants of some of the protesters shifted from "hell no, we won't go" to "pigs are whores".[58]
Tom Hayden, one of the leaders of Students for a Democratic Society, encouraged protesters to move out of the park to ensure that if the police used tear gas on them, it would have to be done throughout the city.[59] The police soon gained the upper hand after firing tear gas and chased the demonstrators down the streets, beating them with clubs and rifle butts before arresting them.[18] The amount of tear gas used to suppress the protesters was so great that it made its way to the Conrad Hilton hotel, where it disturbed Hubert Humphrey while in his shower.[58] The police sprayed demonstrators and bystanders with mace and were taunted by some protesters with chants of "kill, kill, kill".[60] The police responded by shouting "Get out of here, you cocksuckers!".[37] The police indiscriminately attacked all who were present, regardless if they involved in the demonstrations or not.[37] Dick Gregory, the comedian who attended the protests, told the crowd that the police were merely following the orders of Mayor Daley and "the crooks downtown".[37]
The MOBE leaders then decided to march down Michigan Avenue to the Conrad Hilton hotel where many of the Democratic delegates were staying.[37] The Illinois National Guard guarding the hotel fired tear gas while the police moved in to beat the demonstrators.[37] The police assault in front of the Conrad Hilton Hotel on the evening of August 28 became the most famous image of the Chicago demonstrations of 1968. The entire event took place live under television lights for 17 minutes with the crowd chanting, "The whole world is watching".[58] Samuel Brown, one of the organizers for Senator McCarthy, lamented the violence, saying: "Instead of nice young people ringing doorbells, the public saw the image of mobs shouting obscenities and disrupting the city".[18] Brown stated the demonstrations at Chicago had been a disaster for the anti-war movement, as the American people saw the protesters as the trouble-makers and the heavy-handed police response as justified.[18] The general feeling at the time was the hippies were intent upon destroying everything good in America and the Chicago police had acted correctly in beating such dangerous anti-social types bloody.[21]
In a telephone call to President Johnson on Saturday 7 September 1968 Chicago Mayor Richard Daley described some of the activity undertaken by the elements of the protesters, which he described as "Professional Trouble Makers", these activities included the burning of the American Flag, raising of the Viet Cong Flag and throwing both manure and urine at the police.[61]
In its report Rights in Conflict (better known as the Walker Report), the Chicago Study Team that investigated the violent clashes between police and protesters at the convention stated that the police response was characterized by:
unrestrained and indiscriminate police violence on many occasions, particularly at night. That violence was made all the more shocking by the fact that it was often inflicted upon persons who had broken no law, disobeyed no order, made no threat. These included peaceful demonstrators, onlookers, and large numbers of residents who were simply passing through, or happened to live in, the areas where confrontations were occurring.[62][63]
The Walker Report, "headed by an independent observer from Los Angeles police – concluded that: “Individual policemen, and lots of them, committed violent acts far in excess of the requisite force for crowd dispersal or arrest. To read dispassionately the hundreds of statements describing at firsthand the events of Sunday and Monday nights is to become convinced of the presence of what can only be called a police riot.”"[64]
Illinois delegates (including then-Mayor Richard J. Daley and his son future mayor Richard M. Daley) react to Senator Abraham Ribicoff's criticism of the Chicago Police. Reports differ as to whether the elder Daley shouted "You faker!" or "Fuck you, you Jew son of a bitch."[65][66]
Connecticut Senator Abraham Ribicoff used his nominating speech for George McGovern to report the violence going on outside the convention hall and said that "With George McGovern as President of the United States, we wouldn't have to have Gestapo tactics in the streets of Chicago!"[67] Mayor Daley responded to his remark with something unintelligible through the television sound, although lip-readers throughout America claimed to have observed him shouting, "Fuck you, you Jew son of a bitch." Defenders of the mayor would later claim that he was calling Ribicoff a faker,[65][66] a charge denied by Daley and refuted by Mike Royko's reporting.[68] Ribicoff replied: "How hard it is to accept the truth!" That night, NBC News had been switching back and forth between images of the violence to the festivities over Humphrey's victory in the convention hall, highlighting the division in the Democratic Party.[69]
According to The Guardian, "[a]fter four days and nights of violence, 668 people had been arrested, 425 demonstrators were treated at temporary medical facilities, 200 were treated on the spot, 400 given first aid for tear gas exposure and 110 went to the hospital. A total of 192 police officers were injured."[70]
After the Chicago protests, some demonstrators believed the majority of Americans would side with them over what had happened in Chicago, especially because of police behavior.[70] The controversy over the war in Vietnam overshadowed their cause.[47] Daley shared he had received 135,000 letters supporting his actions and only 5,000 condemning them. Public opinion polls demonstrated that the majority of Americans supported the Mayor's tactics.[71] It was often commented through the popular media that on that evening, America decided to vote for Richard Nixon.[72]
After the convention, which had very publicly exposed the fault-lines between hawkish and dovish Democrats, Humphrey was 22 points behind Nixon in the polls.[31] By contrast to the violence and chaos in Chicago, the Republican Convention in Miami had been a model of order and unity, which made Nixon appear better qualified to be president as even Humphrey himself conceded in private.[31]
On 30 September 1968, Humphrey gave a speech in Salt Lake City that he had intended to deliver at the convention in Chicago, saying he was willing to unconditionally stop the bombing of North Vietnam to break the deadlock in the peace talks in Paris.[73] (Which put him at odds with President Johnson.)[28] At this point, Humphrey who was behind in the polls saw his numbers began to rise, and Nixon was certainly concerned in October 1968 that he might lose the election.[74] By late October 1968, Humphrey had a slight lead with 44% intending to vote for him compared to 43% for Nixon.[75] The election of 1968 was one of the closest ever in American history with Nixon winning 31.7 million votes, Humphrey 31.2 million votes, and Wallace 10 million votes.[75]
The Chicago Eight[edit]
Main article: Chicago Seven
After Chicago, the Justice Department meted out charges of conspiracy and incitement to riot in connection with the violence at Chicago. This created the Chicago Eight, consisting of protesters Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden, David Dellinger, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Jerry Rubin, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale.[76] Demonstrations were held daily during the trial, organized by the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, the Young Lords led by Jose Cha-Cha Jimenez, and the local Black Panther Party led by Chairman Fred Hampton. In February 1970, five of the remaining seven Chicago Conspiracy defendants (Seale's charges had been separated from the rest) were convicted on the charge of intent to incite a riot while crossing state lines, but none were found guilty of conspiracy.
Judge Julius Hoffman sentenced the defendants and their attorneys to jail terms ranging from two-and-a-half months to four years for contempt of court.[77] In 1972, the convictions were reversed on appeal, and the government declined to bring the case to trial again.[76][78]
The two bookends of destruction by the anti-war and race riots along with the Hong Kong Flu in 1968 were:
SUMMER OF LOVE
Before the Hong Kong flu hit and the political riots broke out there was the Summer of Love (Spring-Summer 1967) where a group of the young idealist wanted to show the world peace and love in the Haight district of San Francisco and Golden Gate Park.
WOODSTOCK
Hopefully, this all ends with an event like Woodstock (Aug 15-18, 1969) where thousands converged to listen to music and have fun and care for each other.
It's too bad that we can't get rid of the bad stuff in the middle and just "get along". Where does all the hate come from?
Monday, June 1, 2020
Plastic Water Bottles
There has been a lot of talk about plastic in the environment lately, especially plastic water bottles.
I recently saw a documentary on the Canadian Broadcasting Network about plastic recycling in Canada. I believe this story could apply to the US and probably other western countries as well.
Recycling is big business. There are only a handful of waste management companies that are recyclers. But do we know how they are recycling the plastic that we use and toss away?
I know you've seen the ads showing how plastic bottles become park benches or playground equipment or some other use that seems to be civic-minded. But have you ever thought about how much plastic waste we produce? How much gets recycled?
Plastic water bottles are a creation of the wealthy elite. These people travel the world and don't trust the water sources in the countries that they visit. When you go to a country where the locals won't drink their own tap water you might want to think about drinking Perrier bottled water. But her in the US that is not the case (Flint Michigan may be an extreme exception). Most of our public water systems produce good clean water. As a matter of fact, many of the bottled waters that are sold are sourced from city water systems. The company gets the water for free and bottles it to sell to you for a big profit. Check the label on your plastic bottle. Some companies may treat the water again by reverse osmosis or add minerals, but most of it is just tap water in a plastic bottle.
Those companies are not using recycled plastic to produce their bottles. So every bottle of water produced just adds to the plastic waste.
That plastic wasted is not going into park benches. Most of it winds up in landfills where it never bio-degrades. Or it winds up floating into the sewer systems, into our streams and out to the ocean.
Most of our plastic gets shipped overseas to places like Malaysia, Cambodia or Viet Nam where it is "recycled". The truth is that it just winds up in their landfills too. Waste management companies pay them for accepting our waste because we in the west don't really have a complete recycling industry.
The Three Rs of conservation stand for Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. We aren't reducing our use of plastics. A small minority has reusable cups or bottles, but these eventually get tossed into the trash too. Recycling is at best a myth when it comes to plastics. Aluminum cans get recycled, glass bottles get recycled, cars get recycled even oil gets recycled. But plastic, for the most part, does not get recycled. If you have ever gone to a private recycling center to take your cans to get a few bucks, I can almost guarantee that the place didn't offer cash to recycle plastic bottles. They probably wouldn't even take them. I'll admit that there are a few states that require a deposit for bottles. But what good does it do if you are in Alabama and you have a bottle that says "5 cent refund in Michigan and Hawaii?
We used to get all of our drinks in glass bottles until someone convinced the bottling industry that plastic is cheaper to make and because of the weight it's cheaper to ship. That might be true initially but not when it comes to recycling. People still collect Coke bottles that were used back in the '40s. If a glass bottle doesn't get recycled it will eventually break down into the sand that it originated from. Sand doesn't pollute. In fact, sand is used to filter the water that goes into plastic bottles. Collecting glass bottles for decades was an industry to itself. Kids like me used to pick up bottles everywhere to go cash them in for the two-cent deposit refund. Homeless people cashed in bottles to get food to eat. Milk came in a glass bottle too instead of a plastic-lined cardboard. Once you drank the milk you would leave the bottle on your porch so that the milkman could pick it up. The bottle was sterilized and reused hundreds of times.
I believe the public has been led down a false path with plastic water bottles. The industry has convinced us that if we don't constantly sip on our water bottles will dehydrate and die. Most of my life I only drank water when I was thirsty. I didn't need to carry it around with me. If I was thirsty there was always a water fountain or a garden hose available. I think we need to go back to glass bottles and invest in the water purification systems in our cities and towns. We are doing such a great job of recycling plastic bottles that we now have an unintentional man-made island in the Pacific Ocean made of plastic bottles and shopping bags. I'd be willing to bet that the largest consumer of water in plastic bottles and the use of plastic bags is the very state that is always yelling at the rest of the world about pollution. Namely California, the land of tree huggers, fruits and nuts of all kinds of varieties.
Start drinking your ice-cold Coke from glass bottles. You can still find orange juice in glass bottles. Beer is in glass or cans. (both recyclable). The very water that you are trying to protect from pollution is being polluted by the container you are drinking it from.
THINK ABOUT THAT for a second.
Save the whales! Drink from glass instead of plastic.
Use paper bags that can be recycled without wasting trees.
When was the last time you went into a forest and saw a paper bag blowing in the breeze hung up in the limb of the trees? You don't because they break down into wood pulp very quickly. I've been places where the forest seems to be untouched by humans, only to see a plastic bag flapping in the breeze of some beautiful pine tree.
Just think next time you are in Sams or Costco. Do I really need to buy a truck-load of bottled water? What's wrong with my tap water. Do I need another Wal-Mart bag?
Next blog I'm going to talk about renewable energy.
The wolf is at the door!
Are you going to side with the Anarchist mobs trashing our cities?
Are you going to side with groups of peaceful demonstrators that just want to go back to work?
Are you going to side with people that wear MAGA hats, carry U.S., Confederate, and Gadsden flags and don't wear a mask or maintain "social distancing and that probably supports President Trump?
Or are you going to side with the people that carry Black Lives Matter, Mexican, and burn the American flag, that wear masks and hoodies and think Obama is cool?
Are you going to stand with the people that actually believe in the oath that they took to protect us against all enemies, foreign and domestic?
Or do you think you are tough enough to stand at your own door and hope that the wolf doesn't come in?
THE WOLF IS AT THE DOOR.
MAKE YOUR CHOICE
God Bless the USA
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Should abortion clinics be regulated like a surgical clinic?
I was watching a scroll across the TV screen today that said Louisiana was requiring abortion clinics to operate under the same law that applies to other medical facilities that do surgical procedures and to require that doctors in these clinics have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.
Planned Parenthood and some other abortion clinics are trying to stop this by appealing to the Supreme Court.
This seems very hypocritical of Planned Parenthood, since they are the ones that fought for legal and SAFE contraception and abortion. They claimed that millions of women were dying in "back alley" abortions. They claim that they are all about women's health and that abortion only is a small part of their operation.
Planned Parenthood should be completely on board with this legislation. Don't they want to stop the dying?
So, when a state wants to make abortions safer and ensure that the facilities and doctors providing abortions are properly licensed, trained, and can get a women to a hospital if something goes wrong, they protest. All of a sudden Planned Parenthood wants to go to court complaining that if they have to comply it will cause them to close down almost all of their clinics.
If it's all about women's health and not about abortion they could still operate their clinics providing as they claim, women's health services. It's not about women's health, but more about money to them. They could care less about women's health. There are plenty of non-abortion/non-Planned Parenthood affiliated clinics operating all over the country and doing just fine.
Would you go to an Oral Surgeon that wasn't licensed and had admitting privileges at a hospital just in case something went wrong? Even veterinarians have licensing standards!
Here is an article that I found that shows the truth on this subject. I think if you read it you may learn something new.:
Monday, September 14, 2015
Timshare Resale Scam Alert Do your research!
WATCH OUT FOR TIMESHARE SALES SCAMMERS
I was recently scammed out of $2200 by a timeshare resale con. I thought that I had done all my due diligence but it turned out that the scammer was really good and I was very trusting and needed desperately to get rid of my timeshare.
In hindsight the first red flag I should have seen was that they called me, I didn't call them. But I have been advertising the timeshare on line so when he knew details about my timeshare he was believable.
Secondly was about the second day of talking to him I was told there was a refundable fee of $2200 I had to pay to process the sale through a title company. But the red flag was that they only accepted payment by pre-paid "Reloadit" debit cards.They made everything seem so legitimate. They sent me documents for every step of the sale. First and "Offer to Purchase" with the name of the buyer and their signatures, detailing that transaction. Then a "Contract to Sell". It looked almost like the forms that I signed when I made my original purchase at my resort so I believed it.
When I gave them the information from the debit cards the sent me a receipt for the transaction within an hour. He then called and told me to have a nice Labor day and that he would get back to me when the sale closed. He did as promised with one hitch. He said everything was fine. The check was ready to be sent all I had to do was take care of the Luxury taxes owed on the property of $2800. I asked him where this came from and he directed me to read the contract. The contract says the buyers are responsible for the closing cost and the seller is responsible for the luxury tax. He once again wanted me to pay the money by "Reloadit" cards. I asked why it couldn't be taken from the proceeds of the sale or why I couldn't pay it directly to the IRS, He made several excuses. It was in the contract. It was company policy. Legally it had to be paid through them etc. I didn't feel good when I first sent the money to him by debit cards, now I knew I was a victim of a scam! I called my brother who is a lawyer in Florida and he checked the BBB web site and found that there was a fraud alert on the company. The alert was not there the day I checked. If it had been I wouldn't be doing this blog.
So I hope that you read this and learn from my mistakes.
1. Be very suspicious of cold call businesses. (ones that you didn't contact first)
2. Check them out on the Better Business web site.
3. Check the entire web site for complaints not just the page that has the name and the rating. You have to click on the complaints tab to get the whole picture.
4. Call the company's number listed on the BBB web site to see if you are communicating with a real representative of the company. My scammer used a number with the correct area code and prefix. He also used a email address that looked like it should belong to the company.
5. Don't pay anything by "Reloadit" cards. They are like cash and untraceable.
6. Don't operate out of emotion, or panic. That what the scammers use against you.
7. Below is the BBB review for the company I thought I was dealing with. Notice that now there is a "Fraud Alert" on the page.
The sad thing about this is that the legitimate business is also hurt by this con. Paradise Timeshare Resale is a reputable company with licensed brokers. They may loose business because of the "Fraud Alert" on their page. You can check out the page below.
NOTE: This is not the only company that these cons have used. They are hitting almost all the timeshare companies.
Paradise Timeshare Resale, Inc. Review - Timeshare Resale and Rental Marketing in South Lake Tahoe, CA - BBB Business Review - BBB serving Northeast California
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