The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peddles Pro-Trans Propaganda

As numerous right-minded (note: those not led by Democrats!) states take legal steps—my home state of Georgia being one of those—to protect children from radical and irreversible medical “transgender” procedures, this past Friday (3/17/2023) the largest newspaper in Georgia, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) published an article that is littered with pro-transgender propaganda.

Of course, this is completely unsurprising. Like almost every large newspaper across the U.S., the AJC has long been little more than a left-wing rag. However, it is noteworthy the steps the left across America is taking to further the evil transgender agenda.

The article is entitled, “Trans kids say they have target on their back with GOP initiative.” The authors spend many of their words detailing the lives of several “transgender” youths in Georgia, who supposedly would be harmed by legislation aimed at protecting vulnerable children. The article does rightly note that the Georgia bill “would ban health care professionals from giving hormones such as estrogen or testosterone to transgender minors. Doctors also would not be allowed to perform surgeries on children seeking to align with their gender identity.”

One of the biggest bits of propaganda that runs throughout the piece is the idea that giving hormone treatments and radical cosmetic surgery to children is “healthcare.” Few things are further from the truth. In other words, it is not “healthcare” to mutilate and disfigure children. It is child abuse and should be treated as such.

The article details children as young five years old whose foolish parents subjected them to a “gender transition.” The authors write:

Jen Slipakoff, a Kennesaw resident, said her daughter first started talking about being transgender when she was 5. Up until then she had been raised as a boy. She’s 15 now.

“We already knew exactly what was happening before she ever said anything,” Slipakoff said. “She has an older brother, so our house was full of traditional boys toys. And our daughter would play with those toys in a very different way than our son was. She would take her little soldiers shopping instead of putting them on the battlefield. She was always drawn to what we would consider traditional girls toys and traditional female clothing.”

When she turned 5, she asked her mother to change her name.

The article also reports on a family with two “transgender” children:

Someone who is nonbinary doesn’t identify as strictly male or female. Dare, a 16-year-old from Dacula who uses “they” as their pronoun, said they were about 10 when they started to think they may be nonbinary.

“I’ve always been gender neutral my whole life,” Dare said. “My mom talks about how, when I was really little, I would pick toys from the boys aisle and the girls aisle.”

Dare and their sibling, a 13-year-old transgender boy named Jay, told their parents about their gender identities about the same time in 2020. 

Imagine that! Two “transgender” kids from the same family! As historically rare as is “transgenderism,” this would be a near statistical impossibility. Unless, of course, something else is up, which of course the AJC completely ignores. On the occurrence of “transgenderism,” Kimberly Klacik recently asked an important question with a telling answer. She asked, “Why aren’t kids in the hood transitioning to the opposite sex? I know the answer, just wanted to see if you knew.”

Interestingly, an excellent answer came from Sara Higdon, a self-described “transexual, Catholic, Veteran, minarchist/voluntaryist” who also happens to be a contributor to “Gays Against Groomers.” Answering Mrs. Klacik, Higdon writes:

Well because the typical demographic is upper middle class white kids of progressive parents. for two reasons. They have time and money to worry about such things, and have been conditioned to believe through Critical Theory that they are an oppressor and there is no way they can ever escape that status, so they see this as a way to join an oppressed class for which they are celebrated for instead of condemned. It’s the relationship between CRT and Queer theory.

Want to guess in what demographic Jen Slipakoff resides? (This will give you some clues.) The transgender craze sweeping America and various other parts of the world is not a medical phenomena but rather a social contagion, fueled by the evil LGBT arm of the radical left, and aided and abetted by the likes of the AJC.

Of course, the biggest lie behind the transgender agenda is the notion that one can change one’s sex. Almost nothing is further from the truth than the grotesque lie that sex-change is merely a medical process. The facts on who is a male and who is a female is one of the oldest truths in the history of humanity. We shouldn’t need legislation to protect children from the wicked lie that sex change is possible, but the left has brought us to this point.

Lastly, as Mrs. Slipakoff spoke before the Georgia Senate regarding the legislation, the AJC reported her saying,  

“I’m happy to report, she has never been bullied by her classmates,” Slipakoff said. “That’s not to say she doesn’t have bullies. Here in this room right now, they sponsored this bill and they’re the ones that are going to vote for it. ... She doesn’t want and she doesn’t need your protection. She wants you to leave her alone.”

Likewise, in one of the comments on the AJC article—which was a response to another comment—someone identified as “Benjamin McKoon” wrote, “Ever thought, hmmm... I wonder if this is any of my business??? Nope? Then shut the f*ck [without the asterisk] up and leave the kids alone inbred idiot.”

As the evil LGBT agenda has progressed throughout the U.S. the last several decades, “Just leave us alone!” or something similar, has been a frequent cry from LGBT activists. However, as I’ve often pointed out, “live and let live” has never been a hallmark of the LGBT agenda. This is quite evident if we only look at what’s occurred recently on the issue of “transgenderism.”

“Just deal with it,” was how a deluded Massachusetts male who’s competing as a female—and helping his school win a state title this year—put it when asked about boys competing against girls in sanctioned competitions. To help paint “transgenders” as being “targeted” in Georgia, the AJC article makes mention of how GA law, and the Georgia High School Association, requires athletes “to compete based on their biological sex.” How do you think Atlanta LGBT activists would respond to being told to “just deal with it” when it comes to this policy?

As was recently reported at Twitchy, the American left is filled with LGBT “mind your own business” hypocrites:

The radical trans Left loves to tell anyone who raises moral and ethical questions about the movement to mind their own business. Meanwhile, it’s the radical trans Left that insists on making themselves a part of everyone’s business — literally:

"Now bake us a cake bigot"

What? No.

"Stop playing that video game bigot"

What?

"Do not misgender me or we will ticket and fine you. Also get you fired"

You said for me to just mind my business.

"Pay for our surgeries"

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 10, 2023

Georgia’s legislators, and our Governor, Brian Kemp, need to stand strong in the face of the AJC’s transgender propaganda and protect children from the hideous lies of the transgender agenda.

(See this column at American Thinker.) 

Copyright 2023, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

 

Southeast's Largest Newspaper Commands You to Keep Being Terrified of COVID

As we are now well into July, plans for the 2021-2022 school year are ramping up. For many school systems, the first day of school is less than one month away. Given this, and in order to make sure that the government schools maintain as much control as possible over American children, the COVID-worshipping media are again ramping up the Wuhan Virus panic porn. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) is no exception.

With an opinion piece entitled, To mask or not to mask: Why’s that even a question in schools?, the AJC’s chief education writer, Maureen Downey, bemoans the fact that, “Almost all Georgia school districts will leave it to parents to decide whether their kids wear masks when they return to school next month.” In addition to its authoritarian tone, Ms. Downey’s lengthy column is rooted in three false premises: 1.) Unvaccinated children are in danger from the Wuhan Virus. 2.) There’s a “new COVID variant” that places children in new danger. 3.) Masks work.

There’s a mountain of data (much of it chronicled here and here) that reveal that masks and lockdowns are unnecessary (and often dangerous) when it comes to slowing or preventing the spread of the Wuhan Virus, and that children—vaccinated or not—are in very little to no danger from the Wuhan Virus. As far back as August of last year the data made clear that children were in virtually zero danger from the Wuhan Virus.

Numerous school districts across the U.S.—especially private schools, and especially those in GOP-led states—did not shut down, did not mandate masks or social distancing, and had no Wuhan Virus related problems. Ms. Downey also pushes the false notion that, because of the close contact that most sports require, high school athletes are in more danger from the Wuhan Virus. On this she writes, “However, the findings do suggest athletics, especially indoor, pose a higher infection risk than outdoor spaces or classrooms. ‘We need to have special policies in place to protect athletes,’ [Zimmerman] said.”

We most certainly do not need “special policies” to protect athletes from the Wuhan Virus. Data from the NFL make this clear. Earlier this year, the NFL and the CDC published a paper that showed in over 256 NFL games, and for well over 1,000 practices (probably closer to 2,000) involving 32 teams and over 2,000 players, there was zero evidence of “on-field transmission.” In addition, as we already well know, even if kids “get infected” (have a positive test result), they are very unlikely to get sick.

My 12-year-old son and my 14-year-old daughter both played basketball this past season. There were few to no masks at every game, in every gym (often the gyms were packed; I have photographic and video evidence), and we had no Wuhan Virus related issues throughout the season. Two of my sons and my daughter competed in a karate tournament in early February of this year. It was held in a local high school gym. There were hundreds (approximately 500) in attendance (again, I have photographic and video evidence). Again, there were no Wuhan Virus related issues. Of course, this has played out countless times across the U.S. (including Super Bowl parties) where the Wuhan Virus fear porn has been ignored.

To further the false narrative that children are in significant danger from the Wuhan Virus, Ms. Downey cites CDC Director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky. Downey declares, “At a recent symposium, she [Walensky] said COVID-19 has resulted in 471 U.S. pediatric deaths, more than the flu in recent years.” This is the second time in recent weeks that the AJC has reported this number.

As of about two weeks ago, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association reported 336 child deaths from COVID-19. What’s more, these numbers are for nearly 1.5 years. That’s a far longer period than death totals given for a typical flu season. According to the CDC, the 2018-2019 flu season saw approximately 480 deaths due to influenza in children.

The AJC also wants the public frightened over the much hyped “Delta variant” of the Wuhan Virus. Ms. Downey’s piece is subtitled, “With a new COVID variant and no vaccine for young kids, study affirms masks matter.” On the date of this writing (7/8/21) the lead story on the front page of the AJC website begins, “As a highly contagious delta variant spreads in Georgia, the number of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations is ticking upward, particularly in pockets with low vaccination rates, state data shows.”

Yet CDC data continues to show case rates across the U.S. in every age bracket near zero:

Hospitalizations across the U.S. also remain significantly lower:

(Go here to see the hospitalization rates for various age groups across the U.S. and every U.S. state.)

Almost all that we hear from the fear-porn peddlers in the left-wing media of the Delta variant is that it is “highly contagious” or “easily transmissible.” Tony Fauci himself said, “The Delta variant is currently the greatest threat in the U.S. to our attempt to eliminate COVID-19.” First of all, we likely will never completely “eliminate” the Wuhan Virus. Secondly, we are told that the “vaccines” protect against the Delta variant, and more importantly, the Delta variant is significantly less lethal that the original virus. Again, this is especially the case with children.

In pushing her mask-up agenda, Ms. Downey references a “new study out of North Carolina.” Downey writes, “Reaffirmed by results in several other states, the North Carolina data showed masks were a key factor in limiting the spread of the coronavirus in school buildings.” Downey quotes extensively from “the study.”

First of all, it isn’t “a study” but rather a “report” on an “analysis” of data. The report does declare, “Wearing masks is an effective strategy to prevent in-school COVID-19 transmission.” However, the information in the report makes no indication that “COVID-19 transmission” in schools with mask mandates was compared to those without mask mandates. There has been plenty of analysis of data comparing areas with mask mandates vs. those without. As I have noted often, the data do not support the position of the mask apologists.

In early May, Scott Morefield at Townhall reported on data from Brown University Professor Emily Oster. Morefield writes,

In areas of high community transmission, masked school students saw a case rate (defined here as daily cases per 100,000) 37 percent higher than non-masked school students, or 19 cases per 100,000 in ‘no masks required’ schools vs 26 in ‘masks required’ schools. Even worse, staff experienced a case rate 84 percent worse in masked schools, at 19 cases per 100,000 in ‘no masks required’ schools vs 35 in ‘masks required’ schools. 

Also, even if children in schools are forced to mask up, it is almost always a clownish activity. Given that children almost universally hate the masks, they constantly have their hands on them, and if they have them on, they almost never wear them properly. Noted epidemiologist Carl Heneghan points this out as he made the case in April of this year against mandating masks in schools.

The AJC is the largest newspaper in the southeastern U.S. Though, with the tremendous decline of U.S. newspapers, that doesn’t mean what it used to. Nevertheless, like most others in the left-wing media, for over a year now the AJC has pushed the lockdown narrative when it comes to schools and such. To do this, numerous times they have pushed false narratives and fake information. Again, shame on you, AJC!

(See this column at American Thinker and The Blue State Conservative.) 

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

 

We Are Being Lied To About the Wuhan Virus—Repeatedly

Because they’ve made a god of government, there’s seemingly always another low to which liberals will stoop in order to help slow, sleepy Joe defeat Donald Trump in November. Many of these lows involve the numerous nefarious reactions to the Wuhan virus. Make no mistake about it, we have suffered an unprecedented loss of jobs and businesses, the shutdown of schools, entertainment, and hospitals, the mandating of masks and “social distancing,” and the like, not because of a global pandemic, but because of our foolish and unprecedented reaction to a global pandemic. 

In other words, much of what was “unprecedented” in the fight against the Wuhan virus was simply unnecessary. As Tim Black at Spiked recently put it, because of what leftism has wrought worldwide, we have turned a pandemic into an apocalypse. Mr. Black writes, 

To varying degrees, political elites, screamed on by the media, have responded to the threat posed by this virus as if it is world-ending. As if it demands the complete reorganisation of social and economic life around the supreme principle of safety. As if there is no way back. They treat it not as a nasty virus that poses a significant but manageable health risk to certain sections of the populace. No, they treat it as a god-like judgement on the old structures of social life, now deemed, in the jargon of the day, unsafe and unsustainable. 

This is what is unprecedented. Not the novel virus itself. But the panicked, fear-laden and, in some quarters, gleefully apocalyptic response.

Because viruses are simply going to virus—not at all unprecedent—in order to keep the fear and the panic high, American leftists in politics, academia, and the media must regularly lie. This is especially the case as the lockdowns drag on and as the actual evidence contradicts what those who have a vested interest in keeping the Wuhan virus fear level high and the lockdowns in place are telling us. 

 

Probably the most repeated lie in this evil episode is the near-endless reporting on Wuhan virus “case counts.” As has been noted multiple times, these reports are filled with numerous deceptions. The drive-by media in my home state of Georgia again provides a clear example. 

About a week ago, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) headline declared, “Georgia tops 300,000 cases; decline in new cases flattens.” The first two sentences of the article report that “Georgia has surpassed 300,000 confirmed coronavirus infections amid hints that a decline in new cases may be leveling out. With totals reported Thursday, Georgia is close to 301,000 COVID-19 cases.” 

 

The piece downplays the more important facts that hospitalizations and deaths in Georgia have long been on the decline with the supposed scary revelation that “the seven-day rolling average of new cases has drifted up for several days, and Georgia remains the state with the 12th most new cases per capita in the past 14 days, according to data kept by The Associated Press.” 

 

Again, without proper context, “300,000 confirmed coronavirus infections”--or any number of confirmed coronavirus infections--is a near-meaningless number. It’s akin to saying that 300,000 confirmed dollars has infected my bank account. Anyone wanting the correct context of my personal finances would ask, “Okay, over what period of time?” And, “How much is currently in your bank account?” 

 

The vast majority of those 300,000 cases in Georgia saw the person infected require no hospitalization and completely recover, or, more often than not, have no symptoms whatsoever. The latter is especially true if the infected was a child. What’s more, if it was a young person who tested positive, they were likely not to be contagious. In other words, as multiple studies have shown, children are in little to no danger from the Wuhan virus, and, if they get the Wuhan virus, they present little to no danger to those with whom they come in contact. The drive-by media almost always ignores these facts. 

 

In the meantime, all across America, those hoping to help sleepy, slow Joe over the November finish line—and others who are simply foolishly misguided—are constantly using case counts to keep some version of a lockdown in place. As some U.S k-12 schools, along with some colleges and universities, have now reopened, the drive-bys are enthusiastically reporting student case counts. 

 

The University of Alabama provides a great example here. Beginning in late August, the AJC began to target what they reported as a “spike in new coronavirus cases” that were supposedly “threatening to derail on-campus classes at the University of Alabama.” The AJC article continued:

The state’s flagship school reported 531 confirmed cases among students, faculty and staff since classes resumed in Tuscaloosa last week, according to an online COVID-19 dashboard that was unveiled Monday.

Another 35 cases were reported throughout the greater UA System, which includes six cases at UAB Birmingham, eight cases at UAB Huntsville and 21 cases at UAB Clinical Enterprise — for a total of 566 positive tests since Aug. 19, according to data.

So a few hundred cases — again, with no context given — out of tens of thousands of people was supposed to send us into a panic that would result in demands that colleges and universities across Alabama shut down. And if not shut down, then these schools were supposed to enact foolish, unnecessary, uncomfortable, and expensive Wuhan virus measures (masks, social distancing, bans on gatherings, and the like) that would make life difficult to miserable for most of those impacted. 

 

The AJC continued to perpetuate Wuhan virus fear porn with multiple reports on cases in Alabama’s universities. This culminated in a September 10 article that reported “new coronavirus cases soar past 2,000” at the University of Alabama. These scare tactics were not limited to Alabama universities. The AJC also produced multiple articles detailing Wuhan virus case counts — again absent context and full of fear-porn — at the University of Georgia. There was also an article gleefully reporting on the University of South Carolina suspending students because of a “pandemic pool party.” 

 

Of course, the drive-by media across the U.S. has played a similar game when it comes to schools and Wuhan virus cases. Nowhere in the AJC — and I would wager in any other drive-by media outlets — was this information presented (courtesy of Dr. Andrew Bostom on Twitter): 

So, as of just days ago, with over 48,000 reported Wuhan virus cases at 37 different U.S. universities, there have been only two hospitalizations and zero deaths! Based on what we already know about young healthy people, such data is totally unsurprising. Yet, based on this myriad of misinformation and deceit, schools across America continue to force foolish mask mandates and shut down in-person classes, sports, parties, meetings, and the like. Thus, for students and their parents, the bigger problem is not the Wuhan virus pandemic, but rather the Wuhan virus “CASEdemic” constantly trumpeted by the drive-by media. 

Whenever there is a tragic case of a child who has died and tested positive for the Wuhan virus, it is almost always the case that the child died with the virus and not from the virus. Nevertheless, as has been documented multiple times already, when a child has died and tested positive for the Wuhan virus, the media has often grossly, selfishly, and deceptively used these terrible tragedies to push their lockdown agenda. 

 

In Michigan recently, no less than the Chief Medical Executive  — Joneigh Khaldun — fraudulently announced that she was “so saddened to hear this week of a 2-month-old baby in Michigan who died because of COVID-19 (emphasis mine).” However, the 2-month-old actually died of a birth defect called gastroschisis, “a condition in which a baby is born with intestines located outside the body.” 

 

Such ugly fraud has been perpetuated numerous times across the U.S. by the media, politicians, school administrators, business executives, and medical personnel alike. Enough is enough! These Wuhan virus lies are disrupting and destroying lives and livelihoods. It’s long past time to end the lies and open the country! 

(See this column at American Thinker.) 

Copyright 2020, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith and Reason.
www.TrevorGrantThomas.com 
Trevor is the author of The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@TrevorGrantThomas.com

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Again Spreads Wuhan Virus Fake-News Fear Porn

Barely a week after the media in Georgia—and much of the rest of the U.S.—ignored the fact that a Savannah-area seven-year-old boy who supposedly died “from the coronavirus” actually had a seizure and fell in the shower, the largest newspaper in Georgia—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC)—is again helping to perpetrate the false narrative that the Wuhan virus presents widespread danger for American children. 

Early in the afternoon on Saturday, August 15, the AJC had this headline: “15-year-old Gwinnett boy dies of COVID-19.” The first sentence of the piece declared: “A 15-year-old Gwinnett County boy with no underlying conditions [emphasis mine] has died after contracting COVID-19, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.” Having closely followed the science and the data on the Wuhan virus—and knowing well the leftist agenda of the AJC—I was immediately skeptical. 

An internet search revealed that the story was new (few others were reporting it yet). Thus, it seemed likely that all the AJC reporter who authored the story did was find the death info via the Georgia Department of Public Health’s website that counts Wuhan virus deaths in Georgia. On this site, ages of the deceased are listed, along with whether underlying conditions were present. Being apparently eager to scare parents of school-aged children and to further the lockdown narrative, the AJC went with the story and had it plastered at the top of their home page.

I also thought it likely that the AJC’s eagerness to promote the lockdown narrative would come back to bite them. It did. And like I suspected, it didn’t take long. Less than 24 hours after they again went with the child dying “with no underlying conditions” misrepresentation, Atlanta’s WSB radio reported: “A 15-year-old boy in Gwinnett County has died of the coronavirus, according to officials with the Georgia Department of Public Health. The boy, identified only as being Caucasian, was from Gwinnett County. Officials said he did have an underlying medical condition [emphasis mine].”

Of course the fact that the boy died “with an underlying condition” also makes it likely that he died with the coronavirus instead of dying “of the coronavirus.” Proving again the proverb that a lie makes it halfway around the world before the truth can get its pants on, much of the drive-by media were quick to run with the AJC’s false account of the Gwinnett County boy’s tragic death. 

The first two sentences of an AP story on the incident stated: “A 15-year-old boy in metro Atlanta has died from complications caused by COVID-19, making him the second-youngest individual to die from the virus in Georgia, according to state health officials. The Georgia Department of Public Health said the Gwinnett County teenager had no underlying conditions, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Saturday.” 

Since the AJC got it wrong, and these reports are likely to change or disappear, I provide you with screenshots: 

U.S. News & World Report repeated the AP’s account:  

The Times Union, an Albany, New York paper, also repeated the AP’s account:

Sadly, even my local media—housed in one of the most conservative areas of the U.S.—ran with the AP story:

The Daily Beast was quick to get in on the deceit, running their story on the same day as the AJC. A piece entitled “15-Year-Old Boy Dies of COVID in Georgia,” begins: “A 15-year-old boy has become one of Georgia’s latest coronavirus fatalities, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported on Saturday. The teen is the second-youngest person to succumb to the virus in the state and had no underlying health conditions.” 

There was also a Reddit thread on the incident. The self-described “front page of the internet” directly quoted from—and had the link to—the AJC story:

Whether or not they took their cues from the AJC, local TV also got in on the act. Atlanta’s CBS 46 reported, “A 15-year-old boy in Gwinnett County has become metro Atlanta’s youngest victim of COVID-19. The teen is the second youngest in the state of Georgia to die from the virus, and is reported as having no underlying medical conditions.” 

Notice that, whether or not a deceased individual has underlying conditions, if they have a positive Wuhan virus test (before or after death), they always seem to have died of the Wuhan virus. 

Interestingly, not long after WSB radio gave a more accurate account of the boy’s death, the AJC “updated” their story. (As of this writing, most other media reporting on this tragic incident have yet to do such.) Notice at the previous link that, though this account contains the “original story,” the first sentence of the “original story” has been edited, and the “with no underlying conditions” phrase removed. 

So again we see, the drive-by media is eagerly invested in keeping the lockdown narrative alive, and shamefully, are willing to use the deaths of children—thus scaring children and their parents alike—to do so. 

(See this column at American Thinker.) 

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Wuhan Virus Numbers: Some Much Needed Context

Before I again get into Wuhan virus numbers, let me say that I understand well the sudden and tragic loss that many Americans are experiencing during these difficult times. Almost exactly five years ago, we tragically lost my father-in-law in a hit-and-run homicide. He was riding his bicycle when he was hit by an intoxicated driver. He died instantly. There were no last goodbyes, no farewell hugs. One minute he was here, and the next he was gone.

David left behind a wife, four children, their spouses, and 11 grandchildren. As President Trump himself highlighted yesterday, it was the hardest thing we’ve ever dealt with, and this Wuhan virus has brought such sorrow to many American homes. However, our response to the Wuhan virus has brought a different kind of suffering to countless other Americans. As we continue this fight, we must recognize that we can protect those vulnerable to this dangerous virus while reopening our nation for business.

As the Wuhan virus continues to dominate the news, and most of America remains in some form of foolish “shutdown,” it’s time many Americans got some much needed information on the context of the many Wuhan virus numbers with which we’ve been inundated. I suspect your mainstream media is much the same as is mine in Northeast Georgia. I can’t look at a news website without being forced to read the (supposed) latest Wuhan virus death numbers and the new and the total number infected with the Wuhan virus.

First, let’s deal with the number of infections, or as the largest newspaper in Georgia, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) has been putting it, “confirmed cases.” As the previous link reveals, since very early in March the AJC has been keeping a daily tally of Wuhan virus deaths and cases in Georgia. Almost certainly, every U.S. state has a newspaper doing the same. However, when it comes to Wuhan virus infections, readers of the AJC are only getting total number of cases in Georgia, while other valuable and informative data is missing.

In other words, from one of the major news organizations in the state, Georgia citizens are not getting much needed “context” to the number of Wuhan virus cases. For example, as AJC readers scan the daily numbers, it is almost never stated that Georgia’s number of Wuhan virus infections is increasing because testing is on the rise. For weeks now, we’ve been hearing that we need more testing—and foolishly, many politicians and like-minded pundits are declaring that the un-sheltering and reopening of America largely hinges on the frequency and availability of Wuhan virus testing—thus it should come as little surprise that we now see a rise in those positive for the Wuhan virus across the U.S.

Though, I agree with John Hinderaker when it comes to testing:

The more tests we do, the more people we will find who have, or have had, the virus. So what? Epidemiologists say that the virus will continue to spread until a critical mass of us have had it and are immune, a number that probably lies between 40% and 70%. The virus will then more or less die out. I fail to understand how doing millions of tests on apparently well people is going to guide policy in any significant way.

What’s more, readers of the AJC do not see the number of Georgians who have completely recovered from the Wuhan virus. This is quite misleading, as the vast majority who contract the Wuhan virus recover within a two-week period, if they even have symptoms in the first place. As of this writing, the latest AJC headline on the Wuhan virus numbers blared that the “number of confirmed cases in Georgia increased by another 999,” and went on to note that “at least 28,133 residents have tested positive for the disease.”

As one looks day by day, because those who have recovered are never removed from the count, the number of Wuhan virus cases in Georgia continues to rise. Of course, this will happen as long as the AJC continues to count cases in such a way. Additionally, many who test positive for the Wuhan virus have very mild symptoms, if they have symptoms at all. That leads us to another important missing number when it comes to Wuhan virus cases: the asymptomatic.

Along with cruise ships, U.S. prisons have provided some valuable Wuhan virus data. A contagious virus will spread through a prison faster than fake news travels the mainstream media. One recent study on federal prisoners showed that more than 70% tested positive for the Wuhan virus. However, another recent study on prisoners revealed that, of those infected with the Wuhan virus, 96% were asymptomatic.

Additionally, as Jonathan Geach, M.D., Ankur J. Patel, M.D., Lacy Windham, M.D., OB/GYN, Ashkan Attaran, M.D., and Jason Friday, M.D. recently noted in The American Spectator,

Every study that has tested for COVID-19 in healthy individuals has found the disease’s prevalence to be surprisingly high, especially that of asymptomatic cases. These studies looked for the actual virus from a mouth or nasal swab using a technique called polymerase chain reaction (PCR). One of these was a study done at Columbia University, which tested every woman presenting for labor for COVID-19 for almost a month. Researchers found a 15 percent positive rate, and 88 percent were completely asymptomatic. Another study at a Boston homeless shelter tested nearly 400 guests, 146 of which tested positive. All were asymptomatic. Yet another study on the USS Theodore Roosevelt tested 94 percent of the crew for the virus, with 678 of 4,069 sailors testing positive. Sixty percent of these 678 have been asymptomatic.

So, of the over 28,000 Georgians who’ve tested positive for the Wuhan virus, how many of them have recovered or have mild or no symptoms? This is important—and potentially comforting and calming—information. Yet, we’re almost never told such things by the mainstream media. Because they are devoted to the removal of President Trump from office at almost any cost, the mainstream media has used print, television, and the internet to further the shutdown narrative.

Also, along with the number infected, we daily get the number of those killed by the Wuhan virus. Or do we? We do know that there is a definite financial incentive for hospitals to attribute as many deaths as possible to the Wuhan virus. We also know from the doctors themselves that there is pressure to count every death possible as a Wuhan virus death. And we know from state Public Health Directors that there is reason to suspect that the total number of reported deaths from the Wuhan virus is high.

As Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Illinois Department of Public Health Director, recently put it,

I just want to be clear in terms of the definition of people dying of COVID. So, the case definition is very simplistic. It means that at the time of death it was a COVID-positive diagnosis. So that means if you were in hospice and had already been given, you know, a few weeks to live and then you were also found to have COVID, that would be counted as a COVID death. It means that if, technically, even if you died of a clear alternate cause but you had COVID at the same time it’s still listed as a COVID death. So, everyone that’s listed as a COVID death doesn’t mean that that was the cause of the death, but they had COVID at the time of death. I hope that’s helpful.

Yeah, that is indeed “helpful,” but it’s something else the media virtually ignores as they report Wuhan virus numbers. Furthermore, we’re almost never told who’s dying. It’s surprisingly difficult (try it) to even get an internet search to reveal the average age of a U.S. Wuhan virus death. As Selwyn Duke noted recently, the average age of an Italian who’s died from the Wuhan virus is 79.5, with more than 99% of those having comorbidities.

In Georgia, the average age of a Wuhan virus death is 73.4, with only 4.5% having no known comorbidities (listed as a “chronic condition” on the Georgia Department of Public Health COVID-19 Daily Status Report). Of the Georgians who’ve died from the Wuhan virus with no (yet) known “chronic condition,” 15 of them were under the age of 65. Again, Georgia’s media virtually ignores such things when reporting their Wuhan virus numbers.

In addition, the total number of Wuhan virus deaths for the U.S. seems awry. Currently, the number being reported across the U.S. shows that we are coming up on 70,000 total Wuhan virus deaths. Though they do indicate that their numbers lag, the CDC site shows the total number of Wuhan virus deaths far smaller (almost half) than what is reported in the media. In addition, the CDC distinguishes between “COVID-19 Deaths” and “Deaths with Pneumonia and COVID-19.” Almost certainly the total number of Wuhan virus deaths the media reports includes the latter category (currently over 16,000), without ever including a similar distinction.

I’ll let the doctors from The American Spectator piece mentioned above summarize for me,

[I]t is clear that COVID-19 is more prevalent and less deadly than previous testing has shown. In addition, it has become clear that the disease progression is generally mild in those under 65 with limited co-morbidities and even less of a threat to children. Knowing how low the risk is for the vast majority of Americans, which is rapidly approaching the mortality rate of the flu, we can safely reopen most of the country’s economy while continuing to protect those who are most at risk from COVID-19. Once shelter-in-place orders have been lifted, those who remain fearful are free to continue to shelter in place for as long as they so choose. There is more than enough information available at this time to reopen America.

Copyright 2020, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Georgia Media Engages in Polling Propaganda

In order to further the liberal agenda on the legalized killing of children still in their mothers’ wombs and to help elect more democrats, the largest newspaper in the state of Georgia—The Atlanta-Journal Constitution (AJC)—has engaged in polling propaganda. Of course, like virtually all U.S. newspapers, given that the AJC is dominated by those with a liberal worldview, this should surprise no one. However, it doesn’t mean we should let them get away with it.

As I noted in a recent column, earlier this year the Georgia legislature passed the LIFE Act—often dubbed a “fetal heartbeat” bill. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has yet to sign the bill, but he is widely expected to do so. Given that protecting the so-called “right” to kill the unborn is sacred to the modern left, liberals across my home state of Georgia have gone to great lengths to demonize and discourage anyone willing to stand up for the most helpless and innocent among us.

In an effort to discourage the pro-life movement and to paint the U.S. as more pro-abortion than it really is, for years now abortion apologists—especially those in the media and the Democrat Party—have promoted polls that supposedly show overwhelming support for the infamous Roe v. Wade decision. For example, late last summer, after President Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, a Wall Street Journal (WSJ)/NBC News poll purported to show 71 percent of Americans were against “completely overturn[ing]” Roe.

However, such polls are almost always seriously flawed. As Michael J. New noted at the time,

The survey question began by stating that Roe v. Wade established a right to an abortion, “at least in the first three months of pregnancy.” It then asked respondents if they would like to see the Supreme Court “completely overturn” Roe v. Wade. As such, many respondents likely concluded that Roe v. Wade only legalized abortion in the first trimester and a reversal of Roe would ban first-trimester abortions.

On the question of overturning Roe, the recent AJC poll uses the exact same deceptive language as the WSJ/NBC poll. The question reads,

In 1973 the Roe versus Wade decision established a woman's constitutional right to an abortion, at least in the first three months of pregnancy. Would you like to see the Supreme Court completely overturn its Roe versus Wade decision or not?

Unsurprisingly, poll results showed that, to the above question, 70 percent answered “no.” Subsequently, on its website (and I’m assuming in the print edition as well) the AJC ran the headline “AJC poll: Strong support for Roe.” The first sentence of the article declared, “Seven of 10 Georgia voters say they oppose overturning the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that guaranteed the right to an abortion, according to a new Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll.”

The article made no mention of how polling subjects were asked about the Roe decision. To warn readers about this, I noted as much in the comments section of the article. Shortly thereafter, my comment was deleted, and soon after that, the AJC website posted an article that contained the poll questions and results.

Given that we are 46 years removed from the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe, many Americans are ignorant about the fact that Roe v. Wade deals with abortion. Thus, pollsters are left to try to explain the decision in one or two sentences. Therefore, we get inaccurate polling results on the Roe decision and on abortion. As was noted in National Review last year,

A Pew Research Center poll taken in 2013 found that only 62 percent of respondents were aware that Roe v. Wade dealt with abortion. Seventeen percent thought Roe v. Wade dealt with some other public-policy issue and 20 percent were unfamiliar with the decision. Furthermore, even many who realize Roe v. Wade dealt with abortion fail to understand the full implications of the decision. Many wrongly think that overturning Roe v. Wade would result in [a] national ban on abortion, instead a reversal of Roe would return the issue to the states.

What’s more, while the recent AJC poll supposedly showed overwhelming support for the Roe decision, respondents were about evenly split on their support for Georgia’s LIFE Act. Forty-three percent said they somewhat or strongly supported the bill while 48 percent said they somewhat or strongly opposed it. These results are more in line with what more sophisticated abortion polling reveals.

For example, consider last year’s Gallup poll on abortion. On the question of whether the Supreme Court should overturn Roe, 28 percent said yes and 64 percent said no. However, more detailed questioning reveals that Americans are not as much in favor of Roe as a simple question on overturning Roe might indicate. When asked whether an abortion should be legal in the first three months of pregnancy, “When the woman does not want the child for any reason” (the vast majority of abortions are performed because the child would be an inconvenience), 45 percent said it should be legal, while 53 percent said it should not be legal.

When the same question is asked about the last three months of pregnancy, only 20 percent said abortion should be legal, while 77 percent said it should not be legal. Likewise, in the last three months of pregnancy, when asked about whether abortion should be legal if the child would be “born mentally disabled” or “born with Down Syndrome,” the vast majority thought abortion should be illegal (61 percent to 35 percent and 68 percent to 29 percent, respectively) in such cases.

However, under the court’s current interpretation of Roe—a legal and moral abomination— laws that would restrict abortion according to the above opinions would almost certainly be struck down. In other words, because of the pro-abortion hyperbole regularly thrown around by liberals, many Americans simply don’t understand that for U.S. laws to reflect such opinions, Roe would have to go.

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2019, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

The Liberal Media Slanders Manny Pacquiao

Boxing legend and Filipino politician Manny Pacquiao, a devout Christian, recently has found himself on the wrong side of a unanimous decision of a different sort. Last week, Pacquiao, already elected twice to the Philippines National Assembly and now a candidate for the Filipino Senate, was questioned by a Manila Channel 5 reporter on the issue of same-sex "marriage."

When asked, Pacquiao responded, "It’s common sense. Will you see any animals where male is to male and female is to female? The animals are better. They know how to distinguish male from female. If we approve male on male, female on female then man is worse than animals."

Shortly later, Nike announced that it was cutting endorsement ties with Pacquiao. Of course, the rabidly liberal mainstream media took the opportunity to paint Pacquiao as an ignorant, hateful, (and again making use of the dumbest word in the English language) "homophobe." In doing so, in almost every instance, the liberal mainstream media deceitfully reported on (lied about) what Pacquiao actually said.

Demonstrating an amazing ignorance of human biology, in the largest paper in my home state of Georgia, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, reporter Michael Cunningham wrote, "Nike ended its endorsement deal with the Filipino boxer following his vile, bigoted comments about gay people. In an interview posted online, Pacquiao said gay people are 'worse than animals' and displayed unsurprising ignorance about animal biology."

At the beginning of its piece on the matter, USA Today said, "Nike announced it has dropped Manny Pacquiao in the wake of the boxer’s controversial remarks where he said those in gay relationships 'are worse than animals.'" The New York Times began, "Nike has terminated its relationship with Manny Pacquiao, the champion boxer who is campaigning for the Senate in the Philippines, one day after he publicly apologized for calling people in gay relationships 'worse than animals' during an interview with a local broadcaster."

According to The Times, Nike said, "We find Manny Pacquiao’s comments abhorrent. Nike strongly opposes discrimination of any kind and has a long history of supporting and standing up for the rights of the LGBT community."

Life Site News gets the matter correct as it points out, what Pacquiao was actually saying "is that 'man' –society in general—'is worse than animals,' 'if we approve' same sex 'marriage.'" What's more, as I have pointed out before, Pacquiao's views are very much in line with those of Thomas Jefferson, Sir William Blackstone, and almost every other human being most responsible for the founding of this great nation.

As my column nearly two years ago notes,

Under British law, sodomy was a capital crime. Sir William Blackstone was a renowned and favorite English jurist of our Founders, and his Commentaries on the Laws of England served as the basis of legal jurisprudence in America. 

As David Barton remarks, “In addressing sodomy (homosexuality), [Blackstone] found the subject so reprehensible that he was ashamed even to discuss it.” Nevertheless, Blackstone declared: 

“What has been here observed…the infamous crime against nature committed either with man or beast. A crime which ought to be strictly and impartially proved and then as strictly and impartially punished….I will not act so disagreeable part to my readers as well as myself as to dwell any longer upon a subject the very mention of which is a disgrace to human nature [sodomy]…A taciturnity observed likewise by the edict of Constantius and Constans: …(where that crime is found, which is unfit even to know, we command the law to arise armed with an avenging sword that the infamous men who are, or shall in future be guilty of it, may undergo the most severe punishments). 

“THIS the voice of nature and of reason, and the express law of God, determine to be capital. Of which we have a signal instance, long before the Jewish dispensation, by the destruction of two cities by fire from heaven: so that this is an universal, not merely a provincial, precept.” 

Following the same moral precepts, each of the original 13 colonies treated homosexuality as a serious criminal offense. Thomas Jefferson himself authored such a law for the state of Virginia, prescribing that the punishment for sodomy was to be castration. (You think modern courts will look to this for guidance?) 

New York’s law read, “That the detestable and abominable vice of buggery [sodomy] . . . shall be from henceforth adjudged felony . . . and that every person being thereof convicted by verdict, confession, or outlawry [unlawful flight to avoid prosecution], shall be hanged by the neck until he or she shall be dead.” 

Connecticut’s law read, “That if any man shall lie with mankind as he lieth with womankind, both of them have committed abomination; they both shall be put to death.” Georgia’s law (surprisingly—at least for today’s liberals) did not call for the death penalty, but stated, “Sodomy . . . shall be punished by imprisonment at hard labour in the penitentiary during the natural life or lives of the person or persons convicted of th[is] detestable crime.”

Minus the punishment of death, until just the last couple of decades, this view on homosexuality was predominant, not only across the U.S., but the world over. But of course, history, nor human law determines truth. The truth on homosexuality, sexuality in general, marriage, and the like is revealed by the Law Giver. Any human laws or opinions contrary to Him and His Word is what should be found "abhorrent."

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com