On the Wuhan Virus: Geraldo Rivera vs. the Truth

I’m not here to pick on the 77-year-old Rivera. After his recent (12/18) interview with Brian Kilmeade on Kilmeade’s radio show, it’s clear that Rivera is quite scared of the Wuhan virus. However, Mr. Rivera’s fear epitomizes the attitude of so many Americans, and like millions of others living in fear, it has led him to many false conclusions on the Wuhan virus. I thought it important to address the false conclusions that he presented on Mr. Kilmeade’s show, point by point.

Rivera began by talking about how closely he monitors the Wuhan virus death count. Of course, lockdown apologists in the media and the like have daily repeated Wuhan virus death numbers across the U.S. for months now. However, it’s been clear for some time that Wuhan virus death counts have been wildly misleading.

Since near the beginning of our encounter with the Wuhan virus, multiple media outlets—including American Thinker—have reported numerous problems with Wuhan virus death counts across the U.S., as well as overall death totals in the U.S. With everything from gunshot wounds to seizures being counted as Wuhan virus deaths, it has long been clear that we’ve had a problem—intentional, it seems in many cases—distinguishing those who’ve died from the Wuhan virus with those who’ve died with the Wuhan virus.

Rivera then ominously explained to Kilmeade that, “There’s zero capacity available in the ICUs in Southern California.” A reduction in the availability of hospital beds has been a hot topic across the U.S. lately. However, as I noted recently, the volume of patients in U.S. hospitals is not very unusual and is not largely due to an increase in Wuhan virus patients.

My community in northeast Georgia—where shutdown hysteria is not as bad as elsewhere, but nevertheless still exists—provides another excellent example of this. Daily data from Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) on Northeast Georgia Medical Center hospitals shows that, although there’s an increase in Wuhan virus “cases” or “COVID-19 Positives,” as the image below illustrates, the rate of occupied beds has remained relatively constant for months now.

In other words, most hospitals are more crowded now simply because they have ended their foolish practice of excluding non-Wuhan virus patients. Additionally, there’s an “increase” in hospitalized Wuhan virus “cases” because virtually everyone who gets admitted—for whatever reason—is tested for the virus.  

Rivera next went on to defend the forced lockdowns and the shuttering of countless businesses by saying that the government should “pay them.” Rivera exclaimed, “The government’s got to pay them!” This is the same government that is now more than $27 trillion in debt! And it’s the same government that didn’t widely shut down during the 1957 Asian flu pandemic. Further, Rivera ignores the data that says the lockdowns have done little to nothing to halt or even slow the spread of the Wuhan virus.

As Kilmeade pressed him on the lockdowns and the widespread damage being done as a result, Rivera amazingly declared, “I don’t know whether or not what they’re trying to do [with the lockdowns, etc.] will have any impact…” Again, the lockdowns are not having a positive impact on controlling the Wuhan virus, but they are having a devastating impact on small businesses, churches, school children, families, and the like.

Rivera then tried the foolish “if it saves one life” argument. He told Kilmeade, “[I]f you save a couple of lives shutting down schools, by next June, July, no one’s going to remember. It’ll be over and maybe a couple of people will be alive as a result of some of these clumsy efforts, Brian.” Trust me, Geraldo, people are going to remember these unjust, immoral forced lockdowns—for a long time!

What’s more, the left never resorts to the “if it saves one life” tripe when it comes to drug policy, homosexuality, illegal immigration, life in the womb, and so on. In fact, when it comes to driving a car, flying in an airplane, participating in sports, smoking a cigar, or just getting out of the bed in the morning, most of us daily assume and accept a certain amount of risk in our lives. We could avoid a lot of danger by “sheltering in place” indefinitely, but most of us have concluded that we just don’t want to live our lives in such a way. That includes my 76-year-old father—who continues to go about all of his normal activities and virtually never even puts on a mask—and my 71-year-old mother (who is only slightly more cautious than my father).

As Kilmeade continued to slam shutdowns across the U.S., Sweden—famous for eschewing masks and not locking down—was the next target of Rivera. “I don’t think Sweden is working out,” said Rivera. This depends on one’s definition of “working out.” Sweden’s death rate is better than that in the U.S., U.K., Spain, France, and several other nations who enacted much stricter lockdown measures. What’s more, Sweden’s citizenry and economy have fared much better than others in the developed world.

As Wuhan virus cases rise in Sweden, some—like Rivera—are saying that their voluntary approach to combating the virus has failed. Kevin Roche (from Minnesota) at HealthySkeptic.com sets the record straight,

First, Minnesota’s deaths per million are at 665. Sweden is at 692. So let’s don’t pretend that they are doing much worse than we are.  They are doing much better by that measure than almost every US state and the US as a whole…Sweden has seen a renewed case wave, as has most of Europe, and that wave is stronger in less populated areas, as is tending to be in other countries and the US. The notion that Sweden’s approach has failed is absurd, they are in better shape than most European countries, just look at the numbers. And their population has endured much less stress. Their children have been able to have pretty normal lives. 

Lastly, Kilmeade pointed out how baseball and football seasons were able to happen. Rivera’s response was, “The stands are empty for a reason.” However, here in SEC country, the stands—though not full—were often far from empty. There were several games where tens of thousands were in attendance, and masks and distancing were typically an afterthought.

UGA vs. Auburn, 10/3

TX A&M vs. Florida, 10/10

Though blasted by many in the media, not one of these gatherings has been labeled a “super-spreader” event. Whether right-minded churches, malls, schools, and so on, these scenes have been repeated across many—though not enough—parts of the U.S. Again, in spite of Mr. Rivera’s fearful dialogue, the truth is that mask mandates, lockdowns, and the like have done little to nothing to halt the spread of the Wuhan virus. It’s past time to open the nation and get Americans back to church, work, school, and play.

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

Christmas: “The Rightful King Has Landed”

We must never forget that at this time of year, we celebrate much more than a birthday. As the great Christian apologist C.S. Lewis put it, Christmas is the story of how “the rightful King has landed.” When Jesus stood before the Roman governor Pilate, just prior to going to His execution, Pilate asked Him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” After some discussion Pilate concluded to Jesus, “You are a king, then!” Jesus answered him, saying, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world…”

Of course, Jesus was not just any king; He was a king with a holy mission. He was a king who was born to die. “Amazing love, how can it be, that you my king would die for me.” Jesus was, and is, our Savior King. As author Charles Sell put it,

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.

The “good news of great joy” that no less than the angel of the Lord reported to the shepherds was that, “today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you…” The late-great Charles Schultz was right. The heart and soul of the Christmas story is, as Linus perfectly recited, “[B]ehold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”

Of course, as did the CBS executives during Schultz’s time, those fearful of the true meaning of Christmas go to great lengths to hide the truth. Today children (and adults) are bombarded with deceptive (but alluring) messages about “Christmas Spirit” and how Christmas is about “spreading joy throughout the world” and “a time for warmth and brotherly love” (as a recent TV cartoon declared). Even Dickens’ iconic A Christmas Carol is bereft of the complete message of Christmas.

One author I encountered a few years ago foolishly described the “hidden meaning” of Christmas as a:

festival of the human heart. It is a time of year when all the universe conspires to raise the vibratory level of consciousness on earth to one of peace and love toward ourselves and one another. This season resonates to the sweet, childlike innocence that resides in all of us; A time when the heavenly forces inspire us to shift our focus away from fear and toward one of joy, and healing.

Of course, peace, brotherly love, and spreading joy are not bad things, but they are far from the “heart and soul” of Christmas. “Hark! The herald angels sing; glory to the newborn King!” So Christmas is a celebration of the birth of our Savior King. This is the reason for the conflict and contention that we sometimes encounter at Christmas time. This is why so many fear a Nativity scene, a Christmas tree, or even a meek “Merry Christmas.”

Who wants to be confronted with the idea that maybe they are ignoring the most significant event in human history? Who wants to be reminded that perhaps Jesus Christ really was (and is) our Savior King? Of course, God sending His Son as a Savior implies that we need “saving.” The most quoted verse in the Bible, John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Less well known, but just as important, is the very next verse. John 3:17 says, “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” This begs the question, “From what or whom do we need to be saved?”

In John chapter 8, Jesus says, “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.” What does it mean to “die in your sins?” Romans chapter 6 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In other words, we need to be “saved” from the eternal consequences of our sin. There is eternal life with Jesus, and apart from Him, death and eternal separation from God.

This is why so many Christians are so celebratory at Christmas time. Yes, there are presents and parties and time off from work, but for Christians who truly understand what was done for them on that first Christmas day, nothing compares to the gift of eternal life through Jesus. Christmas is a celebration of God’s greatest gift meeting humanity’s most desperate need. Those who reject the need for salvation, or reject the miracle of Jesus, or reject their sin for what it really is, are “offended” by Christmas.

Such people don’t want to hear that Jesus came to die for their sins. They don’t want to hear of the many miracles that surround the birth of the Savior. They don’t want to hear that their greed, lust, or pride is sin. They want to go their own way; thus, they display perverse “Festivus Poles.” And again, we’ve all been there. May God empower those of us who see Christmas for what it truly is, who see Jesus for who He really is, to spread His message of hope, love, peace, and salvation to all we encounter, all year-round. Merry Christmas!

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

Remember When the Left Trumpeted Secession?

Because they are devoted to a theology of self, the hypocrisy of the left is almost as consistent as clockwork. The most recent case in point is the issue of secession in the United States of America. On December 9, Rush Limbaugh’s “Official Program Observer, Mr. Snerdley” asked Mr. Limbaugh, “Are we ever gonna be able to win again?” In his reply, which he based on what he was reading from “a lot of bloggers,” Rush went into how he thought America was “trending toward secession.”

Almost immediately, the left went berserk and wrongly accused Rush of advocating for secession. Geraldo Rivera said Limbaugh’s words were “reckless” and “irresponsible” and even implied that Limbaugh was guilty of “treason.”

Of course there was none of this hyperbole in November of 2016, when The New York Times—a mere two days after Trump’s election!—published an article that discussed secession talk out of California (“Calexit”) and Oregon in very favorable terms. One day after Trump’s election in 2016, NBC News also ran a piece on California and secession, with a similar sympathetic tone. Scan the internet in November and December of 2016 and you’ll find that these two leftist publications were far from alone when seriously and sympathetically discussing the secession of California.

In 2018, New York magazine’s website Intelligencer published a lengthy piece detailing what a divided United States might look like, complete with a map and numerous data from the “Blue Federation,” the “Red Federation,” and the “Neutral Federation.” In September of this year, The Nation did a long and fawning interview with leftist Richard Kreitner, a secession apologist.

In March of 2017, in a column entitled “Liberals’ New Separation Anxiety,” National Review’s Jim Geraghty noted that “Since Trump’s election, secession is all the rage on the left.” In the piece he pointed out that “Talk of state independence has cropped up in Vermont, Oregon, and Washington.”

And recent talk of secession isn’t limited to the Trump era. After George W. Bush beat John Kerry for the U.S. Presidency in 2004, a headline in The Washington Times read “Blue states buzz over secession.” The article declared,

One popular map circulating on the Internet shows the 19 blue states won by Sen. John Kerry — Washington, Oregon, California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Maryland and the Northeastern states — conjoined with Canada to form the “United States of Canada.” The 31 red states carried by Mr. Bush are depicted as a separate nation dubbed “Jesusland.”

The idea isn’t just a joke; one top Democrat says…

Thus, as we see again, what’s good for the left can’t even be discussed by the right. This is the case because the modern left long ago seceded from the truth.

(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 The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

The Wuhan Virus and Hospitalizations

I have an undergraduate degree in physics and two graduate degrees in mathematics education. I can read data. That’s one of the reasons why all of the widespread fear mongering employed during what is better described as a “casedemic” has never worked on me. Of course, one doesn’t need degrees in math or science to see what is really going on with the Wuhan virus.

Back in the early-to-mid-spring of this year, heeding the rampant Wuhan virus fear mongering, all across the U.S., hospitals shut down almost all care and procedures that they could. This was done in preparation for what we were repeatedly told was going to be a significant Wuhan virus patient surge. Of course, such a patient surge never materialized. Thus, U.S. hospitals were left with a massive patient shortage.

In other words, the health care demands of the Wuhan virus were grossly overestimated. As I noted back in August, these demands were so “grossly overestimated” that billions of taxpayer dollars were unnecessarily spent—in other words, wasted—on “field hospitals” that were supposedly meant to help “handle” the pandemic as states fought to “flatten the curve.” Numerous hospitals that cost tens of millions of dollars each never treated a single patient. Others treated only a few dozen. 

Additionally, the hospital patient shortage was so massive that numerous U.S. hospitals suffered unprecedented, albeit self-inflicted, financial devastation. As far back as April, even CNN was reporting on the “financial ruin” facing some U.S. hospitals. On almost exactly the same day as the CNN report, with a piece entitled, “Sending Hospitals Into Bankruptcy,” The Wall Street Journal noted that the lockdowns were “doing great unintended harm to medical providers.”

The economic ruin experienced by American hospitals is much clearer now than it was in the spring when it was first being reported. About a month ago, the American Hospital Association (AHA) reported, “Since the start of the pandemic, hospitals and health systems have faced unprecedented financial pressures…And now, some hospitals are increasingly facing the threat of bankruptcy or closure as a result of these pressures.”

Noting that, “The financial pressures of COVID-19 are a considerable risk to the operation of some hospitals,” the AHA also reports:

•  More than three dozen hospitals have entered bankruptcy this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
• In a series of reports released in May and June, the AHA projected that hospital and health system losses were expected to be at least $323.1 billion through 2020.
• Kaufman Hall projected that hospital margins could sink to -7% in the second half of 2020, an unsustainable level for America’s hospitals.
• Moreover, Kaufman Hall projected that more than half of all hospitals will have negative margins during the fourth quarter of 2020.

I’ve always found this to be one of the most perplexing aspects of our Wuhan virus experience. If anyone should’ve known what was really on the horizon when it came to the Wuhan virus, it should’ve been those in the healthcare industry who had a financial stake in the matter.

Nevertheless, whether out of political pressure or misguided science, almost every hospital in the U.S. went along with the Wuhan virus fear mongering. And few, if any, are publicly admitting their mistakes. However—and tellingly—as the number of Wuhan virus cases rise across the U.S., and as hospital beds are filling up, we are not hearing U.S. hospitals tell the public to “stay home and stay safe,” nor or we seeing them turn away non-Wuhan virus patients in large numbers.

Also, though hospitals in America are seeing a (welcome) increase in patients and a corresponding reduction in available beds, contrary to what many of us are hearing, this is not exclusively due to an increase in the spread of the Wuhan virus, and we are not staring at a Wuhan virus emergency.

First of all, as this graphic reveals, overall Wuhan virus hospitalization rates are not that much different now than they were at “peaks” we experienced earlier in the year. What’s more, over the past few weeks, hospitalization rates for Wuhan virus patients have been on the decline. Kevin Roche at HealthySkeptic.com notes that “Case rates of hospitalization have not increased much,” and that “hospitalizations per case are actually continuing to trend down.”

On increased hospitalizations, Mr. Roche also notes:

[H]ospitals in the United States run at very high capacity almost all the time… People shouldn’t be alarmed by high capacity utilization. In addition, we all should recognize by now that we are keeping statistics for this epidemic in an unprecedented manner and that includes hospitalizations. There is a certain proportion of CV-19 admissions that are patients admitted for another reason who happen to test positive and people who actually acquire the infection in the hospital. [I’ve had this confirmed by additional hospital sources.] That is exacerbated by financial incentives for hospitals to find every possible reason to call an admission a CV-19 one. In recent weeks hospitalizations have also likely been inflated by the requirement that remdesivir be administered on an inpatient basis, by use of observation stays and other factors. Not surprisingly…average length of stay has dropped significantly, to five days. [Emphasis mine.]

In a separate post, Mr. Roche adds,

The other interesting thing to observe is when the peak in hospitalizations occurred, which you can see in the table [see the tables at the link] in the daily situation reports. This is another confirmatory signal, given the typical lag to hospitalization, that cases had turned around by November 10, before any additional government action. That action was and is completely unnecessary. And don’t buy the hysteria that hospital executives are all worried about being strained; they are loving all the CV-19 business they can get, for which they get paid 20% extra. [Emphasis mine.]

And don’t buy the media hype around hospitalizations. With a Trump-hating, big-government-loving drive-by media that was (and seemingly still is) fully invested in the lockdown narrative, the hospitalization hype has been going on for many months. In mid-July, just as schools were getting ready to open back up, much of the drive-by media was hyping Wuhan virus cases and hospitalizations. Vox, CNN, LA Times, as well as smaller, more localized media outlets all reported on an increase in hospitalized patients with the Wuhan virus. This happened again in August, September, and October, in a variety of states across the U.S.

In spite of this, hospitals were again never overwhelmed. This remains the case. Whether hospitalizations, case counts, or deaths, there’s nothing in the Wuhan virus numbers that should give America at large any reason for widespread alarm, nor is there any reason for new or continued lockdowns.

The lockdowns, the masks, the social distancing, and the like have done little to nothing to change the health outcomes for Americans who contract the Wuhan virus. Short of an effective vaccine—and it remains to be seen if we will ever have such—most of us were always going to have to deal with this virus like we have every other virus we’ve encountered. Again, it’s past time to end the lies and the fear mongering 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 The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Democrats, Dogma, and the Law

If you are an astute political observer, you almost certainly recall Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and her subsequent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in early September of 2017. You also probably remember Democrat Senator Diane Feinstein’s questioning of Mrs. Barrett and Feinstein’s concern of “the dogma” that supposedly “lives loudly” within Mrs. Barrett.

I certainly recall these things. However, as often as I’ve pondered this revealing line of questioning by Senator Feinstein, I don’t think I’ve ever read or heard the full quote that contained the infamous “the dogma lives loudly within you” phrase until just recently. Here’s the full quote:

Why is it that so many of us on this [democrat] side have this very uncomfortable feeling that, you know, dogma and law are two different things? And I think whatever a religion is, it has its own dogma. The law is totally different. And I think in your case, Professor, when you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you.

Of course, the “dogma” that concerns Senator Feinstein—and her like-minded leftist colleagues in the U.S. Senate, and all throughout the political left in America—is that of Christianity. They forget (or ignore) that it was dogmatic Christians who were most responsible for the founding of America. They forget that it was dogmatic Christians who gave us the U.S. Constitution. They forget that it was dogmatic Christians who founded higher education in America, who led the abolition movement in America, and who led—and continue to lead—America in becoming the world’s most charitable nation.

Most importantly, the left in America forgets that it has its own dogma. What’s more, this dogma often “lives loudly” within American leftists. This is especially true for many who have won election to a political office, gained an appointment to a political office, work at a school, sit on a local, state, or federal court, or support Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and the like.

Leftist dogma was loudly on display in 2020 during the riots, looting, and burning that plagued dozens of American cities. Without fail, those behind this widespread destruction were of the political left and were enabled by like-minded democrats who run these American cities. Included in the “dogma that lives loudly” within such leftists is a hatred of Donald Trump and his political allies, a hatred of law enforcement, a hatred of capitalism, and the foolish and ignorant notion that America is systematically racist.

In 2020 alone, each of these dogmas led to numerous deaths and broad destruction—to the tune of billions of dollars—across the U.S. In spite of the drive-by media’s attempts to have us believe otherwise, nothing equivalent to the violent and destructive forces of Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and the like, exists on the political right, and they certainly don’t exist within Christianity.

Another recent episode where the left’s dogma was loudly on display was the disgraceful Brett Kavanaugh hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. In one of the worst political displays in U.S. history—probably the worst in the history of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings—dogmatic democrats horrifically attacked a stellar Supreme Court nominee. Brett Kavanaugh was accused of everything from “violent drunken behavior” to “sexual assault” and “gang rape.”

Worse still, in spite of the complete lack of evidence, or any corroborating witnesses, democrats across America—along with some spineless republicans—gave these absurd charges serious consideration. Virtually all of this “most unethical sham,” as Senator Lindsey Graham passionately described it at the time, could be attributed to democrats’ dogmatic support of the “right” to kill children in the womb.

The “right” to kill the most innocent and helpless among us has long been dearly held dogma within the Democrat Party. One needs only to run slightly afoul of this dogma to quickly find out just how “loudly” it lives within today’s democrats. Abortion dogma lives so loudly within today’s democrats that many of them are now unafraid to openly call for what could only be described as infanticide. They were led down this disgusting path by the dogmatic Barack Obama.

Speaking of a “lack of evidence,” driven by their dogmatic hatred of President Trump, for four years democrats in Congress, the FBI, the drive-by media, et al, subjected us to the farcical Trump-Russia-collusion hoax which led to a phony Special Counsel investigation. Undeterred, because the Trump-hating dogma lived so “loudly” within them, democrats went so far as to impeach a President of the United States! Thankfully, their dogma was not enough to keep President Trump from being acquitted by the U.S. Senate.

Dogmatic democrats are also leading the charge in implementing the evil LGBT agenda. Because of their dedication to this perverse dogma, we have, through judicial fiat, a legal redefinition of the oldest institution in the history of humanity—marriage. Democrats would have us believe that a devotion to science is part of their dogma, but their devotion to the LGBT agenda has made it comically clear that few things are further from the truth.

Tragically, democrat dogma also now won’t allow them to define what is a woman! This dogma has so strongly taken hold in the Democrat Party that, earlier this year, not a single House democrat voted to keep deluded men and boys from invading women’s and girls’ sports. Additionally, Joe Biden recently said that he supports the biologically impossible and morally reprehensible: allowing children as young as eight to “change” their gender.

Because their dogma has led them to make a god of government, it seems highly likely that 2020 democrats engaged in widespread election fraud in order to lift their frail, basement dwelling, mentally deficient presidential candidate to an electoral “victory.” It seems that democrat dogma led to nothing short of an election “miracle” for Joe Biden!

Every American needs to understand: someone’s “dogma” is going to inform and guide the law and politics that govern America. In other words, Diane Feinstein could not have been more wrong. The law in America is always rooted in someone’s dogma. It will be the dogma of Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and the like, or it will be the dogma of Amy Coney Barrett and the like. Every election in America essentially boils down to this: by whose dogma do you want to be governed?

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