We’ll start with the elephant in the room. Pandemics are very difficult moments in human history. Humans aren’t comfortable with death. We don’t want death to happen and we’d like to go on pretending that it never will… even though it’s going to happen to all of us.

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Mix a pandemic with a crazy leader. I know a lot of people like Trump and he had some good qualities but as a leader of the free world — he was a dangerously selfish politician who broke America by constantly lying and distorting reality for his political gain.

How did he break us? It’s complicated but I’ll simplify. 75% of Republicans (50 million humans) still believe the election was stolen from Trump. This is factually not true. All the votes were counted multiple times (3 times in Georgia) and the election was called the most secure election in American History by the person appointed to the task by Republicans. If you don’t like that they mailed in votes during a pandemic — take that up with the courts in the future but for now the courts agreed it was all legal.

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The result: more Americans than ever believe the government is corrupt and when citizens can’t trust their government bad things happen.

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Trump consistently downplayed Covid and that divided America. The CDC was now in direct contrast with the president. When humans, who need to be told by their leaders what to believe, get contrasting information — they BREAK! More people are dying. The media and doctors are learning as they go.

We have to force people to vaccinate!

“But I have antibodies.”

Doesn’t matter!

“That sounds off.”

You can still spread it!

“But so can the vaccinated.”

Doesn’t matter.

So the pendulum swings so far to the other side that it defies logic. When smart humans see a lack of logic and reality play out in their lives — they BREAK! The government thinks humans are dumb and thus promote a one horse pony to save us — vaccinate and your safe! They created an illusion of safety. Oops, actually everyone can get Omicron now.

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They forgot about the truth and very few leaders are saying it. The uncomfortable TRUTH is: if you recovered from it or got vaccinated you likely will never be hospitalized for it. It’s still going to exist. You can still get it again but it should be less severe. Annual shots will likely exist for us just like they do for the flu as new variants will always exist (just like the flu) but that doesn’t mean we need to continue to be crazy about it. Side note: every year the world of medicine try and predict the dominant flu strains for the flu shot and this year the dominant strain was missed and it’s not in the flu shot. It happens. It’s an educated guess. Humans are human.

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Uh oh, the problem inflates: high risk humans still don’t get vaccinated (they’re really the only major problem left). They get sick and clog up hospitals.

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Reality has become political. Our failure is messing with kids now! Kids are statistically very safe from Covid with 1 death to every 150,000. They are masked all the time. They need to be vaccinated! Parent’s are like, “wait a second.” They’re breaking! I need my kids in school! I’m breaking!

So, leaders lie, powerful people ignore common sense, they print all this new money (destroying the younger generation who statistically is unaffected by the pandemic). 40% of all money in circulation was printed in the last 12 months.

Is that okay?

The fed: “yeah we know about it and it’ll be fine. It’s all cyclical.”

Does that make sense? I don’t think it makes sense. I’m being paid the same and my money is worth less. This can’t be good.

All the boomers are like “I’m outta here.” Markets went up and I have money.

Massive labor shortage!

Where are the workers?

Is that a serious question?

No one knows what’s going on and normal humans are lost and getting scared. Is anyone in the middle? The partisan fighting gets nothing done but here’s a trillion dollars for the defense budget! “We just want health care!”

There is lack of voices shouting common sense. There is no compromise. It’s a constant blame game. Afghanistan is your fault? Nope it’s yours? Who’s is it? We see it all. We know it. It’s driving us MAD! We scream. No one hears us! We BREAK!

The movement and protest that has exploded in Minneapolis is centered on equal justice. We all know his name now, ‘George Floyd,’ as protests have sprung up in all 50 states. George Floyd isn’t only George Floyd anymore. George Floyd represents every negative interaction a person of color has encountered with the American justice system.

The stories are endless. Every black person who spoke to me had a story of injustice at the hands of the police. They didn’t have one story. They had many. You could see the pain in their eyes. You could feel the power in their voice with each chant. I saw generations of abuse. I saw people looking for a break. Begging for a win or a sign or anything to show that progress is happening and that their voice won’t be used in vain. I saw parents who wanted their children to have a better life. The prayer began. Some took a knee. I heard shouts. I hear ‘amen’ and ‘thank you, Jesus.’ Then I saw a semi-truck coming in fast blasting its horn.

In a moment, a prayer for peace and justice turned to panic and despair.

The prayer abruptly ended. The protest was cut in half. Men, women and children fled in all directions. It felt like an attack.

Why was the semi still plowing through the middle of the crowd after it came to a stop? Out of fear? There were cars slowly rolling through and honking in solidarity moments before. Zero other vehicles caused an issue. It felt intentional. Why are you still moving? You could kill someone. People ran after the truck. I’m paused in shock. I take the picture, time and space is no longer relative. I help a woman screaming from the edge. “Get off the bridge!” She complies. I think of my loved one. Is she safe? I call her first. It’s only screams. Everyone is running. I’m still. I hear yells, “There’s a gun! This could blow!” I agreed, this could blow. It looked bad. Its entrance to the scene was wrong. I called my love. She scattered safely. I helped another crying woman who couldn’t find her friends. People went from solidarity, peace and love to rage. One man screamed pacing in circles, “What the hell? How? Why? F&%# no! God no! Please no!”

Here’s my research. I’m simply trying to tell you what I know, witnessed and learned. I gathered videos from every angle.

RAW VIDEO: MnDOT releases new traffic cam video of tanker that drove into I-35W crowd

At 14:30 in the mnDOT traffic cam video, you can see people begin to scatter. It isn’t until the semi is within striking distance of protestors who are unable to stand and move out of the way does the truck begin to slow.

To remove any doubt that the driver “didn’t know something was going on,” let’s go back to where there were first eyes on the semi, long before the 35W Bridge.

A speeding semi truck that is empty will take about 512 feet to come to a complete stop.

513 feet is how far the driver had between Washington Avenue bridge and the overpass south of it.

By the time the semi went under the overpass before the Washington bridge it had plenty of time to stop safely. Common sense can help us all agree that upon entering a scene of cars stopped on the freeway, and some driving the opposite direction on the road, that caution should be utilized. One should slow along with traffic on the road the way you slow down for an accident, cars, or people on a freeway on a normal day.

He speeds past stopped cars from the next lane.

1300 feet is how far he drove after passing under the Washington Avenue bridge and when he comes to his first stop.

I don’t need to prove anything anymore. The driver could have stopped. He didn’t. He laid on his horn and went in hot narrowly missing hundreds of people and putting lives in danger. He then starts up again. The crowd screams for him to stop. Bikes are thrown. Bikes are toppled. Someone gets on the semi, then another. The scene is a movie filled with terror and heroes. One man we talked to had the sole purpose of getting the keys from the truck and throwing them over the bridge. Another man tells us he jumped on the driver to save him after he was pulled from the truck. Some wanted blood for this perceived terrorist. A hero got others to jump on the driver and protect him.

The irony of black men saving a white man from a modern day lynching is not lost on me. Soon after, those same heroes are peppered by cops. The cops didn’t come to learn or understand. They didn’t start by protecting and serving. They came in hot with pepper spray. Is this how cops are trained? Do we think this is the best way? Discuss amongst yourselves.

I’m now moved far off the bridge on the grass on the off ramp. I’m eerily calm. Im thinking that maybe my deceased general grandfather prepared me for this. Perhaps, I was meant to exist in the fire and always be prepared to help. I look around to help. The people are here to protect and serve. I’m making sure there’s no one else I can assist. Jenny is on the other side helping a 65 year old down a steep incline. She was dispersed by cops on the other side and not given a safe path off the bridge. I make sure there’s nothing more I can do. I catch my breath. The cops pull down the ramp. I yell for people to step aside, “step aside.” The cops stop and form a line on the off ramp. They immediately run at me. I’m pepper sprayed. I turn and throw my one wheel over the fence. I’m pushed into the fence. I jump up, like maybe I’m going to make a football move. It failed. I’m launched on the fence and ripped down. Sprayed repeatedly. I’m not resisting. I keep saying it.

Respect the cops, my mom always said. Oddly, she didn’t say it because they inherently deserved respect, but because they have more power than you. If you don’t bow to their power, they will use force. Don’t give the cops an excuse. Play it extra safe. That’s my mom’s mentality. She’s been scared into submission. She submits. The protest is full of people who tried to play nice but still get messed up. They know a cop is too often bad news. They have learned that protect and serve now means prayers that I don’t die. I had a woman tell me that night she always said a prayer any time she encountered a cop. She and my mom are alike. Different skin. Different stories but they both smoke the same Marlboro Lights and they both have been scared into submission.

Was the semi-driver’s move intentional? I have no idea. Clearly, he could’ve killed people if he wanted too. He didn’t. However, his actions did end the protest and divide the community.

His phone was stolen and text messages read out loud. We have video of the man reading them. Is it true? I don’t know but I will say this man didn’t seem to be faking it. He seemed to be reading words that could not be his own. The texts showed that he wanted to break through the crowd and make a statement.

A semi would’ve won the battle today. He had plenty of time to stop. The video evidence outlines this as a fact. His actions at a minimum can be proven as reckless endangerment to human life. Without the text messages, intent of harm can’t be proved. This doesn’t concern me. What concerns me is that hope, love, justice and change came to a screeching halt.

The people who ran at the truck, ran out of the mission to protect and serve. They ran to stop the driver. They ran to save a life. People of all colors helped me when I was disorientated and attacked by police.

The protest about police brutality in Minneapolis on May 31st was planned out ahead of time. The directions charted. The locations to stop and pray shared. There were liaisons between the police and protest leaders on bikes on every end helping assure the safety and direction of the march. The bike liason signaled the semi driver to stop. Cars were going the other way on the freeway. The semi speed past cars stopped on the freeway.

It is not only clear but it is obvious that this wasn’t a simple accident.

George Floyd isn’t only a name anymore. George Floyd is its own meaning. George Floyd is the fight for equality, it’s the fight for the sanctity of the human life. It’s the screams of injustice that has plagued the BIPOC community for generations. George Floyd is a gathering. It’s an organizing. It’s a mission that demands equal justice for everyone under god. It’s a prayer for help. George Floyd has become the name for change.

Will these prayers be heard? Will justice come to the semi truck driver or will his recklessness be forgotten?

They start by politicizing it. Each governor is trying to show their leadership and how their solution for humanity is best. The national story logically doesn’t add up. Let us make sense of this poltical debacle.

The government said we can’t beat COVID-19 and the primary goal is to flatten the curve. Let that sink in before you make any major decisions about your future. You good? Moving on.

There won’t be a distributable vaccine until mid 2021 and this is being optimistic. This forecast is basically a guess. For the record, a cure isn’t guaranteed. Coronavirus is mutating. The fact that it is mutating is not necessarily good or bad. It was falsely reported that scientists believe the virus is constantly mutating to overcome immune system resistance in different populations. This is not substantiated. All viruses mutate — it doesn’t necessarily mean the virus has developed into a more dangerous “strain.” Moreover, most genetic changes that become prevalent in a population do so despite having little or no effect on individuals’ behavior.

Americans won’t respond kindly to being forced to take a vaccine. Many American’s don’t trust their government. Polls show that 25% of Americans won’t take a vaccine if it’s available.

If 1/4th of American’s won’t take the vaccine how safe will we ever be? Do we want markers that verify our immunities before being allowed into the baseball game? Isn’t the added security already an excessive pain?

So, what do we do now? Are you more confused? You should be. There are so many questions that don’t have answers. Does the government really want us to hibernate until summer 2021 on the hopes that a vaccine exists for a virus that mutates and transforms like the flu? Would this be considered an overraction to a disease that has a median death rate of 83 in Minnesota? Is it worth potentially destroying all the businesses that have been shutdown due to these new protocols? You tell me. It’s our government. We are in control. It’s up to us. Italy gave us the data on Covid-19 victims. We have identified who is most at risk. Covid-19 attacks the aging body. If you haven’t heard, it’s particularly dangerous to the obese, elderly and those with pre-existing conditions that have compromised immune systems. These people need to protect themselves. For the rest of us, risk is inherent to living.

Our goal was to flatten the curve! After that, we simply maintain a balance. It sucks but it is literally the only solution.

We may get a vaccine but what if we selected the wrong strain to protect us? The data showed that the Flu shot vaccine was 45% effective this year. The facts show that we won’t be free of COVID-19 for a long time. We may be better at preventing it but there is no plan to eradicate a virus like this from our society.

Let’s look at our history. During Woodstock ’69 there was a pandemic spreading through the USA. 80,000 American’s died. Compared to today’s per capita this is the equivalent of 240,000 American deaths. The virus of ’69 was coined as the Hong Kong Flu and it swept through for a year. Politics weren’t going to fix this pandemic. Medicine and the medical experts took center stage instead. No businesses were forced to close down.

The new coronavirus could be here to stay: so believes World Health Organization emergencies expert Mike Ryan, suggesting it could become endemic like HIV.

He warned against any attempt to predict how long the coronavirus would keep circulating. The world has some control over how it copes with the disease, Ryan went on to say, although it will take a “massive effort” even if a vaccine is found — a prospect he described as a “massive moonshot.” More than 100 potential vaccines are being developed, including several in clinical trials, but experts have underscored the difficulties of finding vaccines that are effective against coronaviruses.

Minnesota is being calculated and conservative. We are slowly opening up. I feel we have a good balance. The future will be different. The future should be different. A balanced pace to opening up our communities is the safest solution. We need to continue to open up more. With all this data collected it seems obvious that come June/July Minnesotan’s should be able to go to church, have a wedding, go to a restaurant and get a hair cut. We as individuals have to acknowledge our own risk and our risk to others and make the appropriate decisions.

Our goal was to flatten the curve. We are flattening it. The virus sucks but it isn’t the end of human existence. Data shows that we aren’t guaranteed a cure. Summer of 2020 is the time to responsibly come out of our homes, adapt to the new normal and get back on our feet.

Our job as a thoughtful citizen is to approach our new realty by:

Owning our situational awareness and acting responsibly.

Remember who you are living with and visiting.

Encourage our employers to develop testing approaches and reconfigure workspaces.

For an entertaining rant on this exact idea — check out Dave Portnoy here:

Dave Portnoy on Instagram: "Turn Into Finding The Cure"

Sources:

Coronavirus: Latest data on new COVID-19 infections and deaths

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-snapshot/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-coronavirus-right-now-idUSKBN22Q0MV

In general, no one will save you. Avoiding the need for being saved… is the best thing you can ever do. It sounds gloomy but it seems to me that it’s the only way to be happy and free. Imagine you flexed to buy an expensive house in the suburbs that you can barely afford and then you lose your job. Imagine your job is replaced by the advancement in robotics and 20 years of your skillset suddenly became worthless. These are real things that are happening to people. Do you not feel the deja vu from 2008? The system that props up our existence is fragile. One piece becomes undone and the entire factory fails. The government is sending checks. Is it enough? $1200 doesn’t cover my fixed expenses. This moment in history will forever change our mindset. Or, we’ll forget and history will repeat itself again. Please try and pretend that you were surprised next time too. How did this happen? The talking heads on TV try and explain. Their words are on repeat. What are you learning? What would you do different? Entire industries can be wiped out in a moment. Ross Gellar just yelled “pivot.” People are taking to the street. Pandemics be damned, I need to get food on my table. The Grapes of Wrath on display for all to see. Why didn’t they read the book? It tells you what’s going to happen. Is education to blame? Let’s blame the parents. I’m not taking any responsibility. Sound familiar? What are you going to do about it? I don’t care if you die, my freedom is being revoked. Each side digs deeper into their corner. Do you not think we are all in this together? I thought we were all one. Aren’t you Christian? How does your faith contrasted with your actions make sense of this? Wait, you never considered that? Excuse me while I laugh. You’re life is a joke then right? How privileged of you to judge me. I’ve heard it all. Chaos doesn’t help us. Spreading lies because it supports your guy doesn’t help us. Yet, nothing changes. When is the last time you had a conversation and heard the other side? Did you discover where they were coming from? Did you get to the root of the problem? This is what I do. I see the difference. I don’t blame social media. It’s time we came out of our holes. I understand our leadership has the integrity of school children. Be better. Who’s acting in a way you respect? Tell me about them. I know you’re hurting. I know that you’re scared. You should be. It’s a scary time. The time for warrantless temper tantrums is over. You’re burning the house while we are all still inside. Either lend a hand or step aside because we have a fire to put out.

There’s a lot of ignorant people out there. I get it. Life is hard. If they don’t understand something, they lash out and they’ll destroy everything in their path. ID2020 never had a microchip in a vaccine to track you. Again, you’re not that important. People who work at that company are getting death threats because of you freaks who spread misinformation. ID2020 was a way to help people have identification with biometrics. It’s a new tech with some big partners and Bill Gates has absolutely nothing to do with it. It got popular with conspiracy theorists because Alex Jones didn’t know what biometrics meant. Since you won’t google it (biometrics is the application of statistical analysts to biological data). 1.2 Billion people don’t have the luxury to have an ID and passport. Have you ever been around poor people, been a refuge, or had everything you own destroyed? It was an identification that could be tracked with your fingerprint or retina scan. It’s called the future. You already sign up for it. When I entered China they took my fingerprints. When I worked in finance in the USA, they took my fingerprints. My iPhone has a biometric scan of my face. Facebook has all the data they could ever need about me and you. Did you follow Cambridge Analytica at all? I don’t know how this insanity happened. I was suppose to be the conspiracy guy. I loved X-Files. I talked about the men in black before the movie. My Christian high school crush got mad at me because I sad space was so huge there has to be life out there. I was moshing in the pit, raging against the machine. But now there’s too many idiots out there. You look stupid. I don’t want to be in that cult anymore. Life has real problems and if we care about actually making the world a better place we have to work together to solve them. Quit with your end of days, mark of the beast, plandemic charades. Earth doesn’t like pollution. Doctors care about helping you. Medicine is awesome. Science isn’t your enemy, misinformation is.

In today’s culture of constant media attacks, we need someone to blame! Bill Gates and science itself are caught in the cross fire.

Five years ago, Microsoft’s founder Bill Gates warned about global pandemics on a TED Talk. The realized prediction has raised rumors that he is responsible for creating the novel coronavirus and netizens have been questioning the reasons for his heavy investments in vaccine development. Conspiracies are running wild. They are symptoms of the disease that has exposed our illiteracy of modern day media. The person shouting the loudest is winning the battle and we need every American to be dedicated to the pursuit of truth and knowledge in our society. Polarized factions with political and monetary motivations are driving a stake through our country. A divided nation is a weaker nation.

Below are the the conspiracies that are spreading like wildfire and the facts and studies that disprove them.

The Claim:

Bill Gates is being sued by India over the deaths of girls resulting from vaccinations.

The Facts:

The rumor that “India is suing Bill Gates because he vaccinated 77,000 third world girls between the ages of 9 & 15 and many of them died” is a false one that we have explored at length. This claim is not directly connected to Gates or the Gates Foundation, but rather to the global health organization PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health), which conducted a study beginning in 2009 to see if it could reduce the number of human papillomavirus (HPV) infections by providing cost-effective vaccines to impoverished communities. (The Gates Foundation was one of PATH’s global partners and reportedly provided funding for its HPV study.) The study caused controversy in India when seven of the girls involved in the trial in that country died after receiving their vaccines, but state investigations found those deaths were unrelated to the vaccinations. Neither the global health organization nor the Gates Foundation are being “sued” by India or have been “banned” from operating in that country. With all that being said, there are a few studies that the DTP vaccine in Africa increased overall mortality by a small percentage.

The Claim:

Bill Gates admits vaccinations are designed so governments can depopulate the world.

The Facts:

The computer magnate believes that vaccines can be used to reduce childhood mortality and ultimately reduce population growth through associated social changes, not as an agent of death. Bill Gates does not want to depopulate the world with vaccines. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said, “a surprising but critical fact we learned was that reducing the number of deaths actually reduces population growth. Contrary to the Malthusian view that population will grow to the limit of however many kids can be fed, in fact parents choose to have enough kids to give them a high chance that several will survive to support them as they grow old. As the number of kids who survive to adulthood goes up, parents can achieve this goal without having as many children.”

Put simply, in society after society, they saw, when the mortality rate falls — specifically, below 10 deaths per 1,000 people — the birth rate follows, and population growth stabilizes. “It goes against common sense,” Gates says. Most parents don’t choose to have eight children because they want to have big families but rather because they know many of their children will die.

“If a mother and father know their child is going to live to adulthood, they start to naturally reduce their population size,” says Melinda.

We have to ask ourselves — what are the motivations behind sources distorting these facts? Are people this evil or simply misinformed?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to spread false information on the internet. He has posted articles where he changed quotes to spread conspiracies about vaccinations. These claims have been debunked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics and many other leading health and science organizations around the world. Kennedy’s own siblings have accused him of being “complicit” in a misinformation campaign. “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. … is part of this campaign to attack the institutions committed to reducing the tragedy of preventable infectious diseases,” they wrote. “He has helped to spread dangerous misinformation over social media and is complicit in sowing distrust of the science behind vaccines.”

It is understandable that parents may have questions about vaccines and health care procedures concerning their children. We need to be able to have conversations that address skepticism about the safety and efficacy of vaccines without demonizing doubters. The reality is that vaccines, like all drugs, can have side effects. However, the public health benefits of vaccines to every citizen far outweigh any potential side effects, which, when they do occur, are overwhelmingly minor, rarely serious, and more than justified by the overall benefit to vulnerable populations.

WHO has stated that immunizations prevent some 2 to 3 million deaths a year, and have the potential to save another 1.5 million lives every year with broader vaccine coverage. Smallpox, which plagued mankind for thousands of years, has been eradicated through vaccines. Because of immunizations, no cases of polio have been reported in the United States since 1979. Yet, the angry mob still spreads misinformation online. This is because people are afraid. They don’t trust science. They don’t trust the government. The seed of doubt has been planted and it’s making a difference; but not in a good way.

Jenny McCarthy became the face of the anti-vaxx movement when her son was diagnosed with autism after receiving the measles vaccination. This former playmate of the year gave the anti-vaxx movement a new microphone. She was loud. Reality doesn’t matter. The false myth that there’s a link between autism and the measles vaccine traces back to a discredited British doctor named Andrew Wakefield, whose study has since been retracted. A Danish study of more than half a million children showed no link between measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination and autism.

Facts, studies, and science don’t matter anymore. This is the problem. People need someone to blame, they are afraid and they are lashing out. The vaccines aren’t the problem. Our lack of faith in our institutions that are supposed to look out for us is. I can tell everyone about how the necessity and safety of vaccines are backed up by every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association and scores of others. It won’t matter. Instead, we have the most recorded cases of measles in decades.

The coronavirus gives us a new pandemic. A new pandemic brings more fear and now 30% of Americans believe this virus was created in a lab. Was it all the Sci-fi? Was it all the movie plot lines that taught us secret rogue governments are always trying to control the population and make us their slaves? The CIA, who coined the idea of “conspiracy theories” to discredit potential stories that would expose them, began Operation Mockingbird in the early 1950s as a program to manipulate news media for propaganda purposes. Did Operation Mockingbird fail to stop the craziness they were creating in society or is it creating this craziness, the key element in gaining control over all of us? The conspiracies are endless. Obviously, operations just like this helped break our trust. We know that the government has manipulated us in the past, so what will change them from doing so in the future? When you have conservative journalist, Hoaxed documentary creator, Mike Cernovich, tweet today calling out the Bill Gates conspiracy ridiculousness, you know you have an issue with the crazy masses.

Mike tweeted “You can *literally* read the financials for Bill Gates, he’s not making a profit from vaccines. I don’t care if you hate the guy but if you don’t even know what a Form 990 is or how to read a balance sheet… CALM THE F*CK DOWN.” When Mike’s our voice of reason for the conspiracies about Gates trying to infect us and make more money from the vaccine, you know we all have an issue. I think he would agree.

In all fairness, researchers have raised concerns about the Gates Foundation’s lack of transparency, its veto power over other global health institutions, and its spending priorities. Some experts worry that the Gateses’ health philanthropy has become too big to scrutinize. However, many experts think the Gates Foundation does important work in fighting neglected diseases and boosting vaccination rates in children. The foundation has taken private funding for global health to an unprecedented level, giving away more than $30 billion with an emphasis on data-driven decision-making. Bill and Melinda have also been applauded for encouraging others in their position to do the same. Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said, “We have come a long way in fighting infectious diseases in America, but we risk backsliding and seeing our families, neighbors, and communities needlessly suffer from preventable diseases.” In April of 2019, the Food and Drug Administration issued a stern and lengthy statement by Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, urging Americans to vaccinate. “We cannot state strongly enough,” Marks said, “The overwhelming scientific evidence shows that vaccines are among the most effective and safest interventions to both prevent individual illness and protect public health.”

Is this enough information? Can we move on from the problems that we fixed years ago so that we can move forward to solve the problems that we have now? There are two directions for our society to go. We can stay locked up in our houses forever and not believe in science and the advancement of the human race or we can come together, with all the achievements from our past to create better lives for our future. We can’t hate the Gates Foundation. We can’t hate science. These are the very things that can save us. We don’t have billions of dollars for research and the Gates Foundation does. We should be thankful that people are trying to make a difference. We want to go outside and gather with friends. We want to attend a baseball game. We want to dance, spilling champagne with our friends on our wedding day. We need science. We need vaccinations. If you don’t like that word, I’m rebranding it. It’s now called “cures.” Would you like to be cured so that you can go outside and live your life freely? I do! If you do, stop throwing crap against your digital wall like every billionaire is trying to enslave you with hidden microchips in your blood. Your life isn’t that interesting. Nobody cares what you’re doing. Please shut up and sit down. The human race wants to evolve.

Sources:

https://medium.com/dfrlab/bioweapons-secret-labs-and-the-cia-pro-kremlin-actors-blame-the-u-s-for-coronavirus-outbreak-ffc2139c28dd

https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/guide-right-wing-media-coronavirus-reactions-and-conspiracy-theories

https://www.vox.com/2015/6/10/8760199/gates-foundation-criticism

https://academic.oup.com/trstmh/article/110/10/570/2548939

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/04/health/debunking-coronavirus-myths-trnd/index.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/05/08/he-is-wrong-robert-f-kennedy-jrs-family-calls-him-out-anti-vax-conspiracy-theories/

RFK Jr. Is Our Brother and Uncle. He's Tragically Wrong About Vaccines.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bill-gates-india-sued/

Poll: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/13/us/coronavirus-made-in-lab-poll-trnd/index.html?fbclid=IwAR1eu-0r40UZYbo6pufT6NMLnukg5hFHc0SEl1dm9_VIuAI1vmzOcaSCX2I

Let me tell you a true story. Although the ending is not one of Disney, the tragedy is one of Shakespeare.

John and Mary hopped a boat west for a better life. They fled Europe during the potato famine in Northern Europe. Emigrants bound for Oregon, California and Utah in the mid-1800s faced high tolls and high risks when they crossed the North Platte River near present Casper, Wyoming. River crossings were extremely dangerous; operators of commercial ferries and bridges charged steep prices for safety. Many emigrants, unable to pay, cobbled together other, more homemade solutions — with varying success. Until bridges were built, nearly all travelers swam their livestock across, and many people and animals drowned in the swift, deep, shockingly cold water of the Platte.

John was able to cross the river successfully and dropped off his young two year old Elizabeth and instructed her to wait as he went back to help Mary cross. Elizabeth didn’t wait. She got scared and fell into the water. Mary, the soul survivor of this story watched it all unfold as John went back to save Elizabeth. He reached her, but was overcome by the current.

The image of John and daughter, Elizabeth, still embraced in a hug on the riverbank can be seen today in the historical chronicles at Fort Laramie, WY. They drowned crossing a river to a better life. “Neither one of them let each other go,” she said. The words of a widow on a plaque on a wall that few ever see. “That’s how they died, both of them hugging.” She imagined he told himself, “I’ve come this far” and decided to go with her. Mary said she asked God for nothing to happen to them, and for everything to go well along their journey. Her request was not granted.

Now you can simply change the names of the story above. Oscar (John) with wife Tania (Mary) and daughter Valeria (Elizabeth). They were from El Salvador. They were in search of a better life. On Sunday, out of apparent desperation and within sight of American soil, Oscar, his wife, and their daughter tried to ford the Rio Grande into the southern tip of Texas. I first saw the image of the two dead bodies on Facebook, face down in the water, arms still grasped around each other. The commentary below from “friends” claimed the photo was “so staged” and talked of “fake news.” This is the society we live in now. Dead bodies are fake news. I suppose this is what helps people sleep better at night. It’s 6am and I’m not sleeping. There’s too much in life to do, too many causes to support, too many changes to implement, too many lives to save, too much ignorance to kill, too many good fights to fight. I don’t believe this story to be one for mere political debate. Politicians have already proven how disconnected and pathetic they all are. One side wants to close the borders to these rapists and murderers like “John and Mary.” The other, besides blasting Trump, offer few details on immigration plans so far. Democrats have largely shied away from explaining how they would deal with the record setting surge of Central American families seeking asylum, secure the southern border or overhaul a 50-year-old legal immigration system that’s in dire need of an update. That strategy runs the risk of allowing Trump to define the immigration debate with his accusations that Democrats support “open borders” and migratory lawlessness. According to a poll in October conducted by the Pew Research Center, illegal immigration was deemed the biggest problem facing the nation by Republicans and the 18th biggest problem by Democrats.

For 40 years, our leaders on the left and right have pushed three solutions to the problem of migrants who are here illegally: border enforcement, guest worker programs, and legalization.

Border enforcement cost a staggering $19.4 billion in 2016, and even as we’ve ramped it up in recent years, studies show 97% of border-crossers who try repeatedly do get in. Current estimates are that taxpayers — you and me — will shell out $12 billion to $66.9 billion if President Trump’s barrier is built at the U.S.-Mexico border. To be clear: Walls don’t work. The Berlin Wall toppled and ask the Chinese — they built the mother of all walls, and it didn’t keep out the Mongols.

Guest worker programs admit migrants legally and supposedly require them to go home by a certain date. But more than half of the Bracero Program guest workers who came to the U.S. from the 1940s to the 1960s, never left, creating a foundation for the wave of Mexicans that followed. In 2014, the latest year of available data, it was estimated that 66% of those added to the rolls of immigrants living unlawfully in the U.S. arrived here legally, often with temporary work visas, and overstayed. They didn’t wade across the Rio Grande. As for legalization, in 1986, we granted amnesty to millions who then illegally sent for friends and family. We went from 3 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally in 1986 to 11 million today.

Ripping up the old playbook sounds good right now. It may sound radical, but this is what works: Instead of adding fire power, fencing and drones at the border, we must deal directly with powerful forces pushing people out of their home countries and toward the U.S. The majority of the border-crossers in the Southwest come from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala — all three are among the most dangerous nations on Earth.

Now, the journey north is even harder. The U.S. shamefully pays tens of millions of dollars to Mexico to keep migrants from reaching our border. Kidnapping is rampant. Each year thousands are held for ransom, enslaved, or prostituted. Recently, 20 mass graves were discovered in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Buried along with hundreds of corpses were Honduran and Guatemalan coins and identity cards.

Despite the mounting obstacles, the data shows a tenfold increase in immigrant children coming to the U.S. In 2002, 6,800 minors were detained alone at the border by U.S. agents. In 2014, the count was 68,000, and last year, even with Mexico deporting more Central Americans than the U.S., it was 60,000. The reason is simple, as one expert who tracks child migration said: “When your house is on fire, you find a way to get out.” Today’s migrants are running for their lives.

The U.S. has helped fuel some of the mayhem that pushes migrants north. Since the mid-1990s, we have deported more than 300,000 criminals, mostly gangsters, to Central America. In the past decade, we spent billions to stop the flow of drugs from Colombia to the U.S. The narcos simply rerouted their drug flights from the Caribbean to landing fields in Honduras. Gangsters and narcos have fought to control turf there, and everyone else gets caught in the crossfire.

Don’t build a wall. Do this instead.

Rivera Hernández, the most violent neighborhood in San Pedro Sula, Honduras has been the murder capital ofthe world over the last four years. Bodies dot the streets in the morning; six gangs brazenly exert control. One day, according to local police, gangsters were casually playing soccer with the decapitated head of someone they had executed. In 2014, the U.S. implemented pilot violence-prevention programs there, based on efforts in Los Angeles and Boston, organizing courageous residents to counter gangs and bring about change. Outreach centers were set up where kids could find mentors, vocational training and help getting jobs, effectively cutting off the lifeblood of gangs: new recruits. Another program, modeled on L.A.’s Gang Reduction and Youth Development program, known as GYRD, used nine risk factors to identify children likely to join gangs. After a year of family counseling, they were 77% less likely than their peers to commit crimes or abuse alcohol or drugs.

The U.S. also went after killers. In 96% of Honduran homicide cases, no one is ever convicted. Witnesses know that if they testify, they’re dead. The U.S. helped fund the Assn. for a More Just Society, which investigates killings in Rivera Hernández and six other violent neighborhoods. They coax witnesses to testify, anonymously, cloaked in a black burqa. Now prosecutors are getting guilty verdicts in more than half of the homicides in these neighborhoods. In two years, killings in Rivera Hernández plummeted 62%.

These efforts are riddled with problems, and Rivera Hernández is still crazy violent. But the data is compelling: In 2014, before these pilot violence-prevention programs took hold, 18,000 Honduran kids showed up at our border. In 2016, that number was almost cut in half. Meanwhile, the flow of immigrants from El Salvador and Guatemala — which have implemented violence-prevention programs much less aggressively — keeps increasing.

The United States has every reason and every right to protect its borders, but building a wall and militarizing it is a foolish waste of money. We can do better. We can offer compassion for vulnerable children running from harm and work to reduce unlawful migration to keep more children and families safe in their home countries. Honduran violence-prevention programs cost the U.S. about $100 million a year. That’s pocket change compared with the cost of the wall or the billions we spend dealing with migrants and refugees when they arrive at our doorstep. We failed Afghanistan when we armed and abandoned them in the 1980’s leaving prime soil for the rise of Al-Qaeda. We unraveled the Middle East in Iraq where ISIS and the next radical movement is brewing. The old politicians have failed. It’s time for the young and globally educated minds to chart a course where we can all improve together. If there’s anything to learn from all of this it’s that we aren’t on an island anymore. Every society on Earth is connected and we have to work together.

Don’t let Trump or the ignorant political leaders target these global initiative programs as unnecessary foreign aid. Insist instead that the State Department expand them. Instead of “Build the wall!” try a different chant: “Do violence-prevention programs!” It’s not much of a jingle. But it actually works.

Sources:

Photography by Holy Grail Creative / Rick Gmitro & Jennifer Monson

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-nazario-what-works-to-end-illegal-immigration-20170423-story.html

Dad & Toddler Who Drowned Trying to Enter U.S. Left a Country Where He Made Only $350/Month

The newest and youngest generation is simultaneously the smartest generation to date, while also being the most easily persuaded. This will likely prove true forever as we evolve, educate and prosper. This is why young people threaten the old. They aren’t confused by our smartphones. They are far more aware and efficient in life. They had Google from the start. All my bills are automated and my mom spends 4 hours every Sunday organizing snail mail. This is a real thing that people waste their time on. People are all crazy on a sliding scale.

I just saw a 4 year old make a video on TikTok. I didn’t edit my first video until 8th grade. It was pretty awesome. It was a persuasive argument about recycling. It had some creative editing. I made a man levitate. They thought I was a child prodigy. It was A to B roll in our media room. This is a term that means nothing at all to my current editors. This 4 year old has me by 9 years. Recently, 6 out of 6 sophomores in high school told me their main goal in life is to gain Instagram followers. I tried to remember what my main goal sophomore year was… I wanted to be better at all my sports and make music. I liked this girl down the street named Megan. She didn’t think I was funny yet. Now I’m sure we’d be fabulously on the same page but people get married and have kids in the mean time. I found most of my friends to be too clicky that year. They were so simple and controlled. We hadn’t drank or had drugs yet. It’s 100% healthier for our brains but limits your social growth. Don’t drink or do drugs until you’re at least 18. You’ll appreciate the comparative lessons to your later life. Realizing my boredom and separation from my peers back then made me a much funnier person. The Internet gives you new friends. It makes the world bigger. The One for me wasn’t in my high school class of 423 peers. I needed to get out and widen my search. I did it by travel and saying hello to strangers. I suppose sliding into the DM is the same thing these days but seems far less fun.

We learn the most about life by sitting back and watching the world go by. You learned the language you speak now from doing just that. You were a baby and people looked at you and talked to you in weird baby voices (when did that start) I mean can you imagine caveman grunting at each other and modifying their grunt to a little baby voice? Oh, youuu sooooo cute aren’t you, yes you are, grunt, grunt with tonal inflection, bang hands together. I love how we project our realities on everyone and everything else. All this weird talking taught you what sh*t meant. And then you started grunting back. With positive feedback and maybe an extra airplane of apple sauce you’ll be on your way to becoming a functioning member of society. Any level across the evolutionary plain can procreate. Some organisms procreate by just splitting themselves in half. I think I did that once. There we go. That’s better. ‘Later, bye, wait what’s my name, um Tony, oh cool, go off and prosper! Thanks will do!’

Woman I met in the Bahamas… ‘Morning walks’ it’s a picture of her ass. What is this trying to tell me? I ponder. Are you thinking of what I’m thinking? In our daily installment of what is your Instagram doing for your long term plans and objectives — I think she’s just looking for love. I met her boyfriend. He doesn’t seem like a ‘pansy ass lil’ bitch.’ But he really has to be. Maybe his mom never told him he has worth. Nowadays, he doesn’t need that positive reinforcement from mom, it would’ve helped, but he can just follow a new ‘influencer’ on Instagram who reminds him that he has worth. I’ve met her though and she doesn’t really care or know if you do. He doesn’t need to take awkward pictures of this narcissist chick all day. You have worth. You are enough. I mean it’s true but you have a lot of other lessons to learn first. This last picture of her on the bed is basically asking for anyone to love her? Have you asked her what the point of all this is? My gut instinct is that you’re not enough. You’re a dollar figure who can take a decent iPhone photo in portrait mode. We’ve all been there. It’s a phase right. You’ll grow out of it some day when you want real happiness! You got this.

We can make a heaven from hell or hell from a heaven. I told my church friends that this life is Heaven. We’re already here. Now you got to realize how that’s possible and if you can realize it. It’s like the book the Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. We’ve been dropped off at a bus stop in the middle. People labeled it purgatory. We can walk to the hills where all that light and music is or retreat and build a castle for ourselves away from everyone else. Ironically, the castle life is the absence of god. We’re all connected and the only way to this heaven is for us to return to the source where we all derived. It’s like how sour patch kids need to get in my mouth for their happiness to exist. We both want it bad. It completes our life cycle.

We’re all like Rapunzel. We just throw out our metaphorically long hair out the window and wait for someone to climb. This is what social media is. My brilliant hippie friend on the west coast hates social media but knows he needs to use it in order to tell people about all the amazing things he’s doing to better the world. He does more amazing things than 99% of the people I know but no one would know. He doesn’t let his hair out. He feels fake about it. I told him that he doesn’t need too. Eventually, if you feel like sharing, share. It’s that simple. It’s objectively funny how we share to the public. That ass though… You are enough… I get it you got money… You deserve the love you give everyone else… Like attracts like and maybe these projections work. If I just let my hair down, some knight will climb up and save me. We must all need saving. We must all need more connection. The road to this city in the light with all the wonderful music is far off and while I see it, I think I’ll need your help to get there. I think we have to work together. I think a genuine love for others needs to be learned. But it was easy with you. You just shower me with love and brought me morning coffee. I never slid into your DM’s. You were just there, next to me and I said ‘Hello’ and I grunted and you grunted back.

Rick Gmitro

Owner // Flow Event Group
*those who flow as life flows
know they need no other force

floweventgroup.com

This video here is what we need. Click here for: Love Letters to God

I’m going to Bonnaroo for Nahko! Hozier, AJR, Childish Gambino, Avett Brothers, Odesza, Gramatik, Walk the Moon, Whipped Cream, Cardi B and Phish don’t hurt either! But Nahko & Medicine for the People are prophetic. My cousin Jay played me this song at the cabin this summer and I was hooked instantly. This is the guy who needs to be on the TV screen talking about God and our country. Instead, I’m watching these blowhard politicians (there really isn’t another appropriate word, mom)! CNN, you suck! Fox, you’re worse! Is this the best we can do for our country? It can’t be. I refuse to accept it. These southern Republicans are such BS, throwing Jesus on their shoulder with a sword in hand, and having him swing for the fences.

How does this fool anyone? This is not God. You don’t deserve the throne of sand you sit on. I can’t blame us all. Minnesota is the smartest state in the union. We also have the highest voter turnout. Go Minnesota! Rock that cold weather today! The south is really a problem. Why wouldn’t it be? You guys were told for 4 generations to not discuss politics or religion. I am literally laughing out loud at the foolishness. How smart of you to omit all the important dinner table conversations. It’s like being married to your wife of ten years and never discussing where her clitoris is. I’m sure you have done that, too. We hate on gay people because their God didn’t make them this way. I don’t want to hear the bigoted rants anymore that you justify with a book of hand picked morals to support your arguments. You’re so fake. You’re becoming exposed. The youth of America isn’t buying it anymore. You’re old and antiquated. You don’t even get the internet or how to use the phone in your pocket. Sit down! Don’t worry, we’ll still find use for you. After all, your generation does have all the money. We are getting our arses beat by these fools who don’t care about anything but the look of the their 401k.

These amazing American tax cuts that the Republicans passed is a complete joke. I’m a property owner and small business owner in Minnesota and I lost money. If my revenue would’ve eclipsed half a million, I would’ve broke even. 97% of small businesses don’t make taxable incomes of above $250,000. My 90-year old grandma, living on her retirement and social security lost $1800. My friend who makes a few million dollars a year made $50,000. Honestly, he didn’t think it was necessary. All you students out there saddled with student debt, you can’t write that off anymore! Can you believe that? How stupid are we? They took away a few thousand dollars from you after you just paid 15k plus a year for an education from old people who’s info will be outdated in 5 years. Don’t go to college! They will teach you nothing. Come to my door step and I’ll teach you how to budget, locate your skillset and find balance with some yoga. The boomer generation has us in massive debt and our social security is getting a major hit in 15 years. It’s a fact. It’s called numbers. The collective Republican party is a sad excuse for leadership. Why are so many red states so poor? They just take from the pot. What’s wrong with Mississippi and Alabama’s education system? But we do love Texas! Republican’s don’t stand for any moral code. I’m taking your God from you. She’s pissed off at you. And yeah, God’s a woman now. I can feel your blood boiling from the mere thought of it. The fact that your faith is built on perfunctory gender and race codes is part of your problem. Jesus wasn’t white either, sorry!

This wall is a national disgrace and it doesn’t keep us any safer. Stop being insane, now! The news has to stop giving idiots the mic. We let Trump have Twitter and that’s all the tolerance we should have for these nursing home rants. More importantly, the wall is a waste of money. And since your generation, doesn’t understand a balanced budget, we’ll help you. The bang isn’t worth the buck. We aren’t wasting our money. We’d rather have it for health care, which is such a racket. My own doctor/father didn’t understand the billing of it. He couldn’t tell you how much any procedures cost. Finally, we are trying to get transparency in the field. How is this just happening now? Oh, I’ll tell you. It’s because the health care companies make so much money keeping you in the dark. I’m going to let people book my business from now on with no prices. And I’ll charge them whatever I want after. Imagine how well that would go over. This is your healthcare people. Everyone makes more money when you’re left in the dark. And is that really what all of this is about. You all need more money? It’s amazing the lengths you’ll go to for more. I’m not going to entertain your stupidity. You are watering down ignorance for the ignorant to consume until they’re blind. I’m not going to let you destroy us. Why are you Republicans trying to make our government bigger? What is wrong with you? I get that abortion is horrible. I don’t know anyone who likes to kill people in the womb or out of it. What we don’t like is the government controlling what’s happening in our body. You want less abortions? Organize and start groups that help bring mothers to full-term. Link it with an adoption agency (newborns are so coveted people are traveling around the globe for them). Go after the hearts and minds and you’ll win. Don’t make more big government laws that have no practicality in implementation. It’s insane and you’re wasting my time. We don’t want that big brother around every corner. I’m not going to let you make us feel so afraid that we think the big brother state is necessary.

Guns. America can always have their guns and we’ll always be shooting people. It’s just going to happen for a long time still. I have accepted it. Our politics are so corrupt and inept on this issue that we can’t even make reasonable gun laws at all. If you think you’re defending yourself against the corruption of the state, great. I have no idea how you think you can fight against our military and precise drone drops but whatever helps you sleep at night. The American military and police force have us all out gunned by a billion. I won’t ever get in the way of an American’s right to protect themselves.

Thank you, Paul Gazelka, our Minnesota Senate Republican for exposing your ignorance and prejudice. He has decided to not let the people vote on legalizing Marijuana. He doesn’t believe in democracy. He is part of the insane Republicans that believe their voice sets the moral code. Evidently he feels that we should be locking people up for minor marijuana laws (waste of money) and doesn’t care about the revenue that comes from legalization. The war on drugs was proven to be a monstrous fail ($47 billion spent annually with 1.4 million people arrested for only possession). Your fired! Studies show a plethora of benefits to legalizing marijuana, psilocybin (from the magic mushroom) and MDMA for that matter. We have access to it all, anyway, through the drug cartels you can’t control. It’s unsafe and we want it safer and we’re more economically savvy than you because we want the tax profit as well! It’s going to get us the better health care and education that we seek. Let the people decide what we need. Your methods have failed. It’s our turn now. The big government doesn’t want us to have more control over our health and lives. Drug companies are afraid of it. We aren’t buying your BS. Israel just said they have cured cancer. Israel did it! Where were you America? I’d be willing to bet you maybe could’ve done it. However, it wouldn’t make you enough money in comparison to the temporary patch of drugs you’d like to prescribe to us for a lifetime. Are you that sad? Is it just about the money or are you just that dumb? How much more money do you need? What do you need to be happy America? How much of our land do you have to pollute until you’re satisfied? I don’t think your thirst can ever be quenched. I think you want to consume until there is nothing left. Some of us are going to try and stop you. I think we can get people on our side. It’s going to be a battle. This fight is worth it.

I know you have ears but you’re not listening. This isn’t about republicans or democrats. This is about the happiness and success for all people. The American dream is the rainbow over our country. It teases us all. It can be achieved. We can work hard to get there. Some of us are behind and don’t have our daddy’s old money. No one is asking for hand out. We are asking for our government to work for us. Calling out the Republicans doesn’t make you a socialist. The real fight here is over a few percentage points tilted in the favor of those who make $10 million plus or the other 99.9%. This is the brass tax. Most climate deniers are afraid of the proposed solutions, not the science. So they lie and deny. We can’t grow our way out of this debt, the taxes will need to come from somewhere. We want the internet to be free and not go to the highest bidder. It’s our lifeline and you are chopping it off and selling it off for parts. Not anymore! We spent $167 billion on global strike capability in 2010. Why do you think we need to blow up everyone? We are a global economy. We can work together. We need to stay focused collectively on supporting everyone on Earth. Our bombs are so big, pat yourself on the back, we don’t need to drop them anymore to teach a lesson. 30 of the largest companies in the USA spend more money on lobbying than taxes. I know your tricks. I’ve seen your fear tactics. Polarizing us makes you money. Your politics are a revolving door of good cop, bad cop. We see you. It’s time for you to take your medicine. We got this now.

#rickgmitro #fightthegoodfight #takeyourmedicine