In economics, religion, and politics, the moral path is freedom.

Um…About the effectiveness of the vaccination…Let’s look at data from North Dakota.

Might want to not tell your vaccine hesitant friends and family about this discussion.

I have been tracking a lot of data about Covid since the start of the pandemic.

Why? The data is subject to interpretation, misinterpretation, delays, and manipulation.

So again, the question is: Why?

Publicly available data is what our supposed leaders are using to make decisions. By watching the public data we can maybe guess what they are about to do to us.

Anyway, I have been watching the data. Also have a large number of graphs set up so I can better see data and trends.

Something weird is happening with the vaccination.

Fully vaccinated people are getting sick. Lots of them.

People I know who are vaccine hesitant are noticing.

This is where hard numbers come into play.

I don’t know what these numbers tell us about what may happen soon, but the picture I see is distressing to me.

One set of data I have been watching is from North Dakota.

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By Jim Ulvog, ago

Record high inflation is going to continue and likely get worse.

Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

There are a lot of indications the inflation rates we’ve seen in the last year or so are going to continue. My guess is we will see higher inflation in the next year than we did in 2021. Author of the article discussing PPP says he expects a shock in the CPI sometime in the next few months.

Merely a few recent items pointing towards sustained and even increasing inflation:

  • Dollar Tree is now $1.25 Tree.
  • Experienced farmer describes how severely inflation is hitting his operations. Those increases are going to appear on the store shelves soon.
  • Producer Price Index is accelerating. Indications that unprocessed and intermediate goods are going up far faster than what we’re seeing at retail, so expect accelerating inflation.
  • Unusually high lumber prices are back.
  • Decent prices on cars will be harder and harder to find.

Dollar Tree is now Dollar and a Quarter Tree – Bought a couple items at Dollar Tree. They all rang up at $1.25. Glanced around the store noticing all the signs said $1.25.I asked the clerk about it and he said everything in the store is now a dollar and a quarter.

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By Jim Ulvog, ago

Why have we knowingly caused so much harm to children? Better question – Why are we allowing our alleged leaders to inflict another round of devastation?

Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

Evidence has been present for well over a year that remote learning, economic shutdowns, and general panic is causing severe harm for kids.

In spite of this our so-called leaders in the political realm, public health world, and educational circles have started another round of school shutdowns.

Even The New York Times is catching on to the devastation inflicted on children. The New York Times!

It is well past time to stop the destruction we are inflicting on children.

Merely three of a growing string of articles pointing out the destruction willfully visited on school children:

  • Twitter string from New York Times outlining the devastation inflicted on children.
  • Column by medical doctor wondered why we have inflicted such harm on children.
  • Research by NBER identifies adverse educational outcomes are a direct result of school shutdowns.
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By Jim Ulvog, ago

Personal Consumption Expenditure index for November 2021 shows continuing high inflation.

The Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) inflation index increased 0.6% in November.  This after the 0.6% in October 2021 increase was revised upward from 0.6% to 0.7%.

The core PCE inflation rate (without food and energy) was 0.5% in November and 0.4% in October.

This indicates inflation is continuing. When you look at all of 2021 perhaps inflation is accelerating.

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By Jim Ulvog, ago

Flaming hypocrisy: “It’s good to be the king” of Netherlands or Prime Minister of England edition.

Demonstrated attitude of large portion of our political leaders here in the United States and around the world. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

Today’s illustration of leaders blowing off Covid restrictions include the British Prime Minister and the Dutch Royal family.

That reminds me of a line from one of Mel Brooks’ movies, which I quoted above. More on that in a moment.

Mirror – 12/16/21 – Boris Johnson “joined No 10 staff for a Downing Street party during first lockdown” – Allegations have been raised Boris Johnson attended a pizza and wine party on May 15, 2020, yes a couple months into the pandemic. Reports claim 20 staff were present at the party with some of them staying until late at night. Get together took place after a press conference.

Mild denials suggest the P.M. only dropped by for a bit and left early.

My guess? This will be blown off as a staff meeting.

No biggie.

The Guardian, sourced to Agence France-Presse – 12/15/21 – Dutch Royals sorry for Princess Amalia birthday party that broke Covid rules – Royal family of Netherlands held a birthday bash to celebrate Princess Amalia’s 18th birthday. Reports claim at least 21 people were present.

At the time rules in the country prohibited having more than four guests in your home who were over 13 years old.

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By Jim Ulvog, ago

Still more flaming hypocrites get caught, this time including Prime Ministers of England and Finland.

The Department of Hypocrisy is well staff in the U.S., England, and Finland.
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

The roster is continually growing of flaming hypocrites who routinely ignore they rules they demand we follow. Just a few of the most recent illustrations of our ruling overlords exempting themselves from their dictats:

  • Prime Minister of Finland kinda’ sorta’ blew off instructions to isolate because of covid-exposure and instead partied the night away. She is part of the ‘new generation’ and therefore she can do whatever she feels like. She is doubly exempt from any rules because she is Prime Minister and she is also 37 years old which means she can do as she wishes.
  • Prime Minister of England held a Christmas party last year when such gatherings were explicitly banned and his spokesperson laughed as she explained the party would be categorized as a “business meeting.”
  • Dr. Fauci parties at a book signing; is quoted as saying he takes his mask off whenever he feels like it.
  • Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer parties at a DC bar without a mask when mask was required except when eating or drinking. Staff at the bar say she was neither eating nor drinking while maskless.

Do our ruling overlords actually believe there is danger?

The only conclusion we can draw from this nonstop stream of in-your-face hypocrisy is our alleged political leaders don’t really believe Covid is dangerous. By their behavior they show the rules they require or endorse or enforce are not really necessary.

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By Jim Ulvog, ago

Here we go again…

Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

Our ruling overlords in California have decided to dictate another statewide mask requirement . Los Angeles county and several counties in the San Francisco Bay area have already mandated masks at any indoor location.

The mask diktat now covers all indoor locations in California.

Articles for your consideration:

  • California imposes statewide mask mandate.
  • New York imposes statewide mask mandate.
  • New York will not enforce statewide mandate.
  • Reminder that the coronavirus bug is smaller than the holes in a surgical mask.

Wall Street Journal – 12/13/21 – California to Reinstate Indoor Mask Mandate – Secretary of California Health and Human Service Agency royally declared that starting Wednesday, December 15, 2021, all Californian citizens subjects will be required to wear a mask at any indoor event.

Royal decree will run until January 15, 2021. 

Any guesses on whether this will be allowed to expire in January?

This follows the state of New York imposing a statewide mask mandate…

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By Jim Ulvog, ago

Who should we listen to? Who should we ignore?

Who should we listen to? Who, amongst our supposed leaders, has any idea what they are talking about? Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

At a time when the media is telling us this Covid pandemic will continue forever and there are frequent variants that will kill us all dead, who should we actually be paying attention to?

The possibilities:

  • people who know how to spell epidemiology, or
  • actual epidemiologists, or
  • people who are so convinced that Covid is deadly that they don’t bother to protect themselves; these are the people who also routinely ignore the rules they dictate we must follow.

People who know how to spell epidemiology and actually know someone they went to school with who is an epidemiologist:

Tweet by Martin Kulldorff

“The vocal pro-lockdown “public health scientists”, with their limited knowledge of infectious disease epidemiology, will be the last to recognize the public health disaster they created.”

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By Jim Ulvog, ago