Articles by Herschel Smith

Remember I included Aspirin in the Covid treatment protocol?

The Blaze.

A new study finds that simple, over-the-counter aspirin may be able to protect COVID-19 patients from extreme risk, including the need for mechanical ventilation, the Jerusalem Post reported.

New research from George Washington University has determined that treating COVID patients with aspirin reduced the risk of severe illness by nearly half.

The report noted that an aspirin regimen in more than 400 COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the United States cut the need for ventilation by 44%, slashed ICU admission by 43%, and reduced overall in-hospital mortality rates by 47%.

Dr. Jonathan Chow, one of the study’s researchers, said, “As we learned about the connection between blood clots and COVID-19, we knew that aspirin — used to prevent stroke and heart attack — could be important for COVID-19 patients. Our research found an association between low-dose aspirin and decreased severity of COVID-19 and death.”

A low-dose aspirin regimen has long been touted as potentially lifesaving for people at risk of heart attack or stroke or who are afflicted by blood clotting issues.

This isn’t the only study professing the possible benefits of aspirin in COVID patients. Earlier in October, Medical Express reported that researchers from the University of Minnesota and Basel University in Switzerland came to the same conclusion.

The researchers’ findings were published in Lancet’s Open Access eClinical Medicine and revealed that patients on blood thinners before getting COVID were admitted less often to the hospital despite being older and having more chronic medical conditions than their peers. The findings also revealed that blood thinners — whether started before or after COVID-19 infection — reduced death by nearly half.

Such a simple, simple thing as aspirin.  My pediatrician was prescribing baby aspirin to me when I was an infant.

But there isn’t any money in it for big pharma if we just kill Covid with aspirin, is there?

A few odds and ends.

Via David Codrea, cops kidnapping children.  Yes, seriously.

How to remove an AR-15 trigger group.  Now do one on proper installation.

Removing an AR-15 barrel nut (hint: he heats it with a torch).

Rex reviews some really, really light Level IIIA body armor.  Yea, it’s not good for rifle rounds, but it’s significantly less expensive and you’re protected against the most probable shot (and more likely to wear it given how light it is).

First up, it looks like even Britain is finally telling the truth about the shots.  It doesn’t help with the disease, and it makes matters worse for certain age groups (via Karl Denninger via WRSA).

Second up, statistically excess mortality in Europe has some folks pondering.

For a while now, we’ve had a mysterious jump in excess mortality in Europe. At first, nobody really paid any attention to it, with the exception of a handful of “right-wing populist anti-science conspiracy theorists”. At this point however, experts whose job it is to study trends like this are beginning to notice it too.

[ … ]

What we notice in the most recent week, is that the mortality is most strongly elevated among the younger age groups. Last week we had 300 more deaths than we’re supposed to have. Twenty of those are COVID-19 deaths, the rest are mysterious and unexplained.

Finally, if you’re a pilot and sustain long periods of stationary work plus large changes in pressure, this means trouble for you (and it’s why you shouldn’t fly after taking the shot).

As reported in American Military News:

“A U.S. Army flight surgeon is warning that known side effects associated with the COVID-19 vaccines pose a potentially deadly risk to pilots and is alleging the Army isn’t following Department of Defense protocols to screen pilots for those potentially deadly side effects.”

In May, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recognized the risk of heart inflammation conditions like Myocarditis and Pericarditis associated with the two COVID vaccines.

Long said in her affidavit: “complications of myocarditis include dilated cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias, sudden cardiac death.” She also shared an assessment, reported through the National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, which states the long-term mortality rate for Myocarditis “is up to 20% at 1 year and 50% at 5 years.”

[ … ]

Lt. Col. Long says she will ground her pilots until the “health risks” of the shots “can be more fully and adequately assessed.” She said:

“That, without any current screening procedures in place, including any Aero Message (flight surgeon notice) relating to this demonstrable and identifiable risk, I must and will therefore ground all active flight personnel who received the vaccinations until such time as the causation of these serious systemic health risks can be more fully and adequately assessed….

That’s nice.  So some U.S. military pilots are grounded.

What could go wrong?

Praying for Southwest today. They are being forced to cancel thousands of flights due to weather conditions that only affect their airplanes and nobody else's. Very unique weather phenomenon.

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) October 11, 2021

This is the single bravest thing I have seen in years. God bless these Pilots. The heroes we need right now 🇺🇸✈️ pic.twitter.com/ZxuRseDoAq

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) October 11, 2021

More than half a million adverse side effects have been reported from the various Covid vaccines (Ken’s place), and here are some good pictorial depictions of the damage (in graphs).  Here is one more related post.

But a large number of Congress critters and Congressional staffers understand.

According to Dr Pierre Kory, MD, MPA, and verified by the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), 100 to 200 congressional reps and/or staff and families who contracted COVID-19 were treated with the Front Line Ivermectin protocol. [LINK and LINK]

This successful treatment is happening at the same time many congressional representatives are playing politics in favor of the vaccine; downplaying the effective anti-viral treatment and therapeutic approach with Ivermectin; and taking action to block regular American citizens from seeking similar treatment with Ivermectin.

Congress can seek treatment with a medication they simultaneously deny to others?  This is well beyond a “scandal”, and needs to be investigated quickly.

Additionally, as Merck has announced a new and similar anti-viral drug called Molnupiravir, two trial studies in India have requested to exit the trials.  Apparently the issue surrounds the new drug providing no benefit once a patient is moderately ill and hospitalized (READ MORE, Reuters Link).

Fun fact: Between 100-200 United States Congress Members (plus many of their staffers & family members) with COVID.. were treated by a colleague over the past 15 months with ivermectin & the I-MASK+ protocol at https://t.co/OvU8SLfLJq. None have gone to hospital. Just sayin'

— Pierre Kory, MD MPA (@PierreKory) October 8, 2021

Because they know.  Oh, they know.  But you see, their rules are for little people, and you’re a little person.

I think Tim is underplaying the importance of functional reliability, and thus doesn’t appreciate the radial delayed system in CMMG.  It’s very hard to get reliable feeding, bolt cycle and operation with pistol rounds in a carbine and CMMG has done that.

But that’s just my opinion.

Reason.

On a chilly December evening in 2017, a group of Wichita cops surrounded a modest house on West McCormick Street. They were there in response to what was purportedly a gruesome hostage situation: a father shot dead, a mother in danger, and a son threatening to burn everything down.

When Andrew Finch opened the door to his home, a sniper rifle killed him within seconds. Thirty minutes passed before anyone rendered emergency aid. Cops handcuffed his mother, sister, niece, and two friends outside in 24 degree weather for over an hour. But Finch was not the son the police were after, nor were he and his family involved in any crisis.

That’s because there was no crisis. Around 5:00 p.m. that day, in a prank known as “swatting,” a California caller had dialed the Wichita Police Department (WPD) and reported a work of fiction, doling out the address and setting the chaos in motion.

The officers involved failed to do the basics before exercising lethal force on an innocent man, according to a lawsuit filed by the family. The suit says the officers subverted department policy by declining to call a SWAT team, opted not to conduct any sort of inquiry despite “obvious warning signs” that the call was a farce, and did not try to negotiate with Finch before ending his life, among several other missteps.

“After Defendant Officers…surrounded 1033 West McCormick, they made no attempt to determine whether an occupant of the house was in a mental health crisis; had shot someone; had threatened to hold or was holding someone at gunpoint; had threatened or was threatening to burn the house down; had threatened or was threatening to commit suicide; was in possession of a firearm; or posed a danger to themselves or others,” reads the suit, which was originally filed against the city of Wichita and officers Justin Rapp (who fired the shot) and Benjamin Jonker (who organized the response).

Whether the family will see anyone face accountability remains uncertain.

“The argument from the police officer seems to be basically: because they thought a heinous crime had been committed…it was fine to shoot Mr. Finch onsite as soon as he opened the door,” says Easha Anand, an attorney at the MacArthur Justice Center who is representing the family. “That’s just not how our justice system works. You don’t get to just shoot someone onsite because you think they committed a heinous crime.”

Anand recently made that argument to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, pushing back on Rapp’s contention that he should be protected by qualified immunity. That legal doctrine allows certain government officials to violate your constitutional rights without having to face a jury in civil court, so long as there are no preexisting court precedents explicitly declaring the specific conduct unconstitutional. Overcoming qualified immunity does not guarantee a settlement; it merely gives victims the right to state their case.

Yet that’s often a tall order for plaintiffs to meet, no matter how shocking the behavior in question. Consider an adjacent case: At 78 years old, Onree Norris was put under arrest after more than two dozen cops broke into his home, destroyed his door, and set off explosives in his house as part of a drug raid. They had the wrong residence. Though Norris survived the skirmish, he cannot sue the officers who left his home partially in ruins, because he was unable to locate an identical court ruling outlining his experience to a tee.

Well, shooting an innocent woman was what Lon Horiuchi did to Randy Weaver’s wife as soon as she stepped into the doorway, and Bill Barr defended the practice.  You’re never in more danger than when cops are around.

There is no system of justice in America.  The judges are corrupt, and the juries are packed with idiots who’ll do what the judge tells them to do.

And make no mistake, if told to confiscate firearms, they’ll obey orders and do it, just like the military will turn on the American public if ordered to by the corrupt generals.  You can bet your bottom dollar on that.

Some guy is apparently on the run, possibly in the Florida bush.

Alligators, black bears, clouds of gnawing insects. Two different types of rattlesnakes. Coyotes, bobcats and panthers. Everything is wet, almost nothing is edible, and safe drinking water is nowhere to be found.

If Brian Laundrie actually is deep in the Florida wilderness, a survival expert in Sarasota said that by now, he’s either dead or in very bad shape.

“If he’s down there in the Carlton Reserve, he’s living in hell,” local survival expert Mark Burrow said.

With heavy rain in recent days, starting a fire will be nearly impossible. It’s also the wrong season for foraging edible plants, Burrow said.

He said Laundrie may be able to scavenge leftovers from a predator’s kill. There also are freshwater clams and snails he could collect. Fishing is another possibility.

“People have been making a big deal of the alligators and the snakes,” Burrow said. “But it’s dehydration that’s the real danger.”

Even if he were able to get a fire started to boil water, recent rains will have made the drinking water full of tannins from local foliage. Tannins occur in the roots, wood, and bark of oak trees, and high concentrations can be harmful to humans, Burrow said.

“That can cause loose bowels,” he said. “Not a good thing when you are already dehydrated.”

When it comes to animals, the area’s bears and panthers are not likely to bother humans. But if Laundrie is injured or struggling, he will also have to deal with coyotes and bobcats.

“If you were injured or exhausted,” Burrow said, “they would eat you.”

There are at least four different types of venomous snakes in Carlton Reserve, the cottonmouth likely being the most dangerous. There’s also the pigmy rattlesnake, the diamondback rattlesnake, and the coral snake.

I wouldn’t be too worried about Bobcats or Coyotes, and panthers aren’t numerous enough to pose a real threat, but bears, alligators, snakes and insects are a threat.  The biggest threat, however, is lack of potable water.  I outlined how water controls your every thought and decision in a trip to Colorado.

Here is a recent video on water filtration.

Frankly, I wouldn’t trust a seep well.  It won’t filter Giardia or Cryptosporidium.  I have no idea whether water filters will remove plant tannins.  I confess I hadn’t thought about the risk posed by plant tannins.  I’m glad I stumbled on this article – I will think about it in the future.

I have a backpacking water filter, but I know there are a lot on the market now, and a lot of designs I haven’t seen.

What do readers think and what kind of water filtration do you have, and why?  I notice that carrying bleach wasn’t brought up in the video, and I’ll tell you that I don’t like the idea of loading my thyroid up with iodine.  There can be adverse health effects from that.

But pondering all of this shows just how difficult it would be to survive a protracted time in the wilderness without food, potable water, medical care, dental care, proper hygiene, etc.  Walkabouts can be dangerous.

News from Florida.

Some top Florida Republican lawmakers have now said they would support constitutional carry legislation in the upcoming session.

The policy would allow all legal gun owners to carry firearms without a concealed weapons license.

The constitutional carry legislation was filed by the Legislature’s most outspoken conservative member, Rep. Anthony Sabatini.

“Our very liberal Republican Speaker Chris Sprowls has gotten tens of thousands of emails from gun groups,” said Sabatini.

The policy is split into two bills.

The first would allow gun owners to carry concealed weapons without a license.

“You don’t have to go ask the government for permission,” said Sabatini.

The second would allow for open carry.

“You shouldn’t have the duty to hide your firearm if you’ve done nothing wrong,” said Sabatini.

Eskamani said she’s doubtful Sabatini’s bills will get a hearing, due to his strained relationship with the House speaker.

“Sabatini does not have a lot of leverage within the chamber,” said Eskamani.

But recently, top brass in the Senate indicated they would support constitutional carry legislation, including Senate Majority Leader Debbie Mayfield.

“I support constitutional carry. That is one of the things that we will probably be looking at this session because it is important,” said Mayfield in a legislative delegation meeting last week.

Florida GOP Chair and State Sen. Joe Gruters said he might support constitutional carry, but doesn’t want to see assault weapons openly carried on beaches.

“Because I think that would adversely impact Florida’s tourism economy,” said Gruters.

While there seems to be some support for constitutional carry legislation in the Senate, a bill hasn’t yet been filed in the chamber.

I predict it won’t go anywhere this session.  Florida has a horrible history on gun control.  But it will eventually pass in coming sessions with enough effort.

You know what would help the case?  If Governor Ron DeSantis went on record for his support for the measure, and even demanded a bill be brought to his desk for approval before any other bill would be considered by the governor.

I also predict he won’t do that.

News from South Carolina.

An ordinance restricting the open carry of firearms passed its first reading with the Anderson City Council on Monday night.

The ordinance would prohibit residents from openly carrying firearms during events that take place on public property. These events include protests, according to the officials.

The background for the ordinance states, “While the City recognizes and appreciates the First and Second Amendment rights of its citizens and visitors, the presence of firearms at protests can serve to escalate tensions.”

The council will discuss the amendment again before it becomes a part of the law.

There’s always an excuse, isn’t there?

“While the City recognizes and appreciates the First and Second Amendment rights of its citizens …”  No, of course it doesn’t.  Otherwise, they wouldn’t be debating the prohibition of open carry at events.  They always have to declare their support for your rights while they refuse to recognized them, don’t they?

As for the reason – “the presence of firearms at protests can serve to escalate tensions?”  They don’t believe that, otherwise they would be trying to ban concealed carry, because there is no difference between concealed and open carry except for the fact that the firearm can be seen with open carry.  The reality of the firearm is still there.

The good thing about the declaration of tyranny among the cities (Spartanburg, Greenville, Charleston, Columbia, and now Anderson have made it clear they intend to ban open carry) is that the tyrants self identify.

That’s good.  It gives patriots information on who to cast out of office next.