Saturday morning a fire brokeout at a NYC apartment building. Christina Foti, on the 20th floor, said smoke filled her apartment so badly that she had no choice but to climb out the window.
Fortunately the men of FDNY had rope-rescue training and were able to get her down and into the apartment below her via the window. Watch this amazing rescue (Foti is blurred because her bum was exposed as her pants fell down):
Great job by these brave firemen!
DCG
This will come as no surprise: The young man who made the rescue, Anthony Zhongor, is a Marine recruit. Watch the video below or read all the details here.
Hoorah!
DCG
Meet Darren Harrison, who was the passenger on a recent Cessna flight heading back to Florida from the Bahamas.
The pilot experienced a medical emergency (he’s ok now) and Darren had to radio air traffic control to help him land the plane. The pilot had gone unconscious due to an aneurysm.
Darren said he “knew if I didn’t react that we would die.”
He also said he knew he did not want to call his wife and tell her “bye.” She is seven months pregnant and expecting their first child together, a daughter due in the summer.
Air traffic controller Robert Morgan guided Darren through the steps of flying and landing the plane even as Darren continued to struggle with the navigation system. Darren was eventually able to pull into the runway at the Palm Beach International Airport.
As Darren said in The Today Show interview, “the hand of God was on that plane.”
Read the whole story here and/or watch the video here:
Here’s Darren’s 10 minute interview with The Today Show:
Bet Darren’s wife is so proud of him, and thankful he remained so calm!
DCG
Davyon Johnson (center)
An 11-year-old boy in Muskogee, Oklahoma had a busy day this past December 9. First Davyon Johnson saved a choking classmate at school, then later that day helped an elderly woman safely flee a burning house. Wow!
The life-saving events started at school when Davyon used an abdominal thrust on a school mate who was choking on a bottle cap. According to Davyon’s school principal:
“… a student was trying to fill his water bottle and trying to loosen the cap with his mouth. The cap slipped into his throa. The choking student stumbled into a nearby classroom, where Davyon happened to be. Davyon immediately sprinted over and did the Heimlich maneuver.”
Later that day, Davyon helped a woman get away from her burning house:
” Davyon saved a woman from her burning house later that day. “It was a disabled lady and she was walking out of her house,” Davyon said. “She was on her porch. But I thought, being a good citizen, I would cross and help her get into her truck and leave.” He said the back of the house was on fire, “but it eventually got to the front of the house.”
Read the whole story here.
The local county sheriff, police and public schools honored Davyon for his actions.
Guess what Davyon wants to be when he grows up? An EMT!
Appears to be an inevitable career path for this young man!
DCG
Posted in safety
Tagged first aid, Heimlich maneuver, Muskcogee School District, Muskogee, Oklahoma
Deputy First Class Marcus Dawson to the rescue!
Excerpts from the Fox News story:
“A Florida deputy ran into a burning home on Sunday and rescued a 3-year-old boy who was hiding from the fire and smoke underneath a blanket, authorities said.
K-9 Deputy First Class Marcus Dawson responded to the home in the west section of Palm Coast after a neighbor reported that a fire appeared to have broken out in the kitchen, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said. The neighbor told Dawson that he hadn’t seen the three people who lived there that day.
Dawson checked the home from the outside and saw that a fire on the stove was spreading to the kitchen cabinets, the sheriff’s office said. Dawson yelled commands into the home but didn’t get a response. He saw dogs barking at the rear screen door as black smoke filled the home.
Read the whole story here.
Apparently the father left the young boy alone with an older sibliing while he went to get dinner. Ugh.
Since you can’t see Deputy Dawson in the video, here’s a picture of him and his regular K-9 partner, Baro.
Photo courtesy of Flagler County Sheriff’s Office
DCG
No doubt, you heard and saw the news that Colin Powell, 84, the anti-Trump Republican, had died from “complications” from COVID-19.
What the news headlines omitted, however, is that Powell was fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
The source of the news is Powell’s Facebook page. His family posted this announcement yesterday, October 18, at 4:48 AM (red emphasis supplied):
General Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed. away this morning due to complications from Covid 19. He was fully vaccinated. We want to thank the medical staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center for their caring treatment. We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American.The Powell Family
CNN was quick to defend the vaccine, insisting that Powell’s immune system was impaired by his multiple myeloma blood cancer, which “made it difficult to fight the virus.”
But weren’t we told that the elderly (65 and over) and those with co-morbidities (like cancer) are precisely the people who really should get Covid-vaccinated? 84-year-old Powell, with blood cancer, was among just those groups whom the government urges to get vaxxed.
It must be asked: So what’s the point of getting the Covid vaccine?
The facts are that:
(1) Lockdown Singapore had months of near-zero cases of Covid. But after 85% of its population got vaxxed, new confirmed cases of Covid dramatically increased (NYT).
Source: Dr. Eli David
(2) Israel, having one of the highest Covid vaccination rates in the world with 78% of people 12 years and over fully vaxxed by August 2021, also is seeing a dramatic spike in Covid cases. Moreover, 60% of hospitalised cases are vaccinated. The Guardian takes pain to state that paradoxically, “This is something called the ‘paradox of vaccination’ – in highly vaccinated populations, most cases will be in the vaccinated because no vaccine is 100% protective,” and that “the rate of serious cases in Israel is double for unvaccinated under-60s and nine times higher for unvaccinated over-60s, so vaccines remain highly protective against severe outcomes.”
But is that true?
(3) In Vermont, Covid is rising faster among the vaxxed than among the unvaxxed (Vermont Daily Chronicle):
Meanwhile, questions concerning the safety of the Covid pseudo-vaccines continue:
(1) A recent study, published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal), found that some 35,000 British women experienced menstrual irregularities (late periods, heavy and breakthrough bleeding) after their vaccination against Covid. (The Telegraph) I am not aware of any flu vaccines that have/had these effects on a woman’s menstruation. One wonders what other effects the Covid vaccines wreak on our bodies — effects that don’t yet manifest themselves in visible symptoms like heavy menstrual bleeding.
(2) Countless (because no institution or individual is keeping track, which means we are left with anecdotal accounts) vaxxed people died or became very ill:
Meanwhile, the scapegoating and persecution of the unvaxxed continue:
The data and incidents cited in this post are just some reports I’d collected. There are plenty more cases and examples.
~E
Posted in COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Health, Joe Biden, safety
Tagged Anthony Fauci, Colin Powell
This is an unusual editorial from Spirit Daily, a religious (Catholic) website, so it should be heeded.
From “Prepping For Civil War?,” Spirit Daily, October 5, 2021:
We have warned about it for years, but now the signs — the tocsins — grow louder.
The United States is cleft, split at the seems, with hardcore “liberal” factions hardening (and aggressive, for they are currently in power) and hardcore “conservative” factions hardening, vowing as never before to resist the progressive agenda.
If you don’t think there can be an armed rebellion, consider the transpiring of January 6 and the fact that there are nearly four hundred million guns in the U.S. in private hands.
Consider also the proclivity for riots and looting, as occurred after George Floyd.
Religious freedom. Gun rights. Racism. Big Tech. Income inequality. Homosexual “rights.”
Once more, however, there is a central, sharply defined, and seemingly irreconcilable issue.
Just as slavery was the cleave during the First Civil War, abortion is the cutting edge, the Mason-Dickson line, of a second one.
A recent poll conducted by the Center for Politics found that “significant numbers of both Trump and Biden voters show a willingness to consider violating democratic tendencies and norms if needed to serve their priorities. Roughly two in ten Trump and Biden voters strongly agree it would be better if a ‘President could take needed actions without being constrained by Congress or courts,’ and roughly four in ten (41%) of Biden and half (52%) of Trump voters at least somewhat agree that it’s time to split the country, favoring blue/red states seceding from the union.”
There are other issues. There is the border. There’s education. There is alleged police brutality. There is euthanasia — which is every bit as evil as abortion (as is genetic manipulation and cloning). There are pandemic mandates and the vaccine issue. There is the widening gap between rich and poor (in New York there are about 8,300 people “worth” more than $30 million, and a million “worth” more than $1,000,000). (Watch for an uprising against the rich.)
Every single turn in national events has two opposing — and sometimes alternate — realities. We don’t even live in the same news cycle any longer….
But the single most defining issue remains abortion, and here, like slavery, there is no middle ground: one is either okay with its legality or morally repulsed by it.
A shame this is: that abortion has been so fervently embraced as a human “right,” when it has nothing to do with rights or freedom in any way whatsoever.
So it is that the killing of unborn is the new “slavery,” bringing to mind President Abraham Lincoln, who, signing a declaration on —- in 18 proclaiming a national day and repentance and fasting, used the word “chastisement” (now verboten) in describing the cause of the North-South war.
According to data from two national surveys, two years ago, “15% of self-identifying Republicans and 20% of self-identifying Democrats think the country would be better if members of the opposing party ‘just died.’” How Christian.
“We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God,” this proclamation said.
Lincoln discussed slavery throughout his second inaugural address, depicting it not only as the cause of the Civil War, but that slavery considered as an offence to God, drew God’s righteous judgement against the entire country.
The same is now true of America and abortion.
And once again, there can be roughly drawn a line between north and south (though in our time are those in both camps in all parts of the nation).
So how would a divide happen? How would secession play out? Will it be more various encampments in all parts of the nation that are on one side or another, with cyber-geography: each of the two sides coalescing over the internet (and God-forbid, social media)?
An interesting question, with as yet no ready answer.
See also Emma Green, “The Conservatives Dreading — and Preparing for — Civil War,” The Atlantic, October 1, 2021.
~E
Americans who decline to be vaccinated with Covid-19 vaccines are being scapegoated for the Delta-variant infections.
(1) CBS reports that in an interview with “Face the Nation” on August 1, 2021, Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Biden, said that Americans who remain unvaccinated against the coronavirus are “propagating” the latest outbreak of casesof the highly contagious Delta variant. Fauci said: “We have 100 million people in this country…who are eligible to be vaccinated, who are not vaccinated. We’ve really got to get those people…vaccinated because they are the ones that are propagating this outbreak.”
(2) Actress Jennifer Anniston went so far as to cut off some of her friends who refused to be vaccinated because, she maintains, “if you have the variant, you are still able to give it to me.” (BBC)
(3) Actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called mask-averse Americans “schmucks” and said to them to “screw your freedom.” Well, there are consequences to Schwarzenegger’s name calling — he just lost a sponsor for his annual bodybuilding event known as the Arnold Classic. REDCON1, a sports nutrition brand, confirmed they’ve pulled out from Schwarzenegger’s event as well as any others he’s involved in. “We elected to discontinue support due to Arnold’s comment, ‘Screw Your Freedoms,’” a spokesperson for the company said. (Fox News)
But the testimony from the science so revered by Fauci and the Left says otherwise.
An article in the journal Nature, dated August 12, 2021, says:
[R]eports from various countries seem to confirm what scientists feared after the variant tore through India with alarming speed in April and May: Delta is more likely than other variants to spread through vaccinated people.
Data from COVID-19 tests in the United States, the United Kingdom and Singapore are showing that vaccinated people who become infected with Delta SARS-CoV-2 can carry as much virus in their nose as do unvaccinated people. This means that despite the protection offered by vaccines, a proportion of vaccinated people can pass on Delta, possibly aiding its rise….
An August report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that following large gatherings in the beach town [Provincetown, Massachusetts], nearly three-quarters of 469 new COVID-19 cases that occurred in the state were in vaccinated people2. Both vaccinated and unvaccinated people had comparably…high viral loads, and of the 133 samples sequenced, 90% were identified as Delta….
In Houston, Texas…, about 17% of Delta cases are in vaccinated people since March 2021, nearly three times the rate of breakthrough infections compared with all other variants combined. Patients with Delta SARS-CoV-2 also stayed in hospital slightly longer than did people infected with other variants. “There’s potentially a slightly different biology to the [Delta] infection,” says James Musser, a molecular pathologist and director of the hospital’s Center for Molecular and Translational Human Infectious Diseases Research. His team found that Ct levels [viral loads] were similar in vaccinated and unvaccinated people3.
However, vaccinated people with Delta might remain infectious for a shorter period, according to researchers in Singapore…. [And, for that reason] Paul Elliott, an epidemiologist at Imperial [College London], says…“We think it’s really, really important to get as many people double vaccinated, and particularly those younger groups, as soon as possible.”
And so, those who have been injected with the Covid vaccines carry as many Delta viruses as the unvaccinated, which means the vaxxed are infecting the unvaxxed just as much as the reverse. But the unvaxxed are being blamed for the Delta breakout, and are treated worse than black people during segregation:
The push to jab the unvaxxed is intensifying, despite the fact that:
(1) The vaccines are losing their effectiveness against the Delta Covid-mutation, with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine waning faster than others. A UK study found that although the Pfizer vaccine was 90% effective against Delta infections one month after the second dose, this declined to 78% after three months, a loss of 12 percentage points. (Statistica)
That is why the push is now on for a “booster,” i.e., a third vaccination.
Since viruses, including the Covid-19 coronavirus, continue to mutate, this means that those who have been vaccinated will likely have to get “booster” shots, again and again, as new Covid mutations appear.
(2) The absolute risk reduction (ARR), which is the difference between Covid attack rates with and without a vaccine, is miniscule (The Lancet):
Translated, this means that getting the Covid vaccine of whichever variety reduces your chance of getting Covid by less than 1% to at most 3%.
Note: The Lancet scientific journal explains that absolute risk reductions (AAAs) “tend to be ignored because they give a much less impressive effect size than RRRs or relative risk reduction. Vaccine efficacy is generally reported as RRR.
Worse still, leaving aside the many real side-effects of Covid vaccines, is a study published in the Internal Journal of Clinical Practice (IJCP) which found that the vaccines may actually “sensitize” vaccine recipients to more severe diseases than if they had not been vaccinated. The Oxford Dictionary defines “sensitize” as “Cause (someone or something) to respond to certain stimuli; make sensitive.”
From the IJCP article’s “Abstract”:
Results of the study: COVID-19 vaccines designed to elicit neutralising antibodies may sensitise vaccine recipients to more severe disease than if they were not vaccinated. Vaccines for SARS, MERS and RSV have never been approved, and the data generated in the development and testing of these vaccines suggest a serious mechanistic concern: that vaccines designed empirically using the traditional approach (consisting of the unmodified or minimally modified coronavirus viral spike to elicit neutralising antibodies), be they composed of protein, viral vector, DNA or RNA and irrespective of delivery method, may worsen COVID-19 disease via antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE). This risk is sufficiently obscured in clinical trial protocols and consent forms for ongoing COVID-19 vaccine trials that adequate patient comprehension of this risk is unlikely to occur, obviating truly informed consent by subjects in these trials.
~E
Posted in COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Health, Hoaxes, safety
Tagged absolute risk reduction of Covid vaccines, Covid attack rates of vaccinated and unvaccinated, Covid vaccine efficacy declines over time, Covid vaccines sensitize recipients to more severe diseases, Delta variant, James Musser, Vaccinated and unvaccinated carry same Delta viral loads
NOTE: This post is for information purpose and should not be regarded as a medical prescription. You alone are responsible for any action you may undertake from reading this post.
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According to the federal government’s NIH (National Institutes of Health), ivermectin is a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved antiparasitic drug that is widely used to treat several tropical diseases, including onchocerciasis, helminthiases, and scabies; it is also being evaluated for its potential to reduce the rate of malaria transmission by killing mosquitoes that feed on treated humans and livestock.
Although (1) ivermectin has been shown to inhibit the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in cell cultures, and (2) some clinical trials and observational cohorts have found ivermectin to be effective in preventing and treating the COVID-19 coronavirus (data from some of these studies can be found in Table 2c, the FDA has not approved ivermectin for the treatment of any viral infection, claiming “there is insufficient evidence for the COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel to recommend either for or against the use of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19.” (Source: NIH)
However, independent scientists and physicians disagree with the NIH:
Moderate-certainty evidence finds that large reductions in COVID-19 deaths are possible using ivermectin. Using ivermectin early in the clinical course may reduce numbers progressing to severe disease. The apparent safety and low cost suggest that ivermectin is likely to have a significant impact on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic globally…. Health professionals should strongly consider its use, in both treatment and prophylaxis [prevention].
There are also many anecdotal accounts, both online and from my contacts, of the effectiveness of ivermectin for the treatment of early onset COVID-19.
Amazon.com requires that you have a doctor’s prescription in order to purchase ivermectin. But there is a website that doesn’t (click here).
Business Insider warns that “While smaller doses of the medication [ivermectin] can be tolerated by humans, with few side effects…, taking a dose of ivermectin intended for an animal the size of a compact car [like a horse] can poison you. According to the Missouri Poison Center, serious overdoses of ivermectin can result in seizures, coma, lung issues, and heart problems.”
In studies of ivermectin given to patients with COVID-19, here’s the protocol or plan (Healio):
In the protocol, those at high risk for COVID-19 infection receive ivermectin at 0.2 mg/kg on day 1 and day 3, and weekly for 4 weeks…. For early outpatients with COVID-19, the protocol calls for one dose of ivermectin at 0.2 mg/kg at day 1 and day 3….
Update (January 28, 2022): The recommended dosage above is way too complicated. I searched online and found a simpler prescription: 12 mg of ivermectin a day for 5 days.
NOTE: This post is for information purpose and should not be regarded as a medical prescription. You alone are responsible for any action you may undertake from reading this post.
~E
Posted in COVID-19, Health, safety
Tagged clinical trials of ivermectin, Dr. Paul Marik, Ivermectin
As we age, maintaining balance becomes critical so we can stay steady and avoid falls. Falling is the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries for older Americans. Falls threaten seniors’ safety and independence and generate enormous economic and personal costs. (National Council on Aging)
Some alarming statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
But falling is not an inevitable result of aging.
Through practical lifestyle adjustments, evidence-based falls prevention programs, and clinical-community partnerships, the number of falls among seniors can be substantially reduced.
Below are three videos on tests to assess your balance and risk of falling. If you’re not able to safely sit and stand on your own power, skip the tests.
In this video, fitness expert David Jack shows us how to do a quick balance check:
Did you have a sense of anxiety or fear? Did you start to sway? That’s your brain telling you balance is something you need to work on.
How many times can you sit and stand from a chair in 30 seconds? In this video, David Jack explains how this quick—but important—test can give you clues about your lower-body strength and endurance.
You’ll need a regular, sturdy chair with a seat that’s about 17 inches high.
If you did 19 or more reps, that’s a sign your lower-body strength and endurance are above average.
How did you do on the three video-tests?
Having a strong lower body makes it more likely you can keep your balance and avoid falling. Thus, increasing the strength of your thigh, calf and hip muscles should increase your balance. There are balance exercises you can do to improve your stability and reduce your chances of falling. Go here for a video.
But simple things like walking and dancing can strengthen your lower body. A June 2017 report in Disability and Reabilitation tested this idea in older adults with limited mobility. Participants practiced line dancing twice a week for an hour. An untreated group served as the control. After just 8 weeks, the line dancers had greater leg strength and better balance than controls. Interestingly, they also walked faster and felt more mobile.
Stay strong!
~E