The Perfect COVID-Mask

Courtesy of the Mayor of Mississauga.

Reminder: Face coverings are now mandatory on all transit systems that move through #Mississauga. That includes GO Transit, Up Express, MiWay, TTC and Brampton ZUM. When you leave the house, don't forget your keys, wallet and mask. My mask protects you and your mask protects me. https://t.co/sdgLjVysqp

— Bonnie Crombie 🇨🇦 (@BonnieCrombie) July 21, 2020

"What a Sleazeball": My Original Take on Trump

Via The Thinking Housewife:

Trump, Melania, Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell in 2000

TRUMP sent good wishes yesterday to Ghislaine Maxwell, awaiting trial in New York for sex crimes against minors:

Donald Trump has sent a message of support to Ghislaine Maxwell as pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s accused madam awaits her trial for sex trafficking minors.

The president admitted meeting Maxwell ‘numerous times’ over the years and wished her well in his Tuesday White House press conference – his first since vowing to return to coronavirus news briefings as cases soar across the US.

Trump’s connections to Epstein and Maxwell have long come under scrutiny as they mixed in the same wealthy circles for decades, with Trump once describing the convicted pedophile as a ‘terrific guy’.

What a sleazeball.

-----------------------------------------------------

I never liked, or followed Trump. I wrote about him in a June 2016 post:

Trump is a media guy. He knows how to handle those "fake newsers."

I blogged on my original thoughts of Trump several years ago, where I focused on his pornographic life, and wife Melania, who posed nude for various magazines, arguing that America doesn't want such a man for president.

What a sleazeball!

Trump and His Darth Vaders

US President Donald Trump wears a mask as he visits Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland on July 11, 2020 [Image Source]

President Trump appears to be backtracking from his statements during his recent Fox News interview with Chris Wallace this past Sunday, July 21, but I don't think so.

I wrote about the interview here: Trump is Getting Back on Track.

Trump vacillates often, and I think he is reined in by forces we don't understand, primarily originating from his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

But Trump has sharp instincts, and his vacillations are a way of gauging the political atmosphere, as he showed during the Chris Wallace interview. He cannot afford to alienate important segments of the American population, and cannot go back to the days when he called various politicians "liars." Remember the "Lyin' Ted" days?

And his statement after his mask-wearing visit to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center shows that:

“When you’re in a hospital, especially ... I think it’s expected to wear a mask.”[Source]

Expected, is what he said, rather than "mandatory." And he never said "everywhere."

During his July 21 interview, Wallace asked him about mandating mask-wearing:

Wallace: Question, the CDC says if everybody wore a mask for 4-6 weeks, we could get this under control. Do you regret not wearing a mask in public from the start, and would you consider – will you consider a national mandate that people need to wear masks?

Trump: No I want people to have a certain freedom, and I don’t believe in that. No, and I don’t agree with the statement that if everybody wear a mask everything disappears. Hey, Dr. Fauci said don’t wear a mask. Our Surgeon General – terrific guy – said don’t wear a mask.

Everybody who is saying don’t wear a mask – all of sudden everybody’s got to wear a mask, and as you know masks cause problems, too. With that being said, I’m a believer in masks. I think masks are good.

But I leave it up to the governors. Many of the governors are changing. They’re more mask into – they like the concept of masks, but some of them don’t agree.[Source]

"No, I want people to have a certain freedom, and I don't believe in [a national mandate], no."

And if ever he was to go public wearing a mask it would be surrounded by tough military men in full regalia, as during his recent visit to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland. They came out looking like a Darth Vader troop. And their masks have the White House insignia on them!

And Trump ditched his mask as soon as he left the hospital:

Trump was wearing a mask in Walter Reed’s hallway as he began his visit. He was not wearing one when he stepped off the helicopter at the facility, and also during his press brief after his visit. [Source]

At that press brief, he answered a heckling reporter, who was fully masked and socially distancing asking him why he removed his mask later after the press briefing:


Masked and Heckling Female Reporter in Lilac [Note KPA: I searched for this woman's name and her news media affiliation, but nothing]

Trump replies, in his signature manner, which people mock frequently, but which shows his particular way of covering his perspective:

If you can, use the mask. When you can, use the mask. If you're close to each other, if you're in a group, I would put it on, when I'm in a group. If I'm in a elevator and there are other people with me, including, like, security people, it's not their fault, they have to be in the elevator. I want to protect them also. I put on a mask.

I have no problem with the masks. I view it this way: anything that potentially...In theory you don't need the mask. I'm getting used to the mask.

And the reason is, think about patriotism. Maybe it is. It helps. It helps. Now we've had experts that said in the recent past that masks aren't necessarily good to wear...But now they've changed their mind. If they change their mind, that's good enough for me, so I wear it when appropriate.

Good. Why should Trump get into arguments with hostile media? He is right, when close to people, just wear the mask. It actually makes people around him feel better. They have been fed the fake news media harassment on the COVID-Scam, and may turn belligerent, or just simply get nervous and agitated, if you walk in with your unbridled face.

Let's wait and see what Trump does. I think he will be clever and alert, and return to his mission of "Make America Great Again." Hopefully, it will be soon. And hopefully, he will get rid of his son-in-law, and those strings that pull at American politics.

Trump knows ALL about the mafia, and their tactics and strategies.

Trump is Getting Back on Track

Here is the full transcript for: Fox News Sunday interview with President Trump, if the video is no longer available.

Below, I have posted what I think are the important points.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

President Trump refused to be bullied by fake-new Fox reporter Chris Wallace, who questioned him on the new book out about his family, by his niece, who went on a mission to destroy Trump, and especially Trump's father.

Here is the telling part during the interview, around 31 minutes:

My father liked to win. My father was a very good man, he was a strong man. It's disgraceful that she said that. She was not exactly a family favorite...She writes a book that so stupid and so vicious. And it's a lie.

My father was a great wonderful man.

It hurts me more about attacking my father [than attacking me], not being kind to my mother. I have a mother who was like a saint. She was incredible. She was an incredible woman. And she [...] was nasty even to my mother.

[...]

She [the author] was not much of a family person.

[...]

My father was...I think he was the most solid person I have ever met. And he was a very good person. He was a very very. good person. He was strong, but he was good. For her to say that kind of things. A psychopath? That he was a psychopath? Anybody who knew Fred Trump would call him a psychopath?! And you know what? If he was, I would tell you.

[...]

My father, he was tough. He was tough for me. He was tough on all of the kids. But tough in a solid sense. In a really good sense.

[...]

That book is a LIE!

And Trump and his take on Fox News:

I'm not a big fan of Fox, I'll be honest with you. They've changed a lot since Roger Ailes.

[...]

Look, I know you very well. I know your father very well [referring to Mike Wallace]. He was one of the most talented journalists there are. And you likewise are a very talented person.

I do think this. I think you are a very, uh. I think you are toward the Democrat side. Which is ok...

[KPA Note: Which Chris Wallace of course denies, with "footage" to prove, which he shows]

It just seems to me that you are very prone to be with the Democrats, and maybe I'm wrong about that Chris. But it's an honor to be with you.

[KPA Note: Regarding the elections]

Trump: I don't think I'm going to lose at all.

Wallace: But if you did, how crushing would it be?

Trump: First of all, let me tell you something. I know everyone wants to know that because they'd LOVE to see me lose...Do you know how many times I've been written off?...

[KPA Note: Wallace persists with the "lose" question. And Trump doesn't take the bait]

And you know why I won't lose? Because the country in the end, they're not going to have a man whose shot. He's shot.

[KPA Note: Trump points to his head indicating that Biden is not right in the head]

Trump: He's mentally shot.

Let him come out of his basement and go around. I'll make four five speeches a day. I'll be interviewed by you. I'll be interviewed by the worst killers that hate my guts. They hate my guts. There's nothing they can ask me I that won't give a proper answer to. Some people will like it, some people won't like it.

Wallace: I agree with that.

Trump: But look. Let Biden sit through an interview like this. He'll be on the ground crying for Mommy. He'll say "Mommy, Mommy! Please take me home!"

Wallace: We've asked him for an interview, sir.

Trump: He can't do an interview. He's incompetent.

There's a number you haven't mentioned. It's the "enthusiasm number." The enthusiasm for Trump is through the roof. Even higher than last time. The enthusiasm for Biden in non-existent. Everyone knows he's shot.

Wallace: But the enthusiasm AGAINST YOU is high.

Trump: Well, that's OK. That's his only shot.

Wallace: Right.

Trump: That's his only shot. I agree. And those people know I'm doing a good job. But there's something in my personality that they don't like.

Because look. Nobody's done what I've done!

Biden wants to come in and ruin our country.

[...]

He will destroy this country.

But. It won't be him. It will be the radical left. The same type of ideology that took over Venezuela, one of the richest countries in the world. They now have no water. They've not food. And they have no medicine.

That's gonna happen here if he wins.

[KPA Note: The devious Wallace asks this as his "final" questions]:

Wallace: Are you a good loser?

Trump: I'm not a good loser. I don't like to lose. I don't lose too often. I don't like to lose.

Wallace: But are you gracious?

Trump: You don't know until you see. It depends.

I think mail-in voting is going to rig the election. I really do.

[...]

Wallace: Whether it's in 2021 or 2025, how will you regard your years as President of the United States?

Trump: I think I was very unfairly treated. From before I even won, I was under investigation by a bunch of thieves, crooks. It was an illegal investigation.

Wallace: But what about the good parts, sir?

Trump: No, no. I want to say this. I have done more than any President in US history in the first three and a half years, and I have done it suffering through an investigations

[...]

The Russia Hoax, it was all a hoax. The Muller Scam, it was all a scam. It was all false.

I made a bad decision. One bad decision: Jeff Sessions. Now I feel good because he lost overwhelmingly in the great state of Alabama.

Here's the bottom line. I've been very unfairly treated. And I don't say that as paranoid. Everybody says it. It's going to be interesting to see what happens. But there was tremendous evidence right now as to how unfairly treated I was.

[...]

Let’s see what happens. Despite that, I did more than any president in history in the first three and a half years.

The Long-Term Side Effects of Face Masks

Via The Thinking Housewife

The Long-Term Side Effects of Face Masks

"they shall mount up with wings as eagles"

[Photo By: KPA]

Isaiah 40:31

they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary;
and they shall walk, and not faint.

A Corona Primer

Via The Thinking Housewife:

French Style in Mississauga

This is a screen capture of 1470 Mississauga Road, in Lorne Park, Mississauga, a beautiful combination of pale yellow walls and light blue window shutters. It is shielded by wrought iron gates.

This website (with more photos) describes it as:

French Chateau / Farmhouse, reminiscent of holidays in Bordeaux.

Currently: Off market.

A little of southern France, wine country, transported to the Mississauga Valley.

More about Lorne Park, here. A good Wikipedia article, which describes older Mississauga villages, and a generalized history of Mississauga.

From the article:

Even though Lorne Park was absorbed into Mississauga, it remained a distinct neighborhood that retains ties to its pioneer origins.

This building is a new development, but the Lorne Park neighborhood has some of the oldest mansions, and houses, of Mississauga.

More on the historic estates in Lorne Park here and here.

Daisies

Daisies
Port Credit, ON
[Photo By: KPA]

Weakened Fighters for the West

My comment at the Council of European Canadians' website, on their article:

Can Paganism Save Christian Europeans

It has taken me a few days to come to terms with the basic message of this article: That a return to some form of paganism can save the West. This is a deluded, dangerous, and subversive argument. Christ's message to unify all people under the umbrella of the one and true God was exactly to remove the worship of idols that had led mankind astray. There IS only one God. If western civilization is to redeem itself of its sinful past, return to its glory, it is NOT through embracing false messengers. The Council of European Canadians should be arguing against such theses, directly and overtly, if they dare publish such articles. By publishing such an article as an actual possibility for paganism, they have opened the doors to all followers of anti-God, anti-Christ, and cannot possibly salvage the already weakened Western Civilization. They will be weakened fighters, which means that they will lose.

I read this article with deep disappointment. It was not an argument, but a thesis. A probability.

Kidist Paulos Asrat

Universal Masking in Hospitals in the Covid-19 Era

Via The Thinking Housewife

Universal Masking in Hospitals in the Covid-19 Era
May 21, 2020
New England Journal of Medicine 2020; 382:e63

Michael Klompas, M.D., M.P.H., Charles A. Morris, M.D., M.P.H., Julia Sinclair, M.B.A., Madelyn Pearson, D.N.P., R.N., and Erica S. Shenoy, M.D., Ph.D.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic continues to explode, hospital systems are scrambling to intensify their measures for protecting patients and health care workers from the virus. An increasing number of frontline providers are wondering whether this effort should include universal use of masks by all health care workers. Universal masking is already standard practice in Hong Kong, Singapore, and other parts of Asia and has recently been adopted by a handful of U.S. hospitals.

We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection. Public health authorities define a significant exposure to Covid-19 as face-to-face contact within 6 feet with a patient with symptomatic Covid-19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes (and some say more than 10 minutes or even 30 minutes). The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic.

The calculus may be different, however, in health care settings. First and foremost, a mask is a core component of the personal protective equipment (PPE) clinicians need when caring for symptomatic patients with respiratory viral infections, in conjunction with gown, gloves, and eye protection. Masking in this context is already part of routine operations for most hospitals. What is less clear is whether a mask offers any further protection in health care settings in which the wearer has no direct interactions with symptomatic patients. There are two scenarios in which there may be possible benefits.

The first is during the care of a patient with unrecognized Covid-19. A mask alone in this setting will reduce risk only slightly, however, since it does not provide protection from droplets that may enter the eyes or from fomites on the patient or in the environment that providers may pick up on their hands and carry to their mucous membranes (particularly given the concern that mask wearers may have an increased tendency to touch their faces).

More compelling is the possibility that wearing a mask may reduce the likelihood of transmission from asymptomatic and minimally symptomatic health care workers with Covid-19 to other providers and patients. This concern increases as Covid-19 becomes more widespread in the community. We face a constant risk that a health care worker with early infection may bring the virus into our facilities and transmit it to others. Transmission from people with asymptomatic infection has been well documented, although it is unclear to what extent such transmission contributes to the overall spread of infection.1-3

More insidious may be the health care worker who comes to work with mild and ambiguous symptoms, such as fatigue or muscle aches, or a scratchy throat and mild nasal congestion, that they attribute to working long hours or stress or seasonal allergies, rather than recognizing that they may have early or mild Covid-19. In our hospitals, we have already seen a number of instances in which staff members either came to work well but developed symptoms of Covid-19 partway through their shifts or worked with mild and ambiguous symptoms that were subsequently diagnosed as Covid-19. These cases have led to large numbers of our patients and staff members being exposed to the virus and a handful of potentially linked infections in health care workers. Masking all providers might limit transmission from these sources by stopping asymptomatic and minimally symptomatic health care workers from spreading virus-laden oral and nasal droplets.

What is clear, however, is that universal masking alone is not a panacea. A mask will not protect providers caring for a patient with active Covid-19 if it’s not accompanied by meticulous hand hygiene, eye protection, gloves, and a gown. A mask alone will not prevent health care workers with early Covid-19 from contaminating their hands and spreading the virus to patients and colleagues. Focusing on universal masking alone may, paradoxically, lead to more transmission of Covid-19 if it diverts attention from implementing more fundamental infection-control measures.

Such measures include vigorous screening of all patients coming to a facility for symptoms of Covid-19 and immediately getting them masked and into a room; early implementation of contact and droplet precautions, including eye protection, for all symptomatic patients and erring on the side of caution when in doubt; rescreening all admitted patients daily for signs and symptoms of Covid-19 in case an infection was incubating on admission or they were exposed to the virus in the hospital; having a low threshold for testing patients with even mild symptoms potentially attributable to a viral respiratory infection (this includes patients with pneumonia, given that a third or more of pneumonias are caused by viruses rather than bacteria); requiring employees to attest that they have no symptoms before starting work each day; being attentive to physical distancing between staff members in all settings (including potentially neglected settings such as elevators, hospital shuttle buses, clinical rounds, and work rooms); restricting and screening visitors; and increasing the frequency and reliability of hand hygiene.

The extent of marginal benefit of universal masking over and above these foundational measures is debatable. It depends on the prevalence of health care workers with asymptomatic and minimally symptomatic infections as well as the relative contribution of this population to the spread of infection. It is informative, in this regard, that the prevalence of Covid-19 among asymptomatic evacuees from Wuhan during the height of the epidemic there was only 1 to 3%.4,5 Modelers assessing the spread of infection in Wuhan have noted the importance of undiagnosed infections in fueling the spread of Covid-19 while also acknowledging that the transmission risk from this population is likely to be lower than the risk of spread from symptomatic patients.3 And then the potential benefits of universal masking need to be balanced against the future risk of running out of masks and thereby exposing clinicians to the much greater risk of caring for symptomatic patients without a mask. Providing each health care worker with one mask per day for extended use, however, may paradoxically improve inventory control by reducing one-time uses and facilitating centralized workflows for allocating masks without risk assessments at the individual-employee level.

There may be additional benefits to broad masking policies that extend beyond their technical contribution to reducing pathogen transmission. Masks are visible reminders of an otherwise invisible yet widely prevalent pathogen and may remind people of the importance of social distancing and other infection-control measures.

It is also clear that masks serve symbolic roles. Masks are not only tools, they are also talismans that may help increase health care workers’ perceived sense of safety, well-being, and trust in their hospitals. Although such reactions may not be strictly logical, we are all subject to fear and anxiety, especially during times of crisis. One might argue that fear and anxiety are better countered with data and education than with a marginally beneficial mask, particularly in light of the worldwide mask shortage, but it is difficult to get clinicians to hear this message in the heat of the current crisis. Expanded masking protocols’ greatest contribution may be to reduce the transmission of anxiety, over and above whatever role they may play in reducing transmission of Covid-19. The potential value of universal masking in giving health care workers the confidence to absorb and implement the more foundational infection-prevention practices described above may be its greatest contribution.

Of Lockdowns and Lilies

I thought Yves Rocher's Lily of the Valley eau de toilette was discontinued. But the bright Yves Rocher store in the Square One (Mississauga) mall produced two bottlesof the eau de toilette. These couple of months of closure must have got the staff cleaning out their inventory, and fortunately they found these bottles.

I bought one of the bottles at its reduced price, and it should keep me scented through the summer (and fall?).

I am sorry the perfume is discontinued. I will now embark on a search for a light, fresh eau de toilette, which should be an adventure.

This lockdown has certainly given us a second chance at some things.

Here are two sites which sing the praises of the eau de toilette:

An established on-line perfume reviewer, Basenotes (as in the base notes of a perfume) has this to say about these notes:

Green notes, Lily of the valley, Pink pepper, Bergamot, Lemon

And The Perfume Girl adds more:

Lily of the valley, bergamot, lemon, rose hips

The pink pepper is meant to ground the perfume a little, from being too intoxicatingly floral, and the lemon adds that extra freshness.

The bottle is a straightforward clear glass, in a rectangular shape, but with a lovely plant-like detail, which is actually Yves Rocher's logo, with the initials YR forming a plant within a circle. The liquid is a fresh, pale green viewed through clear glass.



Here are photos I took of the Faberge Lily of the Valley exhibition in 2014 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which was part of a rotating selection of items from The Met collections. This specific collection is the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts' Metalworks collections.




[Photos By: KPA]

Details of the work:
Imperial Lilies-of-the-Valley Basket
House of Carl Fabergé
August Wilhelm Holmström (1829–1903)

Holmström, August Wilhelm (1829-1903) a Finnish workmaster, born in Helsinki, Finland.
Was appointed chief jeweler by Gustav Fabergé in 1857. His mark is 'AH'.

A Fabergé workmaster is a craftsman who owned his own workshop and produced jewelry, silver or objets d'art for the House of Fabergé.[Source]

Russian, St. Petersburg
Yellow and green gold, silver, nephrite, pearl, rose-cut diamond; 1896.
Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation

Council of European Canadians and Their Can of Worms

The Council of European Canadians just opened a can of worms. LOL.

But it is more than that. Many "white nationalist" groups are actually a-Christian, if not anti-Christian.

What a wonderful way to support, and promulgate, the West (sarcasm alert).

The Black Lives Matter Global Network

The Black Lives Matter Global Network and the Oromo "uprising": I believe there is a connection.



Photo of jailed Oromo instigator, Jawar Mohammed, in a t-shirt with the Black Lives Matter slogan "I Can't Breathe."

...Ethiopian social media had its share of controversial debates driven by diaspora activists and media, particularly in Minneapolis, Minnesota; the location of George Floyd’s “I CAN’T BREATHE” last words, as a white policeman suffocated him to death. Minnesota was one of the places the Ethiopian Prime Minister visited in 2018, due to its significant Ethiopian population, particularly of ethnic Oromo. ZEHABESHA media, the top Ethiopian media based in Minneapolis, covered local protests. And popular Oromo politician Jawar Mohammed, also from Minnesota, wore a t-shirt displaying “I can’t breathe.”[Source]

Misinforming the American Public

I wrote recently of the cut-and-paste "journalism" that I coined for Steve Sailer's style of writing which I discuss in a longer post here: Ethiopia's Independence and Strength.

The very last comment (#58) in Sailer's article Minnesota is Turning into a Front in the Ethiopian Civil War comments section is by:

stephen 🇬🇧
@LFC_blano
Always Loyal ☆ Fortune Favours The Brave ☆
BRITISH AND PROUD

"stephen" has attached a video with his comment:

Video footage of a 100 strong mob of Ethiopian youths destroying the statue of Emperor Haile Selassie in Cannizaro Park, Wimbledon London https://t.co/O4zTtlfBqr pic.twitter.com/x7b2doJDaO

— stephen 🇬🇧 (@LFC_blano) July 6, 2020

Of course, besides the non-identification of the statue-destroyers, and the pending investigations by the London police, it is TOTALLY reasonable to associate this vandalism with "Ethiopians" (sarcasm alert).

The language that these vandals are speaking is not Amharic, the official and historical language of Ethiopia, but the regional Oromigna. Thus, clearly and unequivocally, these vandals are Oromo, who, like their counterparts in Addis Ababa, simply wish the destruction of the historical Ethiopia.

Steve Sailer has left this piece of twitter in the comments section of his Oromo article (which I have discussed here), adding to more misinformation for the American public.

This, as I have written before, adds to my gathering of proof that American leaders, left or right, are strategizing toward a subdued Ethiopia.

A strong Ethiopia will be difficult to coerce into the various Middle East policies that America, and I am convinced in conjunction with Israel, is currently developing.

As I wrote in my recent post Ethiopia's Independence and Strength about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is now in its final stages of being filled, a strong and independent Ethiopia is not what these global powers want in northern Africa.

Sailer knows the implications of this, and he left the post and its comments for all to be misinformed.