Category Archives: COVID-19

Going Underground For God: A Liberty-Based Approach To Worship By Ron Strom

Christianity, COVID-19, Free Will Vs. Determinism, Healthcare, Private Property

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“I caught COVID at church – praise God!”–Ron Strom

That’s a peculiar sentiment, I suppose – but one that expresses my gratitude for the opportunity I have had to worship with other Christians, maskless (shhh!), over the last few months, mindful of the risk.

Despite specific and quite arbitrary restrictions the governor of my (unnamed) state has demanded of churches, and the First Amendment implications of those rules, my own (unnamed) church decided to prioritize the Word of God over the word of the State. (By the way, do you remember when we didn’t need to hide information when we expressed opinions because our government overlords had far less power to hunt us down and punish us?)

While some churches in town were either shut down for in-person worship or were meeting but with nearly unworkable COVID restrictions, my church took a simple, liberty-based approach to in-person worship: The main room has no social distancing, and face masks are optional; another room, where the service is video-fed, requires masks and social distancing; and online streaming of the service is an option for those who choose to stay at home.

The church leadership, without consulting the latest restrictions from the governor’s office, made a decision that gave the people a choice of how to participate – while still having an in-person worship service every Sunday.

Could my pastor and elders have been fined or even jailed for defying the governor’s edicts for all this time? Sure – as was a pastor in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Pastor Jacob Reaume spent five weeks in jail for refusing to close his church. And this is “free” Canada we’re talking about – not China, Saudi Arabia or Eritrea.

By “obeying God rather than men” (Acts 5:29), Pastor Reaume, my local church leadership and countless other shepherds are faithfully prioritizing God’s Word and its command not to forsake meeting together (Hebrews 10:25).

At my church, the “no-distancing-mask-optional” room, not surprisingly, is more popular than the “social-distancing-masks-required” room. So, are all those maskless worshipers irresponsible or even foolish, as the “experts” might claim? Or, rather, are they doing what everyone does every day when it comes to weighing risks and benefits and making decisions accordingly? The latter approach is what Americans had the liberty to do in many contexts – before COVID.

If you go to the grocery store, for example, you take a risk. You might slip on some spilled guava juice on the floor and crack your tailbone; you might have a store employee accidentally roll over your foot with one of those heavy-duty carts; you might suffer a spider bite from a bold arachnid hiding in the green bean bin; or you might catch a virus from another shopper, even SARS-CoV-2.

I knew the risk of worshiping close to other Christians, but decided to take that risk. I knew the risk of inhaling and exhaling in unison with other Christians as we sang praise to God, but decided to take that risk. I knew the risk of looking a brother in the eye – and, maskless, in the nose and mouth – greeting him and offering a firm handshake and smile, but decided to take that risk.

Despite the risk and despite my having endured COVID-19 after taking that risk, I would do it all over again. For me the gathering of God’s people in weekly worship and fellowship is too valuable an activity to put on the shelf for months on end. And the beauty of liberty is that other people can choose to do otherwise. Others can take different risks to participate in other activities, church-based or not. It’s called living life.

While I mentioned Christians’ struggles in Canada, we’ve also experienced some high-profile battles here in the U.S. Pastor John MacArthur has waged a consistent, admirable and successful war to keep his congregation worshiping in California, and, shockingly, a pregnant mother was cited and removed from a church recently for failing to don a mask … in Dallas, Texas.

So, why do I praise God that I caught the virus at church? Because, unlike so many, I had the opportunity to take the risk to worship corporately with the Body of Christ, and in that activity God has blessed me immeasurably. Unlike the leaders of the church in Dallas, those leading my church decided to gather in a way that respects their people, their responsibilities and, most importantly, their God. And for that I am most grateful.

*****

“I caught COVID at church – praise God!” was published here with permission from the author (also my editor, since 2006).

Ron Strom is commentary editor of WND, a post he took in 2006 after serving as a news editor since 2000. Previously, he worked in politics. @RonStromWND

Before COVID Cartel, Scientific Skepticism Of Messenger-RNA Technology Voiced, EXPECTED

Business, COVID-19, Healthcare, Propaganda, Pseudoscience, Science, The State

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*trials of mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases were somewhat modest, leading to cautious expectations.
*blood coagulation and pathological thrombus.
* local and systemic inflammation.
*autoimmunity issues.
*edema

From a peer-reviewed journal article, published in January 2018, I scatter below for your edification a candid, matter-of-fact documentation of known reservation about the mRNA vaccines, intended for healthy individuals.

Clearly, “science” was freer as recently as 2018, in credible medical journals, and prior to the consolidation of a consensus around the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, a consensus driven by the COVID cartel.

“…… extracellular RNA promoted blood coagulation and pathological thrombus formation… the paradoxical effects of innate immune sensing on different formats of mRNA vaccines are incompletely understood.

“… recently published results from two clinical trials of mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases were somewhat modest, leading to more cautious expectations about the translation of preclinical success to the clinic… .”

A possible concern could be that some mRNA-based vaccine platforms induce potent type I interferon responses, which have been associated not only with inflammation but also potentially with autoimmunity167,168. Thus, identification of individuals at an increased risk of autoimmune reactions before mRNA vaccination may allow reasonable precautions to be taken.

I think I distilled the main concerns. But do READ:

“mRNA vaccines — a new era in vaccinology,” Norbert Pardi, Michael J. Hogan, Frederick W. Porter & Drew Weissman, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery volume 17, pages261–279 (2018)

*Credit to artist here.

Vaccine Passports: The End Of American Liberty

Argument, Conservatism, COVID-19, Democrats, IMMIGRATION, Individual Rights, Liberty, Republicans

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An invasion of bodily autonomy, one of the most fundamental rights we have.–Glenn Greenwald

How disturbing is it when not even Tucker Carlson frames the extent of the violation that is a vaccine passport in severe enough terms.

While Tucker did “call the idea ‘Orwellian,’ [he] asked Glenn Greenwald if he felt like the idea would work to convince more Americans to get the vaccination.”

Utilitarianism is common among the punditry: judge a policy by its aggregate positive outcomes, and not by whether it is just or unjust, violates rights or not.

Sean Hannity reduced the vaccine compulsion to privacy: a matter between a doctor and his patient. This is better than utilitarianism, for at least Hannity pinpointed an individual right.

However, only journalist Glenn Greenwald said what needs saying (this daily Caller report is not good; some of the stuff “reported” or inferred was not said or meant, although this next was):

“Well, I think you have to start with noting how draconian of an invasion this is in three different ways,” Greenwald said. “Number one, coercing citizens to put a substance into their body that they don’t want in their body, a pretty grave invasion of bodily autonomy, one of the most fundamental rights we have. Secondly, gathering a new database that can track people in terms of their health, that can easily be expanded as government programs often do into a whole variety of other uses, and then thirdly, you are restricting people’s movement. Freedom of movement is one of the most fundamental rights we have. It’s actually guaranteed in the Constitution.  …

Herd immunity will be arrived at eventually.

“Why is it necessary to stigmatize [those choosing not to vaccinate] and create a caste system?” Greenwald asked. ”

Typically, Sen. John Kennedy, with his contrived Southern act (he’s Ivy League) and rehearsed, overwrought cracks, puts Trump’s party back decades. On March 9, 2021, he told “Fox News Primetime” host Trey Gowdy that Americans love the 1 million legal immigrants coming in annually, and object ONLY to illegal, Biden-created chaos on border.

On vaccine passport, Kennedy “shone” just as brightly. Hannity, who treats his mostly friendly guests as family members, was expecting an erudite objection from Kennedy about the coerced-vaccine plan. The senator representing Louisiana needs to rehearse to disgorge his faux Southern witticisms. Thus was he caught unawares by Hannity, a generally fawning interviewer.

To the question about vaccine passports, Kennedy the cretin replied with a non sequitur:

A vaccine passport would be “terribly unethical,” croaked Kennedy, and not because it would threaten an individual’s dominion over his body, but because “EVERYBODY DOES NOT YET HAVE ACCESS TO THE VACCINE.”

 

UPDATED III (3/31/021): The Developing Orwellian Covid Terminology. Will Vaccine Resisters Be WACOed?

Argument, Canada, COVID-19, Critique, Healthcare, Liberty, Nationalism, Politics, Propaganda

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The “vaccine hesitancy” pejorative is an attempt to demonize clear thinking and reasoning.

Apropos the COVID-19 vaccine: Not one TV ego in an anchor’s chair has had the intelligence to ask about longitudinal studies.

“The creation of a vaccine involves scientists and medical experts from around the world, and it usually requires 10 to 15 years of research before the vaccine is made available to the general public. [HERE]

There are none! The Covid vaccines are just too new; they were rushed to market. I’m all for well-tested vaccines. (Especially when liability is attached to the manufacturers. This is not the case with Covid-vaccine manufacturers.)

Then there is the Covid variants saga. It is clear to anyone with a critical mind thinks Covid vaccines will go the way of the flu vaccines: An annual affair if one chooses to make it so, because of the natural mutation these clever RNA strands undergo.

Personally, I’ve never taken the flu vaccine. My doctor concurs: The flu shots aren’t very effective.

UPDATE I (3/29/021): Logically, the COVID vaccine is likely to be an annual affair.

Who predicted that, above, on ? The same person who urged you to wear the N95 mask, on 3/5/020, when St. Fauci was cautioning you against protecting your life with a mask (for which that man should stand in the dock).

The planet could have a year or less before first-generation Covid-19 vaccines are ineffective and modified formulations are needed, according to a survey of epidemiologists, virologists and infectious disease specialists. …

Instead of listening to America’s crooked medical talking-head imbeciles, all clawing their way to becoming part of the Biden—or, before that Trump’s—task force—or consultants to the corporate media—here is an aggregated opinion:

The grim forecast of a year or less comes from two-thirds of respondents, according to the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of organisations including Amnesty International, Oxfam, and UNAIDS, who carried out the survey of 77 scientists from 28 countries. Nearly one-third of the respondents indicated that the time-frame was likely nine months or less.

…“New mutations arise every day. Sometimes they find a niche that makes them more fit than their predecessors. These lucky variants could transmit more efficiently and potentially evade immune responses to previous strains,” said Gregg Gonsalves, associate professor of epidemiology at Yale University, in a statement.

For the evolutionary advantage—mutation—of a clever little RNA coil the experts blame the “vaccine hesitancy” of the population at large. Or, global, systemic racism: Not enough sharing by the developed world.

We vaccinate every year for the flu because of mutations, don’t we? Why would the clever SARS-CoV-2 be less efficient?

MORE: “New Covid vaccines needed globally within a year, say scientists.”

UPDATE II (3/31/021): Strokes.

Correlation is not causation, but a person I love dearly had a stroke a few weeks after the vaccine. The individual was NOT AT RISK FOR A STROKE. WTF!

Trace Alex Berenson’s Socratic questions about the correlation of all the new, messenger-RNA technology vaccinations to strokes:

https://mobile.twitter.com/AlexBerenson/status/1376911443367501828

UPDATE III: Will They WACO Vaccine Resisters?

As surmised in this space, the Covid vaccines last as long as the virus’s next mutation.

Israel’s Netanyahoo, however, has floated the freaky idea of a six-monthly vaccine schedule:

“The vaccines we have, no one knows how long they last…We need to prepare for the worst scenario. The worst scenario is that we have to vaccinate every half year.”

Do they plan to intern or force the stuff into the resister community’s veins? Upon arriving in Canada, the newly arrived must submit to being corralled into a government-designated “hotel.” There is an exorbitant shakedown fee, too. The policy was instituted by Justin Trudeau, who is both despicable as he is deeply stupid.

Could they WACO resisters? Will WACO now become a verb? Oh, I forget: the kids don’t learn history, ancient or recent. It might teach them something.