As schools have become "behavior management factories" what has the benefit been to students with autism - from the most severely affected non-speaking to those with what we used to call Asperger's?  My youngest had the worst time of it in school, particularly when she was in high school. I spent 4 years having IEP meetings reviewing chart after chart of her "SIB" (self-injurious behavior) and AGGRESSION.  The SIB was slapping or pounding her thigh. The aggression was slapping the desk. At one point, school assigned her two paras - one to work with her and one to click click data to chart. I once asked a teacher, "How would you feel if your boss took away your coffee mug as soon as you walked in and you had to EARN every sip of coffee in the morning, by someone else's chart of success? Or if your phone was taken away and you had to perform dull, repetitive, often insulting work to earn a 5 minute break on your phone?"  My older daughters are 25 and 26. Their demeanors have improved since leaving school. I think they feel free to be themselves for the first time since.... preschool.

If you have begun Spelling2Communicate, HALO, assistive technology or other successful efforts to allow your son or daughter to convey their intelligence, their hopes, their thoughts, their fears, what have you learned?  When I read JB Handley's book Underestimated, An Autism Miracle, one sentence in the manuscript stuck with me. So much that I influenced the final name of the book (not taking a bow, but sharing how much this impacted me.) When he asked his son Jamie how he felt about teachers who made him do preschool work for 12 years, who treated him like he was unable to learn or progress, he told his Dad that he thought the teachers had "...earnestly underestimated him..." I thought that was one of the most forgiving, mature statements I'd ever read and called JB immediately to tell him I thought it was his title.

The author of this Psychology Today article is local - I think I'll contact her.

Marcia Eckerd, Ph.D., has been working with neurodiverse clients for over 30 years. She has been appointed by the State Legislature of CT to serve on the CT Autism Spectrum Disorder Advisory Council and is on the Clinical Advisory Group of AANE.org (Autism/Aspergers Network). She serves on the Professional Advisory Board of Smart Kids with LD as well as the Community Medical Staff in Psychiatry at Norwalk Hospital. She’s written multiple professional peer-reviewed journals on the diagnosis of autism, as well as contributing to Autism Spectrum News and multiple other websites and publications.

From Psychology Today:

Are We Giving Autistic Children PTSD From School?

1) We must understand the behavior of autistic children to help them.
2) Responding without understanding diminishes the personhood, self-esteem and trust of autistic kids.
3) Providing an environment sensitive to the needs of autistic students benefits all students.

For most autistic children, school can be a toxic environment. Working on the advice of experts, school staff aim to have autistic children’s behavior conform to neurotypical expectations. The more a child is indistinguishable from mainstream peers, the more successful the school intervention is believed to be.

Source: Dictionary.com

By Cathy Jameson

If I did a quick internet news search for the word regardless, I am sure I’d have thousands of hits that included this statement:

…regardless of vaccination status

Masks are required for outdoor events regardless of vaccination status.

Masks are required for indoor events regardless of vaccination status.

All visitors to the building are to social distance regardless of vaccination status.

Weekly COVID testing will be required regardless of vaccination status.

Public meetings are back on schedule. We invite all to join regardless of vaccination status.

The definition of regardless, per Oxford Languages, is without paying attention to the present situation; despite the prevailing circumstances.

Declaring one’s vaccine status was not a requirement for more contagious illnesses for indoor venues in previous years let alone outdoor ones.  Proving one’s health status with a nasal swab was never required to attend work or college, even though other viruses are prevalent year round.  Regardless, and more importantly, because of prevailing circumstances, the present situation many are now living because of one virus is dire. 

It’s dire.  And now, in some places, it does matter what one’s vaccination status is. 

Vaccination status will determine if nurses keep their job at the hospital regardless of their qualifications.

Teachers https://apnews.com/article/health-religion-coronavirus-pandemic-c58f8577203b8316299f9fa90ebf7578 are facing the same dilemma.  They are being told they must get the jab despite their years of dedication in their field.  Will they take the jab and all the risks that come with it just to keep their job? 

Another important question, can school districts handle losing their staff or recover from a massive teacher walk out?  The NYC school system stands to lose compassionate, highly qualified professionals and their many years of experience.  Losing them will jeopardize the continuity of education that all students require to be successful in the classroom.

A message from Skyhorse Publishing in conjunction with Children's Health Defense:

Dear Reader,

The pharma-funded mainstream media has convinced millions of Americans that people like Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Robert Gallo, and Dr. Francis Collins are heroes.

Drs. Frank Ruscetti and Judy Mikovits and I need your help today to expose their plague of corruption and show what dangerous charlatans they truly are.

By ordering a copy of their new book today — “Ending Plague: A Scholar’s Obligation in an Age of Corruption” — you can help push the book to the top of the New York Times bestseller list.

The sooner we reach that milestone, the sooner the whole world will know the truth. If you’ve already ordered their book, thank you. Can you now share this post today with family and friends? Or better yet, order several copies as gifts?

A year after Dr. Mikovits and Kent Heckenlively first exposed the Plandemic with their banned, groundbreaking short film with Mikki Willis and their runaway New York Times bestseller Plague of Corruption, they have returned with another book that uncovers even more of the untruths and corruption in our government’s health institutions.

Dr. Frank Ruscetti, a thirty-eight year veteran of the National Cancer Institute, who worked closely with people like Fauci and Gallo, offers a true insider’s portrait of his nearly four decades at the center of public health. His insights into the successes and failures of government science will be eye-opening to the general public. What he and Dr. Mikovits reveal not only obliterates the media spin . . . but should also alarm every American who cares about this country—and the future our children will inherit.

In their book, they reveal:

1. How the HIV/AIDS epidemic was a complete calamity compromised by the egos of Robert Gallo and Anthony Fauci, leading to the unnecessary death of millions.
2. The lies told about chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), often referred to as “non-HIV/ AIDS” which has disabled millions of women and men.

Laura wrote this in April of 2016.

By Laura Hayes

Being the mother of vaccine-injured children teaches you many important lessons, with perhaps the main lesson being to question everything, research thoroughly, and make your own decisions. Listen to and trust your own maternal instincts. Don’t be coerced, harassed, or forced into doing anything you are not completely comfortable with or don’t want.  Learn to speak up and stand your ground firmly…your children are counting on you…and you will be the one to live with the consequences for each and every parenting decision you make.  So make the time to take the time to decide carefully, very carefully.

Rule #1: Question EVERYTHING

Rule #2: Research THOROUGHLY (including, and especially, from non-industry and non-governmental sources…seek sources that don’t profit from that which you are researching)

Rule #3: Make your OWN decisions, don’t be swayed by someone just because they are wearing a white coat (as a matter of fact, learn to be extra leery of those in white coats)

Let’s begin with prenatal “standard of care” procedures that need to be questioned, researched, and carefully considered prior to accepting:

• Ultrasounds are now performed on virtually every pregnant woman in the U.S. Remembering back to my first pregnancy, my doctor told me I had ovarian cysts after my first ultrasound, and he began ordering weekly (!) ultrasounds for me. At the time, my insurance did not cover ultrasounds (they were $800 a pop, mind you). When I finally disclosed this to the receptionist, wondering how many more of these expensive procedures I would need, she was shocked that I’d been paying out of pocket the whole time. She looked uncomfortable when I told her that. Quite magically, the next week, my cysts were declared gone, no more ultrasounds for cysts needed!  I have since come to find out that the year that occurred was the year they were testing new ultrasound machines that were many times “stronger”. Were my baby and I experimental test subjects, without knowing, and without informed consent?  I do not know, but I most certainly wonder. Dr. Kelly Brogan, among others, has written about the universal use of ultrasound during pregnancy,  so perhaps begin your research here.

Thoughtful piece from The Atlantic. Are masks required in your kids' schools? If so, to what degree?

###

The Downsides of Masking Young Students Are Real

The educational cost of face coverings is far better established than the benefits of mandates.

By Vinay Prasad About the author: Vinay Prasad, a hematologist and oncologist, is an associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UC San Francisco.

Scientists have an obligation to strive for honesty. And on the question of whether kids should wear masks in schools—particularly preschools and elementary schools—here is what I conclude: The potential educational harms of mandatory-masking policies are much more firmly established, at least at this point, than their possible benefits in stopping the spread of COVID-19 in schools. To justify continued masking of schoolkids—with no end date in sight—we have to prove that masks benefit kids, and at what ages. States and communities that are considering masking policies just to be safe should recognize that being overly cautious has a cost, while the benefits are uncertain.

For most able-bodied adults, masks in public indoor settings pose only minor inconveniences. But children—who even amid the worrisome Delta-variant surge are experiencing serious outcomes from COVID-19 at far lower rates than people in older age groups are—have different needs and vulnerabilities than adults. Early childhood is a crucial period when humans develop cultural, language, and social skills, including the ability to detect emotion on other people’s faces. Social interactions with friends, parents, and caregivers are integral to fostering children’s growth and well-being.

Cloth masks do filter some aerosols, albeit not the majority, so they might catch some exhaled viral particles. Newly released results from a large trial in rural Bangladesh found that the widespread use of surgical masks by adults yields a significant reduction in the spread of symptomatic COVID-19. (The effect of cloth masks was more ambiguous, and the study did not include children.) But the issue facing educators and parents is whether a policy of mandatory masking makes school safer than a policy of optional masking—and whether the difference is enough to justify the imposition on kids.   Read more at The Atlantic.

From James Lyons-Weiler PhD:

From: James Lyons-Weiler <
Date: Wed, Sep 1, 2021 at 2:39 PM
Subject: Cycle threshold distributions
To: <qds1@cdc.gov>
Cc: <>, <poland.gregory@mayo.edu>

Dear Dr. Campbell,

I am cc’ing Dr. Poland as he recently uncritically interpreted your report as showing that the risk of re-infection is higher in the unvaccinated than in the vaccinated in a YouTube presentation.

I read w/interest your report

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7032e1.htm

As you are corresponding author, I am directing my questions to you.

1. Among those partly vaccinated, vaccinated and unvaccinated, what were the qPCR Ct threshold distributions for each group?

2. If your team used the CDC’s guidelines for reporting case with (Ct<28 cycles + hospitalized or dead for vaccinated, but Ct value up to 40 or even higher for the unvaccinated), how can we compare rates of cases, hospitalizations and deaths in so-called vaccinated “cases” and so-called unvaccinated “cases”?

3. Are the groups studied confounded in any way?

4. Were the NAAT test rates vs. antigen test rates the same in both groups?

5. Per your report, the “vaccinated” were considered vaccinated on 14 or after, per CDC guidelines. This seems unusual; if the vaccine harms the immune system for a period of time and makes people more susceptible to infection, it would appear within the first two weeks, given what we have seen in animal studies.

6. If people are not vaccinated until 14 days after receipt of the vaccine, shouldn’t people have to wait 14 days to receive their vaccine card if herd immunity is the goal?

7. Your particular group criterion definition would skew the data badly in favor of finding an increased rate of re-infection in the previously infected or unvaccinated, making causal attribution to the vaccine and your recommendation that all persons should be vaccinated impossible to support with your data.

Earlier this week we shared a Facebook post that's circulating, proclaiming proud ignorance of many “common” items, including the Covid jab.  If you read it, you probably had a sharp response of your own. One Facebooker, "TM" took the time to write a response. She wrote, "This gem of a narrative is being shared around, so I wanted to participate with some editing:”

The original is in italics, her response is in bold:

I’m vaccinated and, no, I don't know what's in it…

Until my child was injured and then I learned, the hard way.

I trust my doctor when he says it’s needed.

I won’t make that mistake again.

I also don't know what's in Ibuprofen, Tylenol, or other meds, it just cures my headaches & my pains ...

I do and Tylenol depletes glutathione - stop giving it to infants (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15878691/)

I don't know what's in the ink for tattoos, vaping, or every ingredient in my soap or shampoo or even deodorants. 

No tattoos or vaping  - I use natural products because they are safer.

I don’t know the long term effect of cell phone use…

Which is why I turn it off at my bedside.

There's a lot of things I don't know and never will…

But I know in this age of information it is ignorant not to research what is readily available.

I just know one thing: life is short, very short,  and I still want to do something other than just going to work every day or staying locked in my home…..

So that is why I choose to not live in fear.

As a child I've been vaccinated for mumps, measles, rubella, polio, and a few others;

As a child and as an adult I've been vaccinated for mumps, measles, rubella, polio, chicken   your choice,

I am vaccinated, respect my choice ...

Thank you if you have already purchased my book. Because of you, it skyrocketed to “#1 Best Seller” on Saturday. We hope you can help keep the momentum going. If you haven’t already, please buy my book and share this post with your friends, family and social network. I appreciate the help!

Today, Dr. Anthony Fauci is a household hero to half of America. 

Drug companies, government officials and the pharma-funded corporate media invoke his name to justify lockdowns, masks and experimental vaccines. 

A recent editorial in a leading medical journal urged Congress to make it a felony to publicly criticize Dr. Fauci. 

Encouraging his own deification, Dr. Fauci has declared that all those who questioned his pronouncements are “anti-science.”

But who is Dr. Fauci really?

In my new book, I show that Dr. Fauci has done little to earn the sobriquet  "America’s Doctor.” 

Instead, he has survived 50 years as the J. Edgar Hoover of public health by consistently prioritizing Big Pharma profits over the welfare of his countrymen, and through mercenary homage to the chemical and agricultural industry, the military industrial complex, the intelligence apparatus and all the other pushers of pills, potions, powders, poisons, pricks and the police state.

Order your copy today: “The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health,” by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. — 100% of proceeds will go directly to fund the work of Children’s Health Defense.

During more than a year of painstaking and meticulous research, I unearthed a shocking story that obliterates the obsequious media’s spin on Dr. Fauci … and that will alarm every American — Democrat or Republican — who cares about democracy, our Constitution and the future of our children’s health.

In my book I reveal how Fauci:

• has been the principal architect of “agency capture” — the subversion of democracy by a drug industry that manipulates regulators like sock puppets.
  
  
• failed dismally over his 50-year career with the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to address the cause, to prevent or cure the exploding epidemics of allergies and chronic disease that Congress charged him with curtailing. The chronic disease pandemic is his enduring legacy. Those ailments now debilitate 54% of American children compared to 6% when he joined NIAID.

Have you noticed how strikingly similar both the mindsets and actions are between the suicide bombers at Kabul’s airport, and the anti-mask and anti-vax people here? They both blow themselves up, inflict harm on those around them, and are convinced they are fighting for freedom. Arne Duncan, 8/29.21 Twitter

The cruelty, ignorance and moral superiority drip off the screen from former Secretary of Education under President Obama Arne Duncan.  We can shrug it off, call him a jerk, move on. Or we can take a hard look at the thought process of people with current or former power within our government and their platform/capacity to incite deep fears that have one goal - compliance.  Secretary Duncan might want to pay some of us a visit, to find out how akin we are to suicide bombers as we care for our children 24/7/365. It is WE who got bombed, and 25 years into the autism epidemic, we are less respected and more hated than ever - how's that for an ugly truth. Hard to believe where we are today as a nation.  Hard to believe.  
 
Here is the Tweet text below: www.twitter.com/arneduncan
Managing Partner, The Emerson Collective. #ChicagoCRED. Author of How Schools Work. Here are the Emerson Collective's stated priorities:

Immigration Helping aspiring Americans and new immigrants succeed
Education Clearing pathways to a meaningful education
Climate Building solutions at the intersection of climate innovation and environmental justice.
XQ: The Super School Project Rethinking America's high schools
Chicago CRED Creating real economic destiny in Chicago
Equity & Justice Shaping new systems of opportunity for all
Media & Journalism Provoking thought and strengthening democracy
Health Accelerating cancer research and empowering patients

“ Flowerpot hats not included.” 

A celebration of ignorance and moral superiority is flooding Facebook in a post being shared all over the place.  No matter your choice (and you know what we mean), base it on personal experience, medical history, conversations with your healthcare provider, the risk of each choice, outcome and due diligence.  None of us knows what might happen if we choose to V or not. Or if we come down with "C" or not. Will we be asymptomatic or asphyxiated? No one that I knows takes any of this lightly. We have a "friend of ours" fighting in the hospital right now.  Imagine saying that an unvaccinated person who gets Covid is "cluttering" a hospital bed. What of every obese person with adult onset diabetes - are they "cluttering" the dialysis centers?  What of every smoker with lung cancer - cluttering oncology wards? We are allowed to make choices for ourselves. Some of them might turn out to be the "wrong choice", in the end. The shaming and glee I see when someone gets sick or dies from Covid is inhuman. I've seen women in my town who ask 100 questions about a paint color before making a choice run this post.  (Unfriend.) This group thinking will lead to inhuman decisions and acts - a de-evolution. (Now the flowerpot hats make sense, yes? Devo.)

###

Facebook post circulating this weekend.

I'm vaccinated and, no, I don't know what's in it - neither this vaccine, the ones I had as a child, nor in the Big Mac, or in hot dogs, or in other treatments…whether it's for cancer, AIDS, the one for  polyarthritis, or vaccines for infants or children. I trust my doctor when he/she says it’s needed. 

I also don't know what's in Ibuprofen, Tylenol, or other meds, it just cures my headaches & my pains ...

I don't know what's in the ink for tattoos, vaping, or every ingredient in my soap or shampoo or even deodorants.  I don’t know the long term effect of cell phone use or whether or not that restaurant I just ate at REALLY used clean foods and washed their hands. 

In short ...

There's a lot of things I don't know and never will…

By Cathy Jameson

I have never in my adult life heard one response used more frequently than, “Because of COVID.”  It doesn’t matter the setting – in a school, store, doctor’s office, playground, or at a concert.  Because of COVID is said all the time.  It started last year: 

Sorry, kids. Sports are cancelled …because of COVID.

Sorry, staff.  All meetings are now virtual …because of COVID. 

Sorry, Ma’am.  All regularly scheduled appointments are limited …because of COVID. 

Sorry, travelers.  Flight restrictions are now in place …because of COVID. 

I expected and grew used to the adjustments we were asked to make because of COVID in March of 2020.  Back then, the 2-week pause made sense.  I thought it was a reasonable request, and I actually welcomed it.  I didn’t expect the restrictions, and the go-to response …because of COVID to continue to hamper parts of life for as long as it has.  But even this week, I heard several times …because of COVID being used in a school setting, in a medical setting, and in a political setting. 

It’s become a response, an excuse, and a justification.  Since 2020, it’s been said countless times.  Some weeks, I hear it daily.   I respected it …until I didn’t. 

…because of COVID local sports are still cancelled or at limited capacity or come with major restrictions.  Unless you’re a major sports team.

…because of COVID meetings and office get togethers are encouraged to be virtual.  Unless it’s your birthday and you have some celebrity status. https://www.inquisitr.com/6494809/see-leaked-photos-videos-of-barack-obamas-decadent-birthday-part

…because of COVID restrictions are still in place in the community.  Unless you believe you’re above the law.

…because of COVID, air travel for passengers and some airlines has taken a hit.  Unless you’re an unmasked elected official shirking your work. 

I’m guessing you heard it as many times I had last year.  You’ve probably heard that catch phrase most of 2021, too.  It’s not so much a catch phrase, though, is it?  Now, it’s being used as a threat.

UPDATE from Reuters and other sources: Two die in Japan after shots from suspended Moderna vaccines - Japan govt

TOKYO, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Two people died after receiving Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) COVID-19 vaccine shots that were among lots later suspended following the discovery of contaminants, Japan's health ministry said on Saturday. The men in their 30s died this month within days of receiving their second Moderna doses, the ministry said in a release. Each had a shot from one of three manufacturing lots suspended on Thursday. The causes of death are being investigated.

###

Memes are popular on social media.  Like me, I'm sure you've seen some that make you laugh out loud, some that make you cringe, others that simply ring true to some aspect of your life.  I read one this week, but didn't get a snap of it. It said (and I paraphrase) "They aren't conspiracy theories, they're spoilers."   How's that for sharp?

I've been trying to read between the lines with everything these days. I look for "weasel words" that deflect blame, obfuscate, and sometimes outright lie, with finesse.  Several vaccination centers have reported that vaccine vials contained foreign matter, according to an announcement from the ministry, which added it will seek to minimize the impact of the withdrawal on the country's inoculation program. The ministry said later in the day that the substance that had been mixed in may have been metal. "It's a substance that reacts to magnets," a ministry official said. "It could be metal."https://asia.nikkei.com

The Japanese ministry said the substance "reacts" to magnets.  Does that mean it attracted or repelled? How was it tested? Three types of metals interact with magnetic fields: ferromagnetic, paramagnetic and diamagnetic metals. Ferromagnetic metals are strongly attracted to magnets; the rest are not. Magnets also attract paramagnetic metals, but very weakly. Diamagnetic metals repel the magnet, though the force is typically very weak.

Do you recall the "reports" that the Covid vaccine was making magnets stick to recipient's arms? Balderdash? Poppycock? Horsepucky?  Conspiracy theory? Can we wonder if there were undetected pieces of metal in those vaccines too? And the dismissal:  Reuters: CORRECTION-Fact Check-'Magnet test' does not prove COVID-19 jabs contain metal or a microchip

Correction Jun 25, 2021: An earlier version of this check incorrectly described the mechanism of MRI scans and gave an incomplete account of the weak magnetic interactions relating to the human body. These sentences have been removed as they have no bearing on the verdict of the check. This article has also been updated to clarify that not all metals are magnetic. Vaccines for COVID-19 do not contain metals or microchips that make recipients magnetic at the site of injection, physics and medical experts have told Reuters.The flawed claim was made in a series of viral videos claiming to show magnets attracted to the arms of alleged jab recipients. Several clips said the supposed phenomenon was proof that people were microchipped

I got the meme shown below in our photo from a "friend of ours" just last night. Seems it's missing something. This week, Japan announced that there may have been metal fragments in some lots of the Moderna vaccine. If this were any other product, a product with even a modicum of liability,  it would be recalled. The optics of offering a product tainted with anything, let alone metals, would be a debacle for any PR department. Any PR department EXCEPT the one in a vaccine company, and certainly in a company making a vaccine for Covid.

Japan Times Reports:

The foreign substance detected in dozens of vials of Moderna Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine in Japan is thought to have been tiny pieces of metal, but experts have dismissed concerns over significant health problems, saying that the chance of the foreign material actually entering the body is low.

The foreign substance was identified in 39 unused vials, all of which had the lot number 3004667, at eight workplace and large-scale inoculation sites in five prefectures — Aichi, Ibaraki, Gifu, Saitama and Tokyo — with the first discovery having come on Aug. 16. The government on Thursday decided to halt the use of vials belonging to that lot number — as well as those with the lot numbers 3004734 and 3004956, which were produced around the same time and at the same facility — affecting a total of 1.63 million shots....

Safeminds starts an important conversation this week on their site. We ask: 1) Do you have home based services? 2) Can you self-hire? 3) What is your hourly rate of pay?  Safeminds posted:

• According to a new article in the Tennessee Lookout, families who have a special needs member are having a hard time securing home-based care services. Not only is the state encountering a shortage of workers to fill these positions, but the two different agencies that provide caregivers are experiencing pay disparities. Due to these employment difficulties, the Tennessee Justice Center has filed a lawsuit against the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, alleging that the state has violated two federal acts and discriminated against people with intellectual disabilities.
  
  

Here is the article linked

By Anita Wadhwani, Tennessee Lookout

July 29, 2021

MOHAWK, Tenn. — Drama Bryant's entire life has revolved around caring for her little brother, Jay, who — at 32 years old — requires 24/7 assistance as a result of congenital conditions that leave him unable to eat, bathe, go the bathroom, speak or walk unassisted.

Jay Bryant has Down syndrome and autism, suffers seizures, severe reflux disease and eczema and lives with chronic pain. If no one is looking, he will try to eat grass, dirt, rocks or other inedible items. When he's distressed, he hits himself hard enough to leave marks.

His intellectual and physical disabilities qualify him for a program operated by the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities that is supposed to provide Jay with 337 hours of professional care each month in the home he shares with his 69-year-old mom — who herself is disabled and suffering early symptoms of dementia.
Find out what's happening in Across Tennessee with free, real-time updates from Patch.

But his family has gotten no outside help. Instead, it has fallen to Drama Bryant, 38, to step in to care for her brother, full-time, while their desperate search for caregivers continue.

Tennessee, much like the rest of the nation, has long experienced a shortage of workers willing to take the low-pay, high stress jobs that are vital to helping people with severe disabilities live with dignity in their own homes and outside of institutions. The caregiver scarcity has reached crisis proportions during the new COVID-era of labor shortages...  Read more here.

Today's post is excerpted from Children's Health Defense. Businesses across the USA are starting to mandate Covid vaccination.  A local day and residential program service provider is mandating by mid-October.  They will review exemptions, but unvaccinated employees, contractors or board members will be subject to twice weekly testing. The vaccinated CAN contract and spread COVID - but they do NOT need to be tested unless they have symptoms. I see a false security looming. Delta Airlines plans to charge a $200 health insurance penalty to the unvaccinated.  Folks on Facebook are saying "smokers pay a penalty on life insurance, so it's OK." Will actuarial tables be applied to every aspect of life? Meantime, we are a nation rife with obesity - the reason for myriad health issues - which then predict severe Covid. Why haven't we encouraged Americans to LOSE WEIGHT since Spring 2020? At just 5 pounds a month, Americans could have lost some 85 pounds. And greatly improved their health. Lifestyle choices are MORE than whether or not you get vaccinated.

###

Dr. Peter McCullough Tells RFK, Jr.: ‘The Vaccines Are Failing’

On the “RFK, Jr. The Defender Podcast,” Dr. Peter McCullough discussed a new study by the Oxford University Clinical Research Group and how the Pfizer’s vaccine, at 17% to 42% efficacy, doesn't meet the regulatory standard of 50% efficacy for vaccines.

Why is the world experiencing such a “prominent outbreak” of the Delta variant when so many people have been vaccinated?

Dr. Peter McCullough, a consultant, cardiologist and vice chief of medicine at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, addressed those questions and more on the “RFK Jr. The Defender Podcast.”

New research shows people who are vaccinated against COVID are more susceptible to the Delta variant, said McCullough, pointing to a pre-print study by the prestigious Oxford University Clinical Research Group published Aug. 10 in The Lancet.  Read more here.

I spent a good portion of yesterday listening to the three major cable news networks report on the crisis in Afghanistan. I'm worried for the women and girls. I'm especially worried for the boys and girls who have autism and their mothers and fathers. I ran a Google search on Autism and Afghanistan and found very little:

There are no known studies looking at the prevalence of autism in Afghanistan, and organizations such as Autism Speaks do not operate in the country.

And this:

https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4614-6435-8_102534-1

The people of Afghanistan continue to hurt from the effects of decades of invasion and civil war. While there have been some efforts to support the physically disabled population of Afghanistan, there is less support for individuals with intellectual and mental disabilities; specifically, there is no support for children and adults with autism. This entry begins by introducing the history of autism-spectrum disorder (ASD) and the various legislative and political efforts in place in Afghanistan to support general disabilities. Furthermore, it addresses the lack of support for people specifically with autism in Afghanistan in regard to research and treatment of the condition. This is measured by the lack of nationwide recognition and awareness of autism, screening and diagnosis, and treatment for those afflicted with it. In addition to recognizing the severe lack of mental health resources in general, this entry also addresses the various cultural and social perceptual issues...

I am trying to bear in mind that we here in the United States and our readers across the Western world are so very fortunate.  Despite the major controversies and problems we face. I look at my own daughters, loved, helped, treated, healthy, welcomed by most of society, valued.....  a universe apart from what girls, typical or otherwise, experience in Afghanistan.  What can we do?

...There are no known studies looking at the prevalence of autism in Afghanistan, and organizations such as Autism Speaks do not operate in the country....

Imagine you're 16 and just crashed your parents' car into the neighbor's mailbox. You might start like this, "Look, many new drivers have minor accidents as part of their learning curve. It's common. It happens."   The Bloomberg article I screensnapped is cruel and inflammatory. Covax shaming at its nadir. OBs don’t have enough data to tell their patients with certainty what they face from Covid or the vaccine. The tone of blame is shameful. 

Here is the package insert from the Pfizer vaccine. They named it Comirnaty. I guess Qwerty was taken.

https://www.fda.gov/media/151707/download

1) Read the very first sentence of package insert information on pregnancy risk from the newly approved Pfizer jab: All pregnancies have a risk of birth defect, loss, or other adverse outcomes. 

2) When  you read, "...no evidence of harm," you can perk up your ears.  Vaccination en mass did not begin until January or later in 2021. A full term pregnancy is considered 40 weeks. Babies born to the very first vaccination cohort have not been born yet.  The package insert says that a developmental toxicity study was performed on rats. In reality, we have no idea the impact of Covid vaccination on mother or child yet.

3) NPR quotes CDC: The vaccine is also safe later in a pregnancy and while breastfeeding, the agency's new analysis indicates.  Package insert reads: It is not known whether COMIRNATY is excreted in human milk. Data are not available to assess the effects of  COMIRNATY on the breastfed infant or on milk production/excretion.

Risk Summary

All pregnancies have a risk of birth defect, loss, or other adverse outcomes. In the US general population, the
estimated background risk of major birth defects and miscarriage in clinically recognized pregnancies is 2% to 4% and 15% to 20%, respectively. Available data on COMIRNATY administered to pregnant women are insufficient to inform vaccine-associated risks in pregnancy. A developmental toxicity study has been performed in female rats administered the equivalent of a single human dose of COMIRNATY on 4 occasions; twice prior to mating and twice during gestation. These studies revealed no evidence of harm to the fetus due to the vaccine (see Animal Data)

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! "What is "Andrew Cuomo??" for the daily double. Didn't even take his dog. Ain't that a b*tch?

New paper

FDA are expected to vote today to fully license the Pfizer vaccine while hiding the hideous fallout

https://www.scivisionpub.com/pdfs/us-covid19-vaccines-proven-to-cause-more-harm-than-good-based-on-pivotal-clinical-trial-data-analyzed-using-the-proper-scientific--1811.pdf

ABSTRACT

Three COVID-19 vaccines in the US have been released for sale by the FDA under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) based on a clinical trial design employing a surrogate primary endpoint for health, severe infections with COVID-19. This clinical trial design has been proven dangerously misleading. Many fields of medicine, oncology for example, have abandoned the use of disease specific endpoints for the primary endpoint of pivotal clinical trials (cancer deaths for example) and have adopted “all cause mortality or morbidity” as the proper scientific endpoint of a clinical trial. Pivotal clinical trial data from the 3 marketed COVID-19 vaccines was reanalyzed using “all cause severe morbidity", a scientific measure of health, as the primary endpoint. “All cause severe morbidity” in the treatment group and control group was calculated by adding all severe events reported in the clinical trials. Severe events included both severe infections with COVID-19 and all other severe adverse events in the treatment arm and control arm respectively. This analysis gives reduction in severe COVID-19 infections the same weight as adverse events of equivalent severity. Results prove that none of the vaccines provide a health benefit and all pivotal trials show a statically significant increase in “all cause severe morbidity" in the vaccinated group compared to the placebo group. The Moderna immunized group suffered 3,042 more severe events than the control group (p=0.00001). The Pfizer data was grossly incomplete but data provided showed the vaccination group suffered 90 more severe events than the control group (p=0.000014), when only including “unsolicited” adverse events. The Janssen immunized group suffered 264 more severe events than the control group (p=0.00001). These findings contrast the manufacturers’ inappropriate surrogate endpoints: Janssen claims that their vaccine prevents 6 cases of severe COVD-19 requiring medical attention out of 19,630 immunized; Pfizer claims their vaccine prevents 8 cases of severe COVID-19 out of 21,720 immunized; Moderna claims its vaccine prevents 30 cases of severe COVID-19 out of 15,210 immunized. Based on this data it is all but a certainty that mass COVID-19 immunization is hurting the health of the population in general. Scientific principles dictate that the mass immunization with COVID-19 vaccines must be halted immediately because we face a looming vaccine induced public health catastrophe.

42% of reports and 60% of fatal reports to VAERS (started in 1990) are for Covid products since December: fatal vaccine reports to Yellow Cards are more than 20,000% up on the year

By John Stone

This is a brief investigation into the public data as it stands in mid August 2021. I would add that the point is not that this is the highest quality data but that it is the only data there is - we are being deliberately deprived of real data through negligence at best, as the FDA confessed to the New York Times early on. They had not got the machinery running - or more likely  they had it running and were just were not telling us about it. And so we get back  to VAERS which was diagnosed in 2010 as being so deficient it was picking up less than 1% of events (at which point US government agencies evidently realised that they were on to a good thing and decided not to streamline it). So here are two relative measurements.

42% of all reports to VAERS from 1990 to August 13, 2021 are for Covid vaccines (595,662/1,409,664)

60% of all reports to VAERS “where patient died” from 1990 to August 13, 2021 are for Covid vaccines (13,068/21,936)

I am not saying that we should just multiply these figures simplistically by 100 but they are indicative that there is something drastically amiss.

Meanwhile, we have a different collection of data from the United Kingdom to August 11. Here we should bear in mind that the population of the UK is one fifth of the US and the licensing body, the MHRA, generally reckons that reports represent about 10% of cases.

To date there have been 347,032 Yellow Cards, 1,151,768 Adverse Events, 1,596 Fatal 

This breaks down as follows:

Pfizer 36.6m doses 104,446 (1 Yellow Card in 350) 293,779 Adverse Events (2.8 per card) 501 Fatalites (1 in 73,054)

Astra Zeneca 48.6m doses 228,239 Yellow Cards  (1 in 213) 813,622 Adverse Events (3.6 per card) 1,053 Fatalities (1 in 46,154)

Moderna 2m doses 13,325 Yellow Cards (1 in 150) 41,274 Adverse Events (3 per card) 14 Fatalities (1 in 142,857)

Brand unspecified 1,022  Yellow Cards 3,093 Adverse Events 28 Fatalities

The fact that three brands have such distinct adverse event profiles argues strongly against this being background noise, however there are overwhelming reasons why most reports would never get made: people will not report because they don’t know to, because they don’t know how to, because the ethos is overwhelmingly hostile and they think it is the wrong thing to do or they are scared, or because they are too sick or even dead. By comparison the average number of vaccine reports for the previous ten years was 3,039 with 8 fatalities: 200 times the fatalities and we are not a year in: off the scale and the world is run by madmen.

By Cathy Jameson

It was refreshing to step away from some of life on our short family vacation last weekend.  I've shared other vacation stories before offering a peek at our family’s life and love that I can share our reality. I also like to be able to share travel suggestions that have worked for us.

For this get away, we stayed in a hotel the entire time we were out of town.  I can’t recall the last time we did that.  When we go away, we usually stay with family or friends who welcome us and all that we bring – Ronan’s favorite things, his safe foods, his water-proof bedding/sheets, and a lot of excitement from the siblings.  We brought all of that to our destination and something more this time – my Mom.  I was grateful that she could join us on our little adventure. 

Traveling with a young adult with autism can be challenging.  We’re seasoned travelers, including Ronan, but staying in a sold-out hotel, where every room is booked, was a bit intimidating.  

Ronan is non-verbal.  But that doesn't mean he isn't loud.  

Would other guests hear him?  Would someone complain?  Would he even be quiet if we asked him?  

Ronan is easy going.  But that doesn't mean he will adapt quickly to the massive changes in his routine. 

Would he want to be outside at the park, at the beach, or on the bay all day doing things he doesn't normally do?  

Ronan is a happy kid.  But that doesn't mean he doesn't have sad moments.

Would he want to leave as soon as we arrived, like he's requested before?

We brought all of Ronan's favorites with us in the hopes that having something from home would be encouraging.  It was.  Ronan definitely enjoyed some of the things we did.   

On our first day, which was the longest day we'd be outdoors, I knew that Ronan would tire much quicker than the rest of us would.  That's why we researched what accommodations the amusement park could offer someone with disabilities.  We have an adaptive stroller for when Ronan needs physical assistance, but as clunky and as big as it is, it was better to rent a wheelchair from the park.  Plus, Ronan loves wheelchairs.

Sometimes snark is a necessary educational tool, The beauty of running AofA as chief, cook and bottle washer is that we can use humor and sarcasm to send a message at will.

I was listening to Sirius XM and an ad for the Doctor Radio channel came on about back to school advice for parents. The focus? "Anxiety, depression, self-esteem."  I remember hoping to get the 4 ink Bic pen and real book covers instead of paper bags.

I read the words below on on a local Facebook group.  The group is very much Hate Has No Home Here - and yet? I showcase this loveliness and respectful engagement with the community because I am disheartened and dismayed by what I see everywhere. Friends turning against friends. Family shunning family. A virus came. And society either changed, or  the masks that so many wore to hide their vitriole toward one another came off. Oh, the irony. Her post is vulgar too, and she is getting high fives and likes and attagirls from townfolk. What the hell are we becoming? ALL HATE, as far as I can see.

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I believe that it is your duty as a human being to care about and protect other human beings lives. There are many ways we do this everyday, washing hands, covering sneezes, personal hygiene.  Wearing a mask is no different.  You know what? Wearing a bra isn't comfortable either. But yet women do it everyday so that men aren't triggered by nipples. The horror. 

If I have to wear underwires that frequently try to murder me thru the ribs so some guy doesn't get an inconvenient hard on you can wear a freaking mask to stop someone dying you selfish POS.

REDCON1, America's #1 Supplement Brand, Will No Longer Support the Arnold Classic, "Screw Your Freedom"

The division continues.  Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Screw your freedom," comment about those who do not want to get a Covid vaccine has cost him a gig.  Now, he's Arnold, and surely this isn't going to hit his wallet hard. Still, it's a message. I don't know much about this supplement company.  I'm happy to take my Vit D gummies every day.

I don't know a soul who is worried about the effect of masks or the vaccines who is taking a pure "freedom" stance.  I use the quotes on purpose. This isn't a toddler's "you're not the boss of me," moment. It's not an impulsive refusal. The most hesitant? PhDs.  Hardly a group that can be disparaged as anti-science or ignorant. In terms of education levels, people with a high school education or less had the largest decrease in vaccine hesitancy during the study period, while hesitancy held constant among those with a PhD, which was the most hesitant group by May. Who's Most Likely to Refuse a COVID Vaccine? And among AofA readers? So many of us have seen the dark side of vaccination side effects, of being abandoned by medical professionals, and have had our trust shattered.  Now family, friends, employers are lining up to disparage us, take away our jobs, our basic right to earn a living, participate in society.  Our kids have already been "screwed" Arnold, we aren't thinking of our "freedom." We're thinking of how to protect our children for further harm.

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REDCON1, America's #1 Supplement Brand, Will No Longer Support the Arnold Classic, "Screw Your Freedom"

BOCA RATON, Fla., Aug. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- REDCON1, the fastest-growing sports nutrition brand in the world, announced today with a heavy heart that it has discontinued all support for the Arnold Classic and the other Arnold-related events globally after Arnold Schwarzenegger's Anti-American comments.

With such prodigious influence Arnold beholds, making the public declaration, "screw your freedoms", is dangerous and anti-America. REDCON1 is a patriotic pro-freedom brand and community. We support everyone's individual freedoms.

"Arnold entered America with passion that he, too, could achieve the American dream. Of course, it wasn't easy, and he pushed through language barriers, poverty, and dramatic cultural differences. His dedication to the sport and perseverance helped him not only reach but achieve more than he ever imagined. A guy who had nothing and no advantages, who never made an excuse, and created tremendous success. He became an icon based on his work ethic, his charisma, and his grit. " Aaron Singerman, Founder.

We've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars being a top sponsor of the event, and this year the exclusive sponsor of the webcast, but we can't in good conscience continue to support & be involved with someone who has such diametrically opposed beliefs.

Excerpted from The Defender, from Children's Health Defense>

Will Vaccination Become the Price of Admission to Society?

By Dr. Joseph Mercola

An Aug. 2 op-ed by the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board suggested we ought to “make vaccination the price of admission to society.” One way to evaluate the reasonableness of such a proposition is to replace COVID “vaccination” with anything else.

Story at-a-glance:

In June, the U.S. National Security Council released a new National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism document. While it’s being largely framed as a tool to fight extremism, the definition of what constitutes a “domestic terrorist” is incredibly vague and based on ideologies rather than specific behaviors.

This policy can easily be used to silence political opposition simply by labeling anyone who disagrees with the government as a domestic terrorist and charging them with a hate crime, and we’re already seeing signs of this.

Dr. Peter Hotez recently published a paper in PLOS Biology, in which he suggests criticizing Dr. Anthony Fauci and other scientists ought to be labeled a “hate crime.”

Former assistant secretary for Homeland Security Juliette Kayyem is urging the U.S. government to put unvaccinated citizens on a no-fly list.

In June, the U.S. National Security Council released a new “National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism” document. While it’s being largely framed as a tool to fight white supremacy and political extremism, the definition of what constitutes a “domestic terrorist” is incredibly vague and based on ideologies rather than specific behaviors.

It’s not difficult to imagine this policy being used to silence political opposition simply by labeling anyone who disagrees with the government as a domestic terrorist and charging them with a hate crime.  Read more at The Defender.

Last month, we shared a story from Tennessee, where the top vaccine official felt threatened having received a muzzle in mail. this week, reports say she may have mailed herself the muzzle, in a case reminiscent of Jussie Smollett's. Who among us hasn't wished we had muzzled ourselves from time to time? How dumb do you have to be to use your own credit card? VISA gift card, Michelle. VISA gift card. Joke aside, this bizarre twist only deepens the mistrust and growing divide on both sides of the Covid vaccination debate.

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Tennessee probe finds fired vaccine official mailed herself muzzle despite claims Republicans silenced her

"...A joint state investigation found that a former top Tennessee vaccine official might have mailed herself the same muzzle she claimed last month to have received as a threat to keep quiet, arguing that Republicans had pushed for her firing because she shared factual information with doctors about the legalities of vaccinating un-emancipated minors against COVID-19 without parental consent. 

Records now indicate that the muzzle was paid for by Dr. Michelle Fiscus' own American Express credit card, according to an investigative report from the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security obtained by The Tennessean. In the memo, Special Agent Mario Vigil noted that "there is no evidence to indicate that the dog muzzle was intended to threaten Dr. Fiscus." 

This story will tear your heart out. Have you been affected? Tell us. Write to me and let me know if you want to share what's happening. AutismAges@gmail.com.

'A new low': TRICARE cuts services for children with autism, concerning military families

Rachael Riley
The Fayetteville Observer
In 2013, when her father returned from a third deployment, Mia Martin was diagnosed with autism at 3 years old.

Autism is a bio-neurological developmental disability that impairs normal brain development and ultimately cognitive function and social interaction.

Mia was enrolled in public school for a while.

Her days started at about 5 a.m. to catch a bus.

She’d sit in a classroom until about 1 p.m. then head off to therapy for four hours, ending her day at about 6 p.m.
James Martin and his daughter Mia are one of the military families impacted by the Defense Health Agency's decision to eliminate certain applied behavioral analysis services from classroom settings.

The 12-hour days were part of Mia’s routine for four years.

Mia’s father, Fort Bragg combat veteran James Martin, knew it took a toll on Mia.

The public classroom setting was too rigid.

“Even in a classroom of 15 kids with a special education teacher and an assistant, my daughter is quite the handful,” Martin said.

Mia couldn’t adapt.  Read more here.

Scenario: Direct Support staff in special needs day program is exposed to Covid by a fully vaccinated family member in his home.

A) He is vaccinated for Covid. He calls work, tells his boss he has been exposed to Covid. Boss tells him he is to report to work, because he is fully vaccinated, and to go get a test.

B) He is unvaccinated. He calls work, tells his boss he has been exposed to Covid. Boss tells him to stay home until he has a negative test because he is unvaccinated.

Which person do you want working with your loved one in the testing interim?

We usually run a photo with our posts, but Cathy asked if we had a song that speaks volumes to us, and Bob Marley is mine. Get Up Stand Up. Stand Up for Your rights. Don't Give Up the fight. It's our autism anthem.

By Cathy Jameson

A few weeks ago, commenter TOB left me this note:  

Great post as always. I was listening to a Tom Petty CD this week and thought it's just a matter of time before "Won't Back Down" is included in a Sunday post. This felt like the "Won't Back Down" post to me :-)

Since that July 11th post, the song TOB mentioned has been running through my head.  Several other songs, many with a similar theme, have been running through my head as well.  Things are getting uglier and uglier out there in the world.  Mandates, uncertainty, and a teeny tiny bit of stress is creeping closer to home.  I tend to be a hopefully-ever-after kinda girl. 

But not lately.

Some days, when I just don’t have the words to respond to it all, I must turn on some music.  Before I fight the good fight against the madness and impending mandates, I'm taking a short break. While I head out of town to the beach with my family to rest and relax for a few days, please enjoy this Won't Back Down playlist.  Thanks, TOB, for inspiring it! 

Tom Petty (God rest his soul) and the Heartbreakers singing I Won’t Back Down

Pink Floyd and their ever famous Another Brick in the Wall

Twisted Sister screaming their pretty little heads off with We're Not Gonna Take It

Isley Brothers encouraging us to Fight the Power

Give me some credit. I tried to stay civil after reading this Tweet on our Age of Autism Twitter feed yesterday.

"A 15 our overnight shift. The worst pandemic of our lifetime...."   Dr.Ama.

15 hours a day is like a part time job to most of us, right?  How many pediatricians have kicked out our kids? How many have disparaged, disbelieved our reports of what is or was happening with our children? How many pediatricians have refused to listen to us, brushed us off? And then gone home after an 8 hour shift with nurses and and administrators who manage the basics of the job, the phones, the records, the billing. With a cleaning staff that comes in late at night while we're still praying our kids might stop jumping or spinning or screaming or pacing. And with a paycheck most of us can never imagine PLUS the oohs and aahs and admiration of everyone at the cocktail party. "Oh! DOCtor Jones? Tell me more!"  My kids never had a single vision test at the pediatrician. They couldn't access the test. My kids never had a single hearing test at the pediatrician. They couldn't access the test. I was labeled a REFUSER on their paperwork.

So excuse me, Dr. Meade, if my tiny violin is out of commission for you. I wonder if she has ever heard of Dr. William Thompson from the CDC - take a look at her cover photo on Twitter. I'm sure she'd be too tired to listen to his information anyway. 15 hours. My stars and garters, what a trooper.

Trust. They say love is blind. I think today, trust is blind. Love is brave.

Stay brave.

Speaking of Facebook... CT Mall Shooting: Facebook Can Shut Down News  I copied this from dear friend Sargent Goodchild of Active Healing this morning.  I so needed to read and remember that WE control our thoughts and our thoughts affect our health. The side effects can be good or  bad. Fear is a liar, vibrate higher.

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Hopi Indian Chief White Eagle commented a few days ago on the current situation:

′′ This moment humanity is experiencing can be seen as a door or a hole. The decision to fall in the hole or walk through the door is up to you. If you consume the news 24 hours a day, with negative energy, constantly nervous, with pessimism, you will fall into this hole.

But if you take the opportunity to look at yourself, to rethink life and death, to take care of yourself and others, then you will walk through the portal.

Take care of your home, take care of your body. Connect with your spiritual home. When you take care of yourself, you take care of everyone at the same time.

Do not underestimate the spiritual dimension of this crisis. Take the perspective of an eagle that sees everything from above with a broader view. There is a social question in this crisis, but also a spiritual question. The two go hand in hand.

Without the social dimension we fall into fanaticism. Without the spiritual dimension, we fall into pessimism and futility.

Are you ready to face this crisis. Grab your toolbox and use all the tools at your disposal.

Learn resistance from the example of Indian and African peoples: we have been and are exterminated. But we never stopped singing, dancing, lighting a fire and rejoicing.

Don't feel guilty for feeling blessed in these troubled times. Being sad or angry doesn't help at all. Resistance is resistance through joy!

You have the right to be strong and positive. And there's no other way to do it than to maintain a beautiful, happy, bright posture.

Has nothing to do with alienation (ignorance of the world). It's a resistance strategy.

When we cross the threshold, we have a new worldview because we faced our fears and difficulties. This is all you can do now:

- Serenity in the storm

- Keep calm, pray everyday

- Make a habit of meeting the sacred everyday.

Show resistance through art, joy, trust and love.

Hopi Indian Chief White Eagle

Inserted July 9th 2021

Last night, we had an active shooter in the Danbury Fair Mall, in Danbury, Connecticut. It's not my closest mall, but folks in town go there for certain stores regularly. If your son or daughter or husband or Mom or friend was working or shopping there, you might search for it on Facebook, which touts itself as a reliable source of news. Except, you would have seen the photo on the left.  Facebook blocked out any and all searches related to the Danbury Mall. Wow. I didn't think I was naive, but that blew me away. "See more when you're back online."  Back online?? I AM online!

A local newspaper reported that a female was shot, and her wound(s) were non-life-threatening. Thank goodness.  Police: Person shot inside Danbury mall, suspect remains at large

You couldn't even search for the Carousel, that's famous in the mall.

I can't take credit for the headline, "DN" gets that.  Ciao Cuomo, piccolo uomo. Translation: Goodbye Cuomo, little man. Stronzo on the mask in the photo? Look it up, this is a PG site. Hint: We all have one and the sun doesn't shine there. Capisci?

This guy: From some Oprah site.

• Andrew Cuomo was named one of People's Sexiest Men Alive in 2020, as well as one of the most "desirable man in New York City."
• Currently, the third-term governor is single—he split from his longtime girlfriend, author and former Food Network star Sandra Lee, in September 2019.
• Cuomo was previously married to Kerry Kennedy for 13 years.

Sexiest man alive????  Desirable? Why? His power? Is that still what makes a man "desirable???"

This very sexy, desirable Andrew Cuomo, now facing a scandalous outing of his treatment of women, just resigned from his position as Governor of New York.

Over the years, he was brutally dismissive of our community. Under his watch, 26,000 healthy children were kicked out of school, long before Covid shut down classrooms, when he eliminated the religious exemption.  BSK posted on FB:

He may never pay for the nursing home scandal. But this? This will do. He is losing his dream, and bringing shame to his family and the Cuomo name. Let him feel one tenth of what my child felt being kicked out of his school/second home and losing his IEP back on 6/13/19 - when families like mine also had #FourteenDays to figure out what the hell we were going to do following the stroke of his pen.

His behavior toward women is indicative of many who call us names and actively work against us, and our children. And he has THREE DAUGHTERS! There is a misogyny so deep, so vicious, that it's hard to explain to men and even more-so to the WOMEN who support men like Cuomo.  He tried to use his Italian heritage as a crutch. Mamma mia.  He should be walked out in handcuffs, instead he gets 2 weeks to saunter out to his next gig, surely at a trough, like most "ex"-politicians.

I saw this meme on Facebook. I guess the person who posted it wants to keep cats safe. Laudable. I’m allergic to cats, and have never had a pet cat. But if I did, I would want her safe. (I would have a female cat, name her Toonces, and she would have a litter box shaped like a car.) But what does safety mean? Does that mean she should never feel sunshine from the sky, not just through a window? Or chase a chipmunk? Or live her authentic cat life? Aren't we all about living our authentic lives today, whether we have one or nine? Or are we scaredy cats - willing to cower at home instead of finding ways to stay strong, be strong. Live strong.

The 2020 lockdown taught us what it might feel like to be an indoor cat.  We discovered that it's a lot like what you scoop out of a litter box.  Mental health tanked. Businesses failed. Families separated. And now we live like the Hatfields and the McCoys pitted against each other in anger and fear, instead of banding together with American spirit of ingenuity.  We are allowed only 1 solution (3 brands, all in a syringe.)

The cat meme invoked the worst case, alarmist information that is fomenting anger across the country.  That if we DO NOT live the indoor life - we face nothing but danger and death.

I can't live that way. Paranoid. Anxious. Full of FUD - fear, uncertainty and doubt. I can live smart. I can make active choices to protect myself and my family. I can make fully informed choices. And like most of us here at AofA, I can NOT afford to be hospitalized, let alone die.  I have taken Covid seriously since the day it appeared on the scene in all its spikey gloomy (sic.)  I still take it seriously. Anyone who thinks otherwise, is a very dumb dog.

As the world is in a dither over Covid, the autism world continues to crash forward into Lord knows what worries and horrors.  Anne Dachel catalogs the nightmare that is facing families, schools and soon entire State systems.  How long have we had big BLUE acceptance messages about autism? Still, the penalties mount.  How long has neurodiversity preached that autism is just a difference in thinking? Still the penalties mount. How many billions have  been spent on useless genetics and other studies (puppets!)? And still the penalties mount.

Here's a case sure to sink your heart.  A 12 year old boy in trouble because he scripted from a video game. Let's talk about the video game. It's called "Red Dead Redemption."  Its rating is M for Mature, age 17+. Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol  America, 1899. The end of the wild west era has begun as lawmen hunt down the last remaining outlaw gangs. Those who will not surrender or succumb are killed.

"Jadon's favorite video game is Red Dead Redemption, a game he played with his older brother to bond. Clips posted online show the main character creating what the game calls "fire bottles" with gasoline then burning everything his path. Jadon read it that way in an online description of the game too."

COBB COUNTY, Georgia (WGCL) -- A Cobb County 12-year-old student faces felony charges after threatening to burn people and property at his school. But, he has Autism and his family argues, the proper protocols for students with disabilities were not followed prior to charges being filed.

Jadon Ringland's family told CBS46, he was only repeating what he saw and heard in a video game, repeating phrases is a diagnosed symptom of his disorder, also known as "scripting."

Remember this scene from Finding Nemo? Nemo tells his anxious Dad, "I CAN DO THIS!" But his Dad, who has lived his entire life in fear, say, "NO YOU CAN'T!" And then he considers the option of not trying, of not trusting  his son, who has learned many lessons on his journey. He considers the consequences of his fear - letting Dory get swept up in the net and killed. He sets aside his fear and starts barking orders to listen to his son. Pixar is smart. And not just because of the cool hopping lamp intro that our kids like to watch so much.  Many of us feel that we are in the net. And certainly our children are in the net. SWIM DOWN.

Note: We first ran this post on August 14, 2020. The rabbit hole now reaches to the center of the earth.

By Laura Hayes

I went grocery shopping this past Saturday, first time in 30 days. I find seeing my fellow humans masked, including young children, to be soul-stripping, and I come home angry and depressed. For some reason, I thought I would not be the only unmasked person at this stage of the insanity, but I was wrong. The store was more crowded than I had seen it to date, and yet, I saw no other shopper, or employee, not wearing a mask…nearly 6 months into this global machination.

In the event you haven’t noticed, things are getting worse, not better. And I am not talking about “Covid-19”, whatever that is or isn’t (no way for us to know, as we have been lied to from the get-go). I am talking about the state of our God-given rights, many of which our U.S. Constitution was created to protect, rights that include: the right to breathe freely, minus dangerous impediments; the right to communicate and socialize with others, minus facial covering and physical distancing requirements; the right to move about freely, including frequenting businesses of our choosing, minus finding businesses forcibly closed, and minus absurd shopping and walking around town rules; the right to conduct business, minus being deemed non-essential, minus being restricted in scope and ability to conduct business, and minus being coerced to enforce dangerous and absurd requirements of employees and customers; the right to assemble, minus ridiculous and arbitrary physical distancing and maximum number restrictions, and minus the forced covering of the majority of one’s face; the right to seek medical, dental, and eye care, minus temperature checks, facial masking, and in some cases, Covid-19 testing requirements (with the nasal swab testing causing harm and damage to some of those being tested that way); the right to practice one’s religion, and to congregate and fellowship with others, minus rules and requirements which prevent one from doing so; and the right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness, minus unwarranted, unconstitutional, and unacceptable government interference.

Americans should find it shocking, frightening, and intolerable that acting on our God-given fundamental rights as human beings has now been deemed illegal behavior and can result in being charged with a crime in a growing number of situations and locations. Stop and think about that for a few minutes. That which prior to 2020 were considered basic human rights, including the rights to breathe, smile at others, communicate, entertain, move about, congregate, shop, conduct business, seek care and services, and go to church, have instantaneously been labeled dangerous behaviors if done in a free, unregulated, and unimpeded manner, deemed worthy of fines, ostracization, shaming, social isolation, forced quarantine, closures, lockdowns, lawsuits, and no doubt very soon, prison time and “re-education camps”. Perhaps this is why nearly half of U.S. states have released thousands of prisoners before their sentences were completed, including those who have committed violent crimes…to make room for those who will refuse to comply with rights-stripping, unconstitutional, life-destroying edicts made and enforced by those abusing their positions of power.

In short order, we have been put under mask requirements, physical distancing requirements, quarantining of healthy people, business closures, lockdowns, required testing (or lose your job, or be denied services), contact tracing (how long will it take for literally every American to be put on someone’s list…I predict that could be accomplished in less than 2 weeks), and soon dissenters will be victims of knocks on their doors, removal to quarantine centers and/or re-education camps, forced vaccinations while being held down, and prison time, followed by “suicides” and unexplained deaths.

By Cathy Jameson

After both my sister and my mother asked me if I'd seen Mike Rowe's latest Off the Wall post, I knew I needed to read it. I trust my family's input on several topics. I also tend to like and agree with several things Mike Rowe has shared.

I see many thoughtful take-aways from him, but the one part that stuck with me the longest hours after reading it was Mike Rowe's regrets. How many of us in our community have shared the regret of not listening to our instinct? Of taking a medical professional's biased opinion as actual fact? Of wishing we could've done things differently? I'd say many of us have.

Regrets can be unfortunate, but they can also keep us from making the same mistake again. To Mike Rowe, thank you for sharing your thoughts, your wise words, and those regrets. You'll grow from them. I guarantee it.

###

Off the Wall - Read the post and bookmark Mike Rowe's blog here.

Mike – I read several months ago that you got the vaccine. I’m glad. But I’m also curious. You have a lot of people on this page who respect your opinion - many of whom I’d wager are unvaccinated. Have you encouraged them to follow your example? If not, what are you waiting for? As you surely know, Delta is raging. The sooner we’re all vaccinated, the sooner we can get back to normal!

Steve Manchin

Hi Steve

The short answer is no - I have not publicly encouraged anyone to get vaccinated. In fact, I have recently declined to participate in several PSA's designed to persuade people to get the jab. That’s not because I’m opposed to vaccines, obviously. Vaccines have saved more lives than any other advancement in the long history of medicine, and to your point, I got the shots the minute I was eligible. But I’m not a doctor, Steve, and even though I occasionally play one on TV, I’m not inclined to dispense medical advice to the people on this page.

True, I did appear in a few PSA’s early on, back when they assured us that locking down was essential to keeping our hospitals from being overrun. “Two weeks to flatten the curve!” Remember that one? That of course, turned out to be untrue, and I regret my role in helping perpetuate that particular falsehood. I also regret what I said during the first Zoom show to air in primetime. It was an episode of After the Catch, where I discussed the lockdowns with a few crab-boat captains. At one point, I looked into the camera lens on my computer and said, with uncharacteristic earnestness, “For the first time in a long time, it appears we’re all in the same boat.”

We’ve been barred from Google News for years. Our stories used to be indexed and shared often. Good to see Google is disseminating important information for families. This alert came through in my email for "autism".  Testing anecdotal evidence on... puppets. Maybe Bert and Ernie will take over care for our kids when we die?  

Points if you get the headline joke.  If not, here you go.

Who remembers Andrew "Diceman" Clay’s filthy nursery rhymes in the 80s??  My ex had a tape in his car. (Insert hindsight emoji.) Here’s one I just made up! Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a shot that’s falsy. Dice Clay was down & now he frowns because he got Bell’s Palsy.

Full  Disclaimer - I have NO idea how he got Bell's Palsy. None. I am making a joke about the jab, which has included BP as a side effect. And we know about “side effects.”  Becasue if we don't laugh a little, we will all go stark raving mad.

And of course, we send thoughts and prayers for a full and complete recovery.  I was thinking of seeing him live next month here in Connecticut. 

By the way, If you get a chance to see Jim Breuer on his Live and Let Laugh tour, GO! I saw him last weekend and he slayed the audience with his take on the last 16 months. Trust me, our readers would howl with laughter.

The real story for Dice Clay isn't that he's angry at the media for their dismissal of his career, it is that so far, none of the comments say, "Did you get the Covid or any other vaccine that lists Bell's Palsy as a side effect?" No one dares or no one has connected the dots, I don't know. I'm not in the mood to have my arse handed to me on a silver platter, so I did not bother to  chime in with what is to our readers, a logical question.

From his Facebook page: Read it here.

I Really Don’t Understand Why This Bells Palsy Thing Has Taken On A Media Blitz. It’s Not Like I Tried To Hide It. It’s A Temporary Issue And I’m Still Just As Gorgeous With It! The Most Untruthful Thing About These Articles…Is About My Hiatus For 20 Years From The World Of Stand Up Comedy. I Have Never Stopped Performing Live. One Of The Reasons Why People Call Journalism Fake News…Please, Just The Facts From Now On. I Am Working Out Constantly As You Can See From My Posts And Have Been Killing It With My Live Performances. See You At @citywinerynyc Monday Night!

By Anne Dachel

Every couple of years when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gets around to updating the autism numbers, which are always increasing and never at a plateau, I’m left wondering one thing: WHAT IF THINGS GET EVEN WORSE?

Part 5

HOW BAD DO THINGS HAVE TO GET?

When will autism become a crisis in America?

 (It should be noted, since I follow this news religiously, that no U.S. health official has ever called autism a crisis. The “C” word is never to be used in the same sentence with the word autism. I’m sure that’s directive sent out to all staffers when talking about autism.)

No reporter has ever inquired about worsening numbers, and officials are never worried.

Ten years ago we learned that one in 38 children in South Korea had autism. We’ve seen one in 27 in Hong Kong, one in 22  school children in Northern Ireland, and most recently, one in every 14 kids in Toms River , NJ, including one in every eight boys.

It’s clear that the people in charge of public health will never really care about autism, even as it buries us.

Question 5: How will we manage to provide for more and more children with developmental disorders in our schools at the same time huge numbers of autistic young people are aging out of school and looking for adult services?    

Mark Blaxill Autism Tsunami Part 5

Mark: One thing about our models, Anne, was that they were all arithmetic. They were programmed. … We had to make assumptions about birth cohorts in children who have not yet come into the world. So we had to assume what the rate of autism was going forward.

So we did arrange some scenarios, because we don’t know that.

And then we applied cost per individual by age. There are numbers on that. You can find that. There’s a literature.

But when you add all that up together and you project it forward, what is left out of that is the budget.

Where does the money come from?

Will there be constraints? What will happen? Will we hit some brick wall that we can’t afford?

We’ll have ghettos of autistic adults because all of a sudden state legislators won’t provide funding, or it’ll break the bank.

There’s a whole dynamic: the provision of dollars and the demand for dollars.  We basically modeled the demand for dollars, but the provision of dollars will not be infinite. It can’t rise forever. There will be pushback, and the system might just break.

You talk to Toby Rogers. Toby and I and Cindy talk about that.

It’s a model, but it’s not the flesh and blood of the real world and the interplay of markets and institutions and resources.

Resources are not endlessly available for populations that don’t earn.

NOTE:  This is part 4 of a 5 part series running all week. Parts 1, 2 and 3 are below. At the end of the series, we'll reorganize to run it in order. Thank you.

By Anne Dachel

What is autism going to cost?

One of the convenient results of the lie that autism is nothing new in the human population is that it seems we’ve somehow been able to handle things. If autistic people have always been around, we’ve provided for them, even if we didn’t call their disability autism.

That’s a delusion, yet it’s still going strong, no matter how bad the numbers get.

The one thing no official has ever called for is a study on the autism rate among adults. Telling us something but never having to show proof is pretty much the history of the federal government when it comes to autism.

My often repeated question has never been talked about: Why can’t young autistic adults go where autistic adults have always gone? We must have done something with them, even if we didn’t call them autistic.

The fact that we’re desperately short of services for these disabled young  adults is more proof of lie we’ve been told.

Meanwhile there are endless stories from across the country over the last two decades about training people to deal with autistic children: fire fighters, ER personnel, police, teachers, airport staff, librarians, doctors and lots of other groups.

We’ve made other adjustments like sensitive Santas in stores at Christmas, autism-friendly movie showings, sensory/calming rooms in schools, to name only a few.

And as this population of autistic children ages out of school and into the adult population, many more adjustments will have to be made, and we’ll all be paying for them. Autism awareness will be everywhere.

Incredibly all this seems to be happening with no questions being asked. Somehow it’s insensitive to talk about where all these kids are coming from.

Mark Blaxill Autism Tsunami Part 4

Question 4:  Where will we see the biggest drain on resources and funding: federal, state, or local levels?

Mark: The question of who pays is going to be a big one, and what we know is that we will see a massive shift in who pays.

Right now most of the autistic population is children, and so what that means is parents pay. Either they pay directly out of their pocket or they lose the ability to work. So there is lost parental productivity.

We’ve all felt that. Autism and fighting for your autistic child is not a good career move.

There’s lost productivity. It’s more often women than men, but there are subtle effects. People’s lives change, and they have fewer children.

There are just so many effects of autism on the parents. There’s a large burden that is borne by the parents.

NOTE:  This is part 3 of a 5 part series running all week. Parts 1 and 2 are below. At the end of the series, we'll reorganize to run it in order. Thank you.

By Anne Dachel

For years I’ve written about something I call “the really big lie about autism.” That is  the continual and baseless claim that all the autism everywhere among our children is merely the result of “better diagnosing/greater awareness/expanded definition” of a disorder that’s always been around.

Each and every time an official increase in the autism has been announced, there was always some federal official assuring the public that they weren’t sure IF THIS INCREASE represented a true increase in the number of children with autism.

Their real meaning was FROM THE LAST OFFICIAL INCREASE, but they knew that the media lackeys  would spin the message to read, THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A REAL INCREASE IN AUTISM.

As long as that lie works, they can all relax. Autism only requires recognition and services. Allocate more funds and life goes on.

Back in 2006 I was in Washington with two doctors visiting congressional offices. We had an appointment with the chief of staff of my representative, Dave Obey of Wisconsin. During our meeting we laid out the evidence on the increases in autism and the cost predictions.

Obey’s chief of state’s response was this: “So what’s the solution? Congressmen don’t like problems without solutions.”

The three of responded together, “We have to stop it.”

That pretty much ended our conversation. She wasn’t interested in what that would involve.

Mark Blaxill autism tsunami Part 3

Question 3: Why aren’t health officials focused on this? Why do they continue to tell us with each new rate increase that they are still not sure if more children actually have autism?

Mark:  That’s a really interesting question. I think there are multiple answers.

At one level, most of the people in these jobs have relatively short career time horizons, so they’re looking for their next job. They’re in for not very long.

If they can defer dealing with tough questions for two, five, 10 years, they don’t have to worry about it anymore.

Autism parents have a much longer time horizon. Our time horizon is longer than our own lives. Our time horizon goes decades long

We’re worried about the lives of our children when we’re gone, so we are the ones carrying the message.

At some level it’s just short term, long term thinking.  .

It’s a tough question to answer.

Another reason they don’t answer is they don’t have a good answer that  they like.

NOTE:  This is part 2 of a 5 part series running all week. Part 1 is below. At the end of the series, we'll reorganize to run it in order. Thank you.

By Anne Dachel

A few years ago, the parent of a daughter with severe autism talked with me about the last IEP meeting he attended during her final year in high school.

The father asked the staff about what was next for his child. What adult programs would there be for her?

Her teachers had to admit that they didn’t know of any specific programs in the area at the same time they assured him that they were sure there would be something.

It was no big surprise for him to learn that no one is prepare for young adults with autism. His daughter was moved from one program for developmentally disabled adults to another, with none of them equipped to deal with her behavioral needs. Today social services pays a relative to babysit her all day.

This is but one tiny example of the future that Mark Blaxill talks about here.

Mark Blaxill Autism Tsunami Part 2

Question 2: How bad will things get if the autism rate increases continue at the rate they have in the past?

Mark: It’ll get really bad. We know that. I like to say that before 1930, the rate of autism in the world was effectively zero.

Then Leo Kanner discovered it in a handful of children who were born in the 1930s. He wrote his paper in 1943 after seeing a bunch of children who were unlike any other group he’d ever seen before.

He was the world’s leading expert in child psychiatry. For many years thereafter, in the U.S. at least, the rates were really low, one in 10,000.

Then they began to tick up a little bit in the 70s and 80s, but in the late 90s they went vertical. We haven’t seen the plateau in that curve.

The latest numbers we have are something like three percent in American children. There are numbers that are even higher than that in some places.

What that means is, if you were born in 1930, you’d be 90 today. … So there are people who are alive today who were around when there was no autism. The first cases of autism, some of them are still alive. I have met a couple of them, but they are vanishingly rare.

So we have no system for elderly adults with autism whose parents are no longer with us.

We have been struggling all over the world in special education programs to deal with the onslaught of children.

NOTE:  We'll have an audio file to accompany Anne's transcription.  This is part 1 of a 5 part series. Thank you.

By Anne Dachel

Mark Blaxill Autism Tsunami Part 1

Question 1: Tell us about your study, Autism Tsunami: the Impact of Rising Prevalence on the Societal Cost of Autism in the United States.  What motivated you and the other authors to look into the future impact of autism? 

Mark: My motivation has been 20 years long. (Inaudible)…and it was pretty obvious for too long, the numbers were exploding.

California and everywhere you looked, the numbers were going up, and that invalidated the orthodox story line.

(Inaudible) Mark dismissed the official claims of better diagnosing/diagnostic substitution.

And we’ve known that for a long time, Anne.

I first started writing about that in 2001, 2003, in that area. I started writing in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders when they started trying to blame it on diagnostic substitution.

It was obvious that the work that they were doing …(inaudible)

I wrote to them. I got some colleagues to write. …

The authors that argued that it was diagnostic substitution had to retract their findings because it was obvious that they were arithmetically wrong.

The rate of autism was going up, and the rate of intellectual disability was not declining.

Then I wrote a paper that was published in 2004, What’s going on? The question of time trends in autism.

I argued that the rates were going up and it was real, all over the world, particularly in the United States and the UK.

I know you focus very heavily on the United States and the UK both of which have rates that are going up.

And then I kept writing about it.

I wrote a book called The Age of Autism.

I wrote another book called Denial, both with Dan Olmsted.

One in 2010 and another in 2017.

You’re kind of screaming at the universe, please pay attention. This is a crisis.

Anne, you do this every day. I do this in longer cycle projects. We’re doing much of the same work.

By Cathy Jameson

Scrolling through a local news website, I saw a nurse being interviewed about the COVID shot.  The blurb that accompanied the video shared that the “…assistant dean of the Columbia University School of Nursing says there needs to be a ‘multifactorial’ approach when trying to convince people to get vaccinated.”  The Associated Press also shared the link with the nurse,  who’s part of this CDC-funded organization.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NLHJbOon0Q

As I watched, it was clear that the message was not to inform or educate the public about the shot.  It was to do everything possible “to get the last percentage of people vaccinated”.  Since that hasn’t happened, despite an abundance of free vaccines being available, groups, including the US government, are using all sorts of approaches to peer pressure everyone to get vaccinated.  The nurse suggests using other people – spokespeople of the same race, church representatives, youth ambassadors, and celebrities.  Other techniques are to use avenues like social media.  Getting the right people to tell their own story to these last few Americans could be convincing.  Smiling through the short interview, she seemed proud of strategies and tactics she suggested to raise vaccine confidence. 

All over the web, like clockwork, other local news stations and websites shared the exact same message. 

The nurse’s message aligned with Biden’s latest complaint that not every American has gotten the shot. 

I know he struggles sometimes, but Biden, like those funds the nurse’s mission, have not gotten the message that some Americans do not want the shot, cannot take the shot, and will not get that shot.  These Americans aren’t perseverating their message as much as the administration currently is, but they’ve been vocal, too.  

They’ve confidently said no.

They’ve politely said no, thank you.

They’ve emphatically said no!

I tried to sum up Covid vaccine hesitation and outright refusal in a Tweet.  I'm pretty sure Twitter is holding back our Tweets - our likes and RTs are very low given we have over 30,000 followers.  Still, I persevere.  Follow us at @AgeofAutism

Why are we supposed to be Kerri Strug, 1996 Olympics gymnast who was encouraged - coerced - to vault on a badly turned ankle to appease her coach, her team, her nation?

We are asking to be treated with respect and understanding, like Simone Biles. 

 Looks like I triggered bots and anything but’ers yesterday. Look at the knee-jerk dismissal. The anger. Buyers Remorse is as contagious as Covid. I don’t dare tell them I wrote for HuffPo for almost 10 years. My name change has really been a savior! A few folks are chiming in with agreement that asking is in order, and that's encouraging. I especially liked one comment that "There is no evidence that this vaccine could do that!" There's no evidence I ate the last chocolate cookie on the plate at midnight either. Not even a crumb.

Jjhhg

Got this Facebook friend request yesterday, Friday. It makes a much sense as most of what we read and hear these days! And we could use the laugh. THIS is the true meaning our of "current AFFAIRS" category. LOL! Have a good weekend.