Were Covid Masks Useless?

Most of us laughed at what a joke the mask rules were.  When you walked into an airport they shoved masks at you, made you social distance and then proceeded to make 250 of you into a metal tube sitting on each other’s laps. You needed to keep your mask up at all times while on the plane except to take it down to eat a peanut or sip your Coke!  Today we read that even the NYT editorial page I saying masks did nothing.  Read it for yourself because I don’t have a subscription for NYT but found another source reporting it.

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In an op-ed this week from columnist Bret Stephens, the New York Times had its first coverage of an explosive new Cochrane review of medical studies that concludes there is no evidence mask mandates did anything beneficial at all during the Covid pandemic, anywhere in the world, under any conditions whatsoever. The question in the article’s headline: “Will any lessons be learned?”

Masking was a key component of the government’s response to Covid under both Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and the mandates remain a major point of political contention.

The most rigorous and comprehensive analysis of scientific studies conducted on the efficacy of masks for reducing the spread of respiratory illnesses — including Covid-19 — was published late last month. Its conclusions, said Tom Jefferson, the Oxford epidemiologist who is its lead author, were unambiguous.

“There is just no evidence that they” — masks — “make any difference,” he told the journalist Maryanne Demasi. “Full stop.”

But, wait, hold on. What about N-95 masks, as opposed to lower-quality surgical or cloth masks?

“Makes no difference — none of it,” said Jefferson.

What about the studies that initially persuaded policymakers to impose mask mandates?

“They were convinced by nonrandomized studies, flawed observational studies.”

What about the utility of masks in conjunction with other preventive measures, such as hand hygiene, physical distancing or air filtration?

“There’s no evidence that many of these things make any difference.”

 https://www.mediaite.com/print/nyt-op-ed-covers-explosive-study-finding-mask-mandates-useless-will-any-lessons-be-learned/

US Tells China There Will Be Consequences if the Provide Arms to Russia

 World wars don't start overnight.  Nations get drawn into the conflict as they are forced to choose sides.  Right now we are providing a huge amount of money and arms to Ukraine to fight Russia.  And now we are warning China that they better not give aid and munitions to Russia.

The United States is prepared to impose consequences on China’s communist regime should it provide lethal military aid to Russia for the ongoing war in Ukraine.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price, during a Feb. 22 press briefing, said that the regime would not escape sanctions if it attempted to further assist Russia’s conquest.

“We have been clear with the PRC that consequences would befall them if they were to provide lethal assistance,” Price said using an acronym for the official name of communist China, the People’s Republic of China.

“We have been clear. We will not hesitate to target Chinese companies or individuals who violate sanctions.”

The United States and its allies have long worried that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) economic and diplomatic support for Russia could evolve into providing military material outright.

Last March, White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan met with Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi in Rome for a seven-hour emergency meeting to urge the CCP not to provide such aid.

Likewise, President Joe Biden last year told CCP leader Xi Jinping that there would be “consequences” should the regime follow through on providing lethal aid for the Russian conquest of Ukraine.

Those fears were reignited this month when Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested that the regime could be preparing to deliver such support.

Price was careful to note, however, that the United States did not believe such support had yet been delivered, and that it was working earnestly to deter such an eventuality.

“We have not yet seen the PRC provide Russia with lethal aid,” Price said, “but we don’t believe they’ve taken it off the table either.”

China, Russia Seek World Where ‘Might Makes Right’

Price said that the CCP’s willingness to bolster Russia’s economy and spread Kremlin propaganda internationally demonstrated a growing alliance between the two authoritarian powers, and that China and Russia were increasingly striving to erode the rules-based international order.

“We are concerned because these two countries share a vision, they share an intent,” Price said. “It is not a vision of a rules-based order, of a liberal order of democracies living peacefully side by side.”

“It is a vision that hearkens back to a previous era. An era in which big countries could bully small countries, borders could be redrawn by force. An era in which might could make right.”

To that end, Price said that the Biden administration believed the CCP was underestimating the resolve of the international community to strike back at threats, and that its leadership was miscalculating how sorely it would be harmed should it move forward with providing aid to Russia.

“The rest of the world sees the PRC, despite its veneer of neutrality… provide important forms of support for Russia,” Price said.

“China, we think, seriously risks miscalculating by continuing its support for Russia which is directly impacting how the rest of the world sees the PRC.”

Here;  US Pledges ‘Consequences’ for China If It Provides Military Aid to Russia (theepochtimes.com)

Russia, China Have Stranglehold on Fertilizer

 Most of us are removed from farming practices so don't realize the millions of tons of fertilizer that are put on fields and crops every spring in America.  These products make it possible to grow 300 bushel corn along with everything else we put in our mouths and the mouths of our meat animals.

So might it be a big deal that the two countries who despise us most control a huge percentage of the world's fertilizer??

I blogged last spring that the farmer I work with paid $400 per ton and last year that went to $1300 per ton!

What might that go to if a war breaks out even further with Russia?  How about if China wants to cease shipping fertilizer to us?  We feed the world and that could put food security for billions even further out of reach.

Jesus said, "there will be famines" in the Last Days.

The world relies on fertilizers produced by Russia, and its ally Belarus, as well as China to produce many of it's crops. 

And that has alarms going off because of the stranglehold that could give those nations over the world's food supply.

A report that was posted on the Yahoo site explains, "Just as semiconductors have become a lightning rod for geopolitical friction, so the race for fertilizers has alerted the U.S. and its allies to a strategic dependency for an agricultural input that is a key determinant of food security."

The report cites a "cargo" that was trapped in Rotterdam that was so precious the U.N. intervened to get it moved to Mozambique. It was tons of fertilizer destined overland for Malawi.

"About 20% of Malawi's population is projected to face acute food insecurity during the 'lean season' through March, making the use of fertilizers to grow crops all the more vital. It's one of 48 nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America identified by the International Monetary Fund as most at risk from the shock to food and fertilizer costs fanned by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

One year on, the upheaval caused to world fertilizer markets is seen by the U.N. as a key risk to food availability in 2023," the report explained.

The report detailed that countries which control the fertilizer market has moved "to the forefront of the political agenda."

"If your stomach is full then you can defend your house, you can defend your borders, you can defend your economy."

The issue for the $250 billion global fertilizer industry was complicated last year because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Ports were disrupted, shipping, banking and insurance are more complicated, meaning ordinary deliveries haven't been reliable.

Here;  Russia, China Stranglehold On Fertilizer May Put World Food Security At Risk (prophecynewswatch.com)

Russia Deploys Northern Fleet Armed With Nukes

Biden was in Ukraine shaking hands and promising another 1/2 billion of US Dollars, which will be printed out of thin air, adding to inflation.  Putin dreams of a powerful motherland and believes that some of the old Soviet territories should be back with the motherland...hence the invasion of Ukraine.  Putin has warned that he doesn’t want NATO on his border.  Finland has an 800 mile border with Russia and they announced they are joining NATO ASAP. Putin sends out his fleet armed with Nukes for first time since Cold War. Do you think the world could spiral out of control soon?  Are we glad that Jesus is our Savior and is surprised by none of this?

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Russia's Northern Fleet is on the move, being deployed while armed with tactical nuclear weaponry for the first time since the Cold War, according to a Norwegian intelligence report.

"A central part of the nuclear capabilities is located on the North Fleet's submarines and surface vessels," the report stated, adding that these tactical nuclear weapons represent a very significant threat to NATO member states.

This comes amid Russia's defense budget increasing by 34% in 2023.

 https://www.jpost.com/international/article-731730

The Effort to Make God Gender Neutral

 Articles like this make you wonder how much longer God will tarry from pouring out his wrath?  These frail humans believe they can change the very nature of God because they think He should be more politically correct.

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The Church of England is a shell of itself. England was once the most Christian nation on earth. Today 80% of the youth have no connection to any religion. Many churches that once were full of worshippers are now museums. The US is a few decades behind England, but we are rapidly catching up to the UK’s sad state.

For decades, the gender of God has prompted debate within the church, with many calling for male pronouns He and Him, as well as a reference to Our Father, to be scrapped in favor of either gender-neutral or female alternatives. If labeling God as a male is bad, it doesn’t make sense to give Him a female name.

Having no interest in preaching the message of salvation in Jesus Christ, the Church of England thinks some of its problems are the result of the Bible’s lack of inclusive language. It is absolutely absurd to say a God that refers to Himself as our Father and we are his children is lacking in inclusive language. It is clearly an attack on the male reference to our Creator by reducing Him to the “It God.”

The move has been criticized by conservatives, who have warned that “male and female imagery is not interchangeable. However, liberal Christians have welcomed it, claiming that “a theological misreading of God as exclusively male is a driver of much-continuing discrimination and sexism against women.

The Rev Joanna Stobart, from the Diocese of Bath and Wells, asked what steps were being taken to offer congregants alternatives to referring to God with male pronouns and if there was any update “to develop more inclusive language in our authorized liturgy.”

She also asked bishops “to provide more options for those who wish to use authorized liturgy and speak of God in a non-gendered way, particularly in authorized absolutions where many of the prayers offered for use refer to God using male pronouns.”

The Bible uses feminine imagery and metaphors of God but primarily identifies God using masculine pronouns, names, and imagery. Male and female imagery is not interchangeable.

The fact that God is called ‘Father’ can’t be substituted by ‘Mother’ without changing meaning, nor can it be gender-neutralized to ‘Parent’ without loss of meaning. Fathers and mothers are not interchangeable but relate to their offspring in different ways.

Show me a church that refers to God as a woman, and I’ll show you a church that is overrun with homosexuality, that sides with the left’s political agenda, and believes environmentalism is a way to achieve your eternal salvation. It also has no impact on the world around it. The church used to be a beacon of light to the lost. Now they just reflect the religious fads and trends of the day.

Changing the gender of God in the Bible is an admission that the Word of God is full of errors. Scripture contains approximately 170 references to God as the “Father.” By necessity, one cannot be a father unless one is male. The New Testament Epistles (from Acts to Revelation) also contain nearly 900 verses where the word theos—a masculine noun in the Greek—is used in direct reference to God.

It is blasphemy on the highest level for the Church of England’s General Synod and the Archbishops’ Council to think that they can simply vote to change the Holy word of God. The Bible itself warns that you can’t make edits to the word God. If you do, you’re on your way to hell (Rev 22:18-19).

I’m sure the writers of the four gospels and Paul the apostle would be very surprised to find that 2,000 years later, a church body decided that God’s gender was wrong all this time. With the church age rapidly coming to a close, the leaders of the Church of England will soon find themselves face to face with a Being that reflects his image as He originally intended.

Genesis 1:26-27 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

https://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/