Day: August 23, 2024

The Big Scare is upon us yet again, with warnings that the Killer Disease of Monkey Pox, now abbreviated to Mpox, is spreading across the globe.

Is it? Do we care? Let’s take a good look and decide. Almost all the cases of it are in Congo, Africa. “In 2024 alone, the DRC has reported over 17,500 cases and 517 deaths”. “out of 18,910 reported cases in 2024, a staggering 94%—equivalent to 17,794 infections—originated in Congo”. Only six of all the reported deaths in Africa from this disease happened in other nations than Congo. That’s not exactly a big concern considering there’s 54 nations, 2 independent states plus a few territories and a population of 1.4 billion.

The death rate in Africa from Mpox is 3.9%.

Mpox is spread by physical contact, like HIV, and is contracted mostly by homosexuals, who then spread it to others, children especially from the reports, and no, I don’t know if sexual contact is involved. There have been a few cases outside Africa, spread by people traveling from Congo, but these are quickly isolated and treated.

There’s also a vaccine for Mpox and large amounts of it are being sent to Congo, but not enough yet. There’s about 1.4 billion people in Africa now and they all need to be vaccinated against Mpox. Mpox is related to Smallpox and the vaccination of Americans for it ended in 1972. Those born before then and vaccinated are also safe from Mpox.

So. Do we all need to rush out and demand an Mpox vaccination from our doctors? I’m over 55 and have the vax scar to prove it. I’m not homosexual and I don’t hang out with homosexuals or people recently arrived from Congo or rub my flesh against that of strangers. So I’m not worried and if you fit anywhere within that, you probably shouldn’t be either and should pass on it if you’re offered a Mpox vaccination. Just my opinion.

Ukraine has taken a tactic from the Hamas tool box and is applying it to Russia, the difference being that it’s in response to being attacked, and of course I mean the drone barrage that they’ve been sending in lately.

Reports are that this is causing an increasing level of concern among the populace, since the attacks aren’t limited to one area or type of target. They’re non-discriminatory, they target everything, government buildings, civilian homes, military installations. Two bridges were destroyed in rapid succession with rockets fired from drones.

Add all that to Ukraine’s invasion of Russia, the taking of Russian soldier POWs and a large amount of territory that includes all the villages and towns within it, and the creation of a crisis of fleeing, displaced Russian citizens, and it’s become very clear that Russia isn’t capable of protecting itself against invasion even if they are capable of attacking other nations with ICBMs. All their eggs are in the basket of the Ukraine front lines.

It’s not an accident that Ukraine chose that place to invade, it puts them on a direct course to the big Russian nuclear power plant in Kursk and you can be certain Russia’s fearing another Chernobyl meltdown in retaliation for their taking over and damaging Ukraine’s Zaphorzhzhia nuclear power plant, and the closer Ukraine troops get, the more the pressure is mounting.

The population of Russia is about 150 million people, very close to what it was in the USA when we entered World War 2, but we were attacked and already highly industrialized and highly patriotic, not the attackers with an unwilling population spread across huge distances in mostly remote areas and governed by a tyrant.

Vlad Putin is solely responsible for the situation the Russians now find themselves in and it may not take much more destruction within Russia at the hands of Ukraine before he’s forced to step aside.

Personally, I foresee exactly that happening, with a group of high military officers taking charge and then trying to work out a deal with Ukraine that lets them keep a big chunk of the Ukraine territory in return for peace, and I expect Ukraine to reject this and demand a full withdrawal. From there, who knows? I may be wrong about this, too. Further developments will be necessary to un-cloud my crystal ball.