This blog will deal with large things and little things: spiritual truths, politics and economy, news, comment, food and the State of Texas. Oh, and my poetry and pictures. Enjoy.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised hopes of a new era in relations with Islamabad when he paid a surprise Christmas Day visit to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.
In the months since, relations between the nuclear-armed archrivals have unravelled, culminating in the Indian military's strikes this week on militants along the de-facto border with Pakistan in Kashmir that prompted a furious response from Sharif.
Here are five reasons why the strikes occurred.
- Pathankot attack -
Just days after Modi's holiday visit to Sharif, militants from across the Pakistan border launched an audacious attack on an Indian airforce base that left seven soldiers dead.
India blamed the raid at Pathankot in Punjab state on a Pakistan-based militant group that also staged a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament.
Modi urged Sharif to take action against those responsible, which the Pakistani premier promised to do. But India became frustrated with what it sees as Pakistan's lacklustre response.
"India responded to that attack with measure and reason. Modi invited Pakistan investigators to come over and gather evidence for example, and such a strategy wasn't successful," said Ashok Malik, senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a policy organisation in New Delhi.
- Deadly Kashmir protests -
Indian-administered Kashmir erupted in violence in July after a popular militant leader was killed in a gun battle with security forces.
India slapped a curfew on the restive Himalayan region to try to stem the protests, and internet and mobile phone services were snapped.
But residents continued to take to the streets to protest Indian rule, with more than 80 people killed in the ongoing unrest, mostly in clashes with security forces.
Kashmir is divided between Pakistan and India, but both claim the territory in full and they have fought two of their three wars over its control.
Militant groups, some based in Pakistan, have battled India's security forces for years for independence of the Muslim-majority territory from India or its merger with Pakistan.
Sharif accused India's security forces of carrying out brutalities against unarmed civilians during the protests, further stoking tensions between the neighbours.
- Uri army base -
On September 18, militants staged a predawn raid on an Indian army base near the de-facto border dividing Kashmir, killing 19 soldiers -- the worst such attack in 14 years.
India blamed the attack at Uri on Pakistani-based militants, the same group blamed for the Pathankot attack.
Modi vowed to punish those responsible, while also launching a diplomatic drive to isolate Pakistan, including by pulling out of a regional summit, in a major snub to Pakistan.
- Public Pressure -
The Uri attack triggered public fury and demands for military action, including from senior members of Modi's own party.
"Modi was under pressure for quite sometime to respond militaristically after dovetailing with Nawaz Sharif failed," said Mohan Guruswamy, chairman of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, a Delhi-based think tank.
Others predicted Modi would respond eventually with military action, given his credentials as a strong Hindu nationalist.
"This government, more so than others, was expected to respond because Modi is seen as a tough leader, he is seen as a leader who is going to punish those who hurt India," Malik said.
But Malik also said Modi was left with no choice because of what the army said was substantial intelligence of militants preparing to attack Indian towns and cities.
- International opinion -
India may have also been counting on the fact that Modi enjoys a closer relationship with Washington than his predecessors, and therefore international reaction to India's strikes might be muted.
"The diplomatic pressure to dissuade India from retaliating is not there," Malik said.
"There is exasperation (in Washington) with Pakistan and that has played to India's advantage," Malik said of US demands for Pakistan to take action against Taliban militants moving across its border into Afghanistan.
AJ's comment.
Pakistan at first reflexively denied that the raids occurred. Then they denounced the raids.
Hillary's "lazy eye" (strabismus) has struck again, this time in an interview on her "Stronger Together" airplane on September 27, the day following the debate. This segment was aired on the NBC Nightly News that night. I thought I saw her eyes very briefly go bananas while watching the show (we tape it and watch it later so we can zip through the numerous commercials). But I wasn't sure until I viewed the NBC live-stream on my iPad to capture a freeze-frame image:
Note to Hillary and her Democrat handlers: this is the Internet Age. Everybody is now looking for these moments. The strabismus, "brain freezes," and seizures are unpredictable and can pop up at any time. Just how much longer do you think you will be able to hide Hillary's neurological disorder from the public?
Hillary's "lazy eye" (strabismus) has struck again, this time in an interview on her "Stronger Together" airplane on September 27, the day following the debate. This segment was aired on the NBC Nightly News that night. I thought I saw her eyes very briefly go bananas while watching the show (we tape it and watch it later so we can zip through the numerous commercials). But I wasn't sure until I viewed the NBC live-stream on my iPad to capture a freeze-frame image:
Note to Hillary and her Democrat handlers: this is the Internet Age. Everybody is now looking for these moments. The strabismus, "brain freezes," and seizures are unpredictable and can pop up at any time. Just how much longer do you think you will be able to hide Hillary's neurological disorder from the public?
I know, I know, the Media views the debate as a solid win for Hillary. One hapless and deluded financial analyst even attributed the pop in stocks to Hillary "winning." (It was a win for international trade, this boob opined).
People in the Media do not understand that they can not score these "debates" as a debate. Debates in the Presidential race are not debates but an effort to make an impression. It goes back to the time of Ronald Reagan. The Democrat candidate tried to paint Reagan as an "extremist" who could not be trusted with the nuclear button. Reagan came off as a jovial fellow, quite safe. And he won the election.
Hillary's assignment was to paint Trump as a bigoted, racist misogynist, an extremist who could not be trusted as President. She was the aggressor throughout the event (no sympathy for the bullied girl). And she failed in her effort. Trump's assignment was to show that Hillary was an insider, part of the establishment responsible for screwing up things. Trump succeeded. The telling point was when Trump said that Hillary has been at it for 30 years and had only failures to show for it.
Will this win the election for Trump? Unknown, but it will not lose it.
Then there are side issues. The Moderator? A Democrat hack, obviously biased. He was urged to do "fact checking" which in Democrat parlance means to challenge the Republican with his own opinions. He did that. So, Trump was debating not only Hillary, but Lester Holt as well.
One sleeper issue is Hillary's health. Her handlers had done a marvelous job of makeup and she was able to stand for 90 minutes without having a seizure. How did she do it? We do not know. But a photo of her indicates that she had some kind of apparatus under her clothes to prevent seizure or a coughing fit.
I know, we have predicted this for quite a while. And the sky has not fallen. Haven't the Central Banks created a framework that allows current practices to be perpetuated?
The short answer to this question is NO.
To explain why NOT, we need to review the financial situation of the major players.
1. The world in general
The regions of the world and major financial powers are interconnected. That means if one part goes belly up, there will be a 'contagion,' a spreading of the financial calamity. The global debt now is $250T. In addition, there are 2 quadrillion dollars worth of derivatives. Both, the amount of debt and the bets about it are increasing.
2. The European Union. Here is a quick rundown of EU finances.
Even though Germany is a strongest part of the Union, its flagship bank (Deutschebank) is valued at 1% of its assets and its stock keeps tumbling. DB owns derivatives that are 20x the GDP of Germany.
Other EU banks in Greece, Spain and Portugal are also bankrupt. The bailout of the Italian Bank Monte di Pasci has failed and Germany opposes any further bailout. Italy opposes any bail in (i.e. confiscating deposits to rescue the bank). The ECB has a program of printing $90/month, but it is not rescuing their economy.
3. Japan is led by financial criminals.
The Bank of Japan is now buying not only the bonds of the Japanese government, but also of Japanese companies. The BOJ has been buying Japanese stocks so it now owns 10% of its Stock Market. The "assets" of the BOJ now total $5T. And here comes the piece de resistance: the zero interest, perpetual bond. This bond will have a maturity of 10 years, will pay no interest and will not be redeemed. In case you missed it, this is just a camouflage to print more Yens.
4. China.
The national debt of China is $32T. Its corporations have another $125T of debt. More than 12% of the loans in China are 'nonperforming.' A lot of the infrastructure they built yield no income.
5. The US.
Corporate debt in the US is near $6T. Most of that money was spent on share buybacks so stocks could show rising P/E and higher prices. The Country owes $20T and debt is rising fast. The US Dollar lost 97% of its value against gold since 1976. Our two party system has become a farce as Republicans allowed Obama to spend as recklessly as he wanted.
The FED has said that they won't raise interest rates until after the election. If then. Meanwhile, another round of QE would set the stage for hyperinflation followed by a deflationary collapse.
At present, the Democratic party and its membership, particularly in positions of authority and in media, is participating in events as actors unbounded by any rule or law. The IRS commissioner still uses the IRS to target conservatives. The Obama administration is literally turning illegal aliens into citizens to unlawfully alter the outcome of the upcoming election, as Democrats have always done. They are rewarding criminals with early release from prison and restored voting rights simply to tip the scales. They are flooding our country with Muslim Syrians, whose culture is antithetical to ours, knowing the inevitable outcome will be an eventual conflict between those who believe in forcefully imposing Islamic theocracy and those few who still know and believe in the American Constitution. They are making secret alliances with our enemies, or merely surrendering to them out of abject cowardice or belief in common principles. They protect terrorists, who are the ultimate rule-breakers, while demonizing Americans, who cannot figure out what they may have done wrong, having done nothing but exist.
No matter which side of the aisle you are on, it is undeniable that any system that is premised upon rules will fail and break apart when one side gleefully cheats with impunity, but the other side is punished. You would not tolerate this if it was your own child’s sporting event, or one in which you had agreed to compete. You would not peacefully watch a professional event if one team got to do whatever it wanted, while the other team was policed by the cheats. Such an event would unnaturally reward vice and criminality, while punishing integrity.
At present, the Democratic party is the most successful example of a criminal enterprise that we have in this country. The Mafia was never as large and powerful as the Democratic party, but they were at least more honest. They never swore an oath to uphold the law and not enrich themselves with the property of others. There was no public trust betrayed. They pretended to be businessmen, but not to be public servants in order to gain control over the treasury and the arbitrary enforcement of laws against only their enemies.
The last eight years have been about building the brand, honing and perfecting the fraud, constructing the perfect machine with which to destroy what is left of a system of laws, rights and duties. The left believes in none of those concepts, or they would abide by them. They believe the lie of their own superiority and deformed morality. Hillary Clinton believes that disagreement with her is deplorable and irredeemable. She will rule as a tyrant, as spiteful and vengeful as any before her who was slowed by her enemies. Her objective is to utterly destroy the last vestiges of honor and integrity that made this country exceptional.
One thing is certain. We cannot construct a new framework with the Left or its amoral members, just as we would not form a business or marriage or friendship with someone we know we can never trust or respect. Besides, they will try to revive the solutions of Leftist history before they will allow us freedom, from them and for ourselves.
“Oh what tangled webs we weave, when we first practice to deceive.” Sir Walter Scott
When Dr. Lisa Bardack[*] was asked to become Hillary Clinton’s personal physician in 2001, it had to have been a crowning moment in the career of the Mt. Kisco internist. Dr. Bardack could have anticipated little downside. She already had the responsibility -- and legal obligation under HIPAA -- to protect the privacy of her patient. She and her staff would have to be especially scrupulous in the case of a senator with presidential ambitions, but this should not have posed a serious problem.
Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton corrupts everyone who serves her. And this year Bardack encountered difficulties she could not have foreseen in 2001:
1. Clinton developed serious medical issues.
2. The candidate was being videoed, not only during campaign stops, speeches, townhalls, and the rare press conference, but before and after events -- by individuals with cell phones who were under no obligation to obey orders given to servile journalists to turn off their cameras.
3. The internet not only permitted the mass distribution of these videos and photos, but it enabled those who were curious to check Bardack’s reports against information available on reputable medical sites. It also enabled skeptical physicians to share their doubts with hundreds of thousands of readers.
In July 2015, the Clinton campaign asked Bardack to give the candidate a clean bill of health. She was to disclose, selectively, some of her patient’s medical history. But the letter was not widely analyzed until after the disturbing September 11 video by Zdenek Gazda, the Zapruder of 2016. It was no longer possible to dismiss those asking questions about Hillary’s health as right-wing conspiracy theorists, and the campaign now requested a second letter from Dr. Bardack explaining the event. The physician duly issued a report on September 14. Now her real problems began.
Let’s take a look at the two letters and some of questions doctors have asked about the diagnoses and treatment.
Bardack’s summary revealed a couple of major health problems that had not been previously disclosed. We had been told that Clinton suffered an elbow fracture in 2009 and a concussion in 2012. The fact that a woman in her mid-60s would fall twice ought perhaps to have raised some red flags. In particular, unless you’re being tackled or attacked, a concussion can usually be avoided by the body’s reflexes. Arms are extended to break the fall.
But now the public learned that some time in 2009 and in December 2012, the month of the concussion, Clinton had suffered blood clots.
She already had a history of clotting. Running for the Presidential nomination in the fall of 2007, Hillary gave an extended interview on her 60th birthday in which she disclosed that she’d had a life-threatening medical emergency in 1998. The crisis had been kept a secret not only from the public, but from her staff, who were told she had a sprained ankle. Clinton’s foot had swollen and she was in great pain. A White House doctor told her to rush to Bethesda Naval Hospital, where the diagnosis of a blood clot was made. "That was scary,” Hillary said, “because you have to treat it immediately -- you don't want to take the risk that it will break lose and travel to your brain, or your heart or your lungs. That was the most significant health scare I've ever had." Clinton assured the reporter that she was no longer on blood thinners. This was probably the last time Hillary spoke candidly about her health.
What Clinton had was a deep vein thrombosis, or venous thromboembolism (VTE). The blood clot is usually in the leg, and in Hillary’s case, it was behind the right knee.
Now Dr. Bardack revealed that Hillary had had two others. The first, in 2009, was another VTE, but the second was still more serious. It was a right transverse cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST). This is a clot in one of the two channels between layers of the dura, the membrane enclosing the brain, which receive blood and cerebrospinal fluid. A clot here means that blood flow out of the brain is impeded, and there is the potential for a hemorrhage if there’s leakage into the cerebral tissues. The Johns Hopkins Health Library refers to it as a rare form of stroke affecting only five in one million individuals. It’s treated with anti-seizure medicines as well as anticoagulants, and the complications range from impaired speech, difficulty moving parts of the body, and vision problems to death.
There were two problems in the 2015 letter relating to the clot:
1) Clinton, her physician wrote, “began anticoagulation therapy to dissolve the clot.” But this is not something anticoagulants do. Two of these drugs are mentioned by Bardack: Lovenox, which was discontinued in 1998, and Coumadin (warfarin).
Bristol-Myers-Squibb, its manufacturer, says explicitly that the medication doesn’t dissolve clots:
COUMADIN has no direct effect on an established thrombus, nor does it reverse ischemic tissue damage.
Every doctor prescribing Coumadin knows this. Because of patient expectations, all reputable medical sites, like the NIH’s PubMed, repeat the warning.
There are thrombolytic (clot-dissolving) drugs, injected by catheter or infused through an i.v., but none are mentioned by Bardack. In any case, the embolisms for which thrombolytic agents are indicated don’t correspond to Clinton’s, and these drugs are never referred to as anticoagulants.
2. A second problem comes with the duration of the symptoms. Bardack says that these lasted for less than two months. But according to Bill Clinton, his wife’s injury “required six months of very serious work to get over.”
Of course it could be that the four addition months of symptoms were the result not of the concussion, but the CVST. However, it would not be easy to differentiate these symptoms. One is instinctively disinclined to take the former President’s word on anything, but there’d be no reason for him to exaggerate the length of time it took his wife to recover.
In any case, what the public was told was an elbow fracture (Hillary sported a State Department sling) and a concussion (she was jokingly presented with a football helmet by her minions) coincided with problems much more ominous.
3. A third issue in the 2015 letter is Bardack’s final evaluation of her patient. Twice she calls Clinton “a healthy female” and concludes that “she is in excellent physical condition and fit to serve as President of the United States.”
While Bardack could hardly have been expected to write otherwise, the truth is that anyone who is on lifelong Coumadin is not in excellent physical condition. As is well known, warfarin was developed as a rat poison, and increases significantly the risk of intercranial intracranial bleeding. A recent ten-year study of 32,000 veterans found that nearly one-third developed intercranial intracranial bleeds while on warfarin. The vets were over 75, but the high figure was still very disturbing, though probably not surprising to most physicians.
Dr. Milton Wolf, a board-certified radiologist, writes, “Coumadin carries a substantial risk for patients, particularly those with fall risk. Spontaneous hemorrhage common, intracranial and elsewhere. I see it commonly, including life-threatening brain bleeds. Normal, healthy patients are NEVER, NEVER prescribed Coumadin.” There are safer anticoagulants. “Coumadin is typically given to those who can’t afford the newer drugs or reserved for cases that are refractory to the safer drugs.” Wolf speculates that Clinton probably has a hypercoagulable blood disorder. Coumadin would otherwise be given only to patients with chronic atrial fibrillation (like the vets) or with prosthetic heart valves, both of which can cause hypercoagulation.
The interactions with warfarin are also sobering. In addition to avoiding both NSAIDs and acetaminophen, users are advised not to use, or to use with caution, antibiotics, anti-fungal medications, anti-depressants, and seizure medication -- carbamazepine (Carbatrol, Equetro, Tegretol), phenobarbital (Solfoton), and phenytoin (Dilantin).
Whether or not Hillary has been put at risk by seizure medications, the whole world now knows about her propensity to fall. The airplane and podium stumbles and her being helped up a short flight of steps had gone viral long before the 9/11 collapse. And we know nothing about the falls that have occurred off-camera, except for the one that gave her a concussion. Family friends have told Ed Klein these falls are frequent. And head trauma is the number one concern for patients on Coumadin.
4. Still another disclosure in Bardack’s July 2015 letter raised eyebrows. In addition to taking Coumadin for the rest of her life, Hillary will also be on Armour thyroid until she dies. Unlike CVST, hypothyroidism, an underactive thyroid gland, is common. In fact, the most frequently prescribed drug in the U.S. (though not the most lucrative) is Synthroid, synthetic levothyroidoxine, the major hormone the gland produces.
Armour thyroid is an extract of desiccated pig’s thyroid. The therapy dates to the 19th century, and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists recommends that it not be used. But a case can be made for natural thyroid therapy, and one recent study found that more patients prefer it, though there was no difference in the control of symptoms. These include memory problems and difficulty thinking clearly. A physician who is one of the most vocal advocates of natural thyroid switched to a different brand of natural thyroid after Armour changed the tablet formula in 2009.
1. Bardack disclosed that Clinton was given a brain scan for an ear infection after she had “experienced significant improvement in her symptoms.” The physician of a patient “in excellent health” would not normally order a CT scan for an ear infection that was being successfully treated by antibiotics and a myringotomy tube. Bardack’s caution, however commendable, suggests she was worried about some underlying problem.
2. Bardack then discusses Hillary’s pneumonia. When an upper respiratory infection persisted for a week after Clinton had been prescribed antibiotics and allergy medicine, Bardack, on Sept. 9, ordered “a non-contrast chest CT scan, including a CTA calcium score.”
According to Dr. Wolf, a CTA (a CT angiogram) scan always requires a contrast. On the other hand, a CT calcium score study must always be non-contrast, otherwise “the coronary calcifications would be masked by the contrast in the arteries.” The radiologist concluded that “Hillary’s doctor just claimed Hillary got a perfect score on a test that does not exist.”
It’s likely that Bardack misstated what she’d ordered -- though one would think she would be extraordinarily careful in a letter that would be read by millions. A coronary calcium scoring CT does not use contrast, while a CTA requires it. A simple thoracic CT, which is what Hillary must have received, may or may not be done with contrast.
3. Then there’s the finding from the scan: “a small right middle-lobe pneumonia,” further described as “a mild non-contagious bacterial pneumonia.”
Doctors immediately questioned this diagnosis. There is no such thing as a non-contagious pneumonia, tweeted Dr. Wolf. How did Hillary pick it up? What about all the reports the campaign circulated about staffers who’d come down with pneumonia, including manager Robbie Mook?
While bacterial pneumonia is not as contagious as viral pneumonia, there is no test to determine whether or not a patient is contagious. A doctor defending Bardack listed three types of bacterial pneumonia not likely to be contagious. The only one that Hillary could possibly have had was aspiration pneumonia.
The dubious adjective “non-contagious” may have been dictated to Bardack by Clinton. The problem, obviously, was that after her collapse, the candidate went directly to her daughter’s apartment, where she presumably exposed her grandchildren to pneumonia, then, 90 minutes later, bounced out of the building, exulting that it was a beautiful day in New York, and embraced a little girl, exposing her, too, to the infection.
Other doctors have also pointed out how the photo-op undercut the “pneumonia” explanation. “I’m feeling great,” Hillary said three times, not something a pneumonia patient is likely to exclaim.
4. Apart from a case of “mild non-contagious pneumonia,” what felled Clinton on September 11th, wrote Bardack, was that “she became overheated and dehydrated.” Even MSM reporters questioned the “overheated” pretext. The day was partly cloudy and the temperature about 80, with a slight breeze. Dehydration is hardly less suspicious. First of all, it’s been used repeatedly for other falls. And medical science has come up with a cure for dehydration. While Marco Rubio was ridiculed for taking a swig of water in the middle his reply to the President’s 2013 State of the Union address, no one who valued his job would criticize Hillary for “re-hydrating” during an event. One would expect that someone who had experienced multiple falls and was on Coumadin would take every precaution to avoid dehydration -- especially when it’s such a simple matter.
5. If Hillary’s dramatic recovery casts doubt on Bardack’s diagnosis, so does the fall itself. It was not a swoon, as one might expect, where Clinton appeared woozy, lost consciousness, and her knees buckled. Instead, she becomes stiff and immobile. She is propped up against a bollard. It’s only when the Secret Service agents attempt to propel her forward that she falls. It’s not clear she’s lost conscious; she is just frozen, unable to move.
6. Pictures taken of Clinton en route to the van also undermine Bardack’s explanation. In one, Hillary is being given what appears to be a finger squeeze test.
The test is a neurological exam, sometimes used also as a test for arthritis. There would be no reason to administer it to a patient suffering from pneumonia.
In the second photo, the same woman, Christine Falvo, appears to be monitoring Clinton’s pulse as they walk. Hillary has her other hand pressed against her chest, an unusual position for someone in motion, but a good way to disguise the pill-rolling tremor associated with Parkinson’s disease.
Also present in the photos, inevitably, is the bulky African-American Secret Service agent who clearly has had some medical training. When Hillary froze during a speech on August 4, it was he who rushed to her side, put his hand on her back, kept repeating, “Keep talking, keep talking,” and then shooed away the other agents. Some sites have posted pictures of him holding what appears to be a diazepam injector, used for seizures, but the images are too blurry to positively identify the object.
There is no photo of either the Secret Service medic or Falvo offering the dehydrated Hillary a bottle of water.
7. Bardack’s 2015 letter mentioned the Fresnel prism glasses Hillary wore to eliminate double vision. The 2016 letter makes no mention of the Zeiss Z1 blue lenses she was wearing on September 11th. These are used to help prevent seizures, particularly in photosensitive epilepsy, and improve motor control. They are not normally prescribed for patients with pneumonia or seasonal allergies.
8. Also unmentioned by Bardack are Hillary’s repeated coughing episodes, going back at least to January of this year. Here’s video of eight. Has Clinton had pneumonia for nine months? Or is this a symptom of a neurodegenerative problem causing pulmonary aspiration?
9. Finally, the fact that Hillary was not rushed to a hospital after the collapse and given another CT suggests that her handlers knew exactly what was going on. And it wasn’t pneumonia.
The physician who has put forward the most plausible case that Hillary is suffering from Parkinson’s disease is Dr. Ted Noel, whose videos I linked in a recent blog post.
Though there’s been no sign so far of the pill-rolling tremor or the shuffling gait characteristic of Parkinson’s, other evidence suggests Clinton is suffering from the disease, or experiencing side effects associated with the drug most commonly used to manage it, levodopa, which include disorientation and confusion and dyskinesia (involuntary muscle movements).
Examples of the latter are Clinton’s spasmodic head movements while being questioned by several reporters (attributed by Hillary to her cold chai tea) and, less dramatically, her response to the light show at the end of the Democratic convention.
Dr. Noel has a newer video out that further undercuts Bardack’s credibility. In addition to mentioning Wolf’s point about CT angiography, he carefully describes problems with the oxygen saturation levels reported by Hillary’s physician, and her use of an outdated test to manage Clinton’s hypothyroidism.
If she doesn’t have Parkinson’s, Hillary clearly has some major neurological disorder.
Bardack has already been targeted by Google reviewers. Purportedly coming from Chelsea is a one-star rating and the comment, “My mother died of Parkinson’s after she was diagnosed with pneumonia.”
Lisa Bardack will be fortunate if satiric reviews are the worst consequences for the disinformation campaign she has helped wage in Hillary’s behalf.
[*] Bardack was raised in Larchmont, NY, in affluent Westchester County, the daughter of Lester Bardack and Judith Frankle. Her father was president of Ulano Industries, a Brooklyn chemical manufacturer, and her mother a rabbi, formerly of Congregation B’nai Elohim in Scarsdale and later an instructor at Western Connecticut State. Bardack’s sister Amy, also a Conservative rabbi, was recently appointed Director of Education for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. Both sisters married doctors who were themselves the sons of doctors.
Bardack graduated from Penn and NYU Medical School. She did her residency at Cornell University Medical Center in New York, now Weill Cornell, was board certified in 1993, and joined Mt. Kisco Medical Group, later CareMount Medical, the largest medical group in the state, with over 500 physicians and 500,000 patients, where she’s Chair of Internal Medicine.
“Oh what tangled webs we weave, when we first practice to deceive.” Sir Walter Scott
When Dr. Lisa Bardack[*] was asked to become Hillary Clinton’s personal physician in 2001, it had to have been a crowning moment in the career of the Mt. Kisco internist. Dr. Bardack could have anticipated little downside. She already had the responsibility -- and legal obligation under HIPAA -- to protect the privacy of her patient. She and her staff would have to be especially scrupulous in the case of a senator with presidential ambitions, but this should not have posed a serious problem.
Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton corrupts everyone who serves her. And this year Bardack encountered difficulties she could not have foreseen in 2001:
1. Clinton developed serious medical issues.
2. The candidate was being videoed, not only during campaign stops, speeches, townhalls, and the rare press conference, but before and after events -- by individuals with cell phones who were under no obligation to obey orders given to servile journalists to turn off their cameras.
3. The internet not only permitted the mass distribution of these videos and photos, but it enabled those who were curious to check Bardack’s reports against information available on reputable medical sites. It also enabled skeptical physicians to share their doubts with hundreds of thousands of readers.
In July 2015, the Clinton campaign asked Bardack to give the candidate a clean bill of health. She was to disclose, selectively, some of her patient’s medical history. But the letter was not widely analyzed until after the disturbing September 11 video by Zdenek Gazda, the Zapruder of 2016. It was no longer possible to dismiss those asking questions about Hillary’s health as right-wing conspiracy theorists, and the campaign now requested a second letter from Dr. Bardack explaining the event. The physician duly issued a report on September 14. Now her real problems began.
Let’s take a look at the two letters and some of questions doctors have asked about the diagnoses and treatment.
Bardack’s summary revealed a couple of major health problems that had not been previously disclosed. We had been told that Clinton suffered an elbow fracture in 2009 and a concussion in 2012. The fact that a woman in her mid-60s would fall twice ought perhaps to have raised some red flags. In particular, unless you’re being tackled or attacked, a concussion can usually be avoided by the body’s reflexes. Arms are extended to break the fall.
But now the public learned that some time in 2009 and in December 2012, the month of the concussion, Clinton had suffered blood clots.
She already had a history of clotting. Running for the Presidential nomination in the fall of 2007, Hillary gave an extended interview on her 60th birthday in which she disclosed that she’d had a life-threatening medical emergency in 1998. The crisis had been kept a secret not only from the public, but from her staff, who were told she had a sprained ankle. Clinton’s foot had swollen and she was in great pain. A White House doctor told her to rush to Bethesda Naval Hospital, where the diagnosis of a blood clot was made. "That was scary,” Hillary said, “because you have to treat it immediately -- you don't want to take the risk that it will break lose and travel to your brain, or your heart or your lungs. That was the most significant health scare I've ever had." Clinton assured the reporter that she was no longer on blood thinners. This was probably the last time Hillary spoke candidly about her health.
What Clinton had was a deep vein thrombosis, or venous thromboembolism (VTE). The blood clot is usually in the leg, and in Hillary’s case, it was behind the right knee.
Now Dr. Bardack revealed that Hillary had had two others. The first, in 2009, was another VTE, but the second was still more serious. It was a right transverse cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST). This is a clot in one of the two channels between layers of the dura, the membrane enclosing the brain, which receive blood and cerebrospinal fluid. A clot here means that blood flow out of the brain is impeded, and there is the potential for a hemorrhage if there’s leakage into the cerebral tissues. The Johns Hopkins Health Library refers to it as a rare form of stroke affecting only five in one million individuals. It’s treated with anti-seizure medicines as well as anticoagulants, and the complications range from impaired speech, difficulty moving parts of the body, and vision problems to death.
There were two problems in the 2015 letter relating to the clot:
1) Clinton, her physician wrote, “began anticoagulation therapy to dissolve the clot.” But this is not something anticoagulants do. Two of these drugs are mentioned by Bardack: Lovenox, which was discontinued in 1998, and Coumadin (warfarin).
Bristol-Myers-Squibb, its manufacturer, says explicitly that the medication doesn’t dissolve clots:
COUMADIN has no direct effect on an established thrombus, nor does it reverse ischemic tissue damage.
Every doctor prescribing Coumadin knows this. Because of patient expectations, all reputable medical sites, like the NIH’s PubMed, repeat the warning.
There are thrombolytic (clot-dissolving) drugs, injected by catheter or infused through an i.v., but none are mentioned by Bardack. In any case, the embolisms for which thrombolytic agents are indicated don’t correspond to Clinton’s, and these drugs are never referred to as anticoagulants.
2. A second problem comes with the duration of the symptoms. Bardack says that these lasted for less than two months. But according to Bill Clinton, his wife’s injury “required six months of very serious work to get over.”
Of course it could be that the four addition months of symptoms were the result not of the concussion, but the CVST. However, it would not be easy to differentiate these symptoms. One is instinctively disinclined to take the former President’s word on anything, but there’d be no reason for him to exaggerate the length of time it took his wife to recover.
In any case, what the public was told was an elbow fracture (Hillary sported a State Department sling) and a concussion (she was jokingly presented with a football helmet by her minions) coincided with problems much more ominous.
3. A third issue in the 2015 letter is Bardack’s final evaluation of her patient. Twice she calls Clinton “a healthy female” and concludes that “she is in excellent physical condition and fit to serve as President of the United States.”
While Bardack could hardly have been expected to write otherwise, the truth is that anyone who is on lifelong Coumadin is not in excellent physical condition. As is well known, warfarin was developed as a rat poison, and increases significantly the risk of intercranial intracranial bleeding. A recent ten-year study of 32,000 veterans found that nearly one-third developed intercranial intracranial bleeds while on warfarin. The vets were over 75, but the high figure was still very disturbing, though probably not surprising to most physicians.
Dr. Milton Wolf, a board-certified radiologist, writes, “Coumadin carries a substantial risk for patients, particularly those with fall risk. Spontaneous hemorrhage common, intracranial and elsewhere. I see it commonly, including life-threatening brain bleeds. Normal, healthy patients are NEVER, NEVER prescribed Coumadin.” There are safer anticoagulants. “Coumadin is typically given to those who can’t afford the newer drugs or reserved for cases that are refractory to the safer drugs.” Wolf speculates that Clinton probably has a hypercoagulable blood disorder. Coumadin would otherwise be given only to patients with chronic atrial fibrillation (like the vets) or with prosthetic heart valves, both of which can cause hypercoagulation.
The interactions with warfarin are also sobering. In addition to avoiding both NSAIDs and acetaminophen, users are advised not to use, or to use with caution, antibiotics, anti-fungal medications, anti-depressants, and seizure medication -- carbamazepine (Carbatrol, Equetro, Tegretol), phenobarbital (Solfoton), and phenytoin (Dilantin).
Whether or not Hillary has been put at risk by seizure medications, the whole world now knows about her propensity to fall. The airplane and podium stumbles and her being helped up a short flight of steps had gone viral long before the 9/11 collapse. And we know nothing about the falls that have occurred off-camera, except for the one that gave her a concussion. Family friends have told Ed Klein these falls are frequent. And head trauma is the number one concern for patients on Coumadin.
4. Still another disclosure in Bardack’s July 2015 letter raised eyebrows. In addition to taking Coumadin for the rest of her life, Hillary will also be on Armour thyroid until she dies. Unlike CVST, hypothyroidism, an underactive thyroid gland, is common. In fact, the most frequently prescribed drug in the U.S. (though not the most lucrative) is Synthroid, synthetic levothyroidoxine, the major hormone the gland produces.
Armour thyroid is an extract of desiccated pig’s thyroid. The therapy dates to the 19th century, and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists recommends that it not be used. But a case can be made for natural thyroid therapy, and one recent study found that more patients prefer it, though there was no difference in the control of symptoms. These include memory problems and difficulty thinking clearly. A physician who is one of the most vocal advocates of natural thyroid switched to a different brand of natural thyroid after Armour changed the tablet formula in 2009.
1. Bardack disclosed that Clinton was given a brain scan for an ear infection after she had “experienced significant improvement in her symptoms.” The physician of a patient “in excellent health” would not normally order a CT scan for an ear infection that was being successfully treated by antibiotics and a myringotomy tube. Bardack’s caution, however commendable, suggests she was worried about some underlying problem.
2. Bardack then discusses Hillary’s pneumonia. When an upper respiratory infection persisted for a week after Clinton had been prescribed antibiotics and allergy medicine, Bardack, on Sept. 9, ordered “a non-contrast chest CT scan, including a CTA calcium score.”
According to Dr. Wolf, a CTA (a CT angiogram) scan always requires a contrast. On the other hand, a CT calcium score study must always be non-contrast, otherwise “the coronary calcifications would be masked by the contrast in the arteries.” The radiologist concluded that “Hillary’s doctor just claimed Hillary got a perfect score on a test that does not exist.”
It’s likely that Bardack misstated what she’d ordered -- though one would think she would be extraordinarily careful in a letter that would be read by millions. A coronary calcium scoring CT does not use contrast, while a CTA requires it. A simple thoracic CT, which is what Hillary must have received, may or may not be done with contrast.
3. Then there’s the finding from the scan: “a small right middle-lobe pneumonia,” further described as “a mild non-contagious bacterial pneumonia.”
Doctors immediately questioned this diagnosis. There is no such thing as a non-contagious pneumonia, tweeted Dr. Wolf. How did Hillary pick it up? What about all the reports the campaign circulated about staffers who’d come down with pneumonia, including manager Robbie Mook?
While bacterial pneumonia is not as contagious as viral pneumonia, there is no test to determine whether or not a patient is contagious. A doctor defending Bardack listed three types of bacterial pneumonia not likely to be contagious. The only one that Hillary could possibly have had was aspiration pneumonia.
The dubious adjective “non-contagious” may have been dictated to Bardack by Clinton. The problem, obviously, was that after her collapse, the candidate went directly to her daughter’s apartment, where she presumably exposed her grandchildren to pneumonia, then, 90 minutes later, bounced out of the building, exulting that it was a beautiful day in New York, and embraced a little girl, exposing her, too, to the infection.
Other doctors have also pointed out how the photo-op undercut the “pneumonia” explanation. “I’m feeling great,” Hillary said three times, not something a pneumonia patient is likely to exclaim.
4. Apart from a case of “mild non-contagious pneumonia,” what felled Clinton on September 11th, wrote Bardack, was that “she became overheated and dehydrated.” Even MSM reporters questioned the “overheated” pretext. The day was partly cloudy and the temperature about 80, with a slight breeze. Dehydration is hardly less suspicious. First of all, it’s been used repeatedly for other falls. And medical science has come up with a cure for dehydration. While Marco Rubio was ridiculed for taking a swig of water in the middle his reply to the President’s 2013 State of the Union address, no one who valued his job would criticize Hillary for “re-hydrating” during an event. One would expect that someone who had experienced multiple falls and was on Coumadin would take every precaution to avoid dehydration -- especially when it’s such a simple matter.
5. If Hillary’s dramatic recovery casts doubt on Bardack’s diagnosis, so does the fall itself. It was not a swoon, as one might expect, where Clinton appeared woozy, lost consciousness, and her knees buckled. Instead, she becomes stiff and immobile. She is propped up against a bollard. It’s only when the Secret Service agents attempt to propel her forward that she falls. It’s not clear she’s lost conscious; she is just frozen, unable to move.
6. Pictures taken of Clinton en route to the van also undermine Bardack’s explanation. In one, Hillary is being given what appears to be a finger squeeze test.
The test is a neurological exam, sometimes used also as a test for arthritis. There would be no reason to administer it to a patient suffering from pneumonia.
In the second photo, the same woman, Christine Falvo, appears to be monitoring Clinton’s pulse as they walk. Hillary has her other hand pressed against her chest, an unusual position for someone in motion, but a good way to disguise the pill-rolling tremor associated with Parkinson’s disease.
Also present in the photos, inevitably, is the bulky African-American Secret Service agent who clearly has had some medical training. When Hillary froze during a speech on August 4, it was he who rushed to her side, put his hand on her back, kept repeating, “Keep talking, keep talking,” and then shooed away the other agents. Some sites have posted pictures of him holding what appears to be a diazepam injector, used for seizures, but the images are too blurry to positively identify the object.
There is no photo of either the Secret Service medic or Falvo offering the dehydrated Hillary a bottle of water.
7. Bardack’s 2015 letter mentioned the Fresnel prism glasses Hillary wore to eliminate double vision. The 2016 letter makes no mention of the Zeiss Z1 blue lenses she was wearing on September 11th. These are used to help prevent seizures, particularly in photosensitive epilepsy, and improve motor control. They are not normally prescribed for patients with pneumonia or seasonal allergies.
8. Also unmentioned by Bardack are Hillary’s repeated coughing episodes, going back at least to January of this year. Here’s video of eight. Has Clinton had pneumonia for nine months? Or is this a symptom of a neurodegenerative problem causing pulmonary aspiration?
9. Finally, the fact that Hillary was not rushed to a hospital after the collapse and given another CT suggests that her handlers knew exactly what was going on. And it wasn’t pneumonia.
The physician who has put forward the most plausible case that Hillary is suffering from Parkinson’s disease is Dr. Ted Noel, whose videos I linked in a recent blog post.
Though there’s been no sign so far of the pill-rolling tremor or the shuffling gait characteristic of Parkinson’s, other evidence suggests Clinton is suffering from the disease, or experiencing side effects associated with the drug most commonly used to manage it, levodopa, which include disorientation and confusion and dyskinesia (involuntary muscle movements).
Examples of the latter are Clinton’s spasmodic head movements while being questioned by several reporters (attributed by Hillary to her cold chai tea) and, less dramatically, her response to the light show at the end of the Democratic convention.
Dr. Noel has a newer video out that further undercuts Bardack’s credibility. In addition to mentioning Wolf’s point about CT angiography, he carefully describes problems with the oxygen saturation levels reported by Hillary’s physician, and her use of an outdated test to manage Clinton’s hypothyroidism.
If she doesn’t have Parkinson’s, Hillary clearly has some major neurological disorder.
Bardack has already been targeted by Google reviewers. Purportedly coming from Chelsea is a one-star rating and the comment, “My mother died of Parkinson’s after she was diagnosed with pneumonia.”
Lisa Bardack will be fortunate if satiric reviews are the worst consequences for the disinformation campaign she has helped wage in Hillary’s behalf.
[*] Bardack was raised in Larchmont, NY, in affluent Westchester County, the daughter of Lester Bardack and Judith Frankle. Her father was president of Ulano Industries, a Brooklyn chemical manufacturer, and her mother a rabbi, formerly of Congregation B’nai Elohim in Scarsdale and later an instructor at Western Connecticut State. Bardack’s sister Amy, also a Conservative rabbi, was recently appointed Director of Education for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. Both sisters married doctors who were themselves the sons of doctors.
Bardack graduated from Penn and NYU Medical School. She did her residency at Cornell University Medical Center in New York, now Weill Cornell, was board certified in 1993, and joined Mt. Kisco Medical Group, later CareMount Medical, the largest medical group in the state, with over 500 physicians and 500,000 patients, where she’s Chair of Internal Medicine.
This election is unlike any other in our nation’s history. Like many other voters, I have struggled to determine the right course of action in this general election.
In Cleveland, I urged voters, “please, don’t stay home in November. Stand, and speak, and vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket whom you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution.”
After many months of careful consideration, of prayer and searching my own conscience, I have decided that on Election Day, I will vote for the Republican nominee, Donald Trump.
I’ve made this decision for two reasons. First, last year, I promised to support the Republican nominee. And I intend to keep my word.
Second, even though I have had areas of significant disagreement with our nominee, by any measure Hillary Clinton is wholly unacceptable — that’s why I have always been #NeverHillary.
Six key policy differences inform my decision. First, and most important, the Supreme Court. For anyone concerned about the Bill of Rights — free speech, religious liberty, the Second Amendment — the Court hangs in the balance. I have spent my professional career fighting before the Court to defend the Constitution. We are only one justice away from losing our most basic rights, and the next president will appoint as many as four new justices. We know, without a doubt, that every Clinton appointee would be a left-wing ideologue. Trump, in contrast, has promised to appoint justices “in the mold of Scalia.”
For some time, I have been seeking greater specificity on this issue, and today the Trump campaign provided that, releasing a very strong list of potential Supreme Court nominees — including Sen. Mike Lee, who would make an extraordinary justice — and making an explicit commitment to nominate only from that list. This commitment matters, and it provides a serious reason for voters to choose to support Trump.
Second, Obamacare. The failed healthcare law is hurting millions of Americans. If Republicans hold Congress, leadership has committed to passing legislation repealing Obamacare. Clinton, we know beyond a shadow of doubt, would veto that legislation. Trump has said he would sign it.
Third, energy. Clinton would continue the Obama administration’s war on coal and relentless efforts to crush the oil and gas industry. Trump has said he will reduce regulations and allow the blossoming American energy renaissance to create millions of new high-paying jobs.
Fourth, immigration. Clinton would continue and even expand President Obama’s lawless executive amnesty. Trump has promised that he would revoke those illegal executive orders.
Fifth, national security. Clinton would continue the Obama administration’s willful blindness to radical Islamic terrorism. She would continue importing Middle Eastern refugees whom the FBI cannot vet to make sure they are not terrorists. Trump has promised to stop the deluge of unvetted refugees.
Sixth, Internet freedom. Clinton supports Obama’s plan to hand over control of the Internet to an international community of stakeholders, including Russia, China, and Iran. Just this week, Trump came out strongly against that plan, and in support of free speech online.
These are six vital issues where the candidates’ positions present a clear choice for the American people.
If Clinton wins, we know — with 100% certainty — that she would deliver on her left-wing promises, with devastating results for our country.
My conscience tells me I must do whatever I can to stop that.
We also have seen, over the past few weeks and months, a Trump campaign focusing more and more on freedom — including emphasizing school choice and the power of economic growth to lift African-Americans and Hispanics to prosperity.
Finally, after eight years of a lawless Obama administration, targeting and persecuting those disfavored by the administration, fidelity to the rule of law has never been more important.
The Supreme Court will be critical in preserving the rule of law. And, if the next administration fails to honor the Constitution and Bill of Rights, then I hope that Republicans and Democrats will stand united in protecting our fundamental liberties.
Our country is in crisis. Hillary Clinton is manifestly unfit to be president, and her policies would harm millions of Americans. And Donald Trump is the only thing standing in her way.
A year ago, I pledged to endorse the Republican nominee, and I am honoring that commitment. And if you don’t want to see a Hillary Clinton presidency, I encourage you to vote for him.
This award goes to Josh Earnest, White House Secretary for the following statement:
"
According to Josh Earnest, the war against ISIS is “in some ways just a war of narratives.”
“We know that a lot of this radical ideology that ISIL is trying to propagate is being spread online,” Earnest said. “And so we want to make sure that we’re getting out our counter-narrative against ISIL, and we’re having some progress, we’re making some progress.”
FED spokesman Janet Yellen says that the FED will make a decision on a rate hike based on data. So, what do the data indicate?
I have already showed you the employment picture that looks...well...anemic. Now I am going to show you a graphic that shows shipping data. Manufacturers and people who sell things have to ship goods. So, the shipping data reflects the economic pulse of the Nation.
Here it is:
The shipping data indicate that we are half way into a recession. Yeah, the FED can raise rates but it is doubtful that they will do it.
A tidbit about gold price and the deliberations of the FED. Usually, gold price drifts down before the decision then rises after rates are raised.
"RUSH: She called them bombings shortly after Trump called them bombings. Then she chastised Trump for calling them bombings, saying he jumped the gun. So CNN went in and edited her comments and took her reference to bombing out! You notice how much of that has been going on lately, the media editing Hillary to save her? And they did it in this case. She called the bombing a bombing as well, before criticizing Trump for calling it a bombing. So CNN edited Hillary calling it a bombing out of her remarks while, at the same time, they were blasting Trump for calling a bombing a bombing."
At the bottom of the trouble is indebtedness. It shows in the valuation of the banks and debt in general.
Let's start with China.
The total credit issued by China equals 255% of its GDP. Outstanding loans are $28T. Chinese corporate debt is 171% of GDP. Unless China can revalue its gold, it will drown in debt.
Japan is bankrupt. Its debt equals 251% of its GDP.
Oil producers are on shaky grounds as the Saudis have driven the oil price into the dirt so oil producers are going bankrupt. Venezuela and Nigeria are experiencing hyperinflation.
Things are no better in Europe. Greece only survives with bailouts. Its debts to other European countries are counted as assets. In reality, that money is gone. Gold price is up 80,000% in Spanish money.
Italian banks are also on shaky grounds.
The strongest country in Europe is Germany. Its flagship bank (Deutschebank) has $1.5T on its balance sheet, but has only $68B in assets. Its stock is valued at $15B and it owes a fine of $14B. The bank has $60T derivatives outstanding (that is funny money). Deutschebank's stock is down 88% since 2007. Other bank stocks are down as well. Citigroup is down 92% while Barkley's is down 99%.
The US leads the parade. Out national debt is nearly $20T, over the 100% GDP figure. The Stock Market is overvalued at a PE of 28, kept there by low interest rates. If the FED raises interest rates, this house of cards will come crashing down.
