Covid killed the left/right spectrum

Political Loyalties Have Been Blown Up | Brownstone Institue - Jeffrey A. Tucker: 

April 18, 2022 - "Before lockdowns of Spring 2020, media rhetoric had divided the American population into two camps: pro- and anti-Trump. It was an easy way to think even if it came nowhere near describing me, my friends, or most people. Then came the virus. It made an enormous mess out of this simple outlook. 

"[President Donald] Trump kept changing his position not only on the threat level but also what to do about it. He went from comparing the virus to the annual flu in January 2020 to calling for a nationwide lockdown at a March 16 press conference, before changing his mind again a few months later and urging everyone to move on. Of that lockdown order, center-left publication Vox, which had been firmly in the anti-Trump camp for the previous five years, immediately praised the press conference. For the astute, this should have been a sign that something fishy was going on. 

"But this praise for panic – and the use of despotic power without precedent to wield against a virus – was itself very strange. For the previous two months, the center left and left in the media were very clearly downplaying the virus and nowhere calling for lockdowns. In other words, they were saying in January and February what Trump was saying at the time. 

"Here are some examples of what people have entirely forgotten.... 

• January 30, 2020, MSNBC... 'Americans are too worried about the new coronavirus that’s spreading rapidly across China,” former White House health advisor Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel told CNBC on Thursday. 'Everyone in America should take a very big breath, slow down, and stop panicking and being hysterical,' said Emanuel, who served during Barack Obama’s presidency. “We are having a little too much histrionics on this'....
• Slate ... March 4, 2020. "There are many compelling reasons to conclude that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is not nearly as deadly as is currently feared. But COVID-19 panic has set in nonetheless ... which is frankly understandable given that initial reports have staked COVID-19 mortality at about 2–3 percent.... Allow me to be the bearer of good news. These frightening numbers are unlikely to hold. The true case fatality rate, known as CFR, of this virus is likely to be far lower.... Even some lower estimates, such as the 1 percent death rate recently mentioned by the directors of the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, likely substantially overstate the case'.... COVID-19 is a relatively benign disease for most young people, and a potentially devastating one for the old and chronically ill, albeit not nearly as risky as reported'.... 
• Psychology Today: "The coronaviruses are cold viruses.... We know how cold viruses work: They cause runny noses, sneezing, cough, and fever, and make us feel tired and achy. For almost all of us, they run their course without medication. And in the vulnerable, they can trigger a more severe illness.... Yes, this virus is different and worse than other coronaviruses, but it still looks very familiar. We know more about it than we don’t know….It’s scary to think that an invisible enemy is out there to make you sick. But your doctor is not panicking, and you don’t need to'....
• Or we can look to Fauci himself, writing on February 28, 2020, in the New England Journal of Medicine, in an article co-signed by Charles Lane (of junket fame) and CDC head Robert Redfield: "If one assumes that the number of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic cases is several times as high as the number of reported cases, the case fatality rate may be considerably less than 1%. This suggests that the overall clinical consequences of Covid-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza (which has a case fatality rate of approximately 0.1%) or a pandemic influenza (similar to those in 1957 and 1968) rather than a disease similar to SARS or MERS'....

"Whatever you think about these predictions, and there is still vast uncertainty about many aspects of this virus (thanks to testing inaccuracies and the degree of death misclassification), these voices were clearly counseling calm. Two weeks later, all hell broke loose, and this same ideological camp spent the next two years in a state of panicked meltdown and an attempt to keep the public living in fear for as long as possible. This was followed by a demonization campaign against the unvaccinated, from the very people who all swore that the 'Trump vaccine' would surely be dangerously corrupt.... What changed and why? It wasn’t the data,,,, Something else was going on. The entire pandemic became politicized....

"Two years later, with Trump out of power, the same public voices have again defaulted to dividing the population by the old terms: “liberals” vs “conservatives.” It’s become tremendously annoying not to mention wildly inaccurate. Oddly, most of the views attributed to the 'liberals' are essentially illiberal: opposed to free speech, against choice on vaccination[;] supportive of lockdowns and restrictions, segregating the population, making fun of people who want freedom and resent how it has been stolen from people in the guise of pandemic planning....

"Meanwhile, there is nothing about the people labeled 'conservative' who favor conserving anything about the current-day operation about politics. Quite the opposite: they are defending free speech against censorship, angry at elite management of life, and for toppling the administrative states’ power to rule the country and world without democratic consent. And this group is also more likely to favor diplomacy over saber rattling in foreign affairs. 

"I can’t imagine how confusing this must be for people whose English is a second language, much less those who have only a passing familiarity with American political culture.... From your own experience and conversations, you know what hardly anyone wants to admit. There has been a massive scrambling of political and ideological loyalties throughout the population over these past two years, as trust in so many institutions has dramatically fallen. There is no longer a predictable way to discern the friends of freedom from its enemies based on past loyalties and opinions.

"The last two years have confounded everyone who believed in the stability of American law, politics, public opinion, and the ideological attachments of both pundits and the general population. It’s all been turned upside down and inside out several times over. Anyone who thinks that we’ve all settled back into some mythical comfort bubbles of 'liberals' vs 'conservatives' is refusing to face post-pandemic politico-cultural realities.  

"Similarly, terms like left and right, and even independent and libertarian, have proven almost useless in predicting people’s responses to a respiratory virus and hence attitudes toward pandemic policy. The last two years have challenged political and ideological conventions like no other force in our lifetimes, and will likely lead to a rethinking and realignment, same as war and depression have in the past."

Read more: https://brownstone.org/articles/political-loyalties-have-been-blown-up/

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Trudeau ministers repeat false Freedom Convoy stories

Minister Repeats False Claim Convoy Protesters Were Linked to Ottawa Arson | Epoch Times - Noé Chartier:

April 27, 2022 - "Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino repeated the false claim that Freedom Convoy protesters were linked to an Ottawa arson incident as he spoke during a meeting of the joint committee reviewing the invocation of the Emergencies Act. Mendicino made the comments on April 26 after Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi asked if he recalled the convoy 'honking at all hours' during the convoy’s three-week-long protest demanding the lifting of COVID-19 mandates and restrictions.

"'Sure, but it was far worse, and criminal. And that’s one of the reasons why hundreds of charges were laid, again, decisions taken independently by police,' replied Mendicino. 'When residents can’t get to work, when they can’t take their children to school, when seniors can’t get around because public transportation can’t get to them, when people who live in apartment buildings find that their front doors are locked and that fires are set in the hallways and corridors…'

"Mendicino was cut off by a point of order raised by Conservative MP Glen Motz. 'That statement right there has been proven false by the Ottawa Police Service and there is no connection to the protesters whatsoever. And for this minister to suggest that is absolutely unacceptable at this committee,' said Motz. 

"In recent weeks, the OPS announced it had charged two men for deliberately setting a fire in a downtown Ottawa apartment building on Feb. 6. Police said that there was no information the men were 'involved in any way with the Convoy protest which was going on when this arson took place.' In addition to Mendicino, other political figures such as Naqvi and Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson have spread the false claim that protesters were responsible for the fire....

"During his questioning, Motz cautioned Mendicino against the 'stonewalling' of information and raised the issue of public trust due to the spreading of false information. 'One of the things that was intriguing to me is during the actual convoy protests here, you retweeted some information that was later shown to be completely false, completely inaccurate. So in your role as the Minister of Public Safety, how can Canadians now trust that the information you relied upon to invoke the act in the first place was accurate and appropriately reliable?' Motz said, without specifying what false information he was referring to. Mendicino didn’t directly answer the question nor did he defend tweeting inaccurate information....

"As the convoy response has come under parliamentary scrutiny in recent months, other federal ministers have been found to have made comments about protestors that were later contradicted, such as their funding sources and alleged violent intentions. Minister of Crown-Indigenous relations Marc Miller had tweeted that loaded firearms were found at the site of the Ottawa protest during the police clearing operation in mid-February, but the Ottawa Police Service interim chief Steve Bell said before a House committee in April that wasn’t the case....

"During his opening remarks, Mendicino repeated the government’s assertion that the protesters sought to 'overthrow' the government, whether through peaceful or violent means. The minister made reference to the 'Memorandum of Understanding' (MOU) that had been posted on the protest organizer website Canada Unity, which suggested protesters should league with the Senate and the Governor-General to remove the Trudeau government and lift pandemic restrictions. On Feb. 8, the MOU was pulled from the website, with its originator stating it was withdrawn 'as we do not want any unintended interpretations to continue.... Our sole desire with the MOU was to have a document where Canadians could peacefully express their displeasure with current (COVID-19) mandates, and express their desire to be free.'

"Mendicino also repeated words that Pat King reportedly uttered to claim that some protesters wanted a violent insurrection, saying “The only way that this is going to be solved is with bullets.' In a video reportedly posted online on Dec. 16, King can be heard saying the phrase, yet it’s unclear in the edited video what 'this' refers to. In an interview with CBC’s Fifth Estate in February, King addressed the comments and said the clip was 'hack journalism' and missing context that didn’t show what he said beforehand. King is still in custody after being charged with a number of offences relating to his participation in the Ottawa protest.... King is not one of the Freedom Convoy organizers, according to the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, which represented several of the convoy leaders."

Read more: https://www.theepochtimes.com/minister-repeats-false-claim-convoy-protesters-were-linked-to-ottawa-arson_4431546.html

Biden plan to ban menthol cigarettes unpopular

The GOP’s Newest Midterm Issue: Menthols? | Washington Free Beacon - Collin Anderson: 

April 25, 2022 - "With voters across the country already sour on Joe Biden's handling of immigration, foreign policy, and the economy, Republicans have identified another issue to rally midterm voters against Democrats: the president's proposed menthol cigarette ban. 

"According to an April Echelon Insights poll obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, swing-state voters in Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina widely disapprove of the ... ban. Fifty-two percent of Georgia and Nevada voters and 50 percent of North Carolina voters say the administration should keep menthols legal. Just 28, 31, and 30 percent of voters, meanwhile, want to ban the flavored cigarettes in Nevada, Georgia, and North Carolina, respectively.... 

""Forty-nine percent of Nevada voters — including 60 percent of Hispanic voters in the state — would be less likely to support a candidate who 'vocally supported' a menthol ban, the poll shows. Just 21 percent of Silver State voters would be more likely to back a menthol ban supporter, according to the poll.

"The Biden administration announced its intention to ban menthol cigarettes on April 29, 2021.... Roughly one year later, however, the proposed ban is still in limbo, and the Biden administration's delay has not helped sell the move to voters ... nearly 90 percent of voters in Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina believe the administration should not 'spend their time banning menthol cigarettes,' the Echelon poll shows. As a result, more than 60 percent of voters in the three states believe Biden should take a pause on the ban....

"According to the Echelon poll, roughly two-thirds of Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina voters oppose the ban because they feel it would be ineffective. More than 60 percent of voters in the three states, meanwhile, believe the ban would 'push the product out of legitimate stores and onto street corners where gangs and violent criminals sell and generate profit for organized crime.' That number includes 77 percent of Hispanic voters in Nevada, 60 percent of Democratic voters in Georgia, and 64 percent of independent voters in North Carolina.

"The American Civil Liberties Union voiced a similar concern last year, calling the ban a 'policy disaster waiting to happen' because it would create 'large, underground illegal markets' and cause 'a massive law enforcement problem for states, counties, and cities.' Earlier this month, ... Democratic power broker Al Sharpton penned a letter to the Biden administration that said a menthol ban would 'expose consumers to dangerous contraband cigarettes' and 'promote criminal activity.'"

Read more: https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/the-gops-newest-midterm-issue-menthols/amp/

UK doctors face sanctions for social media posts

Doctors could be struck off for spreading fake news on vaccines and lockdowns | The Telegraph - Laura Donnelly:

April 27, 2022 - "Doctors who criticise vaccines or lockdown policies on social media could face being struck off if regulators rule they are guilty of spreading fake news.... The core guidance for medics has been updated for the first time in almost a decade to cover media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The rules on use of social media include a duty to be 'honest' and 'not to mislead', as well as to avoid abuse or bullying.

"The draft regulations from the General Medical Council (GMC) - which the watchdog describes as a 21st-century version of the Hippocratic Oath - also say doctors must speak out if they encounter 'toxic' workplace cultures that threaten patient safety. And they say medics must take action if they encounter workplace bullying, harassment or discrimination.

"The watchdog regulates doctors, who can face a range of sanctions - including being struck off the medical register - if they are found to have failed in their duties.

Charlie Massey, the chief executive of the GMC, said ... the fundamental principles of the guidance remained the same, but had been updated to reflect the modern world. 'We’ve had feedback that doctors want more clarity on using social media. We are already clear that doctors must be honest and trustworthy in their communications, and are now emphasising that this applies to all forms of communication. The principles remain the same whether the communication is written, spoken or via social media,' he said.

"The use of social media by medics has become an increasingly vexed issue during the pandemic. In December a judge ruled that the GMC’s interim orders tribunal had made an 'error of law' when it ordered a GP accused of spreading misinformation to stop discussing Covid on social media. Dr Samuel White, who was a partner at a practice in Hampshire, raised concerns about vaccines and claimed 'masks do nothing' in a video posted last June. The GMC’s Interim Orders Tribunal imposed restrictions on Dr White's registration as a result. But the High Court said this decision was 'wrong' under human rights law.... 

[T]he tribunal [had] concluded Dr White's way of sharing his views 'may have a real impact on patient safety'. It found Dr White allegedly shared information to a 'wide and possibly uninformed audience' and did not give an opportunity for 'a holistic consideration of Covid-19, its implications and possible treatments'. But the GP's barrister, Francis Hoar, argued the restrictions imposed on his client's registration were a 'severe imposition' on his freedom of expression.

"The draft guidance says doctors can be held accountable for promoting misleading information or stepping outside areas of their expertise. They are told to 'be honest and trustworthy … make clear the limits of your knowledge.. [and to] make reasonable checks to make sure any information you give is not misleading. This applies to all forms of written, spoken and digital communication,' the draft guidance states.

"And doctors are warned that online rows and trolling could jeopardise their professional futures. 'You must not abuse, discriminate against, bully, exploit, or harass anyone, or condone such behaviour by others. This applies to all interactions, including on social media and networking sites,' the draft rules state."

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/04/27/doctors-could-struck-spreading-fake-news-vaccines-lockdowns/

Trudeau announces Emergencies Act inquiry

Trudeau calls public inquiry into use of Emergencies Act during convoy protests | CBC News - David Fraser: 

April 25, 2022 - "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Monday for the establishment of an inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act. In a news release, Trudeau said an independent public inquiry called the Public Order Emergency Commission would be created to examine the circumstances leading to the declaration being issued.... 'This includes the evolution of the [Freedom Convoy], the impact of funding and disinformation, the economic impact, and efforts of police and other responders prior to and after the declaration,' the release said.

"Paul Rouleau has been named as the commissioner heading the inquiry. He was first appointed as an Ontario Superior Court justice in 2002 and then joined the Ontario Court of Appeal in 2005. Rouleau, who has also served in the territories during his career as a litigator, will be tasked with submitting the final report, in both official languages, to both Houses of Parliament before Feb. 20, 2023.... Trudeau said in a statement Rouleau would look into the circumstances that led to the Emergencies Act being invoked 'and make recommendations to prevent these events from happening again.' 

"Those critical of the government's decision to invoke the act described the inquiry as overly focused on the actions of protesters and the role played by fundraising and disinformation in the event. The Conservatives argue the Liberals are using that approach to deflect attention from the government's own actions and decisions. 'The Liberal government is doing everything in their power to ensure this inquiry is unsubstantial and fails to hold them accountable,' said a joint statement from Conservative MPs Raquel Dancho, Dane Lloyd and Gérard Deltell.

"The Canadian Civil Liberties Association — which is suing the federal government over its decision to invoke the act — said the inquiry does not appear to be focused on government accountability. 'The broader context is important, but the government's attempts to divert attention from their own actions is concerning,' said the CCLA on Twitter....

"The order in council that sets out rules for the inquiry calls on the commissioner to avoid disclosing information that could be 'injurious' to Canada's international relations, defence and security.... By law, an inquiry into the use of the act must be called within 60 days of the declaration being revoked. 

"Trudeau cited 'serious challenges to law enforcement's ability to effectively enforce the law' when he announced its use.... The unprecedented use of the Emergencies Act, according to Trudeau, gave police tools to restore order in places where public assemblies were considered illegal and dangerous activities, such as blockades. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said at the time Canadian financial institutions could temporarily cease providing financial services in instances where there was suspicion an account was being used to further illegal blockades and occupations. Freeland later confirmed that Ottawa directed financial institutions to freeze the accounts of people connected to the protest.

"When first announced, premiers in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec expressed concern over invoking the act. In March, a special joint committee of seven MPs and four senators started reviewing the use of the Emergencies Act.... It has not yet released any findings. 

"The Emergencies Act sets out the terms for cabinet to set up the inquiry announced Monday. It says an inquiry must be held 'into the circumstances that led to the declaration being issued and the measures taken for dealing with the emergency.'" 

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/emergencies-act-inquiry-justin-trudeau-1.6430084

China's wave of lockdowns spreads to Beijing

Mass testing, lockdowns start in Beijing to contain COVID-19 outbreak | CBC News:

April 25, 2022 - "China's capital, Beijing, began mass testing of more than three million people on Monday and restricted residents in one part of the city to their compounds, sparking worries of a wider Shanghai-style lockdown. While only 70 cases have been found so far in the city of more than 21 million since a new outbreak surfaced Friday, authorities have rolled out strict measures under China's "zero-COVID" approach to try to prevent a further spread of the virus.

"Some residents worked from home and many stocked up on food as a safeguard against the possibility that they could be confined indoors, as has happened in multiple cities, including the financial hub of Shanghai. The city of Anyang in central China and Dandong on the border with North Korea also started lockdowns as the Omicron variant spreads across the country.

"Shanghai, which has been locked down for more than two weeks, reported more than 19,000 new infections and 51 deaths in the latest 24-hour period, pushing the death toll it has announced from the ongoing outbreak to 138.

"Long lines formed in supermarkets in central Beijing. Shoppers snapped up rice, noodles, vegetables and other food items, while store workers hastily restocked some empty shelves. State media issued reports saying supplies remained plentiful despite the buying surge. Shoppers appeared concerned but not panicked.... 

"The city has ordered mass testing across sprawling Chaoyang district, where 46 of the cases have been found. The 3.5 million residents of Chaoyang, as well as people who work in the district, need to be tested on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Testing sites were set up overnight and in the early morning at residential complexes and office buildings around the district....

"Beijing locked down residents in an area of about two by three kilometres, telling them to work from home and stay in their residential compounds. It wasn't a total lockdown — stores continued to operate — but cinemas, karaoke bars and other entertainment venues were ordered closed. Elsewhere, the city also shut down some or all buildings in five residential compounds, adding to others that were locked down on Sunday."

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/china-beijing-coronavirus-covid-19-1.6429785 

Covid shattered myths of Cuban socialized medicine

The Myth of Cuban Health Care | Reason - Daniel Raisbeck & John Osterhoudt:

April 8, 2022 - "'If there's one thing they do right in Cuba, it's health care,' said Michael Moore in a 2007 interview. 'Cuba has the best health care system in the entire area,' according to Angela Davis, 'and in many respects much better than the U.S.' 'One thing that is well established in the global health community is the strength of the Cuban national health system,' said Clare Wenham, a professor at the London School of Economics. Claims like these have appeared in hundreds of documentaries, newspaper articles, and magazine features.... It's a testament to the effectiveness of the Castro regime's propaganda apparatus that this myth, so deeply at odds with reality, has persisted for so long.

"'The Cuban health care system is destroyed,' Rotceh Rios Molina, a Cuban doctor who escaped the country's medical mission while stationed in Mexico, tells Reason in Spanish. 'The doctor's offices are in very bad shape.' 'People are dying in the hallways,' says José Angel Sánchez, another Cuban doctor who defected from the medical mission in Venezuela, interviewed by Reason in Spanish.

According to Rios, Sánchez, and others with firsthand experience practicing medicine in Cuba, the island nation's health care system is a catastrophe. Clinics lack the most routine supplies, from antibiotics to oxygen and even running water, and their hallways are often occupied by ailing patients because there aren't enough doctors to treat their most basic needs. Cuban hospitals are unsanitary and decrepit. It's exactly what you'd expect in a country impoverished by communism.

"The only thing that's changed is that because of social media and the COVID-19 pandemic, the government's propaganda facade has finally started to shatter. And yet in 2021, some journalists were falling for the claim that the Cuban government had set the model in its response to COVID-19. By July of that year, ordinary Cubans had taken to the streets — and to Twitter and Facebook — in part to call attention to what the pandemic had actually meant for Cuban hospitals and clinics. In the 15 years since the release of Michael Moore's documentary Sicko, which celebrated Cuban health care, everyday citizens have been armed with smartphones, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, empowering them to tell the truth about what it's really like to walk into a Cuban hospital.

"So how did the Castro regime's propaganda machine manage to fool so many for so long? According to Maria Werlau, executive director of the Cuba Archive, the answer lies with Cuba's foreign medical missions, which are teams of health care professionals dispatched to provide emergency and routine care to foreign countries. The first medical mission was sent to Algeria in 1963. After the fall of the Soviet Union, when the government lost its major source of aid, the program was ramped up significantly as a source of revenue for the impoverished nation. The Cuban government has promoted the missions as a humanitarian endeavor, and a demonstration of the community spirit and selflessness central to the communist project.... 

"The myth of Cuban physicians as selfless healers started to fracture in 2000 when two doctors from the mission in Zimbabwe slipped a note to an airline official with the handwritten word kidnapped. They had denounced the Castro regime and were being brought back to Cuba against their will, possibly to face jail time. Instead, they wound up in the U.S. and were granted political asylum.... In 2006, the George W. Bush administration created the Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program, granting health care workers stationed abroad permanent resident status. All they had to do was make it to a U.S. embassy. Over 7,000 medical workers took advantage of the program.... In 2018, a group of Cuban doctors who defected from the medical missions sued the Pan American Health Organization, which is part of the World Health Organization, for aiding in human trafficking and for earning $75 million in fees by acting as a middle man'....

"When defenders of Cuban health care acknowledge its deficiencies at all, they usually point the finger at the U.S. trade embargo, which has been in place since 1962. But the deplorable conditions in Cuban hospitals have more to do with a lack of basic health care supplies, which are readily available from other countries, such as antibiotics and steroids. Cuban hospitals also have a shortage of beds and stretchers, and some were without water for six to 12 hours a day at the height of the pandemic....

"Despite reports early in the pandemic that Cuba was an outlier in its success in combating COVID-19, by August of 2021 The New York Times was reporting that Cuba's health care system was 'reeling,' with oxygen supplies running low, a shortage of syringes, and mortuaries and crematories 'overwhelmed.' Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel blamed the U.S. trade embargo."

Read more: https://reason.com/video/2022/04/18/the-myth-of-cuban-health-care/

AZ outperforms Pfizer in Covid vax RCT review

Have People Been Given the Wrong Vaccine? | Brownstone Institute - Martin Kulldorff: 

April 22, 2022 - "Randomized controlled trials show all-cause mortality reduction from the Covid adenovirus-vector vaccines (RR=0.37, 95%CI: 0.19-0.70) but not from the mRNA vaccines (RR=1.03, 95%CI 0.63-1.71). That is the verdict from a new Danish study by Dr. Christine Benn and colleagues. Have people been given vaccines that don’t work (Pfizer/Moderna) instead of vaccines that do work (AstraZeneca/Johnson & Johnson)? Let’s put this study into context and then delve into the numbers. 

"In medicine, the gold standard for evidence is randomized controlled trials (RCT), as they avoid study bias for or against the vaccine. Moreover, the key outcome is death. Do these vaccines save lives? Hence, the Danish study answers the right question with the right data. It is the first study to do so. 

"When the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), that decision was based on RCTs. The RCTs submitted to the FDA showed that the vaccines reduce symptomatic Covid infections. By recruiting mostly younger and middle-aged adults, who are unlikely to die from Covid no matter what, the studies were not designed to determine whether the vaccines also reduce mortality. 

"That was assumed as a corollary, although it may or may not be true. Neither were the RCTs designed to determine whether the vaccines reduce transmission, but that is a different story for another time. 

"The vaccines were developed for Covid, but to properly evaluate a vaccine, we must look at non-Covid deaths as well. Are there unintended adverse reactions leading to death? We do not want a vaccine that saves the lives of some people but kills an equal number of other people. There may also be unintended benefits, such as incidental protection against other infections. For a fair comparison, that should also be part of the equation.  

"While each individual RCT was unable to determine whether the Covid vaccine reduced mortality, the RCTs recorded all deaths, and to increase sample size, the Danish study pooled multiple RCTs. There are two different types of Covid vaccines, adenovirus-vector vaccines (AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sputnik) and mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna), and they did one pooled analysis for each type. Here are the results: 

"There is clear evidence that the adenovirus-vector vaccines reduced mortality. For every 100 deaths in the unvaccinated, there are only 37 deaths among the vaccinated, with a 95% confidence interval of 19 to 70 deaths. This result comes from five different RCTs for three different vaccines, but it is primarily driven by the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. 

"For the mRNA vaccines, on the other hand, there was no evidence of a mortality reduction. For every 100 deaths among the unvaccinated, there are 103 deaths among the vaccinated, with a 95% confidence interval of 63 to 171 deaths. That is, the mRNA vaccines may reduce mortality a little bit, or they may increase it; we do not know. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines contributed equally to this result, so there is no evidence that one is better or worse than the other. 

"While all-cause mortality is what matters for public health, there is scientific interest in knowing how the different vaccines affect different types of mortality. The Danish scientists contacted RCT investigators to get information on whether each death was due to Covid, cardiovascular disease, accidents, or other causes. 

"For the mRNA vaccines, there was a reduction in Covid deaths but an increase in cardiovascular deaths, but neither was statistically significant. So, either result could be due to random chance. Alternatively, the vaccines may reduce the risk for Covid deaths while increasing the risk for cardiovascular deaths. We do not know, and Pfizer and Moderna did not design the RCTs to let us know. For the adenovirus-vector vaccines, there were statistically significant decreases in both Covid and cardiovascular deaths, unlikely to be due to chance. There was a slight decrease in other deaths, which may be due to chance.

"The strength of the Danish study is that it is based on randomized controlled trials. The primary weakness is that the follow-up time is short. This is because the manufacturers ended the clinical trials prematurely, after the vaccines received emergency use authorization. 

"Another weakness is that the data does not allow us to determine how these results may differ by age. While anyone can get infected, there is more than a thousand-fold difference in the risk of dying from Covid between the old and the young. Are the vaccines primarily reducing deaths in older people? That is a reasonable guess. What about younger people? We don’t know. This is not the fault of the Danish investigators. They have done a brilliant job extracting as much information as possible from the industry-sponsored RCTs.

"Some may criticize the Danish study for not yet being peer-reviewed, but it has been. It was peer-reviewed by me and several colleagues, and all of us have decades of experience with these types of studies. That it has not yet been peer-reviewed by anonymous journal reviewers is inconsequential. 

"The mRNA vaccines were approved based on a reduction in symptomatic infections instead of mortality. That Pfizer and Moderna did not design their RCTs to determine whether the vaccines reduced mortality is inexcusable, as they could easily have done so. 

"That the FDA still approved them for emergency use is understandable. Many older Americans were dying from Covid, and they had to base the decision on whatever information was available at the time. Now we know more. If Pfizer and Moderna want to continue to sell these vaccines, we should demand that they conduct a proper randomized clinical trial that proves that the vaccines reduce mortality. Equally important, the government, corporations and universities should stop mandating vaccines when randomized controlled trials show a null result for mortality."

Read more: https://brownstone.org/articles/have-people-been-given-the-wrong-vaccine/

Read study: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4072489

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

U.S. CDC appealing mask mandate court loss

Why Is CDC Trying to Put a Mask on Your Face Again? | Brownstone Institute - Jeffrey A. Tucker: 

Image courtesy Dreamstime

April 21, 2o22 - ""A judge in Florida this week struck down the Biden administration’s transportation mask mandate. The opinion was highly technical and turned entirely on issues of administrative law. The judge ruled that the Public Health Service Act of 1944, the first ever to give the quarantine power to the federal government, did not authorize the imposition of universal mandates on what is really an article of clothing in the name of 'sanitation'....

"The Biden administration wanted masks and the CDC imposed them, including with criminal penalties. For a full year, travelers have been hectored and threatened at every turn. After the court decision, a hundred flowers bloomed in the form of air-born celebrations from coast to coast. Will it last? Not if our rulers in DC get their way. 

"But let’s be clear about something. It’s about masks but more. The mask is a metaphor for all the controls, restrictions, impositions, mandates, closures, and resulting wreckage of the past two years. People hate them because they are so personal. More precisely, they are depersonalizing, which is precisely how the lockdown period of American history has felt the entire time. We are our faces, to others and ourselves. Take that away and what are we? We are tools. We are pawns. We are lab rats for their experiments. Masks are dehumanizing because they are supposed to be. The mask has a very long history as a tool of subjection and enslavement. We all know this intuitively. 

"Therefore, the opportunity to throw it off was glorious. One evening an entire nation of travelers celebrated. Celebrating even more were the airline staff, flight attendants, and pilots. They have lived two years in these ridiculous things, which have nowhere been proven to work to crush a virus. Emancipation from them was a welcome relief. So too for workers around the country, whose interests have been consistently disregarded....  All the airlines as well as Amtrak announced [the end of their mandates] quickly, perhaps as a way of making it impossible for the Biden administration to roll it back. Even Biden himself said that the new rule is that everyone should do what they want....

"Hold one just one minute, said someone in the administration. We need to find out what the Department of Justice says. Then the Justice Department immediately kicked it to the CDC: they are in charge of 'The Science' and so we’ll wait. 

The Department of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) disagree with the district court’s decision and will appeal, subject to CDC’s conclusion that the order remains necessary for public health. The Department continues to believe that the order requiring masking in the transportation corridor is a valid exercise of the authority Congress has given CDC to protect the public health. That is an important authority the Department will continue to work to preserve….

If CDC concludes that a mandatory order remains necessary for the public’s health after that assessment, the Department of Justice will appeal the district court’s decision....

"The plaintiff Health Freedom Defense Fund issued a sharp statement: 'DoJ’s statement is perplexing to say the least and sounds like it comes from health policy advocates not government lawyers. The ruling by the US District Court is a matter of law, not CDC preference or an assessment of “current health conditions"'....

"In the early days of the Biden administration, the PR decision at the top was that it would always 'follow the science,' a statement that the new president said many times.... On one hand, following The Science sounds good. However, if the 'science' really means the bureaucracies and hence this slogan is just another way of passing the buck, there is a problem. The bureaucracies are unaccountable, and typically default to the safest and changeless route to preserve their power over the population. 

"Even so, following the DOJ’s announcement, there must have been moments of panic at the CDC. They had the hot potato and didn’t know what to do with it. Finally they settled on the usual strategy: they threw it to an anonymous committee. Then the committee came out with a statement unsigned by anyone in particular. Instead of citing The Science, or claiming that they knew for sure that masks were great for people, the statement started with the following sentence: 'To protect CDC’s public health authority….' Notice that this doesn’t say to protect public health. It says public health AUTHORITY. Those are certainly different things. [STRESS in original]

"In any case, the decision was made. The CDC 'has asked DOJ to proceed with an appeal' Ah, there we go: throw that potato back.... So now the DOJ will appeal, as forced by the sloganeering of the Biden administration and the deference to the CDC. The results will certainly be terrible for the administration because the next court will agree with the previous court that there was never any legal basis for the mandate in the first place. They could also issue a stay. That would be catastrophic for the Biden administration....

"The words of the CDC statement are the chilling part. They care about their authority first and foremost, even only. This seems to be the view pervasive in Washington today, as a Cold Civil War heats up between the states and with Washington. Every day grows more intense. Every day, the conflict becomes more raw and brutal. There seems to be no end in sight because there will be no rollbacks, no apologies, no regrets, no admission that their “authority” was an overreach all along.... 

"We live in a world burdened by extremely arrogant and immovable public agencies that have lost public trust. The administrative state is right now as angry as the public is at them. There is a peaceful solution here but it doesn’t seem to be on the table. If I’ve learned anything new over the last two years, it’s about the strange way in which the ruling class is impervious not only to actual research but also to the will of the people, even when it shows up in devastating polls. They seem ... to regard the celebrations after the judge’s decision not as a corrective but a challenge to overcome. 

"It’s all about… authority. Not public health but public-health AUTHORITY. [STRESS added] Who is in charge? That’s what’s really at issue. They say them and we say us." 

Read more: https://brownstone.org/articles/why-is-cdc-trying-to-put-a-mask-on-your-face-again/

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

UK care home residents still being locked down

Revealed: The care home residents who are trapped in endless Covid lockdowns as normality returns for rest of us | Daily Mail - Miles Dilworth: 

April 3, 2022 - "Many care home residents are trapped in ‘endless’ lockdowns due to draconian Covid guidance – despite the rest of the country opening up. More than half of homes in parts of England have suspended family visits and some dementia sufferers have not seen loved ones since New Year.

"In January, ministers lifted the long-standing cap on visitors after a campaign by the Daily Mail. But care homes have continued to lock down under existing guidance if they have an ‘outbreak’ of two or more cases. Elderly residents have been unable to see relatives for months and some people with dementia are being kept in their rooms for 24 hours a day.... Staff are included in outbreak counts, meaning some care homes have been in lockdown for months with zero cases among residents....

"Around 30 per cent of care homes are currently experiencing a Covid outbreak, according to an audit of councils.  More than half of the 286 homes in Lincolnshire are closed to visitors due to Covid outbreaks, but in Enfield, north London, only one care home has shut its doors to visitors despite eight out of 83 sites experiencing outbreaks....

"Rather Die of COVID than Loneliness." Photo by Anne Delaney, Greeley Tribune, 2020. 

"Helen Wildbore, of the Relatives & Residents Association charity, said: ‘Over two years into the pandemic and this is still no “freedom day” for people living in care.’  Diane Mayhew, of campaign group Rights for Residents, said: ‘The Health Secretary has said that we’ve got to learn to live with Covid. So why does that not apply to people unfortunate enough to live in care homes? The choice of seeing their family has been taken away from them. It’s an abuse of their rights.’

"A Government spokesman said: ‘Even during a Covid-19 outbreak, we are clear that every resident can continue to receive one visitor inside the care home.’

"Bethany Robinson says her mother has no quality of life due to ‘rolling lockdowns’ at her care home. The home in Telford, Shropshire, has been free of visiting restrictions for just five weeks since October..... Her care home was in lockdown due to a Covid outbreak from October to late November. It reopened to visitors for just two weeks before restrictions were reimposed because of further cases. It remained in lockdown until March, reopened for three weeks, then stopped visits again after two staff members tested positive. No residents have tested positive during the latest lockdown.

"Mrs Robinson, 32, who works in a call centre, has been the only person able to visit her mother during the lockdowns as her essential caregiver. But she said Mrs Tart badly misses the rest of her family.... She added: ‘Sadly, mum hasn’t got a lot of time left. She won’t be able to take part in the activities she enjoys much longer so it’s frustrating for me to see her life at the moment.... There’s a big difference between giving someone a long life but if that life has no quality, there is no point in that.’" 

Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10682013/The-care-home-residents-trapped-endless-Covid-lockdowns.html

373 million people locked down in China

An estimated 373 million people – equal to the combined populations of Canada and the United States – are living under some form of lockdown in China.

China’s Shanghai reports first COVID deaths since lockdown | Al Jazeera:

April 18, 2022 - "The Chinese city of Shanghai has announced its first deaths in a COVID-19 outbreak that has plunged the financial hub into a weeks-long lockdown and sparked widespread anger and rare protests. In a statement on Monday, the city said three people infected with COVID-19 had died on the previous day. It added that two of the dead were women aged 89 and 91, while the third was a 91-year-old man.... It also reported 22,248 domestic cases of COVID-19 on Monday....

"In response, authorities have doubled down on Beijing’s longstanding zero-tolerance approach to the virus, vowing to persist with onerous curbs on movement and isolating anyone who tests positive.... Residents in Shanghai – one of China’s wealthiest and most cosmopolitan cities – have chafed under the restrictions, with many complaining of food shortages, spartan quarantine conditions and heavy-handed enforcement.... In a rare glimpse into the discontent, videos posted online last week showed some residents scuffling with hazmat-suited police ordering them to surrender their homes to patients. Other footage and audio clips have indicated increasing desperation, including some showing people bursting through barricades demanding food."
Read more: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/18/chinas-shanghai-reports-first-covid-deaths-since-lockdown

Lockdowns affecting 373 million Chinese | Bangkok Post - Kyodo News:

April 16, 2022 - "About 373 million people in 45 cities across China have come under some form of lockdown due to a surge in coronavirus cases, according to estimates by a Nomura International analysts in Hong Kong. [sic] The figure amounts to 26.4% of the country’s total population, as the government in Beijing continues to pursue a radical zero-Covid policy, fuelling concerns that stringent measures could negatively affect the world’s second-largest economy and the global supply chain....

"According to Nomura, complete or partial lockdowns were in place in 45 Chinese cities as of Monday, up from 23 cities with a total population of 193 million a week earlier. The 45 cities’ combined annual gross domestic product amounts to 46 trillion yuan (US$7.2 trillion), or 40.3% of the country’s economy. In the areas under lockdown, residents have seen their movements restricted, with public transport, such as buses and subways, halted. In Shanghai, videos of scuffles between police and residents, frustrated with the strict isolation policy, went viral at one point, but they were later deleted."
Read more: https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2295734/lockdowns-affecting-373-million-chinese

China’s economy pays a price as lockdowns restrict nearly a third of its population | New York Times - Alexandra Stevenson:

April 14, 2022 - "Nearly 400 million people are estimated to be under some form of lockdown in China as officials try to stop a fast-moving Omicron outbreak that is beginning to weigh on the world’s second-largest economy. Hundreds of thousands of people have been sent to isolation facilities in China, and millions more have been told to stay in their homes. 

"Officials in dozens of cities have shut down normal daily life across the country in a race to track and trace the coronavirus and stamp out China’s worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic.... It’s part of a pandemic strategy that is increasingly at odds with China’s own economic growth expectations — one that has prompted economists and even the country’s premier to sound an alarm....

"China’s response to its latest outbreak is also beginning to have an impact on the world’s global supply chain, as factories that make iPhones, electric cars and semiconductors have had to stop operations. Some critical components cannot be trucked from ports to factories because of roadblocks and stringent Covid test requirements.... In some places without any reported cases, officials have put in place roadblocks, leading the State Council, China’s cabinet, to tell local authorities this week not to obstruct major roads, ports and airports."
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/14/business/china-lockdowns-economy.html

U.S. CDC travel mask mandate no longer in force

 USA ditches mask mandate on aircraft and in airports | FlightGlobal - Pilar Wolfsteller:

April 18, 2022 - "The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will no longer enforce the federal face mask mandate, in place since January 2021, after a US judge struck down the order. The mandate had been imposed by the US public health agency Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to mitigate the spread of highly-contagious Covid-19 before vaccines were widely available. TSA had had a similar order in place for airports and on board aircraft, upon CDC’s recommendation.

"'The agencies are reviewing the decision and assessing potential next steps,' a US government official says on 18 April in response to the court ruling. 'In the meantime, today’s court decision means that the CDC’s public transportation masking order is not in effect at this time. Therefore TSA will not enforce its security directives requiring mask use on public transportation and transportation hubs at this time.... CDC recommends that people continue to wear masks in indoor public transportation settings,' the official adds."
Read more: https://www.flightglobal.com/safety/usa-ditches-mask-mandate-on-aircraft-and-in-airports/148302.article

Major U.S. Airlines Announce Masks Policies Are Lifted, Effective as of April 18, 2022 | Just Jared: 

April 18, 2022 - "All of the major airlines in the United States have announced that masks are no longer required to be worn during flights, effective immediately.

"The mask mandate on public transportation will no longer be enforced after a federal judge in Florida, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, ruled that the White House’s 14-month-old directive was unlawful. Reuters reports that the judge 'said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had exceeded its authority with the mandate, had not sought public comment and did not adequately explain its decisions.'

"United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines have all lifted their mask requirements. Amtrak, the national train line, did the same.

"Read what each airline announced" at https://www.justjared.com/2022/04/18/major-u-s-airlines-announce-masks-policies-are-lifted-effective-as-of-april-18-2022/.

Civil libertarians want open inquiry into use of Emergencies Act

Civil liberties groups push for open inquiry into Emergencies Act usage | Western Standard - Matthew Horwood:

April 14, 2022 - "Fifteen civil liberties groups petitioned the federal government for an open, independent and bipartisan inquiry into the prime minister’s use of emergency police powers against the Freedom Convoy. 'The government may have an incentive to keep this secretive and closed,' said Cara Zwibel, director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA). 'We want to avoid that. There is a need for this to be a public process.”

"According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act from February 14 to 23, which led to 230 arrests at a truckers’ protest outside Parliament and the freezing of some $7.8 million worth of bank and credit union accounts belonging to protest sympathizers.

"Section 63 of the Emergencies Act requires that within 60 days of its usage, the federal government must launch 'an inquiry to be held into the circumstances that led to the declaration being issued and the measures taken for dealing with the emergency.' The provision is separate from a Section 62 clause permitting review by a parliamentary committee, which is already underway.

"The Civil Liberties’ Zwibel said all petitioners, including groups unsympathetic to the political aims of Freedom Convoy truck drivers, were alarmed by the prospect of the Emergencies Act being normalized to crackdowns on protesters. 'This is about recognizing the act, once used, must not become something governments resort to,' Zwibel said. 'We must ensure this is not abused.'

"The CCLA challenged the federal government’s use of the act in a February 18 filing at Federal Court. The case is pending....

"'We are concerned about the use of state and police powers to suppress constitutional rights,' petitioners wrote. They said a federal inquiry 'must be a process that is designed around the pillars of transparency, openness and meaningful accountability.'"

Read more: https://westernstandardonline.com/2022/04/civil-liberties-groups-push-for-open-inquiry-into-emergencies-act-usage/

Type 2 diabetes: Covid's hidden accomplice

Covid and Diabetes, Colliding in a Public Health Train Wreck | New York Times - Andrew Jacobs:

April 3, 2022 - "After older people and nursing home residents, perhaps no group has been harder hit by the pandemic than people with diabetes. Recent studies suggest that 30 to 40 percent of all coronavirus deaths in the United States have occurred among people with diabetes.... 

"Characteristics of Persons Who Died with COVID-19 —  United States, February 12–May 18, 2020," 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, July 17, 2020

"People with diabetes are especially vulnerable to severe illness from Covid, partly because diabetes impairs the immune system but also because those with the disease often struggle with high blood pressure, obesity and other underlying medical conditions that can seriously worsen a coronavirus infection.... 

"Diabetes patients hospitalized with Covid spend more time in the I.C.U., are more likely to be intubated and are less likely to survive, according to several studies, one of which found that 20 percent of hospitalized coronavirus patients with diabetes died within a month of admission. Though researchers are still trying to understand the dynamics between the two diseases, most agree on one thing: Uncontrolled diabetes impairs the immune system and decreases a patient’s ability to withstand a coronavirus infection.

"Diabetes is a pernicious disease that is at once ubiquitous and invisible, partly because most people with the condition do not appear outwardly ill. It affects 34 million Americans, or 13 percent of all adults, ... annually claims 100,000 lives and soaks up one in four health care dollars spent.... [T]he burden of diabetes falls more heavily on Latino and Black Americans, highlighting systemic failures in health care delivery that have also made the coronavirus far deadlier for the poor, said Nadia Islam, a medical sociologist at NYU Langone Health. 'It’s not that diabetes itself makes Covid inherently worse but rather uncontrolled diabetes, which is really a proxy for other markers of disadvantage,' she said. Compounding the concerns, some studies suggest that a coronavirus infection can heighten the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a disease that is largely preventable through a healthy diet and exercise.... 

"More than 90 percent of all diabetes cases in the United States are type 2. One study published last month found that patients who recovered from Covid were 40 percent more likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes within 12 months compared with the uninfected.... Over the past two years, doctors have also reported a sharp rise in young people being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, an increase that many believe is tied to the drastic spike in childhood obesity during the pandemic.... About 1.5 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes each year, according to the C.D.C., and roughly 96 million, about one in three adults, are at high risk for developing the disease....

"Diabetes is an insidious disease that significantly increases the risks of premature blindness, stroke, and circulatory and neurological problems that can lead to infections requiring amputation.... Black and Latino Americans are more than twice as likely to receive a diabetes diagnosis as whites, and inadequate access to medical care can make it harder for them to juggle the complex dietary, monitoring and treatment regimens that can stave off its devastating complications. Although there is much researchers don’t understand, many believe that uncontrolled diabetes greatly amplifies the perils of a Covid diagnosis. That’s because a sedentary lifestyle, putting on extra weight or failing to keep close tabs on blood sugar levels fuel chronic inflammation inside the body, which can increase insulin resistance and weaken the immune system.

"Inflammation triggers the release of cytokines, tiny proteins that regulate the body’s immune response to infection or injury. Cytokines are a critical component of the normal healing process, but for people with diabetes and underlying chronic inflammation, all those cytokines can damage healthy tissue. Covid, it turns out, can provoke an uncontrolled release of cytokines, and the resulting “cytokine storm” can wreak havoc on vital organs like the lungs, leading to dire outcomes and death."

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/03/health/diabetes-covid-deaths.html

How the Left learned to love lockdowns

Photo: Spiked Online, 2020

How the organized Left got Covid wrong, learned to love lockdowns and lost its mind: an autopsy | The Grayzone - Christian Parenti:

March 31, 2022 - "It is hard to destroy your own cause and feel righteous while doing so, yet the American left has done it.... For two years the left has championed policies of surveillance and exclusion in the form of: punitive vaccine mandates, invasive vaccine passports, socially destructive lockdowns, and radically unaccountable censorship by large media and technology corporations. For the entire pandemic, leftists and liberals – call them the Lockdown Left – cheered on unprecedented levels of repression aimed primarily at the working class – those who could not afford private schools and could not comfortably telecommute from second homes. 

"Almost the entire left intelligentsia has remained psychically stuck in March 2020. Its members have applauded the new biosecurity repression and calumniated as liars, grifters, and fascists any and all who dissented. Typically, they did so without even engaging evidence and while shirking public debate. Among the most visible in this has been Noam Chomsky, the self-described anarcho-syndicalist who called for the unvaccinated to 'remove themselves from society,' and suggested that they should be allowed to go hungry if they refuse to submit. [1]

"In Jacobin, a magazine claiming to support the working class in all its struggles, Branko Marcetic demanded the unvaccinated be barred from public transportation: 'one obvious course of action is for Biden to make vaccines a requirement for mass transport.' [2] Journalist Doug Henwood has scolded the unvaccinated with: 'Get over your own bloated sense of self-importance.' [3] But Henwood has championed shutting down all of society in the name of safety, while refusing to engage counter-arguments – a combination that suggests a bloated sense of self-importance of his own....

"Even the American Civil Liberties Union – long a bastion of objective thinking and civil liberties absolutism – has supported the mandates, lockdowns, and censorship. David Cole, the group’s legal director, debased himself in the New York Times with a tortured op-ed explaining how everything the ACLU stood for over the last 100 years suddenly did not apply during the season of freakout and overreach. [5].... 

"All of this unmasks the Lockdown Left’s blue-city provincialism. Its adherents drink high-quality coffee and enjoy bike lanes, but have revealed themselves to be as narrow-minded, clannish, mean-spirited and faith-based as any group of small-town 'deplorables' might be. If you don’t agree with the consensus in Cambridge, Brooklyn, Bethesda, or Berkeley, then you are very obviously insane. End of story. For this set, Covid vaccines have become a fetish, a talisman to wave against the specter of 'contagion'; while lockdowns and censorship are treated as purely technical, apolitical interventions.... 

"All of this is contingent upon the status of Lockdown Leftists as relatively privileged laptop workers who can operate from the comfort of home, dependent on anonymous 'frontline workers' ferrying food and Amazon packages to their doorstep.... Never mind that we are in the tightest labor market in 40 years and should be encouraging workers to unite and fight the bosses for better conditions. Instead, most of the left – including some trade unions – has supported measures that divide, distract, and intimidate the working class. It is a tragic and disturbing spectacle.

"The socialist left, which wants to use state power to discipline capital has instead accepted the negative image of its goal: state power used to bully, harass, and discipline workers. The left’s embrace of Covid hysteria makes a mockery of the left’s goals of planning, industrial policy, economic redistribution, worker empowerment, and environmental sustainability.... The left is now actively helping its own enemies. In its unwavering support for mandates, passports, punitive lockdowns, and censorship, the organized left has sided with technocratic elites, the one percent, and the repressive state apparatus everywhere.... 

"Here is my theory of the crime: a reckless smash and grab operation by Big Pharma, assisted by our totally captured public health agencies, has been allowed to run unchecked, like a cytokine storm of bad policy, because of the unique political dynamics of the 2020 presidential election in which mass Trump Derangement Syndrome short-circuited the critical faculties of almost the entire journalistic class and Democratic Party ecosystem, including the so-called movement left.... Dating back to the Swine Flu fiasco of 1976, a corrupt symbiosis between industry and the regulators has fueled a dynamic of pandemic-hyping moral panic. [8] In the pre-Trump era these would-be moral panics had limited traction because the critical capacities of journalists and politicians were intact enough to thwart the worst excesses of the pharmaceutical-public health 'pandemic industrial complex.' [9] But the fear created by Trump destroyed that capacity for correction."

Read more: https://thegrayzone.com/2022/03/31/left-covid-lockdowns-mind-autopsy/

Taiwan's commitment to ZeroCovid challenged

For two years, Taiwan's government has held to  a ZeroCovid policy (while avoiding lockdowns); but its commitment to ZeroCovid is being challenged both by rising Covid case counts and by the political opposition.

Is Taiwan Inching Away From Its Zero-COVID Policy? | The Diplomat - Brian Hioe:

April 6, 2022 - "Taiwan has managed to remain free of COVID-19 for most of the pandemic to date. The country has experienced only one major outbreak of COVID-19, which began in May 2021, peaked at over 500 cases a day in June 2021, and resulted in over 800 deaths. The outbreak of summer 2021 began after a year in which Taiwan was mostly COVID-free, some scares notwithstanding, due to quick action by authorities to close borders with China. A 14-day quarantine was mandated for new arrivals and a QR code system was set up, with individuals required to scan a QR code at stores, restaurants, and other establishments to assist in contact tracing. The outbreak was contained by later that summer. August 25, 2021 saw the first day with zero reported COVID-19 cases.

"The Taiwanese government’s approach to fighting COVID-19 was a zero-COVID approach that emphasized testing, tracking, and isolating. The Tsai administration’s handling of the pandemic allowed Taiwan to avoid any lockdowns, even during the peak of COVID-19 cases, with only 'soft lockdown' measures and individuals still allowed to go outside freely, so long as they wore medical masks. The containment of COVID-19 in 2021 was less dependent on vaccines, seeing as Taiwan initially struggled with vaccine shortages.... Taiwan also saw low rates of vaccination, due to domestic fears about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as because members of the public did not see vaccination as necessary, in light of Taiwan’s success in mostly avoiding COVID-19.

"However, the Tsai administration currently faces the challenge of how to gradually loosen restrictions so as to reintegrate Taiwan into the world economy at a time in which other nations are opening up. China and Hong Kong are currently seeing outbreaks that gesture toward possible negative outcomes for Taiwan if it attempts to maintain its zero-COVID approach indefinitely. Apart from lockdowns in Shanghai and other major Chinese metropolitan centers, this has been dramatically observed in Hong Kong, which has seen thousands, even tens of thousands, of daily cases and the world’s highest death rate by proportion of the population from COVID-19....

"Now Taiwan is seeing its own case counts climb. For the four days of the Tomb Sweeping Festival – an occasion for families to travel and clean ancestral tombs – Taiwan has reported more than 100 COVID-19 cases a day. On April 5, 216 cases were reported. This was a dramatic uptick from a week prior on March 29, when 33 cases were reported, and even that was the highest number of cases since June 2021.... Many cases have unknown sources of infection.... 

Graph couttesy Worldometers

"Although the Tsai administration has publicly maintained that it still adheres to a zero-COVID approach, it did not discourage the public from traveling over the Tomb Sweeping Festival.... The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) , which coordinates Taiwan’s COVID-19 response, ... did not seek to reduce traffic on highways and railways, as it did in the past during holidays. The CECC also stated that it expects cases to increase.... In its messaging, the CECC has stressed that of the 1,709 domestic COVID-19 cases reported from January 1 to April 3, only four had medium-to-heavy symptoms, with most cases instead reporting light symptoms or being asymptomatic....

"The future direction of COVID-19 policy will soon become a matter of political contention. [Opposition] Pan-blue mayors such as New Taipei mayor Hou You-yi and Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je have called on the Tsai administration to make clear whether it intends to continue to adhere to a zero-COVID approach or switch to 'co-existing' with COVID-19. This could prove a significant development, in that pan-Blue politicians themselves have expressed openness to transitioning to co-existing with COVID-19.... 

"During the outbreak last year, it was much more common for pan-Blue mayors such as Hou and Ko – both thought to hold aspirations for Taiwan’s 2024 presidential race – to attack the central government for failing to be stringent enough against COVID-19.... The new signaling from Hou and Ko, then, may be confirmation that the Taiwanese public is increasingly willing to contemplate the possibility of co-existence with COVID-19. 

"Likewise, media reporting on the uptick in cases is notably muted compared to past outbreaks. It is possible that the central government may continue to publicly claim that it is still pursuing zero-COVID in order to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 as long as possible. But rather than the public rhetoric, it will be important to watch whether the Tsai administration’s policy moves are in the direction of management of the coronavirus."

Read more: https://thediplomat.com/2022/04/is-taiwan-inching-away-from-its-zero-covid-policy/

No convictions in Whitmer kidnapping trial

Jury Acquits 2 Men Accused of Plotting To Kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer | Reason - Robby Soave:

Gretchen Whitmer, 2019. Wikimedia Commons

April 8, 2022 - "In what should serve as a major blow to the credibility of federal law enforcement agents, a district court jury acquitted two men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The jury deadlocked on the charges against two other defendants, and it's not clear whether prosecutors will seek to retry them, according to The New York Times.... 

"This is an embarrassing outcome for both the FBI — which had relied on a vast network of informants that were extensively involved in planning and even encouraging the plot — as well as Whitmer herself, who treated the plot with utter seriousness.... 

"In reality, Whitmer was never in actual danger; 'Big Dan,' the ringleader of the alleged plot, contacted law enforcement early on, and the FBI paid him $54,000 to conduct six months of surveillance on a loose network of militia members who were upset with Whitmer's aggressive COVID-19 lockdown policies. When the group staked out Whitmer's house, it was Big Dan leading the effort — with the FBI's foreknowledge and encouragement. 

"At the same time, Big Dan's FBI handler, a man named Jayson Chambers, was attempting to start a side business as a security consultant; he thus had every incentive to construct a major domestic terrorism bust that he could take credit for foiling. 

As The Times reported:

No attack ever took place and no final date for an abduction was set, testimony showed, and the details of the alleged plan sometimes differed from witness to witness. The F.B.I. informant, Dan Chappel, said he believed the group planned to kill Ms. Whitmer.... Ty Garbin, the man who earlier pleaded guilty in the case, said he thought the group of men might abandon the governor in a boat in the middle of Lake Michigan. Another man who pleaded guilty, Kaleb Franks, said he had hoped to die in a shootout with the governor's security detail.

"'There was no plan to kidnap the governor, and there was no agreement between these four men,' Joshua Blanchard, a lawyer for Mr. Croft, said in closing arguments. He said the government tried to conjure up a conspiracy by using a network of informants and undercover agents, and that 'without a plan, the snitches needed to make it look like' there was movement toward a plan.

"The FBI ... has a long history of engaging in entrapment: i.e., inducing people to plan crimes that they had no intention of carrying out. The victims of these prosecutions have often been Muslims, though right-wing groups are also a common target.... It appears that the jury possessed reasonable and well-justified doubt that the there was ever any actual plot to kidnap Whitmer, despite the FBI's attempts to manufacture one."

Read more: https://reason.com/2022/04/08/gretchen-whitmer-kidnapping-plot-acquittal-fbi/

Ontario tries coping with Covid without lockdowns

Photo by Aaron Pruzaniec, 2005. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons.

EDITORIAL: A COVID wave without lockdowns | Toronto Sun:

April 1, 2022 - "The fearmongering over a sixth wave of COVID-19 infections across Canada is getting out of hand.... It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that there is a 'spring surge' in virus cases. This was anticipated because this is how seasonal viruses tend to function.

"While it would have been great to completely eradicate COVID, it’s been clear for some time now that the virus wasn’t going away and was instead becoming 'endemic'. Endemic doesn’t mean we’re supposed to shut down our society whenever the virus surges and invite in all of the increasingly documented harms that have come with lockdowns. No, it means we learn to smartly live with COVID in a way that protects and cares for the vulnerable.

"Instead of focusing on the negatives and the potential to stoke fears, it’s time to focus on the things we’ve learned and accomplished over the past two years. Because we’ve come a long way in two years.

"The data has helped us understand who is at low-risk and who is high-risk. Vaccines are protecting against severe outcomes. Testing policies are now largely geared towards identifying high-risk persons early. Treatments like paxlovid exist to shorten people’s hospital stays. The general public has been discussing COVID for two years — they’re well-positioned to make their own informed risk assessments at this point.... 

"The days of broad mandates and the government shutting places down are behind us. Now we have to rebuild and also deal with the damage caused by shutdowns, such as the education deficit experienced by many kids.

"'Unfortunately [Covid] is not going away completely just yet but we need to move on and continue with the reopening of our economy so that people can get back to a more normal way of life,' Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said on Thursday. The sixth wave of COVID will be one without lockdowns, and that’s the right call."

Read more: https://torontosun.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-a-covid-wave-without-lockdowns

Pennyslvania parents fight school mask mandates

Masked schoolchildren, Godfrey, Texas. CBC Photo: L.M. Otero/Associated Press

Pennsylvania judge rules in favor of parents, removes five board members over mandatory masks in schools | Post Millennial - Katie Daviscourt:

March 30, 2022 - "A Pennsylvania judge ordered the removal of five school board members in West Chester on Tuesday after a parent petitioned the courts to remove board members that voted to make masks mandatory in schools. Judge William P. Mahon ruled that all five Democratic West Chester Area School District board members need to be 'removed from office.' Those members are board president Sue Tiernan, and directors Joyce Chester, Kate Shaw, Karen Herrmann, and Daryl Durnell.

"Judge Mahon wrote that his decision came after there was 'no response' to the petition by the school district or its counsel, according to court documents.

The announcement was posted on Twitter by a group called Moms for Liberty whose mission, according to their website, is to fight '...for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.'

"Beth Ann Rosica, a parent in the West Chester Area School District who holds a PhD in Education, filed the petition in February in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas. In the filing, the petition states that board members are causing children '...permanent and irreparable harm due to their fabricating, feigning or intentionally exaggerating or including a medical symptom or disease which results in a potentially harmful medical evaluation or treatment to the child and as such, the (school directors) are to be held accountable.' The petition also alleged that school directors have '...created and implemented illegal policies that violate Constitutional rights and, as such, cause irreparable harm.'

"Talking to Daily Local News after the petition was filed in February, Beth Ann Rosica explained that 'We have been fighting this battle for a year.' 'The school districts are just not responding and not listening, so the only thing we have left to do is to recall the board members. We don't believe they have the legal authority to (mask the kids). Our kids have been masked in school for a year and a half.  It's not acceptable. They are not their parents and they don't get to make these decisions for our children'....

" Kenneth Roos, attorney at Wisler Pearlstine LLP, which is representing the board members, said that they would be filing a motion to reconsider."

Read more: https://thepostmillennial.com/pennsylvania-judge-rules-in-favor-of-parents-removes-five-board-members-over-mandatory-masking