Mask mandates are creeping back

Covid-19 cases are on the rise in North America; and rising along with them are calls for renewed mandates.   

Beware the creeping return of mask mandates | Unherd | Kevin Bardosh: 

August 24, 2023 - "This week a handful of American schools, businesses and healthcare facilities re-imposed mask mandates and other Covid safety policies.... This included a small college in Atlanta with 400 students, elementary schools in Texas and Kentucky, an LA Hollywood film studio (responsible for The Hunger Games) and some Kaiser Permanente health facilities in California. Pro-mask mandate scientists and doctors, such as Independent SAGE member Trish Greenhalgh of the University of Oxford and former US surgeon general Jerome Adams took the opportunity to model 'good mask behaviour. 

"According to CNN, a number of 'experts' continue to claim that it 'may be time to break out the masks again' since 'the virus is always lurking, waiting for openings,' and 'Covid is just going to be a bit of a roller coaster, probably forever.' The US and UK have seen medical advocacy groups recently call, in the BMJ and Annals of Internal Medicine, for the return of permanent or seasonal medical mask mandates in all healthcare facilities, which has continued in some states and clinics.... 

"[T]he mandate debate in healthcare facilities does threaten to fundamentally (and literally) change the face of healthcare for years to come. The public is being reintroduced to the moralisation and virtue-signalling of collectivist masking. The risk-framing narrative, use of selective experts and social marketing techniques are all reminiscent of 2020-21 nudge strategies. Yet the exaggerated poetic licence and double-think of the 'long masker' subculture ignores some key facts.

"Before Covid, population-wide medical masks were not viewed as a particularly effective tool for respiratory viruses. In a 2018 address at the National Academy of Medicine, science writer Laurie Garrett stated that 'the major efficacy of a mask is that it causes alarm in a person and so you stay away from each other.' This is roughly consistent with the updated 2023 Cochrane review, which found that mask-wearing made little difference in a community setting. More recent RCT studies of community masking during Covid in Bangladesh and Guinea-Bissau (America forgot to run RCTs on masks) found little to no benefit of community-wide cloth masking, too. 

"Pro-mask groups will argue that the Cochrane review did not account for the many observational studies that appear to support mask mandates. But there are major flaws with such studies. The results from a recent high-profile evaluation that found lifting mask mandates at Massachusetts schools was associated with increased Covid cases could also be explained by uncontrolled confounders. Other observational studies in Spanish and American schools show no effect from mandatory mask policies. 

"Others will argue that the problem is with people: they simply do not follow the rules. If only we would mask hard enough and long enough, we wouldn’t have any problems, they say. A recent August 2023 US survey found 15% reported to mask at least sometimes in public, compared to 30% in February. However, studies conducted during mask mandate periods have shown substantial differences between self-reported mask usage and actual usage, which falls much lower. This is why mandates are viewed as necessary: you must force people with the mask police and subtle psychological techniques to gain 'optimal' compliance.... 

"[T]he pro-mask narrative ignores the straightforward idea that covering one’s face may be undesirable. This includes harmful effects on social and emotional cognition, the toxicity of poorly manufactured masks, environmental pollution, psychological and physical discomfort (especially in people with a history of trauma or abuse), as well as increased social conformity to illogical bureaucracy and greater acceptance of mass surveillance technologies.

"Mask mandates strayed from accepted ethical standards during the Covid crisis, notably the need for evidence and proportionality. The sense of urgency and emergency is far behind us now. Yet the media narrative continues, and with it the faux perpetual emergency."

Read more: https://unherd.com/thepost/beware-the-creeping-return-of-mask-mandates/

Should mask mandates be brought back? | WBNS 10TV Ohio | September 7, 2023:

Ethanol mandate fuels Iowa campaign

Presidential Candidates Rushing to Support Ethanol Subsidies Ahead of Iowa Caucus - Reason.com - John Stossel:

January 27, 2016 - "Cars run on fuel. Politicians run on votes, and they'll do almost anything to get them. That includes supporting mandates that force us to use ethanol, a fuel made from corn that Iowa farmers grow.

"They support ethanol because Iowa is the first state to vote on presidential candidates. Candidates want to look strong at the start of the race, so every four years they become enthusiastic ethanol supporters. Even those who claim they believe in markets pander to Iowa's special interests.

"Donald Trump, who doesn't seem to have a consistent political philosophy aside from bashing critics and foreigners, now has joined the ethanol-praising club. In fact, Trump says regulators should force gas stations to increase the amount of ethanol they use. It's a convenient way to attack his Iowa rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., who courageously says the mandate should be phased out.

"Cruz is right. Legally mandating that a certain percentage of fuel used be ethanol is a bad idea for several reasons:

"First, mandating ethanol means more land must be plowed to grow corn for fuel. The Department of Energy estimates that if corn ethanol replaced gasoline completely, we'd need to turn all cropland to corn — plus 20 percent more land on top of that.

"Second, requiring ethanol fuel raises the price of corn — bad news for consumers who must pay more for food.

"Third, although ethanol's supporters claim burning corn is "better for the environment," that's not true. Once you add the emissions from growing, shipping and processing the corn, ethanol creates more pollution than oil. Environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Clean Air Task Force now oppose its use.

"Finally, because corn is grown in America, promoters said ethanol would make us more energy independent. Even if the 'independence' argument were valid, fracking accomplishes much more.

"But in Iowa Trump says, 'Ethanol is terrific'....  Ben Carson didn't go that far but according to the Washington Examiner said that it would be wrong to end the subsidies.... Marco Rubio says he'd support ending the mandate — after another seven years..... At the Iowa Agriculture Summit, Chris Christie sounded annoyed that President Obama hasn't been more supportive of ethanol subsidies, saying, 'Certainly anybody who's a competent president would get that done!'....

"Bernie Sanders, I-Ver., criticized subsidies in the past, but on Iowa public radio he sounded as if he loves the boondoggle.... Hillary Clinton says ethanol 'holds the promise for not only more fuel for automobiles but for aviation ... and for military aircraft; we could be fueling so much air traffic with biofuels'....

"Only Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ken.) have consistently said that the market, not politicians, should choose fuels. Unfortunately, that principled stance hasn't brought them much support....

"Energy expert Jerry Taylor is right to say that running for office in Iowa not only means you must praise Christianity; it means being 'willing to sacrifice children to the corn god.'"

Read more: https://reason.com/archives/2016/01/27/presidential-candidates-rushing-to-suppo
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Koch urges business to oppose corporate welfare

Charles Koch Urges Conservatives to Skip ‘Corporate Welfare’ - Philip Elliot, Time:

August 1, 2015 - "Conservative billionaire Charles Koch told his ultra-rich friends that they face a 'life and death' decision whether to keep lobbying for tax breaks and government subsidies.

"'Business leaders (must) recognize that their behavior is suicide, that it is suicide long term. To survive, long-term, they have to start opposing, rather than promoting, corporate welfare,' Koch told about 450 allies at an Orange County, Calif., summit that began Saturday....

"'Obviously, this prescription will not be an easy pill for many business people to swallow. Because short term, taking the principled path is going to cost some companies some profits, as it will for Koch Industries,' the 79-year-old Koch said. 'But long term, it will allow business people to continue to own and run their businesses, which none of us will be able to do, in my view, in the future otherwise.'

"He pointed to big banks that took 'virtually free money from the Fed' and bailouts in exchange for regulations. 'Now, the chickens are coming home to roost,' Koch said. 'The Fed is taking control of these banks. The Fed now decides what businesses they can be in and how they run those businesses.' Koch said 'regulators, auditors, controllers' are implanted at the banks to keep tabs. The banks, Koch argued, end up making political donations to avoid too much oversight.

"Koch warned that other businesses would be next if their leaders continue taking government subsidies. 'This means stopping the subsidies, mandates and special privileges for business that enriches the haves at the expense of the have-nots,' Koch said.

"It’s that class distinction that Koch has made the focus of seminars at the luxurious resort. 'In my view, we’re heading toward a two-tiered society, a society that is destroying opportunities for the disadvantaged and creating welfare for the rich,' Koch said. 'Misguided policies are creating a permanent underclass, crippling our economy and corrupting the business community — present company excepted, of course. But what this is doing, then, is turning more and more Americans against what they mistakenly believe is free enterprise.'

"With his brother David, Koch is among the most powerful players in Republican politics by virtue of their wealth.... Koch’s opinions shape opinions among rank-and-file conservatives and congressional leaders alike. In fact, five White House hopefuls planned to cycle through the three-day summit in Dana Point, Calif. At least 14 members of Congress or Governors were on-hand, as well....

The Koch-backed network plans to spend $889 million ahead of the 2016 elections... Some of it, advisers say, will be spent pushing against what Koch sees as unjustifiable corporate welfare."

Read more: http://time.com/3981312/charles-koch-corporate-welfare/

Government-Mandated Lunch Breaks are Somehow Libertarians’ Fault

The Nation: Gov't-Mandated Lunch Breaks are Somehow Libertarians’ Fault - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Scott Shackford:

January 30, 2013 - "Rick Perlstein at The Nation has an odd, confounding story ostensibly about how a libertarian University of Chicago student’s experiences with reality turned him into a liberal.... Here are a couple of paragraphs that show some real confusion....

"'He sold books books at Borders in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It 'did kind of a 180 on me. Just in terms of the rigidity of a corporate structure! You know: they tell you you have to take your lunch break at 1:00. But at 12:58 a customer starts speaking to you. And if you speak to them until 1:02 the bosses at Borders would start yelling at you to take your break at one, and then if you got an extra minute to 1:31 it throws off the whole schedule but if you volunteer to go two minutes early they fear they might be fined!"

"'Call it the irrationality of the market.'

"Which of these fellows doesn’t realize that these restrictive lunch break policies are a direct result of government intervention over business policy? Did the word 'fine' not tip anybody off? Who would be fining them?

"Behold, Massachusetts’ mandatory meal break law. These laws are a result of progressives getting directly between the relationship between the employer and employee. Perlstein should be praising this 'corporate structure,' not using it as some sort of misguided attack on libertarians."

Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2013/01/30/the-nation-govt-mandated-lunch-breaks-ar
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