It’s official: Lockdowns were useless

 

Eric Lendrum at American Greatness has shocking news: 

A newly-released study from the prestigious Johns Hopkins University revealed that the sweeping lockdowns in response to the Chinese coronavirus had “little to no effect on COVID-19 mortality.”

According to the Washington Free Beacon, the study was conducted through an analysis of 24 different studies that all focused on government mandates ordering the closure of various aspects of everyday life, including school and business shutdowns, mask and vaccine mandates, and stay-at-home orders, among others.

The comprehensive review, conducted by Johns Hopkins’ Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise, determined that these measures collectively reduced the rate of COVID fatalities in America and Europe by a mere 0.2 percent.

When the studies were narrowed down to individual types of lockdown measures, such as stay-at-home orders alone, the survey revealed that stay-at-home orders actually slightly increased the number of deaths during COVID. ...

Shocking!  Full report is here.

# # #

Vaxx Refusers are like terrorists

TITLE:  ‘Experts’ Claim Vaxx Refusers Need to be Deradicalized or Reeducated Like Cult Members and Terrorists.   If you declined to take the jab, you must be a domestic terrorist and need to be re-educated.  At NOQ Report, Matt Agorist explains:  

. . . The Independent interviewed one of these so-called experts who is advocating for “deradicalizing” folks who refuse the jab and his comments are certainly shocking.

Professor Stephan Lewandowsky, chair in cognitive psychology at the University of Bristol, thinks that those who refuse to take the jab are akin to batsh*t crazy tinfoil hat-wearing loons, who think Hilary Clinton is a lizard. Seriously.

“They’ll refuse anything – ‘I’m not going to wear a mask’, ‘I’m not going to get vaccinated’, ‘I don’t think climate change is happening’, ‘Covid is a hoax’, and, you know, ‘Hillary Clinton is actually a reptilian shapeshifter’,” he told the Independent, adding, “You’re getting to people who hold a cluster of very exotic beliefs – now, they’re very difficult to reach.”

Lewandowsky called this faction of folks who choose not to take the jab, “hardcore refuseniks” who cannot be reached through conventional means — so, they need to be treated like cult members or terrorists.

“In the ideal world, time and money permitting, you can engage even those people in a very slow, long-term process where you affirm their right to have those beliefs… rather than telling them something about themselves they don’t want to hear, let’s put it that way,” he said.

“So you tell them something positive, and then engage in what is effectively the same as a deradicalization process for former terrorists, or cult members.”

By this logic, Joe Rogan and others — who have had covid-19 and choose not to take the jab because they trust their natural immunity — are akin to terrorists or cult members.

. . .

NOTE:  For the record, I do not think that Hillary Clinton is, literally, a “lizard.”  At any rate, read the rest here.

# # #

Mike Rowe on getting a vaccine

 

Mike Rowe, the Dirty Jobs guy, was asked about the COVID vaccines.  As always, he goes with common sense and skepticism.  Via Nick Arama at RedState:

Rowe: Yes, we have a new variant, and from what I’ve read, it’s highly contagious, but far less virulent – especially if you’re vaccinated. According to the CDC, just one 1 in 27,000 vaccinated people have contracted it. That means if you’re vaccinated, you’re more likely to get struck by lightning than contract COVID. And yet, people are once again calling for more lockdowns, more restrictions, and more compliance from those who already got their shots.

The fact is, millions of reasonable Americans have every right to feel confused and skeptical. Those people you refer to. . . – the ones now telling us that we can “get back to normal just as soon as everyone is vaccinated” – those are the same people who said, “two weeks to flatten the curve!” Those are the same people who told us that masks were “useless” before they told us they were “critical.” Those are the same people who told us that a return to normalcy would occur just as soon as “the most vulnerable” among us were vaccinated. Then, just as soon as “half the population” was vaccinated. Then, just as soon as we achieved “herd immunity.” Those are the same people who told us they wouldn’t trust ANY vaccine developed under the last administration. Now, those very same people are belittling the skeptics!

. . .

Full report is here.

# # #

Cartoon of the Day

Powerline blog's regular "Week in Pictures" included this cartoon by Gary Markstein:

click to embiggen or click on the link above and scroll down a bit

# # #

Americans, Choose Freedom and Take Off the Mask

 

Michael Walsh posted his commentary “Americans, Choose Freedom and Take Off the Mask” at The Epoch Times. Here’s the opening:

In the midst of an 8,000-mile car trip around the formerly United—and now fractured—States of America, I arrived in Southern California a couple of weeks ago, just in time to fall victim to an indoor mask mandate jackbooted by Los Angeles County in the interests of leftist conformity, virtue signaling, and general fascist stupidity.

From New England, where my journey started, to central Florida and back again, thence from the Northeast to the Golden State by way of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, my drive was almost entirely mask-free, except for the occasional “Karen” sightings, sporting their slave muzzles as badges of submissive honor. It wasn’t until I got to Gallup, New Mexico, that masks and their ugly companions, closed restaurants taped up like crime scenes, became evident.

And then I got to Los Angeles—and once again, here in sunny SoCal, I got a glimpse into America’s future, unless we finally put an emphatic stop to this unconstitutional and irrational madness. To put it in terms that even an Antifa progressive can understand, and which conservatives need to adopt, we need to start resisting by any means necessary.

The collapse of personal autonomy and individual agency in the face of an onslaught of punitive, soul-corroding COVID-19 restrictions has been perhaps the most frightening and depressing development in modern American history. Given its minuscule—barely a blip above normal—death toll, COVID-19 is as close to a hoax as can be imagined. Advertised relentlessly as the second coming of the Black Death, it is instead the New Coke of viral diseases.

The damage it has done, however, is still considerable—not to the nation’s health but to its economy and, more important, to its psyche. Our country of yeoman farmers began disappearing into urbanism in the aftermath of the Civil War, but it was not until the twin catastrophes of World Wars I and II that authoritarian collectivism began to supplant personal initiative and liberty.

The postwar injection of Marxist poison by the red-diaper scholars of the Frankfurt School into our educational system is now serving to finish the transformation of our country into a third-rate, 1930s socialist fantasy.

. . .

Mr. Walsh expands on his comments here.  He is particularly critical of Dr. Anthony Fauci.

RELATED:  "Natural Immunity 700% Better Than the Vaccine" by Dr. Joseph Mercola at NOQ: click here.

# # #

Gov. DeWine: low marks

 

Bonchie at Red State:

Ohio's Governor Perfectly Illustrates
What Republican Impotence Looks Like

Ohio GOP Gov. Mike DeWine has been the perfect encapsulation of everything wrong with the Republican Party for a while now. His handling of COVID has been marked by an inconsistent, overly cowardly approach whereby he was behind the curve on everything from lockdowns to mask mandates.

Unlike Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who has fought oppressive mandates at every level, DeWine didn’t take an objective look at what was working and what wasn’t. Rather, he sought to protect himself, putting in place oppressive mandates and restrictions that appear to have amounted to nothing at all. In fact, Ohio and Florida ended up with nearly identical COVID death rates despite their wildly different policy decisions in regards to the pandemic.

DeWine has been so bad that he didn’t even lift his state’s mask mandate until June 2nd, months and months after it became clear masks weren’t anywhere close to a silver bullet. Worse, he actually encouraged schools to keep masking children up –something that lacks any scientific justification, at this point, with teachers largely being vaccinated.

But it’s not just COVID where DeWine has curled up into the fetal position, looking for CNN approval more than doing what’s right. On the transgender sports issue, he’s already promised to veto any legislation sent to him by Ohio’s GOP legislature that deals with the issue.

There’s more here.  And with Jim Renacci running for Gov., well, that’d just be more of the same.

# # #

The Tyrants Among Us

The Editorial Board at Issues and Insights gives us fair warning on returning to normalcy:

 Of course they’re not going to let a crisis go to waste.

   . . . 

There’s a natural progression from the pandemic lockdowns to restrictions on freedom in the name of saving the sky from global warming. But the tyrants among us won’t stop there. We find it useful here to quote the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s international affairs analyst, who realized more than six months ago that “the virus of tyranny has already found itself in the bloodstream of liberal democracies.”

For instance:

• President Joe Biden and his party hope to saddle Americans, through undisciplined spending, with debt and a de facto tax (inflation) that can be repaid only by mortgaging the future and bondage to the federal monster.
• There is a core on the left, not even the hard left, that is resisting a return to normal. It wants liberty-shackling rules in place in perpetuity.
• Our freedom to speak will continue to be abridged.
• Our ability to make independent and individual health care decisions will be curtailed further.
• Second Amendment rights will be in danger of being rolled back because of “public health” needs.
• Expect to be forced out of our fossil-fuel-burning automobiles and herded into mass transit.
• Protests and rallies will be put down as insurrections – unless they are in service of the “right” groups, such as Black Lives Matter and Antifa.

Once lost, freedom is difficult to regain. “Be warned,” says author Michael Walsh. “If you think the petty tyrants currently making your lives miserable are going to willingly relinquish their illicit powers, think again. They’ve got a taste for it now.”

So intoxicated from their deep swig of power are they that they no longer see boundaries, just opportunities to subjugate. Fight back, or lose in a few years what has made America unique and great for more than two centuries

The entire editorial is here.

# # #

Not a Good look

 

Matt Margolis at PJ Media covered this latest idiocy:

Social media was abuzz on Friday after Newsmax TV host John Cardillo noticed that the United States Navy’s official Twitter account featured an altered version of its logo with the bald eagle wearing a blue face mask.

# # #

In case you missed President Biden’s first national address

 

Andrea Widburg (a/k/a Bookworm Room) watched President Biden’s speech so that you didn’t have to.  Her report at American Thinker begins:

On Thursday night, a masked Biden tottered down a long, empty hall to a podium.  He then gave the most bizarre presidential address in American history. After a grim recital of "facts" about the last year, Biden emphasized multiple times that Americans had better take the vaccine — and be grateful to him for his amazing ability to get the vaccine to Americans. He also insisted that, vaccines or not, the government's in control and can lock all of us up all over again.

Here, in no particular order, are the points that struck me:

1. Biden was more alert than he's been in many months.  Given how frail and confused Biden's been lately, well, let's just say his verve was suspicious.  Even his eyes, which are usually tightly squinted as he struggles to stay alert and read his teleprompter, were wide open, almost scarily so.  Still, he got visibly tired near the end, slurring his words and seeming lost.

2. The speech was both bizarre and boring.  Despite the teleprompter, it wandered hither and yon, without ever touching clearly on a single point.  It was a grim, depressing speech about a miserable year that probably won't get better even with a vaccine because we must all remain scared and isolated.

. . .

7. The main thrust of the speech was that everyone must get the vaccine (the wonderful Biden vaccine).  However, Biden conceded that even with the vaccine, masks and social distancing must continue.  Even with everyone vaccinated, by July 4, maybe we can gather with small groups outdoors.  In other words, even as we're all pumped full of a vaccine, nothing will change.  But we should trust Biden and remember that we're all in this together.

8. Here's the scariest thing Biden said, although he slipped it in so quickly many may not have noticed (emphasis mine): "Fourth, in the coming weeks, we will issue further guidance on what you can and cannot do once fully vaccinated to lessen the confusion, to keep people safe, and encourage more people to get vaccinated."

The vaccine, rather than freeing us, will bring us even more tightly under government control as the federal government mandates what [we] can and cannot do.

Read the rest of Ms. Widburg’s report here.  The article includes the video link to the speech and also a link to the full transcript. . . if you can stand it . . .

# # #