The COVID-19 denouement

 

Jeffrey A. Tucker at American Institute for Economic Research has some predictions about the COVID-19 denouement:

There is a sense in the air that the pandemic is winding down, and the toxic culture of division, fear, and hatred along with it. Cases are down dramatically. Deaths too. Hospitalizations are no longer irregular. Restrictions are being repealed. You can follow all the action daily at the CDC’s new and unusually competent landing page on the virus (it only took them a year to build this). 

Despite all the talk of a new normal and infinite mandates, there is hope that it could all unwind quickly, pushed by force of public impatience and frustration with restrictions, and a political scramble to avoid responsibility by running away from all that they did for the last year. 

The list of signs and symbols could be made very long. 

• ·         The politicians who overreached are suddenly being held accountable, with both Andrew Cuomo and Gavin Newsom on the hotseat. Calls for governors and mayors to resign consume state and local news. There is clearly major political tumult building. 
• ·         The Great Barrington Declaration scientists can hardly keep up with the requests for respectful interviews, now that it is becoming clear that they were right all along. 
• ·         The experience in open states like Florida, Georgia, South Dakota, and so on, makes it impossible to ignore the grim truth that the lockdowns achieved nothing for public health but did harm health, businesses, liberties, law, and civilized life. 
• ·         The push to open economies, by the same people who locked down the economies, such as Boris Johnson in the UK, is an implicit repudiation of the nonsensical ZeroCovid movement. Everyone seems now to agree with what AIER has been saying for a year: humanity must deal intelligently with pathogens and stop pretending that political forces can control them. 
• ·         AIER visiting senior fellow Naomi Wolf had a hit just last evening on the Tucker Carlson show, and they spoke as allies in the reopening efforts after years of ideological sparring. 
• ·         There is growing weariness of Anthony Fauci’s daily word salads that have massively mixed up the public health messaging for a full year, to the point that Meghan McCain has called for his firing. 
• ·         A year ago, Slate was making sense until the virus became political and they joined the lockdown mob. Now the publication is back to making sense again, with this excellent piece. 
• ·         British medical journal The Lancet is publishing excellent short pieces on the cost of lockdowns, including this riveting letter from Martin Kulldorff. 
• ·         A prestigious European journal of public health has published a blistering attack on the very idea that a power government should ever be trusted with virus mitigation. 

The people who have committed their careers and lives to this pandemic and the policies surrounding it might soon need to find a new raison d’etre. Then the clean up begins – how did this happen, who did it, how to make sure it never happens again – and does not end perhaps for decades. 

The full article is here.

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Face Masks and Civil Disobedience in Burbank

 

Time to tear a page from a Burbank restaurateur. Carl Durrek at NOQ Report has the inspiring development:

Civil disobedience has been a staple of American culture since before the nation broke free from England. It is a necessary component of our freedom as government tends to lean towards authoritarianism whenever it sees a clear path. Covid-19 has opened up such a path for many authoritarians across the nation with California leading the way towards a dystopian near-future.

The city council of Burbank, California, has been in a mini-war with businesses from the beginning of the pandemic. One business in particular, Tinhorn Flats Bar and Grill, has chosen to fight back. Following yesterday’s unanimous vote by the city council to shutter the oldest bar in the city, the response from the local business was short and sweet:

As promised, the bar opened for business as planned. An hour after opening, there had been no word from the city or visits by law enforcement. So far it appears the civil disobedience is happening unimpeded. But that likely won’t last long as the strongarm of the law will soon step in. Very similarly to the infamous Hank Rearden speech in Atlas Shrugged, owner Baret Lepejian believes if government wants to stop them from doing business, they’ll have to do so with more than just an order.

“The pathetic-losers on the Burbank City Council had obviously made up their minds way before the ‘meeting'” ever started,” the bar posted on Facebook. “This was nothing short of a vicious mob with pitchforks coming for that who stands against their campaign of fear. I WILL NOT COMPLY AND I WILL NOT CLOSE MY BUSINESS TO THESE PATHETIC, UNAMERICAN SOCIALIST COWARDS. If need be, I will go down with my ship..”

This isn’t the first attempt by the city to shut them down. Last month, they revoked the restaurant’s public health permit in hopes of bullying the establishment into shutting its doors. But as noted by attorneys for the bar, they have never had a health violation. This latest move to revoke their business license has brought the city and bar national attention. Burbank City Attorney Amy Albano said that if the restaurant’s owners do not comply a lawsuit will be filed and a court order will be sought to close the business.

We wholeheartedly stand with Tinhorn Flats Bar and Grill as they fight to keep their rights to operate safely and within reasonable guidelines that follow medical science. Their story is America’s story. Their fight is our fight.

Which is why I posted this.  We’ve let the owners of our favorite neighborhood bistro know that if they want patrons who will refuse to wear a mask or to practice social distancing, we’ll be there. In the meantime, I continue to wear my [useless] mask like a beard across my chin.

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President Trump will deliver the keynote address at CPAC

 

From the CPAC website (mark your calendar):

Sunday, Feb 28: President Donald Trump will speak at 3:40 pm

Sundance at Conservative Treehouse is no fan of CPAC.  He has many reasons, but every Tea Party member will remember this:

I do not forget when we gave Republicans control of the House of Representatives; and when Paul Ryan took over as speaker; and Ryan passed another three trillion omnibus spending bill with full support of Democrats…. and then showed up to a standing ovation at the “conservative conference.”  WHAT the HELL was being conserved?

The time is now for CPAC to reform…. OR the time has come for CPAC to be abandoned in favor of a national convention that supports the 75 million+ Donald Trump voters.  CPAC is not that convention… not even close.

Nevertheless, President Trump’s CPAC keynote speech will attract a huge audience.  Expect RSBN to live stream;  links to follow.

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State censorship in America

 

More state censorship is on the way.  Brandon Morse at Red State reports:

House Democrats Are Going After Cable Providers and
Streaming Services for Hosting Channels Like Fox News and OANN

When going after advertisers wasn’t enough to sink channels that hold conservative opinions, Democrats began shifting their attention to other methods of fascistically silencing their ideological opposition.

According to The Hill, Democrats are now going after streaming services and cable providers for playing host to what they call “misinformation” and for breeding “radicalized individuals.” The companies they’re going after include Comcast and Verizon, as well as streaming companies like Hulu and Roku to question their “ethical principles” . . .

Mr. Morse’s report concludes:

This isn’t about misinformation. This is about narrative control. This is fascism trying to do what fascism always does; silence the opposition and reign supreme in both state and media.

Much more at the link here.

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Media losing power?

 

Glenn Reynolds, a/k/a Mr. Instapundit, makes a good case:

Media’s censorious gatekeepers are mad —
because they’re losing power

With Donald Trump out of office and de-platformed, you’d think mainstream media gatekeepers would be happy. You’d think wrong.

Though the media-Big Tech regime is doing its best to silence opponents and seize control of the high ground, the news from within is grim. They aren’t happy with how things are going. 

That’s because they know they’re losing. Some are losing audiences and revenues. But more important, they’re losing control of the narrative.

And since control of the narrative, and the power and self-importance that accompany that control, is the most important thing in their lives, they can’t be happy.

Consider the cri de coeur of Washington Post public editor Hamilton Nolan, inspired by Tesla’s decision to scrap its media-relations department. How could that happen?

Nolan knows how, and that’s what bothers him: Tesla scrapped its media-relations department because the media don’t much matter to it. Tesla has plenty of ways to get its story out without relying on the media, and that makes the media much less important — and much less powerful. And it’s the power part that hurts the most.

. . .

I hope it’s true.  Read the rest here.

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A.F. Branco's tribute to Rush

 Via Legal Insurrection:

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Tributes to Rush Limbaugh

Photo credit: abc11.com

William A. Jacobson at Legal Insurrection has the announcement:

Rush Limbaugh has passed away

Irreplaceable

Just announced by his wife on his show. I suspected something was up when he repeatedly cancelled out of shows recently.

It’s an understatement to say that we have lost a giant. He was so much more. He was a cheerleader and clairvoyant. In the face of mainstream media lies and collusion, he was a voice of fresh air that kept our spirits up. He was the target of cancel culture before we even knew the term.

Full article with photos here.  Sundance has more wonderful photos and tributes here,

UPDATE:  Mark Steyn has a wonderful tribute here.

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