Mark Wauck: “settled science” and "misinformation"

 

Whether it’s challenges to the claims about “man-made climate change,” the COVID vaxx, or other examples of “misinformation,” a judge in California has issued an injunction against that state’s attempt to muzzle and penalize any doctors who disagree with the CDC’s and other government mandates on COVID (vaxx, masks, etc.). Mark Wauck at Meaning in History reports:

This tactic cleverly relies upon the common misconception that “science” consists of a body of settled knowledge that is above challenge, rather than being a process of continuing inquiry that relies to a great degree precisely upon challenges to previous consensus (I simplify, of course). This notion of a settled body of knowledge—identified as such by Leftist ideologues without regard to evidence as such—is then used to shut down debate on whatever happens to be the latest Leftist pseudo scientific cause—”settled science” so just shut up! You’re an ignoramus if you dare object, or if you demand evidence to back up the Left’s latest campaign.

We’ve seen this tactic employed repeatedly, first in “social science” fields and now even in the “hard” sciences. Most recently, with the use of the charge of “misinformation—it has evolved into a full assault of the First Amendment and an instrument of social control. The Covid Regime, with its numerous scientifically unjustified mandates—masks, distancing, plexiglass screens, and so forth—has offered fertile ground for the extension of draconian anti-freedom controls over the populace. All in the name of an invented and often contradictory “scientific consensus” which usually boils down to an uninformed and arbitrary bureaucratic consensus.

. . . Specifically, [Judge William] Shubb attacks the definition of “misinformation” as something that is contradicted by a supposed “scientific consensus”—a highly problematic concept.

In an order Wednesday, Shubb criticized the law’s definition of “misinformation,” which is “false information contradicted by contemporary scientific consensus contrary to the standard of care.”

Shubb, who called the definition “nonsense” at a court hearing Monday, said in Wednesday’s order that it was “grammatically incoherent.”

Beyond that, Shubb’s order also criticized the phrase “contemporary scientific consensus,” saying that it doesn’t have an established meaning in the medical field.

“The statute provides no clarity on the term’s meaning, leaving open multiple important questions,” the order said. “For instance, who determines whether a consensus exists to begin with? If a consensus does exist, among whom must the consensus exist (for example practicing physicians, or professional organizations, or medical researchers, or public health officials, or perhaps a combination)?”

That lack of clarity, the judge added, makes it impossible to determine what the new law prohibits.

“I think he correctly analyzed the facts and the law and understood that the concept of a ‘contemporary scientific consensus’ is highly problematic,” said Richard Jaffe, an attorney representing one of the challenges to the rule.

Mr. Wauck concludes:

Given that the federal judiciary—right up to the SCOTUS—has largely been missing in action while the Left has been running roughshod over our constitutionally protected freedoms, it’s refreshing to see a judge directly challenging these tactics. Hopefully this case will establish a precedent for dismantling this Leftist assault on freedom.

Source links are here and here.

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Phantom ballots: who is cleaning the voter rolls?

Jay Valentine at American Thinker has published a couple of columns expressing his concern:

You would think rational electioneers in the Republican Party would, in 2022, do everything to stop the election jiggering that took place in 2020.  You would be wrong.

And from his column yesterday:

Two years ago, most Americans thought phantom voters were comic book characters.  Nobody had ever seen one.

This week, we reached our 5,000th volunteer request (in 60 days) to help clean voter rolls — and we never asked for a single volunteer.  We are just technology guys.

Americans are fed up; they get it that their elected officials are not going to clean voter rolls.  Perhaps some people did not dig the Big Steal for the Trump election — but after Kari Lake, the Senate in Nevada, and dozens of local races, they are on fire now.

Mr Valentine’s Omega4America website is here. And he has expressed frustration at the lack of attention to election fraud from top politicians.

However, Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch mailed subscribers, including this blogger, the following message:

President Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States, delivered the keynote address last night [Jan 19] at our 6th Judicial Watch Annual Roundtable, a private event, which was held at the Trump National Doral in Miami, FL.

President Trump engaged in a historic battle against government corruption and abuse, a battle that continues to this day. We are honored that he addressed and educated our supporters about the ongoing rule of law crisis that so threatens our Republic.

The Roundtable also featured important discussions on the election integrity crisis, the border crisis, the Left/government/Big Tech attack on free speech, the January 6 political prisoners, Biden corruption [emphasis added] and more!

This is good news:  President Trump participated in an event that directly addressed election integrity.  Judicial Watch is one of the few watchdog agencies that regularly files FOIA lawsuits to expose government corruption, and their recent conference tells us that they have their eye on the ball, so to speak.

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Basics of the New World Order

 

Antonio Graceffo at The Epoch Times reports on some of the basics of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and why this blog continues to follow the developments:

. . . The WEF effectively recommends policies on everything, from creating digital identity systems and restructuring the global political system to the cessation of fossil fuel use, individual car ownership, and the banning of eating meat.

Even though it’s a private organization with no global or political authority, the event was attended by a long and distinguished list of elected officials and political appointees. This year, 51 heads of state, including Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz, presidents of Spain, South Korea, Poland, and the Philippines, and China’s Vice-Premier Liu He, in addition to 56 finance ministers, 19 central bank governors, 30 trade ministers, and 35 foreign ministers, were at the forum.

Also present were the heads of global organizations, such as IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

A U.S. congressional delegation was also there, including Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), and Gov. Brian Kemp (R-Ga.). On the industry side, there were more than 600 CEOs like JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, and Morgan Stanley’s James Gorman. . . .

. . . The WEF is a globalist organization that wants to compromise the sovereignty of nations, rewrite the world order, and dictate how we live, eat, and think. And for some reason, our leaders and media support them.

As powerful as the WEF participants may be, there are more of us little people than there are of them, and this blog is trying to stay on top of developments.  At the end of the day, I like Neil Oliver’s attitude:

They think they’ve got us scared enough to accept the whole damned lot of it.  Here’s the thing: I am not afraid of them.  I don’t even take them seriously.

Read the rest of Mr Graceffo's column here. 

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Air travel in decline in America

 

John Nolte has a column at Breitbart that will be of interest to anyone who is still flying the unfriendly skies for business, family, etc.:

After a terrible, dreadful 2022 for airline travel, passengers should expect things to get even worse this year. So says the CEO of United Airlines . . .

Labor shortages?

Maybe firing people who refused to get vaccinated was not such a good idea, especially when the unvaccinated pose no threat to anyone else.

Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to force airline personnel to wear those useless masks for hours and hours on end. Who wants to work under those conditions?

The airlines’ problems are a labor shortage, regulations (like retiring pilots too young at 65), outdated technology, and lousy infrastructure.

Airlines are too beholden to the government. That’s the problem. They are regulated within an inch of their life. When bureaucracies and politics strangle you, you can’t make the necessary moves fast enough when the market shifts.

. . .

Because the federal government is no longer focused on the basics. Today, it’s focused on utopian nonsense like appeasing the transsexual loons, arming Ukraine, and apologizing for colonialism and slavery.

. . .

Where does all the money our government takes in go? Why do our airports look third-world? Why are there not enough hubs? Why can’t we create enough expansion so the metal detector lines don’t look like the lines at Space Mountain? Why is technology so outdated? Why is the labor pool not large enough?

None of this should be happening in a country as wealthy and dynamic as ours. . . .

But it is.  And of course it’s not just air travel that’s deteriorating.  Read the full report here. 

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Neil Oliver: they are coming for your [fill in the blank]

 

Neil Oliver’s latest monologue/meditation was posted over the weekend at Conservative Treehouse.  And as usual, Mr Oliver knocks it out of the park.  His subject is the imposition of the New World Order, following the gala Davos World Economic Forum conference last week.  Here’s his opening:

Nothing less than our way of life is under threat now. A population distracted by propaganda about one existential threat after another – pandemics, nuclear war, climate crisis – is being herded into an unrecognizable future.

What was done in the name of Covid was grotesque – a violation of the rights of billions of people. Having seen what they can get away with, our so-called leaders have moved on, broadening their scope, as greedy for more as kids left unsupervised in a sweetie shop.

What is happening now, all around us, is the relentless erosion not just of our rights and liberties, but of our lives. It is so blatant – what’s happening – it’s hard to see it for what it is, which is bare-faced daylight robbery.

After Covid, the C-word that’s supposed to be on everyone’s lips … drummed into us night and day by the same complicit media that drives everything else … is climate – Climate crisis, in fact. Two c-words for the price of one.

From all sides, we are bombarded with predictions of the end of the world. Predictions, remember? Computer modelling … the crystal-ball-gazing of the scientific world. . . .

Mr Oliver’s upbeat conclusion:

The race is on. Our so-called leaders, all pumped up on the adrenaline of lockdowns and mandates, have sprinted out of the blocks for the ultimate round of Supermarket Sweep. Into their trolleys, they plan to heap every last aspect of the lives we have had.

They think they’ve got us scared enough to accept the whole damned lot of it.

Here’s the thing: I am not afraid of them.

I don’t even take them seriously.

For the video or the rest of the transcript, click here.

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EGGS: The New Contraband

Eric Lendrum at American Greatness has the headline:

Smuggling of Eggs Across Border Skyrockets Amid Rising Prices

PowerLine’s “The Week in Pictures” has the meme:

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Is the New World Order DOA?

 

Today, the link is to Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge. He’s at the point of laughing at the Davos World Economic Forum participants.  I hope he’s on to something.  And it is good to think that our would-be masters are delaying the imposition of their New World Order in which they think they can force us to eat bugs.  Here’s part of Mr. Durden’s column:

Davos 2023: Whistling Past
The Great Reset's Graveyard

, , , So here we are as Davos 2023 winds down and it’s pretty obvious, watching the proceedings, that their entire edifice built on a crude admixture of psychopathy and hubris is tumbling down.

And it’s not only because more of us can see them for what they are, cheap communists in expensive suits, but because there are stark divisions forming within their own ranks.

The problem, however, for most of the committed Davosians is that they still live in the wine-and-cheese-filled amniotic sack of this Swiss Alps version of Oz. They don’t see the gathering storm barreling down the yellow brick road as anything more threatening than a single mosquito is to a cow.

As anyone who has lived in central Florida or studied its cattle industry knows, a few million mosquitos can exsanguinate a cow in a matter of days.

So, watching the proceedings at this year’s Davos was fascinating because, for the first time, the sheen was gone. Too many people were seeing the walls of the echo chamber for what they were; old, shabby, and drafty rather than having the veneer of wisdom that comes with age.

Davos had come out from behind the curtain willingly to declare themselves the saviors of humanity through their Fuhrer’s nutty ideas about transhumanism, 15-minute cities, eating bugs, and renting your life from a central authority.

And it was easy to build a counter-narrative to this insanity that permeated into the zeitgeist by just pointing your finger and laughing at them. . . .

There’s more (click here), including a sampling of headlines during Davos week that struck Mr. Durden as reinforcing his guess that the WEF has jumped the shark. 

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