Category Archives: COVID

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We can see it coming: the spreading of fear to allow the government to impose new restrictions on our constitutional rights

When the elites see control slipping away, they resort to fear tactics.

“Fear is crucial for state authority. When the population is filled with it, they will acquiesce to virtually any power the government seeks to acquire in the name of keeping them safe. But when fear is lacking, citizens will crave liberty more than control, and that is when they question official claims and actions. When that starts to happen, when the public feels too secure, institutions of authority will reflexively find new ways to ensure they stay engulfed by fear and thus quiescent.” — Glenn Greenwald, “The New Domestic War on Terror Has Already Begun — Even Without the New Laws Biden Wants”.

Mr Greenwald wasn’t writing about COVID-19, but the efforts of the Biden, and past, Administrations to fight terrorism by restricting civil liberties. There is a lot with which I disagree with Mr Greenwald, but on this, he’s dead on target.

Fear, of course, was what governments used to get a free people to go along with restrictions on their constitutional rights. Now that almost everyplace in the United States has lifted restrictions — Pennsylvania’s mask mandate ended today — we are seeing the fearful wanting them back:

Gottlieb says parts of U.S. could see “very dense outbreaks” as Delta variant spreads

By Kimani Hayes | June 28, 2021 | 7:39 AM EDT | CBS NEWS

Washington — As the U.S. continues to navigate its way through the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said areas of the country could experience “very dense outbreaks” with the concerning Delta variant continuing to circulate.

“It’s going to be hyper-regionalized, where there are certain pockets of the country [where] we can have very dense outbreaks,” Gottlieb said Sunday on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”

The most vulnerable areas continue to be those with low vaccination rates and low rates of immunity from prior infections. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, many southern states have vaccination rates that lag behind the national average.

“I think as you look across the United States, if you’re a community that has low vaccination rates and you also think that there was low immunity from prior infection, so the virus really hasn’t coursed through the local population, those communities are vulnerable,” he said. “So, I think governors need to be thinking about how they build out health care resources in areas of the country where you still have a lot of vulnerability.”

Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, a state where hospital admissions are up 30%, expressed concern about the Delta COVID-19 variant and low vaccination rates in his state.

“The Delta variant is a great concern to us. We see that impacting our increasing cases and hospitalizations,” Hutchinson said on “Face the Nation.” The governor also noted that vaccine hesitancy is high in his state, which he attributed to conspiracy theories, the pause in Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot regimen in April and individuals simply not believing in the efficacy of the virus.

There’s more at the original.

Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY), having scheduled the end of almost all of the restrictions for following day anyway, argued before the state Supreme Court that he needs the laws passed, over his veto, by the state legislature earlier this year to be declared unconstitutional, because they would restrict his executive authority to fight a pandemic like COVID-19. One can argue that the restrictions on the Governor’s authority under KRS 39A were unwise, which is what his mouthpiece, Amy Cubbage, did, but unwise is not an argument that a law is unconstitutional. I, however, do not trust the state Supreme Court not to make its usual obeisance to Mr Beshear and let him get away with things again. Despite the best efforts of Republicans, and Kentucky’s voters,[1]In 2020, Republican candidates for the General Assembly ran against the Governor’s orders, and voters rewarded them with 14 additional seats in the state House of representatives, for a 75-25 … Continue reading Governor Beshear has pretty much gotten away with his dictatorial and unconstitutional actions. At this point, the battle is to keep him from being able to do it again. I am not confident that the state Supreme Court will follow the law; they’ve been far too compliant with the Governor’s wishes. But, with the restrictions over, there is no reason at for the justices to ignore the laws passed by the General Assembly other than the argument of what might happen sometime in the future.

It’s easy enough to see coming: just a few cases of the new ‘Delta variant,” and the Governor might once again issue his mandatory mask orders and attempt to close down ‘non-essential’ businesses, because dictators gotta dictate!

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↑1 In 2020, Republican candidates for the General Assembly ran against the Governor’s orders, and voters rewarded them with 14 additional seats in the state House of representatives, for a 75-25 majority, and 2 additional seats, out of 17 up for election, for a 30-8 majority.
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The politics of the #COVID19 vaccines have always been more important than the science Today's left have no tolerance for divergent views

I am not an #AntiVaxxer by any means, and I have had both doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. But I also do not dismiss the concerns of those who are skeptical, especially given that we have no information on any long term effects, because the vaccines haven’t even been around for a year yet.

The left try to dismiss such concerns as simply those of the uneducated, or as the lovely Amanda Marcotte tried to do, blame it on Republicans.

But when The Wall Street Journal starts to take notice of vaccine side effects, it’s no longer just the evil reich wing Republicans:

Continue reading →

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On lying

Though I have refused to carry my vaccination record, as some form of #VaccinePassport, I have stated publicly that I did receive the Moderna vaccine shots, interestingly enough on April Fool’s Day and then Cinco de Mayo.

The Centers for Disease Control stated, on May 13th, that “fully vaccinated” people could dispense with face masks and “social distancing.” Now, I have been fighting as hard as I can Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) authoritarian dictates, not that fighting has done much good; he has gotten away with his illegal and unconstitutional actions. The Governor has stated that he will lift almost all of his COVID-19 executive orders on June 11th, and already lifted the mandatory mask order for those “fully vaccinated” when the CDC guidance was issued.

I, of course, had never worn a mask outdoors, and only did so indoors at the insistence of property owners.

But, with my status of being “fully vaccinated” not occurring until May 19th,[1]May 19th is special to me as well, because it is Mrs Pico’s and my wedding anniversary. For some unknown reason, she has put up with me for 42 years now! fourteen days after my second dose of the vaccine, I was presented with a dilemma on Sunday, May 16th. The Bishop of Lexington, and my individual parish, stated the same thing, that “fully vaccinated” parishioners could attend Mass indoors without a mask.

Now, I have not believed that a mask was necessary at all, and have noted before that the forecasts that Texas would see doom, doom, doom! for dropping its mask mandate on March 10th instead resulted in the Lone Star State seeing a precipitous drop in cases, but Mass, being held three days prior to achieving that mythical “fully vaccinated” status meant that if I attended Mass without a mask, I would be, in effect, lying to my pastor, to our church sister, and to the other parishioners, concerning my vaccine status. Yes, I wanted to, will always want to, fight the Governor’s illegal and unconstitutional restrictions, but the change in the regulations, which have always been political, also meant a change in the nature of telling the truth. Not wearing a mask previously was a political action, a statement of resistance, and it was not a statement of vaccine status. Once the CDC and the Governor took their actions, not wearing a mask also became a statement that one was fully vaccinated.

Thus, from May 13th through 18th, not wearing a mask indoors would be, for me, the public telling of a lie.

I chose not to lie!

Come June 11th, if the Governor has not lied — and if Mr Beshear told me that 2+2=4, I would check his math — wearing or not wearing a mask is no longer a point of truth-telling. But, until then, not wearing a mask can be interpreted as a public statement, “I have been vaccinated.” Concomitantly, wearing a mask when you have been fully vaccinated can be interpreted by others as a statement that you have not been vaccinated, and might be an #antivaxxer.

So, at Mass on May 16th, I wore a mask, and did not lie. On Sunday, May 23, which just happens to be one year since we were so graciously ‘allowed’ to return to Mass, I did not.

Attendance at Mass should not be a political act, but our Governor has made it one, and I have not missed Sunday Mass once since the Diocese of Lexington has reopened.

References

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↑1 May 19th is special to me as well, because it is Mrs Pico’s and my wedding anniversary. For some unknown reason, she has put up with me for 42 years now!
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Toldjah so!

We had previously noted that the Lone Star State, which had dropped its mandatory mask order on March 10th, was doing better than a lot of states which had those orders!

The so-called ‘experts’ all told us that the masks just had to be worn, but the empirical evidence, the real world results, have not borne that out.

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What evidence has there been that the #COVID19 restrictions actually reduced infections?

From my good friend — can I call him a good friend if I’ve never actually met him? — Robert Stacy McCain:

Truth or Satire? It’s Getting Harder to Tell

By Robert Stacy McCain | May 8, 2021

January headline from The Babylon Bee:

 

CNN Unveils New Format Where Hosts Just Watch Fox News And Yell At It

 

This is awfully close to describing what’s happened to CNN in recent months. Once Biden was inaugurated, the network lost its raison d’être of producing anti-Trump propaganda. Ratings for CNN have evaporated since January and, unable to excite their audience with live performances of journalistic fellatio on Biden (metaphorically speaking), they devote hours every day to critiquing whatever is on Fox News.

So the other night, Tucker Carlson raised questions about whether the number of deaths from COVID-19 vaccine are being underreported. He didn’t advance any “conspiracy theory” during that segment, or make claims that could justify Sanjay Gupta’s unhinged reaction:

“What he’s done is he’s basically looked at these open-system adverse reporting systems and said ‘hey look, this suggests that 30 people a day are dying of the vaccine.’ Absolutely not true,” Gupta said on CNN’s New Day.

“The problem is that it continues to stir up this vaccine hesitance or outright vaccine reluctance . . .

Hey, Dr. Gupta: Maybe “vaccine hesitance” doesn’t really matter, but do you really care about Fox News viewers? No, I’m pretty sure you would be very happy if they all died tomorrow. So please spare us your concern-trolling. My thought all along has been that the draconian lockdown regimes and mandatory mask-wearing orders, at best, didn’t do much to stop the pandemic and quite possibly made it worse. Anyone can examine the state-by-state per-capita death rates and see that there is no clear correlation between the severity of the lockdown regimes and the relative safety of populations. Florida is doing just fine, despite all the hate directed at Gov. DeSantis by CNN and other liberal media outlets that prophesied a catastrophe in the Sunshine State.

There’s more at the original.

While I did not look at Florida’s numbers, I have concentrated on Texas, where Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, ended the mask mandate and most other state restrictions on March 10th, to predictions of death and disease by the so-called ‘experts.’

Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) latest thirty-day renewal of the illegal and repugnant mask mandate expires on Thursday, May 27th, at 5:00 PM EDT, just before his other COVID-19 restrictions are scheduled to be weakened, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him issue that one again.

Reiterating that Kentucky will not be repealing its mask mandate anytime soon, Gov. Andy Beshear announced 1,068 new cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky on Thursday, as well as 28 virus-related deaths.

Earlier this week, Republican governors in Texas and Mississippi lifted coronavirus restrictions, repealing their states’ mask mandates and reopening businesses to full capacity. Kentucky will not do that, Beshear said.

“We’re going to continue to lose people until we’re fully out of the woods and everybody is vaccinated,” he said in a live update. “That’s the reason we’re not going to do what Texas or Mississippi has done. Those decisions will increase casualties when we just have maybe even a matter of months to go.”

Except, of course, those decisions did not increase casualties, the seven day moving average of new cases in the Lone Star state being down to 2,651 as of May 6th, the lowest figure since June 17, 2020, while Mississippi is seeing a seven-day moving average of 182 new cases per day, a number not seen since April 14, 2020.

That much, I reported yesterday, but I’ve since done more research. Texas currently has the lowest moving seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases since June of 2020, that average having dropped precipitously since the mask mandate ended. Texas, with a seven-day moving average of 2651 new COVID cases per day, and a population of 29.15 million, has a new case rate of 9.09 new cases per 100,000 population. Texas has no mask mandate and few restrictions. Texas has 29% of the adult populate fully vaccinated, and 39% have received first shot. Kentucky, with a moving average of 581 and a population of 4048 million, is seeing new cases at a rate of 12.97 per 100,000, despite having mask mandate, more restrictions, and a higher percentage of population vaccinated, 33% fully vaccinated and 42% having received one dose. Texas has slightly higher population density, 109.9 per mi² compared to Kentucky’s 107.4 per mi². Despite what the so-called experts claimed, ending the mask mandate in Texas did not lead to unparalleled death and disease. Based on empirical evidence, the capacity restrictions and mask mandates had no positive effect on infection rate.

The scientific method is to produce an hypothesis, and then test it to see if it is true. Actual real world testing of the restrictions has not borne out the hypothesis that our freedoms needed to be restricted, our constitutional rights needed to be violated.

What about Michigan? Governor Gretchen Whitless Whitmer has imposed some of the strictest COVID-19 restrictions in the nation. On May 6, the same date as the figures reported above for Texas and Kentucky, Michigan’s seven-day moving average was 3,317 new cases per day, 666 more per day than Texas’ 2,651. Yet Texas has almost thrice Michigan’s population of 9,966,555 people. Where Texas is seeing 9.09 new cases per day per 100,000 population, Michigan’s rate is 33.28 per 100,000, more than thrice that of the Lone Star State. Michigan has seen 35% of its adult population fully vaccinated, and 44% have received their first, dose, a rate higher than that in Texas, and even slightly higher than in the Bluegrass State. Michigan does have a significantly higher population density of 174 per mi².

But one thing is clear: Governor Whitless’ Whitmer’s restrictions have not helped.

Mr McCain mentioned Florida, but the Sunshine State only lifted all mask mandates five days ago, so there isn’t much difference from Michigan. At a moving seven day average of 4,317 new cases per day, in a population of 21.48 million people, Florida’s average of 20.10 per 100,00 population is just 2/3 that of Michigan’s, despite Florida’s more than twice as great population density of 397.2 people per mi². Michigan’s restrictions have, in general, been far stricter than Florida’s, but, there it is again, Florida is seeing fewer cases on a per population basis.

Again, the empirical evidence is that the greater restrictions don’t reduce China virus infection rates![1]See this as to why I am occasionally referring to it as the China virus.

We have gone through more than a year of authoritarian governors, mostly without the consent of their state legislatures, imposing restrictions on our freedoms and our constitutional rights, because it has been claimed to be necessary to protect us from the Wuhan virus. But once a few governors, all seemingly Republicans, recovered their nerve and started paying attention to our rights, the evidence jumped out at us: the restrictions didn’t help to protect us at all.

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↑1 See this as to why I am occasionally referring to it as the China virus.
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Governor Tom Wolf to lift all #COVID19 restrictions . . . except the one which pisses off people the most

The most visible symbol of compliance with State orders is the facemask, and the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania doesn’t want to let go of that!

Pennsylvania will fully reopen on Memorial Day, lifting COVID-19 rules. Philadelphia won’t follow suit — yet.

Masking requirements will remain in place until 70% of the state’s 18-and-older population is vaccinated. Philadelphia said it will review the policy.

by Erin McCarthy and Justine McDaniel | May 4, 2021

Pennsylvania will lift its coronavirus mitigation measures on Memorial Day, state officials announced Tuesday, marking a milestone in the pandemic recovery and freeing businesses and patrons to prepare to fill restaurants, bars, and stores for the first time in more than a year.

Philadelphia, however, was not yet set to follow suit: The city will said it will review the state’s policy but retain its own restrictions. Officials are working on the city’s reopening plans.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health announcement keeps in place the requirement for Pennsylvanians to wear masks in compliance with state and CDC guidelines. It also gives residents an incentive to get COVID-19 shots: Masking will be required until 70% of the state’s 18-and-older population is vaccinated.

Gene Barr, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, called the announcement “the long-awaited light at the end of the tunnel and a return to sense of ‘normalcy.’”

What, I have to ask, is so magical about Memorial Day that the restrictions can be lifted then, but not on, say, May 19th, or even today? Saying that the restrictions can be lifted on May 31st but not now, when we cannot know what the conditions will be on that day, means that the the decision was driven by politics, not science. Given that Memorial Day is the end of a three-day holiday weekend, why is Governor Tom Wolf (D-PA) waiting until the last day of those three, rather than Saturday, May 29th instead? How will conditions be different enough on the 31st from those on the 29th to justify ruining two of the three days of the holiday?

Of course, the Governor is keeping the most hated restriction in place, the mask mandate, with the threat promise that it will be lifted once 70% of the Commonwealth’s adult population has been vaccinated. He is trying to use the police power of the state to force people to take the vaccine.[1]Full disclosure: I am not an anti-vaxxer by any means, and received my second dose on Cinco de Mayo. But having chosen to take the vaccine myself does not mean that I believe that others should be … Continue reading

The state is trying to use Penn State head football coach James Franklin to push getting vaccinated, having him say, “I encourage everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated. The more people who are vaccinated, the better chance we have to get back to 107,000 strong here in Beaver Stadium.”

But the Commonwealth and the credentialed media are making it political, making it a Democrats vs Republicans issue:

As Pennsylvania pivots to a new phase of its coronavirus vaccination campaign, and focuses on persuading reluctant residents to get their shots, there’s one group that will be especially tough to win over — the scores of Republicans who say they don’t plan to ever get immunized.

Communications and public health experts say these skeptics need reassurance from the Republican elected officials they trust the most. But in Pennsylvania, all but a few GOP lawmakers are keeping quiet about the vaccine, and some of the ones speaking up are spreading misinformation or sending mixed messages about its safety and efficacy.

State Rep. Russ Diamond (R., Lebanon) falsely called the vaccine poison on social media and vowed not to get one. State Rep. Dawn Keefer (R., York) introduced legislation that would ban businesses or sports venues from requiring proof of vaccination. And State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R., Franklin) wants to block employers from forcing their workers to get the shot.

Doctors say this rhetoric could have deadly consequences.

How, I have to ask, is attempting to protect workers’ rights and individual rights, from having to carry proof of vaccination, a wrong thing?[2]After getting my second dose of the Moderna vaccine, the Estill County Health Department gave me a card, complete with the same type of plastic holder in which a lot of people get their automobile … Continue reading

At every turn, the political left have been trying to force compliance with Government Orders. Instead of asking people to wear masks, Governors across the nation, sadly including Republicans as well as Democrats, have issued orders to people to do so, and issuing orders is the surest way of which I can think to get pushback from people who will not be sheeple.

Despite the claims of the ‘experts,’ the empirical evidence is that the mask mandates do not make any difference.

The facemask is the most visible symbol of compliance, and thus is the one that Governors such as Tom Wolf and Andy Beshear (D-KY) want to keep in place the longest. But Texas, where Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, lifted the state’s mask mandate on March 10th, and despite the gloom-and-doom predictions of the experts, the number of cases in the Lone Star State have fallen dramatically. We noted, a month ago:

Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) eliminated the mandatory mask order in the Lone Star State, effective on March 10th; on that date, Texas’ seven-day moving average of daily new cases stood at 4,909. As of April 5th, that number was down to 3,007. The New York Times noted that while the moving average was down by 19% over the past fourteen days, the number of daily tests had increased by 8%. More tests, yet far fewer cases; how about that. Hospitalizations were also down, by 18%, and COVID-19 fatalities were down 38%.

Since then, cases have continued to decline. As of May 5th, the moving seven-day average of new cases in Texas is 2,830, the lowest it has been since June 18th of last year. Pennsylvania, which has also seen cases drop, has a moving seven-day average of 2,882, higher than Texas, despite having just 43% of Texas population.[3]Texas = 29.15 million; Pennsylvania = 12.78 million.

Despite the proclamations of the ‘experts,’ the empirical evidence is that the wearing of facemasks does not make a difference. Governor Beshear, in his latest (illegal) executive order, stated that the CDC “conducted a study of all 3,141 counties in the United States and found that those counties with mask mandates experienced a statistically significant decrease in daily COVID-19 cases,” but the evidence given in real life, in current data, so not show that. Texas, with its wide open status, is showing a greater decrease than half-way-closed Pennsylvania, and, in the Bluegrass State, cases have risen slightly.[4]To be fair, in my small, rural county, I have seen a couple of businesses clearly not going along with the mask mandates. I will not disclose which businesses they are, to keep the Commonwealth from … Continue reading

The mask mandates do not help, but Democratic governors just love to exert their authority, and the continuing mask mandates are the visible symbol to them that the sheeple have complied.

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↑1 Full disclosure: I am not an anti-vaxxer by any means, and received my second dose on Cinco de Mayo. But having chosen to take the vaccine myself does not mean that I believe that others should be compelled to do so.
↑2 After getting my second dose of the Moderna vaccine, the Estill County Health Department gave me a card, complete with the same type of plastic holder in which a lot of people get their automobile proof of insurance cards, and the very cute nurse told me to keep it on my person. I will not comply with vaccine ‘passport’ ideas, and removed that card from my wallet when I returned home.
↑3 Texas = 29.15 million; Pennsylvania = 12.78 million.
↑4 To be fair, in my small, rural county, I have seen a couple of businesses clearly not going along with the mask mandates. I will not disclose which businesses they are, to keep the Commonwealth from trying to take action against them.
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Do the mandatory face mask orders really protect us from #COVID19? Empirically, that's not the case in one Kentucky county

Search and rescue volunteer, Nate Lair, drives a boat through downtown Beattyville after heavy rains led to the Kentucky River flooding the town and breaking records last set in 1957. March 1, 2021
Alton Strupp / Louisville Courier-Journal

Remember this picture? This is my nephew, Nate Lair, a volunteer fireman in Lee County, who was doing rescue work in Beattyville following the flooding earlier this month. Mr Lair is a trained Emergency Medical Technician as well as a fireman — and no, I don’t use the politically correct term “fire fighter” just because some women work as firemen — so he’s not exactly ignorant when it comes to medicine.

I was teasing him yesterday about killing everyone he rescued, because he wasn’t wearing a mask, something not only shown in the photo, but something I know he just does not do. He’s a fiercely independent sort.

Then he told me that, despite nobody wearing masks during the rescues, Lee County was one of two counties in the Bluegrass State that were in the “green” for COVID positive tests!

Well, he was off a bit, but not by much. The most recent statistics, as indicated by the map at the left from the state website (which you can click to enlarge) has Lee County in the yellow, “Community Spread,” between 1 to 10 average daily cases per 100,000 population, at 3.7.

But Lee County has a population of only 6,881 people! That means just 6.881% of 100,000 people. Doing the math, multiplying the 3.7 per 100,000 rate by 0.06881, I come up with 0.254597, or one confirmed COVID case over the last four days.

Which raises the obvious question: if masks are somehow saving us all from doom from COVID-19, but in less-than-healthy conditions during and after one of the hardest hit areas in the state by the flooding, in which people were more concerned with saving themselves, their jobs, and cleaning up their property, than they were with wearing face masks, why isn’t Lee County in the “red“? Why aren’t the people in and around Beattyville, the “poorest white town in America” from 2008 to 2012 according to CNN, dropping like flies due to the novel coronavirus?

Could it possibly, just possibly, be that these face masks really don’t do much of anything when it comes to the reduction of COVID-19?

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Washington Post Complains That 1,400 Americans Died During Reading Of COVID “Relief” Bill

The Credentialed Media seems pretty upset that a $1.9 trillion bill, which has very little in the way of actual COVID relief, was forced to be read on the Senate floor. Seriously, why is it necessary for anyone to know what’s in it, and for Senators who are going to vote on it to understand what they’re voting for?

Action on Stimulus Bill Halts as Senate Clerks Read All 628 Pages Aloud

With President Biden’s nearly $2 trillion stimulus bill moving toward passage, Senator Ron Johnson brought proceedings to a halt on Thursday by demanding that Senate clerks recite the 628-page plan word by word, delaying action to register his objections.

The maneuver by Mr. Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, was unlikely to change any minds about the sweeping pandemic aid plan, which would deliver hundreds of billions of dollars for vaccine distribution, schools, jobless aid, direct payments to Americans and small business relief, and has broad bipartisan support among voters. Republicans signaled that they would be unified against it, and Democrats were ready to push it through on their own, using a special fast-track process to blow past the opposition.

But in the Senate, where even the most mundane tasks are subject to arcane rules, any senator can exploit them to cause havoc. The exercise was Republicans’ latest effort to score political points against a measure they were powerless to stop and to punish Democrats with a time-consuming, boredom-inducing chore.

“Is he allowed?” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, muttered quietly when Mr. Johnson tried to explain after demanding the reading.

You can pick up the derision from the NY Times that someone would dare do this, right? Many other outlets take a similar tone. But, nothing tops Philip Bump at the Washington Post for pure, unadulterated moonbattery

While the Senate reads the coronavirus relief bill, nearly 1,400 Americans may die from the virus

Shortly after Jan. 5, it became apparent that Congress was likely to pass legislation substantially bolstering economic relief provided in response to the coronavirus pandemic. What changed was that two Democrats won runoff races for the Senate in Georgia, giving the party and incoming President Biden enough votes to pass the bill Biden wanted to see.

It’s been nearly two months since that election and, after passing the House, the $1.9 trillion bill is awaiting a vote in the Senate. But that won’t happen for a while yet, not because there aren’t the votes to pass it but, instead, because Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has decided to force the chamber to read the 628-page bill in its entirety. The effect isn’t to change the outcome. Instead, it’s to delay the inevitable. (snip)

It’s meant to be a nuisance. But, as CNN’s Brian Fung pointed out on Twitter, it carries an additional weight this time. Included in the funding bill is financial support for millions of Americans, as well as billions of dollars meant to bolster vaccine distribution and testing — tools which could bring the pandemic to an end more quickly.

At this moment, on this issue, time can be measured in human lives. On average, nearly 2,000 people a day are dying from covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. That’s a death about once every 44 seconds. It’s an improvement over the end of January, when people were dying at a rate faster than two a minute. But it’s still a far faster rate than the country had seen for much of the pandemic.

Got that? The Democratic Party controlled House sat on putting forth a bill and voting on it (actually, much longer because Democrats refused to provide much in the way of help because it would hurt Trump) for months (and they filled it with a partisan wish list, unrelated to COVID measures, and unnecessary spending) then sat on it for a week or so before sending to the Senate, but, only now is taking a few hours to read a crazy bill a problem and killing Americans.

How much of this bill actually saves American lives? Just 1% is for vaccination. Heck, it doesn’t even have the $2,000 checks Biden promised again and again (he never promised it would add to the $600 to make that $2K). 99% of it won’t save American lives, and, if this was so darned important, why didn’t they take it up in January? The House could have sent it over to the Senate the minute the Georgia Dem Senators took their seats. But, no.

Given the current rate at which people are dying of covid-19, we can expect just shy of 1,400 Americans to succumb to the disease during that period.

It’s not the case that those lives would have been saved had the bill passed sooner. But it is the case that more immediate assistance for things like vaccines or bolstering people’s bank accounts is better than slower relief. Again, the question isn’t if the bill passes, it’s when. In that context, the argument for a 17-hour delay isn’t a robust one.

The same people that constantly yammer about Saving Our Democracy are mad when Democracy is in action, when people have to actually be told what is in a bill. A 17 hour delay when Democrats have basically been jamming up relief for 8 months.

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Democrats Not Taking Potential Death Of $15 Minimum In “COVID” Bill Very Well

But, then, it’s nothing new for hardcore Leftist to lose their minds when they don’t get their way, much like a 2 year old losing their minds of really dumb things

Liberals on fire over failure on $15 minimum wage

“Why is my child crying”

Liberal senators and outside pressure groups are steaming over the Senate’s seeming failure to move a COVID-19 relief package with a provision hiking the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.

An adverse decision from the Senate parliamentarian means Democrats can’t move the $15 minimum using special budgetary rules meant to sidestep the filibuster.

That is leading to calls to overrule or fire the parliamentarian, or to get rid of the filibuster, which essentially requires legislation to secure 60 votes to proceed through the Senate.

Don’t like the rules? Fire the person who explains them and try and install someone who’ll ignore the rules. If they get rid of the filibuster they should remember that they won’t have control of the Senate forever, and you know they’ll caterwaul when the GOP runs roughshod over the minority party. If the minimum wage going to $15 is so popular, why not pass a separate bill? Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema have both stated they won’t vote for it in what is supposed to be a COVID relief bill, so even nuking the filibuster would leave Dems a few votes short of passage, but, they would be open to doing it separately.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the Senate’s leading proponent of a $15-an-hour minimum wage, on Monday called on Democratic colleagues to “ignore” the parliamentarian’s ruling and pledged he would force a vote on the issue his week.

“My personal view is that the idea that we have a Senate staffer, a high-ranking staffer, deciding whether 30 million Americans get a pay raise or not is non-sensical,” he said. “We have got to make that decision, not a staffer who’s unelected, so my own view is that we should ignore the rulings, the decision of the parliamentarian.”

So, don’t listen to the person who understand the rules. This brings to mind the old saying about the US being a nation of Law, not of Men. But, go ahead and attempt to pass it. If you manage via reconciliation there will be lots of lawsuits filed immediately, and no one will get COVID relief.

Nearly two dozen House progressives called on Biden and Vice President Harris to overturn the parliamentarian’s ruling, something that would require the support of all 50 Senate Democrats plus Vice President Harris’s tie-breaking vote.

“Eighty-one million people cast their ballots to elect you on a platform that called for a $15 minimum wage,” the progressive lawmakers wrote in a letter to Biden and Harris.

“We urge you to keep that promise and call on the Presiding Officer of the Senate to refute the Senate Parliamentarian’s advice … and maintain the $15 minimum wage provision in the American Rescue Plan,” they wrote.

Again, if it’s so darned popular, why do the Democrats have to play this game of sticking it in what’s supposed to be about COVID relief?

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), another influential progressive who ran a strong campaign for president in 2020, said Monday she supports a vote to overrule the parliamentarian but said the bigger problem is the Senate’s filibuster rule, which requires that legislation pass with 60 votes if it faces procedural objections.

“If we would get rid of the filibuster, then we wouldn’t have to keep trying to force the camel through the eye of the needle. Instead, we would do what the majority of Americans want us to do, and in this particular case, that’s raise the minimum wage,” Warren added.

Joe Manchin won’t vote to get rid of it, and, there are those quiet Democrats out there who may not, either, knowing that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, and there’s an old saying about coming back to bite one in the ass.

Brian Fallon, the executive director of Demand Justice, another progressive advocacy group, is also urging Senate Democrats to overrule the parliamentarian.

“Overrule the parliamentarian or end the filibuster. Senate process is not an excuse for failure to get results,” he tweeted.

The people screaming about following the rules in our Democracy!!!!! are the same ones saying to ditch the rules for convenience.

Meanwhile, since we’re talking supposed COVID relief

California poised for $19 billion surplus, despite COVID-19 lockdowns

By the end of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic eviscerated roughly 1.6 million jobs in California and slashed the value of business properties by more than 30%. Despite it all, California managed to collect $10.5 billion more in taxes than predicted, putting the state on track for a $19 billion surplus to spend by the end of the fiscal year on July 1.

It’s so much money that, for just the second time ever, the state is projected to trigger a state law requiring the government to send refunds to taxpayers.

This doesn’t even get into the notion of how much California might have saved from government outlays being a lot lower with people on furlough, from not having to use much electricity and water at many state government buildings, etc. So, why is it necessary to have the huge slush fund for state and local governments in the COVID bill? Money states and cities do not actually need?