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Neither the vaccines nor masks have any effect on reducing Omicron transmission, so Joe Biden wants state governors to Do Something

The lovely Alyssa Milano, whose most notable work was as Phoebe Halliwell in Charmed, isn’t exactly a go to source for scientific information, but her tweet on Boxing Day, reproduced as an image file to the right — you can click on the image, and it will take you to her original tweet — is instructive.

“90% of the people I know have covid,” she said, and “100% are triple vaxxed & thankfully they have mild symptoms.” While one can’t really attribute her statistics to more than an impression — did she really count up the people she knows, which, presumably, number in the thousands, and take the statistics from them on whether or not they have the WuFlu? — impressions do stem from reality. On Monday, December 27th, according to a screen chyron on the NFL Network, 106 players were put on the league’s Reserve/COVID list.

This chart is from Sharp Football Analysis, and you can click on it to see the full sized version, but the upshot is that, in just two weeks, the number of players on COVID restrictions has shot up from fewer than 50 to 275, all in a league in which 94.6% of the players, and almost 100% of other league personnel, are fully vaccinated. As we previously noted, 97% of NBA players are fully vaccinated, but the NBA is seeing serious player losses to COVID restrictions.

Also see: The Washington Post: With omicron, many vaccinated Americans will at some point test positive. Here’s what to do.

The evidence is becoming more and more clear every day: vaccination does not prevent either the infection or transmission of the virus, at least not the Omicron variant, and the readily available cloth or paper masks do virtually nothing to prevent transmission, either. Even the claims that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines do help prevent infections are based not on real world studies, but laboratory tests:

Most evidence so far is based on laboratory experiments, which do not capture the full range of the body’s immune response, and not from tracking the effect on real-world populations.

And now, as William Teach noted, President Biden has thrown in the towel, saying that there is no federal government solution to COVID-19.

Joe Biden Off to the Beach After Admitting ‘No Federal Solution’ on Coronavirus

by Charlie Spiering | Monday, December 27, 2021

President Joe Biden left Monday for his beach vacation in Delaware after admitting in a video call with U.S. governors that there was no federal solution to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Thank you very much. Look, there is no federal solution,” Biden said as he began speaking to the governors. “This gets solved at a state level.”

The president appeared with his coronavirus team on the artificial White House video conferencing set. He indicated that only governors could end the pandemic by leading the charge.

“It ultimately gets down to where the rubber meets the road,” Biden said, referring to state government. “My message to the governors is simple. If you need something, say something.”

He said the omicron variant of the virus is a “source of concern” but urged Americans not to panic.

The president acknowledged the long lines for people trying to get coronavirus tests before the Christmas holiday. “Seeing how tough it was for some folks to get a test this weekend shows that we have more work to do,” he said.

He claimed that if he had known there would be a shortage he would have acted.

“It’s not enough. It’s clearly not enough,” Biden said. “If we had known, we would have gone harder, quicker if we could have.”

Also see: The Washington Post: Healthy, boosted people unlikely to develop severe omicron infections, but jury’s out on older, at-risk populations

There’s more at the original.

So, what does this mean? It means that drunk-with-power Democrats like Governor Katy Hochul of New York, and many big-city mayors, will try to force vaccine mandates, even though vaccination does not seem to prevent the spread of the virus, and indoor mask mandates, which also do not seem to lessen the spread, because they want to be seen as Doing Something, and because too many of the sheeple have acquiesced to authoritarian dictates, because they have allowed fear to dominate their lives. But it appears that we are going to be living with some variant of the China Virus for a long time. The greater danger is not to our health, but to our freedom and liberty. When people tolerate tyranny, for our own good, don’t you know, all they get is more tyranny.

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Mochi

We have to keep Mochi inside on Mondays, until the garbage man has come and gone, because he’s deathly afraid of dogs, and Mochi barks at strangers. She’s never bitten anyone, and once you make friends with her, something which can be done in a single encounter, she’s a very loving dog.

Our yard is fenced, $3,100 worth of fence . . . and Mochi soon figured out that she can jump high enough to scramble over the corner of the gate. She runs across the road, into the Daniel Boone National Forest, to chase only the Lord knows what, she runs down to the river and the pond, to get muddy and wet, and our 8 acres are not nearly enough; her ‘territory’ is about 20 acres.

She’s a horrible dog: she wants to chase cars, and steal food off your plate. She’s the ultimate guard dog, because nothing can approach the house without her letting us know about it. But she also wants to cuddle, and we love her.

Robert Stacy McCain wrote about his dog here.

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Chicago thinks it’s the nation’s murder capital. Philadelphia laughs and says, “Hold my beer!” The good people of those two fine cities are getting exactly that for which they voted.

A police officer places makers on evidence on the 3900 block of Poplar Street 18-year-old Nasir Marks was fatally shot on Tuesday, May 25, 2021. Steven M Falk, Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Photographer. Click to enlarge.

According to the Chicago Tribune, as of Sunday, December 19th, there had been 783 murders in the Windy City thus far in 2021, 34 more than on the same day last year. As of the same day, 540 homicides had occurred in Philadelphia. The 19th being the 353rd day of the year, that works out to 2.2181 homicides per day in Chicago, and ‘only’ 1.5297 per day in the City of Brotherly Love.

But, according to the 2020 census, there were 2,746,388 people living in Chicago, and 1,603,797 in Philly. Using the homicide rates, that works out to a projected 558 killings in Philly and 810 in Chicago. Murder rates are calculated based on 100,000 population, meaning that Chicago is headed for a homicide rate of 29.4933 per 100,000, while Philadelphia is looking at 34.7924. Philadelphia is far deadlier than Chicago!

We noted that Philadelphia tied its 1990 homicide record of 500 the day before Thanksgiving, and at that point, the city was actually seeing slightly fewer killings per day than it was on December 19th. And guess what: with 547 homicides as of the end of Thursday, December 23rd, the rate has crept up slightly again, to 1.5322 per day, making the projected number of killings 559!

I will admit to a sort of grim fascination with the numbers, but murder in Philadelphia has really changed things. One murder, it has been said, is a tragedy, but 547 is just a statistic, and to the leadership of the city, and the editors of The Philadelphia Inquirer, that’s all it is, a statistic, a number that they can attribute of “gun violence,” but never examine the real problem: bad people!

In Ironic Justice: Two Anti-Police Lawmakers Get Carjacked, Robert Stacy McCain noted that two Democratic politicians, one in Chicago and one in Philly, who supported the “reform” of policing — meaning: getting even softer on crime — were carjacked within 24 hours of each other.

Illinois state Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood) was targeted in suburban Chicago on Tuesday night, while Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.) was carjacked Wednesday afternoon after an event in South Philadelphia.

Well, it seems that, given that Representative Scanlon is a sitting congresswoman, the feds are getting involved:

“The investigation into this incident is in its very initial stages, and we are continuing to investigate and evaluate charging decisions,” said U.S. Attorney Williams. “Armed carjacking is a serious federal crime. There have been a rash of violent crimes like this recently, and while there were national security implications to this particular incident, we are always working collaboratively with our local partners to evaluate if cases should be taken federally. Working together means more resources, more tools, more intelligence. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If you pick up a gun and use it to commit a crime, together, we will come after you. And we are very good at what we do.”

In point of fact, however, if armed carjacking is a “serious federal crime,” when was the last time the feds got involved in such a case? Just two weeks ago, Philadelphia police said the city has seen an 80% increase in carjackings this year, and what had United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams done in response? Nothing, until a Democratic congresswoman got carjacked in — sweet irony! — FDR Park.

Seriously, go look through the press release archive at the U.S. Attorney’s web site and tell me if you find a case where they previously prosecuted a carjacking. I went back as far as April and didn’t find one, so if the Biden DOJ was making it a priority to “come after” carjackers before this week, they weren’t very successful at it. But then again, success really hasn’t been a hallmark of the Biden administration, has it?

Mr McCain was employing sarcasm, but there’s a not-so-veiled slam at Philadelphia’s District Attorney, Larry Krasner, a George Soros-financed stooge whose main goal is getting the bad guys released, not jailed. At some point, you’d think Philadelphians would get tired of all of the crime and violence in their city’s streets, but not tired enough: Mr Krasner was re-elected last month!

The good people of those two cities are getting exactly that for which they voted.

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Seen at Wawa

My thanks to William Teach of The Pirate’s Cove, who cross-posted here on the days I was away!

Driving back to Kentucky from the Keystone State on December 23rd, I stopped at the WaWa store on Pennsylvania Route 61, just north of Interstate 78, and saw something I’d never seen, in person, before: the WaWa had six — I think it was six; I didn’t actually count, and should have taken a quick picture, but didn’t — Tesla TSLA: (%) charging stations. This was at 3:45 PM EST.

Also see: William Teach: Climate Cult: Forget The Electric Vehicles You Can’t Afford. People Need To Drive Less

What I didn’t see were any Tesla’s actually being charged there. Oh, one of the charging stations was occupied, but by a mid-1990s, gasoline-engine beater car, using the charging area as a parking space.

Meanwhile, the store’s twelve or so gasoline pump queues, two pumps per queue, were fully occupied, with additional cars lined up to get fuel, and a fuel tanker was unloading gasoline or diesel into the underground storage tanks, because those vehicles are thirsty! I really should have taken pictures, on my phone, or as Sheriff Buford T Justice told his son, “Put the evidence in the car!”

I did pick up two boxes of WaWa coffee in Kuerig-cups for my wife and older daughter for Christmas.

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Climate Cult: Forget The Electric Vehicles You Can’t Afford. People Need To Drive Less

Or, the climate cultists could simply mind their own business and stop trying to force everyone to Comply. Maybe stop using fossil fueled vehicles in their own lives

Letters to the Editor: Electric cars aren’t a climate change panacea. We need to drive less

To the editor: Electric cars shouldn’t be regarded as the silver-bullet solution to lowering automobile emissions. While they don’t run on gas, their batteries create their own set of environmental problems. (“California isn’t on pace to meet its climate targets. Here are 3 ways to cut pollution faster,” editorial, Dec. 19)

What we need is to use our cars less. We have to stop looking at cars as the only viable option to get from Point A to Point B. We can start by carpooling to work, taking the bus to run an errand and riding a bike for short trips.

A few tweaks in our driving habits can go a long way toward reducing our carbon footprint, electric or not.

What’s this “we”, Sparky? I do not see many Warmists doing this in their own lives. I haven’t met many EV owners who are doing it due to ‘climate change’. I mean, good grief, they have barely rolled out pushing for everyone to be forced to drive an EV (which most cannot afford) and now we have to get rid of them.

To the editor: There seems to be a delusion among those who formulate climate policy that if they set a pollution reduction mandate, it will surely happen.

The mandates and targets never have the supporting, well-conceived, detailed plan for how to reach the goals. Broad guidelines like “increasing the percentage of zero-emission vehicles sold” are made, but they rarely have the how-to specifics.

The populace gives lip service to climate goals while legislators avoid the draconian measures that would be required.

Let’s face it: There is no way that California will meet its legal mandate to cut emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030.

Where are the concrete, specific goals from Warmists in their own lives to cut their own emissions? But, really, this person’s point is correct: most in government do not have real plans, probably because even the most hardcore realize they can’t make them happen.

Meanwhile, here are 22 of the “most anticipated” EVs (you have to look at the Canoo Lifestyle vehicle. Very silly looking). For those with pricing, the least is $34470. Most are way, way more. That’s affordable, right? And, while stocks soared in 2021, they’re expected to go way down in 2022. Because anticipation is not the same as people actually buying them. They’re toys for the upper middle class and rich.

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Surprise: NPR Says Cloth Masks Don’t Protect People From Chinese Coronavirus

The media has been telling us for over a year and a half that masks are awesome, just wear a mask. Any mask. Once in a while they’ll do a study that shows the effectiveness of most masks is barely better than not wearing a mask at all, but, those are minimized. And now NPR is really letting the cat out of the bag

From the screed

With another coronavirus variant racing across the U.S., once again health authorities are urging people to mask up indoors. Yes, you’ve heard it all before. But given how contagious omicron is, experts say, it’s seriously time to upgrade to an N95 or similar high-filtration respirator when you’re in public indoor spaces.

“Cloth masks are not going to cut it with omicron,” says Linsey Marr, a researcher at Virginia Tech who studies how viruses transmit in the air.

Omicron is so much more transmissible than coronavirus variants that have come before it. It spreads at least three times faster than delta. One person is infecting at least three others at a time on average, based on data from other countries. (snip)

True, a cloth mask can be a “marginally OK to maybe a decent filter,” Marr says. But with something as highly transmissible as omicron, just “OK” isn’t good enough. (snip)

Given all this, you want a mask that means business when it comes to blocking viral particles. Unlike cloth masks, N95, KN95 and KF94 respirators are all made out of material with an electrostatic charge, which “actually pulls these particles in as they’re floating around and prevents you from inhaling those particles,” Karan notes. “And that really is key” — because if you don’t inhale virus particles, they can’t multiply in your respiratory tract.

The material in surgical masks also has an electrostatic charge. But surgical masks tend to fit loosely, and a snug fit — with no gaps around nose, cheeks or chin — “really makes a big difference,” says Marr, who has studied mask efficacy.

Omicron may be more transmittable, but, it is also way less dangerous, way less deadly, than previous variants, especially Delta. But, we already knew that cloth masks had around a 10% effectiveness rate at stopping any version last year. Now they want everyone to wear higher end masks, which are not in abundance. All while few areas and states are requiring masks. It is very weird being in NJ and there is no mask mandate, most people are walking around without one in stores.

Wachter says he’s also covering up indoors with small groups of friends and family unless everyone is vaccinated and boosted. If they’re not boosted, he says, “I consider them to be somewhere between vaccinated and unvaccinated, and I act appropriately if I’m going to be around them.” That means he either has everyone mask up, or he has everyone take a rapid test to make sure no one is infectious at that moment. “One or the other.” This is especially important if anyone attending is high-risk.

And then it’ll be “if you haven’t had a second booster, you’re somewhere between vaccinated and unvaccinated.

Marr says that with omicron surging, she’d have kids wear respirators if possible when they’re indoors in public spaces. Parents searching for good respirator options for their children can check out the work of Aaron Collins, aka “Mask Nerd,” a mechanical engineer with a background in aerosol science. He’s been testing the filtration efficiencies of hundreds of masks and respirators on the market. You can find his reviews on his YouTube channel. (This spreadsheet on kids’ masks may also be helpful.)

And they want to drag kids into their mask hysteria.

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Brandon Makes Holders Of Student Loan Debt Mad

Biden is just working hard to make everyone mad

Biden says Americans must be ready to resume student loan payments next year, clashing with Democrats like AOC urging him to cancel the debt

President Joe Biden on Wednesday extended a pause on student loan payments that was set to expire on February 1, a decision praised by Democratic lawmakers who pressured him to make the move as the coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt American lives.

But at the same time, Biden signaled that he wants borrowers to resume paying off their loans once the new moratorium ends on May 1, placing him at odds with Democrats who have demanded that debt be wiped out.

“[We] know that millions of student loan borrowers are still coping with the impacts of the pandemic and need some more time before resuming payments,” Biden said in a statement. “Given these considerations, today my Administration is extending the pause on federal student loan repayments for an additional 90 days — through May 1, 2022 — as we manage the ongoing pandemic and further strengthen our economic recovery.”

No one is pausing you and I having to pay our mortgages, car loans, and other stuff. Loans we took out voluntarily. Same with student loans. They knew they had to pay them, yet, they often took them and either got a degree not worth the paper or obtained too much debt to repay properly. That’s their problem. Of course, you can’t simply repossess the degree. Provided they even obtained it. Why should they be given relief? Get a job? Work two. There should be no extension. Biden is correct that they should start paying. He shouldn’t extend this. Because you know the loan recipients will next get him to further extend it.

Under what statutory authority is there to extend the pause on repaying legal debt to creditors? Perhaps if the loans are from the federal government, not just the ones backed by Los Federales but owned by private companies.

“Meanwhile, the Department of Education will continue working with borrowers to ensure they have the support they need to transition smoothly back into repayment and advance economic stability for their own households and for our nation,” the president continued. “As we are taking this action, I’m asking all student loan borrowers to do their part as well: take full advantage of the Department of Education’s resources to help you prepare for payments to resume; look at options to lower your payments through income-based repayment plans; explore public service loan forgiveness; and make sure you are vaccinated and boosted when eligible.”

Wait, what was that last part? Did that need to be there?

Biden’s comments put him on a collision course with progressive lawmakers vowing to increase pressure on the administration to cancel student-loan debt for millions of borrowers. Americans owe an estimated $1.7 trillion in student loans, a record-breaking total, according to Federal Reserve data.

“Thank you! Next step: cancellation,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York tweeted along with a video of Biden’s announcement.

“I applaud President Biden for once again pausing federal student loan payments for 45 million Americans. Now let’s cancel it. All of it,” Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont tweeted.

A government of Men, not law.

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AOC, NY Dems Unhappy Over “Peaker” Power Plants

See, these types of plants are rather necessary for peak power loads, especially as efficient, effective, low cost, reliable power plants are shuttered

Three House Democrats ask watchdog to probe ‘peaker’ power plant pollution

Three House Democrats from New York on Tuesday called on a federal watchdog to investigate pollution generated by “peaker” power plants, or those that only generate electricity during periods of high demand.

House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) joined Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) in calling on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the effects of such plants on local communities.

The lawmakers noted that the plants are both less energy-efficient than standard power plants and are frequently located in lower-income or predominantly minority neighborhoods.

“Addressing the use of peaker plants, which can emit twice the carbon and up to 20 times the nitrous oxides of a typical plant while operating significantly less efficiently, represents a high-impact opportunity to reduce climate risks and tackle a life-threatening environmental justice issue,” they wrote. “We request GAO’s assistance in reporting on key data to assess damage, uncover health burdens, calculate economic costs, and identify alternative solutions to the use of peaker power plants.”

A couple points here. First, why is this the business of the federal government in the first place? This is clearly a state issue, regardless of Los Federales wanting to make ‘climate change’ a thing. This is all about New Yorkers having the power necessary to Do Life. Second, here are 3 federal representatives wanting to make sure that their constituents, along with all the other residents of NY, are short on power. All while they spend most of their time in D.C. How about investigating peaker plants in D.C.? Or would that be inconvenient for AOC, Maloney, and Clarke?

There are 89 peaker plants in New York City alone, including 28 in or near Maloney’s district and 16 in Ocasio-Cortez’s district. An area in western Queens with a number of such plants has become known as “Asthma Alley” due to its disproportionate rates of the respiratory condition.

Wwll, hey, y’all in NYC voted for these Socialist lunatics, so, you’re willing to give up all that power generation, right?