Tag Archives: #COVID19

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Even The Philadelphia Inquirer realizes that people are getting fed up with #COVID19 restrictions Once rights have been lost, they are very difficult to regain

Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump 3,458,229 (50.01%) to 3,377,674 (48.84%) in Pennsylvania, but in Philadelphia County, Mr Biden’s margin was 603,790 (81.44%) to 132,740 (17.90%), 471,050 votes, far greater than the 81,660 votes by which President Trump lost the Keystone State. I think it fair to say that Philadelphia is a very heavily Democratic area.

So, when I see The Philadelphia Inquirer, itself a very liberally-oriented newspaper, telling readers that Philadelphians are individually rebelling against the mask mandates of Governor Tom Wolf (D-PA) and Mayor Jim Kenney (D-Philadelphia), I take note.

After a year of pandemic, wearing masks outdoors is up for debate

Even as the city holds firm with its mask mandates, Philadelphians are making their own decisions about whether to mask or not.

by Laura McCrystal and Jason Laughlin | Earth Day, April 22, 2021

White and pink pastel blossoms frosted the trees beneath a blue sky Tuesday afternoon in Old City, the kind of spring day that makes long sleeves optional. For many, though, masks were not.

“I do it because it’s the right thing to do,” said Ellen Stroman, as she walked by the colonial columns of the Shambles near Second and Pine Streets with her husband, their daughter, and dog.

Is it? Mrs Stroman was walking with her husband and her daughter, presumably members of her own household. If any of them have the China virus, then they all have it. If “it’s the right thing to do,” then the right thing for Mrs Stroman is to signal her virtue, not somehow fight the virus.[1]See here for my explanation as to why I have started to, occasionally, call it the China virus

There is ample evidence that masks help prevent COVID-19′s spread, and their value indoors, where transmission is almost 19 times more likely than outside, isn’t disputed. The risk of infection outside, especially through passing contact, appears much lower. Researchers have found COVID-19 spreads primarily through aerosols expelled by activities like talking, singing, sneezing, or coughing, and those disperse quickly in open air. Sunlight and humidity also play roles in reducing the risk of outdoor transmission. A letter to the German government from the Association for Aerosol Research this month stated, “Transmission outdoors is extremely rare and never leads to cluster infections as can be observed indoors,” according to Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle.

The mass protests in summer 2020 that followed George Floyd’s death didn’t appear to cause coronavirus case surges in Philadelphia, and evidence is uneven about what role, if any, protests played in transmission nationwide.

Heaven forfend! Is the Inquirer, that bastion of the #woke, telling us that the authoritarian decrees of the Governor and Mayor might not be justified?

The Atlantic published an article recently asking whether it was time to consider lifting outdoor-masking mandates, noting confirmed cases of outdoor transmission almost always include close conversation or yelling. Once a person is vaccinated, the risk of being infected outdoors is “microscopic” to “nonexistent,” the magazine reported.

The article notes what we’ve all known: mask wearing has become highly politicized.

That highlights the unusual intersection of biology and social science that health experts and the public have navigated over the last year. Masks have moved beyond a public health precaution to become variously a courtesy, an indicator of solidarity, a symbol of respect for science — or a sign of reluctant acquiescence to government control. Some are so adamant about refusing to wear them they won’t enter places where they’re required.

“In America it’s been politicized,” said Eric Zillmer, a professor of neuropsychology at Drexel. “If you’re wearing a mask, you’ve kind of bought into the idea that there is danger.”

No, it means that you have bought into the idea that the government can tell you what to do and how to live your life!

I never wear a mask outside. If I am entering someone’s private property, and they have a notification up that they will decline service if I am not wearing a mask, I will comply; it is, after all, their private property. But, several times recently, I’ve come across businesses in which they have the signs up, but once inside I note that masks are optional, at which point I immediately exercise that option.

There were several paragraphs about how different people were behaving concerning mask wearing and, as usual, the obsessive controlling nature of government officials, but this is the one that struck me:

On the streets of Philadelphia, people make their own subtle adjustments. Some were masked up on a warm afternoon this week, while others went entirely without. Some kept masks ready to quickly put on if another person came nearby.

Uhhh, if you are outside, without a mask, and someone else chooses to come nearby, that’s on them, and they have clearly decided that they are not worried or do not care.

Well, we’re having a family gathering this Sunday, on our farm, of at least three households, and I guarantee you, there won’t be any masks worn! That will put us all in violation of Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) latest executive order:

3. People in Kentucky must cover their nose and mouth with a face covering when they are in the following situations that represent a high risk of COVID-19 transmission:

a. . . . any other indoor public space in which it is difficult to maintain a physical distance of at least six feet from all individuals who are not members of that person’s household;

c. While in outdoor public spaces in which the person cannot maintain a physical distance of at least six feet from all individuals who are not members of the person’s household and is not otherwise covered by previously issued guidance.

I suppose that my property might not be considered a “public space”, but I very much wish to consider my actions as defiance of our insipid Governor’s cockamamie and illegal orders. If the Governor showed up at my property — something extremely unlikely to occur — I would tell him to remove his mask or get off my land.

We must do all that we can to resist the encroachment of government on our individual rights. Once rights are lost, they are very difficult to regain.

References

References
↑1 See here for my explanation as to why I have started to, occasionally, call it the China virus
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Is it time to start calling it the China Virus again?

Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY 4)

I have not referred to COVID-19 as the “China virus” or “Wuhan virus” on The First Street Journal because I thought that doing so generated more heat than light, and gave critics a weapon to use when they had no actually reasonable responses. It’s using the same reasoning which leads me to (normally) choose to use newspapers as my primary sources, since they are known to have a leftward bias, and that eliminates criticism that I am citing evil reich-wing sources, and thus cannot be taken seriously.

But Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY 4th District) tweeted the contents of a bill to be voted upon in the House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee today, and that has me changing my thinking on this.

You can click on the photos he included and be able to read the bill yourself. But this is the part that gets to me:The online text of the proposed legislation is slightly different from what Mr Massie photographed. I have, in my transcription, used the words in Mr Massie’s photos.

(2) COVID–19 HATE CRIME.—The term “COVID–19 hate crime” means a crime of violence (as such term is defined in section 16 of 18, United States Code) that is motivated by—

(A) the actual or perceived race, ethnicity, age, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability of any person; and

(B) the actual or perceived relationship to the spread of COVID–19 of any person because of the characteristic described in subparagraph (A).

SEC. 3. GUIDANCE.

(a) Guidance For Law Enforcement Agencies.—The Attorney General shall issue guidance for State and local law enforcement agencies on the following:

(1) The establishment of online reporting of hate crimes or incidents, and the availability of online reporting available in multiple languages.

(2) The expansion of culturally competent and linguistically appropriate public education campaigns, and collection of data and public reporting of hate crimes.

(b) Best practices to describe the COVID-19 pandemic: The Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in coordination with the COVID–19 Health Equity Task Force and community-based organizations, shall issue guidance describing best practices to mitigate racially discriminatory language in describing the COVID–19 pandemic.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The online text of the proposed legislation is slightly different from what Mr Massie photographed. I have, in my transcription, used the words in Mr Massie’s photos.

Let’s tell the truth here: the “COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act” includes sections intended to criminalize thought and speech, and to issue “guidance” for which language is appropriate, and inappropriate for referring to COVID-19.

Well, I will not have my speech somehow assigned by government! If I start referring to it, occasionally, as the China virus or Wuhan virus, or William Teach’s Bat Soup virus, it is to use it as a protest against the government trying to assign proper speech to you and to me.

The Bill of Rights

Why was our Bill of Rights a set of amendments rather than being included in the original Constitution? It was because James Madison, one of the primary authors of the Constitution thought it unnecessary, because the Constitution did not give the federal government the power to enact laws in those areas. However, several states, as they ratified the Constitution, were alarmed about the lack of a Bill of Rights, and asked the Congress to add them.

Thus, the First Congress wrote, debated, amended and passed proposed amendments to beco0me just that. Had the Bill of Rights not been ratified by the states, this Congress would damned well have criminalized Wrongspeech.

What’s that, you say? Congress wouldn’t do that! Well, our various state Governors have issued authoritarian decrees which have been used to restrict the right of the people peaceably to assemble, by limiting the number of people who can gather for any purpose, including for things like family dinners for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and have actually closed churches, prohibiting the free exercise of religion, all in the name of combating the China Virus, and far too many of the sheeple have nodded their heads sagely and said, “It is good.”

It isn’t particularly helpful to the debate, or to people’s precious little feelings to refer to it as the China Virus, because the left have already politicized it, but sometimes it is necessary to start being a bit rude to fight the linguistic enforcement of the left and the credentialed media.

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Rights delayed are rights denied

Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY)

We had already stated that the courts in the Bluegrass State would try to give Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) time to run out the clock on legal decisions concerning his executive orders, because that was the pattern from the past. Now comes the evidence that we were right. From the Lexington Herald-Leader:

Kentucky Supreme Court will consider Beshear’s COVID-19 orders in light of new laws

By Jack Brammer | April 16, 2021 | 11:08 AM | Updated: April 16, 2021 | 1:12 PM

The Kentucky Supreme Court has decided to take up two legal cases involving Gov. Andy Beshear’s powers to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and other emergencies and hear them at the same time June 10.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. signed orders Thursday night for the state’s highest court to consider cases from Franklin and Scott circuit courts. He said a time for the June 10 hearing will be set later.

The Franklin case involves Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s appeal of Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd’s decision to temporarily block four legislative measures the General Assembly enacted this year that curb Beshear’s emergency powers.

The Scott case involves Beshear’s appeal of Circuit Judge Brian Privett’s ruling to temporarily block the state from enforcing some of Beshear’s executive COVID-19 orders against several restaurants and breweries

There’s more at the original.

Note the date of the hearing: June 10th. That’s eight weeks away, effectively another two months before the state Supreme Court will even hold oral arguments for and against the Governor’s executive orders and the laws passed by the state legislature to curtail them. A previous story in the Herald-Leader stated:

As of today, Kentucky is about 900,000 short of reaching the goal of 2.5 million vaccinated. More than 1.55 million Kentuckians have received their “first shot of hope,” said the governor.

With the current supply of the vaccine, Beshear said Kentucky could reach the 2.5 million goal in 3½ weeks, but said it most likely will be between four and six weeks.

So, if the guesstimates of four to six weeks are accurate, and if the Governor them lifts some, but not all, of his executive orders as promised, oral arguments eight weeks from now would make the case in Judge Privett’s case moot; and the Justices would almost certainly simply dismiss it.

But the Governor still wants that visible sign of subservience to his decrees:

Even with the easing of the restrictions, Beshear said, Kentuckians still will have to wear masks until there is more control of the virus. He also said he will address larger venues later.

We noted the previous pattern: Several lawsuits were filed in state courts to stop the Governor’s emergency decrees under KRS39A. On July 17, 2020, the state Supreme Court put a hold on all lower court orders against Mr Beshear’s orders and directed that “any lower court order, after entry, be immediately transferred to the clerk of the Supreme Court for consideration by the full court.” Three weeks later, the  Court set September 17, 2020, another five weeks later, to hear oral arguments by both sides.

The Court then waited for eight more weeks to issue its decision, until November 12, 2020, which upheld the Governor’s orders.

If the Kentucky Supreme Court, officially non-partisan but in practice controlled by the Democrats, follows the same pattern, a second eight week delay will mean a decision around the first week of August! Even if that decision supports the duly passed laws of the General Assembly, the state courts will have given the Governor half a year to exercise power that the General Assembly restricted.

Rights delayed are rights denied. But we will be lucky if our rights are only delayed; it isn’t difficult to picture the state Supreme Court coming up with some convoluted reasoning to invalidate the laws passed by the General Assembly. I can hope that the state legislature impeaches and removes our dictatorial Governor in the 2022 session, but, in reality, our best hope is for the voters to kick him to the curb in the 2023 election.

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The Reich Governor sets his goals

This tweet caught my eye:

I can’t say that this is a surprise, but the meaning is clear: the officially non-partisan but effectively Democrat controlled state Supreme Court will uphold the Governor’s appeal. `

Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY)

Several lawsuits were filed in state courts to stop the Governor’s emergency decrees under KRS39A. On July 17, 2020, the state Supreme Court put a hold on all lower court orders against Mr Beshear’s orders and directed that “any lower court order, after entry, be immediately transferred to the clerk of the Supreme Court for consideration by the full court.” Three weeks later, the  Court set September 17, 2020, another five weeks later, to hear oral arguments by both sides.

The Court then waited for eight more weeks to issue its decision, upholding the Governor’s orders.

The pattern was clear and obvious: the state Supreme Court was trying to give the Reichsstatthalter time to run out the clock, hoping that the COVID problem would be beaten by then, and they could simply declare the lawsuits moot. It hadn’t been beaten, so the Court decided in favor of the Governor.

Republicans in the Bluegrass State ran against Governor Beshear’s authoritarian decrees, and the voters rewarded them with 14 more seats in the state House of Representatives, a 75-25 advantage, and 2 more seats, out of 17 up for election, in the state Senate, giving the GOP a 30-8 margin. Though the Governor claims that opinion polls show that Kentuckians support his actions, in the only poll that actually counts, the one held on election day, they voted strongly against his dictatorship.

The General Assembly met beginning in January, and immediately started working on legislation to rein in the Governor’s powers. Dictators love their dictatorial powers, so the Reichsstatthalter vetoed those bills; the legislature promptly overrode his vetoes, and the Reichsstatthalter then went to court to try enjoin the new laws from taking effect.

Taking the cases to heavily partisan Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd, the Governor got what he wanted, the Judge blocking several of the General Assembly’s laws but not actually ruling against them.

And now the authoritarians’ playbook becomes obvious. From the Lexington Herald-Leader:

Beshear sets goal of 2.5 million vaccinated to lift capacity restrictions on bars, restaurants

By Jack Brammer | April 12, 2021 10:22 AM, Updated 11:08 AM EDT

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday he plans to remove capacity restrictions on nearly all venues, events and businesses that cater to 1,000 or fewer patrons once 2.5 million Kentuckians get their first vaccines against COVID-19.

Once that goal is reached, Beshear said, “We will remove the physical distancing restrictions and the curfew we have on bars and restaurants.”

What does that mean? It means that the Governor has given the courts their timetable, a specified amount of time that he says he needs to run out the clock. All the courts have to do is do nothing, until the Governor’s goals are reached, and then they can decide if he had the authority to do what he did.

In what he called “a pretty big announcement,” Beshear said all Kentuckians should be motivated to get the vaccine.

“If you are a restaurant, a bar, a store, a public pool, a country club, a grocery, a funeral home, a wedding venue, a concert hall, a museum, if you put on festivals, if you are a distillery, this is what you have been waiting for —a clear number and a clear goal to hit,” said Beshear.

He encouraged the businesses to make sure all their staff get the shots.

How, I have to ask, do businesses “make sure all their staff get the shots”? The only obvious way is for businesses to require such as a condition of employment, and have the right to see their employees’ medical records!

Even with the easing of the restrictions, Beshear said, Kentuckians still will have to wear masks until there is more control of the virus. He also said he will address larger venues later.

So, even when the Reichsstatthalter’s ‘goals’ have been met, he still wants to exercise that visible sign of subservience.

As of today, Kentucky is about 900,000 short of reaching the goal of 2.5 million vaccinated. More than 1.55 million Kentuckians have received their “first shot of hope,” said the governor.

With the current supply of the vaccine, Beshear said Kentucky could reach the 2.5 million goal in 3½ weeks, but said it most likely will be between four and six weeks.

But wait: if 1.55 million Kentuckians have received their first shot, in a two-shot series, that still means that they aren’t fully vaccinated. According to The New York Times, while 36% of Kentuckians have received the first dose, only 24% are fully vaccinated. That would mean that roughly only one million eligible recipients have received both shots, and there’s no guarantee that, with our dishonest Governor, he won’t decide that we’ll need another month under restriction, until 2.5 million are fully vaccinated.

COVID-19 is serious, but far more serious is the assault on our constitutional rights and the sheeple allowing the government to control their lives. Freedom, once lost, is very difficult to regain, and far, far, far too many Kentuckians have silently allowed this authoritarian dictator to do whatever the Hell he pleases.

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Judge Phillip Shepherd once again decides that his judgement supersedes that of our elected representatives He just loves enabling authoritarian dictators . . . as long as those dictators are Democrats!

Franklin Circuit Judge and Authoritarian Enabler Phillip Shepherd. Photo: Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts.

We have thrice reported on Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd, a continual thorn in the side of Republican Governor Matt Bevin, and a partisan supporter of current Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat. Judge Shepherd blocked several of the bills passed by the General Assembly to limit the Governor’s emergency powers, not actually ruling against those laws, but imposing a temporary injunction and partially stayed the effectiveness of the three new laws. The laws remain on the books, but cannot be enforced, and the Judge has yet to tell us when he will rule on Governor Beshear’s lawsuit.

Shepherd said the court “is mindful that the challenged legislation seeks to address a legitimate problem of effective legislative oversight of the governor’s emergency powers in this extraordinary public health crisis” but “is also mindful that the governor and the secretary (Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander) are faced with the enormous challenge of effectively responding to a world-wide pandemic that has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Kentuckians and over 500,000 people in the United States.”

The judge said all parties in the case “are acting in good faith to address public policy challenges of the utmost importance” but “the governor has made a strong case that the legislation, in its current form, is likely to undermine or even cripple, the effectiveness of public health measures necessary to protect the lives and health of Kentuckians from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Translation: the Judge recognized the legislature’s authority to change the law, but didn’t think that the legislature’s actions were wise ones. Who knew that a judge had the authority to decide that a legitimately passed law was simply unwise?

One of Governor Beshear’s arguments was that the legislature might not approve extensions of his executive orders, which the held-in-abeyance Senate Bill 1 limited to 30 days without legislative approval. The legislature passed House Joint Resolution 77, passed to go along with Senate Bill 1, which granted the Governor extensions on some, but not all, of his executive orders.

Kentucky governor notches another court victory for his emergency COVID-19 orders

By Jack Brammer | April 8, 2021 | 9:26 AM EDT | Updated April 8, 2021 | 12:45 PM EDT

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd has added another legislative measure to the temporary injunction he issued earlier this year to block laws that limit Gov. Andy Beshear’s powers to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and other emergencies.

The judge’s nine-page order handed down late Wednesday afternoon temporarily blocks House Joint Resolution 77. The move keeps Beshear’s COVID-19 restrictions in effect, including the mask mandate.

The resolution, sponsored by House Speaker David Osborne, was enacted by the legislature to implement Senate Bill 1, which would limit the governor’s emergency orders, such as one that requires Kentuckians to wear a face covering in public, to 30 days unless the legislature extends them. . . .

In blocking the resolution, Shepherd said, “In general, it appears that the General Assembly has ratified the governor’s actions related to economic relief for regulated businesses and professions but has attempted to impose a general termination of executive authority to impose public health restrictions (such as masking in public, social distancing, seating capacity or limitations on public gatherings.)“

“Whether HJR 77 represents a valid exercise of legislative authority or an unconstitutional usurpation of executive authority” is a legal issue that supports the issuance of a temporary injunction, Shepherd said.

The judge called Beshear’s existing executive orders and emergency regulations “proper responses to a public health crisis.”

“They should remain in full force and effect until the entry of a final judgment or until after notice and a hearing on any motion to terminate any such specific executive action,” he said.

That pretty much tells you how Judge Shepherd will rule; he thinks that the Governor’s orders were the proper responses.

Fortunately, our would be dictator isn’t having it all his way!

KY judge blocks Beshear’s COVID-19 orders at some restaurants and bars

By Jack Brammer | April 9, 2021 | 01:18 PM EDT | Updated April 9, 2021 | 4:00 PM EDT

A Kentucky judge has temporarily blocked the state from enforcing some of Gov. Andy Beshear’s executive COVID-19 orders against several restaurants and breweries.

The preliminary injunction issued Friday by Scott Circuit Judge Brian Privett runs counter to recent actions by Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd, which blocked the implementation of new laws that would have ended some of Beshear’s emergency restrictions against the coronavirus pandemic.

Oliver Dunford, an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation who represented the businesses, said the differing rulings “probably will expedite all this going to the Kentucky Supreme Court for a final court decision.”

“We are thrilled that Judge Privett issued the injunction, which prevents the governor from enforcing the restrictive orders against our clients,” said Dunford “The order recognizes that the governor is obligated to follow the laws, just like everyone else.”

Beshear spokeswoman Crystal Staley said late Friday afternoon that Privett’s ruling has been appealed to the Kentucky Court of Appeals.

Well, of course he has!

Judge Privett’s orders are narrow in scope, but by appealing them to the state Court of Appeals, this may well move the decisions out of Judge Shepherd’s court, where he has been slow-walking everything in what appears to be an effort to give Governor Beshear as much time as possible on his repugnant orders before a legal decision is reached.

“This action, at its most basic level, is simple,” said Privett in his order “The governor has two kinds of power: those given to him in the Constitution, and those given to him by the legislature under statute. The emergency powers of the governor at issue in this case are not inherent.”

The state constitution limits the General Assembly to a thirty-day session in odd-numbered years, and the legislature is done for the year, unless the Governor calls them back into a special session, which he will do about as soon as Hell freezes over, unless the state Supreme Court eventually upholds Senate Bill 1. We can expect no saving by the legislature now before next year.

But what really needs to happen is for the voters of the Commonwealth of Kentucky to vote out this wannabe dictator in the 2023 elections. He needs to be sent home, his tail between his legs, and a conservative Governor, one who respects our constitutional rights, elected to replace him.

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How NBC News tried to obscure falling #COVID19 cases in states dropping restrictions

NBC News has noticed that states like Texas have seen decreases in the numbers of COVID-19 cases, while the states with the greatest restrictions have seen increases. Naturally, NBC wants to explain that away.

Now, if you open the video, you’ll see that NBC is trying to claim that the states with decreases just aren’t testing enough. As we noted previously, the moving seven day average of new COVID-19 cases in the Lone Star State has declined dramatically since Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) lifted the mandatory mask order, effective March 10th. On March 10th, the moving average was 4,909 new cases. On April 7th, it was 3,702.

Perhaps someone wiser than me can tell me how NBC News wasn’t engaged in propaganda rather than journalism, because I sure can’t figure it out!

Look further down the chart. On March 10th, the moving seven day average of tests performed was 75,452; on April 6th, it was 73,373, a bit lower, 2.8% lower, but not significantly so; certainly not so much lower as to have been responsible for a 24.6% decrease in the number of new cases.[1]April 7th data were not available on The New York Times link.

But, let’s assume that it somehow was the testing. COVID-19 makes people sick, and some people get hospitalization-sick. On March 10th, the moving seven-day average of number of patients hospitalized was 5,362; on April 7th it was 3,373. That’s a 37.1% decrease in hospitalizations due to COVID-19.

How about actual deaths from the virus? On March 10th, the moving average was 190 per day; on April 7th, it was 76, a 60.0% decrease.

Yeah, if there are fewer tests run, fewer positive cases will be found, but that can’t cover for the fact that far fewer hospitalizations and deaths due to the virus have happened. The report specifically cited Alabama as running a low number of tests. Using the same dates, Alabama saw hospitalizations drop from 643 to 426, a 31.6% decrease. Responsible journalism would have included that fact, but no one said that NBC practiced responsible journalism.

What about the far more restrictive Commonwealth of Pennsylvania? On March 10th, the Keystone State’s moving average of tests was 47,117; on April 6th, it was down to 43,019, an 8.7% decrease. On March 10th, average daily cases was 2,490, which had moved up to 4,241 by April 7th. An 8.7% decrease in tests still yielded a 70.3% increase in cases. Average number of hospitalizations moved up from 2,002 to 2,646, a 32.2% increase, and deaths, from 39 down to 27, thankfully a 30.8% decrease, so at least there was some good news.

Of course, NBC could have looked up those numbers just as easily as I did; they are on The New York Times website, not exactly an evil reich-wing source.

But they didn’t do that, did they? Nope, they simply blamed what they claimed were lower testing rates. Perhaps someone wiser than me can tell me how NBC News wasn’t engaged in propaganda rather than journalism, because I sure can’t figure it out!

References

References
↑1 April 7th data were not available on The New York Times link.
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No, this isn’t about government controlling people at all!

Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY), about whom I have had to write far too frequently, ignores the evidence. His minions tweeted for him:[1]Tweets on that account which are written personally by the Governor are signed are signed ^AB

“”Double down on public health measures,” and “masking up,” huh?

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%.

Empirical data do not show that mask mandates have reduced COVID-19

So, why does Governor Beshear want us to “double down” on restrictions on our lives, why does he want us to continue to wear face masks, when ditching the mask mandate — which doesn’t stop people from wearing masks; it just makes them optional — not only didn’t result in an increase of cases, but Texas has seen a 38.7% decline in average daily cases four weeks after the mask mandate ended?

In Andy Weir’s book, The Martian, the nerds on earth are discussing why the “Hab,” the living quarters for the astronauts on Mars, didn’t have redundant communications systems capable to contacting earth. The comm systems were instead mounted on the MAV, the Mars Ascent Vehicle, and one of the nerds says, “(It) Never occurred to us. We never thought someone would be on Mars without a MAV. I mean, what are the odds?”

To which another nerd replied, “One in three, based on empirical data. That’s pretty bad if you think about it.”

And so it is. Regardless of what the heavily politicized Centers for Disease Control tell us, the empirical data have shown that dropping the restrictions on people’s lives hasn’t led to the Chicken Little ‘The Sky is Falling’ scenario we’ve been being told. Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was dropping mask mandates last December, and while cases continued to increase into January, just like they did everywhere else, cases then started falling rapidly.

In the Bluegrass State, on March 10, the average seven day moving average was 790 new cases per day; on April 5, it was down to 574. That’s a 27.3% reduction, a smaller percentage reduction than was seen in Texas, despite Governor Beshear keeping the mask mandate in place.

And while the number of tests being performed in Texas have increased by 18% over the past 14 days, in Kentucky they have decreased by 9%, which means that more cases may have been missed.

If the empirical data do not show that the mask mandates have reduced COVID-19, then why do Democratic Governors like Mr Beshear keep imposing them? There’s really only one answer: they love authoritarian control!

References

References
↑1 Tweets on that account which are written personally by the Governor are signed are signed ^AB
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Majority white schools reopening faster than in heavily minority districts

This, to me, is not a surprise. The public school teachers’ unions are strongest in our largest cities, the teachers’ unions just love ‘remote’ education, where they don’t have to deal with unruly students and some can ever ‘teach’ from home, and it is in our major urban areas where public school populations are more heavily minority. From The Wall Street Journal:

School Districts With Majority of Black or Hispanic Students Less Likely to Provide In-Person Instruction, Research Shows

By Jennifer Calfas

School districts with a majority of white students are more likely to be offering in-person instruction options than those with a majority of Black or Hispanic students, according to new research released Wednesday.

I tend to pay outsized attention to foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy Philadelphia, where The Philadelphia Inquirer reported last week “Philly schools to distribute computers to students as coronavirus could force closure for the rest of the school year“.

The Philadelphia School District is planning to distribute computers to children who lack them, and aims to put a new distance learning plan in place by the second week of April, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said Tuesday.

“We’re going to get the technology out to any child that says they need the technology,” Hite said at a news conference.

The news came as advocates called on the state to require districts to provide education for all students, including English-language learners and children with disabilities, during coronavirus-outbreak shutdowns.

Pennsylvania schools are now closed through April 6. Learning has been optional in Philadelphia — school system officials had made online resources available to students, as well as paper packets, but because of state concerns that all kids have access to technology, no assignment could be graded or made mandatory.

The demographic breakdown is that Philly’s public schools are 48.08% black, 22.77% Hispanic, 14.31% white, 9.11% Asian, and 5.45% multi-racial. The city’s public ‘charter’ schools are more heavily black, 59.55%.

Of course, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers have been fighting return to school plans all winter and spring. Outside of Philadelphia, WHYY reported, on January 7, 2021, that “many schools have been open for weeks or months despite substantial community transmission.”

Back to the Journal:

The findings from the American Enterprise Institute and the College Crisis Initiative of Davidson College, which are tracking reopening plans across 8,600 school districts, show how reopening decisions are affecting children and communities differently and exacerbating disparities for students of color.

Three percent of school districts with a majority of white students were operating on fully remote schedules, compared with 24% of school districts with a majority of Hispanic students and 18% of districts with a majority of Black students, based on districts’ plans as of March 22. Seven percent of all school districts tracked by these organizations offered remote-only instruction, according to the findings.

About 10% of Black students and 20% of Hispanic students overall attended school districts with remote-only options, compared with 5% of white students.

The new findings, which are tracked and updated weekly based on changes announced on school district’s websites, echo similar disparities cited in surveys and studies from organizations, media outlets and the U.S. Department of Education over the past year. About 1 in 10 and 1 in 20 of the school districts tracked in the new research have a majority of Hispanic and Black students, respectively. About half of the districts have a majority of white students, said Nat Malkus, a resident scholar and deputy director for education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.

Let’s tell the truth here: private schools have been doing everything they can to reopen for in-person classes, and private school populations are heavily white. Roughly 69% of private school students are white, though non-Hispanic whites make up only about 51% of school-aged children enrolled in schools. So, when The Wall Street Journal reports that public school districts have been reopening faster in white-majority districts, the newspaper is actually undercounting the return of white students to the classroom.

As always, there’s more at the original, but one thing is clear: in majority white areas, the very liberal teachers’ unions are more in tune with the people and parents in their districts, and non-Hispanic white students have been getting back into the classroom faster than those ‘BIPOC’ students the left claim to serve.[1]BIPOC stands for ‘black, indigenous, and people of color.

References

References
↑1 BIPOC stands for ‘black, indigenous, and people of color.
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Zeigen Sie uns Ihre Papiere!

We can see where Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) wants to go with this one! Our wannabe dictator tweeted:

The “^AB” at the end of the tweet indicates that it was written by the Governor himself, not one of his minions.

Note that the article from the Louisville Courier-Journal was entitled Kentucky Libertarian Party compares ‘vaccine passports’ to star IDs Jews wore in Holocaust. Vaccine passports, not the vaccine itself.

The Libertarian Party of Kentucky compared coronavirus “vaccine passports” to star-shaped identification badges people of Jewish descent were forced to wear during the Holocaust in a tweet this week, drawing outrage from across the nation.

The post, sent just after 5 p.m. Monday, compared “vaccine passports” – credentials that would show whether a person has received the coronavirus vaccine and would theoretically grant access to businesses and other spaces that will require proof of vaccination before entry – to “the stuff of totalitarian dictatorships” that the party considers a “complete and total violation of human liberty.”

“Are the vaccine passports going to be yellow, shaped like a star, and sewn on our clothes?” the party wrote on Twitter.

The tweet had been reposted more than 4,000 times as of Monday afternoon, with many reposts adding messages disavowing its message. Nearly 7,000 comments were left in response as well, including one from Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt that called the post an “ignorant and shameful comparison” and another from Jewish actor Seth Rogen, who (explicitly) suggested the party take its message elsewhere.

I had, of course, suggested something other than the sewn on yellow stars, something that couldn’t be mistakenly left at home.

Perhaps the Governor’s ideas would sound better in the original German: Zeigen Sie uns Ihre Papiere!

Governor Beshear’s tweet indicates what we might expect from him: he will probably try to issue executive orders mandating that people carry their vaccination records, and, with the General Assembly’s 2021 session ending on March 30th, and Democratic state judges willing to support his authoritarian dictates, Kentuckians will have little protection other than massive public resistance to this bovine feces.

Will you have to update your vaccine passport? The Washington Post noted on Monday that we do not know for how long the vaccine will be effective:

But based on clinical trials, experts do know that vaccine-induced protection should last a minimum of about three months. That does not mean protective immunity will expire after 90 days; that was simply the time frame participants were studied in the initial Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson trials. As researchers continue to study the vaccines, that shelf life is expected to grow.

In the real world, the protection should last quite a bit longer, though the length of time still needs to be determined with further studies, experts said. . . . .

Immunity could also depend on what happens with future variants. If a person were exposed to a variant capable of evading vaccine-induced antibodies, for instance, a vaccine might not be as effective as initially expected, said Lana Dbeibo, an infectious-disease expert at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Although researchers do not yet have all the answers, previous knowledge of other coronaviruses, as well as emerging research about the current strain, may provide clues.

Looking at studies on natural immunity from the coronavirus, experts hypothesize that protective immunity from the vaccines will last at least six to eight months. And if immunity from SARS-CoV-2 ends up being similar to other seasonal coronaviruses, such as “common colds,” it is even possible the vaccines could provide protection for up to a year or two before requiring a booster, the experts said.

So, what? Should we have to have our booster shot record on the passports as well? How often? Six to eight months? Maybe up to two years?

But, what the Hell, it’s only one more bit, one tiny little bit, of government control over our individual lives, right?