Why are they asking for amnesty? Perhaps because nothing will prevent things like this from finally coming out:
Lockdowns will kill more people than COVID
The numbers are vague, the victims are diffused throughout the population and will die from many causes, but it is becoming clear that the victims whose lives are utterly ruined or who die from pandem...
The gotcha is that they cannot claim ignorance. People literally warned of these results and were treated horribly by those who smugly claimed “science” was on their side.
P.S. The underlying story that generated the article above is this:
Europe faces ‘cancer epidemic’ after estimated 1m cases missed during Covid
Report says 100m screenings lost because of pandemic, which had ‘chilling effect’ on research
Part of the argument for “COVID-19 amnesty” is that we didn’t know early on how COVID-19 behaved or what the outcomes/effectiveness of certain approaches would be. Is that true?
What We Knew In the Early Days ⋆ Brownstone Institute
We live in an age of short attention but all these signs and warnings came months before the world locked down and they chronicled the damage as it was happening.
I could have added this as an update to an earlier post today, but it deserves its own entry. Well-written, thoughtful piece by Mary Harrington:
The tyranny of a Covid amnesty
A self-righteous cabal has delivered a public that is sicker and poorer
The penultimate paragraph:
We all knew every pandemic policy would come with trade-offs. The lawn-sign priesthood forbade any discussion of those trade-offs. I don’t blame the class that so piously dressed their own material interests as the common good, for wanting to dodge the baleful looks now coming their way. But no “amnesty” will be possible that doesn’t acknowledge the class politics, the corruption of scientific process, the self-dealing, and the self-righteousness that went to enforcing those grim years of lawn-sign tyranny.
P.S. That may be the first time I’ve ever used the word “penultimate.” Did I do it right? 🙂
UPDATE: Francis Turner has a point:
Try Saying Sorry First
So there’s this Atlantic article getting a lot of comment, mostly negative as far as I can tell, for suggesting we need an amnesty of Wuflu actions. Now to a degree I get where the writer is …
I’m willing to forgive people but has to be a quid pro quo that is an acknowledgement that there is something to forgive.
We Need Pandemic Accountability, Not “Pandemic Amnesty”
Emily Oster’s article misses all three “R” requirements of meaningful forgiveness: Remorse, Repair, and Not Repeating.
It has an interesting prerequisite to forgiveness:
After watching this video, I was reminded of the “Three R’s” of forgiveness promoted by Dr. Laura Schlessinger, talk show host, and author. She was one of my must-listen-to hosts in the early 1990s…
The approach Schlessinger offered to avoid “toxic forgiveness” involved Remorse (expressing real regret), Repair (taking action to fix the consequences of behavior), and Not Repeating the action.
Galactic Empire Requests Amnesty For Anyone Who May Have Gotten Carried Away And Blown Up A Planet
Acknowledging past decisions that, while well intended, were destructive, and learning a ragtag team of rebels might win again, the Galactic Empire has proposed amnesty for anyone who may have gotten a little carried away and blown up several planets.
Lockdowns: The Great Gaslighting ⋆ Brownstone Institute
More than two years since the lockdowns of 2020, the political mainstream is just beginning to realize the response to Covid was an unprecedented catastrophe
Charity toward fellow human beings died during the pandemic…
The Demonization of the Unvaccinated: A Look Back ⋆ Brownstone Institute
These vaccine passes and the illiberal fad of stigmatizing the unvaccinated were unscientific, unprecedented, ineffective, totalitarian, brutal, and dumb.
Dr. Birx Praises Herself While Revealing Ignorance, Treachery, and Deceit ⋆ Brownstone Institute
The story of the lockdowns is a tale of Biblical proportions, at once evil and desperately sad and tragic, a story of power, scientific failure, intellectual insularity and insanity, outrageous arrogance, feudalistic impulses, mass delusion, plus political treachery and conspiracy. It is real-life h…
US agencies aren’t ‘following the science’ on COVID — and staff are too scared to complain
Silencing physicians is not “following the science.” Less absolutism and more humility by the men and women running our public health agencies would go a long way in rebuilding public trust.
Not only is Jim Breuer a hilarious comedian, he’s actually somebody who has been brave during the pandemic. Recently, I saw he posted an entire comedy special on YouTube. Sadly, I cannot embed it here, but you can watch it directly on YouTube.
Comedian and ‘SNL’ alum Jim Breuer cancels shows at venues requiring Covid vaccination
The former “Saturday Night Live” cast member said the cancellations were “due to the segregation of them forcing people to show up with vaccinations.”
BTW, you have to admit this is interesting (rates of breakthrough for boosted appear to be more than double those who only have the primary series).https://t.co/RBb7YxPWeU@mattfahrner This was what I referred to yesterday. pic.twitter.com/RLaXqxIRvb
One of the defining characteristics of the pandemic’s early stages was its disproportionate toll on Black and Latino Americans. During COVID’s early months in the U.S., the per capita death rate for Black Americans was almost twice as high as the white rate and more than twice as high as the Asian r…
But these large racial gaps in vaccination have not continued — and as a result, neither have the gaps in COVID death rates.
Instead, COVID’s racial gaps have narrowed and, more recently, even flipped. Over the past year, the COVID death rate for white Americans has been 14% higher than the rate for Black Americans and 72% higher than the Latino rate, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It is a remarkable turnabout, a story of both public health success and failure.
Although I don’t support Jesse Kelly’s harshness in his quote tweet, my reply asks questions that have had me scratching my head for a while around politicians (and others) wanting to prevent access to certain, potential COVID-19 treatments.
I think 3 question are left out of this conversations:
– Will it hurt me to try it? – Do you have an alternative? If so, is it unquestionably effective?
If a drug won’t hurt me and you don’t truly have a guaranteed alternative (or I can take it and the alternative), let me.
Well, I figured if I am going to get blamed for it, I might as well do it. Just made a donation to the Freedom Convoy (albeit small). I encourage others to do so to.
Does this mean I approve of everything they are doing? No. I don’t even approve of everything I do (sadly).
I think the final sentence is important. I always support the right to protest, even if I disagree wholeheartedly with your take. I do not support lawbreaking (with some exceptions: e.g. when laws themselves are clearly immoral).
So, during the summer of 2020 protests, I did not approve of the intentional, prolonged blocking of Interstates. I’m in line with Jazz Shaw (writing about a protest in New Zealand):
While I do not approve of blocking traffic as part of a protest, particularly when there is a risk of emergency response vehicles being isolated, there’s no question that the entire Freedom Convoy concept is rapidly turning into a movement and spreading around the world.
And, Freedom Convys are a movement that I support.
So, am I a hypocrite?
I think not, but maybe. Thoughts:
I noted that I don’t approve everything they are doing. In the end, I have to decide if I support something overall. In this case, I do.
New rules were established by the MSM, progressives/liberals, and governments in the summer of 2020. Heck, in Seattle they literally took over a section of the city, and the city treated it as a valid form of protest. Consistency (and morality) means you cannot approve a method of protest only based on the views of the protesters. So, I may disapprove of the tactic, but they should get the same “kids gloves” treatment the 2020 protesters got.
The only prolific law-breaking the Freedom Convoy is doing is blocking traffic. That doesn’t mean it is okay, but…looking back at #2…you can’t say, “No way! It must stop!,” when you were explictly (or implicitly) approving protesters burning down buildings, looting businesses, beating and killing people, etc. during the protests riots of 2020.
Speaking of consistency, I have repeatedly said, since the beginning of the pandemic, that rights are for things are bad, not for when they are good. COVID-19 has been the excuse for totalitorian control, for why rights have to be “temporarily” given up, because it is such a huge emergency. It’s for our own good. To save grandma.
Although I do not discount the noble intentions of many involved, that’s not how rights work, the path to hell is paved with good intentions, and…
Not to mention, it wasn’t all with good intentions.
All I can say is, “Don’t look away,” especially if u supported the draconian measures. Not 2 shame u, but so u (& we) won’t repeat our mistakes…& so that we can have empathy 4 (& ask forgiveness from) those we harmed so horribly. https://t.co/I4QO4nv1ua
“How do you respond when an anti-vaxxer dies of COVID?”
How do you respond when an anti-vaxxer dies of COVID?
The problem is that even a mild case of schadenfreude is the opposite of a “Christian value.” Jesus asked us to pray for our enemies, not celebrate their misfortunes. He wanted us to care for the sick...
The same way you should respond with a pro-vaxxer dies of COVID:
With compassion.
I wish the complete article wasn’t behind a paywall. We can all use Martin’s words…you should check out Hot Air’s snippet at the link above.
I am of two minds with this, “You have to choose, Joe Rogan or me” that Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Nils Logrin (and more?) are doing with Spotify.
First, I abhor people trying to get other people deplatformed. (I abhor the action, not the people.)
However, I respect individuals willing to personally sacrifice for their beliefs. I don’t know who owns whose catalogues, but I am going to assume that it’s not in Young’s, Mitchell’s, or Logrin’s best monetary interest to reduce the reach of their music.
At a minimum, I think the three are misguided, and probably lean on the side that what they are doing wrong, but I don’t think that the answer is to attack them back, try to get others to stop listening to their music (itself a form of deplatforming), etc.
And I hope that Joe Rogan tries to get them on his program to discuss their differences of opinion (and that they accept).
In the end, we are all trying to navigate difficult waters in a fog, and we are all guaranteed to hit some rocks here-and-there. That should lead to compassion, not judgment.
Although tenuous “impact to others” has been been abused by those who…actually…want to control others (including you), we do have responsibilities to others. With that in mind:
Sarah Palin dined at multiple New York restaurants despite positive Covid test
Palin, who is unvaccinated, was spotted at multiple city restaurants in violation of state and CDC health guidance
Assuming it is true, and believing that (probably) the majority of what NYC is forcing on folks around COVID-19 is bogus, this is wrong.
You should be allowed to decide your own risk.
Your friends, aware of your condition, should be able to decide their own risk.
But, when the risk is not of the tenuous type that is abused, you should not be deciding others’ risk. If accurate, Palin decided eating out was worth risking the health of the staff and patrons of the restaurants.
I tried to find the “other side of the story,” but I could not locate anything indicating Palin has responded; just this:
Sarah Palin dodges questions outside NY restaurant after positive Covid test
Former Alaska governor filmed leaving Elio’s on Wednesday night
And, since it is behind a “you have to create an account to read it”-wall, I don’t know if “dodges” is legit.
If you have COVID-19, stay away from other people. Yes, we would not necessarily have done that with the common cold or the flu, but…let’s be honest…that is a reasonable request, isn’t it?
Final note: I am very disappointed in Palin, and her behavior hurts “her side” (and the side of us who believe much of the reaction to the pandemic is overblown, immoral, etc.) However, the “punishment must fit the crime.” She shouldn’t be treated like she just committed murder.
As an overall summary statement of its present state, I agree with “it is a pandemic of bureaucracy”:
The Pandemic of the Bureaucracy: Finally liberals are waking up! One correction, @bariweiss : two years ago SOMEONE WAS pointing to scientific studies showing the utter uselessness of cloth masks: Rand Paul. And he was censored by YouTube and condemned by Fauci for it. https://t.co/Vjv3Wt57cw
As Clay Travis’ embedded tweet notes, “The most impressive thing about Bari Weiss on last night’s Bill Maher is the wild applause after she finishes here.” It is liberal audience. They realize the corona virus totalitarian emperors have no clothes and are more willing to acknowledge it.
The video above is worth a watch, and his thread from Yossi Gestetner is worth a read:
COVID-19 deaths since @JoeBiden’s first full day in office is 450,013. That’s a daily average of 1,229.
The 438,594 COVID deaths under Trump averaged 1,405 a day but that was pre-vaccines.
Mind-boggling that failed policies continue to be pushed and that Fauci isn’t yet fired.
In all this, I am reminded that politicians used to use “it’s for the children” as an excuse for whatever thing they wanted to do, even if the connection to children was as thin as a thread (or essentially non-existent).
I guess the kids no longer matter. We are damaging our children horrendously with our pandemic reaction…along with other untold devastation.
And “science” is an excuse. We aren’t following it.
If you’ve read much of this blog, you realize I am untrusting and skeptical of much of the COVID-19 narrative. However, that doesn’t mean that I can be credulous about counter-claims, just because they confirm my take.
For instance, Nassim Nicholas Taleb responds to the “fact” that the mortality rates for the vaccinated are higher than the unvaccinated:
The punch line:
It’s a statical artifact and when is it, you know, misleading? When the bracket is very large and you don’t have homogeneous populations…and you have uneven, the solution, of the population, between the two samples.
(I hope I transcribed that correctly.)
Basically, with COVID-19, if the vaccinated population is heavy on folks who die at a much higher rate (the elderly) and the unvaccinated is heavy on those who do not (the young), then Simpson’s “Paradox” kicks in. Overall, the mortality rate for the vaccinated can seem higher, even though at smaller brackets (e.g. 10 year age bands) it is the reverse.
Now, I haven’t seen the underlying data, so I cannot confirm what Taleb says, other than his statistical logic is sound…and that I have found him to be a trustworthy fellow who goes where the mathematics takes him.
Oh, and I have personally seen something similar in some data analysis I had to do months back. In certain locations, it appeared a minority population was being underserved in vaccination statistics, but it was less so when you took into account age. (That minority population in those areas was younger than the non-minority one, there was a huge push to vaccinate the elderly, and vaccinations weren’t even open to some of the younger age brackets.)
Remember folks, lies, damn lies, and statistics. Unless, of course, you use statistics carefully and honestly.
Update:
Simpson's paradox. Check out the rates among each age group, and then check out the aggregate rate. pic.twitter.com/qIyYi7PWcJ
Put aside your existing views, digest what Paul Kingsnorth has written, and then consider…
But it is clear enough by now that the Narrative is not true. Covid-19 is a nasty illness which should be taken seriously, especially by those who are especially vulnerable to it. But it is nowhere near dangerous enough – if anything could be – to justify the creation of a global police state. As for the vaccines – well, let’s just acknowledge that vaccination has become a subject which it is virtually impossible to discuss with any calmness or clarity, at least in public. As with almost every other big issue in the West today, opinion is divided along tribal lines and filtered through the foetid swamp of anti-social media, to emerge monstrous and dripping into the light.
And yes, something is wrong:
We all have a breaking point, and we all should, because this is the means by which our human intuition screams to us that something is wrong. This is mine. I will not go along with what is happening. I will not validate what is emerging. I will resist it. I will take my stand.
Will you take a stand?
Will I?
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