“Masks work? NO” began a Saturday Twitter post by Scott W. Atlas, a top coronavirus advisor for President Donald Trump. In the remainder of the tweet, Atlas proceeded to briefly relate support for this conclusion and for the proposition that masks being promoted as a means to limit the spread of coronavirus infections cause “many harms.”
Because Atlas dared to challenge the “wear your mask” mantra supported by phantom science, Twitter removed Atlas’ tweet.
Despite most college students being at very low risk of becoming seriously sick from coronavirus, much less dying from it, colleges across America have implemented extreme, often prison-like, restrictions on campuses in the name of countering coronavirus. These restrictions can make college a drag. The restrictions even can put students at risk of serious injury or death arising from a fire in their dorms or other campus buildings.
On October 5, President Donald Trump commented at Twitter that he would be leaving later that day from Walter Reed Medical Center where he had received medical treatment related to his having been infected with coronavirus. In the tweet, Trump also stated: “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.”
In making this statement, Trump drew out many reactions of disdain and mocking from people in American media and politics. But, a newly release Pew Research Center poll indicates that many Republican and Republican leaning individuals probably nodded their heads in agreement with Trump while wondering why it took so long for the president to come around to saying what they had long understood.
Some of the harshest coronavirus mandates in America have been imposed by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. On Friday, the state Supreme Court ruled against the continuation of those unilateral mandates, saying under state law they should have expired months ago.
Coronavirus crackdowns have been devastating to live music performances. Venues have been shut down. Large gatherings have been banned. Even when venues have been allowed to reopen, they have been subjected to occupancy limits and other restrictions that can prevent profitable operation. Watching a show while wearing a mask and trying to “social distance” can be a drag.
Van Morrison and Eric Clapton are two marquee musicians who are saying enough already with the restrictions — let venues operate, musicians perform, and concertgoers attend performances normally.
In March, I wrote about how coronavirus fear and government crackdowns undertaken in the name of countering coronavirus could be expected to prevent some drug war rollback measures from being included on November general election ballots. Qualifying such measures for inclusion on voters’ ballots typically requires the collection of many signatures, something that is harder to accomplish when there is widespread fear of coronavirus and expansive government mandates restricting people’s activities.
Saturday, I returned as a guest at the Patriot’s Lament show at KFAR radio of Fairbanks, Alaska. The one-hour interview with hosts Joshua Bennett and Michael Anderson is focused almost entirely on the coronavirus crackdowns people have been suffering under for the last six month in Alaska where Bennett and Anderson live, in Texas where I live, and across America.
Watch the complete interview here.
Reprinted with permission from the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.
The Republican Party of Texas executive committee has taken a heroic action that could serve as an example for Republican and Democratic parties across America. It has adopted, by a 54 to 4 vote, a resolution clearly and emphatically demanding that Texas Governor Greg Abbott immediately end all the liberty-repressing measures that, over the last six months while the state legislature has been in recess, Abbott has imposed unilaterally in the name of countering coronavirus.
The rebuke and demand of the resolution are particularly strong given that they come from Abbott’s own party.
So you want to avoid the mask mandates, long lists of grim rules, administrators demanding strict adherence to these rules, and prison-like conditions that have become the norm at many university campuses in the name of countering coronavirus? You may choose to be an online-only student and stay away from your university’s campus and the repression that you would find there. It sounds like a good idea. But, this plan may not always work. The repression may find you off campus as well.
The Cato Institute came out Tuesday with its Pandemics and Policy collection of coronavirus-and-pandemics-related articles described as purposed to “provide policymakers with an actionable guide to policies that can harness [old‐fashioned American ingenuity] and foster a resilient society capable of meeting the challenges ahead.” Among the articles is “Balancing Tradeoffs between Liberties and Lives” by Cato Institute Director of Economic Studies Jeffrey Miron and Cato Institute Senior Fellow Peter Van Doren.