Quick Jots: February 2022

Newsom shocked to discover California looks like a third world country
#gavinnewsom #california #democrats
No, this is not old news. Apparently, Gavin Newsom has never set foot in San Francisco or Oakland or Los Angeles, etc, within the past decade. On January 21st (2022), Gavin Newsom remarked "...what the hell is going on? We look like a third-world country." This is like if a CEO of a retail store chain didn't realize that his stores just have mounds of trash piled up inside it and robberies are rampant, with his employees mugged daily. If you worked at that store, you'd call for the CEO's head. Not California. Californians look at this kind of cluelessness from its governor and move to quash the recall election. Newsom, if you're actually looking for the problem, you'll find it in the mirror.

Olympic athletes in China with COVID subjected to average quarantine conditions
#china #covid
Which is to say, the conditions have been abysmal. They've been separated from their training partners with no way to stay in shape, poor and repetitive food, and isolated with no translators able to tell them what's going on. They also complained of poor internet connectivity, which, I don't know. Is that better or worse than being stuck behind the Great Firewall? Several athletes shared their stories on Instagram, which went viral and prompted some Olympic officials to rescue them from the CCP. As bad as the athletes' experiences have been, China's citizens may have been even worse off, oftentimes stuck in quarantines without even any heat in the freezing winter.

Danish newspaper apologizes for abysmal COVID coverage
#covid #media
Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet stated that they had been too preoccupied with the next statement out of the authorities to actually question and challenge the narrative to check its accuracy. "We failed" was prominently featured in their apology. A bit late, but I'll take it. At least they're acknowledging their failures. Who's next? New York Times? CNN? Steven Colbert? Any of you want to step up to the plate and be next?

Contra Costa lifts vax mandates
#covid
In early February, Contra Costa lifted their vaccine mandates for indoor businesses, citing that the county hit 80% vaccination rates. You know who else hit 80% vaccination? Neighboring Alameda County, which as of the end of February, stood at 81.9% fully vaccinated, without county-wide vaccine mandates (only Berkeley had a vaccine mandate before Contra Costa lifted their mandate). The entire exercise of vaccine mandates was completely fruitless. Why is 80% vaccination the threshold, anyway? Who came up with that number? It's not like the mRNA vaccines operate like traditional vaccines where vaccine-induced herd immunity plays a role in preventing spread.

More Stacey Abrams hypocrisy
#staceyabrams #democrats #covid
Some say a picture says a thousand words. This one just says eight: "Hi, I'm Stacey Abrams and I'm a hypocrite." She's really going to sit there, maskless, while keeping those poor kids in masks? Does she not have a public relations consultant? Does she not have a moral compass? In response, Stacey Abrams called those that criticized her, racists. lol

Jeff Zucker steps down
#media
CNN CEO Jeff Zucker has resigned. Not over their disastrous ratings. Not over their three years of lying to their viewers about Trump-Russia collusion that even CNN now concedes. Not over lying about Joe Rogan or "mostly peaceful protests" or Amy Cooper or the basis of the violence against Asians, or the myriad of other items they lied about. Nope. It's because Zucker had an undisclosed relationship with an executive. Because that's what's important.

Israel study shows vitamin D has high efficacy in fighting COVID-19
#covid
Months ago, Joe Rogan was talking about how one should boost vitamin D levels to help fight COVID. "Er, yeah, okay, Joe," I thought. A study out of Israel shows that I was wrong, Joe was right. Well, shit. So, when the pandemic first started, the government essentially told everyone to shut themselves in their homes, away from the sun...

Trudeau's iron fist
#canada #covid
With Canada's Freedom Convoy protests calling Justin Trudeau a fascistic dictator, Trudeau decided to just lean into it. Earlier in the month, he instituted emergency powers in an attempt to clear out the protesters. In true Orwellian fashion, he announced new "tools" for the police to utilize to quell the protests, including freezing the bank accounts of those suspected to even support the protests, without due process. GoFundMe actually attempted to steal $9 million from $10 million in donations to the Freedom Convoy to redirect it to other charities, but the funds were instead refunded after a social media backlash. He actually said in a ridiculous evasive answer to a press question that the protesters moved away from "protesting and disagreeing" to "limiting and blocking the freedoms of their fellow citizens." Is there some mystical power out there that automatically suppresses politicians' ability to realize their condemnations often more aptly describe themselves?

As the protests died down, Trudeau ended the emergency powers. It was not for naught, as Alberta ended their vaccine passport system two weeks into the protest and inspired other protest movements. I will never say a bad thing about a trucker ever again (have I, ever...?).

No!! My favorite fruit!!
#regulations
Avocado shipments were halted from Mexico due to cartel activity in the state of Michoacan, the only state in Mexico that has an avocado import agreement with the United States. Yeah. Eighty percent of the US's avocado imports hang by the thread of a single government trade route. Who in the hell thought that was a good idea? That's it, libertarians. Stop all the talk about the genocide in Yemen that Americans are funding. Stop all the talk about vaccine passports restricting people's basic freedoms. Stop all the talk about the Federal Reserve Bank making everybody but the politically connected, poor. None of that matters anymore. We all need to rally on this singular issue. Misesians and Prags unite! Guacamole on three! One! Two! Three! GUACAMOLE!!!!!!!!

Good job, libertarians. Avocado shipments have resumed after a week of grounded trucks. That was a close one. Time to halve the size of my house and cram as many avocado trees into my backyard as I can. Sorry, wife and kid. Priorities.

San Francisco school board members fired
#democrats #education
In a recall election, three ultra-progressive school board members were unceremoniously shown the door in the ultra-progressive region of San Francisco. And it was a landslide. They lost by 44 percentage points. This board was the one that, amid the pandemic, couldn't figure out how to reopen the schools (you had ONE job!) and in the middle of it all, decided the important thing to do was to rename 44 of its schools, saying that they were culturally insensitive, like Abraham Lincoln, Paul Revere, and Dianne Feinstein. You know, unlike the school board members that say things about Asian Americans like, well, here, follow this link, I'd rather not get canceled.

Evidence of mask mandates (or lack thereof)
#covid
The realization that mask mandates do nothing to stem the spread of COVID is starting to become more widespread. This is something we've known about for well over a year, if you've been listening to Tom Woods or following Ian Miller's work. Give it a few years' time. By that point, everyone will claim that they've always known that masking didn't work.