Tag Archives: COVID

Plenty of Blame to Go Around In Education

By Anthony Trevlac

  • April 29, 2024
  • 4-min read

Most Americans have long recognized that education is a prerequisite for happiness, success, and well-being. It is also fair to say there is a widespread feeling that our schools are failing us.

There is a lot of debate about what to do to improve our schools, but it is important to remember they do not operate in a vacuum. Public education reflects the values in our communities, our nation, and ourselves.

Teachers and administrators should be held accountable, but our educational system can only do so much when the environment in which our children are raised has changed so dramatically. There is enough blame to go around. If our schools aren’t good enough, it is also important to ask if we are good enough.

The disintegration of the family is key. Most black children in the 1960’s had two-parent households. Most today do not. About three-fourths of black children in America today are born to unmarried women.

Only the most naïve of us – or the most willfully ignorant – would deny the devastating effect this has had on the ability of children to concentrate in school, get support at home, follow good role models, and stay out of trouble. Children from intact, two-parent homes perform better on every important metric.

Then there is the worst self-inflicted wound in our history. America shut down the economy and public education during Covid. Millions of us complained at the time and were widely reviled by those people who think you should just fall in line.

We objected to the loss of freedom and predicted it would result in terrible long-term damage to the economy. Many unconstitutional actions were taken, and sanctions were applied randomly. Why was it OK to go to Lowe’s or Kroger, but not to Larry’s Hardware or Sam’s grocery? Why was it safe to wait in line at Wal-Mart but not to wait in line to vote?

Those who defend our response to Covid claim we didn’t know much about it, we learned as we went along, and we did our best. That certainly is a charitable way to look at things. The physicians who used to use leeches and bled their patients said the same thing.

There was never good science behind several of the tactics we were told to use (masks, six-feet distancing), and many policies were continued long after we knew better. They are still promoted today.

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If You Trust the Government,
You May Need Therapy

By Rob Meyne

  • Jan. 27, 2024
  • 4-min read

The portion of Americans who trust the government to do the right thing has plummeted to historic lows. Less than 20% of us trust the government. The other 80% might ask “are you not paying attention?”

It takes a willingness to ignore facts, and reject common sense, to believe much of what the government tells us. This is true for all levels of government, but particularly nationally.

This is not the same thing as saying the government never tells the truth. Sometimes it does. But every sentient creature in America should view governmental messages with skepticism and do their own homework before determining what is true.

Pew comments on the lack of trust in government:

“Public trust in the federal government, which has been low for decades, has returned to near record lows following a modest uptick in 2020 and 2021. Currently, fewer than two-in-ten Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right “just about always” (1%) or “most of the time” (15%). This is among the lowest trust measures in nearly seven decades of polling. Last year, 20% said they trusted the government just about always or most of the time.”

The real question, today, is why WOULD you trust the government?

The Gallup survey shows, unsurprisingly, that Americans trust their local government much more than the federal.

This is a fairly good rule of thumb. If all politicians should be viewed with skepticism – all PEOPLE should be viewed with some healthy skepticism – certainly, it is easier to learn about your local office holders than those who work in area code 202 and spend their nights at places like the Capital Grille.

A related, and hugely important, question is what media should we trust? The quick answer is “not many.” But here is another good rule of thumb: you should put more trust in people who encourage you to personally learn about issues than those who discourage it. You will likely never hear someone from MSNBC or CNN telling you to learn about things for yourself. That is the mark of a news outlet that is more interested in propaganda than truth.

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SCOTUS Gets One Decision Right

By Rob Meyne

  • Jan. 17, 2022
  • 3-min read

The Supreme Court has, thankfully, affirmed that the federal government does not have the authority to force average citizens to get a vaccine.

The heart of our health care system has always been that people and their doctors have the right, even the duty, to make their private, personal health care decisions based on their unique circumstances. The mandate runs counter to that foundational value.

CDC has recently conceded vaccinations don’t do anything to protect against the newest version of the virus. They say that natural immunity does more to protect us than a vaccine, but still insist you need to be vaccinated, even if you have had it. They also admit that, even if you have had the shots, you can still get it and still pass it on.

Vaccines reportedly help you to get a milder case, when you do get it, but they are not vaccines in the traditional sense. We were told a “lie” that said, if we get the vax, we won’t get COVID, can’t spread it, and can live a normal life. None of that was true.

Anyone who questions vaccine efficacy is in danger of being labeled an anti-vaxxer or conspiracy theorist. Yet, in the past month I have had appointments with three separate doctors. Each of them independently brought up the subject of COVID, said that we had handled the pandemic disastrously, and criticized the vaccines as ineffective and untested. None of the three have gotten the vaccine themselves. All have had COVID, so have natural immunity.

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Screen Grab, CDC

Conceit, Lies, Greed, & the COVID Debacle

By J Robert Smith

  • Jan. 10, 2022
  • 1-min read

Hubris, not COVID, presents the greater existential threat to America.

If you haven’t seen the CDC map of COVID (CDC Interactive Map: Community Transmission in the US by County), it’s practically all red, meaning transmission is at its highest level (see above). The U.S. is awash in COVID infections. After nearly two years –- and heaven knows how much money and resources spent and how much wreckage –- COVID hasn’t been whipped, as laughable old Joe Biden vowed. In fact, as viruses do, COVID is spawning variants.

The saving grace is that the Omicron strain appears to be milder, signaling a wind-down. Hospitalizations and deaths from Omicron appear lower.

Per the virology, viruses “shift” or “drift.” Drifted viruses change gradually, allowing your immune system to provide “cross-protection.” Shifted viruses (COVID) represent an “abrupt, major change” and can trigger epidemics or pandemics. Viruses typically drift, because killing off hosts isn’t much of a survival strategy. Nature, not man, is resolving the contagion, as was the case with the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19. For sensible people, that should be a sobering realization.

Yet, sensibleness isn’t so common. The critical question is: Will enough of us draw the right lessons from the pandemic or are we doomed to repeat our mistakes again and again? And not just mistakes in the public health sphere.

The complete article can be found here: American Thinker. Thank you!

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Faith in Government Led to COVID Failures

By Rob Meyne

  • Dec. 27, 2021
  • 5-min read

Someday, the full story of COVID’s effect on America will be written. If it is compiled competently, and truthfully, it will describe some successes but also a ton of mixed messages, censorship, policy reversals, selective reliance on “science,” and assaults on our rights.

There may be debates about the effectiveness of how we responded to COVID, but there is no dispute it was an astonishingly draconian assertion of governmental power and control over our lives. You will recall President Trump grudgingly accepted the need for “15 days to flatten the curve,” which led to a near-complete shutdown of our economy and normal life. At the same time, he endorsed strategies to protect those who were at greatest risk and initiated Project Warp Speed to develop a vaccine in record time.

Following that initial period, and nearly alone among our leaders, President Trump urged a quick return to normal life. Predictably, the state and local governments, as well as federal regulators, who managed our COVID response fell in love with lockdowns and mandates, and they continued long after the President supported them.

If you rely on your memory, rather than mainstream media, you may recall Biden and Harris both discouraged people from getting a vaccine. Astonishingly, today’s preferred media/Democratic Party narrative is that President Trump and his supporters are anti-vaccine Neanderthals, whose reticence is keeping COVID alive. Quite the contrary: President Trump led development of a vaccine, has promoted it, got the vax himself, and the groups with the lowest vaccination rates are Blacks and Hispanics, groups that generally vote Democratic.

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Anti-Intellectuals

By Dr. Robert Scott

  • Dec. 15, 2021
  • 2-min read

Especially as a young man, I enjoyed spending hours reading books and short stories written by Isaac Asimov. His writings were adventurous and scientifically (for the most part) possible. He was an endorser of technology that brought more jobs by the end of the 20th century than we had people at the beginning of the century. He appealed to the economist in me.

Asimov wrote (Newsweek, January 21, 1980; re-posted on Medium: “A Cult of Ignorance”) an article critical of people who considered college professors and other highly educated people to be elitists. Snobs. He cited a few examples of famous people who denigrated college professors. It seemed like a good point, especially to a young college professor.

Today, I hear disdain for those who are unvaccinated. They are described as “misinformed” or “ignorant.” They should follow the science. (Which apparently means they should follow Tony Fauci, who says “I am science.”) Yet, recent reports from the CDC showed about 30% of healthcare workers have not been vaccinated. This includes many doctors and nurses that logic says would have some knowledge of science (even if not of “Fauci-science”).

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The Left’s Favorite Issues

By Rob Meyne

  • Dec. 7, 2021
  • 3-min read

Every Washington solution currently being offered, by the Party that controls the legislative and executive branches, would give more power to government. They all call for a bigger role for government in controlling our lives and the economy, and, by definition, less individual freedom.

If you want to fully understand what is happening on two issues, which you hear about daily, all you need to do is remember who is in charge and what they want. Call them leftists, socialists, progressives, or whatever, they all favor more government and less freedom. So, they enthusiastically champion issues that give them an excuse to implement expensive governmental programs.

Two “dream” issues for the left are COVID and climate. They provide perfect excuses for governmental, corporate, and non-profit elites to do exactly what they have always wanted. These issues also allow them to say, “it is for our own good, the future of the world is at stake, and we if we save even one life,” etc. The left loves to condescend to us, and to criticize anyone who dares to disagree with them. If you have a different opinion, according to them, you are not just mistaken, you are vile, filthy, and evil. They don’t usually even bother to criticize our opinions. They find it more effective to just vilify us.

If you believe the leftist/socialist agenda just happens to be what we need to combat climate change, or to handle COVID, then you are, with respect, naïve beyond belief.

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Fauci or Blofeld?
Is There Even Really a Difference?

By Rob Meyne

  • Nov. 16, 2021
  • 2-min read

There is a constant battle to protect freedom from intrusions by our own government. Restrictions on our freedom, including direct violations of the bill of Rights, are often supported by individual citizens, the media, and various political cohorts.

The most notable of these is the Democratic Party. Not to suggest the Republican Party is a walk in the park. It is just the better of the two alternatives, as regards freedom. The Democratic Party is the only major national political organization whose agenda is nearly entirely devoted to reducing freedom, giving more wealth and more power to government, and taking it from the private sector. That is, almost without exception, what Democratic proposals do. They are also the only active political party that endorsed, defended, and fought to preserve slavery, BTW.

The Covid pandemic is the defining event in America’s history of constant, if gradual, erosion of our freedom.

First, this: America is less free than it was several decades ago. That is simply not arguable. If you do not understand that you need to spend some more time looking at the issue. Erosions of our freedom, large and small, are today overwhelming. More on this another time.

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Covid vs. Constitutional Government

Rob Meyne

Covid Policy is at odds with conservative, Constitutional principles

  • Oct. 14, 2021
  • 2-min read

There are some common-sense principles that should be used to make governmental decisions on major issues of our day. These come quickly to mind as we look at our response to Covid. Time-honored truths have been ignored, and we will be paying the price for years.

Decisions to lockdown the economy, trample on constitutional rights, and issue a series of mandates are possibly the worst in our national history. The pandemic has had an indelible impact on America, and the wounds were mostly unnecessary, unhelpful, and self-inflicted.

First, government should follow strategies that have proven benefits. If we did that, we would have had no mask mandates. There is scant evidence they help. When pushed for proof that masks work, even the Director of the CDC was unable to offer any.
Likewise, lockdowns would not have passed muster. Yet we had a national lockdown, that was essentially global as well. Some restrictions remain from the pause that was billed as “two weeks to stop the spread.”
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Fascism at the Tip of a Needle

J Robert Smith

  • Sept. 11, 2021
  • 2-min read

When Joe Biden and liars generally say, “This isn’t about (fill in the blank),” it’s invariably about the very thing they claim it isn’t about. Case in point, Biden’s assertion that his dictum mandating vaccinations for federal workers, federal contractors, and private enterprises with a hundred or more employees “is not about freedom and personal choice.”

We need to thank our marionette president for flagging the truth with his disclaimer. Forcing vaccinations on an estimated 80 million citizens through executive fiat is very much about robbing them of their ability to decide what’s best for their health. Doing so by compelling larger businesses to make employees vaccinate (or lose their jobs) is, well, the stuff of creeping fascism, which Ronald Reagan famously warned would come in the guise of liberalism if it came to the U.S.
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