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Masks, social distancing, and mass hysteria

This past weekend Diane and I went hiking, as we try to do at least once a week. With the gyms closed by our petty dictator governor, Republican Doug Ducey, we need to find a way to get out and exercise, both for our sanity and to strengthen our immune systems, since outdoor exercise is probably the most effective way to prevent yourself from getting sick from any respiratory illness.

As we were hiking along a single male hiker, probably in his mid- to late- twenties, approached us from the other direction. When he saw me in the lead, he immediately cringed off to the side of the trail in what seemed literal terror, holding a bandana to his face.

I looked at him in irritation. “You don’t need the mask, we don’t have cooties and we won’t make you sick.”

“I don’t want to make you sick,” he said as I passed him.

“What makes me sick,” I responded as I continued past him down the trail, “is the irrational terror and fear I see in everyone’s eyes, over something that really is not much more different than the flu.”

I will admit to have become somewhat of a cranky grump these days when I see everyone wearing masks. And I feel this way because of the utter mindlessness of mask-wearing. This healthy young hiker, who almost certainly was not contagious in any way with any illness, including COVID-19, was only within four feet of me for about one second. Even if he had COVID-19 and was infectious to me and tried to pant in my face as I went by it would have been almost impossible for him to infect me. We were just not in close enough contact for long enough.

Moreover, he stood there holding the bandana to his mouth and nose, with his hand. That its exactly the wrong thing to do if you want to protect yourself, as your hands are the most likely transmission point for infection, and by pressing his bandana against his face with his hand he risked placing that infection at the very place he breathed.

He might have reduced my chances of getting infected by an infinitesimal amount, but he increased his own risk substantially.

Mask-wearing is just plain irrational, and for intelligent Americans to go along with this silliness is beyond shameful, especially because in almost every jurisdiction, even those that mandate mask use, you can opt out by simply stating you have medical reasons for not wearing a mask, and are not required under HIPPA regulations to even show documentation proving that statement in any way. It must be accepted on its face, without question.

Let’s review the absurdity of this situation, and maybe remind people why it is foolish.

First, why are healthy people wearing masks and social distancing? The present theory (which by the way bears no resemblance to the original purpose) is that COVID-19 is especially contagious during the period after a person has become infected but prior to the moment they exhibit symptoms. Thus, a healthy person might pass the disease on without knowing they have it. Masks and social distancing are now being encouraged or required as a way to prevent that transmission during this period, and thus stop the spread of COVID-19.

The problem is that this theory is unproven, and in fact appears to be an outright failure. In the past we accepted the reality that with all such viruses it is impossible to stop such spread. No matter what we do, the virus is going to transmit itself through the general population. And with almost all healthy people under the age of 40, it will pass either unnoticed as the body produces anti-bodies to destroy it, or it will cause that person to become sick but then recover.

And this is exactly what the Wuhan virus is doing now, despite mask use and social distancing. Had we not panicked and tried to slow the spread, the disease would have run its course, as it has in Sweden, and the death toll from the virus nationwide would now be shrinking to practically zero. Instead, in many places where draconian restrictions were imposed the epidemic has lingered on, far longer than necessary. It is even possible that more people are dying because of this, because the older, sicker population that is most vulnerable is being exposed to the virus for a far longer time, before it peters out.

New York daily death toll for COVID-19
See this essay for a discussion of the suspicious spike on May 7.

And in those regions that have very dense populations, like New York and New Jersey, where their strict lock downs were pointless because they could never really make any difference, the virus did exactly what it did in Sweden, followed a bell curve to peter out so that now it poses little threat to anyone. If anything, probably the safest place against the Wuhan flu these days is the crowded streets and subways of New York.

Researchers at CityMD have revealed to The New York Times that testing in one neighborhood in the borough of Queens found that 68% of people who took antibody tests for the coronavirus tested positive. In addition, a testing station at Jackson Heights in Queens found 56% of those tested had coronavirus antibodies.

It seems that the majority of New Yorkers have pretty much all gotten infected, developed anti-bodies, and thus are no longer an infectious threat.

The irrelevance of government policy can be seen in other places. Neither Sweden nor Holland imposed mask mandates, and in both cases the evidence suggests it mattered not, with the death toll following the same bell curve as New York. The virus is now dying out.

Then there are countries like Peru and Mexico, both of which did impose mask mandates. There virus appears to have taken longer to spread, but spread it did. The spread just took longer.

Meanwhile, there exists no solid research demonstrating the usefulness of masks when used indiscriminately over extended times in public venues. Research indicates instead that they are nothing more than a symbolic gesture, and that they can even be counter-productive.

Social distancing is equally as pointless and as irrational. Worse, it is based on even less scientific research than the use of masks.

It turns out, as I wrote last month, “social distancing” is untested pseudoscience particularly as it relates to halting the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. On its website, the CDC provides no links to any peer-reviewed social distancing studies that bolster its official guidance.

Both the CDC and the World Health Organization confess uncertainty as to how COVID-19 is spread, further raising doubts about the long term success of social distancing. The agencies claim that respiratory droplets sustained in the air can infect healthy people, but WHO admits it is “assessing ongoing research on the ways that COVID-19 is spread and will continue to share updated findings.” Scientists are also unsure about surface-to-human transmission.

That’s hardly the sort of settled science that justifies the abrupt and costly disruption to the American way of life wrought by social distancing.

In fact, a review of the history of this cockamamie idea suggests that it actually sprang from a high school research project that was not based on actual data but on a computer simulation comparable to SIM City!

Now, let’s go back to the ancient past, back in March, when government health officials began to ask us to social distance. Do you remember the reasons then that they gave for doing so?

That’s right. Those reasons had nothing to do with stopping the spread of COVID-19. Then, they recognized the absurdity of saying such a thing, and instead merely called on us to do so to slow the disease’s spread. “All we want to do is to flatten the curve so that our health systems are not overwhelmed!”

Saying they only wanted to “flatten the curve” proves that then, these corrupt health officials understood that they could not stop the spread of COVID-19. Then, all they hoped to do was ease its arrival so the system wouldn’t crash.

Well, we have succeeded in doing that, and it has gotten us nothing but bankruptcy, lost jobs and businesses, and the nullification of our rights under the Constitution. And if anything, it has increased the disease’s impact by lengthening the epidemic unnecessarily. It could very well be that when all is said and done, more people will have died, per 100,000, in those countries that locked down than in those that did not.

Even so, despite the evidence that these mandates have done no good and might even be harmful, despite the fact that we flattened the curve and the health system was not and will not be overwhelmed, the mandates go on with the reasons for imposing them continuously morphing based on no science, and the social pressure to hide behind masks increases.

Worst of all, this social pressure is teaching future generations to fear people, everywhere. I can’t tell you how horrible it is on the trail to see children cringe in terror because another person might simply get a few feet away from them and maybe make them sick.

And even amidst this fear, people continue to use masks badly. You need only watch a crowd of people wearing masks for only a few minutes to get confirmation of this madness. For example, go and watch the live stream from yesterday’s splashdown of SpaceX’s Endeavour capsule. In both mission control and also on the ship that picked the capsule up from the ocean, you can see people finger their masks over and over. At one point I watched as Elon Musk in the control room do exactly that.

This not only contradicts all advice for mask wearing, it might possibly be increasing the spread of respiratory illnesses, as it makes everyone’s mask a very unsanitary piece of clothing — covering their mouth and nose — and the equivalent of a pathogen bomb.

So here’s a rational approach: If you are sick, maybe you should just stay home, rather than walking around wearing a mask that will be collecting pathogens and thus be a bomb that can make you and many others sick.

If you feel healthy, go out and play. Throw the mask away. And when someone tries to pressure to put one on say no politely and explain to them that you don’t wear it for medical reasons. You don’t want to increase your chances of getting sick.

But above all, live life bravely and with joy. And stop teaching yourself and your children to look at everyone as a potential disease-carrying leper who must be avoided at all costs. We cannot maintain a sane society teaching these kinds of lessons.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

33 comments

  • janyuary

    Common sense is a virtue currently in short supply.

    A headline back in April trumpeted that the death toll from the virus had surpassed that of China! I thought, “Uh oh …” and looked up the official number of deaths on the official Covid page as per the news media themselves. It was less than 4,000. In a nation of 1.38 billion. Uhmmmm… What in the Wild Wild World of Sports is a goin’ on here? Or is it a typo, and they left off some zeroes? If not, then this is nutty.

    Common sense.

    Now, I ask folks in conversation, those who think it’s smart to follow the loony C19 protocol: “How many of your friends, colleagues, and family have been sick from C19?” Usually the answer is “None.” “During any average flu season, how many do you know? When a third of the office has called in sick?” Blank look.

    Common sense.

    Why are they afraid? I’d be a little fearful if I was seeing what I’ve seen all my life during flu bouts. But I have courage and confidence because I have common sense and can do math. They are afraid because they believe doctors (as fallible as your average auto mechanic and as hard to find a good one) and politicians. They go entirely on that, because the world around them is absent any hard evidence of an actual pandemic.

  • janyuary

    I know … it’s “What in the Wide Wide World of Sports …” Talk about typos …!

  • wayne

    “The Agony of Defeat”
    Vinko Bogataj
    https://youtu.be/n_ZvwIFbXMM
    5:54

  • John

    The next step is wearing masks indoors at home.

    https://summit.news/2020/08/03/dr-deborah-birx-says-americans-may-have-to-start-wearing-masks-inside-their-own-homes/

    I wear a mask when visiting my very elderly father, and I feel stupid for doing so. Note the CDC in the link above says it “may” spread asymptomaticly. They don’t have evidence. But, in the event there’s a shred of truth from the CDC, I do it anyway.

    “Florida’s state Democrats have also called for mandatory mask orders which would enforce wearing them inside homes,” What! Madness…they’ve gone mad.

  • janyuary

    John — that Democrats are calling for mandatory masks indoors, will continue to alienate divide Democrats and liberals from each other, across America, just as Trump has splintered Republicans and conservatives across the country. Reading comments on conservative sites, it is clear that as many on the right as on the left choose to believe doctors and politicians when it comes to C19.

    Neither of the two parties nor their attending movements (conservative, progressive) represent more than a minority. A large plurality has, I think it will be apparent, been without representation at the ballot box for at least three election cycles.

  • m d mill

    To repeat from July 30:
    Sweden has reached nearly 1 death per day. Well done Sweden! also S. Korea, Taiwan,Hong Kong. Little economic/social destruction and problem effectively solved. Effective herd immunity occurred much sooner than most thought possible…see nic lewis here:
    https://judithcurry.com/2020/07/27/why-herd-immunity-to-covid-19-is-reached-much-earlier-than-thought-update/

    In most countries of the world non-accidental deaths per year are no (or very little ) higher this year than last (for the same time period). But the economic/social damage from inane “lock downs” has been devastating in most countries.

  • janyuary

    Wayne — excellent, Wide World from 1970s, when we actually had to get up out of our chairs, walk to the television set, and physically grasp and turn a knob to adjust the volume or change the channel …. oh, the humanity!

  • Alex Andrite

    Dear Mr. Z. Cranky Grump;

    Grump On !

  • mkent

    …over something that really is not much more different than the flu.

    For the record, the counted COVID-19 death toll in the United States is over 156,000 — *ten times* the counted death toll of the worst seasonal flu season in history. And the recent “slight uptick” as you called it in a recent post of the number of daily COVID-19 deaths in the United States is actually a more than doubling, from 524 / day to 1125 / day (an increase of 115%).

    And also, for the record, Sweden has the eighth-worst population fatality rate in the world out of 215 countries. They are not a country to be emulated for their handling of the pandemic.

    You’ve been saying that COVID-19 is “just the flu” since mid-February, before the U. S. even recorded its first COVID-19 death. It may have been plausible back then, but as the calendar progresses and the deaths pile up, repeating such nonsense makes you look more and more foolish. The accumulation of data should have led you to re-evaluate your position, but it seems instead to have caused you to slip further and further into denial.

    And now, you’re not only against the major shutdown orders but also against even the most trivial voluntary safety measures such as mask wearing and social distancing. You doubt the existence of asymptomatic spread while simultaneously claiming that most people have already unknowingly had the disease. Seriously, this is now getting to be Flat-Earther type denial.

    Have you ever asked yourself “What if I’m wrong?” Is there a death toll at which you’d even re-evaluate your conclusions? It sure doesn’t look like it. But re-evaluation in the light of new data is what scientists, journalists, and citizens of a free republic have to do. Are you up to it?

  • janyuary

    mkent … I survived many very bad seasonal flus, including the Hong Kong flu, which I remember well. It spanned two seasons in my neck of the woods, I think. It made plenty of folks very sick, including me.

    You’re telling me that this C19 is WORSE???? I don’t even personally know a single soul, over the course of six months, to have been made ill by it. But Ill tell you I remember plenty who were ill in many seasonal flus.

    You expect me to believe doctors and politicians before I believe my own lying eyes?

  • Jeff

    Last week, Chad Prather showed a great Covid graphic on his show.

    https://youtu.be/qFSynbL4ce8?t=520

    Starts at 8:40 if link doesn’t work. Runs for a couple of minutes.

    (Chad provides some much needed humor in these times, too.)

  • Milton W Schulz

    mkent – “For the record, the counted COVID-19 death toll in the United States is over 156,000 — *ten times* the counted death toll of the worst seasonal flu season in history.”
    This, in fact, is FALSE propoganda – https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/05/29/us_covid-19_death_toll_is_inflated.html
    https://canadafreepress.com/article/the-cdc-confesses-to-lying-about-covid-19-death-numbers
    https://thelibertyloft.com/nearly-50-of-cdc-covid-19-tests-are-false/
    https://bigleaguepolitics.com/scamdemic-floridians-report-receiving-positive-covid-19-diagnosis-despite-never-being-tested/
    https://videos.whatfinger.com/2020/07/16/faking-stats-proven-all-across-america-how-officials-combining-probable-cases-of-covid-19-with-confirmed-cases-a-total-scam/
    https://redoubtnews.com/2020/07/no-one-has-died-from-the-coronavirus/
    https://issuesinsights.com/2020/06/25/falling-covid-19-death-rates-are-even-smaller-than-they-look/
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/06/exclusive-coronavirus-mortality-study-sweden-consistent-us-study-confirms-overall-mortality-not-much-different-bad-seasonal-flu/?
    https://issuesinsights.com/2020/05/28/just-how-exaggerated-is-the-covid-19-death-count/

    “But re-evaluation in the light of new data is what scientists, journalists, and citizens of a free republic have to do. ”

    THERE IS THE DATA!

    This is only a modicum of the existing “DATA” on the subject! But, are you really interested in the “data”? Or are you only interested in following the advice of so-called “experts”, whose “advice” has completely flip flopped 180 degrees from one time to another. There is not ONE shred of “advice” that comes from the FDA or CDC that is accurate infallible TRUTH! Are you willing to logically, critically examine the truth, or are you simply willing to follow the BAD advice currently being propogated? It is your choice!

    Good luck with that!

  • Phill O

    Here is an interesting link. Out of 37 million people, only one under the age of 20 has died and that one had a pre-existing terminal illness.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KatjLv6NW0

  • Cotour

    I THINK IT IS CLEAR, CHAOS CHEATING WILL RULE THE DAY

    It has become clearer and clearer to me as time marches on, and the rhetoric that is being pumped in the media, and what is on going in the country and the world, that the 2020 presidential election will be based in fraud and cheating. The president is absolutely correct.

    https://www.syracuse.com/opinion/2020/07/mail-in-voting-fraud-will-corrupt-the-election-process-your-letters.html

    And that is based in necessity, primarily by the Democrat leadership and those that they influence, and of course their henchmen, those 95 percent of the media in the country in this instance that march arm in arm with them. And why is that? Because they have become so desperate in the era of Trump. Trump is the spoke in their Socialist wheel of power and control, a real and true existential threat to their Globalist / Socialist dream world. And I clearly understand that “dream” to be a real world nightmare.

    And its really just common sense and not based in conspiracy theories, although that is exactly what some will interpret this message to be. Mail in voting presents multiple avenues to manipulate the vote, and that is just a common sense conclusion. This is not rocket science.

    I have stated many, many times in the past my interpretation of what politics is, and I mean all politics and especially in America: Politics is the dirtiest, filthiest and most deadly game that human beings participate in. And why is that? Because it directly relates to the control of real power, its that simple. And that is why it is fought so desperately for to control. And that is actually a good thing, nothing worthwhile is free.

    And what is it that we understand about REAL power? There has been much written about it, and there have been many negotiated arrangements made in the political process in all cultures and societies throughout history to attempt to control and meter that power. But what is it that we can always count on related to the acquisition and the retention of that political power? It will without doubt be abused and it will be abused in the favor of those that are in control of that power.

    Trump wins the 2016 election removing Hillary from her allotted term as president to fulfill the Globalist agenda, The fraudulent “Steele Dossier”, The fraudulent Mueller investigation, The fraudulent and illegal FBI investigations sanctioned by president Obama designed to hamper and possibly remove the president (Indictments soon), The failed impeachment, The insanity of everything un American that the Democrat leadership supports, The Democrats support of Marxist Black Lives Matter, The convenient release of a virus by the Communist Chinese on the world exactly timed to support the mail in ballot election scheme, etc, etc, its a long list but you get the basic theme here. Nothing that I have listed above, in my opinion, is by accident or by coincidence. NOTHING.

    The Democrat leadership and those fellow Leftists who need them to succeed have been revealed as being frauds and liars and even treasonous to my thinking. And that supports my contention about just how desperate and important it is to take control of the levers of power. It is especially for the Democrat leadership that can not pander enough to the extreme Left / Socialists and self proclaimed Marxists among them.

    You don’t like Trump? Trump personally pisses you off? No one cares about your personal likes and dislikes, who supports the Constitution as it was intended? Trump, not the Democrats. That is the only metric that counts. You are an American, you are a Capitalist, you are not a Socialist.

    So mail in ballots? Chaos will ensue and even if Trump were to win hands down, this will only serve to continue the chaos in the country by casting doubt on all elections. And that is the strategy of the Democrat leadership. And to be truthful it is understandable. If you can not win fair and square, just cheat and cause chaos. Its really their only hope.

  • F16 Guy

    Virus deaths: 154,000 Aug 3, 2020)
    US population: 326,000,000
    Your chance of survival is 99.999%

    In my state of NM:
    virus deaths: 665
    NM Population: 2,096,829

    Chance of survival in NM: 99.999%

    Tell me again how deadly this is?

    BTW, 7,452 people die every day in the United States. In other words, a person dies in the US approximately every 12 seconds. (not from Virus!!)

  • John Schneider

    mkent,

    You said: “And now, you’re not only against the major shutdown orders but also against even the most trivial voluntary safety measures such as mask wearing and social distancing.”

    Huh? Mask wearing is trivial and voluntary?

    Is continuously breathing one’s own snot or recirculating and concentrating one’s own low viral load in the mask trivial??

    Or is obscuring your citizen neighbor’s countenance, e.g. smile, trivial? Like so many Muslim followers mandating their female countrymen??

    And it is “voluntary” where errant, misdirected, and authority-hungry bureaucrats remove business licenses whenever they so mandate?? That’s voluntary??

    Robt Zimmerman is spot-on in putting the mask hysteria in perspective! Yes there are limited circumstances where a mask may be prophylactic, e.g. operating rooms or high risk patient visits, but as my ICU associates repeat the masks are ancillary. It is simply authoritative virtue-signaling by the political autocrats, and the guilt-ridden.

    If you think wearing a mask helps in some way no one objects to you wearing a mask, but considering the dynamics of viral load transferal in the normal ambient environment, and the subtle degradation of human interaction, it is surely a harmful practice. It certainly does not help you clinically, and with common sense does not help others. If you are a fear-filled person forget the mask and just step back from others.

    JS

  • Cotour

    99.999 percent will survive?

    The only thing that the virus is about now IMO is the forcing of the mail in voting scheme. Every chance to shave or pack a vote is needed here.

    And I would discount that 154,000 death number by at least 25 percent, probably more. These numbers reported are about $$$ per body now as it relates to the states recovering funds for patients treated and died. And that is another no brainer and has been and will continue to be established.

    Fraud and chaos rule, especially in 2020.

    And it is all being revealed because of Trump. They can no longer hide between the lines of the medias writings and broadcasts. Its all being revealed and the people of America are watching and will soon comment on it all.

    And that is why there will be fraud like never before seen, its for all the marbles.

  • Cotour

    THE REESTABLISHING OF THE GEORGE FLOYD MURDER IN THE PUBLICS MIND
    (And the “Progressive” agenda)

    Before the election, political operatives and the media must reestablish and attempt to re ignite the outrage that accompanied the abuse of power at the hands of the police death of, George Floyd. And to be clear, the police abused their power and the man lost his life because of it. Inexcusable and intolerable.

    “Leaked” body cam footage? Leaked body cam footage has to have come from the police department or whom ever controls the police department and who has a political agenda.

    https://dailycaller.com/2020/08/04/leaked-body-cam-footage-daily-mail-george-floyd-final-moments-death/

    And that is obviously because the outrage that drove a segment of the BLM population to riot, burn and kill has been long ago forgotten about.

    And when is George Floyd officially forgotten about? When can, George Floyd rest in peace? After the 2020 presidential election, then he can rest in peace. The Left driven media must attempt to keep the fear and and outrage pumped up to the max because they think that it will result in apathetic Democrat voters to come out or mail in their votes against Trump. Not FOR Biden, if that is actually who will be running for the democrats, I still have my doubts, its against Trump.

    I say that their efforts are in vain, the majority of the American public clearly understands what happened to, George Floyd. In a Democratically “Progressively” controlled state, in a Democratically “Progressively” controlled city, in a Democratically “Progressively” controlled police department a man died unnecessarily and through the abuse of power.

    Trump? Where exactly does he figure into the abuse of power by these Democrat lead “Progressive” states and cities? The law and order in these states and cities is a direct reflection of THEIR Democrat and “Progressive” managers and politically empowered politicians, not Trump.

  • mkent wrote, “For the record, the counted COVID-19 death toll in the United States is over 156,000 — *ten times* the counted death toll of the worst seasonal flu season in history.”

    For the real record, see this CDC site outlining the estimated death toll from each flu season for the past decade. The worst recent season, 2018, had an estimated death toll of 61,000. That certainly is not ten times less that this year’s estimate of 150,000 dying from the Wuhan flu.

    Moreover, this year’s Wuhan flu number is almost certainly inflated, from 25% to 50%. Based on this and the fact that the CDC never in the past produced such a precise number for deaths, I’d guess that a more accurate estimate would be between 80,000 to 100,000. Hardly much higher than an annual flu season, and somewhat comparable to 1969’s Hong Kong flu epidemic.

    We didn’t panic and destroy ourselves over that, did we? Nor should we now.

  • janyuary

    During the Hong Kong, I knew personally about half a dozen athletic, healthy, strapping young men (relatives, friends, and employees of my dad) who were brought to their knees by that flu. I also was awfully sick, and I was 11 years old at the time. I remember being bedridden, I remember how sick it made my mom who NEVER got sick. It spanned two flu seasons on the California coast, I’m pretty sure. EVERYONE was affected by it in one way or another.

    I know ZERO who are affected by the virus. EVERYONE I know has been harmed by the hysteria.

    There comes a point when needing careful number crunching and “proof” simply supplies more fodder to distract from the mission at hand, advancing our liberty and quashing tyranny. Sometimes the most convincing thing of all is the application of simple common sense.

    Anybody who tells me this is worse than the Hong Kong flu, is a gullible person indeed.

  • MJ P

    mkent-
    “And now, you’re not only against the major shutdown orders but also against even the most trivial voluntary safety measures such as mask wearing and social distancing. You doubt the existence of asymptomatic spread while simultaneously claiming that most people have already unknowingly had the disease. Seriously, this is now getting to be Flat-Earther type denial.

    Have you ever asked yourself “What if I’m wrong?” Is there a death toll at which you’d even re-evaluate your conclusions? It sure doesn’t look like it. But re-evaluation in the light of new data is what scientists, journalists, and citizens of a free republic have to do. Are you up to it?”

    I find the conclusion of your comment intriguing. Starting with the shut down orders, at least I understood them a little bit at first. People were scared, politicians wanted to cover themselves just in case is was worse than we all thought and everyone was paranoid. However now that some of us have been essentially trapped in our own homes since March, we’re beginning to question why this is happening (It’s an election year, the democrats saw an opportunity and took it.).

    Secondly, your so-called “voluntary safety measures” have turned any of us with legitimate psychological and/or medical conditions that are amplified by wearing your precious masks into social pariahs because we cannot wear a mask. Not will not, cannot. And as Mr. Zimmerman explained in his essay, we don’t have to provide proof of this under the protection of HIPPA regulations, as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act. Some people take offense to us refusing to disclose information that is a) private and therefore no one’s business but our own and b) shared ONLY on a need to know basis with healthcare professionals, educators and employers. We will gladly social distance in place of wearing a mask, but it appears that certain groups have interpreted these recommendations and executive orders as mutually exclusive.

    There is also the fact that most of us that disagree with how local governments are dealing with this health “crisis” aren’t denying that Covid (along with any other illness) can spread asymptomatically. Regardless of the data you’re looking at (altered and edited or not), we understand that you can become a carrier for an illness and not exhibit the symptoms. This is usually how we find the people that are naturally immune or simply have a strong enough immune system that it was fought off before symptoms could occur. So yes, people can have Covid without knowing and then transmit the virus to another person.

    So I know pose the same question you posed to Mr. Zimmerman. Have YOU asked yourself “What if I’m wrong?” Is there a point in this madness where YOU are willing to re-evaluate your conclusions? While I do not claim to be an infallible genius, I don’t have to be to question how far this will go before people finally start realizing that perhaps we should stop being the puppets of corrupt politicians and their pet projects and personal opinions and start treating our country and political system the way the Founding Fathers wanted us to: with a healthy sense of critical thought and an open mind.

  • Cotour

    More on Chaos.

    One of my converts who was a life long Democrat until she met me just sent me this email:

    “You would not believe how many phone calls I am getting from the Democrats. On top of that they send me letters every day. They are hustling the XXXX out of this election. What are the Republicans doing?”. (In NYC, probably not much)

    The Democrats are desperate, keeping in mind that they are executing these extreme efforts, and she lives in NYC.

    Not a good sign IMO.

  • Cotour

    A little bit more:

    How can you rationally detect a massive unseen in American history Trumpian victory in November?

    Here you go: https://alphanewsmn.com/minneapolis-police-tell-residents-to-obey-criminals-and-be-prepared-to-be-robbed/

    “Minneapolis police tell residents to obey criminals and ‘be prepared’ to be robbed”

    In the Liberal “Progressive” Democrat bizzaro world, in the “utopia” they have built in Minnesota that demonstrates to the nation just how ready for prime time they in fact are, where up is down, Left is Right and good is bad, this is how they counsel their citizens.

    Good luck Joe.

    Oh, and Joe is being counseled to NOT debate Trump. A presidential candidate that refuses to debate? Good luck with that. And if he does I give him about 10 minutes before he blows up the entire thing and his replacement steps in, whom ever that may be (?). Because as you know, and I have said this from the jump, I still do not believe that Biden will be the candidate. But there he is all the same.

  • F16 Guy

    Cotour:

    100% agree !
    * deaths over estimated
    * Fraud is rampant
    * It’s all about mandating mail-in voting now.
    This gives Trump an opportunity to allow it IF such safeguards are imposed as:
    a. Voter rolls are cleaned and purged as necessary
    b. Mandatory ID accountability
    c. Mandatory chain of custody verified by officials
    d. etc

    That said, mail-in voting, as it’s currently done, is 100% unacceptable.

  • janyuary

    The mission at hand is to quash tyranny and advance liberty.

    Three of our most tyrannical bureaucracies — the EPA, Homeland Security, and Romney’s precursor to ObamaMandatoryHealthInsurance (“care” is the wrong word) — were created by Republicans, put into office by conservatives. When given the opportunity in 2017 to ax ObamaMandatoryHealthInsurance, they failed even with a Republican president and Congress; protests that “fake conservatives” are at fault, are sad comedy. Conservatism and Republican leadership have increasingly resulted in more, bigger government for more than 40 years.

    C19 and orchestrated traveling theater Black Lives Matter protests are diversions presented by freedom’s enemies to corral Americans into good-guy-bad-guy identity politics for division and conquering. I hope more come recognize it for what it is, and therefore sidestep it by remaining singularly focused on moving forward.

    I hope those stuck in the sink (as I was for more than three decades) of repeating the same voting errors expecting different results, will climb out and catch up.

  • wayne

    janyuary–

    Casablanca
    “welcome back to the fight”
    https://youtu.be/GDm3qr3Zlu0
    0:12

  • Cotour

    I received a response to my email the other day “Reigniting the George Floyd Murder” from a very liberal older retired teacher friend of mine.

    She reply’s: “Perhaps another concept is Floyd can rest in peace when we have racial and economic justice !”

    My reply to here:

    “No. The Left and the Democrats will ALWAYS be re igniting the race fire. Why?

    Because that is all they have, racism, fear and pitting one against the other.

    Just like abortion and welfare for the Republicans / Conservatives use those subjects to clearly draw lines of alliance for their followers. Well intentioned people like you are inspired and controlled and kept in their ranks by these kinds of tactics. Its a well known political strategy.

    Some day you may understand all of this, And I will be here for you.”

    PS: “This is real racism: All live and in color.

    https://nypost.com/2020/08/05/gang-member-carries-out-3-shootings-after-being-freed-without-bail/

    When the Democrat “Progressive” mayor and the Democrat “Progressive” city council and the Democrat “Progressive” governor signs into law a bail reform that empowers criminals and gang members and takes away discretion from judges to keep well known violent and dangerous individuals in jail and that results in a growing crime rate and the growing death rate of people in the black community. Now THAT is racism.

    Ask any of your black friends (If you indeed have any) if they are for this kind of justice. If they are no for it, and I doubt they are, how can you be for it? And then you must ask: How does such law become manifest?

    Awaken my beautiful friend, you are being used my master manipulators. In other words you are being manipulated by Leftists who are bent on destroying everything that you hold dear.”

    PPS: “Why are all of these young men in gangs? Because the Democrat party over the last 50 years has “helped”, with the best of intentions of course, destroy the black family and has driven the fathers of these thugs out of their homes and to NOT be married to their wives.

    50 plus years ago 70 plus percent of the black family were intact and existed with both a mother and a father in the home. Today that number is about 25 percent. Does this fact mean anything to you?

    (And what is one of Black Lives Matter prime goals? The destruction of the traditional Western family structure. And that is by their own stated goals on their web cite. They are just finishing the “well meaning” Democrats job?)

    And where does a young man find his leadership if he has no father in his home? In the streets. The result of good intentions? Or the result of master manipulation and a power grab?

    Is there a difference here?

    I am here for you when you awaken”

  • Rick

    The main point to continue the Covid panic is to hide Joe Biden.
    As the Conservative Treehouse points out
    1, it keeps Joe Biden hidden, and allows the media to censor when his addled brain makes him say stupid stuff.
    2, it allows them to bypass the convention- see point 1
    3, no debates- see point 1.
    4 and the biggest, mail in voting, which guarantees massive voter fraud on the scale that has never been seen on this planet.

  • Questioner

    I agree with Mr. Zimmermann on everything he has to say about COVID-19 and I also refuse to wear a mask. I also put this into practice as far as possible. By the way, on August 1st there was one of the largest post-war political demonstrations in Berlin, against Merkel’s Corono measures. Estimates of the number of attendees range from 800,000 to 1.3 million. The lie press denying reality called 17,000. Just ridiculous.

    Btw, the people are chanting “freedom”!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKuGWFeQCN4

  • Questioner

    The protesters shouted too: “We are the people!” and “Resistance!”

  • Questioner

    A MILLION GERMAN PEOPLE CALL: “WAKE UP!” – “RESISTANCE!” – MERKEL MUST GO! “

  • Cotour

    I have been pondering what I am going to do if or when someone grafitti’s on the side of my building, BLACK LIVES MATTER. Which up until now has not happened and that surprises me because the South side of my building is a big blank wall that faces an empty lot with easy access and its a perfect surface for such an “Artistic” social expression.

    This has happened a couple of times before and the moment that I see it I have a gallon of paint ready and I cover up any grafitti immediately.

    And just the other day I saw my solution, I saw a sign that read: BLACK LIVES MAGA, which I thought, I should have thought of that.

    So if someone does in fact tag my very attractive wall what I will do is modify the tag to read:

    BLACK LIVES MATTER, I will put a big line through and cross out the word MATTER and write directly under it MAGA.

    BLACK LIVES MAGA, now that is a much better and much more American bumper sticker that I can actually get behind. Its very inclusive and not racist, as is the organization Black Lives Matter.

    So, Behind The Black, Lives Matter, and Black Lives MAGA are the direction that all of this planned chaos in America needs to be turned IMO.

  • Cotour

    “I guess all those doctors who are prescribing it are right. This drug is already on the market and the patent is up so it’s cheap. A new drug won’t be. So big money does not want this drug to be used. Always follow the money,” Peter Vallone said in a May 12 Facebook post,”

    https://nypost.com/2020/08/08/nyc-councilman-credits-hydroxychloroquine-for-covid-19-recovery/

    An honest Democrat from New York, I thought they were all dead.

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