Month: October 2021

I am certain that you all have heard the liberal mantra, “if it saves one life, it’s worth it.” This often repeated phrase is used to justify just about any encroachment on individual freedoms. For instance, even though school aged children are at minimal risk from Covid, they have been mandated to all wear face masks while at school. Even though this is an obvious overshoot of authority, this type of mandate is often justified by that trite phrase … “if masking saves just one life, it’s worth it.” Likewise the forcible masking of two year olds (rather, young children of at least two years plus one day) has been mandated in many places throughout the U.S. – without any verifiable data, I might add, by this same mantra … “if it saves just one life, it’s worth it.”

Obviously the same thing is being said about vaccines, err, perhaps I should say the vaccine mandates. If one does not have proof of having had two vaccines, then one cannot do a multitude of things – like go out to a restaurant, work at certain places, go to a theater, etc, ad nauseum, again because “if it saves just one life, it’s worth it.”

What about the other side of the coin? If a mandate causes the loss of just one life, does that mean that it is not worth it? If someone who was against the vaccine, but was virtually forced to get the vaccine in order to live a normal life … if that person died as a direct consequence of the vaccine, should we then say, “Too bad; oh well, tough luck!” 

Well that’s what happened in Washington state.

From Blaze News:

“The family of a young mother who died from COVID-19 vaccine complications says that their loved one is gone all because she was coerced into receiving a shot by government mandate.

Washington state health officials acknowledged on Tuesday that the otherwise healthy woman died due to blood clotting complications following a COVID-19 vaccine.”

The following is from her obituary:

“Jessica Berg Wilson, 37, of Seattle, Wash., passed away unexpectedly Sept. 7, 2021 from COVID-19 Vaccine-Induced Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia (VITT) surrounded by her loving family. Jessica was an exceptionally healthy and vibrant 37-year-old young mother with no underlying health conditions.”

Her obit continued:

“During the last weeks of her life … the world turned dark with heavy-handed vaccine mandates. Local and state governments were determined to strip away her right to consult her wisdom and enjoy her freedom. … She had been vehemently opposed to taking the vaccine, knowing she was in good health and of a young age and thus not at risk for serious illness. In her mind, the known and unknown risks of the unproven vaccine were more of a threat.”

The obituary added, “But, slowly, day by day, her freedom to choose was stripped away. Her passion to be actively involved in her children’s education — which included being a Room Mom — was, once again, blocked by government mandate. Ultimately, those who closed doors and separated mothers from their children prevailed. It cost Jessica her life. It cost her daughters, ages 3 and 5, the loving embrace of their caring mother. And it cost her husband the sacred love of his devoted wife. It cost God’s Kingdom on earth a very special soul who was just making her love felt in the hearts of so many.”

Her kids were three and five year olds. One was possibly in preschool and the other possibly in kindergarten. As we all know, these young children are virtually at no risk from Covid, yet those who know best decreed that in order to be in her children’s classroom, she needed to be vaccinated. She needed to be vaccinated because  … because … because why? 

I doubt that the reason for her death, other than the detail in her obit,  was worthy of even a blip in the Seattle newspapers … after all, it was just one life!

10/9/21

www.californiacontrarian.com

Finally some reasonable data on the lunacy of mandatory face-masks in schools. Where from ? Where else but from Florida – the place, where according to the leftists, there is a “rebel governor.” A “rebel governor” in a state that at 27 new infections per 100,000 people, now has the second lowest rate of COVID-19 infection in the entire country.

Okay, okay so Florida is doing well with respect to Covid … what does that have to do with face-masks and school children?

As many of you will recall while many Florida districts refused to implement mask mandates in their schools, others stubbornly insisted upon them, even defying an order from Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to allow parental exemptions. If forcing school children to wear face-masks was really anything more than political theater by those on the left to show that they “really care,” then those counties in which the wearing of face-masks by school children was mandatory would have less Covid. Capiche!

So what does the data actually show?

The following is from a press release from DeSantis’ press secretary, Christina Pushaw:

“NEW PEDIATRIC CASES:

New COVID-19 cases for children ages 5-17 – the vast majority of the school-aged population – have decreased 79% in the month of September, in the 54 Florida counties where school districts have no masking policy or are following state law by honoring the parental opt-out rule.

For comparison, COVID-19 cases for children 5-17 in the 13 districts that imposed forced-masking in schools have decreased 77%, on average.

POSITIVITY RATES:

The 54 districts with opt-outs or no mask policy have seen an average decrease of 65% in positivity from week ending Aug. 19 (when school started) to the week ending Sep. 30.

The 13 districts that broke the law to impose forced-masking have seen an average decrease of 67%.

That is to say, the data for this school year to date shows no impact of forced masking in schools on pediatric COVID-19 prevalence. This is not surprising, since there were no statistically significant differences in case rates in forced-masking versus mask-optional schools during the 2020-21 school year in Florida.”

If any of the “we really care about the safety of children” leftists had ever visited a school classroom, perhaps they would have realized how ludicrous their premise was. But au contraire, why actually use common sense and observation when trying to prevent children from catching a virus that has never posed any statistical risk to them? Likewise the fact that school children were not a significant transmitter to adults was of no importance, because “leftists care more than the rest of us!”

10/8/21

www.californiacontrarian.com

Hmmm! There apparently is a new “law” and a subsequent federal offense for … “loud talking at a school board meeting!” I am not kidding! Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on 10/4/21 that he will be sending FBI investigators and DOJ officers to “identify” and “prosecute” “threats” connected with protests against public school officials.

From Daybreak Insider:

In his letter to the FBI, Merrick Garland says that the constitution does not protect “efforts to intimidate individuals based upon their views.” Garland wants parents who oppose CRT to be viewed as potential terrorists. 

My first thought on reading this was, “This guy is the prototypical hypocrite. Perhaps “hypocrite” is his middle name? Thank God, he isn’t a Supreme Court Justice. Can anyone imagine him on the Court instead of the three that President Trump nominated?”

A few choice responses to Garland’s leftist blathering caught my attention. 

From Matt Walsh:

“Leftist activists can come to your house with bullhorns. Film you in the bathroom. Loot your business. Burn police stations. The FBI does nothing. But if conservative parents raise their voices at a school board meeting, they’re hunted down as terrorists. The law is dead.” 

Apparently it’s okay with Garland to selectively apply his statement that the constitution “does not protect efforts to intimidate individuals based upon their views.”

From Sean Davis: 

“BLM torches cities, and the ruling regime shrugs. Illegal aliens stalk and harass an Arizona senator who opposes one aspect of the regime’s proposals, and the regime shrugs. Parents protest the regime, and the regime dubs them terrorists and sends the corrupt FBI after them.”

As many of you know, Arizona Senator, Kyrsten Sinema  was recently twice publicly harassed, one in a public restroom and once on an airplane because of her views on an upcoming vote.

When Biden was asked if following a female Senator into a restroom is “crossing a line?” His answer, a quick “I don’t think they’re appropriate tactics” followed by “but it happens to everybody” and “It’s part of the process.” 

OMG, “It’s part of the process!” Perhaps instead of his flippant reply he should have instead  mimicked his Attorney General by saying … “ Hmmm, I do not think that the Constitution protects efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views. However, I cannot specifically remember.”

What a hypocrite Joe Biden is! 

I know that Biden’s middle name is not “hypocrite.” However, he is a “devout Catholic,” and this makes me wonder if “hypocrite” could be his confirmation name?

10/7/21

www.californiacontrarian.com

Dr. Anthony Fauci declared last week that people hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine should “give up” their individual freedoms “for the greater good of society.”

I have been wondering for a long time when Fauci’s true colors would bubble up to the surface … “for the greater good of society!” Hmmm, this almost sounds like a pitch for socialism as a transition to communism, which is defined as a system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party.

I have a few bones to pick here with Dr. Fauci when he talks about “the greater good of society,” because it seems that somehow he has made himself the single determiner of the greater good. Where was he when people were losing their jobs due to lockdowns? Weren’t those now unemployed a part of society? Where was he when suicides and drug overdoses hit new levels? Weren’t these individuals a part of society? Increasing spousal abuse … increasing alcoholism … not being able to go to church despite the fact that the church services were held outdoors. Doesn’t the esteemed Dr. Fauci consider these individuals to be part of society? Is he solely focused on only one aspect of this pandemic?

An another issue with the totalitarian-like Dr. Fauci … where is he on the topic of natural immunity? (The immunity one gets to a subsequent infection after having been infected with the same culprit.) The last I heard both he and Biden’s non-physician Secretary of Health and Human Services were mum on the critical issue of natural immunity. If those individuals who had SARS 1 back in 2003 still have evidence of immunity to SARS 1, doesn’t it stand to reason that being infected with SARS 2 would similarly give that individual natural immunity to SARS 2? … perhaps long standing and possibly even life long. Come on, Dr.F, give us some real and some useful info on natural immunity for the greater good !

10/6/21

www.californiacontrarian.com

If you and your family are planning on flying to Grammas for Christmas, perhaps you should adjust your plans. The scuttlebutt had been that flying in and around Christmas was going to be bad, and now it could get significantly worse.

From Medscape:

“Unions representing pilots at American Airlines and Southwest Airlines are asking for exemptions to President Joe Biden’s pending vaccine mandate, saying that holiday travel could be disrupted otherwise, according to Politico.

The Allied Pilots Association, which represents 14,000 pilots at American Airlines, wrote a letter to federal officials suggesting that mandatory vaccinations could cause widespread interference across the aviation industry.

Earlier this month, Biden announced that COVID-19 vaccines would be mandatory for employees of federal contractors and companies with more than 100 workers. Under either order, airlines would be subject to a vaccine mandate, Politico reported.”

Could this be another example of J.B. acting impulsively, and not considering the real life consequences of his actions? One wonders if he sought the sage advice of any economic experts, and then ignored their warnings, just like he apparently ignored the experts in his disastrous pullout from Afghanistan?

Again from Medscape:

“The Allied Pilots Association (APA) and other groups are asking for other protocols, such as regular testing or proof of natural immunity, while allowing unvaccinated pilots to fly. APA said some of its members are “unable to undergo vaccination for documented medical reasons” and others are reluctant to get vaccinated based on concerns about the “potential for career-ending side effects.”

“All of those members are still able to perform their duties as professional pilots,” Capt.Ferguson, president of the APA wrote. “To force those pilots out of their positions, rather than offering viable alternatives, will have adverse consequences upon their families and the airline industry as a whole.”

The hearsay is that vindictive Joe is not going to change his mind concerning his vaccination mandates. However, in order to cut down on the chaos of flying around Christmas, the rumor is that President Biden is now recommending that everyone with children fly to Grammas and celebrate the birthday of the United States National Guard (USNG) on 12/13/21 instead.

In addition this would also please Dr. Fauci, who during an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” said, “it’s just too soon to tell” whether Americans should gather together for the Christmas holiday … however note that he didn’t comment on celebrating the birthday of the USNG at grammas on 12/13/21!

10/5/21

www.californiacontrarian.com

Whereas Wayne Allen Root has lately been my favorite columnist, his column this week just didn’t float my boat. Ergo I had to go to one of my two favorite Senators, either Rand Paul (R, Tennessee) or John Kennedy (R, Louisiana). 

I love watching Kennedy with his Colombo-esque style which makes liberals sweat when he questions them – often befuddling them with their own past statements. However, today I am choosing to write about Rand Paul’s questioning Health and Human Services Secretary, the X-man, Xavier Becerra during a congressional hearing over the Biden administration’s seeming refusal to recognize natural immunity against COVID-19.

As I began, I was going to try to use a sport’s metaphor to describe what basically occurred during Senator Paul’s grilling of the X-man. However, metaphorically, I was having difficulty choosing between “a no hitter in baseball,” “consecutive love-sets in tennis,” or the amazingly inept offensive performance by the Chicago Bears against the Cleveland Browns in a pro-football game last week.

From Blaze News:

“Paul began the tense exchange, which happened during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing, by asking Becerra whether he was aware of an Israeli study that found natural immunity provided significantly stronger protection than the COVID-19 vaccine.”

(Now one would think that as the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the X-man would have at least read the latest Covid news, or at least have some of his lackeys make up a few index cards for him to read from.)

When Becerra admitted he was “not familiar with that study,” it was like tennis pro Rand Paul just hit an unreturnable topspin down the line.

Rand Paul continued:

“I think you might want to be if you’re going to travel the country insulting the millions of Americans, including NBA star Jonathan Isaac, who had COVID, [and] recovered — look at a study with 2.5 million people, and say, ‘Well, you know what, I should make the decision,'” Paul said. “Instead, you’ve called Jonathan Isaac and others, myself included, flat-earthers. We find that very insulting, it goes against the science.”

(Another ace by Senator Paul!)

But Rand Paul wasn’t done:

“Are you a doctor or a medical doctor?” Paul pressed.

Becerra didn’t answer the question, but instead weakly responded that he has “worked over 30 years on health policy.”

(The X-man, in fact, is not a medical doctor or public health expert. He spent three decades in politics before joining President Joe Biden’s Cabinet this year. One can almost imagine the play-by-play announcer saying, “The Browns have scored again … the Bears look pitiful today!”)

Paul continued:

You’re not a medical doctor. Do you have a science degree? And yet you travel the country, calling people flat-earthers, who have had COVID, looked at studies of millions of people, and made their own personal decision that their immunity they naturally acquired is sufficient but you presume somehow to tell over 100 million Americans who survived COVID that we have no right to determine our own medical care. You alone are on high and you’ve made these decisions, a lawyer with no scientific background, no medical degree. This is an arrogance coupled with an authoritarianism that is unseemly and un-American.”

(“There it is folks. The X-man struck out again. Not just a no-hitter, but a perfect game. The X-man, was no match for Senator Paul today.”)

But Senator Paul was not about to stop:

“You, sir, are the one ignoring the science. The vast preponderance of scientific studies, dozens and dozens, show robust, long-lasting immunity after COVID infection. Even the CDC does not recommend measles vaccine if you have measles immunity. The same was true for smallpox. But you ignore history and science to shame the flat-earthers, as you call them. You should be ashamed of yourself and apologize to the American people for being dishonest about naturally acquired immunity.”

Whew! In summary, the X-man was demolished by Senator Paul! Perhaps a more apt sport’s metaphor would be … “Rand Paul knocks out the X-man in the first round, and the X-man is still on the canvas.”

10/4/21

www.californiacontrarian.com

On 9/25/21 a headline on the front page of my local “newspaper” read:

“Republican-commissioned ballot review in Arizona reaffirms Biden victory. To be fair although it was in my paper, in actuality this article was from the Washington Post. The conclusion of this article was basically that there was no evidence that the paper ballots were altered to any significant degree. In other words, ‘Biden won; suck it up loser Republicans.’

Now since that article on 9/25/21, I have not seen any follow-up in my local “newspaper.”

This morning I read an interesting follow-up piece by Grace Saldana on Freedom Wire that paints an entirely different picture than does the above mentioned WaPo article.

The following is from that Saldana piece:

“Arizona’s Maricopa County forensic election audit for the 2.1 million ballots cast in the 2020 election was far from the “bust” the Left predicted it would be.

First things first, the most shocking revelation Maricopa County officials revealed in the audit release on Friday afternoon was, by far, this: An unnamed election official used an unassigned login to wipe all of Maricopa County’s election data just one day before the forensic audit was set to begin.

That is important context to know because it means the data that auditing firm Cyber Ninjas was able to recover was tampered with from the get-go. We may never know if the previously deleted data is the same as what was recovered.”

Thus far … speculation. However the following facts are not speculation.

• 255,326 early votes don’t have a record in the county
• 173,104 votes were lost, and 284,412 ballot images were “corrupt or missing”
• 96,389 ghost votes
• 23,344 mail-in ballots from people who no longer lived at their recorded address
• 17,322 duplicate ballots were discovered
• 9,041 mail-in voters returned more than one ballot
• 2,382 Arizonans voted in person who did not live in Maricopa County anymore
• 2,081 people who voted were no longer residents of the state
• 277 precincts had more ballots cast than residents

“To put this in perspective, the 2020 election was certified for Biden by just 10,457 votes more than Trump. If just a few of these discrepancies were even close to the truth, the election should at the very least be decertified as Trump has consistently called for.”

If I were writing a headline for the 2020 voting in Maricopa County, it would read something like this:

“Hundreds of thousands of very suspicious ballots show up in Maricopa  county, suggesting that the election results were likely fraudulent”

10/3/21

www.californiacontrarian.com

“Hold the presses!” …

“Stop talking!” …

“Wait a minute!” …

These are idiomatic expressions that imply that you better hold on because what you are about to say or do is possibly either not correct or is based on misleading data.

Initially I was going to direct this piece to the “mandate king,” Joe Biden, but actually what follows applies to a myriad of CEOs, mayors, and governors who are all basically saying, “get vaccinated or get fired.”

Who are those who are declining vaccinations and why?

Some individuals do not think that a mandated prophylactic Covid vaccination should apply to them because they have already had Covid …  “tough, get vaccinated anyway!” 

Some are citing religious reasons for not getting the jab … “tough, get vaccinated anyway!” 

Some do not want to get the second shot because they had significant side-effects after their initial vaccine inoculation … “tough, get vaccinated anyway!” 

Some just do not trust the rushed mRNA technology that produced both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines, and others have their own other personal individual reasons for not getting vaccinated … “tough, get vaccinated anyway!”

Why all of the unyielding mandates by those who assume that they know best? Is there evidence that being vaccinated is the best thing for the company, the city, the state, or the country? It does seem logical that those who are vaccinated might be less of a threat to others, but is that the case? Those who are vaccinated are at less risk of getting a severe case of Covid, i.e. of harming themselves, whereas those who are unvaccinated are at greater risk of harming themselves. However, it seems to me that only if the unvaccinated are at a substantially greater risk of harming others, should their personal freedom to choose be taken away. 

And this leads me to a pre-print study from UC Davis, that as of yet is not peer reviewed. This study makes me think … err … maybe we should “hold the presses” on taking away an individual’s right to choose what is best for him/herself. Maybe all of those who are mandating vaccines, like the President, some CEOs, certain mayors, and certain governors should “stop talking,” and “wait a minute.”

This UC Davis study suggests that when it comes to policy making on how to mitigate spread of COVID-19, vaccine status might not matter that much. The reason is that higher viral loads make the virus more transmissible, and it appears both vaccinated and unvaccinated people who catch the Delta variant of COVID-19 have high viral loads.

The study suggests that a fully vaccinated person with a breakthrough case of COVID-19 who has no symptoms is just as capable of spreading the virus to other people as an unvaccinated person who is sick or one who has no symptoms.

“The data gathered in this study during the surge of the Delta variant strongly support the notion that neither vaccine status nor the presence or absence of symptoms should influence the recommendation and implementation of good public health practices,” the study states.

As study author, David Coil explained to the Davis Enterprise: “We really wanted to focus on this public health message, which is that our data show there are a lot of asymptomatic people that have high viral loads, there are a lot of vaccinated people that have high viral loads and there are kids that have high viral loads.”

Okay, let me get this straight. First of all UC Davis is not some schlock institution that cannot be trusted to put out valid data and a good study. According to this study, it appears to me that mandating that every Tom, Dick, and Harriet get vaccinated or lose their job is at the very least, overkill, and possibly misguided, and perhaps even anti-science and flat out wrong.

Hmmm … perhaps a break in the seemingly endless “get vaccinated or else” train is warranted.

What are the odds that Dr.Fauci will mention this study when he preaches his next Covid-gospel? … Slim and none!

What is the chance that vindictive higher-ups will backtrack on their mandate dictums because of this study? … None and none!

10/2/21

www.californiacontrarian.com

I just watched two separate interviews with two NBA players who are not vaccinated. Apparently approximately 90+% of NBA players are vaccinated, which means that around 9% are not. It did not appear that either of these two players were selectively chosen to represent all of the unvaccinated players. It was apparent that these interviews were not scripted, as each of the two had their own individual takes on the vaccine, and why individually they did not feel it was necessary for them to be vaccinated. Neither of these two players were reading from a teleprompter, and each was speaking off the cuff on something about which they had obviously given considerable thought. And furthermore, they answered questions! Can you imagine that!! … no teleprompter and answering questions!

The two players were Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards and Jonathan Isaac of the Orlando Magic. Both stated individually that they had already had Covid, and Jonathan Isaac, in particular, seemed pretty attuned to the mechanics of antibodies and the protection that these antibodies provide. Bradley Beal focused more on the fact that now both the vaccinated as well as the unvaccinated are getting Covid.

As many of you know, I no longer watch the NBA for a variety of different reasons, and similarly I also do not read anything in the Sports Section about the NBA. Prior to watching these interviews I had only vaguely heard of Bradley Beal and had never heard of Jonathan Isaac. I had absolutely no idea which team either of them played for, as I had basically given up on that league. However listening to these two individuals speak tells me that perhaps there is still some hope.

10/1/21

www.californiacontrarian.com