On a cloudy Spring afternoon during my Sophomore year of high school, the unthinkable happened. Allegedly, a student wrote a threat on a bathroom stall to blow the school up the following day. I was at practice (on school grounds) during the time of discovery (an alert was sent to the school community and it even made the news); the local Police Department, SWAT Team, and I think the ATF investigated the scene. It was pretty wild to be honest with you - looked like it was straight out of Hollywood. Fortunately, each agency reached the same conclusion: there is no imminent threat to the high school or surrounding town(s) - the threat is unwarranted.
You’d think the school administration would’ve stopped at that - right? Both local and State/Fed agencies reached the same conclusion with the same evidence. We can move on and continue the next school day as normal - with little disruption or panic in the faculty and student body. This is important to show that we trust that our enforcement agencies did the right thing, and no further action is warranted.
Guess again. What happened the following day was, at the time, the biggest, most hysterical overreaction to a non-threat I’ve seen (up until, well, you know…). Each entrance to the school was closed but the main one. Upon entry, students were subject to search; both their backpacks, handbags, and person were inspected by an administrator or a worried, uncomfortable-looking teacher or staff. You’ll never believe this, but they didn’t find a bomb or a weapon of any kind.
Only one teacher spoke out about how wrong this was - my civics/history teacher who I would say is the best I’ve ever had. Being a civil libertarian, he was the only fucking one who brought up unreasonable search and seizure, warrants, probable cause, etc. The entire half-baked “find the bomb” mission was completely unconstitutional, especially after enforcement agencies declared the threat neutralized. Everybody else, both teachers and most of the student body, just kind of went along with it. To this day, his words, and the greater lesson, hold value to me: speak out and stand up for your Rights, and let the wannabe authoritarians know when to say when.
Coronavirus cases are rising again in the States as the Delta variant spreads. Because I’m not a bitch ass liberal journalist, that sentence pains me to write as much as it does for you to read. The reaction to this is pretty odd, though. While some media outlets (CCPNN, MSNPC, VOX, WaPo, etc) are doing what they do best (and fortunately the aforementioned outlets are not only decreasing viewership, but are also going broke), I’d say that the majority of the populace has moved on. Travel has reached 80% of 2019 levels and mass crowds/live events are making a comeback. By and large, the average liberal - much like 99% of normal people and conservatives, are done with the hysteria. Even the Biden Administration and CDC are now focusing on vaccines, not masks as the wave unfolds.
But that doesn’t stop Team But the Variants and their not-so All Star Lineup of Panic Pushers. From Eric Feigl-Dingleberry to Leana Wen Will you Please Shut Up, Neil “Can’t Keep it in my Pants” Ferguson and Barbara Fuckshit Ferrer, the doomers are making their final push. That’s why LA County re-instituted an indoor mask mandate as their cases rise. I’m sure that this time, it’ll work. Because last time, it wasn’t true communism- er, sorry, I mean it wasn’t a true mask mandate. Despite 71% of their population being vaccinated, cases are still rising. People like Tedros from the WHO would tell you that “vaccines aren’t enough to end the pandemic” and the NPCs who buy into every piece of Covid propaganda would tell you to wear a mask forever, and then forever after that.
But here’s the thing: Much like the United Kingdom, our hospitalizations and deaths have decoupled from the rise in cases. I’m not all that great with data, so I suggest you follow both @TheLawyerCraig and @DistrictAI on Twitter. Both of them think the UK Delta wave will peak shortly, and the States aren’t far behind.
This means that the vaccines have done their job. Throughout this entire time, the main goal of the vaccines has been to limit spread as much as possible, but overall, ensure that a vaccinated person will be at a much smaller risk for serious illness and death. Regardless of any slight decrease in efficacy with any of the Variants of the Day, the vaccines are still doing their job (for more information on vaccines, check out @SailoorScout on Twitter).
It’s time to declare victory (and I’m actually glad Biden said “let’s move on” on the 4th). Line up in the victory formation and knee it down at the end of the 4th quarter. Covid is now an endemic virus circulating the population. Vaccinated people will by-and-large be fine. So will most unvaccinated people below the age of 75. When the overwhelming majority of the population confers some type of immunity, this will be no more than the common cold.
NPIs won’t fix that. Mask mandates are a cope and always have been. The only response at this time is to move forward. If unvaccinated people, like myself, want assume more risk, than have at it. It’s not your responsibility to “protect me,” it’s my own. I do that by staying in shape, maintaining proper hygiene, and a healthy diet. I maintain mental health by, again, staying in shape, not watching the fucking news, and not associating with miserable people. It’s also not my responsibility to compromise my own morals and principles for the sake of others. I wouldn’t be living for myself. Instead, I’d be kowtowing to spiritually decaying and dead leftists with an inferiority complex the size of China. It’s not a healthy way to live - and remember this, misery loves company.
But the establishment won’t tell you this. They’re actually in a tough place at the moment. I broke it down last night on r/LockdownSkepticism, and figured it would be relevant here:
Surgeon General is saying the same thing the CDC said like 3 weeks ago: if a locale institutes a mandate, they are on their own. In politics, this means "don't step out of line with the Party." The Biden Admin. is now focusing on vaccines, not masks. This has been known for a few months now. Lockdown/masking FUD gets us nowhere. Stop reading into everything too much please. You'll go crazy. Understand that The Dems are in a tough spot and it is now apparent to them that Endless Restrictions cannot be part of their platform.
LA County and other doomer depts. have lost all support (even from Recall Boy), and from what I've seen and heard this doesn't look like it'll be enforced hard or last very long. Skrt the fucking rules. We make fun of r/coronavirus and the rest of Team But the Variants for being pussies and it's more than past due that we put our money where our mouths are.
Furthermore, District AI and TheLawyerCraig both think the UK wave is going to peak shortly. They're both batting 1.000 thus far and I trust their analysis like I'd trust my own. We won't be too far behind
It's pretty clear to me that based on the LA County person they interviewed, she really doesn't want to go back to the mask BS and had to come up with a reason. There's a greater than zero chance she has a different opinion behind closed doors.
There is no reason for us to worry. Delta really is the last push. Survive this FUD and it's over. Other variants won't scare people (Delta doesn't) - especially if cases fall for a long time post whatever this wave looks like.
I hope this makes sense. Democrats are trying to counter act the coronaphobia they’ve created (I remember a tweet from Andy Slavitt saying Delta is nothing to worry about for vaxx’d people - replies were quite something) so they can focus on the following issues: Infrastructure (haven’t heard anything of that in like a month), Voting Rights, Climate Change, A Bloated Bureaucratic Biden Spending Bill, and the 2022 Midterms. They know that they can’t whip support for any of these things if the country is littered in mandates - it is not politically viable to have restrictions forever. People like Slavitt (and the rest of the “highly educated” - I use that term loosely, NYT upper middle/rich liberal people) understand that. The people in the middle of the Bell Curve don’t. So, as Delta inevitably wanes, their goal is to get jjjuuuussssttt enough people vaccinated to put it to bed completely.
Which is crazy that they have another “opponent” in all of this - one that they empowered: the Public Health Establishment. I’ve already talked about Fauci and I’m not going to anymore, especially since he’s been relegated to an appearance on CCPNN every now and again. What I am talking about are the bureaucrats, commissioners, mainstream media “contributors” and the run-of-the-mill academic. These people have vetted career interests in keeping the gravy train growing: I mean, come on, how many people knew who Eric Feigl-Ding was before Covid? Do you think he and people like him want to go back to being a useless academic who couldn’t win a local primary? Did anybody care what Leana Wen had to say about anything? Do you think she wants to stop getting on TV anytime soon?
It is not in their best interest for Covid to end, either through vaccines or infection-based immunity. Every man, woman, child, dog, cat, fish, and alien on Earth could be quadruple vaccinated with Pfizer, Moderna, J&J, AZ, NOVAVAX, etc. and they’d still find something to bitch about.
Local officials are going to have to draw a line in the sand here. I’d prefer them to not go the way of LA - and as I said, I doubt that mandate even lasts long anyway. The country, fuck, the entire purpose of life, is not to avoid catching Covid, and it’s long past due that we start acting like it. We have and will continue to render Covid into a much less serious virus. After a year from hell, that’s all we can ask for and we can’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Shit, the vaccines were even better and got here faster than expected. Hospitals and deaths will not be overwhelmed anymore. It’s time to say when. Don’t Go Past the Mark You Aimed For: In Victory, Learn When to Stop.