I’m Not Making This Up, You Know

Now that Putin is rattling his nuclear saber, FEMA has put out this guidance as part of their instructions on how to protect yourself in the event you find yourself far enough from ground zero to survive the initial blast. Emphasis added.

Try to maintain a distance of at least six feet between yourself and people who are not part of your household. If possible, wear a mask if you’re sheltering with people who are not a part of your household.

Political Science v. The Real Thing

I made a B in POLSCI101 55 years ago. One of things I learned in the course was Bismarck’s definition of politics: the art of the possible. Another thing I learned was that what is called “political science” has essentially no connection to or use for the scientific method. As Bismarck noted, politics is an art, and the study of it is no more a part of science than is the study of music or any other art.

That’s not to say that politicians don’t claim to be basing their action on science. Marxism, for instance, claims to be “scientific socialism.” The history of the 20th Century shows what happened every time the marxist hypothesis was tested against Reality.

“Scientific” Covidicism has had its test against Reality, and its Narrative hasn’t done well. Indeed, it’s done so poorly, that even the blue states are beginning to  return to the Real World.

The science hasn’t changed. A bit of pseudoscience has failed, and  it’s an election year. The art of politics says that the way to survive an election is to stay on voters’ good side. And the voters have had enough of covid restrictions that didn’t work or were actually harmful.

Honk! Honk!

I’m Not Making This Up, You Know

The Daily Caller reports that LA County will hand out KN95 masks to Super Bowl fans. The county’s Covid policies require people at “outdoor mega events,” must wear masks at all times. That’s at any event with 5,000 or more people., and a mask must be worn regardless of a person’s vaccination status.

 

Gain of Function/Loss of Credibility

Project Veritas is reporting that they have copies of DoD documents which contradict Anthony Fauci’s sworn testimony to Congress concerning gain of function experiments with viruses.

Among the documents is a report to the DoD Inspector General written by Marine Corp Major Joseph Murphy, a former Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Fellow, stating that an NGO, EcoHealth Alliance, approached DARPA in 2018 looking for funding to conduct gain of function research of bat borne coronaviruses. The proposal was rejected by DARPA because of safety concerns. According to the documents published by Project Veritas, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases went ahead with the research in Wuhan, China, and at several sites across the U.S. Anthony Fauci is the Director of NIAID.

Someone’s been lying.

Covid and Murphy’s Law

I started the New Year off with a cold which took a few days to get over. Of course, I had a covid test. It was negative, verifying that it just a cold. Although I’m fully vaxxed and boosted, I was hoping that it was covid so I could claim natural immunity as well. Nope. Just a cold, and I got over it.

So I went about my normal routine over the weekend.

This morning, I took another covid test even though I’m asymptomatic. It turned out positive.

Given that I’m elderly, I suppose an asymptomatic case isn’t such a bad deal, but being placed on hold for the next few days is going to be a real inconvenience.

OTOH, I can now claim natural immunity on top of being vaxxed and boosted.

Covid 1, Biden 0

During the 2020 campaign, Joe Xiden said he knew how to shutdown the Wuhan virus and that he would do it. This week, His Fraudulency took his L and walked away from the fight. He told the nation’s governors there is “no federal solution” to Covid and pushed the problem off on them.

It turns out the only clothes our would-be emperor has is a mask, and it’s only for show.

Testing, 1, 2, 3, …

I’m on vacation through the end of the year, but yesterday, I received a call for work telling me that I was part of group who had been exposed to Covid and that I should get tested. Oh, and fill out this spreadsheet of everyone you’ve been in contact with at work.

As so, yesterday afternoon was spent in search of Covid testing, and there was none to be found. At every facility within an hour’s drive, either all the appointments were booked or they were out of test kits. After several hours on the Internet and on the road, I gave up for the day.

Then, the phone rang. It was a call telling me that the date of the exposure was so long ago I didn’t need to be tested now.

My birthday is New Year’s Eve, and I’m going to keep the party going to midnight—not to see in the new year but to make sure 2021 leaves.

His Lips Will Be Moving

It’s been announced that Joe Xiden plans to make a speech about the Administration’s plans for dealing with the omicron variant of the Wuhan virus.

So far, bloodletting only has applied figuratively to the public’s response to the Administration’s previous failings, and the only leeches involved have been some grifters running Covid-based scams.

But given the Administration’s apparent love for pseudoscience, …

Covid Unmasked

I usually work out of my home office, but yesterday, I needed to test a piece of equipment in a lab at Goddard Space Flight Center. For months, masks have been required at Goddard in all indoor spaces when two or more people are in the same room. This rule was effective whenever Prince George’s County, Maryland, where Goddard is located, was tagged as red or orange for Covid infection rate by the CDC. Since May, Goddard was one of the very few places I have gone where a mask was required.

Yesterday, PG County had been recoded as blue by the CDC. That meant that vaccinated individuals were not required to wear masks at Goddard, so for the first time this year I saw the faces of most of my fellow workers on site.

Is This Why Democrats Hate Ron DeSantis?

The Babylon Bee has a story up headlined Bob Dole Switches To Democrat Party, and I have joked that my late father-in-law (who lived in Cook County, Illinois) never voted for a Democrat while he was alive. It’s a running gag that we elderly folks all become Democrat voters when we receive our death certificates.

If Florida’s declining Covid death rate is depriving the Democrats of so many new voters, it’s no wonder the Democrats hate Governor DeSantis.

I’ve Been Talking About the Xiden Administration’s Overreach

The OSHA vaccine mandate is a prime example of the current administration’s lawless behavior, and today the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a motion to stay enforcement of the mandate pending further judicial review. OSHA has been ordered to take no further steps to implement or enforce the mandate.

Here’s the money quote from the court’s order—

The Mandate’s stated impetus—a purported “emergency” that the entire globe has now endured for nearly two years, and which OSHA itself spent nearly two months responding to—is unavailing as well. And its promulgation grossly exceeds OSHA’s statutory authority.

Following the Science

The scientific method relies on running experiments to verify predictions made from testable hypotheses.

We have two competing hypotheses about how to manage public health and safety. One predicts that the better way to maintain and improve public health and safety is to require certain people, including public safety employees, to be vaccinated against Covid-19—and to fire those individuals, including public safety employees who refuse vaccination, The other predicts that public health and safety will be better maintained and improved if people are allowed to make decisions about being vaccinated for themselves and those decisions are decoupled from employment.

The two hypotheses are being tested experimentally as different states follow one approach or the other. It shouldn’t be too long before we know whether either approach was better. (They could both be wrong.)

When we know the results of this experiment, will we follow the resulting science?

I’m Not Making This Up, You Know

Merck has submitted an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for molnupiravir, an investigational oral antiviral medicine, for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults who are at risk for progressing to severe COVID-19 and/or hospitalization.

Someone at Merck has an interesting sense of humor.