From Tom Woods today:
In the fight for COVID sanity we have many good and highly credentialed scholars on our side. In general, though, they tend to have the quiet disposition of the academic rather than the fiery, attack-dog style that those of us outside of academia (I left 14 years ago and have never been happier) sometimes display.
So I have to say, I was rather pleased to see our own Martin Kulldorff of Harvard Medical School take the gloves off the other day.
Dr. Ashish K. Jha is a prominent COVID hysteric on Twitter. When Dr. Scott Atlas announced the other day that he was deleting his account because the platform was toxic and unproductive, Dr. Jha took the opportunity to take swipes at him.
Among them:
"That's also how many Americans we have lost in the last few days -- in no short part because of the misinformation and bad policies you championed. "
To which Professor Kulldorff responded, to my great delight:
"Dear Ashish: By quietly working his butt off to make more COVID-19 tests available for nursing homes, under enormous hostility, Scott Atlas saved more lives during a few months in DC than you have during your whole life."
Boom.
Our friend Ashish is the sort of person who instead of focusing on the elderly thinks it's equally important in the fight against COVID to make sure your kids can't play football.
Somebody else jumped in to ask: since many American deaths yesterday were in California, which policy California might have adopted (and of course California has been insanely locked down) did Scott Atlas prevent them from adopting?
Crickets, of course.
In another matter, here's an excerpt of an email the heroic Alex Berenson just received from a personal trainer in Illinois:
"I'm watching kids and adults fall apart around me. Two kids in the next town committed suicide last week (one was 18 with a full ride to MIT/star quarterback, and one was 20). On top of the insanity of two suicides in a small, wealthy town in a week, the school then prevented the grieving football team from running on the field together to try and honor him. They cited COVID restrictions as their reason for preventing kids from running on the field, outdoors. While this is heartbreaking, the sheer number of kids failing academically, depressed, or simply despondent is staggering.
"I work with 20 to 30 or so kids -- and remember these are kids whose parents prioritized them getting exercise and activity during COVID -- and 50% of them are struggling. Their friends who can't afford or whose parents are afraid, 80-90%.
"As for my adults? I'm watching grown men and women crack and struggle under the depression and anxiety this causes. Marriages that were once strong seem to be teetering, people lashing out at strangers for no reason. And without fail, the ones struggling the most are the ones adhering to the insane protocols best. Maybe as if there is a direct correlation between cutting yourself off from society and depression? If it wasn't so sad it would be laughable how dense people have become.
"And don't even get me started on the 90% of rich Illinoisans who jetted to Florida for 4-8 weeks while crying about how DeSantis is a murderer. The honest ones at least came home and admitted what we're doing is insane. Yet even those honest ones fall right back in line with crazy COVID precautions while acknowledging they took almost none in Florida.
"Sorry for ranting. This is all just insane."
In recent weeks, as I noted in a previous issue, some people I would never have expected to hear the phrase "back to normal" from have begun discussing precisely that. At the same time, some public health officials almost appear to take delight in warning us that just because we wear masks/socially distance/get vaccinated doesn't mean we'll get back to normal.
Screw these deranged people. Reward the decent states with your vacation dollars. Heck, move to them, so they become invulnerable to destruction by twisted lockdowners.