H.J. Res. 7 proposes that coronapanic in the U.S. be officially terminated, despite Joe Biden’s desire to continue the State of Emergency at least through May (at which point it can be extended if a variant of concern is identified!).
Who wants to continue cowering? Let’s look at how the democratically elected representatives of the people voted…
We can look at the roll call in the Senate for either double-nays or a “nay” and a “did not vote” (some of these folks are too old to show up to work anymore!). States where cowering is most highly prized:
- California
- Hawaii
- Maryland
- Maskachusetts
- New Jersey
- New York (defrost Andrew Cuomo to manage, with some help from young women?)
- Oregon
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
- Washington
It’s a little more complex in the House.
Not a single Republican who Follows the Science could be found and there were 11 Deplorable Democrats (one from Florida, of course!). The Scientists of Massachusetts celebrated diversity and independent thinking:
How’s CVS helping in our national fight against a virus that attacks the obese? Cadbury (owed by Hershey, which promotes women ahead of the other 73 gender IDs recognized by Science) eggs can be obtained at a discount… if you buy 10. Coca Cola, which is “Creating a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion”, is available on favorable terms in quantity 36. M&Ms supports women flipping the status quo… if you buy two enormous bags. From the CVS we can walk to:
Hate had no home in our neighborhood back in Boston (at least to judge by the lawn signs of the all-white homeowners) and it seems that SARS-CoV-2 has no chance anywhere in the U.S. that CVS does business.
(What if you want to protect yourself against COVID-19 by consuming several pounds of candy without an explicit social justice message on the wrappers? The U.S. brands of Ferrero are potentially DEI-free: Butterfinger, Kinder, Ferrero Rocher, Nestlé Crunch, etc. Lindt, Swiss-made at the Portsmouth, New Hampshire airport, does not single out any subgroup of consumers on its package. Mondelēz, which owns Toblerone, Milka, Freia, and Côte d’Or, also refrains from advertising its social justice credentials on the packages.)
Related:
- “WHO experts revise Covid-19 vaccine advice, say healthy kids and teens low risk” (CNN, March 29, 2023) is a “revision” not a “reversal” on the question on whether 6-month-old babies should be injected with an experimental medicine (as Science/CDC says they should) against a disease that kills 82-year-olds
- “The President strongly opposes HJ Res 7, and the administration is planning to wind down the COVID national emergency and public health emergency on May 11…” (Fox News)
> Who wants to continue cowering?
Plenty still do though probably not a majority. Lockdown caused impaired education, defective healthcare, more obesity, poverty, inflation etc. But a lot of people avoided the inconvenience of commuting to the office or to school.
It would be nice if it would finally bring an end to the Federal Contractor Vaccine Mandate, which remains on the books, but not enforced, despite losing multiple court challenges (good summary at [1]).
I am surprised at how little attention this gets, because it has affected employees and institutions as diverse as jam-factory workers at J.M. Smucker Company[1] to theology professors at Baylor University[3], a private, Baptist university located in a state, Texas, which has an executive order prohibiting workplace vaccine mandates, and who, by nature of their work, would almost certainly never receive any federal funding.
[1] https://www.natlawreview.com/article/covid-19-may-be-over-fight-over-federal-contractor-vaccine-mandate-not
[2] https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/23a0040p-06.pdf
(interesting on its own merit: yes, taking a government contract does not make a company “the government”, but how much unconstitutional behavior can the government now delegate to outside “private” entities?)
[3] https://coronavirus.web.baylor.edu/news/story/2021/update-federal-vaccine-mandate-0
Thanks Philip for all your Covid coverage. As we are nearing the end – perhaps not – this was a failure of government to do basic TRIAGE. As noted in Star Trek: The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.
Nope. That was failure of the government to obey the constitutional constraints placed on it for a good reason. Basically, US Fed Gov is totally illegitimate.
That Jeremy Bentham’s “needs of many” formulation is the recipe for fascism (or communism, the details don’t really matter). We’re already inside the Panopticon he envisioned.
The needs of many do not override the rights of one. If many violate the rights of one, these many became criminals, and have to be treated as such. Time for Nuremberg Trials 2. With Fauci et al being the first defendants, along with every single Congress-critter who authorized this medical experimentation on unconsenting people.
Here in Tokyo the mask mandate was lifted I think two weeks ago yet on public transport at least 95% of the riders are still masked and the mask of choice seems to be something made of heavy elastic, like a muzzle on a dog that bites. On the other hand Tokyo mass transit puts anything in the US to shame and there are no deranged, drug addled wandering about or tent cities so perhaps the the masking really does accomplish something.