Don's Tuesday Column

                   THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson Red Bluff Daily News   7/28/2020

Politicizing Wu-flu, schools, economy

First, a math correction: In estimating the number of deaths from the 2009-2010 H1N1 “Swine flu,” if that flu had been as lethal as the COVID-19 pandemic, there would have been over 260,000 deaths, not 2.6 million. Obama took little action from inception in April, 2009, until proclaiming a national emergency in October. There were about 14 times current infections (61 million vs. 4,335,000), which could have resulted in 20 times the deaths, almost 300,000. Clinton/Gore/Biden advisor Ron Klain admitted it was “fortuitous” more didn’t die, because they “did nothing right.”

News media continues “scare-mongering,” as I see it. Those below 50- to 60-year-olds, have little more risk of death from the “Wu-flu” than they do driving; most COVID-19 deaths are among elderly, 70+ residents of nursing and care facilities. In spite of the absence of school-age infections, we are told—by decrees from on high and loud voices in the teachers’ unions (sorry, “educators’ associations”)—that it’s too risky to restart in-person classes. Again, let teachers with vulnerable situations find other roles.

A cartoonist illustrated: First, a wild-eyed, screaming teacher who doesn’t want to go back to work and wants schools closed because “it’s too dangerous being around all those kids!” Then, a stern, skeptical woman whose been working the whole time around thousands of customers per day because—it’s her job.

I’m sure this doesn’t apply to level-headed local teachers and their union—all funded, I remind readers, from the taxes of the parents of the children they were hired to teach and whose sole interests they serve. It is, moreover, essential for our economic health and vitality that parents—who rely on public schools and entrust their children to local classrooms—be able to earn their living.

Would it be cynical to think that teachers’ unions place a higher priority on holding students—and by extension, the national economy—essentially hostage to their ultimate political goal, to beat Trump? They are as dedicated to President Trump’s defeat as they are to being foot-soldiers for the Democrat Party.

The uptick in deaths—after dropping from almost 2,500 per day to around 500 per day and now about 900 per day—suggests that the spike in new infections, from 21,000 to almost 70,000 per day, are not creating the same need for radical “lockdown” measures as in March/April. Again, my cynical (usually correct) side concludes that the only “rationality” involved is the certainty that the only way the Democrat left can defeat Trump is to keep the economy in the tank.

Why else would we be harangued over Florida, Texas and Arizona—which are #s 24, 32 and 15 on the deaths per 100,000 scale? At 20 to 42 deaths per 100,000, they’re way behind New Jersey and New York (168-177 deaths) and Connecticut and Massachusetts (123-124 deaths). Could it be that the hysteria focuses on Republican-run states because (to media) there’s “nothing to see” in the disastrous Democrat-run states?

We can all acknowledge that this “novel” virus was at first scary and highly lethal, justifying harsh “lockdown” measures. We cannot return to constitutional, representative self-governance without thoughtful, objective analysis: given all the responses by other advanced nations, our draconian “directives” and “guidance” have been only marginally effective.

Sweden’s open-but-informed approach handled the virus better than, say, New York—without economic harm. Models have been very flawed; yet more are presented without admissions of prior error. See “The Models Were Wildly Wrong about Reopening Too,” by P. W. Magness, aier.org, 7/23.

“So, what is the goal at this point? Are we to wear masks until COVID is completely eradicated in the U.S.? Until we have zero cases? And once COVID is eradicated (it won’t be, but stick with me here), shouldn’t we continue to wear them until the flu is eradicated? And the common cold? Rotavirus? RSV?

“We’re being told that if we love our neighbors (and, by the way, you’re not a real Christian if you don’t’ want to wear a mask) we should be happy to wear a mask to protect them from COVID-19. If that’s the case, we’re going to have to continue to wear them until all contagions have been purged from the face of the earth—in other words, forever.” (“They Keep Moving the COVID-19 Goalposts: Will the Next Step Be Masks to Protect From the Flu and the Common Cold?” by Paula Bolyard, 7/24)

The lunatic, Trump-Deranged left was on full display through weeks of anarchist-, antifa- and BLM-instigated rioting, burning and injuries to cops and civilians, conveniently dovetailing with “protests” predicated on the fatuous claim of widespread, systemic police brutality and racism. Trump then nudged the lunatic insurrectionists, using camo-clad DHS and BORTAC officers to protect federal property—identified by patches and legitimately assigned under the Constitution as has been done since the United States’ founding. 1) They’re not “secret police” if we know about them and 2) they took someone into custody like plainclothes cops do every day, 3) read them their rights and finally 4) release them if they have no charges. Be afraid, the “tyrant” will cancel elections…

Trump and those on our side rightly label the riots and violence: insurrection, revolution and treason (the penalty should be…). That drives the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Congressman (former Black Panther) Bobby Rush into paroxysms and spittle-laced cries of “stormtroopers,” “armed militia,” “tyrant,” “Nazi” and, of course, Ku Klux Klan “lynch mob.”

Pay no attention to real, brutal tyrants like Kim Jong-un, Xi Jinping, Ayatollah Khamenei or Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Democrats accuse Trump of something only Democrats actually do: refuse to accept election results (Gore, Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Stacey Abrams). More to come.