Don's Tuesday Column

         THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson Red Bluff Daily News   5/11/2021

      Hard to ignore the left’s death toll

Things subject to a progressive, or leftist/Marxist, “solution” involve—even if unintentionally or incidentally—the demise of some beneficiaries or others. Outside of politics, the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park has nearly decimated the elk herds, which decreased by more than 80 percent after reintroduction of wolves in 1994 (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service).

Wolves predictably spread beyond the park boundaries, returning the inevitable destruction of livestock to the marginal bottom-line calculations of ranchers. Their response—“Shoot, shovel and shut up”—has probably spread to our far northern fellow Golden Staters, who must also evade the technological tracking devices on the carnivorous canines.

The energy of wonderous wind turbines—not so wondrous to the views formerly enjoyed by neighbors—are literal evisceraters of countless feathered friends that soared the skies in freedom.

The apparent ongoing “jihad” aimed at removing dams on the Klamath River ignores the many tons of toxic (to fish) sediment now settled behind the dams. Salmon that currently enjoy year-round river access below the dams will be left dying on rock and sand bars when the “natural” seasonal, intermittent flows return.

 Consider the laudable (?) goal behind a year’s worth of protests and riots (er, “mostly peaceful” confrontations): eliminate “excessive force” by law enforcement on inhabitants of minority and poor neighborhoods. Highly touted solutions—“defunding,” “reallocating,” “reimagining” or redeploying (dispatching unarmed “conflict resolvers”)—intend to “deescalate” cop-on-unarmed-black violence.

Funny, no one listened to residents working and living in those humble areas who told any pollster or news reporter who would listen that they feel safe when “public safety” patrols are around. Absent patrols, they’re far less safe, in constant danger, from gangs, drugs, pimps and thieves (the ones who should fear the law).

We were admonished to ignore inconvenient facts: the victims of crime report that over half the “perps” were black men (who compose about 7 percent of the population); or that African-American and Latino officers are just as likely as White officers to shoot and kill black suspects.

Or that it is nearly unheard of for a suspect, or “contacted” person, to get shot or killed absent their own violent resistance, use of non-firearm weapons, or attempts to grab the officer’s weapon(s). The canard of “driving while black” often falls apart over the fact that expired plates/tags, broken lights, etc. don’t reveal the race of the driver.

The results? Murder and violent crime rates have been soaring in the last year as the (often non-employed) bystanders with cameras engage in counterproductive “gotcha” over any perceived misstep by a cop. Officers become reluctant to insert themselves into disturbances and low-level crime. The “disturbers” and petty criminals take that as a license to do their thing. The “normal,” productive residents care only to be left unmolested—by those same ne’er-do-wells now free to harass and intimidate the old, infirm or young. Have any of our news crusaders-against-injustice noticed the death toll from all of that?

 Only the best of intentions accompanied the medical, political and public response to COVID-19, or Wu-flu (Wuhan, China, origin). The mask mandates and regimens seemed prudent; except that, as “scientists” gained more empirical data on the actual means of the virus’ spread, it became obvious that there was more “virtue signaling” and theater, even superstition, behind it than science. Viruses can go through masks.

It’s never been shown that children need masks, nor have they ever been at more than a tiny risk of getting or spreading the Wu-flu. Most teachers are in low-to-moderate risk, mitigated by their own masks and distancing. No science ever supported teachers’ unions opposing “in person” instruction; “remote” students can never recover the lost mental learning, emotional maturing and socializing.

Avoiding the “tall weeds” of the issue, it’s abundantly clear that the well-intentioned “lockdowns” and “stay home” orders were never justified by medical science. They were certainly counterproductive to overall health and economic vitality. Sweden’s economy and schools remained open; Sweden had a better mortality outcome than Belgium, Italy, USA or the UK, but worse than Germany, Norway or Finland.

A recent article, “The Covid-19 Emergency Did Not Justify Lockdowns” (by Donald J. Boudreaux, American Institute for Economic Research, May 4), presents compelling arguments not only against the lockdowns in retrospect—but also that honest, scientific analysis at the time of early 2020 pandemic patterns, should have convinced authorities that one response alone was warranted: Hyper protection of vulnerable elderly and compromised populations and travel restrictions for the most infected areas. Further restrictions weren’t needed.

Instead of respecting the intelligence, free will and common sense of the self-governed, America’s despots chose—for the first time in our non-conflict history—to take the totalitarian-inspired approach of Communist China. Once again, the body counts due to the lockdown, stay-home response piled up as drug overdose deaths exceeded Wu-flu deaths in places like San Francisco; suicides took arguably more young lives than the coronavirus in some areas. N.Y. Gov. Cuomo (Democrat) has thousands of dead seniors on his hands.

See “Another Way in Which Covid Policies Devastated the Young,” by John Hinderaker, 5/8, with data and charts showing the overdose vs. Covid deaths in 15-24, 25-34 and 35-44 age groups. Also, “The Rising Body County of Liberalism,” S. Hayward. All liberalism’s victims.

The first contained mass infection occurred on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in early 2020. At least 712 out of 3,711 passengers and crew were infected; 14 died. While serious, it showed a less than 0.5% mortality and a high lever of natural immunity. It suggested a less drastic response than what many state authorities rammed down citizens’ throats by fiats.

Last week, the terms “per day per capita” were in error; “per day” should have been left out.