Horowitz: The problem with the GOP legislative agenda



So, you’ve been locked out of power completely for two years, and specifically in the House of Representatives for four years. What are your first-priority bills out of the gate to respond to what has occurred under Biden and the Great Reset?

Well, for starters, the world was destroyed under the COVID regime. You’d expect Republicans to address that in their first act, right? At least their second or third priority?

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise released a list of the first 11 bills and resolutions scheduled for the floor vote, and you’d think COVID fascism – the seminal issue of our time – never occurred. Not only is there no mention of the vaccines or terminating pharma’s immunity to liability, but no legislation even on the consensus issues of masks and lockdowns.

In a sane world, the first bill, “H.R. 1,” would involve Congress reasserting legislative authority and banning all emergency public health declarations beyond seven days unless Congress passes the measures. After all, this is not the 1800s anymore, and Congress can convene at any moment. It’s precisely the most impactful decisions of our country that require congressional buy-in, not governance by administrative fiat. The bill would ban the CDC from ever requiring shots, masks, or social distancing and from recommending shutting down schools.

Have we learned nothing from the past few years? How is this not on the agenda? I’ve offered dozens of ideas that red states must implement and that should be implemented on the federal level, beginning with ending the Prep Act and liability exemption for pharmaceutical companies.

But if you look at the GOP agenda in general, all the items are designed to be nuanced and very specific in order to elicit a “gotcha” talking point against Democrats rather than to usher in civilization-changing ideas.

Let’s be honest: With Republicans giving up their budget leverage until later in the year, all they are left with are “messaging bills” that won’t go beyond passage in the House. So the only purpose is to stimulate debate, change hearts and minds and culture, and motivate states to act on some of these items. The goal would also be to expose just how bad things are under the current system and demonstrate extremely bold contrast. Here are examples of bills that will plow new ground:

  • No indemnity from liability for greedy and criminal pharma companies and repeal of the Prep Act, which gives immunity to any pandemic-related decision or authorization.
  • No global warming regulations and green subsidies that lie at the heart of inflation, supply chain problems, and diminished quality of life.
  • No releasing anyone at our border; a complete ban on all benefits for illegal aliens.
  • Clarifying that states can enforce any immigration law and go beyond federal enforcement.
  • According states standing to sue in court when harmed by federal policies releasing illegal aliens.
  • An end to Chinese foreign student visas en masse.
  • Selling off federal lands to Western states so that the feds can’t lock up food, energy, and natural resource development.
  • No spying, surveilling, or monitoring any American with any agency program unless there is probable cause the individual committed a crime. This would include repeal of the Patriot Act. Any agent caught violating civil rights would be on the hook for a private cause of action in federal court.
  • A complete abolition of race education in the Department of Education.
  • A complete extirpation of any reference to, much less support for, castration throughout all federal agencies. Abolish all sexuality programs in the Department of Education.
  • An increase in mandatory minimums for violent felons caught illegally possessing a gun or using a gun thereafter in a crime, not just the small-ball crime bills they have planned.
  • Ban all woke, green, and biomedical policies in the military.
  • Audit not just Fauci’s NIAID, but also DARPA and BARDA and the entire biomedical security state.
  • Ban Biden’s executive order on transhumanist biotech, which calls for the “genetic engineering technologies and techniques to be able to write circuitry for cells and predictably program biology in the same way in which we write software and program computers.”
  • Pull out of the U.N., or at least the WHO and other onerous international agencies.
  • Abolish the TSA and revert back to private airport screening. This affects most Americans, and everyone hates the way they are treated. The tyranny began in airports.

There are countless more examples on critical issues of our time.

\u201cIt's time for the GOP to have an ACTUAL agenda. @RMConservative tells me it starts with Republicans ditching the "gotcha Democrats" approach and doing things that will actually "save our freedom."\u201d
— Glenn Beck (@Glenn Beck) 1672888230

In other words, we need to be discussing categorical, big-picture demands that would help facilitate a broad debate on the anarcho-tyranny that has taken hold of the country under Biden. The messaging bills, because they have no chance of passing, must be oriented toward shifting the Overton window and plowing new ground on ideas. So yes, it’s great to vote on defunding the new IRS agents, but while you’re doing it, let’s sow new ideas like creating a legal defense fund for victims of IRS political targeting and then addressing the bigger fish: the FBI. One of the first bills should be barring all federal law enforcement agents from monitoring political opponents and creating a private cause of action in court against the specific agents caught engaging in those activities.

For example, whistleblower FBI agent Steve Friend told members of Congress that the FBI is targeting people who weren’t even at the Capitol just because of their political activities and statements. We need legislation that goes big, not because any of this will be enacted now, but because it accentuates the magnitude of the tyrannical government.

As for illegal immigration, all benefits to illegal aliens should be banned, and all catch-and-release should be prohibited, again, with a cause of action for states to sue DHS for violations. Instead, they have a random bill scheduled forcing the DOJ to notify ICE when an illegal alien attempts to buy a gun and is pinged in NICS. Great idea and great talking point to get Democrats on record as against it, but that bill is good as a side dish, not the main course. The main course is that the American people should not be on the hook for an invasion, and those perpetrating it must be liable for civil and criminal penalties. Go big or go home.

On energy, Republicans are planning a pair of bills preventing Biden from drawing down the Strategic Petroleum Reserves and selling the petroleum to China. We obviously all support these ideas, but again, they are nuanced “one-off” ideas to embarrass Biden, not to address the root of our regression in energy, food, and vital goods and services, along with supply chain shortages and inflation. Instead, they should be offering a more categorical bill ending all global warming mandates and subsidies that diminish our quality of life, make vital goods expensive and scarce, and ensure that our products and appliances don’t work.

Republicans have a resolution prepared to declare their appreciation for law enforcement. Nice touch, but that will not move civilization. How about a resolution expressing the sense of Congress that every American has the right to refuse any medical procedure, treatment, injection, device, vaccine, or prophylactic on or in his body and that mask and vaccine mandates violate the most fundamental rights of bodily autonomy?

Instead it’s all theater designed to give the Republican lapdogs on radio and Fox News endless fodder of “but the Democrats” and “Biden crime family” rather than demonstrating how we will actually make people’s lives better and change the corrupt system in reality. If running and governing purely as the anti-Democrat didn’t work in the 2022 political environment, it will never work any other time.

Horowitz: Are hospitals making thousands off this dangerous and ineffective COVID drug?



It simply makes no sense. Hospitals are aggressively using remdesivir months after it has become clear that it is not only ineffective, but causes liver toxicity and kidney failure. Yet despite its astronomical cost, hospital administrators are refusing to pull the treatment from standard protocol. At the same time, they are balking at the use of safe and effective ivermectin (or any other safe repurposed drug) to the point that they are even willing to go to court and appeal if they lose. What gives?

A listener of my podcast who goes by @NC_updipchick on Twitter discovered a little-known fact about the hospital reimbursement scheme for COVID that could possibly explain the genocidal fervor behind doctors blocking lifesaving treatment while sticking with remdesivir until the bitter end. After I had legendary critical care doctor Paul Marik on my podcast to discuss his lawsuit against a Virginia hospital that refused to allow any effective treatments (including vitamin C infusions), @NC_updipchick dug up an important Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services billing rule from over a year ago that seems to explain everything.

THREAD: Stick with me, I promise it\u2019ll be worth it.\n\nOn Wednesday @RMConservative had Dr. Paul Marik on his podcast to talk about Dr. Marik\u2019s lawsuit against his employer, Sentara Healthcare. Basically, Sentara has told Dr. Marik that he is no longer permitted to treat patients
— Mel #SMILESMATTER \ud83d\ude00 (@Mel #SMILESMATTER \ud83d\ude00) 1637464270

It’s not just the extra 20% bonus the hospitals get for treating patients with remdesivir, which would come out to roughly $600 in extra reimbursements per patient. A report on the CMS compliance rule from last October explains that for hospitals that treat with the approved emergency therapeutics — at the time, remdesivir and convalescent plasma — not only are they eligible for a 20% bonus, but that eligibility triggers access to “a New COVID–19 Treatments Add-on Payment (NCTAP) under the IPPS (inpatient prospective payment system ) for COVID-19 cases that meet certain criteria.”

What is this new payment scheme? Not only do hospitals get hundreds for remdesivir, but they potentially receive thousands for treating that individual patient for his entire course in the hospital. The report explains it as follows:

Normally, Medicare outlier payments, which are extra payments for cases with extraordinarily high costs, only kick in after the hospital has incurred $30,000 in costs above the MS-DRG payment. In other words, under the standard outlier rules, a hospital would only receive 80% of the costs that exceed $30,000 of the IPPS payment, which means that hospitals eat the first $30,000 in losses. Under the IFC, however, when hospitals provide remdesivir or COVID-19 convalescent plasma and the patient has a positive COVID-19 test, Medicare will share in 65% of the first dollar losses that exceed the MS-DRG reimbursement up to the $30,000 outlier threshold.

Hence, the hospital gets reimbursed for 65% of the initial cost as well, which explains why they have been in such a rush to treat patients with remdesivir up front. How big a difference could this make per patient? How about close to $20,000?

For example, if the COVID-19 treatment exceeded the MS-DRG payment by $100,000, based on the outlier payment alone, the hospital would receive $56,000 because Medicare’s formula for outliers is 80% of the cost above the inpatient payment after the hospital eats the $30,000. Under the IFC, however, because Medicare will now share in 65% percent of the first dollar losses up to the $30,000 outlier threshold, Hettich explained that the total Medicare reimbursement would be $75,500—the typical outlier payment of $56,000, plus the add-on payment of $19,500 (65% of the first $30,000 in losses is $19,500). “You would only get $56,000 normally, but because of the add-on payment, you get $75,500,” he said.

Thus, for a hospital system in a given state that treats 5,000 COVID patients over the course of the pandemic, remdesivir alone could be a golden ticket to close to $100 million in federal reimbursements. So while, thanks to the PREP Act, patient families cannot sue Gilead, the maker of remdesivir, for death or organ failure, hospitals are loving every minute of the remdesivir scam.

Perhaps, in a very dark and sinister way, we can now understand the vicious opposition to ivermectin by the hospitals. Ralph Lorigo, the attorney who has litigated most of the ivermectin “right to try” cases against hospital systems, said on my podcast earlier this month that he has gone up against the same hospital attorney in a western New York system who had previously argued against the use of ivermectin and was overruled by the judge, and thanks to that ruling, the patients are now home with their families after being at death’s doorstep. How could that same lawyer possibly argue against him in subsequent cases after seeing the results the first time?

As they say, money makes the world go ’round. Sadly, this greed has likely cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

Horowitz: CDC endorsed use of ivermectin … for Afghan refugees!



"I have long been convinced that Nature has all the solutions we need to solve our past ... that will be the primary source of the treasures and solutions that we seek." ~Professor Satashi Omura, Nobel co-laureate for the discovery of ivermectin

Looking at 2019 CDC guidance, one has to wonder if one of the reasons why there is such a run on ivermectin is because our own government is using it. And no, not for horses, but for refugees. Yet these same government agencies are running a blood libel-style smear campaign against the drug and its users by misleading people into conflating it with a veterinarian version of the drug, leading many people to think it's some sort of poison for humans. In the process, they are leaving thousands of COVID patients without any other options for treatment.

It's not clear whether the hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees will be forced to get vaccinated like American international travelers, but one thing is clear: They will likely get the ivermectin that most Americans can no longer access. It turns out that in 2019, the CDC issued guidance for refugees from Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East to be given ivermectin pre-emptively for potential infections.

Guess who is getting IVERMECTIN before they arrive.AFGHANISTAN REFUGEES! ht @narrtrek https://t.co/PbPkkxg2Uh

— SCUBA MIKE🤿 (@SCUBA2024) 1630613772.0

The CDC advises the International Organization for Migration (IOM) physicians who screen the refugees for departure, and U.S. doctors who treat them upon arrival, to prescribe "all Middle Eastern, Asian, North African, Latin American, and Caribbean refugees" with ivermectin and albendazole.

"But that is for parasitic infection, not viral infection!" shouts the chorus of ignorant fools who have ignored the past 18 months of ivermectin saving countless lives. Putting this point aside for a moment, that is only a question about efficacy, not safety. Government agencies are slandering ivermectin as if it's not a safe drug and even convincing people that it's for animals. Do they consider refugees animals? The point is: People who are now getting COVID – both vaccinated and unvaccinated – are left without any options for outpatient treatment. Why would the government stand in the way of ivermectin treatment that it mass-distributes to refugees, even if the establishment bureaucrats personally believe it won't help for COVID?

To the extent the government even screens refugees for COVID, will officials suspend ivermectin treatment for a refugee who has COVID alongside a parasitic infection? After all, we are told that somehow one of the safest drugs in the history of humanity suddenly turns unsafe if you want to use it for another ailment. Or perhaps Americans can self-identify as refugees and then obtain prescriptions for this lifesaving drug. The question now is whether the rest of the media that ignored ivermectin's success for 17 months will continue to call the drug a "horse dewormer" even as it's administered to Afghan refugees.

The revelation of this CDC guidance demonstrates that ivermectin is not some obscure drug, much less an animal drug that was used one time for humans in Africa many years ago. The agency feels it is needed today in most parts of the world. To suggest that it is not safe is a scandalous lie. Perhaps doctors will have to start punching in the prescription code for abortion or suggest it's for an Afghan refugee in order to get the prescription filled:

The AMA: We oppose "limiting patient choice in [abortion] and ... gagging a physician guiding a patient [toward abo… https://t.co/k3v49oqAYG

— AssocAmerPhys&Surg (@AAPSonline) 1630630645.0

In reality, anyone who thinks that somehow one of the safest and most successful drugs of all time cannot work for other ailments is woefully uninformed. I trust Professor Omura, the man who won the Nobel Prize for developing ivermectin for Merck, over the company itself, which now stands to benefit from an expensive drug it is developing, with which the cheap ivermectin, which is off patent, would interfere.

In March, Omura wrote in the Japanese Journal of Antibiotics that he hopes "ivermectin will be utilized as a countermeasure for COVID-19 as soon as possible." Ten years ago, Omura observed: "Ivermectin has continually proved to be astonishingly safe for human use. Indeed, it is such a safe drug, with minimal side effects, that it can be administered by non-medical staff and even illiterate individuals in remote rural communities, provided that they have had some very basic, appropriate training."

Any sampling of the internet will reveal a unique degree of reverence for this drug among all of the (pre-political) literature on ivermectin. For example, in 2017, Nature's Journal of Antibiotics observed the following about the fact that ivermectin held promise outside use just as an-antiparasitic agent:

Today, ivermectin is continuing to surprise and excite scientists, offering more and more promise to help improve global public health by treating a diverse range of diseases, with its unexpected potential as an antibacterial, antiviral and anti-cancer agent being particularly extraordinary. …

Moreover, whereas ivermectin-resistant parasites swiftly appeared in treated animals, as well as in ectoparasites, such as copepods parasitizing salmon in fish farms, somewhat bizarrely and almost uniquely, no confirmed drug resistance appears to have arisen in parasites in human populations, even in those that have been taking ivermectin as a monotherapy for over 30 years.

As for the drug's exact mechanism of action against COVID, Dr. Ryan Cole, a brilliant Mayo Clinic-trained pathologist, listed eight different mechanisms in an exclusive interview with TheBlaze:

1. Inhibits binding at ACE2 and TMPRSS2, keeping the virus from entering our cells.

2. Blocks alpha/beta importin (the virus cell taxi), keeping it from getting to the nucleus.

3. Blocks the viral replicase zipper (RdRp).

4. 3-Chimotrypsin protease inhibition (keeps the virus from assembling).

5. Ivermectin strengthens our natural antiviral cell activity by increasing our natural interferon production (this counters SARSCOV2 activity, which inhibits cellular interferon).

6. Decreases IL-6 and other inflammatory cytokines through NF Kappa Beta downregulation, taking the patient from a cytokine storm to calm.

7. Binds NSP14, necessary for viral replication, and blocks it (equals less virus).

8. Most important mechanism is inhibiting binding to CD147 receptor on red cells, platelets, lung, and blood cell lining. Ivermectin keeps the virus from binding here and decreases deadly clotting.

For those who want a more detailed explanation of each of these mechanisms, Dr. Cole has provided me with important links and videos, which I posted together in this twitter thread:

My long thread on the 8 mechanisms of action of ivermectin against SARS-CoV-2, based on an interview with Dr. Ryan… https://t.co/QorPzjFpco

— Daniel Horowitz (@RMConservative) 1629753940.0

So, the next time you hear any media figures refer to ivermectin as an animal medicine, just remember that they are regarding people from three continents as something less than human. And now, they are treating every American – increasingly those who are also vaccinated – as subhuman beings who don't deserve any treatment until it is too late.

Horowitz: Shocking report: 55% of Brits have antibodies, despite 12 months of restrictions



You mean we did all that for nothing?

Originally, we were told that governments can assume unprecedented control over our lives, businesses, and even our own faces for the goal of not overrunning hospitals. A year later, as we come increasingly close to herd immunity, not only are hospitals in no danger of being overrun, but it turns out that people have likely contracted the virus at a rate that would have occurred without any of these restrictions – and their calamitous damage to society. Twelve months later, it's all pain and no gain.

We've always known that the number of confirmed COVID cases in a given region is only a fraction of the likely infection rate. Now, according to Great Britain's Office for National Statistics (ONS), 54.7% of people in England in a random sample of 30,000 have SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, which includes people who have had been infected or have been vaccinated. Those are the sort of numbers we were promised would happen only if we just "let the virus rip" without any non-pharmaceutical interventions, aka lockdowns and mask-wearing. But it turns out that the virus was always gonna virus, regardless of what hocus-pocus was thrown in front of it.

The survey, conducted from December 7 to March 14, also revealed the antibody levels in the other areas of Great Britain: 50.5% in Wales, 49.3% in Northern Ireland, and 42.6% in Scotland. As the Daily Mail observes, "The figure is likely to be even higher now because millions more have been vaccinated since the blood tests were conducted a fortnight ago, and it takes about two weeks for immunity to kick in."

Also, many people don't produce antibodies or their antibodies wane quickly because the T cells warded off the virus without major symptoms. It is therefore likely that if 55% of Brits have antibodies, a supermajority of citizens are already immune.

We have no way of knowing how much of the seroprevelance is from the vaccinations and how much is from infection, but many other countries have had aggressive vaccination programs and still do not have as few cases as Great Britain currently has. That tells you there is a lot of built-up immunity from the earlier waves of infection.

Here are the latest death numbers from Worldometer.

This data demonstrates that the entire 12-month premise of lockdowns and masks to slow the spread was a lie (after the original lie of flatten the curve), and even more so, any continuation of these policies after most people have immunity is built upon a dastardly lie. Even if the new goal has changed illogically from decreasing the burden on the hospitals to slowing the growth of cases, it's quite evident that these measures don't work. We have now achieved well over 50% immunity between infection and vaccines in most Western countries, built on 12 months of masochist public policy designed to preclude that immunity.

Despite cases slowing to a trickle for the past two months, Britain is still under a strict lockdown. Restaurants, hotels, stadiums, and even indoor mixing in groups of six or more are still being regulated until May 17, as well as all international travel. Even nonessential retail and gyms are closed for another week.

Ironically, this news comes at a time of global panic over the "Kent" British variant of the virus, which was supposedly super deadly and contagious, yet Britain itself barely had any cases since the variant was discovered. Which demonstrates that this is all about natural geographical and seasonal patters of spread that will continue everywhere until herd immunity is built up, not about specific variants or non-pharmaceutical interventions.

What this likely shows is that immunity from both infection and the vaccines works against different variants of the virus, as one would expect, but only those who had a high degree of natural immunity are close to herd immunity. Serbia, which also has high vaccination rates like Great Britain, is still going through its latest wave of deaths.

The difference between Serbia and Great Britain is obvious because Serbia, like most Eastern European countries, didn't experience much of a wave earlier last year. Consequentially, the country has less built up natural immunity on top of the vaccinations.

Texas, like Great Britain, has probably come close to herd immunity, which is why three weeks after getting rid of the mask mandate, and with the Kent variant as the dominant strain throughout Texas, the virus is at its lowest level since it started.

NEW: 3 weeks since Texas lifted their mask mandate, the 7 day average in cases is the lowest it's been since June https://t.co/RFATqgXzGb
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911)1617559631.0

The Czech Republic, on the other hand, was touted as the world champion masking country, yet it failed to protect this nation from experiencing the worst surge in Europe.

@bclpbclp @RMConservative @GBMillennial @WSJ @ianmSC Batting 1.000 https://t.co/dhbAZCl4Mo
— Hold2 (@Hold2)1617711396.0

By hook or by crook, we will reach herd immunity. The question is whether we will to continue to needlessly destroy humanity in the process.

Horowitz: How magical masks can achieve more than 100% efficacy



Masks are so effective that they work even when they don't. You see, most non-pharmaceutical interventions are either effective or ineffective against this virus and can be judged based on the results. But when it comes to the unassailable majestic masks, they work so well that even when they don't work, they create more need to wear them, precisely because they don't work and there is still more work to be done. Confused?

In nearly every state and certainly every major city, we have seen the most dramatic social change of our lifetime with people walking around like mummies and bandits. It's unmistakable. Even violent criminals are complying with the mask mandate while committing crimes. I have not seen a single human being indoors in any store or institution in my state of Maryland without a mask since April. According to Carnegie Mellon's survey, there is 97% compliance statewide, yet it has not slowed the fall wave of coronavirus spread one iota.

In Maryland, not wearing a mask is punishable by up to a year of jail time and up to a $5000 fine. And yet so many… https://t.co/n7A1qFzDMy
— IM (@IM)1607450648.0

This is true of most places, according to surveys done on mask compliance. On June 24, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said, "When at least 80% of a population adopts universal masking, it results in a substantial reduction of infection." What are the results with 93% compliance statewide and 95% in Las Vegas?

When Nevada’s Governor mandated masks, he said that “when at least 80% of a population adopts universal masking, it… https://t.co/wpWlAxJI4r
— IM (@IM)1606500878.0

During the Sept. 29 presidential debate, Joe Biden said, "If we just wear a mask, we can save half those numbers. Just a mask." To that end, he plans to implement a 100-day mask mandate. But, this has already been going on for longer than 100 days, and cases exploded rather than dropping by half.

One would expect that seven months later, we would no longer need to speculate about efficacy, calculate intangible projection models, or blow particles through a simulator or mannequins in a lab. We could just look at the actual real-life results we are supposedly trying to affect.

The problem with such an overview is that it would reveal that masks have failed to stop the spread one iota. By the very admission of those most fervently supporting lockdown policies, this fall has brought about the most widespread transmission of the virus to date. In fact, they are so frantic that in places like California, they are pushing new ideas … such as lockdowns and masks.

@RMConservative @RichHiggins_DC Newsom is doubling down here in California. Just now got this Covid Emergency Alert… https://t.co/DVugmZKWH6
— 1USmom⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@1USmom⭐️⭐️⭐️)1607459156.0

Well, actually, they are not such new ideas. Indeed, they have been wearing masks for over 150 days and have never fully come out of the original lockdown. Yet after cases have been relatively low there for months, they are now skyrocketing. The masks have been caught red-handed, just like in the Czech Republic and every other place that had a good result until they didn't!

The spread is so strong in Los Angeles County that it now has nearly twice as many cases per capita as Florida.

LA County, despite being less than half the population of Florida, a strict mask mandate and extensive closures, ha… https://t.co/fArdtGAHbJ
— IM (@IM)1607315978.0


Cases in California are up 168% in only ~3 weeks since they closed indoor dining for over 99% of the stateSo stra… https://t.co/bMcQCwAm26
— IM (@IM)1607375404.0

Florida already had a stronger wave in the summer, so there was more immune resistance among the population to the heavy fall wave of the virus. Whereas precisely because California had relatively few cases until recently, it is getting hit with a rapid transmission. But that is the broader point. This is all about regional seasonality and built-up immunity – 100% natural phenomena. The "virus is gonna virus" regardless of what we do. We can throw cloths on our faces as medieval superstitious sacraments to the gods of the masks, but that won't change the fact that the virus has its own natural trajectory.

The sophomoric and ephemeral COVID observations contrasting different states and countries are getting old. The media jumps on a specific area for having a lot of cases … until that area no longer does. The media lauds an area for having few cases … until that area gets slammed. Numerous states and countries went months without problems, despite limited non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as mask-wearing. Yet nobody used that fact against the mask cult. Then when it finally spread, the transmission is blamed on not wearing masks. Conversely, all the places that were wearing masks and did well initially were touted as displays of mask magic. Then, when the cases began to soar and they clamored for lockdowns and mask mandates, they suddenly forget those places already had mandates in place.

It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to realize that masks and lockdowns are not driving this ship. The areas that do worse later on are precisely the ones that fared better before. For reasons that are still unknown in some cases, it is simply their time to spread, but once their turns came, the fact that they had less built-up immunity made the subsequent spread even worse.

Population density also plays a big role in the timing, because the states out west with lower density got hit long after the denser eastern areas, so naturally the western states will get hit the hardest after the eastern states built up resistance for seven months while the western ones initially dodged the bullet.

One of my friends at RationalGround.com gave an eye-opening analysis on Twitter showing the near-perfect mechanical seasonal and geographic spread patterns of the virus since the spring, which demonstrates that time and place are the active ingredients even when individual states within the same region employed very divergent policies.

among all the rain dance efficacy claims about masks and lockdown and demands to "do something" one glaring fact re… https://t.co/REzq2lxw03
— el gato malo (@el gato malo)1607432353.0


many regions looked very similar among them despite varying policies undertaken by states.this seems to bolster t… https://t.co/Ayz7rZemcN
— el gato malo (@el gato malo)1607432358.0

Rather than having the humility to acknowledge their fallibility in the face of this virus, California officials are doubling down on blaming people for not being compliant. But have you ever seen anyone in L.A. without a mask? According to Carnegie Mellon's daily tracking surveys through social media, 95% of people in California report wearing masks. That average includes the rural areas, so it's likely that in places like L.A. the compliance is closer to 100%. For people who would be most responsible for spread — those working indoors for hours at a time — there is almost no establishment that would allow the individual to work without a mask. It simply doesn't exist.

The simple fact is that the virus is spreading in California exponentially more than it did in March when nobody was wearing a mask. Does this mean masks are responsible for the spread? Not necessarily. It likely means now is a time for the virus to spread. It's all natural. But masks are not helping. However, they continue to accept the advice of Dr. Fauci to double down on a policy that has already failed to stop the sharpest spread.

The compliance for something this draconian is actually astounding. The mask cultists have gotten everything they wanted. And like everything made in China, the masks are not working. Now it's time for them to own the results.