How’s everyone’s weekend going? Thanks for spending a portion of it with the Six.
Attempts to rewrite history as it pertains to the Coronavirus Panic escalated to more prescient levels this week in various forms of media.
We had Dr. Doom, the Lab Coat Tyrant, otherwise known as Dr. Anthony Fauci, granting interviews with the New York Times and CNN.
Fauci said this to the NY Times: “Show me a school that I shut down and show me a factory that I shut down. Never. I never did…I gave a public-health recommendation that echoed the CDC’s recommendation, and people made a decision based on that.”
Later, on CNN, he doubled down on the blame game: “There was a personification of me as a person who essentially closed everything down [but] those were public health recommendations that came from the CDC.”
The problem with these requiem-like pronouncements from Fauci is that we have a record of what he said at the time of the “crisis.”
Fauci said to not trust any data that conflicted with state-sponsored conclusions that masking and vaccines were the lone escape from the “deadly virus.” These policies, he insisted in daily ego-affirming press sermons, must not only be implemented, but all alternative opinions that veered from the narrative were dangerous and a threat to humanity.
To this day, Covid Hysteria can be summed up by one’s attitude towards risk assessment.
There were the scared shitless types who had no risk tolerance, narcissistic tendencies and a negative bias towards their own health (I’m excluding those in the “elderly” age cohort and with legitimate underlying health conditions). Then we had the positive bias types who assessed risk and came to the conclusion there was nothing to be concerned about. That’s a binary difference in cognitive biases.
Why did the negative bias have privileged position and the other thought to be dangerous and destroyed? It’s just a difference in opinion, each having their own predispositions, obviously. Isn’t that what science is supposed to be, about discussion, collaboration, admission of the unknown?
Yet why, when it came to the coronavirus, did the negative bias receive exalted status and the other demolished?
That’s messed up.
I blame that distorted point of view on public sector goons like Fauci.
For him now to try and absolve himself of responsibility for the outcomes of Covid-related public health policy––Fauci was chief medical advisor for two presidents, Trump and Biden––and say he was merely a mouthpiece for the Industrial Public Health Complex is gaslighting in its most twisted form.
Fauci wasn’t the only public sector thug embarking on an Amnesty tour this past week. American Federations of Teachers Head Boss Randi Weingarten spoke at a congressional hearing Wednesday.
She took zero responsibility for pushing medically needless, prolonged school closures that led to historic learning losses for kids.
A few days before her testimony, a new report came out that revealed Weingarten and her union were instrumental in Biden Administration Centers for Disease Control directives that restricted millions of school-aged children to being forced to endure “remote learning” for multiple school years.
The hubris of these two bullies is both stunning and predictable. They, 38 months after the outset of Covid Hysteria, still do not think they did anything wrong. Plausible deniability is the hill they are willing to die on.
One epitaph towards Weingarten came from an unlikely source, a political correspondent at CNN named Scott Jennings.
During a roundtable discussion/interview that included Weingarten, Jennings had this to say to Weingarten:
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Judging by Weingarten’s “what, you talking to me?” reaction to Jennings’ rightful admonishment, she couldn’t care less.
Just loyal public servants, Fauci and Weingarten want us all to believe, forever keeping the kids healthy and safe.
We must never forget and rage against those that attempt to rewrite history.
Let’s proceed with the Six.
1. Tucker Carlson: Master of Media Universe
What a week in media! Monday alone saw the dissolution of CNN and pinhead host Don Lemon’s partnership; chief executive of NBCUniversal step down over an improper relationship with an employee and the kicker…the ouster of Tucker Carlson from Fox News. Carlson is easily the most popular and divisive personality on cable news and was reportedly in negotiations for a contract that would have kept him at Fox until the end of the decade. We’ll probably never know the exact reason for his firing but a combination of potential pending lawsuit testimony and other damning revelations from recent court filings likely tipped the scales. What next for Carlson? Whether he goes independent or signs with another legacy brand, he’s in a high leverage position and can choose his next path, according to The Hill.
2. IRS Data Shows Illinois Leader In Migration Flight.
Politicians traffic in the currency of misinformation. We are hip to the practice at this point, as cynical as that may be. That’s why it’s so important to “check the data” when governors or senators or state reps or school boards claim something to be true when objective statistics are available to verify what’s being presented as truth. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a proven expert in the practice of fact distortion, said on the record recently that people are “moving to Illinois, not fleeing.” Other than him saying it, there is no body of data that supports that statement. This latest report from Wirepoints, collected from IRS filings, “Illinois lost, on net, 105,000 residents to other states in 2020. A total of 166,000 people moved into Illinois from other states in 2020, while 271,000 moved out of Illinois, resulting in that 105,000 net loss. The state ranked third-worst nationally for net resident losses.” Expect Pritzker to label this report “misinformation” at a press briefing soon.
3. The $100 Million Business Behind the NFL Draft.
This weekend in Kansas City, the NFL held its annual college player draft (what an embarrassment of riches for that city…first the Super Bowl and now the draft). The league has come a long way since the first draft in 1936 when the top pick, University of Chicago Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger, rejected pro football and became a salesman (81 players were taken in ‘36 compared with 262 this past weekend). The sports business-focused newsletter, Huddle Up, takes a look at the financial behemoth the NFL Draft has become: “more than 300,000 people in attendance. Taxpayers are spending $3 million on the construction of temporary infrastructure alone, and the venue is the size of a football field…500 semi-trucks worth of material, including 7.5 miles of fence lines and 1.5 miles of concrete barriers…roughly 10 million people will watch the first round. The NFL Draft is a spectacle—plain and simple.” For most NFL fans, the draft is their Super Bowl.
4. What Your Country Can Do For You.
One of the more famous scenes in movie history comes from Jack Nicholson in “A Few Good Men.” His rant to Tom Cruise while on the witness stand––”you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall!”––came at at time, the early 90’s, when that want and need from the citizens of the United States towards its military was becoming less indispensable. Thirty years later, its almost entirely obsolete. We have no active conflicts and the institution struggles to fulfill its most basic requirement––attracting new recruits. A survey from YouGov shows how amongst the 18-44 age cohort, “confidence in all the branches of the military is in the low-to-mid 40 percent range.” Teenagers out of high school no longer want to enroll in basic training and as this essay from The Free Press argues, forced reductions in barriers to entry are a Faustian bargain.
5. When Shepard Met Dylan: Sex, Drugs and Egos.
I devour stories about 60’s and 70’s counterculture. It was such a fascinating time in our nation’s history when nobody really knew anything and boomers were inventing the systems and processes that now form the bedrock of contemporary American life in the 21st century. One slogan invented during that era still stands the test of time: “sex, drugs and rock and roll.” This book excerpt published by the Hollywood Reporter tells the tale of an unlikely pairing of musician (Bob Dylan) and playwright (Sam Shepard). Dylan hired Shepard to pen a film on his rollicking 1975 tour, one where “everyone on the Rolling Thunder Revue was pretty much drunk all the time for thirty-one straight days.” Ah, the 70’s. What a romantic time.
6. Kamala Harris Speechwriter Is Not Who You Think. Or Maybe He Is.
God bless The Babylon Bee for creating the perfect video to mirror what’s on the minds of most Americans every time Kamala Harris speaks. Does a 6-year-old write her stuff? Political satire at its most hilarious art form.
Thanks for reading everybody and enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Have a suggestion for The Sunday Six? Send email to jonjkerr@gmail.com
Thank you for CONTINUING to shed the light on this topic, Jon! I keep saying it ---- you were spot on since the beginning of all of this and continue to be so.
Imo, these 2 people. (and many others that we "got to know") are in the roles they are in because they are pure evil and masters at lieing. They actively participated in causing the widespread wreckage that resulted in immeasurable damage and grief to so many of us in our nation.
They are so TWISTED (a word you used which is perfect here), that they either believe their defenses are accurate, or they are liars and now continue to heap new abuse on us with their lies. They are inhumane and despicable.
Much gratitude to you for touching on this scam which doesn't quit
Jon, do you know of any data that breaks down the reasons people leave Illinois. I've asked this question of family, friends, and colleagues. My sample is admittedly small and anecdotal, but these are the top three reasons that have been given to me.
1. Moving upon retirement, to be closer to grandchildren, and other family members.
2. Tired of slogging through numerous winters.
3. Job relocation, both involuntary and voluntary. This seems to be the age of so much labor being employed remotely. Younger people who can work from home (or anywhere for that matter) are moving to locations where the cost of living is significantly low enough that transferring their Illinois total compensation results in a much more comfortable daily existence.
I'm interested in any data or thoughts that you may have. Thanks!