The Jan. 6 “Insurrection” vs. the Numerous Subversions of the American Left

With House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s release of thousands of hours of Capitol surveillance video footage to Tucker Carlson, and Carlson’s subsequent airing of the footage on his popular FOX News show, it’s more clear now than ever: What the American left did to Trump, on COVID, on crime (especially the ANTIFA/BLM riots), at the border, and the like, was FAR worse than anything that occurred at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

After Tucker began airing newly released Jan. 6 footage on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Monday (3/6/2023) of last week, the next day, Ben Shapiro summarized well what we learned:

The reaction to January 6^th was to throw Donald Trump off all social media; it was to paint all republicans as rioters…it turns out, even a huge majority of the people who were at the Capitol, and in the Capitol that day, were not in fact rioters. And then it became the global pretext for the “attack on democracy” routine from the globalized left…What you heard from the left was that January 6^th was just as important inflection point in American history as, for example, September 11^th when three thousand Americans were murdered…What we heard is that all of American politics had to be recapitulated around this signal inflection point, this signal moment in American history. As it turns out from a lot of the footage, the media accounts were in fact exaggerated…[W]hat the footage that Tucker showed last night showed, is that some of the narratives that we were told were just flat out wrong, they were flat out lies…[T]he media decided that the threat to democracy was far graver that what actually happened on January 6^th. Remember, we were told that democracy was nearly overthrown on January 6^th. That was nonsense. …

As Tucker Carlson, himself noted, “The footage does not show an insurrection or a riot in progress. Instead, it shows police escorting protesters through the building, including the now infamous ‘QAnon Shaman.’”

#BREAKING Tucker Carlson's First Report On The Never Before Seen January 6th Tapes

"The footage does not show an insurrection or a riot in progress. Instead, it shows police escorting protesters through the building, including the now infamous 'QAnon Shaman.'" pic.twitter.com/zbBPM68luY

— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) March 7, 2023

Democrats continue to peddle their Jan. 6 “insurrection” lie to this day. Of course, they do this because it aids them politically, and it helps distract from their numerous domestic failures and outright political subversions that continue to plague the U.S., and have only gotten worse under the inept Biden administration.

Following his election in 2016, what was perpetrated upon Donald Trump by the Democrats and their like-minded allies in the media, the FBI, et al, can rightly be described as the “greatest political scandal” in American history. It was nothing short of an “attempted coup,” as Roger Kimball put it in February of 2019. Mr. Kimball summarizes well what happened:

On May 9 [2017], the President fires his employee, James Comey. Panic in Bureau. Scarcely a week later, the Big Boy Scout, Robert Mueller is appointed by Rod Rosenstein to be Special Counsel in charge of the Get Trump battalion. It’s a real flood the zone operation. Pre-dawn raids, full-press intimidation, careers ruined.

It’s been going on so long, and has involved so many nefarious characters in such high positions in the Obama administration and our intelligence and law enforcement services, that it is hard to keep the main fact, the overwhelming point of the episode in mind.

It is this: people in the FBI (aided and abetted by elements in the CIA and the Obama administration) decided that they didn’t like the person who had been elected President of the United States. Their anger and frustration boiled over when the President had the temerity to fire their man, James Comey. So they plotted to get rid of him.

The FBI didn’t like the President. so they plotted to remove him from office. That is the irreducible minimum, class, that you should take away from this whole sordid lesson. Top figures in the Federal Bureau of Investigation did not approve of the President. Therefore, they took steps to destroy him.

Mark Penn put it this way:

The most egregious anti-democratic actions ever taken by the what can now fairly be called the Deep State are confirmed with the publication of fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s new book detailing how the FBI and Justice Department plotted to remove President Trump from office for firing FBI Director James Comey.

Justice Department and FBI officials spied on U.S. citizens with false warrants, gave a pass to one presidential campaign with a predetermined investigation, investigated another political campaign on the basis of no verified evidence, and illegally leaked information on investigations. They discussed wiretapping and using the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove President Trump, and appointed a special counsel as a retaliatory move for Comey’s firing.

It is now crystal clear that the highest echelons of the Justice Department and FBI had morphed from the world’s most professional law enforcement organization into a Third World rump group.

As Daniel Greenfield well put it, “They [the Democrats] invented the Russian conspiracy, then they faked the crimes.” As their attempt to remove President Trump from office via impeachment fell apart, conveniently, COVID-19 entered the U.S. By mid-April 2020, the late, great Rush Limbaugh, as he so often did, nailed it when it came the Wuhan Virus and the Democrat Party:

Folks, look, I’m only telling you what I see. The Democrat Party wants the shutdown to go on. It’s how they benefit!...

Brutal as it may sound, partisan as it may sound, do not doubt me, please. The Democrat Party and the American left know that a continued shutdown is the only means of destroying Trump’s signature achievement. What is Trump’s signature achievement? The historic, booming economy. In three years, Trump created economic growth we haven’t seen (a lot of people) in their lifetimes.

Here comes the virus.

Here comes the shutdown.

Here comes the lockdown.

The Democrats know that keeping America shut down is the only way of destroying Trump’s number-one re-electable achievement…

…It’s now the transparent, left-wing hope that corona can do what Mueller and Schiff didn’t do.

Plain and simple, brutal as it may sound for you to hear, as strange as it may sound (and as, gosh, you wish it weren’t true), I’m telling you that as far as they are concerned, the Democrat leaders — Pelosi, Schumer, Comey, everybody, Brennan, everybody involved in this hoax to get rid of Trump — are all hoping that this virus can do what Mueller and Schiff failed to do.

In spite of Rush’s warnings, and most tellingly, in spite of the actual data, the shutdowns, lockdowns, and forced masking of Americans continued throughout 2020 and beyond. Even after weaponizing the Wuhan Virus and transforming elections throughout the U.S.—which GREATLY aided the Democrat Party in 2020—the left continued to push their numerous lies on the Wuhan Virus. Led by Joe Biden, time and again the American left lied about the Wuhan Virus, and their countless allies in media aided and abetted them.

The lockdowns never worked, masks never worked, testing never worked, COVID “protocols” in schools never worked, and the vaccine was FAR from what was promised. It is not a stretch to conclude that COVID-19 was “the largest, most sophisticated propaganda operation in history.” The resulting destruction to individual lives, businesses, our economy, our school system, and so on, can hardly be quantified. It was unprecedented destruction, and the Democrat Party led the way.

All of this, and I’ve yet to chronicle the Democrats war on police and policing, and the crime that plagues much of America. I’ve said nothing about the invasion at our southern border, that has gotten so bad that a federal judge recently stated that the Biden administration had “effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country.”

Whatever happened at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, it pales in comparison to what today’s Democrats have done—and continue to do—to the United States. Shame on them! May they never again have power in America.

(See a version of this column at American Thinker.) 

Copyright 2023, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

 

With COVID, We Should’ve Learned Our Lesson on “Do-Somethingism”

After the evil perpetuated at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in a column entitled “Don’t Surrender To Do-Somethingism On Guns,” David Harsanyi at The Federalist is mostly correct when he writes, “Law-abiding Americans have no obligation to take ownership of a madman’s actions.” The only thing I take issue with in Mr. Harsanyi’s piece is in him referring to the Ulvalde mass murderer as a “madman.”

Again, when such events occur, we must be careful not to confuse evil with mental illness. Of course, “madman” doesn’t necessarily always refer to someone who is mentally ill, however, inevitably—even among those who should know better—whenever we have a mass shooting, a frequent and near immediate default assumption is that the perpetrator was mentally ill. Perhaps the Robb Elementary School murderer was mentally ill, but we don’t yet know that, and early indications are that he did not have a history involving mental illness.

What’s more, ascribing mental illness to the Robb Elementary murderer doesn’t help Mr. Harsanyi’s case. If someone who kills another human being is “mentally ill,” then it means something should have, or could have, been done to cure them, or protect others from them. As I noted in 2018 (see above link), after the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland, FL,

As our culture grows more and more secularized, it has become a very common practice to describe those who commit widespread acts of violence—especially if such violence involves the death of multiple human beings—as “crazy.” Some of this is tongue-in-cheek, but much of it is sincere. I believe this is the direct result of the psychiatric community attempting to redefine what is moral.

For decades we have witnessed the psychiatric community take acts that were long considered evil, or at least immoral and illegal, and deem them a “psychological disorder” that needs to be cured. It’s just good for business, I suppose.

In his essay, The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment, C.S. Lewis noted that, when it comes to crime and punishment, we too often are facing off with those who believe “that all crime is more or less pathological.” Thus, instead of the criminal “getting what he deserves”—what used to be called “justice”—we must heal or cure him, and, as Lewis puts it, “punishment becomes therapeutic.”

Additionally, when we refuse to simply call evil what it is, lawmakers—especially, but not exclusively, Democrats—feel emboldened to “do something” to “fix” the problem. After all, when politicians can paint themselves as part of “the solution,” it makes re-election more likely. If we learned anything from COVID-19, this should have been the lesson!

Shortly after COVID-19 entered the U.S., countless politicians across America were all too eager to act. Not that our government should have done nothing, however, as American leftists—as well as those throughout the world—well demonstrated, for most of us, their “cure” was indeed far worse than the disease.

Led by Anthony Fauci—one of the leading prophets of scientism of our time—and his ilk, millions of American individuals, and hundreds-of-thousands of American businesses, churches, and schools were duped into following—or worse: enthusiastically embracing—the “corona-communism” of the champions of Big Government in America. 

The longer the charade played out, the more it became clear—as the data in schools, professional sports,  airplanes, Antarctic research stations, and the like revealed—that almost everything we did to “slow the spread,” including the “six feet” nonsense, was worthless and unnecessary. This is especially true of useless masks and foolish lockdowns.

These two highly destructive measures seemed—until the evil notion of vaccine mandates came along—to be the favorite of “do-somethingism” apologists throughout America and the world. For well over two years now, far too many Americans have lived under democrats devastating “do-somethingism” in the name of “public safety.” This is in spite of the mountains of evidence that point to the ineffectiveness of masks and lockdowns when it comes to controlling the spread of COVID-19.

Nevertheless, those beholden the Covid Cartel are still pushing masking and the like. This is true even in schools, where science has well demonstrated mandatory masking the most unnecessary, as well as the most destructive. It just goes to show that, once “do-somethingism” takes hold, it’s hard to get rid of!

If so many Americans weren’t susceptible to “do-somethingism,” the left wouldn’t continuously try—and often succeed with—it. And if they can’t accomplish their do-something wish list via legislation or executive order, the American left has often been able to rely on like-minded judges in U.S. courts. Tragically, many Americans simply want to be mothered, and the left is only too happy to play such a role.

The left’s “do-somethingism” on COVID-19 has destroyed countless lives and livelihoods. The damage is still being measured, and worse, still happening! If the American left can “do-something” to get rid of guns (or ammunition) in the U.S., they absolutely will. As numerous nations have proved, America has remained America largely because of the Second Amendment.

Recently, the idea that America needs to be “fundamentally transformed” has reached the highest levels of the left. The quickest way for this to happen would be to take guns from law-abiding Americans. We largely surrendered to "do-somethingism" on COVID, we should never make that mistake with guns. 

(See a version of this piece at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2022, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

COVID Truth Bombs From Across the Pond

Mark Dolan, host of Mark Dolan Tonight on the UK's GB News, hammers the Branch Covidians with multiple COVID truths: 

Mark Dolan dropping absolute truth bombs 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/dDz4uJqHes

— Pelham (@Resist_05) April 18, 2022

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

Vaccine Ratios vs Wuhan Virus Ratios

Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) is one of the largest hospital networks in Georgia. Their Wuhan Virus data are widely used by the local media and other organizations throughout northeast Georgia. This week, NGHS tweeted out a graphic (see below) that has been circulated by those pushing the Wuhan Virus vaccine.

Getting vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus reduces your risk of developing severe or critical symptoms or even dying from COVID-19. You still have the power to protect yourself and the people you love. Visit https://t.co/ojBmsVHPN2 to get the facts and find a shot near you. pic.twitter.com/k2Pqv4UZoC

— NGHS (@myNGHS) August 9, 2021

Of course the implication is that, given the data, if one is “fully vaccinated” your chances of testing positive for the Wuhan Virus, requiring hospitalization because of the Wuhan Virus, or dying from the Wuhan Virus are miniscule. Vaccine apologists need to be asked: If these small ratios are justification for getting vaccinated, why are other small ratios ignored when Wuhan Virus policy is being made?

I’ve long made the case that the actual data—especially where the young and healthy are concerned—on the Wuhan Virus are being ignored. For example, from the tweet above we see that, according to NGHS and the Georgia Department of Public Health data, if one is vaccinated, your chances of dying from the Wuhan Virus is a tiny 0.00058%.

If one is zero to 17 years old, your chances of dying from the Wuhan Virus is even smaller, 0.00048% (there are just over 73 million Americans ages zero to 17, and 354 deaths in that same age range). Yet the NGHS and the Georgia Department of Public Health (GDPH) advocate widespread masking, including masks for school-age children. (Note: The GDPH doesn’t directly say this on their website, but on their “COVID-19 Guidance” page, under “Education” they link directly to the CDC’s page on “K-12 Schools Guidance.”)

There can be little doubt that similar tactics are playing out in other U.S. states. School boards and public health bureaucrats throughout the U.S. continue to ignore the data as they push for universal masking in schools. Don’t stand for it America!

(See this post at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2021, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

On Masks, We Are All Scarlett Johansson Now

If you think you are being kind, compassionate, or polite as a mask-wearer, please take note of this column. After the CDC and the Biden Administration again ignored science and recommended or re-imposed foolish mask mandates and the like, numerous municipalities and organizations eager to bow to—or afraid to ignore—left-wing dictates, went along with the latest round of Wuhan Virus absurdities. Walmart, Target, Publix, Chick-fil-A, and the like have again forced the unsanitary and unhealthy face diapers upon their employees.

Apple has gone a step further and is requiring customers in half of its stores—the ones in so-called “COVID hotspots” (apparently about half of Apple’s stores)—to wear the useless face masks again. Some schools—especially those in Democrat-run hell-holes, I mean large U.S. cities—are again forcing kids into masks.

School leadership making such decisions, along with the teacher unions, are the most foolish of all here. They are ignoring science and data on multiple fronts as the mask mandates, and perhaps even shutdowns, are re-imposed. Not only has science revealed the masks largely useless to prevent the spread of the Wuhan Virus, but the data have long revealed children to be at very little to no risk from the Wuhan Virus. In addition, schools the world over have long proven to be insignificant spreaders of the Wuhan Virus.

The mask mandates aren’t foolish and dangerous only because of their ineffective and unhealthy outcomes, but also because of the social and financial devastation that results. If widespread masking were really a necessary and effective means of stopping, or even slowing, the spread of the Wuhan Virus, there are countless human activities—as much of the past 18 months have well demonstrated—that simply cannot take place.

If we really need to wear masks, restaurants cannot be allowed to operate fully with indoor dining. Likewise with indoor gyms, bars, concerts, sporting events, movie theaters, churches, and the like. Thus, mask wearing means widespread lockdowns and shutdowns must occur. In other words, as ineffective as masks and lockdowns have been at stopping or slowing the spread of the Wuhan Virus, they have been just as effective at destroying lives and livelihoods.

At the end of 2020, we already knew that hundreds of thousands of U.S. small businesses were permanently shut down due to the lockdowns. More recent numbers indicate that this only continued into 2021. As the New York Post reported early last month,

The Biden administration recently projected that more than 400,000 small businesses have closed permanently, but that’s likely a massive underestimate: Already by June 2020, the Hamilton Project had counted 400,000 closures. Opportunity ­Insights data, meanwhile, show that by the end of May 2021, there were 38.9 percent fewer small businesses open ­nationwide than at the outset of 2020.

Small business forms the US economy’s backbone, accounting for more than 99 percent of all business entities, and before 2020, around half of growth domestic product and jobs. 

And these businesses bore the brunt of lockdowns. The Alignable report found that 37 percent of small businesses couldn’t pay their rent in full and on time.

There are many reasons to hate the masks, but this is perhaps the most important. For far too many of us, life simply can’t go on as it’s supposed to under mask mandates, and the results are devastating, particularly financially. Actress Scarlett Johansson provides a great example here. When she is political, Ms. Johansson is usually reliably left-wing—supporting the evil abortion industry and the perverse LGBT agenda. However, it seems she draws the line at leftist politics when it impacts her financial bottom line.

Ms. Johansson’s recent hit film, Black Widow, will likely soon be the top grossing U.S. film of the year so far, and at year’s end will almost certainly be one of the highest grossing films of 2021. However, it would have been even more of a financial hit if Disney had limited release of the film to theaters only. It sounds like Ms. Johansson thinks this was the agreement she had with Disney when she signed on to do the film.

Instead of a theatrical release only, Disney also made Black Widow available for streaming through Disney+ (for a $30 fee). Ms. Johansson is alleging breach of contract, and last week she and her legal team filed a lawsuit. Allowing viewers to stream the movie significantly reduces film revenues and thus also reduces Ms. Johansson’s overall compensation for starring in the film.

As is often the case with blockbuster films, the big name stars who lend their talents to such films receive a portion of the revenues. According to Fox Business, Disney’s move to simultaneously release Black Widow in theaters and on its streaming platform, “reportedly has cost Johansson more than $50 million.”

Fox Business also reports that “Disney released the movie on Disney+ because of the pandemic which caused theaters to limit in-person capacity.” In response to Johansson’s lawsuit, a Disney spokesman declared,

The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Disney has fully complied with Ms. Johansson’s contract and furthermore, the release of ‘Black Widow’ on Disney+ with Premier Access has significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20M she has received to date.

In other words, because many theaters across the U.S. remain in lockdown mode, Disney decided to allow streaming of the film, and it is “callous” for one to question such decisions. Lots of us who’ve questioned the lockdowns, the mask mandates, and the like have been called “callous” and worse. Yet, as the data well proves, the masks and lockdowns aren’t saving lives as much as they are destroying them.

Whatever the outcome of her lawsuit, Ms. Johansson will (or should) be just fine financially and professionally. However, that is not the case for countless Americans. This is why masks and lockdowns must be opposed at every opportunity. Like Ms. Johansson, parents in Gwinnett County, Georgia are suing (and protesting) to stop the largest school district in Georgia from imposing a newly announced mask mandate. This needs to happen throughout America.

Wearing a mask isn’t merely a polite, precautionary activity that is simply a slight inconvenience. The masks and corresponding lockdowns have wrought widespread devastation and should be opposed at most every turn. Good for you, Ms. Johansson! I hope more Americans follow your lead!

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2021, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com  

Anthony Fauci: Prophet of Scientism

We were warned decades ago. In 1958, in Willing Slaves of the Welfare State, C.S. Lewis wrote,

[T]he new oligarchy must more and more base its claim to plan us on its claim to knowledge. If we are to be mothered, mother must know best. This means they must increasingly rely on the advice of scientists, till in the end the politicians proper become merely the scientists’ puppets. Technocracy is the form to which a planned society must tend. Now I dread specialists in power because they are specialists speaking outside their special subjects. Let scientists tell us about sciences. But government involves questions about the good for man, and justice, and what things are worth having at what price; and on these a scientific training gives a man’s opinion no added value. Let the doctor tell me I shall die unless I do so-and-so; but whether life is worth having on those terms is no more a question for him than for any other man…I dread government in the name of science. That is how tyrannies come in.

In the past 18 months, has there been a more dreaded “specialist in power” than Dr. Anthony Fauci? Seemingly reveling in his ability to inflict technocratic tyranny, Fauci has spent much of the past 18 months speaking outside his special subject. And during the Wuhan virus “casedemic” (it was more this than a pandemic) even when he stuck to his “special subject” (immunology and infectious diseases), Fauci has frequently been proven wrong.

On everything from masks (again and again!) to social distancing, testing, the lockdowns, the vaccinated, the asymptomatic, herd immunity, and the origins of the Wuhan virus, Fauci (along with his like-minded ilk) has regularly failed to get it right. Nevertheless, Fauci tells us that those now calling him out—with some (rightly) demanding his resignation or firing—for his repeated failures and deceit are guilty of attacking “science and the truth.”

In other words, in order to protect himself, Fauci is hiding behind “the science.” This is nothing more than another technocrat using scientism to further himself and his perverse agenda, all the while hoping to keep his hands on the levers of Big Government as long as possible. Like all of those steeped in scientism, Fauci is guilty of abusing the scientific method and scientific authority.

Fauci’s scientism has wrought near-immeasurable damage to the U.S. Hundreds of thousands of American businesses were shut down during the foolish lockdowns, with many never to reopen. As a result, millions of Americans lost their jobs. In an attempt to fix this self-inflicted problem, the U.S. government has incurred several trillion dollars more in debt on top of the numerous trillions in debt with which we were already burdened.

In addition, churches were shuttered, playgrounds were closed, sports—even outdoor sports!—were cancelled, concerts were called off, and so on. America entered an unprecedented—and tragically unnecessary—era of inactivity. Because we were repeatedly and wrongly told that a “wave” of virus cases was imminent, hospitals virtually emptied out, postponed treatments and surgeries, and told most everyone to stay away. In other words, thanks largely to Fauci’s scientism, the health care demands of the Wuhan virus were grossly overestimated and many who needed medical care could not get it.

As I noted back in August of 2020, these demands were so “grossly overestimated” that billions of taxpayer dollars were unnecessarily spent—in other words, wasted—on “field hospitals” that were supposedly meant to help “handle” the virus patients as states fought to “flatten the curve.” Numerous hospitals that cost tens of millions of dollars each never treated a single patient. Others treated only a few dozen. Additionally, the hospital patient shortage was so massive that numerous U.S. hospitals suffered unprecedented, albeit self-inflicted, financial devastation.

In spite of being in less danger from the Wuhan virus than they are from the seasonal flu, millions of U.S. students have not seen the inside of their schools for almost a year-and-a-half. Most of those that were allowed to return to school have been foolishly and ignorantly required to wear a face mask. Since U.S. schools were shut down in March of 2020, week after week has provided clear data that shows that the young and healthy are in virtually no danger from the Wuhan virus. Yet the shutdowns and the masking persisted. Why?! The only answer is: scientism.

Fauci has proven himself to be the high priest of this perverse ideology. Make no mistake: much of what has been imposed in the name of the Wuhan virus—including widespread changes in election methods—was done to keep Donald Trump from winning re-election and to further empower power-hungry democrats. However, scientism was the means by which almost all of this was accomplished.

What else could explain many Americans still wearing masks outdoors and alone in their cars? What else could explain an insistence (and then quick reversal) that the vaccinated continue to wear masks and practice “social distancing?” What else could explain the eager rush to shun the idea that the Wuhan virus was manufactured and escaped from a Wuhan lab? What else could explain the rejection of proven remedies to fight diseases like the Wuhan virus?

It was never the business of men (or women) like Dr. Fauci to lead the way in deciding how any government—but especially the government of the United States of America—should govern during a health crisis. Living life on his “terms” during the Wuhan virus debacle has proved a tragic mistake. Hopefully enough Americans have learned the right lessons.

(See this column at American Thinker.) 

Copyright 2021, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

The Data Are Clear: STOP MASKING CHILDREN!!!

School boards and administrations--and even more tragically, many parents--across the U.S. should be ASHAMED! They have played a terrible role in one of the worst public policy mandates in American history. The excellent infographic (originating on Twitter) below--with dozens of citations in support--says it all: 

The Citations: 

(1) osf.io/ezdf2/
(2) nytimes.com/2020/11/10/hea…
(3) thehill.com/opinion/health…
(4) bbc.com/news/health-53…
(5) cmaj.ca/content/early/…
(6) medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
(7) medrxiv.org/content/10.110…

The Children Never Had the Coronavirus. So Why Did They Have Antibodies?A provocative study suggests that certain colds may leave antibodies against the new coronavirus, perhaps explaining why children are more protected than adults.https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/health/coronavirus-children.html

Restore our lives using medical science, data and common senseWhile the lockdown may have been justified at the start, when little data was known, we know far more about the virus today.https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/514948-restore-our-lives-using-medical-science-data-and-common-sense

Coronavirus: 'Reassuring' study of children's 'tiny' riskSevere Covid-19 is rare and dying from it exceptionally rare, a study of UK hospital data finds.https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53932294

Infectivity of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in children compared with adultsBACKGROUND: The role of children in the transmission and community spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is unclear. We aimed to quantify the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2…https://www.cmaj.ca/content/early/2021/04/09/cmaj.210263

Association between living with children and outcomes from COVID-19: an OpenSAFELY cohort study of 12 million adults in EnglandBackground Close contact with children may provide cross-reactive immunity to SARs-CoV-2 due to more frequent prior coryzal infections from seasonal coronaviruses. Alternatively, close contact with ch…https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.01.20222315v1

Sharing a household with children and risk of COVID-19: a study of over 300,000 adults living in healthcare worker households in ScotlandBackground Children are relatively protected from novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). The reasons for this protection are not well understood but differences in the immune response to Severe Acute…https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.21.20196428v1

(8) papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
(9) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.100…
(10) journalofinfection.com/article/S0163-…
(11) journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/a…
(12) jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman…
(13) jcm.asm.org/content/early/…
(14) https://medrxiv.org/content/10.110...1/2021.04.16.21255616v1

Transmission dynamics of SARS‐CoV‐2 within families with children in Greece: A study of 23 clustersThere is limited information on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection clustering within families with children. We aimed to study the transmission dynamics of SARS‐Co.…https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jmv.26394

The role of children in the spread of COVID-19: Using household data from Bnei Brak, Israel, to estimate the relative susceptibility and infectivity of childrenAuthor summary One of the significant unanswered questions about COVID-19 epidemiology relates to the role of children in transmission. In this study we estimate susceptibility and infectivity of chil…https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008559

Comparison of Upper Respiratory Viral Load Distributions in Asymptomatic and Symptomatic Children Diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Pediatric Hospital Testing ProgramsThe distribution of upper respiratory viral loads (VL) in asymptomatic children infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is unknown. We assessed PCR cycle threshold (…https://jcm.asm.org/content/early/2020/10/22/JCM.02593-20

Prevalence and Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Childcare Facilities: A Longitudinal StudyObjectives Previous data indicate that children might play a less crucial role in SARS-CoV-2 transmission than initially assumed. We conducted a study to gain further knowledge on prevalence, transmis…https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.16.21255616v1

(15) pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediat…
(16) eurosurveillance.org/content/10.280…
(17) earlylearningnation.com/2020/08/lets-t…
(18) thetimes.co.uk/article/pupils…
(19) pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/…
(20) cream-migration.org/publ_uploads/C…
(21) https://nber.org/papers/w28619

‘Pupils pose little risk of spreading Covid’One of the largest studies in the world on coronavirus in schools, carried out in 100 institutions in the UK, will confirm that “there is very little evidence that the virus is transmitted” therehttps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pupils-pose-no-risk-of-spreading-covid-27q6zfd9l

Let’s Talk About the Encouraging COVID Experience of U.S. Child Care Programs - Early Learning NationOne of the most frustrating aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic is the need to act with incomplete information, like driving along a twisting road in deephttps://earlylearningnation.com/2020/08/lets-talk-about-the-encouraging-covid-experience-of-u-s-child-care-programs/

COVID-19 Transmission in US Child Care ProgramsOBJECTIVES: Central to the debate over school and child care reopening is whether children are efficient coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmitters and are likely to increase community spread wh…https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2020/10/16/peds.2020-031971.long

The Incidence and Magnitude of the Health Costs of In-person Schooling during the COVID-19 Pandemichttps://www.nber.org/papers/w28619

(22) outbreaknewstoday.com/sweden-report-…
(23) pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/147/4/…
(24) npr.org/2020/10/21/925…
(25) nytimes.com/2020/10/19/nyr…
(26) thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/g…
(27) telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/2…
(28) watson.brown.edu/taubman/news/2…

Sweden report: Teachers do not have a higher risk of being infected with COVID-19 - Outbreak News TodayBy NewsDesk  @bactiman63 Children still make up a small proportion of the reported COVID-19 cases in Sweden. A new report shows that primary school teachers, preschool teachers and childminders who me…http://outbreaknewstoday.com/sweden-report-teachers-do-not-have-a-higher-risk-of-being-infected-with-covid-19-49944/

Incidence and Secondary Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Infections in SchoolsBACKGROUND: In an effort to mitigate the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), North Carolina closed prekindergarten through grade 12 public schools to in-person inst…https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/147/4/e2020048090

Are The Risks Of Reopening Schools Exaggerated?New research has found few links between in-person K-12 schooling and COVID-19 case rates. "There is not a consistent pattern," one study author said.https://www.npr.org/2020/10/21/925794511/were-the-risks-of-reopening-schools-exaggerated

Surprising Results in Initial Virus Testing in N.Y.C. SchoolsThe absence of outbreaks, if it holds, suggests that the city’s efforts to return children to classrooms could serve as an influential model for the nation.https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/19/nyregion/schools-coronavirus.html

Not a single child was hospitalised with coronavirus after schools reopened in JunePHE findings come as Britain’s chief medical officers warn that children are more at risk of long-term harm by not attending classhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/23/reopening-schools-june-not-single-child-hospitalised-coronavirus/?WT.mc_id=tmgliveapp_androidshare_Avz4yyvYF8nm

Going to school ‘does not increase risk of young children catching coronavirus’Children going to primary school or nursery are at no greater risk of picking up Covid-19 than those staying at home, according to the first results of a national surveillance programme.Public Healthhttps://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/going-to-school-does-not-increase-risk-of-young-children-catching-coronavirus-56bk8kp3x

(29) usatoday.com/story/news/inv…
(30) wwno.org/post/data-prov…
(31) politico.com/states/new-jer…
(32) thelancet.com/journals/lanin…
(33) pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediat…
(34) unicef.org/press-releases…
(35) https://mirror.co.uk/news/politics/...just-1-300-school-pupils-24035633

Florida schools reopened en masse, but a surge in coronavirus didn't follow, a USA TODAY analysis findsA USA TODAY analysis shows the state’s positive case count among kids ages 5 to 17 declined through late September after a peak in July.https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2020/09/28/florida-schools-reopened-en-mass-feared-covid-surge-hasnt-followed/3557417001/

Data Provides 'No Indication' COVID-19 Is Spreading In New Orleans K-12 SchoolsWith seven weeks worth of data, New Orleans Health Director Dr. Jennifer Avegno said there’s “no indication” COVID-19 is spreading within the city’s K-12…https://www.wwno.org/post/data-provides-no-indication-covid-19-spreading-new-orleans-k-12-schools

UNICEF: Schools are not 'main drivers' of Covid among kids"There is strong evidence that, with basic safety measures in place, the net benefits of keeping schools open outweigh the costs of closing them," said UNICEF.https://www.politico.com/states/new-jersey/story/2020/11/18/unicef-schools-are-not-main-drivers-of-covid-among-kids-1337119

SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission in educational settings: a prospective, cross-sectional analysis of infection clusters and outbreaks in EnglandSARS-CoV-2 infections and outbreaks were uncommon in educational settings during the summer half-term in England. The strong association with regional COVID-19 incidence emphasises the importance of c…https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30882-3/fulltext

Children cannot afford another year of school disruptionhttps://www.unicef.org/press-releases/children-cannot-afford-another-year-school-disruption

Just 1 in 300 school pupils tested positive for Covid over two weeks in MarchNew ONS statistics also show only 1 in 500 teachers tested positive for Covid-19 over the fortnight period - reassuring parents that there wasn't an explosion in cases after England's schools went bac…https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/just-1-300-school-pupils-24035633

(36) cnbc.com/2021/04/23/mit…
(37) thelancet.com/journals/lanin…
(38) ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/…
(39) medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
(40) acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/L2…
(41) city-journal.org/do-we-need-mas…
(42) https://ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/qu...estions-answers/questions-answers-school-transmission

MIT researchers say time spent indoors increases risk of Covid at 6 feet or 60 feet in new study challenging social distancing policiesThe CDC and WHO guidelines fail to factor in the amount of time spent indoors, which increases the chance of transmission the longer people are inside.https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/23/mit-researchers-say-youre-no-safer-from-covid-indoors-at-6-feet-or-60-feet-in-new-study.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=news_tab&utm_content=algorithm

Transmission of COVID-19 in 282 clusters in Catalonia, Spain: a cohort studyIn our study, the viral load of index cases was a leading driver of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. The risk of symptomatic COVID-19 was strongly associated with the viral load of contacts at baseline and sh…https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30985-3/fulltext

Do We Need Mask Mandates? | City JournalThe science suggests that more states should consider rescinding them.https://www.city-journal.org/do-we-need-mask-mandates

Questions and answers on COVID-19: Children aged 1 – 18 years and the role of school settingsHow likely are children to catch and transmit the virus in school settings? When and how will schools be reopened?https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/questions-answers/questions-answers-school-transmission

(43) who.int/news-room/q-a-…
(44) thv11.com/article/news/h…
(45) wset.com/news/coronavir…
(46) kesq.com/news/2020/10/2…
(47) theguardian.com/world/2020/oct…
(48) telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/2…
(49) https://telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/02/2...4/schools-told-not-punish-pupils-refuse-wear-masks/

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Children and maskshttps://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-children-and-masks-related-to-covid-19

Arkansas schools say kids coming to class with 'filthy' masksSchools across the state aren't having much of an issue getting kids to wear a mask, but instead, many are going to school with a dirty one.https://www.thv11.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/schools-urging-parents-to-wash-kids-mask-as-many-are-coming-to-class-with-filthy-ones/91-3918588a-3df0-474f-868e-ff0cd735c4d0

How dirty is your face mask? ABC13 InvestigatesFace masks are now a part of our daily routine; many people don’t leave home without one. The Centers for Disease Control and local health experts agree; masks help prevent the spread of COVID-1…https://wset.com/news/coronavirus/abc13-investigates-how-dirty-is-your-face-mask

Are you washing your mask frequently enough? Health officials discuss risks of improper mask care - KESQLocal health officials are reminding people to properly care for their face masks.  As news channel 3’s Madison Weil reports, not washing or changing a mask frequently enough has its own set of risks.…https://kesq.com/news/2020/10/23/are-you-washing-your-mask-frequently-enough-health-officials-discuss-risks-of-improper-mask-care/

The most common ways we're wearing face masks incorrectlyAn expert explains why scarves and masks with holes cut in them are less effective at preventing the transmission of coronavirushttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/02/the-most-common-ways-were-wearing-face-masks-incorrectly

Sweden stands firm on face masks as Anders Tegnell refuses to copy other countries' strategy In an interview with the Telegraph, Dr Tegnell argues there is an increased spread in countries that enforce face-mask wearinghttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/21/sweden-stands-firm-face-masks-anders-tegnell-refuses-copy-countries/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1598084360

Schools told they cannot force pupils to wear masksGovernment says children should not be 'denied education' for non-compliance with measures that are voluntaryhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/02/24/schools-told-not-punish-pupils-refuse-we

(50) thetexan.news/texas-school-b…
(51) wpr.org/after-student-…
(52) trib.com/news/state-and…
(53) nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
(54) dfw.cbslocal.com/2021/03/08/rur…
(55) cbc.ca/news/world/den…
(56) https://floridapolitics.com/archives/42046...9-richard-corcoran-districts-can-make-facemasks-voluntary-for-new-school-year/

Texas School Boards Shedding Mask MandatesAfter Governor Greg Abbott gave the order to open the state, the TEA said school boards have the power to vote out their mask mandates.https://thetexan.news/texas-school-boards-shedding-mask-mandates/

After Student Walkout, Medford Schools Become Latest To Lift Mask RequirementsMedford is the latest Wisconsin school district to loosen or eliminate mask requirements. It's part of a statewide wave of votes by school boards in rural and suburban areas.https://www.wpr.org/after-student-walkout-medford-schools-become-latest-lift-mask-requirements

Open Schools, Covid-19, and Child and Teacher Morbidity in Sweden | NEJMCorrespondence from The New England Journal of Medicine — Open Schools, Covid-19, and Child and Teacher Morbidity in Swedenhttps://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2026670

Ten Wyoming school districts no longer require face masksA majority of the districts serve fewer than 1,000 total students.https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/education/ten-wyoming-school-districts-no-longer-require-face-masks/article_4beb3bf3-9bba-576d-90eb-e77e8f2bd4da.html

'Our Kids Have Thrived': Rural Peaster ISD Never Required Masks Or Distancing And Most Students Are On Track AcademicallyThe rural school district in Parker County, northwest of Weatherford, never made masks an issue for students or staff this school year. Wear one, or don’t.https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2021/03/08/rural-peaster-isd-texas-masks-distancing-students-academically/

No masks, no distancing: Schools in Denmark defy COVID-19 — with success so far | CBC NewsStudents in Denmark were some of the first in the world to head back to school after COVID-19 lockdowns. Countries around the world, including Canada, have looked at the Danish model in designing thei…https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/denmark-schools-covid-19-pandemic-1.5720508

Richard Corcoran: Districts can make facemasks voluntary for new school yearCorcoran also said face-covering policies inhibit peer-to-peer learning.https://floridapolitics.com/archives/420469-richard-corcoran-districts-can-make-facemasks-voluntary-for-new-school-year/

(57) statsiq.co1.qualtrics.com/public-dashboa…
(58) newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/c…
(59) scientificamerican.com/article/masks-…
(60) telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/2…
(61) dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wal…
(62) researchautism.org/the-challenge-…
(63) https://theguardian.com/world/2020/oct.../19/charities-fear-impact-of-masks-on-deaf-children-in-uk-schools

Masks Can Be Detrimental to Babies’ Speech and Language DevelopmentThe good news is that parents can take action to compensatehttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/masks-can-be-detrimental-to-babies-speech-and-language-development/

Ex school principal: Education and socialisation cannot happen behind a maskThe proposal that our children cover their noses and mouths for 6/7 hours per day whilst at school, including in the classroom is inhumane.https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/columnists/ex-school-principal-education-and-socialisation-cannot-happen-behind-a-mask-3194054

School masks: face coverings could damage children's speech development, warn scientistsChildren’s Task and Finish Group report was endorsed by Sage on July 9, well before the Government’s U-turnhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/26/school-masks-potential-damage-speech-development-far-greater/

The lonely world of 10-year-old deaf boy who struggles with people in facemasksTracy Holtom said her eldest child, Stephen already feels isolated because of his disabilityhttps://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/lonely-world-10-year-old-20474208

Charities fear impact of masks on deaf children in UK schoolsConcern that pupils who rely on lip reading may suffer academically without supporthttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/19/charities-fear-impact-of-masks-on-deaf-

(64) canoncitydailyrecord.com/2021/05/05/fam…
(65) researchsquare.com/article/rs-124…
(66) mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8…
(67) ecotextile.com/2021040127603/…
(68) healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-r…
(69) chemicalwatch.com/172819/danish-…
(70) https://montanadailygazette.com/2021/01/25/new...-study-finds-masks-hurt-schoolchildren-physically-psychologically-and-behaviorally/

Family of four removed from Southwest Airlines flight after disclosing son’s disabilityA Northglenn mother says her family was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight because of her 3-year-old son’s sensory disability.https://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/2021/05/05/family-de-boarded-southwest-airlines-disability/

Is a Mask That Covers the Mouth and Nose Free from Undesirable Side Effects in Everyday Use and Free of Potential Hazards?Many countries introduced the requirement to wear masks in public spaces for containing SARS-CoV-2 making it commonplace in 2020. Up until now, there has been no comprehensive investigation as to the …https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/4344

Corona children studies "Co-Ki": First results of a Germany-wide registry on mouth and nose covering (mask) in childrenBackground: Narratives about complaints in children and adolescents caused by wearing a mask are accumulating. There is, to date, no registry for side effects of masks.Methods: At the University of Wi…https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-124394/v2

New Study Finds Masks Hurt Schoolchildren Physically, Psychologically, and Behaviorally - Montana Daily GazetteA new study, involving over 25,000 school-aged children, shows that masks are harming schoolchildren physically, psychologically, and behaviorally, revealing 24 distinct health issues associated with …https://montanadailygazette.com/2021/01/25/new-study-finds-masks-hurt-schoolchildren-physically-psychologically-and-behaviorally/

(71) mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8…
(72) bmj.com/content/370/bm…
(73) https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P...MC7680614/

Facemasks in the COVID-19 era: A health hypothesisMany countries across the globe utilized medical and non-medical facemasks as non-pharmaceutical intervention for reducing the transmission and infectivity of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Alth…https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7680614/

Psychosocial, biological, and immunological risks for children and pupils make long-term wearing of mouth masks difficult to maintainhttps://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3021/rr-6

Is a Mask That Covers the Mouth and Nose Free from Undesirable Side Effects in Everyday Use and Free of Potential Hazards?Many countries introduced the requirement to wear masks in public spaces for containing SARS-CoV-2 making it commonplace in 2020. Up until now, there has been no comprehensive investigation as to the …https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/4344

In other words, as I've often said the past year, "THE DATA ARE CLEAR!" 

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com