Skip to main content

When Feelings (and apparently Justices) Don't Need Facts

I have a few questions about the vaccine mandate that no one seems to be able to answer.  The mandate makes little sense to me, because of these questions.

If those who want to be vaccinated, are vaccinated, and the vaccines effectively protect against serious illness and death in most cases, then what is the compelling interest in forcing the vaccine on people who don't want it?  

We now know (despite previous statements to the contrary) that the COVID-19 vaccine does not prevent a person from catching and spreading the virus.  If you need proof of that, look to major sports in the US.  Despite the vast majority of players being vaccinated, COVID has spread like wildfire through the ranks of the NBA, NFL and NHL.  It got so bad in the NFL that they changed their policies. So, if a vaccinated person can spread and catch the virus, how exactly does the mandate protect anyone?  

Does the mandate violate equal protection under the law by requiring vaccine mandates for business with 100 employees, but not those with 97?  Are employees of smaller businesses less important than those of larger businesses?  As far as I know, most OSHA safety regulations for a certain type of business apply whether the business has 10 employees or 1,000.  Except for this one.  If the compelling interest is that it's OSHA's job to protect employees from unsafe conditions, they appear to only want to help the employees of big business. 

I think those questions need to be answered.

I like to follow cases in the Supreme Court.  I had a compelling interest to follow the challenge to the vaccine mandate.  I was taken aback by the falsehoods promoted by men and women who are supposed to be smarter than the average person.  I am the average person, and I know:

1) Hospitals are not crowded with seriously ill COVID patients.  The are crowded with seriously scared patients.  People who need a test because they were exposed, even though they show no symptoms.  People with mild cold symptoms.  People who are positive but show no symptoms.  People who are suffering mental health issues, either brought on or made worse by two years of COVID panic and isolation.  People with other medical issues who put off treatment out of fear of catching COVID.

2) Justice Breyer said that there were 750 million new cases the day before arguments.  Now, he never said that was in the US alone, which would be impossible, since there aren't 750 million people in the US.  However, the worldwide total on January 6, the day before the hearing, the total of new positive cases was at 2.5 million.  Breyer over counted the new cases by a magnitude of over 20.  

3) Justice Sotomayor said we had 100,000 children seriously ill with COVID, many of them on ventilators.  We haven't had 100,000 children seriously ill with COVID in the almost 2 years of the pandemic.  Currently we have about 5,000 hospitalized with COVID, but not necessarily because of COVID.  They are often hospitalized for another reason and because most hospitals test all inpatients, they may be positive, but that's not the reason they are in the hospital.  5,000 and 100,000 are different numbers..by a lot.

4) Justice Sotomayor said Omicron is as deadly as Delta, and I'm pretty sure, outside of Allhapundit of HotAir fame, she is the only person saying this.  

It's hard to argue a case before Justices with such a woeful lack of knowledge about the subject they are arguing. 

The fact is, if you didn't know by now, everyone is going to get some variant of COVID.  The vaccines do no prevent a person from getting COVID, although if you look at certain populations, they seem really surprised they caught COVID despite getting vaccinated and boosted and wearing masks and not gathering and.... A virus has one job, to replicate and infect as many people as possible.  It doesn't care if you wear a mask, if you stay six feet away from everyone, if you live in your basement, and if you get the needle every four months.  It's going to mutate to do it's job if it has to, and that means the formula for the vaccine was outdated the day they released it to the public.  By the time they formulate a booster that protects against Omicron, the virus will have mutated to whatever Greek letter comes next.  

It's time we get on with the business of living our life, and it's more than time that we stop shaming people who don't follow the ever changing government edicts, because frankly they haven't done much to instill confidence.  

As Andy Dufresne says in Shawshank Redemptiong 

"Get busy living or get busy dying."

I, for one, want to live.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What's In A Name?

I love football.  For six long years, I gave it up in protest.  Protest of both a quarterback and a coach, who I thought received far too many accolades for missing the coveted prize in the NFL:  The Superbowl.  I was ecstatic when the Eagles fired Andy Reid, and despite the team's less than stellar start this season, I firmly believe it was a decision that should have been made a long time ago.   I love football.   I have a passionate dislike for several teams in the NFL.  Most of this is due to a conference rivalry that dates back to when the NFC East was the hardest division to play in.  The Dallas Cowgirls (oops...boys), the NY Giants, and the Washington Redskins.  You can't be an Eagles fan and not hate those teams.  It's just not allowed. I love football. What I don't love is smarmy commentators who decide to use their national airtime, during a sport that remains the most popular in the U.S., to score political points, or wo...

Thoughts on Dr. Gosnell and Abortion

If you've been living anywhere outside of the Philadelphia area, odds are you know little or nothing about the trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell that's been taking place the last few months.  You may not even realize that he was arrested in 2010, and that a horrific report by the Grand Jury was released in January 2011. Yesterday he was convicted on three counts of first degree murder in the deaths of 3 babies, who were born alive in his Philadelphia abortion clinic.  He snapped their spinal cords with scissors.  According to testimony, he did this to hundreds of babies, because it was easier to deliver them and kill them afterwards.   Late term abortions are difficult and dangerous, despite what the Pro-Choice movement would have you believe.  After suffering several lawsuits for malpractice, which he settled out of court for around 1.7 million dollars, Dr. Gosnell decided it was more profitable just to kill babies after they were born.  No chance of punctur...

Dear Mr. President:

Why do I feel like I was just treated to a rerun of 2008?  Why do I feel like I've heard this all before?  Why do I feel like I just heard 38 minutes of empty promises?  Dear Mr. President, why do I have such a problem with you? I'm no policy wonk, but I do pay attention. You did say "you didn't build that", and if you were referring to roads and bridges, I ask, where exactly did government get the money to pay for those things?  I think it might have been from the same people you accused of not building that.... You did say, "The private sector is doing fine".  You did say that it was the public sector...state and local government workers were the issue.  The thing is Mr. President, public sector employment is the same as it was 6 years ago.  Private sector employment is negative 3 million jobs. You told reporters that the reason you couldn't forge relationships with the other party is because you wanted to spend time with your family.  M...