☕️ Coffee & Covid ☙ Monday, November 29, 2021 ☙ HAPPY BLUE DAY 🦠

We multiply Governor Laura Kelly for signing vaccine mandate exemption law; Florida goes Blue — in a good way; Omicron news; Biden maskless; Covid protests rock the world; and Columbia U pays up.

Happy Monday, C&C fans! It’s officially the Christmas season, and I — for one — have my holiday music cranking. In today’s roundup: new orders to multiply Kansas Governor Laura Kelly; Florida goes Blue, in a great big good way; critics pound Biden’s Omicron travel bans; South African doctors are bewildered by all this Omicron hysteria; the Bidens defy mask mandates; Covid mandate protests in Martinique; the Czech government cancels Christmas sparking protests in Prague; Covid mandate protests in more than two dozen cities and towns in Australia; Fauci and science merge together — in his overheated brain; Goldman Sachs advises investors keep calm; the New York Times panics; Florida Politics doesn’t panic; Columbia University pays up; and a new house bill in Florida would protect health care providers’ social media posts from official retaliation.

*🪖 *THE C&C ARMY POST* 🪖*

🪖 OPERATION MULTIPLIER: Let’s go, team! We have a new target for multiplication today: Kansas Governor Laura Kelly. Last week she signed an injection-mandate-exemption bill that looks remarkably like Florida’s and will save tens of thousands of jobs, if not more. Kelly is a democrat who worked with Kansas’ republican legislature to get the new law done. This is exactly what we want: non-partisan cooperation to secure freedom and liberty for all Americans.

Here’s the link to Kelly’s re-election contribution page.

Stop reading RIGHT NOW and give Kelly $12, or any amount ending in a ‘2’. Let’s keep making history. You will feel GREAT after you do it, I promise. I just did mine and it feels TERRIFIC. Do it now, don’t wait till you finish reading the post. I’ll be here when you come back, don’t worry. We now have over 40,000 members on the Substack list and 20,000 friends and followers on Facebook (with, I assume, some overlap).

Let’s CRUSH today’s Kelly fundraising. Working together, we can send a loud and clear message to lawmakers across this country. Don’t assume everyone else is doing it so you can sit out. Get in the battle and do it now.

An update: I finally have some intel on our DeSantis multiplier, and it looks good. VERY good. I can’t share details yet but we ARE on the map now. From what I’ve been told, the campaign will report the latest figures at the end of November, and one of our C&C spreadsheet experts will figure the totals for us. Once we get a few multipliers under our belts, we’ll get some national media attention. Just watch.

*🗞*COVID NEWS AND COMMENTARY* 🗞*

🔥 Oh boy, there’s only ONE “blue” state on the CDC’s Covid-19 heat map this morning, and can you guess which state it is? Okay, that was too easy, but still, it’s bugging a lot of anti-Florida, pro-lockdown public health experts today. After all, it should be impossible! Florida has defied all the traditional “guaranteed” public health measures: mandatory masks, school closures, lockdowns, and vaccine passports.

To get to Blue, a state has to have most of its county community transmission rates under 5%. That’s pretty low. Florida’s been under 5% for EIGHT WEEKS, and just turned almost completely “Blue.”

Most of the rest of the country is still in the Red, with only a handful of Southeastern states in the Yellow. There are very few “blue” counties anywhere on the rest of the country’s map.

Here’s the link, it’s a beautiful thing: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view. Enjoy!

I guess — for balance — I should note that a disgraced ex-data entry clerk and cyber-stalker has a theory that Florida is cooking the books, all of a sudden. Because that makes sense.

Oh! And I almost forgot. Sweden called and offered its congratulations.

🔥 The Times of India ran an article Saturday headlined, “South African medical association says Omicron variant causes ‘mild disease’.”

South African Medical Association chairwoman Angelique Coetzee said, “It presents mild disease with symptoms being sore muscles and tiredness for a day or two of not feeling well. So far, we have detected that those infected do not suffer loss of taste or smell. They might have a slight cough. There are no prominent symptoms. Of those infected some are currently being treated at home.”

She also said that South African hospitals are NOT overwhelmed by Omicron patients. She said, “as medical practitioners, we do not know why so much hype is being driven as we are still looking into it.”

It is extremely unlikely that Omicron — or any other Covid variant — will ever develop “new” dangerous behaviors. Almost all observed evolutionary development results from a LOSS of genetic information. A classic example is the polar bear, which did not GAIN the ability to be all white and therefore camouflaged in the snow. The polar bears LOST the DNA to make melatonin.

That’s the main reason viruses almost always mutate into less virulent strains. Their genetic information simplifies over time. In fact, one reason that Omicron can be detected using standard PCR tests, apparently, is because it is MISSING a particularly gene.

In other words, Omicron has LOST genetic information compared to Delta. While it is theoretically possible for a virus to become deadlier by losing genetic information, it is super unlikely. So.

🔥 The New York Post ran an article yesterday headlined, “Biden and Fauci’s Omicron travel ban ‘worse than useless,’ critics say.” The article quotes a bunch of skeptical critics of the Biden Administration’s knee-jerk response to Omicron, including Senator Tom Cotton, who tweeted Saturday that “Joe Biden and Tony Fauci push crushing restrictions on Americans—like masking two-year-olds—that are pointless. But when it comes to targeted travel bans to protect American citizens, it’s nothing but incompetence and half measures from this White House.”

Incompetence yes. But half measures? That implies that half of the measures do something useful. I’m not sure I can go there with you, Senator Cotton.

🔥 For his part, the Post reported that Biden was spotted maskless in a swanky Nantucket tog shop over the weekend. The photo accompanying the article clearly shows Biden through a window bearing a huge sign that says “REQUIRED FACE COVERING.” Later the same day, Jill Biden was spotted at Nantucket’s Slip 14 bar, also maskless.

Not too worried about Omicron, I guess. I mean, of COURSE, defying Nantucket’s mask mandates for one thing. But I guess the Bidens aren’t exactly working around the clock on this terrifying new variant problem, unless swanking around Nantucket counts.

🔥 Reuters reported yesterday that “Martinique COVID-19 lockdown protests intensify.” An article about the protests says that some folks on the French Caribbean islands call the vaccine mandates a throwback to France’s slavery era, insisting that they should be allowed to make their own choices about health treatments. Imagine that. I guess they think the government is treating their bodies like its property. According to Reuters, Martinique officials had to order a curfew on Thursday, after protesters looted shops and set up burning barricades.

🔥 MSN reported yesterday that “Thousands protest coronavirus restrictions in Czech capital”. According to the story, it was the third protest in the last two weeks. Shockingly, the protestors didn’t wear face masks or follow social distancing rules — and they even drank BEER despite a ban on drinking alcohol in public. Crazy. MSN says the protesters chanted “Freedom!” and “We’ve had enough!” and held banners that MSN says “discouraged getting vaccinated,” like “My body my choice.”

On Friday, the Czech government cancelled Christmas, banning all traditional Christmas markets country-wide.

🦘 Meanwhile down under, 7 News Australia reported that “Thousands gather in Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast and across Australia in orchestrated protests against COVID-19 vaccines, restrictions.” The story says that a group called Millions March Against Mandatory Vaccination organized protests in more than two dozen cities and towns across the locked-down country.

7 News said that the Melbourne protests were the third consecutive weekend there, and protesters held signs saying things like “fear God not Dan”, “end segregation now” and “kill the bill”, in reference to a set of new pandemic laws currently before parliament.

Australia just cancelled travel with nine African countries over the so-called Omicron variant.

🪳 Fauci thinks that people who criticize him are dangerous and hate Science. Because he IS Science. “Anybody who’s looking at this carefully realizes that there’s a distinct anti-science flavor to this…” Fauci told CBS’ Face the Nation yesterday. “They’re really criticizing science because I represent science. That’s dangerous.”

Someone has a very high opinion of themselves! You know what they say about Pride. Somebody should explain the concept of Nemesis to the good doctor.

🏦 In a note to investors published Friday, financial powerhouse Goldman Sachs said “we can have reasonable degree of confidence that this mutation is unlikely to be more malicious and that the existing vaccines will most likely continue to be effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths … we do not think that the new variant is sufficient reason to make major portfolio changes.”

So. Put your money on “nothing burger.”

🔥 Meanwhile the New York Times published an op-ed yesterday headlined, “Omicron Is Coming. The U.S. Must Act Now.” Act now? To do what? The Times says we need a “dynamic response” including “tough containment measures.” Oh. Here we go again. And, even though all the experts on the ground are saying that there is ZERO evidence that Omicron can escape the current injections, the Times demanded that “[v]accine manufacturers should also immediately begin developing vaccines specifically for Omicron.”

Don’t wait for data! Because Science! Shut up!

The Time first praised Biden’s racist travel bans but then called them “pandemic theatrics” because they didn’t take effect immediately and didn’t go far enough. According to the Times, we need “quarantine requirements for all travelers[.]” ALL travelers. Every single one. That would even go further than we did for the original virus or the Delta variant.

In other words, the Times wants to do all the stuff that didn’t work the first time, except harder. Makes sense.

🔥 Florida Politics, a reliably pro-lockdown news source, had this to say about Omicron: “At this point, the best advice is this: Be wary, but not worried.” Not worried! Finally! Progress.

👨‍⚖️ According to reports late last week, in a settlement proposal filed in New York federal court, Columbia University agreed to pay $12.5 million to students, to resolve a lawsuit seeking tuition and fee reimbursements after its Covid campus closures. Students had brought a class action lawsuit against the Ivy League school last year, alleging it had deprived them of in-person instruction, access to campus facilities, student activities and other benefits for which they had paid tuition and fees.

Sometimes I think it would have been better for the legal business down here if Florida hadn’t acted so fast to reopen schools. Oh well!

🔥 Florida representative Brad Drake (R) filed a physician “free speech” bill that would require the state or its licensing boards to prove by clear and convincing evidence that a health care provider’s social media posts caused harm to a current patient before revoking — or even threatening to revoke — a doctor or nurse’s license, certificate, or registration. Nice.

Under the proposed bill, HB 687, the Florida Department of Health or its licensure boards could also be liable for up to $1.5 million to any doctor who suffers direct or indirect damages as a result of an unsuccessful regulatory effort.

So far, the bill lacks a senate sponsor. Maybe we need to multiply Representative Drake next week? I’d like to see the bill include protections for independent medical judgment for providers who treat patients for Covid using well-attested drugs like the horse dewormer.

Have a marvelous Monday! I’ll see you back here tomorrow for more C&C.

Did you do your multiplier?? You’re late! For heaven’s sake, do it right now before you forget.

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