โ๏ธ Coffee & Covid โ Saturday, November 13, 2021 โ TIPPING! ๐ฆ ๐
A historic day bursting with monumental portent. The country may be finally tipping over and squashing the madness beneath a house of sanity. Read the whole thing. With extra coffee.
Oh, friends. There have been days โ only a handful of them โ where your author literally couldnโt wait to get to the keyboard to tell you about the news. Itโs not just whenever itโs a one-great-story kind of day. To be a day like today, it has to fire on all cylinders. It has to MEAN SOMETHING. It has to be HISTORIC.
Thatโs today.
We might finally be tipping. Remember the tipping point theory? Weโve been edging up to a tipping point for weeks, maybe months. I think yesterday might just have been the historic day that we finally got to the tippety-top and the whole monstrous edifice began to fall over. Get ready.
๐ *THE C&C ARMY POST* ๐
๐ฅ The Special Legislative Session that weโve been waiting for so very impatiently finally gets underway on Monday morning. The published schedule shows conference meetings on Monday and Tuesday, with the actual session on Wednesday. If I were to venture an investment of capital, Iโd wager the Governor signs something Thursday.
5RRT veterans should plan for active duty next week.
I will keep yaโll posted with as much intel as I can reliably scrape together.
๐ฅ The Special Session, the great bills, and all the parts tipping in Florida may have originated in some part from this office, but they only did so only with your generous support. In the last month or so weโve doubled our staff, including another attorney, weโve been answering hundreds and hundreds of questions from frantic citizens from all over the US, published free guides and forms, drafted legislation for the special and general sessions, coordinated legal strategies around the state, and filing and litigating lawsuits.
The fiends who designed the injection strategy intentionally targeted the weakest defendants first โ we regular folks. Most ordinary people canโt afford an attorney to fight the government, and the injection-maniacs knew that. So we had to band together. Thank you. Especially our subscription donors, who are pitching in a cup of coffee every day.
Now that things are tipping our way, we have to fight HARDER. We must capitalize on this moments. Like General Grant, our strategy needs to be to pursue the enemy. We also need to expand and help our fellow citizens in the lockdown states. If you can afford it, please consider a subscription. Subscriptions help us budget and plan better. We also have a one-time option if you can afford any amount. Either way, I still appreciate all of you just for reading and forwarding the good news every day. That alone is helping turn the tide. https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/-learn-how-to-get-involved-
๐ฅ C&C remains in Facebook jail until Monday.
Allright, I wonโt keep you waiting. Letโs dig into a feast of good news.
๐*COVID NEWS AND COMMENTARY* ๐
๐ฅ๐ฅ The Circuit Court in Duval County, Florida (Jacksonville) entered an order yesterday GRANTING our petition for mandamus. I want to give a special mention to heroic attorney Nick Whitney, who was crazy enough to buy into my theory that mandamus was a viable pathway, and who ably handled the Duval side of our jointly-filed cases. Heโs been an amazing battlefield comrade.
Anyway, youโll want to read about a few things the judge wrote. First, he noted that the school boardsโ lame argument that they should be able to create their own tiny departments of health and do whatever they liked had ALREADY been โsquarely rejected:โ
โThe First District Court of Appeal squarely rejected this argument, stating: [the School Boards] are not free to ignore the law and stand between parents and their lawful right to make decisions on behalf of their children.โ
So thatโs settled. Next, the judge clearly recognized that the kids and the parents have been harmed by the lawless conduct and have โproved various injuries-in-fact โฆ These injuries are directly traceable to [the School Boardsโ] mask policy.โ
In order to defeat our request for mandamus, both Duval and Alachua changed their policies right before their respective hearings, backing off their mandatory rules. Then they argued, hey, thereโs nothing to fight about since weโve just gave the parents an opt-out ten seconds ago, right before the hearing. But the judge saw right through that slick maneuver, calling it โgamesmanshipโ:
โIt is reasonable to expect [the School Boards] to reimpose an illegal mask mandate again in the future. This expectation is reasonable because [the School Boardsโ] opt-out policy is explicitly tied to COVID-19 metrics; and even if the opt-out policy were not tied to metrics, [the School Boards] have shown an inclination to change their mask policies based on vacillating local conditions. โฆ This sort of gamesmanship-attempting to render a lawsuit moot by pausing the challenged conduct once it becomes likely that the opposing litigant will soon prevail on the merits- heightens the likelihood Respondents will again impose a non-compliant mask policy if not compelled by the Court via a writ of mandamus.โ
Boom.
He ordered Duvalโs School board to IMMEDIATELY change its witless and unethical mask policy:
โ[The School Boards] are DIRECTED to institute immediately, and maintain indefinitely, a policy for all public schools within Duval County and under their control that comports with state law and, specifically, allows for a parent or legal guardian of the student to opt the student out of wearing a face covering or mask at the parent or legal guardianโs sole discretion, as required by the Florida Department of Healthโs Emergency Rule 64DER21.โ
This case is a monumental win for the principle of the rule of law in Florida. Defiant school boards canโt just do whatever they want, invoking faux altruism by muttering โsafetyโ over and over and then โconsulting withโ some cherry-picked fake experts who agree with them, and expect to get away with it.
The hearing on Alachua Countyโs petition is set for Wednesday. Get ready for the next domino!
๐ฅ๐ฅ The Fifth Circuit in Texas reviewed the Biden Reply brief and entered a FULL INJUNCTION against the illegal and unconstitutional OSHA Mandate, saying the agency may โtake no steps to implement or enforce the Mandate until further court order.โ
First, the Court noted the obvious fact that โFor obvious reasons, the Mandate affects every person in America in one way or another.โ Well, yes.
Then, it explained how horrible and devastating the OSHA policy is:
โThe Mandate imposes a financial burden upon [businesses] by deputizing their participation in OSHAโs regulatory scheme, exposes them to severe financial risk if they refuse or fail to comply, and threatens to decimate their workforces (and business prospects) by forcing unwilling employees to take their shots, take their tests, or hit the road.โ
โShots!โ Hahaha!
Then, the Fifth Circuit said OSHA had no business getting involved in peopleโs personal health decisions:
โ[OSHA] was notโand likely COULD not be, under the Commerce Clause and nondelegation doctrineโintended to authorize a workplace safety administration in the deep recesses of the federal bureaucracy to make sweeping pronouncements on matters of public health affecting every member of society in the profoundest of ways.โ
The Courtโs reference to the non-delegation doctrine is huge. Thatโs the Supreme Court law that says Congress canโt just delegate its lawmaking powers to executive agencies like OSHA or even the CDC, for that matter. Iโve been talking about that doctrine here on C&C for a long time. So the Fifth Circuit is saying, this is WAY too big for an executive agency to just regurgitate a slime-coated rule and thatโs that.
The Fifth Circuit said the OSHA mandate โis nonetheless fatally flawed on its own terms.โ FATALLY FLAWED. And, like the Duval court, the Fifth Circuit rejected all the hand-waving about safety and emergencies, calling the pandemic โa purported โemergencyโ that the entire globe has now endured for nearly two years, and which OSHA itself spent nearly two months responding to[.]โ
A PURPORTED emergency! With scare quotes around โemergency!โ At last.
It gets better. The Court called the OSHA mandate a โsledgehammer:โ
โRather than a delicately handled scalpel, the Mandate is a one-size-fits-all sledgehammer that makes hardly any attempt to account for differences in workplaces (and workers) that have more than a little bearing on workersโ varying degrees of susceptibility to the supposedly โgrave dangerโ the Mandate purports to address.โ
The SUPPOSEDLY grave danger! Hahaha!
It also called out the Biden Administrationโs flip-flopping: โThe Mandate makes no serious attempt to explain why OSHA and the President himself were against vaccine mandates before they were for one.โ
And finally โ we have a Circuit Court recognizing natural immunity and how illogical it is to ignore natural immunity:
โLikewise, a naturally immune unvaccinated worker is presumably at less risk than an unvaccinated worker who has never had the virus. The list goes on, but one constant remainsโthe Mandate fails almost completely to address, or even respond to, much of this reality and common sense.โ
The Fifth Circuit found โ just like my court did in the Ascension case โ that the injected can spread the virus too:
โIndeed, even in its fullest force, the Mandate cannot prevent vaccinated employees from spreading the virus in the workplace, or prevent unvaccinated employees from spreading the virus in between weekly tests.โ
Then the Court reaffirmed the principle of individual rights over broad โcollectiveโ needs:
โThe public interest is also served by maintaining our constitutional structure and maintaining the liberty of individuals to make intensely personal decisions according to their own convictionsโeven, or perhaps PARTICULARLY, when those decisions frustrate government officials.โ
This decision is like a major earthquake in Covid law. Every attorney litigating one of these cases everywhere in the country is going to race to the computer to file something citing it.
Finally! A federal court reaffirms that we have INDIVIDUAL liberty rights that donโt have to automatically give way to the โcommunityโ just because some bureaucrat somewhere acts worried and says the words, โemergency,โ โexperts,โ and โsafety.โ
How am I doing so far? Convinced that something gigantic happened yesterday? It gets better.
๐ฅ๐ฅ Finally โ six months late โ recognizing that the injections donโt stop the spread, the CDC just quietly gave up on the whole โherd immunityโ objective. โThinking that weโll be able to achieve some kind of threshold where thereโll be no more transmission of infections may not be possible,โ Dr. Jefferson Jones โ a member of CDCโs pandemic committee โ told the agencyโs vaccine panel.
You donโt say.
In an article reporting on Jonesโ comments, the LA Times observed that โeven if vaccination were universal, the coronavirus would probably continue to spread.โ Oh! Now you tell us! The paper quoted Dr. Jones: โWe would discourage thinking in terms of a strict goal.โ
Hahaha! Letโs use squishy goals then! Nothing could go wrong with THAT plan.
The Times says that another member of the CDCโs committee was super worried about the implications. Dr. Oliver Brooks said that Jonesโ admission โalmost makes you less motivated to get more people vaccinated.โ
Almost? How about, DOES?
Dr. Brooks admitted that the CDC has been wrong throughout the pandemic, although he characterized it as just โmaking some dramatic about-faces.โ But it wasnโt the agencyโs fault, you see, it was the wily virus. And a failure to communicate. โItโs a science-communications problem,โ Dr. Brooks said. โWe want clean, easy answers, and sometimes they exist. But on this one, weโre still learning.โ
Still learning? Why didnโt you mention that before when you were barking about safe and effective? What we have here IS a failure to communicate. But I still donโt think the CDC is getting the message.
The LA Times found an agreeable fake expert to say what the Times wanted to say, which is that WE regular citizens are all too dumb to understand why government health agencies first confidently declare that they know exactly what we should do, but then turn out to be 100% wrong. It quotes Raj Bhopal, a โretiredโ public health professor at the University of Edinburgh who blogged about herd immunity once, or something.
โItโs very hard to convey uncertainty and remain authoritative,โ Bhopal said. โItโs a pity we canโt take the public along with us on that road of uncertainty.โ
You see what heโs saying? Heโs saying itโs okay to lie to the public about not knowing. He says agencies need to ACT LIKE they know what theyโre talking about so all of us dummies affected by their insane policies donโt ask the hard questions. They just canโt take us โalong the road of uncertainty.โ
Itโs called LYING, doc. Youโre a pack of lying liars and everybody knows it. You go on ahead on your road of uncertainty. Iโm saying here this time.
I think this story evidences a sea-change. For the CDC to admit that the vaccines wonโt cure Covid is huge. Itโs going to change everything. Maybe not all the way, not yet, but it still demands a permanent change in the governmentโs approach.
Not convinced? Check out this next anecdote.
๐ฅ๐ฅ A new MedRxIV study just published. Its authors include local UF researcher Michael Lauzardo and local health director Paul Myers โ remember those names โ attempting to answer the question of whether vaccinated people DO transmit the virus to others. I realize that seems redundant at this point, but the CDC has been wishy-washy on that and unwilling to admit it.
The new study found that โDirect virus transmission among vaccinated individuals infected by the Delta variant was, indeed, confirmed by contact tracing.โ
Itโs confirmed.
But thereโs more. โImportantly, the proportion of patients with [viral load] above the theoretical transmission threshold was essentially the same when looking at patients infected <100 days (48.8% all, 55.6% Delta) or >100 days (50% all, 60% Delta) after full vaccination.โ
In other words, they found no statistical benefit to the vaccines in terms of reducing the spread. (They cited data suggesting injections reduced severe cases and deaths.)
Then, they admitted that the non-sterilizing vaccines may be contributing to even worse variants:
โ[The] vaccinated [], albeit protected from severe disease, are susceptible from infection and can potentially contribute to further transmission, provid[ing] the virus the chance to continue exploring the fitness landscape and accumulating mutations that may eventually result in the emergence of even more transmissible/pathogenic or vaccine-resistant strains.โ
And most remarkable, the study gently โ oh so gently โ suggested that boosters might need to be evaluated to see if they actually reduce transmissibility. Because if not, whatโs the point?
Now, letโs talk about those two gentlemen, Lauzardo and Myers. Both of them have been steadfast local pro-injection champions, regularly addressing local politicians, commissions, Rotaries, churches, and the school board, as experts advocating for more jabs.
The idea that THESE experts could run a study and then publish it, questioning the injectionsโ efficacy โ to ANY extent, however delicately โ is gigantic. I give them mad props for being willing to adjust their position in light of the evidence. But if the injections โ sold to us to โcontrolโ the epidemic โ are losing these experts, the jabs could be in real trouble.
Iโm indulging a fantasy now of criminal charges filed against Moderna and Pfizer executives. Iโve never let myself dream of that before. Itโs still not likely, but itโs starting to seem POSSIBLE. We can hope!
๐ฅ๐ฅ In a development with huge poetic justice, Oklahomaโs attorney general obtained an injunction yesterday in state court against Ascensionโs injection mandate. Thatโs the same hospital chain Iโve been suing in federal court in Pensacola division. Ascension is described as the โsecond largestโ hospital chain in the country, and it got $1.8 billion dollars in Covid relief last year. Thatโs billion, with a โB.โ Thanks, taxpayers. Ascension earned nearly a billion dollars last year in โnet income.โ During a pandemic. Now it wants to fire heroic healthcare workers.
Oklahomaโs AG reported last night that, โthis evening, the Tulsa District Court granted the Stateโs Application for Temporary Restraining Order in our case to keep Ascension Healthcare from carrying out its plan to fire employees who were unfairly denied religious exemptions from their nationwide COVID-19 vaccination mandate. This is a win for religious freedom and our office will continue to fight against unlawful religious discrimination.โ
Ascension has now removed that case to federal court. Weโll see what happens next, but this is huge. ANOTHER court pushing back.
๐ฅ Florida โ fully open, unmasked, with a relatively low injection rate โ is now the ONLY state in the CDCโs โyellowโ category. The high injection states are all deeply in the red. Yellow is TWO levels below red (orange is in the middle).
So.
Next stop, green.
Have a SUPER TERRIFIC weekend! Iโll see C&C subscribers tomorrow and everyone else on Monday morning, to kick off the week with extra caffeine and another update.
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Dude, have the Avengers reached out you?
Something that is beginning to bother me is the separation between the unvaxxed who had Covid and the unvaxxed who have not. Many unvaxxed people have been heavily exposed to Covid, but have not gotten sick, and they should not be penalized any more than the unvaxxed who tested positive. It's very concerning that there is discussion by those with known natural immunity of discriminating against those who are unvaxxed without known immunity. Those who know they have natural immunity should not be so smug to want to prove their natural immunity and therefore be let off the hook with all of the vaxxers and leave a third class of citizens in their wake. This is just one more harmful division.