Happy Wednesday, C&C! Today’s roundup includes: bad news for the media; DeSantis issues a strongly-worded statement about the FDA’s cancellation of the single most effective approved treatment for Covid; after New Yorkers had a one-day taste of face-freedom, masks are back on; an ancient fossil runs for speaker of the House; Surgeon General Murthy shows he’s out of ideas; American Airlines’ CEO and I agree on something; a bill pending in New Hampshire pushes horse dewormer; and Narrative 2.0 arrives in Israel.

🗞*COVID NEWS AND COMMENTARY* 🗞

🔥 Great job, Media! Rasmussen reported a new poll finding that a clear majority of American’s consider the media to be “the enemy of the people.” Here is the breakdown:

Question: “Do you agree or disagree with this statement: The media are “truly the enemy of the people”?”

√ AGREE:

White - 56%

Black - 63%

Other Non-White - 60%

Democrat - 37%

Unaffiliated - 61%

GOP - 76%

All Voters - 58%

As you can see, only one group of those surveyed disagrees in majority that the media is the enemy of the people. Only one, and that group is no surprise, since it benefits from the media’s misbehavior the most. But, possibly the most problematic sign for the media is the fact that over a third of DEMS believe the media is our enemy. So.

🔥 Monday, Governor DeSantis called for the FDA to reverse its decision abruptly cancelling the EUA for safe and effective monoclonal antibody treatments. In his statement, the Governor said:

“Without a shred of clinical data to support this action, Biden has forced trained medical professionals to choose between treating their patients or breaking the law. This indefensible edict takes treatment out of the hands of medical professionals and will cost some Americans their lives. There are real-world implications to Biden’s medical authoritarianism — Americans’ access to treatments is now subject to the whims of a failing president.’’

We need medical freedom, stat! In light of the crisis created by the federal government, Florida’s Department of Health should issue an emergency order authorizing doctors to prescribe ANY effective treatment that they believe — in their informed, independent judgment — will be effective for Covid. Let’s do this.

Later, some reporter asked fiesty press secretary Jen Psaki about DeSantis’ comments. In a passable imitation of a frenzied snapping turtle, Psaki called the Governor crazy, saying “Well, let’s just take a step back here just to realize how crazy this is. These treatments — the ones that they are fighting over, that the governor’s fighting over — do not work against omicron, and they have side effects. That is what the scientists are saying.”

Crazy? Are you sure, Peppermint Patty? DeSantis called you out, arguing there was NO CLINICAL EVIDENCE to support withdrawing the mABs. Your move would have been to cite the CLINICAL EVIDENCE and prove the Governor wrong. You didn’t. So, we can all see that you’ve got nothing but gaslighting gobbledygook. Try again.

🔥 New York continued its on-again, off-again romance with mandatory masking yesterday, after an appeals court judge stayed Monday’s injunction that would have canceled the mask ban. The stay — and the mask mandate — will now continue in effect while the appeals court considers the state’s challenge to Judge Rademaker’s order. This development is not a super fantastic sign for the appeal. By granting a stay, the appeals court has effectively concluded that it is “likely” the state will win its challenge to the injunction order.

Another bad sign was the language in the stay requiring everybody to wear a mask while reading it. Haha, just kidding. Mostly.

🔥 Yesterday, OSHA formally withdrew its emergency “vaccinate or test” mandate, ending the lawsuit, but there’s a catch. The catch is that OSHA says it will still move forward with the rule, just on a “non-emergency” basis. I think OSHA is saying that since one of the problems the Supreme Court found with the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) was that there was no “emergency,” and the rule was passed quickly without a public opportunity for comment and stuff, then by doing it the long way as a set of permanent Covid rules, with a full notice and comment period, OSHA can work around the Court’s decision.

I don’t think that is going to work. I checked the opinion, and the Court specifically rejected OSHA’s authority to implement any Covid restrictions, at all, without Congress’ explicit approval. Here’s what the Court said in NFIB v. OSHA:

“Although COVID–19 is a risk that occurs in many workplaces, it is not an occupational hazard in most. COVID–19 can and does spread at home, in schools, during sporting events, and everywhere else that people gather. That kind of universal risk is no different from the day-to-day dangers that all face from crime, air pollution, or any number of communicable dis- eases. Permitting OSHA to regulate the hazards of daily life—simply because most Americans have jobs and face those same risks while on the clock—would significantly expand OSHA’s regulatory authority without clear congressional authorization.”

So, let’s assume that OSHA knows this as well as I do. What could the agency be doing? Maybe pursuing the permanent rule is just temporary political cover for withdrawing the ETS rule, designed to please pro-mandate types so they won’t complain about OSHA giving up on the ETS. Or, it could just be another high idea that the Biden Administration came up with after sniffing glue or something.

🔥 In terrific news for the botox industry, 106-year-old Nancy Pelosi said she will run, again, for Speaker of the House, vexing many because she had reportedly said she would hang up the gavel after NINETEEN previous terms as Speaker. The antique lawmaker probably thinks it’s only a matter of minutes before the Speaker will be tapped for president, for various reasons that you can easily imagine. She could still make it!

🔥 U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy swerved out of his lane, again, announcing this week that CENSORSHIP is the tool that will end the pandemic: “It’s not just about what government can do … we [must] use the power that we have to limit the spread of misinformation; that’s going to be a critical part of how we get through this pandemic.”

The scary thing about Murthy’s ideas is not so much that he’s a wanna-be 1984-style biomedical security-state dictator, but that he is clearly out of any ideas for how SCIENCE or MEDICINE can end the pandemic. Look, Murthy, you aren’t a propaganda expert. You’re supposed to be a scientist or a doctor or something. Get back in your lane. Stat!

🔥 A prominent op-ed published in — of all places — the Jerusalem Post this week called for an end to mandates. Headlined “Amid Omicron, Israel must move beyond COVID-19 Green Pass,” the Post’s editorial board observed that some Israeli scientists now think the country’s vaccine passport — euphemistically called the “Green Pass” — is “no longer necessary or effective in its current form.” How about that.

The editors encouraged Israel’s government to move beyond mandates to incentives, saying vaccination “should not be coerced. Instead of punishing those unwilling to be vaccinated, we should be encouraging those who do the right thing and vaccinate.”

So … Narrative 2.0 has now arrived in Israel, the beating heart of injection mandates. Is the J-Post editorial a political trial balloon to see how the public reacts? Or was it a grassroots organic expression of the editors’ developing skepticism about mandates and their new-found freedom from safetyism? Either way, it shows that the new Narrative has even made its way to Pfizer’s test lab, I mean Israel. Who’s giving odds on whether Israel will make an official announcement rolling back mandates before March 1, when Joe Biden will give his State of the Union?

✈️ Yesterday, while reporting on my trip to DC to speak at the March for Freedom, I noted that all the airports and airplanes were only half-full. The trip conjured impressions of a ghost town. I speculated that the pilot’s mask-mandate rant might have had something to do with it.

Well guess what? Yesterday, the airline industry news blog ‘Live and Let’s Fly’ ran an article with this headline: “American Airlines Ceo Blames Masks for Stagnant Business Travel. Is He Correct?” Ironically, I flew American to and from DC this weekend.

The article reports that during a call with investors last Thursday, American’s CEO Doug Parker said masks were suppressing business travel:

“We need business travel to get back to where it was. It wants to…every time it starts to look like the world’s going to get back to normal, business travel starts ticking up and it starts ticking up pretty quickly – as it did in July, as it started to do in November.

What happens though is anything that gets people to where we all have to wear a mask again, and for companies that have not yet brought people back to work, they delay that. It’s been delayed yet again for a lot of companies around the United States. It’ll come back, and when it does business will return, and [we’ll be profitable].”

You may recall that I previously reported that CEO Parker told a House committee last month that masks aren’t needed on airplanes because cabin air filtration is so good. He got a lot of pushback, and — of course — later walked his mask comments back.

In any event, American’s CEO does not appear to be a huge mask fan, and — like me — thinks they are suppressing travel. Seems like a no brainer.

💊 Newsweek reported late last week that “New Hampshire Pharmacies Could Soon Dispense Ivermectin Without Doctor Approval.” A proposed law (House Bill 1022) is working its way through the state legislature, and would allow pharmacists to dispense the safe and effective horse dewormer — without need for a prescription from a doctor. Republican State Rep. Leah Cushman, a sponsor of the bill and a registered nurse, told Newsweek that she wanted to make sure folks “have options for treatment of Covid-19.”

HB 1022 is currently in committee, but a full House vote is expected within a few weeks.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, and I’ll see you right back here tomorrow morning.

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