Pandemic Security Theater
“After ten months of lockdowns and shocking degrees of economic and social carnage, millions of Americans have decided that there surely must be some rationale for all the insanity and have signed on to become enforcers themselves, even and perhaps especially when the rules make no sense at all. The lockdowns have unleashed this mess. It is not easily cleaned up. It will likely take years before many people can think clearly and rationally again.” ~ James Bovard
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First Goes Law, Then Goes Democracy
“If this agenda is indeed to be forced on us by ruse, via the exploitation of a pandemic, one must wonder if its masterminds are remotely trustworthy. Why can’t they openly explain their intentions, if they are so wonderful? Today, they implement a covert replacement for the rule of law, one that subverts our will to theirs with no right of appeal. Tomorrow, they replace democracy.” ~ Stacey Rudin
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In the Midst of Covid-19, Pakistan Continues Its Fight Against Polio
“The nation’s health authorities have realized that Covid-19 mitigation is only one component of holistic public health practices. Public health must take all epidemiological factors into account. Tunnel vision only serves to create new kinds of misery, scrapping hard-earned progress.” ~ Fiona Harrigan
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Andrew Ross Sorkin Strives to Improve Markets by Blinding Them
“If politicians were constrained, they wouldn’t have privileged information in the first place. Will Sorkin write about that? It wouldn’t be a serious bet to place. Which is why there’s little reason to take his overwrought hand-wringing about ‘insider trading’ seriously.” ~ John Tamny
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Study Indicates Lockdowns Have Increased Deaths of Despair
“Regardless of whether they think lockdowns work, policymakers must be cognizant of the fact shutting down society also leads to excess deaths. Whether it’s from the government policies themselves or the willful compliance of society enforcing the soft despotism of popular hysteria, social isolation is taking its toll on the lives of many.” ~ Ethan Yang
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Congressional Hypocrisy and the Crackdown
“It is possible to condemn both the protestors who rampaged in the Capitol and the career politicians whose perennial abuses have destroyed Americans’ faith in the federal government. It would be especially unwise to confuse last week’s buffoonery with a bona fide coup attempt – which could happen if Washington continues disdaining too many angry Americans.” ~ James Bovard
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The Abuse of Science in the Corona Crisis
“The role of science must not be the one of state religion in pre-Enlightenment times: in the present case as in all the other previous cases, there is no knowledge that can be employed to justify a central state planning of society that overrides the freedom of individuals and their constitutional rights.” ~ Michael Esfeld
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Cooperation, Not Retaliation, Can Restore Social Order
“We have agency and reason and can see that the current cascade of retaliation and retribution is ‘unsustainable.’ A great statesman focusing on first principles could, perhaps, cut the chain of retaliation and restore widespread cooperation. I don’t know if such an American exists, but I know it isn’t Donald Trump or Joe Biden.” ~ Robert E. Wright
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“The Market” Can Deliver Pho and Spring Rolls. It Can Deliver Vaccines.
“I doubt we would be in this mess if we had left vaccine production and distribution to Walmart, Amazon, Grubhub, and Chick-fil-A. In the middle of a global pandemic, it’s too important not to.” ~ Art Carden
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Thwarting the Next Attack on the Capitol
“To reduce the probability of such a horror, America needs real statesmen (leaders of any gender who seek to implement rational policies instead of engaging in constant partisan pandering) to emerge from this mess.” ~ Robert E. Wright
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The Liberal-Left Has Gone Fully Illiberal
“Human rights are negotiable under this new ideology. I am not certain what this political theory should be called – perhaps left-wing authoritarianism – but it bears no resemblance to liberalism whatsoever. To the extent we have not gone quite as far as China in violating human rights in the quest to suppress the virus, the consensus on the liberal-left is plain: we have not gone far enough.” ~ Jenin Younes
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Where is Jack Ma?
“The disappearance of Jack Ma demonstrates the truth that economic freedom and social freedom are not mutually exclusive. While we should condemn the Chinese government’s actions, we should also be cautious of rising authoritarian tendencies here at home, whether it’s towards our civil rights or our economic freedom.” ~ Ethan Yang
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