Bits and Pieces

The Virus Is All Around Us 

The coronavirus is spreading faster now than at any time since it was first reported on Dec. 31, 1919. But the mutation that’s raging across the world right now appears to be much less serious in terms of hospitalizations and deaths, according to the CDC.

Over the Christmas/New Year holidays, we had lots of family members and friends at the house. All of them had been vaccinated. Most of them observed the “protocols” of wearing masks and bumping fists. But, as in restaurants throughout the country, when it was time to eat, the masks came off.

Four contracted the virus. Two of them had been previously infected. I noticed that there didn’t seem to be any connection between proximity and contagion. The spouses did not contract it, despite sleeping in the same bed.

This was not what one would have expected, given the information coming out of the CDC. So, what is going on?

New Evidence of Protection Against COVID 

Researchers with Imperial College London found that the presence of T cells from the common cold can provide some protection against the virus that causes COVID-19. The scientists assessed 52 contacts of newly diagnosed cases to pinpoint when they were first exposed, and determined that those who tested negative for COVID-19 had higher cross-reactive T cell levels.

And this just in: Cannabis compounds may prevent the COVID-19 virus from penetrating healthy human cells. Click here.

Meanwhile… You Can Leave the Masks at Home! 

In the latest episode of “Why I Can’t Believe Dr. Fauci,” Pfizer board member and former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said on Jan. 2 that cloth masks don’t provide much protection against the Omicron variant.

“This is an airborne disease,” Gottlieb said, speaking on Face the Nation. “We now understand that, and a cloth mask is not going to protect you from a virus that spreads through airborne transmission. It could protect better through droplet transmission, something like the flu, but not something like this coronavirus.”

In a recent report, the CDC admitted as much, but made the rather tepid argument that a cloth mask “may be” better than no mask. 

“Cloth masks have been used in healthcare and community settings to protect the wearer from respiratory infections. The use of cloth masks during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is under debate. The filtration effectiveness of cloth masks is generally lower than that of medical masks and respirators; however, cloth masks may provide some protection if well designed and used correctly.”

Scary: This From a Supreme Court Justice? 

During arguments made before the Supreme Court on Jan. 7, Justice Sonia Sotomayor claimed that 100,000 children were hospitalized or seriously ill with COVID-19. When I heard that, I thought: “No way!”

In fact, the number is about 3,500, according to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky.

“In some hospitals that we’ve talked to, up to 40% of the patients who are coming in with COVID are coming in not because they’re sick with COVID, but because they’re coming in with something else and have had COVID or the Omicron variant detected,” Walensky said.

More COVID confusion: Dr. Robert Malone, a virologist and immunologist who has contributed significantly to the technology of mRNA vaccines, issued a strong caution. “Think twice before you vaccinate your kids,” he said. “Because if something bad happens, you can’t go back and say, ‘Whoops, I want a do-over.’”

My Hope for Adams Is Falling Fast 

In reviewing the surge in violent crime that plagued New York City under former mayor Bill de Blasio, I said that the new mayor, Eric Adams, has a great opportunity to turn the city around.

Since then, he’s done two things that have made me doubt him. First, he appointed Brendan McGuire to be the city’s Attorney General. And McGuire, it turns out, seems to be one of the new crop of AGs that believe they are entitled to, in effect,  legislate laws they don’t believe in or laws against groups they support.

Now Adams has come out in support of a new bill that would give voting rights for city elections to about 800,000 non-citizens. The law applies to legal permanent residents, people with working papers, and so-called “Dreamers,” as long as they’ve been residents of the city for 30 consecutive days.

“About 1.1 million votes were cast in the recent mayoral election,” said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform. “With the addition of some 800,000 foreign nationals to the voter rolls, they will almost certainly have an impact on the outcome of future elections.”

So, Who Is Ray Epps? 

Some conservative pols and commentators want to know.

What is known for sure is that he was repeatedly photographed and videotaped during the Jan. 6 fiasco prompting others to action.

He was on the FBI’s most-wanted page (concerning the fiasco) for six months. And then, mysteriously, his image was pulled off of it. He wasn’t charged. Hundreds of others that were less active were. So that got some thinking: Could Mr. Epps have been working for law enforcement?

In a recent hearing, Senator Ted Cruz asked Jill Sanborn, the FBI assistant director for national security, 10 questions about Epps and other possible undercover agents photographed at the event. Sanborn admitted that she is aware of Epps, but said she didn’t have “specific background for him.”

Cruz specifically asked whether Epps worked with the FBI. Sanborn declined to answer. He also asked whether any federal informants participated in the riots, encouraged the riots, or removed barriers.

“I cannot answer that,” Sanborn responded to each query.

“Five seconds after Mr. Epps whispered to a person, that same person began forcibly tearing down the barricades. Did Mr. Epps urge them to tear down the barricades?” Cruz asked.

“I cannot answer that,” Sanborn replied.

Senator Tom Cotton asked Assistant AG Matthew Olsen, the head of DOJ’s national security branch, a similar line of questions. Olsen said that he wasn’t aware of any plainclothes officers among the Jan. 6 crowd, and didn’t know whether any undercover agents entered the Capitol.

Olsen also said that he didn’t have any information about Epps. “This was a man on the most-wanted page for six months. Do you really expect us to believe that you don’t know anything about him?” Cotton asked.

“I simply don’t have any information at all,” Olsen responded.

The Jan. 6 committee issued the following statement shortly after the hearing: “Committee is aware of unsupported claims that Ray Epps was an FBI informant based on the fact that he was on the FBI Wanted list and then was removed from that list without being charged. The Select Committee has interviewed Mr. Epps. Mr. Epps informed us that he was not employed by, working with, or acting at the direction of any law enforcement agency.”

 Innocence Project Update 

Pervis Payne, middle, with his attorneys,

David Fletcher and Kelley Henry, Nov. 24, 2021

(Image: Brandon Dill/Innocence Project)

Pervis Payne spent the past 33 years on death row in Tennessee for a crime he’s always said he did not commit. Last month, he was finally removed from death row after the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office conceded that Pervis has an intellectual disability, which makes it unconstitutional to execute him.

Although there was a possibility that Judge Paula Skahan might rule on how Pervis will serve the rest of his sentence, instead she said she would issue a written ruling on his re-sentencing by Jan. 24, based on “compelling arguments” from both sides.

Nineteen family, friends, and prison officials had testified to Pervis’s “loving” and “gentle” character, and demonstrated that he would not pose a threat to society if released. In one instance, Pervis risked his life to save Captain Mosley, a veteran corrections officer, from an attack by another incarcerated individual that left him with 57 stitches.

Judge Skahan will ultimately decide whether Pervis should be given consecutive life sentences – meaning he would likely die in prison – or concurrent sentences, which would make him eligible for parole within six years.

Bits and Pieces 

Ideas I’ve Been Chewing Over Recently…

Revolution vs. Evolution 

* Revolution is loud and fast. Evolution is quiet and slow.

* Revolution causes change, but mostly superficial change that is easily and often reversed. This is not true for evolution because evolution is not a cause, but a result.

* Revolution is linear. It moves forward and then back. Evolution moves like a river or sometimes like a switchback up a mountain.

* Evolution is deeply set and long lasting. Revolution is superficial and temporary.

Rationality 

* Rationality has two fundamental components: discrimination and integration.

* Discrimination is logical. Integration is analogical.

* Discrimination helps us understand how things are. Integration helps us imagine how they might be.

* One cannot have a fully functional mind without continually engaging in both processes.

Human Expression 

* The human being has three primary modes of expression: language, music, and physical movement.

* The primary function of language is to discriminate.

* The primary function of music is to integrate.

* Only physical movement is capable of both.

For the New Year, If You Dare:

Make a Deal with Your Inner Devil 

I discovered it nearly 40 years ago. I was 32 – five years into what was promising to be a comfortable but unremarkable career. I wanted more. Much more. And I wanted many mores. I was destined to get few or none of them. But when I put this secret to use, my life changed immediately and enormously.

I’m talking about establishing a singular goal in life and adhering to a hyper-focused routine. I’m talking about giving up – at least until that primary goal is achieved – all other goals and ambitions. It is a deal you make with the devil inside you. It almost certainly means neglecting friends and family. And it might turn you into someone you don’t want to be. But it has the virtue of being simple. And extremely powerful. It will definitely give you the best possible chance of achieving that one thing you want more than anything else.

It worked for me, quickly and completely. I crashed through my initial goal and then exceeded it by 20,000%. But like all deals with the devil, it changed me. And it could have ruined me. In my 50th year, I abandoned it and began to work on other goals and achieve more balance in my life.

I never put a name to it. But I can say that it is an emanation of “The Power of One.” Probably the most important one.

It’s putting the immense power of singularity towards radically changing some important aspect of your life – your health, your wealth, your social life, or your personal life. If you think you’d like to harness this power for a change in your life, here is how it goes:

1. Make a list of 50 aspirations.
2. Narrow that list to 10. Consciously and purposefully, let go of the other 40.
3. Narrow the list of 10 to 3. Consciously and purposefully, let go of the other 7.
4. Narrow the list of 3 to 1. Consciously and purposefully, let go of the other 2.
5. Confirm, in some formal way, your one and only goal. Let the people you care about know that, until you achieve this goal, it will be your top priority.
6. Create a multi-year plan to achieve it.
7. Break that plan into one-year goals. Then into monthly goals. Then weekly goals. And, finally, into daily tasks.
8. Spend the first hour of every day – and 80% of your spare time – pursuing that one objective.
9. Do your best, with the 20%, to keep everything else you value from falling apart.

Good Bye, Bill. I Won’t Miss You! 

I’ve not lived there for 40 years, but in some ways, I still consider myself a New Yorker. Like most expatriates, I identify with everything that is great about the city. And there used to be so much. Lately, however, it has devolved in several critical respects. It has become, in the memorable verbiage of our former president, a metropolitan shithole. This is largely due to the woke politics of Bill DeBlasio and a cast of cronies, including the infamous AOC. For example:

* From 2012 to 2018, 200,000 left the city. In 2021, 300,000 fled, most of them high-income earners.

* New York has also lost many big and vibrant businesses due to higher taxes and soaring crime. And it has lost hundreds of restaurants and retail stores due to the COVID lockdown.

* Murders are up 50%. Rapes are up 25%. Even my wokest friends, loyal denizens of the city, feel it’s unsafe to take a walk at night.

* Plus, New York has become the dirtiest city in the country. Its infrastructure is crumbling. Its sanitation is Third World.

Yes, it’s a shithole right now. But it can recover. The Big Apple has been rotten before. It was a dirty, dangerous shithole when I was in my teens. And it came back beautifully from that. Its best hope is its new mayor, Eric Adams. He’s got his work cut out for him. But as a former policeman, he seems to understand that the first priority in fighting crime is a belief in law and order. Whether he will actually do anything about that remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, in California…

Easy-on-Crime Policies Continue to Spur Both Violent Crime and Theft 

Since George Gascón took office as LA’s Attorney General 13 months ago, the city has seen a 50+% spike in homicides and a 16+% jump in aggravated assaults. Carjackings and auto thefts are up more than 50%. So is just about every other type of crime. And former LA District Attorney Steve Cooley says that these numbers may be understated because the public has lost faith in the justice system.

In San Francisco, more than 50 prosecutors, support, and victim services staff have quit their jobs since District Attorney Chesa Boudin began implementing his progressive criminal justice policies. (Boudin campaigned on a platform to end mass incarceration, eliminate cash bail, and vowed to create a panel to review sentencing and potential wrongful convictions.)

“The office is imploding,” said a former prosecutor who produced the list of those who’ve left their jobs since Boudin was sworn into office on Jan. 10, 2020.

Another Busybody Bad Idea 

When you hear about some new trend in criminality or social stupidity, you may react as I sometimes do: “There should be a law!”

The problem with such thinking is that it is reactionary and, therefore, superficial. It does not take into account all the possible unintended and undesired consequences. Many of those consequences result in less personal freedom. And that matters. Individual freedom is the bedrock of a strong and prosperous society. It supports political fairness, social health, justice, and economic growth.

A small but typical example: In response to gas prices tripling in 1974, the Nixon administration passed the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act that mandated a national speed limit of 55 mph. Until then, speed limits had varied state to state, and went as high as 80 mph on long stretches of road in the West. It was projected to decrease national gas consumption by roughly 2.2%.

You wouldn’t think that a 2.2% reduction would be worth such a restrictive federal mandate, but it was implemented. It resulted in billions of dollars in additional transportation costs. And, it turned out, the actual reduction was only one-tenth of 2.2%.

In 1987, the national speed limit was officially raised to 65 mph. And by 1995, the law was fully repealed, returning control of speed limits to the individual states.

Prediction: If the Biden administration succeeds in either federal vaccine mandates or federal voting mandates, they will prove equally ineffective, will have all kinds of undesired consequences, and will be repealed in fewer than 10 years.

Meta-Nation Update: Twitter Banishes Non-Compliant Citizens 

In an essay titled “What You Need to Know Right Now About the Metaverse,” I said that the metaverses of the future will act as meta-nations, controlling their ersatz citizens through shunning and banishment. Here is an update on how it’s already happening:

* Grabien News was suspended by Twitter last month for posting a video of a US Congressman (Rep. Andy Biggs) criticizing pharmaceutical corporations. “Obviously, in this case,” said Grabien founder Tom Elliott, “quoting an elected leader on an issue that matters to everyone is important and newsworthy, regardless of whether you agree…. This is “next-level Twitter absurdity.”

* Dr. Robert Malone, who helped develop the mRNA vaccine technology, was suspended Jan. 3 for allegedly violating Twitter’s terms and conditions. On Jan. 2, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s personal Twitter page had been suspended for similar reasons.

* Former New York Times journalist Alex Berenson filed a lawsuit against Twitter after his account, which had amassed hundreds of thousands of followers, was banned.

* And last month, former CEO Jack Dorsey resigned from his position at Twitter, sparking concern that the San Francisco-based company would take a tougher stance on what content can be posted.

Literary Books Entering the Public Domain in 2022 

Over the last two years, several dozen great works of literature have entered the public domain. That means you can sell these books – or turn them into movies – without paying royalties. As of Jan. 1, 2022, the following books (all published in 1926) were added to the list:

* Willa Cather, My Mortal Enemy

* Agatha Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

* William Faulkner, Soldiers’ Pay

* Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

* Ernest Hemingway, The Torrents of Spring

* Zora Neale Hurston, Color Struck

* D.H. Lawrence, The Plumed Serpent

* D.H. Lawrence, The Rocking-Horse Winner

* T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom

* A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

* Vladimir Nabokov, Mary

* Dorothy Parker, Enough Rope

* Franz Kafka, Das Schloss (The Castle)

* Vita Sackville-West, The Land

Worth Quoting 

Gus D’Amato, the legendary trainer of Mike Tyson and other top boxers, on courage:

“I tell my kids, what is the difference between a hero and a coward? What is the difference between being [cowardly] and being brave? No difference. Only what you do. They both feel the same. They both fear dying and getting hurt. The man who is [cowardly] refuses to face up to what he’s got to face. The hero is more disciplined and he fights those feelings off and he does what he has to do. But they both feel the same, the hero and the coward. People who watch you judge you on what you do, not how you feel.”

(Source: Bad Intentions: The Mike Tyson Story​)

Words to the Wise 

* A word I’ve always misunderstood: jejune.  I’ve always thought, correctly, that it is related to the French word juene, as in young. And, thus, means “childish or immature.” In fact, it derives from the Latin jejunus, which means “fasting.” As in empty. Thus, its primary meaning is “insubstantial or lacking substance.” Childish and immature are secondary synonyms, but the more common denotation is banal or insipid.

* A word I’m going to use next time I’m in Istanbul: dragoman. A dragoman is a professional guide for travelers, especially when Arabic, Turkish, or Persian is spoken.

* A word I’m going to use next time I see someone wolfing down a meal: ingurgitate. To ingurgitate is to swallow something greedily.

Letters to the Editor 

From a reader after a visit to Rancho Santana…

“The people at Rancho Santana are so nice and welcoming. The food was delicious and I loved how everything is so sustainable and fresh. The beautiful beaches and scenery transcend you immediately when you arrive. Great energy, beauty, and fun. And the spa is absolutely incredible!” – SB