Somewhat Shocked to see Trump in a Facemask

This ought to be THE civil liberties issue of our era: an intrusive, economically damaging regulation, irrationally imposed on Americans for the flimsiest of reasons. Yet instead of fighting it tooth and nail, far, far too many Americans are just shrugging their shoulders and saying: “Well if it saves a few lives, why should I mind having to wear a bit of cloth over my face when I go to the mall?”

Well, the reason you should mind is that the number of lives it may end up saving is likely even smaller than our personal number of brain cells.

Even at the very height of the pandemic about two months ago, cloth masks (as opposed to the professional medical variety) would have been next to useless in preventing viral transmission: as a number of studies and medical experts have noted, the mesh is too large to stop a virus and anyway, they’re often incorrectly worn.

But now that the virus has begun to retreat — as viruses tend to do in the summer months — and the number of deaths has tumbled almost to nothing, the rationale for imposing masks is more nonsensical still. It’s like surrendering your arms to an enemy you’ve just beaten in battle: again, something liberals might find appealing, but which all conservatives ought to find incomprehensible.

Granted, the mainstream media continues aggressively to promote the narrative that the crisis is far from over — and will continue to get worse until we find the Holy Grail vaccine. But conservatives really ought to know by now that what the MSM tells you about coronavirus should be taken with a massive pinch of salt. The MSM reports a “surge” in infections as something shocking when it fact it’s just the inevitable result of more widespread testing; it cherry-picks localized “spikes” in death rates to signify impending catastrophe when a) the national trend remains downward and b) increases which may look large in percentage terms are actually tiny in terms of numbers. Furthermore, as Senator Ron Paul (R-KY) recently noted, the figures are deeply suspect anyway. One twenty-something listed as having died of COVID in Florida turned out, on closer examination, to have been killed in a motorcycle crash. In South Carolina, the state health agency admitted that the recent “spike” in deaths was simply the result of delayed reporting.

This is what makes it so especially disappointing seeing Trump wearing one of those masks. He ought to be taking a stand on this issue: signaling to the world that whatever Dr. Fauci, Bill Gates and the World Health Organization may say to scare us into cowering under our beds until Big Pharma can come up with an expensive vaccine, he Donald Trump remains on the side of the Ordinary Joe who refuses to wear one of those stupid muzzles unless there is compelling evidence that they’re going to make the slightest difference. And to blow the mask mandate out of the water is that hundreds and thousands of reports are showing-up that people who never even were tested are being reported: “confirmed COVID-19 infected!”

So who do we believe?

Currently, there is no such compelling evidence. We red meat conservatives love and respect our old folk at least as much as liberals do. (Probably more, actually, let’s be honest). But we refuse to be degraded by leftist elitists with emotionally blackmailing arguments about how, by not wearing masks, we’re putting these people at risk. If that were really the case, we’d all wear those masks, no problem. But it’s not the case: those masks are being imposed on us for the most cynical of political reasons which have nothing to do with public health. Shame on those of our brethren too ill-informed — or simply too hard-headed — to realize this.

So what do we do?

For this conversation, let’s put away any thoughts of wearing masks that can actually negatively impact the Pulse-OX levels in a person’s blood. That IS happening and can be very dangerous. Be that as it is, consider the scenario where we keep a mask in our cars, at our desks at work, or in our pocket or purse when we’re out and about. When we are going to be exposed to or in a group of people, or we go to the grocery store or a restaurant, we just pop the mask on. Certainly, we’re not going to be in that environment for an extended period of time, so the Pulse-OX issue will not become an issue. When we leave the populated area, we take it off.

What will that accomplish?

There are millions of Americans that have listened to Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx, local and even nationally acclaimed physicians that have amazing credibility all on television, social media, and speaking in groups telling Americans, “We must wear those masks because we are each COVID-19 dispensaries.” These normally astute, educated behemoths in Healthcare in saying this is simply expressing a personal opinion. And they shouldn’t be doing so! Why? Because NOTHING in science supports their allegations. And, yes, they are nothing more than allegations!

Don’t let this seem like an accusation or insult to your doctor. It’s not. It’s coming from science and is NOT diminishing in any way the veracity or credibility of any doctor. If it’s not true, why would they continue to say this again and again?

It’s simple. In my business, for thirty years we have dealt daily with doctors of all specialties, all degrees of practice, (sole practice, medical clinic, researchers, hospitalists, specialists, etc.) of every age, origin, ethnicity, and with various stages of medical education. They’re all different, BUT, they’re all the same in one way: they are experts at EVERYTHING, especially their trade: MEDICINE!

No, they’re not all narcissists and know-it-alls. But most are. To that end, they seldom accept even a remote possibility of being wrong, of not having critical information that they have personally researched or learned scientifically, but they seldom let their lack of specific knowledge of anything pertinent to anything in medicine stop their pontificating to all who listen what is little more than an opinion.

That’s a fact!

Ironically, all of the pushback I hear regarding the mask issue is about the purported rejection of science by those who reject mask-wearing. Logically thinking, however, doctors are certainly the folks who SHOULD know the science, SHOULD study all the controlled laboratory research on mask use that has happened exhaustively over the last ten to twenty years. I cannot answer for certain why they do not. But, obviously, if they demand all to wear masks using as justification for saying so that masks stop COVID-19 (or any virus at all), they are ignoring the science of the matter themselves.

Summary

So what should we do? I will NOT give you advice on the subject! But I HAVE read and heard hundreds of “experts” tell us that we must wear masks. I have also heard hundreds of “experts” tell us that we should NOT wear masks. And they all claim they’re referring to the “science” of the matter, but they never volunteer the “science” that supports that theory.

What should we do?

I’ll answer by telling you what I do: I’m one who keeps a mask handy. And when I’m going into a grocery store, restaurant, or some other public place expecting to face other people, I wear the mask. “If the science doesn’t support a need to do so, why do you do it at all?”

Good question. And there’s a good answer:

If I can keep one person — one 70-85-year-old person — from feeling a panic attack coming on when they see me at Kroger without a mask walking down an aisle toward them, I’ll voluntarily pay the price.

Does that make sense to you?

I’m all-in on that. But: there’s more.

What is tearing at my mind every day about this issue is this one thing: there obviously are people who really know the answers to this issue that refuse to share it with all Americans. Why does that bother me? Their doing so can only be for one purpose: to use fear for some political purpose. That can be the only REAL answer that makes sense.

I’ll close by saying this: Steve Rasmussen — a famous and very accurate national pollster — today reported about a poll just taken by his firm of 1000 Americans from every possible background and political affiliation. The poll asked this question: “How do you feel today about the state of our nation — economically, socially, etc. — but WITHOUT factoring into your feeling of well-being the state of politics?”

When tossing their feelings about the political state of our nation, 75% of those polled said everything’s OK!

My final thought for you is this: whether you know beyond any reasonable certainty that masks work or don’t work, consider wearing one for others. Fear is a horrible state in which to live at any time in our lives. But to be forced to live there regarding a medical condition with which many people have died makes life unnecessarily caustic and difficult. No one deserves to live there, especially not those the most vulnerable in the U.S. today.

So I’ll carry my mask around with me. And I’ll pull it out and harness up.

I just had this thought: what if the answer comes back from that constitutional expert that tells me these politicians DO have the right to force us to wear masks? Easy answer: I’ll already be doing so!

Think about it.