{"id":108349,"date":"2023-03-26T20:17:54","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T00:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=108349"},"modified":"2023-03-26T20:17:59","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T00:17:59","slug":"the-daily-gouge-archive-friday-march-24th-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=108349","title":{"rendered":"The Daily Gouge Archive, Friday, March 24th, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Friday, March 24th, 2023…but before we begin,\u00a0NRO<\/em>‘s Noah Rothman reveals…<\/strong><\/p>\n

How We Know That \u2018Woke\u2019 Is Losing<\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n

Rather than change their tactics, progressives change the language \u2014 as they\u2019ve done so many times before<\/a><\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But as a report from Brittney Bernstein indicates, The Left won’t go gently into that good night, as they’re grabbing onto public-nuisance lawsuits, once the stuff of neighbor disputes,\u00a0as a tool that might be used nationally to circumvent normal legislative processes by instead asking courts to make decisions on a host of issues, from climate change to gun rights<\/em><\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u00a0 It’s Progressives’ go-to play: When you can’t legislate, adjudicate.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, here’s The Gouge<\/em>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

First up, the\u00a0Morning Jolt<\/em>\u00a0highlights the problem with pressing buttons, explaining…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why Leaders Are Not Supposed to Be Demagogues<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“Bloomberg<\/em>, Tuesday afternoon:<\/strong><\/p>\n

A bomb threat was called in just as a judge in lower Manhattan was about to start a hearing over a $250 million lawsuit by New York Attorney General Letitia James against Donald Trump.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s 911 call was investigated, the courthouse at 60 Centre Street temporarily closed and searched, and the threat deemed unfounded, state court spokesman Lucian Chalfen said.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why are leaders not supposed to be demagogues?<\/strong><\/p>\n

…Leaders are not supposed to be demagogues because it\u2019s wrong, and leaders are not supposed to be demagogues because it\u2019s usually a lousy and ineffective form of leadership in the long run. But perhaps the biggest reason leaders are not supposed to be demagogues is because the act represents a leader playing with fire \u2014 or maybe nitroglycerin is the more appropriate metaphor. Like a fire, fear and anger can flare up out of control, beyond the control of the leader. Like nitroglycerin, fear and anger can suddenly explode. People who are frightened or angry make impulsive, rash decisions. They\u2019re not interested in a deliberate, measured, careful evaluation of the best course of action. There is a ticking clock counting down in their heads, and they see deliberation as inaction. They feel a sense of impending disaster and desperation, and all kinds of once-unthinkable actions now appear justified because of the dire stakes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Does Donald Trump want people calling in bomb threats to the courthouse at 60 Centre Street in New York? Let\u2019s be generous and assume the answer is no. The case is going to go forward one way or another; a bomb threat just delays the inevitable legal proceedings.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, it is clear that Donald Trump wants to see widespread protests outside any courtroom where he is being tried, and he wants his supporters to feel as much fear and anger as possible.\u00a0His messages on Truth Social are now borderline apocalyptic<\/a><\/em><\/span>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

IT\u2019S TIME!!! WE ARE A NATION IN STEEP DECLINE, BEING LED INTO WORLD WAR III BY A CROOKED POLITICIAN WHO DOESN\u2019T EVEN KNOW HE\u2019S ALIVE, BUT WHO IS SURROUNDED BY EVIL & SINISTER PEOPLE WHO, BASED ON THEIR ACTIONS ON DEFUNDING THE POLICE, DESTROYING OUR MILITARY, OPEN BORDERS, NO VOTER I.D., INFLATION, RAISING TAXES, & MUCH MORE, CAN ONLY HATE OUR NOW FAILING USA. WE JUST CAN\u2019T ALLOW THIS ANYMORE. THEY\u2019RE KILLING OUR NATION AS WE SIT BACK & WATCH. WE MUST SAVE AMERICA! PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/span>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and other Nations of a less than friendly nature, are busy \u201cCARVING UP THE WORLD\u201d as our once great United States of America sits back and watches. We are a Failing Nation, with Open Borders, Fake Elections, and a horrible Inflation Riddled Economy. We no longer set the standard, the standard sets us. Our so-called \u201cLeader\u201d does NOTHING except Eat, Sleep, and S..t! Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Just as he did after the events of January 6, 2021, Trump will insist he only meant peaceful protest. But we know not everyone who listens to Trump hears or grasps any instruction to be peaceful. Some people think the best way to help Donald Trump is to\u00a0send pipe bombs in the mail<\/a><\/em><\/span>. Some think they can best help him by\u00a0assaulting police officers<\/a><\/em><\/span>. Some thought the best way they could help him was by\u00a0bringing their guns to vote-counting sites<\/a><\/em><\/span>. This is not a one-time occurrence; there is a recurring pattern of Trump supporters who believe they hear the president asking for their help, and then think the best way they can help is through violence.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s rhetoric has always had demagogic elements, but now his speeches and Truth Social feed are just a constant rant, designed to trigger your amygdalae. As I mentioned above, it is very hard to overrule when the fear of losing someone or something dear to us is so strong.\u00a0And Trump is now telling us<\/a><\/em><\/span>, over and over again, that our nation is being \u201ckilled,\u201d we are \u201cfailing,\u201d and we are in \u201csteep decline\u201d:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWE JUST CAN\u2019T ALLOW THIS ANYMORE. THEY\u2019RE KILLING OUR NATION AS WE SIT BACK & WATCH. WE MUST SAVE AMERICA! PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Trump plays with fire, and he doesn\u2019t particularly care who gets burned, as long as it isn\u2019t him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

…Trump is not the only factor adding to the fear and anger in American daily life. If Trump were suddenly hit on the head and decided he wanted to spend the rest of his days in soft-spoken, gentle seclusion, we would still be tormented by those who see personal benefit in stirring up fear and anger in order to gain power. (\u201cGonna put y\u2019all back in chains<\/a>!<\/em><\/span>\u201d) But right now, Trump is a powerful accelerant to the bonfires of dread and rage.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A good leader recognizes the periodic need to communicate risk and potential danger to the public, but sets out to do it in a way that minimizes the fear. Sometimes, like during an event such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, fear is inevitable. (Or to contemplate a more recent example, the president should not blurt out that the world \u201cfaced the prospect of Armageddon<\/a><\/em><\/span>\u201d during a Democratic Party fundraiser.) And a good leader may wish to harness American anger over an event such as 9\/11 and turn it into action, something productive and constructive.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the wise philosopher Benjamin Parker told us, \u201cWith great power comes great responsibility<\/a><\/em><\/span>.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Responsibility is in short supply these days.<\/strong>“<\/p>\n

Speaking of a lack of responsibility, in an ABSOLUTELY\u00a0must-read<\/em><\/span> commentary which deserves inclusion in full, writing at\u00a0The Epoch Times<\/em>, Jeff Tucker relates…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bill Gates Plots a Global Pandemic Prison State<\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“An epic disaster like the COVID response, one might suppose, should inspire some humility and rethinking on how public health could have gone so wrong. They had their run at it but created a\u00a0global disaster<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/span>for the ages.\u00a0<\/strong>This is more than obvious to any competent observer. The next step might be to see if there are any places where matters went rather well, and Sweden comes first to mind. The educational losses were non-existent because they didn\u2019t close schools. In general life went on as normal and with very good results.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One might suppose the Swedish way would be vindicated. Sadly, our leaders care nothing for evidence, apparently. Their concern is for power and money at any cost. As a result, we are witnessing a concerted effort not only to double down on errors the next time but make them even worse.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The top two exhibits emerged over the weekend.<\/strong><\/p>\n

New York Times: \u201cWe\u2019re Making the Same Mistakes Again<\/a><\/em><\/span>\u201d by Bill Gates.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wall Street Journal: \u201cWhat Worked Against Covid: Masks, Closures and Vaccines<\/a><\/em><\/span>\u201d by Tom Frieden (former head of CDC).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gates deploys his privileged place at the New York Times to agitate once again for a Global Health Emergency Corps, ensconced at the World Health Organization and managed by the same people who created the pandemic response this time around. In other words, it would be the core of the global government pushing more lockdowns for the world\u2014lockdowns to wait for another round of vaccines.\u00a0<\/strong>If you can believe it, he has learned nothing from the last mess that he created. Indeed, he is completely shameless about it. In his view, the only problem is that we didn\u2019t lock down fast enough, get vaccines out fast enough, and conduct enough research ahead of time to craft the perfect vaccine. And yes, this necessarily requires gain-of-function research.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In other words, in Gates\u2019s view, we need to have research continue to fiddle around in labs with tricks that anticipate pathogens of the future, thus again raising the risk of lab leaks that then necessitate fixes that can only be produced and distributed by the pharmaceutical companies in which he has such heavy investments.\u00a0<\/strong>As a result, we have this hellish loop in play: gain-of-function research to anticipate the next pathogen by creating it and thus risking a lab leak that releases the pathogen that then has to be fixed by the vaccines themselves but the world has to lock down until they can be put into billions of arms.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And keep in mind that Gates isn\u2019t just another bloke writing an op-ed. He is the de facto owner<\/em><\/span> of the World Health Organization himself, so his push for a permanent pandemic bureaucracy carries a lot of weight. His dream bureaucracy would override national sovereignty to make sure that never again would there be another Sweden.\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cIt\u2019s difficult \u200c\u200cfor any one country to stop a disease from spreading on its own,\u201d he writes \u201cMany of the most meaningful actions require\u200c\u200c coordination from the highest levels of government.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The model is always the same and it is taken from the world of computer science. There is a clean hard drive, analogized to the human body or whole societies. They are working fine but then an exogenous threat comes along in the form of malware. In order to defeat it, we need software that is updated. You clearly should not turn on your computer until you can get the hard drive cleaned up.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m serious here: Gates\u2019s understanding of viruses is no more sophisticated than that<\/em><\/span>. He has learned absolutely nothing<\/em><\/span> in years. He is still<\/em><\/span> repeating the ridiculous lines from his TED Talks from years ago.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In reality, this has nothing to do with biological viruses, which we evolved to manage through the immune system, a concept that is entirely lost on him. He finds it inconceivable<\/em><\/span> that the best<\/em><\/span> strategy for healthy people is to meet<\/em><\/span> the virus and train<\/em><\/span> the immune system. Indeed, he is appalled by that idea, favoring only more injectable substances designed to fight diseases.\u00a0<\/strong>Also lost on him is the way in which viruses\u2014whether from labs or nature\u2014all must obey the natural epidemiological dynamics of pathogenic spread. The more deadly they are, the less likely they are to spread. And the reverse is also true: the more prevalent they are, like COVID, the less severe they are.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The reason is simple: a pathogen needs a living<\/em><\/span> host. Yes, there are other variables such as latency, which is how long the virus lives in the host before debilitating symptoms appear. Other than that, a lab cannot create anything that games its ways out of this matrix.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you can understand that paragraph, I can promise you this. You now know far more about viruses than Bill Gates. And yet it is he who has the decisive influence over pandemic policy the world over. The reason is extremely crude: it\u2019s his money<\/em><\/span>. It certainly isn\u2019t his intelligence<\/em><\/span>. In fact, it is rather shocking how his money alone<\/em><\/span> has managed to buy the silence of scientists the world over, who have shown themselves to be appallingly obsequious and deferential to the crankism that Gates has been peddling for decades.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A good example comes from Tom Frieden, the author of the above mentioned piece in the Wall Street Journal. For all the problems of the pandemic response, he writes, we know what works: masking, lockdowns, and vaccines (ideally mandated<\/em><\/span>). The piece is infuriating to the point that it is frustrating even to write a response. And this is because his conclusion is already baked into the prose. He throws out a flurry of links to other studies in case you doubt his veracity, while\u00a0carefully avoiding<\/a><\/em><\/span>\u00a0the huge<\/em><\/span> numbers of studies that show otherwise<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, yes, I spent too much time over the week actually looking at the evidence for his thesis. On masks, he cites preposterous<\/em><\/span> studies from three years ago. One looked at masking in Arizona over three weeks and came up with a difference in infection rates. But that study was during the smallest initial wave from 2020 and is entirely invalidated by subsequent analyses of the same two counties, not to mention the many hundreds of quality studies that have shown absolutely no difference in viral spread contingent on masking.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another study comes from a Navy ship in which people were asked to self-report<\/em><\/span>. It\u2019s not even serious science<\/em><\/span> and yet this former head of the CDC cites it. That same study was pushed by the CDC to justify its own<\/em><\/span> push for masks. It appeared in the MMWR series over three years that included some of the worst science ever distributed by a modern bureaucracy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the business closures, Frieden doesn\u2019t even bother to cite a study<\/em><\/span> in defense of them. He just asserts the right of governments<\/em><\/span> to shut businesses if they want to. What these people never mention is that business closures also include the government\u2019s right to shut your home<\/em><\/span> to house parties and your church<\/em><\/span> to worship services. In other words, this amounts to a massive attack on human rights hard won over 1,000 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Finally, on matters of vaccine efficacy, every study he cites<\/em><\/span> is based on bogus computer models<\/em><\/span> that can generate any conclusion one desires<\/em><\/span> based on the parameters of the input variables. (You know,…like the anthropogenic global warming models!<\/em>)<\/span> They are the types of models that serious<\/em><\/span> scientists working, for example, in economics stopped using<\/em><\/span> many decades ago. And yet the epidemiologists are still wallowing in them in order to make a case for their preferred<\/em><\/span> policies.\u00a0<\/strong>Of course he ignores the many hundreds of studies from the United States and the world that show no relationship at all between government interventions and good health outcomes during the pandemic.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a reason to be deeply alarmed by these two articles. The authors speak for some of the world\u2019s most powerful people. They are explaining exactly<\/em><\/span> what they want to do. They are completely impervious<\/em><\/span> to evidence. And they reveal every ambition to override, reverse, and effectively abolish everything once known as freedom<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Incredibly, they have the chutzpah to write this stuff in the midst of the carnage they created<\/em><\/span> from last time. All of which reminds me of the famous summary of the Roman empire as written by the great historian Tacitus, paraphrasing Calgacus:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThese plunderers of the world, after exhausting the land by their devastations, are rifling the ocean: stimulated by avarice, if their enemy be rich; by ambition, if poor; unsatiated by the East and by the West: the only people who behold wealth and indigence with equal avidity. To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace<\/em>.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bill Gates and Tom Frieden have made a desert and call it health.<\/strong>“<\/p>\n

Babu Bhat assessment of Jerry…<\/strong><\/p>\n