In The Shadow Of Mt Hollywood

A New York state judge issued a preliminary injunction Saturday night preventing the state from enforcing its COVID curfew against a group of bars and restaurants who are suing Gov Cuomo, demanding that he allow them access to the scientific data supporting such a curfew. When the state dithered, the judge issued the injunction. But the details are less important than what we're beginning to see, that what I've predicted will be a long legal and political battle to get back to ordinary life is gaining traction, and it appears that it's having more success in rhw US than in many other parts of the world. That the New York skirmish should be over a curfew is, I think, significant. Commentators have been asking snce they became popular late last year why curfews do anything to prevent the spread of COVID, and they have a point. Actually, I don't think COVID is the reason for these curfews. I've been saying all along that curfews amount to a de facto ban on fo...

Yesterday I noted that I'd been searching -- at least as of late last year -- for any news about a promised independent investigation of the violent takedown last May of a teenager dressed as a Star Wars trooper by Lethbridge, AB police. A Canadian visitor sent me a link to this story in the Calgary Herald dated December 21, 2020, seven months after the episode: No criminal charges will be laid following an external investigation into the Lethbridge Police Service takedown of a teenager dressed as a Star Wars character in May. Well, criminal charges are beside the point and would hve been unlikely. In the US, there's a charge for assault under color of authority, which is usually applied to race-related incidents. The Lethbridge cops, and their supervisors, were just really dumb, not criminal, and the question is whether they should be dealing with any issues requiring good judgment, which is what police jobs often require. So the external investigation skipped over the r...

David Freiheit of the Viva Frei YouTube channel is generally uneven, and even when he makes good points, you have to suffer through his vamping and mugging to get them. In the video above, the constant personal references or the whiny kids in the back seat are at least at a low enough level that you can sit through them to get the meat. One thing that's puzzled me in general about the current phase of the COVID panic is that the late 2020 surge has largely abated worldwide, while the vaccine is being widely distributed everywhere. The chart for Canada at right reflects this. Even in California, Gov Newsom has relaxed the extra measures he imposed in December, and the Los Angeles County health department has gone even farther, allowing schools to begin reopening and allowing outdoor sports. The attitude in the US, justified or not, is optimistic, especially given the vaccine, and in fact I think it will be very difficult for the authorities not to continue relaxing COVID measur...

The piece at the UK Open Democracy website that I linked yesterday suggests that somewhere, there's a cohesive expression of an ultra-leftist agenda that includes abolition of the traditional family, abolition of private property, transsexualism, radical environmentalism, and probably much more, into which the current blue program of extended lockdowns dovetails. I've got to figure that somewhare there's a book, at least, that lays this out. Some of it clearly comes from late 19th century free-love leftism that was popular in the UK for a few decades, while other parts are just recycled, romanticized Marxism-Stalinism. But radical environmentalism and outright transsexualim (as opposed to ordinary tolerance of homosexuality) are new. If anyone knows whether there's an influential published playbook that outlines the whole current program, I'd like to know about it. What's plain, though, is that the current US Congress, with very slim majorities, is intent ...

I went googling for Dr Fauci's latest remarks and came up with intriguing questions. The screen shot above is from a CNN story , where Fauci is giving the current line on the New Normal, clearly endorsed by an upper-class white woman with The Look, in this case Dana Bash. It used to be that The Look went with a facial expression that at least affected a wide-eyed ingenue quality, but no longer: Ms Bash is trying on Big Sister, which we're going to be getting more of, I do believe. Fauci, meanwhile, is blathering away with a self-satisfied smirk. Asked by CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union" whether he thinks Americans will still need to wear masks next year, Fauci replied: "You know, I think it is possible that that's the case and, again, it really depends on what you mean by normality." It's plain from the CDC news conference I referenced yesterday that Fauci isn't just speaking on his own account, the suits at the CDC are behind ...

I was drawn to this exchange at the White House CDC COVID briefing Monday: MODERATOR: Next we’ll go to Chris Megerian at Los Angeles Times. Q Hi, everyone. I was interested in your thoughts on the messaging around the vaccines. There’s a lot of conversation about how you need to keep doing the same things even after you get vaccinated — you know, like wearing a mask, not seeing your family, things like that. Do you think that’s preventing people from being more enthusiastic about getting vaccines? And may we see that change in the future? ACTING ADMINISTRATOR SLAVITT: Well, I’m going to invite both Dr. Walensky and Dr. Fauci to comment on that, and then — you know, and then I will as — I will as well, if there’s anything to add. DR. FAUCI: Yeah, I — actually, let — I’ll start — well, whatever. (Laughs.) I’ll start off and be very brief and hand it to Dr. Walensky. I don't know if video of this conference is available -- I haven't seen ...

I had a real adventure trying to find a picture to illustrate this post. After a week of Mars rover specials on TV, plus the usual History Channel fare, I was beginning to realize the world is still run by upper-class white ladies who all look the same, because no matter how many transsexuals, blacks, Latins, Asians, or whatever else they have on the show to explain things, there's always -- always -- an upper-class white lady to endorse whatever is said, although the lizard people have given everyone else an approved script as well. So, knowing what I was looking for, I started doing google image searches for "upper class wasp woman look", and sure enough, I got mostly picures of insects, with a few 19th century sketches of period fashion as well. I tried variations. "Understated elite look" brought, remarkably, ladies in bikinis. "Upper class look" brought ladies in big hair. Finally, as a last ditch effort, I hit on it: "Sally Quinn"....