MAGA Jackass Brays Again

MAGA Republicans in the House are holding hearings to prove that the Biden administration has failed to control the border and as a result he is to blame for the rise in fentanyl related deaths. They had testimony from a mother who tragically lost two sons to fentanyl poisoning because the percocet they thought would make them high was laced with it. It is a very serious problem no doubt.

MAGA leader Marjorie Taylor Greene was very sympathetic to the woman’s sad story when she had her turn in the questioning and she tweeted about it to spread the word or Biden’s tragic failure.

https://tinyurl.com/29zzzrc4

Notice the text of her tweet where she gets her licks in on both Biden and the Chinese. But, here is the point. The woman’s son’s died four months before the end of the Trump administration. Yes, really. So, when this obviously significant fact was disclosed, CNN reporters asked her office for comment and asked whether she would remove the tweet based on the facts. The reply they got in an email was . . . “Do you think they give a f**k about your bullsh*t fact checking?”

MAGA in a nutshell.

It Doesn’t Make Sense to Blame Crime on Poverty

Source: The Wall Street Journal (free link).

The writer makes a fair point, but I wonder how many people actually believe that poverty causes crime. More than a few, I imagine, without really knowing.

One hears the contention from time to time that poverty causes political revolt. Or one hears sad stories about desperate moms who steal formula to nourish their infants. I often associate such things with marxian preoccupations. That is, people who are convinced that the Hegelian “shtruggle” is real tend to look for ways to dramatize it.

Still, the pristine question remains: If we have laws, do we not then, automatically, need law enforcement? I think we do, without apology, and just as much to help the poor as anyone else.

Another GOP fail on immigration

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2023/02/us-rep-jim-jordan-house-republicans-scour-southern-border-but-dont-find-any-illegal-crossings.html?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Rep. Jordan and friends went looking for illegal crossings in Arizona. There were none.

Open borders? “Immigration officials, however, say enforcement measures are working, pointing to statistics that show Border Patrol encounters between designated ports of entry in January were at their lowest level in nearly two years. U.S. Border Patrol encounters between southwest border ports of entry last month totaled 128,410, down 42% from the 221,675 reported in December 2022, according to a February report from the agency.“

Uh, no. But it is a great slogan. No matter how much of a misstatement it is. The base eats it up.

U.S. Public Health has been Sick (News Media, Too)

Two items on WSJ’s Opinion page tell a singular story about the state of the union and its potential improvement:

Another Turn in the Covid Lab-Leak Story.

Three Years Late, the Lancet Recognizes Natural Immunity.

Together, these opinions represent a correction of the record — a good thing, considering the Covid-19 hysteria that has ruled in the public square since the beginning of the pandemic.

First, we learn that some U.S. officials think the Covid-19 virus may be man-made. Then we learn that natural immunity may be superior to vaccination in some applications of public health policy/practice.

Neither of these opinions is Earth shattering, but I am glad for both of them. Now that a man-made origin for Covid-19 is an official speculation, we can begin to wonder and discuss who were the men who made it, and why, and what happened when they did. Now that the efficacy of natural immunity is established, we can begin to speak of Covid in terms of the standard epidemiological model again.

Small steps, to be sure, but I expect they will have profound effects on the Covid-19 narrative.