The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition

Ah...SCIENCE! Let's destroy the restaurant industry based on nothing more than the fascistic desire for control among the nation's governors and mayors, coupled with nonsensical interpretations of crap "studies."

This "science" is nothing of the sort. Real science...the boring double-blind studies and careful statistical analysis of data and most important, the understanding of the many variables that can confound the best intentioned research...would have compared similar areas: one with indoor dining and one without, and possibly reached a conclusion. But correlating complex human behavior with many variables to infection rates is just nonsense.

No Science Justifies Bans on Indoor or Outdoor Dining

Only a handful of papers attempt to tie public dining to the spread of the novel coronavirus. A much-ballyhooed study posted in September by the Centers for Disease Control claimed people who dined out were twice as likely to become infected with COVID-19 than those who had not. Headlines blared the alleged statistic just as the industry slowly was getting back to normal after the initial shutdowns in March. “Adults with Covid-19 about ‘twice as likely’ to say they have dined at a restaurant, CDC study suggests,” CNN breathlessly reported on September 10.

But the study did not draw from hard data directly linked to confirmed outbreaks at dining or drinking venues. The finding instead relied on recall surveys completed by infected respondents two to three weeks after a positive test result, which required the respondent to remember activities in the 14 day-period before symptoms appeared. Personal behavioral questionnaires, especially during pandemic-fueled hysteria, are not reliable sources of scientific evidence.

Further, the sample size was small and measured a number of other factors including face mask use. (The majority of COVID-positive respondents, it’s worth noting, reported close contact with an infected family member. So let’s force everyone to remain inside their homes!)

This is naked exercise of power, unfettered by the Democrat claims to being the party of science. It is exactly the opposite, and the destruction of small business in America will be laid at the feet of these arrogant fascists, but only if by some miracle the fourth estate regains its senses and does some actual reporting.

Otherwise it will depend on the people to push back against this totalitarian power grab. Mac's Public House on Staten Island has the right idea! And the owner of Pineapple Hill Saloon & Grill has the right idea too...publicize the power grabs and the graft and the kleptocratic behavior of these politicians.

And confront them when they break their own rules. If that means behaving in a decidedly unconservative way? Fine. NJ Governor Murphy was confronted by a few rather angry New Jerseyites:

“Are you guys a little too drunk,” one of Murphy’s sons asked the women. “Can you put your mask on?”

“No I’m not drunk, as a matter of fact,” one of the women responded. “You can go fuck yourself, how’s that? You know why I don’t need a mask? Because there ain’t nothing fucking wrong with me.”

posted by CBD at 11:00 AM

| Access Comments