Photo: AFP
Top Three Takeaways – July 28th, 2021
- Telling the truth shouldn’t be hard. Words spoken by Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn during the opening hearing of the House’s January 6th Commission. He’s right. Telling the truth shouldn’t be hard. But it is because so many have agendas that may run counter to the truth. If telling the truth were easy there’d be no need for my saying that there are two sides to stories and one side to facts. Let’s deal with the facts and just the known facts of the riot at the Capitol on January 6th. Out of a crowd of thousands assembled at the Capitol, hundreds turned violent. Those who turned violent were overwhelmingly supporters of Donald Trump who intended to storm the Capitol and prevent a vote certifying Joe Biden as the next President of the United States. During the violence numerous officers were subjected to physical and verbal abuse. One Capitol Police Officer died the day after the attack of natural causes after having suffered two strokes during the attack. The rioters met the definition of terrorists as was cited at the hearing. Those are all facts. Those facts were present and made clear during the hearing. Here are other related facts. There are multiple intelligence investigations ongoing regarding the January 6th riot. There were massive failures by law enforcement agencies in the preparation for the attack based on available intelligence. There were significant coordination failures between agencies during the attack. Capitol Police were only staffed for a normal day at the Capitol. The four Officers chosen to testify are Democrats who had previously been outspoken and specifically critical of Republicans. Six Capitol Police Officers have been linked to aiding rioters with a total of 35 who’re being investigated. Two Officers committed suicide in the days that followed the riot. In the History of the House of Representatives, never until this committee, had a House Speaker denied the minority party representation equal to their delegation on a committee. None of these facts were mentioned yesterday. Importantly, because those testifying and those hand-picked by Speaker Pelosi were the only ones involved, yesterday was a day which presented some of the facts but far from all. And many stories but all intentionally to fit a narrative. There remain two sides to stories but one side to facts. Also, the most pervasive form of bias, be it in media or in this hearing remains omission.
- What’s old is new again. In May, the CDC told us if you were vaccinated you didn’t need to wear a mask. Now all K-12 students are recommended to wear masks regardless of vaccination status and ditto all vaccinated adults in areas where COVID-19 spread is high. Which means all of Florida. While Governor DeSantis weighs his next move (though I doubt there’s a special session regarding mask mandates in school), while local officials weigh theirs, there’s a takeaway much bigger than whatever the CDC’s mask recommendations are today. If you wake up and look to the government for answers, you’re already setup for failure. This is but the latest reminder that government officials and agencies are just making it all up as they go, and the response of government officials mutates about as much as the virus. And not so much in a “follow the science” kind of way, as much as a chasing their tail kind of way. Look we can make this complicated, but it never was and isn’t now. Why have doctors worn masks when conducting medical procedures for nearly two hundred years? Because they help mitigate exposure. I started wearing a mask in businesses again over two weeks ago for that reason. We should all stop acting like lemmings and more like thinking people. Waiting on the government for guidance could be harmful to your health, your liberty or both.
- But about masking and the schools. Whatever does or doesn’t happen with school masking next year there’s this to consider. Last year’s school protocols, during the peak of the pandemic in Florida, resulted in the safest environments for kids in our society. Including, as I recently brought you, the news that a higher percentage of kids who didn’t attend classroom education contracted COVID-19 than those who did. Mask or no mask in the classroom it’s not complicated. If kids who have COVID-19 aren’t allowed in the classroom, it’s not going to be spread in the classroom.