The "listen to the science" crackpots

What's going on in with the presidential election is so maddening I can barely talk about it.

So instead, let me say something about local politics, which people (to their peril) often forget about in favor of the glamour of national politics.

It's at the state and local level that the low-IQ "listen to the science" lizard people have done their damage.

People laughed when I pointed out that in Alachua County, Florida, which implemented a one-person-per-1000-square-feet rule for local businesses, the county commission chair admitted that that figure had been chosen "because it's easy math for everybody to do."

This is crackpottery, not "science."

Something similar seems to have motivated Pennsylvania's restrictions on restaurants, and by extension to all restrictions involving a distinction between "life-sustaining" and "non-life-sustaining" businesses.

State Representative Dan Moul recently read the relevant portions of the recent case County of Butler v. Wolf to the public:

• How many scientists were on the governor’s team of advisors that came up with these executive orders? Answer: None.
• How many immunologists or epidemiologists were on the governor’s team of advisors that came up with these executive orders? Answer: None.
• How many health care or medical professionals were on the governor’s team of advisors that came up with these executive orders? Answer: None.
• Of the hundreds, if not thousands, of meetings the governor’s teams of advisors testified that they had, how many meetings did the governor attend? Answer: None.
• Did the governor’s team make a written record of any of these meetings? Answer: No.
• Did the governor’s advisors provide an objective definition of the words “life-sustaining” and “non-life-sustaining”? Answer: No.
• Did the governor’s advisors define the word “life-sustaining business?” Answer: Yes.
• What was their definition? Answer: A business that sustains life.
• The governor’s team further stated what they meant by life-sustaining. Answer: “common understanding.”
• Whatever the governor’s advisors’ definition of the word life-sustaining is or was, did they write it down on PAPER? Answer: No.
• A notebook? Answer: No.
• A post-it note? Answer: No.
• On the back of their hands? Answer: No.
• Anywhere? Answer: No.
• So, when the governor’s team was reviewing the waiver requests filed by tens of thousands of businesses and trying to decide if the businesses were life-sustaining or non-life-sustaining did the governor’s team apply a written definition of life-sustaining? Answer: No.
• So how did they decide whether your business was life-sustaining? Answer: Common sense.
• Is “common sense,” a legal standard? Answer: No.
• The governor’s advisors testified they used the North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) to help classify businesses. In the 956 pages of the NAICs document, how many times do the words life-sustaining or non-life-sustaining appear? Answer: None.
• Do the words life-sustaining or non-life-sustaining, as industry or business classifications, appear in any of Pennsylvania’s thousands of statutes and regulations dating back to the 1600s? Answer: No.
• How many times have the governor’s list of life-sustaining and non-life-sustaining businesses changed? Answer: 10.
• How many scientists did the governor have testify at the trial in this case in support of his executive orders? Answer: None.
• How many medical professionals did the governor have testify at this trial in support of his executive orders? Answer: None.
• How many expert reports did the governor admit into evidence at this trial to support his executive orders? Answer: None.

It was a state representative, remember, who brought this to the public's attention.

So whatever happens with the outcome of the presidential election, it's important to remember how much of what really matters takes place at the local level.

As a matter of fact, later this month I'll be speaking to about one hundred state legislators, and I'll be briefing them on standing up and rallying the public against the COVID restrictions. I genuinely can't wait.

Meanwhile, one other item to leave you with today:

If you've ever considered starting a website or blog, I have a bunch of free resources to help you: tutorials, a mutual-help group, and free publicity to my audience. I've helped hundreds and hundreds of my listeners get eyeballs on their sites -- and that's the major fear when launching one: there'll be tumbleweeds going by instead of a stampede of people.
 

Tom Woods