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Here are the 10 most important COVID-related questions which the news media is ignoring

December 14, 2020
John Ziegler

Contributor

The recent massive surge of COVID cases here in America and around much of the world has been both shocking and edifying. Clearly, people like me who have promoted the theory on "low-threshold herd immunity" were probably wrong in our overly-optimistic analysis (though it should at least be noted that Sweden's current death rate is WAY below what would be expected based on their sudden dramatic increase in cases, and already rapidly declining).

However, based on this new information, the other "side" of this debate also has a lot of explaining to do, but because the news media is deeply invested in the very same narrative as the "experts" and the lockdown governors, there is zero pressure forcing this to actually happen. This is further validating my prediction that the COVID storyline was uniquely designed for the news media to only allow one perspective to be fully/fairly explored, thus ensuring that the radical remaking of America, which effectively happened in just a few days in March, can never be credibly questioned.

Here are just some of the many important questions which the vast majority of the news media has systematically ignored, seemingly because they don't fit their preferred version of reality.

What does the recent surge in cases say about the effectiveness of lockdowns?:

As devastating as the November/December outbreak has been for the "herd immunity" argument, it has been arguably worse for the "lockdowns work" presumption. There has been, at best, no correlation between heavy lockdowns and areas that have done better/worse during this third wave.

For instance, heavy-lockdown states California and Illinois have fared horribly, even worse than freer large states like Florida and Texas. And yet the news media is remarkably uncurious about how this could possibly be the case if government lockdowns actually work, and they never even contemplate the increasingly obvious possibility that we simply have very little control over a virus which currently has no vaccine.

What is the collateral damage of lockdowns?:

Even the World Health Organization admitted that the collateral damage of long-term lockdowns outweigh whatever benefits they might provide. Tellingly, the news media muted this pronouncement, and, as is their normal M.O. in these situations, did their best to claim that the statement was somehow being taken out of context.

The reality is that, even if you discount the huge economic ramifications of long-term lockdowns (which obviously also has a health component to it), the purely medical damage being done in the areas of suicide, drug abuse, child abuse, lack of normal care, and mental health problems has been extraordinary.

The most infuriating/telling tactic which the news media routinely uses to defuse this issue (when they are not completely ignoring it) is that they blame these impacts, especially those in the economic realm as being "caused by the pandemic." However, it is very clear the LOCKDOWNS which are the origin, not COVID itself.

Why do masks not seem to positively impact the data?:

There is no aspect of COVID governmental restrictions in which the news media is more deeply invested than mask mandates. Faith in the power of masks to stop people from spreading a virus has now reached the level of religious belief (which may be why president-elect Joe Biden has chosen the very "sciency" round number of 100 days of mask-wearing as "penance" for the Trump presidency).

The general conservative view of mask mandates has always been that the evidence that they actually work does not come close to the threshold which should exist for the government to force them on a public in a country that was formerly based on freedom and liberty. The fact that there is no legitimate explanation, nor even any media introspection as to why, based on the data, the pro-mask states/countries have recently done no better—and sometimes worse—than the places with no mask mandate, does nothing to dissuade many people from concluding that mask mandates are based much more in religion than in real science.

If COVID was around way before March, what does that really mean?:

As a resident of California, it never made any sense to me that our state was not hit by COVID before mid-March. As the evidence began to mount that my suspicions of a much earlier timeframe were correct, I wrote that, in a rational world, this new information would radically alter our view of our response to the virus.

Since then, it has become obvious that most of the west coast was exposed to COVID at the end of 2019, and yet normal life went on, especially in extremely busy California, without anyone even noticing, and without the state suffering a major explosion of cases once the official counting began. The news media should at least make a cursory effort to get to the bottom of this very key issue (unless, of course, they are frightened of what they might be forced to conclude).

What is the real evidence of significant asymptomatic spread?:

The foundational premise of the vast majority of COVID restrictions is the presumption that asymptomatic spread is a very substantial factor in why the virus is not under control. But the news media has blindly accepted this basis as gospel, despite there being some legitimate reasons for skepticism.

The WHO stated that asymptomatic spread was "very rare." This was a statement so politically incorrect, and the media cries of "Blasphemy!" were so strong, that they were forced to do an immediate walk-back, with the news media once again bending over backward to rationalize that this was just a misstatement.

America's media darling Dr. Anthony Fauci said, empathically, at the start of this year, that asymptomatic spread is "never" the driver of viral outbreaks. The news media, much like they did with his similar early pronouncement that masks are ineffective against viruses, has memory-holed the video and blocked for Fauci on yet another "misstatement," while also, bizarrely, still treating him as if he is somehow infallible.

What is the average age of "COVID Death"?:

In a rational world, the second most important fact (after how many deaths it has directly caused) about the coronavirus would be what the average age of death is for people who die because of it. However, in the world in which we actually reside, this information is only known by a very small percentage of the population, it is virtually impossible to even theoretically calculate on a national level.

In fact, when you Google "what is the average age of COVID death in the United States?" the website which can immediately answer even the most mundane question suspiciously has no reply. Instead, it highlights a link for the CDC where, at best, you can surmise that the "median" age of death is 79-80.

Several states and many countries which do provide this specific critical information have that number at over 80. We do know that about 60% of USA deaths are 75 or older and that 80% are at least 65.

Considering that the USA life expectancy is just over 78 years, these facts should be widely known and have a dramatic impact on the public perception of how best to handle the situation. Instead, the topic is hardly ever directly discussed, and even then it is in the context of unfairly condemning anyone who dares to imply that the lives lost to COVID are not as costly as those who are killed in a war, or a terrorist attack.

What happened to the flu?

You wouldn't know it from the news media, but while the United States is suffering from record numbers of COVID cases, we are also experiencing the lightest flu season in modern history. Shouldn't we at least be considering the possibility that these horrible COVID numbers are not nearly as catastrophic as they first appear because what is really happening is that we are, to at least some significant degree, simply renaming the flu and that this surge has been provoked primarily by a change in seasons?

At the very least, this reality blows a huge hole in the only argument that lockdown proponents have offered for their ineffectiveness (that people all over the world have suddenly stopped paying attention to their orders at exactly the same time). After all, if the flu has been eliminated because of all the masks and social distancing, you cannot also say that we are not really using enough masks and social distancing.

Whatever happened to fearing absolute executive power?:

The topic on which liberals have been most disappointing and obviously hypocritical is that of the overt crackdown on the most basic of civil liberties which has been led by tyrannical Democratic governors. This not only goes against the fundamental principles of liberalism but is particularly outrageous since the Democratic Party impeached President Trump earlier this year for actions they understandably believed would eventually lead to dictatorial rule.

Under the guise of endless "emergency powers" (which were clearly never intended for a situation like this) these governors have claimed unlimited authority with not a shred of resistance from a liberal establishment which used to pretend to be against fascism above all else. Even court rulings theoretically curtailing the out-of-control Democratic Governors of California, Pennsylvania, and Michigan have been mostly ignored by the news media because they are inconvenient to their narrative.

Why should we trust politicians who have been catastrophically wrong and hypocritical?:

Of all the many outrageous elements of our Governor Gavin Newsom's autocratic response to the pandemic, there are two which stand out above the others.

The first is that this all began with him justifying an unprecedented action by telling a MASSIVE and obvious lie: that California was about to have over 25 million COVID cases in the next eight weeks. The fact that it took nine MONTHS for California to reach ONE million positive tests (while never having our healthcare system come very close to being "overwhelmed") is now never even brought up, even though it should have instantly shattered his credibility on this topic for all-time.

The second is that he can have the gall, and the news media's backing, to give orders shutting down restaurants that are barely surviving just after being caught in a scandal where he attended a party at a fancy indoor eatery where there was no social distancing or wearing of masks.

What are the ramifications of the precedents being set?:

This is an area where there has been almost no major media coverage despite it being perhaps the biggest issue facing our country going forward. Even with multiple effective vaccines on the horizon, it seems all too clear that a very small number of people, many of whom are unelected, have set up new rules for our society where it may very well be impossible for us to return to the pre-COVID era.

For instance, using these new very low standards for dramatic governmental action, why would we not shut down every winter for flu season? And surely whenever a new virus is discovered (which happens fairly regularly) we will have to do the same until we are sure it is "safe." And if the government can regulate our lives for a year like they have over something that, at worst, is still in the ballpark of a bad flu, then haven't we just telegraphed how easy it is for us to be controlled forever?

A Sharia enclave is quietly taking root in America. It's time to wake up.

NOVA SAFO / Staff | Getty Images

Sharia-based projects like the Meadow in Texas show how political Islam grows quietly, counting on Americans to stay silent while an incompatible legal system takes root.

Apolitical system completely incompatible with the Constitution is gaining ground in the United States, and we are pretending it is not happening.

Sharia — the legal and political framework of Islam — is being woven into developments, institutions, and neighborhoods, including a massive project in Texas. And the consequences will be enormous if we continue to look the other way.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

Before we can have an honest debate, we’d better understand what Sharia represents. Sharia is not simply a set of religious rules about prayer or diet. It is a comprehensive legal and political structure that governs marriage, finance, criminal penalties, and civic life. It is a parallel system that claims supremacy wherever it takes hold.

This is where the distinction matters. Many Muslims in America want nothing to do with Sharia governance. They came here precisely because they lived under it. But political Islam — the movement that seeks to implement Sharia as law — is not the same as personal religious belief.

It is a political ideology with global ambitions, much like communism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently warned that Islamist movements do not seek peaceful coexistence with the West. They seek dominance. History backs him up.

How Sharia arrives

Political Islam does not begin with dramatic declarations. It starts quietly, through enclaves that operate by their own rules. That is why the development once called EPIC City — now rebranded as the Meadow — is so concerning. Early plans framed it as a Muslim-only community built around a mega-mosque and governed by Sharia-compliant financing. After state investigations were conducted, the branding changed, but the underlying intent remained the same.

Developers have openly described practices designed to keep non-Muslims out, using fees and ownership structures to create de facto religious exclusivity. This is not assimilation. It is the construction of a parallel society within a constitutional republic.

The warning from those who have lived under it

Years ago, local imams in Texas told me, without hesitation, that certain Sharia punishments “just work.” They spoke about cutting off hands for theft, stoning adulterers, and maintaining separate standards of testimony for men and women. They insisted it was logical and effective while insisting they would never attempt to implement it in Texas.

But when pressed, they could not explain why a system they consider divinely mandated would suddenly stop applying once someone crossed a border.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

AASHISH KIPHAYET / Contributor | Getty Images

America is vulnerable

Europe is already showing us where this road leads. No-go zones, parallel courts, political intimidation, and clerics preaching supremacy have taken root across major cities.

America’s strength has always come from its melting pot, but assimilation requires boundaries. It requires insisting that the Constitution, not religious law, is the supreme authority on this soil.

Yet we are becoming complacent, even fearful, about saying so. We mistake silence for tolerance. We mistake avoidance for fairness. Meanwhile, political Islam views this hesitation as weakness.

Religious freedom is one of America’s greatest gifts. Muslims may worship freely here, as they should. But political Islam must not be permitted to plant a flag on American soil. The Constitution cannot coexist with a system that denies equal rights, restricts speech, subordinates women, and places clerical authority above civil law.

Wake up before it is too late

Projects like the Meadow are not isolated. They are test runs, footholds, proofs of concept. Political Islam operates with patience. It advances through demographic growth, legal ambiguity, and cultural hesitation — and it counts on Americans being too polite, too distracted, or too afraid to confront it.

We cannot afford that luxury. If we fail to defend the principles that make this country free, we will one day find ourselves asking how a parallel system gained power right in front of us. The answer will be simple: We looked away.

The time to draw boundaries and to speak honestly is now. The time to defend the Constitution as the supreme law of the land is now. Act while there is still time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Why do Americans feel so empty?

Mario Tama / Staff | Getty Images

Anxiety, anger, and chronic dissatisfaction signal a country searching for meaning. Without truth and purpose, politics becomes a dangerous substitute for identity.

We have built a world overflowing with noise, convenience, and endless choice, yet something essential has slipped out of reach. You can sense it in the restless mood of the country, the anxiety among young people who cannot explain why they feel empty, in the angry confusion that dominates our politics.

We have more wealth than any nation in history, but the heart of the culture feels strangely malnourished. Before we can debate debt or elections, we must confront the reality that we created a world of things, but not a world of purpose.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

What we are living through is not just economic or political dysfunction. It is the vacuum that appears when a civilization mistakes abundance for meaning.

Modern life is stuffed with everything except what the human soul actually needs. We built systems to make life faster, easier, and more efficient — and then wondered why those systems cannot teach our children who they are, why they matter, or what is worth living for.

We tell the next generation to chase success, influence, and wealth, turning childhood into branding. We ask kids what they want to do, not who they want to be. We build a world wired for dopamine rather than dignity, and then we wonder why so many people feel unmoored.

When everything is curated, optimized, and delivered at the push of a button, the question “what is my life for?” gets lost in the static.

The crisis beneath the headlines

It is not just the young who feel this crisis. Every part of our society is straining under the weight of meaninglessness.

Look at the debt cycle — the mathematical fate no civilization has ever escaped once it crosses a threshold that we seem to have already blown by. While ordinary families feel the pressure, our leaders respond with distraction, with denial, or by rewriting the very history that could have warned us.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

We have entered a cultural moment where the noise is so loud that it drowns out the simplest truths. We are living in a country that no longer knows how to hear itself think.

So people go searching. Some drift toward the false promise of socialism, some toward the empty thrill of rebellion. Some simply check out. When a culture forgets what gives life meaning, it becomes vulnerable to every ideology that offers a quick answer.

The quiet return of meaning

And yet, quietly, something else is happening. Beneath the frustration and cynicism, many Americans are recognizing that meaning does not come from what we own, but from what we honor. It does not rise from success, but from virtue. It does not emerge from noise, but from the small, sacred things that modern life has pushed to the margins — the home, the table, the duty you fulfill, the person you help when no one is watching.

The danger is assuming that this rediscovery happens on its own. It does not.

Reorientation requires intention. It requires rebuilding the habits and virtues that once held us together. It requires telling the truth about our history instead of rewriting it to fit today’s narratives. And it requires acknowledging what has been erased: that meaning is inseparable from God’s presence in a nation’s life.

Harold M. Lambert / Contributor | Getty Images

Where renewal begins

We have built a world without stillness, and then we wondered why no one can hear the questions that matter. Those questions remain, whether we acknowledge them or not. They do not disappear just because we drown them in entertainment or noise. They wait for us, and the longer we ignore them, the more disoriented we become.

Meaning is still available. It is found in rebuilding the smallest, most human spaces — the places that cannot be digitized, globalized, or automated. The home. The family. The community.

These are the daily virtues that do not trend on social media, but that hold a civilization upright. If we want to repair this country, we begin there, exactly where every durable civilization has always begun: one virtue at a time, one tradition at a time, one generation at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

A break in trust: A NEW Watergate is brewing in plain sight

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

When institutions betray the public’s trust, the country splits, and the spiral is hard to stop.

Something drastic is happening in American life. Headlines that should leave us stunned barely register anymore. Stories that once would have united the country instead dissolve into silence or shrugs.

It is not apathy exactly. It is something deeper — a growing belief that the people in charge either cannot or will not fix what is broken.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf.

I call this response the Bubba effect. It describes what happens when institutions lose so much public trust that “Bubba,” the average American minding his own business, finally throws his hands up and says, “Fine. I will handle it myself.” Not because he wants to, but because the system that was supposed to protect him now feels indifferent, corrupt, or openly hostile.

The Bubba effect is not a political movement. It is a survival instinct.

What triggers the Bubba effect

We are watching the triggers unfold in real time. When members of Congress publicly encourage active duty troops to disregard orders from the commander in chief, that is not a political squabble. When a federal judge quietly rewrites the rules so one branch of government can secretly surveil another, that is not normal. That is how republics fall. Yet these stories glided across the news cycle without urgency, without consequence, without explanation.

When the American people see the leadership class shrug, they conclude — correctly — that no one is steering the ship.

This is how the Bubba effect spreads. It is not just individuals resisting authority. It is sheriffs refusing to enforce new policies, school boards ignoring state mandates, entire communities saying, “We do not believe you anymore.” It becomes institutional, cultural, national.

A country cracking from the inside

This effect can be seen in Dearborn, Michigan. In the rise of fringe voices like Nick Fuentes. In the Epstein scandal, where powerful people could not seem to locate a single accountable adult. These stories are different in content but identical in message: The system protects itself, not you.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf. That does not mean they suddenly agree with everything that person says. It means they feel abandoned by the institutions that were supposed to be trustworthy.

The Bubba effect is what fills that vacuum.

The dangers of a faithless system

A republic cannot survive without credibility. Congress cannot oversee intelligence agencies if it refuses to discipline its own members. The military cannot remain apolitical if its chain of command becomes optional. The judiciary cannot defend the Constitution while inventing loopholes that erase the separation of powers.

History shows that once a nation militarizes politics, normalizes constitutional shortcuts, or allows government agencies to operate without scrutiny, it does not return to equilibrium peacefully. Something will give.

The question is what — and when.

The responsibility now belongs to us

In a healthy country, this is where the media steps in. This is where universities, pastors, journalists, and cultural leaders pause the outrage machine and explain what is at stake. But today, too many see themselves not as guardians of the republic, but of ideology. Their first loyalty is to narrative, not truth.

The founders never trusted the press more than the public. They trusted citizens who understood their rights, lived their responsibilities, and demanded accountability. That is the antidote to the Bubba effect — not rage, but citizenship.

How to respond without breaking ourselves

Do not riot. Do not withdraw. Do not cheer on destruction just because you dislike the target. That is how nations lose themselves. Instead, demand transparency. Call your representatives. Insist on consequences. Refuse to normalize constitutional violations simply because “everyone does it.” If you expect nothing, you will get nothing.

Do not hand your voice to the loudest warrior simply because he is swinging a bat at the establishment. You do not beat corruption by joining a different version of it. You beat it by modeling the country you want to preserve: principled, accountable, rooted in truth.

Adam Gray / Stringer | Getty Images

Every republic reaches a moment when historians will later say, “That was the warning.” We are living in ours. But warnings are gifts if they are recognized. Institutions bend. People fail. The Constitution can recover — if enough Americans still know and cherish it.

It does not take a majority. Twenty percent of the country — awake, educated, and courageous — can reset the system. It has happened before. It can happen again.

Wake up. Stand up. Demand integrity — from leaders, from institutions, and from yourself. Because the Bubba effect will not end until Americans reclaim the duty that has always belonged to them: preserving the republic for the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Grim warning: Bad-faith Israel critics duck REAL questions

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Bad-faith attacks on Israel and AIPAC warp every debate. Real answers emerge only when people set aside scripts and ask what serves America’s long-term interests.

The search for truth has always required something very much in short supply these days: honesty. Not performative questions, not scripted outrage, not whatever happens to be trending on TikTok, but real curiosity.

Some issues, often focused on foreign aid, AIPAC, or Israel, have become hotbeds of debate and disagreement. Before we jump into those debates, however, we must return to a simpler, more important issue: honest questioning. Without it, nothing in these debates matters.

Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

The phrase “just asking questions” has re-entered the zeitgeist, and that’s fine. We should always question power. But too many of those questions feel preloaded with someone else’s answer. If the goal is truth, then the questions should come from a sincere desire to understand, not from a hunt for a villain.

Honest desire for truth is the only foundation that can support a real conversation about these issues.

Truth-seeking is real work

Right now, plenty of people are not seeking the truth at all. They are repeating something they heard from a politician on cable news or from a stranger on TikTok who has never opened a history book. That is not a search for answers. That is simply outsourcing your own thought.

If you want the truth, you need to work for it. You cannot treat the world like a Marvel movie where the good guy appears in a cape and the villain hisses on command. Real life does not give you a neat script with the moral wrapped up in two hours.

But that is how people are approaching politics now. They want the oppressed and the oppressor, the heroic underdog and the cartoon villain. They embrace this fantastical framing because it is easier than wrestling with reality.

This framing took root in the 1960s when the left rebuilt its worldview around colonizers and the colonized. Overnight, Zionism was recast as imperialism. Suddenly, every conflict had to fit the same script. Today’s young activists are just recycling the same narrative with updated graphics. Everything becomes a morality play. No nuance, no context, just the comforting clarity of heroes and villains.

Bad-faith questions

This same mindset is fueling the sudden obsession with Israel, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in particular. You hear it from members of Congress and activists alike: AIPAC pulls the strings, AIPAC controls the government, AIPAC should register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The questions are dramatic, but are they being asked in good faith?

FARA is clear. The standard is whether an individual or group acts under the direction or control of a foreign government. AIPAC simply does not qualify.

Here is a detail conveniently left out of these arguments: Dozens of domestic organizations — Armenian, Cuban, Irish, Turkish — lobby Congress on behalf of other countries. None of them registers under FARA because — like AIPAC — they are independent, domestic organizations.

If someone has a sincere problem with the structure of foreign lobbying, fair enough. Let us have that conversation. But singling out AIPAC alone is not a search for truth. It is bias dressed up as bravery.

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

If someone wants to question foreign aid to Israel, fine. Let’s have that debate. But let’s ask the right questions. The issue is not the size of the package but whether the aid advances our interests. What does the United States gain? Does the investment strengthen our position in the region? How does it compare to what we give other nations? And do we examine those countries with the same intensity?

The real target

These questions reflect good-faith scrutiny. But narrowing the entire argument to one country or one dollar amount misses the larger problem. If someone objects to the way America handles foreign aid, the target is not Israel. The target is the system itself — an entrenched bureaucracy, poor transparency, and decades-old commitments that have never been re-examined. Those problems run through programs around the world.

If you want answers, you need to broaden the lens. You have to be willing to put aside the movie script and confront reality. You have to hold yourself to a simple rule: Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

That is the only way this country ever gets clarity on foreign aid, influence, alliances, and our place in the world. Questioning is not just allowed. It is essential. But only if it is honest.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.