Random Notes on the Passing Scene

Some random notes from Nellie Bowles, via Bari Weiss’s Substack.

The first, largely ignored by those who are up in arms about every form of bigotry but one, has Amnesty International declaring that Israel has no real right to exist. This, after having branded Israel an apartheid state.

Now, how many Jews still support AI?

Bowles reports:

Amnesty International, which previously declared Israel an apartheid state, has helpfully clarified this week that the organization does not believe in the Jewish state’s right to exist at all. 

“It is not Amnesty’s position, in fact we are opposed to the idea—and this, I think, is an existential part of the debate—that Israel should be preserved as a state for the Jewish people,” said Amnesty USA head Paul O’Brien in a talk this month with the Woman’s National Democratic Club.

Jewish Insider asked: “So Israel shouldn’t exist as a Jewish state but Israel is a Jewish state.”

And Paul O’Brien again was good and clear: “It shouldn’t exist as a Jewish state.” 

There are those who are shocked—shocked!—that Amnesty would say such a thing. We’re not. And we actually think it’s helpful that the mask is now off. 

And a note about mask mandates. It appears, based on a study reported by a highly respected British medical journal, The Lancet, that mask mandates are largely ineffective-- to say nothing of, damaging.

Requiem for the mask: A new Lancet study has some interesting data in it. First: Covid killed a lot of people, and many governments undercounted their dead. Second, masking and lockdowns did little: “There is no clear relationship between levels of excess mortality and different levels of restrictions across Western Europe or indeed the whole of Europe,” writes an epidemiologist at Cambridge University, parsing the new Lancet data.

Americans are slowly discovering the same thing. The Washington Post braved a journey to suburban Colorado and reported back this week: “These schools did less to contain covid. Their students flourished.” 

Mask mandates damage children. Mask mandates do nothing to stop the spread of the virus. Small children are the least likely to get very sick. Therefore, New York City’s new Health Commissioner wants toddlers to wear masks indefinitely. Where do they find these morons?

CBS reports:

Dr. Ashwin Vasan says until city children are old enough to get vaccinated, the masks stay on. 

"I think it's indefinite at this point. People who have tried to predict the future in this pandemic have had egg on their face, and I'm not going to do that today," Vasan said….

"As a father of a two and a half year old and two other older kids, I want to keep them as safe as possible. I would love nothing more than to send my son to daycare without a mask. But as a scientist, and as a doctor, and an epidemiologist, I want to keep him safe," Vasan said. 

Obviously, the good doctor is not following the science. He is yet another woke idiot someone put in charge of public health policy. He is using his powers to damage toddlers. We await the parental rebellion.

And, to close on some good news. It appears that time is running out for San Francisco’s radical leftist pro-crime prosecutor Chesa Boudin. The effort to recall him seems unstoppable:

It’s recall season, baby: 68% of San Franciscans say they are going to vote to recall progressive prosecutor Chesa Boudin, according to a new poll out this week. Urban liberals are fed-up, and they’re hitting the ballot box to say so. A funny side note: the city is now officially boycotting most of America.