During President Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night, he said something I agree with whole-heartedly:
…..when police officers or police departments violate the public trust,
they must be held accountable.
We’ll come back to this specific topic in a bit, but today I want to talk in general sense about accountability and why it’s necessary for a functioning society.
This sounds like pretty basic stuff. You are responsible for the stuff that you do — good or bad. If you cut down one of your trees and make a chair, nobody else has a claim on that chair. You put in the work to transform the raw wood into a useable piece of furniture, making it yours. This is one of the building blocks of a free society — private property. On the other hand, if that tree you cut down falls onto your neighbors car, you’re responsible for making your neighbor whole again. (Hope you have insurance!)
But one of the dangerous trends in society is AWAY from accountability — especially from our public officials. Perhaps the best example of that is the covid clusterfuck. Take a look at what CDC director Rachel Walensky says before the Health and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittees just one day after Biden’s demand for (police) accountability:
This would be laughably untrue if it weren’t so serious. In 2020 we had literally hundreds of years of mask studies from which to draw, all of which saying the same thing — masks don’t work against viruses. (Incidentally, the box of masks said the same thing.)
Real-world data showed over and over that mask mandates didn’t move the needle with regards to virus activity.
When the real-world data refused to support the “masks work” narrative, the CDC (and many other ‘experts) decided to simply lie about what the data said. Take a look at this chart used during the Kansas mask study that the CDC pushed hard:
Most of you have probably seen this by now and know immediately what’s wrong with the chart: two completely different axes. This doesn’t happen by accident. Somebody decided how the chart should look, so people made decisions that led to the chart datacrime. Who did that? We don’t know, because there’s no accountability.
Here’s now the chart looks when you plot both lines on the same axis:
Since that chart doesn’t support the narrative, it’s not “ready for primetime” — it needs a little nudge that will fool most of the country (who doesn’t have time to dive into the BS of politicians). Red line down, blue line not down, SCIENCE!
But somehow the tale of the Kansas mask study gets worse. A lot worse. The actual study was published on November 20, 2020. Because covid is highly seasonal, masked and unmasked counties in Kansas (and across the country) saw skyrocketing numbers as we moved into winter 2020. The new data was ALREADY blowing the study’s narrative out of the water — yet the CDC still published and touted this study as being important.
Somebody made these decisions. Who made them? We don’t know, because there’s no method for the public to hold people in the CDC accountable for their actions.
And even today on the CDC site where the study is hosted, we see this graphic — which actually kicks the datacrime up ANOTHER notch:
Do you see how they subtly shifted the goalposts in order to ‘maximize’ the narrative? While the original chart started on July 12 (for obvious narrative reasons), in this graphic they use data “from July 3-9” (and extend the end date to August 17-23 instead of August 3). This allows the CDC to use the early low prevalence in non-masked counties AGAINST them — WHILE ALSO IGNORING THE EARLY SPIKE IN MASKED COUNTIES!
If the data on masks was so overwhelming and clear we didn’t even need to run randomized controlled trials, why on earth would the CDC expend so much energy trying to make the Kansas mask study say something that it’s not? Why twist and tug and torture the data to make this study back the narrative, instead of just citing some of those overwhelming and clear studies?
On one hand, the sleight of hand is a little bit impressive. On the other (much larger) hand, it’s a disgusting abuse of authority designed only to further the desired political narrative. These things didn’t happen by accident. They were deliberate decisions made by people. Who? We don’t know because there’s no accountability in the system. That’s why Walensky still has a job after saying obviously false stuff like this:
Imagine that the American people are sick of Walensky and want her fired. (From the above video to her feeling of “impending doom” in spring 2021 to “we hoped the shots would work”, it seems like she’s not very good at her job.) How would the American people actually go about making this happen? We didn’t vote for her. She doesn’t run for re-election. I guess we have to put political pressure on Joe Biden? That’s not an acceptable level of accountability. (Indeed, Biden would likely claim people were ‘making science political’ and dismiss the concerns altogether.)
This is what people talk about when they talk about the “Swamp” or the “Deep State” — people who exist outside of the regular accountability system (which is still woefully inadequate) designed to restrain government officials. And these people sadly exist in every nook and cranny of government — not just in the CDC.
That brings me back (briefly, since I’m starting to run long here) to accountability for police. The subject is once again in the spotlight after the horrific beating of Tyre Nichols, who later died in the hospital from his injuries.
The good news is that these police officers (and even others) ARE being held accountable in this case. The bad news is that these officers clearly expected to get away it — they believed they weren’t going to be held accountable. They lied on police reports because they thought they could get away with it. Without the bodycam footage, it’s possible they might have gotten away with it. (It wouldn’t be the first time cam footage sunk the official report.)
But what I do know is that we’re never going to solve the police accountability problem if we erroneously treat it as a racial problem. (Brad has a great article that dives deeper into this subject) The way that the mainstream media has declared this “white supremacy” (and encouraged violence!) was both disgusting and undermines attempts to fix the underlying accountability problem.
Think back to just after the Breonna Taylor no-knock murder in March 2020. Public protests were building and the time was (finally) right for meaningful police reform. The public was talking about mandatory bodycams and qualified immunity reform — hell, even axing police unions was on the table!
That moment was fleeting, with the George Floyd killing setting off a huge wave of anti-police protests and riots across the country — all based around the idea that Floyd was killed because he was black. This strategy is obviously extremely divisive — one side points to Tony Timpa (who died in circumstances similar to Floyd) while the other points to the brutal beating of Rodney King. The divided movement (and the fighting between the factions) ensures that nothing meaningful ever changes. The clearest example I can think of is when BLM protestors hounded Rand Paul — who literally introduced the Justice for Breonna Taylor Act — to “say her name” after leaving the Republican convention. Why aren’t these people (protestors and Paul) acting in coordination instead of in conflict? A mis-framing of the issue.
What could have gotten done if we had attacked Floyd as an accountability problem instead of a racial problem? (It’s interesting to note that while Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all counts, the government never once suggested he was motivated by race.) Maybe instead of ‘defunding the police’, we could have ensured the public has the means to hold them accountable.
The purpose of government is to protect the rights of the people. That includes — maybe most importantly — instances in which government officials are the violators of rights. Holding officials accountable is the only way the people can trust the institutions once again — no matter if we’re talking about the CDC or the MPD.
"The purpose of government is to protect the rights of the people. ... most importantly — instances in which government officials are the violators of rights."
Well said, SimComm
"...to... establish Justice, ... and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
Oh how I wish our government would abide by its stated principal.
As i review all that is going on I think I want a poster size calendar so I can write it all the crap I hear on that day. After a month has gone by, I will photograph and post. Who is with me. We can call it theater of the absurd.
Are we frogs in boiling water? It seems that so much is hyped, scary, doomsday, falling around us that we are going backward not forwards. Or is it just me? I find I am trying more and more to simply pull the plug and disconnect. Anyone else? What about you simulation commander?