A few random thoughts on what looks to be the last the last weekend before we finally get ourselves some bona fide monsoon activity here in the Valley of the Sun:

So once again, President Trump was right and the “fake news” was wrong about so-called “Russia Collusion”. Question: so when does The New York Times have the guts to return their Pulitzer prizes?

Wondering why this article – from the New England Journal of Medicine, no less – isn’t getting more attention:

We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection. Public health authorities define a significant exposure to Covid-19 as face-to-face contact within 6 feet with a patient with symptomatic Covid-19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes (and some say more than 10 minutes or even 30 minutes). The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic.

Ordering people to wear masks is nothing more than the state infringing on the freedoms of its citizens in order to exert power. Nothing more, nothing less. And the fact that so many sheep out there are willing to go along with it is both disappointing and frightening.

…and the fact that these folks were then pressured to print a retraction of the main gist of their article simply underscores my point. There are very powerful influences at play here that have nothing to do with folks’ health and well-being.

…which is why whenever I hear our governor Doug Ducey push the need for folks to continue wearing masks, I’m stunned that no journalist out there has the guts to ask him “OK, Governor, we hear what you’re saying so here’s a question for you: for how long? A month? Months? Years? Until there’s a vaccine? What if there isn’t a vaccine?” I mean, where does this all end? When does it all end? As the above article states, the science is hardly settled over masks, yet our elected officials the the state and local levels are pushing it as if it is. One can only wonder at the backroom conversations we’re not privy to.

…and speaking of masks, it’s kind of funny that I was feeling a bit sentimental about the Goodboys Invitational weekend and having to miss it this year until I saw an email from one of the guys cautioning that he would be avoiding physical contact so “his two children would grow up to see their their grandparents”, or something to that effect. I had to hold my tongue (or fingers, actually) from advising said Goodboy that as long as said grandparents didn’t live in any of these states where (mostly) Democratic governors – plus “RINO Charlie” Baker in Massachusetts – sent COVID-19 positive patients into nursing homes they’d be OK.

…which then got me thinking it’s probably best for everyone that I’m not there this weekend, knowing that politics would inevitably come up and I’m not really that good at holding my tongue. Instead, getting a lovely call and a Facetime from my best Goodboys buds on Friday and Saturday nights made my weekend. So in the end is well and all will be all, and peace be with all the Goodboys.

Mind you, I’m not opposed to the wearing of masks – in fact, perhaps it’s time for mandatory masks whenever in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and rehab and long-term care facilities. But the whole social distancing thing is total bullshit founded on fear and not science. Historically, there is one of these pandemics every decade in one form or another, and of course there’s the annual flu season, and yet we’ve all managed to get this far. But everything has become political, so common sense and compromise are all out the window, and I see no going back. Unfortunately, this is now the “new normal”: the over (and overt) politicization of everything, leading to a distrust in our government institutions.

…and unless someone gets a handle on this – and a really good handle it must be – it will be every man for himself and no one wants to go there.

I never thought the Democrats would be so stupid as to support the rioting and destruction of cities, but “San Fran Nan” Pelosi’s tweet from today seems proof that that’s exactly what they are doing. Does anyone beyond the loony left think what is happening every night in Portland is a good thing? Politically it’s absolutely absurd. The Democrats are turning this election into a “jobs, not mobs”, law and order referendum on which political party is better able to stop the lawlessness.

…and why Republicans have been so silent on this is beyond me. The future of our Republic is at stake. Do they not see it?

If black voters have a choice between this and this, I pray common sense will prevail and they will choose the latter. Because it was never about Confederate statues, it was about law and order, seeing how far their movement would be allowed to go.

Can we all now agree that Dr. Fauci is nothing but a partisan hack who has nearly single-handedly tried to destroy this country with his inane predictions and falsehoods? I’ve been waiting for the mask to drop, and it finally has. Anyone who thinks that New York’s Andrew Cuomo’s decisions have been anything but reckless and criminal in nature has no business anywhere near the White House. I expect a major push-back against this self-serving, media clown in the coming days. God damn him.