Friday, December 10, New York State governor Kathy Hochul reaffirmed the state’s status as the nation’s most zealous practitioner of covid cultism with the announcement of a new statewide “vax-or-mask” mandate.

The mandate confronts businesses and physical institutions with a choice: either A) check vaccination at the door and turn away unvaccinated customers or B) require that all customers wear masks. Noncompliant property owners are threatened with a $1,000 fine and subject to “criminal and civil penalties.” Governor Hochul justifies the new mandate by citing concerns over the new omicron variant and New York’s strained healthcare system. The mandate will take effect on Monday, December 13.

The Definition of Insanity

For this new set of policies, the old adage “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result” comes to mind. Anyone who actually “follows the science” will see that this newest mandate (or any of the previous other dystopian policies we have been subject to) is about “public health” insofar as that means protecting the health of the community. Both measures involved in the mandate—coercive vaccination and mandatory masking—have little (if any evidence) supporting their efficacy. There are countless admissions from our most trusted institutions, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, and the corporate press acknowledging that individuals who are “fully vaccinated” are still fully capable of spreading covid-19 and its variants. Findings published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the start of the delta variant hysteria reveal that 74 percent of cases found in the study manifested in vaccinated individuals.

Furthermore, revelations regarding the dramatic decline in immunity provided by vaccines as soon as six months after receipt of the final dose should raise further alarm bells about the intent of mandates. Why would an individual who was vaccinated in February 2021 (and whose immunity could have potentially waned by 50 percent since then) be allowed into an establishment but someone who was literally infected with covid-19 and acquired natural immunity a month prior be forbidden? The answer is found not in any rationale related to health or curbing the spread of a virus, but to the expansion of political power via the punishment of the governor’s political opponents, who, in this case, are those of us who dare to question the pronouncements of the pharmaceutical-industrial complex.

Perhaps the most concerning bit of the vaccine madness is that establishment politicians, journalists, other general hacks, and much of the public at large will openly admit that the vaccine do not prevent transmission or infection and then in the same breath spout the typical line that vaccines are our “best weapon against the virus.” It is scary to think about how much worse off we might be if the propaganda were actually good …

Lastly, the evidence regarding the effectiveness of mass mask wearing is scant—particularly in the context of the covid-19 pandemic. All it takes is a cursory glance at hospitalizations (or hospital capacity) and death rates across states and one will quickly see that negative outcomes are obviously not well correlated with mask mandates, compliance, lockdowns, or vaccine mandates. But if that’s not enough for you, here are a few more “legit” sources regarding masks and upper respiratory illness (the science is far from settled).

Bright Spots in a Dim, Dim State

New York’s new mandate is abysmal news for those of us who value human liberty (or humanity in general). However, a few “rays of hope” have come shining through in the form of rebellious county executives. Hochul’s mandate places the burden of enforcement on counties and several county executives have responded to the governor’s edict with a flat-out refusal to enforce it. Rensselaer County eecutive Steve McLaughlin responded with a statement ending with “Rensselaer County will not utilize resources to enforce this new state mandate. If the state wants to enforce the mandate, the state will need to utilize state resources for those actions.” Madison County board chairman John Becker was even more blunt: “In light of the Governor’s announcement on Friday … Madison County would like to announce we will not be enforcing this latest mandate.”

The response from these two local officials is encouraging. There was virtually no pushback against Andrew Cuomo’s mandates in 2020, so a willingness on the part of local officials to challenge centralized power, publicly refuse to enforce unpopular edicts, and exercise their political authority to protect the interests of their local constituency is exciting, to say the least. It also highlights a trend that we are seeing—an increased interest in federalism and other forms of decentralization, particularly in “red” areas. Governors like Ron DeSantis of Florida, Christi Noam of South Dakota, and Greg Abbott of Texas are more notable examples. Hopefully we will see governments at the state and local level continue to nullify these appalling and useless mandates.

This Is Far from Over

Even though statewide covid mandates seem to have cooled since the rollout of the vaccines earlier this year, the latest mandate from the Empire State serves as a stark reminder that our opponents have not given up on their vision of medical totalitarianism. Unfortunately, it seems obvious that there is still a lot of fight left and many more punches to be thrown.