Shot in the Dark

Stuck On Stupid

With Denmark and Sweden tripling down on the free market and abandoning draconian Covid regulations, the longing eyes of the world’s “Social Democrat” noodlers have turned to New Zealand’s. Jacinda Ardern.

She ran a very hawkish “Lockdown” regime in 2020, drawing the admiration of a lot of Mascists – as if they could replicate the lockdown of a country with a population 20% smaller than Minnesota’s, with land area 25% larger, isolated from all other land by a thousand miles, able to cut itself off from the world by closing a couple ports and a few gates at the Wellington airport.

Has it worked? Time’ll tell.

But she’s got more government gigantism in mind:

https://twitter.com/bopinion/status/1470504692627263497

So – if you’re a smuggler, run an organized crime syndicate, or just like making money off of government-induced shortages?

Opportunity is knocking!

I’d respond “these people never learn from history”, but assuming they would would paradoxically mean I haven’t learned from history.

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Mitch Berg

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15 responses to “Stuck On Stupid”

  1. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    A fairly even-handed article. It mentions, for example, that it makes little sense to reduce restrictions on smoking pot while increasing restrictions on tobacco smoking. The author also notices something that I have noticed — there is no appetite for studying the ill effects of pot smoking in the way that there was and is for studying the ill effects of tobacco smoking.
    But nevertheless the written article is an example of what I call the “European Disease,” that is, it takes it for granted that the task of government is to judge the people and change there behavior as it deems necessary. The author comes close to recognizing that government’s “war on tobacco” is arbitrary, given the far more dire effects of drug and alcohol use, but he just can’t do it.

  2. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    Also the Kiwis aren’t banning tobacco, they are banning sales to anyone born after 2008, so tobacco will be available for a long time in New Zealand. The Maori smoke more than the anglos in New Zealand, and I know that the Maori have a system like our Indian Reservations, but I don’t know how that will affect the “tobacco ban.”

  3. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    I vaguely recall some historical political figure saying, “I will surely ban tobacco the day you tell me how we will replace the lost taxes,” but I cannot find an attribution. Maybe I imagined it.

    A ban on tobacco sales to minors should be no problem to implement, same as a ban on sales to minors of fireworks, spray paint, alcohol, and firearms eliminated problems associated with those sales. We ought to try it here.

  4. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    I don’t know from where you get your info about Denmark and its reaction to the Kung flu, but it’s not particularly true. You would do better to assume that DK is treating the pandemic like the UK – except with a much, much more compliant citizenry. Danes luv being governed.

  5. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    I’m predicting that Auckland will learn the hard way that tobacco is a plant that grows well in New Zealand, and hence they’re trading tobacco addiction with filters that remove cancer-causing tar for tobacco addiction without filters at all. They will also learn the hard way that when a widely used substance is banned, organized crime will move in and provide it.

    One other thing that’s noteworthy is that the plunge in smoking in the U.S. really corresponds far more closely to the end of the military draft than to anything else, and smoking among non-veterans corresponds very closely with soul-crushing jobs that mix boredom with fear.

  6. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    … oh, and the reason that Sweden seems so forward thinking and modern and scientific and shit is because the feminists who run the country have manhandled it to such a degree that they can’t enforce their laws. So, they don’t. And like Peewee falling off his bike in the movies, they’re going with “I meant to do that” with regards to Kung flu restrictions.

    Here’s a hint. You know those senior living deaths in New York under Cuomo? They did the same in Sweden. With the same success. And just like with Cuomo, no one will in government will suffer any consequences. Swedes luv being governed even more that Danes.

  7. Emery Incognito Avatar
    Emery Incognito

    Perhaps the SiTD editors missed this: Denmark has reintroduced Vaccine Passports.

    The Danish government and its senior health officials clearly announced back in August, when the pandemic seemed to be under control and nearly all restrictions were scrapped, that some restrictions would be reintroduced if the number of cases started to climb. It did, so they have. 

    I bet all those SiTD anti-restriction commenters who loudly told us to follow what Denmark were doing a couple of months ago will now say that they are clearly wrong now and should not be followed… 
    https://en.coronasmitte.dk/corona-passport

  8. justplainangry Avatar
    justplainangry

    With Denmark and Sweden tripling down on the free market and abandoning draconian Covid regulations,

    Where have you been Mitch? Sweden jumped the shark and is all in on Jab passports!

  9. Emery Incognito Avatar
    Emery Incognito

    ^ Perpetual victims can make anything fit their narrative.

  10. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    Victims?

  11. Emery Incognito Avatar
    Emery Incognito

    In Denmark the data is very clear — the unvaccinated are both by far at greatest risk and also most likely to spread the disease. The effect of the vaccine is striking. If you look at recent cases schoolchildren under 12 (unvaccinated) have very high rates of Covid-18, while schoolchildren over 12 (mostly vaccinated) have less than a quarter the number of cases. Among older adults, who are mostly vaccinated, hospital admission and death rates remain far below what they were last year.
    https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/aa41b29149f24e20a4007a0c4e13db1d

  12. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    I will say that I was/am more than a bit surprised to see how countries that are primarily Anglo-Saxon have competed so strongly with the Scandis for the title of Most Compliant to Any Government Edict.

  13. Emery Incognito Avatar
    Emery Incognito

    It’s interesting that so many people who know nothing about viruses have such strong fixed opinions, and feel the need to post those opinions here (with some very weird arguments).
    I thought that was what Twitter is for!

  14. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    Huh. I guess multiple people on this site can now speak Danish, so they might be interested in this article, “SSI fjerner data, der viser, at Omicron rammer flere vaccinerede end u-vaccinerede”

    That is, SSI (the organization behind that experience.arcgis.com link) is removing data that shows that Omicron affects more vaccinated persons than unvaccinated.

  15. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    Ha! Once again, Emery; pot, meet kettle. Dip stick!

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