Stratagems of the Right

The burning question of 2021: should you get a COVID-19 vaccine? To anyone turning on a device with network television or cable programming, the answer is, yes, of course! Not only should you get it, but you should share vaccine selfies, especially if you're a celebrity, to encourage others to get it. And those refusing to take and share said selfies should be shamed for their civic-duty failure [*1]. The question isn't whether you should get one but what a socially-acceptable minimum level of enthusiasm for getting one should be. These "vaccines" may be more-appropriately deemed "not-vaccines," considering they were never tested to see if they prevent human-to-human transmission of the virus [*2]. The two reasons to get a vaccine: (1) to greatly decrease, if not eliminate, the probability you will get a particular ailment and (2) to greatly decrease, if not eliminate, the probability you will transmit a particular ailment to others. If a vaccine was neve...

 "Dr. Sangrado Curing John Bull of Repletion." 1803 political cartoon by James Gillray An old adage by parents to their children: "If all your friends jumped off a bridge, then would you too?" What are face masks supposed to protect against? We say COVID-19 (corona virus "COV," identified "IDed," in 2019 "19"). But viruses mutate. In 2021, do we still have the same virus as we had in 2019? If so, this would contradict what we've traditionally considered the flu, and only one flu shot would be needed (like for Measles), instead of a new one annually. The flu is never one static virus. Thus, I'll be giving the phenomenon we see a more-aptly amorphous name: the virus du jour, as NBC reported "[a]ccording to the CDC, flu numbers are down 98%" on January 2, 2021 [*1] while, as  ABC paraphrased from a Michigan flu expert, it "essentially muscled aside flu and other bugs that are more common in the fall and winter [*2]....