John Klar: Science and the law — AIDS vs. COVID

When “science” is politicized, both politics and science are discredited. Modern America has politicized COVID in ways that few epidemics of the past can rival, straining society itself with unprecedented intrusions into personal privacy, fundamental rights, and the ability to earn an income or educate one’s children.

John Klar

The politicization of science is evident when healthy young children are deprived of an education as punishment for not wearing (harmful) masks, while those infected with HIV who knowingly infect others are shielded by a “rights-based approach” to the AIDS crisis. Where are our children’s rights?

During the AIDS crisis, numerous states enacted laws that criminalized the knowing transmission of HIV. California led the nation in condemning such statutes, reducing the penalty for this crime in 2017 from a felony to a misdemeanor subject to a maximum six-month sentence.

The political justification for this policy shift was that these laws “…[did] not reflect medical advances for reducing the risk of HIV transmission and disproportionately affect marginalized communities.” Lead “reformer” Scott Weiner noted:

These laws were based on fear and on the limited medical understanding of the time. … In the decades since, societal and medical understanding of HIV has greatly improved. Effective treatments dramatically lengthen and improve the quality of life for people living with HIV — treatments that also nearly eliminate the possibility of transmission.

The gaping scientific hole in this political rationalization is that many HIV patients do not take their medications with discipline, meaning transmission is still a risk. The CDC reports an estimated 1,189,700 Americans infected with HIV at the end of 2019, with 36,801 people receiving the diagnosis in 2019. Notes the CDC:

Young people aged 13 to 24 are especially affected by HIV. In 2019, young people accounted for 21% (7,648) of all new HIV diagnoses. All young people are not equally at risk, however. Young gay and bisexual men accounted for 83% (6,385) of all new HIV diagnoses in people aged 13 to 24 in 2019. Young Black/African American gay and bisexual men are even more severely affected, as they represented 50% (3,209) of new HIV diagnoses among young gay and bisexual men. … HIV is largely an urban disease, with most cases occurring in metropolitan areas with 500,000 or more people.

Young people are at increased risk from opioids as well. Vermont opioid deaths increased 38% in 2020 (69% were male). CDC reports 49,860 opioid deaths in 2019, a 4% increase from the prior year. Total overdose deaths for 2020 are estimated to have exceeded 83,000. With opioids — as with COVID and HIV — political attention to race is heightened: disparities in death rates are widely attributed to “systemic racism,” and calls for “equitable” reponses abound.

But what of “equity for children” of any color? The COVID, HIV, and opioid epidemics were all used to fuel political charges of systemic racism and calls for the prioritization of equity and human rights. Yet children are being thrown under the proverbial bus over masks in Vermont’s schools, even though the CDC notes that “students benefit from in-person learning, and safely returning to in-person instruction in the fall 2021 is a priority.”

Apparently not the top priority. Unmasked Vermont children are being sent home and told they will be deprived of a state education. Southern Vermont Supervisory Union Assistant Superintendent William Bazyk stated in an Aug. 30 email:

We would not force a mask on a student physically. We would definitely have a student talk to an adult and most likely one of our counselors if they refused to wear a mask. We would suspend children who did not wear masks [as] the school district has a duty of ordinary care to protect its students per state statute. If the AOE and CDC are providing guidance for universal masking at school and did not follow that guidance, the school district could be liable if a student or staff member contracted COVID-19. There is no remote learning option this year per AOE.

Healthy children are at near zero risk of death or serious illness from COVID-19, and the very suggestion that a staff member could become infected is speculative — let alone how such a thing would be proved in court. There is no question that the alienation and fear caused by masking are harmful to children — the only unknown is how much so. Two-year-olds traumatized by living in this surreal sci-fi world will have no recourse: their legal rights are being flippantly decided by CDC bureaucrats based on sloppy science. “Rights-based” assessment has been jettisoned along with other precedents of common sense.

It is intriguing that school technocrats cower behind the omnipotent government juggernaut, invoking fear of litigation in conjunction with fear of death. There appears to be no fear of error, either in causing harm to 5-year-olds forced to mask, or in violating their rights. But aside from the  masking issue, what of the implicit punishment of denying children an education? Ironically, the government that discourages homeschooling is now making non-schooling mandatory for the offense of not donning a dubious mask. Presumably parents will be awarded their pro rata tax payments back to subsidize this new effort; exempted from state requirements to approve homeschool curricula.

There is a stark public policy contrast between the official response to the HIV and opioid crises, and the COVID pandemic, that reveals the general narcissism of identity politics. So-called “social justice” ignores very real evidence of harm to children in favor of tenuous and politicized data that serves ideological objectives. When it came to AIDS:

Historically, many of the improvements in public health have their roots in a synergistic combination of political leadership and science. … Mann introduced a rights-based approach as the basis for a global AIDS strategy, which is still a guiding principle of most AIDS programs today. … Fierce policy debates rage on the issues of sex workers, homosexuals, and injection drug users, as well as around providing sexual education in schools and the feasibility of basing HIV prevention policies on ‘moral grounds.’

Invoking morality (abstinence) to stem the spread of HIV was deemed objectionable by pro-gay activists. Similarly, appealing to personal responsibility and prevention efforts in the opioid crisis is derided as fruitless, or stigmatizing for those who have unfortunately contracted “SUD” (Substance Abuse Disorder). But the policy debate for children to be protected against the potential harms of masks, or to have rights to be shielded from pressure by “adults” and school counselors to wear them when their parents have decided otherwise, are simply ignored. The moralizing is in full view though — conjuring images of unmasked children infecting adult employees; shaming people who do not comply; depriving children of a public education with zero home support.

For young children, masks are physically uncomfortable, inhibit normal immune system development, impair development of healthy social interaction and emotion recognition skills, and condition compliance built on fear. It is understandable that many parents possess concerns about these risks, when weighed against a disease that is relatively benign for healthy young children. It is absurd that young children are to be deprived of an education, and discriminated against; it’s also immoral. HIV is largely contracted via consensual sexual activity; Substance Abuse Disorder is contracted by voluntary drug use. Unmasked children haven’t done anything wrong, and should be afforded as much consideration for their rights as gay, black and drug-addicted citizens.

John Klar is an attorney and farmer residing in Brookfield, and the former pastor of the First Congregational Church of Westfield. © Copyright True North Reports 2021. All rights reserved.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Dan Gaken

18 thoughts on “John Klar: Science and the law — AIDS vs. COVID

  1. An fyi,

    In Vermont we typically lose 88 people per year to a normal flu.

    88 x 2 + 176

    Note they are adding 2 seasons now of covid, rather than year to year.

    So yeah, it’s a bad flu. We could have saved 90%+ of the people who were severely ill if we followed the medical protocol of a Doctor in Texas…..now all the hospitals in Houston ( I believe ) are using his protocol.

    What is Vermont doing? Could we have saved 90% of all our Covid deaths too? Or are they more interested in the $48,000 each for putting people on a ventilator that all but assures their demise while filling their pockets.

    Would be some questions if I were a reporter to ask Dr. Levine and Governor Scott.

    • Another death-inducing protocol; typically when patients are admitted for breathing problems protocol iincludes antibiotics…since this is considered a virus induced illness no antibiotics *sad facepalm*

  2. Bombshell:
    September 6, 2021 – Mike Adams
    American Medical Association releases stunning document teaching doctors to LIE to patients while deliberately exaggerating covid death claims… the AMA admits to its own complicity in crimes against humanity
    (Natural News) The self-destruct sequence that will bring down the death cult cabal of anti-human globalists has already been activated. With hilarious fake news attempts like the recent Rolling Stone hit piece against ivermectin, the cabal media is self-destructing by the day.

    https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-09-06-ama-document-teach-doctors-to-lie-while-murder-patients.html

  3. While no expert, it seems to me that this is a health problem. For decades I was a Class II water operator for our school system. When there was an issue with our system, I went to the experts and consultants provided by our health department and our federally funded rural water experts. Sure there was inconvience when, at times in an abundance of caution, we had to use bottled water, but you just did what was needed to ensure the safety of the children. Using the best science and methods avialable problems were corrected and there was an ongoing effort to improve our water systems and upgrade my own skills. I was always grateful for the help provided and impressed by the expertise and committment of those health professionals I relied on.

    I have to admit, I do not get why dealing with this pandemic should be such an ideological thing. While people have a right to do what they want with their own lives, when interacting in public situations there are also the rights of others to be considered. This is part of the “Freedom and Unity” dynamic that is embodied in our state motto.

    Perhaps it was because I worked for many years under a no nonsense principal who had grown up on a Tunbridge farm and did not put up with a lot of complaing. No matter what the difficulty, you just did your job, expected the rest of the staff to do the same and knew we could count on each other for help.

    It might be good, while still maintaing healthy skepticism, to cut people a little slack and recognize that those responsible for public health and public health professionals, who have dedicated their lives to studying and providing health services, are not part of a grand conspiracy, but instead struggling with a tough evolving situation and trying to do their best.

    • There is no “health problem” – there is a treatment problem. So the so-called experts and public officials have failed us by promoting what is essentially a medical tyranny not backed by *any* science. Banned are the most effective treatments in favor of a gene editor masquerading as a ‘vaccine’ which is killing and disabling tens of thousands at the very least worldwide with EU numbers dwarfing US.

      Masks do not work – Covid is aerosolized and Fraudci himself has stated thet the paper masks don’t work via leaked emails. The elite wear them for ceremonial duties but otherwise do not wear them – if this was a real threat they would be.

      The Pandemic turned into a Plandemic which then became a Casedemic and now a neverending Variantdemic complete with ever- shifting goal posts. We’re expected to follow the pied-pipered music and bouncing ball as collectivist-promoting Mr Freitag would have us go along to get along, not question any of this and blindly trust the “experts” as this sneaky Marxist agenda is continually championed. There is no I in herd – quit complaining and follow “the science” lemmings to the gaschamber.

      I am following the real science. Former Vice President of Pfizer, vaccine creator and enterpreneur Doctor Michael Yeadon is now warning the world that all who take the shot will die w/in 2 years – I will take his advice before the likes of Mr Freitag and junk-science following ilk.

      Dr Robert Malone – creator of the MRNA technology and sold to vaccine industry has categorically stated it *is not* safe and is also warning against it.

      Americas Frontline Doctors are warning against it and bravely treating Covid remotely as our doctors and pharmacists have been banned from using proven curatives.

      • All Coronoviruses continually shapeshift and are a Pandoras Box of variants. This is why flu shots do not work and why there is no cure for the common cold. Covid will contiually mutute into myriad variants. So what – we have proven treatments and as such the very creation of the ‘vax’ based upon a pretext as vaccines cannot be created if there are treatments available.

        First it was “a shot”, oh but divided into two doses – so it was actually two shots. What we were not told is that it only lasts 180 days lol, so then it was three – we need a booster for the highly contagious but nevertheless non-deadly Delta. Now we need one every 5 months. I believe they are using the same shots to make up for the plummeting numbers.

        Months ago the number of ppl accepting the ‘vax’ plummeted by a staggering 2/3 forcing the industry to ‘vax’ children and march into population centers to push the ‘vax’ as clinics everywhere requested less ‘vaccines’ delivered as the numbers fell like a rock. This forced the dumping of the shots as they must be stored in double-digit below zero bc it is a live ‘vaccine’ so it was and is an epic fail of monumental proportion.

      • John F. appears to use his old school mind set to reject any factual truth about facts that he refuses to accept. I think he is the model of those old school democrats who believe government can do no harm. As a former democrat from many years gone by and having grown up in a, Roosevelt can do no wrong family, I can recognize his stubbornness to believe that he might be wrong.

        No one who actually thinks for themselves can follow the government’s political medical science because it changes regularly. How could these medical scientists come out with a so-called vaccine so fast when other safe true vaccines took years or decades in some cases. It is a true testament to the media generated fear that people will allow the government to force them or persuade them into being an experiment for injections that have not been properly vetted as safe.

        If this disease or virus or bioweapon is so easily conquered by scientist, why can’t they cure cancer, HIV, Herpes, influenzas or even the common cold. If the science is so effective, why is it that the government ignores the facts regarding the ineffectiveness and dangers of wearing face masks? And especially for children’s safety, parents should protect them until these injections are truly safe.

        Certainly, medical workers around the world are doing everything they can to deal with this dilemma and deserve our thanks. This does not change the fact that no one should listen to those who have an ideological or monetary reason to be deceptive or just plain lie about treatment or the real dangers associated with these injections.

        Most people do not read or listen to anything other than their favorite news source whether they are truthful or not. I believe this is a huge problem for society. If we can’t trust the institutions that we have entrusted to protect us, our problems are much bigger than Covid-19. History is full of pages of the people who blindly followed their governments and institutions straight into hell. Apparently, John and those who refuse to see the other side are those who failed to listen. This is only my opinion, but I also might be right. As the adage goes, follow the money and in these times also follow the politics. Both of these have tainted the truth behind this Plandemic. Money and power are the roots of most evil!

      • Diasabling and killing tens of thousands in batches on a serial basis – numbers are being hidden and rules changed toi avoid counting all deaths and injuries

    • John,

      The problem is that science has been corrupted. Although there are many good, honest, intelligent, and learned doctors, nurses, and scientists out there, it’s a well-known ‘secret’ that medical science and scientific journals have been corrupted. It’s not hard at all to find published evidence for this.

      We were warned years ago that the problem was getting worse, and it has. The example of hydroxychloroquine is instructive. While this might not have been a silver bullet for Covid-19 and it might not have saved tons of lives, it seems that it really would have saved at least some lives, and it’s been used safely for decades. The doses used to prevent Covid-19 are very modest– not the huge, near-lethal doses given in some of the trials. Question: whose protocol were they following when they decided to test with those doses? Answer: no one’s. They made it up. It seems that the real goal was to prove that HCQ was harmful. https://ahrp.org/how-a-false-hydroxychloroquine-narrative-was-created/

      So we have a situation that people simply can’t believe: they can’t believe that the medical community would deliberately create fake science and withhold a safe drug that would’ve saved lives. Impossible! But, it happened. The Lancet, one of the world’s premier medical journals, even published a paper that told of studies demonstrating that HCQ was ineffective and dangerous. Peer-reviewed. Only the paper had to be retracted: it turns out that the company, Surgisphere, made everything up, and it was readers who alerted the journal that all the supposed trials, in the hospitals they were familiar with, didn’t exist. This happened. This complete fabrication that passed peer review actually happened.

      The same thing is happening with ivermectin.

      The key to understanding what’s going on today is to study what’s happening with these two drugs. Then we realize that supposedly we want to save people from Covid-19, yet we’re deliberately told not to take drugs that would’ve, and have, saved lives. Some states (such as NY) even banned doctors from prescribing HCQ outside of clinical trials. Amazing, but true.

      This is a dark truth but it gets even darker. Too many people don’t want to see and they want to trust in the goodness of our leaders and authorities. But somewhere, somehow, we’ve been betrayed, and good men and women have been deceived.

      People protest because they know that this is all really about power and control, and they want it to stop. If it were really about our health then we’d have been taking HCQ back in March, 2020, when Zelenko first presented his protocol to the President … and the rest is history. Supposedly we were in a dire emergency but HCQ was relentlessly mocked and fake science was concocted to convince everyone that a drug used safely for decades was no longer safe. This was done deliberately. Dr. Fauci deliberately turned his back on Zelenko, when people were dying of a disease that, as we learn more and more, he helped create. Something is very wrong.

  4. TNR I want you to know that I now come here with the idea of being curious to see what John Klar has to say about things today.
    What a fantastic addition to this site he’s been.
    Vermont, elect this man!!
    Excellent writing as always and great comments.

  5. Excellent article filled with facts, common sense, and rational thought, all three of which are blatantly lacking in our current state of affairs. The whole mask/no mask and vaccinated/non-vaccinated debacle has created a very obvious corollary to the much-disputed CRT, with the “oppressors” being those who use their mask and vaccination certificate as a badge of superiority over those who do not conform to that standard (the “oppressed”). Should we wonder what our children will learn from this when their school friends are not allowed to remain in school because they don’t wear a mask or see one of their favorite teachers resign or be fired for not being vaccinated? How long will we allow this nonsense to continue?

  6. Good article John and so true.. if we could make mask mandates and the jab a anti gay or racial issue there would be no mask mandates or encouragement for getting the super spreader jab.. Denmark and now Sweden have decided to forgo the scamdemic masking protocol and let the engineered flu run it’s course.

    Traumatizing kids serves no purpose except to add to the fear factor, which goes along with the shame factor, and the reward factor driving the scamdemic. Leftist mantra 101, don’t let a (manufactured) crisis go to waste…

  7. I’m not sure anyone in Montpelier can comprehend what you wrote here because they believe they can do no wrong. I do hope that your writings, with excellent analysis are reaching others who are maybe coming around. For the elite leftist who claim to be the intelligent thinking ones, how do they explain this away?

    If people refuse to educate themselves, are too bothered to understand what’s going on around them and also continue to vote for and believe that progressives are good for them, they deserve to suffer the consequences of their own ignorance. The good times are over. Our normal is gone. Our Nanny state is in control of almost every aspect of your life and you will do what you are told. Or you can wake up from the nightmare and do your part to change the ending of this developing story. Across the river it’s, “Live Free Or Die”. Over here it’s, shut up, wear your muzzle, no question, take your poison, be safe (but not free) be a good little sheep. Legalize Freedom!

    Another Home Run, John!

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