What an awful year this was. I sincerely hope the coming year is better. Here are a few loose ends that need clearing up as that dreadful year drops off into memory.

The first priority is to hold public health authorities responsible for the mess they made. Professor Glenn Reynolds has my vote for holding them accountable. They lied to us, manipulated us for political purposes, and completely betrayed our trust. He summarizes their acts and argues: “It’s time for a rigorous investigation -- perhaps a Truth and Reconciliation Commission with subpoena power -- to get to the bottom of how our public health authorities have mismanaged this pandemic. There’s certainly no chance that the existing establishment will do so.”

Sheryl Attkisson offers a more complete 57-count indictment of our public health officials’ conduct, concluding that they depended completely on vaccination which has proven a “total failure” as a record number of people were vaccinated, a “record number have gotten Covid.”

Here’s her damning list in its entirety because I need to remind you of how substantially they abused our trust:

1.   Funded dangerous Gain of Function research with our adversary, China, using US taxpayer money, in order to create vaccines and other medicine

2.  Denied such funding had occurred

3.  Claimed the lab theory was debunked when it hadn’t been investigated

4.  Allowed China not to cooperate with the pandemic investigation; never imposed serious sanctions or repercussions for the non-cooperation

5.  Failed to disclose their own role in Gain of Function research while publicly “debunking” U.S. involvement in it

6.  Conspired to have public officials make statements and publish papers claiming the lab theory had been debunked, when it hadn’t been

7.  Encouraged the censorship of factual information on the news and the Internet

8.  Claimed would take years for a the first Covid-19 vaccine to be released

9.  Conspired to controversialize scientists, researchers, and journalists who tell the truth about various aspects of Covid and the vaccines

10.  Falsely claimed certain gatherings, such as the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, were "super spreader" events, when they were not

11. Distorted and exaggerated statistics to make it appear as though people were infected at events when they were not

12. Sent Covid-infected elderly from hospitals to nursing homes where they mass-infected other vulnerable residents

13.  Said masks don’t work

14.  Said masks do work

15.  Required wearing of masks

16.  Recommended wearing of more than one mask

17.  Failed to wear masks themselves, when required

18.  Said kids don’t need masks

19.  Said kids must mask

20.  Said kids don’t need to get vaccinated because their risk is so small

21.  Said kids must be vaccinated because their risk is so great

22.  Told people to isolate at home, even though that’s how most Covid cases are spread

23.  Closed parks, beaches and outdoor venues even though Covid is rarely, if ever, transmitted outside

24.  Arrested people for being outside, unmasked, even though they were among the safest population

25.  Falsely claimed that early vaccine studies showed that those with natural immunity from prior infection benefit from vaccination

26.  Covered up estimate of number of naturally-immune for many months

27.  Closed schools, against the advice of many scientists, distorting education for a generation of students

28.  Conspired to censor scientists, reporters and others who report factually on Covid therapeutics, vaccine issues.

29.  Overcounted Covid cases and deaths by counting people “with” Covid but who were not sick from Covid

30.  Shut down and destroyed the economy without improving Covid situation

31.  Caused the firing of people who cannot get or choose not to get vaccinated, even though they may have natural immunity or medical conditions that prevent them from taking vaccine risks

32.  Blanket-recommended vaccination for people who are at high risk of adverse events such as heart inflammation and blood clots

33.  Falsely claimed vaccines prevent Covid infection

34.  Falsely claimed vaccines prevent Covid spread

35.  Falsely claimed vaccinated do not get sick with Covid

36.  Falsely claimed vaccinated do not get hospitalized or die of Covid

37.  Claimed that the vaccinated who get ill with Covid would be sicker if not vaccinated, when there is no evidence that is the case with any individual

38.  Failed to provide informed consent and warn of Covid-19 vaccine side effects prior to administration

39.  Claimed vaccines are highly effective

40.   Claimed vaccines worked well against variants

41.   Recommended up to 4 shots in one year because of vaccine ineffectiveness, while claiming vaccines are highly effective

42.   Ignored the power of natural immunity, and the hundreds of studies supporting it

43.   Punished medical doctors who prescribe therapeutics

44.   Punished scientists who researched therapeutics

45.   Use the power and size of the federal government to bully and threaten companies into requiring vaccination despite their ineffectiveness in preventing Covid infection or spread

46.   Failed to promote effective therapeutics, which can save lives

47.   Withheld and prevented treatment and resources, based on political calculations

48.   Downplayed vaccine adverse events

49.   Ignored pleas from vaccine-injured to investigate and publicize their cases to prevent other injuries

50.   Exaggerated serious risks from Covid-19

51.   Impacted military readiness by firing those who cannot or choose not to get Covid-19 vaccine, even if naturally immune

52.   Impacted health care system capacity by firing those who cannot or choose not to get Covid-19 vaccine, even if naturally immune

53.   Impacted first responder industry by firing those who cannot or choose not to get Covid-19 vaccine, even if naturally immune

54.   Impacted education system by firing educators who cannot or choose not to get Covid-19 vaccine, even if naturally immune

55.   Recommended vaccination for healthy children and others at near zero risk of serious impact from Covid-19 illness

56.   Failed to discuss potential role of vitamins, sunshine, exercise, weight control, and healthy diet

57.   Mislabeled Covid-19 a "pandemic of the unvaccinated," in a failed propaganda campaign

I need to remind you because every day, in every way -- including all the advice columns their readers rely on -- these failures are ignored and families told things like it’s a good idea to ban the unvaccinated from family gatherings and that people who refuse them are selfish and putting their children’s lives at risk. I cannot recall this country ever falling under such fact-free mass hysteria.

And if you still harbor any doubt after the CDC okayed the George Floyd demonstrations that its proscriptions were political, new evidence was unearthed this week showing that the White House, Department of Health and Human Services. and the Centers for Disease Control were guided less by science than politics on school reopening guidelines. The rules were dictated not by science, but on a political decision to follow the teachers unions’ desires.

Speaking of losing the public trust, the Jeffrey Epstein case and his death while in custody engendered a lot of deserved skepticism. This week’s conviction of his gal pal Ghislaine Maxwell still leaves a lot of unanswered questions, apart from the big ones: How did he really die and how on earth did he amass so much money with so little experience?

Professor Alan Dershowitz asks why did Maxwell’s chief accuser Virginia Giuffre avoid being charged with the same “grooming” charge Maxwell was when the government’s own witness accused her under oath of such conduct? Why, in fact, was she never even called as a witness in the Maxwell trial?  There are some substantial reasons to believe that she is not credible, and her accusations against prominent people are false -- something her lawyers concede. He concluded “The truth will come out. And it may surprise you.”

You may recall that the two jail guards on duty the night Epstein died were charged with  sleeping on the job (dereliction of duty) and falsifying records -- something that if Epstein did commit suicide would result only in loss of jobs and maybe a fine, says Jazz Shaw. Instead, they faced criminal charges which the prosecution dropped on December 13, an act that did not appear on the court’s docket until last week, one day after Maxwell was convicted. Maybe they fully cooperated and the prosecution held the news until after the conviction because they felt it was safer to do so. On the other hand, if Maxwell doubts Epstein killed himself and at least one of the guards must have known about it, you might conclude the dropping of the cases against them is a good reason for her not to spill any beans, something post-conviction she might be inclined to do in exchange for a lesser sentence.

Finally, there’s the administration’s practice of using private agencies to command unconstitutional acts they could not get away with doing on their own. And there’s a growing counteraction against these overreaching mandates. NASDAQ urged all companies on its exchange to have at least two diversity hires on their board of directors: One who self-identifies as female and one who “self-identifies as an underrepresented minority or LGBTQ” and if they do not comply, the companies must explain why they deviated from this standard. The government approved this diversity rule in August. As a stockholder or employee of a NASDAQ corporation would attest, their welfare and returns depend on the most qualified persons serving on the board. As a civil libertarian, I contend all quotas of this nature violate the Constitution.  Several GOP governors agree and filed a legal brief supporting a case in the Fifth Circuit which contends the rule “violates both the Constitution and exceeds the SEC and NASDAQ statutory authority.” 

Stay on your toes this year. As it’s increasingly likely the Democrats are in deep doodoo in the coming midterm elections, every trick in the book will be utilized to get through their blinkered policies and programs any way possible before the deluge.