Triad Conservative

The Planned Sunset of Roy Cooper's Emergency Powers

The budget compromise hatched in Raleigh within the last couple of weeks contained an unexpected provision. It dealt with a bugaboo that has been plaguing us for nearly two years-- Roy Cooper's emergency powers to respond to COVID-19.

The budget bill amends the law so that Cooper would have to obtain the concurrence of the Council of State after 30 days. But this amendment would not take effect until 2023!

The John Locke Foundation is heralding this move as a major victory. Pardon me if I don't share in the excitement.

What if the Council of State in the future is largely comprised of the socialists? What if it is comprised of weak-minded, ignorant Republicans who refuse to take a stand, or who have been bought off--- (i.e., the usual establishment Republican)?

Remember that the Republicans' track record on COVID-19 in North Carolina has been abysmal.

When a governor abuses his emergency powers, he or she will prevail unless the other branches of government-- the legislature and the judiciary-- hold him accountable, and exercise their prerogatives to provide oversight and review.

For instance, they need to intervene when citizens' constitutional rights and civil liberties are violated or suspended. Governors and health secretaries have no rightful authority to do these things; and yet, during the early days of COVID-19, upwards of six or seven constitutional rights and civil liberties were violated. And nobody held Cooper or Cohen accountable.

To this day, Mandy Cohen violates the ethics and "best practices" of public health. These violations have been severe and repeated and sustained. But nobody holds her accountable. There is no oversight.

There needs to be a renewed appreciation of the fact that granting a governor or a health secretary emergency powers does not rightfully empower them to violate citizens' civil liberties and constitutional rights. Granting them emergency powers does not extend to them permission to violate the ethics and best practices of public health.  But the Republicans in the General Assembly and the state's judiciary granted Cooper and Cohen broad license to do awful things. That should never have happened, regardless of whether emergency powers were utilized.

Continuing to give them these powers for 30 days, or longer with the Council of State's agreement, does not address the fact that power can be abused; that the law can be broken; and that citizens can be harmed. It still might be necessary for the General Assembly and/or the judiciary to step in-- and they would NOT for Covid-19. 

It is bad enough that the new provisions are delayed until 2023. But the sad part is that it might have no effect if the legislature and the judiciary continue to refuse to employ their respective powers to provide checks and balances, and protect the state's citizens.

Some of the Real, UNANTICIPATED Heroes of the Pandemic

Among the perspectives we have been force-fed regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, we were told that certain individuals and institutions were heroic with their response to COVID-19. Fauci and Birx. The CDC and FDA and NIH. The hospitals. The pharmaceutical companies. And here in North Carolina, Roy Cooper and Mandy Cohen.

It turns out that many of these are, in actuality, the villains wearing the dark hats.

Instead, we have had some real heroes among us who are truly unexpected. And the general public likely has no way of knowing who they are in some cases.

The first group of heroes I would like to point out are various compounding pharmacies throughout the state of North Carolina that have been providing patients prescriptions for ivermectin when many other pharmacies will not.

The second group consists of various physicians who espouse non-traditional approaches to health care-- i.e. the integrative and naturopathic and functional medicine physicians. These doctors have often been at the forefront of promoting preventive treatment and early aggressive treatment.

The third group consists of physicians and other scientists (on an individual basis and as part of groups) that have taken risks to provide patients with the best treatment, or to speak out in opposition to the government line. In many cases, some of these were putting their own positions in jeopardy, or taking a prominent role educating others regarding how to provide treatment.

One of these came to the forefront this week. Dr. Paul Marik practices critical care medicine within the Sentara Health System in eastern Virginia. His hospital privileges were suspended after he brought a lawsuit against the system. He was being prevented from treating patients in a manner that would benefit them.

Readers will recall that the Cone Health System here in Greensboro had proposed a merger with Sentara; but the merger discussions eventually fell apart for unrelated reasons.

But there have been many others. I will list some of the more prominent groups, many of which consist of heroic physicians and scientists who have taken risks:

• FLCCC
• America's Frontline Doctors
• The Global COVID Summit (Over 13,000 worldwide have joined to sign its declaration)
• The Unity Project and its prominent leaders
• Here in North Carolina, the North Carolina Physicians for Freedom
• The Truth for Health Foundation
• And a number of other groups and also physicians and scientists acting on an individual basis.

Many of the specialty societies and other doctors' organizations that usually provide continuing education have punted on the matter of truly serving patients' best medical interests regarding COVID.

But one group stands out-- the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. It has furnished physicians with education that provides confidence to navigate these uncharted waters; and its contributions have been truly heroic.

The New Variant

Remember that the general tendency with new variants is to become overall more infectious but less damaging:

The Path for the Next Year

Here is a pretty interesting roundtable interview featuring Patrick Byrne and General Flynn:

Is Australia a Sign of What is Coming Here?

Our Response Amid God's Ongoing Judgment During the Pandemic

HT: NC Renegade

The First Thanksgiving Was in Old Virginia

The Abbeville Institute sets the record straight. The first Thanksgiving took place in Virginia at Berkeley Hundred-- where the Berkeley Plantation on Highway 5 now sits. (I had visited Berkeley Plantation many years ago when I lived in Richmond attending medical school.)

The residents who attended that first Thanksgiving were later slaughtered by the Indians. This is a reminder that the current interpretations regarding American history are not necessarily balanced.

Today's College Students Might Get Conservative More Quickly than Previous Generations

Are Vaccine Mandates Helpful if they Result in Hospital ER's Shutting Down?

Governor Cooper Gives Gain-of-Function Researcher Special NC Award

Talk about jaw-dropping...

Governor Cooper on Thursday night gave out his North Carolina Awards to recognize North Carolina residents who have made special contributions.

One of the awardees? Ralph Baric of UNC-Chapel Hill, who gained notoriety for his involvement in coronavirus gain-of-function research, and who had some degree of collaboration with the Wuhan lab.

No, I'm not kidding. It's almost as if the left is proud of the harm it has engineered.