The Sun Bay Paper Page 16 January 21, 2022 - January 27, 2022 I'm not mad that some venture capital mogul (whom I'd never heard of before) said this week on a podcast (which I'd also never heard of before) that "nobody cares about what's happening to the Uyghurs." I am, however, mildly (but not surprisingly) annoyed that this blundering billionaire backed down so quickly in the face of exactly the kind of virtue-signaling bloviators whom he so rightfully criticized in the first place. Chamath Palihapitiya, who is apparently a former AOL and Facebook executive and founder of a Palo Alto investment firm called Social Capital, outraged the perpetually outraged mob by dismissing his cohost Jason Calacanis' praise for the Biden administration's "very strong" support of Muslim Uyghurs in China. Palihapitiya retorted that "Nobody cares about what's happening to the Uyghurs, OK? You bring it up because you really care, and I think it's nice that you care, the rest of us don't care. I'm just telling you ... a very hard, ugly truth. Of all the things I care about, yes, it is below my line." Palihapitiya then listed his own priority list of Official Things One Should Care More About, including "climate change" and America's "health care infrastructure." Social media scolds and busybodies went ape-shizzle over Palihapitiya's comments. The Golden Warriors basketball team, of which Palihapitiya is a 2% owner, disavowed him. One woke NBA player blamed him for being a genocide facilitator. GOP Sen. Tom Cotton demanded that the Warriors "force" Palihapitiya to "sell his interest" in the team. Radio host Hugh Hewitt compared Palihapitiya to someone engaged in "Holocaust denial." Take a deep breath, all you hyperventilating hyenas. Palihapitiya never "denied" anything. He simply said that at this time and place in history he couldn't get himself to care as much about the plight of the Uygurs (Uighurs, Uyghurs, whatever) as other things and other people. He also said something I've long emphasized as a matter of basic America First principles: "Not until we can take care of ourselves will I prioritize them over us." I also agree wholeheartedly with this: "So until we actually clean up our own house, the idea that we step outside our borders, with us morally virtue-signaling about someone else's human rights record, is deplorable." Our own country is an anarcho-tyrannical basket case. Major metropolitan police departments are run by eunuchs. District attorneys' offices are held hostage by George Soros-subsidized criminal-coddlers. White people are deplatformed and drummed off university campuses for defending white people smeared by Black Lives Matter. Government agencies (in cahoots with left-wing character assassination operations) are blacklisting young nationalists and their supporters (white and nonwhite); preventing them from boarding planes, banking, renting Airbnbs, livestreaming, sharing music playlists and even ordering food online. Parents have been dragged off planes and out of school board meetings for defending their children's right to breathe. Hundreds of thousands of workers have lost their jobs for refusing to submit to experimental COVID-19 jabs and junk-science testing. Trump supporters have rotted away in solitary confinement over their attendance at the Jan. 6 election integrity rally in the Capitol. This week: -- A 24-year-old UCLA grad student was stabbed to death by a black assailant in broad daylight at a high-end furniture store. -- A 40-year-old Asian woman was pushed off a subway platform to her death by a revolvingdoor black serial criminal in New York City, where skyrocketing black-on-white and black-on-Asian violence is covered up by bleedingheart corruptocrats and their corporate media propagandists. -- A 70-year-old nurse was brutally murdered by a homeless sociopath in LA on her way to work. No, I'm not apologetic now and never have been in the least for putting the health, safety and welfare of Americans in America over the conditions of others outside our borders. Neither should Palihapitiya, but he has already folded like a set of accordian blinds. "In re-listening to this week's podcast, I recognize that I come across as lacking empathy. I acknowledge that entirely. As a refugee, my family fled a country with its own set of human rights issues so this is something that is very much a part of my lived experience. To be clear, my belief is that human rights matter, whether in China, the United States, or elsewhere. Full stop." Oh, stop quivering like a Jell-O pudding cup. Not everything and everyone can matter equally in a world of limited resources and energy. Sovereignty matters. Full stop. You're a billionaire with nothing to lose, Mr. Moneybags. If you're going to be a truth-telling, politically incorrect maverick who goes "All In" (the name of Palihapitiya's podcast show), don't end up groveling pitifully on your knees, for heaven's sake. Take it from the little brown woman with a big mouth who has gone all in for three decades in the public square: Man up, own your words and thoughts, and never back down when the bellowers bellow for your head. Michelle Malkin's Blundering Billionaire More Right Than Wrong bans and shutdowns really save lives. Florida killed people because Florida didn't impose tougher rules, we're told. "Florida leads the nation in new COVID cases," says Action News in Tampa. "Florida has the worst rate of coronavirus anywhere in the country!" rants "The Young Turks" host Cenk Uygur. But it's not true. Florida has had fewer deaths than 16 other states. Mississippi, Arizona, Alabama and New Jersey had the most deaths per capita. New York, where most TV anchors and I live, had the sixth most deaths. Florida did better even though Florida has more high-risk old people. What's going on? The media rarely just lie. Most simply cite Florida when deaths are high and ignore the state when deaths fall. They deceive by omission. Florida's good numbers just don't fit the reporters' biases. But even some pro-lockdown politicians know that less regulated Florida is no more dangerous than other states. After Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez complained that "antishutdown people" are "spreading COVID all over the place," she was filmed partying in Florida. Two days after Rep. Eric Swalwell sneered that "Republican liars ... prolonged" the pandemic ... "your vacation cancelled," he was photographed in Miami. DeSantis laughs about this. "If I had a dollar for every lockdown politician who decided to escape to Florida over the last two years, I'd be a pretty doggone wealthy man." Fewer rules allow people to build better lives for themselves. Lack of shutdowns is one reason Florida's unemployment rate is 4.5%, well below New York's 6.6%. Does this mean shutdowns and mask mandates are useless — and less regulated Florida has the answer? No. We can't say that. There's no clear pattern. Yes, strict mandate states like New York, New Jersey and Michigan have some of the worst death counts, but California had strict mandates and fewer deaths. The one clear trend: Lockdowns don't stop COVID-19, but they do destroy opportunity. California's unemployment is the highest in America. Florida did some bad things. DeSantis should pay more attention to his own pro-freedom speeches. Last year, he decreed that even private companies may not require customers or workers to be vaccinated. Governor? They're private companies! They should have the right to make their own decisions. It's usually the totalitarian left that won't let people set their own rules. Aside from that nastiness, Florida's COVID-19 policies are among the most sensible. Since lockdowns won't stop the virus, we must learn to live with it. Thanks to vaccines and new drugs that reduce COVID-19's effects, now most of us can. "We don't have to upend human life in our quest to eliminate COVID ... which can't happen anyway," says economist Don Boudreaux. Giving up these laws is not "admitting defeat" but "admitting reality. We learn to live with COVID in the same way that we learn to live with many other pathogens. ... One day, every one of us is going to be done in by something." That's why I will vacation in Florida this week. I'll wear a mask if I'm in a crowd, but most of the time I won't. It's a joy to breathe freely. I might catch omicron. But since I'm vaccinated and fit, I probably won't die. I might even gain immunities that protect me in the future. And anyway, "All of us will be done in by something." I choose to Live Free !! John Stossel I Choose to Live Free Cont from pg 1
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