Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is set to extend one-man rule for another 30 days by calling the state legislature into its fifth special session on Monday. He apparently intends to keep “emergency” rule going for the indefinite future. For public relations purposes Walz convened a roundtable on the epidemic yesterday featuring physicians and others with tales to tell. I have posted the video below.
“The COVID-19 virus is unpredictable, and as we have seen over the past few weeks, it continues to devastate our communities,” Walz said in a press release. “It’s imperative that we have the tools necessary to respond to this public health emergency and protect the health and wellbeing of each and every Minnesotan. This emergency is not over.”
As I have tried to document in this series, “the emergency” isn’t over because Walz refuses to relinquish his emergency powers and it requires both houses of the Minnesota legislature to dissent from his declaration. Walz is quite confident that the upcoming legislative elections will not produce a result that disturbs his emergency powers and I have no reason to disagree with him.
The median age of death among those classified as COVID-19 decedents in Minnesota is over 83. My colleague Kevin Roche advises me that the median age of death from all causes in Minnesota is “right at about 79 to 79.5.” I couldn’t find the number and can’t link to a source, but Kevin has a good grasp of the relevant data. If I make it back inside the Minnesota Department of Health’s circle of love, I will confirm it.
It is a mystery to me why the elderly infirm whom the epidemic places at risk cannot protect themselves or be protected along the lines suggested in the Great Barrington Declaration (quoted in relevant part here). As John Tierney argues at City Journal, the lockdowns are a failed experiment.
One of the participants in yesterday’s roundtable was the renowned jazz pianist Nacho Herrera, an early but recovered victim of COVID-19. One of my daughters attended high school with one of Nacho’s kids. We invited his family over for lunch after Nacho played with the high school orchestra, of which my daughter was a member.
We had a chance to talk about subjects of mutual interest over lunch. Nacho is a Cuban immigrant who did not have a discouraging word to say about Fidel Castro or the Cuban regime. At the event yesterday, Nacho spoke highly of Cuban physicians. I didn’t get it then and I don’t get it now.
I’m calling a timeout on my statistical updates to encourage readers to digest Walz’s most recent dog and pony show. As Walz continues to exercise monarchical authority, he has delegated certain enforcement powers to former Nation of Islam race hustler Keith Ellison in his capacity as Minnesota Attorney General. See John’s nearby post on his chilling encounter with Ellison’s office. If there is an emergency implicit in these circumstances, it is the restoration of constitutional government and regular order.
