As IF Times

link: https://www.npr.org/2026/07/27/nx-s1-5909531/rand-paul-anthony-fauci-coronavirus-diary-lab-leak-origin

At long last the inevitable visit to Anthony Fauci is being made by Karma. Any rational person watching the Senate hearings on his actions during the pandemic era should be enraged not only at the scope and scale of accusations against him but also at his decision to hide behind the right to not incriminate himself by answering any questions posed to him.  This alone is odd when you consider that he was give a pre-emptive stay out of jail pardon for any of his actions at the end of Biden’s last term…just in case.   Pleading the fifth over a hundred times on every question posed of him is the legal equivalent of giving a hundred middle fingers to the committee.

Of course, the damage has been done.  The harm to the economy, to people’s lives, the disruption of all common sense and logic, is permanent. People died alone, businesses collapsed and a permanent divide appeared between the emotional, cultish believers and the skeptically rational.

Finally, it appears as if his egotistically driven behavior will be scrutinized under a rational lens.  It was not bad judgement; it seems to have been premeditated criminal action. While deeply detestable and evil, his most despicable influence was the marshalling of a vast army of enablers that were more than willing to wield their bureaucratic powers over a cowed population.  It was the largest foisting of HOA Karens in the history of the world and literally one of the largest reigns of terror ever experienced.

It’s tragically comical now to look back on the measures mandated by the pandemic police during those bizarre 4 to 5 years.  The masking, the standing 6 feet apart, the arrows on the floor in grocery stores, the quarantines, the closing of public spaces but above all the zeal with which newly empowered clerks carried about their roles. But the most heinous of course, was the forced vaccination of victims unable to resist official edicts.  As it is now obvious; it was all fake.  The dancing nurses in hospitals should have been a clue.  Sadly, to this day, people will still not acknowledge their naivete.

The whole point of the Nuremburg trials was to forever forbid atrocities against humans and that individuals, not just states, would be held responsible for such crimes.  So much for precedent.

But while Fauci and his willing minions waged their reign of made up terror, this all could not have happened without an hysterical media drumming their fear upon a compliant and meek public.  Without a complicit media, the hysteria could never have reached their preposterous levels. Notionally ‘intelligent’ people were as susceptible, if not more so, than the rubes.  They would hold their academic credentials as a shield against any logical rebuttal. Apparently, groupthink was a standard requirement in higher education. The silver lining, if there is one, to the evil that Fauci had engendered, is that now, under the sober light of day, rational, intelligent people can see how they were duped and unduly swayed by crushing peer pressure. If only this were so.

In fact, I suspect that there’s no lesson to be learned from this tragic period in human history.  While we should all have received a gigantic wake up call on the dangers of a biased media, of believing in politicians and putting too much faith in the ‘authorities’, this will not change the trajectory of the general population’s proclivity for submissiveness.   It’s probable that people will regret the whole episode and those responsible may or may not ever be brought to responsibility. Time will pass and the next ‘disaster’ will come along and the same lemming like behavior will manifest again.  Unfortunately, the vast majority of humans are influenced by only a very small percentage of strong individuals.  According to popular lore, only 3.5% of the population will move the other 96.5%.  It they happen to be despots, that number is probably smaller and history will repeat again.

Is this depressing?  Of course it is.  It means that regardless of how educated and knowledgeable you are, you will be subject to the tidal wave of a popular movement once an idea catches fire.   This is the reason that socialists continue to beat their drum.  They need the 3.5% to get their tin pot dictator to run the show.

When we think of the most impactful events on western life in the past 5 years, two events stand out conspicuously.

Arguably the most impactful was the entire narrative and follow on consequences of the January 6^th demonstration at the US Capitol in 2021. Who can forget the handwringing and faux outrage of the left and the entire media as they characterized the demonstration as a violent uprising threatening to topple democracy.  This event resulted in imprisonment, recriminations and even deaths for many of the unfortunates involved.

Politicians and media alike condemned the actions of the ‘violent rioters’ even as conflicting evidence at the time, made these assertions questionable.  One of the more interesting claims was that demonstrators were encouraged, even welcomed into the Capitol by law enforcement plants.  “An outrageous accusation” was the response of lawmakers and the FBI at the time.

As time went on, they admitted that, “ok there were a few, but just to monitor things”.  Under recent congressional grilling, the “few” number turned out to be somewhat higher. . But it wasn’t an easy path to the truth.  It started off with; there were NO feds. Over time, this became; there probably weren’t any undercover feds, which led eventually to ok, there were twelve undercover feds. And of course after the congressional grilling the actual number was 270.

This mischaracterization of events served to quell any opposition and investigation into the disputed results of the latest national election.  By criminalizing the mere event of protesting, the government crushed any opposition to the official narrative.

In a parallel but related track and very much a result of the official fibs told by the authorities at the time, the COVID narrative came on stream.  Though the horrific events are now a few years in the past, we recall the narrative espoused by the ‘authorities’ at the time.  The font of the narrative was Anthony Fauci but he took his moral authority from the WHO, which declared that this was a severe existential virus and extreme measures needed to be implemented.

It’s not necessary to recite all of the measures imposed upon the world, but suffice to say, it was a dystopian time with drastic Orwellian measures against entire populations. Now, as with the walk-backs on the January 6^th demonstrations, the WHO is distancing themselves from their own narrative.

“…The World Health Organization (WHO) has denied any involvement in forcing people to wear masks or receive vaccinations. A WHO spokesperson stated that allegations of forced vaccinations are “both flagrant lies and dangerous pieces of disinformation,” emphasizing that the agency has no authority to impose vaccine mandates or involve the military in such actions. The organization clarified that decisions regarding health measures, including mask and vaccine policies, are made by individual sovereign governments, not by the WHO….”

Thus, it’s clear that all governments worldwide must have decided on their own to impose mask and vaccination mandates without any influence by the WHO.  If this this case, why do they exist? This is amusing, because if it’s one thing that we’ve learned over the years, it’s that the internet is forever. It’s impossible to erase your digital footprint.  Just ask Jon Gruden.  Here’s the WHO head back in 2020:

“…Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), urged people to wear face masks once more amid a purported rise in Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) infections.

He defended the necessity of face coverings against COVID-19 in public remarks delivered July 12, during the WHO’s COVID-19 media briefing that day. “As transmission and hospitalization [rates] rise, governments must also deploy tried and tested measures like masking, improved ventilation and test-and-treat protocols,” said Tedros, adding that “diagnostics, treatments and vaccines are not being deployed effectively.”

Tedros’ call for re-imposing mask mandates stemmed from his apparent concern about the continued rise of COVID-19 cases and deaths. These, he mentioned, put “further pressure on stretched health systems and health workers…”

The point of this discussion is not to reveal that authorities lie to us, as shocking as this may be for some.  The issue is that the lies are so blatant but that there are no consequences.  We all recall Baghdad Bob during the first Iraq war invasion stating in a live TV interview that there was total calm in Iraq even as buildings were being blown up behind him on camera.  Blatant mendacity is an affront in most civilizations and from a young age, most are taught that lies are not acceptable.  In the classic fairy tale, Pinocchio’s nose grew every time he lied to conspicuously reveal to the world his mendacity.

Why are societies now so tolerant of narratives that are completely absurd and detrimental to their own well-being?  That’s a question for social science PhD candidates to answer in the years to come, but I suggest there’s a simple explanation: There are no consequences.  Few ever seem to suffer from figurative long noses.  Lawyers are employed to parse words and events.  We may recall the famous Bill Clinton line of ” it depends what is, is.”   No one is naive enough to think that politicians will stop lying.  But at least bring in some consequences. Maybe the tar and feather business can make a comeback.