Thread by @mattbuxton

Aaaaaand we're off with the first Senate Judiciary Committee meeting of the 32nd Legislature with chair Sen. Lora Reinbold, a mask and election denier, rocking the clear face shield.

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Watch here: ktoo.org/360TV/
Background on why her spot is... problematic: midnightsunak.com/2021/01/25/sen…

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Reinbold says they'll be posting parts of the U.S. and Alaska constitutions on the wall: "Super important to recognize that it’s the supreme law of the land."

And then goes right into the covid health orders.

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She's now going over the Bill of Rights and how they relate to mandates. On the First Amendment "or prohibiting the exercise of religion—including mandates."

She says her favorite part is the right to privacy.

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Reinbold says they've asked for several officials from the administration but they were not approved to testify today.

Dang! Thought that was a burn reserved for committees chaired by Rep. Fields.

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Oh, there ARE a bunch of folks from the administration on the line. Reinbold says they don't think they're going to get to them today, though.

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Up now is Dr. Kulldorff who's a backer of the Great Barrington Declaration. The first google hit from a recognizable source about the declaration is entitled: "The Great Barrington Declaration: When Arrogance Leads to Recklessness"

usnews.com/news/healthies…

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Kulldorff starts out by declaring that general lockdowns "have not worked" and says that people foregoing doctors meetings was more dangerous than covid. Says kids are fine with just washing their hands.

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alaskasnewssource.com/2021/01/16/stu…

Kulldorff says "It should be clear by now these lockdowns are the biggest public health risk ever."

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One of the hits on the Great Barrington Declaration, according to USNews, is "its failure to meaningfully acknowledge the disproportionate burden of this disease on persons of color ... The GBD approach would effectively throw them under the bus."

usnews.com/news/healthies…

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He also says it's fine to make all teachers under 65 return to in-class instruction while those over 65 could consider staying home.

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Questions from Kiehl on Kulldorff's claims that the lockdowns have not worked to control the pandemic. Kiehl: "What do you mean by that? That the pandemic rate would be the same if there was no lockdowns?"

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Kulldorff: Well they can help flatten the curve and preserve health care capacity (which is exactly the point, but hey I'm not the Harvard epidemiologist funded by a libertarian think tank) and that people still got the disease anyways.

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Kiehl: "It's not every day that I have access to a biostatistician. ... Can you compare the all harms damage from the lockdown to the all harms damage from covid? The mortality, long-term morbidity?"

Kulldorff doesn't know. It'll take a while.

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Sen. Hughes, R-Palmer, asks Kulldorff about the claims of fake signatures on his position. She understands that people will look it up and asks him to respond.

He says it was hijinks and "less than 1%"

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Hughes notes there are names like "Professor Spongebob Squarepants and Dr. Fakename" "but also several real names."

Kulldorff says Johnny Bananas--longtime Realworld conetestant--also signed.

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Shower asks "what is worse" 2 million covid deaths or 100M+ people dying from starvation. Both highly preventable.

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Shower, who suggested that COVID came from a lab because that was the plot of a Tom Clancy book (and Tom Clancy also accurately predicted 9/11), asks if the health orders were implemented because people were scared, acting on bad data or what?

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Kulldorff says it's just stunning.

Shower says it's a good try and that he, Shower, swung for the fences. He asks him if they should be adjusting policies now, Kulldorff: "Yes."

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Reinbold only wants two questions per person.

Hughes struggles to get her second question, she asks about his background with vaccine work and whether he'd be working on that. He's on the vaccine committee.

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Kiehl says they tried to protect the Pioneer Homes and other areas and it didn't work. With widespread community spread, what would he suggest. Who did it right?

Kulldorff says it's all about the vaccine and daily testing of staff but also allow tested visitors.

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Reinbold, who wanted to limit other committee members questioning, is now currently free riffing thanking him for revealing the devastating lockdown policies and how natural immunity is the way to go (which isn't even really what he said).

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Reinbold has 10 binders on covid and is now just reading off some random health orders. Not sure who implemented them, for how long or if they're even still in effect.

"This is only for educational purposes," she says. "You have to go and research like we have."

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Man, I'm getting flashbacks to my first meeting as editor of the Daily Nebraskan. Had prepared an agenda that I assumed would take an hour. It took 5 minutes and I was left with about 20 people staring back at me with no idea of what to say.

It didn't help that my entire life for the prior 2.5 days was listening to "Dune" on audiobook while driving from the Pacific NW to Lincoln.

After about 10 minutes of free riffing on mandates and stuff, Reinbold says that AG Sniffen was not made available to the committee to talk about the health orders and if need be she'll quiz him when he's up for confirmation.

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And now DHSS Commissioner Crum is up.

For some reason Reinbold says discloses she wanted his presentation to be an open question and answer session but out of respect they'll allow him to get through his presentation first (the same courtesy afforded to Kulldorff).

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Reinbold, slamming her hand down on one of the 10 books of tyrannical public health orders, welcomes Crum to the committee: “Your name is on almost every single thing in this book."

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Crum starts off with a nice reminder of the early days of the pandemic when the decisions were easy and there was time.

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Leave it to Reinbold's Judiciary Committee to make people say, "Thank god that Adam Crum is here." Clearly the administration did its homework and knew what they were walking into.

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Reinbold earlier paraded around an order earlier about parking distances for drive-in church services and Easter basket guidelines as tyrannical micromanaging.

Crum said he's proud of those, in particular, because churches came looking for guidance on how to be safe.

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In closing comments, Reinbold asks Crum where the adverse reactions are online--he says they're there--and she asks for the link and says that she's been monitoring them.... "on Facebook."

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And now she's dragging Crum: "You've had everyone eating out of your hand. ... There's been an other side that we wanted to address because you've advertised your side."

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Reinbold: You bragged about having a thousand contact tracers.

Crum: 489, half of a thousand.

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I honestly cannot keep up with what Reinbold is saying. It's.... wild.

There's something mixed in there about the pilgrims who died for our freedoms.

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To give you a good idea how this all started, Reinbold opened asking Crum if he believed in the U.S. Constitution. He said, of course, he's an American.

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Reinbold says they MAY have a hearing on Friday IF Dunleavy says they can get the people she wants to quiz.

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