On the attack, Francis’ man in Chicago. Via Twitter! “Scathing attack.”

On Archbishop Gomez of LA, elected by his fellow bishops as president of the U.S. conference of same, who wrote the statement, which Cupich calls “ill-considered.”

Cupich is a tiger here and obviously was furious about the Gomez letter.

The vitamin D solution gets no traction.

Early in the pandemic, “trust the science!” could actually be used in a debate without attracting derisive laughter. But as the flip-flops, mistakes and, yes, lies have accumulated, a consensus seems to be forming that the health care authorities are no more trustworthy than the people running Congress or the Fed.

For proof, let’s start with vitamin D, which sure seems to lessen the severity of coronavirus infections. As the chart below illustrates (couldn’t find the source, but google “covid vitamin D” and you’ll find lots of studies that track with this data), people with higher levels of vitamin D in their bloodstream tend to experience covid-19 as a non-event while people low levels found the infection life-threatening.

There are obvious questions about causality here, so calling vitamin D a “cure” is going way too far. But if it has even a marginal effect – and the data suggest considerably more — a rational government would, you’d think, be handing out vitamin D like Halloween candy. In fact, since we’re mandating/prohibiting all kinds of other behaviors, we might expect vitamin D consumption to be required along with masks and social distancing.

Even covid-czar Anthony Fauci recently said: “If you are deficient in vitamin D, that does have an impact on your susceptibility to infection. So I would not mind recommending — and I do it myself — taking vitamin D supplements.”

So why aren’t family-sized bottles of vitamin D arriving in the mail from the CDC? A cynic might wonder if the fact that Big Pharma doesn’t make much money from cheap, widely available supplements plays a role in the government’s apparent lack of interest.

Makes a guy wonder.

Yes, Frances, there is a Holy Father, but he doesn’t think like pro-lifers.

The Biden era begins.

They’re canonizing Joe Biden in the morning. It’s a cult in the making.

Comes a referendum to strip government of power to impose one.

Taking advantage of a unique provision in their constitution, campaigners in Switzerland have garnered sufficient signatures to force a national referendum aimed at stripping the government of its powers to impose pandemic-related lockdown measures.

The group Friends of the Constitution solicited 86,000 signatures requiring a nation-wide vote on whether to repeal the government’s 2020 COVID-19 Act, which was passed in September, Business Insider reports.

Switzerland’s constitution provides a recourse to direct democracy whereby citizens may trigger a referendum to overturn laws introduced by parliament if they are able to collect 50,000 signatures in 100 days. Having well surpassed this requirement, the vote is expected in June.

Wha’ happened?

Last week, the Swiss government announced tightened restrictions with a stated purpose of mitigating the spread of new COVID-19 variants which were first claimed to be discovered in Britain.

They closed shops which sell “non-essential” supplies, limited private gatherings to five people, and ordered companies to instruct employees to work from home where possible, or require staff to wear masks. They also extended the closure of restaurants, along with cultural and sports sites to the end of February, Reuters reports.

So?

Christoph Pfluger, a board member at Friends of the Constitution, said the group believed the government was “taking advantage of the pandemic to introduce more control and less democracy.” [A suspicion shared by many, I suppose.]

The group also stated that the COVID-19 Act is “disproportionate” and “demonstrably ineffective,” while others expressed that it gives the government too much power to enforce a “compulsory system with poorly tested vaccines.”

Now you’re talkin’. He’s sayin’ the damn lockdowns don’t work! and the vaccines are not trustworthy? What next? In any case, “The success of the referendum would be a call on the authorities to exercise the utmost caution in the vaccination campaign and even impose a moratorium on it.”

Negative thinking! He could be cancelled.

Keep an eye on those Swiss people.

Instant Democrats.

From Washington Times: Abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a nonstarter and the fate of the border wall is uncertain, but the Biden team does want to grant citizenship rights to most illegal immigrants and to pump money into Latin America as the way to discourage illegal immigration, Alejandro Mayorkas, the pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, told senators Tuesday.

From Senator Tom Cotton at Fox News: “…it’s what you’d expect from the party of open borders: Total amnesty, no regard for the health or security of Americans, and zero enforcement.”

(Lifted from the excellent, highly recommended Daybreak Insider.)

San Francisco Chronicle has it. So public health people are upset? Not quite.

The focus remains entirely on the pandemic.

This party may be headed for the rocks.

Stuck.

Democrats have spent five years defining themselves in opposition to Mr. Trump. It’s the one idea that unites them. As he recedes into history, they will have to deal with the symptoms of political withdrawal. Watch for the shakes, anxiety, insomnia, loss of appetite, even depression—and falling ratings on CNN and MSNBC. Promoting Joe Biden’s tax increases won’t provide nearly the same rush.

No venom, no vigor. Or hardly any.