JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.

Friday, August 06, 2021

WHY THE DEATH OF H. SCOTT APLEY MATTERS A LOT AND THE LAMBDA VARIANT

 On August 5, 2021, H. Scott Apley, 45, a recent father  of a newborn child, died of Covid 19. Apley was a city counsel member for a small city in Galveston County, Texas. Days before getting sick, Apley posted on Facebook that the Pfizer vaccine "was the enemy of the people" and he posted about his support for "mask burning parties." 

Apley's death is a tragedy, like all preventable covid19 deaths are. Preventable, because a vaccine a few months ago would have likely saved Apley's life and allowed him to raise his child. Instead, Apley bought into the right-wing-Q-Anon-Don't-Tread-On-Me conspiracy theories. It feels good to ignore science and take a stand against all the smug, government scientists. In a time when we need more of them, the profession of "government-scientist" is probably and perversely viewed with great suspicion by more than 50% of the American public; worse than used car salesmen, or lawyers. The term "government-scientist" for the right, religious right, and nutso-right, conjures visions of Hilary Clinton-pizza eating-pedophile loving bureaucrats plotting to control Americans by injecting their bodies with foreign substances, rather than public health servants who have trained their whole life for this emergency. 

The H. Scott Apleys of the world feed the Fox-News-my body-my choice- anti-vaccine-masks-don't-work- propaganda. Trump and De Santis insinuate that it is a perfectly acceptable decision to not be vaccinated. They have turned a health decision into a political decision. But make no mistake, they are both vaccinated. They are using a crisis for political gain, pure and simple, regardless of how many H. Scott Apley's die in the process. Quick- two people are in the room- one is wearing an Obama Button and one is wearing a Trump button, if your life depended on picking the person not vaccinated, whom would you choose?

The problem is that this is and is not about individual rights. The right, as always, misunderstands the concepts of rights.  The government has the right to regulate the health of citizens. It can and does outlaw smoking on elevators, airplanes, and indoor work places to protect the rights and health  of non-smokers. The government can and does require school children be vaccinated for polio and other childhood diseases to protect other children.    

 It is against the law to use violence against Rumpole for no reason. You cannot stab, shoot, bomb, immolate, poison, or otherwise harm us unless it is in self defense. Individual rights protect the safety of the individual from others. 

If H. Scott Apley wanted to risk his life so that his child would be raised without a father, he had every right to do so without harming us. If every morning he desired to go to his garage and play Russian Roulette with a firearm with one bullet in it, it was his right to do so. But when he endangers the rest of us, which he did by not being vaccinated and encouraging others not to be vaccinated and wear masks,  his rights end. He was not allowed to randomly shoot bullets down the street, he was not allowed to smoke on airplanes, and he should not have been allowed to remain unvaccinated because had he survived with a mild case of Covid, he could have carried a new and deadlier strain of covid that could have killed others. 

Which brings us to the Lambda variant. Two mutations in the Lambda variant- T761 and L452Q are now more infectious than the covid virus that swept through the world in 2020. Lambda is, according to the World Health Organization, now in 29 countries. It accounts for 81% of the infections in Peru. 

And now, for your consideration over a nice and restful weekend- consider this: Research by a team from the University of Tokyo this week (which has NOT been peer reviewed yet) have found three mutations in the Lambda spike protein that helps it resist protection provided by vaccine induced antibodies. Chew on that. 

"Lambda can be a potential threat to human society" said senior researcher Kei Sato of the University of Tokyo to the Reuters news organization. 

Sleep well on that one dear readers. 

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rumpole, long time reader of your blog. But common, I did not need to hear the Lambda variant news on this Friday. You just messed up my weekend. 😟😷

Anonymous said...

Chicken Little, is the sky really falling? Or, what is the equilibrium point? What is a reasonable cost for collective health?

A vaccine. A mask. Spread people out. Curfews. Shut down businesses. Restrict travel. Mandatory quarantine.

The degree that people will suffer health-related restraints is directly related to the Covid death rate.

It's easy to dodge the bullet with the exercise of a little collective consciousness, precaution, and common sense. Why not?

Anonymous said...

1. He didnt endanger you or anyone else who has been vaccinated. FYI the vaccine is highly effective, including against delta.

2. There is no need to brand Republicans as antivaxxers, just like there is no need to similarly brand african americans the same. There are a lot of things that cause distrust of gov, including class.

3. I didnt realize you were pro life.

Sir Wilfred said...

Next thing you know, the Government will be ordering us to wear seatbelts and forcing us to secure our kids in the backseat of my. Car. What's next, telling us to slowdown in school zones?

Anonymous said...

Rump, have you been reading the Broward blog? A Broward County Courthouse bailiff died last week. They believe it was from Covid. Dozens of people at the REGJB have tested positive. 100,000 people in this country have now tested positive for the Delta variant. Shouldn't we just suspend live hearings for a few more weeks or months until this blows over? It's a matter of life or death.

Anonymous said...

Vaccine, masks and zoom when appropriate is all you need. If it wasn’t for Deathantis forcing businesses to abide unvaccinated and unmasked, the hospitality and cruise industry would have a fighting chance and we would all be better off. I can’t wait till he decides that parents should have the freedom to decide wether kids should go to school wearing nothing but their hand between their legs and businesses forced to seat tuberculosis sufferers among their customers.

Anonymous said...

Stupid is as stupid does...maybe Darwin was on to something...

Anonymous said...

In Israel and Iceland, vaccinations are near ubiquitous. Both countries are experiencing a surge in cases that rivals or outgains the surge they experienced last winter.

There is every reason to be vaccinated; and little to no reason to resist it. But it would be misinformation to ignore a growing body of data that the vaccines' do very little to slow spread, especially 4+ months after the jab.

As the months pass on US vaccinations, it will be increasingly clear that the vaccinated are becoming infected, spreading infections, and getting sick.

Desperate attempts to suppress this reality will only increase the well-deserved institutional distrust so many Americans have.

Steve Gambone said...

The reality is that Apley didn't simply die from Covid, the ventilator KILLED him. It was suspected from the earliest days of the pandemic that the positive air pressure of ventilators was driving exhaled pathogens back into the inflamed lung tissue and nasal passages. Thus maximizing the viral and toxin loading.

That medically known, well demonstrated negative effect of positive air pressure combined with the long known medical prohibition of leaving pneumonia victims on their backs, because that literally drowns the patient in their own fluids. Even the Pilgrims knew that. Which is why their beds were so short that they had to sleep sitting up.

The Covid-19 related pneumonia pandemic that spread across the globe from China was the biggest mass drowning event to hit planet earth since the Noah's Ark incident.

So none of this is over until Apley's family successfully sues the hospital for medical malpractice in Civil Court.

Unknown said...

Let the birthers take the ivermecton. If it tastes nasty, spread it on a Ritz cracker. Just ask Scott, he took it.