Welcome into Outkick the Show. I am your fearless leader, Clay Travis. And I hope all of you are having fantastic Thursdays, wherever you may be across this great country or this great land. This will be my last outkick the show of the week because as soon as I finish this and click publish on the outkick Friday mailbag. I am hopping a flight to Las Vegas.

I will be out there for Thursday Friday Saturday nights before coming back to Nashville. Then I am going to New York City where they are just about to impose a new mask.

I want to start off today's show before we dive into the Big 12 versus the SEC and more. With this statement that just came out from the White House, the White House in a press briefing today said they wouldn't rule out new lockdowns and also school closures.

And look for those of us out there who paid attention to Joe Biden's campaign at all. You know that the entire Biden campaign was predicated on COVID fear porn.

That was it. That was all he ran on. He had virtually nothing else. Just COVID fear porn all day long every day.

Joe Biden is Jimmy Carter 2.0. He can't get anything done. The border is a mess. The murder rate has skyrocketed more than at any point in any of our lives.

Inflation is spiraling out of control. Joe Biden's only answer is for a massive tax increase and more federal spending, which will actually make inflation worse.

He has reinstituted the mask mandate after telling us in May that anyone who was vaccinated would not have to wear a mask any longer.

And now he's letting it be known that he is going to be prepared to reinstitute lockdowns across this country and also shut down schools again.

This is what was coming if any of you paid attention to his campaign. He doesn't follow science. He follows fear porn. Masks don't help.

At miniscule levels, maybe, but they really don't help. We have over a year and a half of data to compare states that had stringent mask requirements with states that did not lock down.

Don't work. Look at California and compare it to Texas and Florida. Compare Texas and Florida to New York and California.

I oftentimes just want to pull my hair out because the COVID fear porn is so overwhelming. No one ever asks questions or stands up and says, no. Nancy Pelosi now has reinstituted a mask mandate in the House of Representatives.

And if you are seen in the House of Representatives without wearing a mask, it is a $500 fine. Virtually everyone in the House of Representatives is vaccinated.

If the vaccines work, why are masks necessary? When you get the chickenpox vaccine, you don't wear a mask for the next several months.

When you get the measles, the mumps or the rebel of vaccine, you don't walk around in a mask for months either.

It doesn't make logical scientific sense. There's no basis for it at all. This is all COVID fear porn madness.

And reasonable people. I don't care if you're a Democrat. I don't care if you're a Republican. I don't care if you're an independent. I don't care if you have zero interest whatsoever in any political angle.

Have to stand up and say, kids are going to school. If your kid wants to wear a mask, your kid can. Mine are not wearing masks. My kids are in public school.

Schools need to all be open. Nobody needs to be wearing a mask. Every business needs to be open. We should never try to distinguish between an essential and an non-essential business ever again for as long as we live.

The lockdowns were a failure. The school closures were a failure. Masks are a failure. The virus is here for the rest of our lives. That's the truth.

You can either recognize it, deal with it, and move on with your life. Or you can stay curled up in the fetal position in your basement, triple mask, triple shielded. Never able to live your life.

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