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Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer signs Breonnas Law, which bans the use of no-knock warrants in Louisville. The law is named for Breonna Taylor, who was killed by Louisville Metro Police on March 13 after they used a no-knock warrant to enter her apartment.

When Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers teamed with Sen. Gerald Neal, the signal was clear that no-knock warrants were going to be substantially removed from state law, except in rare instances.

Stivers, the six-term Manchester Republican, and Neal, the Louisville Democrat in his 31st year of service, can likely deliver a sound majority. Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer of Georgetown and Sen. John Schickel, a former U.S. marshal from Boone County, also stepped up for the change.

The bipartisan nature of this effort, similar to action taken in Louisville, stands out in a time of extreme polarization in America.

A controversial procedure used by police, the no-knock warrant is now banned in Louisville, under consideration for strict limitation by the state legislature and currently a topic before Congress.

By now, most people who have followed the news know that a no-knock is a warrant issued by a judge and allows police to enter a property without first knocking or ringing a doorbell and use a battering ram on a locked door.

The theory is that alleged criminals might have a moment to destroy evidence in the time it takes police to enter a property once allowed by the owner.

The increase in the use of no-knocks is dramatic. Forty years ago, there were some 1,500 a year nationwide. Eastern Kentucky University criminologist Peter Kraska tabulated 50,000 uses in 2005 alone, according to Wikipedia.

Knock and announce has been the law of the land since Americas inception, dating back to the 1604 Castle Doctrine established in Britainthe idea that ones residence serves as ones castle, a private place. The concept is also embedded in the Fourth Amendment concerning lawful search and seizure.

More recently, stand your ground laws have arisen, permitting property owners to defend their domicile. A recent instance citing this principle is the married couple in St. Louis who were brandishing weapons in the face of protesters who broke the gate into their neighborhood.

No-knock laws originated during the Nixon Administrations War on Drugs and have been the subject of debate ever since. The legendary Sen. Sam Ervin, a vocal opponent of the measure, led committee hearings to assess the implementation. Public findings led to a repeal of the law just a few years later, signed by President Gerald Ford.

However, the 80s saw a resurgence of no-knock warrants. Supreme Court rulings a decade later clarified knock-and-announce exceptions, granting state and local judges significant latitude in their determinations of necessity.

In the wake of the Breonna Taylor case, a ban on the procedure has become a rallying cry, sparking action from Kentucky leaders at every level.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fisher suspended no-knock warrants two weeks ahead of a nationally significant Metro Council decision. The Breonnas Law ordinance, co-sponsored by all 26 members, was live-streamed to an audience outside the city building.

Metro Council President David James led the consideration by the citys local governing body. Jessica Green, chair of the councils Public Safety Committee, said her office received nearly 500 calls about the action in a single day.

Mounting pressure and awareness have prompted other areas, such as Lexington, to strengthen their own local policies. The Lexington law now requires sign-off by Police Chief Lawrence Weathers or an assistant chief, ensuring oversight at the highest levels. Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton followed this by instituting a moratorium on the practice, permitting no-knocks only in life or death situations.

The bipartisan move by the Kentucky Senate elevated metro decisions to a statewide conversation. Meanwhile U.S. Sen. Rand Paul has brought action before Congress with the Justice for Breonna Taylor Actlegislation that prohibits no-knock raids by federal law enforcement or police receiving federal funding.

To add, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell in his role as majority leader teamed with Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina to work on a change to the no-knocks law. U.S. House Democrats have also made no-knocks action a priority in their police reform bill, with the help of Budget Chair and Louisville Congress Member John Yarmuth.

The proposal before the Kentucky General Assembly will be discussed by members over the balance of the year. Although no votes are taken during interim committee meetings, lawmakers meet every month of the off-season to examine key issues ahead of regular legislative sessions.

Breonna Taylors death in Louisville has clearly galvanized leaders into action with prominent Kentuckians out frontMcConnell, Paul, Yarmuth, Stivers, Neal, Fischer, James, Gorton, and numerous others.

Bob Babbage and Julie Babbage are with Babbage Cofounder, a leading government relations firm.

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Changing the No-Knock Law - The Lane Report

WASHINGTON Former Vice President Joe Biden has chosen Sen. Kamala Harris of California to join him on the Democratic ticket, fulfilling his pledge to select a female running mate and making Harris the first Black woman ever to appear on a major party ticket.

His campaign announced the pick Tuesday afternoon through its website.

Biden's selection of Harris, 55, lends racial diversity, gender parity and generational breadth to his campaign. It also represents a strategic decision by the 77-year-old former vice president to keep his ticket firmly within the more moderate wing of the Democratic Party.

"Back when Kamala was Attorney General, she worked closely with Beau," tweeted Biden, referring to his late son, Beau Biden. "I watched as they took on the big banks, lifted up working people, and protected women and kids from abuse. I was proud then, and I'm proud now to have her as my partner in thiscampaign."

The selection came despite a monthslong pressure campaign from leftist factions that wanted Biden to pick a progressive star such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and in the final few weeks of the search, concerted lobbying by prominent Democrats on behalf of Rep. Karen Bass of California and former Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice.

Harris said in her own tweet shortly after Biden's decision, "Joe Biden can unify the American people because he's spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he'll build an America that lives up to our ideals. I'm honored to join him as our party's nominee for Vice President, and do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief."

Former President Barack Obama complimented his vice president's choice. "Joe Biden nailed this decision," Obama said in a statement. "By choosing Senator Kamala Harris as America's next vice president, he's underscored his own judgment and character. Reality shows us that these attributes are not optional in a president. They're requirements of the job. And now Joe has an ideal partner to help him tackle the very real challenges America faces right now and in the years ahead."

Following the announcement, Rice complimented Harris in a statement, calling her "a tenacious and trailblazing leader who will make a great partner on the campaign trail." Bass did the same, saying in a tweet that Harris' "tenacious pursuit of justice and relentless advocacy for the people is what is needed right now."

Harris has a uniquely American biography: Her mother was a widely respected breast cancer researcher who immigrated to the United States from India in the 1960s. Her father, Donald Harris, is an eminent economist who spent much of his career at Stanford University. Also an immigrant, Harris moved to the United States from Jamaica around the time his future wife came from India.

A first-term senator who served as California's attorney general from 2010-16, Harris has drawn on her personal and professional experience to emerge as a leader in the Senate on racial justice issues.

"We've all watched her hold the Trump administration accountable for its corruption, stand up to a Justice Department that's run amok, and be a powerful voice against their extreme nominations,"said Biden in his announcement Tuesday, touting her experience in the Senate.

"She's been a leader on criminal justice and marriage equality. And she has focused like a laser on the racial disparities as a result of the coronavirus," Biden said.

A member of the Judiciary Committee, Harris in 2018 co-sponsored the first-ever bill to make lynching a federal crime. The bill passed the Senate and the House overwhelmingly, but a final version was blocked by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

Harris was also a co-author this spring of Democrats' broader police reform legislation, drafted in response to the national uprising that followed the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man killed by Minneapolis police in May, and the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor, a Black EMT, at her home in Louisville, Kentucky, in March.

Yet Harris, like Biden himself, is considered a moderate Democrat and a pragmatic lawmaker rather than an ideologue. This could complicate incumbent President Donald Trump's effort to portray Biden as a tool of the "radical left."

Already on Tuesday there were signs that the Trump campaign has yet to decide how to attack Harris. In a written response to Biden's announcement, a Trump campaign spokeswoman accused Harris of being both too progressive and not progressive enough, saying Harris attempted to "bury her record as a prosecutor, in order to appease the anti-police extremists" yet also claiming her selection was proof that Biden would pursue "the extreme agenda of the radicals on the left."

In reality, Harris has repeatedly teamed with Republican colleagues to draft legislation during her three years in the Senate.

This includes working on an election security bill with Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., the anti-lynching bill with Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and a workplace harassment prevention bill with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

Harris has even won plaudits from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a staunch Trump ally albeit one whose personal friendship with Biden goes back some 30 years.

Speaking to radio host Hugh Hewitt about Harris in May, Graham said, "I think she's the leading candidate [for Biden's running mate]. I know her. I didn't like what she did in the Kavanaugh [Supreme Court confirmation] hearings by any stretch of the imagination. But she's hard-nosed. She's smart. She's tough."

The announcement comes after a four-month selection process that saw at least a dozen prominent women vetted for the position.

The vice presidential selection committee was headed by former Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, one of Biden's oldest friends. Other members included Biden campaign co-chair Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles; Rep.Lisa Blunt Rochester, who represents Biden's home state of Delaware in the House, and Cynthia Hogan, who served as counsel to Biden in the Senate and later in the Obama administration.

Throughout the process, insiders say, Biden's top priority has always been to select a vice president he can trust, someone with whom Biden can have the same deep personal relationship he had with President Barack Obama during his eight years as vice president.

Biden's strategy for choosing a running mate has evolved over the past few months as his lead over Trump in national polls and battleground states has increased.

During the late winter and spring, when Biden was still locked in a primary battle against Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., many on his campaign team saw the vice presidential pick primarily as a chance for Biden to name a progressive who could help him unite the establishment arm of the Democratic Party with its left flank.

But as Biden's lead over Trump grew in the late spring and summer, progressive Democrats coalesced around him.

By early July, instead of needing a vice presidential candidate who could help galvanize support on the left, Biden's advisors had come to believe he merely needed one who would "do no harm" to his strong standing in the polls.

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Joe Biden picks Sen. Kamala Harris to be his vice presidential running mate, making her the first Black woman on a major ticket - CNBC

Staff Writer| Beaver County Times

Reba Sherrill of Palm Beach wants to represent Florida in Congress.

The Republican candidate for the District 21 seat presently held by Democrat Lois Frankel aid she supports term limits and calls for health care plans to include dental and eye coverage.

Pretty standard campaign stances for Republican candidates. Then, there are Sherrills more atypical beliefs.

Sherrill also believes that pedivores or pedophile cannibals eat babies to get high. And that children as young as six are taught about having sex with animals.

There are so many things that are actually being taught to our children in the school system, I would categorize it as pure evil, she said on a YouTube video. They start educating children in kindergarten about bestiality, anal sex and all these different things that children should not be exposed to.

Whoa, thats out there, yes, but Sherrill is not alone among congressional candidates in some of her more eyebrow-raising beliefs.

Elizabeth Felton, also running for Frankels seat, promotes a debunked conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton ran a child sex-trafficking ring out of a Washington, D.C. pizza parlor.

Two candidates running for the GOP nomination in another Palm Beach County congressional district also espouse seemingly outlandish views. Jessi Melton asserts communists run Broward County and Darlene Swaffar claims the government confiscates children from families who refuse to immunize them.

Meanwhile, four other candidates vying for three other congressional seats across Florida have also advocated wild conspiracy theories. Those include allegations the American Baseball League is being taken over by Marxists and the implication that the C in the Chick-Fil-A logo is a symbol of sexual deviancy.

Political experts say the 2020 election has brought out candidates who are a standard deviation or two toward the margins of the spectrum.

Normally, political parties would do things to suppress their fringes, said political strategist Rick Wilson. Now, they don't have the ability to stop these people from defining themselves as the core of the Republican Party.

In Florida, a common denominator among most of the the conspiracy theorists is they follow Q Anonymous QAnon, or Q, for short.

Among other things, Q adherents posit that a Deep State cabal of pedophiles run by political elites, business leaders and Hollywood celebrities are plotting to take over the world. Qs mission? Enlighten followers in an attempt to prevent that from happening.

Another commonality: They support President Donald Trump, whom many Q followers point to as the one who will lead believers from darkness to light.

To be sure, the Q candidates also make mainstream, conservative arguments.

Protecting unborn babies? Check. Cleaning Floridas waterways? Check. Improving education, halting sex trafficking and fiercely defending second amendment rights? Check, check, check.

However, Q candidates often have other beliefs beliefs that not long ago would only have been whispered in private with like-minded individuals. But no more.

One political analyst said the beliefs are heartfelt.

When they say they believe something, they are not lying, said Joseph Uscinski, Associate Professor of Political Science and specialist in public opinion and mass media at University of Miami. Generally these beliefs are sincere, and this is what they think is true.

Certainly, the QAnon crowd has become more visible and outspoken across Florida over the past few years.

At some of President Trumps rallies, they stand out by wearing t-shirts or holding signs with codes identifying themselves as believers. On the internet, they use symbols like triangles, owls and lightning bolts; and hashtags like #GreatAwakening, #Q, #QAnon, #QAnonTruth, #OutOfTheShadows, #FallCabal and #WWG1WGA Where we go one, we go all.

They have appeared at local government hearings, too. At a June 23 Palm Beach County Commission meeting to discuss mandating face masks, conspiracy theorists were front and center, ranting about the devil, the Deep State, pedophiles and 5G technology.

From political fringe to mainstream

Experts say the proliferation of conspiracy candidates this election cycle is unsurprising, particularly in blue states.

Youve got districts and states that tend to be strongly Democrat or Republican, and you are more likely to see them come up particularly in places that are solidly blue, said Mark Fenster, law professor at the University of Florida. Places where the Republican Party is fairly small, out of power, and very intensely motivated to believe the worst of the other side.

No longer on the political fringe, candidates espousing conspiracy theories have drawn support and raised money.

Case-in-point: Sherrills opponent Laura Loomer, is arguably the highest-profile conspiracy theory candidate in Palm Beach County. Loomer, who denies any association with QAnon, has raised a stunning $1 million, much of it in large donations.

Big donors tend to give money to candidates that they believe are going to win, no matter their views, said John Krosnick, professor of political science at Stanford University. Then they will own them.

Another candidate that has embraced conspiracy theories about communism, Melton, has raised over $156,000, including 22 donations from WinRed, a GOP fundraising platform created by Trump, Jared Kushner and Republican congressional leaders, among others.

Melton has also snagged high-profile endorsements from Kentucky GOP U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and political adviser and Trump insider Roger Stone, who recently had his prison sentence commuted after being convicted of seven felonies. Stone also endorsed Loomer.

Like Loomer, Melton has had her share of troubles with social media. Twitter suspended Melton on several occasions after she posted doctored photos, fake quotes, and medical misinformation.

Down, but far from out, Loomer and Melton found acceptance on Parler an alternative social media site where conspiracy theories run rampant and facts, falsified quotes, doctored videos and misinformation can be shared without fear of censorship.

It is a place where subscribers can learn about how FEMA is planning a mass slaughter of Christians with the use of guillotines. And how Trump saved thousands of kidnapped babies hidden in cages under Central Park and in San Francisco. And how Bill Gates plans to implant microchips in people through the coronavirus vaccine, as well as how those in power plan to confiscate everyones money and turn them into slaves.

While the subject of conspiracy theories runs the gamut from how 5G radiation causes coronavirus to why Dr. Anthony Fauci is behind the Plandemic, child sex trafficking rings seem to be the conspiracy theory of choice among QAnon followers.

These rings are omnipresent, they say, run by Satan-worshiping demons such as Hillary Clinton, the Obamas, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson and Oprah Winfrey. One widely shared video accused online furniture retailer Wayfair of being part of a sex trafficking ring.

In July, TikTok joined Twitter in blocking Q-related hashtags and banning thousands of accounts after reports of Q members stalking other subscribers and not adhering to posted guidelines. Days later, Trump threatened to shut TikTok down.

Bipartisan conspiracy politics

Pam Wohlschlegel, committee member of the Republican Executive Committee of Palm Beach County, said the focus on conspiracy theorists in this years primary elections is overplayed. She doubts they will get much traction at the ballot box.

I would think that most people won't support it, Wohlschlegel said.

Either way, Wohlschlegel said, the Republican Party, like the Democratic Party, does not prohibit anyone from running on its ticket and is not responsible for what individual candidates espouse. Its up to the voters to decide.

Make intelligent decisions when you vote, she recommended. The only way to do that is to study the candidates and take every advantage you can to meet them in person.

Wilson, a member of the Lincoln Project that opposes Trump, said the damage to the GOPs brand will be long-lasting.

Its going to make the Republican Party much less sellable as an entity in suburbs among educated voters and those who are not mentally amenable to the absurdity it represents, he said.

Political affiliation does not dictate ones propensity for believing conspiracy theories, said Uscinski, who has written three books on the subject.

It's not based on left-right politics, he said. Its an absolute rejection of left-right politics. QAnon wants to kill the Clintons and Obamas, but they also want to kill the Bushes, Mike Pence, Oprah, Tom Hanks.

He also points out that, in the current election cycle, the right has not been the only side to fall victim to conspiracy theories.

He ran against his own party and said everything is corrupt, Uscinski said of former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. He just sticks with one conspiracy that the 1% control everything. But because Democrats dont have their own version of QAnon, you dont really hear about it that much.

But on a path paved by the highest-ranking government official in the nation, every QAnon candidate in Florida is running on a Republican ticket, save for one Independent. Trump opened the door, Uscinski said, and believers walked through it.

Trump ran as a Republican, but he didnt run as a traditional Republican or a conservative, he said. He ran as his own thing, which was against the establishment at large.

QAnon in a nutshell

QAnon is an unorganized faction bound by shared beliefs. Its roots trace back to 18th century Germany, but it did not garner mainstream media attention in the U.S. until the summer of 2018, when QAnon supporters wore distinguishing T-shirts to a Trump rally in Tampa.

There is no identified leader of QAnon, but some followers believe it to be a government insider with access to secret intelligence information. The leader then disseminates to QAnon followers the truth that the cabal the secret political operatives who run the country behind the scenes is attempting to hide.

QAnon writings tend to refer to people who should be feared in general terms by referring to them vaguely as they, the bad people, or the Illuminati powerful players like Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Beyonc and Jay-Z who are hell-bent on world domination, they say.

Those who have been redpilled are the enlightened ones. Those bluepilled are ignorant deniers of truth who choose darkness over light, ignorance over actuality.

Conspiracy theory culture can take hold, Krosnick said, when people have trouble accepting that a traumatic event can be caused by a lone individual or happenstance.

You can understand why someone at home would wonder or say, This doesnt pass the smell test of plausibility, he said. You cant deny JFK was assassinated, but the explanation for many people doesn't feel right.

In the past two decades, the rise of social media, combined with the proliferation of broadcasting, has helped propel conspiracy theorists out of the shadows. It was then cultivated by a president who has propagated doubt in mainstream media and government institutions, Krosnick said.

The president shows up and says all the news you used to trust is now fake, he said. The countrys ability to be confident that we have trusted sources to go to to know the truth has disintegrated.

So, in the perceived absence of reliable news sources, people gravitate to conspiracy theories to answer their questions, alternative facts to calm their fears.

With a president that has promoted skepticism and is telling the public false information that is then widely discredited, now peoples imaginations are free to roam wherever they want to, Krosnick said.

While Trump and the Republicans do not hold a monopoly on conspiracy theories, those espousing the lion's share of those beliefs this election cycle are almost exclusively Republicans, said Fenster.

Typically, he said, conspiracy theories flow at a faster rate from whichever political party is out of power at the time. That is why widespread conspiracy theories on the right are so unusual this election cycle.

What is different about today is that we have someone who broadcasts conspiracy theories who is in the White House, Fenster said. It is now more on the right than on the left. And the alt-right community is defined by a conspiratorial view of how the world works.

Trump has become a master at using conspiracy theories to deflect attention away from issues on which he does not want the public to focus, Fenster said. During a recent week of polling that showed the president losing support nationwide, Trump reached for a doozy that reportedly shocked even his inner circle.

Like the delay the election tweet, Fenster said of Trump's July 31 tweet suggesting the general election be postponed due to unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud. Or really bad economic or COVID news. It distracts from that and will change the conversation once again.

So, when a president pushes conspiracy theories and convinces the public that facts are not facts and the mainstream media cannot be trusted, what is a skeptic to believe? Enter the QAnon phenomenon.

Well see if it's on the fringes or not, Fenster said. This could be a coming out party within Republican Party for QAnon believers, depending upon how they do in the elections.

Establishment GOP support?

Whether establishment Republicans show up to vote for QAnon candidates remains to be seen, said political analyst Trimmel Gomes. So far, national and state parties have said little, if anything, to denounce QAnon candidates.

You may have traditional Republicans who may be concerned [about QAnon ideology], but theyve already been drowned out by everything else that's sort of invaded the party, Gomes said. You are seeing the party just unfurl even further. Its getting so far right that anything goes. And now, QAnon has just latched on and become a melting pot for all the crazies.

Krosnick said that while it may appear the QAnon phenomenon is spreading like wildfire, research shows that is not the case. Social media followers can be artificially inflated and posts of support for conspiracy theories, or anything else for that matter, can be perpetuated by bots.

Uscinski, who has for years conducted regular polling in Florida about conspiracy theories, agrees that the number of QAnon followers is not exploding.

We put it in a feeling thermometer that goes from 0-100, he said of a June 23 poll in Florida. Q came out a few points better than Fidel Castro. And Florida hates Castro.

Still, some experts are concerned.

I worry deeply about how we're going to get out of this mess, Krosnick said. I dont see a pathway forward to help people regain trust in facts. Its going to take a really extraordinary set of leaders in the country to bring us back under control.

Gomes agreed.

This phenomenon, unfortunately, has picked up legs, he said. The test will be the upcoming election. Its worrying that people are losing grips on facts and questioning facts ...They don't trust the media, so you cant go back to them with rational arguments. And I don't know what the solution is to stop it.

Wendy Rhodes is a reporter at the Palm Beach Post. She can be reached at @WendyRhodesFL or wrhodes@pbpost.com.

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Election 2020: Conspiracy theory candidates become mainstream by politicizing fear - The Times

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 30: U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) poses a question to witnesses at a hearing of ... [+] the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on June 30, 2020 in Washington, DC. The committee is examining efforts to contain the Covid-19 pandemic while putting people back to work and kids back in school. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images)

The Internet is having a bit of fun with Rand Pauls claim during a Tuesday Senate committee hearing that We shouldnt presume that a group of experts somehow knows whats best (heres Tommy Beer with more). After all, theyre the experts. Shouldnt we get out of the way and do as the experts tell us?

No. Rand Paul is right.

Friedrich Hayek was famously skeptical of experts because they have a tendency to stretch beyond their expertise and make claims, recommendations, or policies that are beyond the narrow confines of their expertise. They also tend to collapse social problems into frameworks and models that seem easy to manipulate but that leave out a lot of important on-the-ground knowledge that, Hayek argued, is of a kind that is inaccessible to an outside observer. In short, it is easy to mistake a model for the actual underlying reality. It is just as easy to identify important considerations and act as if they are the only

In a 2014 book, William Easterly highlighted and criticized The Tyranny of Experts (I reviewed it for Regulation here). His subtitle is revealing and relevant to the present moment: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor. Experts can identify facts and make recommendations, certainly, but theyre not well-positioned to know the specific trade-offs and decisions people should make in light of what they know.

Probably the best illustration of this that I've seen is not a dense academic treatise but the February 6, 2013 installment of the webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. A gentleman in a coat and tie stands in front of a tank of fluid in which someone is floating like Luke Skywalker in the bacta tank in The Empire Strikes Back. He says Weve encased everyone in a vat of gelatin, with nutrition fed directly into their mouths. Once a day, the gelatin is electrically excited so as to stimulate their bodies to aerobic exercise! They all live to at least 150.

The cartoons caption says fortunately, public health advocates have no legislative power.

Thats the important point relevant to Rand Pauls statement on Tuesday. In the cartoon, the experts have created and are enthusiastic about a technology that will lead to long lives. However, I think most of us would agree that floating in a tank of gelatineven if youre hooked up to Robert Nozicks experience machineisnt really living.

Paul makes the important point that a bit of humility is in order. An expert is very well-positioned to say if you do these things, then you can expect the following effects with the following probabilities. Only in the most extraordinary of circumstancesand even then, I'm still extremely skepticalshould they presume to tell others exactly which choices they should make.

On this, I think this passage from Adam Smiths Wealth of Nations is relevant. Ill let him have the last word:

The statesman who should attempt to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals would not only load himself with a most unnecessary attention, but assume an authority which could safely be trusted, not only to no single person, but to no council or senate whatever, and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it.

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Rand Paul Is Right About Experts - Forbes

A Senate hearing over the nations coronavirus response got pretty heated on Tuesday, with Sen. Rand Paul questioning whether the countrys top infectious disease experts have been doing more harm than good during the pandemic.

It is a fatal conceit to believe any one person or small group of people has the knowledge necessary to direct an economy or dictate public health behavior, the Republican and libertarian from Kentucky said during the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing. We shouldnt presume that a group of experts somehow knows whats best for everyone.

His argument was that health experts and government planners are weighing in on subjects and expressing opinions that affect everyday public life before getting all of their facts straight. Its important to realize that if society meekly submits to an expert and that expert is wrong, a great deal of harm may occur when we allow one mans policy or one group of small men and women to be foisted on an entire nation, he said.

And Paul, who tested positive for the coronavirus in March, when he drew flak for not quarantining while he was awaiting his test results, directed some of his sharpest rebukes toward Anthony Fauci on Tuesday.

Dr. Fauci, every day, virtually every day, we seem to hear from you things we cant do, he said. But when youre asked, Can we go back to school? I dont hear much certitude at all. Well, maybe. It depends.

All I hear, Dr. Fauci, is, We cant do this, we cant do that. We cant play baseball. Well, even thats not based on the science.

We just need more optimism, Paul said.

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, responded by noting he agrees with a lot of what Paul said, particularly with regards to people sharing opinions not backed by scientific data.

He also said that we need to do whatever we can to get the children back in school. But, Fauci continued, Sometimes you have to make extrapolations because youre in a position where you need to give some sort of recommendation.

And he noted that his recommendations are often interpreted in ways that he did not intend.

The only thing that I can do is, to the best of my ability, give you the facts.

I never said we cant play a certain sport, he said. (Although it should be noted that he did recently warn that football may not happen this year on CNN.) I agree with you. I am completely unqualified to tell you whether you can play a sport or not, he continued. The only thing that I can do is, to the best of my ability, give you the facts and the evidence associated with what I know about this outbreak. Thank you.

Watch some of that exchange here

The back-and-forth had Pauls name trending on Twitter TWTR, +3.42% on Tuesday afternoon, as the debate illustrated the split opinions Americans have had to the widespread closures and social distancing guidelines across the country since the pandemic began. And that drew plenty of heated reactions online.

More than 2.5 million Americans have been infected with COVID-19, and 129,545 and counting have died as of Tuesday afternoon. And as cases continue to climb across many parts of the country, Fauci also warned on Tuesday that the number of confirmed coronavirus infections could go up to 100,000 a day.

Related:Fauci makes dire warning for America in the ongoing fight against coronavirus

Read more of MarketWatchs coronavirus coverage here.

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WATCH: Rand Paul boils Dr. Faucis coronavirus response down to we cant do this, we cant do that - MarketWatch