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Power is what the COVID-19 government panic is really about

While common sense, caution, and the human ability to adapt to fluctuating circumstances requires our society to react to the COVID-19 epidemic spreading across the globe, our additional ability to think coolly and rationally requires us to not allow our emotions to run wildly and out-of-control, taking actions that might feel good for a moment but do no good and maybe more harm in the long run.

It also requires to look closely at the actions of our lawmakers, whose motives are now commonly not driven by an interest in the country but by their own interests and an insatiable desire for power. Two stories this past weekend were quite revealing in this context.

First we have the incredible request by the Justice Department for new special powers so that it can supposedly react to the epidemic properly.

The Justice Department has quietly asked Congress for the ability to ask chief judges to detain people indefinitely without trial during emergencies — part of a push for new powers that comes as the coronavirus spreads through the United States.

…There are more requests on the list, including the ability for the chief judge of any district court to “pause court proceedings” when the court is impacted by civil disobedience or other emergency situations. Such a “pause” could be put into effect for pre-arrest, post-arrest, pre-trial, trial, and post-trial procedures. In other words, this would effectively throw habeas corpus out the window for the duration of the pandemic. You could, in theory at least, be arrested and tossed in a cell and left there indefinitely without getting the chance to appear before a judge and ask to be released, have bail set or anything else.

Remember, this is essentially the same Justice Department that for the past three years has worked hard to misuse the FISA court in an effort to overthrow the legal election of a president they don’t like, even as they abused their power to put several people in prison and ruin the lives of others for relatively minor process crimes that would not have even existed without their fake investigation.

You think they won’t misuse these new powers, should Congress give such to them? And in what way do any of these totalitarian and unconstitutional powers contribute in any way to overcoming COVID-19?

Next we have the $2 trillion stimulus bill that Congress failed to pass this weekend. It failed because the Democrats insisted on adding a list of additional items that had nothing to do with the dealing with the epidemic.

According to a source close to the process on Capitol Hill, in order to move forward with any kind of relief package, Pelosi and her far-left Democrat caucus will demand the following be included:

  • Publication of corporate pay statistics by race and race statistics for all corporate boards
  • A bail out on all current debt at the Postal Service
  • Required early voting
  • Required same day voter registration
  • Provisions on official time for union collective bargaining
  • Full offset of airline emissions by 2025
  • Publication and reporting of greenhouse gas statistics for individual flights
  • Retirement plans for community newspaper employees
  • Federal $15 minimum wage
  • Permanent paid leave

The provisions will apply to the companies and business rescued by bill.

These demands by the Democrats would further cement their political hold and social control over society, while doing nothing to control the virus’s spread or help the economy being badly damaged by the government’s unfocused and uncontrolled response to it.

Nor are the Republicans in Congress innocent. Remember, their so-called stimulus bill is estimated to cost the government $2 trillion, and would have included handing every taxpayer a big check, what I consider a pay-off in the hope it would get them to vote Republican in the next election. Meanwhile, the package would put the already bankrupt federal government further in debt, and provide relatively little aid where it is needed.

Unlike many conservatives who have been condemning the Democrats for torpedoing the stimulus package with their additional demands, I celebrate them! Their action prevented the bill from passing. From what I could tell, it would have done more harm than good. Better off without it.

Sadly, I still expect some out-of-control stimulus package to pass Congress and be signed by Trump. It will contain many irrelevant provisions that will strengthen government power, for both the left and the right, and will do little to solve the economic crash caused because of the imposition martial law in numerous states in an overreaction to an epidemic that so far appears much less worrisome than the annual flu that has occurred every single winter for centuries.

Moreover, though it initially has been Democratic governors in blue states like California, New York, and Washington who have begun these lockdowns, Trump has backed them up by activating the National Guard to enforce their martial law. Though his administration has made it clear it has no intention of imposing a national lockdown as some liberal news outlets have falsely implied, it must also be noted that he cannot legally do it anyway. To do it, he first needs the governors to do what these liberal governors have done in these states. He then can activate the National Guard and a state of emergency, and lo and below, we have martial law.

And more states are joining in, in Michigan, in Maryland, in Pennsylvania, to name just a handful. Give it time, and soon the bulk of the country will be under martial law.

Even more appalling, as far as I can tell, this imposition of martial rule appears permanent. No criteria has been set forth for ending it. Plus, consider how minor so far the deaths and infections have been from COVID-19 (about 500 killed so far in the U.S.) compared with the flu. In 2017-2018, the U.S. experienced its worst flu epidemic in decades, with an estimated 80,000 Americans dying. Yet the idea of imposing some sort of martial law never even came up.

Can you imagine removing these restrictions next year, when the flu returns (as it always does) and causes even half those deaths? And if the lockdowns have been removed this summer because the Wuhan virus has subsided, I will not be surprised if they are re-imposed next fall, due to the annual much more serious flu season. A precedent will have been set, a precedent that every single one of our power-hungry and very corrupt politicians will wish to use, as often as possible.

Fortunately, we do have an election coming in November. If these thugs in power continue their effort to make themselves our dictators, we will have a chance to tell them otherwise.

The big question however is: Will we? I wish I knew.

Meanwhile, what should our government really be doing? Rather than giving cash to every citizen and shutting down businesses willy-nilly across the nation and causing an economic crash equivalent to the 1930s depression, our local and national politicians should be focusing their efforts in simply helping the medical community handle the disease, where they find it. More medicine, more testing, more treatment facilities all make sense, but remember again, the numbers for the Wuhan virus are still less than that of the flu, an annual epidemic that the medical community has been able to handle for decades.

If we remain calm and address the problem directly, without panic, we will find that COVID-19 is not the terrifying bogey-man that politicians and classless media people have called it. It is a problem, but not a world-ending one.

Our common sense, caution, and human ability to adapt to fluctuating circumstances can easily handle this situation. We simply have to think coolly and rationally, and not allow our emotions to run wildly and out-of-control.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

44 comments

  • Cotour

    You want to take FISA and the Patriot act away? Not renew it?

    Now lets up the anti with the Corona contagion?

    Bill Gates on the power of viruses: https://youtu.be/as9JRKed7Cs 3 min.

  • MDN

    In California the governor has mandated that all gun shops be closed as non-essential as part of the lock down. Not sure how they have the authority to shut down any business except perhaps a restaurant with a dirty kitchen which doesn’t meet EXISTING health codes. No doubt the gun store effort is because they have seen sales surging and they just can’t have that.

    While I share concerns about the virus Bob is right, statistically so far it is a blip and being used to curtail civil and constitutional liberties akin to the internment of the Japanese Americans in WWII. Scary stuff.

  • Cotour

    A lot of “flexibility” comes along with a declared national emergency.

  • commodude

    Never let a crisis go to waste.

  • Cotour

    “Never let a crisis go to waste” as said by Rahm Emanuel, was first said in a different way by Saul Alinsky. He wrote in his Rules for Radicals, “in the arena of action a threat or a crisis becomes almost a precondition to communication”

    “Rahm cut his baby teeth on this stuff. The Alinsky, Chomsky Marxist agenda is behind all this nonsense at the DNC.”

    Whether a function of nature or nurture our situation at present presents an opportunity for advancement of agenda.

  • Cotour

    While we are on the subject, lets review:

    Throw some S.O.M. into the mix and we have a real party on our hands.

    RULE 1: “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.” Power is derived from 2 main sources – money and people. “Have-Nots” must build power from flesh and blood.

    RULE 2: “Never go outside the expertise of your people.” It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone.

    RULE 3: “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty.

    RULE 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.

    RULE 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.

    RULE 6: “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.” They’ll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They’re doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones.

    RULE 7: “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.” Don’t become old news.

    RULE 8: “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new.

    RULE 9: “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.” Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist.

    RULE 10: “If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.” Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog.

    RULE 11: “The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.” Never let the enemy score points because you’re caught without a solution to the problem.

    RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.

  • m d mill

    I mostly agree with RZ’s comments about the current misguided response…see below

    https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/the-real-facts-about-covid-19-show-the-panic-about-it-is-absurd/#comment-1077850
    The flattening of the elderly infection curve is mostly controlled by (and CAN be controlled by) the response of the elderly themselves…although regional travel bans between highly infection areas can also be very effective WITHOUT shutting down all local economic and social activity to disastrous effect.

    However I stronly disagree with the premise often stated here recently that this RESPONSE is “REALLY ABOUT” a kind of “Soros” style leftist conspiracy to implement a permanent political agenda. That is extremest absurdity. This is simply the usual response of politicians of the political left and right, fearful of the usual shallow public demand that the government be responsible for their well being during all “black swan” events, and that they (the politicians and health officials) will be held accountable. Therefore they must do something that looks active, virtuous and all caring, else be decried! Remember the old saying “Do SOMETHING, even if it’s wrong”. Then indeed, in the rush to act, both the political left and right can be expected to react in ways that are in keeping with their dogma or their special interests, as we have seen all to well.

  • John

    That bill is reprehensible. Absolutely shameful. What the hell is wrong with them.

  • Robin Fox

    Here in NJ, our governor has effectively shut down all gun shops in the name of covid-19. In every other state, the NICS check for purchasing a firearm is done at the point of sale, and is done directly to the FBI. In NJ, the NICS checks are done through the State Police and Governor Murphy has decided that the State Police have better things to do than help the citizens of NJ to defend themselves. Once again, it is a liberal politician who has decided to take advantage of a crisis to expand power over the people he swore to protect.

  • Cotour

    Soros, and the people like him (The Democrat Leadership) will take advantage where ever they can and when ever they can. Are you aware of what Nancy Pelosi and Schumer are up to related to this disaster package? Lots and lots of demands for the installing of some very Socialist and unrelated “programs” not at all related to this now conveniently extreme situation.

    Who supports their efforts with his billions? You have one guess.

    What exactly do you think they are up to?

    George Soros is a self proclaimed and admitted Globalist and intends to install it in the world, and by his own words he wants to make certain “adjustments” to the Constitution to “fix” it. His words not mine. What do you think the effect of his billions being focused on his goal is?

    Whether what is underway at the moment related to this virus is either a function of nature, or as a function of biological manipulation and a dark operation to push the world into an economic hole, and then be there to “help” rebuild and reformulate it remains to be seen. Something that the public can never really nail down.

    But the result either way has the potential to fulfill these anti and un American agendas.

    And just doing something for the sake of doing something is not acceptable to me, its a childish and bad plan any way you look at it. And Trump needs to stand strong and reveal Pelosi and Schumer for what they are and force them, strong arm THEM to pass what he deems necessary.

    Yeah, Soros is a benevolent Yoda like grad pa figure. Nothing to see here.

  • wayne

    Paper Moon (1973)
    Car Scene
    https://youtu.be/IEQc-wtHAlw
    2:11

  • Cotour

    There is a political three dimensional chess game on going, and a massive segment of the public only plays two dimensional political chess.

    Understandable, but not good.

  • Cotour

    A little two dimensional story to maybe make a point:

    The other day a buddy of mine came to me in the midst of this chaos and employment disruption and asked for a small loan. He is not a young man but was caught flat footed by this situation and is bereft of cash and cash flow at the moment. One of many stories.

    He is a bike rider, loves his very expensive carbon fiber bikes and he loves to ride, it relaxes and keeps him sane. But he rides without a helmet.

    When he was leaving and mounting his bike he told me that he intended take a 20 or so mile ride to pick up some prescriptions. I said “Hey, where’s your helmet?”.

    He replied “You know I never where a helmet, that’s not how Im going to die”.

    And I told him “Hey wait a minute, I have an interest here, Im an investor now, you need to wear a helmet”. And he smiled as he rode away.

    And that is what Nancy, Chuck and the likes of a Soros are up to, only they will insist on that helmet, and a whole lot more.

    Ask yourself: What would these players NOT do to make everyone wear that helmet? And once its wearing the helmet then it will be something else, and then something else. Why? Because now they own you, your indebted to them and you can never pay them back. Kind of like the Mob, but worse.

    And when I say anything, I mean ANYTHING. Things that are not even in your wildest and most perverted two dimensional imaginings.

  • Andi

    Unfortunately, from my observations, that massive segment of the population barely knows how to play “Go Fish”, let alone chess.

  • commodude

    There’s no game going on, nothing at all…..

    Which is why the house version at the moment contains most of the “new green deal” as riders.

    It’s a permanent power grab by big brother. Never let a crisis go to waste…..they’d never get it passed any other way.

  • Andrew_W

    A reporter from the BBC was on the TV interviewing a Med Prof from the University of Taipei a few hours ago. It sounds like Taiwan has got the minimal economic impact policies Mr. Zimmerman advocates for, and the interviewer was very praising of the results – so I had a look a Taiwan’s graph, expecting a downward curve – but the results they’ve gotten over the last 10 days don’t look quite so good on paper.

  • Cotour

    STAY CALM, AND CARRY ON

    Wash your hands, stop picking your nose and scratching your eyes, and stay away from people as best you can, especially if they are older or are sick.

    https://dailycaller.com/2020/03/24/anthony-fauci-donald-trump-social-distancing-economy/

    And if the cure is worse than the disease then why not just jump off a bridge and solve all of the worlds problems?

  • wayne

    commodude–

    Good, stuff.
    The key phrase is “permanent power grab.”

    House version from Pelosi is 1,119 pages long, once again they will have to pass it, before we find out what is in it.
    The democrat party wants to erase the last 3 years, and complete obamas destruction of our society as we knew it.

    Hitler The Rise of Evil
    (one of the) relevant clips
    https://youtu.be/B7Odc_rtn68?t=5965
    (about 3 minutes)

  • wayne

    “The Economics of Fractional Reserve Banking”
    Joseph T. Salerno
    Mises University 2013
    https://youtu.be/33RXhv0IuPc
    59:02

  • Andrew, (not Andrew_W) lol maybe I should just call myself Marty.

    Yes, and?

    Look folks a liberal once famously said, “No good crisis should go to waste”.

    Here is the BIG REVEAL:
    Look at every single crisis that has come down the road since the 1968 Gun Control Act. Every Single Crisis.

    The solution pushed for folks. ALWAYS, EVERY TIME IS THE IMMEDIATE CURTAILMENT OR RESTRICTION OF INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY IN THE NAME OF “THE GREATER GAWDDAMNED GOOD”!

    It is always the same. It is always about consolidating and concentrating power with the hands of the ELITES in Washington. And I am not talking about the elected ones either. I am talking about the career Civil Service … creatures… who will find any excuse whatsoever to see an increase in their budgets from year to year, an increase in the personnel under their “rule”, and the subsequent increase in their personal power. These people ARE The Deep State! They are the ones that RUN OUR DAY TO DAY LIVES WITH OVERWHELMING LEVELS regulation.

    So my response to the headline is, “Yes And? You mean to tell me you are only NOW seeing this? WAKE UP!”

  • Andrew wrote, “You mean to tell me you are only NOW seeing this? WAKE UP!”

    If you are attacking me for writing this essay instead of thirty years ago than your attack is very badly misplaced. I have been writing about this for the past thirty years.

  • Cotour

    Covid 19 death toll so far, 500?

    Flu deaths in 2018? 80,000!

    https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/26/health/flu-deaths-2017–2018-cdc-bn/index.html

    And we shut down the country for this particular event, and it just happens to be in an election year where a republican is on target to win? But this is a different kind of virus.

    What a “coincidence” ?

  • Andrew_W

    You’re out of date Cotour, deaths is now 655, it’s quadrupling every week, so do nothing:
    Today: 650
    1 week: 2,600
    2 weeks: 10,400
    3 weeks: 41,600
    4 weeks: 166,400
    5 weeks: 665,600

    With plenty more weeks in the year.

  • Cotour

    Is someone “doing nothing”?

    Using your logic we will all be dead in just a few weeks then (?).

  • Andrew_W

    Lots of people are “doing nothing” to reduce transmission.

    “Using your logic we will all be dead in just a few weeks then (?).”
    Your
    “Covid 19 death toll so far, 500?

    Flu deaths in 2018? 80,000!”

    Is the usual start to the narrative that Covid-19 is harmless compared to the flu 500 vs 80,000!!!

    Just pointing out it’s a stupid narrative.

  • Cotour

    1. Where I am, in NYC, EVERYONE is aware of the situation and EVERYONE is taking the proscribed measures to lessen the viruses potential, including me. I am dealing with the public everyday.

    2. You proposed that in 5 weeks there would be 655,600 people dead in America. Do you want to stand by your projections? At what week does the entire population of America no longer draw breath?

    3. There were at the time 500 dead in America and the total dead from the flu in all of 2018 was 80,000.

    4. No one said this virus was harmless.

    And let me point out, I do not find anyone here stupid, so please don’t use that word, it inappropriate and ignorant.

  • Edward

    In another thread, sippin_bourbon asked: “Does anyone really believe the numbers coming out of China?

    I don’t believe most of the numbers coming out of any country. The number of deaths is likely fairly accurate, but the other numbers are dependent upon the people who are tested, and that generally is not very many people. A bias comes when they choose to test mostly those who show symptoms, but it largely misses those who have a much milder reaction to the virus. For the most part, those who are tested already show signs of trouble, so a reported high death rate is expected, but the reported death rate is incorrect. Because we have no knowledge of how many others have been infected, the actual death rate is unknown and unreported. We are arguing using biased numbers.

    This is the problem with most of the arguments presented here. The numbers are misleading, and the statistics used are bogus.

    Something is not right about this whole situation. For a disease that is supposed to be so very contagious, there is a small number of people who contracted it in the past three months that it has been in the U.S. and around the world. If the virus or the disease were as contagious as the experts had told us, then a majority in my county would have been infected by the time of the shelter-in-place order. Instead, there are fewer people sick than we get with other viruses, but we are now in the fifth month of this outbreak, and the third month in my county. For such a small number of people who have it, our hospitals are running low on basic supplies that they should have plenty in stock. We are undergoing an overabundance of caution on a disease that hasn’t demonstrated that it is a problem. that warrants this much reaction.

    I am seriously skeptical of the danger of this virus. The best that I can say of the government reaction is that they are trying to keep the hospitals from being overwhelmed by a surge of patients, but so far the hospitals have had very few patients relative to the regular flue seasons, yet they are already running out of standard equipment. Something seems very suspicious.

    I concluded in another thread that there is a limit to the value of a life, and the loss of our economy is not worth that life. How many lives are we willing to lose in order for the rest of us to have an economy to live in? In years past, we have allowed tens of thousands — or even millions — to lose their lives to diseases and accidents, but we have also used the power of our economy to find ways to reduce those losses in future years.

    In this hyped crisis, we have kept open “vital” services, which means that there is a limit to how much we will shut down in order to save one life. This year, we are learning the value of our economy and how necessary it is in order for us to continue to save future lives. In the meantime, the government is directing our lives in a tyrannical way, and making up for it by turning us into wards of the state by paying us off with money that they will tax back from us at a later date.

    What would we do in order to save a single life? Would we let a family business go bankrupt, where the family and their (former) employees now have no income, and the family has to lose their home, because it was the collateral that they put up in order to start their business? If your answer is yes, then how many of these families, their employees, and their banks should likewise suffer in order to save that one life?

    In the 20th century, we lost tens of thousands of lives in order for us to develop safe air travel. It was worth that price, because the tradeoff of lives for advancing civilized society is the deal.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXbdJ3kyVyU (7 minutes, Bill Whittle: “The Deal”)

    The treatment (mandatory shelter in place) and the resulting destruction of our economy is worse than the disease. The panic is greater than either the illness or mortality numbers that we see relative to other flues, and this one hasn’t proved to be as bad in any place that it has struck. We didn’t even do this with ebola, and that was far, far worse. The destruction of the economy is definitely unwarranted.

    What is the price we are now paying for each life saved? One measure is to take the loss in our economy and divide by the lives saved. Another would take into account the loss of our freedoms during the shelter-in-place/lockdown. Let’s not forget about the “stimulus” package that will cost more than a trillion dollars without adding any productivity from furloughed or fired workers. Add in the lost businesses and their associated jobs, closed schools and other facilities, and the lost ability to use economic power to save future lives.

    For the first measure, we can make some assumptions in order to put in some numbers. It seems that this is no worse than a regular virus, except for the hype that caused the panic, so I am willing to assume we are saving up to 60,000 lives. A 15-day shutdown is 4% of a year, making the loss in the economy around $800 billion. So we lose, in our immediate economy, around $13 million per life saved. The proposed stimulus is half again as large, so the total cost that we can calculate, today, exceeds $20 million per life saved.

    When asked whether the government should get equity positions in any companies that accept bailout money, the president said yes. It looks like this is an elaborate attempt to justify nationalizing all U.S. business — companies that don’t nationalize may have to go out of business. Government hypes up a crisis, doesn’t let it go to waste, and then “solves” the crisis in order to put in place more government control over our lives.

  • Andrew_W

    “Where I am, in NYC, EVERYONE is aware of the situation and EVERYONE is taking the proscribed measures to lessen the viruses potential, including me.”
    That’s not surprising give that New York has more cases/million people than Italy, don’t be too sure that the same motivation exists yet in the rest of America, like NY they’ll likely miss the chance to stop it before drastic measures are needed to slow its spread.

    “You proposed that in 5 weeks there would be 655,600 people dead in America.”
    I qualified that, I did so for a reason, please don’t twist my words.

    No one said this virus was harmless.
    I qualified that, I did so for a reason, please don’t twist my words.

    “And let me point out, I do not find anyone here stupid, so please don’t use that word, it inappropriate and ignorant.”
    I’ve not said anyone here is stupid, please don’t twist my words.

  • wayne

    Edward–
    (hope all is well with you in the peoples republic of California)
    Q– How much is your boutique gasoline in Cali? I topped off my tank at $1.529 the gallon this am. (our gas comes via pipeline from the Whiting, Indiana BP refinery, outside of Chicago. Were awash in fracked-sourced oil.)

    a repeat from me, but highly enlightening.
    If you have some extra time, check it out. Extremely valuable tidbits & factoids as to what the British encountered starting the national health service, and the immediate aftermath thereof.
    –It just reinforces to me, what a truly ‘alien’ mind-set was in place at the time. (I like the British, but there’s a GOOD reason we had a revolution against them and went our own way, what we like to call “The American Way,” and it never included dropping cash from helicopters, ordering car manufacturers to mass produce ventilators, or paying people to sit idle.)
    –this also reinforces to me, with respect to our lefty friend Lee, that when we argue with him over ‘socialized medicine,’ it’s Apples Vs. Oranges for the most part.

    The National Health Service Crisis 1951 –
    Professor Vernon Bogdanor Gresham College
    2015
    https://youtu.be/DVwpzJw1vwo
    1:04:38
    (it’s a little slow but packed with information)

  • wayne

    “In Our Hands; How to Lose What we Have”
    1951
    [queued to the best part — hang on for 3 minutes]
    https://youtu.be/8UFYluWMDiM?t=221

  • Cotour

    Andrew W:

    Spoken like a true blue, Left leaning, tap dancing, in this instance, dishonest and self deluding, citizen of the world.

    You qualified nothing: With plenty of more weeks in the year, what? You plainly imply that in the following weeks of the year the death numbers will increase at exponential rates. To what I would assume would be the extermination of all human life in America. That is what you indicate.

    Show me where you qualified anything here.

    You’re out of date Cotour, deaths is now 655, it’s quadrupling every week, so do nothing:
    Today: 650
    1 week: 2,600
    2 weeks: 10,400
    3 weeks: 41,600
    4 weeks: 166,400
    5 weeks: 665,600
    With plenty more weeks in the year.

  • Cotour

    And while we are on the subject of frauds and people who are attempting to create a self serving narrative.

    I was in conversation with my sister yesterday and she insists on listening to all of these news conferences that the president and his people are obligated to have. I told her, I listen to pretty much none of them. She is not especially enamored with Trump and I understand that, he is not the best at holding the nations hand and speaking through a speech writer. And she pointed out how the NYC mayor and the NYS governor were upset with Trump. This was my reply to her.
    ——–
    PS: Thinking about it for a half of a second, both governor Cuomo and mayor DeBlasio are in charge of what goes on in NYS and NYC and THEIR hospital systems are unprepared.

    And all of a sudden its Trump that is responsible for these systems? Think about that for a moment.

    Trump has and will continue to provide massive resources to NYS and NYC.
    ———–

    She was forced to agree with my observations. Both Cuomo and the big hand wringing, do nothing, useless “Progressive” Leftist DeBlasio have FAILED miserably to be prepared for an event that they were well aware had the potential to show is ugly head. No, they were busy telling everyone how they were the most “Progressive” city and state in the country. This is the result of such anti American and Leftist pandering thinking.

    Well, now Andrew Cuomo is being seen as the logical replacement for old Joe (I never thought he would ever be the nominee) and to be honest Cuomo does have a very polished news conference style, BUT, when you step back HE and the mayor are the failures here and are now running to their big daddy, Trump, to bail them out and at the same time point their Liberal Leftist fraudulent fingers at him as though he was in reality responsible for THEIR failures related the THEIR fiduciary responsibilities. Politics, the dirtiest, filthiest business on the planet.

    Typical, you also see it here in how Andrew W represents himself, and you see it with both the mayor of NYC and the governor of NYS. Ah, I feel better now :)

  • Andrew

    Apologies to Mr Zimmerman.

    I have not been reading your work for thirty years. I apologize without qualification for my overly frustrated rant. I was out of line.

  • Andrew: Apology enthusiastically accepted. Please continue to comment and participate. Your perspective is appreciated.

  • Rick

    As far as New Yorkers responding to the crisis, from a VA truck drivers view, it seems that they reacted by heading south.

  • Andrew_W

    Cotour:
    “so do nothing:”

  • Cototur

    Andrew W:

    No one I know, and I am in the middle of it in NYC, is doing “Nothing”. Neither the people nor our leaders are “doing nothing”. So I do not know where you are getting your argument from.

    As per usual the Left leaning among us have a problem with just being honest and facing reality without some level of fraudulent spin or outright lies. Why is that? Its just the nature of the beast, and the beast can not face its own nature because its nature is ugly.

    There are no mirrors in the beasts world, they are banned, and so he can never see himself for what he is, a fraud.

  • Andrew_W

    Cotour, you linked to a couple of videos, from Dr. John Campbell on an earlier thread, in case anyone’s interested he’s done a few more since.
    https://www.youtube.com/user/Campbellteaching

  • Edward

    wayne asked: “How much is your boutique gasoline in Cali? I topped off my tank at $1.529 the gallon this am.”

    I recently found gasoline for $2.899 at an independent station. We have quite a bit of state and local taxes, including sales tax approaching 10%, so how much the boutique formula costs us is not clear.

    there’s a GOOD reason we had a revolution against them and went our own way, what we like to call “The American Way,” and it never included dropping cash from helicopters, ordering car manufacturers to mass produce ventilators, or paying people to sit idle.

    The good news is that our car manufacturers volunteered to make ventilators. This is so much better than having the government force them or nationalize them to do it. A decade ago, the government nationalized two of the three auto manufacturers and promptly drove them into bankruptcy. That is government management for you.

    “In Our Hands; How to Lose What we Have”

    We are now in the midst of “The Plan” as enacted by the people we voted for. Unfortunately, this plan does not have an exit strategy to determine when this lockdown can end and we can go back to our real lives. But as the guy said, “everything is going to be better under ‘The Plan.'”

  • wayne

    Edward–
    I’m led to believe $2.899 would be a good price in Cali?
    IIRC– our State gas tax in Michigan is ‘like 26 cents/gallon, while Cali is closer to 50 cents/gallon. (It used to be clearly posted at the pump, but that disappeared decades ago.)
    Federal gas tax is something ‘like 18 cents the gallon, with a tax for ‘leaking underground storage tanks’ buried therein. (pun intended)
    -Our newer Governor wanted to slip in a gas tax increase last year, under the guise that no one would notice. I expect it will succeed this year. (ya’ know, ‘for the children,’ and all.)

    Yes, it’s preferable that automakers voluntarily manufacture ventilators.
    It’s entirely too bad however, they can’t manufacture the surrounding hospital bed, the electricity required, the technicians required, and all the meds required. (ya just don’t turn the ventilator on and walk away. That’s an ICU bed ‘thing.)
    Not surprised Government Motor Corp is on board—these are going to be the most expensive ventilators anyone has ever borrowed money to buy.

    The Last Few Polio Survivors – Last of the Iron Lungs
    2015
    https://youtu.be/gplA6pq9cOs
    7:08

    “Paul Alexander is one of the last few remaining polio survivors that depend on iron lungs—half-century-old machines that force inhabitants to breathe…”

  • wayne

    “Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O’Brien”
    Jessica Yu
    1996
    https://youtu.be/JzEGZnWT5dA
    35:10

    “…a man who contracted polio as a child and spent much of his life in an iron lung.”

  • Edward

    wayne asked: “I’m led to believe $2.899 would be a good price in Cali?

    At the time it was a very good price, but the price is still generally dropping.

  • Berfert

    THIS is the single most fear to any politician from dog catcher to senate and house leaders:

    “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights,

    ****Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers *from the consent of the governed,* –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the *RIGHT* of the People to alter or **to abolish it,** and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. ****

    Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

    **But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their RIGHT, it is their DUTY, to THROW OFF such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.**

    In order to continue their personal power grabbing, the educational system has been indoctrinating our youth in the ways of mindless obedience to power without question, that self defense and patriotic defense of our Nation is wrong, and that America has never been a just force for good in this dark world.

    It is the main reason for their contempt of the Second Amendment and how President Trump ended every rally saying that we believe in God, the Second Amendment, and the right to life.

    This is all the leftist dimoKKKrats can do to try and stop him or to attempt to show him who really has the power in the swamp.

    After this overblown hoax is defeated, all the left will have in the perverted toolbox is the ol stompy foot…

  • Cotour

    This is a worthwhile view, Tucker goes through the “Hero’s” act a $3 trillion dollar Democrat empowerment bill being pushed by Ms. Pelosi.

    https://youtu.be/Sozz2965JVw

    Is it me or does she seen extra strange in this little speech that she gives.

    I guess she figures that you shoot for the stars, and maybe you will land on the roof. If the president signs this or anything like it that will not bode well for him.

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