Thursday, September 30, 2021

Why woke leftists love the lockdowns

    

     


I’m amazed at the number of intelligent people who are taking what the government and media is telling them about the coronavirus at face value. In what alternate universe has the federal government and mainstream media earned your trust, especially in the past 10 years?  Socialism believes that the government can take better care of you than you can of yourself. And guess what? It has never succeeded — ever. Israel, India and the United Kingdom have all tried it and ended up rejecting it. More recently, you have the socialist disaster of Venezuela to look at if you want to see just how bad the system can be. Even totalitarian Marxist countries like the Soviet Union have been destined to failure. And if socialism isn’t bad enough, totalitarian socialism is even worse, and that agenda, too, has been pushed by the Democrats during this coronavirus “crisis.” Think about it: Marxists do not believe in religion. They don’t believe in personal freedom.  They don’t believe in liberty.

      Not only is there no evidence that “lockdowns” work, they are unconstitutional. Democrat governors have threatened to arrest anyone who attends a church service during their lockdowns. Freedom of religion, as well as the freedom to assemble, are guaranteed First-Amendment rights. It is the backbone that our country was built on, and no politician, no matter the circumstances, should be able to circumvent the Bill of Rights.

     But it doesn’t end there. People have been threatened by government officials for walking in a park, using a beach or leaving their homes. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat dictator, decided it was within her power to ban garden stores from selling seeds. Colorado police handcuffed a father in front of his kids for playing T-ball in an empty park with his daughter. And three Massachusetts men were arrested and face jail time for crossing state lines to play a round of golf. Totalitarian socialism justified by a disease is still totalitarian socialism, and no one should condone it.

 


 

 

     The Covid emergency has created two sides: the progressive Left want lockdown to continue, borders to remain closed, JobKeeper and JobSeeker to be continued, and the economy to remain weak, as continual growth is thought a Ponzi scheme. The Right proposes an opposite set of policies. Having insisted on a prolonged lockdown, the Left then took advantage of the resulting social vacuum to promote its own wide-ranging agendas, while insisting that society as a whole undertake a self-denying ordinance on activity.

     Liberals who aren’t quite ready to let go of pandemic restrictions. For this subset, diligence against COVID-19 remains an expression of political identity—even when that means overestimating the disease’s risks or setting limits far more strict than what public-health guidelines permit. In surveys, Democrats express more worry about the pandemic than Republicans do. People who describe themselves as “very liberal” are distinctly anxious.  Last year, when the pandemic was raging and scientists and public-health officials were still trying to understand how the virus spread, extreme care was warranted. People all over the country made enormous sacrifices—rescheduling weddings, missing funerals, canceling graduations, avoiding the family members they love—to protect others.

 


 

 

     2021 is different from 2020, though. Scientists know a lot more about how COVID-19 spreads—and how it doesn’t. Public-health advice is shifting. But some progressives have not updated their behavior based on the new information. And in their eagerness to protect themselves and others, they may be underestimating other costs. Being extra careful about COVID-19 is (mostly) harmless when it’s limited to wiping down your groceries with Lysol wipes and wearing a mask in places where you’re unlikely to spread the coronavirus, such as on a hiking trail. Even as scientific knowledge of COVID-19 has increased, some progressives have continued to embrace policies and behaviors that aren’t supported by evidence, such as banning access to playgrounds, closing beaches, and refusing to reopen schools for in-person learning.  Public figures and policy makers who try to dictate others’ behavior without any scientific justification for doing so erode trust in public health and make people less willing to take useful precautions. The marginal gains of staying shut down might not justify the potential backlash.

 

     Our culture treats some freedoms, like the rights of sexual and ethnic minorities, as sacrosanct and unquestionable. Yet it treats others, like the freedom to visit family or have a drink at the pub, as conditional, liable for revocation whenever the state decides that the supreme law of public health requires it.

 

      That marks quite a shift. Seen through the older prism of freedom, a state policy, such as the lockdown, would not be embraced. It would be seen as an unprecedented infringement on our liberty. Indeed, the countless deaths caused by lockdown could even be conceived as state manslaughter. The threat of the state behaving in this way would outweigh, morally and politically, the threat posed by a new virus. A pandemic would still be treated with the utmost seriousness, but we would rely more on Swedish-style voluntary precautions, rather than attempt to use the state to minimise mortality at all costs.

      Such an approach seems difficult to imagine in the UK today. Instead of ‘give me liberty, or give me death!’, too many now ask the state to ‘give me liberty from death – and from nasty words and microaggressions too!’  The liberal logic of lockdown is clear: if the good life is the gratified one, and the state is the means to protect us from others’ attitudes, why shouldn’t the goverment lock us down⁠, or lock us up, in order to protect our health?

 

     The tentacles of socialism that have wrapped themselves around the Democrat party didn’t start with COVID-19 and it’s not going to end with COVID-19. However, what has happened during this pandemic is that America has allowed the Democrats to advance their socialist cause. They have made significant inroads that have harmed the country, the economy, small businesses, the president and our individual freedoms and liberty. 

Monday, September 20, 2021

Democrats’ Motto: Rules For Thee, But Not For Me

 


When It Comes To Coronavirus Restrictions, Democrats Act Like The Rules Don’t Apply To Them

 

     Viewers have slammed the Emmys after hundreds of celebrities packed into the awards show without masks or social distancing, despite ongoing warnings in LA about the spread of Covid-19. Many who criticized the show pointed out the hypocrisy of Covid rules that apply to the average person but don't seem to apply to multi-million dollar celebrities - just as it was during the Met Gala last week.

     Actor Seth Rogen on Sunday criticized the Emmy Awards over what he called inadequate COVID-19 precautions while he was presenting an award.  When presenting the evening's first award, for best supporting actress, Rogen openly questioned the safety measures at the event.  "Good to be here at the Emmy Awards," the longtime Hollywood actor and writer said. "Let me start by saying there is way too many of us in this little room. What are we doing? They said this was outdoors. It’s not. They lied to us. We’re in a hermetically sealed tent right now. I would not have come to this."  Rogen continued, questioning whether it was "more important that we have three chandeliers than that we make sure we don’t kill Eugene Levy tonight?"

 


     This comes only a few days after San Francisco Mayor London Breed was seen dancing in the city's Black Cat nightclub, violating her own strict mask mandate.  Unmasked, singing, and dancing with an equally unmasked crowd, cell phone video shows Mayor London Breed inside a club in the Tenderloin on Wednesday night. A San Francisco Department of public health order, clearly states:

     "Everyone, including people who are fully vaccinated, must wear a well-fitted mask in indoor public settings at all times except," the order continues, "people may remove their well-fitted mask while actively eating or drinking."  Breed was dancing behind a table full of drinks, but was not actively drinking or eating, or wearing a face covering while singing, dancing, and posing for photos.

 


     "My drink was sitting at the table. I got up and started dancing because I was feeling the spirit and I wasn't thinking about a mask," Breed explained. "I was thinking about having a good time and in the process I was following the health orders."  Breed added, she and fellow club-goers "don’t need the fun police to come in and micromanage and tell us what we should or shouldn’t be doing."

 

     Wait, what? London, dancing is not actively eating of drinking so you were not following the health orders. If a person wandered into City Hall maskless while "feeling a spirit and thinking about a good time" would the "fun police" interrupt their fun? Translation: "I don't need to follow the rules set for you lowly peasants, and I don't care who knows it".  It's elitism at it's worst. These politicians are emboldened, especially now since the recall failed. She feels superior to the citizens, and will continue to flaunt her position and power. London Breed sounds and behaves like a spoiled rebellious teen(not all teens are such). She gets caught violating her own rules and lashes out in angry indignation trying to turn it around on the rightfully angry citizens whom she's duping into following her ridiculous rules. The only difference is she's being defiant towards her voters rather than a parents authority and make no mistake about this fact, she is an employee of the voters not their lord and master. Start holding these spoiled brats accountable.

 


 

 And the list is long:

 

AT LEAST 10 DEMOCRAT GOVERNORS HAVE BEEN CAUGHT BREAKING THEIR OWN RULES

  • New York Governor Andrew Cuomo bragged that his 89-year-old mother would be traveling to Albany to join him for Thanksgiving despite telling New Yorkers to stay home for the holiday, and only later canceled her visit after facing backlash.
  • California Governor Gavin Newsom was caught dining at the three-star Michelin restaurant French Laundry with a large party and no social distancing, just hours after he discouraged residents from traveling for the holidays or bringing together multiple households for Thanksgiving.
    • Newsom also held an indoor bill-signing ceremony at a restaurant unable to offer indoor dining under his own coronavirus restrictions.
  • Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo, now Biden’s Commerce Secretary, was caught at a wine and paint event after instructing residents to obey a “pause” on social gatherings and stay home.
  • Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak was photographed breaking his own coronavirus guidance, having dinner without a mask and no social distancing.
  • New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham ignored her own order mandating all non-essential businesses close, forcing a jewelry store to open so she could buy jewelry remotely despite curbside pickup not yet being allowed.
  • Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf attended Biden’s inauguration despite telling Pennsylvanians to “avoid leaving their homes unless absolutely necessary” and requiring travelers to present a negative coronavirus test or quarantine for 10 days.
  • New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy attended Biden’s inauguration even though he told Garden State residents to avoid “all nonessential interstate travel at this time.”
  • Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker attended a Biden victory parade the day after announcing he was exposed to coronavirus, opting out of self-quarantine.
  • Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards dined at a country club without a mask, despite his own coronavirus restrictions requiring people to wear masks in public.
  • Virginia Governor Ralph Northam was “slammed” for mingling maskless in Virginia Beach crowds.

11 MAJOR DEMOCRAT MAYORS WERE CAUGHT BREAKING THEIR OWN RULES

CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS HAVE ALSO BROKEN CORONAVIRUS GUIDANCE, BELEIVING THE RULES DON’T APPLY TO THEM

  • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) got her haircut indoors with no mask in the height of the pandemic, in violation of San Francisco’s coronavirus regulations.
    • Pelosi held a press briefing where she approached the lectern masked, and expressed shock that the gathered maskless reporters were following CDC guidance.
    • Pelosi attended an indoor White House event without a mask while still enforcing a mask mandate on the House floor.
    • Pelosi planned an in-person dinner for newly elected House Democrats, and only canceled after receiving blowback over coronavirus safety precautions.
  • Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was captured pulling down his mask surrounded by a large group of people in order to sing.
  • Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who pushed for a national mask mandate, was caught chatting with her aides maskless in congressional halls.
  • Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) was videoed not wearing a mask in the House chamber, then tried to blame maskless Republicans for giving her coronavirus.

DEMOCRAT ELITES ALSO BELIEVE THEY ARE ABOVE THE LAW

  • Joe Biden was spotted maskless on federal property hours after signing an executive order requiring masks on federal property.
    • More recently, Biden wore a face mask outdoors to announce that face masks are no longer required outdoors.
  • Barack Obama was spotted golfing just days before Michelle Obama told people to “stay home.”
  • Climate Czar John Kerry was photographed maskless in first-class on an American Airlines flight, ignoring Biden’s executive order requiring face coverings on commercial flights.
  • National Teacher’s Union President Randi Weingarten held numerous in-person meetings as she insisted that in-person schooling was too dangerous.

 

 This is just some example of "mandates for thee, but not for me." This routinely keeps happening, and people should not stand for it. No one is supposed to be above the law, but you can change it if you're an affluent celebrity or a Democratic officeholder. As polarizing as COVID-19 is, how can anyone legitimately take warnings seriously when this keeps happening again and again?

Sunday, September 19, 2021

If Gabby Petito were black

      

 

     If Gabby Petito were black, she wouldn't be all over the news.  At any given time, there are tens of thousands of Americans categorized as “missing” by law enforcement. However, only a fraction of those individuals receive news coverage, leading some commentators to hypothesize that missing persons with certain characteristics are more likely to garner media attention than others: namely, white women and girls.

      There is very little awareness or concern over the pervasiveness of missing Black women and girls. Especially, when compared to white women and girls. Some have argued that mainstream media appears overly fascinated with covering endangered or missing white women and girls such as Natalee Holloway, Chandra Levy, Elizabeth Smart, and Laci Peterson – but conversely, seems disinterested in cases involving Black women. 

 


     Among the tens of thousands of Black women and girls who are missing many of them are also runaways and victims of sex trafficking. Almost half of U.S. sex trafficking victims are Black girls. In many cases girls are taken against their will; however, it is not uncommon for young Black girls to runaway due to economic deprivation or sexual and/or physical abuse. It is reported that approximately 60% of Black girls are sexually assaulted before they turn 18, which makes it easier for sexual predators to capitalize on their vulnerabilities. Because Amber Alerts are exclusively reserved for abductees, runaways aren’t privileged with texts or sirens that blare out over cell phones — alerting the public of their disappearance. Making matters worse, research suggests that some law enforcement tend to inaccurately categorize cases of missing Black girls as runaways, which decreases the intensity and urgency given to those who have been abducted or who are otherwise endangered.

 

 

     The term Missing White Woman Syndrome describes the fact that Western media will focus on the murder, kidnapping, or disappearance of Caucasian females — usually pretty, young, and middle- or upper-class — to the exclusion of male, minority, poor, or disabled missing persons.  Unbalanced news reporting sends a message that these victims are more important and deserve more consideration than others. 

 

     In December 2018, as one of his last presidential moves of the year, Trump signed the Ashanti Alert Act into federal law. The new nationwide system dispatches notifications about missing people between the ages of 18 and 64 — too old for an Amber Alert, designed to make the public aware of child abductions, and too young for a Silver Alert, which similarly dispenses information about missing seniors. It is the legislative namesake of Ashanti Billie, a young, Black woman and aspiring chef who moved from Maryland to Virginia Beach to study culinary arts. On September 3, 2017, Ashanti was kidnapped on her way to work. Because she was 19, no be-on-the-lookout alerts went out about her abduction. Then 11 days later, her body was discovered near a church in Charlotte. Her parents, Meltony and Brandy Billie, and lawmakers pushed the act to help expedite searches for missing and endangered adults so Ashanti’s senseless death could save another life.

 


 

 

 

     Despite an omnipresent temptation to harangue "the media" for their sensationalist reporting, and having long tired of the recursive "ratings-determined programming" argument in which readers and journalists chase each other along the downward spiral with no sense of who's leading, I must say that in this case, as in many cases, race is circumstantial. The damsel-in-distress fable has always drawn attention--but let's have a look at what makes a damsel. It's not race, but context and juxtaposition. The lack of connection to any criminal element, the unexpectedness of the tragedy, the disjunction between the victim's life and the crime--these make the story "special." Present us a story of a young woman of any race--a college student, a wife, mother, professional, what have you--who has no connections to anything that might suggest the predictability of the crime, or the likeliness of its having occurred, and you'll get your media storm. If you want it. Drama--melodrama, really, which is what this is--derives from the extent to which the narrative elements are fantastic. Give us a dramatic death, give us a tropical island, give us the seamy side of the average America we rarely think about in specific terms, and you'll secure your ratings. 

 

 

     Pretty is better than not pretty, or course, if that's your business; rich is better than poor, young is better than old. If you're going to present these cases like so many episodes of primetime TV, we shall treat them as such. If there's a lack of black, Latino, Asian, people finding themselves in circumstances extraordinary enough to warrant the media attenion that women such as those you've listed get, then the problem of race we need to address as a nation is larger than the individual case reporting.