Category: Goobermint

New Mexico’s Dem Governor Extends Stay-at-Home Order to May 15, Despite Low # Cases

New Mexico’s Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham extended her stay-at-home executive order on Thursday to May 15, despite the relatively low number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the state when compared to the other 49 states in the country.

The governor eased restrictions on a few businesses previously defined as “non-essential” and ordered to shut down, such as shooting ranges, golf courses, and pet services. In addition, some “non-essential” retail businesses were allowed to operate curb-side services. But many more businesses still classified as “non-essential” remain shut down

The language of the executive order was quite specific that “All businesses, except those entities identified as ‘essential businesses’, are hereby directed to reduce the in-person workforce at each business or business location by 100%, except as provided herein.”

“The New Mexico Department of Public Safety, the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, the Department of the Environment, and all other State departments and agencies are authorized to take all appropriate steps to ensure compliance with this Order,” the executive order continued.

As of May 1, New Mexico has had 123 coronavirus deaths out of a population of a little more than two million, which equals 59 coronavirus deaths per million residents, less than one-third of the average for the country of 196 coronavirus deaths per million residents, according to Worldomoter.

To date, just five percent of those who have been tested in the state have been confirmed as positive (3,411 out of 67,869 tested, according to the COVID Tracking Project as of May 1. Late Monday the New Mexico Department of Health announced that there are now 3,513 cases of coronavirus in the state.) This is far less than the national average of 16 percent of those who were tested that were positive as of May 1 (1,068,892 out of 6,322,ooo  million tested). Only 172 coronavirus patients are currently hospitalized in the state.

The criteria for a Phase One reopening included in the guidelines established by the Trump administration for state governments last month included three different areas of focus: cases, symptoms, and hospitals.

For cases, the guidelines specified meeting either of two criteria: (1) Downward trajectory of documented cases within a 14-day period OR (2) Downward trajectory of positive tests as a percent of total tests within a 14-day period (flat or increasing volume of tests).

For hospitals, the guidelines specified the requirement to meet both of two criteria: (1) Treat all patients without crisis care, AND (2) Robust testing program in place for at-risk healthcare workers, including emerging antibody testing.

For symptoms, the guidelines specified the requirement to meet both of two criteria: (1) Downward trajectory of influenza-like illnesses (ILI) reported within a 14-day period, AND (2) Downward trajectory of covid-like syndromic cases reported within a 14-day period.

Gov. Lujan Grisham made no mention of the Trump administration’s Phase One guidelines in her statement announcing her renewal of the stay-at-home executive order until May 15 on Thurdsay, nor did she cite any actual data for cases, hospitals, and symptoms.

Instead, the governor’s decision was apparently based, in part, on epidemiological models developed specifically for the state at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is located in the state, as KOB reported:

Using new projections based on research from Los Alamos National Lab, Dr. David Scrase of the Human Services Department said he expects cases in New Mexico to continue to grow over next six weeks. The models predict 7,200 COVID-19 cases by beginning of June.

Dr. Scrase also said all 14 ICU beds in McKinley County area are full. Patients in the area are being transported to Albuquerque, where adjustments are being made to expand ICU capabilities because ICU beds at the major hospitals are also full.

With 3,411 cases of coronavirus as of May 1, New Mexico has 1,690 cases per million residents, about half of the national average, which is 3,397 cases per million as of May 1. If the Los Alamos National Lab projections that the number of coronavirus cases in the state will increase to 7,200 by the beginning of June proves to be accurate, the New Mexico’s per capita cases of coronavirus on June 1 will slightly exceed the national average of per capita cases as of May 1, one month earlier.

New Mexico’s Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce blasted Grisham’s failure to open the state back up as motivated by partisan politics:

Today’s comments by Gov. Lujan Grisham continue to demonstrate that she favors out of state corporate giants over the little guy–the locally owned mom-and-pop stores that drive New Mexico. While we appreciate that the governor is trying to move forward and ease some restrictions, her new changes fall far short of what’s needed. There is no equity of treatment for our businesses. Until small businesses have the same rules as the national chains, there’s favoritism and discrimination. This is something that not only cannot be tolerated, but will continue to destroy livelihoods and lives in New Mexico. The governor must understand that small businesses can operate safely with the same health precautions as the big box stores. She cannot discriminate.

 

Maybe that’s because deep down inside they’re little dictators with delusions of power and glory.
Apparently ‘power positions’ attract these types.

The Trust Deficit
Faced with disaster, authorities often worry more about an unruly public than about the crisis at hand.

On January 13, 2012, the cruise ship Costa Concordia struck a submerged rock off the coast of Italy. The sea poured through a 160-foot gash below the waterline, flooding nearly half the ship’s watertight compartments. The captain, hoping he could have the ship towed into port, delayed notifying the coast guard. Instead of directing passengers to lifeboats, the crew assured them that all was normal. “We have solved the problems we had and invite everyone to return to their cabins,” one crewmember told passengers assembled at a muster station. The ship’s leadership seemed more focused on preventing panic than on the safety of the passengers. By the time everyone was ordered to abandon ship, the vessel was close to capsizing. In the end, 32 lives were lost.

In retrospect, the behavior of the captain and crew of the Costa Concordia appears stunningly dishonest and reckless—and it was. But it was also surprisingly typical of people in authority during disasters. In case after case, we see leaders—from ship crews to local police to federal officials—who seem more concerned about potentially unruly behavior by ordinary citizens than about the crisis at hand. In reality, most civilians show impressive calm and resilience in emergencies. Nonetheless, authorities find it hard to shake their fear that any big disruption will turn the public into a panicked, or even criminal, mob. In response, they often try to limit or spin information, clamp down on public movement, and step up measures against anticipated lawbreaking.

It’s understandable that officials want civilians to stay put and out of trouble during disasters. That’s usually good advice—but not always. People on the upper floors of the World Trade Center were told to “shelter in place”—standard procedure at the time—after planes struck the towers on 9/11. The only survivors from those floors were those who defied the instructions. In 2014, hundreds of South Korean high school students obediently followed orders to stay below decks while the ocean-going ferry MV Sewol took on water and sank, killing more than half of the 476 passengers and crew on board. Authorities also frequently mobilize to prevent anticipated spasms of lawbreaking. After the Alaska earthquake of 1964, officials in Anchorage temporarily halted searching for survivors in order to defend downtown stores from a nonexistent army of looters.

Whether authorities face an immediate crisis, such as an earthquake, or a slower-moving calamity like the Covid-19 pandemic, their responses generally fit the pattern. In the early minutes—or days, or weeks—of a crisis, it’s hard for everyone to accept that the disaster is actually happening or to imagine how much worse it could get. People in positions of responsibility usually see their first job as reassuring the public and tamping down panic. In the U.S., officials at all levels of government used similar language as the threat of the novel coronavirus loomed.

“I’m not going to go out and start screaming, this could happen,” Trump said, justifying his early statements downplaying the threat. “I don’t want to create havoc and shock.” New York governor Andrew Cuomo took the same stance. “I’m as afraid of the fear and the panic as I am of the virus, and I think that the fear is more contagious than the virus right now,” he said on March 19, explaining his reluctance to issue a full shutdown order. Even medical experts sometimes fall into this trap: “There is no reason to foster panic with exaggerated language,” wrote the editor of the Lancet, the British medical journal, in response to alarming early reports on the virus.

Officials who don’t trust the public to handle bad news often sugarcoat or obfuscate facts. Then, when the public senses that it’s being spun or lied to, it begins to lose faith in these officials. This breakdown in trust dulls our best tools for fighting the virus. Until we have a vaccine, the only way to slow transmission is to change public behavior. Epidemiologists have long known that getting people to change their daily routines isn’t easy; it requires deep trust on both sides.

The Centers for Disease Control devotes a whole chapter to communications strategy in its Field Epidemiology Manual. The agency recommends designating a lead spokesperson to deliver the core message about what the public is expected to do. Spokespeople should be empathetic but also honest about what experts know and don’t know. Above all, they should not “over-reassure or overpromise.” In The New Yorker, Charles Duhigg recently contrasted New York’s disastrous early response to the outbreak with Washington State’s more effective approach. The upshot: in Washington, scientists took the lead in educating the public; in New York City and State, politicians hogged the microphones, offering overconfident assertions and contradictory advice.

Mixed messages have also hindered communications at the federal level. Though President Trump has given his top health officials ample time to communicate in press briefings, he often adds his own upbeat, speculative, and, at times, bizarre commentary. There’s no unified message. As one former CDC official told Duhigg, “If you have a politician on the stage, there’s a very real risk that half the nation is going to do the opposite of what they say.” The public is especially likely to disregard advice from leaders who don’t bother following it themselves. More than three weeks after the White House recommended that everyone wear a mask in public, Vice President Mike Pence declined a face covering when visiting the Mayo Clinic.

Often, politicians just talk too much. No political leader wants to be caught saying the words “I don’t know.” In the early days, when scientists knew little about how Covid-19 spreads, New York mayor Bill de Blasio tended to turn those unknowns into optimistic assurances: “There is no indication that casual contact with someone who is infected could lead to others contracting this disease,” he claimed. In his efforts to stave off panic, de Blasio instead encouraged complacency. The public would have been better served with a calibrated dose of fear and a healthy respect for the unknown.

“Words matter,” writes Amanda Ripley, a longtime student of disasters. Communications need to be clear and honest, but the underlying policies also have to make sense. Americans are willing to make sacrifices, but only if the directives they’re given are “understandable and fair and allow people some amount of autonomy,” Ripley writes. That last part—allowing autonomy—is often the hardest for officials to accept.

Disaster researchers sometimes use the phrase “elite panic” to describe cases where distrust of the public leads authorities to enact heavy-handed measures during crises. The term is a bit overheated, but the phenomenon is real. During the pandemic, many restrictions have been sensible, and the public has largely complied. But some localities have gone overboard with excessive, capricious regulations. In Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer allowed stores to open for some essentials but ordered them to cordon off aisles of seeds and garden supplies. In San Clemente, California, officials brought in heavy equipment to fill a beachfront skateboard park with 37 tons of sand in order to deter a few youthful skaters. Even as other states began taking steps toward reopening, California state officials reportedly floated plans to close all state parks and beaches. After a brief controversy, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that only Orange County beaches would close.

To be fair, no simple roadmap exists for how to balance the benefits of less restrictive rules against whatever risks more openness might entail. But when officials issue blanket prohibitions—with no leeway for individual autonomy or common sense—they risk a backlash. Locals quickly dug out that San Clemente skate park. Protests against extensive lockdowns flared up in several state capitals. Most were small affairs, though the armed protestors who showed up in Michigan’s capital on April 30 certainly spooked many. Still, surveys show general support for stay-at-home orders, even among conservatives, at least for now. But public patience and obedience won’t last forever.

“Michigan is one of the hardest hit states, and most of us are willing to accept very painful measures to defeat the virus,” wrote Detroit News columnist Nolan Finley in mid-April. But “when the edicts began to feel punitive and vindictive, when they took on the aura of a police state, the people dug in.” This underlying frustration with draconian rules will likely grow as Covid-19 cases drop and as some parts of the country reopen more quickly than others. Americans have done more to slow the pandemic than many experts might have thought possible. But the costs of the country’s long shutdown are escalating, while the benefits—at least in many regions—diminish. Both the public and our leaders need to face two harsh realities: the current path is not sustainable, and there are no risk-free options.

 

Could be that demonstration did have some influence.

Michigan House adjourns without extending coronavirus state of emergency

The Michigan House adjourned Thursday afternoon without taking up an extension of the state’s coronavirus state of emergency, setting the stage for a legal fight between Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Republican-led legislature.

Michigan’s state of emergency is due to expire at the end of the day April 30. The emergency declaration gives the governor additional powers to issue executive orders during an emergency situation.

Whitmer contends she retains emergency authority during the COVID-19 pandemic regardless of what the Legislature does, but Republican lawmakers critical of the administration’s COVID-19 response maintain a 1976 law requiring the governor to seek legislative approval for an emergency after 28 days applies in this case.

The governor asked the legislature to extend the state of emergency another 28 days,……….Instead, the Michigan House amended a Senate bill that initially would have limited the number of days a governor could unilaterally declare a state of emergency……….

Among the other actions the House took Thursday was the approval of a resolution that gives [House Speaker ed.] Chatfield the ability to sue the Whitmer administration and challenge actions taken during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

 

Fear is an opportunity for tyranny

And ’twas ever thus.

One of the many lessons of the COVID-19 response is how easily public official embrace tyranny, and how many people accept it because of fear.

I’m afraid of COVID-19. I’m in a relatively high-risk group, and I’m laying very low. I’ll probably lay low for longer than my state tells me to, but that’s my decision. I didn’t like the initial 2-week shutdown, but I thought I understood the reasons – flatten the curve and keep the health care system from being totally overwhelmed – and I knew it would buy us time to learn more about the illness.

Mission accomplished. It’s been far more than two weeks, and the damage from the shutdown itself has gotten to the point that it becomes crystal clear it needs to be removed. The benefits have been less clear, too. There doesn’t seem to be much evidence that shutdowns mattered all that much in the curve of the COVID-19 toll in various states and various countries. We understand more than we did, but although we don’t understand enough, we have to take a few leaps because one thing we do understand (and was clear from the start, actually) is that the shutdown itself is causing tremendous damage. And that damage is not limited to economics; it involves mental and physical health as well.

Almost six weeks ago I wrote this:

So here’s my question for all you epidemiologists and infectious disease experts out there –

Wouldn’t it be better to have only high-risk people stay home? People over 60 and those with pre-existing conditions? That way, if all those at low risk kept mingling, a lot of them would get a mild flu and herd immunity will be achieved fairly quickly, to the benefit of all, without overwhelming the health care system.

I’m not suggesting this as an actual policy right now, but I’m just wondering if my logic is flawed. I suppose the question is how long would it take for it to run its course and achieve sufficient herd immunity, and when would it be safe for us old folks to finally emerge. Also, would there be a lot of deaths among the younger ones in the meantime?

I just don’t see the end game for the current mitigation strategies.

It wasn’t rocket science to question what was happening back then. And that was before the worst of the draconian measures were put in place by governors such as Michigan’s Whitmer, which are not only startlingly strict but seemingly unrelated to any public health goal or logic involving such goals.

What’s going on? People in power like more power, particularly people on the left. Tyrants of all stripes have long used emergency powers to increase their control over the people. Sometimes those emergency powers become semi-permanent or even permanent. It certainly doesn’t surprise me that some governors are trying to stretch it out for as long as possible.

I believe that’s one of the reasons the MSM is trying to stoke fear, and has been doing so from the start. There’s plenty of fear to be had, of course, just from the basic facts of the matter without trying to increase it further. But the MSM is strongly motivated in various ways to do just that: in order to get Trump, to give petty tyrants like Whitmer more reasons to clamp down, and to increase traffic because “if it bleeds it leads.”

The real wild card in all this is how long the people are going to take it. Spring is stirring even in northern climes, and it’s fully flowering further south, and people are ready to burst forth from their own enforced isolation. Some people’s livelihoods depend on it, and a lot people feel their sanity does as well.

And some people are just tired of being told what to do without seeing sufficient reason to obey, when all they’re asking for is the freedom to go about their normal lives – or as near normal as possible, taking precautions to protect the most vulnerable.

Cuomo forced NY nursing homes – some that had no sick residents – to take people in that were known to still be infected with this bug. So, it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what happened next.
Yep, sickness and many deaths. Almost like it was a plan.
If it walks and quacks like a duck , it probably is a duck.

Andrew Cuomo’s Star Falling: Questions arise about NY forcing nursing homes to admit infected patients

As of today, nearly 55,000 Americans are reported to have died because of COVID-19.
It is well known that the elderly and frail are more susceptible to the Wuhan Coronavirus. As a result, almost one of five COVID-19 deaths have occurred among those who live in nursing homes or other long-term care institutions.

A survey by the Wall Street Journal published Wednesday found at least 10,700 fatalities among 35 states that either submit data online or responded to information requests.

Some states, including Ohio and Washington, have not reported data in such COVID-19 deaths, while others, like Massachusetts and West Virginia, are working to ramp up testing for residents and staffers at long-term facilities, the newspaper reports.

The virus has infected residents and employees in at least 4,800 facilities, leading to more than 56,000 infections nationwide.

New York state is the epicenter of the American outbreak, accounting for 40% of the deaths. The grim statistic stems from the fact New York City has recorded over 155,000 cases (16% of the national total) and over 11,000 deaths (22% of American deaths).

One factor for the NYC numbers is that the NYC subway system is a moving petri dish.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo provided frightening new details about the durability of the coronavirus — telling New Yorkers that the virus can linger in the air for up to three hours and survive for three days on plastic and steel surfaces commonly found on trains and buses.

The startling new information may explain how the disease spread so far and wide across the five boroughs and why the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s workforce has been hit so hard by the pandemic.

“We’ve been working on how to come up with new cleaning and disinfecting protocols,” Cuomo said, who described the findings as a “shocker to me.”

Another factor is the New York state mandate that nursing homes must readmit residents sent to hospitals with the coronavirus and accept new patients as long as they are deemed “medically stable.” This order apparently stems from the politically correct motivation of “fairness,” a ludicrous approach to preventing the spread of disease.

The clientele at these establishments now have additional stress and worry about coronavirus exposures.

Neal Nibur has lived in a nursing home for about a year, ever since he had a bad bout of pneumonia. Now, the 80-year-old man has not only his own health to worry about but that of his neighbors at the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., residence. Four new patients recently arrived from the hospital with Covid-19.

They were admitted for one reason, according to staff members: A state guideline says nursing homes cannot refuse to take patients from hospitals solely because they have the coronavirus.

“I don’t like them playing Russian roulette with my life,” said Mr. Nibur, who is on oxygen. “It’s putting us at risk. I am 80 years old with underlying problems. Everybody here has an underlying problem.”

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is sounding the alarm about the mandate as well.

Transferring COVID patients from hospitals to nursing homes threatens to make the problem worse. In addition to housing the most vulnerable Americans, many nursing homes already have poor infection control records. Personal protective equipment is hard to come by, and testing kits are often scarce.

Furthermore, it turns out that one overwhelmed NYC facility begged to send its ill patients to the USS Comfort, which was then in port.

The request was refused.

New York health officials were warned in writing that a Brooklyn nursing home where 55 patients have died of coronavirus was overwhelmed — weeks before it began topping the state’s official list of resident COVID-19 deaths, damning emails show.

Cobble Hill Health Center CEO Donny Tuchman sent a desperate email to state Health Department officials on April 9, asking if there was “a way for us to send our suspected covid patients” to the hospital built inside the Javits Convention Center or the US Naval hospital ship Comfort — the under-utilized federal medical facilities on Manhattan’s West Side.

“We don’t have the ability to cohort right now based on staffing and we really want to protect our other patients,” Tuchman wrote in a chain of the emails reviewed by The Post.

“I was told those facilities were only for hospitals” to send their overflow patients, Tuchman said.

When the pandemic has ended, and states fully reopen, there will be many valuable lessons that will come from New York State. Unfortunately, it seems, many of them will be on what not to do.

Furthermore, forcing the rest of the country to remain quarantined based on how the disease is behaving in New York is clearly unwise.

Governor to extend order to May 15

SANTA FE – With New Mexico’s coronavirus infection rates showing signs of flattening and the state’s testing capacity increasing, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Wednesday that state officials can begin gradually easing up on business restrictions.

But the governor said that New Mexicans should not let up on social distancing and that she will soon be extending a statewide stay-at-home order through May 15. The order is now scheduled to expire May 1.

Lujan Grisham also said that a 15-member Economic Recovery Council will provide the Governor’s Office with advice about the slow reopening of the state’s economy and that New Mexico mayors will also be closely involved in the decision-making.

“We will get this right in New Mexico,” she said during a news briefing at the state Capitol that was streamed online.

However, the governor did not say specifically when closed businesses might be allowed to reopen, saying that would depend on case trends and other criteria.

The announcement comes as business groups and some county commissions around New Mexico have been increasingly calling on Lujan Grisham to lay out a plan for reopening stores that were closed to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Some other states have, in recent days, begun announcing plans to gradually lift state-ordered closures if certain criteria are met.

Despite positive trends in many parts of the state, New Mexicans should not expect life to go back to normal, Lujan Grisham said, as large public gatherings will likely remain off-limits for the foreseeable future.

“We’re not got going to be congregating in large groups at parks,” the governor said. “We’re not going to be going to huge concerts.”

EU facing collapse: Coronavirus has accelerated bloc’s descent – eurozone on brink
THE plight of the eurozone now amounts to an “existential crisis” for the EU, exposing a “fundamental chasm” at the heart of the bloc, most notably between Germany and Italy, former Tory leader William Hague has said.

“To put it crudely, Italians will not work as productively as Germans, and Germans will not agree to pay off the debts of Italians.”

Mr Hague added: “Without this crisis, such a fundamental chasm in the foundations of the euro would have continued to be a troubling but not imminent problem. Now it has yawned wide open.”

Protesters Gather at Minnesota Governor’s Mansion Over Lockdown, Chant ‘Open Up’

Protesters gathered outside of the Minnesota governor’s mansion Friday rebelling against coronavirus stay-at-home orders and demanding an end the lockdown, chanting “open up.”

Despite the social distancing guidelines in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, hundreds of people gathered in St. Paul for a “Liberate Minnesota” demonstration outside Gov. Tim Walz’s official residence, according to local news reports.

Hundreds of Protesters Defy Coronavirus Lockdown Orders in Pennsylvania

Hundreds of people openly defied a ban on mass gatherings and federal safety guidelines during a demonstration Monday against Pennsylvania’s coronavirus lockdown order.

Protesters rallied in front of the state Capitol in Harrisburg, where they crowded together on the steps and sidewalk in defiance of social distancing guidelines, recklessly dismissing their own health risk and the risk to others — many without even face masks, according to video posted on social media.

South Floridians Stage Caravan Protest to End Coronavirus Lockdown, Demand Beaches Reopen

More than 100 South Floridians participated in a caravan protest Sunday to demand Gov. Ron DeSantis reopen the beaches and state parks closed under coronavirus lockdown measures.

Drivers first met up in separate groups in Hollywood, Coral Springs, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and Boynton Beach. The caravans then drove to downtown Delray Beach, honking their horns and blaring sirens up and down Atlantic Avenue. Waving American flags and Trump 2020 banners, onlookers lined the sidewalks to watch.

 

The Birth Of An American Freedom Movement

We may be witnessing the birth of a movement that could be the most important result of the COVID-19 nightmare: the anti-lockdown protests sweeping the country.

Per our usual agreement, the media is totally getting it wrong. It’s not about being able to go to restaurants or movies or even only about going back to work. It’s certainly not about a death cult or not taking the virus seriously.

The protests are, at core, about people who want their rights back — rights that have been snatched in just a few weeks time. It’s driven by people who understand the threat of tyrannical government, and that threat is very, very real. It’s happening right in front of our eyes.

Probably the best face of Orwell’s dystopian 1984 is New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Although the Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is a close second. Mayor de Blasio is calling on residents to report their neighbors to law enforcement for violations of social distancing protocols. And it’s made super easy. Yay! How do you narc out your neighbors who don’t obey government edicts? “It’s simple: just snap a photo and text it to 311-692.” de Blasio said. “We will make sure that enforcement comes right away.”

Wow, wow, wow. Please read 1984. This is *exactly* what Big Brother teaches neighbors and children to do. Everyone is a snitch. People live in terror. In 1984, they disappear if they don’t follow the government line. We’re not there yet. But this is an astonishing step in the Big Brother direction.

Michigan Golfers Flouting Lockdown Rules Right Next Door to Governor’s Mansion

Seig Heil! THBBT!Heil! THBBT! Right in the Führer’s Face!

Country Club of Lansing allows members to ignore lockdown

The Country Club of Greater Lansing is again allowing its members to play on its course along Moores River Drive after a brief shutdown. And that’s despite guidance today from the state’s top law enforcement official that said otherwise. 

“We cannot rely on the superfluous statements made by each respective office and must only rely on the text of the order itself,” according to an email from the Country Club to its members sent earlier this week, again allowing golf to be played. “If the governor intended the order to specifically ban golf, she would have included such specific language in the order.”

While I see some good things in part of this, and this may be ‘just me™’, the plan as a whole looks like a wish list for a massive powergrab by congress over every part of the U.S. economy and health system as they could get their claws into.

Bipartisan breakthrough? Pols unveil ‘Back to Work’ plan for reopening economy with emphasis on mass testing

EXCLUSIVE: After spending weeks diving into coronavirus issues over video conferencing, a bipartisan group of 50 House members has crafted a plan for what’s needed to reopen the economy safely and help businesses recover from crippling mandatory shutdowns.

Back to Work Checklist by Fox News on Scribd

 

Israeli Professor Shows Virus Follows Fixed Pattern

Professor Yitzhak Ben Israel of Tel Aviv University, who also serves on the research and development advisory board for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, plotted the rates of new coronavirus infections of the U.S., U.K., Sweden, Italy, Israel, Switzerland, France, Germany, and Spain. The numbers told a shocking story: irrespective of whether the country quarantined like Israel, or went about business as usual like Sweden, coronavirus peaked and subsided in the exact same way. In the exact, same, way. His graphs show that all countries experienced seemingly identical coronavirus infection patterns, with the number of infected peaking in the sixth week and rapidly subsiding by the eighth week.

The Wuhan Virus follows its own pattern, he told Mako, an Israeli news agency. It is a fixed pattern that is not dependent on freedom or quarantine. “There is a decline in the number of infections even [in countries] without closures, and it is similar to the countries with closures,” he wrote in his paper.

“Is the coronavirus expansion exponential? The answer by the numbers is simple: no. Expansion begins exponentially but fades quickly after about eight weeks,” Professor Yitzhak Ben Israel concluded. The reason why coronavirus follows a fixed pattern is yet unknown. “I have no explanation,” he told Mako, “There are is kinds of speculation: maybe it’s climate-related, maybe the virus has its own life cycle.” ……..

Professor Yitzhak Ben Israel concludes in his analysis summary paper that the data from the past 50 days indicates that the closure policies of the quarantine countries can be replaced by more moderate social distancing policies. The numbers simply do not support quarantine or economic closure. ……….

While the American policies remain less restrictive than those of Israel, it is important to understand the origins of our own “mass hysteria” response. President Trump urged a strong coronavirus response after consulting with Dr. Fauci and his team, who relied on a British model predicting 2.2 million deaths in the United States and 500,000 deaths in the U.K. But that model was developed by Professor Neil Ferguson, who had a history of wildly overestimating death rates through his prediction models. ………

It’s been one month since our country declared a national coronavirus emergency and life as we knew it had ceased. Americans have been growing agitated, unwilling to continue in this way, knowing something is wrong. Trump has sensed that his constituency is displeased with the authoritarian power grab by our Governors and has repeatedly stated that he wishes to reopen the country, but that he needs more information to make the right decision. Professor Yitzhak Ben Israel’s data analysis provides Trump with the assurance that he needs to reopen America.

Battle Lines Drawn: Texas Opts for Liberty, While Washington State Makes Liberty Illegal

Pay attention, as today marks a pivotal point in American history as we struggle to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. Several states have banded together to oppose President Trump’s framework for getting America back to work, while other states have shown a willingness to protect individual liberty and the livelihoods of Americans. No two states demonstrate this stark contrast better than Texas and Washington.

On the same day, Gov. Inslee (D-Wash.) and Gov. Abbott (R-Texas) issued statements that display the fundamental question facing America. Shall the United States remain a nation founded on liberty, or shall we capriciously remove those rights as an exercise to increase the power of the state?

First, let’s examine Greg Abbott’s statement on reopening Texas for business:

Abbott’s office issued this statement:

Governor Greg Abbott today held a press conference where he issued three new Executive Orders to begin the process of reopening the state of Texas while revising hospital capacity and certain social distancing guidelines. Within the orders, select activities and services that pose minimal to no threat of spreading COVID-19 are allowed to reopen using a “Retail-To-Go” model, certain restrictions on surgeries have been loosened, and schools will remain closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 academic year.

Within these orders, the Governor has established the Strike Force to Open Texas—a team of nationally recognized medical experts and private and public leaders who will advise the Governor on safely and strategically reopening the state of Texas.

“Texans are battling a colossal challenge—an invisible enemy that has tested our lives and our livelihoods—but overcoming challenges is part of who we are as Texans,” said Governor Abbott. “We have shown that Texas can continue our efforts to contain COVID-19 while also adopting safe standards that will allow us to begin the process of reopening Texas. The Strike Force to Open Texas brings together nationally recognized medical experts with public and private sector leaders to achieve this mission. By coming together, we can get Texans back to work, practice safe standards that will prevent the spread of COVID-19, and we can overcome this pandemic.”

Abbott believes that Texans can continue safe behaviors and practices while conducting business and picking up the pieces of shattered livelihoods — returning to jobs, reopening businesses, and slowly returning to normal. This reflects a belief in the principle of self-governance upon which the Founders based the Constitution.

What does Jay Inslee believe?

It appears Inslee doesn’t share Abbott’s belief in self-governance and would prefer that Washington remain unliberated. He would prefer more draconian measures to keep Washingtonians from their basic activities, even when those measures don’t make sense in fighting a pandemic. Inslee followed the example of New Jersey’s Democrat governor by banning private construction while declaring construction on government projects essential. Inslee has also ordered a ban on fishing and hunting, closed parks to camping and hiking, and ordered boat launches closed, among many other restrictions that will have little effect on slowing the virus. He seems to think individuals can’t be trusted to practice social distancing while wandering in the wilderness.

Inslee stated earlier this week, along with the governors of Oregon and California, that he is still months away from allowing citizens to resume their normal lives. Not weeks, months. One of the biggest conditions he placed on allowing folks to go back to work is widespread testing capability to be able to track sick people. He knows that testing is a long ways off, so that gives him all the moral authority he needs to continue to order people home. Meanwhile, more and more liberties are stripped away every day in Washington………..

Make no mistake, this is the battle for freedom that Ronald Reagan warned us about when he said:

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

Rallies to reopen economy spread across country as officials urge caution to prevent coronavirus resurgence

A growing wave of rallies are taking place across the country as protesters demand that state governments lift their orders closing businesses and public places as soon as possible, even as officials urge caution to prevent a resurgence of coronavirus.

These Americans say they are suffering because of the economic shutdowns nationwide to reduce the spread of the coronavirus and are antsy to resume working and going out in public as usual…….

“Minnesota citizens now is the time to demand Governor Walz and our state legislators end this lock down!” the description of a Facebook event titled “Liberate Minnesota” scheduled for noon on Friday reads. “Minnesota’s economy must be reopened for business or destroying the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Minnesota citizens and their families may result if we don’t act quickly.

Trump calls for states to be ‘liberated’ from coronavirus lockdowns

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday called for a number of states under extended lockdown to be “liberated” after telling governors on Thursday “you’re going to call your shots” over when to reopen.

In a series of Twitter missives, the president called for Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia to be “liberated.”

Appears someone heard the word.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Eases Restrictions After Trump Calls For State To Be ‘Liberated’

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KEYC) – Governor Tim Walz today issued Executive Order 20-38, which expands allowable outdoor recreational activities. The changes will allow Minnesotans to continue to enjoy the outdoors close to home while following social distancing guidelines.

In a televised press conference, he will provide the latest update on his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic including addressing how to handle activities such as golfing, boating and fishing.

Executive Order 20-38 allows Minnesotans to engage in a range of activities, including golfing, boating, fishing, hunting, and hiking, as long as they follow new outdoor recreation guidelines. These guidelines include maintaining 6-foot social distancing, avoiding crowded areas, and staying close to home.

“It’s important for us to stay active and enjoy the outdoors while preventing the spread of COVID-19,” said Governor Walz in a statement. “This measure will allow Minnesotans to take advantage of more opportunities to get outside, while still doing their part to keep their neighbors healthy.”

Under Executive Order 20-38, facilities that may reopen or remain open include:

  • Bait shops for live bait
  • Outdoor shooting ranges and game farms
  • Public and private parks and trails
  • Golf courses and driving ranges
  • Boating and off-highway vehicle services, including:
  • Marina services
  • Dock installation and other lake services
  • Boat and off-highway vehicle sales and repair, by appointment only

Campgrounds and dispersed camping, outdoor recreational equipment retail stores, recreational equipment rental, charter boats, launches, and guided fishing remain closed.

 

Michigan sheriffs accuse Gov. Whitmer of ‘overstepping her executive authority’
‘We believe that we are the last line of defense in protecting your civil liberties,’ sheriffs say

Sheriffs from four different counties in northern Michigan spoke out against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s statewide lockdown Wednesday, saying the Democratic governor is “overstepping her executive authority” during the coronavirus pandemic.

Leelanau County Sheriff Mike Borkovich, Benzie County Sheriff Ted Schendel, Manistee County Sheriff Ken Falk and Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole issued a joint press release saying they will only enforce the governor’s order on a case-by-case basis by using “common sense.”

“While we understand her desire to protect the public, we question some restrictions that she has imposed as overstepping her executive authority,” the sheriffs wrote. “She has created a vague framework of emergency laws that only confuse Michigan citizens.

“As a result, we will not have strict enforcement of these orders. We will deal with every case as an individual situation and apply common sense in assessing the apparent violation,” they continued. “Each of us took an oath to uphold and defend the Michigan Constitution, as well as the US Constitution, and to ensure that your God given rights are not violated. We believe that we are the last line of defense in protecting your civil liberties.”

Ms. Whitmer’s stay-at-home order has faced harsh criticism for its extreme measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus, including banning Michiganders from traveling between two residences and banning big-box stores from selling items deemed nonessential by the state, including plants and seeds. The governor has repeatedly defended the measures, claiming that residents won’t be traveling or gardening much anyway due to the snow.

Is Peaceful Assembly a Right?

We are approaching April 19. It’s an important date in history because it brings to our recollection the events of 1775 when the British Monarch sent troops to disarm his subjects at Concord, Massachusetts. The patriots who would not get off the Lexington Green were shot and or bayoneted. The British [or the Colonists – no one really knows ed.] fired, “The Shot Heard Round the World,” and history took a different path than that the people of the day may have anticipated on April 16th.
We have a republic and the only way that we will keep it is through eternal vigilance. I understand that we face a Chinese Plague, but the Chinese and their plague have not canceled the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We have the right to assemble peacefully, the right to worship according to the dictates of our conscience and the right to be armed and to defend ourselves.
The situation in some US states where governors have offered bounties for denouncements on people who may be walking a dog or sitting on a park bench by themselves taking air are most disturbing. The situation in Virginia with the recent passage of intolerable acts, or laws if you will, which are in direct violation of the Bill of Rights, also create concern.

Drivers swarm Michigan capital to protest coronavirus lockdown measures

Hundreds of cars, trucks and SUVs descended on Michigan’s state capital Wednesday afternoon as part of a noisy protest against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s social-distancing restrictions that critics say have gone too far.

Dubbed “Operation Gridlock” and organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, the protest did just that – creating bumper-to-bumper traffic throughout downtown Lansing as demonstrators blasted their horns, waved Americans flags and hoisted placards deriding Whitmer’s orders and demanding that she reopen the state’s economy.

The lockdown measures are meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, but Whitmer has gone further than some other governors — and the backlash in Michigan is among the most heated in the country.

“Let’s start with the fact that some counties have no or very few COVID cases and yet are totally shut down,” Rosanne Ponkowski, president of the Michigan Conservative Coalition, said in a statement. “When did a one-size solution solve everyone’s local issues? Governor Whitmer will put you out of business before allowing mere citizens to be responsible for their own behavior.  That is madness.”

Whitmer announced over the weekend an expansion to her state’s stay-at-home orders, which among other things prohibits residents from visiting family or friends with exceptions for providing care, bans public and private gatherings regardless of size or family ties, and places restrictions on what types of businesses may operate and in what capacity.

Michigan has the fourth-largest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States, with more 27,000 being reported as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The orders, which are in place until at least May 1, quickly drew criticism from conservative Republicans in the state, who argue that the governor is turning Michigan into a “nanny state” and impeding their civil liberties.

“Quarantine is when you restrict movement of sick people. Tyranny is when you restrict the movement of healthy people,” Meshawn Maddock, an organizer of “Operation Gridlock” with the Michigan Conservative Coalition, told Fox News. “Every person has learned a harsh lesson about social distancing. We don’t need a nanny state to tell people how to be careful.”