Several things have wandered through my field of vision this week and each one has simultaneously surprised me and confirmed my already high levels of cynicism. The first was a second lockdown and restrictions. In Philadelphia, our (incompetent) mayor has decided to do our (incompetent) governor one better and shut down all indoor dining and gyms and gatherings. Additionally saying we shouldn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. And to top it off, the PA secretary of health, Rachel Levine is saying that we all need to wear masks indoors. Yeah. Not happening. This is planned to last until January. Other governors are doing similar things…Newsom (or Noisesome) in California has instituted travel restrictions (immediately violated by him and several members of the state assembly and senate…they traveled to HI for a conference), and gathering restrictions (immediately violated by him as he traveled to Napa for a birthday dinner for a lobbyist at the French Laundry…inside). But he presumes to tell people not to celebrate Thanksgiving. As does Cuomo.
On the good side of surprised, and one of things that kept my cynicism levels down was this piece in The Federalist by a police officer who says he won’t be arresting or ticketing people who violate these ridiculous orders. And sheriffs in California and New York have said they will not be enforcing curfews (CA) or limits on private gatherings either. My cynicism goes down with these stories because it means there are still plenty of rational people left in positions of power. My cynicism ratchets back up with arrogant idiots like Newsom and Cuomo issue orders like these and fully expect them to be followed.
All of this comes as a Danish study is released showing that masks have no statistically significant effect on lowering virus transmission. That means that your odds of catching the Covid virus are the same whether you wear a mask or not. It doesn’t freaking matter. But, of course, it that becomes the norm, how are they going to justify locking us all down and destroying the economy…again.
We were told way back in March…15 days to flatten the curve. Back then, the goal was simply to avoid overwhelming hospitals. That goal was met. It was met so well that hospitals were empty. Then the goal posts started moving…and moving…and moving. They’re still moving. Now, it appears that lockdowns are being used as punishment against recalcitrant populations (those populations are understandably pissed off). How does a 10:00 p.m. curfew stop Covid. Is it less virulent at 9:45 p.m. than it is at 10:00 p.m.?
Chaos and contradiction rule the day. Always changing regulations and orders, elected officials immediately and flagrantly violating their own orders, and then getting mad when the hoi polloi do not follow those orders. Americans are actually a pretty intelligent and responsible people. We have a social culture that emphasizes personal responsibility and hard work. Work hard, take responsibility and you can succeed in whatever area and in whatever direction you choose. We also care about our neighbors and our communities and are willing to extend ourselves, and yes, sacrifice, for them. HOWEVER, we absolutely do not respond well to being treated as a member of a group and nothing more or like small children who are incapable of making our own decisions and taking our own risks.
When Japan was planning the attack on Pearl Harbor, it is said that Admiral Yamamoto warned against it, saying that to attack the U.S. would awaken a sleeping tiger. His warning was ignored and Japan attacked. And, lost the war. Our political and social elites need to heed Yamamoto’s warning. Do not awaken the sleeping tiger of ordinary Americans. You will lose this war.
Image by Marcel Langthim from Pixabay
Followed link to “new” page.
My sister watches a lot of NHKWorld so we get to see news from Japan every hour, on the hour. (Ok, it’s in English and not really what the Japanese see, but it is still an outside news source.) It seems that Japans Covid numbers are going up. Why do I consider this noteworthy? Many residents of the Metro regions are accustom to wearing masks every day. Most of Japan followed requests (not orders) to wear masks without (public) comment or complaint. And yet, their numbers are going up the same as every other country in the northern hemisphere.
I am reminded of a line I heard, the tighter you close your fist, the more the grains slip away.
Ditto to both, although the NHK part is only on weekends.
For a bit, there was an attempt to make hay of Sweden’s hospitalization rate going up… if you looked, you discovered the rest of the EU had spiked similarly, just before Sweden did.
In line with the usual start of flu season.
Or Princess Leia to Governor Tarkin: The more you tighten your grip, the more systems will slip through your fingers.
I’ve been finding it disheartening and disconcerting that one of the more libertarian bloggers here has been railing against Trump’s legal challenges to the voting, and also advocating for the police to enforce the recently enacted mask mandate by the governor. It’s almost like he had a lobotomy over the summer. His father is former law enforcement so you’d think he’d understand the concept of ‘officer discretion,’ but was ranting about how some of the sheriffs that have stated they won’t be enforcing the mandate should just get out of law enforcement if they aren’t going to enforce the law. And then made some nonsensical argument regarding how would Republicans feel if law enforcement officers had decided to ignore the change to Constitutional Carry a couple of years ago. Point of order, sir! But you can’t enforce a law that no longer exists. You can’t charge someone for carrying concealed if a permit is no longer required! As opposed to deciding not cite someone for wearing a mask. Kinda like deciding not to cite someone for littering for flicking their cigarette butt on the ground, or not citing someone for speeding after citing them for the headlight out.
I’ve been noticing that too. It feels like people are back to buying into the “don’t challenge the election that’s disruptive” thing. There’s still this whole “we have to be calm and decorous” attitude on the part of conservatives. I thought people had finally realized that attitude just gets you trampled by the progressive horde.
Off Topic.
Nice place you have here.
I think I’ll visit often. 😀
Why thank you!
I am not in my happy place. The apparent patterns…
This could blow up much worse than unending and tedious litigation over elections every single time.
I notice that the link to monsterhunternation dot com labels it Monster Hunger Nation.
Yeah, the patterns bother me too. But, we are noticing them and that means they are becoming obvious…I don’t know that they were so obvious in previous years. I think that the closeness of this election (or rather, their loss of a landslide) has scared the crap out of the Left and now they’re fighting tooth and nail to keep their position. Problem is they’ve revealed their plans at the same time. Yes, it’s going to get ugly, but I agree with Sarah that in the end, we win. We just have to keep moving forward and keep pointing out the gaslighting and keep mocking them.
I hope you can come back to your happy place. Or if not all the way back to that, then at least to a less despairing place.