lansing michigan protest whitmer
Steve Polet holds a sign during a protest at the State Capitol in Lansing, Mich., Wednesday, April 15, 2020. Flag-waving, honking protesters drove past the Michigan Capitol on Wednesday to show their displeasure with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's orders to keep people at home and businesses locked during the new coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

America: The land of the free and home of the brave.

But you would never guess that by how our nation has responded to a virus threat – even after the Armageddon the so-called experts predicted didn’t come to pass. Thankfully, President Trump acted Thursday to outline a return to normalcy in our society.

But in emerging protests across the nation, Americans are making it clear they are growing impatient with heavy-handed emergency authoritarianism. Especially as this virus has not followed the doom and gloom predictions of so-called experts.

Not even close to the 2.2 million initially predicted.

Protesters gather at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, Mich., Wednesday, April 15, 2020. Flag-waving, honking protesters drove past the Michigan Capitol on Wednesday to show their displeasure with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s orders to keep people at home and businesses locked during the new coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

While the lives lost to this virus so far are certainly tragic, those losses are no less a tragedy than the lives lost because of the economic shutdown of the country. Suicides are up. The economy is in a shambles. Lives are being ruined.

You can’t destroy a person’s livelihood and offer them little or no hope and expect at least some of them not to respond to over-the-top tyrannical edicts from a governor or mayor. Or perhaps to petty coronavirus rule enforcement by an over-eager law-enforcement officer.

 

What do you mean I can’t buy a car seat for my new baby? Or go fishing? Or jog alone on the beach. 

Thankfully, surprisingly, our politicos here in Illinois haven’t actually gone off the deep end with tyrannical decrees via executive order as has Michigan. So far. And cops have shown prudent restraint, respecting the Constitution more than social distancing “rules.”

Other states? Well Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer seems to come out with a new prohibition every other day.

From “The Worst Governor in America” at The American Spectator…

…Among the complaints was that Whitmer had prohibited sale of seeds and other garden supplies at a time when vegetable gardens need to be planted. Executive Order 2020-42 is titled, “Temporary requirement to suspend activities that are not necessary to sustain or protect life,” and it is quite specific about which activities are and are “not necessary.” Stores with “more than 50,000 square feet” (e.g., Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot) are ordered to close areas of the store “by cordoning them off, placing signs in aisles, posting prominent signs, removing goods from shelves, or other appropriate means” that sell carpet or flooring, furniture, and “garden centers and plant nurseries.” So if grandma went to Walmart for groceries and hoped to pick up some tomato plants or cucumber seeds while she was there — sorry, grandma! You could get a thousand-dollar fine and 90 days in jail for disobeying Whitmer’s orders.

 

Gov. “Half” Whitmer also banned motorized watercraft. But canoes are just fine in her world.

Yes, some like Champaign, Illinois’ mayor and city council have given themselves sweeping new powers in an illegally convened council meeting. As have plenty of other Illinois towns and cities reacting similarly to what turned out to be faulty predictions and models.

But these local governments haven’t actually implemented their self-appointed authoritarian “powers.” That has probably saved a more than few lives and kept everyone’s families safer.

The worst of these political “leaders” threaten people with arrest for attending church or buying mulch while releasing violent prisoners and jail populations. Furloughing or releasing prisoners because they might be infected does not make for good public policy. Nor does it make our families safer.

Furthermore, we as a nation need to ask questions of our leaders — city, state and federal — before we blindly comply with unlawful orders attempting to strip people of their Constitutional rights. Especially people who aren’t infected with the Chinese virus.

Those who enforce these unlawful orders would be wise to ponder their oath before implementing enforcement of Constitutionally faulty orders against healthy people.

And here’s why: Because the people will soon rise up against police if they see cops enforcing a “stay at home” order by cuffing a father playing T-ball with his 6-year-old daughter by themselves in a park somewhere. Or imposing house arrest upon healthy people listening to a church sermon in their cars at their local church.

First, the uprising will take place with angry phone calls, letters and public condemnation. Eventually, if and when the soapbox uprising fails, a cartridge box uprising could be next.

And nobody wants to see that happen.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

100 COMMENTS

  1. “Especially as this virus has not followed the doom and gloom predictions of so-called experts.”

    We haven’t gotten the doom and gloom because of social distancing and people staying at home. Most of the country has done an excellent job of flattening the curve.

    • Except that H1N1 has had a banner year. It’s been far more dangerous this year even than CO(nspiracy)ID(deepstate)-19.

      • New study suggests that the disease is 50-80 times more prevalent in society than previously thought, which means that it’s also 50-80 times less lethal than even the constantly updated models would have predicted: https://abc7ny.com/health/80-times-more-people-may-have-been-infected-by-covid-19-stanford-study-finds/6110894/

        Don’t forget that the models that predicted 2.1 million, then 500,000, then 150,000 deaths were taking into account mitigation (social distancing) already.

        Something tells me there were some opportunistic insiders surrounding the president to try and tank the economy just in time for November.

        • Nope. Trump is in on it too. He gave his friends a nice check for millions or billions just like they gave him when he was in financial trouble. He even hired the people that helped him out so they could run the show.

          It’s so obvious. He hires people to do the bad things, then he quickly fires them before the American people catch on. It’s an easy way to get what he wants and have an excuse when things go “wrong.”

          For instance, he hired a temporary director to implement his bump fire stock crime, then he got rid of him right after he did as he was ordered. Then he puts in another bad guy.

          Trump demands loyalty while he fires everyone as the scapegoat. Didn’t like that a Navy Captain wrote a 5 page letter exposing the outbreak on a ship? Well, get your minion to fire him then have the minion resign.

        • Yup. Don’t buy for a second that Americans turned out to be fivefold better at social distancing than initially predicted. The virus just isn’t that deadly. This was not worth a Second Great Depression. The 2020 crash will go down in history as an episode of mass hysteria.

        • Ark:
          You don’t get out much do you? Go to any store across the nation and there are people practicing social distancing. Masks, gloves, people using sanitizers after touching things… etc etc…

          Maybe you just are not paying attention. Wouldn’t surprise me.

      • Not a believer in the COVID-19 threat? Go explore NYC then. No mask, no gloves, get close to people, etc etc… Good luck. Moron.

        • “No mask, no gloves, get close to people”

          I wouldn’t do those things in New York even if there was no Kung Flu. I’d rather take a dump in a bus station toilet.

        • “I’d rather take a dump in a bus station toilet.”

          With, or without a dead hooker in the same stall with you? 🙂

    • Odd how East Asia isn’t having mass deaths as they continue living life mostly unchanged.

      By the way, flattening the curve isn’t meant to dodge the virus, it’s meant to not stress the health system of a country beyond it’s capabilities. Meaning, people will still get infected and people will still die, just over an extended period.

      If you hide in your bubble you won’t be able to build any antibodies against the virus. When it spreads again, which it will, you might be at more risk. Locking yourself in a bubble will create a second wave/outbreak when you leave your home.

  2. Authoritarianism? It’s been below the surface of smiling trinket promising democRat faces for years. It’s embedded in their DNA from years of their ancestors managing slave plantations, etc. You can do this but you cannot do that. You can go here you but cannot go there. You can buy this but you cannot buy that. Yada, yada, yada who gives a yippie yippie f what a blowbag democrat bully says?

  3. There’s a reason why losers have been getting participation trophies and winners have been told to not win quite so hard. Same reason why feelings are now more important than facts. Also why there are more and more dependent on taxpayer funded assistance: Grown ups are harder to control than children, hence, make them all childish.

  4. time to put these tyrants on the business end of a rope including at a minimum of Whitmer and Northam for violation of their oath of office and dismal failure to protect the constitution. Hell, we didn’t pause when we executed the Rosenbergs. And these governors are supposed to be Americans!

    • People are not realizing there have been put on house arrest like a teenage criminal. Their “ankle bracelet” is their cellphone.

      Look up what house arrest is. It’s very similar to the restrictions the president and the governors have put you under. If America didn’t have a police state you could simply walk outside without the fear of death by government’s gun or at the very least fined hundreds of dollars you don’t have because you were fired.

      Notice how it’s all willful surrender? We still got long guns and the numbers, but we don’t have the will to fight. Americans have a slave’s mind just like Africans did when they were forced into slavery by the wealthy European colonist.

      When the government says “Jump!” you say “How high, sir?”

      • Ok… now I know you’re full of shit…

        Go look up how the slave trade actually worked kiddo.

        • I was referring to America not the entire slave business.

          People like to divert attention from the European colonists who took over the Americas by shouting Africa and Arabs or that every European who came to the Americas had slaves.

          The people who built their wealth and power in the Americas, using slavery, were not the average person, they were more well off. Not many Europeans could afford slaves, thus they didn’t have them. It’s not like every white man got himself an African slave to make him rich. The average person had to work for what they got.

          The communists want to divert attention away from the wealthy people who bought themselves slaves and committed other horrible acts. They will scream “racist” or they will blame Africans and Arabs. They won’t even mention whites were also “slaves.” Some well known Democrats’ family had owned slaves.

          The wealthy families that got permission to own slaves don’t want you to know the truth about the business because it will unite all people against the wealthy. They must misdirect people to make it about race and religion.

          The whole point of my statement was to point out you are allowing yourself to be a slave. It’s the mentality given to you by your master. There is no cognitive resistance to the notion you must comply/obey. Therefore you do not rise up and fight for your liberty against your oppressor even though you have the power to win. The American people have a slave mentality, they are slave in their own minds.

      • “……If America didn’t have a police state you could simply walk outside without the fear of death by government’s gun or at the very least fined hundreds of dollars you don’t have because you were fired….”

        That’s not happening here in UpState South Carolina.

      • Africans did when they were forced into slavery by the wealthy… African’s, especially along the coast. Read a history book. Africa had issues with Slavery for thousands of years before the Europeans were buying. It’s just that the Europeans offered a larger and more profitable market.

        • It has more to do with the uncomfortable fact that slaves were the currency in Africa since before anyone else arrived. The Arabs found this out before the Europeans. If you wanted to trade there slaves were the money. Europeans wanted lots of stuff from Africa, gold, silver, palm oil, food etc. The Africans wanted things like horses, well at least where the Tsetse fly wasn’t prevalent. A good horse would bring in offers of 40-50 slaves. What other goods would the Africans in these areas offer for the horse? None. Slaves were the currency basically because they had been since time immemorial.

          Generally Europeans tried at first to avoid having leftover slaves, they viewed the whole thing as unChristian. But there wasn’t much other option since slaves were the coin of the realm.

          Spain’s first foray into Africa yielded slaves as ” spare change”, when they were returned to Spain the government was perplexed as to why in the heck these people had been brought back. They decided to educate them and many of those initial slaves returned to Africa as missionaries, teaders or teachers because they were resistant to the diseases Europeans would die from in droves.

          As trade grew “spare change” became more and more common and, eventually, it became more profitable to trade them to places in the New World, particularly where sugar plantations were up-and-coming because otherwise the slaves tended to go “bad” (die) before they could be reused as cash somewhere along the coast, and that eventually led to the slave trade as Americans generally know it.

          The British spent enormous sums or money, ships and lives trying to stop this and spread Christianity specifically to protect various tribes from enslavement and sale. Generally they were less than successful, mostly due to topography and malaria. Large parts of Africa were still basically unknown into the early to mid-1900’s, which is part of why the Italians, and to some degree the Brits, met with disaster in the Northeast of the continent as late as the 1940’s.

          The actual known history of Africa for the last 1000 or so years is intensely interesting, uplifting and depressing all at the same time. A good study in the constraints reality places on even the best of people.

        • Just as the white Progressive historians lie about slavery in africa. They also lie about blacks and gun ownership in the south. They say the civil rights movement won the day without guns. That is a complete lie. And they removed from the text books the fact that white civil rights workers from the northeast, told the local southern blacks surrounded by the KKK to disarm.

  6. I have a friend from college who is an I.T. geek in the jacksonville FL FBI office. He works for homeland security in the same building he and his wife came over for dinner last night. My wife and I gave him the 3rd degree about WTFFFFFFF is going on dude , we all walked to the beach without cellphones told us to leave them at home didn’t get that, he jus grinned said trust me, in a nutshell what he has learned at work is that the LEADERS are calling it a socialism DRY RUN to see how americans handle being locked up and our rights taken away. He also told us this is WAYYYYY ABOVE the Democrats and even the PRESIDENT himself..I certainly hope not. It was certainly worrysome to hear what he had to say. I pray it isn’t true.
    THE REDCOATS ARE COMING GET READY.

        • And you honestly don’t know what jwm just told you? You honestly don’t know what you may very well have just done to your friend?

        • Well since this story rings as true as a three dollar bill, I think his IT friends is safe.

          My friend, this isn’t a dry run on socialism. It is socialism.

          Stay home, don’t work, the government will provide.

          This is not America.

        • The term is “queer as a 3 dollar bill.”

          Not sure why a 3 dollar bill would be queer. But that’s how it goes.

  7. Chances are good there are deranged individuals in high places enjoying every minute of this disaster. And if one of those types knew of a vaccine they would probably destroy the formula, etc. Do something before the fox gets into the hen house..

  8. Oh, let me take a guess here, ummm, liquor stores, pot shops, & abortion’s are all essentials & almost everything else you need permission for , because I’m the boss of you… says the gov… nice.

    • Aside from places like PA closing all the liquor stores and Texas banning all the abortions, yes, exactly like that.

  9. And there was all that stuff Trump did that started all of this. Let’s not to forget to mention the dear leader, sent by God to indirectly fire people in the tens of millions with his artificial shut down using his supreme power.

    Mmm… Tasty “bread lines” and universal basic income checks. Sir, can I have some more?

  10. “But you would never guess that by how our nation has responded to a virus threat – even after the Armageddon the so-called experts predicted didn’t come to pass.”

    Health Experts: “If we don’t do anything hundreds of thousands of people could die. We should act now to save lives.”
    *does something, only tens of thousands die*
    Dummies: “See?!? It was nowhere near as bad as they said! We shouldn’t listen to them!”

    • The most widely cited initial projections assumed full social distancing and partial quarantine measures and still had a death toll of 7 figures. But by all means, continue to parrot the propaganda, cop. If that’s what helps you sleep at night….

  11. It’s been 45 days since the first COVID-19 death. The “2.2 million” number reflected a “do nothing” approach, not locking down 95% of the country.

    Stick to strutting around with your AR strapped to your chest, Cleetus.

    • Yes but the 150-250 thousand deaths prediction was predicated on doing social distancing and lockdowns .

      And it was pure BS.

    • The 2.2 million number came from throwing numbers into one of the Catastrophic Global warming simulators that always go hockey stick. Two days later they put different assumptions into the model and got 80,000 people.

      Every day we get more and more information that says this virus is way less deadly than the hysteria the media has been pushing. They tested everyone on the USS Theodore Roosevelt, 60% of the infected sailors on the Roosevelt had zero symptoms. One death out of over 600 infected.

      Everywhere with widespread testing is showing the same. Iceland, Germany. The majority of people show no symptoms, and the majority of those who do have mild cold-like symptoms. The new serum tests are showing that catching other Beta Coronaviruses provides anti-bodies for this one, so large swaths of people already have antibodies for SARS-COV-2

      80% of the folks on the Diamond Princess didn’t catch it, even though an enclosed cruise ship is about the perfect giant petri dish to spread an infection. For those who did catch it, the death rate was about 1%.

      The dictators on the left are shutting down businesses, and parks, and outdoor recreation, but they are keeping their precious mass transit and choo-choo trains open.

      If we really thought we needed to keep people away from each other, we’d shut down the NY Subway, the BART, the EL, and whatever cracker-jack public transit system they have in New Orleans.

  12. Seems to me that certain cops are doing their best to alienate even the thin blue line crowd.

    • Nah, the thin blue line crowd CANT be alienated. A group of cops could gang rape a 5 year old girl on film and they would STILL find a way to justify it

  13. As a LEO at a mid-sized agency in Texas, I have been impressed by how many police chiefs and Sheriffs have openly stated to officers that they are not to enforce “orders” from any municipal or county official that are constitutionally questionable. I was hoping this would be nationwide, but I’m getting the feeling this may be more of a Texas/Western attitude. Hopefully, LEO’s throughout the country will remember that they work for the people and took an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution over the “orders” of local officials.

    • Well folks, it’s time to put on your masks, practice social distancing and open up the buisnesses and tell them to pound sand. They can’t arrest whole towns or cities.

  14. Wmg1299. God be with you. It takes a lot of balls to not follow these dictats at the risk of your job etc

  15. @Garrison Hall
    Yea hes the only one that works there in an 8 story bldg that’s in I.T. ..

  16. The corona virus, in medical terms, spreads faster than a 2 bit hooker. Get everybody to stay put, then there’s no place for it to spread. Break quarantine and risk becoming contagious for about 5 days spreading it before you have symptoms. Then everybody that caught it from you does the same. If you want to risk dying while killing many others, it’s no dirt on my coffin.

    • Unless you quarantine everybody until the virus totally dies out everywhere in the world (not one person anywhere is infected), all this does is delay everyone from getting it at once. Most everyone will still get it in time.

      I’m not sure where this idea that ‘social distancing’ will keep most from getting the KungFlu came from, but it’s false. All the preliminary models that forecast mass fatalities were also wrong. All we’re doing at this point is murdering our economy. They have also scared everyone to the point that even if they lift the restrictions many will still cower at home.

      Unless you are in a high risk group (obese, diabetic, old, etc) the chances of dying from this are minimal. In Italy the average age of death was close to 80, with fully half of the deceased having 3 or more serious health problems. A further 25% had 2 serious problems and the remaining 25% had one.

      Here in the US, 25% of the deaths in NY were in nursing homes, in MD it’s 41%. The media will run the occasional sob story of a young person who dies, but it is very rare.

      • Well said. Pretty much exactly how I feel.

        At 38 and in decent health I’m personally low risk and would rather just go ahead roll the dice to see whether I get it or not and if so, if it hurts/kills me. The only thing giving me pause is my girlfriend is an RN at a nursing home and I would hate to be responsible for passing it on to them.

  17. The Imperatrix of New Mexico, Her Majesty Queen-Empress Lujan Grisham, is doing her best to keep us peasants, the hoi polloi, in line. Unfortunately, the hangers-on in the Imperial Court in Santa Fe are hanging on Her Majesty’s every word.

        • The biggest tyrant is your fat, narcissistic, idiotic self-proclaimed King Trump. He aspires to be like his buddies Putin and Kim. He doesn’t give a shit about you, just his wealthy friends. Stop watching Fox News 24/7 and get a clue.

        • Look, Dude.

          I’m truly sorry that your dog ran away, your boss doesn’t value you, your children have no respect for you, you misplaced your car keys yesterday, your hair is thinning, your waistline is expanding, and your Good Lady Wife remains sexually unsatisfied, but you simply MUST stop blaming your troubles on Trump.

          It’s all just you.

          Except for the car keys. That was Underpants Gnomes. But, at least it wasn’t Trump.

  18. As to the governor of Michigan, she won office fair and square, or so a non Michigan type assumes. She didn’t cheat, did she?

  19. Yes, Gov. Whitmer slapped the face of every responsible parent, COPD patient, and Veteran who lost a limb by banning the use of a motorboat in the fair and legal pursuit of game (fish). Unfortunately, the DNR in my fair state are obligated to follow and enforce her edict.

    This is why we protested.

    • It’s time to start hunting Gretchen Wit-less and drop her in a wet grave !!! 7.62×51 works quite well for this particular pile of “game” ! Make it so please. In the meantime , I’ll be out in my MOTORBOAT fishing for walleyes and rainbows and the MSP and Damn Nasty Russians can kiss my WHITE AMERICAN YOOPER ASS !!! Fuck you Wit-less !!! Die already !!! Oh. By the way . I’m always armed when I exercise my GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO FISH so there’s always that little problem facing you when you try to deny me same said rights !!! 1776 LIVES TODAY !!!

  20. 30K+ dead already! Trump has mishandled this pandemic from the start. Now it’s about getting re-elected. Yes, the economy is important, but it’s premature to estimate when to open for business. Stay the fuck at home if possible and adhere to the CDC guidelines. It’s not about you, it’s about protecting those that are vulnerable. Idiots!

      • I don’t stay home all the time. I go to work because my company is manufacturing lab equipment used to fight this pandemic. Plus, I fish and spend time outdoors away from others. All activities within the CDC guidelines. It’s not difficult.

    • Yea, millions of people loosing their jobs totally won’t have a negative effect on people’s health or wellbeing.

      All those hospitals in rural areas that don’t have any cases of the WuFlu can totally afford to stay open and pay all their employees when all elective procedures that people actually have to pay for have been banned. They can just keep treating everyone who shows up in the emergency room with no insurance just fine.

      State and Local Governments will also have no problem paying all their employees next year when their income and sales tax revenue collapses and people can’t pay their property taxes because they are unemployed. That’s actually going to be the best part of this. The localities with the most jackbooted policies are going to take the biggest hit.

      Then there are the general supply chain disruptions this shutdown is causing. From what I understand about half of all food goes to restaurants. Since they are shut down produce is rotting in the fields. Millions of pounds of food in restaurant and institutional distribution channels is probably going to have to be thrown out. What effect having most of their customers go out of business by the time this is over remains to be seen.

      What happens when the diesel that fuels all the trucks becomes scarce when refineries shut down as they run out of space to store all the petroleum byproducts we aren’t using? Or critical parts the local electricity provider needs aren’t available because the factory that makes them was shut down? I hope we don’t find out.

    • We need to stay away from each other so that we don’t catch the virus or transmit it. That doesn’t mean hiding out in the house or apartment for weeks or months never unlocking the door or opening a window. Cordoning off part of a store, because it stocks nonessential products, while the rest of the store remains open is bat shit crazy. So is forbidding people to go out by themselves fishing. Right now, too many of our elected leaders remind me of an old joke that ends with the head and the ass being interchangeable.

      As far as 30k deaths are concerned, that’s a typical year for ordinary influenza. A bad year is double that. When you get old (like me), your health becomes fragile. You die of injuries or diseases that a young, healthy person recovers from in weeks. Residents of nursing homes, who are the ones dying in droves from COVID-19, tend to be the most fragile. It doesn’t take much to finish them off.

      Trump stated that this is a war. He is correct although not for the reason he probably meant. Wars have casualties. In this case, they will include people like truck drivers, grocery store workers and employees of public utilities. They are risking their lives so that civilization doesn’t collapse. If that is allowed to happen, the death toll in the US will be tens of millions.

  21. Your Constitutional Rights are not subject to forfeit or suspension on the whim of some tinpot politician or national emergency. All one has to do is look back in time to when President Lincoln decided unilaterally to suspend the Right of Habeus Corpus and in the process also jailed those who were his political enemies during the course of the Civil War. Finally and well after the war ended the U.S. Supreme Court put an end to that practice by reaffirming that our Constitutional protections were inviolate no matter the circumstances and never so important as in a time of National Emergency!! Seems these tinpots at all levels of government need a reminder in the limits to their power perceptions!!! They also need to be re-educated on the U.s. Constitution but given the fact that today’s Government-run schools fail to teach the constitution and what gave rise to it goes a long way in explaining the power grabs by these schmucks

    • Article One, Section 9, clause 2, of the Constitution states that “The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.” So, habeas corpus could be suspended during the War Between the States.

      • The Supreme Court indicated that the right to free speech couldn’t be quashed by the Executive under false pretense claiming the need to deny these imprisoned the right to a bail hearing which is what habeas corpus is about. That right to Habeas Corpus was suspended under the pretext of the Great Rebellion. Lincoln was attempting to not only silence his political critics and enemies but also to deny the right to any type of speedy trial. Many of them remained in Federal Prison throughout the remainder of the War between the States never getting their right to a Jury trial or to confront witnesses. All of these are essential Constitutional Guarantees that cannot be forfeit under the color of The Great National Emergency that was the Civil War!! Those imprisoned were never afforded the right to even demonstrate to the Courts the right to reasonable bail. Tyranny at its very heart. This is what King George was accused of doing and did in fact do. So please look at the case in the entirety to understand what Constitutional Guarantees were all offended by the misuse of suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus!

  22. The Case Fatality Risk Assessment from the CDC on March 5, 2020 predicted between 75,000 and 200,000 deaths in the US and its territories, based on data from China and the cruise ship.
    It appears as if the low number will be close to correct.

    • @jwt

      I am a board certified endocrinologist.

      Before the Cathay COOF, 75% of my patients were obese diabetics, and 25% were anti-aging (read: steroids).

      Now I am seeing men from all walks of life suffering impotence and low T. I don’t if this virus came from a Chinese wet market, or a lab, or Mossad or CIA or what…

      But you do not want this. I wrote a prescription for Androgel to a 5’9, 155lb 33yo triathlete today. 35ng/dL. “Recovered COVID-19”. I don’t know what this virus is, and neither does the medical literature… but if you value erections and Endogenous Testosterone…

      Stay home. Stay the F away from this virus. It is not “just the flu”. Applebee’s and the latest Weinstein movie can wait.

      • They don’t know yet if the testosterone drop is permanent or not, as I understand it.

        And if it is permanent, that solves the global overpopulation problem quite nicely, don’t you think? 🙂

        Come to think of it, it’s even possible China engineered it, since they suffer greatly from overpopulation and a dwindling food supply…

  24. This place has turned into garbage over the past few weeks. This website needs to stay in its lane and avoid talking about covid 19. The articles come across as well-informed on this pandemic as Nancy Pelosi does on gun control. It’s embarrassing. Stop it. The Dunning-Kruger effect on here is unbearable. As a physician I’m telling you this quarantine is the easy part.

    • I hate to say I agree with you about the quarantine. I fear that all we are doing is postponing the inevitable with this virus. People have not been allowed to develop natural defenses by way of their own immune systems (yes, the Herd mentality) such that ending it will only allow for the disease to reemerge, assuming that when it ends we have developed man-made virus controls. That will take much longer than 6 -18 months. Look how long it took for vaccinations for Polio or smallpox to be developed as examples. So we quarantine for a year and a half and come out the other side with even more issues such a lack of basic necessities which breed many more health-related fatalities. We are far from this nightmare ending anytime soon. These situations at their worst bring out the absolute worst in human beings which will be demonstrated in the coming months.

    • Agreed. This article really belongs on a different website than TTAG.

      I want the old TTAG back. The site that leaned hard into statistics, argumentation, and made obscure references to Israeli models. Remember that TTAG? You could count on them to dig into issues and tell the story being missed by mainstream media. I miss that site.

      As for COVID, I have relatives and friends who are medical professionals on the front lines. They all call this a scary virus. Let’s accept that and do what we’ve been asked to do. India, South Korea, Germany, Italy, Spain, Jordan, France and so on didn’t impose nationwide lockdowns just for giggles.

      • As a physician we should have taken the approach of Sweden.

        I’ve been with the website since its first year, RF would have absolutely had articles on Corona, mass hysteria, shutdowns of civil rights based on faulty scientific models and about the effects they have on guns.

        It’s a free interwebz…. don’t click on the article if you don’t want to get triggered.

        • Alright, I’ll bite, even though I’m sure you’re trolling me.

          First, the Swedish example doesn’t hold up to close scrutiny:
          1) Their own experts are saying it’s not working. Worldometer shows their cases have grown rapidly.
          2) Their population density is generally lower than what ours is along the coasts or major US urban areas
          3) They’re traditionally lax on most social issues.

          As for RF, we can debate all day what Robert would have written. The point is that I clicked on the article because it was so out of step with what I think TTAG is supposed to be about and so in-step with Fox News’ hot take on “defy social distancing” and “reopen the country.” If I want to read Fox news, I can go to Fox news.

          The truth is that we are not seeing authoritarianism is the US response. We do see Governors doing stupid things but: 1) they are getting called out for it; and 2) they lack the tools to be authoritarian, even if they want to be.

          Let’s be clear about what authoritarianism looks like:

          1) The King of Jordan made everyone stay home, putting troops/police on the streets to enforce his edict.
          2) China asserted control over all communications & reporting on the virus, leaving the world in the dark. They also arrested and disappeared anyone who spoke out. Police states know to control the data.
          3) Duterte threatened to shoot anyone who came out during the lockdown. That’s an authoritarian gesture.

          So, where in America is anyone threatening to shoot people for failing to social distance, where are troops patrolling the streets to enforce martial law, or are people being muzzled from reporting the facts?

          Better yet, name a single US doctor forced to confess that they lied when they raised the alarm on COVID.

  25. I’m glad we live in Arizona. (Until last fall, we lived in Nebraska which is pretty good, too.) The Arizona governor’s executive order is to limit time away from home except for essential activities. The definition of “essential” is pretty broad. It includes grocery shopping and medical appointments but also includes trips to take care of pets and outdoor recreation. Freedom of speech and religion are cited as protected by the constitution. No proof is required that your activity qualifies as essential. Therefore, nobody will give us trouble about being in our back yard engaging in our hobby of astronomy or riding our horse in the national forest behind the stable. There are things we need to do such as hiring a landscaper, to fix the yard that was torn up to work on the foundation, and getting one of our vehicles serviced but those can wait until the pandemic has passed.

    Another pandemic due to a highly contagious disease, for which we have no treatment since it is new, has long been predicted. This time, we will probably luck out losing no more 0.3% of the US population. The 1918 Spanish influenza killed between 0.5% and 1%. The Black Death (bubonic plague) took out 30% to 60% of Europe in the 14th century.

    A couple of nights ago, I watched a network news story about a dairy farmer who had to pour milk down the drain and a Florida tomato farmer whose crop was about to rot in the field. Neither could get the food to market. That scares me far more than how many people died today from COVID-19. Losing essential services, like food production and distribution, public water systems, sewage treatment, garbage collection, police, fire and EMS, and even the post office, would be far worse. I can get by without toilet paper and my wife and I can share a can of soup for dinner. But farmers have to continue producing the ingredients for the soup, the cannery has to stay open, and the cans have to be delivered to the grocery store. “They starved to death staying safe from COVID-19” would be a shitty epitaph.

    • Whoa….someone wrote something smart. Color me surprised.

      Sadly I think this place is turning into a troll factory lately.
      That being said, you are right Kendahl. It’s about keeping the supply lines open. If they close then we speed our way towards Thunderdome.

      Oh, and my governor is a one term putz.

  26. OK, I’ve read all the comments from both sides and both have valid points. I dislike the DemonicRats as much as anyone but, I’ve been between the proverbial “rock and hard place” in my life so I understand what these governors are going through right now. As Americans, we have rights and we cherish those rights that affect us directly, freedom of movement (as long as you don’t go somewhere we don’t think you should), freedom of speech (as long as you say what we agree with), freedom to assemble (as long as we agree with those with whom your assembling), etc., etc. So, let’s look at the dilemma of the situation, some want the right to assess their own risk and make decisions about whether they should acquiesce to the suspension of these rights, while others say “no” you don’t have that right at this time because your decision endangers so many others. Unfortunately, both are correct. It is my intention to watch, listen, and evaluate over the next several weeks and determine who is to be believed and in the interim continue to follow the instructions for lock-down even if I disagree with some of the rationale. I certainly don’t want to be reckless and cause others to die and I don’t feel like I have enough data yet to make an informed decision nor do I know everything the governors know about the situation. Patience is the key, when and if it becomes clear that the governors are not acting in our best interest, I will fight to the end with anyone who agrees with me. For now I call on all LE to exercise discretion and err on the side of freedom for those that feel they need to, as the DemonicRats often do, “do something”. We’re all in this mess and we need to find the shortest possible route out.

    Completely disagree with “Kracker”, there’s no way they could keep that secret if someone at his level was aware of it. If it’s true, I can already answer their question, 45 days. That’s how long they have to somehow ensure there is no revolt and the only way they can do that is to confiscate all firearms. Not gonna happen!

  27. The worst enemy was always the one closest to you. The city mayor. City and county councils. The local police and sheriff.

  28. >out of control immigration
    >anti-white education system
    >opioid crisis
    >drag queen story hour
    >Christianity mocked, nobody goes to church
    >you can be fired for speaking out against homosexuality
    >Christians oppressed for

    • …for not baking the gay cake

      But if the Applebee’s is shutdown for a legit health emergency, you risk your and other people lives to protest?

      You should be ashamed. Stay home. Go to your bug out/preps.

      • I’m pissed because I can’t go to the range and keep my shooting skills sharp.

        Been stuck at home working remotely since 3/13. Work is harder from home and I wind up working 10 to 12 hour days on the computer. My eyes hurt. And my job could be on the chopping block as my company is bleeding money.

        • I hear you. It ain’t about going to Applebee’s Glock-Dick, you arrogant condescending turd.

  29. One of the things to keep in mind here is that the models made numerous mistakes that it turns out, thankfully, were not supported by real-world experience. However, at the time they were working with the information they had and decided to be overly cautious as well they should have been. The problem is that many of our “leaders” don’t know fuck-all about science or how to use any of the information as it changes.

    There were models as late as around the 1st of this month still predicting much larger than realistic death tolls with social distancing in place. Heck, such models were coming about 10 days ago.

    Trump was extending guidelines on March 29, the country had essentially come to a stop the week before. Social distancing was in the IHME models at this point. Even after social distancing was baked in the numbers continued to drop and drop and drop because the disease just isn’t as “bad” as was thought/worried. But they only knew that once they had data on this. Just go look up the IHME models for April 1, 5, 7 and 13. All contain social distancing as an assumption because the country was already shut-the-fuck-down.

    Those estimates from even a week back haven’t come to pass, and in reality at this point it doesn’t look like actual hospitalizations will get to the “low end” of many of the death projections. These models made a lot of a assumptions on things well past social distancing. Even just a couple of weeks ago they were plugging in the data they had from countries with wildly different demographics because they didn’t have this actually broken down into cohorts by age or complication so they were calculating a death toll for our general population from a specific population that they knew of, the oldest, sickest and most vulnerable in a place like Italy and assuming those numbers would hold for the United States where demographics and living situations dictate different things.

    Long story short; they overestimated the spread to some degree but they also overestimated the severity of the illness for major portions of the population. It just doesn’t, for example, tend to put a healthy 30 year old in the ICU at a rate of 10%+ the way they thought it might.

    Strawman and Weakman arguments based on 20/20 hindsight and recently gleaned data don’t do us any good at this point. That’s just finger-pointing. The question is the best way to move forward with what we actually know now.

  31. Why am I not surprised to come here and see the equivalent of anti vaxxer talk among the geniuses that populate this site. Yeah. This virus “ain’t real”. Keep believing that.

  32. “…Heavy-Handed Authoritarianism
    by John Boch”

    All anyone really needed to read. BOCH YOU ARE AN ASS!

    Everything that has happened is just as the virologist models said it would. The fact that you are too much of a conspiracy theory asshole to comprehend it is the cause of your confusion, and your delusions on the topic.

    Fuck you and the Stupid you rode in on.

    … and you may quote me on that!

  33. I don’t recommend the cartridge box for DimWhitmer.

    A rope and a tree is more appropriate.

    Of course, by all means, use the cartridge box to get the rope in-place.

  34. Perhaps I am confused. Is their job to tell us what we can’t do until we get our act in order (says them), or to do stuff for us, so we can get back to our lives?

  35. Isn’t seeing pandemics coming, n getting us out of them so we can go on with our lives what we have governments for? They don’t seem to be doing very well, do they?

  36. People aren’t “impatient” with heavy handed govt. People are clear on the concept of what govt is for, as the govt seems not to be.

  38. I hope they all contract Coronavirus and die.
    Just like that asshole pastor who wouldn’t stop holding church.
    There, I said it.

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