The spreading of panic for political purposes is in full gear. On this Monday morning we need to remember priorities: Protect yourself from getting sick, yes. Protect yourself from shortages of goods. Protect yourself from drops in stock markets and economic activity. But above all, protect yourself from the government and statists who use these to gain more power.
This morning’s early news is clearly panic-inducing.
Continue readingThis last week, the Supreme Court decided NOT to hear a case against the Trump BATFE banning of bump stocks, declaring them to be “machine guns.” This refusal leaves the interpretation of the regulation (NOT a law) still in effect, making any of us who have a bump stock or anything similar potentially liable for a mere ten years in prison (minus time off for good behavior, of course).
Continue readingMy parents were teachers and caught in the “public system” for many years back in the 1960s and 1970s, before my father found another career and my mother returned to private teaching (which she could do, teaching music and art). They both gave up a lot to escape the clutches of the government-run, tax-funded schools.
Continue reading“Mommy, mommy, he started it! Chuckie started it!”
The facts are pretty clear. I’ve heard the various words screamed, the various texts (or tweets or whatever) sent, and even the opinions of a half-dozen different pundits.
Continue readingSee the commentary on panic over coronavirus and politics and other recent commentaries posted about panic. We don’t NEED to panic.
So what do we do?
In other words, business as usual. At least for lovers of liberty.
Continue readingYesterday, the not-so-Super Tuesday, supposedly Democrats had three possibilities to get rid of Trump: the three B’s: Bernie, Biden, or Bloomberg.
Today, “Mini Mike” (as Trump dismisses him) has thrown in the towel. Half-a-billion dollars down the drain (not even 1% of his net worth, apparently). He is giving up and throwing his support to Uncle Joe. Just like the last several people who dropped out have done.
Continue readingCoronavirus (Beer flu) is not the only reason we are seeing panic.
Consider:
Wars and rumors of wars, rebellions, revolutions, elections, economic downturns, natural disasters, diseases, famines, droughts and more are with us constantly.
When it comes to politics, the rest of the world has its share of panic, both in the streets and in the halls of government and business:
When we put it all together, panic reigns in dozens of world capitals and major cities. Sometimes in private, and sometimes in public. And millions of people, living in remote frontier or rural areas, but especially in larger urban areas, must deal with this.
So everything is falling apart?
Well, not really.
Because to put it in another way, it is pretty much business as usual around the world. The beautiful peaceful blues and whites we see from orbit are, as normal, hiding the true state of affairs.
None of this is truly new. And somehow, incredibly, enough adults and children have survived these sorts of things – and much worse – over the centuries. Enough to reproduce and come up with new ways to solve old problems. (Even though the new ways really aren’t, most all the time. And although the supposedly new ways also create NEW problems!)
Because it isn’t what is on the outside of people that causes panic. It is what is on the inside – your ability to accept reality and deal with it. Our ability to take responsibility for our actions. To go fix things even while we whinge about them, or are quaking in our boots. And for at least some of us, it is an abiding belief – inside us – in God, and in His great gift of liberty, of freedom, of life itself.
As discussed in my last, very brief commentary, while the DNC Bernie panic is a bit more restrained over the weekend, panic about coronavirus is ramping up.
You and I do NOT need to panic, even while it seems that everyone is. Using our God-given liberty, accepting personal responsibility for ourselves and our families, we have nothing out of the ordinary to fear.
Read moreThis weekend, with the first two deaths due to COVID-19 (Coronavirus flu, or beer flu) on American soil, panic is enveloping the Fifty States. Coupled with the 4,000-point drop in the stock market, fear is rampant.
At the same time, Uncle Joe’s victory in South Carolina has led to a relaxation of fears that Bernie “Lenin” Sanders is going to take over the Democratic Party. The DNC and the Democratic elite will be in control, after all.
The combination raises more fears, though: a half-dozen doomsayers have screeched out that Trump is doomed. That the beer flu is collapsing the economy, so that Trump will lose the election in November. And that therefore, the FedGov is doomed to … I’m not sure what, but it is gonna be bad. Or so they say.
Meanwhile, the media has taken a deep breath and launched a new set of attacks on their hated enemy, Donald Trump. He is destroying America because he is doing stupid things in appointing new spook bosses who are stupid, uninformed, and nothing but yes-men. By putting a science-hater rapid religionist (Mike Pence) in charge of coronavirus reponse – proving he wants more Americans to die. By signing an agreement with the Taliban to give Afghanistan to them and end twenty years of war.
My oh my, how a few days can change things!
Stay tuned for more, soon.
Bogus emergencies and fake sympathy
Colorado today had declared a “state of emergency.” Or rather, the rich, homosexual playboy “businessman” who bought the governorship has declared the purple-turning-blue “green state” in a state of emergency. Of course, he seems to be fully supported by the bureaucracy (not necessarily ALL the bureaucrats, I admit) and the statists, the soccer moms and Mrs. Grundy types and the woke and social justice warriors.
Why? Coronavirus, of course. Beer Flu. A total of 15 people – get that, FIFTEEN – people in a state of 5.85 million people – have been diagnosed with it. No deaths, yet. No indication that any of these 15 people are likely going to die from it. No indication that they have done anything to spread it, to infect others.
Why?
First, because that is what “progressive” (regressive) states and governors do. Polis has the example of California, Washington, New York, Ohio, and elsewhere: Colorado must prove it has rejected its conservative, western, resource-based, family-friendly, evil past by working with the big boys now.
Second, because of the benefits of emergencies. As someone once quipped about the abysmal behavior of robber barons and crony capitalists, “Bankruptcy is the natural state of big business.” Indeed, it sometimes seems to be the preferred state. So it is with government. Emergencies are the preferred state of government, in order to achieve its goals of maintaining and increasing control of the population, extracting revenue from them, and ensuring their positions of power, wealth, and influence. Here in the Fifty States, it is also a surefire way of getting more money from the FedGov to bolster the budgets and spending of state and local and tribal governments.
Crises give an excuse for declaring emergencies. Even medical emergencies, and now we know, even POSSIBLE medical emergencies.
We now, in Colorado, have a new and very low threshold, for defining an “emergency” in Colorado: fifteen people get sick, and it is “an emergency” for everyone in the state. (Although I admit, there may be (according to Polis) another thirteen people who may have Beer Flu. And some of them are – gasp!- in Aspen!)
So, if fifteen children get measles in Julesburg, or Kim, or Mancos, or Rangely? And the state DOESN’T declare a statewide emergency, then it must be because the powers that be in Denver hate rural children, right? You can come up with many scenarios.
There is, no doubt, a third reason that Democrat Polis declared a statewide emergency. Because it is an attack on Trump. As a followup to their so-successful impeachment of Trump, his supposed failure to deal with Beer Flu has been a very common meme. Polis and the Colorado General Assembly burnish their Democratic credentials.
And after all, panic must be shared. In a world where various festivals are cancelled (SXSW, Arnold Classic in Ohio, Venice Carnival, etc.) , where schools are closed when there is no sign of illness in their communities, and where panic can lead to economic maladies (that can be blamed on Trump and other political opponents). And panic loves company. Especially in various nations where mob rule is increasingly common and growing – whether it is the yellow-vests and Muslim mobs of France or Antifa in Seattle.
And worse is happening around the world. Panic, emergencies, crisis, power and control all go together.
Italy, for example, has already expanded a 15-province state of emergency to the entire nation. AND make it illegal to have a wedding, be baptized, or have a funeral. And the pope, beloved statist that he is, has gone along with it and forbidden mass from being celebrated (except, apparently, by video) until the 3rd of April (which just happens to be Good Friday, not some date identified by medical personnel as the end of the Beer Flu danger.)
North Korea, on the other hand, has stated time and again that there is NO coronavirus in the Hermit Kingdom. But 180 North Korean soldiers have died of a mysterious flu-like illness, and their rations have been more than doubled. (North Korea is well-known for keeping its junior soldiers malnourished and even near starvation.)
Fortunately, not all states, not all countries, and not all businesses are panicking and making unwise, damaging mistakes. For example, the annual construction and mining equipment show, ConExpo, in Las Vegas, will go on as scheduled next week in Las Vegas. Of course, we could point out that the vast majority of people attending THAT conference are responsible adults who run businesses and take risks in business and life on a daily basis, not bureaucrats or welfare clients.
(By the way, one source of info worldwide is Business Insider’s special page. However, I’ve noticed errors and omissions there.