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| Gavin Newsom proves Shakespeare's quote that one can smile and smile and be a |
My husband and I are exercising prudence with frequent hand washing, cleaning surfaces, avoiding unnecessary exposure to large groups, etc. But panic is not an option. What good does that do? Good grief, I lived through the cold war with bombing raid practice in school and I survived the polio epidemic, measles, mumps, etc. I don't believe this is Armageddon. Although I do believe it's part of the chastisement.
As for those panic-stricken folks emptying the shelves of supermarkets, well...I just shake my head. I'm buying less and using this as an opportunity to empty my freezer and my pantry. I'll leave the Doritos and ice cream for others. After all, it's Lent. I refuse to act like shoppers on Black Friday fighting over....a package of toilet paper.
But one thing does scare the daylights out of me! The tyranny of government officials who are using this as an opportunity to flex their muscles. Some of the brown shirts are essentially putting their citizens under house arrest for the crime of possibly becoming a carrier and spreader of the coronavirus.
By what right does Governor Newsom in California lock 40 million people up in their homes and make it a misdemeanor to violate his mandate? The state has had 675 confirmed cases and 16 deaths. OUT OF 40 MILLION PEOPLE. Does that justify this extremism and the suspension of all civil liberties?
Then there's Governor Cuomo in New York who announced a lockdown of the state closing all "non-essential" businesses. Apparently that doesn't include Planned Parenthood which announced that they are open and a higher percentage of patients than usual are keeping their appointments to kill their babies. What a great opportunity the coronavirus is to reduce the carbon footprint of humanity!
The mayor of Champagne, IL signed an executive order giving her the authority to ban guns, ammunition, alcohol, and gasoline.
What??? A city mayor has the right to suspend a large number of civil liberties of the citizens?
Connecticut and Illinois have impending lockdowns scheduled as well. I fully expect Governor Northam to do the same here in Virginia. He's a tyrant of the first stripe, a master over life and death. We'll need to change our state flag and motto. From sic semper tyrannus (thus always to tyrants) to ... what?... Citizens in chains? Slaves of the state? Maybe we can put a heart on the flag with Cupid and Psyche. Hey that would fit perfectly with the silly motto, "Virginia is for lovers."
Freedom in a Time of Madness
He asks, "Why is this happening?" and gives the answer. "Throughout history, free people have been willing to accept the Devil’s bargain of trading liberty for safety when they are fearful. We supinely accept the shallow and hollow offers of government that somehow less liberty equals more safety."
He continues:
Today, the fear of contagion gives government cover for its assaults on freedom and poses a question the government does not want to answer: If liberty can be taken away in times of crisis, then is it really liberty; or is it just a license, via a temporary government permission slip, subject to the whims of politicians in power?The government can justify anything in the name of the "common good." I remember during the fights over Communist infiltration of our government all the voices saying, "Better red than dead."
Today, it's "Better no Mass, no travel, compulsory home 'imprisonment' than possible infection with the coronavirus and death." And so we have, not Black Friday, but Black Lent. Mass candles snuffed in every diocese in the country!
Some things are worse than death. The Roman martyrs knew it. The recusants of Elizabeth I's England knew it. The Russian dissidents knew it. Our own forefathers knew it. But somehow in 2020, to our shame, we've forgotten.
Great post.
ReplyDeleteAmen!
ReplyDeleteHey Mary...do you remember that I think I got mumps, measles and chicken pox at the same time in Heartsville. It got me the rights to mom and dad's bed. Then at 12 I got rubella.. rights to mom and dad's bed again cause they had the room darkening drapes. We will get over this too. Amen.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! Gosh, I don't remember you getting all those illnesses together. I guess I was too much of a selfish teenager to think about my little sister. I was going to Gwynedd when we lived in Hartsville. Love you!
ReplyDeleteA Stanford professor says the overreaction to the coronavirus is a fiasco in the making. Check out the article. It makes for interesting reading. He compared it to a mouse startling an elephant so the elephant falls over a cliff and dies. The outcome from all this is going to have severe global results, more from the economic disaster driving many into poverty than from the illness.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dailywire.com/news/stanford-professor-data-indicates-were-overreacting-to-coronavirus
Observations: Friday I attended a beautiful AM Mass at my SSPX Chapel. Saturday morning I went to a local San Antonio Diocesan Church Adoration Chapel ~ 6 people were worshipping Our Lord and the 24 hour adoration hours were greatly reduced. What I also saw was the big bottle of hand sanitizer next to the empty holy water font. What do we trust in?
ReplyDeleteThen I waled over to the open, empty, dark, beautiful German church. No one else was there to say hello to Our Lord or to ask His help. Next on my trip I drove by the very busy HEB grocery store. I guess the food stores all have a protective shield around them to prevent us from getting the virus ~ yet who makes time to stop in and visit with Our Lord and His Mother who could end all this IF we just could get enough people to pray for the consecration of Russia ! May Our Lady of Fatima pray for us, we are in very bad shape and don't even know what we don't know.
Thank you ~ informative and right on point article. Thanks also to Frank Walker @ Canon212 without which I would never have known of you. PS I'm a kid to you as I'm only 68.
Christine
I find myself at uncomfortable odds with fellow Catholics I respect. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. I think the government's response in this instance is dead on, no pun intended. We are talking about that abstract other who is going to get this virus and die gasping like a fish on a gurney with no one to help him or her in their last moments. This terrible reality is all too real in Italy, overwhelmed because they did not heed in time, and also because of their older population and possibly, HIV vulnerable population. (Don't expect that last bit to get any media play.) Was it over 700 people in Italy died in the last 24? Over 700 people! New York is catching up, Spain, and the world is holding it's breath as we see where else, certainly California. All those movie stars, if they haven't flown out in their private jets using all that carbon, can actually be of some use to their fellow man if they stick around.
ReplyDeleteThis virus is not hype. I've seen the stats, yet there is something qualitatively different about this virus. A typical virus does not leave victims dying in hospitals so overwhelmed by demand there are not enough ventilators for them. That reason alone dictates we treat this virus with the amount of caution the government has thus shown, the horrible government none of us trusts has actually put lives of citizens ahead of even economics! Yet we are nothing but skeptical, positive there is a bad intent behind it. The person dying in their loved ones vehicle because there is no medical person to help them does not care one iota about business or markets or bankruptcy. They care their loved one is suffering and there is no one to help as they lay there. I have said recently my husband lived this experience himself ten years ago when his beloved mother died of a quick respiratory failure when her system was overloaded by a cup of coffee. She had come off a ventilator, and all of a sudden her system failed and she cried for her children to help her but they could not and it was not pleasant. People need oxygen. There is no substitute. Even the young, strong Alexander Tschueggel, the hero who tossed the pachamamas into the Tiber, a strapping 7 foot young guy, is weak as a baby after two weeks of the virus. He said his lungs are in bad shape right now, God bless him.
I can't fathom why it has become vogue to dismiss this virus. I cherish my Constitutional rights, and I distrust government too, but this is survival! As the Chinese man in Italy said, worry about living first and other things later. I agree. This does not mean we have less faith or are too attached to this world or anything like that. It doesn't mean we love government or trust it or anything of the kind. I know the people who disagree with me have what I have, the best intentions, but we had better get this right. If we get this wrong, it means the death of potentially many of our fellow citizens. The family in New Jersey lost matriarch (Mom) and 3 siblings, with others in intensive care. All because they got together a few weeks ago.
Why can we not be prudent, let this unfold as it will, let it be a Lent where God has permitted in his Holy will that we do not have the Mass nor the sacraments, but only faith and prayer. It is enough. I say support the government and be glad they seem to care about not allowing this to turn into Italy, which did not take it seriously and gave the world a lesson in what not to do. I'll only speak for Americans. Beyond the virus, Americans will not tolerate any government of any composition imposing restrictions beyond what is necessary for life in this instance. Americans have revolution in their DNA and bridle at being told what to do. Mass resistance would be the result of governmental tyranny, bet on it. We do this now because we must. But there will be an end, please God, let it be soon.
So clear eyed, Mary Ann!
ReplyDeleteI find your comment puzzling , Kathleen. No one is dismissing the virus. My husband and I are taking precautions, as are most people I know. We've canceled travel plans, for example.
ReplyDeleteWhat we oppose are the draconian measures that essentially are putting the counry under undeclared martial law. And, as Christine wrote above, there are no magic zones around the HEB and other grocery stores where people are flocking in large numbers filling their baskets to the brim. We, on the other hand, are avoiding the grocery store unless absolutely necessary and buying only what we need and can purchase in the short line so we are only there briefly.
What's happening in Italy is tragic. But the reality is, if you read the articles about the virus carefully, they all admit MOST OF US WILL CONTRACT THE VIRUS no matter what we do! As the health commissioner of New Jersey said, It's coming for me; it's coming for you. Everyone will get it -- like the childhood diseases that existed when I was young: measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox. Virtually everyone got them and they were deadly for some.
There is no vaccine for coronavirus, nor is there going to be one anytime soon if ever. The measures being taken are aimed at flattening the curve to avoid spikes that will overwhelm the health care system. Spread the contagion out over time. Meanwhile, more test kits are being ordered, medication are being made available like the anti-malarial drug that has proved effective, and more ventilators are being ordered.
Everyone wants to see an end to the virus, but if speculation is correct about it continuing into 2021 are we really going to keep people locked in their homes for a year as the country crashes around us dwarfing the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression.
I am not willing to trade my rights for a false sense of safety. How many people who live on the edge will end up so impoverished by what's happening that they lose everything. I think of the wonderful waitress, Barbara, we see on Thursday mornings at breakfast who is 63 and can't afford not to work. Her restaurant has a sign on the door "Closed until further notice." How many people who live on the edge will end up homeless because of this? And how many will end up in deep despair and commit suicide like those during the depression. A friend sent an email about suicide groups telling people how to kill themselves during all this. How many disturbed people will do it?
It's easy for those who are well off to ignore the economic impact of what's happening. We're retired. Several of my children are working from home. We'll all be fine. How about Barbara, the housekeeping staff at the local hotel, the hostesses, waiters, bartenders, dishwashers, child care people, etc.? What are they supposed to do? As the Stanford professor said, we have no idea the impact of all this on our people.
And please keep in mind that most of those who contract the virus have mild or even no symptoms. The situation of the New Jersey family is sad, and I am praying for their family. But the media is using it to ramp up hysteria. There are 7 billion people on the planet. It's would be wise to keep things in perspective and use prudence in making decisions. But a government crackdown like we're seeing? Government has a way of creating more problems than it solves.
Hi Mary Ann - Thanks for this post. I agree with everything you said. I live in the Arlington Diocese also. Like you, I am older and have a weakened immune system so I already avoid most crowded places and take precautions.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the draconian lockdown measures are madness and will ruin tens of thousands - if not millions - of people economically. One son has already lost his job (he worked part time in a restaurant); another son, a musician and piano instructor, has lost all upcoming gigs. I am blessed to work at home, but it is the height of arrogance for the elitists to say to the vast majority of workers "just work at home." Only people who use a computer for their jobs can work at home, in general.
My doctor emailed today to say don't come into the office, because they have been unable to get medical supplies for 4 weeks and can't take the proper precautions. China controls our supply chain - of medical supplies, medicines, and most cheap manufactured goods. They are bragging about how "America will drown in a sea of coronavirus" because they are not releasing medicines to us. Steven Mosher of pop.org says the Chinese lost 2 months of production during their own epidemic and I suspect they are now keeping supplies for themselves. I think we are being put on lockdown to avoid the coming civil unrest when shortages are obvious and people start rioting.
I also firmly believe that this is a chastisement for the demon worship in the Vatican last October. Now the churches are closed and sacraments withheld. The demons are raging and Satan is laughing. Our only consolation is that we know who wins in the end. God save the church.
CV-19 was manufactured in a laboratory. The CV-19 panic, the real issue, was manufactured by our Liberal elites in the government and media.
ReplyDeleteNow one billion folks are being forced to isolate in their homes in the face of only 11,000 actually dying from CV.
This is simply insane. What we have here is a relatively minor death effect met by a totally inappropriate and draconian response from our governments that will assure the collapse of the world wide economy. The end game of all this can only be atheistic totalitarian Socialist control. And the worst part is Pope Francis and the Catholic Church are in full support of this devilish plan.
Surely, this is the beginning of the Great Chastisement.
Agreed, Michael Dowd. If everyone is eventually going to contract the coronavirus, as everyone gets a cold, why the draconian measures? If states or nations or the entire world can be locked-down by authority, who is that authority, and what is the real reason for what it is doing? Is this how the Antichrist starts his reign? Or is this at least a dry run for the same?
ReplyDeleteMy job, the entire industry (airlines), is likely going to go bankrupt. They essentially already are. It involves tremendous capital expenditure and depends upon cash flow, as an essential form of American travel (an extension of our freeway system if you will), to balance out that heavy capital weight.
ReplyDeleteThe cash flow is gone. As in essentially zero. Delta has announced 90% cutback in schedule. My airline is going to burn through $2,400,000,000 (Billion) in about two months. Normally, you spend that much money, you get an airline merger, perhaps a whole new fleet of jets. No, we are just flushing it all down the toilet.
For a virus. We are burning it all to the ground, for a virus. When (if) this is over, we will have to rebuild almost everything; recover. For a virus. Insane.
Addendum: I do not work for Delta. They are likely burning through 10 times the figure I quoted.
ReplyDeleteThe losses from this virus are simply stunning. Trillions flushed down the toilet. People are hurting, afraid (and not about the virus in my experience) and they are about to feel long term personal suffering. America will never be the same. Our course is forever altered. Same for the Catholic Church, which chose to remove Jesus from the Faithful and the perpetual public sacrifice of the Mass.
For a virus. We have made a serious economic mistake in this lockdown. We have made a serious theological mistake (sinful) in the lockout.
Thanks for your comments, Aqua. It really is insane. And most people will get the virus anyway. If the reporting is accurate, the majority of cases will be mild. Most of the deaths will be in those who are elderly or have underlying health issues. I read an article on Lew Rockwell this morning that predicts the cases in the U.S. will skyrocket because they will be testing more people. The best thing we can all do right now in my opinion is boost their immune system and stop panicking! A friend and I used to talk about how the punishment in the U.S. for the sins of abortion and contraception and other sins against life would be economic. We've killed millions of our own children for our selfish materialism. The chickens have come home to roost and they are ugly chickens indeed.
ReplyDeleteCortina Death Rate: Deaths /infections
ReplyDeleteThe numerator (known deaths) is known.
The denominator (total infections) is not known but an estimate.
The numerator changes with known deaths and is certain.
The denominator changes with formulaic assumptions and testing capabilities. It is *always* an estimate of the infection rate in the total population. It is impossible to get correct unless you test 360,000,000 all at the same time.
The *denominator* is what renders this virus statistic open to fake news propaganda manipulation.
The baseline of understanding, for me, is total infections and total deaths for any flu virus. U.S. 2019-20 flu season has between 23-59,000 deaths / 38-54,000,000 infections (CDC). Corona has a long, long way to go if it hopes to catch those normal numbers. IOW, we nuked our economy for a minor flu.
Most normal people do as you say: good diet, healthy doses of vitamins, sunlight, plenty of rest “to boost our immune system”. And then we fight viruses internally as God intended; sometimes with suffering. I hope we can regain our collective wits and get back to business. The President implies (via Tweet) we have another week of this. Hopefully sooner than later.