Posts Tagged ‘STAY-AT-HOME ORDERS’
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on March 10, 2025 at 12:12 am
On April 17, 2020, more than 100 protesters converged on Huntington Beach, California, in a demonstration against the state’s Coronavirus stay-at-home order.
It was part of a series of national demonstrations organized by Right-wing groups.
Many of the protesters carried Donald Trump banners and American flags. Most were not wearing masks or practicing social distancing—keeping themselves at least six feet apart from others. And they defied scientific findings and medical experts’ warnings, as if daring the virus to “come and get me.”
“I don’t think there’s any reason for us to be on lockdown now,” said 62-year-old Paula Doyle. “We didn’t have any dangers; we have no danger in our hospitals now of overflowing.”
That’s because California’s quick closure of businesses and its order that residents stay home had temporarily prevented Coronavirus from reaching epic proportions in the state. Many hospitals had been left largely empty, waiting for a surge that had yet to come.
On April 18, 2020, when more than 31,000 Americans lay dead of the Coronavirus, and more than 90% of the country was under stay-at-home orders. demonstrations erupted across the United States.
Anti-lockdown demonstration at the Ohio Statehouse
Becker1999 from Grove City, OH, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
More than 250 people showed up at Austin, Texas. Other protests occurred at the capitols of Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia. An estimated 400 people gathered in Concord, New Hampshire. A rally outside Maryland’s statehouse in Annapolis drew about 200 protesters.
President Donald Trump had been the primary instigator of such protests. He said he favored a quick return to normal practices and the reopening of businesses across the country.
But what he favored most of all was a return to his Nuremberg-like political rallies, where he could bask in the worship of his fanatical base and hurl slanders at virtually everyone he hated. And he couldn’t do that so long as mass demonstrations were banned—and people must stand at least six feet apart.
There are two factors to these protests that are truly astounding.
First, many of the protesters attacked the governors who had issued stay-at-home orders as fascists. This is a hallmark of Right-wing politics—accusing their opponents of being what they are themselves.
One protester at the Huntington Beach demonstration carried a sign that read: “Defy Fascist Lockdown.”
COVID-19 virus
Second, the protesters utterly rejected the rising death-toll caused by the virus. At that time, this stood at more than 31,000.
By the time Donald Trump left office—on January 20, 2021—400,000 Americans had died of COVID-19.
Republicans’ disdain for education in general—and science in particular—has led to the following: In March, 2020, an NBC News poll found that only 30% of Republicans said that they would actually listen to the advice of doctors to stay away from large, crowded areas to avoid Coronavirus.
These are the same people who get their version of reality from Right-wing sources like Fox News Network and Rush Limbaugh.
Rush Limbaugh
On his March 27, 2020 show, Limbaugh dismissed Coronavirus as “the common cold,” then added: “We didn’t elect a president to defer to a bunch of health experts that we don’t know.
“And how do we know they’re even health experts? Well, they wear white lab coats, and they’ve been in the job for a while, and they’re at the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and they’re at the NIH [National Institutes of Health] and they’re up, well—yeah, they’ve been there, and they are there.”
In 2015, Limbaugh said: “Firsthand smoke takes 50 years to kill people, if it does. Not everybody that smokes gets cancer. Now, it’s true that everybody who smokes dies, but so does everyone who eats carrots.”
Five years later, on February 17, 2021, Limbaugh—a longtime and heavy cigar smoker—died of Stage Four lung cancer.
On November 5, 2024, Americans rewarded the man responsible for more than 400,000 deaths of their fellow citizens by re-electing him President of the United States.
Among his first acts: Withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO). It’s responsible for detecting, monitoring, and responding to emerging world health threats, pandemics, and diseases.
The decision came as worldwide health authorities monitored bird flue outbreaks among U.S. livestock.
Following this was his appointment of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.—a 14-year heroin addict and fanatical anti-vaccination proponent—Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHH).
In late February, he abruptly canceled a scheduled March 13 meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He didn’t give a reason for doing so.
“We’re all left trying to understand what is going on. Why was this meeting canceled? It’s an important meeting. What’s the plan for flu vaccines this year?” Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the FDA advisory panel, told CBS News.
“Because the vaccine is grown in eggs, for the most part, it requires six months to produce,” said Offit. “So March is six months before September, which is when these vaccines roll out.”
This is the second vaccine advisory panel at the federal level to be postponed or canceled since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became Secretary of HHH.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on December 24, 2021 at 12:14 am
On April 17, 2020, more than 100 protesters converged on Huntington Beach, California, in a demonstration against the state’s Coronavirus stay-at-home order.
It was part of a series of national demonstrations organized by Right-wing groups.
Many of the protesters carried Donald Trump banners and American flags. Most were not wearing masks or practicing social distancing—keeping themselves at least six feet apart from others. And they defied scientific findings and medical experts’ warnings, as if daring the virus to “come and get me.”
“I don’t think there’s any reason for us to be on lockdown now,” said 62-year-old Paula Doyle. “We didn’t have any dangers; we have no danger in our hospitals now of overflowing.”
That’s because California’s quick closure of businesses and its order that residents stay home had temporarily prevented Coronavirus from reaching epic proportions in the state. Many hospitals had been left largely empty, waiting for a surge that had yet to come.
On April 18, when more than 31,000 Americans lay dead of the Coronavirus, and more than 90% of the country was under stay-at-home orders. demonstrations erupted across the United States.
Anti-lockdown demonstration at the Ohio Statehouse
Becker1999 from Grove City, OH, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
More than 250 people showed up at Austin, Texas. Other protests occurred at the capitols of Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia. An estimated 400 people gathered in Concord, New Hampshire. A rally outside Maryland’s statehouse in Annapolis drew about 200 protesters.
President Donald Trump had been the primary instigator of such protests. He said he favored a quick return to normal practices and the reopening of businesses across the country.
But what he favored most of all was a return to his Nuremberg-like political rallies, where he could bask in the worship of his fanatical base and hurl slanders at virtually everyone he hated. And he couldn’t do that so long as mass demonstrations were banned—and people must stand at least six feet apart.
There are two factors to these protests that are truly astounding.
First, many of the protesters attacked the governors who had issued stay-at-home orders as fascists. This is a hallmark of Right-wing politics—accusing their opponents of being what they are themselves.
One protester at the Huntington Beach demonstration carried a sign that read: “Defy Fascist Lockdown.”
COVID-19 virus
And Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who had defied the Republican legislature by extending her stay-at-home order, was denounced as a Nazi, with protesters displaying signs like “Heil Whitmer.”
Second, the protesters utterly rejected the rising death-toll caused by the virus. At that time, this stood at 80,574.
Medical experts universally warned that stopping the chain of transmission to avoid overwhelming medical systems was the only way to buy time while treatments and vaccines could be developed.
Yet for these protesters, it’s as if the rising body count wasn’t happening.
Some of the rallies were being pushed by Republican-allied groups in battleground states with Democratic governors.
The April 30 protest at the Michigan Capitol Building featured treasonous Confederate flags and hangman’s nooses. Some signs displayed swastikas. Many of the demonstrators were armed with AK-47s.
That protest was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, a group co-founded by a GOP state representative and his wife, who was on the advisory board for an official Trump campaign group called Women for Trump and was the co-founder of Michigan Trump Republicans.
Another of the event’s promoters, Greg McNeilly, was a longtime political adviser to the wealthy DeVos family, which included then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her brother, Erik Prince, founder of the notorious Blackwater mercenary group.
On May 1, 2020, Trump tweeted in support of the Michigan demonstrators. “These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal.”
Republicans’ disdain for education in general—and science in particular—has led to the following: In March, 2020, an NBC News poll found that only 30% of Republicans said that they would actually listen to the advice of doctors to stay away from large, crowded areas to avoid Coronavirus.
These are the same people who get their version of reality from Right-wing sources like Fox News Network and Rush Limbaugh.
Rush Limbaugh
On his March 27 show, Limbaugh dismissed Coronavirus as “the common cold,” then added: “We didn’t elect a president to defer to a bunch of health experts that we don’t know.
“And how do we know they’re even health experts? Well, they wear white lab coats, and they’ve been in the job for a while, and they’re at the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and they’re at the NIH [National Institutes of Health] and they’re up, well—yeah, they’ve been there, and they are there.”
In 2015, Limbaugh said: “Firsthand smoke takes 50 years to kill people, if it does. Not everybody that smokes gets cancer. Now, it’s true that everybody who smokes dies, but so does everyone who eats carrots.”
Five years later, on February 17, 2021, Limbaugh—a longtime and heavy cigar smoker—died of Stage Four lung cancer.
And today, thanks to the legacy of Trump and his Republican allies, more than 800,000 Americans are dead of COVID.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on November 30, 2021 at 12:10 am
As millions of Right-wingers refused to get vaccinated, the newer—and deadlier—Delta variant of COVID-19 moved in for the kill.
The result: A massive overcrowding of hospitals—where those who refused to get vaccinated are now taking up beds needed for legitimate victims of strokes, heart attacks, accidents and crime.
COVID-19 vaccination map – July 21, 2021
George Karabassis, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Even after three COVID-19 vaccines have been developed, millions of Right-wingers refuse to get vaccinated. Although they refuse women the right to abortion, they insist “It’s my body!” when it came to mandatory vaccinations.
As a result, in states won by Trump in the 2020 Presidential election, hospitals surge with unvaccinated COVID-19 patients—and graveyards fill with them.
Every hospital bed taken by an unvaccinated Stormtrumper is a bed denied to a legitimate medical patient—such as a victim of stroke, heart attack, accident or crime.
Yet President Joseph Biden has refused to blame those men and women who are directly responsible for this outrage.
Joseph Biden
Doing so would not only be accurate—it would enable Biden to place blame on his sworn political enemies and thus enhance his own popularity: “We would have achieved freedom from COVID-19—but these people have sabotaged their country’s safety out of sheer selfishness and arrogance!”
Trump viciously attacked the nation’s free press as “the enemy of the American people.” But Biden and his fellow Democrats refuse to blame those most responsible for the nation’s continuing COVID-19 epidemic.
As a result, millions of Americans believe it’s Biden’s fault for not delivering a miracle after he stated, on March 12:
“If we do this together [get vaccinated] by July 4, there is a good chance you, your family and friends can get together in your backyard or in your neighborhood and have a cookout or a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day.
“After a long, hard year, that will make this Independence Day truly special—where we not only mark our independence as a nation but we begin to mark our independence from this virus.”
Anti-vaxxers or their loved ones have filed at least two dozen lawsuits across the country to force hospitals to give them Ivermectin, a drug for de-worming cows and horses. But it remains an unproven cure for the virus.
Many unvaccinated patients beg—or demand—to be vaccinated. But to their surprise, they’re told it’s now too late.
And as of November 9, comes Omicrom—better-named as Trump 3.0.
This marks the third wave of Coronavirus to strike the United States since Donald Trump became President. Early reports indicate that even twice-vaccinated people might not be safe from it.
This is directly attributable to those millions of anti-vaxxers and Trump-supporting Right-wingers who have refused to wear masks and get vaccinated—even when vaccines are free and readily available.
And Trump 3.0 is arriving just in time for the coming of winter—and the advent of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. The holidays when Americans crisscross the nation in huge numbers to visit friends and relatives—and stay indoors at close quarters with them.
According to AAA Travel, for Thanksgiving alone, 48.3 million were expected to drive,4.2 million were expected to fly, and one million were expected to use other means of transit, such as busses, trains or cruises.
That will undoubtedly lead to spreading the new across the country—and in intimate settings where
And with the holidays comes the crowd-magnet known as “Black Friday”—when giant shopping malls offer vastly reduced sales to lure tens of thousands of shoppers indoors—where the virus spreads most quickly.
**********
It’s long past time to punish the egotistical selfishness of those who refuse to protect themselves and others.
And the most effective way to do this is to turn them away from hospitals when they show up.
They should be forcibly told: “You say it’s your right to refuse to get vaccinated? Fine. Well, it’s our right to reserve beds for patients who deserve to be treated. And you don’t.”
So long as hospitals cater to these self-indulgent Right-wingers—most of them Trump supporters—they will feel empowered to consume vital medical resources needed for legitimate victims of strokes, heart attacks, accidents and crime.
These people need to be forcibly taught that there are consequences for irresponsibly selfish and arrogant behavior. So long as they are catered to, they will never learn this vital lesson.
And there is an even more important reason for taking what many will see as a radical step.
Those unvaccinated men and women who survive to 2024 will eagerly cast their votes for Donald Trump. Trump makes no secret of his desire to be “President-for-Life”—and incited a treasonous attack on the United States Capitol to overturn the free and fair election of 2020.
If he re-enters the White House in 2024, he will never voluntarily leave—and will establish a dictatorship backed up by military, police and judicial power to remain “President-for-Life.”
So the more of these unvaccinated Right-wingers who aren’t around to cast their votes in 2024, the safer democracy will be.
President Biden may not feel free to say this. But it remains brutally true nevertheless.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on November 29, 2021 at 12:20 am
First, there was COVID-19, which slammed into the United States in early January, 2000.
Then, in June, 2021, as COVID-19 seemed on the wane, the Delta variant struck.
Now, as of November 9, the world is facing Omicron—a new variant of COVID-19.
Discovered in South Africa, Omicron would be better-described as Trump 3.0.
As President of the United States, Donald Trump bequeathed to his country two deadly legacies:
- A treasonous lust to overthrow democratic government; and
- The deadliest virus seen in America since the 1919 Spanish flu epidemic.
Throughout his Presidency, Trump “joked” about how wonderful it would be for the United States to have a “President-for-Life”—such as Xi Jinping in China.
Trump proved that he was not joking on January 6, when he incited his followers to stop the counting of Electoral College votes in the United States Capitol Building.
Donald Trump
This amounted to an attempted coup. Had the violent mob achieved its aims, the vote count would have ended before Joseph Biden could be officially pronounced the next President of the United States. And Trump would have remained President.
For it is the Electoral College vote—not the popular one—that determines the outcome of Presidential elections.
Biden had received 81,268,924 votes to 74,2164 for Trump. But it was Biden’s winning of 306 votes to Trump’s 232 in the Electoral College that made him President.
A year later, Trump continues to spew lies that millions of Right-wing Americans eagerly believe: “Trump won the election; Biden is an illegitimate President.”
Even worse: Trump’s followers in Republican-controlled states are working to rig the upcoming 2024 Presidential election to guarantee a Republican win—even if voters decide otherwise.
So much for Trump’s legacy of treason and criminality.
Now for his legacy as Coronavirus-in-Chief.
From the outset of the pandemic, Trump lied about the dangers Americans were facing.
On February 7, 2020, he told Washington Post editor and reporter Bob Woodward: “It goes through the air, Bob. That’s always tougher than the touch. The touch, you don’t have to touch things, right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed….It’s also more deadly than your strenuous flues.”
COVID-19
But from January to early March, 2020, Trump and his allies within the Republican party and Fox News Network repeatedly assured Americans they had nothing to fear.
And early on, Trump made the virus a referendum on himself. If you supported him, you didn’t wear a mask when you ventured out in public. This despite the fact that, throughout 2020, there was no vaccine available and hospitals were rapidly overwhelmed by debilitated and dying casualties of the virus.
Even worse: Trump declared open warfare on those Democratic governors—such as Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer—who imposed quarantine “stay-at-home’ orders to halt the spread of the virus. And he repeatedly ridiculed the warnings of medical experts—such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top expert on infectious disease.
For Trump, assuring his own re-election in 2020 took precedence over everything. He knew that as long as Americans stayed home the economy would be depressed. And citizens in depressed economies don’t re-elect Presidents they blame for their suffering.
So for Trump, getting millions of parents back to work meant getting millions of children back to school—no matter the risk. Toward that end, Trump even threatened to cut off federal aid to schools that did not forcibly return children to classes.
Washington Post Columnist Jonathan Capehart echoed him: “I think, if we had had a president of the United States who took this seriously when this first came on the scene, if we had a Republican party that took this seriously enough to warn everyone, their constituents saying, wash your hands, then put on a mask, then go get the vaccine, we wouldn’t be where we are right now.”
Jonathan Capehart
But neither Trump nor the Republican party urged Americans to “wash your hands, put on a mask, then go get the vaccine.”
By March, 2021, three vaccines—by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson—became available. A total of 90.4 million doses of these vaccines had been given. And 30.7 million Americans had been fully vaccinated against the virus.
But after a triumphant beginning, the pace of vaccinations slowed, then halted. By late July, 2021, only 49.6% of Americans had been fully vaccinated.
Many of those who had gotten one shot of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines refused to get the necessary second one. These must be given almost a month apart.
(The Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only one shot.)
What had happened?
“The people I know personally who are not getting the vaccine, for them, it was like, ‘They rushed this thing,'” theorized New York Times columnist David Brooks. “‘Who knows what’s going to happen to all these people who get the shots in 10 years or 20 years?’ So, why should I take the risk?'”
And leading the way to this catastrophe of self-destruction were the states of the South and Midwest: Mississippi (47.1%,), Alabama (50.5%), Arkansas (53.2%), and Tennessee (52.9%) with the lowest rates of residents who have gotten at least one shot.
By late July, three states—Florida, Texas and Missouri—with lower vaccination rates accounted for 40% of all cases nationwide.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on February 11, 2021 at 12:15 am
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Donald Trump scheduled his first 2020 re-election rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 20.
The Tulsa event was followed by another indoor rally in Phoenix on June 23. “Students for Trump” featured a packed crowd, with almost no one wearing masks.
Then, to celebrate Independence Day, Trump scheduled yet another rally at Mount Rushmore, in Keystone, South Dakota, on July 3.
Although health experts expressed fears about a large gathering during the Coronavirus pandemic, South Dakota’s Republican Governor Kristi Noem said people would “not be social distancing” during the celebration:
“In South Dakota, we’ve told people to focus on personal responsibility….Those who want to come and join us, we’ll be giving out free face masks, if they choose to wear one. But we won’t be social distancing.”
Kristi Noem
Meanwhile, more than 135,000 Americans had died of the virus.
And on June 30, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified before the U.S. Senate: “We are now having 40-plus thousand new cases a day. I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around.”
Fauci warned that the infection surge across the South and West “puts the entire country at risk.” Much of that increase was being fueled by young adults testing positive for COVID-19.
With the end of summer came fall.
Normally this would have meant the return of millions of children to school. But COVID-19 had already closed most of the nation’s schools—at elementary, junior high and high school levels.
Having their children constantly underfoot for most of the year no doubt grated on the nerves of many parents. But the closure of schools also prevented many infections—to students, teachers and the families of both.
That advantage, however, was quickly offset by the succession of holidays that come with the fall—Labor Day, Halloween, Veterans Day, Christmas/Hanukkah, New Year’s Day.
A December 19 story in Business Insider carried the attention-catching headline: “The Thanksgiving Surge in Coronavirus Deaths is Here. It’s ‘Horrifically Awful,’ a Hospital Chaplain Said.”
To sum up its contents:
- More than 47,000 Americans had died from COVID-19 since Thanksgiving.
- COVID-19 was now the country’s leading cause of death.
- It was just the beginning of the effects of Thanksgiving travel and gatherings.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) begged Americans to forego traveling for Thanksgiving. But at least 55 million Americans ignored that warning. Their selfish, egotistical mantra—“I want to be with my family!”—overrode their supposed concern for the lives of their relatives.
As a result, untold numbers of those families would not again be sharing Thanksgiving—or anything else.
And Dr. Fauci warned: The Christmas season would pose an even greater threat.
People would gather not just for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day—not to mention any parties held in-between those dates.
Anthony Fauci
The virus spreads faster indoors, where large numbers of people don’t wear masks, pack closely together, and talk or laugh loudly, thus spreading the droplets across a room.
December brought the United States over 77,400 COVID-19 deaths.
Within a year, by January 1, 2021, the virus had killed more than 350,000 Americans.
And then, to top it off, came the Super Bowl on February 7.
Once again, Fauci advised people to avoid crowds and parties: Enjoy the Super Bowl only with members of your immediate family.
And Tampa Mayor Jane Castor ordered people to wear masks in popular outdoor areas during Super Bowl week.
She estimated that tens of thousands of people crowded the streets of Ybor City after midnight, early Sunday morning. People were packed shoulder-to-shoulder in the middle of the street.
Seventh Avenue has drawn crowds since the outbreak of the pandemic nearly a year ago, reaching a crescendo on New Year’s Eve. But Super Bowl eve trumped that, said Tampa Bay Times photographer Luis Santana. And, once again, masses of Americans—especially in Tampa, Florida—behaved as if Coronavirus never existed.
Bars and restaurants were crammed with revelers celebrating the victory of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the Kansas City Chiefs. Many of them wore masks—but many others didn’t.
There was plenty of drinking—which causes people to lower their guard against deadly enemies like COVID-19. And with this came plenty of loud talk and cheering—which hurtle COVID-19 droplets across a room.
When Mayor Castor announced her “mask-up” order, she said that police might issue fines of up to $450 for repeat offenders.
Police chief Brian Dugan said he didn’t want his officers to become “mask police,” adding, “We’re hoping people will just kind of work with us when it comes to the mask compliance.”
The police department expressed its disappointment with the behavior of Tampa citizens.
One year after the coming of Coronavirus, masks and hand sanitizers are now widely available. Vaccines are finally becoming available.
But without the full cooperation of millions, eradicating COVID-19 will take far longer—and take a great many more thousands of lives.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on February 10, 2021 at 12:08 am
Snatching Defeat From the Jaws of Victory could well serve as the title for a future book on Coronavirus—and the incredibly self-destructive ways Americans have responded to it.
The virus first appeared in Wuhan, China, in December, 2019. Its first reported victim became ill on December 1.
By December 31, the outbreak was traced to a novel strain of Coronavirus.
Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that affect birds and mammals. In humans, Coronaviruses can cause pneumonia and may cause bronchitis.
On January 19, 2020, the first Coronavirus case appeared in the United States.
Coronavirus
On February 29, the first American died of Coronavirus.
From January to early March, 2020, President Donald J. Trump and his allies within the Republican party and Fox News Network repeatedly assured Americans they had nothing to fear.
Typical of these false reassurances was Trump’s statement on March 10: “It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.”
But the virus didn’t.
With the Federal Government refusing to take action, states began doing so.
From March 1 to May 31, 42 states and territories issued mandatory stay-at-home orders. Those citizens who were forced to venture out were advised to wear face masks and keep a distance of six feet between themselves and others.
On April 3, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that people wear non-medical face masks in public to reduce transmission of COVID-19.
Yet President Trump saw the stay-at-home orders as a two-fold threat to himself—and openly encouraged defiance of those orders.
- He couldn’t return to his hate-filled rallies until these were lifted; and
- The stock market wouldn’t start soaring again so long as the country was “locked down.”
Without his Nuremberg-style rallies and a roaring stock market, Trump faced the danger of being a one-term President.
On April 17, he issued a series of tweets to his supporters, encouraging them to defy the law:
“LIBERATE MINNESOTA!”
“LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”
“LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!”
Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia all had Democratic governors. They had urged their residents to stay indoors, wear masks when they ventured outside, and keep a six-feet distance between themselves and others.
As a result, those governors—especially Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer—were being targeted for abuse and even death threats. And their states were facing disruptive protests by large numbers of Right-wingers standing close together, with few of them wearing masks. The protesters claimed their rights were being infringed upon.
Donald Trump
As a result of the shutdowns and the increased emphasis on social distancing and mask-wearing, COVID-19 rates dropped by mid-May.
According to a May 17 story in U.S. News & World Report:
“According to The New York Times, in New York state the figure has dropped over the last month, and case counts have also plunged in hard-hit Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Some states, including Vermont, Hawaii and Alaska, are seeing hardly any new cases at all, the newspaper said.”
Then came May Day—and after that, the start of summer.
On July 2, Vox published a story headlined: “A likely culprit in Covid-19 surges: People hell-bent on ignoring social distancing orders.”
“For months,” it opened, “it’s been clear that the world has separated into two camps: the rule followers, observant of social distancing and hopeful of quashing the pandemic; and the risk takers, who have been storming the nation’s beaches, bars, and burger joints in spite of the coronavirus—and public health efforts to curtail its spread.
“Some states, such as New York, have contained new cases, but others, including Texas and Arizona, brazenly reopened even as cases continued to rise, unleashing a torrent of pent-up partiers. Now, even as an illusion of normalcy has slowly returned, rates of infection are reaching new records, with cases surging in dozens of states….
“’They’re conducting themselves like it’s pre-Covid, and that’s not going to work anymore,’ Bruce Dart, director of the Tulsa Health Department, told the Washington Post. Younger people, he said, are ‘not social distancing, not wearing masks or paying attention to hand-washing.’ In one stunning case shortly after Memorial Day, a group of 16 friends all tested positive for the virus after visiting a newly reopened bar in Florida.”
As if this wasn’t bad enough, Trump scheduled his first 2020 re-election rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
It was held on June 20 at the BOK Center. Scientists had learned that Coronavirus is more likely to be transmitted indoors than outdoors, when masses of people are packed together, and when people are loudly talking—or, worse, shouting.
A Trump rally
Masks were available for those who wanted them, but Trump made it clear that his supporters shouldn’t wear masks, as a sign of support for him. Men and women were densely packed together, with none of them wearing masks.
The Trump campaign boasted that 100,000 people would turn up. To its embarrassment, fewer than 6,200 did. Even worse: At least eight event staff members, including two who were at the rally, later tested positive for COVID-19.
The Tulsa event was followed by another indoor rally in Phoenix on June 23. “Students for Trump” featured a packed crowd, with almost no one wearing masks.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Medical, Politics, Social commentary, Uncategorized on July 20, 2020 at 12:09 am
The United States has become the country worst-affected by Coronavirus—with more than 3.83 million diagnosed cases and at least 143,000 deaths.
But President Donald J. Trump wants children to return to school—and not through virtual classes at home.
And he’s not asking parents to send their children back to school after summer. On July 8, he tweeted that he may withhold federal funding from schools that do not resume in-person classes this fall.
“In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS. The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families. May cut off funding if not open!”
Donald Trump
Most school funding in America comes from states and municipalities, not the federal government. Nonetheless, the White House is exploring ways to use the next Coronavirus relief bill to tie the slice of school funding that does come from Washington to the pace of different schools’ reopenings.
And moments after making that threat, Trump said the guidelines of his own Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) for safely reopening schools were too expensive and impractical:
“I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!”
Among those guidelines:
- Schools should have markings on sidewalks and walls, that mark off six feet, and signs reminding students of protective measures.
- Masks should be worn by students and faculty, “as feasible,” and especially when keeping a distance isn’t possible.
- Sharing equipment, games and supplies should be avoided. If that’s not possible, they should be cleaned after each use.
- Playgrounds, cafeterias and dining halls should be shut. Students eat in their classrooms.
- Rooms should be well-ventilated.
- Schools should allow sick staff members to “stay home when they are sick, have been exposed, or caring for someone who is sick,” without being punished for staying home.
Coronavirus
Many Americans have asked: “How can President Trump demand that children return to school in the midst of a deadly plague? Especially when we don’t have adequate testing facilities—and, most importantly, a reliable vaccine?”
On July 10, Paula Reid, White House correspondent for CBS News, provided the answer on the PBS program, Washington Week. Every Friday a panel of distinguished journalists reports and analyses major Washington-related stories.
According to Reid:
“Well, up until now the administration has really deferred to local leaders to determine when they want to reopen their communities based on the situation on the ground. But then you saw this week, when it comes to schools, the president issuing this broad mandate that all schools must open in the fall or else potentially he will cut funding, when in fact we know most schools are locally funded, and he’s also made other threats.
“He’s made it clear that he is putting pressure on governors, and the question is, why is he taking this approach to schools specifically when he’s deferred to states on so many other aspects of this pandemic?
“And just speaking with White House advisers, I’m told the president knows that in order to get parents back to work you need to get kids back to class, and for the president a lot of this is about hoping that that would give an economic boost to the U.S. ahead of his reelection in November.“
For which he could then claim credit.
And Reid warned: “But one of the most significant things out of the administration this week is the fact that Dr.[Deborah] Birx [Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force] said that we really don’t have that much data on COVID in children because the under-10 set is really the least tested.”
In short: As always for Donald Trump, the bottom line is: “It’s all about me.”
Ancient Canaanites offering their children as sacrifices to Moloch
When governors began issuing “stay-at-home” orders in March, Trump saw these as a two-fold threat to himself:
- He couldn’t return to his hate-filled mass rallies until these orders were lifted; and
- The stock market wouldn’t start soaring again so long as the country was “locked down.”
Without his Nuremberg-style rallies and a roaring stock market, Trump faced the danger of being a one-term President. And for a monumental egomaniac who has repeatedly “joked” about becoming “President-for-Life,” that is no small danger.
On April 17, Trump, via Twitter, ordered his supporters to violate stay-at-home orders of Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia.
Masses of protesters—most of them unmasked, many carrying guns, wearing Trump MAGA caps and brandishing Confederate flags—descended on the capitols of those states. They claimed to be defending constitutional freedoms to refuse to wear masks or maintain “social distance” from others.
Thus, Trump risked the lives of thousands of his followers to “reopen the country” and save his endangered Presidency.
Just as the ancient Canaanites sacrificed their children to the god Moloch, so does Trump expect his followers—and opponents—to risk their children’s lives for him.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on May 26, 2020 at 12:06 am
The United States Constitution has a surprise for President Donald Trump—provided that Congress has the courage to enforce it.
The surprise comes in Article II, Section III.
Article II lays out the powers and responsibilities of the President of the United States. Section III states that, among these, is: “He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed….”
Opening page of the United States Constitution
That requirement certainly doesn’t square with the following behavior.
On April 15, Right-wing demonstrators launched “Operation Gridlock”, a protest against strict stay-at-home orders by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to curb the spread of Coronavirus. A host of demonstrators—many of them armed with high-powered weaponry—descended on the state capitol building in Lansing.
A group stood on the capitol steps brandishing signs that stated “Trump/Pence”, “Recall Whitmer”, “Heil Whitmer” and “Stop the Tyranny”, and chanted “Lock her up!”
On April 17, with governors across the nation implementing “stay-at-home” orders to curtail the spread of Coronavirus, Trump tweeted:
“LIBERATE MINNESOTA!”
“LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”
“LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!”
It’s no coincidence that all of these states have Democratic governors. And his incendiary remarks followed Right-wing demonstrations against stay-at-home orders in Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia and other states.
Some protesters carried guns, wore Trump MAGA caps and brandished Confederate flags. They claimed to be defending constitutional freedoms. Egging them on have been Right-wing pundits on Fox News.
“These are people expressing their views,” Trump said at his April 17 White House Coronavirus task force briefing. “I see where they are and I see the way they’re working. They seem to be very responsible people to me, but they’ve been treated a little bit rough.”
He dismissed fears that, by crowding together, the protesters could become infected and spread COVID-19 to others.
“I think some things are too tough,” said Trump. “And if you look at some of the states you just mentioned, it’s too tough, not only in reference to this but what they’ve done in Virginia with respect to the Second Amendment is just a horrible thing … When you see what other states have done, I think I feel very comfortable.”
Jay Inslee, the Democratic governor of Washington, responded on Twitter: “The president’s statements this morning encourage illegal and dangerous acts. He is putting millions of people in danger of contracting Covid-19. His unhinged rantings and calls for people to ‘liberate’ states could also lead to violence. We’ve seen it before.”
And Beto O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman, said: “Republicans will turn a blind eye [and] too many in the press will focus on ‘tone’. But history books will say: in April of 2020, when the pandemic had already claimed 35,000 lives, the President of the United States incited people to storm their statehouses with AR-15s and AK-47s.”
On May 1, demonstrators—many of them heavily armed—again descended on the state capital in Lansing, protesting Whitmer’s extension of her emergency declaration that kept some businesses closed amidst the plague. And, once again, Trump sided with the protesters.
Gretchen Whitmer
“The Governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire,” Trump tweeted. “These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal.”
Trump has two hidden agendas for ending “stay-at-home” orders.
First, from the moment he took office on January 20, 2017, he has claimed credit for a booming economy—even though this was largely the work of his predecessor, Barack Obama.
Now, with thousands of businesses shut down because of Coronavirus, that economy is essentially dead.
Coronavirus
Trump knows that Presidents who preside over faltering economies usually don’t win a second term. And Trump not only lusts to win a second term but—as he has repeatedly “joked”—become “President-for-Life.”
Second, Trump is desperate to return to his Nuremberg-style rallies. There he can hurl insults at virtually everyone and bask in the fanatical worship of his followers. These rallies act as fuel to his campaign.
His “White House Coronavirus briefings” have served as a watered-down substitute for those rallies. He must pretend they aren’t purely political. Worse, he must share the podium with others who know far more about the plague than he does.
So now he’ll go to any lengths to “reopen” the country–including the solicitation of violent resistance to the laws of governors he doesn’t like.
Earlier this year, Trump escaped removal from office because Senate Republicans refused to hold him accountable for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
But as Coronavirus continues to kill Americans in record numbers—almost 100,000 by May 26—even Republican members of Congress may decide to hold Trump accountable. Especially as the virus moves from Democratic states like New York and Illinois to Republican ones like Florida and South Carolina.
Encouraging violent resistance to the legally established laws of the United States is a crime. If enough Republicans decide to uphold the law rather than ignore it, the Trump Era will become in history what it has in politics: A dirty stain on the American memory.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on May 11, 2020 at 12:06 am
On April 17, more than 100 protesters converged on Huntington Beach, California, in a demonstration against the state’s Coronavirus stay-at-home order.
It was part of a series of national demonstrations organized by Right-wing groups.
Many of the protesters carried Trump banners and American flags. Most were not wearing masks or practicing social distancing—keeping themselves at least six feet apart from others. And they defied scientific findings and medical experts’ warnings, as if daring the virus to “come and get me.”
“I don’t think there’s any reason for us to be on lockdown now,” said 62-year-old Paula Doyle. “We didn’t have any dangers; we have no danger in our hospitals now of overflowing.”
That’s because California’s quick closure of businesses and its order that residents stay home has prevented Coronavirus from reaching epic proportions in the state. Many hospitals have been left largely empty, waiting for a surge that has yet to come.
On April 18, when more than 31,000 Americans lay dead of the Coronavirus, and more than 90% of the country was under stay-at-home orders. demonstrations erupted across the United States.
An estimated 400 people gathered in Concord, New Hampshire. A rally outside Maryland’s statehouse in Annapolis drew about 200 protesters.
More than 250 people showed up at Austin, Texas. Other protests occurred at the capitols of Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia.
President Donald Trump has been the primary instigator of such protests. He says he favors a quick return to normal practices and the reopening of businesses across the country.
But what he favors most of all is a return to his Nuremberg-like political rallies, where he can bask in the worship of his fanatical base and hurl slanders at virtually everyone he dislikes. And he can’t do that so long as mass demonstrations are banned—and people must stand at least six feet apart.
There are two factors to these protests that are truly astounding.
First, many of the protesters attack the governors who have issued stay-at-home orders as fascists. This is a hallmark of Right-wing politics—accusing their opponents of being what they are themselves.
One protester at the Huntington Beach demonstration carried a sign that read: “Defy Fascist Lockdown.”
And Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who has defied the Republican legislature by extending her stay-at-home order, has been denounced as a Nazi, with protesters displaying signs like “Heil Whtmer.”
Second, the protesters have utterly rejected the rising death-toll caused by the virus. At present, this stands at 80,574. It’s a certainty to reach 100,000 before the end of May.
Medical experts universally say that stopping the chain of transmission to avoid overwhelming medical systems is the only way to buy time while treatments and vaccines are developed.
Yet for these protesters, it’s as if the rising body count isn’t happening.
Some of the rallies are being pushed by Republican-allied groups in battleground states with Democratic governors. The April 30 protest at the Michigan Capitol Building featured treasonous Confederate flags and hangman’s nooses. Some signs displayed swastikas. Many of the demonstrators were armed with AK-47s.
That protest was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, a group co-founded by a GOP state representative and his wife, who is on the advisory board for an official Trump campaign group called Women for Trump and is also the co-founder of Michigan Trump Republicans.
Another of the event’s promoters, Greg McNeilly, is a longtime political adviser to the wealthy DeVos family, which includes Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her brother, Erik Prince, founder of the notorious Blackwater mercenary group.
On May 1, President Trump tweeted in support of the Michigan demonstrators. Just as German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler blamed his opponents for the violence he stoked, so did Trump: “These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal.”
Wisconsinites Against Excessive Quarantine was created by Ben Dorr. He leads Minnesota Gun Rights. He has promoted Facebook groups protesting the guidelines.
Republicans’ disdain for education in general—and science in particular—has led to the following: In March, an NBC News poll found that only 30% of Republicans said that they would actually listen to the advice of doctors to stay away from large, crowded areas to avoid Coronavirus.
These are the same people who get their version of reality from Right-wing sources like Fox News Network and Rush Limbaugh.
Rush Limbaugh
On his March 27 show, Limbaugh dismissed Coronavirus as “the common cold,” then added: “We didn’t elect a president to defer to a bunch of health experts that we don’t know.
“And how do we know they’re even health experts? Well, they wear white lab coats, and they’ve been in the job for a while, and they’re at the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and they’re at the NIH [National Institutes of Health] and they’re up, well—yeah, they’ve been there, and they are there.”
In 2015, Limbaugh said: “Firsthand smoke takes 50 years to kill people, if it does. Not everybody that smokes gets cancer. Now, it’s true that everybody who smokes dies, but so does everyone who eats carrots.”
Five years later, in February, 2020, Limbaugh—a longtime and heavy cigar smoker—announced that he had Stage Four lung cancer.
Bureaucracybuster's Blog 
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REPUBLICANS: DOWN WITH SCIENCE! GIVE ME DEATH!
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on March 10, 2025 at 12:12 amOn April 17, 2020, more than 100 protesters converged on Huntington Beach, California, in a demonstration against the state’s Coronavirus stay-at-home order.
It was part of a series of national demonstrations organized by Right-wing groups.
Many of the protesters carried Donald Trump banners and American flags. Most were not wearing masks or practicing social distancing—keeping themselves at least six feet apart from others. And they defied scientific findings and medical experts’ warnings, as if daring the virus to “come and get me.”
“I don’t think there’s any reason for us to be on lockdown now,” said 62-year-old Paula Doyle. “We didn’t have any dangers; we have no danger in our hospitals now of overflowing.”
That’s because California’s quick closure of businesses and its order that residents stay home had temporarily prevented Coronavirus from reaching epic proportions in the state. Many hospitals had been left largely empty, waiting for a surge that had yet to come.
On April 18, 2020, when more than 31,000 Americans lay dead of the Coronavirus, and more than 90% of the country was under stay-at-home orders. demonstrations erupted across the United States.
Anti-lockdown demonstration at the Ohio Statehouse
Becker1999 from Grove City, OH, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
More than 250 people showed up at Austin, Texas. Other protests occurred at the capitols of Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia. An estimated 400 people gathered in Concord, New Hampshire. A rally outside Maryland’s statehouse in Annapolis drew about 200 protesters.
President Donald Trump had been the primary instigator of such protests. He said he favored a quick return to normal practices and the reopening of businesses across the country.
But what he favored most of all was a return to his Nuremberg-like political rallies, where he could bask in the worship of his fanatical base and hurl slanders at virtually everyone he hated. And he couldn’t do that so long as mass demonstrations were banned—and people must stand at least six feet apart.
There are two factors to these protests that are truly astounding.
First, many of the protesters attacked the governors who had issued stay-at-home orders as fascists. This is a hallmark of Right-wing politics—accusing their opponents of being what they are themselves.
One protester at the Huntington Beach demonstration carried a sign that read: “Defy Fascist Lockdown.”
COVID-19 virus
Second, the protesters utterly rejected the rising death-toll caused by the virus. At that time, this stood at more than 31,000.
By the time Donald Trump left office—on January 20, 2021—400,000 Americans had died of COVID-19.
Republicans’ disdain for education in general—and science in particular—has led to the following: In March, 2020, an NBC News poll found that only 30% of Republicans said that they would actually listen to the advice of doctors to stay away from large, crowded areas to avoid Coronavirus.
These are the same people who get their version of reality from Right-wing sources like Fox News Network and Rush Limbaugh.
Rush Limbaugh
On his March 27, 2020 show, Limbaugh dismissed Coronavirus as “the common cold,” then added: “We didn’t elect a president to defer to a bunch of health experts that we don’t know.
“And how do we know they’re even health experts? Well, they wear white lab coats, and they’ve been in the job for a while, and they’re at the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and they’re at the NIH [National Institutes of Health] and they’re up, well—yeah, they’ve been there, and they are there.”
In 2015, Limbaugh said: “Firsthand smoke takes 50 years to kill people, if it does. Not everybody that smokes gets cancer. Now, it’s true that everybody who smokes dies, but so does everyone who eats carrots.”
Five years later, on February 17, 2021, Limbaugh—a longtime and heavy cigar smoker—died of Stage Four lung cancer.
On November 5, 2024, Americans rewarded the man responsible for more than 400,000 deaths of their fellow citizens by re-electing him President of the United States.
Among his first acts: Withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO). It’s responsible for detecting, monitoring, and responding to emerging world health threats, pandemics, and diseases.
The decision came as worldwide health authorities monitored bird flue outbreaks among U.S. livestock.
Following this was his appointment of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.—a 14-year heroin addict and fanatical anti-vaccination proponent—Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHH).
In late February, he abruptly canceled a scheduled March 13 meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He didn’t give a reason for doing so.
“We’re all left trying to understand what is going on. Why was this meeting canceled? It’s an important meeting. What’s the plan for flu vaccines this year?” Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the FDA advisory panel, told CBS News.
“Because the vaccine is grown in eggs, for the most part, it requires six months to produce,” said Offit. “So March is six months before September, which is when these vaccines roll out.”
This is the second vaccine advisory panel at the federal level to be postponed or canceled since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became Secretary of HHH.
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