We Have Become A Police State, And None Of Us Should Be Okay With That

[Gefn]

Our local Walmart started doing that last Saturday.  50 people at a time may enter.

My Trader Joe’s is doing the same thing. They are also providing umbrellas in the rain which is nice and the line does move very quickly. They also wipe down the carts and give the customer wipes too.

I was dubious about shopping there when I moved but I have to say, I really do enjoy that store

[mountaineer]

Jesse Kelly   @JesseKellyDC
Stand by for news. This is huge...

I got confirmation an alien invasion is imminent. Do NOT panic. But 5 million of you are about to be abducted unless you do as I say...

I’m confident we can get those numbers down to only around 500,000 abductions.

What you need to do is grab a hammer and start smashing all of your toes. These aliens will not abduct anyone with smashed toes. I know this is uncomfortable, but we’re all in this together...

Ok, this is very bad. We are in for a very rough few weeks because enough of you are not smashing your toes. Do you want 5 million abductions? You’re not smashing your toes. Start smashing your toes.

I’m revising my original prediction. Looks like we won’t have anything close to 5 million abductions. In fact, I think we’ll only have 400,000 now cause of the toe smashing. Keep going. Smash away.

Ok, we have updated news. Looks like there will only be 200,000 abductions. Keep smashing. Don’t worry. This is only a pause in you being able to walk.

Wow. This outstanding! Looks like there will only be 30,000 abductions after all! Congratulations everyone! We did it!

You’re welcome for saving the planet. Better go get those toes looked at. See you later. I’m going to back to retirement. Please thank me.
12:47 PM · Apr 9, 2020

[skeeter]

I’m not suggesting that state governments should do nothing in response to the coronavirus. I am suggesting that they shouldn’t have the power to do whatever the hell they want, for whatever reason they want, to whatever extent they want, for however long they want, with whatever penalty they want.

Was a time a majority in this nation would feel exactly this way. We'll soon see if this attitude has been completely weaned out of us.

Yesterday, as all of the national indicators are the virus has reached a plateau, my county announced they're closing the beaches and parks.

[mountaineer]

Indiana's governor not only is setting the conditions under which churchgoers may worship, he's directing the manner in which they will be permitted to take communion. Yes, that's right. The sacrament.

...  Yesterday afternoon, he demanded that churches perform services according to his edicts or be subject to government punishment.

His requirements are not only unconstitutional because they trespass on the constitutionally secured individual right to worship, but they are discriminatory because they place restrictions on churches that do not apply to other organizations, groups of people, and establishments. The governor is telling Christians how worship must be done and with stricter rules than for all other public gatherings.  ...

To make things worse, the governor’s edict came one business day before the height of the church year, Easter, allowing for basically zero possibility of legal redress. This timeframe also gives clergy virtually no time to be able to comply while still offering communion this high holy weekend, as they would have to procure in one day single-serve communion elements if they didn’t already use them.   ...

Indiana Governor To Churches: Worship As I Say Or Be Shut Down, Joy Pullmann, The Federalist.

[Polly Ticks]

Kentucky governor says no to small family gatherings on Easter]

Funny how those who cry out "Stay out of my bedroom" are now inordinately interested in exactly who is in my kitchen.

[mountaineer]

Funny how those who cry out "Stay out of my bedroom" are now inordinately interested in exactly who is in my kitchen.

[Gefn]

I just took a walk and saw no one wearing a mask outside. I was the only one other than the doggies.


Yet the governor said it was mandatory.

Yet peeps were walking six feet apart.

Things that make you think. 

[Cyber Liberty]

I just took a walk and saw no one wearing a mask outside. I was the only one other than the doggies.


Yet the governor said it was mandatory.

Yet peeps were walking six feet apart.

Things that make you think.

We were told for several months face masks don't help, and now suddenly they're mandating them.  Why the 180?  Cynics like me think it's because they were trying to prevent a run on the mask market, like there was/is on toilet paper.  Now that there appears to be plenty of HEPA masks available (but not to the public), it's suddenly a great idea to wear cloth masks.

It reminds me of the guy looking for his car keys on a dark sidewalk near a streetlight, when he knows he lost the keys back in the alley somewhere. 

[Gefn]

Take a look at this which just came up on my news feed...

Apple, Google Bring Covid-19 Contact-Tracing to 3 Billion People

Apple Inc. and Google unveiled a rare partnership to add technology to their smartphone platforms that will alert users if they have come into contact with a person with Covid-19. People must opt in to the system, but it has the potential to monitor about a third of the world’s population.

The technology, known as contract-tracing, is designed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus by telling users they should quarantine or isolate themselves after contact with an infected individual.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-10/apple-google-bring-covid-19-contact-tracing-to-3-billion-people?srnd=premium

[TomSea]

And I suppose by the OP's logic, those Americans who built up the munitions for World War II were slaves and let's not forget rationing occurred as well.

[txradioguy]

And I suppose by the OP's logic, those Americans who built up the munitions for World War II were slaves and let's not forget rationing occurred as well.

You seem to be having difficulty making comparisons that make sense when it comes to this virus. You tend toward Liberal hyperbole.

I’m sorry this is happening to you.

[Fishrrman]

To have blindly "re-opened for business" in the Northeast (NJ, NY, CT, MA) on April 15th would have been a disaster -- the numbers of infected would have zoomed upwards again. Mr. Trump was wise to change his mind about this.

New infections are still trending upwards here in Connecticut, even under "stay at home" orders. They need to peak and plateau, and then start dropping down, before there can realistically be "an opening" again.

The stay-at-home orders just got extended here until May 20th or thereabouts. With a bit of luck (that "downward curve" arriving early), they could be rescinded earlier.

It looks like new infections are peaking in NYC, perhaps they're getting "to the plateau" soon.

But the situation here doesn't parallel with that in, say, North Dakota or even northern Vermont.

So... "re-opening for business" is NOT going to be an "all-at-once" event.
It will need to be regionalized, perhaps even localized in some states (again New York is a good example, as the upstate/western areas have never been as highly infected as the NYC/suburbs region).

And we need to begin "antibody testing" as quickly as that can get into mass-production.
There is no vaccine yet.
But what there CAN be is a way to identify who has already had the disease -- and, thus, who now has antibodies and as such is no longer a danger to those who remain UN-infected.

[Fishrrman]

Someone above posted:
"I’m not suggesting that state governments should do nothing in response to the coronavirus. I am suggesting that they shouldn’t have the power to do whatever the hell they want, for whatever reason they want, to whatever extent they want, for however long they want, with whatever penalty they want."

It's not like this is something new.
1918:

[txradioguy]

Kentucky governor says no to small family gatherings on Easter]

Funny how those who cry out "Stay out of my bedroom" are now inordinately interested in exactly who is in my kitchen.

@Polly Ticks and right on cue Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer is doing the same thing. 

[txradioguy]

To have blindly "re-opened for business" in the Northeast (NJ, NY, CT, MA) on April 15th would have been a disaster -- the numbers of infected would have zoomed upwards again. Mr. Trump was wise to change his mind about this.

New infections are still trending upwards here in Connecticut, even under "stay at home" orders. They need to peak and plateau, and then start dropping down, before there can realistically be "an opening" again.

The stay-at-home orders just got extended here until May 20th or thereabouts. With a bit of luck (that "downward curve" arriving early), they could be rescinded earlier.

It looks like new infections are peaking in NYC, perhaps they're getting "to the plateau" soon.

But the situation here doesn't parallel with that in, say, North Dakota or even northern Vermont.

So... "re-opening for business" is NOT going to be an "all-at-once" event.
It will need to be regionalized, perhaps even localized in some states (again New York is a good example, as the upstate/western areas have never been as highly infected as the NYC/suburbs region).

And we need to begin "antibody testing" as quickly as that can get into mass-production.
There is no vaccine yet.
But what there CAN be is a way to identify who has already had the disease -- and, thus, who now has antibodies and as such is no longer a danger to those who remain UN-infected.

I wonder how many people realize that there will be an uptick of positive cases once everyone returns to "normal" because staying isolated has only served to slow down the spread not knock it out completely because society as w hole hasn't gained the "herd immunity" from the virus because of the forced internment in our homes?

Immunologists have said that there will continue to be cases even with the stay at home orders because now you've got groups of people living in close quarters passing it to each other should they be a carrier. 

If we don't start a mass reopening of businesses that should have never been shut down in the first place it will take far longer to regain the economy and employment gains we've had since Trump took office than it did to purposely crash the economy with the measures that have been taken so far.

[txradioguy]

Someone above posted:
"I’m not suggesting that state governments should do nothing in response to the coronavirus. I am suggesting that they shouldn’t have the power to do whatever the hell they want, for whatever reason they want, to whatever extent they want, for however long they want, with whatever penalty they want."

It's not like this is something new.
1918:

But either way "wear a mask or go to jail" is wrong no matter what century we're talking about.

[Polly Ticks]

@Polly Ticks and right on cue Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer is doing the same thing. 

@txradioguy

Yep.  And every day, the erosion of protected freedoms gets worse and worse.

Louisville police officers to record license plate numbers of Easter weekend churchgoers


Louisville Metro Police officers will be writing down the license plate numbers of those who attend church services over Easter weekend, Mayor Greg Fischer said Friday.

Fischer has asked Louisvillians to forgo in-person gatherings, including drive-in services, to lessen the spread of the coronavirus. He said the license information would be given to the city's health department.

[...]

Gov. Andy Beshear announced a similar new policy on Friday evening, saying that state police will also note the license plate numbers of those who attend any in-person mass gathering, church services included.

 

[txradioguy]

@txradioguy

Yep.  And every day, the erosion of protected freedoms gets worse and worse.

 

I'm just thankful I haven't seen any of this going on in E-town yet.

[Polly Ticks]

I'm just thankful I haven't seen any of this going on in E-town yet.

I am, too ... and I hope it stays that way. By now, we've come to expect liberal idiocy from the liberal bastions like Louisville.  God help us if it starts creeping out to the state at large.

[txradioguy]

I am, too ... and I hope it stays that way. By now, we've come to expect liberal idiocy from the liberal bastions like Louisville.  God help us if it starts creeping out to the state at large.

I'd like to think that outside of say Louisville Lexington and Frankfort the idiocy is kept to a minimum and laughed at when it does appear.

[Polly Ticks]

I'd like to think that outside of say Louisville Lexington and Frankfort the idiocy is kept to a minimum and laughed at when it does appear.

Some of us who are stuck in Louisville agree with you entirely.
 

[roamer_1]

@txradioguy

Yep.  And every day, the erosion of protected freedoms gets worse and worse.

 

And trillions in debt, too.

[Hoodat]

Democrats seem to be OK with that.  Go figure.

[Hoodat]

My Trader Joe’s:  I was dubious about shopping there when I moved but I have to say, I really do enjoy that store

They will pack your groceries in plastic bags if you request them.  Whole Foods won't.

[libertybele]

I predict ridiculous rules like waiting outside the grocery store until someone inside leaves (once a pre-determined number of people are already inside) to begin seeing non-compliance on or about the first very rainy day.

ummm..... that has already happened around me weeks ago ...they will only allow so many in a store or business...others have to wait in line six feet apart outside; inside the stores, floors are marked as to how far apart you must remain from the person in front of you in the check out lines and down the aisles.