Government bureaucrats are working from home and getting paid while homeschooling. Business people are trying to homeschool while their lives fall apart in front of their kids. Ten thousand people in line at a food bank in Texas while Nancy Pelosi stands in front of a $24,000 fridge and is eating ice cream that costs $12 a pint.
The term ‘civil disobedience’ was coined by Henry David Thoreau in his 1848 essay to describe his refusal to pay the state poll tax implemented by the American government to prosecute a war in Mexico and to enforce the Fugitive Slave Law. Thoreau spent time in jail over this act.
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes Civil disobedience as a public, non-violent and conscientious breach of law undertaken with the aim of bringing about a change in laws or government policies. On this account, people who engage in civil disobedience are willing to accept the legal consequences of their actions, as this shows their fidelity to the rule of law.
The spread of COVID-19 has caused federal and state governments to take measures that would have seemed extreme just weeks earlier: shutdowns of businesses, closing of borders, and curtailing of large gatherings. One in five Americans had been asked by state and local officials in places like Virginia, California, New York and Illinois to stay home.
Note: If you are unemployed, or your business is about fail, don’t blame China. Don’t blame a virus. If you live in Virginia, Ralph Northam did this to you.
A public health crisis can justify these measures. However, does COVID-19 itself justify what could be seen as an attack on civil liberties?
This virus is extremely contagious, but for most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
Despite the seriousness of COVID-19, should we shut the country down–we seem to keep everything open over an epidemic of a lethal flu strain such as H1N1?
Unemployment is now 18%…how is that okay?
Another 5.2 million Americans filed initial unemployment claims in the week ending April 11. That brings the total unemployment claims over the past four weeks to 22 million, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The total weekly claims fell close to 1.4 million from last week’s 6.6 million initial unemployment claims. Economists had been expecting the report to show the ranks of jobless Americans increasing by 5.5 million.
But this is still awful: the one-week record—before the current streak of multi-million claims—was 695,000 in October 1982.
22 million. In a month. Now think about the people who want to keep the current situation as the status quo for 12-18 more months.
Explain to me how banks will make $17.5B in fees for PPP loans they CAN’T LOSE MONEY ON yet for some reason half the qualifying businesses and most of the indie contractors CAN’T GET A RESPONSE to their applications ? — Mark Cuban
With many factories shut down, American industrial output tanked in March, registering its biggest decline since the U.S. demobilized in 1946 at the end of World War II. Retail sales fell 8.7%, with April expected to be far worse.
Note: What’s fascinating about IHME’s model, which was used to justify this lockdown, is that while it’s hospitalization numbers were insanely wrong on the high end, it’s death numbers haven’t moved much at all. What does that mean? It means the “flatten the curve to save lives” rhetoric was also bogus. IHME, whose bogus guesses were used to justify widespread lockdowns to “flatten the curve,” overestimated hospitalizations by 350 percent.
Throughout this pandemic, any doctors, scholars, broadcasters, and others, who dare to raise legitimate and thoughtful questions or draw conclusions and voice opinions that go against the ever-changing media group think narrative must be pilloried. They’re labeled controversial, deniers, and all the rest. Meanwhile, the people who push the COVID-19 narrative are mostly ignorant cherry-pickers and spit-ballers.
Meanwhile, we’re being bombarded with stupid email newsletters filled with propaganda and tons of worthless information.
The ugly truth is that COVID-19 is very serious, but it’s also not going anywhere. What we are seeing is that the virus is similar to HCoV-OC43 and HCoV-HKU1. These viruses cause the common cold. They come and go with the seasons, with human immunity decreasing over time. It’s why we keep catching the same cold over and over again. The idea that this virus is going to somehow be eradicated is not realistic.
Factoid: “Coronavirus” and “COVID-19” — the actual name for the virus is SARS-CoV-2 or SARS II. It is an extremely contagious new strain of the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) virus.
Herd immunity (when enough members of a population have either already had a disease or been vaccinated against it, stopping the flow of its transmission) will be slower to build up and hold. Outbreaks of the coronavirus will be a regular part of life.
This is why destroying the economy as a way to ward off COVID-19 is ridiculous.
How did this happen so fast? It’s like you went to bed in the USA and woke up in China….
Whether or not Northam’s Executive Order is constitutional is no longer the point. The effect on the economy and people’s lives is going to be far worse than the virus itself.
Just an observational note: Those sitting at studios in multi-million homes or apartments lecturing on TV that it’s reckless to reopen parts of the economy are more than gainfully employed, well-stocked and aren’t feeling the pain and helplessness many Americans without jobs and income are.
Humans crave certainty. Be observant in the coming weeks and months for how this need for certainty is weaponized in multiple arenas by multiple authorities. Now, clarity is important. History may be unkind to the concept of avoiding a potential tragedy by creating a certain one.
The latest has to do with testing…everyone before we can reopen the county. 99% of the country doesn’t have it or isn’t sick. Is the plan to test all 327 million people? Why? Why do people who are not sick need to be tested?
Enough.
Before all is lost, all Americans should engage in an act of civil disobedience. Businesses should reopen, bars and restaurants should open, and people should stop staying home. We can do this and still exercise safety and caution. If it makes you feel better, wear a mask and continue commonsense social distancing. It is time to peacefully defy the Governor’s Executive Order and tell the town to go pack sand.
Ray Otton says
“I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.” — Thomas Jefferson
Daniel Morgan says
“Where you have no religion, you are sure to have no government, for as religion disappears, anarchy takes place and fixes a complete Hell on earth till religion returns.”
Sorin Varzaru says
I agree, everyone should do whatever they want. As long as they don’t go and demand to be treated once they get sick and take resources away from people that got sick despite following the rules. This is how it should go. When a person is found violating the orders, they should be recorded in a database and no one in their household will get treated at any hospital for covid19. This way you get to keep your precious freedom to be an idiot.
Note: I’m not really surprised people have willingly locked themselves in their own jail cells. It’s been clear to me since at least September 11 2001 that a lot of people in the modern world do not especially wish to be free. The ready acceptance of the presumption of guilt and the convict-like treatment at airports was weird. Then I realized, even though they complained, they liked it.
Now they tell us we have to stay isolated “for our own safety”, which is the same thing they said to Jeffrey Epstein.
Stanford found that 2.46% of the 4.16% of people it randomly sampled had SARS-2 coronavirus antibodies. The presence of antibodies suggests a person has had exposure to the virus, never was sick, or recovered and is now immune. Scientists believe it is highly unlikely a person can be infected or reinfected if antibodies are present. Also, if you read the other articles this week, you will see that this virus is very similar to the common cold virus…there is a good chance it will mutate on a seasonal basis. Which means we can’t wet ourselves every time this thing shows up. Less .03 even get it. It’s also not going anywhere, there is no vaccine, and you better learn to live with it, kind of like we do with H1N1. You should also look into child abuse, spousal abuse, rape, and all the upticks in alcohol and drug-related violence that is happening during this idiotic lockdown
Sorin Varzaru says
“Scientists believe it is highly unlikely a person can be infected or reinfected if antibodies are present. Also, if you read the other articles this week, you will see that this virus is very similar to the common cold virus…there is a good chance it will mutate on a seasonal basis. Which means we can’t wet ourselves every time this thing shows up.”
The whole idea with the lockdown is to flatten the curve so we can treat the people who become infected while the entire scientific community is working on treatments and vaccines. Yes, it’s not going anywhere. We’ll learn to deal with it. We’re not there now. But you know all this, you just choose to be provocative.
Paul Plante says
Provocative?
I would hope so.
He’s not here to suck up to us, Sorin, and blow us kisses in everlasting friendship!
He’s here to put real red meat on the table, unlike the sycophantic, cowardly media in the country who are afraid to ask hard questions, and so, pitch softballs, instead, to make us think and to QUESTION, which happens to be a duty of an AMERICAN citizen, but being a Romanian, you wouldn’t know that, having been brought up in a repressive society where to question was to put your life in danger, and so you learned to look down when your superiors were passing, and to keep your head tucked into your shirt collar, lest you stand pout above the rest of the cowering crowds over there.
In Notes on Virginia Q.VIII, 1782. ME 2:118, American president Thomas Jefferson spoke thusly of people like yourself coming here after being raised up servile in an Eastern European police state like Romania, to wit:
“[Is] rapid population [growth] by as great importations of foreigners as possible… founded in good policy?”
“… They will bring with them the principles of the governments they leave, imbibed in their early youth; or, if able to throw them off, it will be in exchange for an unbounded licentiousness, passing, as is usual, from one extreme to another.”
“It would be a miracle were they to stop precisely at the point of temperate liberty.”
“These principles, with their language, they will transmit to their children.”
“In proportion to their number, they will share with us the legislation.”
“They will infuse into it their spirit, warp and bias its direction, and render it a heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted mass…”
end quotes
And there you are, Sorin, with all of your police state horse**** in here which frankly does not go down well with someone born an American like myself who knows this is not some ******* ****hole like Romania, where we have to do what our “LEADER” says, or else.
And speaking of that EL SUPREMO MAGNIFICO Ralph Northam has no lawful authority, jurisdiction or discretion to order the citizens of Virginia to stay inside their houses, but being conditioned to be servile like a GOOD ROMANIAN shoul;d be, if he doesn’t want the secret police to get him, you would neither know that, or be able to comprehend it, never having been part of a free people with a Constitutional government based on RULE OF ******* LAW.
And getting to this stupid horse**** you are spewing above about “flattening the curve,” there you sound ignorant and stupid.
What curve are they flattening, Sorin?
And that answer is they do not know as we can clearly see from this Los Angeles Children’s Hospital website post on April 10, 2020 , to wit:
I see a test result that lists “coronavirus.” Should I be worried?
Not necessarily.
The overwhelming majority of coronavirus diagnoses will be the equivalent of being told that you have a common cold or flu.
Keep in mind that the term ‘coronavirus’ covers a whole family of viruses.
A positive coronavirus test result is not a cause for alarm.
end quotes
So this is all HORSE**** that you are being told, Sorin, and there you are, like a good sponge, sucking it all up and then regurgitating back at us as if we were all more stupid and ignorant than you are.
They have no clue as to who has COVID, and the numbers are inflated because everybody who has a cold is testing positive for coronavirus.
This police state lockdown has absolutely nothing to do with protecting the health and well-being of the public!
Nothing whatsoever, and everything they are doing is very detrimental to the health and well-being of the public, who are being weakened by these policies.
This police state lockdown is for that reason and that reason only – to impose a dictatorial police state on us.
And there you are welcoming it, like a good servile subject of a thuggish dictator should.
We Americans learned about people like yourself when we were young, Sorin.
They were called GOOD GERMANS, the 80 million Germans who said absolutely nothing when Hitler came to power and struck down their Constitution with an edict like EL SUPREMO MAGNIFICO Northam’s.
So tell us, Sorin, how does it feel to be back home in Romania here in Virginia?
Joe McDonald says
Some insight…
https://www.facebook.com/sorin.varzaru.1
Ray Otton says
Yeah, that does give some insight, thanks.
First thing on the page is the standard Leftist bullshit about Mr. Trumps disinfection comments.
It does confirm something though.
People’s brains do not respond well to having their worldview annihilated in real time.
When you debunk a hoax to a believer, they will NEVER say: “Gee, I hadn’t seen the full quote. Now that I see it in its complete form, it is obvious to me that my long-held belief is 100% wrong and the media has been duping me.”
That doesn’t happen.
What happens, instead, is that people, when presented with the documented facts, start making up facts that comport with their belief system. Their brains can no longer process the actual information.
So that’s where we are with the Lysol/bleach hoax. It’s now a fixed part of Leftist lore about President Trump. Just like with the Charlottsville Nazi comments, to them, he will forever be the president who told Americans to inject Lysol and drink bleach.
On a personal note I think we should stop posting warnings all over the place about not drinking Lysol and let this one play out.
Sorin, you up for a Trumptini?
Sorin Varzaru says
Sorin, you up for a Trumptini?
Naah, going to leave it for Trump supporters. I also have a UV flashlight if you need one to stick up some orifice. I’ll be happy to donate it to you. If you promise you’ll go congregate with your fellow “freedom lovers” and chant something, anything, in each other’s face.
Note: Time to be better than the deluded progressive fringe. We have jobs and families to think about. Remember the rock climber adage: Fear keeps you alive, Panic gets you killed.
Slide Easy says
WOW! just WOW!
That is how I envisioned him. A demasculinized, liberal male. The kind you see on tv commercials and in hollywood movies. The kind you see leaving a gym. Fake muscles and no heart. I feel sorry for the little, lost girl that lays down with him.
See if you can find the tkenny out there. I bet it will look simular.
Sorin Varzaru says
I find it ironic to see comments about my masculinity from some asshole who doesn’t have the courage to sign his name to his opinions.
Ray Otton says
Provocative?
Well, if FACTS are now provocative then let’s have at it!
On Friday, the results of the first large-scale antibody study in Santa Clara County in California headed by a Stanford University professor, Dr. Bendavid, was released, and based on the results, the actual number of positive coronavirus cases is likely 50-85 times higher than confirmed cases.
This means the fatality rate of the coronavirus is significantly lower than the World Health Organization’s 3.4% estimate, or Dr. Fauci’s 2% percent estimate.
How much? Let’s take a look.
3,330 Santa Clara County residents were tested in the study, and those tests found that 2.49% to 4.16% of the subjects had coronavirus antibodies. “These prevalence estimates represent a range between 48,000 and 81,000 people infected in Santa Clara County by early April, 50-85-fold more than the number of confirmed cases.” According to the study abstract,…………MY EMPHASIS………. “Population prevalence estimates can now be used to calibrate epidemic and mortality projections.”……………Meaning NOT MODELS BUT ACTUAL DATA.
The current death count for Santa Clara County is 69, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
This means the fatality rate is between .09 and .14%…………..AGAIN, MY EMPHASIS………….The fatality rate of the seasonal flu is .1%.
An epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital told ABC News that the results of the study are not necessarily representative of the U.S. population, but conceded that the study did show that there are…………..My emphasis…….. FAR MORE INFECTIONS THAN CONFIRMED CASES.
So, the actual fatality rate of the coronavirus is comparable, or maybe even lower, than the seasonal flu.
It goes without saying that any deaths from the coronavirus are a tragedy, but we shut down the greatest economy in the world based on flawed models.
And now that there is actual data coming out that contradicts those models, what happens? People afflicted with TDS don’t breath a sigh of relief, they wail on about Mr. Trump and his supporters’ supposed denial of science.
They declare that if you don’t follow government guidelines you must be denied heathcare if you contract the virus.
FU.
Sorin Varzaru says
Whatever. Go to church. Send your kids to school. Go drink at the bar. With the attitude the conservatives have, the red States won’t be red for long. Let nature does what it does. You’ll take some innocents with you, but that life I guess.
Ray Otton says
Seems you’ve never met a hole you can’t dig deeper.
Paul Plante says
Sorin, have you checked your blood pressure lately?
You are getting yourself so freaked out about a variety of the common cold that you’re going to blow out a vein inside your head and then where will you be?
The same main-stream media hysteria mongerers who had you convinced no that long ago that the world was going to end because of global warming now have you convinced instead that the world is going to end because of the common cold.
And when that is proved to be more MEDIA BULL****, they’ll have you peeing in your pants with some new scare, such as crop circles are really caused by space aliens who intend to invade from outer space to kill us all, and the crop circles are made by alien pathfinders to mark out landing zones for Martian paratroopers who will be in the first wave of attackers.
And when EL SUPREMO MAGNIFICO Ralph Northam orders you into your basement because the Martians are coming, there you will go, which brings us to a recent story up this way that might be playing out down there as well entitled “People dying home alone on uptick in Rensselaer County – County has five cases where elderly people’s deaths went unnoticed” by Kenneth C Crowe II, Albany Times Union, on April 13, 2020, to wit:
NORTH GREENBUSH – The bodies of five elderly people who died alone at home recently went undiscovered for five days or more as social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic may have led to them going unnoticed, authorities said Monday.
This was the first time over the last 14 years that Rensselaer County death investigators have seen so many unattended deaths with such a gap between when the deceased were last seen and their bodies discovered, said Mary Fran Wachunas, the county director of public health.
“There’s so much isolation now.”
“Sometimes there’s too much isolation,” Wachunas said.
end quotes
Talk about nature doing what it does, alright – there is a case of it right before your eyes.
As to nature doing what it does, how about the J Nutr Health Aging. 2004;8(1):9-18 article “Effects of aging on immune function” by Burns EA, to wit:
A variety of changes are observed in the immune system in both animals and humans with increasing age.
There is a decline in the functional capacity of the cell populations that mount generalized and focused immune responses, and decreasing production and response of these cells to regulatory signals and proteins.
These changes translate into less effective innate and adaptive immune responses, increased reactivity against self-antigens in vivo, and an increased incidence of infection.
There may also be an increased risk of mortality.
The mechanisms underlying age-related changes in immune function are not fully understood, but are likely to be multifactorial, including environmental and behavioral factors that affect over-all immune function from the molecular level to that of the entire organism.
end quotes
So who are these “innocents” you are talking about above, Sorin?
Nature designed us so that when we reach a certain point in life, unless we take care of ourselves, instead of depending on that being the job or duty of somebody else (how American that sounds, doesn’t it, we are never responsible for ourselves), nature cancels our ticket and there we are, out in the cold, cold ground.
And I am over 70 myself, Sorin, and I take that reality very seriously which is why I am defying this BULL**** order from EL COMMANDANTE Cuomo to stay inside, which is a stupid command from a very stupid man who has a Saddam Hussein/Adolph Hitler complex!
And while EL COMMANDANTE Cuomo has us older folks locked down in our homes like lifers in a SUPER-MAX, he is shipping people with COVID in New York City, including the homeless, all over the rest of the state, as we see from this Syracuse.com article entitled “Upstate NY sheriff to Cuomo: Don’t send coronavirus patients here” by Geoff Herbert on Mar. 31, 2020, to wit:
An Upstate New York sheriff is urging Gov. Andrew Cuomo not to send coronavirus patients from New York City to the rest of state.
“I’m not a Doctor, just a Doctor’s son, but even I know that’s a ridiculous idea jeopardizing everyone and their families upstate,” Fulton County Sheriff Richard Giardino wrote on Facebook.
“The heaviest concentration of CV19 patients are in the Metropolitan and heavier populated areas, not only in NYS but around the Country.”
“Common sense says limit spreading contagious people around to areas with less cases.”
More than 67,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in New York state as of Tuesday morning, with the majority of cases in the NYC area.
Spectrum News reports Giardino said Mayfield Mayor Jamie Ward has similarly raised concerns about a patient or medical worker coming upstate and spreading coronavirus.
“In a small community where you have a healthcare worker or a nurse that then leaves work, goes to the market, our markets are much smaller, goes to the local convenience store, goes to the gas pump and spread something and they don’t know.”
“It would be a matter of days before this county or any county of this size upstate would be overwhelmed,” Ward said.
end quotes
I myself am tracking COVID cases and deaths in an upstate county about 160 miles away from NYC that have soared upwards right after EL COMMANDANTE refused to lock down NYC, so those people like so many “smallpox blankets” have carried COVID all over the state, which is a matter of record easily researched, assuming one actually can think for themselves.
Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander.
RAY OTTON, GET BACK IN YOUR HOUSE AND GET DOWN IN YOUR BASEMENT BEFORE YOU SPREAD COVID LIKE EL COMMANDANTE CUOMO IS DOING, OR ELSE!
Sorin Varzaru says
What innocent? The healthcare worker that has to treat your sorry ass when you contract covid19 because you sent your children to school and they brought it home. Or you got it from going to church. The workers in the grocery store where you shop. Those people.
I have no idea why I keep getting sucked in these pointless conversations. Isolation induced boredom I guess.
Paul Plante says
Pointless conversations?
Surely you jest, Sorin, because there is hardly anything pointless in here, which is about the only media place in America where you are going to find that.
Nor is any of this trivial in any way, and actually.
And let me understand your math here, Sorin, or calculus, as it were.
You are an innocent.
On that I think we can all agree.
You are in mid-life, and are of great and necessary value to the functioning of civilized society itself, bot only in Cape Charles proper, which might become a ghost town, but in Virginia and the United States, itself, and since you are young and have many productive years out ahead of you being a productive member of society to its benefit, you should be protected by EL SUPREMO MAGNIFICO Ralph “Blackface” Northam by the expedient of locking Ray Otton in his basement so he can’t give you COVID.
Are we on the same page here?
But of course we are, so, moving right along, here to the north of you, and this is because not only does “Blackface” Northam love and value you as a valuable member of his kind of society here in the Commonwealth, but EL COMMANDANTE Cuomo of the Empire of New York loves you, as well, him also perceiving your value to the kind of society he wants to create after he gets done destroying this present one, and so, to protect your genetic material for the propagation of a new, more superior race of Americans, virtual SUPERMEN, EL COMMANDANTE Cuomo has locked down everybody in New York state so they cannot come to Cape Charles to give you COVID.
Does that make you feel all warm and squishy inside knowing the Andy Cuomo loves you so much that he is willing to sacrifice the lives of some worthless older people without your potential in upstate New York to protect your existence as vital to the new future he and Ralph Northam are going the create on the ashes of this old one we see dying before our eyes?
So, to save you, EL COMMANDANTE Cuomo locks down these people in Rensselaer Counjty, a rural, third-world county in upstate New York that you have likely never heard of and wouldn’t care about, there being nothing of interest there for you, although its foul air and degraded infrastructure and corrupt government would probably make you feel that you were back home in Romania, and now they are dead.
And you know how they find those people out in rural areas, I’m sure Sorin, the ones who have been dead for over five days.
So tell me, who has to deal with that mess?
Cops?
Healthcare workers?
Somebody’s son or daughter who got worried about their mother, but were afraid to break Andy Cuomo’s rules about staying inside, only to find that they were a bit too late, because Mom starved to death, and Mom starved to death because her home health aide who took care of her meals also got locked down by Andy Cuomo to save your life, and she is locked in with her four children who can’t go to school, and so too bad for the old lady.
But you are safe, Sorin, and Ralph Northam is safe, and Andy Cuomo is safe, as is his brother, Democrat propagandist Chris Cuomo, and not only is Nancy Pelosi safe, but she has some expensive ice cream to pig out on as well, while these people in Rensselaer County are dying alone, and bringing the lingering miasma of death and what further illness that portends, into our upstate communities which are expendable.
Sounds fair to me, I guess, since I’m old and quite expendable to you and Andy Cuomo and Ralph Northam, as well.
How about you?
Sorin Varzaru says
Pointless because you hate/despise Cuomo/northam/Democrats and I loathe trump and no matter what happens, nothing we say we’ll have any effect on the other’s opinion. Isn’t this the definition of pointless?
Paul Plante says
Sorin, my goodness, so much drama in so few words, which is a literary accomplishment, I would say, but no, Sorin, while it is true that as a grandparent, I feel great revulsion for Andy Cuomo, where revulsion can be taken to mean “a sense of disgust and loathing,” which sense of loathing comes from the fact that Andy Cuomo, who I view, quite frankly as a psychopathic monster, is shipping people dying from COVID out of NYC, where they have no room to bury them, and distributing them to all the upstate counties, which shifts the burden of their burial expenses onto county taxpayers who are going to end up buried under crippling increases in property taxes, and thus, Andy Cuomo, who again I view as a psychopathic monster is spreading COVID, fear, panic and death all throughout our land up here, where elderly people are being found dead in their homes, who I sincerely believe belongs in prison orange and shackles and chains on human rights charges over in The Hague, I don’t hate Ralph Northam, who frankly isn’t worth it, and yes, I do Democrats, but that is immaterial since we are talking about Andy Cuomo killing people by sending COVID into all our communities.
And thus, you loathing trump is also an irrelevancy, since we are not talking about Trump – we are talking about a PUBLIC HEALTH FIASCO that was caused by Andy Cuomo.
And yes, as a secondary academic set of subjects, we are talking about how the ****hole created in New York by Andy Cuomo compares to the ****hole Cauceschu created over there in your home town of Romania, but that is on an intellectual plane, because Andy Cuomo made it clear years ago that for New York to become an EMPIRE again, it had to win the race to the bottom, and frankly, with his suspension of our laws and our Constitution with his imposition of a police state on us, I think he has done it, myself, and since we all are locked down like lifers in a SUPER-MAX, I merely thought to solicit your expert opinion as an expert witness on the subject, so there is and can be no hatred of Andy Cuomo there, at all.
So as you can see, Sorin, everything you say has an effect on my opinions by giving me the opportunity, as above, to make them even more clear.
Isn’t this the definition of not pointless?
I thought so, anyway, and thanks for giving me the opportunity to say it.
Sorin Varzaru says
I’m not sure what do you think your endless rants about Cuomo accomplish, it certainly doesn’t change my mind. I like the guy. Even some Republicans like his handling of the covid19. But my point about the pointlessness still stands. There is nothing I can write here that would alter your opinions , or make a difference . So why post? I I’m bored and got nothing better to do. Anyways, gotta go start the grill. Cheers.
Paul Plante says
SORIN: I’m not sure what do you think your endless rants about Cuomo accomplish, it certainly doesn’t change my mind.
ME: I haven’t a clue, either, Sorin, but you know what, silence gives consent, and so, for whatever outcome is the result, I am not silent, and of course I don’t expect you to understand that, or appreciate that, or tolerate that, but such it is; call it controlled folly, where you act as if you possibly could make a difference, even when all the odds are against you, such as trying to talk to you about citizenship responsibilities as an American citizen, when you aren’t one and don’t care to be burdened with that responsibility, which I’m totally cool with, actually, Sorin.
SORIN: I like the guy (Democratic Socialist governor of New York Andy Cuomo).
ME: Okay.
SORIN: Even some Republicans like his handling of the covid19.
ME: Okay.
SORIN: But my point about the pointlessness still stands.
ME: It would have to, wouldn’t it?
Otherwise you would be forced to have to admit that you were clearly in error.
SORIN: There is nothing I can write here that would alter your opinions, or make a difference.
ME: My goodness, what a defeatist attitude!
SORIN: So why post?
ME: Because you’ve locked yourself in a closet in your basement where these is no fresh air nor sunlight and the social isolation is now making you buggy, and if you don’t exercise your mind right now, it will be a puddle of rancid pulp, tomarrow, which is a damn good reason to me, anyway!
SORIN: I’m bored and got nothing better to do.
ME: Now, there you go, and don’t it feel a lot better to admit to yourself that by socially isolating yourself from intellectual growth, you’re foolishly frying your own brain?
SORIN: Anyways, gotta go start the grill.
Cheers.
ME: And look at that, by coming out of the closet where you were hiding in abject fear of COVID getting on the sole of your shoe, you’re feeling better, already!
See what good a therapy session here at the Cape Charles Mirror can do for you!
Sorin Varzaru says
” Because you’ve locked yourself in a closet in your basement where these is no fresh air nor sunlight”
I’m looking out of the window of my RV which is currently parked in a forest in Western Virginia and look at birds, squirrels, Chipmunks and other wildlife. Later today , after I’m done with work, we’ll take the dog for a walk along the river, and maybe take a fishing rod with me to see if I can catch dinner. Regardless, later in the evening will start a campfire and grill something.
Life in the “basement” is ok for me. How about you?
Paul Plante says
I have my own ten acres of woods with birds and squirrels and chipmunks and a stream flowing through as my “basement,” so life for me is good, especially since Andy Cuomo has ordered people to stay at least six feet away from me, which I’m fine with.
And Sorin, I am happy for you that you were able to get out there among some safety and beauty.
Beats being stupid and following “Blackface” Northam’s orders to stay in your basement, doesn’t it?
And I am quite serious when I talk about the harm that social isolation does to the immune systems of older people, of which I happen to be one.
You would think EL COMMANDANTE Cuomo and EL SUPREMO MAGNIFICO Northam were actually trying to kill older people on purpose giving out stupid orders like that, wouldn’t you?
I do, anyway.
Paul Plante says
Sorin, where the conversation or discussion with yourself does become quite pointless, and this takes us back to Tommy Jefferson in his Notes on Virginia Q.VIII, 1782. ME 2:118, where he talked about importations of foreigners into this country bringing with them the principles of the governments they leave, imbibed in their early youth, is when I try to explain to you the duties and responsibilities of a real born-here American citizen, with respect to standing up to thugs and tyrants and autocrats like El COMMANDANTE Andy Cuomo in New York, or EL SUPREMO MAGNIFICO Ralph “Blackface” Northam in Virginia, or the Democrat party, which in this country has a long history of tyrannizing people who are not Democrats, and really don’t want to be.
You came here for the good times to get out of a socialist, repressive, ignorant ****hole, where you were a subject, while I was born here, a citizen.
As a citizen, from the time I was young, I learned OUR history as a FREE PEOPLE, while when you were young, you were conditioned to be a nameless, faceless cog in the COMMUNIST MACHINE, and now, it is impossible for me to talk to you as an American citizen about our duty to stand up to Andy Cuomo and Ralph Northam and the Democrats, because that is something you never learned.
You learned to blend in, in a repressive society, and so, that comes natural to you, and you cannot understand standing up to thugs, because you were conditioned to grovel before them, and grant them power of life or death over you, at their whim.
You see this all as some kind of football game or something, where everybody for one team is sitting on one side of the stadium, waving their red flags, and screeching their little hearts out, while everybody else is relegated over to the other side of the stadium, so in your very limited view of reality, since I don’t suck the ***** of Andy Cuomo and Ralph Northam and the Democrats, then I have to “hate” them, and instead love Trump, which is BULL****.
I am for neither, Sorin, but you cannot comprehend that, with your binary view of reality.
As to the Cuomo’s, in 1986, I was a licensed professional engineer in New York state, which happens to be a position of RESPONSIBILITY to the people, a public servant, if you will, whose duty to those people was to protect and safeguard their lives, health and property.
Now, while some people calling themselves “professional engineers” do trail behind politicians like Andy Cuomo like a pack of dogs looking and hoping for crumbs to be thrown that way, I was not one of them.
And so, having a reputation of political independence and integrity, I was detailed by Mario Cuomo’s health commissioner, Dr. David Axelrod, to go through the corrupt Rensselaer County Health Department with a fine-toothed comb and to make heads roll and to clean up and end the endemic corruption in that political patronage mill.
In the course of doing so, I not only stepped on some political toes, I danced the fandango on them, which in turn earned me the enmity of Mario Cuomo, then the governor, because the toes I was dancing on happened to be some of his contributors and political supporters, so like a Mafia Don, Mario Cuomo put out a hit order on myself, which in 1988 resulted in an ambush where I was nearly decapitated by a back-hoe operator who swung his bucket at my head, and would have had me had I not moved when the backhoe operator’s hands moved.
And the story of my professional life went downhill from there, as did the lives of the people in Rensselaer County, because you don’t stand up to a thug like Mario Cuomo and survive the encounter.
And now his thug son Andy is sitting in the throne occupied by his father back then, and more people are now dying in Rensselaer County, as a result, which is something you are willing to accept and tolerate, so long as in the end, you are safe.
And because I am unwilling to stand back like you, keep my eyes averted, and my mouth shut about it, in your mind, I have to hate Andy Cuomo and “Blackface: Northam and the Democrats and be for Trump, instead, when none of that is true, at all.
And there is where things become pointless, indeed, trying to explain that to you, because people actually daring to stand up for something is an entirely foreign concept to you, just as groveling at the feet of a tyrant or despot or thug is a foreign concept to me.
Other than that, Sorin, we actually get along quite well, I would say.
And I truly hope you have a wonderful day out ahead of yourself locked in your basement as you are.
As for me, if anybody is looking for me, I’ll be outside.
Sorin Varzaru says
I find it amusing to see how you and a lot of conservatives/Republicans have this unjustified superiority complex about being Americans. You would all be served by traveling the world to have a broader perspective. And I don’t mean taking a cruise ship for a week. Live in other countries. Experience something different. You might have a better chance to realize that in many ways US is an average country. Some of it’s biggest accomplishments happened because of immigrants, you know, the folks not born here. But I know you and a lot of other folks are not mentally equipped to understand this. I pity you.
Paul Plante says
Sorin, your head exhibits an incredible denseness that I doubt an x-ray could even penetrate.
What is it made of?
Do you know?
And as to being be served by traveling the world to have a broader perspective, that is what Louis L’Amour did when he was actually quite young, and he thought highly of that advice you just gave there, as do I, to be truthful.
And like you, I don’t mean taking a cruise ship for a week.
Live in other countries, like I did in Viet Nam for a year.
And yes, experience something different, which is sage advice I always give to young people.
As to having a better chance to realize that in many ways US is an average country, I’ve had that realization since I was young, and now I have seen America become very much below average, even lower that Romania and Haiti, which is what all of this conversation and discussion in here is all about – America citizens who unlike you don’t have the opportunity of flitting off to the EU when things go to **** over here as they are now doing where in less than two months, the politicians who are looting our treasury in Washington have blown through $2.7 TRILLION in new debt on top of all the debt we, the American people already owed, and like the Weimar Republic before us, there is going to be a huge price to pay for that much new money based on nothing coming into the system all in a rush.
But that is of no concern to you, since you can flee, which takes us to your statement “I find it amusing to see how you and a lot of conservatives/Republicans have this unjustified superiority complex about being Americans.”
That’s why I think your head is so dense, Sorin, as to be totally impenetrable and impermeable to anything, starting with rays of rational thought, because first off, as I have told you over and over, I personally am not either a “conservative,” nor am I a Republican. and as an American, I have a Constitutional right to not be associated with either, so thank you very much in the future for not lumping me in with them.
As to unjustified superiority complexes, many years ago, I had the good luck to spend some four months in Ireland, in County Clare, where they are wild about Irish music, and every time I was at a session out in some country pub, at the end of the evening, the very last song to be played and sung was the Irish national anthem, and nobody sat or kneeled.
Everybody including myself stood.
No kneelers or cravens in Ireland, Sorin, at least in the West.
But I know you and a lot of other folks are not mentally equipped to understand this.
And for that, I pity you.
Publius Americanus says
Man, you totalitarians and your ‘lists’. Will you check off the names from your precious list as you herd them on the train to go get a ‘nice, delousing shower”?
Slide Easy says
‘I also have a UV flashlight if you need one to stick up some orifice. I’ll be happy to donate it to you. If you promise you’ll go congregate with your fellow “freedom lovers” and chant something, anything, in each other’s face.’
What the f#@ck is wrong with you? I mean really. Your liberal, smug comments are sickening. You do realize that many of us no longer view you and those like you as our fellow americans? Are you even an american? What are people like you going to do if shit ever hits the fan again, like it did in 1861? Ask the UN for help?
Sorin Varzaru says
If 1861 happens again, and it’s not out of the realm of possibility with Trump in charge, I’m certainly not going to be fighting for the confederate side. I’m really not down with slavery, I guess a flaw of character from your perspective. I’ll have to find myself a Dragunov. I know, I know, but nostalgia is a thing.
Ray Otton says
Oops, there’s a good chance you overstepped some boundaries here.
The Dragunvo is a sniper rifle.
You wouldn’t be threatening anyone, would you?
Do we have a budding mass murderer on our hands?
Should the authorities be notified under the new Red Flag laws?**
**Alinsky’s Rules For Radicals #4 “”Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”
heh
Sorin Varzaru says
“You wouldn’t be threatening anyone, would you?”
No. That would however be my weapon of choice if drafted into a civil war (or any war), which is what we were talking about.
“Do we have a budding mass murderer on our hands?”
Romanians are not into that, this is more of an American thing.
“Should the authorities be notified under the new Red Flag laws?”
I’m all for the red flag laws. They make sense. Let’s say you choose to feel threatened by a comment made even though it was clearly not threatening. You would have to convince someone, presumably the local police to take action, they would have to convince a judge, and assuming all of that goes through, they would temporary seize my shotgun. Boo hoo. So, what’s the big deal, why are the conservatives foaming at the mouth about this?
**Alinsky’s Rules For Radicals #4 “”Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”
The fact that you refer to me as the enemy and you are quoting from something called rules for radicals says volumes about YOUR state of mind though.
Ray Otton says
Again, the reply option is missing after your post so I have to step out a level to reply.
To quote –
“No. That would however be my weapon of choice if drafted into a civil war (or any war), which is what we were talking about.”
You should have made that clear. Since you did not, it was perfectly valid for me to question your motives.
“Romanians are not into that, this is more of an American thing.”
Eh, aren’t you an American now?
Or is that a deep cover? I did watch “The Americans” you know.
“I’m all for the red flag laws. They make sense. Let’s say you choose to feel threatened by a comment made even though it was clearly not threatening. You would have to convince someone, presumably the local police to take action, they would have to convince a judge, and assuming all of that goes through, they would temporary seize my shotgun. Boo hoo. So, what’s the big deal, why are the conservatives foaming at the mouth about this?”
JHFC, didn’t you have to take a test to get in here?
I’ll explain it once again.
Because it violates the basic tenants of our Constitution that you are innocent until proven guilty. Too bad you don’t like that, but my rights supersede your feelings.
“The fact that you refer to me as the enemy and you are quoting from something called rules for radicals says volumes about YOUR state of mind though.”
YOU brought up the sniper rifle, not me. If anyone in these pages has shown a propensity for making enemies it is you and your blatantly anti-American statements.
You should stop now, it is not going well.
Sorin Varzaru says
“You should have made that clear. Since you did not, it was perfectly valid for me to question your motives.”
Fair enough.
“Eh, aren’t you an American now? Or is that a deep cover? I did watch “The Americans” you know.”
I am a US citizen but have been brought up in Romania. Culturally we don’t have a propensity for commiting mass murder when we get frustrated.
“Because it violates the basic tenants of our Constitution that you are innocent until proven guilty. Too bad you don’t like that, but my rights supersede your feelings.”
The states and us supreme courts decide if a law is constitutional or not, not you and your friends. So far, no red flag laws have been ruled unconstitutional, so they aren’t. So you see, it’s not my feelings that restrict you, it’s the law of the land.
Paul Plante says
Not to put too fine a point on it for you, Sorin, but you do know, do you not, that the last time around we had a civil war, it was because the Democrats, who were the slave owners, the crowd you run with today, decided they didn’t want to be a part of our country anymore, so they “dis-unioned” themselves so they could become a separate country with slavery and one-party Democrat rule.
Just saying.
Publius Americanus says
Oh for God’s sake Sorin just say it……….you know you know you are dying to………cuz you just know deep in your little totalitarian heart you just want to say……….
“all zese rules, people do you not know they are……….
“Fur Ihre Sicherheit!!!”
TWANLOC, you fascist man who does not know his father.
Paul Plante says
Speaking of preserving your own right to be a ******* idiot, Sorin:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Common Human Coronaviruses
Common human coronaviruses, including types 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1, usually cause mild to moderate upper-respiratory tract illnesses, like the common cold.
Most people get infected with one or more of these viruses at some point in their lives.
Symptoms of common human coronaviruses:
• runny nose
• sore throat
• headache
• fever
• cough
• general feeling of being unwell
Human coronaviruses can sometimes cause lower-respiratory tract illnesses, such as pneumonia or bronchitis.
This is more common in people with cardiopulmonary disease, people with weakened immune systems, infants, and older adults.
Transmission of common human coronaviruses
Common human coronaviruses usually spread from an infected person to others through
• the air by coughing and sneezing
• close personal contact, like touching or shaking hands
• touching an object or surface with the virus on it, then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes before washing your hands
In the United States, people usually get infected with common human coronaviruses in the fall and winter, but you can get infected at any time of the year.
Young children are most likely to get infected, but people can have multiple infections in their lifetime.
Treatment for common human coronaviruses
There is no vaccine to protect you against human coronaviruses and there are no specific treatments for illnesses caused by human coronaviruses.
Most people with common human coronavirus illness will recover on their own.
Page last reviewed: February 13, 2020
end quotes
Given that there is no vaccine to protect you against human coronaviruses and there are no specific treatments for illnesses caused by human coronaviruses, why are you stupid enough to think there is going to be a vaccine for COVID, and why do you think we are stupid enough to believe you who researches nothing and who doesn’t think for yourself, because you never learned how, and who can only do what your leaders tell you to do, that there is going to be a vaccine, when we all know there is no cure for the common cold?
Merle Haggard says
‘I find it amusing to see how you and a lot of conservatives/Republicans have this unjustified superiority complex about being Americans. You would all be served by traveling the world to have a broader perspective. And I don’t mean taking a cruise ship for a week. Live in other countries. Experience something different. You might have a better chance to realize that in many ways US is an average country. Some of it’s biggest accomplishments happened because of immigrants, you know, the folks not born here. But I know you and a lot of other folks are not mentally equipped to understand this. I pity you.’
I hear people talkin’ bad,
About the way they have to live here in this country
Harpin’ on the wars we fight
And gripin’ ’bout the way things oughta be
And I don’t mind ’em switchin’ sides
And standin’ up for things they believe in
But when they’re runnin’ down our country, man
They’re walkin’ on the fightin’ side of me
They’re walkin’ on the fightin’ side of me
Runnin’ down a way of life
Our fightin’ men have fought and died to keep
If you don’t love it, leave it
Let this song that I’m singin’ be a warnin’
When you’re runnin’ down our country, hoss
You’re walkin’ on the fightin’ side of me
I read about some squirrelly guy
Who claims that he just don’t believe in fightin’
And I wonder just how long
The rest of us can count on bein’ free
They love our milk and honey
But they preach about some other way of livin’
But when they’re runnin’ down our country, man
They’re walkin’ on the fightin’ side of me
They’re walkin’ on the fightin’ side of me
Runnin’ down the way of life
Our fightin’ men have fought and died to keep
If you don’t love it, leave it
Let this song that I’m singin’ be a warnin’
When you’re runnin’ down our country, man
You’re walkin’ on the fightin’ side of me
You’re walkin’ on the fightin’ side of me
Runnin’ down the way of life
Our fightin’ men have fought and died to keep
If you don’t love it, leave it
Let this song that I’m singin’ be a warnin’
When you’re runnin’ down our country, hoss
You’re walkin’ on the fightin’ side of me
Ray Otton says
“But I know you and a lot of other folks are not mentally equipped to understand this. I pity you”
Four years later and you still haven’t figured out, this is how you got Trump.
Personally, I’m very happy you haven’t.
Sorin Varzaru says
I know how we got Trump. In part, because of what I just said. Americans think of themselves as the best and Trump was happy to capitalize on that. I have absolutely no illusion that any person who STILL is a trump supporter has the ability to understand where US really stands in the world, especially now.
Ray Otton says
Leave.
Sorin Varzaru says
<Leave
Nope. Gonna stay here and help shape the country towards what I think it should be. Get a progressive president, implement progressive policies, tackle gun violence, etc. All your favorites.
Paul Plante says
Speaking of the progressivism that Sorin is pushing and advocating for in here, not surprisingly, the July 24, 2016 edition of Cape Charles Mirror was way out ahead of the curve by hosting a comprehensive thread on the subject entitled “On Alleged Progressivism In America in 2016” http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/paul-plante-on-alleged-progressivism-in-america/ where we were informed on the subject, as follows:
August 4, 2016 at 11:03 am
What we are seeing here, people, with these attacks on what can be said in the Cape Charles Mirror, what words can be used, what words can’t be used, who can say them and how often, or not at all, I believe is a glimpse into our collective future as American citizens if this 2016 Democrat Manifesto becomes “law of the land” in 2016.
In the Preamble to the 2016 Democrat Manifesto, it states:
This election is about more than Democrats and Republicans.
It is about who we are as a nation, and who we will be in the future.
end quotes
So, there is what this discussion is really all about.
Who are we as a nation?
Who will we be in the future?
If John Read and tkenny were to have their way, those of us who dare to stand up in public and challenge their MANIFESTO would be without voices with which to dissent.
The Preamble to the 2016 Democrat Manifesto concludes as follows:
We can and we will build a more just economy, a more equal society, and a more perfect union—because we are stronger together.
end quote
The “we” in there, of course, refers to the Democrat party, the very same Democrat party that is going to take it upon itself to abolish rule of law as it presently exists in the United States of America and instead take the law into its own hands by requiring the Department of Justice to investigate all questionable or suspicious police-involved shootings, as opposed to citizen grand juries within the 50 states.
Their way, or the highway, people.
In the Albany, New York Times Union, the newspaper of record of Democrat Andy Cuomo’s capitol city in New York, the newspaper headline said the other day in huge block letters:
CLINTON VOWS TO UNITE NATION!
My question is how is she going to do that, other than by force, given that according to a WASHINGTON POST article by Aaron Blake on July 25, 2016:
1) 68 percent say Clinton isn’t honest and trustworthy;
2) CBS showed just 31 percent have favorable views of Clinton and 56 percent have unfavorable ones; and
3) Just 38 percent would be “proud” to have her as president.
end quotes
Yes, people, a lot to think about, so let us try to do it while we still have a voice with which to do so, before the censors shut us down.
end quotes
For anyone curious as to why it was Donald Trump and not Hillary Clinton who became our president, there are the reasons string you right in the face, to wit: 68 percent of the American people thought Hillary Clinton, the progressive candidate, wasn’t honest and trustworthy; while CBS showed just 31 percent had favorable views of Clinton and 56 percent had unfavorable ones; and just 38 percent would have been “proud” to have her as president, which 38 percent would include Sorin, who is going to try to push another Hillary Clinton on us as his “progressive” choice.
Good luck with that say I!
Sorin Varzaru says
“and just 38 percent would have been “proud” to have her as president”
Proud? No. I didn’t and I don’t like Hillary. I also don’t like Biden. But to say Trump is a disaster is the understatement of the century. Neither Biden or Hillary are progressive, but they are certainly more progressive , have more common sense and are more … human, then what we got.
Buy hey, as far as I am concerned, go to church, lick some doorknobs and shove a uv light up your ass like your commander in chief suggests. Maybe drink some bleach. You’ll be fine.
Personally, I’ll do what I think is necessary. I’ll wear a mask when I have to be in closer proximity to people, try to keep some distance otherwise, wash my hands often and enjoy nature.
Note: Dumbassery is contagious.
Paul Plante says
Sorin, you are an out-and-out trip through time and space and that is a natural fact.
If you are not already doing it, I think there is a future for you wring scripts for the daytime soaps, and maybe even a revival of Fernwood Tonight, or Twin Peaks, what with your ability to pack so much drama and angst and chutzpah into so few words so skillfully arranged on the page so as to present a pleasing platter, as it were, to the reader.
Take this line of yours, for example:
Buy hey, as far as I am concerned, go to church, lick some doorknobs and shove a uv light up your ass like your commander in chief suggests.
end quotes
The last time we here in America, anyway, saw that much drama packed into so few words said with so much raw feeling was Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront,” when the dude said to his brother those poignant and memorable words”I could have been a contender,” or Bogie in
“Casablanca” when he said “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid!”
There’s the league you’re playing in, Sorin, and there is the company you are keeping, which takes us back to your work, as follows:
Maybe drink some bleach.
You’ll be fine.
end quotes
And look how smoothly you were able to change both style and genres here, with this more reminiscent of Dashiel Hammett-type tough guys.
And change once more again, to wit:
Personally, I’ll do what I think is necessary.
I’ll wear a mask when I have to be in closer proximity to people, try to keep some distance otherwise, wash my hands often and enjoy nature.
end quotes
To which I respond, “you’re learning grasshopper!”
Paul Plante says
Did I say your head was dense, Sorin?
Well, it still is.
You are obsessed with stereotypes and cliches about America and Americans, Sorin, as if we all go around bragging to each other while tugging out on our suspenders just how great a country this is, and all that “world’s greatest superpower” horse**** that the main stream media spews, as if the main stream media spoke for everyone in America, when in fact, that don’t speak for most of us, at all.
And what is going on right now has nothing to do with your stereotypes cliches about America.
You think we are all either Democrats or Republicans, which is hog**** on a cheap plate because on the best of days, the Democrats are about 30% of the population, and the Republicans are maybe 27%, while the rest of us are WE, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, something you simply can’t seem to wrap your mind around, having no cultural context in which to be able to do so, which you then think is arrogance on our part because you don’t understand our customs and political beliefs, those of us who are not Democrats nor Republicans nor liberals nor conservatives, which political beliefs are summed up, for example, in the “Alfredus” essay of Samuel Tenny in the Freeman’s Oracle in New Hampshire on January 18, 1788, to wit:
To prevent any interference between the federal and state governments, the objects of the former are pointed out in the preamble to the Constitution, viz. “To form a more perfect union — establish justice — insure domestic tranquility — provide for the common defence — promote the general welfare — and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”
end quotes
Being obsessed as you are with blue states and red states and all that main-stream media horse****, and being unaware of the fact that there are those of us here in this country who take our citizenship duties and responsibilities quite seriously, you fail to understand that the Preamble to OUR Constitution, which is not Donald Trump’s Constitution, nor is it Nancy Pelosi’s, or Charley “Chuck” Schumer’s, or Andy Cuomo’s, or “Blackface” Northam’s to pervert and abrogate, and that Preamble to OUR Constitution makes it clear that the response to this COVID CRISIS belonged to the states, and not Trump, and WE, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE are sick and tired of the Democrats and the main-stream media trying to re-interpret the Constitution to give Trump a duty and responsibility which were never his.
And consider these words on that subject of where the true political power resides in this country (not with the Democrats and not with the Republicans) in the “Remarks on the Pennsylvania Ratifying Convention” by James Wilson on November 28, 1787, where he stated thusly, to wit:
This will be a proper time for making an observation or two on what may be called the preamble to this constitution.
I had occasion, on a former day, to mention that the leading principle in the politics, and that which pervades the American constitutions, is, that the supreme power resides in the people.
This Constitution, Mr. President, opens with a solemn and practical recognition of that principle: “We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, etc., do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
It is announced in their name — it receives its political existence from their authority: they ordain and establish.
end quotes
And there is what you can’t fathom, Sorin, that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans hold political power over us, a free people, as if we were their chattels and slaves.
You see us as their subjects, when we are far from it.
And then there is Noah Webster in his “A Citizen of America: An Examination Into the Leading Principles of America” essay on October 17, 1787, to wit:
The preamble to the constitution is declaratory of the purposes of our union, and the assumption of any powers not necessary to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, will be unconstitutional, and endanger the existence of Congress.
end quotes
While that means nothing to you, that is what people like myself grew up with, and that shapes our response to this COVID CRISIS which really is a product of Democrat Andy Cuomo, who is now milking that crisis for all it is worth in his childish political war with Trump, which is putting our lives and futures in jeopardy.
Which brings us to what these discussions are really all about from the perspective of American citizens watching our nation crumble like a rotten tree in a zephyr breeze, and that is something called the writing of contemporary history, which is history that is usually deemed to provide an explanatory or interpretive background for events still being contested or whose ramifications are still affecting current political or social development.
Sorin Varzaru says
I gotta give it to you. You are relentless. But you are right, this country is going to shit. Just not for the reasons you think though. The right wing nuts are taking the country back to the dark ages. And I am glad I got an exit plan. But I’ll try to slow you down.
Paul Plante says
As to those COVID tests Sorin seems to be pushing:
Cleveland Clinic
Coronavirus
Is it possible to test negative for COVID-19 and still be infected with the virus?
Yes.
This is possible.
There are several reasons for “false negative” test results — meaning you really DO have COVID-19 although the test result says you don’t.
Reasons for a false negative COVID-19 test result include:
• You were tested too early in the course of illness.
The virus hasn’t multiplied in your body to the level that it could be detected by the test.
• A good specimen was not obtained.
The healthcare personnel may not have swabbed deeply enough in the nasal cavity to collect a good sample.
There could also be handling errors and transportation errors, as the sample must be transported to a lab to be tested.
• The COVID-19 test itself was not sensitive or specific enough to detect COVID-19.
“Sensitivity” refers to the ability of the test to detect the smallest amount of virus.
“Specificity” refers to the ability of the test to detect only the COVID-19 virus and not other similar viruses.
Many different commercial and hospital laboratories have developed tests for COVID-19.
All must meet standards, but no test is 100% sensitive and 100% specific for COVID-19.
This is why there is always a possibility of “false negative” and “false positive” tests.
Ray Otton says
While your statement sends actual shivers up my spine, this is without a doubt, the BEST thing you’ve ever posted.
See, there may have been some people on the fence over whether or not Lefitists actually have souls.
Not any more.
Michael James Gallant says
Opening the economy is the right thing to do,better to die on our feet than live on our knees!
Let the sick ones stay at home,let us healthy folks have access to certain stuff, and to work,and let our little ones return to school and LET US GO TO CHURCH!
tokenny says
Can God only be found in church Mr. Gallant? Are you unable to communicate with God by yourself? I always thought that God was omnipresent.
Hunker down for a while Mr Gallant there aren’t that many available beds at Riverside.
Ray Otton says
I’m not even a practicing Christian and I find your comment insulting.
There’s plenty of reason for believers to congregate –
A few of them:
“The Holy Ghost has given many different gifts to the Body of Christ for the purpose of meeting the common good for all.”
“Each Christian has different gifts. One way of enjoying all that the Lord has for His children is to congregate and exercise those gifts as a corporate Body of Christ. Corporate worship takes many forms such as congregational services, Bible studies, fellowship dinners, group preparation for ministry, and prayer meetings. These are just a few of the ways the Lord has made for us to enjoy service to Him and to one another.”
“Let us not give up meeting together, as some were in the habit of doing,” because when one or more Christians choose to do their own thing and not fulfill their part of corporate worship the Body of Christ becomes anemic in the ability to publicly proclaim all the works of Christ on this earth.”
“It is the will of God that we should worship in public ordinances that are in line with the Word of God. It should be our desire to stir up one another to go and worship the Lord in public worship. The New Testament writer of the Book of Hebrews reminds us of our need to quicken and sharpen one another to do what is good and right.”
Shame on you, you stupid ass.
Stuart Bell says
HEAR! HEAR!!!
tokenny says
Stupid ass? You go ahead and congregate . Do you think that congregating or the word of God is going to keep you from contracting the virus? Look in the mirror – there is the definition of stupid ass.
Lets see, doesn’t matter what your religion is but high percentage of older folks make up congregations, you know some possibly frail. We also have been told recently people can be walking around asymptomatic with the virus . Go ahead and get them to “stir up one another..” That my friend, is the definition of stupid ass.
Maybe they can congregate and have the pastor spit on them and claim he made the virus relinquish its power. Go for it. However, that would also include you in the definition of stupid ass.
Maybe the next time you should think before speaking out your ass.
Sorin Varzaru says
I’d be all for letting these selfish morons congregate and fornicate together except that when they get infected they spread the virus outside of their congregation putting other people at risk. And when they get sick, they put at risk the medical staff and take resources away from treating people that didn’t act like idiots.
Ray Otton says
Ugh.
Publius Americanus says
Derp, I’m Tokenny………….it be ok to congregate in de Walmart but nots de church.
Tell me Tokenee, does it hurt to be that stupid? Do you find walls unavoidable? Do you have “inhale and exhale” tattooed inside your eyeballs so you won’t pass out?
Truly, I’d like to know. Go ask some people to teach you some words and you can tell us about your journey thru life as a moron.
You and Sorin can write it together!!!!
Sorin Varzaru says
There is no cure for stupid.
Paul Plante says
There are many things for which there are no cures, which includes not only stupid, but COVID, as well.
Wherever it might have come from, the fact of the matter is that COVID now exists, and will continue to exist.
EL COMMANDANTE Cuomo of New York, who is the acknowledged leading scientific and medical expert on the subject of COVID, has the lock-down continuing for months, which raises the question of when will the ALL-CLEAR be sounded, and how will you and tokenny know about it?
You had the sense to get out of town while the getting was good, and now you are in your camper somewhere in western Virginia, where you hope you will be safe.
If COVID isn’t going away, and it isn’t, and there is no cure coming, you are going to be out there the rest of your life, are you not, in your camper in western Virginia?
And how will tokenny know its safe for him to finally come back out of his Cold War era bomb shelter?
And the answer is, he won’t.
Neither of you will ever know whether it is safe to venture forth, and so, there you are, both stuck in place out of fear of getting a cold.
And please, don’t either of you talk to us about these HORSE**** tests which are absolutely worthless as an indicator of anything related to COVID with their false positives, which would have somebody stupid enough to believe those tests thinking they had immunity from COVID when such was not the case, at all
There is stupid on the hoof, alright.
Consider the Evaluate article entitled “Covid-19 antibody tests face a very specific problem” by Elizabeth Cairns on April 22, 2020, to wit:
Dozens of antibody tests for immunity to Covid-19 have been released onto the market around the world, so far with little regulatory oversight.
end quotes
Nonetheless, that doesn’t stop EL COMMANDANTE Cuomo from swearing by them, and you and tokenny staking your lives on them, which would seem the very essence of real ******* stupid to me, which takes us back to the science, as follows:
And many of the tests for which data are available might simply not be good enough – earlier today Roche’s chief executive, Severin Schwan, said that some of the tests on the market “are not worth anything, or have very little use”.
end quotes
Which doesn’t stop EL COMMANDANTE Cuomo from relying on them, nor does it stop you and tokenny from staking your lives on them as to when your solitary confinement can finally come to an end, which realistically, is never.
Getting back to the science:
Major questions
There are two major questions here.
Firstly, are these claims to be trusted without independent verification?
Abbott and BD are reputable companies, highly unlikely to make claims they cannot justify, but many of the other antibody tests on sale around the world are from little-known groups and laboratories that might not be so scrupulous.
Secondly, how accurate do these tests need to be?
Until the advent of a Covid-19 vaccine, countries aiming to lift lockdown restrictions and begin to accelerate their economic activity are going to rely heavily on antibody testing to determine which individuals can safely return to work.
The prevalence of Covid-19 is estimated at around 5% in the US, and at this low a level the risk of false positives becomes a major problem.
If a serological test has 90% specificity, its positive predictive value will be 32.1% – meaning nearly 70% of positive results will be false.
end quotes
Are you and tokenny able to assimilate that, Sorin – nearly 70% of positive results will be false, so that if you and tokenny get one of those tests and are told you have antibodies, that may well be false, and there the two of you will be, thinking you are safe and so, you are out there whooping it up about finally being safe and free, and somebody walking around with COVID comes and hacks all over the two of you, and maybe spits on you, as well, and there you come down with COVID and that is the end of you, because you never really were immune, afterall, which takes us back to the science, as follows:
At this same disease prevalence, a test with 95% specificity will lead to a 50% false positive rate.
Only at 99% specificity does the false positive rate become anywhere near acceptable, and even here 16% of positive results would still be wrong.
The FDA will need to set demanding accuracy standards for these products if it is to avoid large numbers of people with no immunity to the virus being sent back into contact with others.
end quotes
They are talking about you and tokenny there, Sorin!
Getting back to the science, one last time, we have:
There is one last headache for those who believe that serological testing is the means through which normality will resume.
As Bernstein analysts point out, even a perfect test would still only allow the 5% of the population that had been infected back to work – hardly a respectable basis for kickstarting an economy.
end quotes
Sounds like you and tokenny are in for the long haul, Sorin.
How much food did you bring with you?
Enough to last through the winter and into next year, at least?
Ray Otton says
Welp, we can finally agree on something.
Ray Otton says
I’ll stick this here because I can’t comment under your reply elsewhere. Plus it definitely comes under the heading of stupid.
SOME red flag laws have passed constitutional muster because they address the problem of presumption of innocence. The devil is in the details so the fact that one state’s law passes the constitutional barrier is no proof that others will.
You see, some states laws are being challenged because they put too much burden on the accused.
This is the biggest problem with those states’ Red Flag Laws. They happen “ex parte,” without the defendant present to defend himself. Due process, guaranteed in the Bill of Rights in three separate places, is denied.
Usually, after the confiscation has already taken place a second hearing is scheduled, some weeks later, where the defendant must provide evidence proving his innocence. This turns our legal system on its head. The defendant is put in the position of proving themselves innocent of something that they never did, nor thought of doing, but was previously punished for by the forcible confiscation of weapons.
Many of these state laws come dangerously close to destroying the backbone of our judicial system, which is the presumption of innocence. The SC will have to make a final decision in the to too distant future so don’t count your chickens.
You know, it’s actually very revealing and puzzling at the same time, that you think the way you do. The brainwashing was so thorough, the freedom blinders so thick, that you’ve learned nothing from your own mother country’s history.
Now go oil up that sniper rifle, faker.
Sorin Varzaru says
“You know, it’s actually very revealing and puzzling at the same time, that you think the way you do. ”
I think the way I do because I am an adult and understand that extremes are never good. Unfettered gun access is just as bad as no gun access, unlimited “freedom” and no freedom, etc. Society has rules for a reason. As usual, things are complicated and smart people know that there are no simple solutions to complicated problems.
If that civil war comes, and I have to participate, I’ll do what I have to do.
Ray Otton says
“I think the way I do because I am an adult and understand that extremes are never good.”
Then you shouldn’t hold such extreme positions. You know, like America isn’t anything special or socialism is a superior social system.
“Unfettered gun access is just as bad as no gun access, unlimited “freedom” and no freedom, etc. Society has rules for a reason.”
Gun access if far from unlimited, and you’ve missed the point by a mile. This isn’t specifically about guns, this is about the complete upheaval of our judicial system. Guns are just the camel’s nose in the tent.
Adults understand this.
“As usual, things are complicated and smart people know that there are no simple solutions to complicated problems.”
Some problems aren’t that hard to solve. I mean you did bring up the sniper rifle. No one else on this site has ever made even an oblique reference to shooting anyone.
“If that civil war comes, and I have to participate, I’ll do what I have to do.”
Talk…………is…………..cheap.
Sorin Varzaru says
“Then you shouldn’t hold such extreme positions. You know, like America isn’t anything special or socialism is a superior social system.”
I don’t hold extreme positions. What I actually said was that America is average in many ways. Which is true. Look at any statistics and you will see that US is rarely at the top. I also don’t think socialism is superior. I do think that Capitalism tempered down with strong social programs is a better system though.
“Unfettered gun access is just as bad as no gun access, unlimited “freedom” and no freedom, etc. Society has rules for a reason.”
Gun access if far from unlimited, and you’ve missed the point by a mile. This isn’t specifically about guns, this is about the complete upheaval of our judicial system. Guns are just the camel’s nose in the tent.
Adults understand this.
Ok. Whatever. Over and out.
Publius Ameicanus says
Indeed. You prove it daily with your words.
Ray Otton says
Sorin,
1 – Socialism is inherently extreme position, period. History tells us there is no debate.
2 – Your comments on this site over the past year or so put short shrift to your declaration that you prefer capitalism. It just doesn’t ring true.
Every argument you get into involves a declaration about how stupid Trump supporters / conservatives are.
I’m not saying that other contributors don’t make similar comments about Liberals, however they don’t stand up and say they believe the opposite.
You do.
Paul Plante says
tokenny, dude, and I mean that in the very best sense of the word “dude,” why are you being so hysterical here about COVID, which has affected maybe five percent of our population of 327 Million, and which causes mild symptoms in the majority of people affected, if they even know they had it?
COVID is a variation on the so-called “common cold,” for which there is no cure that the doctors and pill peddlers can offer you, so why on earth are you so freaked out about it?
And of course God is omnipresent, tokenny.
Where did you get the wild idea that it was otherwise?
So of course, God isn’t only only to be found in church, and of course, Mr. Gallant is very much able to communicate with God by himself.
But the point you miss, tokenney, and it is not surprising, is that for many people, church is their social connection, and without that social connection, their immune systems are adversely impacted, which makes them weaker, and thus more susceptible to being sick.
But you are omnipotent, tokenny, so how is it that you didn’t know that?
For the rest of us who are not omnipotent like tokenny, we can turn to and rely on a paper which is a revised and updated version of testimony presented to the U.S. Senate Aging Committee on April 27, 2017 by the Gerontological Society of America entitled “The Potential Public Health Relevance of Social Isolation and Loneliness: Prevalence, Epidemiology, and Risk Factors” by Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD,
Public Policy & Aging Report, Volume 27, Issue 4, 2017, Pages 127–130, https://doi.org/10.1093/ppar/prx030 published: 02 January 2018, to wit:
Introduction
Our social relationships are widely considered crucial to emotional well-being; however, the possibility that social connection may be a biological need, vital to physical well-being and even survival, is commonly unrecognized.
Still, extreme examples clearly illustrate infants in custodial care who lack human contact fail to thrive and often die (UNICEF, 1997), and social isolation is so distressing that solitary confinement has been used as a form of punishment and even torture.
end quotes
Hmmmm. tokenny, social isolation is so distressing that solitary confinement has been used as a form of punishment and even torture!
So why are you and EL SUPREMO MAGNIFICO Ralph “Blackface” Northam advocating that kind of torture for the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia?
To “protect” them?
Seems a strange way of doing it to me.
Getting back to that paper:
Yet an increasing portion of the U.S. population now experiences isolation regularly.
end quotes
Yes, just about one hundred percent of us, except for the politicians, of course – we have become a nation of people in solitary confinement, where nobody now can trust anyone else, which is so reminiscent of what life would be like in the Soviet Police State, it isn’t funny.
Getting back to the science:
According to one estimate, more than eight million older adults are affected by isolation (AARP, n.d.).
A precise estimate of the prevalence of adults in the United States that lack social connection is difficult, given that assessments are not currently systematically and routinely collected.
However, some demographic characteristics that are indicators of social disconnection are routinely collected as part of census data.
urther, the majority of American adults do not participate in any kind of social group (Pew Research Center, 2009).
Less than half of adults participate in a local religious group, and less than a quarter of adults participate in a social club, community group, sports league, or other local group (Pew Research Center, 2009).
Taken together, these data suggest that a significant portion of the population, and older adults in particular, may be socially isolated/disconnected.
end quotes
The local religious group is important to American people, tokenny – so why are you and “Blackface” Northam denying people access to it, as if this were Soviet Russia, where the churches were also closed?
What is your agenda, pray tell, other than breaking the spirit of the American people to make them into a defeated people?
Getting back to the science:
Cumulative evidence from 70 independent prospective studies (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2015) and including over 3.4 million participants indicates that each risk factor (social isolation, loneliness, living alone) has a significant and equivalent effect on risk for mortality, which exceeds the risk associated with obesity (Flegal, Kit, Orpana, & Graubard, 2013).
Both meta-analyses also account for potential alternative explanations (e.g., age and initial health status), and thus rule out reverse causality.
Together, these data demonstrate that social disconnection is indeed a severe problem.
The overall magnitude of effect of social connection can be benchmarked against other well-established lifestyle risk factors.
Lacking social connection carries a risk that is comparable, and in many cases, exceeds that of other well-accepted risk factors, including smoking up to 15 cigarettes per day, obesity, physical inactivity, and air pollution (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2010).
end quotes
Why are you and EL SUPREMO MAGNIFICO Northam causing that harm to people, tokenny?
And staying with the science here in an effort to counter the hysteria-mongering of tokenny, we have:
There is also evidence that social connection influences a variety of mental and physical health outcomes.
For example, those who are isolated are at increased risk for depression, cognitive decline, and dementia (Cacioppo & Cacioppo, 2014; Global Council on Brain Health, 2017).
end quotes
Why are you doing that, tokenny, you and Ralph Northam, putting the people of Virginia at increased risk for depression, cognitive decline, and dementia with this enforced social isolation as a result of “Blackface” Northam’s dictatorial decree to the people of Virginia ordering them to stay inside their homes until; he tells them they can come out again?
And back to the science again:
Social isolation and loneliness also adversely influence activities of daily living that influence functional status among older adults (Shankar, McMunn, Demakakos, Hamer, & Steptoe, 2017).
There is also substantial evidence that social relationships can influence health-related behaviors such as medication/treatment adherence (DiMatteo, 2004a, 2004b), and have a direct influence on health-relevant physiology such as blood pressure, immune functioning, and inflammation (Hostinar, Sullivan, & Gunnar, 2014; Robles & Kiecolt-Glaser, 2003; Uchino, 2006).
While each of these examples are important endpoints themselves, each has also been implicated as pathways to mortality risk.
Thus, we also have substantial evidence supporting psychological, behavioral, and biological pathways by which social connections influence risk for premature mortality.
end quotes
Premature mortality, tokenny – that means you and Ralph Northam are killing people before their time!
And the candid world which watches and waits would truly like to know why.
To save them from COVID?
tokenny says
WOW! just WOW!
Slide, he seems to be a bigger man than you – he uses his real name! Aren’t you a real bad ass!
Go ahead put on those internet muscles and show us how bad you are. Ripping a sheet of paper with your bare hands, biting the heads off of innocent Peeps. drinking milk right out of the bottle – no need for a glass for you.
What a laughable statement. Man up Slide