They're pumping the numbers to make this thing look as bad as possible because scared people don't think about how many civil rights they're losing. Pritzker's office refuses to release the details of the COVID-19 deaths, and, "If someone isn't releasing numbers, it's probably because there's something to hide."
They will continue the lockdown until there's a vaccine because they desperately want to put on their human-face-stompin' boots.
Limbaugh mentioned something today that makes sense, too: these blue state governors want to wreck their states' economies, as thoroughly as possible, because they want to be able to go to the federal goverment and cry about how badly their states fared under COVID-19. They want the federal government to give them lots and lots of money, which they will use to bail out their fucked-up pension funds. Doing that, they won't have to engage in any fiscal discipline and can continue business as usual, taxing the shit out of their people and spending money like only a government can.
The fact that the middle class is crushed from existence is, of course, a feature of this plan, not a bug.
I've said it and said it: the middle class is anathema to government because they don't need it. The poor need all the goodies given away by government, because they starve without it. The rich donate money to politicians by the bushel in order to get favorable laws passed. But the middle class? All they do is quietly go about their business, wanting just to be left alone--and stubbornly refusing to be ruled, instead insisting on having a say in things through their votes (as if the proles could do anything right!) and causing a huge inconvenience for their betters.
The rich do not want the middle class getting rich, too, because then the exclusive venues haunted by the rich will fill up with those people. No, it's better for everyone if the middle class is reduced to abject poverty as expediently as possible. So we'll shut down their businesses (Ha! "businesses"--it's not a "business" unless it clears a hundred million a year; these are hobbies) and still make them pay their taxes on time, and the ones that don't knuckle under will have their faces stomped by police. Oh! No, not literally (yet) but certainly they will be punished for having the temerity to defy "mah authoritah".
And so when Pritzker moves the goal posts it's not surprising.
We remember weeks ago when the entire plan was to "flatten the curve." That was accomplished.The goal here is not to protect anyone from COVID-19. The goal is for the Democrat party to accomplish its political goals, and doing as much of it on the back of the middle class as it possibly can.
We also remember when the "goal" was 20,000 tests a day. That was done and suddenly, it's 64,000? Triple plus 4,000?
Has anyone in the media written about the number of recoveries? It crossed over the 98% mark recently, and not a single politician is saying anything about the people who test positive for antibodies, meaning they had it and beat it already without any sort of treatment.
It's all about control.
They couldn't make it any clearer. It will never be safe to reopen because the point isn't to reopen, its to live the rest of our lives under the control of busybodies who know what's better for us than we do.And if you think I am hyperventilating, that I'm crazy, I welcome an alternate explanation.
* * *
"They just want to prevent the spread" will be ashcanned because that's already been dispensed with. We're well past that point now; the curve has been flattened and we've got a proven treatment for the thing.
* * *
But I do have some confidence, because these kinds of stories are becoming ever more common. If you don't think this will start happening everywhere there is a lockdown, you must've believed the leftists' propaganda about how wimpy Americans have become....
* * *
I like his theory about Hollywood but those guys are all Democrats and I'm sure California's governor will classify Hollywood as "essential" so they can get on with things.
But:
All the small business that right now are at the edge of collapse will surely close for good and millions will be out of their jobs. The issue will be where does LA County will get the money to support the sea of unemployed people they will have to deal with, specially when the rest of the country is feeling less Christian about showing love to the people that keep insulting them.That will be paid for by trillions of federal tax dollars. "The rest of the country" continually votes for the same congresscritters they voted for last time, and the time before that, worlds without end, amen, and because we live (theoretically) in a representative republic, those elected officials get two whole years to vote for whatever they want, regardless of how their constituents feel about it.
And particularly in LA County, there are a hell of a lot more Democrat voters than there are small businesses, and those Democrat voters believe every last damnable word uttered by their politicians. So when Democrats say that the Trump economy was actually Obama's doing, their voters believe them uncritically. Their voters reliably parrot the ludicrous notion that Trump has "mishandled the crisis". Hell, a good half of them think that property owners should get stiffed on rental fees! Not just because of COVID-19 but on general principals!
* * *
No wonder Adam Schiff wanted to keep that stuff secret. The more that emerges from the declassified hearings that were held during the "pre-impeachment investigation" held in a locked room by Adam Schiff, the dirtier they all get. Example after example after example of criminal behavior keeps coming out, all pointed directly at Obama administration officials and operatives, all done to thwart the Trump administration.
It makes Watergate look like a birthday party.
Now you can see why the Democrats are so desperate to be rid of Trump. You know how a President's second term is when he gets things done? If Trump gets a second term, I suspect that a lot of these functionaries and appointees are going to be wearing orange jumpsuits.
* * *
So, black jogger, or criminal on the prowl? If you're just out to run around a bit and get some exercise, you don't prowl through empty buildings.
* * *
A lot of the Obamas' popularity is manufactured.
You know what? Back when I used to watch TV a lot, back in the 1980s, when I was a teenager--one of the things I always hated was when some show or another would have a big-name celebrity come on during sweeps. Some popular singer or something would be on CHIPS and absolutely every character in the show is suddenly a huge fan! There was never anything said about it before that episode (nor after) but during that one episode, damn! Look, it's Singy Singer! Ponch is drooling over her and Jon is hoping to get her autograph! Even the crazy little lab-coat guy is a big Singy Singer fan!
The popularity of the Obamas is like that: almost completely manufactured. The people in the press can't get enough of them, but by and large most of the country can take or leave them (mostly "leave", it seems).
* * *
"Watching Kickstarter's collapse has been a deep dive into schadenfreude."
And the reason is simple enough: for every Your Boy Zack that got banned there were a thousand others that looked at Kickstarter and said, "Nope. Not them." Even SJWs knew better than to do Kickstarter because SJWs honestly never know who they are going to be mad at today or why. Russian roulette is not a business plan. So their customers all went elsewhere.Once Kickstarter began banning people over their political views, it only made sense that people of similar political views would find another crowdsourcing company with which to do business.
I did not think it would be like this, though!
Vox Day has been keeping an eye on this from the beginning, too. Most of the projects he's been involved in (particularly his comics label Arkhaven) have been crowdfunded...but not, of course, via Kickstarter. Heh.
* * *
China needs to start being a better neighbor, and fast. If that rocket had re-entered Earth's atmosphere some 15-20 minutes earlier, it would have been raining rocket parts on New York.
* * *
McCarthy was not wrong. Fuckin' communists are everywhere.
* * *
Well, I did it: I started typing a rewrite today. Not AV. The book that comes after $RELEASE_CANDIDATE_ONE and for which I wrote four pages of notes a couple of weeks ago.
...but I'm not serious about it. This was really just me getting the beginning of the thing down and out of my head so I can concentrate on AV some more. Honestly!