This is the cathartic story we all could use.

Individualism is on trial and you’re its defense.

There’s a story about two communist dictators standing in a field of corn stalks, one old and one young. The young dictator who had just won control over his country asked the elder dictator how he managed to keep the populace in line.

The elder dictator grabbed a sharp tool, walked toward the corn stalks, and began hacking off the tops of the corn stalks that had grown higher than the others.

The moral of the story was plain to the young dictator.

Eliminating individualism from a society tends to keep the populace in line more than guns and bombs ever could. //

Individualism is one of the most valuable things America has as a cultural standard. This country was founded on it, and through it, we’ve continued to create and produce things that we would have considered “science fiction” about fifty years ago.

Individualism is the spirit that drives America. It’s the main ingredient in our freedom-centric culture. Without it, we become like everyone else, but for the social justice crowd, being like everyone else is exactly the goal.

Many lives would be saved and even more misery forestalled if people did start paying attention to some of the above. But since the media isn’t reporting them every day like they are meaningless scary-sounding factoids like how many days new cases have risen above some arbitrarily selected number, it’s unlikely very many will.

But it’s crucial that everyone at least starts paying attention to one unavoidable fact that’s daily thrust before our eyes: Those most insistent that there’s a killer virus lurking among us that we need to spend every waking hour fearing and desperately trying to keep at bay can’t possibly believe a word of the garbage they’re peddling to us themselves.

Can anyone seriously think they’d show more concern for our lives than their own?

Or that they’d be more insistent that Trump’s supporters stay safe from lethal infection than they are theirs? //

If Fauci, Cuomo, and the rest believed that the rules they’re insisting the rest of us follow really were necessary for our own safety, the last thing they’d be doing is risking their own lives by flagrantly violating them or suggesting that it’s okay for their cherished friends and supporters to do so while tolerating no breach from their political enemies.

They’re not being unfair or hypocritical.

They’re perpetuating the biggest and most deadly hoax in history on the American people and have already inflicted more damage than any terrorist or foreign enemy has ever managed.

People who resist COVID-19 restrictions are often accused of being selfish and caring only about their own freedom, but their concerns are deeper than that.

Based on what we’ve observed since the start of the Covid pandemic, it’s apparent the medical establishment wants Covid to look worse than it is. And now, with states enacting contact tracing programs, that practice is continuing.

It was always political and never about health. //

Matt Walsh
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@MattWalshBlog
So what we've learned is that if you want to protest during a pandemic, do it safely by burning down buildings and beating the hell out of random bystanders. That way you'll escape criticism from the media.

It's race day whether Democrats like it or not. //

If Cooper was hoping the local authorities would help to round up the race fans revolting against the orders, he can count them out. According to the Observer, Alamance County officials aren’t going to lift a finger. As Clyde Albright, the Alamance County Attorney said, officials “cannot constitutionally limit the number of people who can peaceably assemble.”

Hua Chunying 华春莹
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@SpokespersonCHN

We urge the #US side to fully appreciate the great sensitivity of the Taiwan question. We advise the US side to ditch its illusions and political calculations. We ask the US side not to make any attempt to challenge China's red line.
3,742
9:07 AM - May 24, 2020

Ted Cruz
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@tedcruz

We urge the Chinese govt to fully appreciate the great sensitivity of 343k people dead because CCP lied & covered up a damn global pandemic. We advise CCP to ditch its illusions & political calculations. We ask CCP not to make any attempt to hide behind a fake red line of lies. https://twitter.com/spokespersonchn/status/1264558636363210752 …

Not that Erb was a genius or anything, but I don't think the politicians have a lot more time to put their Inner Hitlers back in the box.

Lowering the boom.

‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their government with certain Rights that may only be rescinded if exercising those Rights carries any risk.’ //

the coronavirus should teach us that these ideas are far too risky to stay the way we learned them as kids. They often even led to people dying!

Let’s start by updating a short one so you get the idea. Some of you probably know the state motto of New Hampshire. It comes from a quote by Revolutionary War Gen. John Stark. “Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.”

Obviously, that concept is terribly dangerous, but we can fix it. Instead, it should be, “Live free and you’ll die.” With a barely noticeable adjustment, New Hampshire license plates go from being a reckless endangerment to a somber warning. //

A lot of crazy fringe people who still want to do things have been using a famous quote by Patrick Henry. They fail to point out that life expectancy back in that era was only about 38 years, so people wouldn’t have lived to be old enough to die of coronavirus anyway.

That means his words are obsolete and need an update. Possibly, “Give me a mask or give me death!” It now becomes a practical health advisory instead of a dangerous demand for freedom.

Here’s one for the kids to recite before they watch school on the computer. “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with social distancing and unemployment benefits for all.” //

For those who are not sufficiently scared by coronavirus simply because the odds of dying from it are incredibly small, you need to remember what President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said in his first inaugural address: “The only thing we have to fear is being around people!”

In 1981, a Georgetown professor, Jeane Kirkpatrick, remaining a Democrat, became Ronald Reagan's Ambassador to the United Nations. Reagan brought Kirkpatrick, as he did with many Democratic hawks who were dismayed with the dovish position of mainstream Democrats.

Kirkpatrick had worked closely with Hubert Humphrey and Scoop Jackson. As an increasingly influential public intellectual in the 1970s, she criticized not only what she saw as President Jimmy Carter's soft and naive stance on communism, but also the Nixon-Ford-Kissinger "detente" policy of accommodating to the Soviet expansion.

And so for the first time since 1952, the 1984 Republican National Convention chose a keynote speaker who was not a Republican. Kirkpatrick delivered a blistering speech, dealing exclusively with foreign policy. She was appealing to large segment of Reagan Democrats who were terrified Progressive and Democratic Establishment did not understand the mortal danger of the Soviet threat.

Kirkpatrick ran through a litany of recent foreign policy controversies: Grenada, Lebanon, the Soviet walk-out from arms negotiations, and Central America. On every topic, said Kirkpatrick, the San Francisco Democrats "always blame America first." //

I heard Jeane Kirkpatrick give her famous speech. The UN Ambassador went on a tirade about the “blame America first” Democrats who had been meeting in San Francisco.

Kirkpatrick was a Democrat hawk who came into the Reagan Administration in reaction to a Democratic Party that had rapidly drifted left to the point Ted Kennedy would try to get the Soviet Leader Andropov to do an American media tour to defuse tensions in the run up to the 1984 election. Kennedy wanted to advise the Soviets on how to navigate the American media to show they meant peace as a way to undermine the strong “evil empire” stance Reagan had advanced.

In her speech, Kirkpatrick said of the Democrats who had convened to nominate Walter Mondale in San Francisco,

They said that saving Grenada from terror and totalitarianism was the wrong thing to do - they didn't blame Cuba or the communists for threatening American students and murdering Grenadians - they blamed the United States instead.

But then, somehow, they always blame America first.

When our Marines, sent to Lebanon on a multinational peacekeeping mission with the consent of the United States Congress, were murdered in their sleep, the "blame America first crowd" didn't blame the terrorists who murdered the Marines, they blamed the United States.

But then, they always blame America first.

When the Soviet Union walked out of arms control negotiations, and refused even to discuss the issues, the San Francisco Democrats didn't blame Soviet intransigence. They blamed the United States.

But then, they always blame America first.

When Marxist dictators shoot their way to power in Central America, the San Francisco Democrats don't blame the guerrillas and their Soviet allies, they blame United States policies of 100 years ago.

But then, they always blame America first.

What was different between then and now is that while the media leaned left, it was still mostly run by men who had fought on the battlefields of Germany and the islands of the Pacific. They may have leaned left, but they were not really haters of America even if they thought Reagan was too belligerent.

Now, however, the American media is too willing to spread Chinese communist propaganda to own the President. Because Trump is President, the media would rather believe a tyrannical regime that ruthlessly murders dissidents and runs concentration camps.

America is in an extraordinarily vulnerable state at the moment and Democrats recognize they will never have a better opportunity to take control. //

Why is California implementing this rigorous plan now? This is about control, not COVID-19.

This is not paranoia. America is in an extraordinarily vulnerable state at the moment and Democrats recognize it. They will never have a better opportunity to take control and they intend to take full advantage.

Unless we stop them, this is the beginning of the loss of our freedom.

This is our generation’s call to action.

It’s time to fight.

She who is brave is free...

Nate Silver calculated the 7-day average of each state’s number of newly-reported cases of COVID-19 and, in the following Twitter thread, placed each one into a category that indicates where they fall on the COVID-19 curve. The number of new cases is a leading indicator.

Most models, such as the IHME, look at the number of new deaths per day by state. Deaths, as we’ve learned by now, are a lagging indicator. These figures can be viewed by clicking here. Click on the drop-down menu which says “United States of America,” for any state or country.

Silver found that all 50 states are either currently at their peak or beyond. //

DaveM_2 • 2 hours ago

Notice how the more restrictive actions are being mandated after the peak?

Ben-Israel: Simple statistical analysis demonstrates that the spread of COVID-19 peaks after about 40 days and declines to almost zero after 70 days. //

Tel Aviv University Professor Isaac Ben-Israel is the chair of the school’s Securities Studies program, the chairman of the National Council for Research and Development and also serves on the research and development advisory board for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. He appeared on an Israeli television program (Hebrew) earlier this week to discuss his latest project. The Times of Israel reported on this story.

According to The Times, Ben-Israel plotted the rates of new infections in nearly a dozen countries including: U.S., U.K., Sweden, Italy, Israel, Switzerland, France, Germany, Spain, Singapore, and Taiwan. He concluded the following:

Simple statistical analysis demonstrates that the spread of COVID-19 peaks after about 40 days and declines to almost zero after 70 days — no matter where it strikes, and no matter what measures governments impose to try to thwart it.

Analyzing the growth and decline of new cases in countries around the world, showed repeatedly that “there’s a set pattern” and “the numbers speak for themselves.” //

It is a fixed pattern that is not dependent on freedom or quarantine. There is a decline in the number of infections even [in countries] without closures, and it is similar to the countries with closures. //

When asked about the high morbidity rate in Italy, Ben-Israel replied, “The health system in Italy has its own problems. It has nothing to do with coronavirus. In 2017 it also collapsed because of the flu.” //

As some are predicting, the virus may come back in the fall. So, confirming or debunking Ben-Israel’s findings in the meantime would be extremely good to know, especially for those with compromised immune systems.

If you want solutions, don't go to people who restrict. //

“That’s what a government is for, gettin’ in a man’s way.”

That quote from the short-lived sci-fi series Firefly is just one of many sayings that tickles my libertarian sensibilities. //

The government often bills itself as the fount of opportunity, yet the government gives us the most opportunities when it removes itself from the equation. This is because a government is a system that naturally curbs the imperfections of man and allows us to work with them to form a society. As Thomas Paine wrote in Common Sense, if man were perfect, we wouldn’t need government:

Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least.

Paine went on to say that though a government is necessary, the one that governs the least is the one that governs the best. This is pretty evident given the fact that America’s freedoms have made it the most abundant, wealthy, and powerful country on the globe.

Yet authoritarians believe that if a little government is good then a lot must be better. This is never the case, and we can refer to the outcomes of countries that turn their government up to 11. //

The citizen makes his own solutions so the government doesn’t have to take the time and resources to make one for him, and very likely, do a very poor job of doing it anyway. Jenkins thought he was providing solutions, but in truth, his solutions don’t elevate, they restrict. He effectively stopped a host of problem-solving citizens from providing a solution to a problem.

It’s maddening if you think about it for too long. The free market had the solution to a major problem from the very beginning but the government didn’t allow it to step up to the plate. Thus, the government exacerbated a problem it was trying to solve.

Because that’s what a government is for…getting in a man’s way.

Always trust the free market and the people to solve the problem. The government should be the last thing you look to.

Sidney Longwell, a devoted family man and entrepreneur in the finest tradition of the American Frontier, passed away last month at age 81. A fighter to the last, he died after 38 years of waiting for justice in his lawsuit against the federal government.

It is hard to comprehend the brute force of the federal government until it has been turned against you personally, as it had been against Sidney. As an attorney for people like him, I see that force being used against good men and women every day.

Federal agencies have practically limitless resources to fight court battles, in both money and manpower. They have no competition, no shareholders to placate, and no one person who can be held personally responsible for their malfeasance. They also have the cruelest weapon of all — time.

Sidney purchased a Montana oil and gas lease from the federal government in 1982, passed a decade’s worth of rigorous environmental and archaeological reviews, and was all set to develop the land when government suspended his lease in 1993. He spent 38 years fighting a David-and-Goliath battle to use the leased mineral rights — a battle I’m still fighting as an attorney for his family.

Sidney’s passing reminds me that time really is the most devastating weapon the government has in its arsenal. We can give our clients resources, expertise, and a team of people to fight on their behalf, but sometimes they can’t outlast Uncle Sam. //

A favorable court ruling in 2016 seemed to promise a resolution. But, given 21 days to come up with a schedule to act, the government dug in its heels instead, abruptly cancelling the lease. Incredibly, the government’s lawyers justified the decision by inventing a procedural defect that contradicted what agency officials had told Sidney for 30 years.

Sidney’s case is just one of many examples of federal agencies weaponizing bureaucratic delay against American citizens. Rather than denying an application or permit that can be appealed, they simply refuse to finish processing the permit, leaving people like Sidney trapped. All the agency needs to do is wait for the person to run out of money or die. //

What happened to Sidney Longwell is a grave injustice, and one that is becoming too common. Another of my clients, Monte Ray — also in his 80s — is still awaiting a decision on mineral patents he applied for in 1991. Another client: small, family-owned, Colorado oil company WillSource Enterprise, has been fighting the federal government’s delay tactics in processing their permits since 1995.

More than ever, Americans are being governed, not by laws, but by regulations. These regulations are created and enforced by countless unelected and unaccountable officials who staff government agencies. //

em •

Do these unelected men and women who oversee federal agencies have too much power?

When Judge Brett Kavanaugh was a circuit court judge, he wrote;

"The independent agencies collectively constitute, in effect, a headless fourth branch of the U.S. Government. They exercise enormous power over the economic and social life of the United States."

Because of their massive power and the absence of Presidential supervision and direction, independent agencies pose a significant threat to individual liberty and to the constitutional system of separation of powers and checks and balances."

Vito em • 3 hours ago

Too much power. Too much staff. Too much money. Not enough meaningful work.

A poisonous combination.

While I'm Here... • 5 hours ago

Government bureaucracies are full of petty, amoral people who live for their sadistic games of Calvinball.
Other countries are far more open about their bribery culture, and I think that's an element which we often forget to include, when we talk about government harassment. I think they usually end up getting paid off.

1942Larry • 44 minutes ago

Every bill Congress passes grants the bureaucrats the authority to write regulations as necessary to implement it. In other words, Congress says bureaucrats can add to the bill as necessary to make up for anything we were too careless to include. That is truly crazy and lazy.

Abolishing group gatherings is fine if such limits apply to everyone, but if they only apply to churchgoers that’s a moral and legal problem.

Whoever called in on the church services, the lone girl playing basketball, the walking couple, and our pickleball game did so not out of any concern about a spreading virus. They did so out of deep-seated resentment toward their fellow man, and out of a sadistic pleasure in wielding the ability to worsen other people’s lives.

We have an alarming number of citizens who are more than willing to use whatever sudden increase in available state power to squeeze their fellow citizens. While we don’t toil under totalitarianism, we are undoubtedly fostering the turn-in-your-neighbor culture under which such a system would thrive. //

top-down litigation bound to ensnare itself in the reeking putrescence of our court systems is inadequate to stem the tide. What is needed is a grassroots, intrinsic realignment (or a renaissance, if you will) of what it means to be a citizen and a neighbor. //

keep the focus on calling out the turn-in-your-neighbor mentality for the sad exhibition of snide control freakishness that it is. If you witness someone sneering about how she snitched, shame her for it, and do it loudly and publicly. Put snitches on defense. Isolate them. Make their behavior unacceptable.

Bosnian and Rwandan ditches are full of corpses whose betrayers were lifelong neighbors a week prior. For those who think that our society is immune to this terrible human condition, I wonder on what you base that assumption.