Radical Covidians Seek Meaning In The Self Proclaimed Belief That They Care, and You Don't

 Several days ago, Georgi Boorman wrote a piece at The Federalist entitled Mask Fanatics Have Officially Abandoned Science To Control Your Life. In the article, she makes the point that for many 'Mask Nazis' and petty tyrants, the issue of mask wearing has become an article of faith, and is no longer based on science.

It’s nothing new for political religions to produce radicals that develop their own sects or cults. This time around, rigid devotion to enforcing mask compliance has produced runaway fanaticism based on nothing but blind faith that more mask-wearing is always better. Even the public health experts, whom these followers all promoted as great prophets just months ago, can’t tame their fervor.

That’s a problem, because a return to normalcy will require subduing radical factions that agitate for oppression. Restrictions such as mask mandates are like oxygen to followers of radical fundamentalist Covidianism — the abiding belief that only lockdowns, social distancing, and masks can deliver us from the deadly pandemic. The longer mandates stay in place and experts continue promoting mask use — “My mask protects you! Your mask protects me!” — the stronger and more widespread the extremism will grow, and the less influence experts will have over their behavior.

I started back to work in late July.  Even though I could see that masks had no useful purpose, I like most of those around me tried to keep up appearances.  But, as one goes about one's duties, only to discover that more and more, most of the people you deal with aren't wearing masks, you begin to drop the act.  Governor Cooper may not like it, but out there, in the country side far away from Raleigh, most people do not believe him.  Indeed, it has become something of a tell tale talisman.  Those who religiously wear masks are the Democrat base, those who don't are more inclined to lean Republican.

Here's what I know.  First, the experts told us it was spread though the infected breathing out virus bodies to infect others.  This would be airborne.  But the virus is so small that the pores in either surgical masks or the cloth masks most people wear are too large to filter these viruses.  Scott Morefield has describe it as building a chain link fence to stop mosquitoes

As soon as you point out that their masks are full of holes, the Covidians switch to another argument.  Oh, no, it's not that it is airborne, but if you cough, or sneeze, or spit, that is what causes infection.  And anyway, you don't know if you have it or not.  A mask will stop the droplets.

But, as I point out, I am not coughing, of sneezing, and in any case I am standing a good distance away.  Not good enough, the Covidians say, because...because.  They have gotten the religion, and mean to cram it down everyone's throats.

Georgi Boorman has coined a new term for this strange religion.  She calls it Radical Covidianism.  Covidians seek meaning through the self proclaimed belief that they care more than you.  Instead, they should put their trust in the God of Creation.

Turning Off The Boob Tube

 I have mentioned before the deterioration in the arts that has accompanied the deterioration of the culture.  There has been no great poetry since the 1940s.  The early 20th century was a time of great novelists, but no more.  Movies remain relevant by remaking the old movies.  But the old ones were better because the new ones have inserted leftist messages and politically correct themes.  Music has not been left untouched either.  Pop music, for instance has become bland with very little real musicianship involved.  Indeed, where music is still real seems to be among  often obscure independent musicians playing local venues.

I have mentioned before that I play the organ (badly, I'll admit) and I am studying the guitar with a teacher who has trained in and performed in jazz and classical guitar.  I also played the trumpet until I had a stroke 20 years ago.  I have recently taken it up again, with hopes to improve to where I can play in church again.

Musicianship,  being a performance art, requires attention to detail, to certain practice regimes, to precision in hitting the notes at the right time.  An organ, or a guitar pretty much guarantees that if you strike the right key, or fret the right note, you will hit the note.  But you also have to hit that note at the right time, and with the right force.  Hitting the note in question at mezzo forte when it is supposed to be mezzo piano will make you stand out like a sore thumb.  Trumpet, and other brass instruments however, require a person to hit the correct note by changing the buzz of the lips.  It is possible to bend the notes higher or lower, such that one has to train not only the lip muscles, the breathing muscles, but the ear itself.

Someone who knows a thing or two about what is termed "classical" music, though music composed in the twentieth century can hardly be called "classical," has written a piece at the American Thinker entitled Music On Hold by Anthony J. DeBlasi.  DeBlasi uses the fermata to symbolize the pause in the progression of music that was taking place up until the mid twentieth century. The fermata is that little half circle with the dot in the center of it in the music. The notation indicates that the conductor can hold that note for as long as he wants. A fermata placed at the right spot adds tension and drama to a piece of music.

Of course, you should go read DeBlasi's article.  What I want to highlight is the relationship between a healthy culture and innovation in the arts.  For example, during the Elizabethan period in England, there was great innovation in both drama and poetry.  In other areas, the defeat of the Spanish Armada cleared the way for England to rule the seas.  The English people were full of confidence, and this showed in their drama and poetry.  Of course, music also flourished during this period. 

I liken the current state of the culture to a person who has a serious disease that causes the person to be depressed.  When a person is depressed, they haven't the energy to engage in strenuous activities such as musical innovation, writing great literature, or painting great works.  As I indicated above, great music requires an athleticism that can not be performed when one is depressed.

The cause of this depression is, of course, the constant drum beat from academics, the media, and politicians that Americans are bad people in every way.  We are racist, xenophobic, intolerant, and indeed every kind of bad there is.  Oh, and we are stinky Walmart shoppers who are deplorable.  Don't forget deplorable. At all levels they are trying to tear down our history, our Constitution, our laws, our religion, even our language.  Oh, and television content has devolved into really horrible "reality" shows and propaganda.  But it is what we tolerate.

If we want change in our culture, we need to shake off the malaise that has infected us.  We are a great people, and we should be doing great things, leading the world in every way.  We are not racist, or xenophobe, or indeed any other phobe.  The saying goes that politics follows culture, but culture itself reflects the confidence of the society.  We need to turn off the boob tube and start making music.  It is both uniquely human and fun..

So It's To Be Amy Coney Barrett

 President Trump just announced the nominee for the vacant RGB seat on the Supreme Court is Amy Coney Barrett.  Kurt Schlichter has a post at Townhall.com telling us that the Democrats Take Aim At Amy Coney Barrett

One thing the elite has never quite gotten a handle on with Trump is how he blends policy and showmanship – he’s the best political communicator since at least Ronald Reagan. Picking the Notorious ACB is not just a policy triumph – she’s going to be great down the line, on guns, religious freedom, and not killing kids – but her appointment is a powerful message to our alleged betters. She’s not some Ivy League doofus mincing about Harvard Yard complaining about how the uppity gardener left grass clippings on the walkway that got on his deck shoes. She’s a married believer from Indiana and is therefore staggeringly normal compared to the coastal elitists who think they rule us. She’s young and bright and looks like she’s happy – which to our elite, mired in perpetual faux angst, is an outrage. She has got a bunch of kids (including one future icon who rocked a pale blue suit with an orange tie like a boss), which the frigid, barren feminists already hate but which normal people will think is kind of nice. People who drive minivans will identify with her; people who drive Volvos will Nadler themselves.

Obviously, Schlichter is high on Barrett, and as a lawyer I assume he has done his research. Personally, I hope he is right. The country has been going leftward for as long as I have been alive. It doesn't matter who we elect, and the Supreme Court is part of the reason. Take healthcare, for example:

They certainly plan to attack her on healthcare, counting on the Democrat-owned teacher’s unions to have done such a garbage job teaching civics that the American people will not know that healthcare should not be a concern of the government or the courts, except to the extent the courts enforce contracts. What they ask her will make no sense, but the media will aid and abet the lies with such headlines as “Racist Nominee Thinks Healthcare Is Unconstitutional Because She Likes Jesus.” Whatever. She needs to be ready for the dumbness.

Every time the subject comes up, I find myself yelling at the TV that healthcare isn't the government's job. Yes, I know it is one of the rights of the people not enumerated. But because that is true does not place a burden on taxpayers to pay for it. Each individual must exercise his rights by paying for his own healthcare. The right to keep and bear arms is an enumerated right, yet the government doesn't purchase a gun for everyone. Instead, to exercise the right, you must purchase your own weapon and ammunition, and train with it on your own. The idea that healthcare is a right and therefore must be paid for by the taxpayer is a fallacy promoted by the Left. The Left wants the taxpayer to pay for it because it gives them more power over the lives of the people.

Let's hope we can see many years of logical, Constitutionally accurate decisions coming from Mrs. Barrett.

The Choice

 I have been reading other blogs than those on this site, that have warned for years that we are heading for a civil war.  The American Partisan in particular has bee at pains to provide information that will help a person prepare. In particular, besides securing a supply line and hardening your abode, one must harden one's heart. Note, though, that hardening one's heart does not mean jettisoning one's compassion. Rather, it means adopting a flint eyed view of strangers, because unless you know a person, they could be out to take stuff, your life, and the lives of your family and friends. 

But of late I am seeing more and more talk of civil war in more mainstream publications. At the American Thinker yesterday, E.M. Cadwaladr had a pretty explicit article entitled The Battle of November 3 Is Coming. Cadwaladr discusses a colleague who is a typical "low information voter" who doesn't like Trump's tweets. But does a dislike of hes tweets justify a vote in favor of the Socialists?

My associate said he hadn't seen Biden lately and that he'd go look at a few interviews. To be fair, Creepy Joe has become less attracted to the light of day than Dracula with a case of the measles. Could I have pushed my case for Trump a little harder? Sure. But my coworker is a director, corporations don't like boat-rockers, and I'm strongly inclined to keep my job. Put a million votes in the balance, and perhaps I'll pull the pin on that grenade. I am not quite willing to chance my career on one.

I'm sure there are millions of people in the country like my coworker — people who, believe it or not, still haven't noticed. They believe that the stability of their lives is something they can take for granted. That politics is still a mild nudge in this direction or that, which they can easily ignore. Man's capacity to rationalize is strong. People can, through blind hope and active imagination, still convince themselves that the election is merely a protracted personality contest in which the nicest smile wins. They can believe that the decent person's duty is to think and say Trump is a vulgar and offensive pig. What they will actually do when they stand in the illusory privacy of a poll booth is unknown. I wince to think about it. "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe..."

Whether Trump wins or loses, these people are going to have a shock in store when they wake up on November 4. A civil war now stares us in the face. You don't have to be a kook to see it coming anymore.

Please go read the entire article. Next, WAKE UP. I have colleagues like Cadwaladr who believe this is just another election. To be fair, they have been told that every election is life and death for decades. With so much crying of "wolf!", people tend to ignore when they are told that THIS time, it really is. I believe it is. Please make up your own minds.  The choice is between fundamentally transforming America, of restoring the Constitutional republic of the United States.

No Mercy For a Left That Has Been Ruthless Toward Conservatives

Last night, on the way home from a meeting with a friend from out of town, we heard that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died at 87.  Of course, I can not support her politics.  Indeed, some of them, such as support for abortion are positively barbaric, and in true upside down fashion, are designed to eliminate "undesirable" people.  These are not my words, but Ginsburg's.  From the Captain's Journal:

 Q: “Are you talking about the distances women have to travel because in parts of the country, abortion is essentially unavailable, because there are so few doctors and clinics that do the procedure? And also, the lack of Medicaid abortions for poor women?”

 Justice Ginsburg: “Yes, the ruling about that surprised me. [Harris v. McRae — in 1980 the court upheld the Hyde Amendment, which forbids the use of Medicaid for abortions.] Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion.”

That someone on the Supreme Court has a moral compass 180 degrees away from God's commandments is telling. And her thoughts on the Second Amendment are equally bizarre. Go read the Captain's Journal.

Meanwhile, over at the American Thinker Bode Lang has a post advocating that Republicans show No Mercy For Leftists and instead appoint and confirm a conservative justice to fill the seat left vacant by Ginsburg's death.  Lang points out that Trump has nothing to lose and everything to gain by appointing a successor as soon as possible.  I suspect Lang is correct.  After all, by putting his list of potential Supreme Court nominees out before the 2016 elections, they essentially have been voted on by the people.  In any case, anyone who thinks Ginsburg belonged on the Supreme Court isn't a Trump voter in any case.  So, what does he have to lose?

Then there is this point, made by Ted Cruz, and reported by Matt Vespa over at  Townhall.com in a post entitled Ted Cruz Offers a Solid Reasom for Filling Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Vacancy Now. Cruz believes that this election may well be decided by the Supreme Court, and as it stands now, that is 8 members, meaning a potential deadlock.  We should avoid a Constitutional crisis if that happens.

Leftists are already trying to convince Republicans that there exists some sort of Merrick Garland precedent that they must not break.  I call male bovine excrement on that.  If the shoe were on the other foot, the Democrats would definitely appoint a replacement and sleep very well at night.  In fact, there is no such precedent, and Republicans should go ahead and appoint and confirm a Supreme Court Justice. 

What, are you really tired of winning?  Think again about the utter ruthlessness of the Left towards people on the right.  They are willing to go right up to murder to get their way.  That fact alone tells you everything you need to know about them.  Sorry, no mercy.

To Save America, First We Have To Win

Rich Logis has an article up at the American Thinker entitled The Extortionist Democrat Media Industrial Complex that makes the claim that this election will tell us whether America may have a chance, or if the forces of socialism and anarchy will prevail.

November will be the most revelatory moment in world history, because it is going to be a moment to decide whether sensible American adults abdicate all that is good about our country to hysterical, The View–worshipping, adult-aged Democrat children.

One of the revelatory moments will be whether enough Americans understand that when Democrats talk about "fundamental transformation," that's just code for tyranny, enacted by first-world capitalists who want all the First World spoils for themselves.

Another revelatory moment will be whether enough Americans grasp that most of our legacy press has long conspired with the Democratic Party. The DMIC exists solely to protect and elect Democrats — no exceptions.

Another revelatory moment will be whether enough Americans comprehend that anywhere the voters of Biden and Harris are the majority or super-majority, unaffordability, unnecessary loss of life, suffering, and squalor always follow — no exceptions.

None of the above is a worthless opinion; all of it is affirmed by tens of thousands of days of history — both domestic and abroad — and data.

The solution now is what it's always been — or, more specifically, who it's always been: We the People.

It will be a hard road back. Some say it will be a bloody one as well. Look, a whole generation of young people has been deliberately infantalized, at taxpayer expense, by our public education system. They can not be changed.

We will have to educate a new generation that there is no such thing as white privilege, no such thing as systemic racism, and that each of us, individually, is entirely responsible for every action and inaction that we takes. What each makes of himself is entirely within his own hands. No one is holding anyone back.  We will also have to teach them our true history, the good, the bad and the shady.  And there is much that is good.  

The Democrat plan for November is the plan they had in 2016: to own the United States — forever. Trump — and all of us — temporarily stymied that. We won't get this opportunity again to politically pummel the Democrats. And when we win, we will then begin replacing our national Republican Party, which will be extinct come the new year. Our GOP lives in fear of the Democrats and the DMIC; freedom will never be preserved and expanded by a group who cowers in fear.

It is true that the Republicans have largely either lived in fear, or else they basically agree with the Democrats.  They have betrayed conservatives and their constituents.  Either way, most of them will have to go. We need people who believe in the Constitution, in small "r" republicanism, and are unafraid.

But first we have to win in November.

Two Posts

Two posts today, neither one related to the other.  I have been busy today, with the decent weather taking place for the first time in months, and recognizing that it will last for....well....today.  So, here you go.

First up is a post at the American Thinker by Andrea Widburg entitled The CDC Blatantly Violates A Trump Order Regarding Critical Race Theory, that calls out the CDC's blatant insubordination.

At the beginning of September, the director of the Office of Management and Budget announced that, at President Trump's direction, all federal agencies would be banned from imposing Critical Race Theory (CRT) on their employees. This was the right thing to do. CRT is pure racism. While the KKK was obsessed with blacks and the Nazis were obsessed with Jews, CRT is obsessed with white people. Teaching it at federal agencies is a shocking violation of the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Despite its unconstitutionality and the president's order, though, the CDC is planning to continue CRT training.

Christopher Rufo, who has become the point man for all of these stories about CRT training in the federal government, discovered what he aptly called a "BOMBSHELL." The CDC is going ahead with its plan — paid for with your money — to impose a thirteen-week-long CRT training program on its employees.

Clearly, if the head of the CDC does not renounce this training and stop this, he should be fired for insubordination. Anyone else who did such a thing would be fired.

Next, is a piece at The American Partisan entitled Epidemic of Fear, in which the Guest Author (GA) points out that there is plenty of evidence that the lockdowns and the mask requirements are ineffective, and there is some evidence that masks do a positive harm.  GA is not the first I have noticed that have notice the fear I first spoke about several weeks ago.  You see people out there who don't wear masks unless forced to by business policy.  We all need to by groceries, after all.  They don''t make a big deal about it.  Perhaps they should.  Maybe file a lawsuit?

Why Democrats Want To Disarm You And Me

 David Codrea, author of the War On Guns blog, has an article at Ammoland.com entitled Cuomo Threats Against Trump Applies To All Who Support President's Agenda

. He speaks the absolute truth here.

“He better have an army if he thinks he’s gonna walk down the street in New York,” the New York Post quoted Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a Sept. 3 article. The governor was reacting to the president saying he was considering pulling federal funds from cities that encourage lawlessness by using threats that do just that.

“New Yorkers don’t want to have anything to do with him,” Cuomo asserted. “He can’t have enough bodyguards to walk through New York City, people don’t want to have anything to do with him.”

That sure sounds like a death threat. If you’re skeptical of that, feel free to send similar sentiments to Joe Biden about your town, and see if that doesn’t result in a Secret Service response.

David is, of course, correct. Cuomo has issued a death threat against the President, and yes, if you or I tried the same thing with respect to Hiden...er...Biden, we would be visited by the Secret Servics and probably hauled away. It is that two tiered justice system we've been complaining about.

But, here's the thing:  Cuomo is only expressing what his audience feels about every Trump supporter.  There is a good portion of the electorate that wants you and me, and everyone who voted for Trump dead.  Oh, not all of them want to do the deed themselves.  For sure, a number of them would be happy if the government sent out death squads to throw is against the wall and shoot us.  But they want us dead.

That’s because, in a very real way, Trump is an avatar, making fair the question “How is it possible to hate a man like this and not hate those he represents?” Those who voted for him didn’t so much do it because they like the man — it's because what he pledged in his campaign resonated with their values, and with the direction they want to see the country move in.

“The Left Has One More Argument—Kill Them!” a column by conservative commentator Ann Coulter noted:

"What we’re seeing is the following: Prominent liberals repeatedly tell us, with deadly seriousness, that Trump and his supporters are: ‘Hitler,’ ‘fascists,’ ‘bigots,’ ‘haters,’ ‘racists,’ ‘terrorists,’ ‘criminals’ and ‘white supremacists,’ which is then followed by liberals physically attacking conservatives.”

Codrea says that we shouldn't be surprised by the looting, rioting, and violence, but frankly, I always am surprised. Being a rational individual, it is often hard to place myself in someone else's head:

It’s no surprise that we see low-hanging fruit “inspired” to action, as the recent murder of Patriot Prayer member Aaron “Jay” Danielson proves. Nor should we be surprised when we see “academics” further stoke the flames, like the University of Rhode Island Professor Erik Loomis, a man who incidentally feeds off tax plunder at a public trough. “He killed a fascist. I see nothing wrong with it, at least from a moral perspective,” Loomis wrote on his blog concerning that murder. Essentially, if you disagree, he’s saying you deserve a death penalty.

Again, how these people can be so blind is something I can not understand, but I accept that they do believe these things. Rational arguments are wasted. Of course, go read Codrea's article at Ammoland.com He asks a question at the end: "Does anyone really still believe that the reason behind the citizen disarmament wish list a Biden/Harris administration threatens to impose is about “commonsense gun safety”?" Perhps it may seem a leap to far, if you have not been paying attemtion, but these people intend to establish a globalist takeover of the United States, and you, with your guns, and Trump with the authority of the Presidency stand in their way. Now does the imperative to disarm you make sense?

Too Many People Don''t Have Enough To Do

Scott Morefield today has an excellent post, really for any time of year, but especially for Labor Day.  His article at Townhall.com entitled America's Problem Isn't 'Systematic Racism.' It's That People Need To Get Back To Work. He asks the question, "how can so many afford to riot and loot? Doesn't anybody work anymore?" Of course, most people do in fact work, and thank goodness they do. Imagine your life it you had to make everything around you yourself. Can you make all the parts that make a car run, for example? And do you know how to grow your own food? What about if you or someone gets sick? Are you capable of performing surgery? Yeah, I thought not. People need each other. So, after a little rant about all these destructive riots he makes his point:

Of course, it’s no coincidence that one of the most significant times of social upheaval has come in the midst of one of the greatest government-created disasters in history. Our overblown response to coronavirus took life-sustaining work away from far too many people for far too long. Millions of people, from business owners to front line workers, were essentially told by their government that their jobs were so counterproductive, so purposeless, so ... “nonessential,” that society would rather PAY THEM TO SIT AT HOME than to actually do their jobs and earn their living by the proverbial sweat of their own brows. In retrospect, how sick is that? There are certainly greater blows to one’s sense of self-worth, but not many. Someday, when history gets some real perspective on this tragic era, the deliberate refusal to allow millions of Americans to pursue their livelihoods will be clear for what it was - pure evil.

Take the African-American community, for example, a group sadly among those hardest hit in every possible way. Before the coronavirus panic began, black unemployment sat at historically low levels. Now it languishes in the teens. Restaurant and service industry workers, a significant percentage of whom are minorities, were basically told “your job isn’t important,” then given an extra $600 per week in federal unemployment on top of what the states already granted. It was every leftist’s wet dream times ten, millions of Americans on the government teat. And most, sadly, were deceived as to the overall lethality of coronavirus and thus supported the lockdowns not because of reality, but because the governments that implemented them essentially PAID THEM OFF.

I have noted before that the world only needs so many film majors, womyns' studies majors, indeed any field that ends in "studies" is a field with which the world can do without.  A lot of these people could earn a very good living, not to mention doing immense good for the community and the United States learning a trade.  The world can always use another welder, machinist, tool and die maker, mechanic and so on.  And guess what?  There is no 6 figure debt to be paid off either.

For those who feel that such trade work is beneath them, it helps to look at doing these things as being of service to your fellow man.  Each one of us contributes to the livelihood, the prosperity, and comfort of so many others.  But by doing that, we are also contributing to our own livelihood, prosperity and comfort. 

Morefield again:

Conservative commentator Matt Walsh nailed the tragic irony in June with this tweet: “If you’ve been protesting ... because you don’t have to work or contribute to society and yet are still able to live in comfort, the system you seek to destroy is the very one that enables you to live that way. Take the system down and that easy life of yours goes with it.”

I can’t help but think that our societal problems aren’t caused by “systemic racism,” or “the patriarchy,” or capitalism, or “white privilege,” or any of the other nonsensical non-issues leftists trot out to try to fool people into accepting their sick, twisted “solutions.” No, the answer, or at least AN answer, is a lot simpler than all that - more people just need to get back to some good old-fashioned, productive, life-sustaining WORK!

Don't Allow Anyone To Force You Into Raising Your Fist

I have been order by She Who Must Be Obeyed to run a bunch of errands today, getting ready for company coming in for Labor Day.  Therefore, this will be short.

First up will be Scott Morefield at Townhall.com who writes that The Pre-Mask-Cult Science Hasn't Changed One Bit.

Therefore, since they’re basically useless, potentially harmful, and presumably “guard” against something that isn’t worth stopping anyway even if they worked, I avoid them wherever possible. But even more importantly, I hate the deception they represent and the tyranny they foreshadow. The deception, because this pandemic really ended in May, yet society is continuing like nothing ever changed, and the tyranny because mask mandates represent the camel’s hump in the proverbial tent. If they can force us to do something this stupid, useless, and constricting (remember, some states require masks OUTSIDE in any public area and punish those who disobey with fines) in the name of “public health,” what CAN’T they make us do? What happens if Democrats win and decide to declare “climate change” a “public health emergency”?

It really is that simple. The forced masking of America is really a exercise in making us to something totally stupid. If the Left can force us to wear masks, what can't they force us to do?

Next up is a piece by Dennis Prager, also at Townhall.com entitled The Lockdown Has Gone From A Mistake To A Crime. After pointing out that the locking down of our economy was predicated on the notion of flattening the curve so as to not overwhelm the hospitals, the goal posts were moved to preventing the spread of the disease. The last is, of course, a fools errand. Even if everyone of us were indeed virtuous and wanted to do what the Left said, humans still make mistakes. As a result, the virus would inevitably spread. Since it can not be stopped...virus gonna virus...as Morefield points out. the best thing to do is protect the elderly and infirm, and let it go. The Left actually knows this, but it has another agenda:

The lockdown is a crime. But even more upsetting is that it is supported by so many Americans. This country is unrecognizable to those of us who lived through the 1968-1970 pandemic, which killed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 100,000 Americans -- the 2020 equivalent of 170,000 Americans. Nothing shut down. Not one mask was worn.

As always, read both articles. Oh, and don't allow anyone to force you into raising your fist.