Far Worse Than a Virus

I know I sound like a broken record.  I keep harping on the response to this COVID-19 pandemic.  But it's absolutely mind-boggling to me.  Our country is being destroyed -- the lives of 327 million Americans are being destroyed economically, mentally, spiritually, financially, emotionally, socially, and even physically.  All because of panic created by the liberal media intent on destroying America.  And they are succeeding!

I have always been a staunch President Trump supporter.  I know his heart is in the right place and he is worried about the lives of Americans.  But I think he's being bamboozled.  He is relying on so-called medical experts and projection models.  He needs to rely on his instincts like he usually does.  Because the experts and the models are wrong.  His instincts are to get the economy up and running ASAP.  That is the right thing to do!  Unfortunately, because of his compassion and love for Americans, in trying to save lives, he is putting his trust in people who are leading him down the wrong path.  Whether intentionally or unintentionally.  Obviously the media and Democrats want as much death and destruction as possible.  They gloat in reporting increasing numbers of death and hospitalizations and illnesses. They love seeing the economy destroyed.  They love seeing fear in people.  It's disgusting.

I fear that if President Trump doesn't make the hard choice to reopen the economy soon, very soon, not only will our country be irreparably damaged, but his base will start to doubt him.  I realize he's stuck between a rock and a hard place at this point. But this lockdown is not sustainable.  And I believe it's unconstitutional. I can't believe 327 million people are taking this without any pushback.  I believe in honoring, obeying, and sustaining the law -- but this is unlawful!  Yes, if necessary, quarantine infectious people.  But don't quarantine an entire nation of healthy people.  That is tyranny.

I read a story about a 19-year-old girl in Virginia I believe, who went for a drive just to get out of the house.  Not going anywhere.  Minding her own business alone in her car just driving down the road.  She was pulled over and given $200 citation for not staying home.  Absurd!

We don't live in Communist China or even socialist Europe.  We live in The United States of America -- the land of the free and the home of the brave!  These stay-at-home orders are wrong!  Every single American's life is being destroyed. America has become a giant ghost town.  If you do go out, it's like walking into the apocalypse.  People in hazmat suits with thermometers dictating who can see a doctor or receive health care.  Everyone wearing masks -- even outside.  It's surreal.  By the way, just an FYI, do you realize that wearing a mask protects other people from getting your germs, not vice versa?

Here's a reality check. (From a article linked on Rush Limbaugh.com)

"...But do you know the odds of any American getting this virus?  One would think that number is easily known or available.  It’s not. A lot of digging into various municipal data portals reveals, based on the population tested, that rates can vary from, at most, eight-tenths of a percent in New York City to two-one-hundredths of a percent in Phoenix. 

"Did you know the chances of recovery from the coronavirus are about 98%—if you catch it?  Did you know there are models showing 50% of the population may have already had it, never knew they had it, and recovered?  Again, one would think this data would be widely available and reported.  It isn’t. What is presented widely are numbers and warnings that scare and frighten us, and we are now being conditioned to a lot of panic and speculation.  But part of the reason we are getting conditioned to a lot of panic is because of the wide range of speculation about other numbers we accept as our new fright-inducing reality, an increasingly confusing and frenzied set of numbers.  And the normalization of our panic is having dire consequences and augurs for even worse.

"Our officials and media have warned us of 2 million deaths in the United States.  Then 200,000 deaths.  Then 100,000 to 240,000.  This needs to stop. There have been a total of 68,000 coronavirus deaths worldwide.  And we are told we will see, just in America, three to four times that number.  Does that even pass the plausibility test?

"Is it too much to ask for some perspective with numbers we do know about, numbers which have never shut down our country, much less a church or synagogue, much less entire industries; numbers which have never restricted travel or put this nation into one big frenzy?  In any given month in America, we lose about 54,000 Americans to heart disease; 50,000 to cancer; 14,000 to asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema; 12,000 to stroke; 10,000 to Alzheimer’s; 7,000 to diabetes; 5,600 to drug overdoses; and 4,700 to influenza and pneumonia. Since February, in America, coronavirus: 9,500.   Where is the sympathy for the victims and families of those other causes of death?  The daily mortality count?  The blaring headlines?  The upending of the country?  We hear almost nothing about them.  Those deaths give us over 157,000 deaths a month.  Given all that is being done about one cause of death, COVID-19, it turns out this is a very advantaged disease, indeed.  And we will in time develop a vaccine for it, not to mention more and more good news coming in the short term about treatments from other extant medicines like hydroxychloroquine.

"But there is more.  With all the blaring chyrons and death and disease counts, has anyone tried to search for the average age of the death toll from this pathogen?  It’s very hard to do—though we are told the virus more maleficently affects those over 65, and is worse with each year of age.  Why do you think this point, this fact, is not everywhere available?  Could it be there is an investment and interest in scaring all of us?  You can find some stories with state and local data, but isn’t it interesting the general data is not available? Our best analysis shows in New York City 70% of the deaths are of those over age 65.  And almost all deaths across all age groups come with underlying conditions. New York has a serious problem and requires great effort and attention, which is being applied.  But the fact that the virus is having its way there does not mean that it is making its way anywhere or everywhere.  States with even greater populations, like California and Texas, are showing death rates 90% lower than New York.  States like Iowa and Minnesota have low numbers, too—but Iowa is not in lockdown and Minnesota is.

"Is there perhaps not a smarter way to address this plague other than mass immuration?  Sequestering those who are elderly with underlying conditions, those who test positive, and those who are symptomatic “while basically treating the rest of society the way we have always dealt with familiar threats like the flu” is how Thomas Friedman put it early on.  He and Dr. David L. Katz of Yale called this a vertical strategy.  The horizontal strategy of “restricting the movement and commerce of the entire population, without consideration of varying risks for severe infection,” is too blunt, too paralyzing—and too malefic." --An Advantaged Disease, Indeed, April 6, 2020, By William J. Bennett & Seth Leibsohn

So there are some real statistics that the media doesn't want you to know.  The media wants you to believe that if you get infected with COVID-19 that you are as good as dead.  Reality is the chance of you actually contracting the virus is rare.  And even if you are unlucky enough to become infected, your chance of recovery is excellent.

To President Trump and those of you who believe medical experts and scientists are never wrong and who use data to convince you of such, you are being bamboozled.  Medical experts and scientists often disagree.  Scientific data is often proven wrong -- especially new data that hasn't been scientifically studied. Which this data on COVID-19 is because it's such a new virus. The information and data is bound to keep changing as more is learned and studied about this particular virus.

To rely on a few so called medical experts and their advice is dangerous.  Especially when an entire nation -- and the world for that matter -- is at stake.

To quote again from the article:

"The president’s instincts to re-open this country as soon as possible are right. This country is not prepared for a worsening of all the other social harms and deaths brought on by an incredibly overwrought, self-induced, hysteria and panic that doesn’t parse.  It better be.  But remember with all the nonprofits, volunteer, and self-help communities organized to address these problems being shuttered and harmed, direly and financially, be prepared for massive social failure and more death.  This is what happens when sanity is at discount and hysteria reigns supreme.  This is what happens when societies get used to pandemonium.  As bad as the coronavirus is, and it is bad, unless we arrest the frenzy and panic mongering, we should be prepared for things worse than the virus." --An Advantaged Disease, Indeed, April 6, 2020, By William J. Bennett & Seth Leibsohn

(William J. Bennett is the former secretary of education and director of the National Office of Drug Control Policy.)

(Seth Leibsohn is a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute and the host of "The Seth Leibsohn Show," heard daily on 960am/KKNT in Phoenix, Ariz.)

I know I keep harping on this but our country is being destroyed and brought to its knees, not by a virus, but by insanity, hysteria, and panic induced by a liberal media intent on destroying America and President Trump, with no regard for human life.

President Trump, please trust your instincts and put a stop to this insanity, madness, lunacy.  Open the economy.  Let people get back to work!  Let's get back to living as normal Americans and human beings who go to work, go to school, go to church, go shopping, go to restaurants, go to concerts, go to sporting events, etc. Now!  Before it's too late.  Quarantining 327 million people is not only just plain crazy, but also very dangerous and destructive to all Americans.  Not to mention tyrannical and unconstitutional.

That's my two cents.