We live in a country where one may be arrested for opening her store or having too many friends at her house for a social gathering. Whiling away the hours under a modified house arrest, we wait for a relative handful of megalomaniacs in government to tell us when we might hope to return to normal life.
Strangely, the American people seem to have swallowed this new reality whole—no questioning, no scrutiny, but complete, embarrassing credulousness at the claims of politicians, bureaucrats, and pundits frantically waving around little more than shoddy, dubious models and barely hiding a lust for tyrannizing innocent people.
This suggests that Americans, thought to be freedom-loving people, will now believe almost anything, conditioned to be fearful and obedient. Even those who had long since abandoned belief in this myth of America as the Land of the Free might have expected at least some resistance in the face of such open attacks on basic freedoms.
A damning dossier leaked from the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance claims that China lied to the world about human-to-human transmission of the virus, disappeared whistleblowers and refused to hand over virus samples so the West could make a vaccine.
The bombshell 15-page research document also indicated that some of the five intelligence agencies believe that the virus may have been leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a claim initially dismissed as a conspiracy theory because Chinese officials insisted the virus came from the local wet markets, according to the Australian Daily Telegraph.
People with low levels of vitamin D may be more likely to die from the coronavirus, according to a preliminary study.
Researchers at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Foundation Trust and the University of East Anglia in England compared the average vitamin D levels of 20 European countries with COVID-19 mortality rates — and found “significant relationships” between vitamin D levels and the number of deaths caused by this infection.
The study, which has not been peer-reviewed, notes sun-starved “Nordic” countries are among the most at risk.
“We believe that we can advise vitamin D supplementation to protect against SARS-CoV2 infection,” the researchers wrote.
The finding falls in line with previous research that suggests healthy vitamin D levels can reduce the risk of respiratory infections.
The Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force on Tuesday live streamed its guidelines and mandates for reopening the larger-sized theme parks in the Orlando area (that covers Disney as well as Universal and SeaWorld).
Phase 1 of a reopening would allow the parks to operate at 50% capacity, and Phase 2 would jump that up to 75%. In both phases, any staff members 65 or older would be encouraged to stay at home.
The suggested guidelines include having the parks tape off markings of 6 feet apart in queues and having staff regularly wipe down surfaces at random.
As for the task force's required mandates, your experiences going to the grocery store will help prepare you for what you'd find there:
-- All employees would be required to wear face masks (there's no mention of the same requirement for guests).
-- Touchless hand sanitizer should be available at each ticketing entry and turnstiles as well as the entry and exits of each ride and attraction.
-- Parks should wipe down all railing and surfaces regularly.
-- Temperature checks should be given to staff members before each shift (those with a temperature above 100.4 must not enter the premises).
In the past two weeks governments across the United States have ordered the closure of countless businesses and in so doing ordered into idleness the workers, suppliers, and contractors whose livelihood depended on those businesses, along with many others affected in less direct ways.
Are these takings of property for public use? If so, would the Supreme Court rule that they require just compensation under the Fifth Amendment’s Taking Clause? If not, is there nonetheless a case for some such compensation, such as emergency rescue payments, as rough justice?
Are these takings of property for public use? If so, would the Supreme Court rule that they require just compensation under the Fifth Amendment’s Taking Clause? If not, is there nonetheless a case for some such compensation, such as emergency rescue payments, as rough justice?
