Coronavirus Lockdown, Day 13.
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
It’s business as usual for me and mine. My wife and I both work from home, so I have little unique to complain about. Well, except for the kids – schools are closed for the immediate future. I don’t mind them being home; we live in an area so safe that even the modern mother – harried by an unceasing panopticon of doom – can feel comfortable allowing them to go out and play. My wife only asks me occasionally for reassurance they’re okay out playing in our slice of suburban ease.
My wife has her law degree and handles insurance claims – bad ones – for a major carrier. It’s not her passion, but we met when she handled claims for an insurance company of which I was an officer and founding member. Given how much fraud she sees in the New York labor law book she handles, I can see why it drags her down. She thinks it’s all non-essential to the human experience. By contrast, I find insurance fascinating – the concept, not so much the regulation; and I also think insurance is essential to complex markets – and complex systems, more generally.
Most human beings crave certainty; it makes it easier to arrange our lives when we can make appointments into the future and know that the people on the other end will keep them. Indeed, you could understand the law as an evolutionary mechanism to help instill certainty in our lives: These are the rules by which everyone must abide. Break them and consequences follow. Contract law tells us what promises are legally enforceable and which ones are just…pretty words. Libel and slander tells us which words may not be yelled aloud if they’ll harm another person’s standing in their community. Trademark laws tell us which words (and goods) may not be expropriated and passed off as one’s own, thereby stealing another person’s business goodwill. And on and on.
Insurance is an attempt to pool the risk – and disburse the costs – of events with some quantifiable probability between 0 and 1 with an undesirable harm. Life insurance is eventually going to pay off as a risk-mitigation decision… for everyone who has it at the moment they shuffle from this mortal coil. It’s underlying premises, however, change over time: when you’re young and broke, you likely don’t need more than necessary to cover your funeral costs; when you’re in peak earnings potential and married with kids (and financial obligations), it ideally exists to replace the lost income stream for your spouse; when you’re older, and death gets closer, the premiums go up and the amounts may vary depending upon how much you already have saved. These are simple examples and market-distorting events can change them. For example, student loans being non-dischargeable in bankruptcy (a government policy, I note) has led to a market for parents buying large life insurance policies for their college age kids. It’s terrible to contemplate, but there are enough parents who have co-signed for student loans that if their son or daughter gets killed in a DUI, the resultant crush of student loans would costs mom and dad the house. It would be a financial burden from which they could not recover and, for some, the cost of insurance would be small enough to be a worthwhile consideration in order to avoid financial ruin on top of family tragedy.
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
You get down the rabbit hole of regulation and yeah, I guess it is kinda pointless. In New York construction law cases, the legislature has essentially made builders 100% liable for fall injuries of whatever kind: from Miguel the illegal immigrant with the fake SSN on his fourth fall from a ladder – to – someone dropped a screwdriver from the 17th floor fell and it hit a guy on the 8th floor, and a whole lot of crazier shit in between. My lovely bride describes it as “essentially strict liability” and she uses those terms in the way lawyers do, as she is one herself. Her company no longer writes NY policies, but she’s still cleaning out the backlog of cases; years worth, so there’s still work to do, even while the economy is on pause. Thank God.
We’re a family of two lawyers, but where would we be (?) if her company said tomorrow: “Sorry. We think we’ll rehire you. Coronavirus pause and all that.“
Essential. Nonessential. Just like that – a snap of the fingers and stroke of the pen – and you’re out of work.
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us-if at all-not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.
When governors and Media blather on about who will be allowed to work during these “shutdowns” and “quarantine orders” – who are deemed essential and non-essential I always hear a voice querying: “Essential to what? Decreed by whom?” Every man and woman who is getting paid to perform some task in the American economy is essential to someone, be it themselves or a family member, a relative, a close friend. Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main.
I find it humorous when the statists tell us how we are essential cogs in the machinery of society when it’s for the purpose of driving socialist/statist solutions. Oh, you think you’re an individual with agency and sovereignty? Not according to Wickard v. Filburn, Citizen!
Whether the subject of the regulation in question was ‘production’, ‘consumption’, or ‘marketing’ is, therefore, not material for purposes of deciding the question of federal power before us…. But even if appellee’s activity be local and though it may not be regarded as commerce, it may still, whatever its nature, be reached by Congress if it exerts a substantial economic effect on interstate commerce and this irrespective of whether such effect is what might at some earlier time have been defined as ‘direct’ or ‘indirect.’
317 U.S. 111, 125 (1942)
Farmer Filburn made the mistake of growing more wheat than some New Deal federal agency said was allowable in order to feed his livestock. Didn’t matter that he wasn’t selling any of it ‘in commerce.’ That federal agency claimed the power to control the price of wheat for the entire country, and therefore the authority to fine Filburn for the crime of growing wheat in excess of the federally allowed amount.
Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main.
Conservative lawyers were cheering when NFIB v. Sebelius went to the Court because it was widely believed that John Roberts was going to finally trim back the Commerce Clause. A series of cases in the ’90s had pushed back on the scope of the Congress’s commerce clause power under Wickard, so Roberts rushed in to let everyone know that even if the commerce clause had its limits, the taxing clause could fill in just fine in a pinch!
The Government’s tax power argument asks us to view the statute differently than we did in considering its commerce power theory. In making its Commerce Clause argument, the Government defended the mandate as a regulation requiring individuals to purchase health insurance. The Government does not claim that the taxing power allows Congress to issue such a command. Instead, the Government asks us to read the mandate not as ordering individuals to buy insurance, but rather as imposing a tax on those who do not buy that product.
NFIB v. Sebelius, 567 U.S. 519 (2012)(emphasis added)
When the statists want your money, every penny counts and must be counted; nothing – not even your homegrown wheat, not even your actuarial existence – can be excluded from the count. You are in toto an essential part of the government’s market, Citizen, inseparable from the whole, and therefore you can be regulated or taxed into penury, the same as everyone else…
EXCEPT and UNLESS some natural disaster intervenes: like the hurricanes that perennially – coming from the latin for “every fucking year” – ravage big chunks of the eastern and southeastern United States; or the fires, mudslides, and earthquakes that cover the west; or the “bomb cyclones,” “arctic blasts,” blizzards, lake-effect snow, and Nor’Easters that cover the northern tier of our Nation; and then there are the tornadoes that foray through their Alley, which is ironically held in place by a Bible Belt. And then there’s the possibility of infectious disease, something we’ve only been dealing with for all of human history.
ALL of those things can lead to Declarations of your instant non-essentialness, Citizen. Some (economic) animals are more equal than others, Citizen. To wit: while getting an (evidently essential) haircut this morning, I was listening to the news when they announced that public schools will now be closed for the rest of the year. I guess teachers are non-essential, I was about to say, when the newsreader immediately followed up by noting that teachers will continue to get paid because our legislature and governor were Johnny-on-the-Spot and made sure those more equal animals got taken care of – with your tax money, I should note. And when our Brave Leaders decree that your business has to close… well, now you’re no longer quite as essential to the Health of the State, Citizen… but here’s the bill.
That’s different than when the solicitor general argues about how your individual wheat growing in excess of 11.1 acres could leads to the economic ruination of your fellow citizens (Wickard); or when the solicitor general argues that growing a single marijuana plant in your backyard for purely personal use is part of the entire “market” for marijuana, because everyone knows that plant is “fungible.” (Gonzales v. Raich, 545 U. S. 1, 17 (2005)).
Congress’s attempt to regulate the interstate market for marijuana would therefore have been substantially undercut if it could not also regulate intrastate possession and consumption. Accordingly, we recognized that “Congress was acting well within its authority” under the Necessary and Proper Clause even though its “regulation ensnare[d] some purely intrastate activity.”
NEIB v. Sebelius, 567 U.S., at ___, citing Gonzales v. Raich.
Yes, then your actions really “count,” Citizen. They harm the State deeply and must be accounted for, every jot and tittle. But when we declare emergencies… well, then “hard choices” have to be made to protect the Health of the State, Citizens, at least the health of the people whom we have declared to matter… like the Kennedy Center for the Arts, to which you must pay $25 million, Citizens! For the health of the State! The Kennedy Center only has assets totaling $557 million right now, Citizens, and during these dark times, sacrifices will have to be made. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting must also continue, Citizens, so you’re going to have to pay $75 million for NPR and Big Bird. Essential. In times of crisis where businesses must be shuttered, obviously you will understand that you must pay $600 million to the National Endowment for the Arts – how else will we have great art to commemorate the current suffering of our citizens so that people will remember it centuries from now? You understand, Citizens, the absolute necessity of sacrifice and why your non-essential business must shutter during this pandemic. Here’s a check for $1200 to help you through these dark times.
Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death’s dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind’s singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.
As an attorney with an interest in the Constitution, I’m wondering how these declarations get squared with our “takings” jurisprudence under the Fifth Amendment. “No person shall… be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” There is an entire body of law around regulatory takings, in which the State effectively condemns a person’s property via regulation. I’m not entirely certain how a small business owner can be deemed non-essential, ordered and required to shut down for say… three months – and that not be a “taking” of that person’s property. It is a lot worse to a business to be completely shut down for some indeterminate number of months than it would be to have the government condemn 25% of one’s business. At least in the latter case one can continue to build goodwill, continue to take orders, see customers, etc. In the current circumstances, however, the government has declared that it may close entire industries if the State deems those sectors not merely a health threat, but merely non-essential. I know several governors have ordered tattoo parlors, nail salons, and barber shops based upon these officials’ totally expert understanding of how the NOVEL coronavirus likely spreads… likely.
I am grateful that my wife’s and my professions – our jobs – are not currently deemed non-essential by our Top Men. I hope that something else – something that can be possibly be framed as a public health crisis – doesn’t come along soon to change that.
The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms
In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river
Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death’s twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men.
Nice job getting me seriously pissed off!
great writeup, Ozy,
/Raich! shout out
You’re most welcome, Yusef. Hope you’re getting the rest you need and feel better soon!
I need to make a supply run, then Pray To almighty trump for my UI check, oh wait, that would be Newson the Fabulous…..
/getting close to the edge
I can always use a good blood pressure booster. ///jk
Questioning the Government decisions? Seems like you’ve had too much time doing non-essential thinking. Off to the Essential Work Camps with you.
I have this printed out and hanging in my office. Seems apropos.
She thinks it’s all non-essential to the human experience – the question is, is this because government should cover everything?
Most human beings crave certainty; – in some things at least, not in everything
a market for parents buying large life insurance policies for their college age kids – vote Bernie. of wait, to late
Fabulous read as always, Ozymandias. More equal animals has my blood boiling.
Thank you, RA. Sorry… I guess? Not really. I’m not sure my intention was to piss people off, so much as awaken them to what’s happening. Too many people seem way too comfortable with this and that scares me.
Outside of this venue, I am mostly a lone voice in the wilderness.
This T. S. Eliot fellar was probably some sort of fascist.
Renounced his US citizenship to become a Briton, Pie!
And I’m not sure if that supports or undercuts your theory.
Was he a marxist? Cause otherwise…
So in conclusion, when the hell can I get a damn haircut?
stupid commenting. this was not supposed to go here damnit
Idk, I needed one before we went all gulag at home.
my standard haircut time was like 4 days after lock-down. I lacked forethought I should have known
He wasn’t an anti-semite, “at least no more than anyone else.”
But he is my favorite English poet.
I will show you fear in a handful of dust
Mine too. I honestly don’t give a damn who he hated.
I agree, the whole distinction between “essential” and “non-essential” is arbitrary and capricious.
As I posted before, a large part of the problem is that the news media is broken, so it’s difficult to inform people to take voluntary action.
arbitrary and capricious
Describes most gov’t decisions/actions.
Ouch, my nuts!
“every jot and tittle” is one of my favorite phrases from Baron von Munchausen.
It’s a phrase found also in the New Testament, Matthew quoting Jesus:”For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
That was what I was thinking of when I used it.
I am not 100% sure I know what that is supposed to mean. Probably better in the original Aramaic
They were moves used by dancers of the seven veils, since “bump and grind” didn’t get invented until the 1920s.
When the statists want your money, every penny counts and must be counted; nothing – not even your homegrown wheat, not even your actuarial existence – can be excluded from the count. You are in toto an essential part of the government’s market, Citizen, inseparable from the whole, and therefore you can be regulated or taxed into penury, the same as everyone else…
By the way, in case anybody is wondering why the fedgov was so intent on punishing farmer Filburn, it’s because they were trying to bust up a black market supply of wheat.
I have no doubt in my mind that Filburn was selling wheat on the black market. I also have no doubt in my mind that Wickard is in the top 5 worst active SCOTUS cases.
Off the top of my head, that list would be:
1) South Dakota v. Dole – the “even if it’s unconstitutional, you can pay the states to do it for you” case
2) Wickard v. Filburn
3) Roe v. Wade
4) NFIB v. Sebelius
5) Kelo v. City of New London
By black market, you mean free market.
Of course. “black market” isn’t a negative term in my mind.
Oh, I thought that went without saying.
Insurance is fascinating to me only because of how far back it goes. Hammurabi, if I’m reading correctly. Insurance has been around since the zero was invented and long before double-entry bookkeeping.
Commerce will happen, period.
What I’m upset about is that businesses (big ones) have not stood up and said, “Yeah, no, not participating.” This is one of those scenarios where I’m faced with a libertarian dilemma: blame 1 entity who COULD do something for the rest of us for not doing it.* Except the rest of us CAN’T. The entity has no obligation to us, but it could have made our lives better by doing it.
Walmart: Yeah, no. Not participating.
Media: Pushback pushback pushback.
Walmart: Stats don’t support us tanking our company like this [please don’t say they’re doing booming business; it’s an illusion]
Media: Pushback pushback pushback.
Government: We’re taking you to court.
Walmart: Bring it.
[Hobby-Lobby-like fighting ensues; meanwhile, all the other businesses are like, whatevs, if Walmart’s staying open, so will I.]
But that didn’t happen. Walmart does NOT have an obligation to do such a thing, but if they had…
*Stephenie Meyer screwed every single author ever by not suing E.L. James for Fifty Shades of Grey. The consequences were/are devastating.
Gilmore’d. Not my fault this time.
Mass civil disobedience is the answer.
McCulloch v. Maryland
Yes it prevented the state from taxing the Federal government which I feel is an important part of a Federal system. But it also enshrined that the Congress could form a national bank. Meaning that the Supreme Court declared that the Constitution gave Congress implied powers to implement the express powers. It was all downhill from there.
That was the first one that didn’t make the cut.
If not for Marbury v. Madison the others wouldn’t matter.
Question. Knowing what we know about the behaviour of the electorate. In a timeline without Marbury v Madison, would there be any mechanism for any form of redress when the legislatures and the executives act beyind their powers?
I know we don’t have as much as we should now, but what avenue would exist?
It is not that Marbury v Madison gave the courts the power to rule that laws were unconstitutional. It is that it held that that power was the exclusive purview of the courts. To my mind a law, or executive order, or even a judicial decision that violates the plain meaning of the constitution is facially invalid and should be treated as such by the other branches. In other words a law is constitutional if all the branches, and the States accept it as such and not otherwise. The President should refuse to execute laws that violate the constitution, the courts should dismiss cases brought under unconstitutional laws, and Congress should refuse to fund executive and judicial acts that violate the constitution.
Yup. The Courts, and especially the Federal Government, cannot be the sole arbiter and interperter of the Compact between the states.
Since the three branches of government are co-equal under the constitution, the courts do not have the power to be the sole arbiters and interpreters of the constitution. The other branches have simply decided they wish to surrender that power to the courts.
Exactly. If I was elected POTUS, Day 1 I’d be pardoning hundreds of thousands of people with the simple sentence
“The law __________ was convicted under is unconstitutional”
Yup. And Veto every law that is unconstitutional.
Yup. Each branch has the inherent authority to conclude that any activity of the government is unconstitutional. And the determination by a branch of government that something is or is not unconstitutional is not binding on its successors.
Just as no Congress can bind subsequent Congresses, which can always vote to repeal a law, and SCOTUS is always free to overturn precedent, each President can (and indeed is obligated to) reach his own independent conclusion on whether any activity of the government is Constitutional. If he determines it is not, he is duty-bound to whatever is in his (legitimate) authority to stop it.
The devil is in the details, of course. Should each branch defer to any determination by a co-equal branch that something is unconstitutional? What happens when a President decides that, for example, the NFA is unconstitutional? I think it would remain on the books, but should he also pardon any convictions for violating it?
And what about the States? Does the Supremacy Clause mean that a State is obligated to comply with a federal law that the State concludes is unconstitutional? How would a state reach this conclusion, anyway?
Those are good picks. I don’t know enough cases to make a top 10 or even a top 5 but they are all pretty bad. I’d say South Dakota vs Wayfair is one of the more egregious ones too.
Heien v. North Carolina is pretty bad, too.
I looked on your work there, Ozymandias, and despaired mightily. We’re screwed.
This made me laugh, Homple. Well-played, Xir!
Dammit, the site apparently determined that I’m non-essential…
AS I was saying:
Thanks, Ozy for another fabulous essay. This essential/non-essential bullshit really has my back up.
I appear to not be exactly non-essential on the site, but every comment kicks me to a gateway timeout error message. Am I special?
You are not special.
Unfortunately not, we are all squirrels here.
*sigh*
Roads still 3/4 empty. Barricades to create lines to get into stores. Suddenly can’t get ANYTHING I didn’t need urgently BEFORE the lockdown (OH NO, IT’S NOT A LOCKDOWN!). Can’t buy more than 2 cans of evaporated milk.
I am so helpless and at someone else’s mercy. I have never felt like this before when EVERYBODY ELSE IS TOO and we are all helpless.
Hello feudal system redux.
the future is arranged marriages with connected people
Yeah, there is no traffic around me except the occasional delivery truck and bus, and considerably more frequent ricer.
/tightens foil on head
This is just a dry run. They want to get an idea for just how much people will take before the shooting starts.
Wait until they get serious about shit.
Funny, I was just thinking about T.S. Eliot. Yeats too: https://poets.org/poem/second-coming
Hard times in Jerusalem…
Whats big and grey, and write gloomy poems?
T.S. Elephant.
But when we declare emergencies… well, then “hard choices” have to be made to protect the Health of the State, Citizens, at least the health of the people whom we have declared to matter… like the Kennedy Center for the Arts, to which you must pay $25 million, Citizens! For the health of the State! The Kennedy Center only has assets totaling $557 million right now, Citizens, and during these dark times, sacrifices will have to be made. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting must also continue, Citizens, so you’re going to have to pay $75 million for NPR and Big Bird. Essential. In times of crisis where businesses must be shuttered, obviously you will understand that you must pay $600 million to the National Endowment for the Arts – how else will we have great art to commemorate the current suffering of our citizens so that people will remember it centuries from now? You understand, Citizens, the absolute necessity of sacrifice and why your non-essential business must shutter during this pandemic. Here’s a check for $1200 to help you through these dark times.
Have I ever been prouder to be an American, than I am today?
How could that even be possible?
Well, at least you know you’re free. ?
Good job. Reacting to part at the beginning: I’m another one of people who’s fascinated by the whole concept of insurance. I think at its core (without the massive amounts of regulation that distort it today, and the misunderstanding of most people regarding what it’s even for) it’s one of the most interesting essential gears in a free, capitalistic, contractural society.
If you had told me when I was a pilot that I would ever be involved (or understand) insurance, I might have called mental health officials on you – yet here we are. 😉
I helped set up a Risk Retention Group and that led me down the rabbit hole. Quite an education and I am by no means an expert. More of a dilettante, really, but I understand it well enough to have spent time with a Lloyd’s syndicate (our reinsurer) and learned a ton over the years I sat on the board.
Insurance is essential to complex economies.
Thanks, OZY, always interesting and required reading. Those who think they don’t need insurance are those most likely to need it. Enjoy the good work.
Insurance was also essential to the growth of ancient Athens as a commercial, and later military, power.
Shirley – I’m just riffing here, but I think there’s an argument/thesis that insurance is a necessity for maritime states/city states/powers. Commerce across land carries significantly less risk and uncertainty than commerce over open waters. It strikes me that once an enclave becomes big enough and starts trading across the sea that insurance is essential to mitigate the inevitable losses that will occur. It’s the kernel of a thought right now, but I’m curious what you or anyone else thinks.
Marine insurance is an interesting, tricky sub-field. (/Former CPCU).
This is the trick that says that because some 737’s crash and get grounded for a year, and an NBA star’s helicopter crashes flying VFR into IMC, then Tripacer’s aircraft hull insurance must go up 15% per year for the next 3 years, right?
Aviation insurance is a really, really specialized sub-field. Comparatively, marine has a lot more data points to measure.
It’s not a field I ever worked in. That said, I’m surprised your hull insurance went up by that much. I wouldn’t be as surprised if the GL did. (Also, sorry to hear.)
I haven’t received my quote yet, but my agent said that’s what I should expect. They do aviation and marine insurance, so I assumed they were related. Maybe he was just trying to lessen the blow for me when the quote finally does come out.
They kind of are, they have unique causes of loss. My previous comment was more about Marine having a much larger ‘loss pool’, more history/data points – both in commercial and non-commercial policies, as well as less potential for catastrophic losses.
But those would be on the liability / WC side, not the property side (at least for non-commercial Marine), hence my surprise at your hull insurance going up by so much.
Affectionately called “can’t produce can’t underwrite”.
There’s a reason why I’m not in insurance no more.
That’s pretty much born out by history, although I’m only aware of supporting documentation for Ancient Athens. Both banking and insurance arose from the sea trade in that city-state.
A solid circumstantial case could be based on 1177 B.C. : The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline. Highly recommended for anyone interested in truly ancient history. Frighteningly relevant to our current situation, with the Kung Flu filling in for The Sea Peoples.
There are a lot of interesting videos on the Bronze Age civilizations, and their collapse, including at least one featuring Cline.
I found it a well written and compelling book. I rank it up there with
Henri Pirenne, Medieval Cities: Their Origins and The Resumption of Trade, and Witold Rybczynski’s Home: A short History of an Idea.
Lloyd’s started off as marine insurance, didn’t it?
[thinks back to the Ty Power movie….]
Yes, it did. I went to the ‘Bank‘ district of London in the early aughts with the company I worked for. Lloyd’s Bank should be visible in the northwest area of this map. (Near the Barbican) This is essentially the Wall Street of London. There were still coffeeshops, but less business was transacted at them (at least that I could see).
One of my risk finance guys is a former Marine (got injured in Force Recon school). I love his fondness for one-word answers; “Understood”. “Acknowledged”. etc.
His company, which specializes in off-shore and otherwise unlicensed (in the US) insurance, has a bunch of ex-military people working for it.
I speculate that this because military people spend a fair amount of time (consciously or not) contemplating and mitigating risk scenarios, many of them low probability/high impact. They are also immersed in a highly bureaucratic and complex organization, which acclimates them to insurance work.
Nice write-up Ozy.
Babylon Bee (as usual) clarifies difference between essential and non-essential: https://babylonbee.com/news/liberal-arts-degrees-renamed-non-essential-worker-degrees
(apologies if already posted)
it was
This Bee article was more bitter than funny – but spot on,
Man Glad To Know Job That Fed His Family, Paid His Rent Is ‘Non-Essential’
I never thought I’d see the government here picking who deserves to make a living.
Well, there goes my career change goal of becoming a non-binary activist.
OT: Hank Steinbrenner – dead.
Thanks!
There are too many Glibs with insurance related work here! So despite years of doing WC, GL and CMP early in my career for NY base P&C insurers across the country I never delved deeply inside NY State. You’re telling me on construction liability when Juan the Undocumented falls you can avoid the WC cover and go straight to GL? That’s a huge plaintiff win!
For Glibs playing at home WC is no fault which means the firm of Dewey, Cheetum and Howe only gets 1/3rd of a much smaller settlement.
I fervently hope that some of the would-be planners are realizing that markets are better at running and stocking the goods (we hear of regional shortages here and there) than the planners will ever be.
“Reasoning will never make a Man correct an ill Opinion, which by Reasoning he never acquired.” – Jonathan Swift
I’m buying up all the “Will Work for Food” signs from the street walkers, er, homeless. In a few weeks there will be a run on these signs by people who really are willing to work but have been declared “Non-essential” and I’ll have thesign market cornered.
I only wish that this would be a joke but who knows? I’ve been wrong a lot in my life and I hope I am again but past history may may be predictive of future events.
O.k. any theories on why there isn’t piles of homeless dead from the virus?
Social distancing for the win!
….?
I don’t know. It could be a matter of immunity. Living outside may have culled the weak and those who are surviving are like human cockroaches. They’ll be here long after we’re all gone, shuffling around screaming at the sky as they pick through the remains of US society.
I visited the city center yesterday for the first time in three-plus weeks, where the homeless hang out in droves. Their activities must be essential, because their habits seem to not have changed a bit. Still clustering in droves and such. It’s good to know that I can’t play ball in the park with my kid, but I can still live in a tent downtown.
(This is no knock on the homeless. Most of them have a terrible go of it even in the best of times.)
If I weren’t so lazy I’d probably be homeless. I have the dissolute nature down pat, but it seems like really hard work.
I just checked Indiana state law regarding a state of emergency. The governor has the power to do whatever he wants during a state of emergency, except restrictions on firearms (interestingly that was put in place by Mitch Daniels in 2005 after Katrina). The legislature can reverse it, but they are not in session and can’t come back until recalled by the governor. The state of emergency must be renewed every 30 days.
Wonder if any of those laws will change in the future?
A state law can’t override the constitution, so he has no legitimate authority to violate your civil rights.
A state law can’t override the constitution
How quaint. . .
But in all seriousness, yes that is what is supposed to be. But that hasn’t stopped states from violating both their respective charters and the federal charter (along with the feds).
Can’t the State Legislature convene their own emergency sessions? Why would they need permission from the Executive to do their job?
In a lot of states it’s up to the governor to convene a special session.
^^^
That seems counter-intuitive to the structure of our governments.
15% of SC breweries will close in 1 to 4 and 80% wont survive another 3 months.
insert weeks after the 4.
At least there’s some people pushing back. I’d like to think that there will be a large docket of lawsuits that will come out of this and be decided correctly. But I’m not that hopeful that’s going to happen.
IJ is going to be super busy.
I’m afraid however we are going to get a sweeping ‘convenience’ decision. In short, the courts will declare that this cannot be a taking because the sheer amount of money lost would be impossible for the States to pay back. The court will use flowery words, and whatnot and give some reasons, but we will end up with “The government can take any and all property during a state of emergency”, with “Not bankrupting the state” being the impetus for it.
Yeah. This is kind of what I’m expecting. Our tiny minority will get more pissed off, and we’ll hear about how much worse things would be in the US if we had allowed the pandemic to run rampant through the country. The Feds will declare certain industries as too big to fail, and bail them out. The economy will go through inflation, and things will keep on going along until they don’t.
Interesting times indeed.
One thing we can be sure of, after this is over, we’re going to have a lot of tinpot dictator wannabe governors and mayors running around proclaiming that they saved us all by ruining the economy and yearning for even more dictatorial powers.
Just like all central planning solutions, it’s utterly stupid (and immoral) for the government to try and dictate what’s “essential” and what isn’t. The market determines that.
people are more important than some market which is just a tool of exploitation Q
Actually, I’m looking forward to the day when it won’t be essential to row out into the middle of the lake with all your firearms in the boat.
“*Stephenie Meyer screwed every single author ever by not suing E.L. James for Fifty Shades of Grey. The consequences were/are devastating.”
I read that 50SOG started as Twilight fan-fiction, but it’s not like it had werewolves and vampires.
I am not a copyright attorney, but I am skeptical that such a claim would have prevailed. And I am not sure what consequences flowed from this? The next book I read that was not inspired by a prior book will be the first.
Meyer V James would not be a win for Meyer. Too much has been changed, and once the fanfic had the fan part scrubbed off with new characters applied, there was no grounds to sustain a claim.
Except…not enough was scrubbed off.
That 89% is not between twilight and 50 shades, it’s between the first draft and the second of the same writer’s work.
And that was a single unidentified passage.
By a TurnItIn check, it is 89% Twilight.
Please also see this.
She had a case.
The fact that the nonmonetized draft used characters from another work does not make the monetized volume liable. 50 Shades would be a post-settlement work from a case if they’d tried to monetized Master. Instead, they pre-emptively removed the infringing content.
By a TurnItIn check, it is 89% Twilight.
No, a passage of it is an 89% match to a passage of Master. That’s very different than if there was an 89% plagiarism match between the entire book and entire book from the actual Twilight series.
Regardless, repurposing your own fan fic into a different universe and then selling it isn’t going to make much headway in court.
/not my area of IP law, so dont take my words as anything more than some guy’s opinion
Lets see, different characters, different plot, different setting, different verbiage…
It’s going to be easy to convince a jury that it’s not infringing. Not that it would get past a judge. I’d see it bounced in pretrial motions.
And since it doesn’t appear to have detracted from the pallettes of cash twilight brought in, proving damages is going to be a bitch.
Good stuff. As an aside…
“EXCEPT and UNLESS some natural disaster intervenes: like the hurricanes that perennially – coming from the latin for “every fucking year” – ravage big chunks of the eastern and southeastern United States;…” [etc.]
It will be interesting when government stay-at-home orders collide with government mandatory-evacuation orders.
Because it is doubtful that “our representatives” read Glibertarians, then perhaps we need to do our bitching directly to them in letters and phone calls. Only when they see a “parade” of pissed off Americans will they jump in front of it and lead us out of “cower in place.” Better yet if the pissed off Americans are carrying torches, tar and feathers.
Better yet if the pissed off Americans are carrying torches, tar and feathers.. – ah on optimist. this is rare on glibertarians.
Creech – funny you should say that. I’m working on a letter for Gov Ducey encouraging him to end this nonsense. I’m struggling to find the right tone… somewhere between overt threat to his life and respectful constituent concerns seem to be my defaults, so… It’s taking more time than it should.
Borrow from Roman Moroni?
I would like to direct this to the distinguished [Govenor] You lousy corksucker. You have violated my farging rights. Dis somanumbatching country was founded so that the liberties of common patriotic citizens like me could not be taken away by a bunch of fargin iceholes… like yourselves
Fargin’ Bastages! Every last corksucking one of them!
Young me enjoyed that movie a little more than is probably healthy.
“Shoots through schools” would never be allowed in a current movie
Be sure to let us see the form letter reply you get.
I wrote my State senator last week…either he is thoughtfully trying to come up with a response or ignoring me. I didnt even get a canned message back.
What a cunte
It took about 10 days to get a form letter back from my Senator instead of the normal 6 or 7 days. Could be due to increased volume of inputs from concerned citizens. Or it could be due to lack of concern from the Senator’s office.
Me too. With the balancing part.
I’ve turned from using my Twitter account to resolve customer service issues to tweaking the local media and politicians. Not that they do their own tweeting.
Sadly, due to my position, I cannot stick my head above the ramparts and make my personal views known. As an officer of the company, when I am in public I am always representing the company.
Of course, a frank airing of my views would involve repeated uses of the words “weak”, “stupid”, “shortsighted”, “self-defeating”, “tyrannical”, and similar.
Basically: “you exist at the pleasure of the King”.
Just wish he would use more lube.
And I’m lurking until that 504 timeout issue is fixed.
All I know is that this whole fiasco is clear proof that capitalism doesn’t work and we need to nationalize all industries for the common good. ///peoplenotprofits
You understand, Citizens, the absolute necessity of sacrifice and why your non-essential business must shutter during this pandemic. Here’s a check for $1200 to help you through these dark times.
Excellent submission. As usual.
Every business and job is essential to the people who run them and have them. I do not have words for how this has pissed me off.
Here’s a new one: the “low hanging fruit” clause of the Constitution, It allows cops and cities to ignore the 4th and 2nd amendments and has been upheld by the 9th Court. Later this month the Supreme Court gets to decide how low our gun fruit can hang.
Roughly speaking, that is the government behaving in a lawless fashion. It won’t end until the citizenry have had enough, and then it will be too late.
That.
It’s already too late. The remedy for this type of government behavior is the second amendment, which the people have meekly surrendered.
The Supreme Court only hears a few dozen cases a year.
And herein lies some of the injustice. If you are going to be the “Highest Court, and interpreter of the constititon” then the justices should be mandated to be working overtime to hear as many constitutional claims as possible.
Damn. I had forgotten about that one. How absolutely fucked is that ruling? Proper fucked.
Utterly disgusting decision by that court. I’m gobsmacked by how bad that is.
Ninth circuit has to go further and further to make a splash after its reputation. Unfortunately they keep managing to do that.
Wonderful. Justice Shitforbrains Penaltax can do another Solomon impersonation.
https://babylonbee.com/news/economy-takes-sharp-dive-as-nation-stays-home-from-work-to-play-new-super-smash-bros-game
Look at the date…. the Bee has a time machine. Also judging by their writing, Glibs becomes a highly influential cultural icon.
We will know for sure when The Hat and The Hair allusions kick in.
Most human beings crave certainty
I’m certain that the future generally uncertain. I am also certain about death and taxes.
BREAKING: … a federal appeals court has ruled … Epstein … was … executed.
So was your link.
MOTHER TRUCKER
Here’s a check for $1200 to help you through these dark times.
That made me suddenly imagine a political cartoon inspired by this Always Sunny scene.
Uncle Sam is holding out an egg in his right hand, labeled “$1200”, to a group of concerned citizens. In the other hand he’s strangling a chicken by the neck labeled “The Economy.” The caption is “Can I offer you an egg in this trying time?”
Now I’m Self isolating for real, 10$ and a 1/4 tank of fuel for emergencies, ain’t life Grand?
Obama: ‘Biden Has Touched Us All’
That’s, um, pretty funny.
ROFL
After what was undoubtedly an exhaustive search, the New York Times scrounged up a small town in rural New Hampshire in which they could claim the economy was destroyed by the plague independently of any precipitous government action. The town’s largest employer, a supplier to auto manufacturers worldwide, started laying people off due to falling demand. Other small local businesses scaled back or closed. The NYT dispatched a reporter to do a “Rednecks in the Mist” piece. Predictable moaning ensues.
Surprise. A small local economy dependent on a single large employer, in combination with seasonal tourism, is not very resilient in the face of a massive exogenous shock. The comments are a predictable cesspool of NYT readers blaming Trump and those ignorant gun fanatic hillbillies (who, to a man, voted for him and will again).
WHY CHINA ECONOMY GROW BUT AMERICA ECONOMY WEAK?
That’s an interesting combination of activities.
If a Chinese general can come up with a fried chicken dish, a Chinese-American engineer can run a whole restaurant!
Wait… What dish did Sun Tzu come up with?
I received an (essential) haircut yesterday. When I entered my barbers house it was dank. He smokes the good stuff. He recently bought a house and I helped him figure out a gas fireplace and his gas bbq. This guy has the mechanical sense of a teenage girl. Great guy though and a good barber. He shares the same mind as this hive here. Most people I know in person do. Unfortunately I believe we are the silent majority yelling at clouds. I will take that over knowing a bunch of Karen’s though.
#NATG
/former teenage girl who sourced a belt for her broken cassette player on her boombox and successfully repaired it (after trying a rubber band, which had too much elasticity for the job)
He never said which teenage girl.
/weasel words
Please excuse my use my use of a lame stereotype.
Yeah, having volunteered for several years for the robotics team at the HS, I can assure you that the mechanical acumen among the boys is at least as lacking as the girls.
I’ll never forget the kid who told me he never learned to use a push-broom because he was a ‘coder’.
… how do you screw up using a push broom? Did he simply not try?
He was pulling it.
I’ve done that when cleaning out inside corners.
I figure he just thought he was too good to try.
Bingo.
I fixed that.
I guessed something along those lines. But of all the cleaning tasks, sweeping is among the easier ones. And if you have a dustpan with a long handle, you don’t need to bend over.
LOL Just yanking your chain (and that was not an offer to yank anything else!).
But was it his Pool Chain? Was there Rusty Straight Razors involved? Where Was Corn Pop?
One of the neighborhood bodysnatchers is going to out you for violating the distancing dictates once they see your finely trimmed head.
Vicious Tyrant Trump Wants To Let People Leave Their Homes
10/10. Would spit coffee again.
That’s the winner. “Stop the counting, kids; it’s all over!”
That is some Grade A satire.
Nailed it.
“Every man and woman who is getting paid to perform some task in the American economy is essential to someone”
Exactly this. None of the numbnuts attempting to micromanage the economy have any idea what is essential to what or to whom. No one does. The economy is the sum total of billions of transactions up and down supply chains so complex that no one in the world has the knowledge to be able to organize. Everything is essential, or nothing is.
How’s things, Lach? Y’all still makin’ steel?
Things are well enough. We are running about 30 percent capacity. about 80 percent of our product goes to the automobile manufacturing market, so the big three shutting down has killed our business for now. The gun market is good though, so we are making a bunch of gun barrel material.
We run for a few days, then shut down for a week, and then run again to meet customer demands. It’s not ideal, but it is what it is. I work in the maintenance dept, so we don’t lose any pay out of the situation. There is always maintenance work that can be done when the plant is down.
Do you know any way we can find a firearm made from that material specifically?
https://www2.gerdau.com/products/accucalibertm-gun-barrel-steels
That’s our product line. I don’t know specifically who all buys it, but i know we rolled 450 tons of 1.33 inch diameter solid bar for Sig Sauer this monday morning.
450 TONS!? Jiminy Cricket, that’s going to be a lot of barrels.
Okay. I just have a preference for buying from people I have some familiarity with.
I would totally buy a Lach edition Sig.
Wow. That seems like a lot.
Is that a big order by your “normal” standards?
Not really. We melt/cast/roll at about 90 tons per hour. The smallest orders we take are in the 60 ton range. I know that once every few months we run orders for Dana axels that take a day or so complete.
I have a Dana in my truck’s front end. I’ll have to swing by some time so you can autograph it!
Dana: We haven’t declared bankruptcy in several years now !
My old mill in theory (when every dept. was functioning) could melt/cast/finish 320 metric tons/hr of stainless.
In the nearly 2 years i was there, I only saw it happen twice.
Our steel fabricator is still running three shifts to meet demand, and we’re still doing pricing models for new structures, so I’m keeping my toes crossed that things return to something like normal before long. I’m trying to stay optimistic. If I get laid off I guess I’ll go back to putting up framing rather than drawing it.
To paraphrase a quote, “Every job is essential to at least one person.”
Could coronavirus present an opportunity to easy-access birth control? I’ve seen several commercials today for companies filling birth control prescriptions online and shipping.
Far too late for me at this point, but a positive development.
“Congress was acting well within its authority” under the Necessary and Proper Clause even though its “regulation ensnare[d] some purely intrastate activity.”
I used to give a shit about the constitution until i learned about things like this. The document failed to perform its purpose.
Men failed, not paper
Constitutions don’t enforce themselves. I get the Spooner critique, but its a critique of our fellow man. We were not vigilant.
My idea is to send a terminator back in time so the founders can program the constitution into it along with orders to terminate any government agent that violates it.
Nice to see you, Lach! I’m going tot slightly disagree and say that the Constitution is pretty damn good, as written. As far as government charters go, it was a great attempt (setting aside the problem of slavery for the moment) to protect the people from their government. The problem is that lawyers will whittle away at anything over time.
The “least dangerous branch” turned out to be the “most dangerous branch” is what happened. That’s not the Constitution they’re interpreting; it’s their own ideas about what’s better for the masses that they’re expounding. Lawyers, it turns out, are elitist pricks and we let them do the “interpretation.”
As i like to say: The Law is too important to leave up to lawyers….
ooh…..I wondered where I stole this:
business is too important to leave to business majors
I highly doubt i came up with it on my own. Most likely i stole it from you.
The constitution as written, is fairly good. As good of a document as can be expected, i reckon. Best i can tell though, it is effectively meaningless at this point. It’s not necessarily the fault of lawyers, although they have plenty of damage. The fault lies with the people, of course. Americans didn’t want freedom badly enough. Every government will always violate as many rights as the people they govern will tolerate. We tolerate too much. It is simple that.
Good article Ozzy.
Paging Winston’s mom
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman said Monday that it would be “crazy” for the U.S. economy to be safely reopened in a matter of weeks.
In an interview with CNN, Krugman warned that the U.S. has not yet reduced the coronavirus’s spread enough to warrant the reopening of the U.S. economy, adding that places such as Denmark and China that have begun to reopen some sectors of public life risk a resurgence of the virus.
“I think we’re waiting to see whether places that seem to have the thing under control and start to try to return … to normalcy, whether they have second-wave outbreaks,” Krugman said, pointing to a recent second spike in cases in Singapore.
“The closest model we have is the influenza of 1918, 1919, where it turned out that places that were too eager to return to normal life paid the price,” he added. “But one thing that we know for sure is that the United States is nowhere close to that point. So the idea that we can reopen in a matter of a few weeks is crazy.”
Krugman’s comments come as President Trump has talked publicly about his considerations around issuing guidelines directing states to resume normal economic activities and end lockdown orders related to the coronavirus. Some state governors have also formed regional groups to discuss joint efforts to reopen their economies.
We have to be certain we have destroyed the economy before we can save it. Don’t take the pillow away until it completely stops struggling for breath.
Krugnuts, an expert in everything. Highest purpose he can serve is to provide a meal or three to cats.
I was thinking this. People like bacon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3qy4Zv4snI&app=desktop
Ryan Saavedra✔
@RealSaavedra
Trump is playing a video right now of how the media downplayed the coronavirus and how Democrat governors have praised him for working with them
CNN and MSNBC immediately cut away from the press conference because they don’t want their viewers to see what is really happening
Replaying that which is already been made public and is documented history (in context, I presume until shown to be otherwise) is now Trump “propaganda”?
Nice article Ozzy.
I get quite pissed at the essential vs. non-essential distinction. “Central planning! It’s different when we do it!” Except it’s really not different. It will fail just like it always does.
Great Article Ozzy. Always a good read.
OT: Finished Shadowboy last night. If y’all haven’t read it, go get it (or the Gruefield 18 omnibus like I did). Fun story…I actually had to keep myself from starting the next bit because it was already 1 AM.
Sure sign of an excellent storyteller! Yay, UCS!
Thanks.
I do aim to be entertaining. I suppose that makes the book a success.
I’m glad you enjoyed it.
PS, if there’s anyone you know who you think will enjoy it, feel free to pass along a recommendation. “Word of mouth” is the only active ad campaign I have going at the moment.
It turns out that’s the best marketing there is.
As long as you get enough of them and/or a few superfans who will bug everybody they know to read it.
Thanks for writing it. Having watched *way* too much Netflix lately, it was nice to see a consistent universe. I wasn’t surprised by that (having seen some of your process play out on this site), but I did thoroughly enjoy it.
Just remember, Travis Colfax is a teenager, and is convinced he’s right about how the world works even as he gets basic facts wrong.
That’s part of what’s enjoyable – the characters are well developed, IMHO. So Travis has blind spots t…but he’s not the only one.
Is there some way of finding out what the status of a civil suit is?
I was trying to figure out wtf is going on with the supposed lawsuit to reopen the gun stores in NY. I found the filing itself, and the NRA has a self-congratulatory article about how they filed it but absolutely nothing about next steps. I can completely believe that the suit would be accepted by the court and put on the calendar for October 2022 or something, but not even having that much information maks me wonder if this thing was filed in name only.
It’s in federal courts, so maybe their PACER system would show information? I don’t have an account to check.
Me either, but that’s the first place I’d check, too.
I’d happily look up anything filed in Hamilton county ohio for you and give you an update. 🙂 Not setting up a pacer account (assuming it was filed in Federal court) to look itup for you though.
It’s actually pretty cunning.
Don’t ban guns, don’t ban the sale of guns, just “temporarily” forbid people (who are absolutely allowed to sell guns, no bans going on here nosiree) from operating, eventually they’ll go out of business.
And in the meantime, before new people can set up shop, you can set up brand new
onerous barriers to entrycommon sense business licensing requirements such as getting community approval for the shop, an environmental impact review, local Sheriff’s approval, fair labor practices review, cultural sensitivity training and certification…Well, I was already pissed off. Now I am really fuming.
Thank you Ozy. Excellent article.
I am wishing we lived in a world where the coronatards have painted themselves into a corner. Keep this up and tax bases will collapse. Let up on it and they are sued out of existence for the crimes they have committed. Sadly we dont live in that world.
I was talking with a coworker in Greece, and she said that Turkey didn’t shut anything down. They banned people 65 and older from going out in public, but the rest of the economy is going like normal.
Its a sad state of affairs when most of the United States is acting more repressively than Turkey.
And the bootlickers are steamed that the Trumpenfuhrer isn’t even more repressive. I cannot wrap my head around the dissonance.
What are you gonna do? Revolt? Swallwell will just rain down the nukes on us. /sarc…. I hope
Oh, and keep up this seditious talk and you certainly will be deemed non-essential.
I am coming to the conclusion that this whole debacle is nothing more than a power grab. Total power is what they crave, a goal that can never be reached, but they will accept nothing less.
I get quite pissed at the essential vs. non-essential distinction. “Central planning! It’s different when we do it!” Except it’s really not different. It will fail just like it always does.
It’ll work this time, but Tinkerbell can’t do it alone. She needs your help.
CLAP, DAMN YOU, CLAP!!!11!!
https://youtu.be/iy01iYyk-rc
Thank you! Even libertarians fall into the essential/useless job trap from time to time.
There’s quite a difference between “nonessential” and “useless.”
Hit “reply” too soon…
It seems to me there are at least four different types of jobs:
Essential = job is required to produce the good or provide the service that someone is willing to voluntarily pay for
Essential-adjacent = jobs that don’t add value themselves, but are required nevertheless (payroll, advertising, QC)
Useless = job required because of regularoty requirements
Anti-essential = job that actively diverts resources and personnel focus away from essential or essential-adjacent roles (diversity & inclusion, FOTM continuous improvement, etc.)
I don’t disagree, but that is from one perspective. From the perspective of one individual to another individual, every job in a free enterprise system falls under essential. If you are the sick fuck who actually enjoys marketing, oversight, project management, knowledge of Title IX regulations, etc., you have a skill or knowledge that your employer chose to contract with you for. Even if the need for that skill was created through onerous regulation, your employer didn’t have to choose you. An individual employer judged the value of your skill or knowledge was worth the wage you two agreed on.
On the other hand, government-appointed sinecures actually are useless, as they are outside the free enterprise system and are an example of cronyism.
That is of course true, but it is an odd employer decides to start a business for the purpose of employing compliance specialists, with a side hustle of selling things to pay the bills.
For those not already following Cafe Hayek, this makes an important point of language usage.
tl;dr — they’re not chains, it’s a web. See also book references above.
Having had it brought back to mind, I greatly fear that 1177 B. C. maps out where we’re headed.
I, Pencil.
Speaking of entertainment-
I have been watching this Limey cop show called “Luther”. [thumbs up]
I don’t know what they were putting in the tea in the BBC writers’ lounge, but those are not your run of the mill cop show story lines.
Am i a bad person because i often root for the criminals during procedurals?
For the criminal? Or against the Uniformed thugs?
Fair qualification, the latter.
Good show. I’d also recommend Broadchurch. They’re both very different from the typical procedural cop drama.
I’ve gotten literally hundreds of spam emails from different sources selling remote body temperature thermometers. I can see it soon, I’ll be out and about and people will be pointing these things at each other, and then calling the cops. ‘There’s a person in the Walmart lot with a temperature of 99.9!’.
I overdressed for my walk to the store and had a bit of a sheen when I got inside. It was cool out and they had the heaters cranked. I was worried I’d be accused of running a fever.
If that becomes a thing we should all walk around chewing ginger!
And the bootlickers are steamed that the Trumpenfuhrer isn’t even more repressive. I cannot wrap my head around the dissonance.
“Brought to you by the Question Authority Foundation, and Karens like YOU.”
NEEDZ MOAR BEER!
That’s cute. But who’s the cheap ass who gave her Coors Light? That person should be ashamed!
Just wait till they dig around and find out that she opposed the ERA back in the 70’s
There will be an army of screeching harpies outside her place when that happens. I’d give a good sum to see her nail one of them right in the head with a full can of beer.
I wonder if I could pull that trick with Milwaukee’s Diet Beast? Hell, its brewed down the road in Trenton.
(I used to test their coal boiler)
Will this stop the mass psychosis?
A Second Round of Coronavirus Layoffs Has Begun. Few Are Safe.
This is my shocked face. ?
Don’t worry, bro. We’re all going to get UBI, Medicare for all, and a nice little plastic tiny home to live in. All for free! Equality! Paradise!
The sad part is that a lot of the terminal TDS victims are really wishing for more of this, so that they can get rid of Trump. Too far gone and ignorant to realize the consequences of what they’re wishing for.
Like I said, wait until cell phone service goes out. Gnashing of teeth, lamentations, rending of garments, for real.
Nope, now is the time to double-down.
Funny how now the tyrants are invoking the constitution.
“Funny how now the tyrants are invoking the constitution.”
Not really. Remember back when Obama was president and they said that the Constitution is just some old document written 100 years ago by white guys who owned slaves and how it should be replaced? And then the day after Trump was elected they went 360 and said ‘Muh Constitution!, we have to protect it from Trump!’?
I was referring to more recent (lock-down) events in contrast to this reaction to Trump. The capacity for hypocrisy knows no bounds, then or now.
I just saved the company I work for as a w2 employee part time $308 by catching an error on a settlement statement. That is effectively the only value I have produced for them or any other client in two weeks. Oddly when business is at a standstill lawyers, no matter how essential we are declared, are largely useless.
Isn’t it amazing how our political betters, who know more about economics, medicine and free enterprise (along with everything else) seem to have forgotten the old adage: No one does any one thing?
WALLS CLOSING IN!
Well, no one has ever said that before.
Poor Jimmy, off his meds again.
I didn’t watch the video, but he looks lost and insane in the picture. Like a guy who has no idea how he got where he’s at or why.
As always, Stelter looks super serial. And Acosta is a disingenuous cunte as per the usual.
Well, Erin Burnett still looked good, at least to me.
Acosta is a shitbag, and I’d say Stelter was doing a poor imitation of “George” from Seinfeld, but that would be an insult to Jason Alexander.
“Meltdown” = Trump opposes our interpretation of him.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/utah-legislature-calls-historic-special-session-to-address-coronavirus-impacts/ar-BB12A5GI
In 2018 the Utah constitution was amended to allow the legislature to call itself into special session, without the governor. This will be the first time they have done so. Still it doesn’t look like they are looking to reign in the governor. But I’m glad that they aren’t beholden to the governor for it.
Plague related devastation
Flathead County reported Montana’s seventh coronavirus death on Monday, the same day the county’s largest hospital announced pay cuts for physicians and administrators along with temporary layoffs that will affect about 600 workers.
Without the cuts, the hospital is projecting losses of $16 million a month due to the cancellation of elective surgeries and halting of other services, said Kalispell Regional Healthcare President and CEO Craig Lambrecht.
——-
In other coronavirus-related developments:
— The University of Montana is temporarily laying off 63 staff members, most of whom work in campus housing or dining services, because there are fewer than 100 students on campus after UM transitioned to online classes. The furloughs are planned to last through Aug. 1, President Seth Bodnar said Monday. People furloughed were given a month’s notice and will continue to receive benefits, including insurance. They will be eligible for unemployment benefits, Bodnar said.
— Gov. Steve Bullock said the state will provide assistance to low-income residents who don’t have enough money to pay their rent because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Democratic governor gave the state Department of Commerce until Friday to start the program. Bullock previously suspended evictions, foreclosures and service disconnections.
— The state Department of Public Health and Human Services reported Montana has 394 cases of COVID-19 as of Monday, an increase of 29 since Friday. Twenty-one people out of 47 who had been hospitalized remain in the hospital.
You know what I’d like to see? A timeline, and a breakdown of those numbers. When did those cases begin? How long did they last? How long did hospitalization last? What sort of treatment was given to the victims?
Well. Just got the word, the flights to Europe this summer have been cancelled. So doesn’t look like that trip is happening anymore.
So now the question is when are we going to be free to move around the country again?
That is a privilege for the Nomenklatura Comrade Nephilium. Why do you believe you are entitled to such privileges? Are you some form of counter revolutionary?
After they’ve expanded DHS to include highway officers to randomly pull people over and ask for your papers.
If I get pulled for my papers it isn’t going to go well.
I don’t know, but some guy came by and threw a mining jumpsuit at me and said “This is distrcit 12 now and you are a Miner now”….
Then you hit him with your Pickaxe……..
Southwest made me promises!
Glad I refreshed before posting.
So now the question is when are we going to be free to move around the country again?
Not soon enough.
So now the question is when are we going to be free to move around the country again?
I was planning to drive to Indiana to see my parents in May. The way things are going, I’m afraid I’d get arrested trying to drive through Iowa or Illinois with out of state plates.
Yeah, I wouldn’t risk it right now. I need to get out there to see my dad, but looks like it might not be for a while yet.
Iowa is not locked down.
We have a rogue Republican Governor who wants old people to drown in their own fluids.
You are free to pass through.
Will this stop the mass psychosis?
You slay me.
Lucy pulls away the football once more.
https://dailycaller.com/2020/04/14/fauci-may-1st-re-open-date-overly-optimistic/
Gotta drag it out as long as fucking possible don’t you?
There’s a whole lot of people who are not going to let go of this easily and are just drooling over the opportunity that would be lost if they can’t turn this into their wildest authoritarian wishes.
A lot of the leftist media are cranking out articles detailing their whole wish list of dystopian ideas, that make the Green New Deal look like anarchy by comparison.
You are free to pass through.
That’s what I thought when that Iowa State Pig pulled me over because he thought I looked like a drug mule. Fuck Iowa.
Maybe you are. I see who you hang out with.
I guess they didn’t find your drugs?
The proper response is “And I think you look like NKVD”
Terry Stops are bad law per se
further abuses are beyond contempt
I thought Terry Stops were limited to suspicion of armed and dangerous. Has the justification been expanded to “looks like a drug mule”?
Look at my post below. That cop had no probable cause to pull me over. He said it’s because my car matched the description of a bank robbery get away car. It was complete bullshit. He just wanted to hassle someone and I had long hair at the time.
The stop requires an reasonable suspicion of something criminal. The frisk is incidental to the stop and is justified by officer safety to make sure you aren’t armed.
I got pulled over in TN once because I had a headlamp out on the car. It was just about dark and the drove by me going in the opposite direction.
So he asked me ‘Do you have any illegal drugs in the car’?
I really wanted to say ‘Sure, what can I sell you, little blow, some meth?’.
So he asked me ‘Do you have any illegal drugs in the car’?
“I’m in the car. If I have illegal drugs in me, does that count?”
“he thought I looked like a drug mule. Fuck Iowa”
I had a fat asshole pig pull me over in Ohio once and he says ‘You got any illegal explosives in the car?’. WTF? I said ummm, no. So he says ‘Your car and you match the description of someone who just robbed a bank!’. I started laughing. Honestly. He was pissed and all red faced because I was laughing. He said ‘We can stay here all day!’. And I said ‘Fine by me’. After about 20 minutes in his car he came back and let me go.
I’ve had a cop tell me that someone with my exact name (virtually impossible given the spelling) and born on the same date but a year earlier (yeah….that’s even more believable officer!) had a warrant out for their arrest, so if I’m really that other guy, I should just fess up now, because he likes me and would help me out. Yes, his eyes were brown.