Greetings from Tyler,
The “news” is despicable. It’s hard to imagine anything less interesting than listening to some doctor speculate. Especially when they roll out predictions about the number of Americans that will die on account of the scary virus. We are experiencing the panic the media and left-wing politicians have been trying desperately to sell us about global warming! You don’t suppose the great toilet paper panic has been overblown?
This is the panic they’d hoped to engender over global warming. But that never worked. Now doctors with “impeccable credentials” are all over the media not only spreading panic but criticizing the President for not “listening to advise from the doctors.” If we’d listened to the “experts” and the “scientists,” we’d all be riding bicycles by now on account of global warming! But it may not matter now. Since a state of emergency was declared, governors, mayors and county commissioners have taken it upon themselves to “lockdown” whole populations with threats of fines and imprisonment if they don’t get back in their houses. So we can’t go outside now?
In some places, police may pull you over to demand where you think you’re going. Do they have that authority? Has the Constitution been suspended? One radio commentator in Texas is encouraging patriots to demand chapter and verse in the law to get local law enforcement to justify their encroachment on every freedom they’ve revoked.
Not since Obama had shovel-ready jobs has so much government money been thrown at the economy. What’s another couple of trillion? Maybe we won’t get sick, but we will suffer economic pain the likes of which we’ve never seen. Because the government has to make sure “everybody is safe.” Well, not safe from bankruptcy. Never fear, they’ve got a plan for that too. They’ll just send everybody a check, amounting in the aggregate to two or three trillion dollars. What’s the difference, we’re already $22 Trillion in debt. Where’s all that money going to come from? Why our kids and grandkids of course. Who cares if we mortgage their futures, as long as we’re all “safe?”
Shelter in place? That’s the order from somewhere on high, and it’s been enacted now in Dallas, Texas. The government can’t trust us to look after ourselves. In fact, we have no good sense at all. Now apparently we need law enforcement checking parking lots to ensure no one is at work! Reports are the national guard is at a “state of readiness,” ready for what we’re not sure and dare not ask.
Our local (Smith County) Commissioner explained why he’s not ordering residents to shelter in place in a broadcast statement. He said that people should have the freedom to make their own decisions regarding where they go and what they do, and should be credited with having enough sense to take their own precautions. (Oops. Some late-breaking nonsense about essential services only. I’m expecting that we’ll hold an “essential service” tomorrow. Who do these “authorities” think they are?) But Texas Governor Abbot already called for meetings of no more than ten people at any given time or place, and that applies to our county too. But the neighboring county (Gregg) is not so lucky. Local radio news has been counting down the hours ’till all residents are ordered to “shelter in place.” Police are authorized to enforce the order and may pull over any vehicle to make sure no-one is flaunting the local authorities. And they’ve got paperwork you’d better be able to show officers that you’re involved in “essential services” if they question you. Is this still Texas?
In their zeal to “keep everybody safe,” government, all the way down to the state and city level is making sure no one escapes the fall-out from the kung-flu (That’s right, I said it even if Trump didn’t). Enterprises of every description are looking at the real possibility of going out of business. But first employees will be laid off while everyone is advised to stay home.
No doubt, the reports are scary. But not nearly as scary as the swine flu. You can look it up. Sixty million Americans came down with it, yet we hardly remember. How can that be? That’s because the media treated Obama as a genius, really on top of things as a great leader.
Trump, however, is portrayed as a dunce who cares more about his personal and political fortunes more than human life. Apparently, the pressure from the news media and his advisors were too great to bear. He’s gone along with this, and now most everything is closed. Except, of course, the grocery stores, and they’re even limiting hours. You can drive down an all-but-empty street until you pass the grocery store, and there’s not a parking place to be found.
The more you hear… California law enforcement is now using drones with night vision to make sure everyone complies with the “lock-down.” If there’s some Constitutional provision for law enforcement making sure we don’t leave our homes, we must have missed it. Apparently the Constitution takes a back seat when officials of one kind or another orders citizens to “shelter in place.” It’s beginning to look like the authorities will destroy the nation to make sure everybody’s “safe.”
By these standards, it’s a wonder they didn’t ban the wheel a long time ago. Some 35,000 perish in traffic accidents annually, and that’s way down from the 70’s and 80’s. The coronavirus is so far responsible for 600 deaths, and many of those are attributed to preexisting health conditions. You do the math. It’s a wonder the network anchors aren’t screaming for cars to be banned, but then that might inconvenience them.
The President said, “Whoever heard of shutting the country down?” Exactly! Whoever heard of such a thing? Except that’s exactly what they’ve done. It may turn out to have been a stupendous mistake, but we’ll see. Have you noticed the rediscovery of borders? Apparently they’re not such a bad thing after all. In Australia I’m told, travel from state to state has been curtailed. Some people who were traveling when the panic hit can’t even get home. Maybe national borders weren’t such a bad idea after all!
It’s getting easier by the minute to see how “authorities” will foist a panic upon the population to ensure compliance with whatever they demand. Liberals are more excited than ever about the prospect of some “global enforcement” body to manage crisis. Apparently they only have to declare an “emergency,” and all rights and freedoms are suspended immediately.
Italy has been used to scare the be-jabbers out of us. But it turns out that Northern Italy has been turned into a virtual Chinese colony. They’ve taken over whole towns and villages that were once examples of Italian culture and turned them into Chinatown. The vast exposure rate and death toll in Italy have been touted in media around the world as proof that we’d better be in a state of panic if we know what’s good for us. What the mainstream news is not telling us is that the horrible news mainly comes from Northern Italy which has become a bastion of Chinese culture, and the flights to and from China were not curtailed. So who runs Italy?
My Dad often supposed aloud that it would be an economic crisis that would bring about a collapse of the EU and presage the formation of a ten-nation combine, called the beast power of Bible prophecy. The EU is in tremendous economic trouble, not to mention the cultural blight they’ve brought upon themselves. Let’s hope this is not it. But it’s a wake-up call regardless.
Mark
PS. We’re being asked about our plans for upcoming Holy Days, and we simply don’t know yet. We’re trying to carry on as best possible without outright disobeying the President, the Governor and running afoul of local authorities. We’ll get the word out to everyone as soon as we’re able to make those decisions confidently. In the meantime, we’re making Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread services widely available on DVD and on our websites. Stan’s sermon from last week pulled a record number of views and he’s doing an outstanding job, for which we are most grateful.
Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php
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