XPost: alt.culture.alaska, alt.appalachian, alt.politics.democrats.d   
   XPost: soc.culture.african.american   
   From: bksherman@latimes.com   
      
   Governments love crises because when the people are fearful they   
   are more willing to give up freedoms for promises that the   
   government will take care of them. After 9/11, for example,   
   Americans accepted the near-total destruction of their civil   
   liberties in the PATRIOT Act’s hollow promises of security.   
      
   It is ironic to see the same Democrats who tried to impeach   
   President Trump last month for abuse of power demanding that the   
   Administration grab more power and authority in the name of   
   fighting a virus that thus far has killed less than 100   
   Americans.   
      
   Declaring a pandemic emergency on Friday, President Trump now   
   claims the power to quarantine individuals suspected of being   
   infected by the virus and, as Politico writes, “stop and seize   
   any plane, train or automobile to stymie the spread of   
   contagious disease.” He can even call out the military to cordon   
   off a US city or state.   
      
   State and local authoritarians love panic as well. The mayor of   
   Champaign, Illinois, signed an executive order declaring the   
   power to ban the sale of guns and alcohol and cut off gas,   
   water, or electricity to any citizen. The governor of Ohio just   
   essentially closed his entire state.   
      
   The chief fearmonger of the Trump Administration is without a   
   doubt Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy   
   and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.   
   Fauci is all over the media, serving up outright falsehoods to   
   stir up even more panic. He testified to Congress that the death   
   rate for the coronavirus is ten times that of the seasonal flu,   
   a claim without any scientific basis.   
      
   On Face the Nation, Fauci did his best to further damage an   
   already tanking economy by stating, “Right now, personally,   
   myself, I wouldn’t go to a restaurant.” He has pushed for   
   closing the entire country down for 14 days.   
      
   Over what? A virus that has thus far killed just over 5,000   
   worldwide and less than 100 in the United States? By contrast,   
   tuberculosis, an old disease not much discussed these days,   
   killed nearly 1.6 million people in 2017. Where’s the panic over   
   this?   
      
   If anything, what people like Fauci and the other fearmongers   
   are demanding will likely make the disease worse. The martial   
   law they dream about will leave people hunkered down inside   
   their homes instead of going outdoors or to the beach where the   
   sunshine and fresh air would help boost immunity. The panic   
   produced by these fearmongers is likely helping spread the   
   disease, as massive crowds rush into Walmart and Costco for that   
   last roll of toilet paper.   
      
   The madness over the coronavirus is not limited to politicians   
   and the medical community. The head of the neoconservative   
   Atlantic Council wrote an editorial this week urging NATO to   
   pass an Article 5 declaration of war against the COVID-19 virus!   
   Are they going to send in tanks and drones to wipe out these   
   microscopic enemies?   
      
   People should ask themselves whether this coronavirus “pandemic”   
   could be a big hoax, with the actual danger of the disease   
   massively exaggerated by those who seek to profit – financially   
   or politically – from the ensuing panic.   
      
   That is not to say the disease is harmless. Without question   
   people will die from coronavirus. Those in vulnerable categories   
   should take precautions to limit their risk of exposure. But we   
   have seen this movie before. Government over-hypes a threat as   
   an excuse to grab more of our freedoms. When the “threat” is   
   over, however, they never give us our freedoms back.   
      
   http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-   
   articles/2020/march/16/the-coronavirus-hoax/   
        
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)