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Things are not just bad in Philadelphia, things are getting worse

According to the Philadelphia Police Department, there have been 463 homicides as of 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, December 6, 2020. That’s 1.358 per day. With 25 days remaining in the year, if the average holds, the city can expect another 40 bodies in the streets by the end of the year. 463 + 40 = 503.

The all time record is 505 homicides, set in 1990. 1989 stands in second place, with 489, and now the City of Brotherly Love has just exceeded 1988’s previous third place finish of 460.

But there’s more. I noted, on October 22nd, just a month and a half ago:

The Current Crime Statistics released by the Philadelphia Police Department note that, as of 11:59 PM EDT on October 21st, 391 souls had been sent to their eternal rewards. That isn’t the record, of course, but 2007 is the base year on the Current Crime Statistics website, and that was the number of people killed that year in Philly. This year has now matched that total . . . with 71 days left in the year.

The math is simple: 391 people killed in 295 days so far equals 1.325 people killed every single day. With 71 days left in the year, at that rate the city should see another 94 people sent to their deaths before the ball drops in New York City.

391 + 94 = 485.

That would not be a new record; 1990 holds that dubious honor with 505, killings, and 1989 comes in second with 489, but 485 would be solidly in third place!

Think about that: in just 46 days, Philly has crept up so that the projected homicide totals have increased by eighteen dead bodies; in just 46 days, 72 corpses have littered the city’s streets . . . and that’s a rate of 1.565 per day. As the weather has turned cooler, a time when homicides are expected to decrease, the killing rate has increased in foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy Philadelphia.

On October 22nd, I noted that Philly was headed for a solid third place finish. As recently as August 18th, the projected numbers were for ‘just’ 439 homicides.

Now, it’ll take just a few ‘extra’ murders, and Philadelphia could break the all time record. Go, team, go! You can do it, Philly, you can do it!

I have previously noted that George Soros’ supported District Attorney Larry Krasner has done what he wanted to do. But Mayor Jim Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw deserve a lot of credit, too. The hapless Commissioner Outlaw has at least criticized Mr Krasner’s soft-on-crime prosecutions, but, coming from Oakland, California and later Portland, Oregon, she, too, is infused with at least some of the left coast attitude toward crime; if she hadn’t been, Mayor Kenney would never have appointed her in the first place.

This is the problem with liberalism! This is the problem with the boneheadedly stupid Social Justice Warriors! In their attempts to Do Good, that are making things worse, because their ideas are so wrongheaded, so out of touch with reality.

Crime exists because people tolerate its existence, and the left, the oh-so-understanding-and-tolerant left, always willing to show sympathy to those less fortunate, are more tolerant of crime than normal people.[1]Yes, I deliberately defined leftists as outside of normal. That is the culture which allowed a city like Portland to tolerate the Mostly Peaceful Protests™ of last summer, and which excuses crime because, well, just because the criminals have had life so tough.

Rudy Giuliani showed the way. He didn’t tolerate crime, and when he was mayor of New York City, he had the police arrest for and the district attorneys prosecute the small, petty crimes that people like Larry Krasner excuse and ignore and forgive. Mr Giuliani showed the punks what the inside of the penitentiary was like before they became more hardened criminals, a lesson lost on Mr Krasner.
___________________________________
Cross-posted on RedState.

References

References
↑1 Yes, I deliberately defined leftists as outside of normal.
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Democratic Governors see 1984 not as a cautionary tale, but a blueprint for fighting COVID-19

The fat filmmaker, Michael Moore, said of Americans resisting the dictates of the oh-so-nobly-intended Democratic Governors imposing draconian COVID-19 rules on our country:

“Why do you want to die? Why — to take a stand against us liberals, to show us a thing or two?”

Americans don’t want to die, yet many Americans have willingly risked death to protect our constitutional rights as Americans. Patrick Henry said it best: “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

The ‘defense’ the left claim we must undertake to save ourselves from the scourge of the virus, is to lose our freedom of peaceable assembly, to lose our right to freely practice our faith, and, of course, lose our right to keep and bear arms. We must lose our livelihoods, we must lose our careers, and, for some, that means losing their homes. We must forget seeing our families and our friends, we must eschew our holidays and our traditions, we must lock ourselves in our homes, venturing out only for milk and bread, and forget being the social beings that humans are. To save our human lives, we must stop being human beings. Not just no, but Hell no!

Orwellian society, as envisioned in 1984, was a regimented place, where friendships were discouraged, in which the public were encouraged to spy and snitch on others, where romance was forbidden and sex restricted to procreation. How much different is that from what Gavin Newsom and Andrew Cuomo would force upon us today?

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More COVID-19 idiocy by Andy Beshear

Setting aside, for the moment, my many criticisms of Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) executive orders on COVID-19, and using the Governor’s own reasoning that they are somehow so necessary that they supersede our Constitutional rights, just how does this make sense?

Beshear to KY superintendents: Prepare rosters of teachers willing to get vaccines.

By Valarie Honeycutt Spears | December 4, 2020 | 06:47 PM EST | Updated: 07:27 PM EST

Gov. Andy Beshear on Friday asked Kentucky’s superintendents to begin preparing rosters of school personnel who are willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the state Education Department.

While Beshear is unsure when educators will begin receiving the vaccine, he asked superintendents to plan for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to the state’s education community.

Although the vaccines are distributed at the federal level, states direct where they need to go.

Beshear expects the Pfizer two-dose vaccine to become available by Dec. 15 and anticipates Kentucky receiving 38,000 doses in the first round of distribution. The initial doses will go to healthcare providers and nursing home residents and staff, but there won’t be enough to vaccinate all of them, according to the state.

Full disclosure: my wife is a registered nurse working in a hospital, and has had to take care of COVID patients. She is already scheduled for the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine in a couple of weeks.

Two weeks later, the state will receive the shipment of the Moderna vaccinations, which is twice as many as the first Pfizer delivery, Beshear said. After healthcare providers and residents and staff at long-term care facilities, Kentucky will prioritize emergency medical service workers and educators.

“That recognizes the exposure (to the virus) that educators have within the building,” Beshear said. “But it also recognizes the absolute, critical importance of what they do and how much better in-person classes are.”

Since the goal is to make schools as safe as possible, Beshear said all school staff who are willing to be vaccinated should be included on the rosters. Since it is unlikely that one shipment of vaccines will cover everyone within a school, districts should consider prioritizing those more likely to be exposured to the virus, Beshear said.

Why would we be prioritizing teachers, when the schools are closed? It would make more sense to prioritize people who work at Kroger!

One point hardly ever mentioned: testing the vaccines on children is just now beginning testing on children, and no vaccine has yet been approved for kids. One immunized teacher in a classroom full of unvaccinated children does virtually nothing to slow the spread of the virus, so Governor Beshear will still try to keep the schools closed.

The clinical trials conducted this year tested the vaccine’s safety and efficacy in adults, and researchers will need to conduct additional studies on how the vaccine affects younger children.

Researchers will need to examine the dosages, interval between doses, and the number of doses that work best in children.

This process could take several months, according to pediatric infectious disease experts. Kids might not see a vaccine until the summer or fall of 2021.

Translation: Using the Governor’s logic, it might not be safe to open the schools next fall!

Kentucky has the dubious honor of leading the nation in the percentage of children being reared by their grandparents rather than their parents, and the elderly are more susceptible to the virus, and more likely to become seriously ill or die from the virus than those who are younger. Thus, with unvaccinated children, if Governor Beshear allows the schools to reopen, you’ll see another surge in infections, and deaths, and if he doesn’t allow the schools to reopen, then there’s no need to prioritize teachers.

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You cannot tell the truth in The Philadelphia Inquirer

Around 10:00 AM yesterday morning, I read the story Archdiocese of Philadelphia spins off Downingtown psychiatric center where pedophile priests were sent in The Philadelphia Inquirer, and I made two comments. Several hours later, my initial comment was still there:

This article ignores one important point: the accused priests sent to Vianney couldn’t be reported to law enforcement, due to patient privacy laws. Accusations made to the archdiocese could be reported, but it was the archdiocese, not the Vianney Center, which took the decisions as to what to do with accused priests after receiving reports from the Vianney Center.

The Inquirer’s website does not provide separate links to individual comments.

However, I made a second comment, which the system accepted, and was posted, noting that the majority of victims of the predatory priests were teenaged boys, yet that couldn’t be mentioned, because it might be seen as condemnatory of homosexuality. By 5:12 PM EST, that comment has disappeared, but there were, at that time, nine red tabs noting “comment disabled.”

Now there’s a new article up, Former adviser to Monaco’s royal family and DeSales University priest charged in Philly child porn case. In it the readers are told that the Rev. William McCandless, from the Wilmington-based religious order Oblates de St. Francis De Sales, has been arrested on possession of child pornography charges.

But the charges unsealed Wednesday were not the first time McCandless had been accused of misconduct. In fact, his overseas assignment in 2010 was announced the same summer the clergy sex abuse watchdog group Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests called for his suspension, saying his name had surfaced in an ongoing clergy abuse lawsuit.

According to the organization, a sex abuse victim said in a sworn deposition filed in Delaware courts that McCandless had once admitted to him that he abused a 14-year-old French boy attending a church camp.

Details of that deposition could not be immediately confirmed on Wednesday.

At the time, McCandless had been assigned to the Salesianum School, a Catholic private high school in Wilmington. He had also previously served for seven years as a chaplain at North Catholic High School in Philadelphia.

I am surprised that the article author, Jeremy Roebuck, mentioned that there was an allegation that Father McCandless molested a “14-year-old French boy” rather than just a “14-year-old.” The story said to check back later; I wonder if that part will be changed.

The John Jay report noted that sexual abuse cases studied between 1950 and 2002 indicated that, rather than prepubescent children, abusers targeted older children:

The largest group of alleged victims (50.9%) was between the ages of 11 and 14, 27.3% were 15-17, 16% were 8-10 and nearly 6% were under age 7. Overall, 81% of victims were male and 19% female. Male victims tended to be older than female victims. Over 40% of all victims were males between the ages of 11 and 14.

The Inquirer doesn’t have a nifty masthead tagline like The New York Times’ All the News That’s Fit to Print or The Washington Post’s Johnny-come-lately Democracy Dies in Darkness, added after the horrible Donald Trump was elected, but if it did, it should read something like All the News That’s Politically Correct . . . and noting that the sexual abuse problem among the Catholic priesthood is primarily one of homosexual attraction to teenaged boys is anything but politically correct.

The credentialed media like to believe that they are the guardians of truth and the defenders of a democratic society, but what so many of them have become is the guardians of truthiness. When the facts are inconvenient, when the truth does not fit the editors’ notions of what can be said, when the facts upset the #woke, well, the Inquirer has its problems with the idiots, and Executive Editor and Senior Vice President Stan Wischnowski was fired resigned because he published the article “Buildings Matter, Too,” which expressed concern that some historic buildings in Philadelphia had been and more could be damaged in the #BlackLivesMatter protests.

If we cannot expect the Inquirer to print the truth when the truth is not what they want their readers to see, how can we have any confidence that what they do print is the truth, rather than just some shaded version of it?
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Cross-posted on RedState.

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Democrisy: It seems that Democrats in government don’t believe the rules they set for others apply to themselves

It was mostly an internet meme, circulating through the evil reich-wing communities, but, eventually, the credentialed media had to take notice; the election being over, it wasn’t as harmful to their causes anyway.

Politicians across U.S. eat own words after dining out, taking trips

by Juliet Williams, Associated Press | December 3, 2020 | 7:00 AM EST

SAN FRANCISCO — Their messaging has been clear: wear a mask; stay 6 feet apart; and, most importantly, stay home!

But their actions aren’t living up to the rhetoric, creating a real political problem for some of the most vocal leaders in California’s fight to contain the coronavirus.

First came Gov. Gavin Newsom, who won plaudits for issuing the first statewide stay-at-home order in the U.S. back in March. He broke the state rules when he and his wife were caught dining with 10 others at the posh French Laundry restaurant in Napa in early November with lobbyists and others from numerous different households, sitting close together, mask-less.

San Francisco’s mayor, London Breed, was at the same $350-a-plate restaurant a day later, dining with a San Francisco socialite and six others. Breed has also won accolades for imposing some of the strictest rules in California, keeping coronavirus rates relatively low. Her spokespeople haven’t responded to queries about how many households were there — state rules cap those at three. Her spokesman rubbed salt in the wound by saying she has been trying to support local restaurants. The French Laundry is 60 miles out of town.

The Associated Press article makes it sound like Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) was the first, but he wasn’t. Newsweek posted an article listing some of the others:

  • Mayor Steve Adler (D-Austin)
  • Governor Kevin Stitt (R-OK)
  • Mayor Michael Hancock (D-Denver)
  • Mayor Muriel Bowser (D-Washington DC)
  • Mayor Sam Liccardo (D-San José)
  • Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D-Chicago)

The article also noted that Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) was preparing to break his own rules, but when it became public in advance, he cancelled his plans due to the political backlash.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was caught on tape going to a private hair salon, for which the lovely Mrs Pelosi did not apologize, but simply claimed that she’d been set up by an evil reich-wing activist.

Of course, the people on the list are all over very large areas. I’m guessing that a lot of smaller city mayors and city councilmen, etc, have also violated the rules, but they aren’t important enough to have made the national news.

There is one Republican on the list, but Newsweek also stated that:

Republican governors have faced fewer accusations, largely because they have not implemented as many of the restrictions that public health experts have called for.

Translation: they have had more respect for our constitutional rights.

In his concurring opinion in Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v Cuomo, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote:

Government is not free to disregard the First Amendment in times of crisis. At a minimum, that Amendment prohibits government officials from treating religious exercises worse than comparable secular activities, unless they are pursuing a compelling interest and using the least restrictive means available. Yet recently, during the COVID pandemic, certain States seem to have ignored these long-settled principles. . . . .

What could justify so radical a departure from the First Amendment’s terms and long-settled rules about its application? Our colleagues offer two possible answers. Initially, some point to a solo concurrence in South Bay Pentecostal Church v. Newsom, in which the Chief Justice expressed willingness to defer to executive orders in the pandemic’s early stages based on the newness of the emergency and how little was then known about the disease. At that time, COVID had been with us, in earnest, for just three months. Now, as we round out 2020 and face the prospect of entering a second calendar year living in the pandemic’s shadow, that rationale has expired according to its own terms. Even if the Constitution has taken a holiday during this pandemic, it cannot become a sabbatical. Rather than apply a nonbinding and expired concurrence from South Bay, courts must resume applying the Free Exercise Clause. . . . .

In the end, I can only surmise that much of the answer lies in a particular judicial impulse to stay out of the way in times of crisis. But if that impulse may be understandable or even admirable in other circumstances, we may not shelter in place when the Constitution is under attack. Things never go well when we do.

COVID-19 is serious, a highly contagious disease that can be, and is, fatal, though in only about 1% of the cases. Hospitalization rates are much higher than that.

But the damage being done to our constitutional rights is far, far greater. The precedent being set, that government can set down rules which would otherwise be unconstitutional because of some ’emergency’ simply leaves it to elected officials to decide just what emergencies outweigh our constitutional rights. Many are already wanting to abridge our constitutional rights under the Second Amendment because some bad people are wrongly using firearms. The New York Times published an OpEd by Parker Malloy, himself a male who thinks he is female, claiming that “Twitter’s Ban on ‘Deadnaming’ Promotes Free Speech.” There will always be such very good reasons to suspend or restrict our constitutional rights, when those rights are left for other people to decide. If the left can somehow ban ‘hate speech,’ what other speech can they ban? The McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act actually sought to ban political speech in favor of one candidate or another prior to an election, because, well just because.

Brave men fought, and died, for our rights. At least six of my known ancestors fought in our Revolution, for the rights they were denied by King George and his Parliament. At least twenty-one of my known ancestors came to these shores, risking their lives on the open ocean in small wooden ships, for the right to worship God as they chose, and not be oppressed by King James and King Charles for not being Anglicans. Can I really support governors restricting our freedom of religion over a disease far less deadly than an ocean voyage to an untamed continent in the 1620s and 1630s?[1]Fifty-one of the 102 passengers on the Mayflower either died at sea or in that first New England winter and spring.

Our great country was founded in danger, by people fleeing tyranny in England, and by brave men and women who risked their lives on the frontier, and in war, yet our political leaders today, primarily but not exclusively Democrats, would have us quaking in fear and trashing the freedoms and liberties for which our ancestors fought and died. We dishonor our ancestors when we allow their sacrifices to be wasted.
___________________________________
Cross-posted on RedState.

References

References
↑1 Fifty-one of the 102 passengers on the Mayflower either died at sea or in that first New England winter and spring.
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3 Things To Do as Soon as You Are Arrested

When you have been arrested, time seems to move at warp speed and it is easy to become overwhelmed and not know how to proceed. If you or someone you know has been arrested, here are three things that you should do immediately. 

Get a Lawyer

One of the best things you can do for yourself is to hire a lawyer to help you through the confusing process as soon as you can. A lawyer will not only fight for you in court but will also be knowledgeable about local laws that may affect your case. Lawyers will also help you stay organized so that you don’t miss any important information or worse—miss your court date.

Consider a Bail Bond 

If the judge has set bail and the amount is too high to pay out of pocket (which is often the case), now is the time to look into procuring PA bail bonds to help. Getting a bail bond is a quick and fairly easy way to get the money you need to get out of jail. There are, of course, many rules that you must follow when you work with a bondsman, but as long as you comply and do not miss your court date, this is a great solution.

Stay Silent

Now is not the time to spout off angrily or say things you might regret. If you are being questioned by the police, simply tell them that you do not want to answer any questions without a lawyer present. This will keep you from saying the wrong thing until someone who can advise you is available.

An arrest can be made much easier if you know exactly what to do as soon as it occurs. Follow these simple steps and you will have no trouble navigating the process.

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Fighting to the end * Updated! * The end has come Kentucky coffeeshop owner defies Andy Beshear's executive orders

I have previously noted the defiance of Andrew Cooperrider to the draconian orders of Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) closing down all inside commercial dining for three weeks. The Lexington/Fayette County Health Department went to court to try to force Mr Cooperrider to close his coffee shop, after Mr Cooperrider refused to close his shop despite Health Department orders. The Health Department requested that the Lexington Police Department be allowed to enforce their orders.

Judge’s order to close hasn’t stopped a defiant Lexington coffee shop yet. Here’s why

By Jeremy Chisenhall | December 2, 2020 | 12:15 PM EST | Updated: 1:20 PM EST

The battle between a defiant Lexington coffee shop and the Lexington health department continued on Wednesday as the shop continued to serve — and got business from Lexington police officers in uniform.

Brewed, a coffee shop that opened in Lexington during the pandemic, defied Gov. Andy Beshear’s executive order to shut down indoor dining at restaurants and bars. Beshear said the order was issued in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Kentucky.

Brewed was ordered to close by a Fayette circuit judge Tuesday after a several-day battle of ignored closure orders from the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department and a lawsuit seeking an injunction.

But the judge’s order didn’t take effect until the health department paid a $5,000 bond. Once the bond has been paid, Brewed has to be served with the order. So Brewed wasn’t violating the judge’s order yet when it opened for business Wednesday morning.

Some snitched called the Lexington Police on Brewed, but the LPD, after discussions with the Health Department, determined that it was a civil rather than criminal manner, and could not take action. Mr Cooperrider responded by offering ‘first responders’ a 50% discount, and, according to WKYT-TV:

Judge (Thomas) Travis did not make a decision on whether or not police needed to enforce his ruling, and already Wednesday morning we’ve seen two uniformed Lexington Police officers get their coffee at Brewed, as well as a Fayette County Public Schools officer.

Of course, while the rank and file might support Mr Cooperrider’s right to remain open, the bosses might just be viewing that poorly:

“Lexington police expects all personnel to be aware of their actions, particularly while in uniform, and how those actions reflect on the department as a whole,” (LPD spokeswoman Brenna Angel) said. “Reports have been made that two officers were seen patronizing Brewed Wednesday morning. We will address this report with any officers involved.”

While I’d like to read a report stating that all 633 sworn officers and 150 civilian personnel went to patronize Brewed, I’m sure that won’t happen. Fayette County is one of only two counties carried by Joe Biden in the election, but he did so by a wide margin, 90,600 (59.25%) to 58,860 (38.50%), and the county voted 73,397 (65.51%) to 36,915 (32.95%) for Mr Beshear in the 2019 gubernatorial race, so one might guess that a significant number of LPD officers are Democrats. 🙁

It’s difficult to see how Mr Cooperrider wins this in the end, but he’s still alive and still fighting.
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Update: December 3, 2020:

Sadly, the end of Mr Cooperrider’s defiance has come. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that “A Lexington coffee shop that has repeatedly and publicly defied health department instructions related to COVID-19 restrictions will now follow a judge’s order to cease food and beverage services.”

I did say that it would be difficult to see how Mr Cooperrider could win in the end.
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Cross-posted on RedState.

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Philly starts December off with a bang!

I had planned on doing an article on Philadelphia’s prodigious murder rate yesterday, but got involved with other things. I did, however, tweet about it.

So, 454 homicides through the end of November. I checked my go-to site for those statistics, and shazamm! Philly banged off three more corpses on the first day of December.

The math is simple: 457 homicides in 336 days yields 1.36 killings per day. With 30 more days, including today, left in the year, that works out to a projected 40.8 more dead bodies on the streets. 41 + 457 = 498!

In 1990, the City of Brotherly Love saw 505 homicides, up from 489 the previous year, and 460 in 1988. With 457 homicides so far this year, 2020 is already in 4th place, with 1988’s number to be surpassed in just a few days.

The crime rate is supposed to decrease as the year wanes, and colder weather keeps more people inside. But as recently as October 22nd, we noted that the homicide rate was 1.325 per day, and the projected total would be 485 for the year. Now the average has increased to 1.360 dead per day, which might not seem like much, but from October 21st through December 1st, a period of 41 days, 66 people bled to death in the streets, and that’s 1.61 per day. When the weather turned cooler, the homicide rate went up, not down. If the City of Brotherly Love keeps up with 1.61 per day, it could actually tie the 1990 record of 505, though maybe there’d be an * by the number since, being a leap year, 2020 has an extra day in which to kill people.

Of course, ” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>The Philadelphia Inquirer, a proud newspaper from its inception in 1829, and Pennsylvania’s newspaper of record, hasn’t even noticed the increased murder rate this fall. I searched the Inquirer’s website, and while there was a story which noted that shootings were up 53% from last year, I found nothing which indicated that the editors of the newspaper had noticed that the already high murder rate had ticked up a bit. They’ve been great on covering the election and its aftermath, and COVID-19, but when it comes to the daily killings in the city, well, that just isn’t news anymore.

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Not just no, but Hell no! Why is it that every time the left think they have a good idea, they want to make it mandatory?

I have to take this one with a grain of coarse kosher salt, because Seth Dillon says that he is CEO of The Babylon Bee, a very good satire site, but here’s the tweet:

Perhaps Mr Dillon’s eyesight is going, because rather than a grown man in his twenties, it was obviously Senators Edward Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CN) who accosted his son.

Senators Markey and Blumenthal announce national face mask mandate legislation

Bill would require states to implement mask mandates, promote “the most powerful public health tool” the nation has against the coronavirus

November 25, 2020

Washington (November 25, 2020) – Despite guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), millions of Americans are traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday, giving rise to concerns about continued spread of the coronavirus as the country already is suffering a terrible surge of cases and deaths. Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) today announced introduction of the Encouraging Masks for All Act, legislation that would encourage states to require the use of face masks in all public spaces and outside when one cannot maintain social distance. The legislation provides an additional $5 billion to the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund available to states who implement masking requirements. States can use this additional funding for efforts to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus. Additionally, the legislation authorizes $75 million for grants to states for promotion of universal mask wearing. The legislation also mandates mask use on federal property. Recent research suggests universal masking could prevent 130,000 deaths from COVID-19. Nonetheless, 15 states do not have mask mandates.

“Masks and face coverings are the essential public health tool to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic” said Senator Markey. “As President-elect Biden recognizes, we need to use every technique available to us to encourage mask use, from clear communication of the need for masks, to providing masks to those who need them, to leading by example, and even to mandating mask use nationwide. Our legislation would move us closer to goal of ensuring universal mask adoption during these dangerous winter months. It would also ensure that essential workers in transit, health care, and retail settings all over the country are protected with face masks. Mask up!”

“Wearing a mask should be considered a moral and health mandate—our primary defense against the coronavirus,” said Senator Blumenthal. “With cases skyrocketing as we head into the holidays, the Encouraging Masks for All Act would bring us closer to ensuring every American has a face mask and wears it. Even with a vaccine, mask wearing is an essential tool in conquering COVID-19, along with physical distancing and other common sense public health steps. This bill gives states the resources to encourage mask wearing in public and outdoors, to provide masks to those who need them, and to enforce mask mandates to protect public health.”

According to Newsweek, the two New England Fascists leftists bemoaned that a third of the states do not have any mask mandates.[1]Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming The two looney lefties names it the Encouraging Masks for All Act, but “encourage,” in this use, is defined as “to attempt to persuade.” Perhaps Senator Blumenthal, who once “encouraged” the people of Connecticut to vote for him by falsely claiming he was a Vietnam veteran, which he brushed of as “misplaced words” and having “misspoken”, meant that the bill was meant to “encourage” the states to mandate masks, or miss out on federal funds, but it certainly isn’t meant to “encourage” the public to wear them; it is an attempt to get the states to force people to wear masks.

Why is it that every time the left think they have a good idea, they want to make it mandatory? In the novel The Once and Future King, author T. H. White proposed a similarly worded rule as the rule of totalitarianism: “Everything which is not forbidden is compulsory.” The Pico Corollary of that is, “The Democrats support freedom of choice on exactly one thing.”

If Messrs Markey and Blumenthal recognize that the ‘authority’ to require people to wear masks — an authority I deny that any state has over free citizens — belongs to the states, why don’t they recognize that different states might legitimately choose differently? Oh, I’m sorry, that’s right: they don’t believe that the states could legitimately choose differently from how they see things, so they simply have to force those which don’t do what they see as the right thing.

This is why the Democrats cannot be trusted. They never want to ask people to do things, they want to order people to do things. If Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) had asked me to wear a face mask, and made his case for doing so, I would have happily complied. But when he ordered such, any free man would rebel, any free man would see not complying with the Governor as a proper act of independence and defiance.

Jonathan Edwards might have said it best:

Some man’s come he’s trying to run my life, don’t know what he’s asking
Working starts to make me wonder where fruits of what I do are going
When he says in love and war all is fair, he’s got cards he ain’t showing
How much does it cost? I’ll buy it!
The time is all we’ve lost–I’ll try it!
He can’t even run his own life,
I’ll be damned if he’ll run mine-

References

References
↑1 Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming