Boots & Sabers

The blogging will continue until morale improves...

Owen

Everything but tech support.
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0623, 08 Dec 20

Liberty trumps longevity

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Yep… I got the ‘Rona. Here’s a part of my story:

COVID-19 is a nasty disease that is severe or deadly for some people. We need to be careful about spreading it — particularly to people in higher risk categories. But for every story you read about someone who was severely ill or died from COVID-19, there are more than 40 people whose story is more like mine. It was a rough few days and I am fine. That does not include all of the people who have had COVID-19 and did not get tested or never had any symptoms.

The point of the story is not that COVID-19 isn’t serious. It is very serious for a small percentage of people. For most people, however, the risk is a few days of unpleasantness. For most people, a few days of unpleasantness is not worth throwing away our livelihoods, our children’s education, our mental health, our life’s savings, our liberty, or our enjoyment of life. For most people, we have already sacrificed too much of life for so small a risk of death.

Fear is a powerful emotion. Fear is also the emotion most often used to subjugate people. Fear of war. Fear of enemies. Fear of natural disasters. Fear of global warming. Fear of disease. All of these fears have been, and are, used to convince free people to accept more regulation, more restrictions, more government, and less freedom. “It is for your own good,” they coax in soothing tones. “Think of grandma,” they say to stoke your familial loyalties. “You don’t want to get the dreaded virus,” they warn as if the politician has exclusive magic to protect you from disease. Meanwhile, they strip away one more liberty and stick their hand further in your pocket.

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0623, 08 December 2020

20 Comments

  1. Kevin Scheunemann

    An excellent, detailed, indictment of awful liberal action on the issue!

  2. Le Roi du Nord

    But I am glad you recovered, hopefully without any long-lasting after effects.  Many others aren’t as fortunate.

  3. Jason

    >yet you are willing to tolerate fearmongering by the soon-to-be former President.

    I thought you didn’t like it when Kevin demanded you to denounce every little thing?  Your projection here is in poor taste as well.

  4. dad29

    Heart disease: 655,381

    Cancer: 599,274

    Accidents (unintentional injuries): 167,127

    Naturally, we have NO idea whether the ChinaFlu “killed” 300,000 Americans, as the mean age of victims is right around 78 and ALL of them had serious co-morbidites.

    But–given your number–it’s the 3rd leading cause of death in the USA.

  5. Le Roi du Nord

    j, point out where I demanded  any denouncement.  Betcha can’t.

  6. Jason

    I quoted it, dummy.  You didn’t say it directly, but you sure as shit implied it.  Sorry you chose to write poorly, not my issue.

    You lose, good day sir!

  7. Kevin Scheunemann

    Nord,

    Admit it. You were virtue signaling against those that oppose lockdown. You want denouncement of Owen, and any of us that indicate to go about your business and live life.

    Awful. Just awful.

  8. MaxwellsEQs

    Good morning,

    Here is a video from CNN (corona news network) showing Gov. Ron DeSanti abusing the power of government to silence a critic. The police are caught on video confiscating evidence of wrong doing and intimidating other would be dissenters of the DeSanti’s administration. This is what tyranny looks like.

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/08/us/rebekah-jones-whistleblower-raid-invs/index.html

     

     

  9. Jason

    >This is what tyranny looks like.

    The video of the raid reminds me of the John Doe raids that took place not very long ago in WI.

     

    However, if they have evidence that she did access a state system (pointing out that it uses a shared username / password for authentication is meaningless), then they certainly had far more evidence than John Doe raiders had, even after the raids!

  10. Mar

    “This is what tyranny looks like.”
    Dudw,you have no idea what tyranny looks like.
    At all.
    Come to California and I guarantee you that you will become a conservative.

  11. Owen

    As with the Doe raids, it is as much about HOW they did it as WHY they did it. Even if justified, having LEO storm a house with guns drawn for someone illegally accessing a computer is clearly designed to frighten and intimidate. She isn’t a drug dealer, murderer, armed robber, or anything that indicates enough risk to justify a militarized approach.  She’s accused of using a login without authorization. The tactics are authoritarian even if the justification is valid.

  12. Mark Hoefert

    From the article:
    Several Democratic elected officials in the state condemned the raid.
    “The guns drawn FDLE raid on the home of Rebekah Jones was shocking, over-the-top, and demands a full explanation,” Charlie Crist, a congressman and former Florida governor, said in a statement.”
    Bill Clinton and Janet Reno not available for comment.

    https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/11/4/20938885/miami-cuba-elian-gonzalez-castro

  13. Mar

    In the article, it says the the cops called her and she hung up on them and then refused to come out for a period of time, so, I can see the use of guns of the beginning of the raid being acceptable.

  14. Merlin

    Count yourself very fortunate if you still live in a Mayberry community where Officer Friendly knows your name and can still serve warrants with a polite knock and a smile. The fact that hitting with overwhelming paramilitary force has become the standard is reflective of the violent society in which law enforcement operates. Anticipation and preparation for armed resistance is what gets them home at the end of their shift. Gaining immediate tactical advantage always offers the option of quickly de-escalating to apologies. The reverse, not so much anymore.

  15. Tuerqas

    yet you are willing to tolerate fearmongering by the soon-to-be former President.

    Bwa-ha-ha!!!  A follower of the Fear Party says that!  You’re killin’ me.  If fear was not the sole goal of the liberal media owners and their followers, the CDC would not have required Covid to be listed as a cause of death whenever possibly present, and then Dems gave hospitals ‘special funding’ for using it as the cause (and Biden would never have gotten elected. Fear works on the weak willed and weak minded).  If all of the normal top ten causes of death weren’t mysteriously all down this year (including deaths by car accidents for goodness sake) and deaths had been properly coded, Covid would not be in the top 15 causes of death for 2020 to date.

    Imagine if the US were offering ‘special funding’ for every death to not be coded as Covid unless there were no co-morbidities…It would barely be in the news.  It would only be in commercials by drug companies.

    News and statistics are no longer based on truth at all, it is based on agenda.  This article was spot on!

  16. Merlin

    – News and statistics are no longer based on truth at all, it is based on agenda.

    Yep. These days the news resembles one of those vintage Ron Popeil television commercials hawking another wacky Ronco product. Like we need the news equivalent of another footlong fishing pole.

  17. Mar

    So, one of “medical experts” that is shutting down California almost completely, let the cat out of the bag.
    According to the “expert”, the sole purpose of closing down restaurants, bars, gyms, barbershop etc was to get people to stay home.
    Nothing to do with science.
    All about tyranny.
    If you are a liberal and you support lockdowns, you have a mental illness.

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