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Government Gone Wild: Wuhan Coronavirus has Led to Massive Overreach

Government Gone Wild: Wuhan Coronavirus has Led to Massive Overreach

Sen. Bill Cassidy twisted scripture to guilt us into following social distancing rules.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reYFdk6rQSI

You give the government an inch they will go 500 miles. Then they’ll go 500 more. The Wuhan coronavirus is just the latest example that proves this point.

Your resident libertarian is here to showcase a few instances of government overreach in the name of the common good.

Colorado Police Arrest Dad in Front of Daughter for Supposedly Violating Social Distance Rules

Michael Mooney went to a park with his 6-year-old daughter and wife. The park had a closed sign but said groups of no more than four persons can still enjoy the park for some activities.

But the officers still arrested him:

Mooney told the FOX31 Problem Solvers he refused to provide his identification to three police officers because he was confident he wasn’t doing anything unlawful by playing tee-ball with his wife and daughter at the park.

“She’s like, ‘Daddy, I don’t want you to get arrested.’ At this point I’m thinking, ‘There’s no way they’re going to arrest me, this is insane.’ I’m telling her, ‘Don’t worry, Daddy’s not going to get arrested. I’ve done nothing wrong. Don’t worry about it,’ and then they arrest me.”

Former Brighton City Councilman Kirby Wallin recorded much of the incident on his cellphone, where you can hear his voice narrate the scene.

“He’s being taken by the Brighton police for playing softball with his daughter in an empty park,” Wallin said.

In an interview with the Problem Solvers, Wallin said, “I find it hard to believe with all the things going on in our communities, the only way to resolve a situation like this was to handcuff a father in front of his daughter.”

Churchgoers Ticketed $500 for Attending Service in Their Cars in the Parking Lot

Pastor Arthur Scott of the Temple Baptist Church in Mississippi held service for members of the church because the parishioners stayed in their cars:

The church, according to member Lee Gordon, has been using the radio broadcast for the last three weeks as part of the social-distancing recommendations from federal, state and local governments during the COVID-19, coronavirus epidemic.

Those social distancing mandates were strengthened with Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves shelter-in-place order on April 3 and further strengthened with Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons’ executive order on Tuesday that all church buildings are to be closed for both in-person and drive-in church services.

The executive order further halted drive-in church meetings and encouraged those churches to use other means to communicate their message.

Simmons spewed the usual justification: “We’ve done these orders for the safety of our citizens.”

SKYNET Truly Exists

We’ve covered a few of these pieces:

Now Baltimore has plans for an aerial surveillance program. The city promises that officials will only use it to investigate homicides, robberies, carjacking, and other serious crimes:

The Maryland city is planning as soon as this month to start experimenting with an aerial surveillance program, using planes equipped with high-tech cameras that can cover 90% of the city’s land area at any given moment.

The pilot program was unveiled months ago to help Baltimore’s strained police force investigate and respond to street crime, a task that has taken on new importance, as officers try to maintain operations amid the coronavirus pandemic, Baltimore’s police commissioner says.

“This actually can serve as a force multiplier for the police department, and perhaps can be used as an investigative tool while we are practicing social distancing,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said during an online public hearing on the project on April 1.

The technology, called wide-area surveillance, involves piloted aircraft flying over the city with cameras, capturing 90% of the area at any given time. The company offering it, Persistent Surveillance Systems, has said a version of the system was previously used by the Air Force in Iraq. Persistent Surveillance Systems declined to comment.

When a crime occurs, police could rewind the footage to look for people or cars in the area, then try to identify suspects with other evidence such as ground-based cameras or license-plate readers.

The technology can’t on its own identify an individual and would assist investigations only after a serious crime has occurred, the department says.

Sen. Cassidy Suggests Online Registry for Those Who Recovered & Uses Scripture to Guilt People to Follow Social Distancing Rules

I think the word registry becomes a trigger word for me when it comes out of a politician’s mouth.

Even the mere suggestion is troubling.

Then there’s the twisting of the scripture:

“You know, scripture tells us to obey our secular leaders. So we’ve been told by the president, the governor not to congregate,” Cassidy said.

“Secondly, it would be presumptuous upon God’s grace if we were to say, ‘Listen, we’re going to fight that which we know to be true, that this virus has spread and that it can kill, and that we’re going to defy that. Go ahead, meet anyway.’ God gives wisdom. And when he gives wisdom, we’re supposed to obey it.

And so I don’t step in front of a speeding bullet. I don’t step in front of a speeding car,” Cassidy concluded. “I dodge both in the same way we should be dodging this virus.”

Health Workers Might Give Your Officers Your Home Address if You Test Positive for Coronavirus

Holy HIPAA violation:

Law enforcement officials say this information sharing — which is underway in Massachusetts, Alabama and Florida, and in select areas of North Carolina — will help keep officers and EMTs safe as they respond to calls at the homes of people who have been infected. The first responders can take additional precautions in those cases to avoid being exposed to the virus, state health departments and local police officials say.

Officers who are dispatched to an address where someone has tested positive can prepare by donning full protective gear, said Assistant Chief Brian Long of the Burlington, North Carolina, police department, where the local health department is sharing addresses of positive tests. For calls where the risk is less clear, such as when the caller indicates that someone at the home is ill, officers use their own judgment, based on the urgency of the call, on what precautions to take.

But they’re ONLY sharing your address. That’s all so it can’t be all that bad, right? After all you share so much more information when you call 911.

Yeah, when I call 911 *I* am giving up that information freely. One sheriff “had to browbeat his local health department” to give them the addresses:

Police across the country already collect as much information as possible from 911 callers to protect officers from potential exposure to the coronavirus. Many agencies have instructed 911 dispatchers to ask callers a series of questions to help determine if police, firefighters or paramedics who arrive might be exposed, according to interviews with police and surveys conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum, which is helping law enforcement share information on how to respond to the pandemic.

Those questions, which vary from agency to agency, include asking whether anyone in the caller’s household has tested positive or come into contact with anyone who has been or is under quarantine, is exhibiting symptoms of the coronavirus or has traveled recently. If the responses indicate a risk, police may be instructed to take a report by phone (in the case of nonemergencies), wear protective equipment or meet the complainants outside.

Some agencies have gone further, asking — or demanding — local health authorities to share addresses of people who have tested positive or are in quarantine, even in cases where there’s no statewide directive calling for information sharing. Those addresses are then entered into the Computer Aided Dispatch system, where they pop up if someone calls 911 from one of the listed addresses.

Mike Chitwood, the sheriff of Volusia County, Florida, said he had to browbeat his local health department, in Facebook posts and interviews with the local press, to give his agency addresses of people who had tested positive. The updated lists are sent to his agency nightly.

Man Removed by 10 Cops on Philadelphia Bus Because He Didn’t Wear a Mask That Isn’t Required

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Comments

Morning Sunshine | April 10, 2020 at 3:17 pm

The First Amendment is shredded.

Freedom of Speech – unless you call it the Wuhan Virus, etc.
Freedom of Assembly – not even in public if you are sitting closer than 6′ to another body, even a family member
Freedom of Religion – shutting down “car services,” all churches (in Virginia) and DeBlasio’s “I will shut you down FOREVER if you hold Easter services”
Freedom of Petition – no exact examples, but do you really think the “experts” will give up their power just cuz MOST of you want to reopen the economy?
Freedom of the Press – only if you are part of the *accepted* MSM

Well we have arrived

We have absolutely no rights for anything anymore

Escaped from RI | April 10, 2020 at 3:29 pm

If this virus were as dangerous as politicians restricting our freedoms say it is they wouldn’t be holding press conferences, taking walks in Brooklyn or getting haircuts in Chicago. They’d be hiding in bunkers breathing filtered air.

This has been a test to see how easily we’d willingly go from being citizens to being subjects. For an illusion of safety we gave up our right to work, our right to assemble, our right to worship, our right to internal travel, and our right to be secure from unreasonable search in our homes and autos. All without a peep. It’s just temporary though…2 weeks, until April 15th, May 1st, June 4th…maybe 18 months if it come back in fall.

I’ve come to realize I wasted 25 years of my life “defending the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic,” when my fellow citizens are ready to throw it out the window in exchange for a $1200 check and promise they won’t get sick if they obey their rulers.

Restricting the movement of the sick is quarantine. Restricting the movement of the healthy is tyranny.

Lucifer Morningstar | April 10, 2020 at 3:48 pm

You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before. -Emanuel Rahm

‘Nuff said.

BierceAmbrose | April 10, 2020 at 3:55 pm

Republic means doing this to ourselves, right? I hadn’t realized there were so many masochists out there.

So, unlimiited direct democracy apparntly means we’re all in to — for — whatever kink works for 50% +1 vote.

I remember during the aftermath of hurricane Katrina the police in and around New Orleans were going door to door confiscating waepons. Later the Supreme Court ruled that such actions were patently unconstitutional. I have no doubt that a great deal of those weapons were never returned nor were their owners compensated.
So these actions do not suprise me. These authoritarian politicians believe that they can use any emergency declaration as an excuse to suspend our Constitutional protections without fear of repercussions. I would not be surprised if at the possibility that they call for a suspicion of the coming election “for the safety of the people.
The only thing stopping that is their hatred of President Donald Trump.

While groups of hobos loitering in parks not observing distancing rules are left to smoke weed, drink tallboy beers and ride around on stolen bicycles.

Justice is a abstract concept in the best of times.

notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital | April 10, 2020 at 4:14 pm

All these government bureaucrat employees dictator wannabes………

Can we talking about how much HIPAA prevented the kind of early case tracking that helped South Korea really squash everything?

Do I think health officials should notify the police? Not really.

Do I think that the locations and interactions of early cases should have been released? Abso-f-ing-lutely. HIPAA prevented health officials from notifying other passengers on airplanes that they were with imported cases from Wuhan. HIPAA prevents EMTs from knowing if the unconscious person they are treating has the disease. HIPAA prevents the general public from knowing if they were in possible contact with a sick person. A month ago, I kept hearing “Cook County has 7 new cases. . .” – HIPAA prevented them from even saying what approximate location in a county with more people than Norway had a sick patient.

One of the biggest tenants of libertarianism is to not harm others. And because of a government mandate – HIPAA – we, the public, aren’t allowed to know if someone potentially harmed us.

Most of the “conservative” community will still blindly worship cops because those government costumes are so snazzy.

“You’re muh hero, officer!!!!”

    notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to cgray451. | April 10, 2020 at 5:00 pm

    Far too many of them are egotistical power tripping dictator wannabes………

    Shadow5 in reply to cgray451. | April 10, 2020 at 5:21 pm

    Your comment shows a ignorance of both conservatives in general and police officers for the most part.

    Conservatives use commonsense when evaluating stories about police appling the same presumption of innocence as anyone else. And knowing that like all communities of people there are both good and bad elements. The problem is that given unconstitutional guidance by their political leaders those elements that reflect badly on their profession tend to highlight themselves.

      cgray451 in reply to Shadow5. | April 10, 2020 at 7:16 pm

      “Ignorance”, he says. I have decades of experience with power tripping cops, and decades of experience watching “conservatives” excuse the corruption and criminality of power tripping cops. The down votes prove it.

        GWB in reply to cgray451. | April 10, 2020 at 8:40 pm

        No, the down votes prove that we disagree with you in a way that you’re probably not open to hearing. (And you just proved that point.)

        Were you over on HotAir frequently when they had their own comment system? ‘Cause you sound like a couple of the idiot flamethrowers that were over there.

        Also, something you might want to consider is how this trope might apply to you:
        “The one constant in every bad relationship you’ve ever had is… YOU.”

I have been publicly stating that, IMHO, the entire Covid-19 crisis was manufactured for the sole purpose of increasing global government control by, initially, destroying the global economy by instituting horribly overly-restrictive social practices based upon unsubstantiated “data”. The next step is to provoke the populace into actively resisting government usurpation of power and rights. The global economy could be opened today with little chance for significant health problems. But, the whole point of this exercise is to place people in an economic position where they will, probably, be forced to violate these unconstitutional government “mandates”. The government power grab is going to be hard on LEOs who act stupidly, if people feel that they have to resist these oppressive actions.

    RNJD in reply to Mac45. | April 10, 2020 at 7:16 pm

    As of the time I’m writing this comment, 18,516 people have died in the United States from CoVid-19, the Wuhan Flu, or whatever you’d prefer to call it today. Are those “manufactured” deaths? Are you disputing that people have died from this virus? Who is manufacturing all these deaths globally – now totaling over 100,000? Who exactly is going to “open the global economy” as you so cavalierly suggest? Are people going to flock back to work, knowing that their health or that of their loved ones is at risk? You throw out your comments with no supporting rationale. This is a multifaceted global pandemic with no good or easy solutions – and I, for one, am sick of some of the untrained overnight epidemiologists and armchair economists who act like this could be solved by people just sucking it up and pretending nothing is happening. Grow up.

      Mac45 in reply to RNJD. | April 10, 2020 at 8:24 pm

      So, 23,000 people die from influenza this season, 60,000 last season and 65,000 the year before, in the US alone. Last year 650,000 deaths were reported worldwide, last year. Did we shut down the global economy? Did we force everyone to observe “social distancing rules”? Did we quarantine healthy people without cause? What did we do? NOTHING. That’s right, the world did NOTHING.

      My point is that the CRISIS was manufactured by the media and the response to the media created crisis was a horrible over-reaction to the actual threat presented by the COVID virus. This response is destroying both the US and the Global economy. Why? This type of response has never happened before, in modern history. So, why is the political leadership of the entire industri8alized free world actively working to destroy their economies? How does that benefit them?

      As to who opens the US economy, that is the people. If the people tell the politicians to open the economy, they will or be removed, either before or after the next election. Will workers flock back to work? Sure, unless the government keeps them on the public dole. They will have to.

      Use your head and look at the evidence. How is COVID worse than the flu? If is worse, how much worse is it? Is it so apocalyptic that we have to destroy our economy to fight it? What about the people who are out of work, over 17 million of them, going to survive? How long will it take for the economy to return to the point it was at when these arbitrary restrictions were imposed? And how many lives are these restrictions actually saving?

      When the professionals keep changing their opinions, yes they are only opinions, and it seems that they know nothing more than the average man on the street does, why should people give their opinions any credence at all?

      I hope this helps you understand the current status of the CRISIS. If you wish to blindly follow the illogical restrictions in place, knock yourself out. It is still a free country, more or less.

        notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to Mac45. | April 10, 2020 at 10:08 pm

        HEAR HEAR MAC!!!!!

        And always remember it was education bureaucrats who started the stampede.

Patrick Bateman | April 10, 2020 at 5:40 pm

“Mooney told the FOX31 Problem Solvers he **refused to provide his identification** to three police officers because he was confident he wasn’t doing anything unlawful…”

That was his mistake. Just provide your identification to the officers and go from there. I understand his mentality regarding not doing anything wrong, but by not providing the officers with his identification suddenly puts him into the “doing something wrong” category, thereby allowing the officers to arrest him.

Had he given his identification and THEN the officers arrested him, well, I’d be just as outraged as the rest of you.

    And, under what legal (and constitutionally permissible) burden was he that required him to produce his ID for them?

    Answer that and I might consider your argument.

      Patrick Bateman in reply to GWB. | April 11, 2020 at 12:15 am

      Fair enough.

      I am against the erosion of my liberties as much as the next guy, but I still would weigh the situation and choose whether to unnecessarily die on a hill or not.

      In my estimation, having my 6-year-old child with me might not be the best time to not show my ID because I know I didn’t have to. He thought otherwise. I don’t begrudge the guy for standing up for his rights in front of his young child; his choice.

      I’m glad things ultimately turned out in his favor.

    DSHornet in reply to Patrick Bateman. | April 11, 2020 at 9:20 am

    Completely agree. There are times to be proudly assertive but this was not one of them. The thing to do would have been cooperate and show ID and >>THEN<< discuss the issue. He created the showdown and complained about the LEOs' behavior. In the process, he showed his little girl to be either afraid or suspicious of the police.

    If we have a problem, who do we call? The very same people Mooney wanted to challenge. Stupid move.

    Somebody a little farther down asked who has ID when they only go to a park. For one, I do. My wallet lives in two and only two places: My dresser or my back pocket, and if I leave the house for anything except do something around my home, it's in my pocket. It's a lifelong habit I don't intend to break.
    .

Folks, this covid event has been a vehicle for the want to be tyrants to show their true colors. These overreaching bureaucrats have done all of us the favor of exposing themselves.

That said, every state, county and municipality has it’s own set of conditions. In EL Paso, we have had a good deal of common sense used by the city and county. I can’t and won’t speak to conduct in other locations.

My hope and suggestion for everyone venting about the overreacting or overreaching actions of their local or state officials is to act. They are still conducting meetings, the public should be able to attend those virtual events. Write an opinion piece. Phone and email your neighbors to build a block of voters. In a municipal election a group of even a few thousand determined voters can change the results.

Hell file a federal civil rights suit if you feel that your officials are misusing their authority or acting outside of their authority to violate your rights under color of law or authority.

I am not telling you to stop venting, just suggesting that you take additional steps to address your concerns other than venting. Don’t allow the tin gods to keep you down.

1. Empty store shelves?
2. Shuttered businesses?
3. Want to work, but can’t?
4. Can’t go to church?
5. Freedom of assembly—yeah, right.

Welcome to communism…yup, thanks to our very own government

Massive government overreach = Big Brother.

They’re doing it for our own good, y’know. And rewriting the history of Wuhan virus models as I write, so no one gets the ‘wrong’ idea about how this all came about.

Bet the Chinese commies are helping out with that, too. After all, much of the leftwing media works for them.

In the event of a true emergency, do you now know who to contend with, first?

Some of the Republicans are as bad as the Democrats–see Senator Cassidy as an example; or the Governor of Mississippi; or the Governor of Ohio; and on and on and on. Some of these tinpot mayors are using the shelter at home orders issued by the governors to go off the deep end, and none of the governors are speaking out against any of this.

You give the government an inch they will go 500 miles. Then they’ll go 500 more.
Just to be the man walks a thousand miles To fall down at kick in your door.
(With apologies to The Proclaimers.)

You call it ‘overeach.’ I call it a ‘test’.

AF_Chief_Master_Sgt | April 11, 2020 at 9:57 am

Random comments:

1. OK Patrick Bateman, we now know that NAZI Germany was OK with you. You may not travel without your papers. You may not cross county or state borders without your papers. You may not exercise your right to assembly without permission from your overlords. Please don’t run for public office. You are a tyrant.

2. TRUMP did not close down the US economy. State governors, Democrat and Republican, closed down their states one by one. But I notice that many Democratic States exhibit more tyrannical control than Republican. Individual city tyrant control notwithstanding.

3. We have surrendered our freedom for a false sense of safety. I have refused to lock myself in my house every day. I get up, I go to work, and I am not harassed by anyone in any way. I do not wear a mask, I go to restaurants to buy my food at lunch, and I go the the grocers when I feel like it. If they have a limit on the number of customers, I go to stores that won’t make me stand outside as if I am trying to get into a ritzy nightclub.

4. I live in an open carry state, and I open carry everywhere now, even though I have a concealed carry permit. I am doing everything I can to force authorities to overreach against my constitutional rights.

If the homeless bums can congregate on the streets, don’t have to carry ID, and can exercise their rights, I can too.
Please, all of you, refuse to be locked up. They can’t arrest all of us.

    Allow some comments on your comments.

    1. Patrick Bateman quite clearly told us what he thought and why. Elevating his comments to a level with Nazi Germany was an emotional and extreme comparison. We all understand being able to prove we are who we say we are. He gave the cops a reason to be suspicious of him. For explanation, drop down to my comment on his message. I made it as clear as I knew how.

    2. Completely agree with everything you said..

    3. Are you a carrier? How do you know? The rules about masking, gloving, and limits on size of crowds aren’t just for us but also for others.

    4. I live in an open carry state too, but I’m not in the mood to pick a fight with local LEOs or anyone else. I’ll let them escalate a confrontation but I’ll not do that myself.

    I’m retired USAF/ANG and we seem to agree/disagree.
    .

Democrat governors nationwide have taken their masks off and shown the nation their authoritarian intents. Limit people to the aisles they can shop. Tickets for being in a sealed up car. Tickets for walking a beach. Tickets for surfboarding alone. Tickets, tickets, tickets. And now arrested for playing softball with his kid.

Take a good hard look America. This is democrat run utopia.

We have arrived. All things are now either mandatory or forbidden.