Spain: And so it begins
“Strolling is not allowed!”
It starts with the first cop ((notice he wears neither mask nor gloves) demanding the “carnet” (ID card) and three more cops backing him up. The other strolling civilian gets ignored and sent away and then First cop then loses it telling him “This is not a joke, people are dying!” Another cop arrives and you would think this is a felony pedestrian stop by now.
Then the second cop tell the civilian “If you are not home, you are inside!” which leads me to believe that Spain does not understand the concept of cabin fever or don’t give much of a shit.
Apartments in Spain are rather in the small size. And it is part of their culture that they spend a lot of time outside in bars and cafes with the required intake of alcohol. Alcohol, forced interment and close quarters will make for a explosive situation.
Oh yes, today is only Day 2. They have at least 12 more to go…at least.
UPDATE: You can be fined up to 30,000 Euros and jail up to a year for violating the quarantine. They are applying some weird law that specifies those fines and penalties for disobeying the authorities even when you are not committing a crime. (?) Apparently I can get a fine for telling Screaming Badge to fuck off.
Spain goes full Emergency Powers because of the Wuhan Virus.
The Socialist President & Government finally has a chance to go Soviet.
The Government will limit the movement of citizens as much as possible. The entire country is formally closed with the approval of the decree of the state of alarm, which comes into force today. A gigantic isolation in their homes of more than 47 million people, who will only be able to go outside alone, according to the president, Pedro Sánchez, to work and buy food, medicine or basic items. The government thus avoids completely stopping production, which will remain active according to the decree. Citizens can travel between cities by car or by plane to work.
…
“We will use all the resources at our disposal to combat the contagion curve. It is important not to mistake the enemy, it is the virus, and we must all fight it together, ”he assured. “The measures that we are going to adopt are drastic and will have consequences,”he admitted, thinking especially of the huge economic slowdown. The president made it very clear that the entire country must put itself at the service of the fight against the virus, including the entire private sector and the Army. And also all the autonomous police forces.”All the police forces will be under the direct orders of the interior minister. We will have the action of the Armed Forces, the Army is already prepared for it, ”he assured.
Sadly, they are being applauded for this. I had been following a bit what has been happening up there and a several local governments had already instituted some sort of quarantine with different levels of penalties and success. Some in the populace are actually taken the informant mode and call the cops on what they feel is a violation of their security. And also because they are locked in and why anybody else should be out there. Misery loves company. This is from this morning before the Edict and the guy is berating people because they got out to have their morning libation
Lo pongo otra vez para que veáis ni caso hacen #quedateEnTuCasa #COVIDー19 pic.twitter.com/toAowATlZk
— @esata123_ TEDY Y LUKY ? SIGUEME?⏰⬇️⬇️✳️?☯️ (@esata123_) March 14, 2020
This one I just saw posted: Spanish Army tank entering Madrid.
Ahora mismo por la A6 de entrada a madrid. #estadodealarma #quedatencasa pic.twitter.com/pbKJMUPis4
— Rafael Sánchez (@PinataZOR) March 13, 2020
I am gonna keep an eye on the Old Country to see what other measures they will be taking. No ruler has had this much power since the Fascist General Franco
Good, he can stay there
From the Twitter:
Coronavirus in China kept me under quarantine. I felt safer there than back in the U.S., writes Tony Perman.
Our laissez-faire attitude, prioritization of personal freedom and utter lack of government leadership have left Americans confused and exposed.https://t.co/GaKLvi2PW8
— NBC News THINK (@NBCNewsTHINK) March 14, 2020
Yeah, freedom bad, total government control good.
My question is: does this guy really believe this, or did the Chinese government make him write it at gunpoint?
I’ve now lived through a coronavirus quarantine in the two countries, and the differences are stark well beyond their airports. In China, the obligation to isolate felt shared and the public changed their habits almost immediately. Sterilization, cleanliness and social distancing were prioritized by everyone at all times. Rightly or wrongly, the Chinese state’s heavy-handed approach seemed to work.
Heavy-handed is a nice euphemism for “shot on sight by Chinese military police.”
There are lessons to be learned from the Chinese people if not its leadership, including that everybody must accept their own responsibility, vulnerability and complicity — sacrificing “rights” for the collective good — or many of us will die.
Fifty million Chinese were “sacrificed” for the collective good in the 20th century. Being treated as disposable by a tyrannical government is part of the Chinese national culture at this point.
We left Shanghai as the city was showing signs of flickering optimism. New cases were rare. Life was returning to normal, and the millions of quarantined residents were emerging tentatively from the shadows.
We entered the U.S. as a country in panic. Guidelines shift from day to day and agency to agency. Coronavirus tests and adequate health facilities are in short supply. It’s clear that the government can’t stop the spread.
We can’t simply hope high-risk people manage to avoid infecting others. It is up to all of us and each of us. We are all threats and we are all innocents.
We are trying to go out as little as possible, and I most certainly want to avoid the virus.
However, as a man in reasonably good health in my mid 30’s, I believe I have a much better chance at surviving Coronavirus than a 7.62×39 to the back of the skull for saying something the Chinese government doesn’t like on the internet.
I’ll take my chances in the US, thank you very much. This guy is welcome to go back to China any time and spend the rest of his life parroting Chinese government propaganda for cash.
[Fill in the blank] is always a good reason to attack gun rights
This is from Democrat Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania:
Right now in America, it is easier to get an AR-15 than a test kit for COVID-19.
— Senator Bob Casey (@SenBobCasey) March 13, 2020
Did I miss something?
There is a shortage of COVID-19 test kids for a variety of reasons. The CDC tried to come up with its own test, which was a disaster of false positives.
There are critical shortages of the reagents for the tests, one of the suppliers is in Germany and is prioritizing shipments to European countries (more Buy American, anybody?).
New tests have to be verified and approved by the FDA, which in all fairness they are trying to do speed up the process for.
There are a number of bottlenecks in the process, including the limited number of suppliers, suppliers being overseas, the need for FDA approval and verification of the test, etc.
Lastly, it’s just hard to adequately prepared for something like this. Unless you have a warehouse containing 150 million tests for US use only, when you have a pandemic explode in six weeks, and the demand rapidly exceeds supply, shortages will happen.
Now compare that to the AR-15.
The design has been around since 1956 and has been commercially available since 1963.
During the Obama years and leaving up to the expected election of Hillary Clinton, fears of a ban drove sales, which caused a temporary shortage of AR-15 and prices rose.
The market responded with every machine shop that was run by a gun nut getting an FFL and starting a black rifle company. The list is so long I’ve lost track. It’s a lot easier to get an FFL than it is to become an FDA approved manufacturer of medical tests.
Also, the ATF doesn’t have to test and approve your black rifle for sale. (If you wanted to do something different, like create the pistol brace, you can ask for clarification before you sell, but there is no ATF equivalent to an FDA approval process).
When Trump was elected, the demand dropped and the market responded with a glut of cheap AR-15s. So many low-cost ARs hit the market that manufacturers like Colt and Bushmaster dropped out of the civilian AR-15 game because they couldn’t compete on price.
Welcome to the cycle of supply and demand and the effect of regulatory bottlenecks.
As for the ease of individual purchase.
The 4473 NICS was launched in 1998. You have to pass that to buy an AR-15, assuming you can afford one.
As far as I’m aware, you don’t have to be a law-abiding US citizen and go through a background check to get a viral swab.
There are restrictions on who can get COVID-19 tests because the shortage has caused prioritization to three classes of high-risk individuals.
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- Hospitalized patients who have signs and symptoms compatible with COVID-19 in order to inform decisions related to infection control.
- Other symptomatic individuals such as, older adults (age ≥ 65 years) and individuals with chronic medical conditions and/or an immunocompromised state that may put them at higher risk for poor outcomes (e.g., diabetes, heart disease, receiving immunosuppressive medications, chronic lung disease, chronic kidney disease).
- Any persons including healthcare personnel, who within 14 days of symptom onset had close contact with a suspect or laboratory-confirmedCOVID-19 patient, or who have a history of travel from affected geographic areas within 14 days of their symptom onset.
Lastly, you still have a Constitutional right to an AR-15.
In a nutshell, there is absolutely no legal, regulatory, or marker reason that it should be harder to get an AR-15 than a COVID-19 test, except in the deranged mind of a Democrat who insists on Tweeting nonsensical garbage to demonstrate just how much he hates guns.
One NBA Player is a f**king hero (update)
This is AMAZING!!!
New Orleans' Zion Williamson says he is pledging to cover the salaries for all of the Pelicans arena staff workers for the next 30 days.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 13, 2020
In Yiddish, we have a word: Mensch. It means “a person of integrity and honor.”
Right now Zion Williamson is living up to that. Good for him in every possible way.
Update:
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has announced he will pay stadium staff as if games were still going at American Airlines Arena.
Good for him as well.