By Michael Ceremello – March 23, 2020 (EDITOR'S NOTE: Some references made relate to the City of Dixon Politics – which is located 23 miles from California State Capital, Sacramento) As if last Tuesday’s council meeting wasn’t enough, as if the non-stop media assault through complicity in promoting a potential pandemic isn’t enough, we had the city call for a special meeting on Thursday in another attempt to not only take away our freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution but fine us if we don’t comply with their ill thought out solutions to slowing the spread of the Wuhan, Chinese, Kung Flu, Corona virus. Rather than being totally flippant, I will address both sides of the argument to show why free market capitalism and American freedom is the only solution to dealing with what will yet become a seasonal flu. Let’s talk solutions first rather than our own elected non-leaders following sheepishly in the footsteps of those in seemingly higher office. This is rather simple. The virus attacks the respiratory system in large part. Attempting to keep it out of your own breathing system with a mask may forestall the inevitable. Given the voluminous number of ways to get affected and infected, wearing a mask will prove to be only false security. However, the fact that 3M and those who make cotton underwear called the President to switch over production to making masks demonstrates the lack of the need for government’s heavy hand on the throats of our industries or our people. “Ask and it will be given.” So there will be a ramp up of production in masks and eventually those who must have them to feel safer, will. What should stick out to you is the lack of respirators at hospitals. I assume, due to the lack of specificity on the part of the government, press, and medical community, that these devices are intubation coupled with actual ventilators. This procedure alone can be responsible for pneumonia, one of the key killers associated with the flu. As there is a shortage of “ventilators” rather than tubing, it would seem that the medical equipment industry, or other equipment manufacturers, could do exactly what the underwear companies are doing: shifting production to fill the need. Of course there is the need for beds, power equipment and a contained environment. Saying you are going to build new hospitals to provide beds is a fool’s folly as many will be dead before construction is complete even if all building regulations are eliminated. We have “temporary” buildings used by school districts who use them to fail to teach our children during their multiple liberal indoctrination phases. Why not do something similar to house patients? Another prong of this logical solution is dealing with the number of people who need intensive care. We keep hearing that ICU’s will be overwhelmed. How many of us who contract the seasonal flu even seek medical help? The first thing I do when feeling symptoms is reach for my brandy, lemons, honey and hot water to make a hot toddy to “sweat the flu out” just as my parents instructed and did themselves many years ago. During my lifetime, I only recall one family member who was hospitalized and that was due to dehydration. What I am telling you is just because you contract this or any other flu, there is no need to head to the hospital. As we have been told, the symptoms may not occur for up to two weeks, most people have a mild reaction to it, and most recover on their own. If the entire state of California came down with the flu, 40 million people, and one percent of those needed intense medical care, that would be 400,000 people. Let’s call it 560,000 to make it easier to apportion through our 56 counties. So that would be 10,000 per county. In this unlikely scenario, many of those already in compromised health will die just as they do from the seasonal flu. There is also no way that anyone or any government can make these types of preparations to assist those afflicted. As our crazy governor, Gavin Newsom, who has stated that 56% of our population will be infected if we don’t “shelter in place”, looking at total population infection doesn’t seem so far fetched. Remember this is if everyone were to get sick at the same time which doesn’t happen. Do you see any similarity between the media’s daily death toll count and that of the Iraq or Afghani war? Every day and night we are told how bad it is for the political reasons of the liberal elite. They will probably throw a party for themselves, while practicing social distancing, when the first 100 Americans are dead. So we shut down our economy, our country, and give up our freedoms for the pandemic that isn’t? It was highly educational to listen to the comments in “Chat” during the special meeting. This meeting was conducted entirely online so those of you without a computer or smart phone had no way to participate. It also seems that the Governor changed his executive order so that no public place needed to be provided for the electronically challenged. Efficiency, it seems, is more important than hearing from the public. Given the comments, I am not sure this is wrong. While there was one person making the liberty and freedom arguments, it seems the big government supporting public sheep are most eager and willing to give up their rights during any man made crisis, real or imagined. The First Amendment gives the American people the right to peaceful assemblage and redress of grievances. We have already seen the largely unsuccessful attack on the Second Amendment. Isn’t the argument exactly the same? We are taking away your rights for the benefit of public health and safety. The emotional illogic coming from one Erica was “you don’t care about anyone but yourself”. Typical liberal nonsense coupled with the attack on the messenger rather than the message and exacerbated by others who evidently can’t listen and read at the same time. Calling the only person opposing what should be unconstitutional actions a “moron” is proof positive why Scat Pederson is on this council. Speaking of Scat, I have told you over and over how fascistic this guy is. We can now call him Mister Fine, not to be confused with Larry Fine of the Stooges except as a theatrical mental acuity comparison. Once again, Scat’s only concern is what to do when citizens refuse to obey his direction. Considering that the County already has the same directive on their books, without any fines at this time, why was Scat so adamant about adding that? This is the problem with emotional instead of logical thinking. It is quite evident that Scat is paralyzed with fear. Fear for his position of authoritarian dictatorship and a fear of the truly unknown consequences of this “bug”. I have no idea why YOUR mayor, Thom Bogue, and the phony libertarian councilman Devon Minnema switched from saying NO on Tuesday to Minnema even suggesting a first step fine of $100. It was still an urgency ordinance and it required 4/5ths passage. More importantly, the actual mandate does little to nothing to prevent travel. Given that the second ordinance couldn’t even get a motion and it was likewise a repetition of what the county had imposed, what was the point in putting fines on our citizens? Let’s get real. You can go get groceries … at any store which sells groceries. You can go get gas. You can go to the bank. As a reporter, you can go anywhere as newspapers are exempt. You can do anything which is considered essential. You just can’t go to a restaurant or bar because of social distancing requirements. You can work from home and I don’t see it stopping Fed-Ex or Amazon. Other than for the inconveniences being provided by the real perpetrators of Erica’s “caring” concern, the hoarders of day to day store items such as chicken, toilet paper, and bread, there would be little differences in our daily routines. For those of my friends who insist I use hand sanitizer before entering their homes, I will see you after this phony crisis has blown over. I have not missed that the economy is the focal point of the coming presidential election. The Democrats openly were hoping for a “recession”. While some are calling the stock market fallout “a bear market”, it is much more than that. As socialism is equal misery for all and is antithetical to free market capitalism, I view this as just one more of the continuing assaults for the Left to change America for the worse. Is the Wuhan virus something to be ignored? Did we ignore polio or the Bubonic Plague? The bigger question is should we lose everything just to survive? This isn’t doomsday. It is just another example of Darwin’s theory of evolution …