As a guy who spent thirty-two years of his life in public service, my tendency it to assume that public officials who hold press conferences are doing their best to provide us with accurate information. I start with the assumption that the President or Governor is surrounded by experts who educate him as to the facts, and that he has better information than I do.
This week, two things have happened regarding Gov. J. B. Pritzker's handling of the Coronavirus pandemic in Illinois that have disabused me of those assumptions. Indeed, those two things strongly suggest Gov. Pritzker and the "experts" surrounding him are blithering idiots.
#1
April 20, 2020, the Governor held a press conference. Governor J. B. Pritzker was at the podium.
Reporter. "Earlier this week, the State reported the death of a teenager in Cook County. Are you familiar with this case? If so, is this the State's first teenage death, and if so, can you tell us if the teenager in question had underlying conditions?"
(Governor indicates that Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Director of IL Dept. of Public Health, should answer the question. Pritzker vacates podium. Dr. Ezike takes podium)
Dr. Ezike. "I don't have that information at my disposal at this time. I know that we have had people of all age groups die. I just want to be clear as to the definition of death by Covid. The case definition is very simplistic. It means that at the time of death, it was a Cover positive diagnosis."
(So if you tested positive for Covid, and you are killed in an auto accident or by falling off a cliff, if you are positive for Covid, it's counted as a Cover death? Precisely )
Dr. Ezike. "So that means if you were in Hospice and had already been given a few weeks to live, and if you were also found to have Covid, that would be counted as a Cover death. It means technically, that even if you died of a clear alternate cause, but you had Covid at the same time, it's still listed as a Cover death. So, everyone who's listed as a COVID death doesn't mean that that was the cause of the death, but they had COVID at the time of the death."
https://week.com/2020/04/20/idph-director-explains-how-covid-deaths-are-classified/
(So, you wonder why the numbers can't be trusted? If a teenager is shot dead while strolling down
Michigan Avenue, that's listed as a Covid death???)
#2
Then on April 22, 2020, Chief Judge Michael McHaney of the 4th Judicial Circuit of Illinois sitting in Clay County gave an opinion in Mainer v. Pritzker, pointing out the utter irrationalitof Governor Pritzker's rules and the application of those rules shutting down non-essential businesses in Illinois:
“Since the inception of this insanity, the following regulations, rules or consequences have occurred: I won't get COVID if I get an abortion, but I will get COVID if I get a colonoscopy.
"Selling pot is essential, but selling goods and services at a family owned business is not. Pot wasn't even legal and pot dispensaries didn't even exist in this state until five months ago and, in that five months, they have become essential, but a family-owned business in existence for five generations is not.
"A family of six can pile in their car and drive to Carlyle Lake without contracting COVID but, if they all get in the same boat, they will.
"We are told that kids rarely contract the virus and sunlight kills it, but summer youth programs, sports programs are cancelled. Four people can drive to the golf course and not get COVID but, if they play in a foursome, they will.
"If I go to Walmart, I won't get COVID but, if I go to church, I will.
"Murderers are released from custody while small business owners are threatened with arrest if they have the audacity to attempt to feed their families.
"These are just a few of examples of rules, regulations and consequences that are arbitrary, capricious, and completely devoid of anything even remotely approaching common sense.
"State's attorneys in this state, county sheriffs, mayors, city councils and county boards have openly and publicly defied these orders followed by threats to withhold funding an revocation of necessary licenses and certifications unless you obey.
"Our economy is shut down because of a flu virus with a 98 percent plus survival rate. Doctors and experts say different things weekly. The defendant cites models in his opposition. The only thing experts will agree on is that all models are wrong and some are useful.
"The Centers for Disease Control now says the virus is not easily spread on surfaces. The defendant in this case orders you to stay home and pronounces that, if you leave the state, you are putting people in danger, but his family members traveled to Florida and Wisconsin because he deems such travel essential. One initial rationale why the rules don't apply to him is that his family farm had animals that needed fed. Try selling that argument to farmers who have had to slaughter their herds because of disruption in the supply chain.
When laws do not apply to those who make them, people are not being governed, they are being ruled. Make no mistake, these executive orders are not laws. They are royal decrees. Illinois citizens are not being governed, they are being ruled. The last time I checked, Illinois citizens are also Americans and Americans don't get ruled. The last time a monarch tried to rule Americans, a shot was fired that was heard around the world. That day led to the birth of a nation consensually governed based upon a document which ensures that on this day in this, any American courtroom tyrannical despotism will always lose and liberty, freedom and the constitution will always win.”
(So, you wonder why the numbers can't be trusted? If a teenager is shot dead while strolling down
Michigan Avenue, that's listed as a Covid death???)
#2
Then on April 22, 2020, Chief Judge Michael McHaney of the 4th Judicial Circuit of Illinois sitting in Clay County gave an opinion in Mainer v. Pritzker, pointing out the utter irrationalitof Governor Pritzker's rules and the application of those rules shutting down non-essential businesses in Illinois:
“Since the inception of this insanity, the following regulations, rules or consequences have occurred: I won't get COVID if I get an abortion, but I will get COVID if I get a colonoscopy.
"Selling pot is essential, but selling goods and services at a family owned business is not. Pot wasn't even legal and pot dispensaries didn't even exist in this state until five months ago and, in that five months, they have become essential, but a family-owned business in existence for five generations is not.
"A family of six can pile in their car and drive to Carlyle Lake without contracting COVID but, if they all get in the same boat, they will.
"We are told that kids rarely contract the virus and sunlight kills it, but summer youth programs, sports programs are cancelled. Four people can drive to the golf course and not get COVID but, if they play in a foursome, they will.
"If I go to Walmart, I won't get COVID but, if I go to church, I will.
"Murderers are released from custody while small business owners are threatened with arrest if they have the audacity to attempt to feed their families.
"These are just a few of examples of rules, regulations and consequences that are arbitrary, capricious, and completely devoid of anything even remotely approaching common sense.
"State's attorneys in this state, county sheriffs, mayors, city councils and county boards have openly and publicly defied these orders followed by threats to withhold funding an revocation of necessary licenses and certifications unless you obey.
"Our economy is shut down because of a flu virus with a 98 percent plus survival rate. Doctors and experts say different things weekly. The defendant cites models in his opposition. The only thing experts will agree on is that all models are wrong and some are useful.
"The Centers for Disease Control now says the virus is not easily spread on surfaces. The defendant in this case orders you to stay home and pronounces that, if you leave the state, you are putting people in danger, but his family members traveled to Florida and Wisconsin because he deems such travel essential. One initial rationale why the rules don't apply to him is that his family farm had animals that needed fed. Try selling that argument to farmers who have had to slaughter their herds because of disruption in the supply chain.
When laws do not apply to those who make them, people are not being governed, they are being ruled. Make no mistake, these executive orders are not laws. They are royal decrees. Illinois citizens are not being governed, they are being ruled. The last time I checked, Illinois citizens are also Americans and Americans don't get ruled. The last time a monarch tried to rule Americans, a shot was fired that was heard around the world. That day led to the birth of a nation consensually governed based upon a document which ensures that on this day in this, any American courtroom tyrannical despotism will always lose and liberty, freedom and the constitution will always win.”
Published June 3, 2020
Copyright, John Donald O'Shea 2020
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