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Attorney General Bill Barr is like most of us: he wants those “draconian” lockdowns gone by May. Frankly, we’re all champing at the bit here to have them lifted. Except, of course, for some progressives who would like certain people locked down permanently. But more about that later.
Appearing on “The Ingraham Angle” on Fox News Channel, Barr said this:
“I think, you know, when this — when this period of time is — at the end of April expires, I think we have to allow people to adapt more than we have and not just tell people to go home and hide under the bed, but allow them to use other ways — social distancing and other means — to protect themselves.”
He also promised that after this is all over, the Justice Department would keep an eye out for restrictions of freedom:
“I’m very concerned about the slippery slope in terms of continuing encroachments on personal liberty.”
The AG is especially concerned about religious liberty:
“A free society depends on a vibrant religious life by the people. So any time that’s encroached upon by the government, I’m very, very concerned.”
In case you missed it when it aired, here is Barr’s interview with Ingraham:
Naturally, the naysayers came out to attack the AG. Rachel Maddow of MSNBC wrote at “maddowblog”:
“On average, an American died from COVID-19 yesterday every 45 seconds, but the attorney general apparently wants people to be allowed to “adapt.” I don’t know what that means.”
Gee, we’ve been hearing the words “social distancing” every time we turn on the TV or read news reports online. We hear sports figures and celebrities remind us of The New Rules in PSA’s during commercial breaks. And yet she says “I don’t know what that means.” If you believe her, let me interest you in this bridge.
The progressive website “New Civil Rights Movement” cited “legal experts” to blast “religious zealot” Bill Barr. However, their “legal experts” included the usual suspects: legal consultants for CNN and MSNBC, and a couple of NeverTrump Republicans. Plus, they added this LGBT attorney who turned to Christian-bashing:
Religious freedom, as guaranteed in the First Amendment, does not mean people must be religious or the government favors religion.
Barr is a danger. https://t.co/ZSQjFTM11Z
— Michael J. Stern (@MichaelJStern1) April 9, 2020
In other words, progressives are loving it that Christians will be staying home this Easter. So what if it’s the holiest day on their calendar?
Credit: dennis crowley/flickr/CC BY 2.0.
But the AG is spot on in his fears of government impinging on religion. For example, earlier this month NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio threatened to permanently close houses of worship which continue to function. Plus, on Wednesday, KS Gov. Laura Kelly issued an executive order limiting religious gatherings to ten people, when previously she declared religious worship to be “essential.” However, KS Attorney General Derek Schmidt fired back, as did the state legislature, arguing that Kelly’s edict violated the state constitution. They quickly rescinded the governor’s order.
Schmidt wrote:
“The Office of Attorney General strongly encourages all Kansans participating in religious services or activities to voluntarily comply with the new restrictions on religious mass gatherings in order to protect public health. Nevertheless, … we also strongly discourage law enforcement from attempting to enforce the requirements of EO 20-18 as violations of the criminal law.”
But you should also know that Kelly was one of the first governors to shut down schools for the rest of the school year, doing so on March 18. This woman loves flexing her power muscle, which should be a warning to liberty-loving Kansans.
AG Barr is correct. While the nation needed to restrict some movement in order to stem the spread of COVID-19 (which Barr agrees was necessary), we must loosen them as soon as possible. And we must take care that once the reins are loosened, American liberties run free once again.
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Featured image: United States Senate — Office of Dan Sullivan/wikimedia/cropped/public domain.
GWB says: On average, an American died from COVID-19 yesterday every 45 seconds
OK, where’s the numbers for that? Because the link in her blog is to… her very own tweet. Which also doesn’t source that claim. That means we had almost 2,000 deaths in one day. OK. Except Trading Economics only shows 1,290 for April 8 (the day before this post/tweet). (Trading Economics is the only place I can find that shows daily totals for the US. WorldOMeters shows 6,414 for yesterday across the entire world.)
But honestly, even if we did have 2,000 deaths yesterday, Maddow is simply using the Fallacy of Large Numbers to promote fear and panic. One death every 45 seconds across a nation as large as the US is not really that tremendous. But the fallacy is based on humans thinking in terms of their local situation: they are not thinking across the nation, but about the people within their scope of experience. You go through all the people you see in a day (unless you live in someplace like NYC) pretty quickly at “1 every 45 seconds”. If you look at the actual statistics, and you encounter, say 200 people in a day, it really works out to… about a 1/1,000 chance that any one of them would die. And nobody else.
This is exactly why they say “There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
Religious freedom, as guaranteed in the First Amendment, does not mean people must be religious or the government favors religion.
This is the very definition of a non sequitur.
the nation needed to restrict some movement
Yes. It needed to restrict the movements of sick people, NYers, vulnerable populations, and those who had recently arrived from overseas. (I also would have quarantined ANYONE who had recently traveled from China – like in the last 6 months – and all Chinese nationals.)
It did NOT need to restrict others.
Jennie Gist says: Actually, Gov. Mike DeWine here in Ohio shut down schools even earlier, beginning March 16 and currently extended through April 30, with no promise of reopening this school year.
Kim Hirsch says: Thanks for that. I’ve corrected my post.
Thank you for reading.
Howard Hirsch says: Maybe fellow Kansan and former Ag Secretary Dan Glickman can inform Gov. Kelly that some of us need AT LEAST 10 in attendance for a legitimate religious service.
Lance says: Kelly. a democrat. Go fucking figure!
Daniel says: Elected officials need to know that we will follow common sense advisories out of free will, but will not follow their edicts. Kudos to AG Schmidt for his insight.
Silent T says: The reaction to this CCP flu has been one, big clusterfark from beginning to end. Our leaders overreacted to hysterical computer models that were based on crap data and opted for draconian measures rather than adaptive responses based on actual data. In a word, they panicked and led us all into that herd rushing over the cliff. Speaking of herds, we need herd immunity to the virus asap, before it comes back this winter. And we need President Trump to blast away the hysteria and get the shut downs lifted, even if this requires overriding state governors. Economic collapse is not an option. But it is a recipe for the Left to seize power.
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