The Most Insane And Infuriating Inconsistencies Of The Coronavirus Era (Part I)

In the years when the United States fought Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in World War II, life became radically different for everyone. Food was rationed. Supply chains were interrupted. Manufacturing plants, that previously made things Americans wanted, were turned into armaments producers. Millions of young men were drafted and sent off to fight. Hundreds of thousands would never return, and many more would be changed forever by the physical and mental toll. Many women who might have previously stayed home went to work to replace the men on the battlefield. Society was altered and life was different in countless ways from the way things were before December 7, 1941, and yet most Americans were on the same page, reading and acting from the same playbook, united in one common goal.

Today, America faces an altogether different kind of enemy, and our leaders hope to garner the same national spirit we had back then. The way they have chosen to fight the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has certainly altered society in similar but arguably even broader ways than Americans experienced during the Second World War. Yet, today there are strands of unrest, of pushback that only promises to increase the longer things continue. Despite what the media claims, these protests against draconian stay-at-home orders, lockdowns, and closures aren’t simply based on the desire to get out of the house, get a haircut, and eat at one’s favorite restaurant. At the root, they’re based on perceived governmental overreach that doesn’t seem justified as data rolls in telling us the “enemy” isn’t all it has been cracked up to be.

Surely, even those who have lost their livelihoods and their freedoms in one fell swoop could understand and abide by measures, even draconian ones, that made sense in light of the best data available. But for those of us who study this issue and keep track of more than just the hysteria and fearmongering, little about the ongoing coronavirus response makes sense, and that unsettling reality only continues to grow as each day of our continued imprisonment passes. In fact, there are so many inconsistencies on so many levels that attempting to explore several of the most blatant will take two columns instead of one.

If the literal black plague were sweeping through America wiping out wide swaths of the population, everyone would understand that draconian preventative measures would need to be taken. When people were falling over in Wuhan, Italy’s weak hospital system was getting overwhelmed, and people thought the kill rate for this thing was up to five percent of those infected and that millions could die, few argued with the initial shutdown response, even if some quibbled on the specifics.

However, now that those death rates have been revised down to between .01 and .05 percent of those infected, or slightly higher than the flu, we’re CONTINUING to act like it’s the literal black plague. As the great Walter Williams writes in this brilliant column, there are cost/benefits to every action. We don’t have a five mph speed limit even though it would save tens of thousands of lives because too many other key cogs would be negatively affected. We don’t shut down the country for the flu for the same reason. Yet, somehow, this virus merits an entirely different reaction, one based on our initial apocalyptic beliefs.

The best way to ‘fight’ this enemy, we’re constantly told, is by maintaining strict social distancing measures and shutting down every possible aspect of our economy, then printing and distributing trillions in handouts to ensure compliance. Do this for an indefinite (and seemingly ever-expanding) period of time, we’re told, and we can beat back the coronavirus and “save lives.” But what about the increasing evidence that such lockdown measures do not actually save lives? And what about the countless lives that a second Great Depression would ruin, and the inevitable deaths that occur in a poverty-stricken nation? Apparently, those are simply collateral damage.

I’m no Richard Burr, but when all this started I do remember thinking how awesome it would be to have a few extra thousand to put into healthcare stocks. Surely, even if everything else tanked, the one industry that would be hopping everywhere would be anything healthcare-related, or so the line of thinking went. As things turned out, maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t have that extra cash. While hospitals in New York City and other large hard-hit metro areas were strained to the brink of capacity, the rest dropped everything to prepare for an onslaught that never came. “Essential services,” including pain-relieving and life-altering joint replacements, were banned, resulting in budget shortfalls and massive staff layoffs that will have devastating long-term effects on the rest of the nation’s health. Indeed, as Rick Jackson opined for Newsweek, many could end up closing for good. Apparently, Obama was wrong. Catching the ‘rona is the only way any of us get to keep our healthcare.

Let’s take care of unemployed people … by making sure they don’t want to go back to work

Sure, the people affected by these government-enforced shutdowns should be made whole, but when legislators added an additional $600 per week to almost everyone’s unemployment benefits, several senators (and at least one plucky Townhall columnist) warned that this could have dire consequences to getting things moving again. “Let’s pay people more than they would be making at work to stay at home,” our overlords told us. I mean, what could possibly go wrong? Already, one small business owner has spoken out about her own employees’ resentment after she took out a PPP loan to keep them on the payroll. By daring to try and keep her business afloat, she’s costing them money. How hard will recruiting be for everything from restaurants to manufacturing facilities when hundreds of thousands are on the couch ‘till the end of July ‘making’ more than they ever would have actually working? As things begin to reopen, we’re about to find out.

Giacomino Nicolazzo is one of Italy’s most beloved writers.
Born and raised in Central Pennsylvania USA, he lives in a small village in Lombardy where he writes his books.

Montecalvo, Lombardy, Italy

As I sit here in my involuntary isolation, it was just reported that overnight 743 more people died and 5.249 new cases have been reported. This brings the total cases of infection to 69,176 and the body count to 6,820. We take relief in knowing that 8,326 people have recovered so far. (Numbers as of 3/24, 8:30pm in Italy [4].)

Most towns here in Italy, from the upper reaches of the Alps to the ancient shores of Sicilia and Sardenia, while not deserted, are closer to being ghost towns than the bustling centers of tourism, business and daily life they were just a few weeks ago.

Stores and shops have been shuttered. Restaurants and coffee shops no longer serve customers. Schools, universities, sporting arenas…even our museums and theaters…all closed. Even the Vatican City has closed its gates and armed patrols monitor the 20 foot tall walls that protect it!

Streets and roads are now empty for as far as the eye can see. Normally they would be filled with crazed Italian drivers in tiny cars and scooters (the ones that sound like demonic insects) darting here and there, reaching the limits of centrifugal force on our roundabouts. In the piazze of our towns and cities, there are now officially more pigeons than people. Many of us know someone who has been infected and recovered. Some of us know someone who did not recover…now they are dead. But everyone knows someone who has been affected by this microscopic monster in one way or another.

Sixty million of us are in lockdown…it is like a war zone here. We are being held prisoner in our own homes by an unseen enemy that sneaked in unnoticed…by most of us. As you will read in just a few more minutes, there were those who knew something like this was coming…or at least they should have.

So who is to blame? With all this craziness swirling like a whirlpool at our feet, I just had to find the blame answer. And so I have spent my free time (of which I have a lot in these days) digging and researching. I was literally shocked to discover how this has come to be. I am not going to bore you with talk of Patient ‘0’ who spread it to Patient ‘1’ and how mathematics efficiently explains the rapid expansion of infection. No…I am going to tell you how (as I see it) the virus came to Italy.

It has everything to do with communism. Allow me to explain.

Beginning in about 2014, Matteo Renzi, the imbecile ex-mayor of Firenze (Florence) acting as the leader of the Partito Democratico (synonymous with the Italian Communist party), somehow managed to get himself elected as Italy’s Prime Minister. To give you a proper frame of reference, Matteo Renzi was so far left, he would make Barack Obama look like Barry Goldwater!

At the same time that Renzi was leading Italy into oblivion, strange things were happening in Italy’s economy. Banks were failing…but not closing. Retirement ages were being extended…for some reason the pension funds were dwindling or disappearing. The national sales tax we call IVA (Value Added Tax) rose from 18% to 20%, then to 21% and again to 22%.

And in the midst of all this financial chicanery, the Chinese began furiously buying up Italian real estate and businesses in the North.

Now the reason I mention Renzi and the Chinese together is that strange things were also going on between the governments of Italy and China. A blind eye was being turned to the way the Chinese were buying businesses in the financial, telecommunication, industrial and fashion sectors of Italy’s economy, all of which take place in Milano.

To be brief…China was getting away with purchases and acquisitions in violation of Italian law and EU Trade Agreements with the US and the UK…and no one in either of those countries (not Obama in the US or Cameron in the UK) said a thing in their country’s defense. As a matter of fact, much of it was hidden from the public in all three countries.

In 2014, China infused the Italian economy with €5 billion through purchases of companies costing less than €100 million each. By the time Renzi left office (in disgrace) in 2016, Chinese acquisitions had exceeded €52 billion. When the dust settled, China owned more than 300 companies…representing 27% of the major Italian corporations.

The Bank of China now owns five major banks in Italy…all of which had been secretly (and illegally) propped up by Renzi using pilfered pension funds! Soon after, the China Milano Equity Exchange was opened and much of Italy’s wealth was being funneled back to the Chinese mainland.

Chinese state entities own Italy’s major telecommunication corporation (Telecom) as well as its major utilities (ENI and ENEL). Upon entry into the telecommunication market, Huawei established a facility in Segrate, a suburb of Milano. It launched is first research center there and worked on the study of microwaves which has resulted in the possibly-dangerous technology we call 5G.

China also now owns controlling interest in Fiat-Chrysler, Prysmian and Terna. You will be surprised to know that when you put a set of Pirelli tires on your car, the profits are going to China. Yep…the Chinese colossus of ChemChina, a chemical industry titan, bought that company too!

Last but not least is Ferretti yachts…the most prestigious yacht builder in Europe. Incredibly, it is no longer owned by the Ferretti family.

But the sector in which Chinese companies invested most was Italy’s profitable fashion industry. The Pinco Pallino, Miss Sixty, Sergio Tacchini, Roberta di Camerino and Mariella Burani brands have been acquired by 100%.

Designer Salvatore Ferragamo sold 16% and Caruso sold 35%. The most famous case is Krizia, purchased in 2014 by Shenzhen Marisfrolg Fashion Company, one of the leaders of high-priced, ready-to-wear fashions in Asia.

Throughout all of these purchases and acquisitions, Renzi’s government afforded the Chinese unrestricted and unfettered access to Italy and its financial markets, many coming through without customs inspections.

Quite literally, tens of thousands of Chinese came in through Milano (illegally) and went back out carrying money, technology and corporate secrets.

Thousands more were allowed to enter and disappeared into shadows of Milano and other manufacturing cities of Lombardy, only to surface in illegal sewing shops, producing knock-off designer clothes and slapping ‘Made In Italy’ labels on them. All with the tacit approval of the Renzi government.

It was not until there was a change in the governing party in Italy that the sweatshops and the illegal entry and departure of Chinese nationals was stopped. Matteo Salvini, representing the Lega Nord party, closed Italy’s ports to immigrants and systematically began disassembling the sweatshops and deporting those in Italy illegally.

But his rise to power was short-lived. Italy is a communist country…socialism is in the national DNA. Ways were found to remove Salvini, after which the communist party, under the direction of Giuseppe Conte, reopened the ports. Immediately, thousands of unvetted, undocumented refugees from the Middle East and East Africa began pouring in again. Access was again provided to the Chinese, under the old terms, and as a consequence thousands of Chinese, the majority from Wuhan, began arriving in Milano.

In December of last year, the first inklings of a coronavirus were noticed in Lombardy…in the Chinese neighborhoods. There is no doubt amongst senior medical officials that the virus was brought here from China. By the end of January 2020 cases were being reported left and right. By mid-February the virus was beginning to seriously overload the Lombardy hospitals and medical clinics. They are now in a state of collapse.

The Far-Left politicians sold out and betrayed the Italian people with open border policies and social justice programs. One of the reasons the health care system collapsed so quickly is because the Renzi government (and now continued under the Conte government) redirected funds meant to sustain the medical system, to pay for the tens of thousands of immigrants brought in to Italy against the will of the Italian people.

If you remember the horrible earthquake that decimated the villages around Amatricia, in the mountains east of Rome in 2015, you would also remember how the world responded by sending millions of dollars to help those affected.

But there is a law in Italy that prevents private donations to charitable Italian organizations. All money and donations received must be turned over to a government agency, who in turn is to appropriate the funds as needed. But that agency is corrupt just as are all the others. Most of the money never reached a single victim in the mountains. The Renzi government redirected the vast majority of those funds to pay for the growing immigrant and refugee costs.

As the economy worsened under the burden of illegal immigration, compounded by gross government spending and incompetence, unemployment rose quickly…especially among young people. The unemployment rate for men and women under age 35 is close to 40%. So more money was diverted from the health care system and used to pay what is known here as guaranteed income. Whether you work or not you are paid here, especially if you belong to the PD! The government simply raises taxes on those who do work.

Let me give you a quick example of the height of insanity to which Italian taxation has risen. If you live in a building that has a balcony or balconies…and any of those balconies cast a shadow on the ground, you must pay a public shadow tax! I will say no more!

The point I am trying to make here is that not only did the Chinese bring the virus to Italy (and the rest of the world) it was far-Left politics and policies that facilitated it.

https://www.americanpartisan.org/2020/04/tx2guns-sends-italys-communist-recipe-for-disaster-by-giacomino-nicolazzo/

States want bailouts.

NO one likes absorbing a loss.

Especially one they did not specifically cause themselves.

Deconstructing Linus: Portrait of a True Believing Pumpkinist as a Young Man

What does the Great Pumpkin offer Linus? Why does Linus spend every Halloween in the pumpkin patch, waiting for the Great Pumpkin to appear? Is it about the toys?

"Each year on Halloween night, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere and flies through the air with his pack of toys for all the good little children in the world."

No. This is about sincerity, a subjective standard by any definition.

I wonder if Linus blames himself every year for not picking the most sincere pumpkin patch for his vigil?

I wonder if other Great Pumpkinists castigate Linus by asserting if he were more in tune with the Spirit of the Great Pumpkin, if he were more prayerful, if he read the Holy Writ of the Great Pumpkin with a greater sincerity, that he could indeed rise to the challenge and, via the Spirit, be lead to choose the most sincere pumpkin patch?

I wonder how many years Linus will feel guilty for this failure and blame himself for receiving no answer no matter how sincere he believes himself to be?

I wonder if Linus ever gets frustrated because there is no objective way to measure sincerity?

And if he realizes there is no objective standard for such a thing, I wonder if it ever creeps into his mind that his annual mission is nothing more than mindless busywork?

I wonder... does Linus ever have doubts?

For the time being, however, Linus will put aside his doubts and, perhaps as a means of proving his sincerity, begins to proselyte among his friends for converts. Most shrug him off. But Sally, who has a crush on him, believes Linus and agrees to spend Halloween in Linus' Pumpkin Patch.

Linus then explains that by using positive language and positive thinking, they may be able to attract the Great Pumpkin to their Patch. He also cautions Sally that negative language and negative thinking will cause the Great Pumpkin to pass them by.

There is no room for doubt when one is a Great Pumpkinist. One should never say if the Great Pumpkin comes but always when the Great Pumpkin comes. "One little slip like that, can cause the Great Pumpkin to pass you by!" It's hard to imagine a benevolent icon such as the Great Pumpkin punishing TBPs (True Believing Pumpkinists) for such a minor infraction, but there you have it.

Sally: The Birth of an Ex-Pumpkinist

Because Sally loves her "sweet baboo" Linus, she sets aside her own Halloween plans of trick-or-treating and a Halloween party in order to spend the evening in the Pumpkin Patch. She converts to Great Pumpkinism because she loves Linus. She respects his opinion. And she wants to make him happy and be supportive. And besides, if it's really true, WOW! Wouldn't that be fantastic?

But in the end, the only Being that shows up in the Pumpkin Patch is Snoopy. Linus, believing Snoopy to be the Great Pumpkin, swoons into an ecstatic faint, happy in the knowledge that he has finally deciphered the Great Pumpkin's standard for sincerity. But, alas, it is a misplaced hope, and when Linus regains consciousness, there is not only no Great Pumpkin there to reward him, there is one upset little girl.

"I was robbed! I spent the whole night waiting for the Great Pumpkin when I could have been out for tricks or treats! Halloween is over and I missed it! You blockhead! You kept me up all night waiting for the Great Pumpkin and all that came was a beagle!"

"I didn't get a chance to go out for tricks or treats! And it was all your fault! I'll sue! What a fool I was. And I could have had candy apples and gum! And cookies and money and all sorts of things! But no, I had to listen to you! You blockhead. What a fool I was. Trick or treats come only once a year. And I missed it by sitting in a pumpkin patch with a blockhead. You owe me restitution!"

Luckily for Sally, she only missed one Halloween. And though she is demanding restitution, because her participation was voluntary, she will never receive said restitution. She'll simply have to accept the experience as one of life's absurdities and move on.

However, one can hope that this experience has made Sally a more skeptical person, so that the next time she is presented with such fantastic claims, she'll perhaps be inclined to do her research before committing any time, money or emotion.

After all, fantastic claims should be supported by fantastic evidence, right?

The question now becomes, has this experience made Linus a skeptic? After yet again not having his Pumpkin Patch recognized as sincere and after having endangered his friendship with Sally, will he continue to believe?

In spite of a complete and utter lack of evidence pointing to the existence of the Great Pumpkin, and a complete and utter lack of the Great Pumpkin's Promise ever having been fulfilled, Linus is a True Believing Pumpkinist to the core. To even admit the possibility that he may be wrong would be to negate all those years of hard work and sincere belief. Linus simply cannot turn his back on his belief.

So if Linus doesn't become an ex-Pumpkinist, what is his strategy? Well, he's going to keep on trying, isn't he?

"What do you mean, 'stupid'? Just wait until next year. I'll find a pumpkin patch, and I'll sit in that pumpkin patch and it'll be a sincere pumpkin patch, and the Great Pumpkin will come! Just you wait and see! I'll sit in that pumpkin patch, and I'll see the Great Pumpkin. Just wait until next year!"

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