Day 6: California Under Martial Law Lite (Bedtime For Democracy)

The news was bleak yesterday. No, it wasn't that Humboldt was up to five reported cases that tested positive for the coronavirus. Anyone paying attention knows those numbers are woefully inadequate because so few tests are being conducted. It wasn't even that a "coronavirus party" in Kentucky ended with someone getting the coronavirus. That's called karma, and it can be a real bastard when it wants to be. It's Kentucky, though, so . . . No, the bleak part was the president saying he wanted the country reopened by Easter so the economy doesn't totally tank. Who cares about dead old people (though the numbers of young dying are growing). Who cares that economy has already tanked. He wants it up and running or . . . what? I don't know.

"I could kill 8 million grandmothers and still get re-elected."

I've seen conservative estimates putting the dead in America at 8 million if that were to happen, though those numbers are just plain forecasting because we really don't know. It could be more. It could be less.

I agree that the economy is important. But, as of today, we can fix the economy but can't yet bring back the dead. Even Haiti has a problem doing that properly.

Our local businesses here in Humboldt are dealing with things a bit differently. Don's Donuts in Arcata doesn't seem to care and lets people come in and crowd. Rite Aid in Eureka has tape on the floor to show how far six feet is for people standing in line. Too many businesses have signs that say they are closed for the foreseeable future. I wonder how many will reopen. I hope it will be the majority, but the longer this drags on the less likely that will occur, and that is what scares Trump, who cares about the economy over everything else. Businesses will come back, though, and Humboldt, perhaps more than other places, is good at supporting local businesses in tough times. The president has a bigger picture problem, but his solution is decidedly short-sighted and lacks long term vision. How bad will the economy be when the dead start topping the millions, and how will those Republicans who supported him look to the general public?

This dog-eat-dog world has brought us to this point. Toilet paper gone. People have coronavirus parties. Greed run rampant. And still we don't learn. Maybe the president is right. Maybe a bunch of us need to die. I just would wish it would be more targeted toward the monsters who think it is every man, woman, and child for themselves. They remain unimpressive by any civilized standard, and the sooner we are rid of them, the better. For it is them, and not the elderly, who cost us more economically and socially, and who are utterly useless in the grand scheme of things. Let them die . . . and leave them unburied.