Day 239: A shutdown by any other name

This is Day 239 of The First Ohio Shutdown and Day 175 of Largely Peaceful Looting.

Deb and I are ok. More about us at the end of today’s post.

Ok, I’ll get right to it — today Ohio Governor Richard Michael DeWine announced that he’s ordering a three-week statewide curfew, beginning Thursday, from 10pm to 5am every day. In a year that’ll be remembered for idiotic mandates, this one is so breathtakingly and comprehensively dumb that I’m having a hard time deciding where to begin here.

Maybe the best place to start is with the term of the curfew — three weeks. Remember, this comes from the same weasel who issued countless orders with specific durations, only to extend them again and again. If you really believe he intends to lift this curfew on December 10th, you’re a special kind of stupid.

It’s pretty clear that the decision to impose a seven-hour daily curfew can’t be justified scientifically. None of the data — real-world information gathered about the WuFlu virus and the effect of governments’ spastic responses to it — can possibly support a State decree that confines citizens to their homes during hours when the vast majority of people are inside their homes anyway.

Control.

As for masks, specifically how a curfew is a response to poor compliance with mask mandates, that doesn’t pass The Laugh Test. Compliance has been near-universal in Ohio, and state-manufactured statistics continue to trend in a gloomy direction. Folks who say, “We told you this would happen if you didn’t wear a mask!” are willfully ignorant that four months of masking had no positive impact on the “pandemic.”

Obviously, we have to look at the devastating effect this curfew order will have on retail businesses, which can’t seem to catch a meaningful break from this governor, and individuals, who clearly have reached their limit. It’s not hyperbole to say that Ohio and its citizens have come to a breaking point, commercially and personally.

It’s also no exaggeration to observe that this is DeWine’s attempt to cancel Thanksgiving. If his record is any guide, he’ll try to blow up Christmas, too.

I think the governor wants us to be glad that he announced a curfew instead of a shutdown — which is insulting, of course. The order that takes effect on Thursday is a shutdown. It closes businesses which should be open. It prohibits the travel of born-free Americans. That it assaults Liberty only seven hours each day doesn’t mean it’s not a shutdown.

Finally, if you watched DeWine today you saw him make his announcement with an unmistakable sneer. He blatantly mocked those of us who oppose and disagree with him. Those are symptoms of absolute corruption.

There’s only one justifiable reaction to this order, and that’s anger. And the proper response of a free People must be unapologetic defiance.

Yesterday, citing WuFlu fears, the United States Department of the Army canceled the annual “Wreaths Across America” event at Arlington National Cemetery. Reaction from veterans, including members of Congress who served, was swift and damning.

Trump tweeted this afternoon that he’d “reversed the ridiculous decision,” and that the ritual honoring America’s warriors “will now go on.”

And that’s why true Americans voted for Trump. If you don’t get it by now, you probably never will.

Deb and I walked out of her father’s house for the last time this afternoon — a sad moment for her, certainly, but also a necessary passage. She’s been strong, even relentless, for almost three months now, and the time has come to move on to what’s next for her, for us.

Throughout the process I’ve straddled the gap between spectator and player. Ultimately this has been a family matter — Deb’s family, the boys’ family, not so much my family. That only got awkward when Deb would present me with an item or two that had been her father’s, asking me if it was something I wanted.

I did ask about a couple of things myself, and I accepted some of what she offered — a few tools, a ceramic bald eagle, a stepladder. But as we cleaned the place out over the last couple of weeks, I did find a hidden treasure or two.

Example: an eight-ounce juice glass, with measuring gradations, bearing the logo of the now-defunct Big Bear supermarket chain. I found it in a box of junk in the garage, of all places. Perfect condition, a real keeper.

We ordered Tex-Mex for dinner tonight, via one of those popular there’s-an-app-for-that services. Instructions were for the driver to drop it on the porch in front of the door, which he did. As is the custom, he snapped a cell-phone pic of our delivered food and texted it to Deb.

The accompanying message gave us a chuckle: “Nice Trump sign! 🇺🇸”

Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay free.

#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #OhioAgainstDeWine #DefyDeWine

Follow Ubi Libertas on Facebook and Parler