It’s Day 305 of 15 Days to Flatten the Curve and Day 65 of Ohio’s 21-day WuFlu Curfew.
That pointless curfew — arguably the dumbest mandate from this governor (and that’s really saying something) — was supposed to expire Saturday. I expected him to extend it again, for the third time, and yesterday he said as much.
This time there will be no end date. He’s extending it indefinitely.
Look at the data. There’s no credible reason to prolong the curfew or, for that matter, any of the other restrictions. But facts haven’t stopped Richard Michael DeWine yet.
The Ohio General Assembly entered the 2020 General Election with a Republican “supermajority” in both the House and the Senate. By the time the electoral dust cleared, both margins had grown — by three seats in the House, by one in the Senate. A gubernatorial veto shouldn’t pose a problem if leadership does its job.
I think we’re about to find out which GOP legislators stand with the People, and which ones are more concerned about remaining loyal to the governor. This autocratic bullshit has to stop.
Deb and I are well. There was an annoying-but-necessary administrative task we’d been putting off since bringing Ernie home exactly two months ago — formally transferring the Ohio Certificate of Title, signed over to us on day-of-sale by the previous owner, and getting a new one with our names on it.
That, of course, also meant paying sales tax on the purchase. And we couldn’t register the bus and get our license plate (singular now) until the deed was done.
Our local title bureau, barely a mile from Second Chance Ranch, is closed to the public until further notice — the woman who answered the phone wouldn’t say why. So yesterday morning we hopped in my truck and drove 20 miles to an office in another village.
All of the ridiculous Pandemic Theater procedures were in effect. Still, the agents were friendly and efficient, and taking care of the title didn’t occupy us very long. Since the BMV is in the same small building we stuck around, waited in another line and got the tag, too.
We’re lighter in the wallet than we were before, certainly, but the bus is now street-legal.
Early last evening I grabbed a selection of tools and settled on the floor between Ernie’s driver’s seat and the steering column. I spent an hour contorting and craning and cramping up, all part of mounting a small bracket and a 12V DC outlet in juuuuust the right spot.
In my younger days I did stuff like this all the time, installing radios and speakers and other electrical gizmos in various cars and trucks. Apparently I was more limber back then, because last night’s install took a lot more time and inflicted a lot more pain than I anticipated.
The task involved taking advantage of wiring run for a crusty old CB radio (which I’d taken out and tossed), connecting it to an aftermarket 12V accessory outlet and mounting it in a bracket under the dash to the left of the steering column. Simple enough, and eventually I got it done.
The setup will allow us to connect a new CB, a Midland handheld/mobile combo unit that’ll give us the flexibility we’re looking for. The antenna lead is next to the power outlet, so going from handheld to mobile will be a plug-and-play proposition.
But I’m not done yet — right now the outlet isn’t putting out the voltage it should, probably due to a sketchy power tap. I’ll chase that down later. I may just run a new wire.
Now that we’ve been through one full day of the Daffy-Chuckles administration, with the incessant posturing and the barrage of executive orders, I think it’s fair to say that lots of right-thinking Americans are back on their heels. Admittedly, it’s disconcerting.
Take a deep breath. We’ve seen this before. After eight years of POTUS #44 doing his damnedest to “fundamentally transform” America, we survived. In fact, we got stronger.
We were tested. And we’re being tested again.
If we’re to pass this test as a country, each of us must meet the challenges individually. This is no time for equivocation, half-measures or compromise. We can’t afford to fail — any of us.
Unfortunately, far too many of us have failed already.
If you believe that an elected official, whether it’s a president or a governor or a mayor, has lawful authority over you and how you live your life, you’ve failed.
If you can watch a president, by decree, cede America’s national sovereignty to a global elite, and believe he won’t do the same to citizens’ individual sovereignty and liberties, you’ve failed.
If you hold that skin color and national origin are more important than merit and achievement — ever — you’ve failed.
If you honor every racial identity except white, you’ve failed.
If you believe that “unity” is the answer, or even possible, you’ve failed — and you’re certifiably nuts.
If you hate border walls but you’re ok with razor wire around a presidential inauguration, you’ve failed.
If you can look at months of devastation wrought by violent unrest and believe that Antifa is a “myth” or BLM is an “idea,” and that the greatest threat to domestic tranquility is supporters of the previous president, you’ve failed.
If you believe that “equality” and “equity” are the same thing, you’ve failed.
And if you think the Daffy-Chuckles administration intends to represent all Americans, man, have you ever failed.
This is a test. We have just one shot at it.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath