Monday, May 18, 2020

Every Now And Again...

     ...a studious follower of the news will encounter something that really rips the masks off:

     With every passing day, it becomes increasingly clear that COVID-19 won’t allow things to go back to normal anytime soon — regardless of how intently Trump and his Republican death cult are prepared to risk millions of lives in service of the stock market. The lengthy disruption will force governments to consider novel ways to get necessary supplies to people without requiring everyone to go to the store themselves — especially those most vulnerable to the virus, and the growing numbers of poor and unemployed who simply won’t have the money....

     The stories of Amazon’s mistreatment of its warehouse workers are nothing new — from peeing in bottles and being denied air conditioning to having every second of their shifts closely tracked with penalties if they don’t hit their targets. But now the virus has made things worse.

     As orders have flooded in, workers are expected to clock overtime, even as they say the company isn’t doing enough to keep them safe from COVID-19. So far cases have been identified in at least ten US fulfillment centers and three in Europe. But workers say they haven’t been given the proper protective equipment, often aren’t informed when a coworker tests positive until they confront management, and are being told to keep three feet from each other, even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends six feet. Not all of the warehouses where cases have been identified were even closed for cleaning.

     The government needs to act not just to protect those frontline workers, but to ensure it has an infrastructure to respond to the needs of people across the country as the pandemic situation deteriorates. The response should be to nationalize Amazon and integrate it with the USPS.

     You don’t need to read any further to understand the agenda of the writer – or of “Jacobin Magazine.” Something developed by a private party – Jeff Bezos’s brainchild Amazon.com – has provided a highly valuable and efficient service to private citizens during the lockdown! Orders are flooding in! Its owners and shareholders are making money! This cannot be tolerated! It must be nationalized for the benefit of “the people!”

     Never mind that “the government,” that omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent Servant of The People, couldn’t even produce a reliable website with unlimited funds and no time limit. (Remember “ObamaCare?”) Never mind that every enterprise run by “the government” eventually requires taxpayer subsidies to stay afloat. And never mind that, as Milton Friedman once observed, had the Soviets ever taken over the Sahara Desert, within three months there would be a shortage of sand.

     No. None of that matters. What matters is this: Amazon, because it has stepped up in the middle of the wholly artificial, Left-promoted and elongated Wuhan virus pseudo-crisis, is making money. Leftists can’t abide that. They act against it whenever they detect it...and it’s easily detected today, owing to their own machinations and gropings for unlimited power.

     The Left is anti-American by definition. The definition, of course, is individual freedom, which implies the freedom to produce and trade with willing others, to our mutual benefit. Yet we tolerate these...persons. We generally refrain from laughing at them, as they richly deserve. And when they send their thugs among us to suppress our rallies and our luminaries, what do we do?

     I’ve had enough. That “clack” you just heard is me putting a round in the breech and ramming the bolt closed. It’s time to take back our country, by any means expedient.

     Time and past time.

3 comments:

  1. If those complaining Amazon employees think it's tough working for a capitalist, just think how much tougher it would be working for a govt nationalized business. No more overtime, no more sick days. Most likely, no more vacation time. Most assuredly no more retirement plan.

    Of course, Amazon employees have a choice in their working conditions. If they don't like them, quit and find another job.

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  2. I was just reading this PJ Media piece:

    https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2020/05/17/watch-brooklyn-park-paints-circles-on-grass-to-force-public-into-social-distancing-n398902

    Hashem bless my blood pressure.

    Here in NH the Dems are talking mandatory mask laws. Here in the f*cking "Live free or die!" state.

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  3. Fran, you are the firebrand Patriot, in a world that needs the Samuel Adams and Paul Reveres. People who are willing to put in the time to gently bring around a critical mass to our side.

    People haven't begun hurting enough - yes, I know there are those who are desperate, by modern standards.

    But, they haven't - recently - been gunned down in the streets.

    They haven't been - for more than a short time - tossed in jail to rot away for their non-crime.

    They haven't begun assembling in sufficient numbers to concern the PTB. All actions have been - so far - mostly street theater. Even if carrying guns.

    The concepts that underlie the Revolution-to-Come aren't spoken by the average man. It's still just the rumblings of the Committees of Correspondence. The Revolution is not yet on the lips and in the hearts of the main populace (not even close to 1/3, which is what the percentage of fighter and supporters were back in the day).

    We're still long before The Flashpoint. We're needed to keep hammering down, spreading the word, and publicizing the rationale for acting against the abuses.

    Trump may have delayed the Moment, by issuing those checks. People aren't hungry enough, either physically (obesity is more of a problem), spiritually (although that's likely to change in the next few weeks, as people return to physical presence in worship), nor politically. As long as there is hope at the ballot-box, revolution is a long way away.

    National revolt is, I think, unlikely. Statewide revolt, getting more and more possible. I think Trump may stand aside, if asked to intervene in a state dispute. It would be the prudent thing to do.

    It's pretty clear that the would-be dictators, like Whitmer, will go down in flames at the next election, if not before. The energy from that effort to defeat her will do more to bring on the fervor to revolt than anything we could do. We should work with others in our own state to make connections (the Revere role in the Revolution). If not inclined for much interpersonal work, then donate money, supply services (IT helpers are always needed), and keep an eye on the actors (moles are not unknown). Just providing a driver/companion for politicians might keep some of them out of trouble.

    Think nationally, act locally, to paraphrase an old slogan.

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