New York State’s Godfather, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, “think[s]” that coronavirus ”is going to be the public health version of Hurricane Katrina.”
For once, this noted liar is right, though for the wrong reason. He compared the “Trump administration’s ‘poor response’” to COVID-19 with George Bush’s to the infamous storm. Baloney. The most striking similarity is Cuomo’s exploiting his subjects’ hysteria to seize dictatorial powers, just as Bush did with Katrina’s victims.
“So what?” you’re shrugging. “That’s New York, buncha nuts and Marxists there, let ‘em suffer.”
Can’t argue with that. But local rulers across the US will likely imitate The Godfather. His response to the virus and concomitant panic warns us what to expect and how to protect ourselves from official “help.”
To wit: Cuomo signed a bill last week that “gives” him “$40M [and] broad powers amid coronavirus”—or anything else: many situations, not merely a rash of chest colds, unleash those “broad powers.” Astoundingly, the governor can “issue directives in response to a disaster — an ‘occurrence or imminent, impending or urgent threat of widespread or severe damage, injury or loss of life or property’ — resulting from a slew of potential crises, including not only disease, but also natural disasters, terrorism activity and infestation, among other issues.” “Infestation.” Hmmm. Remember that billions of rats and roaches infest New York City, not to mention cops and politicians.
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But I digress. Even New York’s legislators, as hostile to freedom as Stalin or Obummer, hesitated to so breathtakingly increase this corrupt politician’s authority. One “State Sen.” with a marvelous grasp of the obvious “said the legislation was a ‘power grab’ capitalizing on the coronavirus as an excuse to ‘inappropriately and excessively’ expand Cuomo’s powers”—and that when The Godfather already savors wildly inappropriate and excessive powers.
Other rulers objected to the “power grab’s” duration. “…[S]ome lawmakers also voiced concerns about the measure’s sunset date: April 30, 2021 … Opponents [all 16 of them, out of 189 legislators] — and even some who ultimately voted in favor of the bill — questioned why the governor requires 14 months to respond to the coronavirus.” Ha! These simpletons should ask instead why he wants only 14 months and what he has up his sleeve for May 1, 2021.
Even The Godfather admitted the flimsiness of his excuse in the very act of signing the bill: “While New York’s overall risk level remains low,”—89, count ‘em, 89 cases at that time in a population of over 19.4 million—”these actions will provide our doctors, hospitals and first responders with the tools they need to ensure the health and safety of all New Yorkers…” Notice the slick, deliberate confusion of “doctors, hospitals and first responders” with Cuomo and “the tools they need” with his own dominance.
But give him credit for waiting almost four days before declaring the “state of emergency” that enabled him to “suspend or modify” New York’s laws. Much of the “suspended” legislation prescribed a system by which the state purchases goods and services. Now Cuomo and cronies will plunder taxpayers with even greater impunity.
Other “suspensions and modifications” strip New Yorkers of their rights. For example, “unlicensed individuals, upon completion of training deemed adequate by the Commissioner of Health, … [may] collect throat or nasopharyngeal swab specimens from individuals”—against their will?—”suspected of being infected by COVID-19, for purposes of testing… .” The bill also imbues Cuomo “with the authority to regulate traffic and the movement”—or lack thereof—”of vehicles on roads, highways, and streets…”
Three days into the “state of emergency,” Cuomo flexed his enhanced powers at New Rochelle, a suburb about 20 miles north of New York City. A resident there, who had contracted the virus during a trip to Miami, attended services at his temple before realizing he was sick. His 89 infected friends and neighbors afforded government a pretext to meddle—though even now, a week later, there are still only 200 cases. By my calculation, this “epidemic” has felled a mere .00001% of New Yorkers
No matter: Cuomo decreed a “containment zone” with a one-mile radius; it “goes into effect Thursday, March 12 and will remain in effect for two weeks, through March 25. Officials stress it’s not a lockdown”—yet. “Those who aren’t quarantined will be able to leave their homes and go to work or elsewhere”—for now. “Local businesses can remain open. People are free to walk the sidewalks.” Isn’t that generous?
Reporters inquired how else The Godfather will flaunt his shiny new authorities. Well, OK, they didn’t phrase it quite that way: “When asked about the possibility of further preventative actions against the spread, like closing more schools, Cuomo said…, ‘I think you see the trajectory going straight up.’” Why am I not surprised?
Which brings us to the most chilling aspect of The Godfather’s diktat: “bringing in the National Guard to assist [sic] those within the zone … National Guard troops are setting up a command post in New Rochelle to assist with the outbreak, such as delivering food to the roughly 1,000 people under a precautionary quarantine…” Whew! For a moment there, I feared these poor folks might starve in an age of online-shopping and Fresh Direct. (Nor should statists assume that entrepreneurs will transmit disease while the National Guard is trained not to: “Restaurateur Josh Berkowitz, who owns Eden Wok, said … his team is keeping busy delivering to those under orders not to leave home. ‘They’re quarantined, so when I speak to them over the phone they just tell me leave it on the porch and that’s what I do,’ delivery driver Ray Sosa said. ‘Drop and dash. Drop at your front door. As soon as I leave, you’re more than welcome to open the door. They’re concerned for my safety. I’m concerned for their safety,’ Berkowitz said”). How soon before the Guard “assists” with shuttering whatever businesses remain open while confining “sidewalkers” to their homes—or worse?
New Rochelle’s wus of a mayor defended the soldiers’ incursion: “’It’s not as though New Rochelle is going to become a militarized community,’ [Mayor Noam Bramson] said”; was that a nervous chuckle I heard? “‘It’s not like we’re going to have checkpoints as people are coming and going.” Here we go again: add a “yet” to each of Bramson’s claims.
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“It wasn’t immediately clear how many troops had been deployed, though some were already on the ground Tuesday afternoon. … Bramson said the sight of National Guard troops on his city’s streets is not cause for alarm. … ‘I want to be real about this: When you see someone from the National Guard on your street and outside your home, it is natural and human to find it unsettling … But I want to emphasize: The Guard is here to help us.’”
Sure they are: just ask the survivors of Kent State University. But New York’s chattel must comply, for they were long ago disarmed. Which allowed Bramson to gloat, “There has been a calm acceptance of direction from public health authorities … Neighbors have come together to support each other and have really demonstrated a level of resilience and maturity that speaks very well of everyone involved.” Wow: submission as “maturity.” And arbeit macht frei.
Meanwhile, The Godfather revels in snapping his fingers and ruining such festivities as the St. Patrick’s Day Parade (cancelled for the first time in its 258 years) He’s also “banned gatherings of more than 500 people,” including “Broadway shows.”
But such “closings come amid signs that New Yorkers are acting on their own to avoid crowds. Ridership on the subway and commuter rail lines has plunged, state officials said.” Private groups and associations are voluntarily postponing their events; restaurants are empty. That shows the State’s quarantines and “public health” strictures for what they are: utterly superfluous and tyrannical.
“One mile is a fairly constrained area,” The Godfather insisted. “It is dramatic action but … this is literally a matter of life and death. That’s not an overly rhetorical statement.”
Nope. It’s an overly despotic one.
