By John Daniel Davidson
TheFederalist.com

By now it should be obvious that elected state and local officials issuing COVID-19 lockdown and stay-at-home orders are just making things up as they go along.

Too often, their edicts aren’t based on science or data, but on a grotesque understanding of their own authority and infallibility. In the face of a worsening pandemic, they want to be seen doing something, taking bold action to stop the spread of the virus—that is, so long as it doesn’t hurt certain favored special interests.

That’s why Americans living under arbitrary and unconstitutional lockdown orders should simply ignore them, en masse, as an act of civil disobedience.

How else are ordinary people to push back against the capricious rules of politicians like Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti? On November 25, the day before Thanksgiving, Garcetti and county health officials banned outdoor dining at bars and restaurants for three weeks. Because of the spread of the virus, they said, it’s just too dangerous, so we all have to do our part and make sacrifices.

But then they gave a carve-out for certain kinds of outdoor dining, like film and television crew’s catering sites. In Garcetti’s town, a massive film crew eating outside is safe but a small restaurant or bar with outdoor, socially distanced seating is too dangerous to remain open. Got it?

Then last week, L.A. County Superior Court Judge James Chalfant called out the mayor and county health officials on this arbitrary exercise of power, ordering them to produce scientific evidence to justify the outdoor dining ban. “You have to do a risk-benefit analysis for public health. You don’t just talk about the risk of spreading disease. You have to talk about the benefit of keeping restaurants open,” Chalfant said.

Exactly right. Chalfant is also requiring the county to provide data on hospital and ICU capacity to justify the claim that the health-care system would be overwhelmed without the outdoor dining ban. County health officials are scheduled to appear in Chalfant’s courtroom Tuesday to give whatever evidence they were able to cobble together since last week.

The lawsuit, brought by an attorney who also owns a downtown L.A. restaurant, captures the dynamic of pandemic governance in a microcosm. Health officials, based on nothing but their opinions about what might be safe or not, have put tens of thousands of people in America’s second-largest city out of work right before the holiday season.

This pattern has played out all across the country this year. Elected officials, often Democratic mayors or governors, promulgate rules, curfews, capacity limits, and outright shutdowns that betray either animosity or indifference toward certain groups while protecting other, favored groups.

BREAKING NEWS!

Ohio Stands Up! will be able to enter into the discovery stage of the trial soon and looks forward to deposing under oath the relevant state and federal officials.

"As the state continues to double down on this continued fraud, going so far as to create FEMA “concentration camps,” we are working to shine the light of truth on the dark reality of the COVID response.”

9/10/2020, Toledo, OH – As the state of Ohio continues to discriminate against the elderly and promote fear amongst the population, Ohio Stands Up! is making progress in shining the light of justice on the issue. Recent days have seen some of the most incredible steps yet taken in Ohio’s response to a disease that is only slightly more dangerous to most people than a seasonal influenza. Pursuant to D.O.-Non-Congregate-Shelter-Second-Amended-08.31.20 the state is creating FEMA “prison camps” to place people that are “unable to self-isolate” and showing symptoms of COVID-19.

Ohio Stands Up! attorney, Thomas Renz, said, “In working with our doctors and other experts we have become particularly troubled by this order. The symptoms of COVID-19 are the same or similar to a common cold, allergies, influenza, and even the side effects of some common medications. Since the test is inaccurate, even when used on the governor, how will we know who to imprison, and how will this imprisonment impact these people?”

Attorney Robert Gargasz asked, “Isn’t this similar to what Governor Cuomo did in nursing homes in New York, putting potentially sick and healthy people together in the same settings? Are we poisoning the healthy?” He goes on to ask, “With new reports that deaths are now below pre-pandemic levels, how can these actions be justified?”

Governor DeWine noted recently that the state would be eligible for additional funds for undertaking this project. This seems to indicate that the State makes money for imprisoning people without trial.

Ohio Stands Up! is happy, however, to announce that it appears we will be able to enter into the discovery stage of the trial soon. Attorney Renz stated, “Discovery is a critical part of this trial. The State has consistently told us that there is a public health crisis but refused to share their basis for this assertion. As we proceed through discovery the State will no longer be able to hide their data and models. We will finally be able to see the truth and determine just how dangerous this ‘crisis’ really is. We look forward to deposing the relevant state and federal officials and seeing what they have to say under oath.”

For more information, visit www.ohiostandsup.org.

MISSION: Our mission at Ohio Stands Up! is to file the first federal lawsuit in the country challenging a governor’s entire State of Emergency so we can reclaim Ohio. Our lawsuit will set national precedent, and as the saying goes, “Where Ohio goes so goes the nation.” Equally important are our efforts to educate Ohioans and all Americans on the reality of COVID-19 while ensuring our Constitutional rights are honored in the process.

WHO WE ARE: We are a group of 5,000 (and growing) concerned freedom-loving Ohioans, who recognize the tremendous sacrifices made by countless generations of Americans throughout our nation's history to secure, preserve, and protect our God-given rights. We believe it is our duty and privilege to protect our fundamental liberties while demanding our elected leaders be held accountable and be shown they cannot act with impunity for their tyrannical and corrupt behavior. We are united in our common goal to stand against continued violations of our Constitutional freedoms, while working to restore those freedoms from which we have been deprived. Leading Ohio Stands Up! is our all-volunteer Board comprised of 10 courageous Ohioans from all walks of life and careers. The Board is responsible for making all legal and financial decisions and leading this new movement.

In another example of pushback by citizens against draconian COVID-19 lockdown measures, a Canadian Common Law Assembly has passed a bylaw prohibiting COVID restrictions in several communities on Vancouver Island.

The Oceanside Common Law Assembly (OCLA) passed a public safety bylaw last month declaring that any government officials who attempt to enforce COVID restrictions, including mandatory distancing, masking, quarantines, and vaccinations in Parksville and Qualicum Beach may face fines and imprisonment.

“We made history tonight by putting power back in the hands of the people,” one of the bylaw’s authors reportedly said. “This is our answer to the police state and the COVID scam. We call on people everywhere to take the same step through their own Common Law Assemblies and Courts.”

Want a better life? Want to make the world a better place? You can, when you take responsibility and start bettering yourself. Best-selling author and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson explains how incremental daily changes can lead to a better life and ultimately a more harmonious world.

Episode 91: Scott Adams talks with the amazing Bill Pulte, founder of Blight Authority, about a solution to urban decay/crime.

When it comes to the internet, our connections are generally controlled by telecom companies. But a group of people in Detroit is trying to change that. Motherboard met with the members of the Equitable Internet Initiative (EII), a group that is building their own wireless networks from the ground up in order to provide affordable and high-speed internet to prevent the creation of a digital class system.

The Web of Debt Blog

Phil Murphy, a former banker with a double-digit lead in New Jersey’s race for governor, has made a state-owned bank a centerpiece of his platform. If he wins on November 7, the nation’s second state-owned bank in a century could follow.   

A UK study published on October 27, 2017 reported that the majority of politicians do not know where money comes from. According to City A.M. (London) :

More than three-quarters of the MPs surveyed incorrectly believed that only the government has the ability to create new money. . . .

The Bank of England has previously intervened to point out that most money in the UK begins as a bank loan. In a 2014 article the Bank pointed out that “whenever a bank makes a loan, it simultaneously creates a matching deposit in the borrower’s bank account, thereby creating new money.”

The Bank of England researchers said that 97% of the UK money supply is created in this way. In the US, the figure is about 95%. City A.M. quoted Fran Boait, executive director of the advocacy group Positive Money, who observed:

“Despite their confidence in telling the public that there is ‘no magic money tree’ to pay for vital services, politicians themselves are shockingly ignorant of where money actually comes from.

“There is in fact a ‘magic money tree’, but it’s in the hands of commercial banks, such as Barclays, HSBC and RBS, who create money whenever they make loans.”

For those few politicians who are aware of the banks’ magic money tree, the axiom that the people should own the banks – or at least some of them – is a no-brainer. One of these rare politicians is Phil Murphy, who has a double-digit lead in New Jersey’s race for governor. Formerly a Wall Street banker himself, Murphy knows how banking works. That helps explain why he has boldly made a state-owned bank a centerpiece of his platform. He maintains that New Jersey’s billions in tax dollars should be kept in the state’s own bank, where it can leverage its capital to fund local infrastructure, small businesses, affordable housing, student loans, and other state needs. New Jersey voters go to the polls on November 7.

This children's clothing line designed by Royal College of Art graduate Ryan Mario Yasin has a pleat system that lets garments stretch to fit even after growth spurts.

Japanese company Genepax presents its eco-friendly car that runs on nothing but water.

The car has an energy generator that extracts hydrogen from water that is poured into the car's tank. The generator then releases electrons that produce electric power to run the car. Genepax, the company that invented the technology, aims to collaborate with Japanese manufacturers to mass produce it.

SOUNDBITE: Kiyoshi Hirasawa, CEO, Genepax.