Blue states more harshly played the Covid card to trample people’s Constitution rights. They banned workers from making a living. Businesses were closed without due process and without compensating owners for their losses.
The government used licenses and permits to control, threaten and punish law-abiding citizens. Tyrannical mandates made criminals of honest enterprising Americans.
Two owners of a New Jersey gym were arrested for operating their business in defiance of Gov. Phil Murphy closing indoor workout facilities. Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti, owners of Atilis Gym in the town of Bellmawr, were taken into custody at their business where they had been staying.
After being released from jail, Smith said, "Welcome to America 2020, where feeding your family and standing up for your Constitutional rights is illegal."
A Holland, Michigan restaurant owner was released from jail five days after being arrested — and after she paid $15,000 in fines and closed her business. Marlena Pavlos-Hackney, 55, escaped Communist Poland as a teen and never imagined she would ever face persecution in America.
Pavlos-Hackney’s “Marlena's Bistro and Pizzeria” was boarded-up after she refused Governor Whitmer’s orders. The restaurant had remained open not requiring masks or social distancing, all rules now known to be myths and government fraud.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s unconstitutional overreach eventually was stopped by the court but she remains a tyrannical thug.
Jennette Waldow’s Apple Bistro in El Dorado County, California was finally closed by a judge. Waldow had remained open after numerous regulatory dogs harassed her while she defied state closure orders. Like most eateries, the choice was remain open or go broke. The State and County favored her going broke.
Customers stood by Waldow while County Supervisors fined her $160,000 when she refused to sign papers agreeing not to sue them.
Randy Mitchell, owner of Uppercut Barber Shops (5 location/3 counties in California) overcame homelessness as a child and incarceration to become an entrepreneur. Marysville Police threatened to arrest him for not closing. Mitchell’s 40 barbers / cosmetologists could not survive without work.
The shops and barbers have been harassed multiple times by Consumer Affairs police. Barbers were cited and even arrested at the Wheatland shop though Yuba County jail refused to book them.
Barbers continue to be threatened by State compliance thugs for working without government permission. Mitchell was tried once and found guilty in a cell phone hearing for earning a living.
Like the restaurants and the gym owners, Mitchell had his licenses pulled by the state and now operates without state contracts. Recently, Placer County issued warrants for his arrest related to his shop in Roseville.
These business owners have a common belief, making a living is a right and not a privilege under the Constitution. However, the government has usurped those rights by using occupational licenses and permits to control and get money from business owners. It amounts to extortion.
Government likes a permission-society in which offending the powerful can result in the revocation of privilege without formality or delay. A system of privileges rather than rights puts everybody at risk of upsetting the officials' pleasures, if it doesn't outright drive owners underground.
If you want to know what real freedom feels like, then operate a business under the table. It is glorious. That is why the underground economy is massive. It is an indictment of our socialist thug government.
President Ronald Reagan said, “Man is not free unless government is limited. Covid is an international scam to turn an average ailment into an international crisis. It is a strategy to take total control. And because some people saw through the bullsh*t the “Nazis” must now extract their pound of flesh from resisters.
Authoritarianism is common. The swamp loves it. Freedom is the rare experience.
In the summer of 1651 Obadiah Holmes was arrested in Massachusetts for being a minister of the gospel without a license. He refused to pay a fine and was ordered by the judge to be lashed 30 times in public while tied to a post. Some doubted he would survive. Freedom has a cost.
When laws and regulations rob people of their freedom to pursue happiness then those statutes are evil and their enforcers are evil-doers.
(Lou Binninger can be heard on No Hostages Radio podcast, live on KMYC 1410AM 10-1 Saturdays, read at Live with Lou on Facebook and at Nohostagesradio.com)
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