Tag: State of Emergency

Closing Thought–16Mar20

The response to the virus has been an interesting story in itself…..but I think there are some extreme decisions that are a violation of some basic rights……take Champaign, Illinois…….

Champaign Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen has issued an executive order declaring an emergency in the city. 

City officials said the emergency is related to the COVID-19, which is anticipated to cause an impact on the health of community members. Champaign Municipal Code allows the mayor to declare an emergency for a limited time. 

Included in the executive order are ordinances that would give the city extraordinary powers to the Mayor. 

  • Violating parts of the Open Meetings Act
  • Ban sale of firearms and ammunition
  • Ban sale of any alcohol
  • Closing of all bars, taverns, liquor stores, etc
  • Ban sale or giving away of gasoline or other liquid flammable or combustible products in any container other than a gasoline tank permanently fixed to a motor vehicle
  • Direct the shutoff of power, water, gas, etc
  • Take possession of private property and obtain full title to same
  • Prohibit or restrict ingress and egress to and from the City

“The executive order allows the city to be flexible to properly respond to the emergency needs of our community. None of the options will necessarily will be implemented but are available in order to protect the welfare and safety of our community if needed,” Jeff Hamilton the City of Champaign’s Communications Manger told WAND-TV. 

(wandtv.com)

Someone explain how the confiscation of private property will help this response to a pandemic….

Any thoughts on your side?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

That “State Of Emergency”!

Recently our president threatened to call for a state of emergency…..basically if he does not get his $5 billion for his metaphorical wall then he might consider a state of emergency…..but what can he, Trump, do with such a declaration?

Most of his weapons were rhetorical, featuring a mix of lies and false inducements—claims that every congressional Democrat had signed on to an “open borders” bill (none had), that liberals were fomenting violent “mobs” (they weren’t), that a 10 percent tax cut for the middle class would somehow pass while Congress was out of session (it didn’t). But a few involved the aggressive use—and threatened misuse—of presidential authority: He sent thousands of active-duty soldiers to the southern border to terrorize a distant caravan of desperate Central American migrants, announced plans to end the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship by executive order, and tweeted that law enforcement had been “strongly notified” to be on the lookout for “ILLEGAL VOTING.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/01/presidential-emergency-powers/576418/

When question on his ability to declare a state of emergency Trump stated, “I can do it if I want”!  All for a metaphorical wall……kinda flipping sad……

Speaking outside of the White House on Friday as the government shutdown continued with no funding agreement in sight, President Donald Trump threatened to declare a national emergency to build his “border wall” if he doesn’t receive the more than $5 billion in funding he’s demanding from Congress.

“I can do it if I want,” Trump proclaimed in response to a question from a reporter. “We can do it. I haven’t done it. I may do it. I may do it.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/01/04/i-can-do-it-if-i-want-trump-threatens-declare-national-emergency-build-border-wall

This tactic has been used before by presidents….1952 Truman and the steel strike and FDR and the banks vulnerability…..both of these could have been major problems for the US without them….but a metaphorical wall is not something to declare an emergency over.

Finally Trump just had to feed that huge ego by declaring he should be a national hero…..“If anybody but Donald Trump did what I did in Syria, which was an ISIS loaded mess when I became President, they would be a national hero,”

I can think of a lot of titles for this person but ‘national hero’ is NOT one of them.