How easily "normal" goes away

​Attached is the video of Venice Skate Park in Los Angeles, California being filled with sand to insure that it is not used during the mandatory lock down period that the State has issued for it's citizens.  This breaks my heart, because we all know in our heart of hearts that the sand will never be removed.

I have a question for you.

What was a divisive symbol powerful people could use to test the will of the people and to what length they will go to in order to protect their freedom? When was that symbol put into the front lines of testing for the citizens of this Country to decide what is more important...optics or freedom?

Answer: The Rebel Flag. It was outlawed, thus violating the 1st Amendment of the Constitution as an act of freedom of speech and expression. Now I am not a big proponent of The Rebel Flag when it comes to certain things it may have once upon a time stood for, but when it is outlawed, I react in a manner that makes me wonder what freedoms are truly sacred in this Country. 

By and large, there was an outcry in support of it's banishment. While the entire Country understands that the flag represented something of a dark period of time in our history, the entire Country divided itself on the importance of either erasing our history and violating the 1st Amendment, or incriminating people exercising their 1st Amendment right by displaying something that offended many people.

In short, we as a Country gave up our 1st Amendment....THE FIRST FREAKING AMENDMENT....over a piece of cloth that may cause some hurt feelings. This happened years ago, and at the time I firmly stood saying you just opened a can of worms that cannot be closed. In no way do I support what many people say that flag stands for (slavery and racism). The problem is, I took an oath to protect these rights whether I support them or not. Sometimes the freedom of speech brings hard feelings, sometimes it even brings a good old fashioned ass whoopin'. Nobody says that displaying your right to free speech may not come with consequences. If someone takes your flag as an insult, it may result in you having a black eye; that does not give the government the right to outlaw the display of a flag. This is a clear breach of one of the most beautiful rights we have. To be an asshole or not to be an asshole, it's up to you. The government is not allowed to tell you it isn't your decision to be one or the other. Period.

Fast forward to today. People are stunned when these things are happening. We failed their test and now they have an opportunity to capitalize on it. Don't think for one second they won't capitalize on it. We as a people not only allowed that Pandora's Box to be opened, but we encouraged it. Now, we have to wonder how we close the box. The truth of the matter is, it may not be closed anytime soon. 

Knowing the citizens of this Country care, a soft house arrest was put on almost all citizens citing 2 weeks to flatten the curve. During those two weeks, prisoners were released because of concern they may contract the virus as well. A man in Florida named Joseph Edward Williams was arrested for murder just a day after his release. At least he didn't get the virus while in prison, where he clearly belongs.

After all the test that have been put to the citizens of the United States, the powers that be knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that when called to do so as their duty, the American people would sacrifice their liberty and freedoms for a period of time in order to save American lives. They knew we would take the bait. While knowing this, a soft house arrest was put on almost all citizens citing 2 weeks to flatten the curve. A month later, these guidelines are not relaxing, in fact, they are tightening the grip around our neck. The mainstream media has had a 2 extra weeks to vilify anyone that has had enough and wants to stop the bleeding of our Constitution before it is lit on fire permanently.

Think about how powerful what you are being fed is. The mania set in with a test that was run on a news outlet that showed the shelves of a local store being out of toilet paper, and before any of us could blink, all the toilet paper in the entire area was gone. Toilet paper was the test. Again, we failed the test. There was no indication in fact that there was reason to buy every roll of toilet paper that you could get your hands on because of the potential of a virus. Not one single valid indication that this should have happened, and yet it happened in the blink of an eye. We all need to see how powerful that is.