Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Before I give you a hot prediction, let's check the Board from this weekend: 33,546 total cases with 9,339 cases added yesterday. The total number of cases seems to be doubling approximately every two days. There were a big jump in deaths yesterday at 117 bringing the total to 458.
  
• Warning: What follows is what happens when I start writing and can't stop. Stay with me here. Or not. 
• Here is my hot prediction:  There is about to be a major uprising -- if not an outright revolt -- against the complete shutdown of the economy from those portions of the country not severly impacted by the coronavirus like New York and California has been.  Why? 
• The "We Are Destroying The Economy Over This?" Argument.
• Over the last month, there has always been a small, or at least silent, portion of the population who thinks the shutting down of the country over the coronavirus is flat out silly. The argument, on its face, sounds harsh: Sure, deaths will occur if we went back to normalcy, but the number of deaths are relatively small.  People die all the time, they say. It's nature. Heck, maybe it's even "God's plan." 
• It's a gut-wrenching question that they are really willing to ask: Just how far are we willing to go to save x number of lives? 
• I can't dismiss this argument outright because I've always laughed at and mocked Draconian measures based upon the "if it saves one life" argument. I've given the example before: It would save one life if every car manufactured was a safe as a NASCAR and that we were required to wear flame retardant suits and a helmet. Would it save lives? Absolutely. Are we willing to be forced to pay $200,000 for an ultra safe car and be inconvenience by a helmet? Absolutely not. We are all simply willing to accept some deaths by having cars as-is. 
• You still think that argument should be dismissed outright?  What if the prediction for the total number of deaths, if we let the cornavirus take its course, was univerally agreed to be 50 in the United States. Would you support the current measures being taken? And what if it was just one life? Would you still support the ongoing measures? If you say yes, you're not wrong. But if you say no, I can't say you're wrong either. Let's face it. We all have our number. 
• And there are some smart people who think our approach is silly. The New York Times ran this opinion piece yesterday.
  
• That Small Minority Is About To Grow Naturally
• I mentioned my theory about the potential upcoming uprising both to Mrs. LL and my dad yesterday. I can't put my finger on it, but it seems like it has gained a great deal of traction over the last few days.
• But why would the Uprising gain traction? People are about to actually feel it in their pocketbooks. It's one thing to have some fears about struggling financially, but it's a lot different when you are actually looking at a rent bill or a car payment or a cell phone bill, and you can't pay it. That will happen over the next one to two weeks.
• And no one wants to say this, but this shut down we experienced over the last week has had a little bit of a "snow day" feel that's about to end. Hey, work just got a lot easier. Kids don't have to go to school. But that's about to change. It takes about one week at home before this ain't fun any longer. Nerves fray. Unhappiness sits in. We want to go back to normal. 
• Bottom line: Americans can only have a kumbaya moment for a very short period of time. Maybe a week. Maybe two. But then our old ways naturally set in and we want are drawn back to the way things were. And it happens fast. Remember post-9/11?
• Another Reason The Uprising Will Grow: God and Civil Liberties
• I began to notice these rumblings on Saturday when Tarrant County imposed its stronger restrictions of no gathering of 10 or more which specifically included churches.  Heck, to specifically name churches in the "order" fired off my civil liberties warning bells. 
  
• Never in my lifetime did I think I would see the government ordering a church to be closed down.  I think that's nuts. And even a fifth grader can read the First Amendment and know that's unconstitutional. 
• But my "concern" is nothing like the reaction of some people. The government infringement on the church is a call to war for some. It's a call to revolt. Couple that with a growing feeling of "Is this shutdown really necessary," and the Uprising picks up speed. 
• And you think I'm kidding? Look at this tweet by Chris Putnam yesterday who took on Kay Granger in the election earlier this month. 
  
• And then last night, BOOM! You think an Uprising isn't coming? Look what has happened in the last nine hours. 
• Trump, who I believe has always thought the experts were over-reacting to the coronavirus, finally exploded and put the wheels in motion to get back to normal ASAP: 
  
• Fox and Friends was running with it this morning: 
  
• And, now, holy cow. Look what Trump is retweeting this morning as I type this! Let's get back to normal and then isolate the "high risk groups". 
  
• Does the Uprising break along party lines? It's looking like it. The bail-out and checks to every American? That's socialism, they say. And the shut-down had already killed the economy (stock market crash, unemployment headed to 30%) and the economy was what Trump was going to run on (and an anti-socialism platform). If you want Trump re-elected, that's another reason to rush back to normalcy. And this political divide can be seen through what happened yesterday when Dallas County ordered shelter-in-place.
• County Judge Clay Jenkins, who I've always thought was dumb as a box of rocks, cited some statistics which are basically a flat-out lie: He said if all of Texas doesn't go shelter-in-place that there would be 430,000 deaths in our state alone.
  
•  Make no mistake, Dallas County is a Democratic county, and conservatives are already jumping all over him.
  
• And Tarrant County, a Republican County, specifically refused to order shelter-in-place last night with one county commissioner specifically saying, "Just because Dallas County does something doesn't mean we should."
• That, my friends, are the seeds of an Uprising as to how we are handling the coronavirus. 
• Hey, I want to be clear: I have no idea how to handle the coronavirus. But I also want to be clear: This unity isn't going to last. All of these "orders" from governors, county judges, and mayors are nothing more than suggestions. They aren't enforceable. No one is going to jail. No one is getting fined. And once, say,  5% of the population ignores all the orders and goes back to work and normalcy, the rest of the Uprising will follow. 
• Quick hits:
• All evictions have been stopped in Texas.
• A county commissioner in Florida tells everyone in an open meeting to direct a hair dryer at your nose to kill the virus. His source? He says he heard it on the reputable OANN. 
  
• And I wasted so much time on the "Uprising" that I've run out of it. I'll get back to "normal" tomorrow. 
• Messenger: Above the Fold