Episode 5. Breadlines and “Dead” Lines

MIKE DONOVAN: The America that we are living in right now is not a free America… that we are a government and have a government of by and for us not to control us.

It's Monday, April 6th and welcome to Not Free America radio. We are in the midst of a worldwide crisis we've never imagined, probably, we'd have to deal with. And we are in the beginning of a week that the president of the United States has indicated will be very, very tough. The surgeon general of the United States compared to a Pearl Harbor or 9/11 moment and the difficulty that people will have in dealing with what happens this week.

Folks, Mike Donovan here. Thank you for joining me and our daily quest to get at what's at the front lines of this World War COVID and what's happening with civil liberties on the front lines of this fight as governments seek to control a gathering so that we can control the spread of the disease. What I want to talk about tonight -- it's a really important topic to talk about at the beginning of this week, knowing that we're going to have a large number of people die this week as the apex approaches and the significantly increasing spread of COVID-19 finds its way through more and more of the country.

What happens when morgues are overwhelmed and bodies are more prevalent than space to put them. And that's really, you know, one of the many difficult things that we have to talk about in this pandemic and in understanding how we respond to it and how we relate to it -- is understanding that some of the things that we're going to have to deal with are things that we don't normally have to deal with or things that we don't normally have to think about. This is one of them. So for example, in Ecuador right now there are 2,700 reported cases of COVID-19, and there are 98 deaths. The problem in the capital city, -- there were over 400 bodies found rotting in the streets, plastic coverings over them. So the government death toll out of many of these countries and probably including the United States, to be honest with you, is not accurate.

And we know that in Ecuador we have bought more bodies than the morgues can handle. But what of the United States? Well, let's look to New York. New York is the epicenter. The beginning, not certainly the end, but the beginning of this crisis in the United States largely rested on our friends and New York. And we know today, New York City Councilman Levine announced on Twitter that the city was considering burying excess bodies in local parks. Councilman said that New York City would build trenches and bury the bodies on the trenches and then work with the families to exhume the bodies and allow them a proper burial at a later time.

If any of us could ever imagine the city having a bureaucracy that could actually manage that… just think about that for a second. The mayor's office confirmed that while the city has not had to take that precaution yet, that it is in the plans and it may be necessary this week. The mayor's office indicated that they would choose one location where they would do the temporary mass graves and that the city would work with families to secure the bodies and be able to get them a proper burial.

Folks, it's really, really important for everyone to understand that you have -- if you are not sick with COVID-19 right now, then you have an opportunity to make decisions to keep yourself healthy. And that's exactly what you should do. Our focus on civil liberties in this podcast does nothing to diminish, and should do nothing to diminish, the importance of keeping yourself, your family and your community safe. This is not a podcast where we believe that the COVID-19 pandemic is a hoax. We don't believe that it is a conspiracy to function government control. I do believe that it is exactly doing that.

I believe that it is functioning government control, and I believe that government control is going to be impossible to get rid of. And so I have a real issue with it. But let's be real. The disease is real. It's not an attempt by the government to take your rights. The government's doing that. You should be concerned. So am I, but it's not the reason we have COVID-19. We don't have COVID-19 because the government wanted to take our rights. The government simply sees this as the most expedient way to manage and control the population. Sometimes, the easiest and most obvious explanation is the right one.

And folks, this is just about control. And what do I mean? Well, look at Google. Google is a company that we all rely on. We all depend on, if you don't use Google, well you probably do in some way in your life. Google impacts all of us. And in an unprecedented move, Google has now publicly released a series of COVID-19 community mobility maps, utilizing location history data from users around the world to present insights into how people are moving around local communities.

Are you hearing this? The government didn't come to Google and say, “We need you to do this.” People are tripping over themselves to figure out how to make it easier for the government to control you and I. And companies that we pay big money to… companies like Google, which has become a central part of what it is to even be an American and the American experience in the worldwide experience. Everybody uses Google. And Google has a responsibility not to run to the government as fast as possible with data that does expose information about how Americans move. Now, it is important to note that Google says this is anonymized data and maybe it is, but it doesn't have to be does it?

And think about what happens when the next step comes and Google decides that they want to give data about what you're doing and they don't want to anonymize it. You see, folks, this is where this goes. It's a slippery slope. It doesn't just end here… and the stress, the stress of everything has everybody on edge.

In Louisiana, for example, in a city called Crawley. The Crawley police department had instituted a curfew and the curfew time, the city police went through the town and sounded sirens to break up groups and get people to go home. The problem, as you can hear, is the siren that was chosen. (NOTE: Siren sound.) That's right. If that sounds familiar to you, you've probably seen the movie the Purge… or the Purge 2 or the Purge 3 or the Purge 14. I'm not quite sure how many they've made, but the point is this is a serious, serious, serious issue.

Imagine if you're sitting at home with your children and the curfew time comes and you hear a song playing through the loudspeaker of your local police department that is used from a movie that allows the murder of innocent civilians. People come on. We have -- we're out of control. We're out of control and this is where this goes down and this is why this podcast is so important. Because this is a historical record of what happens as America goes through this unprecedented crisis. We are going to be talking about what's happening in the front lines in places like Detroit and New Orleans, because they matter.

Why do they matter? We know what's happening in New York. And you know why? Because there's stuff to be proud of in New York. There's a whole lot less to be proud of in Detroit… and a whole lot less still to be proud of in New Orleans. And in places where we begin to see this fray like this Louisiana town, you begin to see other things. For example, we had a story where a Dollar Tree customer was angry because they felt like they were being lectured about social distancing and attacked the store clerk. That person's now in jail. We've seen an increase in crime in New York, not arrested for crime, but crime in burglaries and looting. And that is the new America.

What are we going to do about it? How are we going to get past it? We're not going to do that by giving away our civil liberties. We have to maintain our status as free people in this country, and we have to remember that we are a government and have a government of, by, and for us -- not to control us. And you want to know what it looks like when a government controls you. Take a look at Fort Lauderdale today and you'll see 600 cars for miles and miles and miles down the street waiting for food at a food bank.

The government shuts the economy down. The government takes your rights away. We're all afraid of getting sick and now you rely on the government to feed you. That is not how we survive this.

We’ve got to get smart folks. Getting smart means knowing what's going on. That's why we're here. Thank you for joining us tonight. Tomorrow, inside the front lines, Detroit. What's happening? How do we fix it and where do the people of Michigan go from here? Thank you for joining us. Not Free America radio.