You may have noticed I didn’t post anything on Monday. Then again you might have a life and aren’t sitting there with nothing better to do than wait for my wisdom to fall out of the ether. Well, on Monday after I had gone back and forth on this post for a couple days I decided at the last minute I wasn’t going to post. I told myself that in a couple days I’d come up with some fluff in my life to exploit and that would be fine. Then the threat came and I had to have my say. Well, there’s nobody here to hear so if I am to be heard I have to get these words from here to there so you can hear them.
I don’t want to be the sad sack, the sourpuss, the moaner and groaner, but gee golly willickers, can we at least not resort to violence. Oh yes, actual threats of violence have been made. Homicide even. Read on.
With the full knowledge that I sound like a moaner or a groaner myself I just have to say, I knew this would happen. I mentioned last week Pennsylvania will be loosening isolation standards in phases by counties. There are roughly 12.8 million people living in Pennsylvania spread over 67 counties. As a broad statement, there are 134 versions on how the reopening plan will be implemented with about 12.8 million opinions on how to do it better.
In general the state is establishing 3 levels of what I guess can be described as activity. “Red” is where we started with a stay at home order in place except for transport to and from the three Fs of essential business: food, pharmacy, and physician. (Yeah, yeah, I know, but you get the idea. Hey, it works on audio!) Restaurants are open only for takeout and delivery. “Yellow” removes the stay at home but if you go out maintain social distance and wear your masks, stores may open but curbside pickup and delivery is preferred, and no public gatherings greater than 25 people. Restaurants and bars are still restricted to take out and delivery and hair and nail salons, and gyms and spas remain closed. “Green” means you can now travel about and conduct business within CDC guidelines although there is still some question about large, large gatherings.
The first phase shifted 24 counties to “yellow” on May 8. Another 13 counties turn “yellow” on May 15 and no counties go to “green” just yet. It is anticipated that there will be no further status changes before June 4. If you’ve been home schooling your kids in math the little tykes will have figured out that leaves 30 counties at “red.” Oh, and one of those “red” counties is actually surrounded by a bunch of “yellows.”
Because this system was developed by a government there are, as governments love to do, pages of specifics with a lot of whereas and wherefore sounding clauses but what I gave you is pretty much the down and dirty. And boy did people get pretty much down and very dirty.
In the “red” counties the biggest news stories have headlines that read like “District Attorney Will Not Prosecute Businesses That Open.” Comments to stories and posts on social media are filled with “statistics” about why somebody’s county left behind has lower infection or death rates than those moving ahead and should be declared “yellow” soonest. The talk on social media is of I’ll just cross the county and/or state line and get what I need there prompting yet additional outrage by business owners over the ingratitude of their “neighbors.” Lawyers are preparing class action suits against the Governor and Secretary of Health demanding full, unconditional reopening.
In the “yellow” and soon to be “yellow” counties, after 6 weeks of hearing on the news and reading in the papers how much we need to reopen the businesses and get people back to work, the media is now reporting that business owners aren’t ready to reopen their doors. Owners are saying it will take weeks to get ready to accept customers and are asking what guarantees they will have that if somebody gets sick in their stores they won’t be held liable. Restaurants, bar, gyms, and spas are preparing plans to present to the governor demonstrating how they can function while maintaining social distancing and should be allowed to reopen. Hair salons are posting they are opening for business regardless of operating guidelines.
It seems there are more plans for defying the plan than there are plans to implement the plan. Not to be undone by the potential mutineers, the Governor has threatened revocation of business and professional licenses of those opening or conducting business contrary to orders to remain closed.
Then came the threat. This story was picked up by the Associated Press and reprinted in papers and on news sites throughout the country so you may have already seen it, but here, as first reported in the York Dispatch (12 May 2020) is the lead:
State police arrested a Greensburg-area man Tuesday for allegedly saying he and his buddies “have a bullet waiting” for Gov. Tom Wolf if the governor doesn’t reopen businesses closed for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Subsequent updates confirmed the accused who had made the threat by telephone to Wolf Home Products, a kitchen and bath cabinet manufacturer once owned by the Governor, was identified by tracking the phone he called from and located via a records search at the county probation office.
So our intrepid would be assassin would have been wise to spend some time during his period of isolation learning constitutional law, the state penal code, common courtesy, or at least not to use his own phone when making threats by phone. (Let that be a lesson to you future would be assassins.) I suppose that being an at least one-time loser, evidenced by the fact that he is known at the probation office, he is doing what he can to maintain a consistent Neanderthalian persona.
Now I ask you, do you want to come out of isolation with a felony charge hanging over your head? Don’t be a Neanderthal! Be a neighbor instead. Maybe bake cookies to celebrate and eat them all yourself because you’re still a little unsure. Then when you do get to sit down with friends and neighbors you’ll have a funny story you can tell instead of reading transcripts from your bail hearing.
And don’t stop washing your hands.
The Real Reality Show Blog 
Life is complicated. COVID19 makes it insane. I so enjoy your ranting.
Thank you for always being so kind. I can’t say I particularly enjoy ranting but it does feel good every now and then. Stay safe!
These days if we didn’t rant we’d explode. cheers
WD is right — it’s good you got this out, both for our sake and yours. This deserved a rant!