{"id":44318,"date":"2020-12-29T11:37:23","date_gmt":"2020-12-29T15:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=44318"},"modified":"2020-12-29T11:37:23","modified_gmt":"2020-12-29T15:37:23","slug":"there-will-be-no-return-to-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=44318","title":{"rendered":"There will be no \u2018return to normal\u2019."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ArticleFull_body__3kFg9 NodeBody_container__2N7hs\">\n<h1>2020: The Year We Lost Our Common Sense, Courage, &amp; Civil Liberties<\/h1>\n<p>by Robert Bridge<br \/>\nStrategic Culture Foundation,<\/p>\n<p><strong>Once it became clear to the Western elite that their subjects would readily accept draconian anti-Covid measures, it encouraged them to usher in a code-red lifestyle where there will be no \u2018return to normal\u2019 in the foreseeable future and, possibly, never.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/Bridge-2-930x520_0.jpg?itok=bmVkfy_t\" data-image-external-href=\"\" data-image-href=\"\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/Bridge-2-930x520_0.jpg?itok=bmVkfy_t\" data-link-option=\"0\"><picture><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/Bridge-2-930x520_0.jpg?itok=bmVkfy_t\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"280\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"f98995c1-c89d-4678-a4f5-7514989cdead\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" \/><\/picture><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>If nothing else, nobody can say we were not warned about the madness that would descend upon leap year 2020,<\/strong>\u00a0making it one of the worst 366 days ever recorded on the Gregorian calendar.<\/p>\n<div class=\"Advert_desktop__1J5vD Advert_tablet__3QEBr Advert_mobile__1rlLc Advert_align__N0_fw Advert_placement__1I4yb\"><\/div>\n<p>On October 18, 2019, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, together with the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.strategic-culture.org\/news\/2020\/04\/30\/is-it-time-to-launch-an-investigation-into-the-bill-melinda-gates-foundation-for-possible-crimes-against-humanity\/\">hosted<\/a>\u00a0the incredibly visionary Event 201, an exercise that simulated the outbreak of a pandemic \u201ctransmitted from bats to people that eventually becomes\u2026transmissible from person to person.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The simulation proved to be so uncannily similar to the real thing that started just three months later \u2013 from imagining a dramatic drop in air travel and business, to breaks in the global supply chain \u2013 that Johns Hopkins eventually felt compelled to release a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.centerforhealthsecurity.org\/news\/center-news\/2020-01-24-Statement-of-Clarification-Event201.html\">statement<\/a>\u00a0saying their exercise was not intended to be a prophecy of future events.<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/index.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1254457406026772481&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2F2020-year-we-lost-our-common-sense-courage-civil-liberties&amp;siteScreenName=zerohedge&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-pointer-lock allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation allow-presentation\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1254457406026772481\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>\u201cTo be clear, the Center for Health Security and partners did not make a prediction during our tabletop exercise,\u201d the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.centerforhealthsecurity.org\/news\/center-news\/2020-01-24-Statement-of-Clarification-Event201.html\">statement<\/a>\u00a0read, in what just might be the creepiest caveat ever.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em><strong>\u201cFor the scenario, we modeled a fictional coronavirus pandemic, but we explicitly stated that it was not a prediction\u2026 We are not now predicting that the nCoV-2019 outbreak will kill 65 million people.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Shortly after the global elite played Nostradamus, on January 15th\u00a0to be exact (the very same day, incidentally, that the Democrats\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/politics-news\/pelosi-calls-witnesses-trump-trial-after-new-evidence-n1116091\">presented<\/a>\u00a0articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump in the Senate), the first Covid-positive person\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/22\/us\/coronavirus-sequencing.html\">arrived<\/a>\u00a0in Seattle from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the disease is said to have sprung to life.<strong>\u00a0From there it has been a non-stop roller-coaster ride of government-sponsored insanity.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"Advert_desktop__1J5vD Advert_align__N0_fw Advert_placement__1I4yb\"><\/div>\n<p>Before continuing, it is important to remember the context with which the pandemic has been happening, that is, in the most consequential U.S. presidential election in recent memory.\u00a0<strong>It should thus come as no surprise that the Democrats and Republicans would use the scourge to achieve some sort of advantage, demonstrating Machiavellian opportunism at its very best<\/strong>. Indeed, such is the nature of the political beast.<\/p>\n<p>For example, although Trump shut down the U.S. border on January 31 to Chinese nationals, the Democrats and leftist media\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/local\/trafficandcommuting\/trump-coronavirus-response-failure\/2020\/10\/29\/cb58e066-1a15-11eb-82db-60b15c874105_story.html\">pounced<\/a>, saying the U.S. leader responded too late to make a difference. Even Trump\u2019s use of the term \u2018Chinese virus\u2019 was slammed by his opponents as \u2018racist.\u2019\u00a0<strong>Meanwhile, it was the Democrats themselves who were the pioneers in taking the first draconian steps of locking down society to stop the contagion.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On March 16, 2020, six counties in northern California and the city of Berkley\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/2020\/03\/29\/she-shut-down-the-bay-area-to-slow-the-deadly-coronavirus-none-of-us-really-believed-we-would-do-it\/\">ordered<\/a>\u00a0an unprecedented stay-at-home order for some 7 million Bay Area residents. This was all part of \u201cflattening the curve\u201d logic that would \u201cbuy time for hospitals to gear up for the onslaught\u2026\u201d\u00a0<strong>Well, 233 days later political leaders are not only still flattening the curve, but flattening their economies as well.\u00a0<\/strong>Today, although the survival rate for those infected with Covid-19 is reported to be in the neighborhood of 99.85 percent, harsh lockdowns continue to wreak havoc, not least of all for small businesses.<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-1\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/index.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1341485032934916104&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2F2020-year-we-lost-our-common-sense-courage-civil-liberties&amp;siteScreenName=zerohedge&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1341485032934916104\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Consider the situation in California, where Governor Gavin Newsom has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.ca.gov\/2020\/12\/03\/california-health-officials-announce-a-regional-stay-at-home-order-triggered-by-icu-capacity\/\">mandated<\/a>\u00a0yet another \u2018shelter-in-place\u2019 order, which has shuttered, among other businesses, hair salons, barbershops, personal care services, movie theaters, wineries, bars, breweries, family entertainment centers and amusement parks.\u00a0<strong>What is hard to fathom, however, is how the corporate big-box stores are considered \u201cessential businesses,\u201d apparently immune to the scourge, while the small business owner is trashed as expendable.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>By way of example, consider the tragic plight of Angela Marsden, the owner of Pineapple Hill Saloon and Grill in Los Angeles. In an effort to comply with the ever-changing anti-Covid rules, Marsden spent over $80,000 to build an outdoor patio so she could stay in business during the pandemic. With Newsom\u2019s latest lockdown restrictions, however, city officials denied her permission to serve clients on location, even in the parking lot.<\/p>\n<p>To add insult to injury, the authorities granted permission for a film company to set up a large outdoor eating area for its staff just across the road from where Marsden had built her patio.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>\u201cI\u2019m losing everything,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>she exclaimed in a video posted to Twitter that has been watched almost 10 million times.<strong>\u00a0\u201cEverything I own is being taken away from me. They have not given us money and they have shut us down. We cannot survive; my staff cannot survive\u2026\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-2\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/index.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-2&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1335025719890616320&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2F2020-year-we-lost-our-common-sense-courage-civil-liberties&amp;siteScreenName=zerohedge&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1335025719890616320\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong>For the Fortune 500 companies, however, the pandemic has translated into a windfall.<\/strong>\u00a0Between April and September, at a time when thousands of small business were quietly getting crushed underfoot, 45 of the 50 most valuable publicly traded American companies turned a profit,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/graphics\/2020\/business\/50-biggest-companies-coronavirus-layoffs\/\">according<\/a>\u00a0to the Washington Post.<\/p>\n<p><strong>At the same time, at least 27 of the 50 largest firms slashed their workforce this year, collectively cutting more than 100,000 workers,<\/strong>\u00a0while at the same time distributing billions of dollars to shareholders. As just one example, Walmart distributed more than $10 billion to its investors during the pandemic while terminating 1,200 office staff.<\/p>\n<p>To put these figures another way, since mid-March \u2013 when President Donald Trump declared a national emergency \u2013 America\u2019s 614 billionaires saw their net worth\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/money\/2020\/12\/01\/american-billionaires-that-got-richer-during-covid\/43205617\/\">explode<\/a>\u00a0by $931 billion in total. Jeff Bezos, for example, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, saw his private wealth go from $73.2bn since the start of the crisis to a record $186.2bn.<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-3\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/index.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-3&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1334313479315009538&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2F2020-year-we-lost-our-common-sense-courage-civil-liberties&amp;siteScreenName=zerohedge&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1334313479315009538\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong>It would probably come as no surprise that the very individuals who helped pave the way for astronomic wealth generation among the 1 percent, are the same ones breaking their own rules.<\/strong>\u00a0Governor Newsom and his wife, for example, attended a birthday party with a dozen friends at the French Laundry restaurant in San Francisco. Equally maddening is that Dustin Corcoran, the CEO of the California Medical Association, was also in attendance. And who could forget the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-53994209\">photo<\/a>\u00a0of Nancy Pelosi walking through a California hair salon when such businesses were deemed \u2018super spreaders\u2019?<\/p>\n<p>Such incidences only served to reinforce the idea that the draconian lockdowns, the worst of which are centered on Democratic-controlled states, were\u00a0<strong>specifically designed not to contain a contagion, but to foster as much anger and frustration among the general population in the most consequential presidential election in many decades<\/strong>. After all, unhappy people have a tendency to vote out their leaders whom they believe are responsible for such dire circumstances. And with the mainstream media almost totally in the Democratic anti-Trump camp, placing the blame on the president has proven no difficult task.<\/p>\n<p><em><u><strong>So where do we go from here?<\/strong><\/u>\u00a0Now that we have reached the end of 2020, will the situation begin to improve? Will political leaders begin to loosen the screws and let some semblance of normality return once again? Or will people be forced to rise up and demand the return of their freedom and liberty?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>At this great loggerhead in human history, there has been\u00a0<strong>much talk about creating \u2018freedom passes\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0that will be demanded from people before they are allowed to travel or visit any sort of entertainment again.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cPeople who test negative for coronavirus could get a five-day freedom pass to attend big events or access public buildings, under plans being considered by public health experts running a trial program in England,\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2020-11-27\/freedom-passes-show-how-a-city-s-trial-could-unlock-the-u-k\">reported<\/a>\u00a0Bloomberg in November.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Already, five global airlines \u2013 United Airlines, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic, Swiss International Air Lines and JetBlue \u2013 have announced they will observe the so-called CommonPass to passengers on some flights from December.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe project, developed by non-profit group The Commons Project and backed by the World Economic Forum, uses a digital certificate downloaded to a mobile phone to show a passenger has tested negative for Covid-19,\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/bf7fab01-4df2-44f1-807a-3a02c204a39f\">according<\/a>\u00a0to the Financial Times. Here is the kicker:<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThe airlines are not making the CommonPass mandatory, but in time it will also be used to provide proof of vaccination.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It seems rather obvious where all of this is heading: mandatory vaccination for anyone who ever wishes to board an aircraft or visit another entertainment venue again. Over time, it is not difficult to imagine a vaccine regimen extending to all human activities, including shopping and even getting a job. Yet what about the millions of people who have expressed extreme skepticism in being administered a vaccine that has been developed so quickly?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Whatever the case may be, should such a plan of action become mandatory, peoples\u2019 lives will be entirely dominated by fears over a virus, together with an endless bureaucratic process of being tested and approved to move about.<\/strong>\u00a0Vaccines will become a regular requirement since viruses are in a state of constant mutation, which makes them the authoritarians dream instrument of domination.<\/p>\n<p>Such a system of totalitarian control, should it ever come into fruition, will have achieved in mere months what fascism could not in years: the pacification and unification of a great swath of the world\u2019s population not by bayonet, but by syringe. In fact, today the people of London are fleeing their fair city not out of fear of the virus per se, but out of fear of the lockdown restrictions put in place by the authorities.\u00a0<u><em><strong>To put it otherwise, the world gave an inch and the globalists took a mile, and a person would have to be a fool to believe it could have turned out any other way.<\/strong><\/em><\/u><\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/2020-year-we-lost-our-common-sense-courage-civil-liberties\">https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/2020-year-we-lost-our-common-sense-courage-civil-liberties<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<footer class=\"ArticleFull_footer__2AHte\"><\/footer>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2020: The Year We Lost Our Common Sense, Courage, &amp; Civil Liberties by Robert Bridge Strategic Culture Foundation, Once it became clear to the Western elite that their subjects would readily accept draconian anti-Covid measures, it encouraged them to usher &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=44318\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44318\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}