Dumb and dumber awards

"I could go on, by why? We all know how dumb this shutdown has been. All the needless deaths in our care facilities. We can only hope when the second wave comes, we will be a whole lot smarter. Otherwise, this list will grow a whole lot longer."

The king (Walz) has now spoken once again. Another two weeks of house arrest. All this for a virus which is highly contagious, but unless you are in a nursing home, not that lethal. Sure, it can make you sicker than a dog (like the common flu does), but the VAST majority of our younger, healthier citizens (like, the ones who work for a living), seem to do okay. Why am I again restating the obvious? It is time for the dumb and dumber awards in how we are dealing with COVID - 19.

The first award is one we have had for years. It is not COVID related, but I will put it on the list anyhow. The rest are all COVID related. The dumb and dumber list follows:

• Burning our food (corn) to make ethanol, which we do NOT need right now.
• Knowing as early as February, our congregate facilities will be ground zero for this virus, and yet, we did very little to protect our most vulnerable. This was not only dumb, it is absolute negligence and dereliction of duty by the state. 
• After it was obvious to the CDC that social distancing would be helpful, our meat packing plants continued with business as usual. Both at the work stations as well as the off campus living conditions, it was people stacked up like cord wood. Not fixing this at the get-go, sickened hundreds of workers, closed some facilities, and is causing nation wide spot shortages of meat. This was not only dumb, it is absolute negligence and dereliction of duty by the feds and the state.
• With many of the meat packers being shut down, our ranchers and farmers were left holding the bag. With few places to sell their products, some pig farmers were forced to de-populate their herds, poultry farmers forced to euthanize their birds, and dairy producers to dump milk. In our land right now, we have hungry people lined up at food banks. And we are destroying our food. Allowing this to happen, was not only dumb, it is absolute negligence and dereliction of duty by the feds and the state.
• Potato farmers leaving product to rot in the fields. Vegetable farmers also leaving product to rot in the fields. Even beer brewers are dumping product. Our food chain in breaking, and our government is clueless on how to fix it. This is dumb, dumber and dumber yet.
• Elective surgeries are still on hold at hospitals, many of which are virtually empty. Medical staff taking pay cuts. Some hospital staff being furloughed. Our medical system, once the finest in the world, is breaking. During a time of this "medical emergency". This one is really, really dumb.
• Healthy people sitting at home while their places of employment are shuttered. People so anxious to get back to work, they are protesting in the streets. People who have never protested before. Power hungry governors are keeping citizens from working. Unemployment at record highs, just after months of being at record lows. GDP in the tank. Dumb!
• Churches sitting empty on Easter while Muslims blast their call to prayer all over the city. Don't get me started on this one!
• Restaurants sitting empty, offering only curbside pickup just to hang on by their fingernails. One by one, the fingernails are breaking. Another self inflicted wound by the state. Really dumb!  

I could go on, by why? We all know how dumb this shutdown has been. All the needless deaths in our care facilities. We can only hope when the second wave comes, we will be a whole lot smarter. Otherwise, this list will grow a whole lot longer.