Nevada Held Hostage: Day 36

* On Tuesday, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak – between coughing into his open hand from his unmasked mouth – announced that he was not announcing a date, or even a plan, to reopen Nevada.  When asked when, the governor said, “I cannot give you a firm date.”

* That’s because he’s in over his head and has no idea what he’s doing.

* The White House has declared that movie theaters, restaurants, sports venues, churches and gyms “can reopen if they stick to strict social distancing.”

* Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming have no stay-at-home orders in place.

* Texas, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina have announced plans to begin reopening next week.

* Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, “says gyms, hair salons, bowling alleys and tattoo parlors can reopen on April 24 as long as owners follow strict social-distancing and hygiene requirements.”

* In South Carolina, department stores, sporting goods stores, flea markets and stores selling furniture, books, music, flowers, clothing and accessories have reopened.

* During Gov. Sisolak’s dog-and-pony show on Facebook, filled with worse-than-usual technical difficulties, the governor tossed out a bunch of Biden-like word salad in trying to clarify his lack of clarification.  Just try to make sense of this…

“In terms of determining where you are on the 14-day thing you don’t know until you’re partway into it and how it stands and you go into it (when) you can come back out of it.”

* Oh, that explains everything.  Makes perfect sense now.

* If you haven’t had the “pleasure” of watching one of the governor’s Facebook briefings, they are riddled with technical problems, especially lousy sound quality.  Worse than amateur hour.  Pre-schoolers on Zoom could do a better job.  As Dana Gentry observed, “Clearly, no one on the staff has any media production skills.”

* And these are the people we’re supposed to trust to handle this crisis and reopen the state?

* The governor said he was going to listen to his “experts” in deciding when to release his hostages.  Like the “experts” he’s surrounded himself with to handle our unemployment claims?  We’re doomed.

* The governor did, however, announce that schools would not be reopening for the rest of the school year.  This is actually a good thing.  Not for health reasons, but because the less time kids spend in a government school the less likely they are to be indoctrinated with big government socialism.

* While the rest of the state agonizes over the ravages of the #SisolakShutdown, there have, to the best of my knowledge, been no layoffs of non-essential government employees.  Why not?  Shouldn’t public servants suffer the same pain as the public that pays their salaries?

* In fact, instead of hiring a boiler-room debt collection firm to handle overflow unemployment calls, why not use idled government workers who are currently getting paid full salaries for doing absolutely nothing at home – unless you count binge-watching the new seasons of Bosch and Fouda.

* Speaking of which, the Las Vegas Review-Journal is reporting today: “Operators were unable to assist more than 30 percent of callers on Monday, according to data shared by the unemployment office.”  Yeah, they really got a handle on this thing.

* To tighten his grip on the great unwashed, the governor suggested that he might soon ORDER people to wear masks.  If he does, there’s going to be a run on torches and pitchforks at the few retail stores that remain open.

* The governor said, “The emergency’s not over yet.”  But the Nevada Hospital Association says we now have “plenty of capacity to handle anything at this point” and the governor’s own health experts say we appear to have already reached the coronavirus peak.

* As our friend Geoff Lawrence notes: “Remember when the goal was 2 weeks to #FlattenTheCurve and not an agoraphobic’s fantasyland delusion about viruses disappearing from the Earth if we never leave our house?”

* Exactly.  But now I have to go look up “agoraphobic.”  Thanks, Geoff.

* As of Tuesday evening, there are 3,937 cases of coronavirus and 163 deaths in Nevada – though, again, we don’t know if all of these people died FROM the virus or WITH the virus.  That means there are 3,135,721 Nevadans who have not tested positive for the virus and 3,139,495 Nevadans who haven’t died from it.

* But let’s keep them all on house arrest indefinitely, right?

* The lower-than-projected virus statistics clearly show the governor over-reacted and unnecessarily put a lot of people out of work and out of business.  It also shows many of his decisions have been purely political.  He loves the power.  “It’s good ta be da king!”

* According to the latest figures, there are now 330,174 Nevadans unemployed thanks to the #SisolakShutdown.  I’m pretty sure this qualifies Gov. Sisolak as a weapon of mass destruction.

* If grocery stores, convenience stores and pharmacies can remain open, why can’t department stores, sporting goods stores and office supply stores reopen?  Seriously.  Explain that one.

* The governor announced “Phase Zero” metrics – “Phase Zero”? – that need to be met before beginning the process of taking Nevada out of his “self-induced coma.”  Among them: “sustainable downward trajectory” of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

* But, um, there are FIVE rural counties in Nevada that continue to report ZERO cases.  How do you achieve a “downward trajectory” from zero?

* Two rural counties have one case each, and two others have three each.  Another six have fewer than 35 cases each.  So why can’t these counties start reopening NOW?

* The governor said the state must show “sustained ability to protect our vulnerable populations,” such as nursing homes.  Fine.  Quarantine them.  But free everyone else.

* The scared-of-their-shadow folks among us claim we have to keep destroying the economy in order to “save lives.”  You know what else would save lives?  Let’s put up stop signs at EVERY intersection and reduce the speed limit on highways to 25 miles-per-hour.  Yeah, that’s the ticket.

* I get it that no Democrat elected official is willing to speak up and criticize the #SisolakShutdown on behalf of their out-of-work constituents, but what about Republicans?  Where are the GOP’s opposition leaders?  They all seem to have hit their political “mute” button after having their spines surgically removed.

* No calls to end the #SisolakShutdown.  No calls for a Special Session.  No calls to start laying off government workers.  No calls for other immediate budget cuts.  At best, a few weak calls to “Pretty please, tell us your plan.”

* As Rep. Dan Crenshaw put it earlier today: “America is looking to its representatives to act like LEADERS with courage, not spineless sheep in hiding.”

* But that’s the problem that’s plagued GOP legislators here for decades.  They have Stockholm Syndrome.  They view themselves as the “minority” party rather than the “opposition” party.  No guts, no glory.  No wonder they’re consistently political road kill.

* On the other hand, Republican legislators in Wisconsin have filed a lawsuit with the state’s Supreme Court challenging their Democrat governor’s stay-at-home order.

* UPDATE: Actually, I stand corrected.  As I was completing final edits of this edition of Muth’s Truths, someone sent me an op-ed penned by conservative Republican Assemblyman John Ellison of Elko which includes this…

“Everyone is feeling the pain of our current situation and the only way to avoid irreparable damage is to reopen our economy while adhering to strict health and safety protocols. … While our economy has taken hit after hit, Governor Sisolak’s response has consisted of drastic one-size-fits-all shutdown orders. There has been a lack of communication with some counties and cities and members of the Legislature. Most notably Governor Sisolak has shown a complete disregard for the effects of the shutdown on the hospitality industry in Nevada.”

* Go John, go!

* The only real bright spot on the political front lines here is Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman – a registered Independent.  The fact that goofball liberal blogger Jon Ralston disdains and ridicules her daily tells you all you really need to know.

* In a CNN interview today with fake news peddler Anderson Cooper, Her Honor said: “I want the hotel rooms open. … I’d love everything open.”  Cooper asked, “Conventions?”  Madame Mayor: “Absolutely. I want everything back.”  Amen.

* As is par for the CNN course, Cooper kept trying to put words in Mayor Goodman’s mouth while twisting others.  But any fair-minded person will understand exactly what she was saying and trying to say in between interruptions.  She didn’t back down.  She stood her ground.  Click here to watch it yourself.  But be warned; it’s on a far-left website.

* Is it too early to start a “Draft Goodman for Governor” in 2022 yet?

* Meanwhile, back at the ranch: The governor takes generally pre-screened questions, usually softballs, from members of the media during his Facebook performances.  Conspicuously not called on: Conservative Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Victor Joecks, who’s been a lonely voice of criticism of the governor.  Go figure.

* Also conspicuously absent from the questioning: goofball Ralston himself.  Jonny Jihad regularly attacks real reporters for not asking the questions he thinks should be asked during President Trump’s White House briefings but has been AWOL for Sisolak’s.  Then again, I guess it would be a conflict of interest for the governor’s unofficial press secretary to be asking pointed questions of the boss.

* Some Muth’s Truths readers have asked what can be done to force the governor to reopen the state.  Absent a successful lawsuit, we’re gonna need more and bigger citizen protest rallies…which are already having an effect…and pretty soon, some serious civil disobedience.

*  In fact, the next big protest rally in Las Vegas is scheduled for this Friday.  Like the first Easter Sunday caravan rally I attended, this one will start in the parking lot behind McDonald’s on the south end of the Strip near the Premium Outlet Mall.

* Folks are encouraged to begin gathering around 2:00 pm.  The caravan will head out and up the Strip at 3:00 pm, ending at the Grant Sawyer Office Building where last Saturday’s protest rally was held.  The entire rally will be covered live by radio talk-show host Wayne Allyn Root on KBET 790 AM.

* On Saturday, a similar caravan protest is being organized by conservative Republican state assembly candidate Annie Black in Mesquite.  The “Liberate Mesquite!” caravan will rendezvous at 11:00 am in the Sun Valley Plaza parking lot (561 W. Mesquite Blvd.).  Everyone will leave at 11:30 am and follow a circular route around the town…ending back up at Sun Valley Plaza.

* I wonder if Assemblyman Chris “The Weasel” Edwards, who misrepresents Mesquite, will show up?  Actually, I don’t wonder at all.  He doesn’t have the stones.

* Haven’t heard of anything planned for northern Nevada yet, but I’ll be shocked if something isn’t in the works.  Will let you know what I hear.

* In conclusion: We’ve flattened the curve.  Now it’s time for Gov. Sisolak to stop flattening the economy.  End the #SisolakShutdown!

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“People freaking out about price of oil going below $0 yesterday.  Not me!  I went and filled up my car, and they gave ME a check for $27.15 and a coupon for a Slurpee.” – Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee

“The good news is my car is getting 3 months-per-gallon.” – Hank Plante

“I prefer dangerous liberty over peaceful slavery!” – Protest sign in Maine this week

“Paychecks, not pink slips!” – Another protest sign

“Democrat governors can lock American citizens in their homes and that’s fine, but let Donald Trump halt immigration and suddenly they care about the Constitution.” – Herman Cain

“When the State tells you it’s safe to go to Home Depot to buy a sponge but dangerous to go and buy a flower; and when the State shuts down millions of private businesses but doesn’t lay off a single government employee; it’s not about your health.” – Kevin Sorbo

“More than 99% of Italy’s coronavirus fatalities were people who suffered from previous medical conditions, according to a study by the country’s national health authority.” – Bloomberg

“When New York and Illinois start asking Washington for a bailout, what they’re really doing is asking taxpayers who live in better-managed states (to pay the bill for their) gold-plated contracts with public employee unions.” – Columnist Ira Stoll

“Democrats now see this crisis as a convenient vehicle to force taxpayers across the country to cover the costs of the financial mismanagement that characterizes many profligate blue states.” – Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial, 4/21/20

(Mr. Muth is president of CitizenOutreach.org and publisher of NevadaNewsandViews.com.  He blogs at MuthsTruths.com.  His views are his own.)