In the Western world, we use "B.C." and "A.D." to denominate the two major time periods in the Julian and Gregorian calendars.  I have come to think that, in our current situation, those same initials apply to "Before COVID" and "After Death," referring to the death of our most precious liberties that were taken from us beginning in March 2020.

As I write this, I can no longer even imagine a world in which the news of the day, in every blog, newspaper, and media outlet, isn't dominated by the Chi Com Fauci Flu.  It seems as if, no matter how many people get the shot or how many children are suffocated by their masks, the nightmare will never end.  There is no fixed date on the horizon when the "pandemic" will be over.  I am reminded of Frederick Douglass's writing that "the limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress."

In New York, we are entering our second autumn A.D., with a new ruler who is turning out to be much worse than her predecessor.  Who would ever have thought Kathy Hochul could make us long for the good ole days under Killer Cuomo?  I have been politically active for many years and have never seen such a brutal takeover, even in this corrupt oligarchy.  The Demo-Marxists must have planted her years ago as a Trojan horse for the ruling party.

Just as the Bidenistas immediately dismantled President Trump's MAGA programs and initiatives (except, strangely enough, for Operation Warp Speed), so too did their New York counterparts immediately tighten the noose within hours after Hochul assumed the throne.  As usual, the New York GOP was either totally unprepared for the onslaught or complicit in the tyranny.  They are beyond useless, and it is no wonder that our Legislature is completely controlled by some of the most left-wing Dems on the planet.

Incredible as it may seem, within days of taking office, Hochul quickly moved (among other things) to:

• Reinstate a completely unscientific and cruel mask mandate that includes children over the age of two.
• Eviscerate our Open Meetings law.
• Speed up our cash benefits programs for illegals that will distribute over two billion dollars for so-called "excluded workers" regardless of citizenship.
• Implement a vaccine mandate for nurses, doctors, and health care workers who will potentially be replaced with foreigners. Hochul has stated that American workers are "replaceable."  As it stands today, Hochul has been forced to declare a State of Emergency as tens of thousands of hospital and care workers who refuse to get the jab are likely to be fired next week.

Meanwhile, and not to be outdone, Comrade Mayor Bill de Blasio imposed a vaccine mandate on the city schools and workforce as well.  This is on top of mandatory proof of vaccination for indoor dining, sports, entertainment, and a host of other activities.  Nobody seems to care that these establishments are far from recovered from the various lockdowns and restrictions that were enacted in 2020, when we lost an untold number of businesses that will never return.

And if that wasn't enough for this communism-supporter, de Blasio also has unleashed a wave of homelessness and crime on the city, the likes of which hasn't been seen since the 1970s, before Rudy Giuliani managed to get things under control.  Hardened criminals are being released out of Rikers (thanks also to Hochul), cops no longer have the protection of qualified immunity and thus are not doing their jobs, and there are no real penalties for theft and drug-dealing.  As a lifelong New Yorker, I find it hard to believe that the city will ever come back to what it was B.C.

New York and California are the coastal enclaves of the Marxist Democrats who are actively destroying our once great county.  In 2021, our rulers do not try to hide what they are doing.  They revel in the suffering of the citizen-taxpayers who have the misfortune to live in the Blue Gulag states.

Sadly, my feeling is that it's going to get worse before it gets better.  Because there has been zero pushback from the feckless Republicans, New York will have five proposals on the ballot this November that will make permanent some of the voting horrors that were pushed through in 2020 including no-excuse absentee ballots and eliminating the ten-day advance registration requirement.  It is anybody's guess whether they will pass, but if I were a gambler, I would go with "the fix is in" and bet accordingly.

If I were younger and did not have such strong roots here with family, friends, and business, I would have left when the handwriting first appeared on the wall.  For now, I am glad to hear from those of my friends and relatives who have moved that there are still places in our once great country where you can still live and work as free men.

Irene Heron is a pseudonym.

Image: Kathy Hochul.  YouTube screen grab.

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