"Maryland, DC, Virginia ordered into lockdown"

“The Associated Press released an article two hours ago about how countries around the world are ‘crack[ing] down on basic rights’ amid the pandemic. It details various measures taken by governments around the world to punish the spread of ‘false information’ about the virus and ‘interfering with efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus, like a curfew or mandatory quarantine’ (Hungary, punishable by five years and eight years in prison respectively); engage in ‘unprecedented electronic surveillance’ to track people’s movements (Israel); and social media censorship (Russia). ‘A new government smart phone application’ has been ‘introduced for people in home quarantine’ in Poland; Serbia has ‘sidelined’ its parliament, enacted ‘a 12-hour police-enforced curfew,’ and banned people over 65 from leaving their homes. China, where the virus originated, is known for its rampant human rights abuses. At least one police department in England has been using drones to monitor whether its citizens have been complying with government orders to stay at home. A police department in California says it will do the same. March 30, 2020, 8:40 p.m. EST: The District of Columbia has also ordered its residents be confined to their homes beginning April 1 unless they are working at ‘essential businesses’; engaging in ‘essential travel’ or ‘essential activities,’ such as buying food or obtaining certain kinds of medical care; ‘perform[ing] or access[ing] essential governmental functions’; and engaging in ‘allowable recreational activities.’ ‘Any individual who willfully violates the stay-at-home order may be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, subject to a fine not exceeding $5,000, imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both,’ Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office warned in a statement. March 30, 2020, 8:32 p.m. EST: On Saturday, four pro-lifers in North Carolina were arrested for allegedly violating their jurisdiction’s coronavirus stay-at-home order. They were arrested moments after arriving outside of an abortion center to defend preborn children. Watch the video HERE. And in Toronto, police showed up directly after Mass last week to warn a Catholic priest of the Society of St. Pius X that he could be fined for violating a provincial order restricting public gatherings because of the coronavirus. The priest, Fr. Dominique Boulet, says he was complying with a March 17 directive from Premier Doug Ford – which allowed gatherings of up to 50 people — when his parish held a public Mass on March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation. A pastor in Tampa, Florida has been arrested today for holding a church service yesterday. His county is subject to a ‘safer-at-home’ executive order with 42 paragraphs of exceptions. The pastor, Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne, is being represented by Liberty Counsel. A ProPublica investigation reveals how China built a ‘Twitter propaganda machine’ and used it to spread covert propaganda around the world. The American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama has filed an emergency request in federal court on behalf of abortionist Dr. Yashica Robinson and three abortion facilities, asking that they be allowed to continue abortions despite a state order halting unnecessary medical procedures... New York City mayor Bill de Blasio said on Friday that churches and synagogues could be closed down permanently if people are gathering for services during the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘I want to say to all those who are preparing the potential of religious services this weekend — if you go to your synagogue, if you go to your church and attempt to hold services after having been told so often not to, our enforcement agents will have no choice but to shut down those services,’ he said. ‘You’ve been warned.’ The New York Post reports that an 86-year-old woman ‘awaiting treatment for bowel blockage at a Brooklyn hospital yesterday died’ after another patient punched her ‘for not engaging in ‘social distancing’ amid the coronavirus.’... Maryland has issued a ‘shelter in place’ order only allowing residents to leave their houses to go to the store for food or prescriptions. WMAR Baltimore reports: The order also allows for outdoor exercise such as walking, hiking, running, and biking, as long as [it] with complies with the CDC's social distancing guidelines. Violators could face up to a year in prison and/or a $5,000 fine. The order is effective 8 p.m. Monday. [Governor] Hogan also said Marylanders should not leave the state and those who do, must quarantine for 14-days. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam says he is making a ‘major announcement’ at 2:00 p.m. today. The National Guard is being deployed to Virginia to ‘help save lives and protect public health.’ More people in Knox County, Tennessee died by suicide than from the coronavirus last week, The Federalist reports, and other states are reporting a similar uptick in suicides as the coronavirus crisis wrecks the economy. A March 27 article on Bloomberg titled ‘Rhode Island Police to Hunt Down New Yorkers Seeking Refuge’ reported: Rhode Island police began stopping cars with New York plates Friday. On Saturday, the National Guard will help them conduct house-to-house searches to find people who traveled from New York and demand 14 days of self-quarantine... National Guard members will be stationed at the T.F. Green airport, Amtrak train stations and at bus stops. The citizen-soldiers will be following up with people at local residences. The maximum penalty for not complying: a fine of $500 and 90 days in prison. Ontario has now banned gatherings of more than five people... At least four Catholic dioceses have, apparently by their own initiative, locked their church doors indefinitely; the province did not classify houses of worship as ‘essential.’ In the Ottawa diocese, a local health authority ordered all houses of worship closed on pain of a $250,000 fine daily. The province considers beer and cannabis stores ‘essential.’ They are allowed to remain open. The national pro-life group the Susan B. Anthony List has blasted Pennsylvania’s Democratic Governor Tom Wolf for requiring his constituents to postpone important medical procedures including cancer, pediatric, cardiac, and spinal surgeries, while elective abortions continue during the crisis. ‘It is unconscionable that Governor Wolf has allowed elective abortions to proceed during this crisis when all resources are needed for essential medical procedures,’ said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. ‘At a time when so many Pennsylvanians are making major sacrifices so that the most vulnerable can survive this national emergency, abortion business Planned Parenthood Keystone insists on carrying out elective abortions and has even asked that precious personal protective equipment be diverted from dealing with the Coronavirus crisis in order to end the lives of innocent unborn children.’ ‘Governor Wolf should put an end to these risky and unnecessary procedures that further strain our already overtaxed health care system, and Planned Parenthood Keystone should put people above profits,’ added Dannenfelser.”