Wannabe dictator Newsom imposes month-long curfew for most of California but personally flouts Covid-19 rules

RT
Fri, 20 Nov 2020 18:36 UTC

© Fox 11

California governor caught ignoring his own mask and social distancing rules at private restaurant dinner with two high-level members of the California Medical Association

California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a limited stay at home order and a curfew for the counties in the 'purple risk status tier' due to Covid-19, making up the majority of the state. The restrictions will last for a month.

"Non-essential work and gatherings must stop from 10pm-5am in counties in the purple tier. This will take effect at 10pm on Saturday and remain for 1 month," Newsom tweeted on Thursday.

"Together - we can flatten the curve again," he added.

Forty-one California counties, home to about 94 percent of the state's population, are currently in the purple zone, which indicates "widespread" risk from the virus.

© California Government

California has imposed some of the strictest Covid-19 restrictions as the virus came back to bite the country, including limiting household gathering and putting out travel advisories for upcoming Thanksgiving holidays.

However, Newsom, who has been a vocal advocate of the measure, found his back to the wall and apologized after it was reported that he attended a birthday party with people from more than three different households earlier this month in violation of his state's Covid-19 guidelines.

Adding insult to injury, it was later revealed that the party was held outdoors only partially, contrary to the initial claim from Newsom's spokesman, and that California Medical Association officials were present at the bash. Pictures from the event purported to show that some of the guests opted out of the mask-wearing rules as well.

Comment: In the meantime, Biden backtracks on his proposed covid strategies:

"I would shut it down," Biden had told ABC in August, adding "I would listen to the scientists." Dr. Michael Osterholm, one of his coronavirus advisers, said last week that a 4-6 week lockdown "could drive the numbers down."

Appearing at a brief press conference on Thursday, however, Biden berated reporters for continuing to bring the issue up and said his original statement was a "hypothetical."

Heedless of the economic carnage, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is in lockstep with CA.

Nevertheless, he refused to budge on the decision to close schools, even as outraged parents pointed to bars, restaurants, and gyms as the source of the spread. That reaction likely contributed to de Blasio's threat to close those venues too. Bars, restaurants that serve alcohol, and gyms have already been slapped with a 10pm curfew.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of businesses in New York have closed, thanks to months of economic shutdowns. By May, 100,000 of the state's small businesses had closed permanently, and the number has no doubt skyrocketed since then. The problem is nationwide - 60 percent of all businesses listed on review site Yelp that closed for the pandemic had shut their doors permanently by September, while 7.5 million were already deemed at risk of going under for good in April.

Ocasio-Cortez thinks bribery would work to get covid compliance. Nikki Haley begged to differ.

"To get the virus under control, we need to pay people to stay home," tweeted Ocasio-Cortez, also known by her initials AOC, on Thursday.

"Are you suggesting you want to pay people to stay home from the money you take by defunding the police?" replied Nikki Haley, former Republican governor of South Carolina and the Trump administration's first US envoy to the UN. "Or was that for the student debts you wanted to pay off, the Green New Deal or Medicare for All?" Haley added, referring to AOC's other proposals.

Ocasio-Cortez quickly shot back that she wanted Republicans to "find the spine to stand up to their corporate donors" and vote for the Democrats' HEROES Act, which supposedly doesn't include a "Wall Street bailout" this time.

Republicans have criticized the HEROES Act over what they say are billions in bailouts for Democrat-run states that would reward their governors for harsh lockdowns instead of helping people and businesses financially ruined by them.

And the rebellion grows. From Michigan:

Kelly Stafford took to Instagram on Thursday with a video railing against the new lockdown order - imposed last week amid an uptick in the state's Covid-19 outbreak - arguing that small businesses "will not make it" through another round of harsh restrictions.

"I'm going to be very blunt: I'm so over it. I'm over living in a dictatorship that we call Michigan," she said. "I understand there's a pandemic, and I understand it's very scary. I'm scared of it, too. If you're at risk, do not leave your house until there's a vaccine."

Once we are able to leave our house, once this dictatorship decides to let us have some freedom, there will be nothing left.

Stafford suggested that many would disagree with her take - and she was right. Before long, the brief Instagram tirade rippled rage across the internet, with commenters lambasting the athlete's wife for "white privilege," some insisting that she, and everybody else, must "sacrifice personal freedom to get this pandemic under control."

Law enforcement is coming more and more into agreement, even in Newsom's own backyard:

The Orange County and Sacramento sheriff's offices issued separate statements on Thursday night saying they would not respond to calls related to compliance with the new health mandate imposed by Newsom earlier in the day.

"The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office will not be determining - including entering any home or business - compliance with, or enforcing compliance of, any health or emergency orders related to curfews, staying at home, Thanksgiving or other social gatherings inside or outside the home, maximum occupancy, or mask mandates," Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones said in a lengthy Facebook post.

Those calling to report violations of the order would be referred to a non-emergency line and "routed" to the county health department, Jones went on, but added that "Of course, if there is potential criminal behavior or the potential for impacts to public or personal safety we will continue to respond appropriately."