government officials

Comment: Liberal hypocrisy: One of the defining personality disorders of our time...


Little is more annoying than seeing a wealthy government official solemnly telling you to stay home, forgo time with your family, and stop working while losing tons of money in missed wages.

Well, except for one thing. It's more annoying when that government official is telling you to hunker down while they're out partying in one luxurious location or another. I'd say that is far more annoying to watch those people tell us, "Do as I say, not as I do."

It reminds me of The Hunger Games, in which people at the Capitol enjoy frivolous pastimes while the peons in the other Districts must spend their days doing menial jobs to provide for the wealthy, lest they be beaten or killed by "Peacekeepers."

Here are some particularly egregious examples of hypocritical government officials who want you to sacrifice while they celebrate. The list is by no means comprehensive.

California Governor Gavin Newsom

Probably the most prominent example of a "leader" abandoning any pretense of following his rules is California Governor Gavin Newsom, who was spotted dining at a fancy restaurant - like $325 per person fancy - at a birthday party for a lobbyist.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was photographed attending a dinner party at the French Laundry, one of the nation's priciest restaurants, with a group of prominent lobbyists, including several who represent the California Medical Association. The photos show no one in the large party wearing a mask.

Newsom apologized a few days later.

"I want to apologize to you because I need to preach and practice, not just preach and not practice, and I've done my best to do that," Newsom said. (source)
Oh and also, his kids can go to school in person at their fancy private school, while everyone else's kids are stuck with "distance learning."
Newsom is self-quarantining after a student at one of his children's schools tested positive for the coronavirus — another sore spot for critics who are frustrated that most California students are not learning in person.

"His kids can learn in person. But yours can't. He can celebrate birthday parties. But you can't," San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer (R), a potential Newsom rival in 2022, wrote on Twitter. (source)
San Francisco Mayor London Breed

Incidentally, the following night after Newsom got busted at French Laundry, San Francisco Mayor London Breed was caught at a birthday dinner there with 7 other people - right before she closed down dining in every restaurant in San Francisco.
"I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that everyone act responsibly to reduce the spread of the virus," Breed said in a statement Nov. 10. "Every San Franciscan needs to do their part so that we can start moving in the right direction again."(source)
Austin Mayor Steve Adler

Steve Adler, the mayor of Austin, Texas, has been busted twice flouting his own restrictions. First, he hosted 20 people at a wedding and reception for his daughter at a downtown Austin hotel. The very next day, he took 7 other people in a private jet to his timeshare in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The thing that makes this so richly ironic is that he addressed the people of Austin from Cabo on a Facebook video in which he said:
We need to stay home if you can. This is not the time to relax. We are going to be looking really closely. ... We may have to close things down if we are not careful." (source)
Adler maintains that neither the wedding nor the vacay broke his orders or those of the state's governor.

However, the city recommended that people not gather in groups larger than 10 people, and also Adler himself asked people not to travel for Thanksgiving, saying,
"Everyday since March, I repeat that being home is the safest place for people to be," Adler said in a statement Wednesday. "Only at our most trying moments, like around Thanksgiving, have I asked people not to travel as part of extra precautions. It is safest to stay home. However, we aren't asking people to never venture out. We ask everyone to be as safe as possible when they do." (source)
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo

Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York was forced to change his plans after he announced on the radio, for Pete's sake, that he was having his adult daughters and his 89-year-old mother visit his home in Albany for Thanksgiving. Cuomo:
...went on WAMC radio and told of his own Thanksgiving plans, for all to hear, as CNN noted: "My mom is going to come up and two of my girls, is the current plan. But the plans change. I have a lot of work to do between now and Thanksgiving."

And then in this same interview, Cuomo scolded New Yorkers again to stay home and to stay in groups of fewer than 10. (source)
Meanwhile, he was telling other New Yorkers to skip Thanksgiving.
"My personal advice is, you don't have family gatherings - even for Thanksgiving," the governor said as he listed off a number of smaller gatherings that have led to recent outbreaks across the state.

"My personal advice is the best way to say 'I love you,' this Thanksgiving, the best way to say 'I'm thankful for you,' is to say, 'I love you so much, I'm so thankful for you, that I don't want to endanger you, and I don't want to endanger our family and I don't want to endanger our friends. So we'll celebrate virtually,'" he added. (source)
New Yorkers got the Emmy Award-winning governor's mixed message loud and clear.