SACRAMENTO, CA – Democratic leaders in the State of California have imposed yet another lockdown on its citizens over the growing pandemic.
While that might be considered to be fine by some if everyone was affected the same, the entertainment industry was somehow viewed as essential, and will be able to operate normally.
Southern California will enter a new coronavirus lockdown on Sunday night, with the exception of the entertainment industry and other sectors described as “essential.” https://t.co/oG25uQOXIn
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) December 6, 2020
The lockdown starts for normal people on December 6th for those areas that have passed a threshold determined by the state of a level of 15% or less of Intensive Care Capacity Units. Of course, everyone in those areas are affected, unless they belong to a group designated as essential workers.
Now democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom has listed several common sense entities as essential, like police, fire, and health care workers. However, he has also deemed those who work in the entertainment industry as being essential.
Whereas the world can live without television or movies being produced, the real story that makes them essential is the money that they generate for the state.
According to the Los Angeles Times:
“The regions will implement the order Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Bars, wineries and personal-care services must close; restaurants must halt all dining; and gatherings of people from different households will be prohibited, the state confirmed.
The rules will remain in place for at least three weeks.
The order – the latest in a series of attempts to slow the spread of the coronavirus and prevent local healthcare systems from becoming overwhelmed – is triggered when a regions ICU capacity drops below 15%. Southern California’s ICU capacity Saturday was 12.5%, and the San Joaquin Valley’s was 8.6%, according to date released by the state.”
“People who oppose lockdowns are babies” said the man in front of a live studio audience as part of his job that he still gets to do. https://t.co/TrYtNgLLQw
— The Partyman (@PartymanRandy) December 6, 2020
The order also limits retail businesses from allowing anymore than 20% of capacity for the business to enter the stores. Stores will also be required to ensure that there is not eating or drinking inside of the business while they are open.
Despite the closures for normal people, the state has listed the entertainment industry as essential and they will be able to operate as normal.
Some local business owners have voiced their frustrations about being forced to close while the entertainment industry is still allowed to operate.
People like business owner Angela Marsden who voiced her complaints of her outdoor dining area being shut down yet the entertainment industry was allowed to open one 50 feet from her establishment.
Marsden had a cell phone video taken while she walked around her restaurant and outdoor dining area that was closed down in Los Angeles because it was considered ‘dangerous.’
Yet, according to her, 50 feet away from her closed outdoor dining area a movie crew was allowed to open up a similar outdoor dining area and that was somehow considered less dangerous than hers.
Marsden, and others like her, cannot understand why the entertainment industry is essential, and yet businesses like hers are forced to close, which could cause them to lose their businesses forever.
I’ve been in the entertainment industry for 51 years. How can filming be essential right now while small businesses like this woman’s restaurant NEXT DOOR is shut down? @GavinNewsom @MayorOfLA @ericgarcetti
Even I can see this hypocrisy! https://t.co/UVUFXUb6Wt https://t.co/am9jRmAyA2— Scott Baio (@ScottBaio) December 5, 2020
Meanwhile, there are some Sheriff’s in California who are refusing to check on businesses to ensure that they are complying with Newsom’s shut down orders.
Fox reporter Bill Melugin highlighted Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva and his refusal to enforce the lockdown of businesses. Melugin tweeted:
“LA. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva tells me his deputies will not take part in enforcing stay at home orders at businesses, which he says have been through enough. He says that’s the health department’s job, and LASD will focus on “super spreader” events instead.”
NEW: L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva tells me his deputies will not take part in enforcing stay at home orders at businesses, which he says have been through enough. He says that’s the health department’s job, and LASD will focus on “super spreader” events instead. @FOXLA
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) December 4, 2020
Other sheriffs in the state have said the same thing – that they will not enforce Newsom’s new lockdown orders.
However, there are a handful that say that they will, and even created a countywide task force in order to respond and shut down large gatherings or businesses who fail to abide by Newsom’s decree.
We are being played: More politicians caught busting their own emergency orders and guidelines (op-ed)
December 3, 2020
The following article contains editorial content written by a retired Chief of Police and current staff writer for Law Enforcement Today.
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Do as you are told, peasants, and do not dare question the ruling class! In the latest case of hypocrisy by the political class, San Francisco Mayor London Breed was snagged at the same exclusive French restaurant where California Gov. Gavin Newsom was previously caught violating his own COVID-19 restrictions.
The Washington Examiner reported that Breed attended a dinner at the French Laundry, an exclusive Napa County restaurant where meals cost around $350 per person. Breed went to the restaurant the day after Newsom was snagged there, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Breed’s office, trying to throw cover for her hypocrisy, said that she had attended a birthday party for a friend, so-called socialite Goretti Lo Lui on November 7 with seven other people. At the time, Napa County was not restricting the number of households who were allowed to gather.
“The Mayor has strived to follow all COVID public health rules from the beginning of the pandemic. She does this not only because she is asking for residents to do their part, but also because she is trying to do her part to slow the spread of the disease.
“On November 7, while taking a few days off after the election, she attended a small family birthday dinner for a friend at an open-air table at the French Laundry. There were eight people in total, including herself. The Mayor paid for her own dinner,” a statement from Breed’s office read.
However, according to another source, the dining area was inside a partially enclosed room with a ceiling and chandelier—just like Newsom’s dinner.
Newsom did not implement more severe lockdowns on so-called “Purple Tier” counties, which is the most severe level, until two weeks later, with Napa being one of the counties affected.
The excuse was that at the time of Breed’s little boo boo, San Francisco was in the “Yellow Tier” and Napa County was in the “Orange Tier,” where both indoor and outdoor dining were allowed.
However, only a couple of days before, Breed had warned San Francisco residents that Halloween should be celebrated virtually or with an “at-home haunted house, scavenger hunts or outdoor costume parades” in order to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
Just three days after Breed’s foray to the French Laundry, she banned indoor dining in San Francisco.
Newsom was slammed last month after he was caught on camera eating out at the French Laundry after photos surfaced showing him with a group of people, obviously not from his family, as well as not social distancing or wearing masks, dining inside.
Newsom said at the time:
“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.
“We’re all human. We all fall short sometimes.”
And yet others, like the governors of California, New Jersey, and Illinois, and the mayors of Chicago and New York City, as well as the Speaker of the House, all fall short sometimes too.
San Francisco has returned to the “purple” stage after a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Breed and Newsom are not the only officials catching heat for busting their own orders. Just this week, a Los Angeles County Supervisor, Sheila Kuehl, in the ultimate sign of “screw you,” went to an eatery in Santa Monica just hours after she voted to ban indoor dining at Los Angeles County restaurants.
On Thanksgiving, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo went to visit his elderly parents’ home for Thanksgiving, which was despite the county’s COVID-19 holiday travel warnings.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Denver, Michael Hancock, also was busted violating his own recommendations.
He was on his way to Mississippi to celebrate Thanksgiving with his wife and daughter after admonishing people on social media and asking people to avoid traveling for the holiday.
A spokesman for Hancock, Mike Strott, confirmed that Hancock flew out of Denver International Airport on Wednesday morning, The Denver Post reported.
After getting busted, Hancock issued an apology in a statement:
“I recognize that my decision has disappointed many who believe it would have been better to spend Thanksgiving alone. As a public official whose conduct is rightly scrutinized for the message it sends to others, I apologize to the residents of Denver who see my decision as conflicting with the guidance to stay home for all but essential travel.
“I made my decision as a husband and father, and for those who are angry and disappointed, I humbly ask you to forgive decisions that are borne of my heart and not my head.”
In other words, sorry—not sorry.
The Post reached out to state and Denver public health officials and asked how residents of the state can be expected to follow the guidance elected officials themselves ignore. No response was received.
Strott downplayed the controversy surrounding Hancock’s travel, not seeing the hypocrisy in what Hancock advised Denver residents and his own conduct:
“(Hancock) has told people to rethink their Thanksgiving plans. He also said that if you do travel to follow health and safety guidelines, the Mayor will still follow health and safety guidelines upon his return.”
However, on Wednesday morning before flying to Mississippi, Hancock tweeted out public health recommendations that included avoiding unnecessary travel.
He also sent a memo to city staff that was obtained by The Denver Post. It read:
“As the holidays approach, we all long to be with our families in person, but with the continued rise in cases, I’m urging you to refrain from travel this Thanksgiving holiday.”
Finally, the mayor of Austin, Texas, Steve Adler was on vacation in Mexico in November when he told people to stay at home due to a rise in COVID cases, recording a video in which he told residents that now was “not the time to relax,” the Chicago Tribune reported, citing a report in an Austin newspaper.
The Austin American-Statesman revealed the trip last week in which an official was busted violating the very rules they either advocate or mandate. Adler, a Democrat, told the paper that he did not violate his own regulations:
“There was no recommendation for people not to travel during that period of time.
“Someone could look at me and say, ‘He traveled.’ But what they could not say is that I traveled at a time when I was telling other people not to travel.”
Adler’s trip to Cabo San Lucas came after he had an outdoor wedding and reception with 20 guests for his daughter at a downtown Austin hotel, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
Adler claimed that all attendees had to take a rapid COVID-19 test and were supposed to maintain social distancing. He acknowledged that while masks were given out at the wedding, all guests were “probably not” wearing them at all times.
On November 9, while in Mexico on vacation, he recorded a livestream on Facebook, but never mentioned he was traveling:
“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.”
So, Adler says that there “was no recommendation for people not to travel” during the time he was out of the country, yet in the very video he recorded while out of the country, he says to “stay home if you can.” This guy is a Class A hypocrite…and apparently a liar as well.
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