Tag: lockdowns

COVID In Minnesota: Gov. Walz Unveils Restrictions On Social Gatherings, Restaurants, Gyms, Youth Sports

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has announced new COVID-19 restrictions that will impact social gatherings, restaurants, gyms and sports for four weeks.

The restrictions are in effect between Friday at 11:59 p.m. and Friday, Dec. 18. In-person social gatherings with people outside of your household are prohibited. Bars and restaurants will have to go take-out only. Gyms and entertainment spaces will need to close, and wedding receptions, private parties and celebrations will also be restricted. Adult and youth sports will be put on pause, but college and pro sports are exempt.

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Gavin Newsom’s French Laundry Outing Crystallizes the Arrogance of COVID-19 Dictators

As J.D. Tuccille notes, this sort of double standard is par for the course during the COVID-19 epidemic, when politicians such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–Calif.), Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D), Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney (D), and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D–Calif.) have felt free to flout the disease control safeguards that mere mortals are told to observe. “We’re expected to suffer discomfort, economic pain, and emotional distress or else pay fines and even serve jail time,” Tuccille writes. “Government officials, meanwhile, take offense when called out for violating the standards they created.”

While Newsom did not take offense, he did offer excuses, and he did not acknowledge that he was breaking the law he had laid down—not merely its “spirit,” but its specific requirements. “We certainly hope Gov. Gavin Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, enjoyed their dinner at the Michelin-starred restaurant,” The Sacramento Bee editorialized. “Because it will end up costing a lot more than $700 in terms of damage to Newsom’s credibility in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nothing will launder the stain of stupidity from his reputation after this ill-conceived outing.”

The paper also noted that Newsom’s children are attending private school while most public schools remain shuttered. “Newsom and the First Partner eschewed state public health guidelines to dine with friends at a time when the governor has asked families to scale back Thanksgiving plans,” the Bee observed. “If the governor can eat out with friends—and if his children can attend their expensive school—why must everyone else sacrifice?”

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Let celebrity culture burn: Hypocritical movie stars and politicians break their own Covid-19 advice while shaming the rest of us

One can argue to death the science behind the risk factors of Penn’s decision. He and Dorsey could both be negative for Covid-19, they are outdoors, etc. But there are no ifs, ands, or buts to his mask tweet or his ranting interviews on CNN. He makes no exceptions, so why should we? States like California have travel advisories in place, warning people to skip out on jetting around for the holidays, and mask mandates can be found all over the US. When was the last time you walked shirtless on a beach without a mask in Hawaii? 

The Covid-19 pandemic has put a cruel, yet honest light on celebrity culture in the US. From interviews about the pandemic with Stephen King to Penn, this light has revealed an ugly obsession with the idea of celebrity, as well as the need for many to connect celebrity status with intelligence and perspective, especially on the left. 

And this celebrity cult goes far beyond the star of ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ as this obsession with public figures has also infected politics, and it’s only been worsened during Covid.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo can’t tell New Yorkers enough about how their behavior has helped spread Covid-19 in his state. While he’s been running this shame campaign, however, Cuomo has traveled out of state and been seen without a mask.

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California doctors’ top brass attended French Laundry dinner with Newsom

California Medical Association officials were among the guests seated next to Gov. Gavin Newsom at a top California political operative’s opulent birthday dinner at the French Laundry restaurant this month.

CEO Dustin Corcoran and top CMA lobbyist Janus Norman both joined the dinner at the French Laundry, an elite Napa fine dining restaurant, to celebrate the 50th birthday of lobbyist and longtime Newsom adviser Jason Kinney, a representative of the powerful interest group confirmed Wednesday morning.

Both Norman and Corcoran are friends of Kinney, as is Newsom, who referred this week to his 20-year friendship with Kinney. In a photo obtained by Fox LA, Norman is clearly visible seated to Newsom’s left.

The presence of CMA brass could amplify criticisms of the dinner occurring despite coronavirus restrictions that have limited Californians’ movements and constrained businesses. While Newsom and Kinney’s lobbying firm have said the meal abided by public health rules, it has struck a chord with Californians who have assailed the upscale soiree as hypocritical as coronavirus cases surge.

The state has issued guidelines prohibiting more than three households from gathering privately — a limit clearly exceeded by the French Laundry dinner. However, the state has intentionally allowed restaurants to seat people from more than three households together.

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Some Illinois Eateries Won’t Obey Shutdown Order. It’s “Defy Or Perish”

Earlier today, we discussed the fact that law enforcement agencies around the state of New York were simply refusing to comply with the Governor’s mandate that no more than ten people can attend a private Thanksgiving dinner with their family (or any other gathering) inside their private residence. These are not, however, the only places where the natives have become restless and begun to rise up against oppressive restrictions mandated in response to the novel coronavirus. Out in the Windy City and around the rest of the state, both the Governor of Illinois and the Mayor of Chicago have issued another set of orders that essentially shut down most operations for bars and restaurants yet again. Still reeling from the previous shutdowns and teetering on the brink of fiscal collapse, some owners are telling CBS News that they will not be complying with the orders. For their businesses, it’s simply no longer an option and it’s become a matter of staying in operation or closing permanently.

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