To one degree or another we have seen most of the States in the country violate the rights of their citizens under the guise of keeping them safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the States that pushed the limits of totalitarianism during this crisis was Pennsylvania, and earlier today a Judge ruled that Governor Tom Wolf’s measures went to far and are unconstitutional. Here is more:
A federal judge ruled on Monday that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s (D) coronavirus orders, which shut down the state, closed businesses and limited gatherings, were unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV, a Trump appointee, said in his opinion that COVID-19 orders from Wolf and Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Rachel Levine violated and continue to violate the First Amendment right to freedom of assembly and the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment.
He went on to say that while these were well-intentioned measures (I disagree with that assertion) that “even in an emergency, the authority of government is not unfettered.”
“There is no question that this Country has faced, and will face, emergencies of every sort,” he wrote. “But the solution to a national crisis can never be permitted to supersede the commitment to individual liberty that stands as the foundation of the American experiment.”
The only problem I have with that last statement is that these totalitarians were permitted to supersede the individual liberties of Americans but I put most of that blame on the people themselves for not standing up for their rights in the first place.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Sunday, September 13th open thread: ‘The Globalist’
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24 KJV)
Here is this week’s open thread. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
You can subscribe to America’s Watchtower to receive email updates and you can also follow America’s Watchtower on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the links on the right.
This week’s musing brings us the band performing “The Globalist” live in 2016:
Nancy Pelosi calls Donald Trump’s Middle East peace deal ‘a distraction’
You might have heard, if you do not strictly listen to the mainsteam media at least, that Donald Trump negotiated a deal between the UAE and Israel which will normalize the relationship between the two countries. This is a major accomplishment, so much so that the President has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize yet again.
Of course Democrats do not want to give Donald Trump any credit so earlier today Joe Biden was forced to admit this deal could be good for the Middle East even though it would have been done “accidentally” by the President.
That was just plain silly but not to be outdone by good ole Uncle Joe, Nancy Pelosi offered her two cents when asked about the deal and here is what she had to say:
“Well, hopefully they won’t—hopefully they will beneficial [sic] to the region,” Pelosi said. “We’ve been waiting for a very long time for the president’s proposal for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement that honored the two state solution. It was coming in two weeks, it was coming in two months, it was coming in six months—it still hasn’t come in any way that has brought peace.”
“So, good for him for having a distraction on a day when the numbers of people who are affected and the numbers of people who are dying from this virus only increases,” Pelosi stated.
It is nothing but a distraction from COVID-19 according to the Speaker of the House, as if this is not a big deal and as if there cannot be two issues on the table at the same time.
The truth is that the Democrats are upset because they have been claiming for years that Donald Trump was going to start WWIII and to this date he has done the opposite, and if this deal holds up Donald Trump will have done something that Presidents have unsuccessfully tried to do for decades. But mostly they are hurting because Donald Trump undid Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal and that probably set the ball rolling for all the advances in the Middle East since that time.
The truth is the Democrats would rather see war in the Middle East than give the President credit for calming tensions in the region,
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Lost in the shuffle last week, and largely ignored in the media, was the news that Donald Trump brokered an agreement between the UAE and Israel which will begin the process of normalization between the two countries.
Despite this not being big news in the United States for some reason, (and we know what that reason is…) it still earned worldwide recognition and led to another Nobel Peace Prize nomination for the President. Here is more on the deal:
The agreement, called the Abraham Accord, will lead to diplomatic normalization between the two countries, starting with an exchange of ambassadors, then leading to further agreements in technology, security, health care, and other critical areas. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East–peace consigliere, said during the press briefing to expect flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv, creating greater interfaith exchange.
The deal will also ease domestic political pressures in the two countries. To cement Emirati support for the agreement, the Netanyahu government has agreed to freeze its plans to “declare sovereignty” over West Bank settlements.
This is just the latest in a string of victories for the Trump administration in an attempt to bring peace to the Middle East. Since recognizing Jerusalem as the official capital of Israel here is a list of some of Donald Trump’s other accomplishments in the region:
First there was the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is establishing “full normalization” with the Jewish state, and will formalize an agreement at the White House later this month.
Then there was Kosovo, which is establishing relations with Israel and putting an embassy in Jerusalem under the terms of a deal brokered by the Trump administration last week.
Then Chad, a majority-Muslim nation, announced earlier this week that it will be putting an embassy in Jerusalem. Saudi Arabia announced that it will allow Israeli commercial flights above its airspace — not just to Dubai, but to all eastbound destinations.
And on Friday — the 19th anniversary of 9/11 — Bahrain announced that it, too, would normalize relations with Israel. It was a profound statement of peace, defying the efforts of terrorists to set the world on a path to endless religious war.
And this is just the beginning:
Other nations, too, are stepping forward to improve ties with Israel: Serbia is moving its embassy to Jerusalem as part of the Serbia-Kosovo agreement, and the African nation of Malawi is following suit.
The acceptance of a Jewish State in the Middle East by its Muslim and Arab neighbors is emboldening other countries to develop the closer links with Israel they have long desired but which they have feared to forge.
More nations, both in the Middle East and beyond, are likely to follow suit in the coming weeks.
I believe quite a bit of this probably has to do with recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and pulling out of the Iran deal, because it made it clear that after years of not being serious the United States was finally going to align itself with Israel and stand strong behind that nation. That might be an over-simplification but I believe it played a role.
Despite all of this, Joe Biden cannot give the President credit in the Middle East so he basically claimed that Donald Trump might have blundered his way into peace in the Middle East.
“I think Trump is going to accidentally do something positive here, in terms of this issue of… other Arab states” acknowledging Israel, Biden said during a virtual fundraiser organized by the liberal, pro-Israel lobby J Street.
Joe Biden is mostly just upset about the President ripping up the Iran nuclear deal which was supposedly Barack Obama’s biggest foreign policy victory. You can believe what you want about this President, and you can think what you want about this President, but none of this has been an accident. Donald Trump has started the ball rolling toward peace in the Middle East and he deserves credit for it.
I am not naive enough to believe this is all going to hold, we have seen how volatile the region is, but this is a step in the right direction and hopefully this will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
City owned gyms in San Francisco are open while privately owned gyms remained closed
We have already seen San Francisco’s hypocrisy in regards to its COVID-19 lock down rules when Nancy Pelosi was allowed to get her hair done in a shuttered salon without wearing the required mask while also getting an illegal blow drying, but that was just the tip of the iceberg if this story is true.
Another group of businesses which are not allowed to open in San Francisco are the gyms. Unless of course you are a gym in a city-owned building, if so you have been open for moths while other gym owners struggle just to make it through the pandemic. Here is more:
For months, the city of San Francisco health order has prevented local gyms from opening its doors, but some city-owned gyms have been back open for months and are allowing city employees to use them, crushing private gym owners.
Needless to say, this is not sitting well with gym owners in the city:
“It’s shocking, it’s infuriating,” said Daniele Rabkin from Crossfit Golden Gate.
She said she has done everything she can to keep her gym on Sutter Street alive.
“It just demonstrates that there seems to be some kind of a double standard between what city employees are allowed to do and what the residents of San Francisco are allowed to do,” said Dave Karraker, owner of MX3 Fitness in the Castro.
Once again we learn that there are two classes of people in this country, the ruled class and the ruling class, and if you are not part of the aristocracy you are nothing and there is no soup for you.
It makes you wonder how many other businesses are facing this double standard, not only in San Francisco but across the nation, that we do not know about yet.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
We have heard several stories about teachers who do not want parents to listen in on virtual classes when schools resume during the COVID-19 pandemic, but one thing is for sure and that is they certainly want to spy on student’s homes while they are in virtual class.
Back on August 24th we found out a teacher called the police because a student had a BB gun properly stowed on the wall in his room and the principal backed up the decision to send the police to this boy’s house by claiming that all school rules extend to the home during virtual classes.
As outrageous as that story is it gets even worse in Colorado Springs because, according to this story, a teacher actually called the police because a student had a toy gun at home during a virtual class. Here is more:
A 12-year-old boy has been suspended for having a toy gun he never brought to school.
Isaiah Elliott attends Grand Mountain, a K-8 grade school in the Widefield District #3, just south of Colorado Springs.
On Thursday, Aug. 27, the seventh grader was attending on online art class when a teacher saw Isaiah flash a toy gun across his computer screen. The toy in question is a neon green and black handgun with an orange tip with the words “Zombie Hunter” printed on the side.
The teacher notified the school principal who suspended Isaiah for five days and called the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office to conduct a welfare check on the boy without calling his parents first.
“It was really frightening and upsetting for me as a parent, especially as the parent of an African-American young man, especially given what’s going on in our country right now,” said Isaiah’s father, Curtis Elliott, in an exclusive interview with FOX31.
I said this the last time and I will say it again: This increased access into the homes of Americans is sure to be seen as a welcome side effect of the pandemic for the authoritarians on the left, and we are seeing with all the regulations and orders they have been handing down that it is going to be extremely hard for them to give back any of the power they have usurped. If you think this is going to end after the election in November you are sadly mistaken, this is about more than just one election…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Judge upholds Donald Trump’s restrictions on H1-B visas
Back in June of this year Donald Trump issued an Executive Order temporarily banning H1-B visas in an attempt to help American workers who lost their jobs due to the over-reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic by many of the State governors.
As expected the lawsuits quickly followed and on Friday a Judge upheld the ban on H1-B visas, here is more:
A federal judge on Friday rejected a lawsuit by business groups and is allowing President Donald Trump to temporarily bar the entry of foreign contract workers who are hired to take the U.S. jobs needed by Americans.
The decision is a big labor rights win for American employees because it recognizes a president can use his authority under section 212(f) of federal law to block the inflow of foreign workers if they have a damaging impact on Americans’ economic circumstances.
The decision is a big setback for the Fortune 500 companies objecting to Trump’s June 22 proclamation. The proclamation temporarily bars the entry of foreign workers via the huge H-1B, J-1, H-2B, and L-1 labor pipelines, which keep roughly two million compliant and cheap contract workers in jobs needed by unemployed blue collar and white collar Americans.
Here is more:
“The court rejects the Plaintiffs’ statutory and constitutional challenges to the Proclamations … [and] the court concludes that the Plaintiffs are not likely to succeed on their challenges to the Proclamations,”
This is a big win for Donald Trump’s immigration and economic policies but we know that this is going to be appealed so this is not over by a long shot.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Sunday, September 6th open thread: ‘Supremacy’
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24 KJV)
Here is this week’s open thread. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
You can subscribe to America’s Watchtower to receive email updates and you can also follow America’s Watchtower on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the links on the right.
This week’s musing brings us the band performing “Supremacy” live in 2013:
Wake to see
Your true emancipation is a fantasy
Policies
Have risen up and overcome the brave
Greatness dies
Unsung and lost, invisible to history
Embedded spies
Brainwashing our children to be mean
You don’t have long
I am on to you
The time, it has come to destroy
Your supremacy
New York City is still not allowing restaurants to open for indoor dining even though Winter is just around the corner and many of them face the prospect of closing their doors forever if they are not allowed to open. In fact Bill de Blasio has stated he has no plan to allow restaurants to open indoor dining anytime soon.
You can imagine the strain this is putting on restaurant owners who are just trying to survive these totalitarian measures. Well, now 300 restaurant owners are trying to fight back by filing a $2 billion lawsuit against New York City. Here is more:
More than 300 restaurants have joined a class-action lawsuit seeking over $2 billion in damages due to the city’s ongoing indoor dining ban. Il Bacco — a restaurant on the border of Little Neck, Queens and Nassau County — filed the lawsuit on Friday in the state Supreme Court in Manhattan, alleging that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive orders have violated its constitutional rights. In the suit, the Italian restaurant alleges that it can’t serve diners indoors, while its neighbors in Long Island — just 500 feet away — can. “According to Gov. Cuomo, it is dangerous to eat at [Il Bacco] in Little Neck, Queens, but it is safe to dine indoors a few hundred feet east,” the suit says. As of Monday, Crain’s reports that at least 337 restaurateurs have signed onto the class-action suit against the city and state.
Can you imagine owning a restaurant in New York City and being told you can not open while only 500 feet away restaurants are thriving?! This is simply not justifiable by any means. It is time for the people of New York to start fighting back and hopefully this is just the beginning.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Nancy Pelosi blames the hair salon for setting her up
Nancy Pelosi has been taking quite a bit of heat today after being caught getting her hair done in a salon during the COVID-19 lock down, as well for not wearing her mask and for getting an illegal blow dry.
Today she fired back at her critics, refusing to apologize for the double standard. But she did not stop there, she claimed she was set up by the owner of the hair salon and demanded an apology. Here is more from the article:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to apologize Wednesday for her visit to a San Francisco hair salon that was supposed to be closed under the city’s coronavirus pandemic rules, and suggested the business had tricked her.
Pelosi said she took responsibility for falling for the “setup” to have her hair done inside the salon Monday. But the San Francisco Democrat said that if anyone owes an apology, it’s the salon.
“I think that this salon owes me an apology, for setting me up,” she said at an event about school reopenings in San Francisco’s Noe Valley.”
What I find funny about this excuse is that it sounds like an excuse Donald Trump would use and an excuse which she would be ridiculing if he did.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
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