Sunday, May 31st open thread: ‘Fight the Power’
“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.
Here is Public Enemy performing “Fight the Power” live. I believe this is from 1999:
We were starting to see a string of victories in the courts over restrictions put in place by the States during the COVID-19 pandemic. I say “were” because the Supreme Court ended the streak when John Roberts sided with the liberals to rule in favor of California’s restrictions on church services. Here is more:
The Supreme Court late Friday rejected a California church’s challenge of the state’s new pandemic-related rules on worship services, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining the court’s liberals in the 5-to-4 vote.
Roberts wrote that state officials such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) had leeway to impose restrictions to prevent the spread of coronavirus, and had not singled out places of worship for unfair treatment.
“The notion that it is ‘indisputably clear’ that the government’s limitations are unconstitutional seems quite improbable,” Roberts wrote.
And there you have it, apparently because all of our Constitutional rights are being stepped on and violated equally then stopping Americans from attending worship services is okay according to John Roberts.
This is some of what Brett Kavanaugh had to say in his dissent:
“California’s latest safety guidelines discriminate against places of worship and in favor of comparable secular businesses,” wrote Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. “Such discrimination violates the First Amendment.”
That seems fairly obvious to me, especially considering the churches would have been following the same exact protocols other places which are allowed to be open are following, but what do I know?
So the question I have at this point is, what is to stop these States from continuing to extend these emergency declarations into perpetuity and permanently stomping on our rights if we cannot trust the Supreme Court to put an end to this? If you do not think this is possible remember we have already seen the emergency declarations which were only supposed to be for two weeks extended into two months and beyond. California, Ohio, Oregon, and there could be other States, have already extended the emergency declarations into July and I suspect it will be even longer.
I suspect this is only the beginning and we do not have the Supreme Court to back us up…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
More and more people are beginning to fight back against the stay-at-home orders now that the nicer weather is getting here, so naturally our elected officials are taken aback by people who are not simply falling in line. We have heard politician after politician lecture us on the importance of doing what they tell us to do during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wear a mask, social conditioning, wear gloves, wash your hands, all non-essential businesses are to close, go out only to by essentials from big businesses, and all non-essential activities are off limits…
But of course while lecturing us on how to behave if we do not want to be guilty of murdering our fellow Americans our so-called leaders do not feel they have to abide by the same laws. We recently saw Governor Northam out in public not wearing a mask and not social conditioning, and then yesterday Governor Whitmer’s husband tried to cut in line to get his boat in the water because he is special and did not think he had to abide by the same restrictive rules his wife put in place, and now we have learned that New Mexico Governor Grisham broke her own lock down order so she could go buy some essential jewelry. Here is more:
Did Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham play by her own rules during the public health order? KRQE News 13 has learned in April, when she ordered non-essential businesses to shut down and lectured all New Mexicans to stay home, a non-essential business opened up so she could buy jewelry and have it delivered to her.
In early April, Gov. Lujan Grisham stressed that New Mexicans needed to stay home and should only go out for essential items such as food. She also announced that all non-essential businesses were closed. “We are in really tough financial times as a state. It mirrors the incredible, personal sacrifices that happen every single day because people have limited their ability to work, telecommuting and many people, in fact, have lost their jobs,” said Gov. Lujan Grisham on April 3rd.
However, just days after the April 3rd news conference and a week before Easter, KRQE News 13 has learned that Gov. Lujan Grisham called an employee at Lilly Barrack on Paseo to buy expensive jewelry. The jewelry was bought over the phone, but the employee went to the store, got the jewelry and placed it outside the door of the store where someone who knew the governor picked it up. This is according to the person who runs Lilly Barrack stores.
The Governor is not denying the story, however she is saying it was permissible because the transaction was contactless, however curbside service was also banned so her story quickly changed and she is now claiming the jewelry was delivered to her house. Either way, she obviously did not adhere to her admonition that people only buy essential products and here we have another politician who thinks the laws only apply to the plebeians.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Governor Whitmer’s husband tried to use his position to flout COVID-19 boating restrictions
Back in 2017 Chris Christie took quite a bit of heat–and rightfully so–when he closed the beaches in his State due to a government shutdown and then was spotted sunbathing with his family on a closed beach over the July 4th weekend. He let his political privilege show when he responded by saying “that’s just the way it goes, run for governor, and you can have a residence.”
Fast-forward to 2020 and as the Memorial Day weekend approached millions of Americans remained in varying degrees of house arrest and have been for about two months. As tensions begin to flare and as patience grows shorter and people want their freedom of movement back we have been lectured over and over again about the importance of social conditioning and following the guidelines over the holiday weekend to remain safe.
One of the States with the most restrictive regulations in place is Michigan and over this weekend it looks like the virtue signalling Governor has had her own Chris Christie moment. Or at least her husband did, but that is a negligible difference in my opinion, as he tried to use her name to flout the rules his wife put in place on boating. Here is more:
The owner of a Northern Michigan dock company says Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s husband wanted his boat placed in the water before the Memorial Day weekend as Whitmer urged residents not to rush to the region.
No longer visible to the public, Facebook posts from NorthShore Dock LLC and its owner, Tad Dowker, focused on what Dowker said was a request last week by Whitmer’s husband, Marc Mallory. The posts have drawn the attention of Republican state lawmakers, who said the Democratic governor’s family may not be following her guidance for the rest of the state.
“This morning, I was out working when the office called me, there was a gentleman on hold who wanted his boat in the water before the weekend,” Dowker posted. “Being Memorial weekend and the fact that we started working three weeks late means there is no chance this is going to happen.”
“Well our office personnel had explained this to the man and he replied, ‘I am the husband to the governor, will this make a difference?'”
He tried to use his wife’s position to jump to the front of a line that was created by his wife in the first place. After two months of restricting the movement of Michigan residents you would like to think the First Family of the State of Michigan would step back and let their subjects take to the water first, but of course they could not resist and whether you like to admit it or not there is a ruling class in this country and they do not play by the same rules. Governor Whitmer, your privilege is showing…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Memorial Day 2020
We here at America’s Watchtower would like to take a moment to remember all the men and women who have given their lives for this country. God bless you all.
Ohio court rules gyms can ignore stay-at-home order
While people are busy arguing on Facebook about face masks, that is not what I consider to be the biggest or most important issue facing Americans in the wake of the COVID-19 lock down orders by a long shot. Sure the face masks are an inconvenience, but I am more concerned with the fact that millions of Americans have been put on house arrest while the various State governments pick which of those Americans will be allowed to work and where they can go when they are not working.
But the State governments are not only picking which Americans are winners and which ones are losers (essential vs nonessential) but also which businesses are winners and losers; Walmart, Lowes, and Home Depot are among the winners while small business owners are counted as losers.
Americans are growing tired of the government calling many of them nonessential workers and the businesses they own as nonessential businesses. To the person who needs the job all jobs are essential, and to the person that owns a business that business is essential, and I grieve for the millions of Americans who will permanently lose their jobs or their businesses because of the rash actions of a reactionary government.
The lock down orders, which were supposed to only last two weeks to get through the incubation period have now dragged on for over two months, have worn people out and as they look to regain their freedom cases are starting to be adjudicated on the side of freedom.
We have seen Judges rule against the Wisconsin stay-at-home order, Massachusetts’ gun shop closures, and Kentucky’s in-person Church service ban, and an Oregon judge ruled the state stay-at-home order was “null and void” before the state Supreme Court put a stay on the decision. Now we have a ruling coming from Ohio which states that gyms can reopen without fear of retribution from the State government. Here is more:
A Lake County Court of Common Pleas judge ruled against Dr. Amy Acton and the Ohio Department of Health in a lawsuit filed by more than two dozen gyms that were ordered to close as part of the statewide stay-at-home directive.
Court records from May 20 show Judge Eugene Lucci granted a preliminary injunction blocking state and county health officials from taking any action against fitness centers that violate the safety restrictions by reopening.
The ruling states that Dr. Acton, the Lake County General Health District, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and the Ohio Attorney General are “enjoined,” or prohibited from imposing any penalties for non-compliance of the Department of Health director’s order, given that they operate in compliance with safety regulations.
The lawsuit, filed by 1851 Center for Constitution law on behalf of Rock House Fitness Inc, and 34 other gyms, was presented on May 8 to the Lake County Court of Common Pleas judge after the statewide stay-at-home and “Stay Safe Ohio” orders restricted certain non-essential businesses from operating as a precautionary measure to help limit the spread of COVID-19.
“Constitutions are written to prevent governments from arbitrarily interfering in citizens’ lives and businesses. On that front, the call to action is clear. The Governor and health director may no longer impose their own closures and regulations and write their own criminal penalties to enforce those regulations and closures,” explained 1851 Center Executive Director Maurice Thompson.
That last paragraph pretty much sums up everything that is wrong with many of these lock down orders, and explains the overreach of many of the State governors who have basically created laws and penalties out of thin air and are using their emergency powers during a crisis to strip Americans of their ability to earn a living or to use their recreational time as they see fit.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Sunday, May 24th open thread: ‘Government Flu’
“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.
Here is Dead Kennedys performing “Government Flu” live circa 1981ish:
With about half of the nation’s COVID-19 deaths, New York is considered the epicenter of the outbreak in the United States. As such we have to ask why New York was so much more hard-hit than any other region, and we cannot deny that New York City is extremely congested and with people right on top of each other it is conducive to a contagion spread.
However, the people of the Empire State have been under house arrest for months, and with the same social conditioning regulations in place as in the rest of the country we have to start looking at leadership decisions made during this crisis, and that naturally brings us to Andrew Cuomo’s nursing home directive.
This nursing home directive–which forbade nursing homes from testing people for COVID-19 before either admitting or readmitting them to the homes–has come under heavy scrutiny from both Republicans and Democrats in recent days and now we are beginning to get some numbers which show us how disastrous this decision was.
Here is more from the Associated Press:
More than 4,500 recovering coronavirus patients were sent to New York’s already vulnerable nursing homes under a controversial state directive that was ultimately scrapped amid criticisms it was accelerating the nation’s deadliest outbreaks, according to a count by The Associated Press.
AP compiled its own tally to find out how many COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals to nursing homes under the March 25 directive after New York’s Health Department declined to release its internal survey conducted two weeks ago. It says it is still verifying data that was incomplete.
Whatever the full number, nursing home administrators, residents’ advocates and relatives say it has added up to a big and indefensible problem for facilities that even Gov. Andrew Cuomo — the main proponent of the policy — called “the optimum feeding ground for this virus.”
You will note the data the Associated Press saw for this report was incomplete, that number is only going to go up when all the data is reviewed. It is unbelievable to me how reckless the decision was to put people with the COVID-19 virus in nursing homes where the people most susceptible to the disease reside, especially when the Federal Government provided two military hospital ships which were sitting empty in the harbor. It is almost as if this decision was made in spite.
Andrew Cuomo is actually blaming the nursing homes for this:
But he continued to defend it this week, saying he didn’t believe it contributed to the more than 5,800 nursing and adult care facility deaths in New York — more than in any other state — and that homes should have spoken up if it was a problem.
“Any nursing home could just say, ‘I can’t handle a COVID person in my facility,’” he said, although the March 25 order didn’t specify how homes could refuse, saying that ”no resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the (nursing home) solely based” on confirmed or suspected COVID-19.
That is a remarkable statement! If he had no idea nursing homes were not equipped to deal with a virus which we have been told is highly contagious and deadly, especially to the elderly, he should have rejected this directive out of hand and yet he did not see a problem with it. But here he is passing the buck instead, maybe he should have consulted the nursing homes first instead of blaming them for his mistake afterwards.
This is the man many people were touting as a great leader during this outbreak. This is the man they said looked Presidential during the crisis. And this is the man whom many were hoping would replace Joe Biden at a brokered convention.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Illinois Republican to introduce legislation which will give the Governor the right to confiscate property
Apparently at least one Republican in the State legislature in Illinois does not think his governor has enough power during an emergency and so he is floating a bill that would allow the governor to confiscate property if the plebeians do not comply. Here is more:
Senator William E. Brady, the Illinois Minority leader in the state senate, introduced legislation on Wednesday that will give government the right to confiscate property from business owners who defy their lockdown orders.
Here is some of the language:
On behalf of this State to take possession of, and to acquire full title or a lesser specified interest in, any personal property as may be necessary to accomplish the objectives set forth in Section 2 of this Act, including: airplanes, automobiles, trucks, trailers, buses, and other vehicles; coal, oils, gasoline, and other fuels and means of propulsion; explosives, materials, equipment, and supplies; animals and livestock; feed and seed; food and provisions for humans and animals; clothing and bedding; and medicines and medical and surgical supplies; and to take possession of and for a limited period occupy and use any real estate necessary to accomplish those objectives; but only upon the undertaking by the State to pay just compensation therefor as in this Act provided, and then only under the following provisions:
a. The Governor, or the person or persons as the Governor may authorize so to do, may forthwith take possession of property for and on behalf of the State; provided, however, that the Governor or persons shallSB3993 – 5 – LRB101 21409 CPF 72043 b
simultaneously with the taking, deliver to the owner or his or her agent, if the identity of the owner or agency is known or readily ascertainable, a signed statement in writing, that shall include the name and address of the owner, the date and place of the taking, description of the property sufficient to identify it, a statement of interest in the property that is being so taken, and, if possible, a statement in writing, signed by the owner, setting forth the sum that he or 0 she is willing to accept as just compensation for the property or use. Whether or not the owner or agent is known or readily ascertainable, a true copy of the statement shall promptly be filed by the Governor or the person with the Director, who shall keep the docket of the statements. In cases where the sum that the owner is willing to accept as just compensation is less than $1,000, copies of the statements shall also be filed by the Director with, and shall be passed upon by an Emergency Management Claims Commission, consisting of 3 disinterested citizens who shall be appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, within 20 days after the Governor’s declaration of a disaster, and if the sum fixed by them as just compensation be less than $1,000 and is accepted in writing by the owner, then the State Treasurer out of funds appropriated for these purposes, shall, upon certification thereof by the Emergency Management Claims Commission, cause the sum so certified forthwith to be paid to the owner. The Emergency Management Claims Commission is hereby given the power to issue appropriate subpoenas and to administer oaths to witnesses and shall keep appropriate minutes and other records of its actions upon and the disposition made of all claims.
At least they are going to pay you some money for stealing your property I guess. There is no mention in this article how much support this legislation may or may not have, but this totalitarian piece of legislation is being introduced by a Republican and, as you would guess, the Democrats have the majority in Illinois so I am sure this is going to have some support.
They just keep pushing the people to see how much they will take and this is another example. With lawsuits starting to be adjudicated in favor of the people against these unlawful stay-at-home orders, instead of loosening its grip on the throats of the citizenry Illinois instead wants to make sure the boot they are putting on your head is a lawful one.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Oregon Supreme Court puts hold on lower court decision that COVID-19 stay-at-home order was ‘null and void’
Yesterday it was learned that a county Judge in Oregon ruled that Governor Kate Brown’s stay-at-home order was “null and void” because it had gone beyond 28 days. The authoritarian Governor appealed the decision to the State Supreme Court and today the Court issued a stay on the lower court decision. Here is more:
In a late Monday ruling, the Oregon Supreme Court stepped in to put a hold on a dramatic decision by an eastern Oregon judge that declared not only Gov. Kate Brown’s restrictions on church gatherings “null and void” but all her “Stay Home Save Lives’’ coronavirus emergency orders.
State Supreme Court Presiding Justice Thomas A. Balmer in a three-paragraph ruling issued at 7:45 pm. granted the state’s emergency motion after reviewing briefs from both sides.
The hold will remain in effect until the high court considers the state’s full petition to dismiss the Baker County Circuit judge’s preliminary injunction.
Balmer gave the plaintiffs until Friday to file any responses and said the court would take the matter under advisement, with no set timetable for a decision.
Well that did not take long. The stay is in place until the State Supreme Court issues a ruling on the lawsuit but no timetable is set to hear the case so I would bet this is not going to be heard any time soon.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
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