Wuhan Virus Watch: Thousands protest in Sacramento & Huntington Beach, defying Newsom’s lockdown
I bet you thought we Californian’s didn’t have it in us!
Today’s update features lockdown protests in my home state of California.
I have come to the conclusion that the reason a “quarantine” is 40 days long is that is the duration people are willing to be isolated. Many states’ governors, recognizing the success of Sweden’s approach and evaluating the status of coronavirus infections in their states, are slowly reopening.
However, the California governor has been less than candid in sharing a timeline of reopening with Californians. And, in an obvious instance of political pique, he shut down Orange County beaches because visitors supposedly failed to follow social distancing guidelines.
Huntington Beach is one of those Orange County locations. On Friday thousands flocked to those shores to protest the needless closures.
Large crowds opposing the state’s coronavirus stay-at-home mandate took to the streets of downtown Huntington Beach on Friday, a day after the governor closed Orange County beaches and drew frustration and criticism from some residents and city leaders.
Protesters gathered near the Huntington Beach pier shortly before noon, with the crowd eventually swelling to some 2,500-3,000 people, according to Huntington Beach police Chief Robert Handy. The tightly packed crowd, with most people not wearing protective masks, repeatedly chanted “U.S.A.” as they waited for the demonstration to begin.
The protesters held signs proclaiming, “All jobs are essential,” “My freedom is essential,” and “Newsom is not essential,” as well as “Open our businesses, stand up for our rights as Americans” and “The shutdown is killing us, open our state now.”
Meanwhile, in Sacramento, about 1,000 protesters demonstrated in front of the Capitol. Several demonstrators were detained.
The protesters are part of an effort called “Re-Open California” and are demanding Gov. Gavin Newsom to lift the statewide stay-at-home order.
“Reach out to the government and make their concerns, worries, fears, anger, frustration known,” said Erik Leisten from Gold River. “Exercise their freedom of speech and right to peacefully assemble and let him know that he’s destroying the state economically — but more importantly our freedoms.”
More than 1,000 people gathered at the Capitol grounds around noon, while other protesters stayed in their vehicles and drove around the property.
“In those areas where there is a low virus rate, let’s open up the doors for the businesses,” demonstrator Michelle said. “Owners of small businesses that are going through so many personal hardships who have invested their whole life savings. They could lose their home. They could lose everything.”
…“I have a concern with it (COVID-19). I don’t want to push it off as if it’s nothing,” said demonstrator Lisa Michael, who traveled from Fresno. “I think it’s been overblown, according to the numbers and the data that I’m seeing coming out of Italy and out of America.”
LiveCopter 3 video also showed at least four people being taken into custody.
I bet you thought we Californians didn’t have it in us!
Of course, many of us have the time: 20% of the state’s workforce has applied for unemployment.
Judge denies CA beach cities’ request to block state order closing local beaches
An Orange County Superior Court judge denied a request to temporarily nullify the order closing Orange County beaches.
The fight, however, is not over.
“It’s a difficult task. [Temporary restraining orders] are hard to get but it is the first step in the process,” Huntington Beach City Atty. Michael Gates said after Friday’s hearing.
“We are going to have a full-throated opportunity” to make a case for an injunction at the next scheduled hearing on May 11, Gates said.
The hearing followed a lawsuit filed by Huntington Beach and Dana Point along with various individual private plaintiffs that represent business with interests in coast cities.
“The Governor is acting without constitutional or statutory authority and is infringing on the cities’ right to control their own beaches,” said a court document filed in Superior Court Friday.”Preserving the status quo is warranted.”
Protesters Swarm Michigan Capitol Amid Showdown Over Governor’s Emergency Powers
Michiganders are also protesting their governor.
Hundreds of protesters — some of them armed with rifles — massed outside Michigan’s Capitol building Thursday to denounce the state’s stay-at-home orders. At the same time, lawmakers and the state’s governor faced off in a battle over the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the second time in roughly two weeks, protesters defied social distancing guidelines and took to the Capitol lawn over emergency declarations that have closed down many of the state’s nonessential businesses and largely confined Michigan residents to their homes.
Many of the demonstrators carried signs reading “Free Michigan” as they called out Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who extended the emergency order through May 15.
New York’s anti-lockdown protests fizzle with just dozens showing up
Meanwhile, protests on the East Coast are a little less dramatic.
Promised anti-lockdown protests at City Hall and the state Capitol in Albany fizzled Friday, attracting sparse crowds amid rainy conditions in the Big Apple and upstate.
Roughly 100 demonstrators gathered in the drizzle near the east steps of the Capitol and then marched to the governor’s mansion a few blocks away to protest the stay-in-place orders that city and state officials say are essential to slowing the spread of coronavirus.
“I’m not a scientist, I can’t really say I know what the data is, I try to steer away from that, but all I know is the Constitution can’t be violated,” one of the protest’s organizers, Cara Castronuova, told The Post by phone.
“To take away our rights and now they know it’s so easy, look at how easy it was, they just used fear and propaganda, and I’m not saying there’s not a virus, but that doesn’t ever justify taking away civil liberties, it’s our First Amendment rights,” added the 40-year-old fitness trainer and boxing announcer from Long Island.
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Comments
I’ll give the Chinese the benefit of the doubt for now, that they didn’t create this mess intentionally, but……….they couldn’t have designed a better plan to harm their adversaries.
How could you know they didn’t create this intentionally? You came up with 2 opposing theories within the same thought.
You write like Milhouse.
Why be so rude?
Maybe you missed the “benefit of the doubt” part…reading comprehension is key.
As of yet, there is zero evidence that the Chinese created the virus. Also, some knowledge of how viruses are “created” would be useful for you. No virus is created from scratch in a lab starting with nothing. A better term for “created” viruses would actually be “modified” because that’s really what genetic engineering does. We also have a limited supply of genetic tools to make these modifications and those tools leave behind evidence of their use, not unlike poisons in a tox screen (except that this evidence lasts a lot longer).
Therefore, the “evidence” boils down to basically speculation on motive with nothing else.
On the other hand, their malfeasance for handling their discovery and initial measures poorly is something they should absolutely answer for to the entire world. Malicious intent is certainly possible, but you and others like you should stop making yourself sound like fools for touting some idea that the virus was “created” by China as a weapon sans any evidence. It is self-serving and has the exact opposite effect you are expecting because it undermines any legitimate dissenter’s credibility when you do so.
While I very much doubt Wuhan was designed as a biological weapon I have little doubt that the Chicoms took advantage of the disease and weaponized it once it escaped from the Wuhan lab. The PRC ensured that the world had little warning, bad information from it’s stooges at the WHO, that walking disease carriers were flown all over the world, that quality PPE was purchased while poor PPE and test kits were provided. Basically the PRC declared war on the world.
Forget about the judges. Ignore the orders. That would leave Gov. Gruesom with two options: surrender or raise the ante by leaning on the police to arrest people which would very likely attract more and more protestors. How many of us are already looking for opportunities to protest by merely showing up?
The police are now in a tight spot. And it’s not just whether they honor their oaths to defend the constitution but whether their unions are behind them in resisting unconstitutional orders. How they decide will give us the signal as to whether or not we are now in a police state. THAT is why we need to be angry enough to get out there. SHOW the politicians that the majority of us are angry and getting angrier. How far do they want to take this?
California’s government has been at war with law enforcement for years. They used the proposition system to chip away at the criminal justice system (predominatly proposition 36 & 47). Once they established a beachhead with propositions, they went all in with AB1812, the so called “get out of jail free” card. LEO’s are not inclined to work for a system that doesn’t back them. Many go into ‘pay check collection/protection” mode. The Capital is a completely different environment, and I suspect it’s going to take a few multi-million dollar 1A lawsuits before those LEO’s determine it isn’t worth protecting the palace any more than arresting tweakers who are released before the arrest report.is even written. The California legislature/government has set itself up for failure, which it is in the process of. The whole thing needs to burn down before anything good can emerge from the ashes.
#Defy trumps #Resist.
If only the US citizens who have the misfortune of living in the People’s Democratic Republic of California could vote their deranged slavemasters out of power. Alas, illegal aliens voting and ballot harvesting are making elections there as predictable as North Korea.
You Californians will know you have achieved “democratic socialism” when Newson introduces his pleasure squad:
https://nypost.com/2020/05/01/kim-jong-un-may-be-holed-up-with-his-pleasure-squad-report/
There is no point attacking CA voters when there there are no alternatives on the ballot. Focus on your own state where I guarantee you are also under siege. Why do Texas voters keep electing communist mayors to their sanctuary cities? How did Beto almost defeat Cruz? It’s the same in every state.
CA didn’t become a one-party state because of voters but because the Bush/Cheney GOP sold us out. Just try running as a Republican in CA.
You hate CA. Noted. Now how about focusing your energy where it can make a difference? We don’t care about your hatred and your advice is ignorant of the realities.
Lighten up Skippy and try to maintain a sense of humor. I didn’t attack Californians. Are slaves responsible for the Caligula-esque behavior of their “owners”?
Stalinists hate jokes, particularly ones aimed at them. And don’t tell me Newsome-as-Kim Jong Un does not have an element of truth!
Many California voters are now fleeing their paradise and voting in leftists everywhere they go.
Same thing is happening in the large NE Democrat cities. Going south at recreating the same mess.
Something similar happed in Austin (Moscow on the Colorado River) where I lived. Progressives fleeing Austin’s high crime, high taxes, decaying infrastructure and rotten schools fled to surrounding nearby communities.They then proceeded to vote for the same leftist politicians that wrecked Austin.
Yes Texas is under siege because we get the refuge from California ,New York and other leftist states. They come here because of job opportunities and to escape the high cost of living in their home states.
Unfortunately they bring their voting habits with them spreading the Socialist/Marxist ideology they tried to escape. So the majors cities like Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and El Paso become leftist hot beds and making it harder for Texas to stay red.
I can not remember where, but a prominent spokesperson for TX said it takes awhile to ‘Texify’ the newcomers. But enough eventually get with the party to keep Texas red.
On a ‘have hope’ note – it’s not just liberals leaving liberal states. WA for example is about 50/50 state wide – 50 miles NW as the crow flies out of communist Seattle, Clallam county is more conservative. Some, myself included, are considering a move south – for warmer weather and to live among fellow deplorables. Also, there’s just no growing tomatoes, corn or okra here. And that really ticks me off. We’re looking at TX, TN and NC. FWIW, I’m a native Washingtonian. 😉
I was stationed in Bremerton, WA for six months while my ship was in the yards. I remember one of the yard birds saying “Don’t Californicate Washington”.
I have a few friends here who worked in the ship yards. Could have been either one of them said that … common attitude in that crowd.
It’s sad that a beautiful state like Washington has people like you ready to leave.
Just as a note, I have friends who left and came to NC 🙂 And we’re far from perfect politically.
Now, there you go again.
The mistake that rabid democrat governors and mayors make is not shining a light out of the tunnel. Regardless of peoples’ positions on the virus itself, they need hope. To tell a state or municipality that there is no timeline, whatsoever, but that stand by and we’ll let you know when your freedoms may return, and you’ll get riots. The governors who are laying out 1-2 week cycles lifting the lock downs are giving their citizens hope. I may want it to open sooner, but there’s a plan. I can see the plan. Reality may make it shift left or right, but there’s a hard plan.
Newsom, Cuomo, Von De Blasio and the other rabid (d)’s, they refuse to provide a plan. And they’ll pay for it. People need hope and the rabid (d)’s only retain power through highlighting fear.
This –>> “The mistake that rabid democrat governors and mayors make is not shining a light out of the tunnel.”
We put up with it, expecting that it will buy us a better path out. If nothing gets better from the lockdown, we might as well all go to the mall n take our chances, now vs. later.
Longer breakdown…
They think they’ve found an(other) excuse for exercising endless, unaccountable Authoritah: war on poverty, drugs, 9-11 SAFE act, war on terror in general, nation building, economic emergencies, social justice, and pandemics …
They never define the way out. The point isn’t what the exerise buys us. Wielding their Authoritah is it’s own justification. If they find an excuse that works for a bit, they want to keep using it: they just like it.
Our political Overlords, enamored with thinking that now, finally, they have their deserved Authroitah as long as the problem remains, are doing all they can to sustain the problem. Whenever it might ramp down, they float a new bio-trial baloon floated: “It’ll be two years…” “We will never be free of…”
The Overlords, thinking themselves masters of their own domain declined to notice the clocks and commitments supporting their Authoritah. (Interestingly, The Orange Crush gets this: success is determined by other people’s participation; time to talk reopening, because it’s time.)
Let me spell it out for them:
— We let you call a screeching halt to everything (actually, we did, through you) … for a little bit, to figure out what’s going on, n solve it. (Everything you do, we let you do, we delegate to you to do, for our benefit … but that’s a larger discussion.)
— But, but, but we still don’t know what’s going on isn’t good enough for long. If we’re gonna be eternally ignorant, might as well got to the mall now, n take our chances.
— We are working through you to do stuff we can do better together. If you can’t do better for us than we can without you … who needs you?
— What would be good?
—- Tests: early, easy, cheap, accurate, ubiquitous?
—- To throttle the spread, how about we quarantine people who have it, vs. locking down everybody.
—- Personal mitigations: what can we do to not get it? (I’m suspicious that general immune response, and viral load of exposure are big drivers — just a hunch.)
—- What can we individually do to bend the course of the disease once we get it from the SmallPox version, to the CowPox version? (I’m suspicious that general immune response, and viral load of exposure, and early and aggressive supportive care are big drivers — just another hunch.)
—- What medically delivered protocols n interventions bend the course of the disease.
—- Do some epidemiology, n tell us what’s going on?
— In fact, we shouldn’t have to tell you this. Having delegated you the problem, you tell us, and suggest more that would be helpful and why.
Dear Overlords: When there’s no progress on any of this, what good are you? When we have to scrounge, n search, n fight to find factoids n mitigations that you’re running around stifling … you’re doing it wrong.
“Everything not compulsory is forbidden.” is a burden and cost, not a benefit. The point is living more life: staying in our file-cabinet warrens until summoned to “essential” jobs or approved consumption is living for your sake, not our own. You have it backwards.
Jackholes.
Californians have defied stay at home orders for years.
That’s why it is a Sanctuary State for illegal aliens – they are Californians that won’t return home.
Latest quote…. “You win some, you Newsom”.
Vacaville, CA barbershop owner abused by CNN vows to continue operating and stay open for his several employèes.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u44IN1FniKM
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DqGaoXAwl9kw&ved=2ahUKEwjYiLmuy5XpAhVshq0KHcrdBjwQ3ywwAnoECBcQIg&usg=AOvVaw1Ldz1pJm4Rhx7oUiqhkhKr
By Gil Scott Heron
Avocado sandwich eating patriots! Gotta love it! Respect! 😉
In Re: posted video…
One wouldn’t necessarily find it easily — Paula Cole was awesome in Peter Gabriel’s Secret World Live concerts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fNV3TeRSZE
I have not had an avocado sandwich n years.
We used to grow them in our yard.
Storebought ones are ripe for about fifteen minutes before they turn brown inside.
First world problem.
“I have come to the conclusion that the reason a “quarantine” is 40 days long…”
Quarantine is Italian. The Italians would make ships sit before entry outside the port for 40 days, quaranta, during the black plague.
I bet you thought we Californian’s didn’t have it in us!
Well…we’ll see what you have in you next election day. I suspect it will be Nancy Pelosi’s dildo, Gruesome Newsom.
San Diego County has a population of 3.32M. With near 4,000 reported cases, 888 hospitalizations and 139 deaths, there is no logic to keep the county locked up (let alone the state). Worse, 75% are roughly in a 25 square mile area in and around San Diego. Even if the entire caseload was in this 25 sq mile area, with 2.2M people, it does not warrant the damage inflicted.
Newsom, like all of the other self appointed highnesses seem to throw any semblance of reason out the window. The lock down is going to cause magnitudes more damage to lives and livelihoods. Deaths will not be avoided, just traded.