In the 12th century, there were kingdoms and fiefdoms, but who really ruled the day was the high priests. Try to argue against the high priests you were considered a heretic. Many were burned at the stake for the sin of questioning the high priests. Flash forward 200 years and there was Joan of Arc. Today there are new high priests and dare to question one and you are scorned and ostracized.

That occurred for me a few years back. Through the modern miracle of social media, I located a very close friend of mine, Elliott, from junior high when I lived in Shaker Heights, Ohio. He was ‘smarter’ than me and went on to get a degree at Brown University. The fact that he used his high level degree to become a publicist for the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) baffled me. One would think he would have loftier goals – maybe one of the scientists. I found he was dedicated to his beliefs.

We did not debate the value of the UCS, but we did get into a debate about a concept presented by Paul Krugman, a Nobel Laureate in economics, but currently slumming as a columnist on the New York Times. We were now discussing a field I know a lot about. I disagreed with Krugman on… Read More

First off, Kudos to the thousands of statewide protestors who voiced their opposition to the quarantine order. You are the heroes of liberty.

Second, shame on any elected official who condemned them. Such behavior from an elected official is “irresponsible and unacceptable.” The exercise of free speech is a fundamental right, and it is the duty of elected officials to protect that right. I should also add shame on any local elected official who says he or she will enforce the unconstitutional order. You are violating your oath of office.

Third, shame on any law enforcement officer who arrested any of the protesters. You are allowing yourself to be instruments of the oppressor, that is, the Arrogant-Lazy-Authoritarian-in-Chief (ALAIC), Gavin Newsom. Those protesters have been your biggest supporters over the years. Don’t lose their support by violating your oath as well. “Just following orders” never got any oppressor off the hook for violating fundamental liberties.

To the Orange County Sheriff, who announced he would NOT enforce the order to close the beaches, my hats off to you. That is exactly what an elected… Read More

I received an email from a local elected official yesterday that told me to “understand” that the order that quarantined people who are not infected with COVID-19 was not issued by his agency, it was issued by the state. His email told me that, in his opinion, there was not much he could do about it. Seeing this comment from someone I know to be a freedom loving elected official told me how important it is to let local elected officials know what power they really have. You have what is known as “administrative discretion.” You have the right to determine what work your employees will do, and what they won’t do, and no court or any other agency has the power to tell you how to exercise that discretion.

What does that mean? It means you can ignore the quarantine order of the Arrogant-Lazy-Authoritarian-In-Chief (ALAIC), Gavin Newsom, and there’s not a damn thing he, or anyone else, can do about it. City Managers, County Executives, City Attorneys, and County Counsel will spend a lot of time trying to explain the nature of executive authority in the time of an emergency, but the fact is, if you ignore them, and order your police… Read More

Is there any doubt now that the decisions of Gavin Newsom, California’s Arrogant-Lazy-Authoritarian-in-Chief (ALAIC), are driven by politics and not science?

If beaches need to be closed, they need to be closed everywhere. If they don’t need to be closed everywhere, then they don’t need to be closed anywhere. So why did ALAIC Newsom choose to close Orange County beaches? Because Orange County had the gall to stand up to his irrational order.

By all eyewitness and law enforcement accounts, Orange County residents acted reasonably in going to the beach. But that’s not good enough for ALAIC Newsom. People ignored his order, and the local officials justified it, so he needs to make an example. This order is a sign to other counties, stand up against me, and I will take you down, just like I’m doing to Orange County.

The only crime here is people looking to enjoy a weekend at the beach. I don’t know about you, but whenever I go to the beach, I don’t like to be within six feet of anyone anyway, unless I know them. And by the looks of the pictures I saw, people were not that close. Police officers on the site… Read More

To anyone who believes that our current economic crisis is not the result of government incompetence and overreaction, I give you the following story, and quote from the story:

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/governors-warned-pandemic-years-ago-told-stockpile-didnt/story?id=70331277&cid=clicksource_4380645_2_heads_hero_live_hero_related

Less than two years ago, county officials in Los Angeles warned that deadly disease outbreaks were becoming a “serious threat” and that the county’s public health system still suffered from “gaps” in “strategy” and “resource preparation,” including a “limited number of ventilators.”

To put this is perspective, Los Angeles County has over one half the statewide deaths and almost one-half of the total infections in the State of California, yet the entire state is being forced into an economic shutdown because of the incompetence of LA County health officials. Did Governor Newsom happen to mention that in his briefing yesterday, when he said “Politics will not drive our decision-making; protests will not drive our decision-making; political pressure will not drive our… Read More

Quarantineis the forced confinement of a person who has contracted or been exposed to an infectious disease. Although it is a long-standing police power of governments, it is seldom used because seldom needed – sick people generally stay home on their own. When it must be used, it is subject todue process: the right to contest the order in court, to present evidence that the order is invalid, and to have it vacated.

What is happening today is radically different and profoundly un-American: the indefinite and indiscriminate home detention without due process of perfectly healthy people on the pretext that they might catch a contagious disease. While it is true that some people may be infectious without knowing it, that’s no different than a wide variety of other contagious diseases that have been with us for generations and… Read More

The Governor complained yesterday about people going to the beach.

According to the AP “The Democratic governor targeted beachgoers in Orange and Ventura counties, calling them an example of “what not to do” if the state wants to continue its progress fighting the coronavirus.” Beachgoers as criminals? Oh come on, man.

Of course, he doesn’t want to have to get mean about making people do what he says (at least according to him). Once again, in the AP story: “As he works on a reopening plan, Newsom said he does not want to step up enforcement against people who don’t follow the rules. But he urged local governments to reconsider their directives and said the California Highway Patrol is considering more ‘aggressive enforcement’ measures.”

Oh gee whiz, thanks Governor. You’re all heart.

The evidence is mounting daily about how this Governor completely overreacted to the health issues caused by COVID-19. We were told in March that we needed to completely destroy California’s economy to prevent an “untenable influx of new cases” the virus was expected to create. We were told… Read More

Can you imagine 50, or 500 people a day, walkin’ into every local public health office and singin’ “I can sit anywhere I want at my favorite restaurant” why they’ll think it’s a movement, and that’s what it is the Favorite Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement, and it needs to start now.

I always loved Arlo Guthrie’s song “Alice’s Restaurant” because it made a point. You don’t have to be serious or violent to make your point known, you just need to speak it, and act accordingly.

There’s a protest at the state capitol in Sacramento on May 1. And the state government won’t give them a permit to hold the protest. Reason? Why–the government just doesn’t brook opposition to its stupid orders. The First Amendment allows the protest, because denying the permit is blatantly unconstitutional, but no one ever accused this California State Government of giving a rat’s behind about the Constitution.

This much we know – 99.9% of the people of this state are not infected with the COVID – 19 virus, and less than 99.99% of the people of this state have died… Read More