On March 29, as Pennsylvania, New York and other states began ordering nursing homes to admit medically stable residents infected with the coronavirus, national trade groups warned it could unnecessarily cost more lives.
On Sunday morning, in yet another example of the current trend of politicians exerting outsized influence, the 29-year-old CEO of Harris County, Texas, County Judge Lina Hidalgo, told people in her constituency to inform on businesses that were open or restaurants at full capacity and report them to the state.
This juxtaposition of perversion is probably the most powerful display of the America we knew and loved being turned upside down beyond the worst nightmares of our early founders. “We will shut you down, we will cite you, and if we need to, we will arrest you,” announced Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in a public address on Saturday. “Don’t make us treat you like a criminal, but if you act like a criminal and you violate the law and you refuse to do what is necessary to save lives in the city in the middle of a pandemic, we will take you to jail. Period.”
The Justice Department is siding with a Virginia church suing Gov. Ralph Northam after police threatened a pastor with jail time or a $2,500 fine for violating the state's coronavirus lockdown restrictions by holding a 16-person church service on Palm Sunday.
All my life, I have dismissed paranoids on the right ("America is headed to communism") and the left ("It can happen here" -- referring to fascism). It's not that I've ever believed liberty was guaranteed. Being familiar with history and a pessimist regarding the human condition, I never believed that.
Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said Friday that Americans are increasingly falling for “the illusion of safety” and are forgetting “the idea of liberty.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is encouraging residents to go outdoors during the shelter-in-place order as long as they follow social distancing guidelines. "We want you to see sunsets," he said. "We want you to enjoy activities outdoors. What they don't want is people congregating outside in large groups."
A federal district court judge has taught Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (a Democrat) a valuable lesson: The COVID-19 pandemic does not give her the right to suspend the First Amendment right of Kansans to practice their religious beliefs. Several other state and local officials should take heed, too. Kelly signed a series of executive orders restricting public and private activities due to the COVID-19 crisis. On April 7, she issued Executive Order 20-18, prohibiting “mass gatherings” of more than 10 people in a confined or enclosed space. Violators were subject to up to a year in prison, a $2,500 fine, or both.
The American Constitutional Rights Union named Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) as its Crisis Tyrant this week, based on his arbitrary and excessive COVID-19 restrictions, and using a pandemic to pass laws that permanently harm the integrity of the Commonwealth and its residents.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday extended Michigan's state of emergency and disaster declaration through May 28, hours before it was set to expire and after hundreds of protesters, some of whom were armed, gathered in the state Capitol building to voice their displeasure with the Democratic governor.
