Contributor Post Created with Sketch. Your Home Is No Longer Your Castle

 

From New York to California, we’re learning that authorities aren’t content with telling people how to behave in public or what to put on their faces… no, now they’re telling Americans what they can do in their own homes.

In California, Governor Gavin Newsom is setting tight parameters about how Americans can celebrate Thanksgiving in their own homes.

And in New York State, the pandemic is continuing to provide convenient cover for folks who have been waiting for an opportunity to crack down on the Jewish community. This is one of the most disturbing videos I’ve ever seen as a Jewish American, and terrifying for anyone familiar with the history of Jews in Europe.

One of the biggest mistakes in our nation’s history is lending state and local governments absolute and indefinite power at the outset of this crisis. Consider what New Jersey just did:

Can you imagine that this is something our Founders would have approved of? The extension of an “emergency” for months, with no end in sight, with government officials mandating every citizen’s behavior inside and outside of their homes, all because of a virus with over a 99% survival rate? This is a dangerous road we’re going down, and it appears there’s no exit strategy in sight.

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  1. Skyler Coolidge

    I’ve been complaining about this for a long time. The Texas legislature granted the governor certain emergency powers, which were primarily intended to help contol looting and traffic for hurricanes. The emergency power was never intended to last a year.

    Texas needs to enact a constitutional amendment allowing the governor to have emergency powers for no more than ten days, after which the emergency powers are void and cannot be renewed. Only legislation voted on by our representatives and otherwise constitutionally enacted should ever be the law.

    We have put up with far too much and it’s high time we send them all packing. But the polarization of politics makes that impossible.

     

    • #1
    • October 25, 2020, at 9:30 AM PDT
    • 7 likes
  2. Dave of Barsham Member

    The difference between what I’m experiencing where I live (in South Carolina) and what I see coming out of NY and CA is truly crazy. Early on here in SC, when it was noticed that people weren’t dying in the streets from this virus, people started opening up their businesses again. The local governments started to basically change the rules to keep up with what people were doing, not the other way around. I can’t decide if the left is actually terrified or if it’s just a pure power grab. I’m wondering if I’m just going to have to embrace the power of “and.”

    • #2
    • October 25, 2020, at 9:36 AM PDT
    • 7 likes
  3. Jules PA Member

    Absurd. Obviously absurd. And insane. 

    • #3
    • October 25, 2020, at 9:50 AM PDT
    • 4 likes
  4. RushBabe49 Thatcher

    You might wish to read my post below.

    • #4
    • October 25, 2020, at 10:34 AM PDT
    • Like
  5. DonG (Biden is compromised) Coolidge

    I am sure some neighbor ratted out the Jewish family having a gathering. What a horrible person. It takes a subset of the population to enable the tyranny of government. If nobody ratted out their neighbors the tyranny would not be possible. We just need good people not to “go along”.

    • #5
    • October 25, 2020, at 10:42 AM PDT
    • 5 likes
  6. Buckpasser Member
    Buckpasser Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    I used to live in America.

    • #6
    • October 25, 2020, at 11:14 AM PDT
    • 4 likes
  7. Stad Coolidge

    I can’t believe this s**t . . . they have the gall to tell me what I can and can’t do in my dining room? These are the same people who said they didn’t want government to tell people what to do in their bedrooms . . .

    • #7
    • October 25, 2020, at 11:22 AM PDT
    • 6 likes
  8. Arthur Beare Member

    Surely at least one of these dictatorial governors will be up for re-election in less than two weeks. Then we will see what the people truly think about these restrictions.

    • #8
    • October 25, 2020, at 11:23 AM PDT
    • 5 likes
  9. Arthur Beare Member

    The California decree is beyond parody. Ole Adolph himself wouldn’t have tried to impose a decree like Gov. Newsom’s.

    • #9
    • October 25, 2020, at 11:32 AM PDT
    • 4 likes
  10. RushBabe49 Thatcher

    Arthur Beare (View Comment):

    Surely at least one of these dictatorial governors will be up for re-election in less than two weeks. Then we will see what the people truly think about these restrictions.

    Our dictator here in Washington State is expected to win a third term. He has a 60% approval rate on his Wuhan virus performance.
    BTW, are you related to the British violin dealers?

    • #10
    • October 25, 2020, at 11:35 AM PDT
    • 1 like
    • This comment has been edited.
  11. iWe Reagan
    iWe Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    Unless they have a warrant, demand they leave. Record, publicize, and expose.

     

    • #11
    • October 25, 2020, at 3:28 PM PDT
    • 3 likes
  12. Flicker Coolidge

    iWe (View Comment):

    Unless they have a warrant, demand they leave. Record, publicize, and expose.

    When they opened the door they saw the crowd. It’s wacky but maybe they should go back to a door with a peep slide and a password.

    • #12
    • October 25, 2020, at 3:44 PM PDT
    • 2 likes
  13. Skyler Coolidge

    Flicker (View Comment):

    iWe (View Comment):

    Unless they have a warrant, demand they leave. Record, publicize, and expose.

    When they opened the door they saw the crowd. It’s wacky but maybe they should go back to a door with a peep slide and a password.

    The key thing to do is NEVER open a door for the police because they can claim that they saw something to give them probable cause. “Your honor, when they opened the door, in plain sight I saw a green leafy substance on their pizza. They had glazed eyes and it smelled of marijuana, or oregeno.” I’ve yet to find someone who could give me a definition of what “glazed eyes” means.

    • #13
    • October 25, 2020, at 4:49 PM PDT
    • 4 likes
  14. Rightfromthestart Coolidge

    No one says by way of explanation ‘it’s a free country’ anymore. 

    • #14
    • October 25, 2020, at 8:57 PM PDT
    • 2 likes
  15. Rightfromthestart Coolidge

    Stad (View Comment):

    I can’t believe this s**t . . . they have the gall to tell me what I can and can’t do in my dining room? These are the same people who said they didn’t want government to tell people what to do in their bedrooms . . .

    At the same time they were talking about bedroom privacy they were demanding that we pay for their birth control. 

    • #15
    • October 25, 2020, at 9:00 PM PDT
    • 2 likes
  16. James Lileks Contributor

    It’s not that the State will arrest you for not disinfecting your “restroom” on the 26th of November.

    It’s that they can, if they wish.

    • #16
    • October 25, 2020, at 11:03 PM PDT
    • 4 likes
  17. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    CA Gov’s Thxgiving insanity: -Must be held *OUTSIDE*; -Guests may use bathrm inside if sanitized; -Masks on while not eating; -Singing “strongly discouraged;” -Max of two hours together; -6 feet *mandated* in all directions b/twn all at table & otherwise.

    Practically nobody is going to follow all those rules. Most people, if invited for Thanksgiving dinner and told those rules, would just stay home. What’s the point of getting together if you cannot get within 6 feet of another person and have to wear a mask except for when eating? May as well just stay home and have a group phone call.

    • #17
    • October 26, 2020, at 12:20 AM PDT
    • 3 likes
  18. RichardKoenig Coolidge

    This business about Newsom and Thanksgiving is quite good satire. It is satire, right? Please tell me. It is …???

    • #18
    • October 26, 2020, at 5:02 AM PDT
    • 1 like
  19. Annefy Member

    Randy Weivoda (View Comment):

    CA Gov’s Thxgiving insanity: -Must be held *OUTSIDE*; -Guests may use bathrm inside if sanitized; -Masks on while not eating; -Singing “strongly discouraged;” -Max of two hours together; -6 feet *mandated* in all directions b/twn all at table & otherwise.

    Practically nobody is going to follow all those rules. Most people, if invited for Thanksgiving dinner and told those rules, would just stay home. What’s the point of getting together if you cannot get within 6 feet of another person and have to wear a mask except for when eating? May as well just stay home and have a group phone call.

    I know several people with compromised health who are planning to stay home (a lovely young woman with four young children who is battling breast cancer, a a 62 year old with diabetes). Everyone else I know is treating Thanksgiving as business as usual.

    We will be honoring one rule- the celebration will be outside, weather permitting (last year it poured all day), but that’s because there are so many people invited.

    Compared to what our forefathers had to battle in the name of liberty I almost feel silly saying this, but Thanksgiving is a hill worth dying on. I would be shocked if any local police try and enforce the rules, but I’ve been shocked quite a bit of late.

    We had a group gathering for dinner last night (broke all the rules except singing, but that’s because everyone was watching the Dodgers) and the prevailing sentiment about the guidelines was 100% indifference. My impression is that no one is even paying attention anymore.

    • #19
    • October 26, 2020, at 8:11 AM PDT
    • Like
    • This comment has been edited.
  20. iWe Reagan
    iWe Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    I refuse to have guests who insist on following the guidelines. Our Thanksgiving has topped 40-50 people in the past. This year? Not many.

    • #20
    • October 26, 2020, at 9:13 AM PDT
    • 2 likes
  21. RushBabe49 Thatcher

    iWe (View Comment):

    I refuse to have guests who insist on following the guidelines. Our Thanksgiving has topped 40-50 people in the past. This year? Not many.

    Your family is already in violation! Get rid of a couple of kids! (just joking!).

    • #21
    • October 26, 2020, at 10:46 AM PDT
    • 1 like