A couple of days ago Gavin Newsom, the current Governor of California, along with his current wife, a lobbyist and some other people, had dinner in a restaurant. Let me repeat that, the Governor of California had a meal with a group of friends --or at least a group of political fellow travelers-- at a restaurant. In a normal year, in a normal place, dinner out wouldn't be breaking news. But this is California in 2020. This is not a normal place, and this is a crazy year. This is also the seventh-ish month of this strange situation we call "shut-down" in California. And so this is breaking news.
In case you have been bravely avoiding the news for the last couple of months there is a pandemic and "shut-down" is the sad new normal for people with the misfortune to live in the Golden State. Restaurants in my county are, as of yesterday --I think-- once again closed for in-door dining. (They were closed for "in-door dining" for most of the summer, re-opened for partial capacity for a few exciting weeks and then were ordered closed again this week.) As it is now November and we are in our rainy season I seriously doubt many of the local restaurants will have much business at all by the end of the month. We've been told it is too dangerous to go to restaurants. It is too dangerous to go to church. (Churches have been ordered closed in some California counties. In San Francisco if you are faithful you are worshipping in a parking lot right now.) We've even been told that it is too dangerous to get together with relatives in the privacy of our own homes for Thanksgiving dinner. There is a pandemic you see!
But a few days ago the governor of California went out to dinner with a group of people to a restaurant called the French Laundry. That Gavin Newsom --like most San Francisco Progressive politicians-- is a hypocrite who believes rules apply to other people is NOT news to anyone who has been paying attention. (He's even been sued. You can read about it here. Apparently the case is "not moot.") San Francisco Progressives are good at ignoring reality --they've been ignoring mass homeless encampments and open air drug use for years-- and they are really good at ignoring the rules they try to impose on other people. A couple of months ago Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat Congresswoman from San Francisco, got a haircut. (You can see the infamous haircut footage here, and some far more heartbreaking footage of the Progressive blight that has ravaged San Francisco. It is hard to watch, but you should watch it.) That was news too, because for months it had been impossible for ordinary citizens to get haircuts in San Francisco. (For months it has also been impossible for hairdressers to make a living in San Francisco.)
But Progressive politicians don't care about the little guy. They don't care about the citizens. They don't care that we would like to have jobs. We would like to get haircuts. We might even like to go out to dinner. (Your own Millennial Republican has never eaten at the French Laundry --flying to France and eating in a cafe next to an actual Parisian laundromat might be cheaper than the cost of an "intimate" dinner at the French Laundry. But in normal times I do go out occasionally.) In normal times I would never "restaurant shame" a Progressive Politician for dining out. But these aren't normal times. California's small businesses have been murdered over the past seven months. People have prayed in parking lots. Mobs have run loose in the streets. Mobs have attacked religious statues in front of churches. Censorship seems to have become weirdly normal. I've been joking for months that I must have missed the day the First Amendment was cancelled... but that is a lousy joke.
An even lousier joke is the Newsom administration's frankly nutty health directives. (Usually presented to the public via tweet or rambling press conference.) Apparently we're supposed to mask up. Mask up between bites of food! We're supposed to socially distance. (Unless we are protesting against Trump --suddenly the health emergency disappears then.) We're supposed to sacrifice for the common good. Sacrifice our businesses. Abandon our religious institutions. Give up our friends and family. Give up our constitutionally protected rights. Give up our traditions. Heck... we're supposed to do Thanksgiving dinner by zoom. We're not supposed to share meals with people "not from the same household." But the Governor gets to go out to dinner. With a group of people! With a lobbyist! (Admittedly, if you are a Progressive politician with presidential aspirations --yes, believe it, Sacramento will not be enough for our Governor-- your favorite lobbyist may actually mean more to you than your relatives. Even your least favorite lobbyist may mean more to you than your current spouse. You can always divorce and remarry, but a generous donor is worth keeping.)
But you see... Shame isn't something Progressives have a lot of... If Progressives were capable of shame they'd NEVER leave their houses. If Progressive politicians were capable of shame they would have been socially distancing before social distancing was a thing. But if you are a San Francisco Progressive shame is for other people... If you get caught getting a haircut (when no one else can) you claim the hairdressers set you up. If someone dares to mention the homeless crisis in San Francisco you snipe, "we feed the homeless!" And if you are Gavin Newsom, if you are caught publicly sharing a meal with people "not of the same household," you try and change the subject. Don't ask me about MY dinner! Let me tell you how you should NOT have dinner!
So here is the question, does hypocrisy matter anymore? Or do Progressive politicians have a perpetual get out of jail free card? Do they get to chide us for wanting haircuts? Threaten us for wanting to open our businesses? Accuse us of being disease "super spreaders" if we want to go to church? Tell us we should eat Thanksgiving dinner outside? Demand that we stop having weddings and funerals. Threaten us with curfews? (Because apparently Covid-19, like a vampire, is more dangerous at night.) All while doing whatever they feel like? Or do we hold them to account? Do we say enough is enough?
Do we end hypocrisy now?
(If you liked this post please share and share again. We're fighting media blackouts by becoming our own news source. So... please, help us spread the word. And... if you have had enough of Gavin there is a recall petition. You can download a copy, print it out yourself, sign it yourself and mail it in. The link is here. Please, a stamp, an envelope and a piece of paper and a few minutes of your time and you too can speak up against the hypocrisy of Newsom.)
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