As our nations founders were debating what should be included in our Constitution, they included several protection for the citizenry while adding restriction s on the power of the federal government.
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Churches in California received a major victory today when the Supreme Court struck down California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ban on indoor worship services. The unsigned decision follow quickly on the heels of a major ruling at Thanksgiving striking down a New York ordinance severely limiting church attendance to as low as 10 people.
The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with a California church challenging Newsom’s order. The unsigned order had no dissents as the nation’s highest court tossed out an order from the federal district judge Central District of California, which had upheld Newsom’s restrictions.
#SCOTUS sends case of southern California church challenging governor's COVID-19 restrictions back to district court for another look after last week's decision in favor of NY churches & synagogues. The court's order is here: https://t.co/WbxPAlXqtr
The justices vacated the district judge’s ruling and sent the case back down to the lower court for further consideration in light of its ruling in Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, which struck down New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s restrictions.
U.S. Supreme Court granted cert and vacated the lower court orders involving the emergency petition of Harvest Rock Church and Harvest International Ministry. The Court stated in its order:
“The application for injunctive relief, presented to Justice Kagan and by her referred to the Court, is treated as a petition for a writ of certiorari before judgment, and the petition is granted. The September 2 order of the United States District Court for the Central District of California is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit with instructions to remand to the District Court for further consideration in light of Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, 592 U. S. ___ (2020).”
Tuesday, Liberty Counsel filed the final reply brief to the U.S. Supreme Court regarding its request for an injunction pending appeal in the churches’ federal lawsuit against California Governor Gavin Newsom’s unconstitutional worship ban and discriminatory treatment. The emergency petition also requested the extraordinary relief that the Court alternatively consider it as a petition for writ of cert before judgment.
Today, the Supreme Court granted the petition, vacated the lower court orders, and remanded the case for further consideration in light of its ruling last week that granted an injunction pending appeal for churches and synagogues in New York.
The restrictions against places of worship in California are more severe than those in New York. Governor Gavin Newsom’s orders ban ALL in-person worship for 99.1 percent of Californians.
Harvest Rock Church has multiple campuses in California, including in Pasadena, Los Angeles, Irvine and Corona. Harvest International Ministries (HIM) has 162 member churches throughout the state. Irreparable harm is being suffered every day as the churches remain subject to the unconstitutional restrictions, coupled with daily criminal threats, fines, and closure.
The Code Enforcement Division for the City of Pasadena and the Criminal Prosecutor have threatened criminal charges, fines, and closure for being open for worship against the governor’s orders and local health orders. The letters threaten up to one year in prison, daily criminal charges and $1,000 fines against the pastors, staff, and parishioners.
The discrimination has become more obvious and severe in Gov. Newsom’s new “Blueprint” issued on August 28, 2020, which established a system of four Tiers. The “Blueprint” discriminates against religious meetings in churches and places of worship in every Tier. The chart attached to the petition makes this discrimination very clear. For example, the consequence of the sea of purple in the “color-coded executive edict” is that indoor worship services are completely prohibited for 99.1 percent of Californians, including most of Harvest Rock and HIM churches. However, warehouses, big box centers, shopping malls, liquors stores, family entertainment and destination centers, gyms, fitness centers, and museums receive preferential treatment with either no capacity limits or no numerical limits.
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Today’s ruling by the Supreme Court provides great relief for churches and places of worship. The handwriting is now on the wall. The final days of Governor Gavin Newsom’s ‘color-coded executive edicts’ banning worship are numbered and coming to an end. It is past time to end these unconstitutional restrictions on places of worship.”
California Governor and tyrant Gavin Newsom (D) set a host of restrictions for the people of California over gathering for the Thanksgiving holiday, and now a utility company is threatening to cut off power, claiming it would be done to prevent fires due to dry conditions and high winds. If you believe that reason I have some wonderful beachfront property in Nevada I want to sell you.
Edison International might be cutting the power off to Southern California homes and businesses on Thanksgiving to “prevent fires.”
The forecast is calling for strong winds on Thursday and Friday and the utility company could resort to cutting power to prevent electrical lines from starting fires. Of course, that’s a load of bunk. It’s all part of the Democratic Party’s top-down conditioning of their citizens to conform to government rule over every aspect of their lives. Now not only are Californians not allowed to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with friends and loved ones, but they may be sitting at home alone with no power. It doesn’t get much more Orwellian than that period.
If the socialist government of Sacramento keeps up at this pace the people of California will soon go back to the horse and buggy.
“Edison International could cut power to some Southern California homes and businesses on Thanksgiving as strong winds are forecast to return to the rain-deprived region.
The utility owner hasn’t determined how many customers could be affected by the outages, intended to prevent power lines from sparking wildfires during the gusts. Power would likely be out until Friday evening, Southern California Edison spokeswoman Taelor Bakewell said. The state’s utilities have resorted to preemptively cutting power after electrical lines touched off a series of deadly blazes in recent years.
Critical fire weather conditions could develop Thursday afternoon through Saturday, according to a National Weather Service forecast. Although the annual rainy season has begun in Northern California and snows have returned to the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Southern California has remained largely dry. As a result, a record-breaking fire season that has already seen more than 4.2 million acres burned across the state this year could linger into December.”
Over 1.5 million went without power last Fall when Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) cut off their electricity in order to “prevent dangerous wildfires.”
Californians went through some rough hardships last year when they cut power over Gavin Newsome’s orders. Now you know why so many Californians are moving out and heading to states that don’t have these types of problems. A major problem with that is that it seems that the same dopey Californians who voted in ways that destroyed the once great state – i.e. for Democrats – are continuing to vote the same stupid way in their new home states where they fled the tyranny and incompetence. They don’t understand that they are the problem.
There’s just something wrong with the timing of this. I can pretty much guarantee you that Gavin Newsom will be enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with his family and friends, where there will be no mask wearing indoors and no social distancing, not unlike the birthday party he got caught attending last week where pictures surfaced of the governor sitting at a table with government types and big donors alike where no one was wearing a mask or social distancing.
So what has the socialism of the California government brought to the people of the state: a serious homeless problem where garbage, human feces, and needles are strewn about on the ground outside businesses, public parks and residential homes, power outages that remind Californians of why they recalled Governor Gray “Grayout” Davis and elected the Terminator. A lot of people don’t know this, but California is the richest and the poorest state in the country. Hollywood and other industries in California make it the richest in the nation, but then the cost of living, especially housing costs, devour middle class residents’ earnings to the point where many cannot afford to live there anymore.
The Los Angeles Police Department announced last week that they would be eliminating several special investigative sections, including their sexual assault section.
The announcement was made last week through a memo sent to department personnel written by deputy chief of staff to Chief Moore, Dominic Choi.
“A City of Los Angeles fiscal emergency has created an unexpected Department budgetary crisis and shortfall,” reads the memo. “As a result, the Chief of Police is making significant changes to adapt to the current financial and personnel shortages.”
Among the sections being disbanded include the Safer Cities Initiative (dealing specifically with Skid Row homeless encampments), Homeless Outreach and Proactive Engagement, Burglary Special Section and Cargo Auto Theft Detail, and the Animal Cruelty Task Force.
The Sexual Assault Section is the same unit that conducted investigations into Harvey Weinstein and George Tyndall.
Personnel will be reassigned “into patrol and patrol-related duties” so as to cover current shortages.
The LAPD will also see the downsizing of several other details and divisions.
Dominic Choi’s title is deputy chief of staff to Chief Moore, not assistant chief. Got them mixed up.
The Los Angeles City Council voted in June to cut $150 million from the $1.8 billion LAPD budget.
In a vote of 12-2, the City Council redirected $90 million to programs serving marginalized communities, $10 million toward youth employment and workforce development summer programs, and $50 million toward reducing city worker furloughs.
According to LAist, “The cuts are estimated to take the LAPD from 10,009 officers today to about 9,757 by this time next year, the fewest in over a decade.”
The department has also announced a reduction in civilian employees, that office hours will be cut, and Chief Moore has suggested that some jails may need to be closed.
Two California Medical Association officials were among the party guests that attended a birthday party with Governor Gavin Newsom last week that violated Newsom’s own COVID-19 regulations.
Photos obtained exclusively by Fox 11 reveal that not only were there two medical officials mixing company without the use of masks or social distancing, but that the event occurred indoors, contrary to what Newsom told the public after the event.
EXCLUSIVE: We've obtained photos of Governor Gavin Newsom at the Napa dinner party he's in hot water over. The photos call into question just how outdoors the dinner was. A witness who took photos tells us his group was so loud, the sliding doors had to be closed. 10pm on @FOXLApic.twitter.com/gtOVEwa864
The woman who took the photos spoke with Fox 11 about what she witnessed that evening when 20 feet away from her own dinner party, there was “a very loud party going on.”
“It got louder and louder and so they had some sliding glass doors that they were able to close, so then it was a closed-off room but you could still hear them with how loud they were.
I just happened to look over and realize hey is that Gavin Newsom, who is that? And I did ask one of the waitresses and she confirmed it was, so I was able to take a couple of photos, I was able to document this especially since nobody was wearing a mask. It was a very large group of people shoulder to shoulder, something that he’s always telling us not to do so yeah it was a bit annoying for sure.”
The birthday party was held on November 6th at The French Laundry located in Napa Valley. Twelve guests from several different households gathered together to celebrate the 50th birthday of Jason Kinney, a longtime friend and political advisor of Newsom.
When it was discovered that Newsom had attended the party, violating his own recommendations to wear face masks, practice social distancing, and to limit private gatherings to a maximum of three separate households, the governor apologized.
“I made a bad mistake,” Newsom said in his apology video on Monday.
He said that when he arrived at the event, he realized there were more people than he expected. “Instead of sitting down, I should have stood up and walked back down to my car and drove back to my house.”
“You can quibble about the guidelines,” he said, “but the spirit of what I’m preaching all the time was contradicted and I gotta own that.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom apologizes for breaking his own rules to attend a party at French Laundry:
But the woman who took the photos said she was surprised with Newsom’s apology, saying “it didn’t look like he was uncomfortable being there until the very end until people were looking at him and staring at him as he was leaving the room.”
In the photos, two California Medical Association officials have been identified. To Newsom’s left sits one of CMA’s top lobbyists, Janus Norman. And to Newsom’s right sits CEO Dustin Corcoran.
In June, the California Medical Association wrote on Twitter that, “Anyone who wants businesses to reopen and schools to open in the fall should wear a mask. Anyone who wants to slow the spread of COVID-19 should wear a mask. Anyone who wants to protect themselves, their neighbor and their community should wear a mask. Wear a mask.”
And despite the fact that Newsom and Kinney’s lobbying firm have defended the party by calling it an outdoor event, the photos call that claim into question.
“The photos suggest that the dinner was held in what amounts to a fancy garage, with walls on three sides and a roof.”
While Newsom may get away with a simple apology, Jon Miltimore of the Foundation for Economic Freedom has pointed out that regular Californians have been arrested and fined when they were found in violation of the governor’s orders.
California Governor Gavin Newsom recently apologized after attending a large birthday gathering that brought people of several different households together, directly defying his own COVID guidelines.
On November 6th, Newsom and his wife attended the 50th birthday party of their friend and political advisor Jason Kinney. The party – held at ritzy, Napa Valley restaurant The French Laundry – consisted of 12 members from several different households.
Newsom has been relentless in his regular reminders to the California public to abide by all CDC and California state guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Those guidelines include recommendations that all gatherings must be outdoors, no longer than 2 hours, and must be limited to 3 households.
The November 6th birthday party exceeded that 3-household gathering limit.
Newsom apologized on Friday afternoon:
“While our family followed the restaurant’s health protocols and took safety precautions, we should have modeled better behavior and not joined the dinner.”
The governor’s spokesperson defended the gathering by pointing out that it was held outdoors.
State guidelines are not clear on whether the 3-household limit applies to outdoor gatherings.
Also on Friday, the California Health and Human Services Secretary, Dr. Mark Ghaly, urged people to avoid large Thanksgiving holiday gatherings, based on a recent surge in COVID-19 cases in the state.
Dr. Ghaly assured Californians that there would be no statewide stay-at-home order, but he encouraged citizens to only gather with immediate household members for the holiday.
When asked about Newsom’s recent attendance at Kinney’s birthday party, Dr. Ghaly declined to comment and pointed reporters to Newsom’s own statement.
California RNC Committeewoman and Civil Rights Attorney Harmeet Dhillon retweeted the story and commented, “Oh…but no Thanksgiving for you.”
A man outside of Sacramento, California has filed a restraining order against his own neighbors after he says his family has experienced repeated bullying for their conservative values.
Michael Mason, a Trump supporter in Rocklin, California, reported that his neighbors have taunted his children, written political messages on the road outside his home, and have made life generally miserable in the wake of the election.
Mason says his video doorbell has caught his neighbor’s children harassing his family with Biden chants.
He says that another time, “BLM” and “LGBTQ” were written in chalk outside his home.
“I went down there and asked them, ‘Well, why didn’t you write this in front of your house, or anybody else’s house? Why mine?'” Mason recounted. “And they just laughed at me.”
Things escalated on Saturday after the election was called for Joe Biden. Rocklin police were called to the block to help bring some peace to the dispute.
“It’s absolutely insane,” said Sean Millard, who lives in between the disputing homes. “2020 has been kind of a crazy year.”
“I didn’t want to do this,” Mason said of the restraining order. “They’re making me have to do this.”
“I’m tired of getting harassed all the time. My kids don’t want to come outside.”
A judge is supposed to rule on the restraining order today.
The Mason family is looking to move away from the neighborhood, and hopes the restraining order will maintain peace until then.
Despite encouragements from Joe Biden to resolve differences and enter into a time of peace, stories like this across the nation show a deep divide between Americans that will not be settled with a simple appeal from a politician.
It was 80 degrees in Redding, California today as voters lined up at the local polling station to cast their votes in the 2020 presidential election.
Voters were ushered into one of three lines: registered voters who brought a completed ballot, registered voters who had not yet filled out a ballot, and unregistered voters who could register and then vote (California has same-day voting registration).
“Vote for Trump!” people shouted at the voters from passing cars.
California is known for its far left political leanings, found in strong blue cities like LA and San Francisco, and represented in DC by the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris. But there is a red stronghold in the north, where life is slower and more rural, far from the cities.
Redding is the seat of Shasta County, split in half by I-5 and surrounded to the east, north, and west by mountains. It is hot and it is dry. I arrived here in July and I have seen rain twice in the four months since (as a Puget Sound native, I feel I might disintegrate into dust any day now).
On Saturday, hundreds of Redding residents participated in a “Trump train” through the city, proudly declaring their support for the President in a vehicular parade.
As I drove to Redding’s downtown polling location this afternoon, I passed a large flatbed truck sporting a “TRUMP 2020” poster on its side and dozens of patriotic flags flying from its bed. Before the end of the day, I would see several pickup trucks flying American flags and “Trump 2020” flags from their windows.
While some voters expressed that they were in a hurry – having sacrificed of their crunched time to cast their vote – several were willing to stop for a few moments to answer questions about what this election means to them.
One woman leaving the polling place with her young son told me that her main concern for this election is seeing Republicans and Democrats unite to respond to COVID-19. She voiced fear of civil war among extremist groups on both sides of the aisle. She said she doesn’t align with either party.
A man in his 20s said that getting money back into the hands of the people was his main concern in this election. He also listed COVID, racism, and environmental issues. California has experienced one of the worst wildfire seasons in recent history this year, and 4,100 firefighters are still battling 22 wildfires in the state. He said the state needs to stop over-protecting its forests, allowing underbrush to grow to dangerous degrees that result in worse fires.
As I spoke with this young man, a truck passed on the road, honked its horn, and a passenger yelled, “Vote Trump 2020!” My interviewee chuckled.
As for post-election violence, he said that he thinks people are “pooped out” from destroying local businesses.
Others said they are concerned about violence, one woman also voicing concern for small businesses that would be caught in the cross-fire. COVID was very low in her list of concerns. If people lived healthier lifestyles, she argued, they wouldn’t have to be in such fear of a virus.
I spoke with two girls who voted for the first time today. They said they wanted their votes to count, that they understood that even one vote can make the difference.
One woman told me her greatest hope was to see everyone treated equally. She listed Black Lives Matter, systemic racism, and a woman’s right to choose as the driving factors behind her vote today.
She was the only voter I spoke with who referenced issues that regularly align with the Democratic ticket.
Three men walked past me at one point wearing red “MAGA” hats. A woman yelled from her passing vehicle, “Hey, wear a mask!” and flipped them off. She smiled. Perhaps she knew them. Perhaps it was a light-hearted joke. Whatever the case, it was a great illustration of our current political divide, especially surrounding this year’s pandemic.
A man and woman in their 30s with their young son stopped to speak with me. When I asked what their hopes were for the election and the next four years, the man responded, “Keep America great.” As for the issues they were most concerned about, the woman said “They’re definitely not taking my guns.”
The man stated he was “lucky enough to vote against Hillary Clinton” in 2016.
America goes to bed tonight still uncertain of who the next president will be. Key states like Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin have yet to be called.
But no matter which way the nation leans this time around, Shasta County appears to remain the Republican stronghold of California.
Comedian Rob Schneider lambasted California Governor Gavin Newsom on Twitter over the weekend over California’s newly-released private gathering guidelines for upcoming holiday celebrations.
Earlier this month, the California Department of Public Health released “mandatory requirements” for private gatherings ahead of the holiday season. These requirements include the following:
Gatherings should bring together no more than 3 households and should last no longer than 2 hours.
All gatherings must be held outside (but no worries, the state has graciously allowed indoor restroom use).
Attendees must observe 6-feet social distancing rules, and seating should allow for 6 feet of distance in all directions from members of separate households.
Face coverings are required (the benevolent state allows for removal of the mask “briefly to eat or drink”).
There will be no singing, chanting, shouting, or physical exertion (instruments are allowed, but wind instruments are “strongly discouraged”).
Schneider – known for his roles in movies like “The Waterboy”, “50 First Dates”, and “Benchwarmers” – poked fun at the rules in a tweet addressed to “Emperor” Newsom:
Dear Emperor @GavinNewsom During our allotted 3 family limit this Thanksgiving, if my Aunt comes over, can I throw her a slice of turkey from the window? We promise NOT to sing… we will all just whisper, “PLEASE RECALL DIPSHIT GAVIN NEWSON!” https://t.co/wJKM2sPBtL
California released these new rules despite the World Health Organization urging government leaders to stop using lockdowns as a “primary means” of combatting COVID-19.
This isn’t the first time Schneider has shown snark about California’s governor. Days before ridiculing California’s holiday guidelines, Schneider called Newsom incompetent and authoritarian:
Enjoy @GavinNewsom 2020 Vintage Wine! A Smokey ash flavored Cab with hints of incompetence & authoritarian overstepping. Who needs science? Just Lock yourself down & go bankrupt with this morally corrupt table wine with it’s bouquet of one man dictatorial rule & 16.8% tax! pic.twitter.com/TOEhHs9YXf
Schneider has also criticized California’s recent recommendation that people dining in public wear a face mask in between bites.
“Next will be squish food onto mask and suck the juice,” Schneider wrote.
Newsom's office tells Californians to wear masks 'in between bites' of food when dining with members from same household in public. Next will be squish food onto mask and suck the juice. You go first Governor!#HadEnoughNewsomAlreadyhttps://t.co/BZCdo9dDuY
The actor and comedian has been bold in voicing opinions contrary to the largely progressive narratives found in Hollywood. Schneider has also been posting about the dangers of censorship in the wake of Facebook and Twitter censoring a story that paints Hunter Biden and Joe Biden in an unfavorable light:
A subservient Press that Joseph Stalin and Chairman Mao could only ENVY! Total Minutes of Hunter Biden Email scandal coverage; ABC – 0 Minutes NBC – 0 Minutes CNN – 4 Minutes pic.twitter.com/q0YULd2YsC
After some pushback, Schneider offered some further thoughts on censorship. “Regardless of political affiliation, every citizen should be concerned that Big Tech & MSM is censoring & deciding the news FOR US,” he wrote.
The purpose of my last tweet was simply to point out that a “Free Press” must work in the best interests of the public and not acquiesce to Power. Regardless of political affiliation, every citizen should be concerned that Big Tech & MSM is censoring & deciding the news FOR US. pic.twitter.com/3qyUkUGMUD
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed four bills into law on Wednesday addressing racism and discrimination, including a bill that creates a state-backed task force for the research and recommendation of slavery reparations.
Assembly Bill 3121 establishes a 9-member task force, assigned with recommending possible compensation for descendants of slaves in the state of California and others who have been affected by history of slavery and discrimination.
This bill is the first of its kind in the nation. Reparations bills in other states and at the national level have faced much pushback in the past.
“After watching last night’s debate, the signing can’t come too soon,” stated Newsom.
“California has historically led the country on civil rights,” said Assemblymember Shirley Weber, author of the bill, “yet we have not come to terms with our state’s ugly past….The Governor’s signature on AB 3121 and AB 3070 once again demonstrates that our state is dedicated to leading the nation on confronting and addressing systemic injustice.”
Newsom called the bill “a paradigm that we hope will be resonant all across the United States.”
“This bill would establish the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States, consisting of 9 members…”
The bill summarizes the history of racism and discrimination in America, listing the ways in which African Americans “continue to suffer debilitating economic, educational, and health hardships” such as incarceration, poverty, and high unemployment rates.
The task force will be made up of 5 members appointed by the Governor, 2 appointed by the President pro Tempore of the Senate, and 2 appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly. The bill requires that one be an academic with expertise in civil rights, two must come from organizations that have already been championing the cause of reparations, and no more than four can be Members of the Legislature.
“The bill would require the Task Force to, among other things, identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies…, to recommend, among other things, the form of compensation that should be awarded, the instrumentalities through which it should be awarded, and who should be eligible for this compensation…, to submit a written report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature.”
The bill does not give any guidance as to the types of reparations nor who may be counted eligible. Discretion for both reparation recommendations and eligibility is given to the task force, who will also be assigned with educating the California public on the history of racism and discrimination in the state and nation.
AB 3121 does not automatically approve reparations. Any recommendations to the legislature would have to be approved and passed via a separate bill.
Weber hopes that the task force will consider recommendations beyond cash payments, including the possibility of down payments on homes and better access to educational opportunities.
