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Home » Governor Newsom sees the opportunity in crisis

Governor Newsom sees the opportunity in crisis

The New Neo Posted on by

That’s a liberal politician’s specialty.

The COVID pandemic and the related shutdowns are seen by the left as an opportunity to get in their idea of election “reform”:

On Sunday, the Republican National Committee (RNC), the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), and the California Republican Party sued Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) for using the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic as an excuse for a “brazen power grab” over the state’s election system…

“In a direct usurpation of the legislature’s authority, Governor Newsom issued an executive order purporting to rewrite the entire election code for the November 2020 election. This brazen power grab was not authorized by state law and violates both the Elections Clause and Electors Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Governor’s Order is invalid and must be enjoined,” the lawsuit states.

“Moreover, in his haste, the Governor created a system that will violate eligible citizens’ right to vote. By ordering that vote-by-mail ballots be automatically sent to every registered voter—including inactive voters, voters with invalid registrations, voters who have moved, voters who have died, and voters who don’t want a ballot—he has created a recipe for disaster. No State that regularly conducts statewide all-mail elections automatically mails ballots to inactive voters because it invites fraud, coercion, theft, and otherwise illegitimate voting,” the lawsuit argues.

Newsom is not alone, of course, in pushing this. And the Democrats have been uncharacteristically open in talking about the plan:

The mail-in voting battle comes after Democrats have capitalized on the coronavirus crisis to advance the vote-by-mail agenda. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi smuggled in vote-by-mail election overhauls into coronavirus relief bills in March and again in May, as Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) said the crisis was “a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.” Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has called the coronavirus an “opportunity” for “structural change” on voting. Leftist foundations have dedicated millions to push mail-in ballot schemes.

They will not give up until they’ve succeeded, either. The left never rests, and it is well-funded. The only protection we have against this right now are the courts, including the federal courts and Supreme Court (that’s where Trump and the Senate come in), and the Senate (not just judicial appointments, but as a stop against the worst excesses of Pelosi and the House).

[NOTE: I refuse to put a “COVID-19” tag on this post, because these election “reforms” actually have nothing to do with the pandemic, which is an excuse. At this point, although COVID is a big problem, so far what has turned it into a bona fide crisis has been the reaction to it and the repercussions of that reaction.]

Comments

Governor Newsom sees the opportunity in crisis — 46 Comments

  1. ‘so far what has turned it into a bona fide crisis has been the reaction to it and the repercussions of that reaction’

    Biggest mistake in modern world history?

  2. I’m sure a big part of the Dem desire for more lockdown is as a means towards passing more vote-by-mail, and opportunities for vote fraud.

    They never give up. Because they are “true believers” in the Party.

    It’s so tiresome, yet also tiring. So hard to fight against it, all the time.

  3. “Biggest mistake in modern world history?”

    Letting so many progressives get their hands on power, that would qualify for the biggest mistake, the virus is just the fulcrum they needed to knock it all down, as Neo said.

  4. Griffin:

    Nope.

    Of course, if it ends up with the US falling to the left, it could yet turn out to be the biggest mistake in US history.

  5. Not to mention the opportunity to economically crush a large segment of the conservative-voting and contributing small business owner demographic.

  6. om, neo,

    Yes, I was referring to Prager who I think is probably correct. It’s been clear for some time that the major issue big picture wise is not the virus but the lockdowns. The lockdowns are what will have the lasting affects and it’s not just the obvious economic disaster but all the unforeseen things like this article raises.

    The choice was not do this or do nothing and I think this was an unfathomable mistake by every honest actor in this thing.

    And I think we are currently in a ‘phony depression’ now that is being camouflaged by government payouts and loans and many people haven’t felt the damage yet. Once the bankruptcies and foreclosures start to really pick up then the actual depression will be felt. There are a huge amount of zombie companies out there that employ millions that are just waiting to go under.

  7. Griffin :

    In WA we are in the “Stuck on Stupid” mode. Tweet goes the whistle, over the top! (1914 – 1917), It will work this time.

  8. Griffin: I’ve been following the story of major retailers going under or almost:
    _______________________________________

    Already, the list of stores waiting to get started [on close-out/going-out-of-business/liquidation sales] is pretty long: Neiman Marcus, J. Crew, Pier 1, Modell’s, True Religion, Roots and John Varvatos. They could be joined by Lord & Taylor, Sur La Table and, if things continue to go badly, J.C. Penney. Others are no doubt waiting in the wings.

    Much of this, of course, is the result of the unprecedented shutdown of physical retailing over the past two months due to the pandemic. For companies that were teetering on financial ruins before this – due to too much debt, too little merchandising smarts or some combination of the two – COVID-19 was the final straw.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/warrenshoulberg/2020/05/07/the-retail-liquidations–neimans-jcrew-pier-1-more—are-about-to-start-flowing/#2ecf8a0e4457
    _______________________________________

    I’ve got a bad feeling about this…

  9. I was just in Marina del Rey waiting for my husband while he met with a client/decorator at a home near the water. All the metered parking was cordoned off and forbidden for the 3 day weekend. Apparently you can go to the beach but you better live nearby or be able to walk a distance to be able to get there from ??. I feel contempt for our Mayor Eric Garcetti and Governor Newsom. I had walked down the block from the jobsite and was able to sit comfortably on a bench. The idea that it is unhealthy to be in the fresh air out on the beach and in the water, but somehow not dangerous to “fill in the blank here” on what is deemed essential by these wisdomless office-holders is an insult to my mind. As I always say here in California….I blame the voters.

  10. If you do something like this that has never been done on a nation and global scale there are bound to be an unknowable amount of side effects and most will not be good. Then throw in a bunch of power hungry politicians and this is what you get. This shouldn’t be surprising to any rightward leaning person but far too many were for this for far too long and now it’s too late.

  11. Sharon W:

    I’m surprised that they didn’t roust you off the sand for the crime of sitting or being stationary. I guess there still are vagrancy laws, aka, being a virus vagrant? Keep sane and healthy.

    I don’t know which is worse; our King or your Emperor.

  13. Congressman Dan Crenshaw put the matter in perspective. Paraphrasing his thought – if people safely go to a grocery store to buy food they can safely show up in person to vote as well. Those in favor of voting by mail have questionable motives because the logic just does not support the move away from voting in person.

    Citizens need to use this opportunity to insure election integrity, not undermine it further. There is time for everyone to let their local, state, and federal representatives know that they are against election fraud.

  14. Sharon W:

    Yes, making parking illegal near the beach is one of the ways a lot of states that haven’t actually closed the places make sure that only locals can come.

    So glad your husband is out and about, though!

  16. I second Neo’s comment. I have been worried about Doug’s recovery and am glad to hear he’s out and about. I know of a coronavirus patient who got off a ventilator and then was back in the hospital, briefly, for blood clots.

  17. On topic: They’re trying this in NC, but fortunately we have a Republican legislature, so it’s not likely to succeed.

  18. Artfldgr on May 25, 2020 at 6:32 pm said:
    Welcome to New Venezuela!
    We made it for you!
    * * *
    Calls to mind this post I read a couple of days ago.
    Seizing our freedom is always “just for you” isn’t it?

    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/05/coronavirus-in-one-state-47.php

    Ehresmann meditates (my transcription):
    “One of the things that has been discussed in the place that I worship is the concern that even if they could open up, their concern is for members who are in vulnerable groups who would so want to be a part of the community that it would be too much of a pull, and so we’d get people who would be particularly at risk that would want to attend and I think that I’ve appreciated that perspective. And for me that’s been important to keep in mind, you know, what may seem to be okay for a certain segment of the population could have devastating consequences for others and so to be willing to consider that need higher than our own [sic].”
    This is the Minnesota Way we have heard so much about from Governor Walz.

    Disguising a lust for power with a false-concern that forbids free agency is the same trick Satan has been using since the beginning.

  19. I remember the old woman with 83 invisible boarders in the 2016 election.
    Wanna know the really disgusting part?
    “This was the last presidential election, but they’ve done nothing to fix this insofar as we can tell.”

    The only thing that really surprised me is that the snakes who set it up in the data base didn’t pick them up soon enough.

  20. I’ve seen left-wing sites that claim all these unsolicited mail-in ballots are not gonna be a problem, no way because look at the states that already do elections all by mail, so I was glad the GOP is pushing back against that:
    “No State that regularly conducts statewide all-mail elections automatically mails ballots to inactive voters because it invites fraud, coercion, theft, and otherwise illegitimate voting,” the lawsuit argues.

  21. One reason I don’t go out much these fervid Covid days is I get pissed off about all the overblown (IMO) prevention kabuki.

    I’ll wear a mask to get into grocery stores and Walgreen’s because they won’t let me in otherwise, but I won’t get take-out from restaurants which demand masks just to hand over my credit card and pick up a plastic bag.

    Take that, fascist pigs!
    ____________________________

    –“The Prisoner” (1967) — “I am not a number. I am a Free Man!”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7Cs-VIDKSY

  23. AesopFan: Any virus which can get a beer named after it knows how to shoot a gun.

    Know what I’m sayin’?

  24. AesopFan,

    Oh yeah, here in WA we do all kinds of things like counting gun shot deaths as Coronavirus and then use those deaths as a reason to keep the lockdowns and we also have a state government that handed out $200 million in unemployment benefits to a Nigerian scam outfit.

  25. Huxley,

    There have been more than a few days the last couple months that I have come home pissed off beyond belief after another ridiculous, inconsistent example of ‘shutdown theater’. It’s the lack of control and freedom that just irks me to no end.

  26. The Babylon Bee is still the paper of record.

    https://babylonbee.com/news/study-finds-anyone-who-makes-a-different-decision-to-wear-a-mask-than-you-is-a-sheep

    https://babylonbee.com/news/government-announces-lock-down-of-all-fast-food-restaurants-to-prevent-heart-disease

    https://babylonbee.com/news/it-is-more-important-to-be-morally-right-than-factually-correct-says-woman-who-is-neither

    https://babylonbee.com/news/governor-whitmer-orders-citizens-to-barbecue-indoors

    Don’t miss this one – it presents the perfect melding of the Bee’s political and religious lines of satire.
    https://babylonbee.com/news/in-latest-press-conference-governor-invites-citizens-to-come-forward-and-accept-government-into-their-hearts

  30. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ruled that Democratic California Gavin Newsom’s ban on in-person church services during the coronavirus pandemic can stand.

    The lawsuit, filed by South Bay United Pentecostal Church in San Diego, prevents that church from reopening, according to the Los Angeles Times

    The “constitutional standards that would normally govern our review of a Free Exercise claim should not be applied,” wrote the two judges in the majority opinion.

    “We’re dealing here with a highly contagious and often fatal disease for which there presently is no known cure. In the words of Justice Robert Jackson, if a ‘(c)ourt does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact,'” according to the opinion.

    ———————————————————————————————————-
    Perhaps these two lefty scholars can point us to where the First Amendment states, “except in an emergency”.

  32. Why are Democrat and Republican governors and states reacting so differently to Covid with regard to rules and lockdowns and so forth?
    This writer thinks it all goes back to Jonathan Haidt’s writings about the five pillars of moral thinking on which liberals and conservatives differ.

    https://fee.org/articles/why-conservatives-and-liberals-are-responding-to-covid-19-in-such-different-ways/

    …
    What’s interesting is that these moral pillars differ sharply across ideological lines in America today. Haidt found that both conservatives and liberals recognize the harm/care and fairness/reciprocity values (though liberals value these a little more than conservatives). Things change, however, when examining the three remaining foundational values—loyalty/betrayal, authority/subversion, and sanctity/degradation. While conservatives accept these moral values, liberal-minded people tend to reject them.
    …
    If Haidt’s theory is correct, the reason [for different policies] is liberals and conservatives are, generally speaking, approaching the COVID-19 pandemic through divergent moral frameworks.

    After all, the argument isn’t whether we should protect people.

    “In any country, the disagreement isn’t over harm and fairness,” Haidt says. “Everyone agrees that harm and fairness matter.”

    The argument isn’t even over how to best balance the care/harm moral with other considerations.

    The disagreement is over whether efforts to protect individuals from COVID-19 should be balanced against other considerations—including constitutional and economic ones—at all.

    I think his conclusion is correct; Democrats aren’t addressing any considerations about the economy and Constitution at all.
    However, his analysis is flawed, in the beginning, because of the examples he uses to show that liberals value caring and fairness more than conservatives do.

    While some of the divergence could stem from the fact that blue states have been hit harder by COVID-19 than red states, Haidt’s research would suggest that another reason Democrats are more concerned is because liberals have an intense appreciation of the care/harm moral pillar.

    Indeed, the preeminence of the care/harm moral can be found in the rhetoric of many progressives.

    “I want to be able to say to the people of New York, ‘I did everything we could do,’” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in March. “And if everything we do saves just one life, I’ll be happy.”

    The emphasis is on the word rhetoric — because Cuomo was just punching the buttons that his liberal base responds to. We know what he actually did, and there was nothing caring or fair about any of it.

    On the other hand, if Cuomo really is an example of actual liberal caring, then maybe we need less of that moral pillar, not more.

  33. Artfldgr:

    “except in an emergency” is in the emanations of penumbras clause of the constitution which is executed by the “pen and a phone” branch of government.

  34. Aesop Fan:

    Cuomo Care is much the same a Kervorkian kompassion.

    ‘People die, who are you going to blame?’ – Gov. Caring

  35. Dov Fischer on Cuomo’s care for Care facilities.

    https://spectator.org/where-is-cuomos-apology-for-killing-10000-people-covid-19-nursing-homes/

    …
    But figures don’t lie, even though liars can figure. Cuomo’s New York state somehow managed to become home to half of all American coronavirus cases and coronavirus deaths. To be sure, New York poses its own unique challenges. It is an international hub. Housing is more crowded. We all have seen, and many of us have walked, the famously crowded Manhattan streets. The New York City subway system is the antithesis of social distancing, where five people struggle for dear life, each to claim five inches of space on the ubiquitous straphanger’s pole. Beyond that, the city has an idiot for a mayor, and he in turn appointed as New York City Health Commissioner a medical miracle who urged the public to ignore social distancing and to go out mingling during the Chinese New Year, even as she later would refuse to provide protective masks for New York police, saying she did “not give two rat’s as-es” about them. So New York does have its challenges, at least some self-inflicted.

    Even so, Cuomo owes the survivors of his 10,000 victims the most deep, heartfelt apology imaginable. And not one of those famous political “IF Apologies” — “IF I offended you by calling your mother a prostitute” … “IF I offended you by saying that your child is genetically defective” … “IF I offended you by mocking your racial identity, religious belief, ethnic heritage … ” Rather, Cuomo owes an incredibly candid, tearful apology for killing some 10,000 grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters — people — who were among society’s least able to defend themselves from his killing onslaught.

    In New York City, the tabloids are famous for appending nicknames to killers. I just googled “The Nursing Home Killer,” and the name remains available. America awaits the non-IF apology from New York’s Nursing Home Killer.

  36. I don’t expect to vote in the USA beyond next November. I will be living somewhere abroad, and my faith and trust on the power of voting to matter is already too low under the Obamunist Banana Republic Rules to bother.

  37. What i find interesting maddening and saddening (?)… Is how people want to blame everything on trump without remembering what happened, without being willing to look at what the papers said, without understanding the 10th amendment, and on and on…

    The left is railing how Trump should have done more in the beginning, but completely forgetting that China and the Who said it wasn’t human to human transmissible, that he was being impeached under false pretenses (this morning they reported how that impeachment is a negative), that he was a racist and xenophobic if he blocked travel. With the biggest assumption that somehow the rate of death and infection would have been different, while ignoring how Cuomo and others moved sick people into the elder care facilities.

    They truly have the memory of a gnat, and he anger of a bear with thorns in their feet, with the understanding of things that only Lenny Small in mice and men could have

  38. It occurs to me that the term “brainwashing” is wrong. It’s actually “heartwashing”. Because to those who are “heartwashed” against Trump, their brains are only looking for reasons to blame Trump.

    Similar to why Muslims today, and Nazis of the past, hated Jews and blamed Jews for all problems. They feel, with their hearts, and even their hearts of hearts, that it’s the (dirty) Jews.

    Here’s a terrible 1 in 5 in the UK story:
    https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Antisemitism/One-in-five-English-people-believe-COVID-is-a-Jewish-conspiracy-survey-629187

    Today’s Dem leaders want their voters to hate Trump & Reps just like Hitler and Nazi leaders wanted their supporters to hate Jews.

    Trump-hate today is, emotionally, identical to Nazi Jew-hate of the ’30s.

  39. Above: “The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ruled that Democratic California Gavin Newsom’s ban on in-person church services during the coronavirus pandemic can stand.”

    If this is wrong info, please let me know. But my reading of the Covid death rate is as follows:
    The newest CDC numbers appear to be 0.4% IFR (infection fatality rate). This is their recent “best estimate” which is “scenario 5” in their list of scenarios.

    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/planning-scenarios.html
    For the estimated death rate of 0.4%, look for the cell in Scenario-5 that says “Overall: 0.004” and has a label of “Symptomatic Case Fatality Ratio”

    Note that this number is ONLY for cases in which there are symptoms! Because (obviously) people with mild/no symptoms cases don’t die, and because these are judged to be about a third of the cases, many sources are adjusting the 0.4% number down to a death rate of 0.26%.
    When you consider that 85 to 95% of the death cases involve co-morbidities, the 0.26% death rate falls even lower if your are under 50, not obese, not diabetic, ….

    Thus, my question to the 9th “Circus” is: Where is the emergency?
    Why is it safe to go into a CostCo or Walmart with masks and social distancing but not safe to go into a church with same

  40. Artfldgr on May 25, 2020 at 6:32 pm said:
    Welcome to New Venezuela!
    We made it for you!
    * * *

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/dimartino-how-venezuela-went-from-a-rich-nation-of-immigrants-to-a-hungry-nation-of-refugees

    It was February 7, 1956 when the Vera Cruz Vessel sailed from the port of Vigo in northern Spain. Among its 800 passengers was my grandfather, Vicente Novo. Like everyone on that ship, he left everything behind in his homeland to pursue his dreams in a more prosperous country. In this land of opportunity, he and the other passengers found jobs, started businesses and raised families – all while sending money back to their hungry families in Europe.

    But this newfound land of opportunity wasn’t the United States of America. It was my home country: Venezuela.

    It’s hard to believe now, but in 1950, Venezuela was the fourth-richest country on earth. Tragically, over the course of the next six decades, Venezuela was transformed from a prosperous nation of immigrants to a devastated and poor land full of people in need of refuge.
    …
    There’s a saying in Venezuela that before socialism took hold of our country, “We were rich but we didn’t know it.” Many Venezuelans who initially supported socialism and those who didn’t vote at all have now recognized that truth the hard way.

    My family’s story, and that of millions of other Venezuelans, should serve as a warning to all those who believe America is too prosperous and powerful to fail. Socialism can and will destroy this country – unless voters curb the recent wave of popularity it’s gained in the United States and prevent radical leaders from getting elected.

    The next time someone tells you that “America isn’t Venezuela,” remind them that we Venezuelans once said something all-too similar.

  41. “I am not a number. I am a Free Man!” – The Prisoner

    huxley – I confess to only watching a few episodes of the show, and never did figure out what was going on, but I knew enough even then to know your reference is on target today.

  42. “the understanding of things that only Lenny Small in mice and men could have” – Artfldgr

    I think Lenny was probably smarter.

  43. huxley – I confess to only watching a few episodes of the show, and never did figure out what was going on, but I knew enough even then to know your reference is on target today.

    AesopFan: That’s all right. Patrick McGoohan (the star) and the show’s writers couldn’t figure out what was going on either. The final episode was such a disappointment to viewers (me too) that in McGoohan’s words:

    When they did finally see it, there was a near-riot, and I was going to be lynched. And I had to go into hiding in the mountains for two weeks, until things calmed down.

  44. huxley:

    He always wound up being chased down and captured by the weather balloon things as I recall.

  46. om: Plus the roaring sound dubbed in to make the balloon rushing at you *menacing*!

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