MaxRedline

Life In The Gulag

Oregon:

Gov. Kate Brown announced Nov. 13 a two-week "freeze" for the state that will take effect starting Nov. 18. Restaurants and bars will have to go back to take-out service only — previously they were allowed to have limited indoor seating — and indoor recreation centers like gyms, museums and theaters will close again, as will zoos and gardens. Grocery stores will be limited to 75% capacity, and Brown is encouraging curbside pickup when possible. 

Additionally, the freeze will stop visits to nursing homes and business are now required to mandate that employees work from home as much as possible. Social gatherings, in or out, are not to include more than six people from two households.

Oregon has had a statewide mask order since July.

In the Portland metropolitan area, the orders are applicable for at least one month. Fortunately, I stocked up on dog-food and groceries before this kicked in; I go shopping once a month, and I have meats and fish shipped directly to my home from suppliers. I can do fine without Brown's directives, and would greatly appreciate it if she'd just go back home to Minnesota.

 

No Mosque

@NYGovCuomo is sending around plainclothes agents to photograph the inside of synagogues to make sure that no one is praying.

It appears that his directive applies only to Christian and Jewish places of worship, as Muslims are exempt.

To be fair, it may be that his intent is directed toward ensuring that Christians and Jews don't die from the Virus, but is willing to let it kill off the Muslims. However, that seems unlikely as he doesn't seem to be bright enough to hatch such a plan.

 

It Was Only To Be Expected

Not content with banning plastic bags and Styrofoam takeout containers, government overlords in New Jersey now plan to ban paper bags and paper takeout containers. This is sure to catch on among government types elsewhere.

While some states impose a fee on paper bags, New Jersey’s lawmakers say the state would be the first to ban paper bags.

At some Kroger stores, you still get a choice between paper bags and plastic bags - but they charge you a nickel per bag.

But Fred Meyer stores are among many owned by Kroger, and while you get a choice if you shop at their stores in the suburbs, that's not the case in the city of Portland, which banned plastic bags and Styrofoam some time ago; it's paper or nothing, and it's really great during the winter rains (paper stands up so well when wet).

More Law & Order In U.K.

Sex in your house with someone from outside of your household is set to become illegal today.

The government is introducing new lockdown measures in England that prevent people from socialising (or gathering) with one person from outside of their household in a private space.

I've no idea as to just how many laws and rules the politicians there have imposed, but clearly the busybodies haven't been busy enough.

 

 

Chicago

The city of Chicago has already seen 36 people shot and nine killed over Memorial Day weekend, making it the deadliest one since 2015. According to data tracked by the Chicago Tribune, the number of shootings this year is approaching 2019's total, despite the coronavirus lockdowns, severe storms, and added police units.

So what's mayor Lori Lightfoot doing? Why she sent a bunch of squad cars loaded with police to raid a church that was conducting Sunday services against her order. Way to address problems in the city, eh?

 

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered a police raid on a black church after they defied her coronavirus lockdown order and resumed Sunday services.

READ MORE: https://neonnettle.com/news/11422-chicago-mayor-raids-black-church-to-shut-down-sunday-service
© Neon Nettle

Lori Lightfoot sent squad cars full of officers to the Chicago Cornerstone Baptist Church

READ MORE: https://neonnettle.com/news/11422-chicago-mayor-raids-black-church-to-shut-down-sunday-service
© Neon Nettle

Lori Lightfoot sent squad cars full of officers to the Chicago Cornerstone Baptist Church

READ MORE: https://neonnettle.com/news/11422-chicago-mayor-raids-black-church-to-shut-down-sunday-service
© Neon Nettle

Krazy Kate, Obsessed With Authoritarianism

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Ten churches from around the state are suing Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, arguing her coronavirus stay-at-home orders are unconstitutional. Lead attorney Ray Hacke said plaintiffs are all over the state.

“There’s a rising tide of churches and churchgoers wanting to push back against Governor Brown’s oppressive executive orders, and this case will hopefully remind her that she is not free to dispense with constitutionally protected liberties, even in emergencies,” Hacke said in a statement.

She's just being a Democratic. Name a state that's been under the thumb of Democratics for years that hasn't been run into the ground. In her latest move, she's declared a "drought emergency" and banned "dispersed camping" statewide. That seems to go against her whole "social distancing" schtick - and it's unclear if that applies to the population of bums, many of whom camp in Portland's Forest Park and elsewhere. It should, as the bums rarely (as in never) clean up after themselves, and they do start a lot of campfires.

CANBY, Ore. (KOIN) — One week after police shut down a restaurant in Canby for violating Governor Kate Brown’s executive order, dozens of customers flocked to the establishment with folding chairs to eat outside in a show of support.

How dare the owner of the tiny restaurant defy Kate? Well, unlike her, he has bills to pay; he doesn't collect fat paychecks with "free benefits" like healthcare and retirement, and he doesn't live on taxpayer money.

 

Another Democrat-Run State, So What's The Big Surprise?

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday began relaxing his stay-at-home order that was issued to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, while also announcing that the state has a staggering $53.4 billion budget shortfall.

Not that it's a problem, or anything; he and his fellow Democratics will just raise taxes again - and then complain about companies relocating to places like Texas. They don't seem to understand the relationship between cause and effect.

 

An Executive Order Only Takes You So Far

So Trump ordered meat plants to remain open, but what's he going to do when the workers don't show up?

New York (CNN Business)Meat-processing plant workers are concerned about President Donald Trump's executive order that compels plants to remain open during the coronavirus pandemic. Meat plant employees are among America's most vulnerable workers, and some say they expect staff will refuse to come to work.

"All I know is, this is crazy to me, because I can't see all these people going back into work," said Donald, who works at Tyson's Waterloo, Iowa, facility. "I don't think people are going to go back in there."

 

Can't say I'd blame them.

 

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union estimated Tuesday that 20 meatpacking and food processing workers have died so far.

 

Well, that's a union guesstimate; they don't have any actual numbers. But under the best of circumstances, meat processing plants generally feature pretty crummy working conditions, which explains a lot:

 

Nearly 30% of meat-packing workers are foreign-born, said a 2016 Government Accountability Office report. Nearly two-thirds are either Latino (35%), Black (20%) or Asian (8%), according to a 2016 Northwest Arkansas Workers' Justice Center report.

 

Injury and illness rates in the meat and poultry slaughtering and processing industry declined from 2004 through 2013, similar to rates in all U.S. manufacturing, according to Department of Labor (DOL) data (see figure), yet hazardous conditions remain. The rates declined from an estimated 9.8 cases per 100 full-time workers in 2004 to 5.7 in 2013. However, these rates continued to be higher than rates for manufacturing overall. Meat workers sustained a higher estimated rate of injuries and illnesses than poultry workers, according to DOL data. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) evaluations and academic studies have found that workers continue to face the hazardous conditions GAO cited in 2005, including tasks associated with musculoskeletal disorders, exposure to chemicals and pathogens, and traumatic injuries from machines and tools.

 

So Trump's going to do what? Send out posses and force the the labor back into the plants?

 

I don't think that's going to work.

 

 

The Hits Just Keep On Coming

Today, the Mayo Clinic, one of the most prestigious hospitals in the world, announced the furloughing or reducing of salaries for 30,000 employees, 40 percent of its employees nationwide. It’s not coronavirus shutting down these hospitals, because none of their locations, especially in Minnesota, are in particularly high coronavirus outbreak areas. It’s the arbitrary orders from governors to shut down numerous procedures and checkups for chronically ill patients, as well as the panic they have sown in the public, which is keeping people from seeking even medical care that has not been officially shut down by order.

85 percent of live organ transplants are not being done. That’s comparing this past 30 days to last year, the same 30-day period. It’s down almost 90 percent. These people needing transplants … that disease didn’t disappear. These are people who are near death.

And some folks want government-run healthcare. This is what you get.

 

 

Might Not Have Been Such A Great Idea, After All

San Francisco was the first city in the United States to ban the use of plastic shopping bags in 2007, according to a story by SFgate.com at the time. San Francisco, one of the cities hardest-hit by the coronavirus, banned reusable shopping bags Wednesday in a set of beefed-up social distancing protocols as part of the city's extension of its stay-at-home order, meant to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, until May 3. Under the order, stores are not allowed to let "customers bring their own bags, mugs, or other reusable items from home" when they shop at or patronize a business.

Um, hey guys - go back to using those evil plastic bags, okay?