Gov. Andrew Cuomo's New COVID-19 Restrictions on Private Home Gatherings Violate Personal Liberty
New York will limit private, in-home gatherings to just 10 people.
With the COVID-19 positivity rate on the rise in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has announced a new wave of restrictions on bars, restaurants, gyms, and other places of public accommodation. But his new coronavirus countermeasures go much further than that: Cuomo has also declared that private gatherings in residences must be limited to no more than 10 people.
The new rule applies to apartments and houses, and goes into effect on Friday, according to the New York Post. Public establishments that serve alcohol will also have to abide by a new 10:00 p.m. curfew.
"If these measures aren't sufficient to reduce the spread—we'll turn the valve more and part of that would be reducing the number of people indoor dining," said Cuomo during a press conference. "If that doesn't work, if these numbers keep going crazy…you will go back to a closedown."
In theory, the bar curfews are intended to curb reckless behavior, because people are more likely to let their guard down and engage in disease-spreading activity after drinking late into the night. In practice, there are plenty of reasons to wonder whether curfews work. What could happen as a result? People could just start their drinking earlier; they may be more likely to crowd if the drinking window is shorter and the rules require them to depart the bar en masse at a relatively early hour; it could incentivize people to socially gather at an indoor home instead of an outdoor bar. Each outcome on its would likely be a net negative for public health.
The residence restrictions, on the other hand, really ought to be opposed on the grounds that they are an odious infringement on personal liberty. Reasonable people—even reasonable libertarians—will disagree on how much and to what extent the government should curtail our behavior in order to fight the pandemic. But telling people what they can and cannot do in their own homes is a bridge too far. If you want to have 25 people over to your apartment for a party, it may be inadvisable (depending on where you live and who you are inviting), but it is your right. A government that can legally prohibit everyone in an entire state from hosting a familial number of guests within their own private residences is essentially unconstrained in a major sphere of American domestic life.
Cuomo's orders have all sorts of problems in that they do not make practical distinctions between large and small residences: An 11-person event in a large, well-ventilated space (perhaps with masks), might not be particularly dangerous, but it is now banned. Some people already live with more than 10 people inside the home. If enforced, these rules very well could be wielded disproportionately against communities that are more likely to encounter the police.
Contrary to his sterling reputation in the mainstream media, Cuomo's approach to the pandemic has not been particularly praiseworthy or science-based: His early actions might have led to a surge of deaths in senior-living facilities, and he recently suggested that news of the vaccine was disappointing since Donald Trump is still president. Bafflingly, Cuomo also insisted that Americans "need someone other than this FDA and this CDC saying it's safe," and that he will work with other governors to delay any attempt by Trump to distribute a vaccine while he is still president. This is deeply irresponsible and puts countless American lives at risk of both infection and deeper economic misery.
It is a matter of basic American principle that there are limits to how far the government can go to promote public safety, and Cuomo has likely exceeded them.
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Look at the deaths by day in NY and tell me this is anything other than tyranny.
Can’t help you there. It’s total bullshit. There is no pandemic in NY anymore. There hasn’t been since April.
Gotta play it up so Joe can “save” the day.
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New York has gone from 600 or so new cases a day in June to around 4,000 a day now.
Cases are irrelevant for the most part if they do not predict deaths. That is currently not happening at nearly the same rates as in the spring. We are heading into the winter viral season, corona viruses are seasonal, and the rise in cases mimics past seasons.
This is all bullshit.
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How many cycles are the tests running at?
I thought the pandemic was supposed to disappear after Biden won.
Everybody was pretty clear that Biden would come in to ‘save’ the day by dropping testing thresholds and counting ‘of covid’ instead of ‘with covid’.
He can’t do that if he’s not in office. What’s another 3 months of sham pandemic if your guy can take credit for ending it?
I thought you guys were talking about the media, that the media was gonna drop all covid stories after the election, because this is all a manufactured crisis to hurt Trump.
It isn’t an unreasonable assumption, however, as long as Trump remains in office, there is no incentive for them not to cover the story.
Look at how they covered Trump rallies, calling them super spreader events, yet almost no one labeled the celebration of Biden’s election as super spreader events (or the ‘peaceful’ protests). The media will likely continue to cover COVID until Biden can take credit for “stopping” it.
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CNN removed their covid tracker.
ThAt’S nOt EvIdEnCe ThOuGh!
The CNN COVID tracker is back up. It was also down during the Floyd protests, and went back up again. It’s weird that a (purported) news organization would reduce coverage of an ongoing story to make room for a breaking story. Highly suspicious.
Yeah, the goalpost movers are going to be working overtime on this.
Covid will disappear January 21st.
Gotta wait 2 months more before they disappear.
It doesnt matter if new yorkers had 10,000 die per day.
There is not federal or state constitutional power for these kungflu dictas.
Fun fact: democrats are stepping up kungflu hysteria again because Trump gonna win in Trump vs Biden SCOTUS case.
You apparently need a refill on your meds.
Trump will not be president come January. Your insistence that he will is evidence of deeply seeded denial of reality.
#1 = correct
#2 = correct
#3 = you are fucking high
They voted for it. Fuck em.
What about the people who didn’t vote for it?
Company punishment.
This guy knows what’s up.
Makes me wish I lived in NY. I’d throw a big party with all of my most heavily armed family & friends… See if Cuomo has the balls to show up and do something about it personally.
–That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. ******
New uorkers are ignoring the democrats in office.
The media and unreason refuse to report on it and show cracks in the
lefty narrative.
Is it any wonder why New York has worked so hard to disarm the citizens?
Just like Biden.
New York may have disarmed its citizens; the citizens gave up their balls all on their own.
The death rate has gone down. It was something like 3% early on, now I believe its below 1.5%. That is due in part to better treatment The problem is the hospitals are filling up and better treatment maybe tough to get. The concern is death rate will go up – and with that carrot of a vaccine just around the corner, it means any ‘extra’ deaths are wasted deaths.
Of course, we could all wear masks – but I guess that is tyranny as well. Let see how China is doing – Oh look they got COVID beat and their economy is roaring back to life and our trade deficit is worse than ever. People worried about perceived injustices…. and the country loosing out to China.
To the non-mask wearers “China Thanks You”
Yes, I believe covid numbers out of China, election results in Belarus, and Kim Jong Il’s golf scorecard . . .
To the non-mask wearers “China Thanks You”
so little cloth facemasks were going to save us, eh…? well, we’ve had mask mandates in most states for months, where is the salvation…? eh, speak up, can’t hear you…
damn, the stupid stuff people believe when they value panic over rationale..
“” Let see how China is doing – Oh look they got COVID beat and their economy is roaring back to life and our trade deficit is worse than ever.””
The country that lied to us in the beginning is now being honest?
Funny you mention China and tyranny.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2017947/all-hong-kong-pro-democracy-lawmakers-to-resign-as-china-crushes-opposition
Use media to make it “true” that Trump lost. Frame any challenges to the narrative as the ragings of a dictator, clinging to power……….VISIT HERE FOR FULL DETAIL.
With the desire to defund the police, how will any one know how many people are in your home,neighbors turning you in? (USSR)
Who is going to be looking? (secret police)
What would the charge be?
What they are trying to do is make life so miserable, the sheeple will welcome any thing that will “save them” (sleepy joe to the rescue)
Maybe a US police force (unlawful under the Constitution).
It is not just about deaths. Many covid survivors suffer serious damage to organs and nervous system. And those are the ones who are actually tested to know. How many people are walking cardio time bombs because they were not sick enough to be hospitalized and tested further?
I’m sure you hope many – you’d rather people die than be proved incorrect.
“…How many people are walking cardio time bombs because they were not sick enough to be hospitalized and tested further?”
Gee, if we’re playing ‘hypotheticals’, please tell us how many will die of poverty from the lockdowns.
I always love it when the folks who’ve downloaded the CNN talking points show up and think they are adding something new to the conversation.
Cuomo is a dictator. Every democrat has turned traitor. Take the gloves off.
And more than a few republicans too.
You can take the gloves off as long as you continue to wear your mask properly. That means over your nose.
Yes. Keep denying actual science because your betters tell you something. Why bother with 40 years of research, the danish study, etc. Ignore no correlation between mask policy and infection rates. Your betters have spoken.
Youre a fucking child.
And your sense of humor is on some milk carton somewhere.
Except eunuch there is a staunch covid panic monger and mask conformist.
As far as I know, the Danish study is not peer reviewed. So we don’t know how they analyzed the data. One of the problems when studying a small group (in this case over a short period of time) is that small variations in data skew the final results.
For example, if say one city sees one pedestrian death at an intersection one year, and then a couple get run over the next year, someone could interpret the data and say there has been a 100% increase in deaths at the intersection. Technically true, but statistically meaningless.
The Danish study was 6000 people over 1 months. All from the same company (Salling Group’s employees). All claimed they DID NOT WEAR MASKS at work and at home. Half would wear masks in public, the control group would not.
So the study really wasn’t about whether masks are effective but rather if masks alone had an effect. The study, in the abstract I saw mention that since people touch their own faces 24 times an hour, that they are bypassing the masks effectiveness.
Of course masks aren’t supposed to keep you safe, but rather you wearing a mask keeps others around you safer.
Right now NYC is running about 1000 cases a day out of a population of 10million. So if there were only 6000 people, you’d expect .6 cases a day. Over 30 days, that’s 18 cases. If the control group wasn’t in that range then the study is meaningless.
If you can find a link to the study itself, I’d love to read/analyze it. But it sounds like the study wasn’t exactly on target except that it suggest mask wearing alone might not be enough.
I will note that 100% of the people in hospitals wear a mask and not everyone there is COVID19 positive. So something is working…
The results of the study are not known because it is not peer reviewed yet
I will note that 100% of the people in hospitals wear a mask and not everyone there is COVID19 positive. So something is working…
Yeah, T-cells.
The literature – pre March 2020 – is full of papers showing minimal to no effectiveness for masks in a group setting like a lab or a dentist office. Not every paper breaks that way but many do. The science is at best not definitive about mask effectiveness and at worst shows little to no benefit.
I remember having read an article, here in Reason actually, a month or two ago, saying that there are some people who just won’t GET COVID, due to genetic makeup, cross-resistance due to another coronavirus, etc. Maybe you’re giving credit to masks, that should be going to genetics or cross-resistance.
Maybe he’s a lefty shit who prefers being told what to do.
Wait. I thought WaPo said that it’s Republicans who are Authoritarian?
Question for the scholars in the audience. Would it be constitutional (ignore state constitutions for this hypothetical) for a state to have a totalitarian government? Why?
Article 4 Section 4:
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,
Thanks. I thought it was there.
That was easy.
democratic socialism is a thing
So is anal cancer.
If a republic is simply “the thing of the people” (my latin sucks), then if the people (or their electors) select a dictator, wouldn’t that be fit the bill?
In its fourteen years, the Weimar Republic faced numerous problems, including hyperinflation, political extremism (with contending paramilitaries) . . .
From 1930 onwards, President Paul von Hindenburg used emergency powers to back Chancellors Heinrich Brüning, Franz von Papen and General Kurt von Schleicher. . . .
In 1933, Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor with the Nazi Party being part of a coalition government. The Nazis held two out of the remaining ten cabinet seats. Von Papen as Vice Chancellor was intended to be the “éminence grise” who would keep Hitler under control, using his close personal connection to Hindenburg. Within months, the Reichstag Fire Decree and the Enabling Act of 1933 had brought about a state of emergency, as the Nazi Party wiped out constitutional governance and civil liberties. Hitler’s seizure of power (Machtergreifung) was permissive of government by decree without legislative participation . . .
So there is historical precedent for what happens with democratic socialists.
If a republic is simply “the thing of the people” (my latin sucks)
technically, ‘publica’ is an adjective, modifying the feminine noun ‘res’ (thing)…so, properly translated, it is a ‘public thing’…
a ‘thing of the people’ would be ‘res populi’, the noun ‘res’ combining with the noun ‘populus’ in its genitive singular declension (the noun ‘populus’ is generally considered in its collective form, singular in nature…)
so maybe we should call our form of government a ‘repopul’ after dropping off the appropriate letters; then again, maybe not…
You ruined the fun!
Article 4 Section 4:
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government
See?!?! It says it right there! Republican! Sleepy Joe, and Cuomo and all the other “D” governors are unconstitutional! Somebody get this over to the Donald right away, so he can whisper it in Justice Barrett’s ear while she singlehandedly decides the election!
The reading comprehension required to read the Constitution is WAY over Donald’s head – he struggles with an Archies comic book.
The Constitution is a dead-letter document anyway – the Feds haul it out once in a while when it happens to back what they are doing, but by and large they ignore it.
Another reading of that would be that the federal government was being constrained as to which type of government that it would be allowed to have, by guaranteeing to each state that they would be part of a republic.
The Constitution requires that states have a “republican” form of government. But that just defines the overall structure. “Totalitarian” is more about describing the goals of government and it’s approach to dissent.
So what you’re really asking is whether a republican form of government can be totalitarian. And I think the answer is yes, though it is harder to be a totalitarian republic than to be a totalitarian most-anything-else.
Consider that “republican government” does not require multi-party or even two-party. You could have a one-party republic. Totalitarian also talks about suppressing dissent and clearly we have lots of that already, yet we still call ourselves a republic. The things that protect us aren’t that republics can’t turn totalitarian but that we can (hopefully) change them when they do.
California here we come!
Right back where we started from!
Prior to the 14th amendment, it was not unconstitutional for the State of Missouri to declare war on a religious sect and violently expel them from within its borders. It doesn’t get much more totalitarian than that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_Extermination_Order
Since the 14A, the states should have to honor the bill of rights, so they can only get as totalitarian as the courts will allow. As we have seen recently, all the governors have to do is declare a state of emergency and the courts won’t do shit.
Don’t forget Andrew “Let the court enforce it’s rulings” Jackson was a Democrat and until he became a political liability a celebrated Democrat.
He founded the democrat party, if I’m not mistaken, and it has been a continuous entity for 192 years and counting.
A totalitarian government can’t get past the 1st amendment.
Totalitarianism, beyond authoritarianism, demands that one believe/be what the state dictates.
Freedom of thought and expression violates the fundamentals of what constitutes totalitarianism.
A state could be authoritarian and constitutional, but not totalitarian.
“Would it be constitutional (ignore state constitutions for this hypothetical) for a state to have a totalitarian government? Why?”
Depends on how totalitarian.
Italian socialist/Marxist/fascist version – everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state . No that would not be possible, because the Bill of rights expressly places a few things outside of the reach of government.
But the primary limitation of the Constitution is the mandate that citizens of every state are guaranteed a republican form of government, and that being representative requires opposing forces/factions that at some times will be out of government and thus be ‘against the state.’ One party rule is simply not acceptable, even in a Utopian libertarian version of the world. Opposition is required.
But lesser versions, ‘limited totalitarianism’ as it were, are somewhat more doable.
The curfew restrictions are the dumbest. The virus doesn’t know what time it is. And restaurants get less crowded later on.
The restriction that requires you to buy food before you can have a beer is still on top.
Be sure to eat enough to get diabetes so the virus has a better chance.
I was in MA for a couple of months not too long ago and was going to Bog Iron Brewery. Great place. You could get a pretzel stick for $3. They called it the “Governor’s special”.
The virus doesn’t know what time it is.
ok, stop spreading fake news; of course the virus knows what time it is; it knows all kinds of things…it knows when ten gathered people are not related, it knows when we are between bites during our dinners, so as to infect us before we swallow, it knows when we take off our masks after leaving a store to go to the parking, so as to kill six grandmas in the time it takes to get to our cars…really, figuring the time of day is a no brainer for the Virus That Can Do Everything…
This is what Reason advocated in the form of Biden.
So this seems like the right time and place to test the theory that Dems know best.
[from the March 2020 issue]
Well played sir.
Does Cuomo have the legal authority to curtail basic freedoms?
Has Cuomo done a perfect job dealing with the pandemic so far?
Should people consider Cuomo a near-divine leader?
Does he have a (D) after his name? That is more than enough for many of his comrades. (To be fair, it also instantly condemns him for members of the other tribe.)
The constitution is not a suicide pact, but at this point, the courts are not against using it for toilet paper.
You’d think courts could describe a limitation for how long an emergency can last.
Sure – just read his book, where he tells you all about how great he is, and how well he did.
Statistics are for losers.
Cuomo only cares about infection vectors up to a point. When NJ rates rise he will not treat them like he treats the rest of the country. The convenience of people going between NJ and NY is greater than the COVID crisis.
What makes him an authoritarian is he thinks he is the sole decider on when convenience wins.
And I was told that Dems don’t support authoritarians.
The whole point of progressivism is to use the coercive power of the government to force individuals to make sacrifices for the greater good of other people.
They don’t give a shit about personal liberty. In fact, they’re openly hostile to personal liberty. We think the legitimate purpose of government is to protect our rights. They think the legitimate purpose of government is to protect society from personal liberty.
Overly simplistic but not to far off. It is collective rights vs personal rights. Progressives live in the world of Spock’s dying speech at end of Wrath of Khan but ignore the message of Search for Spock.
To a Prog, personal liberty is simply being selfish.
I can’t believe he actually said that. It didn’t work before, it might not work this time but if it doesn’t, we’ll do more of it.
Is Robby becoming the leading libertarian writer on this site?
I don’t know, but I’m starting to like Robby’s work–and that’s frightening.
I’m glad I’m not the only one.
I think it may be a toss up between him and Nancy Rommelman at this point.
And Stossel. But Rommelman and Stossel are not staff writers.
Stossel is terrible. Even when he’s right.
Nancy Rommelman
AKA the “Desert Fox”
To quote Tarzan – “You can call a jackal a lion, but it will not make him brave”.
There are aero libertarian writes at unreason.
Even stossel used to be a die hard democrat. He is getting to sound very more and kore libertarian though.
Well, he did express outrage that Toobin was fired for jerking off at work and in front of his colleagues, so…
He’s gotten better since we shamed the “to be sure(s)” out of him.
Andrew Cuomo violating personal liberty? Noooo, the hell you say!? Gee, let me find my shocked face.
It is in the bottom left drawer, along with your scruples, under a pile of masks.
That joke would have been perfectly written if you stopped at scruples. Still, nice.
Seems like a pretty huge unfounded assumption that these same policies were actually effective when they tried them before.
The fact that NY has had close to the worst outcome in the whole country should probably suggest to people that perhaps these weren’t the best policies.
I don’t know how anyone can still think that lockdowns are worth the cost.
A lot of my friends are confused today, because Joe promised he would beat the virus without lockdowns, but now it’s all lockdowns.
Residents of Melbourne and New Zealand claim their strict lockdowns lowered their cases to zero. No word on whether halting (temporarily?) the misery and death of the virus outweighs the misery and death associated with lockdowns.*
*I’m pro-liberty, not a utilitarian, so even if lockdowns “saved” more lives, that does not make the policy worthy of pursuing.
Did you see the one about having to text the authorities before leaving your residence. That shit can only be done places where guns are not allowed.
We might soon find out
Even the utilitarian argument argues against lockdowns because of the add on misery of lockdowns.
And add on death from lockdowns, which the lockdown crowd doesn’t want to know about nor would they acknowledge it were it quantifiable.
Hell, many (virtually all white suburban women working from home, or who are just so happy that Dear Hubby gets to stay home) are calling for FURTHER lockdowns so she won’t have to get her fat ass off the couch and replace those sweatpants with work clothes, or miss out on her lunchtime fuck.
“Andrew, assenza me! Tu sei un proprio sfaccim.”
Ugly face.
This cdc and fda are a bunch of democrat bureaucrats anyway. It doesn’t change with administration.
This cdc and fda are a bunch of democrat bureaucrats anyway. It doesn’t change with administration.
This is correct. As one who has dealt with CDC, FDA, state/local health agencies for my 35 year career, it is clear to me that about 90% of people who work at/for public health agencies are Democrats, and most of them supported Bernie Sanders over Biden during the primaries.
I’ll never forget the 1994 American Public Health Association’s annual conference, where Hillary Clinton’s proposed health care reform package was criticized and booed by most attendees, who were single payor activists. And that was 26 years ago.
The quote in the article left out the part where Cuomo is appalled that Trump planned to distribute the vaccine through private channels (pharmacies, private medical practices, etc.) because Cuomo knows that the public sector is so much more efficient than the private sector.
“If these measures aren’t sufficient to reduce the spread—we’ll turn the valve more and part of that would be reducing the number of people indoor dining. If that doesn’t work, if these numbers keep going crazy…you will go back to a closedown.”
Really flexing those totalitarian tyrant muscles, eh Cuomo? Just like Phucking Phailing Phil Murphy in the People’s Republic of NJ. These two assholes are destroying their states economies with their utter incompetence.
“”Next year’s state budget battles will be epic.””
Oh yeah.
And with Biden in office they will figure out a way for people in other states to chip in – mark my words.
Phailing Phil is up for re-election in 2021. I’d rather eat a bullet than ever pull the lever for him. The People’s Republic of NJ is raising all kinds of taxes. I am done with this state; I will be leaving.
Florida has no state income tax – – – – – – –
And a strong Jewish scene in the Fort Lauderdale-Palm Beach area
^not a joke or euphemism or sarcastic
My best friend lives down there and is involved
But then you’d have to live in Florida.
As someone born and raised there, and who lived there until I was 26, I strongly advise moving there.
Against moving there.
Edit button?
But voters STILL vote for these tyrants.
I can almost empathize with the courts’ view that the voters WANT this nonsense.
He’ll just get a soft-ball interview with his brother and laugh it off.
Remember the Cuomo bros think calling Chris “Fredo” is somehow racist. No jackasses, it means Chris is the stupid one.
Anyway fuck those guys. Vote em out if you don’t like them. Or move.
It’s getting to the point where “vote them out” or “move” are no longer meaningful options.
LOL! Cuomo just outlawed the Last Supper. Just in time for Christmas!
They didn’t destroy Trump or the Republicans in the elections (yes Trump lost, but not by the margins they needed) so they have to make us suffer until Biden is sworn in so Biden can take credit for “improving” our lives.
I can imagine late at night Cuomo stands before a mirror, dons the sunglasses, extends a hand, and in his huskiest voice says “Come with me if you want to live.” Nobody ever refuses to take his hand. He gets a kick out of that.
“Come with me if you want to live.”
I always think of Michael Biehn saying this in the first (best) movie, but I can definitely see why Cuomo would associate more with the Terminator saying it in the second movie.
Quebec has NY beat. You can’t have ANYONE.
Of course, I don’t listen (and I’m sure many don’t) and will have whoever I damn well please in MY DAMN HOUSE.
Hey, Francois Legault and your flunkies like Guilbault and Arruda: GO FUCK YOURSELVES.
Fucken criminals.
You’re from Quebec? Aren’t your posts supposed to be in French and English.
Lol.
You get one.
And you didn’t know this? Montreal. I’ve been here 15 years. I think I’m the only Canadian left standing. We used to be at least a dozen back in the hey-day.
Legault is as retarded as any Democrat governor.
<3
The state of Georgia is wide open for business. No mask or social distancing state restrictions. Businesses are being built and new homes.
I see out of state license plates from all over the USA and now canada.
Two weeks to flatten the curve!
More like 12 moths to flatten society.
Fucken criminals.
Cuomo is a criminal. I actually prefer criminals to this criminal.
He’d look good in a toga
Holding a violin
While Manhattan burns
Fermented grapes for me, house arrest for you
Can we push him off the Tarpeiian Rocks?
Arbitrary and asinine line drawing by the writer. People gathering is people gathering. Doesn’t matter where. If goobermint wants to limit gatherings let it limit them in government buildings. Goobermint workers aren’t doing anyone any favors when they gather there anyway.
Freedom of speech and religion aren’t absolute (at least progressives tell me that), qneither is freedom of assembly obviously. In fact the only constitutional right that seems to be absolute is abortion (which isn’t even in the Constitution) and gay marriage.
Wow. That goes just a tad too far.
A tad? I’m not sure most of what has been done in the name of slowing/stopping the virus is anything close to being constitutional nor liberty friendly. But this, well, just wow. Also, how do you enforce this in ultra religious families. My cousin has 10 kids, not counting her and her husband (they live in Idaho but plenty of orthodox Jews and traditional Catholics live in New York and they tend to have really large families). Hell, my Grandpa was one of ten kids and he was raised Lutheran.
Know what what the criminals did here?
They gave the police power to get warrants within the hour.
To their credit, police aren’t interested and publicly stated so.
But the Public safety Minister Genevieve Guilbault is Robocunt and wants to show she’s boss. Her boss acts like a punk. The health minister acts like a punk.
What you get is punk decrees.
All tickets have been thrown out of court by the way.
But let’s fray the social order.
The sad part is this coward is getting ready to hit the panic button again. Best part? When pressed to provide evidence for his stupid retard measures that don’t work (all he’s doing is copying other places because that’s what Quebec does best and then pretends they’re world beaters), he couldn’t. You could just slap them all across their stupid faces.
As you can tell, I’ve had it.
The saddest thing is people pretending like this is the plague circa 1346.
Yup. Too many people don’t realize the survival rate is well about 99%.
Even those that admit that talk about long term health impacts, without realizing this is not unique to COVID nor even the rate of these long term impacts.
Ah yes. Long Covid. Funny how you never heard ‘Long Flu’ because you get the same long-term effects with influenza.
It’s like people don’t go and look into things beyond what dumbass politicians tell them and public health officials clearly drunk on their 15 minutes of fame.
What is sadder is the medical personal who know better but don’t correct anyone. In fact they play right along.
SF mayor tells restaurants they must shut down indoor dining effective Friday, this as what passes for winter arrives here, after allowing an (pulled out of her ass) a 50% occupancy, accompanied with the costs of dividers, removal of booths, purchase of foodstuffs, re-hiring of staff, etc. The cause?
“Since late October, new daily infections have risen by 150% in San Francisco (the city and county are one and the same). If this pace is not slowed, San Francisco is on track to see its daily number of new coronavirus infections multiply by a factor of 10 — from 32 cases a day in late October to 300 cases daily by the end of the year…”
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-11-11/san-francisco-has-been-remarkable-conservative-in-fighting-covid-19-will-it-keep-working
A *POSSIBLE* 320 infections over the next two months, no mention of severity, while restaurant staffs will be chopped in half among, say, half of the 4,400 restaurants in San Fran.
Even the Chron this morning admitted that collateral economic and health damages are being ignored and should ‘now’ become part of the discussion, only 9 months late.
Fuck ’em. Fuck JFree, fuck jackass, fuck Tony, fuck the lot of them with the pole from which JFree’s *PANIC!!!!* flag flies.
It cannot be stressed enough that the assholes making these decisions have, uniformly, absolutely zero knowledge of the management, functions or finances of business.
Worrying about economic impacts and people’s livelihoods is just greedy I’ve been told by progressives. Worrying about how economic downturns lead to dire outcomes is just putting money in front of people.
“Profits before people” – bumper-sticker policy statement.
In what passes for lefty intelligence, “profit” is a voting block, unmediated by “people”.
Why, in SF, I often see parades of “profits” (they tend to be ~ 7% tall) holding up signs declaring “Down with People”!
But they hardly ever make the evening news.
The economy is ‘just money’ I was told.
I replied and reminded, ‘No, it’s made up of HUMANS’.
Yeah because if we didn’t have money we would finally achieve Star Trek level of utopia. Because they don’t understand well money doesn’t buy happiness, lack of it does cause depression. Most progressives are from upper middle class families whose idea of fiscal hardship is having to by the Lexus rather than the BMW, or having to visit St. Croix rather than Jamaica.
Quoting from memory, but from a very good book: “the History of Money”, Jack Weatherford, wherein the introduction makes clear the research and production of the book involved no government funds whatsoever.
He qualifies a ‘quote’ regarding Croesus, under whom money was invented and made him rich as…; when his city was sacked, the victor said ‘look at your city!’. Croesus responded: ‘It’s YOUR city now.’
further, he quoted, of all people, Gertrude Stein, who stated that ‘humans are different from other animals in the invention of money’.
Money is certainly not the root of all evil; it is close to being the human invention which is the root of all prosperity.
Disclosure:
Some small portion of our portfolio includes interest in some SF restaurants, so I’m sure the idiocy of London Breed will have an effect on out 2020 returns.
I’m also sure the losses have been more than offset by Trump’s tax cuts; the concern here is her idiocy, and it’s cost on the hospitality industry.
people pretending like this is the plague circa 1346
Some ‘journalists’ have written long articles comparing it to the plague, which demonstrates their complete ignorance as the plague was spread by pests, not people, and quarantine did nothing to stop it.
Well, families with 10 kids simply need to pick 2 and leave them outside.
I say pick the littlest ones because they will have the greatest economic impact going forward – when life hands you lemons you gotta try to make some lemonade.
It’s for the good of society.
I live in New Mexico – we’ve had restrictions on private gatherings for months (the limit is currently 5) – why does nobody care? My governor is angling for the Secretary of Health and Human Services jobs, people should pay attention to what she’s doing!
Why is everyone there accepting it?
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I have no idea, it frustrates me to no end! There have been small pockets of rebellion – a protest or two, letters from mayors, even some lawsuits. But most people just accept it and say “she’s trying to keep us safe.” They’ve been successfully terrified into fearing the virus above all else, so the point that people get angry in they run into someone without a “mask” while out hiking. In remote New Mexico, where it is easy to maintain a distance of six feet or more. This insanity has me looking for a job in other states. The atmosphere of fear and paranoia combined with the draconian rules is just too much. But she’s a Dem governor in a solidly blue state, so she can do whatever she wants.
I don’t think it matters where you’re at anymore (with a very few exceptions like Idaho or S. Dakota, perhaps). More or less draconian rules are in place in most states. The fear and paranoia is real (and not necessarily tied to a specific political party), and is near impossible to counteract, least of all with calm and common sense. Not to panic is considered “not taking the virus seriously”. Doing research of your own, to be better informed, is “not listening to the experts”. A huge swath of the population have simply taken leave of their senses. Bat s**t crazy is the new normal in most places, not just in NM. It is indeed frustrating to no end.
The hilarious part is that Trump said the armed forces would be used to distribute vaccine, but we found out that was impracticable. So now Cuomo’s faulting the Trump administration for using the private sector, which Cuomo would soon find out if he had to deal with it the same thing, that you pretty much have to use the private sector if you want to do this in a reasonable time.
Trump offered advice to pretty much ‘take responsibility for your health’, and ‘here’s what we know or expect’, which, even if this were anything like the plague (correcting for the availability of information), was not bad advice.
We see our lefty shit stain blaming Trump for a quarter of a million US deaths, as if Trump brewed up the Wu Flu in the WH kitchen and turned it lose on the US population.
Now we see Biden appointing (yet another) ‘blue ribbon’ advisory committee with all sorts of credentials and white-boards, and, like jackass’ claim of magic words, this will all go away.
If Biden gets lucky, a vaccine will be available, but the damage caused by knee-capping the largest economy in the world and delaying treatment for known conditions will forever be blamed on Trump when Cuomo, Newsom, and other lefty shits own it.
That’s what they’ve been doing for years. You can always tell what the Dems are guilty of by what they’re accusing others of.
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Vote for a fascist, get fascism.
Damn, whodathunkit?
Any answer other than “none” is unreasonable.
telling people what they can and cannot do in their own homes is a bridge too far.
Why do you hate people who don’t own homes, Robby? WHY?!
Looks like Biden’s prediction of a “Dark Winter” is proving correct, thanks to Reason and the other idiots who campaigned and voted for lockdowns, mask mandates, state bailouts, never-ending wars, higher taxes, free food, free education, free healthcare, minimum wage increases and more riots.
Sure is a lot of panty twisting here to debate some unenforceable bullshit diktat. How many cops do you think are hoping to crash Grandma’s Thanksgiving dinner for Cuomo? Even they know this stuff is theater. I’m all for denouncing their silly rules, but just ignoring them should work too.
You are correct, except selective enforcement is a thing, and making an example out of a few is very effective for dumb sheeple.
“How many cops do you think are hoping to crash Grandma’s Thanksgiving dinner for Cuomo?”
Probably a lot more than you think. Cops get just as big a fascism boner as Democrats.
“Budding dictator” trump wanted people to live free, but reason ‘libertarians’ almost all voted for biden who is now planning a federally imposed lock-down that will make the most imperious of governor’s lockdowns look like a walk in the park. Hard to take reason seriously with that plank in their eye.
A lot of cops are going to get covid if he puts a cop in every private home!
“Reasonable people—even reasonable libertarians—will disagree on how much and to what extent the government should curtail our behavior in order to fight the pandemic”
No they won’t. If you don’t want the virus stay the F*** home. There is nothing reasonable or libertarian about state sponsored violence or the threat of violence to control peaceful behavior. That’s libertarianism 101.
Cuomo must be be held criminally responsible for the 6,000 plus covid deaths in the New York City area. On March 24th, he signed an order forcing New York City hospitals to transfer covid-19 patients to area nursing homes. Within weeks after the transfer, thousands of these nursing home residents were dead of the virus.
This will happen when people are duped into believing that there is someone who is good enough to rule over them.
This is a pretty weak article for a Libertarian publication. Since April, the governor of New York has operated as a dictator. New York’s one party system offers no opposition as he has issued innumerable executive orders regulating every aspect of daily life for New Yorkers. As someone wrote, we deserve what we got in New York. Rest assured America, the President elect sees what’s happening in New York and he likes. His COVID expert is already talking about a National shut down. Reason argues that the governors threat to break down doors to enforce arbitrary distinctions is a step too far. Ya think? Trump had his faults, and horribly mismanaged COVID, but this crew is going to be 100 times worse. At least Trump wasn’t trampling on the Constitution. Cuomo now rules by fiat and threats. He is tyrannical, petty and vindictive. Unfortunately, he also seems to be providing a blueprint to the incoming administration.
SCIENCE-BASED reactions to … ANYTHING on the part of a politician?
If there’s anything a politician does NOT base their reactions on, it is science.
Unless, of course, you mean political science.
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Will there be Taliban-type enforcement squads empowered to do warrantless searches and home invasions to enforce these edicts?
“If you want to have 25 people over to your apartment for a party, it may be inadvisable (depending on where you live and who you are inviting), but it is your right”
As long as you agree it is also my right to sue you for every nickel you own should you or one of your guests give me covid as a result of your (and their) reckless behavior.
Can’t have it both ways.
Wow, you’re a wonderful person, and not a spiteful little bitch at all. I’m sure everyone wants to be YOUR friend!
How do you suppose you’ll be catching COVID from one of those party guests? Presumably, you’re following the social distancing rules, and (again, presumably) being a big believer in mask wearing and staying home unless absolutely necessary, you’d have little occasion to get anywhere near the ostensible party-goers. Unless it’s somebody in your household attending the party, that is (at which point you may want to turn your wrath upon them instead).
All government restrictions on liberty, in the name of public health protection during the pandemic, have gone too far. The question is, when will people stand up to this tyranny?
Oh, that is an easy question to answer: never.
Americans are the stupidest motherfuckers on the planet.
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Cuomo’s restrictions are blatantly unconstitutional as they violate the First Amendment guarantee of the tight of the people to assemble peaceably. There is NO public health (or any other) exemption to the First Amendment and no state or local law can supersede the Constitution. The more we let them get away with restricting our rights in a crisis, the more they will do it when the crisis is over.
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How do you enforce bans on private gatherings without neighbors ratting on each other?
Life time appointment of governor who makes all laws. No legislature.
Here’s hoping Cuomo’s results this winter are better than Cuomo’s first shot at it.
That was our only 2 choices? Sad
Well, I suppose lots of totalitarians have called their governments “republics”, but it seems to me that totalitarianism is pretty much the opposite of having the government be a thing of the public.
The Roman Republic allowed the appointment of dictators to address crises and emergencies within the republic
Indeed. Constitutions only work when people mostly want to abide by them.
He’s fat, she’s ugly. I like that better
-Fat chick in the back
A lot of people left NY, so yeah.
Willingly AND in body bags.
“Life time appointment of governor who makes all laws. No legislature.”
That’s not totalitarian, it’s autocratic.
Might violate the 14th amendment, but I don’t know. But theoretically, one would still have the right to vote federally, so isn’t necessarily guaranteed state voting rights if that state doesn’t have positions to vote for.
But that makes me think up another conflict: appointment of electors in presidential elections, which are specifically assigned to state legislature in the case of the POTUS contest going to the house.
I guess the governor could declare himself the legislature in that case though…
“totalitarianism is pretty much the opposite of having the government be a thing of the public”
Not at all.
Would you argue that mob rule is not totalitarian?
Communism/socialism are explicitly based on the idea that the state is the public, thus is implicitly totalitarian.
The former GDR for one…
Its name says republic, and democratic…when in fact it was neither.
Politicians everywhere and always are lying bags of shit who don’t want to do a real job.
And they had lead in their acqueducts, and even in their WINE. Argument ad Romanum?
I have you beat on that count: the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of North Korea. It is neither democratic, nor a republic, nor does it belong to the people. It is, however, admittedly the northern half of a divided Korea; so, 1 for 4?
Agreed, but isn’t there a point where we no longer say that it is a “divided” nation? The Korean cultures have morphed to the point where the only things they have in common anymore are ancestors, a language, and a name.
East and West Germany still carried on the same traditions and families managed to stay connected, yet the future existence of any Germany was debatable when the East collapsed. Unification of Korea would be an unmitigated disaster on all levels and likely descend into a second Korean War.