“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”– Lord Acton to Bishop Creighton.
We are seeing this firsthand across the country as a response to the current coronavirus pandemic. In Rhode Island, we see the governor using police and the National Guard to go door-to-door in order to track down New York residents and force them into quarantine, also going so far as to actually put signs at the border directing New York residents into rest areas.
Rhode Island's National Guard, state police are stopping motorists with NY license plates and going door-to-door to find people who may have traveled recently from the state due to coronavirus: “I know some people don’t agree with it,” Gov. Raimondo said. https://t.co/pE43ScN6kO
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 28, 2020
Case in point is Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti. This dude is the poster child for a government out of control. First of all, Garcetti ordered the release of 1,700 prisoners from jail because…coronavirus. Next, aided and abetted by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Garcetti ordered all gun stores shut, aided by the L.A. Sheriff who apparently forgot his oath to uphold the constitution.
More recently, Garcetti has appointed “neighborhood monitors” to spy on local businesses which may be in violation of the city’s “Safer at Home Order.” The monitors, referred to as “Business Ambassadors,” are a group of city workers (who apparently must be “essential” employees) and residents to go into the community with a goal of securing “voluntary” compliance.
Let me be clear: it is unacceptable for non-essential businesses to continue their operations as normal.
I announced the Safer at Home Business Ambassadors Program to help ensure businesses comply with our emergency order to keep our communities safe. https://t.co/7eMFdg1PSa
— Mayor Eric Garcetti (@MayorOfLA) March 25, 2020
If the businesses don’t comply, the mayor’s spy team will share information with the City Attorney and the LAPD for follow up. Garcetti even has set up a website to make spying easier so people can report out of compliance businesses.
Oh, and businesses that don’t comply will also get their power and water shut off. Sounding a bit like the Soviet Union here, LA.
Just heard on @WilkowMajority the LA mayor will shut off water and power to nonessential businesses that don’t close, with “neighborhood ambassadors” and “neighborhood prosecutors” as part of the goon squad. Everyone’s cool with this, right? https://t.co/273zmB5mH2
— It is what it is (@NoQuibbling) March 25, 2020
Garcetti is also being aided and abetted by a “Neighborhood Prosecutor team, which will be working in concert with the Los Angeles PD to enforce compliance with the city’s order.
City Attorney Feuer (rhymes with “fuehrer”) said:
“In the strongest possible terms, I urge that Angelenos adhere to the ‘Safer at Home’ Order, and non-essential businesses shut their doors. Those crucial steps protect all of us. As part of the City team, my Office’s Neighborhood Prosecutors will work toward gaining compliance with the Order, helping ensure that our families are safe.”
In an interview with Chris “Fredo” Cuomo, Garcetti was discussing various measures the city was taking to ensure compliance with his order:
“…but this has been marvelously embraced by 99.9 percent of people; we se it in the traffic data, we see it in the cell phone data; but we’re going to hunt down that last point-one percent and say: ‘you’ve gotta get inside, you gotta cut it out, and you gotta distance’”…
Garcetti also said:
“The good news is, I’ve been tracking a lot of [cellphone and other] movement data and Los Angeles was the county whose individuals were moving the least in all of Southern California.”
So, here we apparently have a city spying on it’s citizens to ensure compliance with an executive order. Guess Garcetti has never heard of the Fourth Amendment?
Interesting how the ACLU has been silent on all of these intrusions on our civil liberties. This just goes to show you that the ACLU only cares about “civil liberties” when they are allegedly violated by a Republican. Democrats? All you hear is crickets.
We did hear a lot from the ACLU about executive orders issued by President Trump, however. Those were baaaad!
ACLU among 130+ groups asking Congress to hold oversight hearings on Pres. Trump's executive orders on immigration. https://t.co/JZ1V2ymkfG pic.twitter.com/HT3GqMe5CW
— ABC News (@ABC) March 14, 2017
We also heard from the ACLU when Colorado’s governor issued an executive order to reduce arrests and incarcerations in jail. Those were gooooood!
Our calls to local governments have been heard: Colorado's governor issued an executive order that encourages all localities to reduce arrests and incarceration in jails. https://t.co/lDwy56EgMD
— ACLU (@ACLU) March 28, 2020
Bunch of hypocrites.
Unfortunately, we have seen Americans more than willing to give up their rights for a little bit of so-called temporary safety. What happens the next time we have a “crisis?” Is this now going to be the regular course of business, where we sacrifice our liberties and the protections, we enjoy under the United States Constitution out of some politician’s definition of “safety” or “security?”
Remember, this is how we got the PATRIOT Act, and the FISA court, which was used in part to try to undermine the 2016 election.
For all that some Democrats and liberals have railed against President Trump by calling him a “dictator,” they seem to be awfully willing to let liberal Democrats tread all over their rights as American citizens.
God help us all.
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