Question: why are tiny United Churches of Christ in small towns in southwestern Minnesota, the huge Cathedral of Saint Paul, and the sprawling Living Word Church which seats several thousand people several times every normal Sunday, all limited to 10 attendees?
What’s the ostensible “science” behind concluding fifty people on a restaurant patio – any restaurant patio – but the same limit holds for churches that seat 5,000 as 50?
Why, it’s almost as if Minnesota’s ongoing response to Covid has become so reflexively, un-scientifically, sclerotically unscientific and bureaucracy-driven that even the “elite” media is starting to take notice.
But you know what would be cool? If we had some group of people, perhaps working for companies that owned printing presses or transmitters, maybe even people who see themselves as heroic comforters of the afflicted and afflictors of the comfortable, who’d ask questions like this theselves.
Other than Tom Hauser, sometimes. .
Huh. I guess all this quarantining is making me delusional.
As I said, the other day (or perhaps I was going to and then dropped the ball), the only thing that separates MN from MI, NY, CA, IL, PA, or NJ is that Gov Wally has that caring old grandpa-guy shtick down cold. With Ellison and the Karen-waffe to do the enforcement and get the focus, Wally has managed to avoid any bad PR. It’s quite a trick.
I listened to an interview yesterday with a guy from Anytime Fitness. He talked about all the research and effort that was put into the their industry’s plan for reopening. When asked if he felt ignored by Walz and his administration his answer was, “Well, we didn’t get any response.”
… oops, forgot the Voice of the Karen-waffe, the Strib. They’re reporting that some “religious groups reiterated their support Thursday for Gov. Tim Walz“.
We support the cautious, science-driven, and health-focused approach that the governor has followed for the reopening of houses of worship,
Man, people who say and agree with things like this are signed, sealed, delivered and ready to die on that hill (to badly mix metaphors).
Science is testable, observable, and repeatable. You need all three; two out of three is just talking points, not science.
Show your work, Governor.
Quick reminder about that Constitution thingy, and how it’s been interpreted by courts over the centuries. This is basic, well-settled, black-letter law.
A right which was specifically mentioned in the Bill of Rights is a Fundamental Right. A government regulation that infringes on a Fundamental Right is automatically viewed with deep suspicion. The burden of proving the regulation is Constitutional lies with the government. The test is called Strict Scrutiny.
The government must prove that the regulation serves a Compelling State Interest; that the regulation is Narrowly Tailored to accomplish the goal; and that the regulation is the Least Restrictive Means for achieving that interest.
In this case, the Compelling State Interest part is a gimme. No judge will rule against saving lives. The question is whether the 10-person limit is Narrowly Tailored and the Least Restrictive Means to do it.
That’s going to be an impossible burden, in light of the fact the Governor already allows Menards, Cub, and his campaign donor’s Candy Store to admit more than 10 people. If they can do it for ordinary grubby commercial purposes, then the Church can certainly do it to exercise their Fundamental Right.
Yes, but the 10-person limit, mask requirement and 6-foot social distance rules have a rational basis and are reasonably related to saving lives, so isn’t that good enough? No. The “rational basis” test is for non-fundamental rights, like shopping at Menards or adding a deck to your house. The “strict scrutiny” test is for fundamental rights, like freedom of speech or freedom of religion.
But this is an emergency! Doesn’t the Governor have the power to suspend the Constitution during a peacetime emergency?
No. There is no “emergency” exception to the Constitution, for the obvious reason that Governors can always gin up some supposed “emergency” to justify unconstitutional actions, from taking guns away after a hurricane to prohibiting funerals during a pandemic.
Keith Ellison is a deeply committed leftist, but he’s not a complete idiot. He knows the law – any first year law student knows this stuff – and he knows the Governor’s order is a sure-fire loser in court. But he’s doing what any lawyer would do – put the best face on a losing case and drag it out as long as possible.
Democrats only have to make the restrictions last through the election to keep people angry and unhappy at President Trump so they will vote for change. When Slow Joe wins, he’ll declare victory and everything will return to normal. At least, that’s the plan.
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Do Democrat governors just assume they have a winning hand, and all blame will accumulate to Trump? If widespread parts of a state are treating Stay Home orders as if they were the 55 mph speed limit, and even your normally docile church groups are pushing back, will the compliant media be enough to win the day?
Science is testable, observable, and repeatable. You need all three; two out of three is just talking points, not science.
Yeah sure, but you’re talking about science – science, which has nothing to do with reprobate agendas, NW. Leftist slobs are citing Sciencism, not science. All they need to convince their low IQ worshipers that maskies are life saving, for instance, is to post some twerking nurses saying so on Tic Toc.
The fact that scientists at the CDC has recently come to the conclusion that maskies are worthless for 90% of the population in 99% of the situations means nothing.
Sciencists like Fauchi, San Fran Nan and Mini Fry say maskies save lives…and they have the ordinances to prove it. So if you want to walk the gold paved streets of any leftist held city, you’re gonna put that damn maskie on, mister.
Curious.
When sodomites started dropping like flies, leftist degenerates started wearing red ribbons to signal their support for butt seks.
Then, they donned pussy hats to signal their support for being twats in public.
Now they’re all wearing the maskies. Is it to signal their support for the bandits that stole the constitutional rights of people subject to their rule?
Redicioulus!
Face diapers. Seems fitting, no?
Face diapers! I love it! No compelling evidence that masks other than N95 respirator types have any effect. But The LIV types in the stores are all wearing them. We have always been at war with EastAsia.
Anagram of pandemic. Dem panic.
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