California Congressman Tom McClintock took to the House floor on Wednesday morning to make a speech on what he sees as the damaging effects of the COVID-19 lockdowns taking place in his state and other parts of the country. He insisted that the only relief from the lockdowns is to end the lockdowns.
"Why is that so hard for some people to understand?" asked the Republican from California's 4th District.
In his remarks McClintock also referenced Los Angeles bar owner Angela Marsden, who has gained noteriety for a tearful video posted to social media in which she is critical of L-A Mayor Eric Garcetti for ordering an end to outdoor dining after she invested a large amount of money to set up such a space in the parking lot outside her bar, and he detailed the reasons for Marsden's frustrations.
"(She) took out an $80,000 loan to meet all the expensive requirements to move her dining outside and salvage what was left of her life's work. Instead, authorities arbitrarily changed the rules, and shut her down again – a death sentence for her ten-year-old restaurant," explained McClintock. "Yet the same authorities permitted a film production company to offer the very same outdoor dining across the very same parking lot the day she had to close her business."
The Fifth Amendment in our Bill of Rights specifically protects Americans from being deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, noted McClintock.
"Where are those rights today?"
McClintock said he believes the plight of Angela Marsden and others like her is evidence that what some political leaders are doing with lockdowns and stay-at-home orders is destroying our society.
While McClintock has long been critical of Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom's handling of the pandemic, state health officials say California reported 34,490 cases on Monday. That crushes the previous record of 22,369 set the prior Friday, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer says she suspects the spike is the beginning of what some are calling the "Thanksgiving bump."
Governor Newsom earlier this month announced a new 15-percent intensive care unit bed capacity threshold that will trigger a stay-at-home order if it's reached in any of the five pandemic regions established by his administration. That impacts more than 20-million people.
Already the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California regions has reached the threshold and gone on lock down. The Greater Sacramento Region is expected to follow as early as this week. Several counties that are part of the Bay Area Region elected to go on lock down last week before the region as a whole hit the 15-percent ICU bed bench mark.