In The Shadow Of Mt Hollywood

On December 2 , Joe Biden announced there may be 250,000 further deaths due to COVID between 'now and January'. Now, Joe has had a history of adding a zero here and there to his estimates, but this one was widely published without challenge, and at least 250,000 isn't 250,000,000. But is even this number remotely reasonable? It took eight months, between March and the end of October, for the US to reach a total of 250,000 COVID deaths. And keep in mind that health authorities throughout this time have repeated that COVID deaths are calculated as any death in which the decedent tested positive for COVID, whatever the underlying cause. Someone killed in a skydiving accident would be a COVID death if he tested positive. Someone who died in a hospice from terminal cancer would be a COVID death that way. On December 5, there were 2,190 COVID deaths that day in the US. which seems to be generally consistent with the totals in recent weeks. (The numbers jump around in the ...

On November 25, the US Supreme Court ordered a preliminary injunction in Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo , holding that New York may not enforce 10- or 25-person congregation-size limits on certain Catholic churches and Orthodox synagogues, pending further Supreme Court litigation. On December 3, the justices sent the dispute between the Harvest Rock International Ministry and California Gov. Gavin Newsom back to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals to further consider the case in light of its Movember 23 ruling. However, as one commentator put it , this effectively changes nothing for California churches. Vacating the district court decision leaves the Governor's order in full effect. Another two or three full months could elapse before this case gets back to the Supreme Court. Harvest Rock remains subject to the very regime they sought emergency relief on. This punt leaves the church in a very difficult place. In response, on December 3, Lawyers for a ...

Over the weekend, I found out about a fourth megachurch in Southern California that's been holding indoor services without social distance since the summer. This is Awaken Church in San Diego County . Last week, San Diego County health authorities issued advisories warning that the three campuses of the church had had a COVID "outbreak". According to the church's pastor, Jurgen Matthesius. the county was anything but transparent. According to the link, Matthesius said the advisory didn’t inform the church how many people tested positive as part of the outbreak, or even who they were. Awaken Church later found out it was just three people. Pastor Matthesius said 2,800 people call the Balboa campus “home,” and that he doesn’t know how just three people can constitute an outbreak at his church. Another version differs, but not by much: As of Thursday, the three church outbreaks constitute 65 COVID-19 cases. Whether it's three cases at one cam...

Per the Desert Sun, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco has issued a video statement decrying Gov. Gavin Newsom's plans to impose shutdowns across the state due to surging COVID-19 cases, and repeating his objection to penalizing those who don't follow the new protocols. Bianco said his department won't be "blackmailed, bullied or used as muscle against Riverside County residents in the enforcement of the governor's orders." The video, which was published on the department's YouTube channel and shared through its social media, shows Bianco in uniform. He accuses Newsom of having a "dictatorial attitude" and being "extremely hypocritical." Bianco called the stay-at-home orders "flat-out ridiculous." Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva "will not instruct his deputies to enforce a new statewide stay-at-home order announced Thursday that could force businesses to temporarily shut down as coronavirus c...

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Chalfant is asking questions few others have posed -- just what is the "science" behind the lockdown order s being promulgated in many US states? LA County banned outdoor dining at restaurants this week in response to a surge in COVID cases. While there is sketchy evidence for COVID transmission at indoor restaurants, there is apparently none at all in the literature for outdoor dining. Banning any restaurant business just before Christmas is, of course, economically disastrous. The judge thinks there ought to be good reasons to do it. The Daily News reports Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant “appeared sympathetic” to separate lawsuits seeking to lift the restriction filed by the California Restaurant Association and famed attorney Mark Geragos, who owns the Engine Co. No. 28 restaurant in downtown L.A. However, according to the outlet, “Chalfant said he was reluctant to issue an order that could have a major i...

As far as I'm aware, none of the usual suspects among the California civil authorities has made any direct statement about either the November 25 US Supreme Court ruling in Diocese of Brooklyn v Cuomo , or the December 3 ruling in Harvest Rock Church, et al. v Newsom The impression I have is that the LA County Health Department was fully aware of the November 25 ruling and what it telegraphed when it issued a new lockdown order on Nov 27 that prohibited all public and private gatherings "except for faith based services and protests, which are constitutionally protected rights." The worship service exception under the constitution was completely new. On the other hand, both LA Mayor Garcetti and Gov Newsom have been in a new lockdown frenzy. Garcetti issued new stay-at-home orders on November 17 , which he said at the time were to be in effect "for the next two to three weeks." But two to three weekw later, viz, just yesterday, he announced even stricter...

Thanks to a visitor, via Lifesite News: the U.S. Supreme Court tossed out a California order banning all in-person worship and granted Harvest Rock Church an opportunity to present evidence prior to the country’s top court making a judgement on the matter. [Note: the California order bans indoor worship, not in-person worship.] “The application for injunctive relief, presented to Justice Kagan and by her referred to the Court, is treated as a petition for a writ of certiorari before judgment, and the petition is granted,” stated the Supreme Court’s Dec. 3 order. The Supreme Court “vacated” the lower court order against the California Christian churches were California Governor Gavin Newsom’s worship ban was upheld, stripping it of its effects. . . . The Supreme Court in its order today sent the case back down to the lower court, telling it to consider its ruling in light of the Court’s Nov. 26 ruling against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s restrictions on places of w...