As my colleague Scott Hounsell reported, California has decided to re-institute its indoor mask mandate statewide starting today until supposedly January 15.

We won’t be holding our breath on that one.

This new masking alleged order is NOT being issued by the Governor, it is only being issued in a memo by Tomas J. Aragon, M.D., the State Public Health Officer & Director of the California Department of Public Health, an unelected state bureaucrat.https://t.co/CpGoRpVTI7

— KUSI News (@KUSINews) December 15, 2021

According to KUSI News:

This new masking alleged order is NOT being issued by the Governor, it is only being issued in a memo by Tomas J. Aragon, M.D., the State Public Health Officer & Director of the California Department of Public Health, an unelected state bureaucrat directed by Newsom.

It is being touted by Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of Health for the state of California like it is a government order, but in fact it is a mere memo entitled “Guidance for the use of Masks.” The word “order” is not used anywhere in the memo, instead it claims it is a “requirement” without citing any particular authority.

But we’ve played this game before. We have a power drunk Governor Hair Gel who has kept us in a State of Emergency just so he can claim authority, without having to get his hands dirty.

How do we know this? Because of a certain county that is getting an exemption from this “guidance.”

As George Orwell’s Animal Farm warned us,

“All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others.”

Apparently San Francisco is our “more equal” animal.

From AP News:

California is exempting San Francisco from a rule that takes effect Wednesday requiring all people to wear masks indoors in a bid to contain a troubling rise in new coronavirus cases.

San Francisco will continue to allow fully vaccinated people to remove their masks in gyms and workplaces while its overall masking mandate remains in effect, the city Department of Public Health announced.

“It’s a recognition of all of the thought and care that San Francisco residents have been putting into staying as safe as possible,” said Dr. Susan Philip, San Francisco’s health officer.

About 86% of eligible San Francisco residents have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the public health department.

San Francisco businesses were relieved that the city can continue permitting fully vaccinated people to go maskless in some indoor locations.

Make no mistake what this is: rewarding compliance and punishing non-compliance. That, and Aunt Nancy Pelosi, and Governor Gavin Newsom’s de facto family the Gettys probably complained. This is their realm, after all.

The order comes as the statewide seven-day average rate of new coronavirus cases has jumped 47% since Thanksgiving and hospitalizations have risen by 14%, according to the state Department of Public Health.

That’s still far below a surge last winter — before vaccines were available — when the state averaged more than 100 cases per 100,000 people and nearly 20,000 people died during an eight-week period.

Scott makes the excellent point in his piece that if it was truly the crisis that Health Secretary Mark “Dr. Death” Ghaly is now making it out to be, they would have reinstituted the mask mandate back in August, when case numbers were higher than they are currently. So, why didn’t they do this?

Can you say “RECALL,” boys and girls?

Newsom skated that Recall in September, so he is using the California Department of Health to retaliate and reward the plebes accordingly. As cities and counties go, San Francisco overwhelmingly voted “NO” on the Recall, so this exemption is a mere pat on the head for what he considers good behavior.

We also know San Francisco is full of troubles with smash and grab robberies, rampant homelessness, and open-air drug use making them the poor, little rich child of the state. This, despite these being problems of their own creation. The once iconic city’s tourism has tanked because of these ulcerative issues, while residents are trapped in their homes and unable to shop in actual stores for basic necessities.

Amazon and Door Dash for the win.

FACT: we San Franciscans have been sounding the alarm for years. "crime is rising, dealers are taking over neighborhoods, addicts are dying, businesses are closing, streets are filthy, people are leaving." Everyone who denied this reality is culpable. All eyes are on them.

— Erica Sandberg 舊金山的神奇女俠 (@EricaJSandberg) December 15, 2021

Along with Newsom throwing his hometown a bone, he probably thinks he’s making an example of every other city and county in the state, especially those pesky ones who refuse to recognize his Au-Thor-it-tay! What Newsom fails to realize is the majority of the counties in California stopped paying attention to his diktats after the French Laundry debacle last year. Then there was his 12-day disappearing act around Halloween, and then the French Laundry Part II: Running off to Cabo, Mexico with his entire family for Thanksgiving.

Oroville in Northern California has already declared itself a Sanctuary city from COVID, and Richard Bailey, the new mayor of Coronado (coastal San Diego County) has said he will not be enforcing Newsom’s latest mandate. A bit further north in the same county, the Mayor of El Cajon Bill Wells has stated the same thing.

So all this exemption is reflecting is that elitists are gonna elite, and carve out special favors for those they deem worthy, while using the excuse of “science” and “safety” to control others. It also reflects the emperor has no clothes. Newsom’s been swinging in the breeze for a long time. Even his First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom is appearing as though she is going off the rails, penning another cryptic and accusatory tweet.

This one she hasn’t deleted… yet.

Looking forward to the day when there are no bots or trolls and GOP members aren’t paying their followers to hate, spread mistruths, and project their own reality – or Trump’s reality- onto innocent people who are just trying to do good in the world. 🙏

— Jennifer Siebel Newsom (@JenSiebelNewsom) December 14, 2021

This person is channeling the sentiments of the rest of us animals.

“KUSI is for real. Newsom is a joke.”