Photo Credit: Portobello Feasts’s Facebook Page
By Matt Rooney
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Remember Portobello Feasts, Save Jerseyans. This Oakland (New Jersey) restaurant’s saga constitutes another remarkable step in New Jersey’s devolution from a free state to a tyranny.
The popular Bergen County restaurant’s owner has been criminally charged for not one but two alleged socially not-so-distant gatherings over the long Thanksgiving weekend.. “Scenes like this make absolutely no sense,” Phil Murphy complained this Wednesday at his daily COVID-19 scare-conference. “I’m trying hard … to find a mask anywhere in this crowd, there certainly isn’t any attempt to ensure social distancing, and the entire concept of personal responsibility is missing.”
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“Are you kidding me?” the ever-sanctimonious Murphy added.
I think you’re the one who’s less than serious here, Phil.
Allow me to focus on two points which, unsurprisingly, won’t get a fair hearing in the mainstream rags which are lazily reporting Phil Murphy’s dramatics:
First, Oakland officials have reportedly revoked Portobello Feasts’s outdoor dining permit for post-4 p.m. service for a period of 30 days. Here we go again with the arbitrary times, folks! Why 4 o’clock? Is COVID-19 more aggressive at 4:01 than 3:59? Can large crowds not gather during the daytime hours for fear of the yellow December sun?
The goal here clearly isn’t safety-oriented but punitive in nature; if it was, they’d slap the restaurant with a modest fine and then send in some health officials to help it “comply.” Nope. Oakland officials are forcing this restaurant to try to survive the Christmas season – a big one for a catering hall – without making a dinner service profit. It’s sick, power-trip bullshit, and any Oakland elected official going along with it should be voted out at the earliest possible opportunity. There are multiple Republicans on council up there. Speak up at any time, guys!
Secondly, if we’re TRULY following the latest science, do we really want people home right now? Coughing and sneezing on one another? Yes, masks are still controversial. Yes, there’s plenty of evidence that COVID-19 is far less lethal than advertised and minor despots like Murphy continue to manipulate the data. Let’s make this simpler than all of that for a minute.
Where is this damn virus really spreading?
I’ve been telling you for months that New Jersey’s contact tracing program is a massive, expensive failure. In September, less than half of calls were producing actionable information. The current failure rate is 70%! So it’s impossible for any elected official to say (without lying or guessing) that they know which restrictions are “scientific” and which are improvisation. Data “can’t determine dates” or new executive orders if you don’t have the data. I hope we can agree on that!
With all of that being said, get this: Andrew Cuomo now says 70% of new cases are coming out small home gatherings. How he knows? Who knows! But if it’s true? You may be in far more danger in your living room this weekend than dining maskless outdoors at Portobello Feasts at 4:01 p.m. on a Saturday. And it makes sense, right? Sustained contact for an hour sitting next to grandma on the couch would seem more dangerous – if this thing is truly droplet-spread as opposed to airborne – than standing a few feet from other asymptomatic people at a restaurant.
Here’s my point, Save Jerseyans:
NONE OF THIS HAS A F—ING THING TO DO WITH SCIENCE.
I mean shit: I just read today that scientists still have no idea how COVID-19 impacts the central nervous system other than the fact that the nose appears to be involved. Murphy recently cancelled high school sports throughout the holidays despite the fact that the death rate among young, healthy people barely registers in the stats. Where the virus is undeniably deadly are our nursing homes where the Murphy Administration is doubling down on its first wave errors.
If a disease with a 50% kill rate is loose? And we’re facing an extinction event? Sure. The Constitution isn’t a death pact. But when the virus in question has small and dropping mortality rate (the survival rate across all age groups/subcategories is now probably above 99%), and it primarily preys on those over 80 with, on average, more two or more comorbidities? That’s not justification to mothball the Bill of Rights. I’m sorry, but it’s not. Not even close.
A stat which should TRULY scare you? And our elected idiots?
Over 31% of N.J. small businesses haven’t survived this pandemic’s lockdown measures, and that stat (unlike COVID-19’s fatality rate) is actually rising.
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Save Jersey’s Founder and Blogger-in-Chief, MATT ROONEY is a nationally-noted and respected New Jersey political commentator. When he’s not on-line, radio or television advocating for conservative reform and challenging N.J. power-brokers, Matt is a practicing attorney at the law firm of DeMichele & DeMichele in Haddon Heights (Camden County).
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