Two Sets of Standards, No Rule of Law, Utter Contempt for Everyone Else Still in Lockdown
(Reason) With widespread mass protests against police brutality underway in major cities all across the United States, one might have expected government officials who do not intend to scold the protesters for violating social distancing to go easier on everyone else as well, at least for consistency’s sake.
But no—some state and local authorities have given every indication that the COVID-19 lockdowns will continue for small businesses, churches, and anyone else whose cause for leaving the home does not strike the government as sufficiently noble.
On Monday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) thanked state residents for protesting the unjust police killing of George Floyd in large numbers, and commended them for participating in “the transformational moment of our time,” even though New Jersey’s coronavirus mitigation plan calls for people to gather outside in groups of no more than 25—and in fact, state authorities have fined citizens for organizing anti-lockdown protests.
But for Murphy, the two forms of protest are “in different orbits.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), who has repeatedly inveighed against the city’s Jewish community for holding public funerals and opening their businesses despite stay-at-home orders, struck a similar note.
“When you see…an entire nation, simultaneously grappling with an extraordinary crisis seated in 400 years of American racism, I’m sorry, that is not the same question as the understandably aggrieved store owner or the devout religious person who wants to go back to services,” said de Blasio.
This is not just hypocritical—it’s odious.
Hey NYC… remember this tough guy? ???
— Larry O’Connor (@LarryOConnor) June 2, 2020
De Blasio: Swimmers at New York City beaches will be ‘taken right out of the water’ https://t.co/tWjHWf6WeS
NYPD MUG SHOT OF NYC MAYOR De BLASIO’s DAUGHTER CHIARA de BLASIO ARRESTED ALONG WITH 300 RIOTERS IN MANHATTAN. pic.twitter.com/ytP5qi2r8R
— Blue Lives Matter (@RetiredNYCPD) June 1, 2020
.@MayorOfLA Eric Garcetti, who wore a mask in the middle of an empty Dodger Stadium, showed up mask-free to the #BlackLivesMatter protest. Have these demagogues no shame? pic.twitter.com/xE22Nd9cUE
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) June 3, 2020
